The real reason we should care about the whales #startrek
What would happen to us if politicians decide to lift whaling sanctions in this weeks talks?
A lack of whales could lead to some bad scenarios. One recent study suggests whale poo is crucial to slowing down global warming, however another threat to our environment looms; the terrestrial beings who communicate with Earth’s whales. If the whales all die and that communication ceases, these aliens may come looking for their fat friends… and destroy our planet in the process.
Leonard Nimoy understood this threat to our existence and made a documentary about it in 1986. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Captain Kirk manages to to travel back in time, meet the mum from 7th Heaven and beam some whales to the future thus stopping our otherwise inevitable annihilation:
Some people say Captain Kirk is not a real hero, but an aging man with a talent for beat poetry. If these accusations are true then who will save the whales from their hunters?
That’s the job of the politicians we elect and we can not let them decide that commercial whaling is ok.
Please do something to save whales
AT&T wasn’t so bad at technology in 1993
Watching these inspiring ads it’s funny to think that AT&T (and Apple) are now so slow at adopt technologies which have been around for years like “face time”.
It’s also funny to think back when these ads were made I was playing Heaven and Earth on my Dad’s Mac and none of the other kids at my kindergarten even had computers at home.
The most requested item from the national archives
Not the Bill of Rights or the Constitution, but a photograph of President Nixon meeting Elvis. Fuck yeah.
More photos from the event are here >
Update on the “fake” chatroulette ad
On 18th of March 2010 I photoshopped and posted my idea for Calvin Klein to use Chatroulette to promote their products. This was three days before Merton made Chatroulette a household name and every advertiser jumped on the bandwagon
Word spread fast(ish) and by May sites on the other side of the interwebs had reported about this “fake ad” without any attempts at journalism.
It was a just an idea. Calvin Klein did not create or implement it.
If you think it is clever you are more than welcome to contact me about offering me a job!
point_your_broswer [at] annaosekerr.com
Making the world a more colourful place #letscolour
I love the Let’s Colour Project and this video. It’s always nice to see brands using their resources to help people in need, and this is such a delightful way to do it. It reminds me of the Bras for Africa project or the story of the Red Cross delivering a truckload of lipstick to holocaust victims.
People will always need food and shelter, but sometimes the most powerful gift is a dose of hope and humanity.
See more about the Let’s Colour Project here >
Broken social scene, yes please
In Paris I had the pleasure of seeing BSS play live. It was a great night out with two of my favourite people in the world. Had a bit of a nightmare navigating the metro and got there quite late so had to stand at the back, squished up against the sound desk. Seriously French people suck at shows. They didn’t dance, they didn’t want an encore and when Kevin Drew promised to play one more song on the condition no one took photos or video during it… some idiot started taking photos.
Oh well I guess it’s people like that who enable me to share video of the show with you.
Probably the best thing about the show is I managed to buy three of their records which I didn’t have yet for the price I would pay for only one in Australia. They are a band I highly recommend having a listen to if you haven’t before >
Parrots and venice
This ad is beautifully shot, but makes little sense. It plays on the fact that St Mark’s square is filled with pigeons and when the world warms up those pigeons will be replaced by tropical birds. Sure St Marks square has more pigeons than Trafalgar (which has none), BUT when they leave they will be replaced by whales.
Anyway here is another photo of St Marks Square taken by @jonohutchison the first time I went to Venice:
And here is another photo of models with parrots:
How realistic are the wax models at madame tussauds?
Since I was a little kid I have always wanted to go to MD, and a couple of weeks ago my dream came true. Except instead of Spice Girls there were a bunch of pop/movie stars I didn’t know. Still an enjoyable experience, but probably not as enjoyable as it was for the people in this video (via mtlb):
Oh and our plane to Milan was grounded meaning we had to skip having dinner with George Clooney at his fav restaurant in Lake Como (thanks for the tip @handypearce). So it was good to at least get a snap with him, to show my grandkids when I am geriatric and forget that the event never actually unfolded:
The most used painting in advertising?
I’ve arrived in Paris and out of all the paintings in this city, by far the best I have seen up close and personal is The Picnic by Manet. It is one of those paintings which can not be done justice by modern photography.
