Playsafe Looks Dangerous

These condom ads out of Singapore do a good job of showing that they "Fit Any Head", as the tagline states, but they contradict the brand name, Playsafe. Isn't it a well known fact that you should not cover your airways, AKA slap a condom over your ugly mug? They also remind me of what may come back out at you about 9 months after one of these guys breaks. Cool colors, though. See the ads here, here and here.

Sean Lennon 'Friendly Fire' Review

This morning on the subway ride to work, I listened to the new Sean Lennon album, 'Friendly Fire', in its entirety. There are only 10 tracks on the album, totaling only 37 minutes of playtime. It's a quick listen, but worth a half-hour of your life. Many of the tracks sound the same, with the same tone of voice and similar instruments used, but each song on its own is melodic and soothing. A few tracks, such as 'Tomorrow', remind me of a lullaby. Only one track, 'Parachute', made me want to listen to it again. Overall, I would say take a listen to this album and decide for yourself whether you want to give it 1 Star or 5 Stars in your iTunes. I'm giving it 3 Stars.

UPDATE: The track 'Spectacle' was left off my original list. After listening to the song, it is another stand-out on the album. Still going with 'Parachute' as my favorite though.

Here is the video for 'Parachute':

This Post Will One Day be Read by You

I've been seeing these ads for the TV show Six Degrees for some time now. I guess the show is about how different people are all connected or something (think Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon). The ads play upon this with lines like "The man by the door will someday be your boss". Given, however, that they appear on the New York City subways, I think that the copywriter should have been more realistic with the situations. Here are a few lines I think would work well for these ads running on the NYC subways:

THE GUY BY THE DOOR JUST STOLE YOUR WALLET.

THE WOMAN HOLDING THE POLE IS A PROSTITUTE.

THE HOMELESS WOMAN EATING THE TRASH USED TO BE A MODEL.

THAT SEWER RAT WILL SOMEDAY BE YOUR BEST FRIEND.

Leave a comment to this posting with your own lines.

Halloween NYC Style

Tis the season to dress up like a fool and parade around your local watering holes with all of the other fools. It's a great time of year, and even better in New York City.

Last night I went to a crazy costume party and had a blast. My best memory of the night, however, is trying to hail a cab in my spaceman costume. Oddly, no cabs stopped but we eventually hijacked a mini-van taxi and we were off.

I rolled up to the Long Island City studio in the company of a magician, Marilyn Monroe, a go-go dancer, a 70s disco guy, the hairy guy from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Barney Rubble and the Slim Jim guy. Needless to say, we were totally awesome. Upon entering the massive studio (more like an entire floor of the building) we were transported into a spooky forest type place with candles lit all over the place, DJs spinning great tunes, flashing black lights and much much more. To top it all off, there was an open bar all night long. After our fair share of drinks and dancing, along with a coat flying out of the 5th floor window, we called it a night and headed home. Long live Halloween!

UPDATE: There is a photoset on Flickr from this party. Check it out here.

Russian Dancers are Amazing

I'm always on the look-out for crazy music videos to rock out to at the start of a night. So when I downloaded the new Basement Jaxx album (which is amazing and highly recommended) I searched for the video to one of my favorite tracks. My face was rocked off when this was the video for the song. Thelonious already has plans to be one of the Russian dancers for Halloween next year.

I Would Love "Love"

I so want to see this show! Cirque du Soleil is supposed to be amazing, and a show filled with Beatles music must be mind blowing. The show is called "Love" and features entirely Beatles music, along with costumes and events inspired by the Beatles. Too bad I live nowhere near Vegas, and have no plans to visit in the near future. Here's a vid of some type of launch for the show which has Paul and Ringo together, along with Yoko and George's wife.

You Go, Bernie

Near death and pissed off that your damn family is more concerned with who will get your money once you are officially six feet under? Why not buy full-page ads in random magazines to let the public know exactly how much your loved ones suck, while at the same time blowing all of the cash. Oh the irony. Bernie, you rock my face off. See a higher quality pic here.

Bravo Bravia, Bravo

Sony Bravia is doing some amazing advertising, as previously posted. Now, they have launched a print aspect to their campaign. Like the TV spots, the ads utilize color and motion beautifully. I'd love to see this campaign be extended to all other media. See more of the print ads here, here and here.

Cool Fall Walk

So you have two hours to kill until your weekly Prison Break viewing party; what to do? How about a casual 40 block stroll in 40 degree weather! Just what I thought, perfect. First I headed over to the Hudson River to watch the sunset. Then I headed up 9th Avenue, taking pics along the way of anything I was fortunate enough to come across. What popped up the most, though, was the Empire State Building in both reflections and direct shots. Enjoy the pics.

IC IFC

Bored on a cloudy Sunday? Head to the IFC Center and catch an independent flick. The theatre offers a much different experience than attending a mainstream movie. It is much smaller and more intimate. There are no corporate commercials or endorsements, so the films really take the front seat. It is refreshing. Tonight, a friend and I saw Factotum. The film was about Hank Chinaski (an autobiographical character by writer Charles Bukowski) and his struggles to become a writer. He is an alcoholic, and one of the best I've seen. The movie is a bit slow moving, but the art direction is great. There are also quite a few great lines that come from Hank. When asked why he wants to work in a pickle factory, he responds, "...my grandmother used to serve me pickles..." Our next indie film: The Wild Blue Yonder.

Baywatch Babe Position to be Filled Immediately

Yes, it is true; you too can be a Baywatch Babe! Just submit your photo online and have it rated by complete strangers!

Job requirements:
Slow motion running experience
Extremely large, abnormal chest
CPR experience (french kissing experience okay as well)
Admoration of old, hairy chested men

This is a promotion for the release of Baywatch on DVD. See a few of my favorite submissions thus far here, here and here.

Ben & Jerry's Gets an Animation Makeover

Having randomly met, at a party last night, the creative team that came up with the new Ben & Jerry's commercials, I was intrigued to track them down on YouTube. I found them, but wasn't completely blown away. The animation is very cool, and reminds me of the Wallace & Gromit style. Other than that the idea is pretty simple; take the names of each ice cream flavor and translate it literally into a short scene. The problem is, they translate them too literally. It would be better if they were able to be a bit more creative in their translations, so that when the name of the flavor is revealed, it is more of a pay off for the viewer to put it together. Another error is the translation of the 'Phish Food' flavor. They seem to forget that this is named after the band Phish, so it would have been cool to incorporate the band in some way. See additional spots here, here and here.

Y'all Overload

Last night I went with my little Texas friend to a party that consisted 99.999% of University of Texas Creative Advertising (one of the best advertising portfolio programs in the country) graduates. Everyone there was extremely creative and artsy. I was blown away by all the cool shoes people had on. Even my kicks took a back seat to some of the others there. It was cool to be surrounded by lots of people who are all young creatives working (or trying to work) in the city. Conversations consisted mostly of things like, "what agency do you work for...what's your best campaign...what shoes are those?" Definitely a fun time. I do have to tell y'all, though, being around tons of Texans is odd because they say y'all alot. Y'all don't even understand. Catch y'all later.

Infinite Possibilities

This video showcases a new technology developed that takes 2D photos (what you would get using a snapshot camera) and transforms them into 3D automatically. The description for the video reads:

Researchers of Carnegie Mellon University has managed to teach a computer to recognize and transform 2D images into 3D.

This is really cool. But the choice of what images to use in the video are a bit boring. What about the pyramids of Egypt? The Grand Canyon? A coral reef? Come on CMU, give me something stunning.

Quick Trip to the Carribean

I'm gonna make this short and sweet; Negril Village. Go there, eat there, get a carafe of Sangria. Whatever you order, jerk it out. Enjoy.

Sony Paints the Town

This is the new Sony Bravia commercial. Many people may remember their last commercial in which they unleashed thousands of bright bouncy balls down the streets of San Francisco. I like that commercial better than this one. It had a more artistic feel and the slow motion was more interesting, as well as the song. By the way, what the hell is up with the random clown running through this commercial? See behind the scenes footage here. Get even more info here.

Let the Shoe Wars Begin

Having a brand new full-time job has its benefits (think constant inflow of funds, dough, cash, money, etc.), having that job be an art director position, and having a friend who enjoys classic kicks as well (see salsa dancing with Maria from Peru) all means that I gotta have the craziest, most stylish shoes out there. So, I went on a little shopping spree in these last few days, and what I found was a bunch of classic kicks with insane graphics and features, along with a BOGO 1/2 off sale at Footlocker. What I went with was a pair of blue suede Pumas and a pair of out of control Nikes (yea, that's a reflector). So, Thelonious, you may have your electric silver pair of Adidas, but now I have these babies. Whatcha gonna do bout it?

Give the Kid a Chance

My friend loves my blog so much, he started his own. Or maybe he is so annoyed with my asinine comments he wants to voice his own crazy points of view. In any case, he has a brand spanking new blog, Thelonious. He will be covering music mostly, both new and the classics, but look out for random randomness thrown randomly into the postings. He is a crazy guy and I expect nothing less from his crazy blog. I mean come on, just look at this picture of him salsa dancing with 'Maria from Peru' and read his first post, it ends with him going to buy some sweaters.

Gallery Openings are the New Pink

After my amazing experience with my first New York City gallery opening, I was pumped to check out another opening where a friends acquaintance was spinning the tunes. Upon walking in, my friend trampled right over the giant maze that was on the floor (see the video).



We quickly found the bar, and paid $4 per beer. Not a bad price, until we realized that this was a 'suggested' price and the spirits were actually free. We got back at them though, I was double fisting at one point.

The rest of the art was cool. The main exhibit was a collection of vinyl album covers of Latin music and was very cool to see such a large collection of cover art, side by side. The rest of the art was also cool. It ranged from a video of somebody standing on a tree stump to battleship scenes made of playdough. Yes, these gallery openings are definitely becoming a staple in my NYC life, yes indeed.

Suzuki Gets Their Draw On

These new ads for Suzuki cars look like something a teenager would draw on their three-ring binder during 7th period study hall, and I like them! See more here.

Skinny Dick Pants

Introducing the new Skinny Dick Pants. Jimmy Kimmel Live spoof of Audrey Hepburn GAP ad.

VW Taps Spinal Tap

This new Volkswagen commercial features Nigel, the fictional Rock N' Roller from Spinal Tap. So if the movie is a mockumentary, does that make the commercial a mockvertisement?

YouTube Video Brings Album Covers to Life

This is what happens at the record store when the owner has locked up for the night.

Basement Jaxx Knocks Our Faces Off

Last night a group of friends and I went to a Basement Jaxx concert at Webster Hall. For any of you kids that don't know who Basement Jaxx are, I suggest you wake up and smell the funk. They put on an amazing show, full of energy. If a big black woman belting out, "Good luck! Good Luck! Good luck in your new bed!" doesn't get you going, you may want to check your pulse. Every song seemed to pump the crowd up more than the last, the highlight of the show being when "Where's Your Head At" was played. I highly recommend a Basement Jaxx concert to anyone who is alive, but good luck catching them live, they are from England. As a consolation prize, watch this video from last night, although it hardly does the live show justice:

Ah, Bloody Hell

To promote the upcoming movie, Saw III, advertisement posters for the film will feature splatters of actual blood. Whose blood? None other than the star of the film himself, Jigsaw. Actor Tobin Bell, whom plays Jigsaw, has agreed to donate some of his red liquid for the publicity stunt. The promotion also includes an American Red Cross tie-in where blood drives will be conducted in the 25 markets that the posters appear. I can only hope that they force donators to cut off their own foot in order to give the blood. Read more about all this craziness here.

Create Your Own Supermodel

I don't know about you, but I've made my fair share of home movies on my MAC (check some of them out here), and I've never had anything resembeling Giselle Bundchen come from it. See a better quality version of this ad here.

My Friend Draws Me

My friend does amazing little caricature drawings, so I had her draw one of me. Anyone who has ever seen me walking around NYC will know she got me perfectly.

Thumbs Up? Not So Much

I came across this ad in the Penn State student newspaper, The Daily Collegian. The copy reads:

"Have more fun with your thumbs. Rock out with peer-to-peer music streaming on the Sony mylo personal communicator."

Now, I don't know where the ad agency found this mullet with a thumb under it, but I would guess that the creatives jumped in their time machine and headed back to a 1992 Billy Ray Cyrus concert. And I highly doubt that the target demographic for this Sony toy is guys with mullets. What a strange little ad, but given that it appeared in central Pennsylvania, it may be very effective.