Such a dead performance.
Maybe he’s just phoning it in.
Or texting it in.
Or sending it in via farted morse code.
Whichever it is, I have a sneaking suspicion he wasn’t motivated by the script.
Here’s Bodyform’s response to an amusing pisstake-y rant about its years of rollerblading falsehoods (you can see the rant at the end).
Great writing, great performance and a refreshing lack of corporate blandness. The drink she takes at the end is priceless.
If I had need of such things I’d switch brands now.
(Don’t bother commenting about the resemblance to Blackcurrant Tango. It transcends that with what I can only call panache.)
Here’s an ad for some tablet that isn’t an iPad (thanks, D):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mSckyoAMHg&hd=1
You know what I remember from this ad: it makes a clicky noise.
That’s it.
People dance around and shit like that, and the thing makes a clicky noise when you connect that thingie to it.
But you know what’s really odd about this ad (besides the fact that they decided to build a very expensive commercial around an unappealing noise)? That tablet has something really interesting. Honestly, it does. Go back and see if you can spot it.
Got it? Well, if it’s still not obvious to you, I’ll tell you: the thing you click on to the tablet has a keyboard. Now, I’ve no idea if that’s going to be a game-changer or if it even works particularly well, but it’s different and it’s interesting.
Unlike the ad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZfkSAQWz9E&feature=share
From the brief, ‘Our interior looks like shit but we’d like to pretend it’s beautiful’, this is a great piece of work.
It has some un-annoying shots of the product, a darkly funny story with a real character (that happens to be one of those ugly cats you’d like to hate, but in this case you end up quite liking), and fine direction and editing bringing it all together.
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Kenzo Digital (I’m not sure that’s his real name, although I didn’t ask him, so it might be).
He’s an amazing video artist who has been CD on Nike and Brand Jordan at W&K NY.
Here’s the kind of thing he does now:
Amazing, isn’t it?
So we had a coffee (I had tea; I don’t drink coffee) and some interesting things came up:
We both grew up in the era of the cassette, so I lamented the way ‘kids’ these days don’t have the opportunity to really live with an album. Back in the 80s and 90s, if you bought an album you most likely did so on something called an audio cassette, which looked like this:
You couldn’t just go straight to the track you wanted; you had to ‘fast forward’, and guess where the next track would be (annoyingly, different players had different FF speeds, so you had no idea where you were aiming for). This would involve overshooting, rewinding a bit and eventually getting to the right place to hear your song in relatively low quality audio. But on the plus side, most times you couldn’t be bothered to do this, so you had to listen to the whole album and that meant giving more of a chance to those tracks you weren’t immediately that keen on. Many’s the time a track you didn’t like at first would reveal itself to be your favourite, you’d enjoy the album for longer and you would practise the interesting idea of ‘giving things a chance’. No instant gratification, just enforced consideration leading to increased satisfaction and happiness. Yes, there were other annoying things about cassettes, such as the fact that unless an album had two sides of exactly equal length, the tape would spend a while silently running out on one side before the welcome clunking of auto reverse turned it over and started the new side (I remember buying the cassingle of Gett Off by Prince and spending an entire transatlantic flight listening to the so-so extra mixes then FF-ing the tape to reach Gett Off again. Happy days). And the fact that you had to buy the whole thing, instead of individual tracks, meant that artists would often get away with padding out a few good tracks with six mediocre ones that you had to just take a chance on. But overall the listening and buying experience felt deeper because you had a more thorough relationship with the music you bought.
Nowadays of course you can buy track by track, leaving no place for the filler to hide, and you can access those tracks instantly again and again to your heart’s content or arrange them in whatever order you like. This has many advantages, such as being able to listen to OK Computer without Fitter Happier or Electioneering, or listening to In Da Club fourteen times in a row because it’s just so fucking good. But then it also has its disadvantages, which come mainly from the perceived disposability of any tracks you don’t like straight away, or those incredible B-sides that Oasis used to stuff their singles with. Now you are a curator who adapts what the artist has given you to suits your wishes, and although that sounds good on the surface, it creates a very different relationship between you and the makes and sellers of the music. Here’s an example: when Run DMC’s What’s It All About was big at the end of 1990, rumours went around my school about this great rap track that had the hook from Fools Gold, but my ability to hear said track was pretty much non-existent. When I finally got hold of it the feeling was akin to hunting down the holy grail; this was a BIG DEAL. Now you can just find any track on YouTube and listen to it instantly for free, no matter where in the world it’s a hit. Does that make you respect the music more? It can’t do, and if you’re not respecting the music as much, the same goes for the artist and the place you buy the tracks (and that’s leaving aside the whole issue of piracy).