It seems quite popular with a bunch of ad creatives, because it keeps popping up in advertising. I’ve seen it in a youghurt ad, a carpet ad and most famously David Olgviy’s first ad:
The best of italy on the interwebs
While being in Italy is something special, a lot of people only do it for the tourist attractions. I can’t understand why as you can experience most of those online (unlike having dinner at George Clooney’s favourite restaurant). Here are some Italy online hightlights:
Sistine Chapel – Why wait in line like I am probably doing right now to spend a couple of minutes in the Sistine Chapel when you can see it in high definition 3D on the Vatican website here >
Pompeii – I love volcano simulators at museums, but have never cared to much about the ruins of Pompeii. However if it’s something you’ve always wanted to see why not explore it on Google Streetview >
The Last Supper – This is not Leonardo’s best work and certainly doesn’t deserve the attention it’s given. But if you do want to see it, check it out online with the world’s highest definition ever photo. It’s a lot closer than you will ever get to the real thing, see here >
Czeched in prague
Just landed in Prague.
Czech Dream is a documentary about advertisers who created massive hype about the opening of a new supermarket. Even though the location of it was in the middle of a fields tons of people came to see what they could find at the sale – what they found disappointed them all. It’s an interesting study into the power of advertising, I have the DVD if anyone wants to borrow it, or have a look at the trailer:
Checked in london
Right now I am in London, but because I have limited internet access I have to write to you from the past. I have scheduled some blog posts with ads, art & weird facts from the places I am going. They will come at you on the dates I supposed to arrive in those places. Starting in London with this ad about ads:
via if this is a blog then what is christmas >
Special things from me to you
According to Google people who end up at my site are usually searching for “Chatroulette boobs” and I hope those people find what they are looking for.
The people who spend the longest time on my site (on average 15 minutes!) are usually looking for cats. So below is a picture of a kitten I had called Maebe, so all you cat people don’t have to look so hard:
Pretty soon I will be getting on a plane to Europe so the regular service may be somewhat disrupted. But never fear I will schedule some themed blogs for while I am gone. I have also compiled a list of very talented New Zealanders who write about the kinds of things you find here.
For advertising lols I recommend a peek at the hashtag #overheardinthecreativedept created by the very lovely miss @bexrad.
If you want the latest breaking news, I don’t know why you would be looking here. Nevertheless may I suggest following journalist @jonohutchison, who’s stories you can find on New Zealand’s TV3.
If you’re a nerd you will enjoy David Chambers Design, where my friend painstakingly writes beautiful code.
For everything and anything in any way awesome you must subscribe to Frivolity by my favourite Poppy Gallico.
(Tip: her boyfriend is also a fantastic tweeter.)
For music listen to Dear Time’s Waste, for arts & craft check out Craft-D, and there’s even a site to cover off the most obscure of the things I blog about weddings.
Beer ad makes fun of the lady in melbourne with a ball of wool
Although I prefer Victorians to any other breed of Australians (oops sorry Sydney friends), I do like this ad and how it pokes fun at one of my favourite ever TVS:
Looking forward to being in Melbourne this weekend on the way to Europe. Does anyone know where that cloister is? I have always wanted to find it.
Some lessons in computer advertising
I’ve wanted to see Art & Copy since I saw the trailer awhile ago and pestered my local cinema about a screening. Finally tonight they held one and I got to see the film everyone has been raving about. Overall I loved it!
Although I have to point out Lee Clow (TBWA/Chait/Day) was wrong saying that all computer advertisers use macs to make their ads. As someone working on Microsoft as a client I can only wish that was correct!
I used a Macintosh PC for the first time in about 1991, before I could read, and have been using them ever since. Lately I have been on Windows 7 at work & home and although it does a lot of things well, running Photoshop is not one of them.
Lee Clow also talked about the reasons people think the 1984 ad was a hit:
Was it the new style of film it caused? Was it that it only ran once? Was not showing the product what made it so powerful?
No. I’ll let you in on a secret.
The reason this ad:
was so well received
is
the
boobies
bouncing up and down as she runs towards the big brother screen.
Fact.
Lest we forget
Today we celebrate the soldiers from New Zealand and Australia who risked and lost their lives for our countries.
Over breakfast we got into a debate about whether their service is really the most important thing our country’s people have done to serve the world. Without denying that the ANZACs deserve the recognition they get, there are other New Zealanders have contributed a lot on the world scale and get little more than a face on note (which even kiwis don’t use now that everyone takes eftpos).
Lord Rutherford – Split the atom and although his science has been used for both good and evil, it really is world changing.
Apirana Ngata – A Maori leader who was probably the first “native” person to contribute to a western country’s politics.
Sir Edmund Hillary – Climbed the tallest mountain in the world.
