think demux

It’s some weird science. But it must be as popular as happy-slapping these days.

Improv Everywhere have been zapping reality with orchestrated human video effects - slow motion, freeze frame - and watching their latest work it clicked. That’s 3. A trend?

I’d say Michel Gondry has something to do with it. Be Kind Rewind aired the idea feature-length for the mainstream, and music videos - beyond Gondry’s - were making up the rules before.

Manipulating reality to mimic a video effect now requires more skill and effort than making a film. Orchestrating a “cinematic moment” live, and generating the precision of an edited film spontaneously… Well that technique’s alive in the commercial world after Honda’s Difficult is Worth Doing TV spot.

There’s a few key characteristics to this as a trend, if you could call it that:

1. Liveness

2. Real people

3. A real context

4. Mass participation

5. Precise results

I much prefer Improv Everywhere to its commercial progeny, and you should peep their excellent blog for the full range of their playful anarchy. It’s more compelling because of point (3) - it has a real context.

The participants are larger in number (see point 4). But it’s more important that they’re volunteers. They choose to be there because they want to be there. And as long as you’re paying people to do something, and controlling the environment, it’s not a real context.

Gondry? That’s art. That isn’t live or real - but it more than makes up for it with its inventiveness and dedication to point (5) - blissful, beautiful precision.

What’s your take on this as a trend? Do you agree with these characteristics, or have I left my lens cap on here?

The Scunthorpe Problem. Ring any bells?

Back in 1996, residents of Scunthorpe, Penistone and Lightwater were left in the dark by AOL when their town names were blocked by obscenity filters. Apparently Google did the same.

Thanks to the galloping speed of progress, we have an enhanced version of the Scunthorpe Problem. And here it comes courtesy of the right-wing press.

America’s OneNewsNow site has been autoreplacing the word “gay” with the word “homosexual”, rechristening Tyson Gay as the Fastest Homosexual on Earth.

Putting to one side the agenda of OneNewsNow, this raises a much broader question. The word vs. the image. While PCism continues to butcher the word, our visual filters are dropping and dropping. Aren’t they…?

Two counterpoints to conclude on here: a recently banned Heinz commercial, and the words of Paul Virilio. See what you think - which is harder? The word, or the image?

…in a rapidly globalizing world there is no longer, strictly speaking, either Right or Left, and … since the fall of the Berlin Wall, these things no longer have any meaning. All that remains is the great audiovisual dilemma, the conflict between the soft (the word) and the hard (the image).

Paul Virilio, The Information Bomb

Toronto street artist Posterchild went to New York this month and transformed digital ad platforms into stained-glass graffiti installations. Watch the video below. (via)

At the same time, the CutUp Collective are removing London ad posters wholesale, cutting them into thousands of bits, then reconfiguring the display space with their recycled material. (via)

Do corporate identities represent the last big remix taboo? Now that brands are present in social online spaces, will they ever let themselves be personalised?

Or is it left for the street artist to educate them in humanity?

Previously: Brand logos remixed; Skullphone hijacks New York billboards.

Yes. Almost always. But this one for the California Alzheimer’s Association seems to get the measure of context, interaction and purpose. What do you think?

Footnote: I’ve just had another play with sound on and there’s a weird digital noise effect for the eraser. Not sure what that’s all about… Any guesses?

via Adverblog

Not a question I expect to be asking myself on a Sunday night.

But browsing the freezer of your nearest cornershop tends to leave you with a basketful of questions. Or, at worst, spectacularly poor answers.

This San Marco pizza presented the answer to a question I never dreamt I’d ask. What is analogue cheese?

“Deep pan pizza topped with analogue cheese, reformed ham, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.”

You can add another question to that list. Who are San Marco pizza? They were offloaded by Heinz in 2003 and picked up by Northern Foods sometime after that. The rest is mystery.

But Google analogue cheese and you get a quick, cheery answer:

“Cutting your costs, building your profits”? That sounds a bit like industry salespeak now, doesn’t it…

Delightfully, it is. Not only do companies seem bound to state analogue cheese as an ingredient on their packaging, but muppets are running their online shop.

The manufacturer might want to “emulate cheese” and “imagine the savings!”, but the consumer will do a little sick in the back of their mouth at the sight of this thinly-stretched masquerading imposter.

And it’s top of the SEO pops for the term ‘analogue cheese’.

A victory for online transparency?

