Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tennessee is dishing up some serious sideshow goodness in these mildly grotesque outdoor boards for it’s latest exhibit. Working on a campaign like this is pretty much every designers dream. “Hey, watch out, that alligator is gonna eat the kid!” Amazing article about the exhibit in the Mountain Press. which contains this interesting historical factoid:
“The idea of putting babies in incubators started out as a sideshow feature and these doctors would tour around with these premature babies,” File said. “It’s a great story. I think people will really enjoy it.”
Sadly nothing up on the Aquarium’s site yet (looks like a classic, ‘we never got the working files in Flash from the agency that did it’ scenario). I’m sure the collateral is quite awesome, although I suspect the actual exhibit is going to be a bit of a snoozer.
Commercial culture depends on the theft of intellectual property for its livelihood. Mass marketers steal ideas from visionaries, alter them slightly if at all, then reissue them to the public as new products. In the process what was once insurgent becomes commodity, and what was once the shock of the new becomes the shlock of the novel. Invariably, early expressions of sub- or alternative cultures are the most fertile sampling grounds, as their publications or zines are the first to be pilfered. Invariably, pioneers of radical form become wellsprings for appropriation. Rebellion of any kind breeds followers, and many followers become a demographic.
Guiltcology. A cute little portmanteau neologism that stabs right at the heart of the green zeitgeist. Long overdue, I think. Has that same beautiful illogical quality as Irangate and chocoholic. Coined this day by Marc Arsenault. Guiltcology can be loosely defined as an approach of argument that focusses on blaming individuals for causing grossly disastrous effects on the environment. You shower too long, you drive too much… change these selfish habits and everything will be OK, and better yet, you’ll feel better about yourself. ‘I hugged the earth today. I walked to the corner store (instead of driving the 2 blocks) to buy (mercury laden) CFLs to replace the bulb I broke last night stumbling around in the dark (because I’ve been keeping the lights down to save energy).’ A classic example is US President George W. Bush’s speech about how Americans are addicted to gasoline.
Many examples are directly tied to the crassest and most misleading forms of advertising, like a recent example in the Gardener’s Supply Company catalog (Late Spring 2008 edition, page 68… nothing against them, really, they’re a fine company, but this is just plain stupid) that begins “Americans throw away more than 300 million tires every year.” Well, surely, this is the responsibility of that industry? I don’t get my old tires back when I replace them. (I didn’t get my wisdom teeth either, even though I practically begged for them. Who knows what they did with that hot commodity?)
Typically it then leeds in to full-on guiltvertising (neologism no. 2 for today). Continuing on in the Gardener’s listing… ” The good news is that today, almost 80% of those tires are being recycled into road surfaces, building materials… and our exclusive rubber mulch! Our customers alone have purchased enough recycled rubber mulch to keep 896 tons of rubber out of the landfills.” Really, OK, don’t hurt your head too much thinking about how that works… Like how many tons are 300 million tires and what percentage this mulch that will just hang around forever represent.
Far worse are the many examples of ad copy out there for how buying a plastic water bottle or coffee mug is so awesome for the environment because it saves X amount of bottled water bottles or coffee cups. And that makes it green as all get out, no matter what it is made out of.
…instead of showing that it’s following through on serious, long-term corporate commitments to eco-friendly practices, the company is just tossing the job back in the consumer’s lap.
Revelations abound and much sample art is to be had in this least likely of all artist interviews at Marvel.com with Gary Panter on his contribution to the 7th issue of Jonathan Letham’s Omega. We get some clues that Gary is releasing some music, and yes is still drawing for Riddim. A few other tidbits are also worth noting.
1. This awesome analysis of Jack Kirby
The kind of changes he went through graphically in his life were really interesting. His stuff starts out kind of blobby, like everything’s made out of wet mud. Then by the ’60s, it is like wax and less blobby and he starts really getting the gravity and antigravity going. And then in the ’70s he has figured out how to sculpt the space with the line and shapes and attach the planes in space like they are clipped together and the whole thing bulges and explodes. And then he kept at it like the warrior intellect he was.
2. Marvel has a healthy respect for its fans
Marvel.com: So, Gary, tell the Marvel zombies out there a bit about yourself and your career.
