Today would be the day I joined a long line and bought myself a new phone. Nah, truth is I'd probably wait until the noise died down or order it on line. Heck, it's only a phone after all. That's not really true—it's an iPhone! And there's just a little hype surrounding the launch.
In the last six months, Apple’s iPhone has been the subject of 11,000 print articles, and it turns up about 69 million hits on Google. Cultists are camping out in front of Apple stores; bloggers call it the “Jesus phone.” All of this before a single consumer has even touched the thing.
I'm happy to wait though. It builds character. Passionate patience Paul called it. I shouldn't get too excited...they'll probably sign up '3' as the network of choice.
Still, it might be fun. And my phone's already surrendered.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
If I lived in the US I'd be buying a phone today...
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The New Yorker and a design classic
While the New Yorker is a classic in itself, I received an email today from one of my favourite stores, Remo, promoting a t-shirt design featuring one of the New Yorkers all-time classic covers. So, complete with working drawings, photos of the creators as well as the final artwork, here's the story behind it. I'll hand it over to Remo from here:
New Yorkistan is an original design that became the cover art for the 10 December 2001 edition of The New Yorker magazine. It was created by longtime REMO friend Maira Kalman in collaboration with new friend, illustrator Rick Meyerowitz, and is, according to the American Society of Magazine Editors, #14 on the list of the top 40 magazine covers of the past 40 years.
The design depicts the boroughs of New York City, as well as individual neighborhoods within the city, giving each a name a "funny mixture of Yiddish, Farsi, and New Yorkisms" based on the history or geography of that area of the city: Lubavistan, Kvetchnya, Irate, Irant, Mooshuhadeen, Schmattahadeen, Yhanks, Feh, Fattushis, Fuhgeddabouditstan, Hiphopabad, Bad, Veryverybad, Khakis and Kharkeez (in Connecticut), and so on ...
The response to New Yorkistan was overwhelming. The magazine disappeared from newsstands in two days, becoming the best selling issue of The New Yorker in history.
Some Background: By early November 2001 the people of New York had settled into a deep funk. The ramifications of September 11 had set in and the war against the Taliban had begun in Afghanistan. "When their cover came out, suddenly a dark cloud seemed to lift" ... according to a glowing piece by Sarah Boxer in the 8 December edition of the New York Times. She went on:
"New Yorkers were mad for the map. They laughed. They shared it. They recited their favorite joke names on the map, making sure you had the proper Yiddish: the name Gribines (for the Hudson River) means chicken cracklings. They checked out your cultural knowledge: Blahniks (the Upper East Side) is where everyone can afford Manolo Blahnik shoes. What? You don't understand. Youdontunderstandistan? You should be banished to Outer Perturbia (somewhere on Long Island). Perhaps not since Steinberg's drawing had New Yorkers pored over a magazine cover so long. Of course, the maps are totally different. Steinberg's is a delicate drawing done in perfect perspective, with fully realized cars and little witty dotted lines separating Canada from Chicago and Mexico from Washington. The drawing by Ms. Kalman and Mr. Meyerowitz is flat and naïve. Aside from a funny perplexed camel standing in the middle of Stan (Staten Island), the humor is all verbal."
According to Maira, the inspiration for the cover arose in a car on the way to a party. She and Rick were talking about tribalism. At one point she came up with the idea of "Bronxistan", to which Rick replied "You know, we've got a map here." Originally, the picture was to be run on the back page of the magazine, but editors liked it so much that it was decided to make it the cover picture. (Indeed, you'll note, if you look carefully, that the original art been stretched to fit the full height proportion of the magazine.)
The napkin of an idea...
The development of a napkin...
The coloured-in version
The creators...
The final illustration:
The way the public saw it on the newstands:
Friday, May 4, 2007
That was the day Krispy Kreme came to town...
The world's most isolated city is no welcomer of some to life's finer indulgences. Sure, it's well compensated by many other rich attributes, but Perth is a wasteland when it comes to the finest doughnuts on the planet. Until Friday May 4...that was the day Krispy Kremes came to town, bringing with them a whole lot of love, a whole lot of charity and a whole lot of calories.
Today was Starlight Day - the annual national fundraising day for Starlight Children's Foundation. Since 1988, Starlight has brightened the lives of seriously ill and hospitalised children, and their families, by delivering innovative programs that restore the fun, laughter and joy that serious illness takes away.
To tie in with Starlight Day, Krispy Kreme made a one-day-only appearance in Murray Street mall. It was necessary to pre-order your $25 box of a dozen Krispy Kremes. A fellow cacophonist got me in on the action 45 minutes before the 'order by 5pm Thursday' window was shut. The box included 6 commemorative star-shaped KK's and 6 semi-regular KK offerings. Everyone in my workplace secured their stash. I'm not sure how many hundreds/thousands of boxes were sold, but there's some decent fundage flowing into the fundraising coffers of the Starlight Foundation tonight.