Kate Sheppard – Lead the woman’s suffrage and got the first vote for women around the world. Without the efforts of kiwi women I am sure feminism would have eventually won the right to vote, but you’ve got to admit we did a great job of doing it first!
When you consider that these brave women were the first in the world to get females recognised as citizens in their own right, it is sad to see how little they are celebrated. Other than a face on a $10 note, a relief in Christchurch and a fountain in Auckland City there is not a lot we do to remember them.
There are so many statues in New Zealand of politicians and soldiers and none that I have ever seen have been famous women. Female statues are only found in war memorial sites. They are depicted with robes falling down revealing breast and failing to hold up the weight of an iron flag.
Are there any statues around the world in the likeness of any great women? (Real women from our age, not the Statue of Liberty or Mother Mary). Please link me to them if there are!
Washing machine company apologises for your missing sock
…and even offers to give you a new pair if you add your lone sock to their lost sock database. Very engaging and product relevant, I love it.
Claim you free socks at www.lostmysock.co.nz >
Rhys darby makes hp computers look cool
Okay, it’s not Rhys Darby that does it, it’s Dr Dre… Mr. Darby just makes us Kiwis look a little bit slow as he usually does.
BUT WATCH THESE ADS ANYWAY BECAUSE THE ARE QUITE FUNNY
By the way I went to the New Zealand consulate (in Sydney) today to get a new passport. It was nothing like the one in Flight of the Concords which was disappointing. On the lift up I was honestly imagining 70s wallpaper and a platter of Mainland cheese to greet me.
Brooklyn’s deadliest airdistaster
On 16 December 1960, a United Airlines Flight 826 landing from Chicago and TWA Flight 266 coming from Ohio collided in mid-air and plummeted onto Staten Island and the brownstones of Park Slope.
Debris from the United plane and sections of fuselage pummeled the buildings and sidewalks. One piece falling on the McCaddin Funeral Home, causing embalmed corpses to fly into the air and onto the street. The Pillar of Fire Church was engulfed in flames and the left wing of the plane slashed through the apartment building next door. In the middle of the intersection, the entire tail section fell upright.
128 passengers and six people on the ground were killed in the disaster. via Atlas Obscura >
Sir Edmund Hillary had booked a seat on Flight 826, but missed the flight after arriving too late at O’Hare airport.
There are very few reminders of one of the world’s worst aviation disasters. One woman who moved into Sterling Place in 2002 had frequent nightmares about a plane hitting her apartment. She assumed the dreams were related to 911 until she saw photos of the forgotten crash with her apartment in them.
Newsreel footage of the crash here >
There is a better way to experience volcanoes
Ad concept for New Zealand Tourism which was proposed to run the morning of the volcanic ash story on the SMH story.
Funny dunny ad campaign
We were driving home from the Easter show when out of the window I saw this gem (although less pixelated and darker in real life):
Because the others in the car missed it the driver turned around and we drove back for a closer look. At one point the car was 50/50 split on whether or not it was legit, with one person pointing out it would be a lot of money to spend on a glorified post-it-note. I gave my “professional” opinion that it must be part of a bigger ad campaign because every art director dreams of putting comic sans in a billboard just to give the shits to every graphic designer that drives past.
Looks like we were right.
Mumbrella confirms it’s an ad for the Red Cross’ new facebook app urging people to challenge their friends “for the love of humanity”.
What i would do if i was rich
A generation ago the most pressing question humanity could ask was what is the meaning of life? Now that we know the answer to that our culture has a new important question, what would you do if you were a millionaire. So here is my answer, open a museum. Budgeted to leave some change for the cliché charities and investments, here are the details:
An almost complete T-Rex skeleton named Samson failed to reach it’s reserve price at Auction in 2009. For 4mil I could probably seal the deal, perfect for the foyer!
At twice the size of a T-Rex, Robosaraus would make a perfect addition to my dinosaur collection. He can eat cars and planes and breathes fire and yet only sold for half a million in 2008. Going to see him at the Sydney Easter Show this week, quite exciting.
Of course I will need somewhere to store my budding Jurasic Park and I have always dreamed of owning an island. Lucky for me Plum Island off Long Island, New York is up for sale. It’s going cheap too because of the whole animal disease research they do there which means the whole place may be contaminated. On the up side it’s got a pretty lighthouse and weird creatures often wash up on the shores.
With the rest of the money I would buy all the paintings I love and maybe hire some cassowaries and to roam the grounds. Any other suggestions for what to put in my museum?