Five things on Friday #45

Things of note for the week ending November 9th, 2012

1.Heard of Vlad Rodriguez?
Up until earlier this past week, I hadn’t heard the name before either. But loving a bit of pop-culture/movie-driven art as I do, I found him over at So Bad So Good and his work is incredible. The Bladerunner one above is a fave, but his takes on both The Shining and Fight Club have to be worth a look too.

2. Bat for Lashes, covering Rhianna ‘We Found Love’

Blissful.

3. The Girl Who Would Be King
I’ve been following the progress of this book (and Kickstarter project) ever since I first discovered the first part back in June (see item 5) and I must’ve taken my off the ball a little bit because the whole thing is now available for just a few quid over on Amazon.

Blurb:

‘A novel about two teenage girls with superpowers and radically different agendas, destined for a collision that will rock the world:

Separated by thousands of miles, two young women are about to realize their extraordinary powers which will bind their lives together in ways they can’t begin to understand.

Protecting others. Maintaining order. Being good. These are all important things for Bonnie Braverman, even if she doesn’t understand why. Confined to a group home since she survived the car accident that killed both her parents, Bonnie has lived her life until now in self-imposed isolation and silence; but when an opportunity presents itself to help another girl in need, Bonnie has to decide whether to actually use the power she has long suspected she has. Power that frightens her.

Across the country, Lola LeFever is inheriting her own power by sending her mother over a cliff…literally. For Lola the only thing that matters is power; getting it, taking it, and eliminating anyone who would get in the way of her pursuit of it. With her mother dead and nothing to hold her back from the world any longer, Lola sets off to test her own powers on anyone unfortunate enough to cross her. And Lola’s not afraid of anything.

One girl driven to rescue, save, and heal; the other driven to punish, destroy, and kill.

And now they’re about to meet.’

My copy is sat on my Kindle waiting for me as I type.
I’d recommend you go take a look too.

4. Music + Social
I’ve read a couple of really good music posts this week. This first this one from Songkick talks about how they worked with Hot Chip using their ‘Detour‘ product to help book some new (and off-the-beaten-track) destinations for their upcoming tour –

We picked 3 towns they hadn’t headlined before and created a Detour where each of those cities had a chance to create a show on that spare night. We emailed all of the Songkick users in those cities tracking Hot Chip and things started to take off. We wanted to raise 200 pledges to be confident of demand and rapidly all 3 started to get momentum. What happened next though was incredibly exciting. A bunch of superfans in Folkestone decided that they were going to make it happen. As one fan said, “Most bands don’t come to this part of Kent, they tend to stop at London.” They got super proactive and started to email all their friends and even petitioned the local radio station and newspaper. It exploded and went completely viral in a matter of hours through fan to fan word of mouth marketing, Hot Chip sold out.

The post has more (as well as a pretty awesome chart comparing the fans in Folkestone to the rest of the competition) and is well worth a read. It’s a great case study on how activating fans can yield phenomenal results too.

This second post, this time picked up from the guys over at Fresh Networks, talks about how Lady Gaga’s team use the listening data from Spotify to help choose her music set in each different country that she plays.

So simple.
So obvious.
So brilliant.
So go read.

5. The D is silent
Django. Trailer 2. Bring it.

—

Bonuses this week; Sharp suits – amazing (and actual real life) client feedback, turned into hilarious posters (for charity), great stuff; this interview / battle between Jeremy Paxman and Conrad Black is fantastic watching; and Sarah Silverman does an amazingly filthy thing with a relatively harmless iPhone (be warned: kids will be doing this next week).

’til next time.

 

Short stories on Instagram

I’ve been writing short stories on Instagram.

I’m not really sure why, but it’s just something that has started happening recently, since my last haircut in fact (which is an odd way for things to start but still). I remember the hairdresser handing me a copy of the latest GQ magazine and thinking ‘Ugh, I haven’t read this since I was a teenager’.

But then I opened it and started browsing – ‘I’ve got nothing else to do for the next 40mins, why not?’ – and I found an amazing and quite lengthy article about Philip K. Dick. Prolific science fiction author, futurist and drug user (I would be amazed if you’d never heard of him or of any of the films that are based on his works), I’d never read anything about him, the man, before and it was just completely mind–stretching.

I really can’t remember the full ins and outs of the actual piece (quotes etc) and you’re a better man than I if you can find anything relating to the piece on the GQ website but what I do remember is the way they described Dick’s imagination and the way he viewed the world in which we live.