Or does it just beg another question - what is digital cheese?

More Bad Language: Dogs Down the Sh*tter; P*ssed Kids Film Drivers; Give Chihuahuas A Little F*cking Respect.

Danish artist Nadia Plesner devised this design to raise money for Darfur.

Louis Vuitton aren’t happy about her fundraising activities (full story here), citing an infringement of “Intellectual Property Rights”.

“Intellectual Property”?

Wow. How contrary. Brands want us to love, cherish, kiss and hug them. Online, they want us to play with them, tickle them, retouch them (I’m thinking sneakers and labels - Beck’s Fusions last year comes to mind).

They want us to remix. Because they know we like to remix. But only if it’s on their terms and, preferably, their microsite.

This attitude’s so retro it’s almost charming. But not quite. And far less charming for its PR stupidity. They could have easily supported the campaign and added buckets to their brand greenwash. Not to mention dirtied dollars to the Darfur appeal.

I’m with Brazilian designer Mario Amaya (see below). Let’s get remixing brands, whether they like it or not. If they want to be in our lives, they need to be taught how the real world shakes today.

Related: Boosh vs. Honey Monster, Round 1.

Essential: The Pirate’s Dilemma - We Invented the Remix.

Previous: Segway Watch - the Future Goes Social.

When closed?

It’s September 1973, in Paris. You’re on a connection to catch the Orient Express.

What sound does that train make?

Paul Theroux described it as frseeeeeefronnnng.

Not “woosh”. Not “choo-choo!” It’s 1973. Real trains are noisy. But peer into print and it’s a quiet affair. The letters sit in orderly lines in their allocated pages. Not a boo to a goose. Just the odd capital, hat jutting above the crowd.

BOO! Three types of print noise.

1. The Sneak  

Typical of advertising, because he knows he’s unpopular. He’s probably intruding on your conversation, so he has to do it with finesse or you’ll like him even less. As this sneak looks Brazilian it’s unsurprising that he delivers a fun ”BOO!”

2. The Group BOO!

A book cover chorus here - created by Larry Guess using designs by Barnbrook. There are good nights to be had late at the V&A. And when groups worked together they could bring the noise. Ampliflied.

3. ASBOO!

The anti-social BOO! Disturbs you so much you can’t remember what you were thinking, let alone make sense of the words on the page.

Not fun for you. Maybe a photo opp for someone else.

But that’s not what you want. You want a pleasant surprise. And typographers can give you that whenever they get the the sound, and the timing, just right.

On the same train of thought - The Godfather of Sans: James Brown; Test Your Type Knowledge: The Serif; Expert Ear on Wrong Noise: Leland Maschmeyer.

Not a bad job, really. Small office - but one whole wall for a window. Wow.

What are the tips like?

Wait a second… It’s just an ad. And from a company that speaks in German. Well that’s another opportunity lost.

Luckily for everyone in the first world, it’s easy to get a bad job. The trick is keeping it.

It’s harder to get hold of a good job. And when you do it might take hold of you. Pressing more buttons and a kicking when you don’t produce. Without regular oiling, it can make you click into machine mode to protect yourself.

Not in Japan. To evade assailants and superiors you can dress up as machine and stay safe. Although it would involve hours of standing still.

Best way to stay unspotted in the metropolis. But too much robot and no progress. Shame we do it most when there’s greatest pressure. Greatest sense of danger, in public or private.

You can switch off and relax. 

In Japan, crime rates are getting lower. The average age is getting higher. You’ll live, even if you’re a cyborg. You can get a job in a vending machine if it gets too much.

While we’re on that - milk two, please. Anyone else want a cup?

Are you talking to me? But I don’t even have a car.

I might have been on a speeding bus once, but that can’t have been in London. Frankly, I think your assumptions are questionable.

Furthermore, the images on your poster suggest that if I get caught speeding, it would be as if a kid were taking footage. Does the court of law recognise such amateurish evidence?

When I took pictures as a primary school kid they were normally of my friends or the TV screen to see if the photo came out like it looked on the TV screen. For the record, it didn’t. But I’m digressing.

Can I counter-accuse you of badvertising? It would be a shame to do so. Because M&C Saatchi’s TV spot for this campaign is pretty good and it’s a serious issue we’re talking about.

What do you think? I reckon the earlier poster with the steering wheel worked, but this one’s got a bit confused.