Sounds like a pretty good time

Billy and I were down in Little 5 Points today shooting for an interactive idea we're doing for GTA. I noticed this little sign posted on a wall. You should give Ms. Skeleton a call. Could be fun.

[click to enlarge]

DESIGN FAIL

A fire alarm designed to trap people's wrists when tripped. It was intended to cut down on false alarms, but I'm thinking it probably just cut down on alarms.

My art's bigger than your art.

I'm sure by now a lot of you have seen Blu's elaborate evolution mural A Very Long Story.

[Check out the rest here if you haven't see it.]

But what you really need to see is the rest of this guy's stuff. Blu is a brilliant graffiti(?) artist from Italy. He's splashed his work across walls all over the world with a really distinct style—humorous, satirical, absurd, macabre. Basically, everything I love. His work also has a beautifully cyclical nature that anyone who loved high school literature would adore.







Check out all his work his web space at www.blublu.org and get ready to get your mind blued away.

Also, perhaps even more impressive are his animations. Below is one that will probably make your brain explode and then ooze out your nose. So, grab a kleenex and press play. (The rest can be found through his site.)




MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Thanks to the ever magnanimous Dan Balser for this one. Marvel at his blog here; feel the power of his podcast here.

McDonald's targets a very niche market, kitties.

For Kasia:

When you think about it, milk is pretty creepy.

. . . And then you watch this video and realize it can be a whole hell of a lot creepier.

[The clip is taken from the British documentary Extraordinary Breastfeeding. Figures. Nutty British.]

Credits to Señor Chris Araujo.

Damn Boots

As I continue to offer up others' content in place of my own (due primarily to the impending deadline of One Show happening this week in New York), I submit for your viewing pleasure an internet spot for Australian Nomis football boots (translation: soccer cleats).

It came out a few months ago, but I think it's a nice contrast to the Nike spot that I posted earlier. Besides being a funny song and sport some absolutely gorgeous art direction, the Nomis spot hits on a great strategy: even if the shoes get you a spot in the big time, if they're harsh on your feet you're screwed. It's a nice angle that attacks the "get famous in our shoes" idea from a completely different direction. That all being said, enjoy.

Nomis - Damn Boots

UPDATE: I just found out Kyle Cavanaugh and Andrew Diperi have an interview/sit down this week in New York with the agency responsible for the Nomis spot, Johannes Leonardo. Congrats, guys.

This is why the internet exists.

It's true that Google Maps provides a remarkable service to the world for free. And Street View was an impressive advancement.

But this is what makes this service priceless.

Click here and then click on the north arrow.

Thanks Google!

Here's a really fun spot for Nike Football (as in, soccer, for you Americans).

While I don't find the actual concept/message to be great, it's still done in a really interesting style and has plenty of fun stuff to pick out (such as appearances by Wenger, Febregas, Ronaldo and Rooney). Props to Guy Ritchie who directed it.

Nike Football - Take It To The Next Level

File under crazy future tech:

So, if you were wondering what the future might hold, here's a pretty good look into that crystal ball. Except that crystal ball isn't quite so much telling the future as just something to look through to see the present on the other side.

According to a few sites including TechRadar and Pink Tentacle, a Japanese company named NTT is releasing a technology that uses the body as a transmitter of data. Available by the end of June, Firmo (yeah, sweet name) promises to revolutionize (perhaps) the way that we touch the world.


Essentially what happens is that there's a thin transmitter device in someone's pocket that, when the person comes in physical contact with a receiver-linked device, sends a weak AC current through the person's body to the receiver in the form of electricity. The initial application for such technology is for electronic locks. As soon as a subject with a transmitter in their pocket touches a door handle fitted with an electronic lock and Firmo receiver, the door will unlock.

The price tag for a 5 transmitter, 1 receiver set is ¥800,000 (or around $8,000US), but that's expected to drop once it begins to be mass-produced.

Right now the speed is only 230 kbps and works unidirectionally, but NTT is working on a version that will be 10 Mbps and send and receive data from either side. (It may be about two years or so before that.)

Think about that for a second. Theoretically, you could receive all of someone's contact information from them the moment you shake their hand. (No more business cards to keep up with!) You could send and receive video to and from a computer, poster or even your friend just by touching it (or him or her). This technology may eventually be incorporated into cell phones and other mobile devices so that when you're looking at products in the store, your phone will receive discounts or additional information for a product when you pick it up.

The technology starts to get a little scary when you imagine that such chips could be implanted into the human body so that they never can be turned off. I have my own theories about all that future tech stuff, but I'll spare you at the moment. I'll just let you keep thinking about your body being used as a data network.





(Oh yeah. One more scary thing: The first commercially available super-human-strength robotic exoskeleton was announced today in—of course—Japan. The even scarier part: the system is called HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) and was developed by a company named Cyberdyne.)

Ukuleles and Kaisers

If I had an international successful rock band, this is the kind of stuff I'd pull. I've already talked about hiring an Indian man with only an elementary grasp of English to come out and sing the entire show in place of the singer. Here, the Kaiser Chefs perform their biggest hit from their latest album with the help of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. If you've never heard of the former, shame on you. If you've never heard of the latter, check out YouTube for a nice introduction.

The Kaiser Chefs and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Ruby

Photoshop Phail

I have just found my new favorite blog. This is the art directional answer to my other favorites, Apostrophe Abuse and the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.

Hello, Photoshop Disasters.

As Peter Parker's Uncle Ben always told him, "With great power comes great responsibility." Since it's creation, Photoshop has put great power in the hands of the masses—the nearly unlimited power to alter an image (and thus our perception of reality) or perhaps even create one out of thin air. In advertising, Photoshop has single-handedly opened our industry to unlimited visual possibilities while also pulling focus from brilliant writing and concepts and replaced it with Photoshop versions of World's Strongest Man competitions. (See Archive for further details.)

That being said, it appears that some people are clearly in last place at the moment. Below is just a sampling of some of my favorites from Photoshop Disasters. Let it serve as a warning to us all—a very funny warning.


That magic stamp tool doesn't seem all that magical right about now.


Jessica Simpson's mutant sister, clearly kept hush-hush by her parents and Jessica's PR agent. (Note: They haven't done as well with Ashley.)


General Mills takes on not only women's body image but also racial integration in a whole new way.


Dude, this is just terrifying. Thanks for the nightmares, JC.


. . . but not correct perspective.


Check out Kirsten's arm here. Just look at it for a second. Is it really four feet long or is this a covert hint that she might actually be a super heroine herself? The Rubbery Woman? Goo Girl?


Batman Begins . . . to look pretty dumb here. This made me laugh out loud. Not so much a Photoshop phail as just a logical blunder. What does he find so interesting about that window frame? Maybe the bat needs to get his eyes checked.

Anyway, great blog. Tons of gaffes. Check out the blog for more. Don't make the same mistakes.

May I whiff your phallus?

I'm not sure what to really say about this. I mean, what can I really say? I guess you should probably just press play.

Riskay ft. Aviance and Real - Smell Yo Dick
My first reaction—OK, second—was that this is perhaps just a brilliant viral video for iPhone. Or maybe the world is just this dumb.

CSI: Creative Scene Investigation

The One Show's coming up in New York. And it will certainly be quite a show.

Bonus: The Circus is hosting a little shindig for alum at Lucky Jack's in Chelsea Thursday night. Copywriter extraordinaire/ex-lawyer/Jew Steve Nathans is responsible for a very funny invite and series of viral videos. Actually, they're only funny if you've done hard time in the halls of Circus. But I have, so it's funny.

CSI: 1 of 3


CSI: 2 of 3


CSI: 3 of 3

So, if you're in New York stop by.

Me . . . only not

Before I begin, let me state that this was shown to me by a friend research men's underwear for a packaging design project.

This image comes via the of-course-why-didn't-I-think-of-that-for-a-blog-idea blog Men's Underwear Blog, or as they affectionately refer to themselves, MUB.


This image bares a really terrifyingly striking image to me (from the neck up at least).

Ironically—or perhaps totally appropriately—I haven't bought a pair of tidy whiteys in over 15 years, but I'd actually wear those. Horse prints on underwear? That's kind of awesome. (Or maybe it's just because a more physically fit doppleganger of myself is wearing them, and I have some self-absorbed narcissistic complex that causes me to feel an affinity for them.)

Either way, funny.

Also, I'm not responsible for you clicking on that link above and then click on banner ads for companies such as Koalaswim.

I'z on yur computerz!

For those of you that don’t know, I’ve just unleashed my portfolio onto the world wide net at www.ievenwrotethissickurl.com.

But don't get too attached because, just like all the work in my book, the site is subject to severe change and slaughter. In fact, I’ll be launching a second (much more fun) site within the next two months or so. Oh yeah, and I’ll also be making a site for our agency, the Brandy Agency.

Web design bonanza.

Anyway, sneak a peek and let me know what you think.