Maybe that’s not a problem, or it’s both good and bad, but it’s a huge change in the way we all consume something that’s a massive part of many of our lives. And it just happened without anyone really knowing it would all be different in a few years’ time. We just took it on and here we are. But then there are many people who are reacting against it, evidenced by the fact that the only music medium which is increasing in popularity is vinyl. Maybe we don’t want all the power. Maybe some of us like deifying the people who bring spine-tingling magic into our lives. I suppose the choice is still there, but if it’s not what the majority does then the effect is diminished.
Kenzo and I then talked about other stuff, but I think I’ll leave the 90s hip-hop chat for another time.
How the Eames lounge chair is made.
The best McDonald’s meals outside the US (thanks, Z).
Excellent Hungry Hungry Hippos trailer:
The top 50 James Bond moments in 007 minutes.
Capuchin monkeys reject unequal pay (thanks, G):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8mynrRd7Ak
What do guys’ texts mean? (Thanks, M.)
Bad lip reading presidential debate:
The ultimate faceplant compilation (thanks, J):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnMljKFqgY0&feature=player_embedded
And the best of Paxman (thanks, V):
Here’s an interesting Nike spot from back in the day that addresses all those ridiculous rumours about Lance Armstrong’s drug taking (thanks, G).
What I find fascinating is Lance’s amazing ability to lie for all that time.
Did he think he’d never get caught?
And does that come from arrogance or stupidity?
I guess that’s what happens when you ‘pedal’ drugs (geddit!!11!?????).
I think I’ve mentioned working on The Economist campaign before, but I now have a good reason to bring you a tepid rehash of that post.
I think they’d go great in your office or downstairs lav. The very best are beautifully written pieces of advice for all areas of your life, so why not give them a good ponder while you’re curling one out or throwing up after a night on the Bucky?
So if you missed the original post, here are a few interesting (if you’re into that kind of thing) facts about working on The Economist’s Red and White poster campaign:
1. People would often do the same ads. The one with Brains out of Thunderbirds was put forward year after year by different teams until there was a chance to get it out at the same time as the movie release, giving it extra topicality. Teams were very aware of the possibility of this, so they’d ‘reserve’ a good poster by sticking it up in their office so people knew it was ‘theirs’ and should not be done by another team in the following round.
2. The point of the campaign was not to sell copies of The Economist. Instead it was to make people feel like they ought to say they read it, so that when the readership research was conducted (‘Do you, Mr. clever rich person, read The Economist?’) people would say yes and The Economist would charge more for its advertising. I’m sure it also sold a few more copies, but that wasn’t the campaign’s raison d’être.
3. The whole department worked on it. As Peter Souter once told me, it was our ‘treat’. He was right. It was fun to work on, and a very likely award-winner. Thank you, David Abbott.
4. I did about twenty of them and they all came about through different methods. Some were the result of three solid days poring over the dictionary or thesaurus; for others I happened to be in the room when my art director came up with them; some gestated for years; others popped into my head fully-formed. I remember asking Malcolm Duffy how he came up with his. He said that there were lots of ways, then told me that one day he was reading the thesaurus when David Abbott passed his office. ‘You won’t find any Economist ads in there,’ said David. Later that day Malcolm came up with ‘Attracts Magnates’. So you never know.
5. My favourite is one that never won any awards that I’m aware of: ‘The loneliest place in the world is the edge of a conversation’.
Beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6r_WX2M-s8&feature=share
I think the performances are great, the gag is pretty funny, and the introduction of the product entirely acceptable.
I also think it has the first PPG* I’ve seen in years that actually made me smile.
*Post-pack gag.
By the way, I removed yesterday’s post because, on reflection, it was a bit personal. I still disagree with what Mr Y said, but I think I’ll leave it there.
Led Zeppelin are about to release a DVD of their 2007 O2 concert.
On Friday they’ll be introducing the film at the Hammersmith Apollo, and I’m very excited to have tickets to see that.
If you’d like to see how they’re getting along now, have a look at this: