HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

hey ya'll! it my favorite holiday of the year! what's more fun than dressing up and eating candy?!? i wanted to post some scenes from one of my favorite halloween movies (yes, it's disney!)


and a halloween classic remade by marilyn manson

as for my costume, i changed my mind a few times but tonight and tomorrow i am going as a famous female athlete, although she's more famous for her exploits off the courts. i'll try to post pictures.

economic meltdown

two artists (ligorano/reese) installed a 5 ft tall, 1,500 pound ice sculpture yesterday in the financial district of manhattan. the word 'economy' is expected to melt within 24 hours and was installed in honor of the 79th anniversary of the stock market crash from october 29, 1929.



it's obviously relevant to the state of the economy today as well.
similar pieces were installed in denver and st.paul at the democratic and republican conventions, respectively.




reminds me of another artist, laura gilbert, who handed out 10,000 signed and numbered prints of her $0 bill on wall street a few weeks ago. i'm surprised she didn't put bush's or some bank ceo's face on the front instead of george washington's.



more about political ice sculptures from wordpress and pure products usa, which the ice artists may or may not be associated with.
learn more about the art inspired by america's economic crisis.

what you waiting for?

while i'm on this a.i.w. kick, i might as well post gwen stefani's music video. it's directed by francis lawrence and i love the colorful, whimsical, asian-inspired adaptation.

this is the extended version, the actual song doesn't start til about 3 minutes in. as a creative, i can totally relate to writer's block.



lawrence seems pretty versatile. his most recent film direction includes i am legend and constantine, but then his music video clients include britney spears ( i'm a slave for you), jennifer lopez and destiny's child. he's directed nearly 100 different music videos since the early 90's. He has also directed numerous commercials for clients such as Coca-Cola, L'Oreal, Pepsi-Cola, Maybelline, Kid's Footlocker, Bacardi, McDonalds, GAP, Bud Light, CoverGirl and Disneyland.

ooh, look out for his new tv series debuting on nbc soon called kings. you'll probably like it if you like heroes because michael green is the creator and executive producer.

curioser and curioser...

apparently tim burton is remaking my favorite story of all time, alice in wonderland, due in theaters in 2010. no surprise johnny depp has been cast as the mad hatter. it's also rumored that anne hathaway and helena bonham carter will play the white queen and red queen, respectively. i'm glad he cast a relatively unknown girl, mia wasikowska, to play the lead role (even though she looks a little too old). he better not screw it up like charlie and the chocolate factory.

all i can find so far are some pictures from shooting:




and an article from the l.a. times.

i don't care

i'm not particularly a fall out boy fan, but i really like their latest song. the video is kind of strange, though.



going to the ignite boulder conference tomorrow night. should be quite interesting since michael, one my teachers is speaking at it.

work is starting to pick up at the agency now.

be the don

found this hilarious video on hulu. it's funniest if you've been following mad men. by the way, the season finale is tonight!

i really like hulu. they have great, high quality tv shows, video clips and movies all for free!

the best of the worst

wow. reality tv has reached a new low in the form of paris hilton's my new bff. i discovered it when i was checking the guide on my tv and figured i would tune in just to see how bad it is. it's the epitome of celebrity worship, with several contestants pining for paris's attention. perez hilton was even on this episode to ensure maximum drama, pitting the girls against each other to vote on who is the fakest on the show. and i think it is quite ironic that she voted off some guy for being a drama queen. yea. probably one of the worst shows on television right now, but mtv never fails to disappoint me these days.



speaking of paris and bad, remember this pointless commercial a few years back?

modern art

here's a little treasure i found on the design blog. the virtuo, created by taktik studios is an interactive art tool lets you create the masterpiece without the mess! read more about it here.

drink it up!

leave it to the germans to design a bottle of vanilla-caramel liquor that looks like sperm. their tagline is 'ich komme' or 'i'm coming.' ridiculousness, especially their website. it's gimmicky, but i guess it distinguishes the brand/product from the thousands of other alcoholic beverages available out there. i see this being a hit at bachelorette parties.

anyways, i wonder if i would have tried it if i had discovered it in deutschland, lol. and according to the fail blog, popsy sounds an awful lot like 'popp sie' which translates to 'f* her' in german. what's next? condom-shaped cocktail glasses? hahaha

burning man

i just discovered this really cool annual event revolving around art called burning man. the event describes itself as "an annual experiment in temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance." it's held in black rock city, which is actually in the middle of the desert in nevada, the week before and including labor day.
i want to go eventually. i'm pretty sure it would be an unforgettable experience. there are theme camps, music, performances, crazy costumes, art installations and every year has a different theme. next year's is 'evolution.' here are some pictures from last year's event (the theme was 'the green man'):




and a cool little video from the 2007 event showing some creative characters:

ad battle

first, here are the pc ads from cp+b in case you haven't seen them yet...




tbwa turned out this obvious response to the new pc ads ridiculously fast (approximately a month after the release of the windows ads)...




the funny thing is, no matter how much advertising macs get, they will never achieve the same market share that pcs have. i love my mac, but its definitely a niche market.

sidenotes:
i figured sooner or later an article like this would come out.
holy crap! there's a huge wikipedia entry chronicling the 'get a mac' ad series.

blik it

blik is a creative online surface graphics company that offers "wall graphics for the commitment phobe." the wall graphics are removable (and some of them even reusable) so there is no trouble if you get tired of them or decide to move. the endless variety includes designs from lots of different artists and even nintendo and threadless! you can also order decals for glass surfaces and for your car. these things aren't exactly cheap, tho.

womanizer part ii

remember when i posted the new terrible britney video a while back? i saw this on the soup a few days ago. i think they improved it. isn't it fun to mock celebrities? :)

how to elect a president

i love these videos that explain things 'in plain english' by common craft. the first video i remember seeing from them was the one about twitter. check out their youtube channel for more videos.

art in motion

speaking of cool stuff from bmw, i found this:



i have no idea how these things work but they are amazing; kinteic sculptures from theo jansen.

and then there's this:



apparently from the bmw museum in munich and created by art+com. definitely check out the art+com website, they have some incredibly innovative work.

all hail hydrogen

the bmw hydrogen 7, the first hydrogen/gas hybrid in the clean energy series.

the fantasy:



the facts:



the hydrogen 7 is "the world's first hydrogen-powered luxury sedan." bmw has been developing this technology for a while according to their clean energy milestones. the first prototype was introduced in 1984. the first public liquid hydrogen refueling station was opened in munich in 1999.

seems like a great solution for global warming and pollution, considering the only by-product is water. but there's a catch, a catch-22 actually. the cars are still pretty expensive (current owners are mostly celebrities) and there are hardly any places where you can fill up your hydrogen tank. but, the industry isn't going to invest a bunch of money in hydrogen refueling stations until the demand for hydrogen cars increases.

it will be interesting to see how this dilemma develops over the next few years.



oh yea, the website is pretty cool too. if you navigate away from the page for too long, the website goes into 'energy-saving mode:'

must see this movie!

just saw this new trailer during one of the commercial breaks for mad men. it's for the fourth film from baz luhrmann, director of strictly ballroom, romeo and juliet and moulin rouge. i love how different all of his films are; he's done comedy, shakespeare, a musical and now an action adventure with australia. i guess thing these films have in common is the underlying love stories. can't wait!

recycling art

check out these cool tote bags by loop design featuring the fantastic art of andy warhol. i bought the banana one. it came with all kids of goodies including a ribbon, banana coinpurse on a chain, a reproduction of a letter from the museum of modern art to andy warhol and a cloth tag, which i now use as a bookmark. i found mine at marshall's, but there are tons of designs for sale on ebay.

new kind of kiosk

i saw this in the twin peaks mall and thought it was really cool. it would have been cooler if it actually worked! i think something was jammed in it, and the robot arm that retrieves your purchase couldn't move.

but theoretically, it's easier and more convenient. it's basically a vending machine plus an atm (expect you pay money instead of withdrawing it).
boulder must be a test market for this.

classic

somehow i ended up watching the coco chanel movie last night. it reminded me of some great chanel commercials (in chronological order):



circa 1990



this one is great because it tells a whole story in 2 minutes. relates to what i'm supposed to be doing for class at crispin right now.

my new haircut...commercialized

yea, this video is super-old in you-tube years (just over one year old in reality) but it is still one of my favorites. maybe because it describes like one out of every three guys that went to my university. it has almost 19 million hits, but i'm still surprised that it's spawned an online merchandise site. i'm even more surprised that i kind of want to buy something from it.



and my favorite knock-off, my new haircut: asian edition by the duke university improv.


i think after the number of hits a video has, another measure of success is how many imitations it inspires.

war paint & perfume

wode is the 'revolutionary art fragrance' from boudicca.
the perfume container resembles a spray-paint can. when sprayed on skin and clothing, the liquid appears cobalt blue but completely disappears within minutes, leaving just the scent.

according to the website,
"queen boudicca...and her tribe wore a cobalt blue war paint on their skin that gave them a ferocious and mythical look when advancing into battle. when finally defeated by the romans, queen boudicca killed herself by swallowing hemlock, an extract of which is included in wode."



you can purchase a 150 ml bottle, colored or clear for 65 gbp (roughly $112), plus shipping of course.

sounds cool, but i'm pretty sure its just scented, disappearing ink (like the kind you could redeem tickets for at the arcade after playing skeeball a few hundred times). they still get innovation points as the first ones to market couture, colored perfume.

palin for president

what would it be like if sarah palin was president?

play around with palinispresident.com:


watch this movie trailer from college humor:

sarah and hillary are bff:

fashion finale

as i predicted last month, leeann won project runway last night, and rightfully so. her collection was original, impeccably crafted and cohesive. she said the inspiration for the line was 'waves' and you could really see that reflected in the flowing fabrics. personally, i would have liked to see a bit more diverse color palette.







photos from new york fashion

and, once again kenley was called-out by the judges for copying. apparently one of her hand-painted dresses looked an awful lot like a dress in the spring 2008 balenciaga collection...



even if it is copied (i doubt it in this case) kenley's design is much better.

sidenote: it would be fantastic if i was able to get kenley to construct my halloween costume (i know what i want now, but i want it to be a surprise).