I got to sit down with Mashable’s contest winner and social media guru, Blair Ward, to talk about how he brought home the bacon for Cincinnati.
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Last week we visited some of the exhibitions at Parsons Festival. One exhibition particularly left us in awe, featuring a few students from the Design and Technology program. (more…)
The mission of the Adobe Museum of Digital Media is to showcase and preserve groundbreaking digital work and expert commentary to illustrate how digital media shapes and impacts today’s society.
Open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and accessible everywhere, AMDM is a place to reflect on the importance and impact of digital media in our lives. The museum is an ever-changing repository of eclectic exhibits. Shows will be curated by leaders in art, technology, and business to inspire fresh conversation about our constantly evolving digital landscape.
Visit the museum at www.adobemuseum.com
Last night my friends invited me to the official release for the documentary of
Bill Cunningham; entitled Bill Cunningham New York. Known as the original New York street-fashion photographer (way before Scott Schuman, Garance Doré or bloggers started making their mark) the 82 year old photographer has been documenting the streets of New York City, every day, for the past 40-50 years. Most known for his two columns in the New York Times “On the Street” and “Evening Hours”, Cunningham has a keen eye for capturing fashion as “he’ll do anything for the shot,” says Kim Hastreiter, co-editor of Paper magazine. Sometimes he is so determine to get the shot he’s after, even if it means running into incoming traffic. Not only does Cunningham capture originality and the energy of the clothes he is also a storyteller, every spread has its own unique voice and I can only imagine that he tries to re-create the same frame he captured onto each spread.
As a patron of fashion, Cunningham is a simplistic guy when it comes to his own style. Owning just a few articles of clothing and a royal blue jacket worn by Parisian workers he maintains a simple lifestyle of solitude. His mode of transportation is an old bicycle, which he says (in the film) is his 29th as his previous bicycle was stolen. Having lived in Carnegie Hall until they kicked all the remaining six guests out, he lived in a small studio surrounded by filing cabinets and negatives of every shot he’s taken, sleeping on a cot in the midst of chaos. The New York Times Carina Chocano describes him as, “an aesthete and an ascetic, a member of the establishment and a bohemian, and among the last of his kind.”
If you’re looking for an inspiring movie with good laughs and a well blended soundtrack, make sure to check out this movie.
Find out where its playing here: http://zeitgeistfilms.com/billcunninghamnewyork/playdates.html
Trailer:
Dear Corning (and you bloggers out there),
I watched your future video of glass. Our message back to you – we’re ready for this. These technological + glass innovations were truly mindblowing. It was like watching Steve Jobs talk about all the things that Apple is doing 10 years from now. For all your bloggers out there, watch this video for a Jetson’s view of tomorrow. The music and pace of the video is incredibly dull and slow (Corning – you could have done SO much better than this). But the innovations were truly exciting.
We’re ready Corning. When can we start?
From the stop-frame film makers of Creature Comforts and Wallace & Gromit, Aardman creates yet another ground breaking short film. This microscopic masterpiece is all done with a mobile phone – Nokia N8 using its 12MP camera.
If you thought the film was great, just watch the making of it! Talk about painstaking attention to detail, this shows the dedication, passion and talent of this amazing studio.
For more:
http://www.aardman.com/
I’ve been anticipating the opening of Section 2 of the High Line since I moved to Chelsea 3 years ago. The promenade, build on top of old elevated train tracks and stretching 1.45 miles (2.3 km), is not just a beautiful recreational addition to Manhattan’s West Side – it is an indicator (and hopefully instigator) of modern urban planning.
The CO-OP team exploring the High Line Summer 2010
Section 2 of the High Line is under construction
The High Line is connecting a jungle of different cultures and experiences found along it – from new super constructions to old historic buildings, car repair shops and public housing to art galleries and the Meatpacking District. More than that, the urban investment is already showing to be a magnet for development, and proving the power of planning in igniting economic, cultural and community growth. Seeing how the High Line floods over its edges and along the streets its shadow covers to create opportunities inspired me to explore new ideas in urban planning. What are the new trends?
Jane Jacobs’ radical ideas of the 60’s seem to have merit in modern planning as well. Her planning ideals – multipurpose streets and districts, small block, variety in building personalities, and dense populations – finds parallels in the simple innovations of Anthony Lyons and David Green’s urban development in Gainesville Florida. Their focus – small blocks, walkability and a flexible structure – creates an “environment conducive to creative solutions” adaptable over time. Hopefully, their simple genius will inspire others.