It really did blow my mind.

The guy was a mental case, a drug-[ab]using* genius and yet, his imagination was – and still is – ridiculously inspiring. That article, on top of this additional piece from Warren Ellis, entitled ‘How To See The Future‘, is pushing my brain in new directions and it is awesome.

On the way home that afternoon, I was on the look out for a decent Empty Underground shot or three and I spotted this:

Inspired, on Instagram

‘That’s cool’, I thought ‘reminds me of the use of amber, from [the TV series] Fringe‘. Then I boarded my tube and started typing. I don’t know what the character limit is on Instagram images, I’m yet to find it. But what I am finding is that being able to go over and above 140 characters is somewhat freeing.

My imagination takes me to all kinds of places…

I wrote:

—————-

Emergency tube closure.
Large rats, the size of cattle, have been reported roaming the tunnels at Oxford Circus. These orange panels, an emergency procedure in place since 1997, are actually made up of a thick orange sinew. Frequently mistaken as a deterrent to the unbelievably large rodents, the panels – also known as ‘honey squares’ – are actually covered on one side with a sickly sweet, yet dangerously poisonous, honey-like coating. This honey trap, if you will, lures the wildrats out of their dark dens and snares them with their hypnotic flavour.

Death occurs merely minutes after first contact. All that remains is for a clean up team to dispose of the captured carcass and reopen the station to the public. The whole process takes approximately one hour.

Quite remarkable really.

—————-

I’ve been writing short stories on Instagram. I’m not really sure why, but what I can tell you is that they’re inspired by Philip K Dick and Warren Ellis.

More short stories —

The Witness

Another World

Sentient Life

Emergency Tube Closure

 

Emergency tube closure. Large rats, the size of cattle, have been reported roaming the tunnels at Oxford Circus. These orange panels, an emergency procedure in place since 1997, are actually made up of a thick orange sinew. Frequently mistaken as a deterrent to the unbelievably large rodents, the panels – also known as ‘honey squares’ – are actually covered on one side with a sickly sweet, yet dangerously poisonous, honey-like coating. This honey *trap*, if you will, lures the wildrats out of their dark dens and snares them with their hypnotic flavour. Death occurs merely minutes after first contact. All that remains is for a clean up team to dispose of the captured carcass and reopen the station to the public. The whole process takes approximately one hour. Quite remarkable really.

A photo posted by James Whatley (@whatleydude) on

–

A bit similar to my N8 project from last year, this time it’s with Instagram.

*user or abuser? The word is undecided. He took the drugs to push himself, and his work, into new dimensions. Surely, for him at least, that’s not abuse; that’s using them exactly what they’re for.

How to improve your outdoor campaign with Virgin Media WiFi on the Underground

Example one (real)

The Look for Longer campaign is a neat little competition from CBS Outdoor to encourage interaction with outdoor advertising. The game itself is quite cute, there’s 75 different tube stations hidden on a poster and you have to guess them all. Simple, right? Perfect brain fodder for London’s challenge-hungry commuters.

You can see the full poster on the campaign website, the version that I’m showing above however highlights quite a nice piece of joined-up thinking from the chaps behind the activity. Conversations around this sort of thing would normally go like this:

‘OK, so we’ve got our posters’

‘Yup!’

‘Do they have a clear call to action? Something like, ‘Text us on this number now!’ or similar?’

‘Yup!’

‘OK, so where are these posters going again?’

‘On the Underground.’

‘OK. Then make sure we add a QR code too…’

‘Straight away!’

—- I’m not kidding.

But not this time ’round, oh no. This time the copywriters and creatives have actually applied context to their work and seeing this kind of relevant and in situ call to action actually put a smile on my face. Smart thinking tends to have that affect on me.

More of this please.

Example two (not real)

Walking onto the platform at Maida Vale back in July earlier this year, I was greeted with this fairly awesome poster for The Amazing Spider-Man. Now while the film wasn’t exactly awesome, the outdoor campaign really could’ve been.

Literally the first thing I thought when I saw this poster was ‘How cool would it be if this was an augmented reality (AR) execution?’. I walk onto the platform and the poster is exactly how you see it now except there’s no Spider-Man in it.

Instead, you download the AR app, hold up your cameraphone and voila, there’s Spidey, crawling around the other side of the platform on the underground.

Wouldn’t be ace if the call to action was something like ‘Seen The Amazing Spider-Man yet? Connect to Virgin Wifi and download app X to see him on this poster right now’ or, better yet, have the app on the Virgin Wi-Fi splash page.

