History of Communications

History of communication from DesignTV on Vimeo

This is a really great ad created by DesignTV that gives the viewer a perspective on all the strides that have been made in communication. I especially appreciate the pacing of commercial. By speeding the introduction of each subsequent piece of technology it subliminally reinforces the final idea that you need the client company Carphone Warehouse to help you with your communication needs.

via - In My Atmosphere

Black Sheep - The Choice is Yours '08 (Obama Mix)

No matter how people feel you have to admit that Obama has inspired the country (if not the world) in an amazing way. Here is yet another example of this election affecting popular culture.

The Barack Obama Infomercial

Really great way of reminding people of the best theme of most great political campaigns.

make the campaign about the people not about the candidate.

My Thoughts on The Negro Don Draper

I've been a fan of Mad Men since i first heard about the idea of the show and until mid way through the first season thought Don Draper was a black man passing for a white man in the advertising industry similar to "Diary of an Ex-Colored Man". It was later revealed to my disappointment that his dark (no pun intended) secret was he was the son of a prostitute. An article in the Atlantic made me feel better since it appears like I was not the only one who felt that way.

So Mad Men is over, and short of the NFL, there really is no other reason for me to have a TV. I got rid of mine last spring, and I actually considered buying a new one just to see the new season. But then I discovered Mad Men was on Itunes. You should know that there are only two shows that have ever made me cry--Justice League and Mad Men. Sound insane? You obviously have never watched Justice League.

read the rest after the Link - The Negro Donald Draper

I have to also agree on the fact that Justice League was possibly the best cartoon drama ever written!

Superman Goes To Gotham

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Obama Budweiser Part 2

So here is an update on the WASSSUP 08 commercial which has been making the rounds on the internet

Who's behind the "Wassup 2008" Obama ad? Not Budweiser.
by: Burt Helm

This morning when I blogged about the “Wassup 2008” Obama video, two questions sprung to my mind. First, who paid for this thing? The production values are very high – one person from Budweiser’s ad agency, DDB, estimated it could have cost as much as $750,000 (she also said DDB had nothing to do with the video). Second, how could Budweiser possibly be cool with such a clearly partisan advertisement?

After some digging, I found out. First, it cost way less than $750k. Second, Budweiser had no clue it was happening until after the video hit YouTube on Friday.

The man with the answers? Charles Stone III, the director of the original “Wassup” commercial and the movie Drumline (and the guy who answers the phone in the first frame of the video). He decided to make it about two weeks ago, he told me, with a crew of about 50 volunteers (all professionals working pro bono). They put it together in 9 days.

It was all possible, Stone says, because Budweiser never owned the rights to the idea. He’d originally made it as a short film independent of the brand, and Budweiser had only leased the rights, paying a mere $37,000 for five years of use. Back then, people gave him a hard time about the low price. Now Stone, a diehard Obama supporter, says it’s more than paid off. “That I’m able to use an idea distributed by a huge company, who made a lot of money off it, so that now when I put out what I want to say, it’s recognizable, and it sparks -- that’s worth $1 million to me.”

It came together after emailing with friends about ways they could make a video supporting Obama. Once they’d settled on the concept, he got on the phone with the original cast (all friends of his, who are now actors living in New York, Philadelphia, and LA), and called up his Director of Photography from Drumline, Shane Hurlbut, who brought in his crew. He also signed up Gerard Cantor and Maurice Marible, from commercial production house Believe Media, who co-produced. They shot over two days. The war-torn Iraq setting is actually a preexisting set in Santa Clarita, CA.

After they finished, they uploaded it to YouTube with distribution company 60Frames, set up a website, wassup08.com, and sent links to everyone they knew. As of writing this, it’s been viewed almost 1.8 million times, and picked up across the blogosphere, including on BoingBoing, Daily Kos, and Huffington Post. The final price tag? About $6500 out of his own pocket, Stone says.

via - Business Week

to sum the story up basically a freelance creative person who had an original idea, sold it to a huge corporation for at best a questionable price, is now reaping the rewards of his creativity in two important ways?

He can support his favorite candidate for president in a widely and instantly recognizable way using his original idea AND most likely reap a huge financial reward for his original idea in the near future. Since this remix has given his original idea a higher level of cultural importance than any beer commercial ever could.

What we have here people, is a bona fide media miracle.

The Secret To World Peace

This explanation is pretty valid in a lot of ways. Bear with me as I try to explain why at 3 am.

To over complicate what Penn says here is a redux using the often qouted "Game Theory". You do not have to like someone but Game Theory states that working with someone to a mutually beneficial goal is the only logical (and proper) course when placed in a situation where risk/reward is based on the success over an obstacle.

This is why the concept of segregation was such a poison to America. Since America is a capitalist country we are suppose to always try to accomplish a goal in the most cost efficient method possible. Segregation separated and denigrated the African American workforce based on arbitrary reasons.

Ironically Booker T. Washington often preached a early for of this mind state by using the example of the hand and the fingers and while mostly being separate would have to come together in order to accomplish any substantial goals.

Now America finds itself once again separated. However, unlike segregation America finds itself separated from most of the world due to our current policies. We as a country must rejoin the world and face our collective problems together.