In the US, two themes seem to be especially popular entering into 2011; bike sharing and livable cities. Bike Sharing is expanding across America building momentum in its attractiveness to the everyday commuter. Livable cities, a concept focusing on ecologic, economic and social sustainability, argues that “livable cities – easily navigated by foot and bicycle – foster happy, healthy, fit communities of people” while fostering growth in the economy and entrepreneurship. Both movements, with micro and marco benefits, are easily adaptable systems.
Bike Sharing Development in New York
It is not always urban planning or interest groups driving changes in a neighborhood. In Manhattan’s Financial District, economic and technological changes are forcing city planners to think in new directions. With more and more trading being done electronically, the need to be in a set location is diminishing and financial companies are leaving the financial district for more convenient locations. This gives space to residents, hotels, media companies, law firms, and tech companies who are increasing their migration to the area. As planners will begin to consider the change in culture and plan accordingly, how will the current trends in urban planning guide and affect changes in the Financial District?
How will the Financial District adapt to its new characteristics?
Images and movie from:
Since the leak of the iPhone by Gizmodo back in April, the hype for this release has reached astronomical proportions. When the iPhone 4 released last Thursday,
we decided to head down to the Apple store in Soho to check out the commotion for the much anticipated phone.
It was amazing just to witness the number of expectant people waiting in line, as the line slowly crept towards the front door. To get a sense of the action that was going on at the store, we interviewed a few of the customers who were waiting in line.
Check out the video:
Back when this blog first started, I intended to have my first post address the question, “where have all the jingles gone?” Feeling nostalgic in today’s world of viral marketing, I suppose I began to mourn the loss of advertising’s earlier “simplicity,” laden with corny lyrics and imagery that have come to shape my own personality and sense of humor (much to my chagrin of course).
Realizing the limits of my expertise in the history of advertising and the research necessary to do justice to the topic, I put the post on the back burner and blogged about something else. Well I still haven’t read Steve Karmen’s Who Killed the Jingle? – How a Unique American Art Form Disappeared, but I think it’s time to at least voice some thoughts and open up a discussion on the subject.
At first I thought a virus killed the jingle: our postmodern culture required we move away from the corny to the cool, get rid of those kiddy tunes and hit today’s tuned-out consumer with clever videos and special effects, or else with the ironic distance that is so hip nowadays, then get them to disperse the ad via social media. In essence: viral marketing. I couldn’t get out of my head the inherent differences between even the words ‘jingle’ and ‘viral’. One, friendly and singsong, frank in its nature. The other, harmful and corrupting, its true workings veiled. I saw it as a hostile takeover rather than the slow socio-cultural evolution it most likely was. Then something strange happened: McCann Erickson made this spot for Verizon:
Here, my two worlds collided. In fact, so many worlds collided with this spot. First of all, we have the return of not just the jingle as a motif and a format, but of a jingle – a classic jingle for Big Red that we all know (and love?). Second, this classic jingle is being parodied, though also mined for its nostalgic gold, ushering it into today’s postmodern advertising realm. Then you factor in that Big Red’s jingle is being re-appropriated by Verizon and things get really wacky. Just when I thought the jingle was back, I realized it’s just a kitschy take on the jingle, which, of course, has gone viral. But I suppose this is the only way for the jingle to survive in today’s world.
It makes me wonder what Verizon’s commercial is doing for Big Red’s sales. And if we shall soon witness an onslaught of advertising that plays on our nostalgia while simultaneously poking fun at it. I think we’ve always had a love-hate relationship with jingles. We, to some extent, love when they come on TV, perhaps because we can sing along, but we curse them when we’re still singing on the train, and in the bathroom, and at work, and while cooking dinner, etc. So maybe the jingle wasn’t killed by the viral. Maybe the jingle was the original virus. (Think about the catch-on effect of singing something like KitKat’s “Gimme a break,” or any one of the millions of jingles that were made to get stuck in your head and then become a shared experience). It makes sense: we, as viewers, built up an immunity to the jingle, thus the mutation into the viral ad campaign. I guess Verizon/McCann Erickson has managed to tap into the ideal niche then: a viral jingle. But since remakes or revivals of classic jingles probably have a very limited lifespan, maybe it’s a matter of simply updating our idea of what a jingle is. Perhaps Toyota has the answer:
Originally only meant to be shown in-house at DK Publishing (UK), this is one truly smart and inspired short video worth watching.
No skipping ahead!
Content © CO-OP 2011.