I know a little bit about a little bit when it comes to AR markers (and marker-less markers too) and I’ve always thought you could do something cool with the actual tracks themselves (health and safety, what?) but now there’s internet down there, a whole new world of integrated marketing is wide open.

WiFi on the Underground is free until the end of this year.

Who’s going to innovate next?

 

NFC for GOOD

This one nearly passed me by earlier this week –

The biggest military fundraising drive seen in London will aim to raise £1 million in a day for the annual poppy appeal tomorrow. Some 2,000 serving and former members of the armed forces will target 130 of the City’s biggest financial institutions and 70 Tube stations.
——-
Barclaycard has lent 400 hand-held terminals so donations can be made by contactless transactions. Company bosses will be asked to match the amount donated by their staff.

That last part, the part where I’ve added emphasis is fantastic.

I’ve been tinkering with the idea of NFC/RFID donation points a good couple of years now. Ever since my first bootcamp at Marketing Academy, when quite a large charity (the name of which escapes me now, maybe it was the NSPCC) gave a talk about how it goes about fundraising the hurdles and barriers that it comes across in doing so.

My theory goes:

In an age when, in London especially, citizens are being actively encouraged to carry less cash (see: oystercards for travel and chip and pin / NFC card payments being made available everywhere), what is knock-on economical affect on those that need our small change most: our charities and our homeless?

To the former (and in fact I’m fairly sure I raised my hand and asked this question back in May 2010), you ask –

‘Why don’t we solved by equipping charity tin shakers with NFC touch points?’

From a personal perspective I HATE walking past tin-shakers on the street and on the Underground when I have no change. That whole guilt thing? I know I have the money to give I just don’t have the money on me right now. And when I do, it’ll probably be spent on chewing gum later before I see you again. ‘So, why not enable this technology?’, I asked the man from the NSPCC.

‘It’s not worth it.’ he replied.

Charities make more money with their direct mail drives asking potential givers for a simple £2 per month than they do during a whole year of tin shaking. It’s simply not worth their investment. This makes sense. Why bother throwing money at something which isn’t a fundraiser? My argument to that is, maybe it isn’t a fundraiser because you’re not allowing your tin-shakers to raise funds with technology! It was a frustrating exchange…

Anyway, look. The good news is, for the poppy appeal at least, the investment has been made. Barclaycard, in a nice bit of CSR-based PR, have stepped up and done it for you.

I’m yet to see one of these machines ‘in the wild’ yet, but I’m looking forward to tapping and giving when I do. I also really hope that when this year’s poppy appeal comes to a close, that Barclaycard release some numbers on how much was given using this method.

That would make some really interesting reading.

 

Ps. Get a poppy.

Additional reading: homeless hotspots (another tech-driven fundraiser)

Five things on Friday #44

Things of note for the week ending November 2nd, 2012

Wolverine Poster

1. New poster for The Wolverine
This dropped earlier this week and it is gorgeous. Bold, stark and perfectly reminiscent of the 1982 mini-series that the film is based upon. It’s a little less controversial than the first teaser poster (apparently the locals weren’t happy with the apparent destruction of their flag) and alright we’re going to have wait until July to see if James Mangold‘s version will be anywhere near as good as I hoped Aronofsky’s version would be but still, it bodes well.

If you want to know more about The Wolverine, I’d suggest you go and watch this video (featuring my friend Ryan, and posted by my friend Rob – the guys I mentioned I last week), which features an interview with both the film’s lead and director.

2. Taste the rain

I have a love/hate affair with autumn at the moment, but this piece of art speaks to me on so many levels. I just, I just can’t stop looking at it. It’s crying out for breath. There’s so much going on. I adore it.

via

3. Halloween!

Beetlejuice + Grandmama

Any excuse for dress up, right?

Two parties, one costume.

Epic times.

4. Muse are hilarious
This is old, but I don’t care. I liked it. Apparently, Muse don’t like to mime.

Brilliant.

5. Rob’s THINGS
This week I (re)discovered the blog of Rob Hinchcliffe. He does a similar thing to my Five Things but his is called ‘Inspiring and Interesting Things This Week‘ or ‘I.I.T.T.W.‘ (catchy, I know). If you’re after a source of interestingness (hey, that might a reason you’re reading this post right now), then I recommend you go have a look.

Seriously, without it I wouldn’t have discovered the by far away best thing I’ve read all week which was this fantastic three page long interview with the master magician Teller (one half of Penn & Teller).

