Vitriolic Humor

Does that song in the American Express sound strangely familiar? It's "Give Me Some Money" by Spinal Tap. Who would have thought that we'd ever see mainstream advertising using a mostly fictitious spoof band's mostly fictitious spoof music in an advertisement? Anyone want to bet whether or not anyone will use "Sex Farm" or "Bitch School" in an advertisement?

Tags: mainstream advertisement television video advertising money spinal spoof spinal tap tap

Posted by speedeep at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Like fellow Montgomery blogger, Charles Presley (Eating Montgomery, insert witty title here), I was amazed (after it was pointed it out to me) that there is an arrow in the Federal Express (FedEx) logotype. It's been there for over 10 years now and despite seeing this logo thousands of times, I've never noticed it before.

The ugly secret however is that now that I know it's there, my mind purposefully analyzes the logo each time I see it to catch the arrow, burying the brand and meme of FedEx deep in my cranium. Now I'm passing the curse on to you:

Besides being a brilliant use of typography in design and a simple, effective logo it's got the additional hook of the arrow in the negative space between letters. The man who designed this was interviewed by The Sneeze. His name is Lindon Leader and his company is Leader Creative. There, now you know who to bug, don't call me if you can't get "the arrow" out of your head...

Tags: leader fedex logo design graphics typography federalexpress type arrow logotype

Posted by speedeep at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Does anyone remember when Walmart trucks all had "Made in the U.S.A." proudly displayed on them? I'm hoping to catch a picture of an old, retired Walmart semi trailer somewhere. What a long way from that Walmart has come. Sam is probably spinning in his grave...

I'll keep this short:

You need to read this great article on Fast Company.com about how Walmart manipulates it's suppliers.

You need to watch the new anti-Walmart documentary Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price.

You'll probably want to keep an eye on these sites for more information on Walmart: WalmartWatch, Wake Up Walmart, Wikipedia on Walmart.

If you have any doubt, consider the effort Walmart has put into their PR site Walmart Facts. They consistently derail you from the issue at hand and present facts that support their opposite take of the criticism, hoping you'll stay off-track long enough to believe what they are telling you. For instance, they will quote reasonable (but low) numbers for their hourly rate paid to full-time Walmart workers, but do not tell you that Walmart considers "full-time" 28-29 hours a week. Here's a link to help you wade through some of the spin: How to interpret the PR spin.

Consider what you are doing as you shop this holiday season. Do you want to send your money to China by way of Bentonville, Arkansas, or would you rather support your local community by shopping local suppliers and retailers? Do you really believe that Walmart is offering you the lowest prices? Always?

Why do you still shop at Walmart?

Tags: cost politics walmart economics responsibility monopoly spin marketing retail culture

Posted by speedeep at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Several years ago there was a large print (as I recall, maybe 6 feet wide by 10 feet tall) or mural in what looked like an unused storefront in downtown KC that was titled "Escape Artist". Does anyone know any information about this piece, the artist? Does anyone have a photo of the display? Any information appreciated.

Tags: downtown largescale art kansas KC large missouri kansascity mural abandoned storefront gallery painting empty kansas city

Posted by speedeep at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Syd Barrett (founder of Pink Floyd) died peacefully on Friday, July 7 at his home in Cambridgeshire at the age 60. His creativity was reigned only by his madness. A great creative spirit has moved on. Shine on you crazy diamond...

Links:
Wikipedia article on Syd Barrett
BoingBoing nod to Syd
NME
CNN
ABC

Tags: sid uk syd barrett music rock rick wright architectural mp3 history syd cambridgeshire the floyd roger waters floyd psychedelica brit pink david gilmour nick mason entertainment abdabs dave gilmour england psychedelic founder british death art progressive barrett memorium richard wright pink floyd flying atmospheric

Posted by speedeep at 2:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Photo originally posted on Flickr, used with
permission of the photographer, Niznoz.

Recent news articles indicate that the wrecking ball of change has started swinging to bring the chimneys down. The stated goal is to demolish the chimneys (citing structural instability) and then rebuild them. In order to understand the entire issue, it should be noted that the developer, Parkview International, is based in the British Virgin Islands and is outside the reach of the Wandsworth Council should there be needs for legal recourse during the renovation. This means that the plans to demolish the chimneys as they exist now and rebuild them could very well stop with their demolition and nothing could be done to force the developer to rebuild. Some are suggesting that demolishing the chimneys is the first step in demolishing the entire structure, preparing the site for luxury condos the developer plans to build.

There are a couple community groups who follow the status of the planning on the property. You may want to check out Battersea Power Station Community Group or The Brain-Damage.co.uk Campaign to save Battersea Power Station.

More information on Pink Floyd.

