Art & Copy - A Film by Doug Pray
Finally got around to seeing this, and was really worried that it was just gonna be a bunch of blowhards reliving the olden days of the ad business. Which is exactly what it was. And you know what? It was inspiring as all hell. Made me proud to be in the business. And not much does anymore.
http://www.artandcopyfilm.com/
(Source: youtu.be)
Bruce Springsteen - Because the Night (Live 1978)
Jesus. It doesn’t get any better than this. You just wanna lie on a beach at night with your 10th grade girlfriend and make out, drink a few Buds, and smoke a few Marlboros. And just lose yourself. Totally lose yourself.
(Source: youtu.be)
Kelley Walker
This guy’s art is like advertising, in the best sense of the word. He is clearly into iconography, and his work demands complex questioning of both politics and our increasingly consumer-based society. He makes nothing easy, yet his point seems abundantly clear.
(Source: artnet.com)
GROUPON “Tibet” – The most truthful ad of the year
So that Groupon ad really seems to have gotten a lot of people’s knickers in a twist. Rightly so, I suppose, because it was rather dim and tasteless.
But what seems to have gotten decidedly lost in all the uproar is the fact that the ad was a perfect portrayal of the truth about what Groupon really is and will only increasingly become: a fast-growing technology that disrupts commerce more than it advances it.
Some have come to Groupon’s defense in the wake of the controversy by pointing out that, ironically, Groupon began as an online community focused on advancing charities and causes by aggregating their collective voices. Personally, I don’t see this as the primary source of irony.
Instead, isn’t it more ironic that this company had to change its business model from one of philanthropy to one that exploits the collective power of consumer purchasing to reach its true potential as a business? In other words, Groupon had to become a disruptive force of commerce (really it’s just Walmart’s low-price purchasing model based on volume, reincarnated online). It had to become the company it accurately portrays in the Super Bowl ad—one that really does drive down the cost of goods, thus squeezing and exploiting global labor and production—to really catch the attention of venture capitalists, Google and the like.
So rail all you want at Crispin Porter, but as always they found the true insight and portrayed it in their advertising.
Only problem is… the truth hurts.
(Source: youtube.com)
A night shot of our HQ lobby at 7 World Trade. The lobby has always been a little Tron-esque.
Related: The words you see near the bottom are part of a light installation with glowing text moving across wide plastic panels. This was done by artist Jenny Holzer. The entire wall changes color according to the time of day, and there is a continuous stream of poetry flowing at all hours. Pic via.
This photo brings back memories of when VIA did the work around the opening of 7 World Trade Center. The fact that Ms. Holzer agreed to do this amazing installation in the lobby of the first building to go up following the tragedy of 9.11 was a huge and fitting honor. I can specifically remember how happy John Coleman (VIA’s CEO & Founder) and Greg Smith (VIA’s Chief Creative officer) were when Ms. Holzer agreed to create the installation. Most important is how striking and relevant the installation still is today.
Also worth noting is that last month Ms. Holzer presented an overview of her career/work at the Portland Museum of Art (ME) (one of VIA’s new neighbors) followed by an original projection on the facade of the museum which was designed by I. M. Pei. This one-night-only projection, For Portland featured selections from the poetry of Nobel Prize-winner Wisława Szymborska.
If you are interested, you can read about my experience of meeting Ms. Holzer and her presentation and projection at the PMA here.
(Source: fastcompany, via bobbbyg)
Shannon McGlothin | Creative Director - Art Director - Thinker
Do yourself a favor and check out his collage work.
The White Shadow
The best show on high school basketball ever on TV. It was also the first time race was portrayed with any semblance of reality on any TV show had ever seen.
Growing up in a white suburb of Boston in the mid-70’s this show taught me not to fear African-American people. Its messages had an even greater impact on me than similar messages that I received from my own parents.
Despite what Chuck D. says, a lot of us came out of the 70’s with a whole new perspective and shows like this made a real difference.
Days of Heaven, Terrence Malick (1978)
Most beautifully shot film of all time IMO. And possibly the best use of VO narration.
It’s also widely recognized as a landmark of 1970s cinema.
This film seeps into your bones.
No one else like her. There is a perverse beauty to all she does. Nothing is as it seems.
A true conceptualist.
A blog about thoughts, ideas, songs, and stories, picture and words, that flow through Smith.