—

Bonuses this week; apparently psychopaths are more attractive than the rest of us (this explains a LOT); all the 2screen reports you’ll ever need (big love to The Guardian for that one); and this piece from Warren Ellis is a damn good read too. 

 

Whatley out.

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EDIT: Apologies to those of you that subscribe by email and received an unfinished article in your inboxes early this morning. God knows how I managed to hit the publish button by mistake, but I did. And hey, if you don’t subscribe by email, why don’t you give it a go? You’ll never miss a post and it’s easy too – you just have to pop your email address in one of the boxes on the right and you’re away!

Review: SKYFALL

[no spoilers]

It’s been five months since I first blogged about Bond’s latest outing and back then I said the following:

‘Already this looks like quite possibly the most gorgeous Bond film to date… with the tonality of Craig and the emotive & visual depth of Mendes, the third of this generation’s Bond is set to be the best one yet.’

Having just got home from catching up with Bond at London’s BFI IMAX I am ridiculously happy to report that I was 100% correct with my prediction:

SKYFALL is magnificent.

Historically, I like to keep my film reviews spoiler free. This review is no exception; there’ll be no giveaways here.

So, where do I begin? With Bond, of course.

Daniel Craig is perfect.

On form, settled in and completely existing within James Bond, when people cross him and damage the things that matter to him most, you feel his anger and his vengeful determination. The darkness (that must exist for Bond to be true) is present, but coloured with a dark humour. A flash of a wink, a half-smile – this is the 007 that has been stirring underneath Fleming’s pages since he was first committed to paper back in 1958.

It’s true: Bond has never been better.

For this to work however, our excellent hero needs an equally brilliant villain – and in Javier Bardem’s ‘Silva’, we have just that. Flirtatious, dangerous, enigmatic, and bizarrely sexually charged, Bardem delivers a performance that is reminiscent of Christopher Walken as Max Zorin (in 1985’s View to a Kill).

At first I thought it was the hair, but not so. With Silva there’s that same sense of wild destruction, that flair for the theatrical, that reminds me of Walken so. And yet, whilst Bardem never reaches the sinister heights of his career-defining turn in No Country For Old Men, the character of Silva doesn’t really demand it. He’s cunning, meticulous and driven – and a superb foil for our lead protagonist.

However if this film was ever to be defined as a two-hander, it would not be Bardem who would take the co-starring role next to Craig. No no. That role would go to Dame Judi Dench: giving us (and Bond) the most active and versatile ‘M’ we’ve ever seen – allowing her professional veneer to only just cover the maternal pride and instinct she hides throughout, Dench excels as the head of British intelligence.

In fact, I would go so far to say that SKYFALL is more about Bond’s relationship with M than it has ever been (in more ways than one).

As is standard procedure, the supporting characters are also given their fair share of the limelight. Ben Whishaw as Bond’s new Quartermaster plays it with just the right amount of humour that is fitting for the role (ie: not too much, with a distinct air of competence and respect for what is his domain and what is not). I look forward to where this goes, much.

Ralph Fiennes is surprisingly good as governmental envoy Gareth Mallory, as is Naomie Harris as Bond’s agent support, Eve. However, I think a special mention should go to Rory Kinnear, whose ‘Tanner’ is understated, under-played and every bit as believable as he should be.

Which brings us to Mendes. Sam Mendes. It has to be said:

Bond is beautiful.

Several times throughout I audibly gasped at the images thrown in front of me. From the rooftops of Istanbul through to the casinos of Macau, the splendour of Skyfall really has to be seen on the BIG screen to be appreciated (I mean it, if you can see it at the/an IMAX then do so), a fist fight in front of an electric jellyfish is a stand out.

As I type, I’m listening to the Skyfall OST on Spotify and being reminded of just how awesome and lifting it is. Reflecting backwards, and at the same time springing forward – the score is as every bit a celebration of 50 years of Bond as the film.

Visiting the world of Bond through the eyes (and ears) of Mendes is a gift. I said it before and I’ll say it again: the colours, the composition; all of it is just so visually sumptuous you can’t help but be drawn to this film.

It enraptures and snares, it casts all of what you know aside and starts again all over without fear and without folly.

This is not the Bond you used to know, but in a way – it’s the Bond you’ve always known.

Skyfall is incredible.

When the final credits roll, you’ll wonder how the 50 years of Bond on film have passed so quickly and yet you’re left kind of knowing exactly how the next 50 years are going to roll.