Everyone was nice at Marvel and I had fun doing the comic
4. Marvel doesn’t mind it’s competition advertising on its site
Screen grab of the Marvel page with video ad for the new Justice League: The New Frontier DVD
5. I spend about a quarter of my working year writing interview or ad copy and I cannot imagine writing such awful question lines as are in this interview. How this thing was constructed is beyond me. It’s a very un-natural flow. It feels very dumbed down in a an awkward way. I’m not convinced that Sean T. Collins had much to do with this final piece, but I’m very glad to see that all Gary’s bits of stuff and links made it in there. It’s worth noting that it was updated the day after it was originally posted.
Omega the Unknown from Marvel Comics is on stands April 2, 2008
UPDATE - I can’t help but feel a little cheated for getting something free.. That interview has ALL the art by Panter in the Omega comic. I would have been nice to have experienced it all in the book. Aaarghhh. never look. never look. Keep the spoilers from my heeart!
I have this deep conviction that, given the chance, most Americans would take anything that smells like art or an artist and ship it to the giant island of plastic waste in the middle of the Pacific. With that mindset it should come as little surprise the events in Troy, New York during the last week involving RPI’s visiting artist Wafaa Bilal. Except things reached a point of the truly wrong. That the storied engineering school with the slogan ‘Why Not Change the World’ should have a hardcore club of republican students with apparent connections beyond campus (or whatever the case is) should also come as little surprise. Still, the whole thing leaves a bitter taste in the mouth as a supreme ‘what the fuck’ moment. Although officially written out of US law in 1973, federally protected free speech still held a shimmering veneer, that, in practice, anyway, seemed secure. Secure until what the application of “community standards” really amounts to in a former industrial center of the American northeast became apparent. Welcome to the scene in Troy, New York. Early March, 2008.
Across the river, mansion hill burns with the emerging scandal of now former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer’s indiscretions. In the historic district of downtown Troy an untarnished hero of the people is roasted for doing what was clearly the right thing at the right time. Steve Pierce is a saint. A champion of the empowering possibilities of media placed in the hand of the common man. He should be held in the same regard as other such far-thinkers as Rick Prelinger and Kevin Kelly. His most recent passion, The Sanctuary for Independent Media was callously shut down by the City of Troy, New York this week in a blatant flexing of cronyism.
Here’s Steve’s official statement from last night:
Hi-
Perhaps you’ve heard the news that the City of Troy, citing code violations, has shut down The Sanctuary for Independent Media effective immediately.
This happened the day after a top Troy official, who is also a Rensselaer County legislator and a constituent liaison for Senator Joseph Bruno, organized a protest condemning Wafaa Bilal’s work and our decision to present it on Monday night.
We have been working on our building since we first occupied it and throughout have been in close communication with the city about our plans, so this sudden closure-following the censorship of Wafaa’s work by RPI last week-came as quite a shock.
You can hear the phone call from the City of Troy at www.MediaSanctuary.org, along with a clip from Wafaa Bilal’s talk, and make up your own mind about the motivation behind the City’s action.
We have contacted the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, and private practice attorneys for assistance on the First Amendment aspects of this situation.
This crisis has created an urgent need to raise funds for building improvements: if you can manage it, it would be greatly appreciated if you could make a secure online financial contribution at www.MediaSanctuary.org, or send a check payable to The Sanctuary for Independent Media to PO Box 35, Troy NY 12181.
Under the circumstances, the remaining three programs in our “Art, Freedom, Democracy” series are in jeopardy as is the rest of the Sanctuary season. We will let you know shortly whether our presentation of The Yes Men next Tuesday, March 18 will proceed as planned, and if so, where.
Many thanks for your support in the past; if you can offer further help in this moment of need, please let us know by emailing info@MediaSanctuary.org.
Hope to see you soon!
–Your Friends at The Sanctuary for Independent Media
Here is Wafaa Bilal’s videotaped statement on the incident:
Screen grab of the ad section from one of those ridiculous themed RSS aggregator ad farm sites (or Splog). The interpretations of this juxtaposition (and the potential for resulting humor) are endless. Way to go, 1st Tenn!
Mere hours after a jury in Little Rock awarded USD 27 million to a woman who got breast cancer after taking hormone replacement therapy (full story), an article appears on the CNN front pages ‘Latest News’ titled “5 Good Reasons for going on hormones“. The final insult, the story is in a column called “Empowered Patient”. The whole tone of the article is vomit-worthy, right down to the attitude it takes to the history of the therapy and the risks involved and the way it tries to spin it into something acceptable. Like, ‘it’s safe now, trust us’. Riiiggghhttt. The frequently cited source for studies on HRT and cancer is the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which has just published a new study that basically states that the risk is much greater than previously believed and use for three or more years increases the risk. So, CNN and Elizabeth Cohen, I am calling you out on your bullshit article that tells us that everything magically changed in 2002 and HRT is perfectly safe now, given a loving caring doctor.
Ed Hardy tattoo decals in a vending machine at a Toys ‘R’ Us. 50 cents each. I bought two. What is the world coming to? OK, maybe it never passed out. If you remember the days when tattooing was still a relatively underground thing (and illegal in NYC) then this still seems weird. Check out the Ed Hardy site for more confusion. Put together by the same man who turned the world on to Von Dutch. The man himself still holds it down at Tattoo City in San Francisco. Sorry if this is so completely not news to anyone.
OK, after that pun, I’ve forfeited my right to some sort of future privilege in this world and all possible others. This magazine has been on the rack on the local Kroger’s for the past 2 months, and I do a double take every time I see it. Maybe I haven’t gotten used to seeing him without the shades. Yes, it is the author Neil Gaiman on the cover of a watch and luxury lifestyle magazine. Hi Neil.
Strangely I never saw any mention of this notably odd thing in the usual comic and pop culture bloggy sources. So here’s the camera phone pic I took a month ago. There’s a tiny bit about it on a Gaiman message board, and the actual hr:Watches site hasn’t been updated in months. Still the oddest thing on the newsstand.
Direct TV has a spot airing now with Scooby, Shaggy, and the gang pitching their service. Funny thing, they are owned by their rival–cable TV provider–Warner Brothers. What does it all mean?
It was long past time I found a new place to buy books when in San Francisco…
My local crappy shop in Brooklyn closed up a couple years ago and I finally sucked it up to ride the F out to visit Alex at his excellent Rocketship, and now I’ve found a similar friend at my (third) home in the bay. Isotope - the Comic Book Lounge, worried me at first… I just Googled “San Francisco” and “Comic Book”, and there they were at the top. But why had I never heard of them? Unlike Rocketship I’d swear they don’t come up in the usual comic blogs of artist tours and the like. And the site contents weren’t all that convincing. “Who are these guys?” But we went and they were so super friendly and helpful (James and Kirsten). Clean store, good selection, lots of lounge space, and really cool artist decorated toilet seats.
My first bay area comic shop love has to always be my old employer Comic Relief (I was the zine buyer in the mid-90’s there… in between the renowned tenures of Josh Petrin and Janelle Hessig), but when in San Francisco, I’ve often found myself on Divisidero at Comix Experience… something I’ve come to dread. I still go up there for the excellent cheese shop and the cool antiques store… but going in to Comix Experience takes some effort.
I thought I would give it one more try, but, no, the same insufferable asshole is still behind the counter, and now I’ll probably never go again. Try Googling Asshole and “Comix Experience”, read down the links a little bit and you’ll find this ain’t just me talking. I have no idea who this jerk that Brian hired is, but he is a fucking retail nightmare. He is completely unhelpful, spends endless amounts of time on the phone, is ridiculously loud and belligerent, blathers on about his stupid opinions in a way that only Kevin Smith (barely) gets away with (as in, every other word is ‘fucking’… and I’ve witnessed this going on with little kids in the store), and if you have the nerve to whisper to someone on your cell phone in the store he asks you to leave. So yeah… this time, I just said, “you stupid ass”, and walked out. Never to return. Mr. Brian Hibbs, sir. Fire this stupid fucking asshole. I don’t care if he’s your brother or what, but you’re hurting more than just your own sales with this jerk.
I’ve been assaulted lately by clueless advertising. Bad concept, execution and placement. First of all this has been a lesson to carry a camera at all times. Even while driving. And at whatever personal risk.
It is because I did not follow this cardinal rule that I do not have my own shot of the Chick-fil-A SEC Tailgate campaign billboard on I-40 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Two cows dressed as cheerleaders is, of course, always funny. It’s great that whoever put this piece of outdoor together consistently used the Chick-fil-A corporate colors of red, black and white; but, they may wish they’d gone for the UT Vol’s orange and white on the cheerleader outfits instead of the colors of UT rivals the Georgia Bulldogs.
Where’s the remote when I need it! Fire up the TIVO!
As a part-time resident of Brooklyn and a serious green-type person, I am fully in support of the GreeNYC initiative and its goal to make New York City “cleaner, healthier, more reliable and more sustainable”. I think it’s great that they are even taking out clever little animated spots on cable TV. So, when I saw the spot on the Biography Channel today, I was a little confused… because I was watching it in Tennessee.