More information on Storm Thorgerson.

Flickr photos tagged with 'battersea' (Most Popular)

If you'd like to keep track of the chimneys' current status you can take a peek via this live cam of London. (Someone post a comment if you notice the chimneys are missing between the London Eye and Big Ben in the background.)

Tags: rockandroll pink battersea pigs thogerson floyd pink floyd powerstation london flying

Posted by speedeep at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The mix strings along short interview snippets through a huge variety of tape loops, sounds, and samples we've all been listening to in our pop music for the last 50 years or so. I'm trying not to make it sound too pedantic. It's high-paced ride with all kinds of tunes and clips that you've heard in various songs mixed with insightful interview clips and quite entertaining. Even if you don't like these genres in general, I encourage you to check this out if only to gain a little more insight into the history of the samples behind the tracks you listen to every day.

In-jokes and references abound, keep an open ear for Madonna's "What the fuck do you think you're doing" overlaid with her "Ray of Light" and (Whitney) "Houston we have a [drinking] problem" samples towards the end. If you are ready for an audio roller coaster ride, start downloading...
Direct Download or BitTorrent Link (both are 70MB+ mp3 files)
(thanks, BoingBoing!)

Tags: sample - remix - remixed - remixing - djfood - bastard - pop - glitch - mashup - mashedup - mash-up - sampling - sampled - dj - disc - jockey - tape - loop - music - history - art - artist - copyright - bootleg - cut-up - creative - energy - amalgam - bittorrent - mp3 - audio - illegal - culture - deluxe - meta - magic - downloading - download

Posted by speedeep at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The best Windows software by my accounting. If this you are starting with a blank Windows computer, this list should get you the basic kit for almost anything you need to do on it.

The Best:
PuTTY
Mozilla Firefox (Best browser right now.)
Eudora (I've been using this since 1994. I'd like to try Thunderbird, but it doesn't seem ready for prime-time the last time I tried it.)
WinAmp (Classic Skin!)
Ad-aware Personal
WinRAR
AntiVir PE Classic
IrfanView (The best image-viewing software.)
VLC (The best video/media viewing/listening software.)
Cygwin (X on Windows)
BartPE (Windows SAs, check this out.)

Continue reading "Essential Windows^H^Hze Software" »

Posted by speedeep at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By swamysk. Used w/permission.

MTV managed to show most of the performance with no commercials and no MTV VJs interrupting with interviews of frat boys sharing their thoughts on Africa. ("Will I get laid if I say that I care on live TV?") Correction: Then they cut off the end of the end of "Comfortably Numb" so Ahmet could tell us to "stick around." Is nothing sacred MTV? I don't need to be told to stay put or see commercials for AIDS/sexual assault/Big Dave's Fireworks/Kotex/Vonage, dammit I want to see the performance! This is Pink Floyd! Maybe if they had done this as a fundraiser they could have done more uninterrupted live coverage. AOL's live Internet feed was much better than MTV/VH1's ad-littered coverage.

MTV bleeped the heck out of their broadcast. Thanks, MTV, for at least not editing out "bullshit" on Money. ABC's replay of selected parts of the concert was heavily censored, including obscuring the "bullshit" in Money. One of these days I'll blog on my thoughts about censorship and otherwise modifying an artist's work. AOL's feed was uncensored.

The camera flashes were popping, so I how to see some good photos on Flickr (Search 1, Search 2, Search 3) maybe an audience audio or video recording via BitTorrent (Search 1, Search 2, Search 3, Search 4)? They just released the DVD of the first Live Aid, how long until the Live8 DVD is released?

Setlist:
Breathe
Money
Wish You Were Here
Comfortably Numb
(kinda surprised Roger didn't get "Each Small Candle" or one of his other two new songs in there...)

David Gilmour did all the vocal duties for the first two songs, Roger Waters did WYWH with Dave doing the scat lyrics. Roger and Dave split duties on Comfortably Numb. Roger spoke very little, but dedicated Wish You Were Here to Syd Barrett. Nice touch.

A great performance, couple of new backing artists. Good sax solo on Money, don't know the performer's name.

Good London camera work by whoever is filming this for broadcast including a fade to a zoomed-in view of the Battersea Powerstation's silhouette on the London skyline. A nice fade away to the London Eye. Great coverage of the band, closeups of the performance. Couple of really nicely composed shots of Dave and Roger.

There was an ad for Pink Floyd: Echoes about an hour after their performance. You could order it from them or just buy it on Amazon.

First time they've been back on stage together since 1987. 24 years later. Wow!

Tags: live8 - pinkfloyd - davidgilmour - rogerwaters - bobgeldof - bobgeldof

Posted by speedeep at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)