Much kudos for a tidy marketing idea targeted into a Krispy Kreme-denied city. I hope they've derived plenty of money. After all, many Western Australians are deriving much satisfaction right now. And kudos also to Krispy Kreme—one of the world's iconic brands and embracer of charity on this and many others. Perhaps it may give the folk KK the confidence to launch a foray into the western wasteland.
8 seconds in the microwave will bring back some of the freshness the plane trip stole...
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Top 5: Brands
Ok, so this Top 5 could be misinterpreted as an advocation of materialism, but hear me out.
While I'm not a fan of labels, I love brands. I've spent a fair chunk of my life reading about them and designing and creating, then building them. At their worst, a brand can create an attractive and alluring, though false, perception of a company. At their best, the brand embodies the company and paints a picture of accuracy that is one you want to climb aboard.
A brand is a set of assets (or liabilities) linked to a brand's name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service. It's not just the 'logo' but a whole host of visual and non-visual elements that create a perception of who and what a company is. Some of these are intentional, many more are incidental.
Brands end up taking a life of their own. Strangely, they can have a soul of sorts. Illegitimate in a spiritual sense, yet resonating with some of the characteristics of soul we might ascribe.
Sure, there are some things we see and just 'want one. That's probably not what I'm on about. A brand is usually built by degrees. A whole bunch of factors that accumulate to tell a consistent story. And you have a growing affinity for the brand because you like the story.
A few years back, Kevin Roberts of Saatchis created the notion of 'lovemarks'. Essentially, these are brands that people have fallen in love with—not because they give status or credibility to the owner (although sometimes that might be true), but because they're attracted to what the brand communicates and how effectively it tells its story.
Strangely, thumbing through these Lovemarks, you'll find people. Princess Diana is in there. This isn't cynical. People aren't loathing or bemoaning, they're recognising. Some would hope effortlessly and incidentally, Princess Diana came to represent a bunch of different values—a persona that people could wrap their heads around and form an opinion about.
Once more with feeling, brands shouldn't be viewed as status symbols (though some clearly are). Whether you're a fan of Coke or Pepsi, they're still cola beverages—it doesn't make you morally or materially superior to have an opinion. You just might have an opinion formed by the way these two companies have built their brands.
And they don't mean you necessarily want one for yourself either. You may love the way Harley Davidson have marketed themselves for generations yet have no desire to wake the neighbours each morning with nasty noise pollution. You may never wish to enter a Starbucks yet respect the way they've gone about building a worldwide brand.
I've made one of these lists once before (in 1988). For the sake of posterity, here's two:
1988
1. Nike
2. Esprit
3. Apple
4. Honda
5. Clinique
6. Remo General Store
7. Pepsi
2007
1. Apple
2. Nike
3. Moleskine
4. Remo General Store
5. San Pellegrino
6. Krispy Kreme
7. Birkenstock
So, how 'bout you?
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Early morning, April 4
Free at last.One man come in the name of love
- Bono
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
(nobody like you...)
Early morning, april 4
Shot rings out in the memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love...
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Not long until the noise begins
Well in the U.S, at least...
This was aired for the first time during the broadcast of the 2007 Oscars ceremony:
Sunday, February 18, 2007
You're tops: Steve Prefontaine
Ok, I'm buzzing a little at the moment. Partly because I've just come home from church, but also because I just had a freak encounter with a guy at Riverview called Ben Fields.
But I'll back up the bus a little before I get there.
I run. I'm a runner. I love running. I began when I was about 13 and since that time, barring ugly injuries (of which there have been a few) I've run pretty much constantly for the last 25 years. Sometimes up to 140-150km a week, these days a more sedentary 40-50km a week. Long distance running's my bag and as you go along, you grab a few heroes along the way.
Locally, I can't go past Herb Elliott (no relation), John Landy, Ron Clarke, Rob De Castella and Steve Monaghetti.
Beyond these shores though, I've got five big heroes: Sebastian Coe, Said Aouita, Haile Gebrselassie, Emil Zatopek and Steve Prefontaine. Each of these runners were renowned as much for the way in which they ran as for their accomplishments. I'm only going to talk of two of them for now...
Emil Zatopek, a Hungarian, won the 5000m and 10000m at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki and then decided he'd give the marathon a shot. He'd never run one before so at the 20km mark, when he could stand it no longer, he asked Jim Peters (England) who had been the pre-race favourite whether the pace was 'a bit slow'. When Peters looked at Zatopek as though he had been smoking something strange to be asking such an insane question, he made his own arrangements. He won a third gold medal in the Helsinki Olympics, cleaning up the all the long distance races in process. And he did it looking ugly. That's one reason why people loved him. He ran with a contorted, almost demented head tilt as though ever sinew was stretched and he was about to burst something. But he dominated. Actually he crushed other runners; grinding them into a pulp with withering bursts that were powered by pioneering interval session that are emulated to this day.