ED in ‘08
Ever since Bob Dole brought erectile disfunction into our living rooms a few years ago, it seems like you can’t escape a wealth of pills, potions and gadgets advertised in all forms of media that are guaranteed to make you get hard quicker, stay hard longer, grow your cock bigger and come harder than you ever imagined. Now you can jump on the bandwagon and join the movement that Bob started by becoming part of The “I am ED” Project! Brought to you by Strong American Schools with support from the Broad Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
I first became aware of this much needed campaign through this curious juxtaposition that I scrolled up on my screen on the popular Boing Boing site.
Am enjoying watching the Police having horrendous technical troubles as they try to get through “driven to tears”. There are some great moments of quick cuts away from Sting as he tries to shout for some help on the ghastly audio. You don’t have to put on the red light… really. It’s all going to be OK.
They’re dyeing up there. It’s like watching a beached whale. This is pretty rough.
I was more than a little surprised to receive in the mail the following item…
OK. you’ll have to excuse my collage of the key elements here…
The previous tenant in my new house is still getting all kinds of crazy catalogs, and at first glance I thought this one was from fancy art and fantasy bookseller Bud Plant… but, soon I found out it was far more… or less… a southern (Moultrie, GA) dealer of knifes, guns and other fun stuff. “Get the Edge”, indeed.
anyway… is there not something screwy with Yoda appearing on the cover of a catalog that hawks Nazi memorabilia? Hey George L! whoever is handling your merchandising fucked up somewhere, buddy! WTF?
UPDATE: September 13, 2007 - Just got the new BUDK Catalog and there is a complete lack of Yoda and Light Sabers… Hmmmm…
or: What’s wrong with.. not just this picture, but this whole situation department.
I’m pretty sure he got a redesigned outfit shortly after this…
OK, what’s really wrong with this whole sausage party is… GEICO, an insurance company whose core is in auto insurance, sponsoring anything connected to the glorified bloodsport of NASCAR. This is one of those ’so obviously wrong, that it only make sense that it exists’ situations… But, hey, to most people, I’m sure the reported horribleness of the caveman sitcom pilot is way more of a concern…
Got into the local Cingular store (complete with the the blue vinyl “now the new AT&T” banner flapping over it) just before 7pm (local time)… was asked with a chuckle by a sales dude what he could help me with, and then had a sales chick brandish a boxed/shrinked iPhone at me… “It’s the last one! …but it’s a four gig…” “Oh, uh, thanks anyway… do you have one I can play with?”
Um… yeah, it does, as they say, totally rock. qwerty board was slightly rough with my fat thumbs, and the screen direction changing was not as responsive as would be ideal… anyway
Really wish I’d explored this now, but the one really funny thing on the demo units was the selection of tracks in iTunes, like, say, 1984 by Van Halen… The real kicker was the Star Wars theme by John Williams. I couldn’t resist a jab at an AT&T dude… I’m pretty sure he was familiar with the Death Star brand recognition issue. I’m sure there were many more choice hits. Maybe “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones? oof. (you can buy all of these on ITunes, btw… I checked)
Update: The brilliant Peter Kirn on CDM reminds of us an old Apple chestnut that is suddenly so very funny.
Book Description
Straggling behind the mild 2003 success of cartoonist Chris Ware’s first facsimile collection of his miscellaneous sketches, notes, and adolescent fantasies arrives this second volume, updating weary readers with Ware’s clichéd and outmoded insights from the late twentieth century.
Working directly in pen and ink, watercolor, and white-out whenever he makes a mistake, Ware has cannily edited out all legally sensitive and personally incriminating material from his private journals, carefully recomposing each page to simulate the appearance of an ordered mind and established aesthetic directive. All phone numbers, references to ex-girlfriends, “false starts,” and embarrassing experiments with unfamiliar drawing media have been generously excised to present the reader with the most pleasant and colorful sketchbook reading experience available. Included are Ware’s frustrated doodles for his book covers, angry personal assaults on friends, half-finished comic strips, and lengthy and tiresome fulminations of personal disappointments both social and sexual, as well as his now-beloved drawings of the generally miserable inhabitants of the city of Chicago. All in all, a necessary volume for fans of fine art, water-based media, and personal diatribe. This hardcover is attractively designed and easy to resell.
Enjoy this sad tableau from the local Borders.