Well done, 007.

 

Very well done indeed.

 

 

Five things on Friday #43

Things of note for the week ending October 26th, 2012

1. Worlds above the clouds
The above image is taken from a gorgeous photoset entitled ‘Magical Worlds Exist Just Above the Clouds’. And the whole set made me smile. So I hope you like it.

2. Batman 16
I’m behind a bit on Batman at the moment, but it has to be said – this latest cover is CREEPY AS HELL, and hella awesome for it.

via

3. Piano
Bonus friend action this week with a surprise visit by two buddies from overseas, Rob Keyes from Screenrant and Ryan Penagos from Marvel. They were over doing some TOP SECRET reporting on [REDACTED] and I went and met them (and Ryan’s awesome colleague Marc) for a good few beers at the end of their day.

Our destination? Piano.

Man I forgot how good that place is. You should go.

4. The Lumia 920 on AT&T
I really really like this ad. Not because it’s AT&T and not really because it’s the first TVC for the Nokia 920 either. I just think, for a 30 second spot, it tells a story of our time in an excellent fashion. So, yeah –

5. The London Transmedia Fest 2012
Anyone following me on Twitter on Friday would’ve seen a whole bunch of tweets using the #LTF2012 hashtag. Well, the London Transmedia Fest 2012 was the reason why. Some highlights –

And finally, my favourite speaker of the day was Pat Cadigan. Pat told a wonderful story about how the times in her life when she had nearly died. It was brilliant, captivating and just… delightful.

Favourite quote?

“Children are magical… Where do all the mediocre adults come from?”

—

Bonuses this week comes in the form of just a bunch of other stuff I’m reading –

– I really enjoyed this Louis CK / SNL article

– The wrong election date is on some Spanish-language voting forms

– Ghostbusters 3 has finally been given the green light, here’s the timeline

– Italy’s most famous drowned town (is there a top ten?)

– What is Drop 7?

– a breathtaking poem, ‘Sheep‘

—

Whatley out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five things on Friday #42

Things of note for the week ending October 19th, 2012

1. Antartica like you’ve never seen it before
This is the story of a LocalWiki project named ‘Open Antarctica‘. Yes that’s right, not only is there internet in Antarctica but there’s also a LocalWiki project too! It’s a great story and some of the photography is just stunning. Go check it out.

2. I share my body with 20 personalities
This is incredible.

‘The meetings came and went very quickly, like so much of my life. I was sure Valerie said she worked in fifty-minute blocks, but I barely seemed to arrive before I was home again. The conversations while I was there seemed the weird end of bizarre, as well. I didn’t really know what the therapists’ agenda was, but I quickly got the feeling they were trying to nudge me down a particular path. I couldn’t put my finger on it, so one day Valerie came out and said it.

According to her I shared my body with dozens of other people.’

AND

“No, it’s not like that,” Dr Hale said. “You are not here all the time. Other people take control of your body. They have their own separate lives, just as you do.”
–
Ridiculous as it all sounded, I couldn’t help asking questions.
–
“So where do I go then?”
–
He shrugged. “It’s as if you go to sleep.”
–
“Why don’t I fall over then?”
–
“Because someone else is awake and keeping the body going.”

—-

The above is taken from an excerpt from ‘All of Me‘ published on The Atlantic earlier this week. I read it, cried a little, then I bought the book.

I reckon you’ll do the same.

3. Best Skyfall tie up yet?
This, from Coke Zero, is kind of awesome

Nice.

4. New Global Pages on Facebook
This is a bit work-based, so if you’re not in the industry you might want to skip straight to number five. However, if you are and you want to know what Facebook are doing to help brands with global and local presences, then AnalogFolk have a decent breakdown.

5. Bodyform
You’ve probably been on some kind of media blackout if you haven’t seen the Bodyform Responds video yet, and while the content is quite brilliant, the conversations that have spun out afterward are considerably much more interesting. From the creative minds of Carat and Rubber Republic it’s been seen as brilliance by some, unauthentic by others and – in some corners – the first proof of the fallacy of social media.

How do you feel about it? Is it just a bit of fun and a fairly tongue-in-cheek response to a comedy video?
Or is it just another salty mess in the never-ending daisy chain of advertising?

You tell me.

—-

Bonuses this week are a bunch of videos that people have sent me; James Cordon, being funny for Sight Savers; the Duracell bunny made out of recycled batteries and LEDs, made out of LEDs; and Coffee, made the small way.

Til next time.