Steve Prefontaine never won an Olympic medal. He did run in the 1972 Munich Olympics but finished fourth in a race that he wished he could erase from his memory. At one point, Steve held practically every American distance record from 1500m to 10,000m (that's 1500m, 1mile, 2000m, 2-mile, 3-mile, 5000m and 10000m if you're wondering). The guy was a freak. He reckoned that anyone who sat on the shoulder of another runner to let them do the work before running to victory was a whimp. Steve's philosophy was that every time you get to a start line, you pull out you're very best (he held the same thinking on many of his training runs too!). You run hard. Not surprisingly, Steve was a front-runner. As much as his coaches tried to convince him otherwise, he always led from the front and basically said to everyone else: 'catch me if you can'. If you're good enough, you'll beat me...but you'll have to catch me first. Steve said: 'A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more'. He ran to see who had the most guts.
The crowds loved Pre. They wore 'Go Pre' T-shirts, they chanted 'Go Pre' in the concluding stages of most of his races (which was usually a chant to victory). Adding to the folklore, Steve's coach at the University of Oregon, Bill Bowerman, used Steve as a guinea pig for some running shoes he concocted using his wife's jaffle iron. We now now those shoes as Nike... Steve was part of the genesis of all that.
Steve died tragically in a car accident on the evening of May 30, 1975. He'd run in a meet that afternoon and was perhaps a little ticked off. He'd had a few to drink. But what probably killed him was an insatiable love for speed. On foot and behind the wheel.
Steve once said, 'To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift'. He believed that if you're given an extraordinary gift, with it comes the responsibility of stewarding that gift and not wasting it.
He was full of great one-liners (like the one on the poster just here). He once said: 'Some people create with words, or with music, or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say "I've never seen anyone run like that before." It's more than just a race, it's style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative'.
The guys cult-status and legend was phenomenal when he was alive. It has only grown since. As with anyone cut off in their absolute prime there is a sense of loss and frustration about the unanswered questions of what he might have gone on to achieve. Yet all this fuels the legend as well. How he ran, why he ran and his attitude towards running.
If you're still with me, all this is both a homage to a hero and a preamble to why I'm buzzing.
I was singing at Riverview tonight and happened to be wearing one of two 'Pre' t-shirts that I recently purchased.
So, the service is over and a guy called Ben Fields walks up to the platform and says 'I couldn't help notice your t-shirt, I went to school with Steve'. At this point I just about fell off the stage. Ben went to Marshfield High School with Steve Prefontaine. They ran together in the track team. I told Ben about my other 'Pre' T-Shirt. This one is a replica of a shirt that used to be awarded to guys on the team who racked up 2000miles in a season and has on the front 'Pirate 2000 mile Club'. Ben excitedly told me that he had that t-shirt. The legit version. I asked Ben what his event was. Ben was a mile runner with a PB of 3'59!! Yep, a bloke walked up to me at Riverview knowing I must have been a runner to be wearing a Pre t-shirt and let me know he was a 3'59 mile runner who ran with Steve Prefontaine. Yikes! Ben seemed a bit excited too! I don't blame him!
I could go on, but I'm tired. I hope this isn't the last of our 'You're Tops'. I doubt it will. There are a whole lot of incredible people out there. For very different reasons. Steve's just one of them...
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Shut Your Snack Hole?
A picture might tell a thousand words, but the one below seems to take the temperature of much of contemporary western culture in a crispy chicken wrap. I'm lovin' it!
I'm a bit unsure of what kind or rant should follow. Perhaps something about:
• the vaccuousness of some corporate advertising?
• the sexualisation of fast food?
• our culture of consumption?
Ahh forget it. All this thinking has made me hungry.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Label me Elmo
So... a portion of the creative genius that comprises The Cacophony Ensemble have colluded to define some broad creative parameters for the labels/categories/genres that combine to form the writings you'll find from the ensemble. Believe us, they're plenty broad.
Above all, the intention is to shed some light (however filtered, misguided or well-informed) on the noises that surround us. Sometimes as amused onlookers and reporters, sometimes as curious participants, sometimes as participants, sometimes as frustrated folk and sometimes as people with a thought for a way out of the noise.
So, the labels/categories are thus:
JESUS_is more than alright with us
RUNNING_the simplest and most efficient form of physical exercise
LEADERSHIP_without followers is merely taking a walk
REVIEWS_movies, music and literature
THE CHURCH_gentle observations and thoughts about Christ's bride.
TRIVIAL PURSUITS_random gear and curious fun
SPIRITUALITY + THEOLOGY_God in the cacophony
CULTURE_the cacophony that surrounds us
YOU'RE TOPS_there's been some fine people who've walked this earth. We pay homage.
STUFF'N'THINGS_have you seen the iPhone yet?
CULTURAL ICONS_Chuck Norris et. al.
STRENUOUS WHOLENESS_getting tidy at being a well-formed human
VENT YOUR SPLEEN_step on to the soapbox and let rip
TOP5+_FOr lovers of lists, order and clarity
PHILOSOPHY_a bunch of words to confuse, bewilder or illuminate
All of us have our different inclinations and passions. That'll be pretty obvious as we get going.
It's what we're thinking. Thoughts?