ThoughtSpurs

I forgot to tell you that I got the first 100 pages of my book printed. It arrived from the US the other day. I was surprised by the quality of the job. I've learned something about preparing covers - the title on the spine should read with the baseline at towards the back of the book. Other than that (and the fact that I haven't been able to figure out how InDesign automatically numbers pages (any advice gratefully received). All in all, well pleased. Just like a bought one. I'll let you know when you can order a copy.

I hope not. The latest pimpwear from thre 1975 JC Penney catalogue From Mom's Basement An Aladdin's cave of kitsch.

The Queen of England gave her annual speech to 'her people' on YouTube this year. I watched it and felt a renewed distaste for the concept of monarchy. She talks about the disadvantaged in society and how it is the duty of us all to help relieve their situations. Of course she says so from a position of unearned privilege, is that a Ming vase I see at your right elbow ma'aam? The concept of monarchy, divine right and fealty to an idea that is simply an anachronism in the 21st century is absurd. I found it offensive that Elizabeth Windsor broadcast a message showing her soldiers in Afghanistan (and though the British Troops in Iraq have stepped back from a 'combat' role the imagery certainly is representative of the military presence of the UK in the middle east). She refers to the seriously wounded and killed in the service of her commonwealth but neatly avoids commenting on the casualties inflicted on the local population, many of them innocent non-combatants. She...

When I was a teenager I randomly chose to read The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera. It was a random choice in that I had no intention of reading anything in particular but had recently read the slightly disturbing book The Dice Man by Luke Reinhart (in which the protagonist - if I can describe such a vividly amoral character that way) makes choices with the roll of the dice. My intention was to read the first book whose cover I liked. From memory the cover of 'Laughter and Forgetting' showed an illustration angels dancing on the head of a pin. The book made quite an impression on me at the time. My knowledge of the history of Czechoslovakia and the Russian occupation was virtually nil and so much of the political context and back story of the book was utterly lost on me. But wading in the shallows was impressive enough. I simply liked the way the stories were told - which may or may not be the consequence of having been translated from Czech to French and t...

Because I'm lazy and groaning under the weight of pointlessly consumed calories (happy birthday Jesus), I've dug out an episode of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe that talks about television news and its origins. Brooker is very, very funny. But the trick is that his message is very, very serious. The only place you'll find more finely observed editorial commentary in from Graydon Carter in Vanity Fair magazine. Watch and weep ladies and gents. Watch and weep. If you'd like to positively gorge yourself on Screenwipe a chap has assembled every moment of every series here.

I get a kick out of imaginative reinterpretations of old ideas. In the 1930s the Germans repurposed their Zeppelin technology from being a platform from which to rain terror down on London during the first world war to become a floating luxe hotel to cross the Atlantic with panache (or whatever the German equivalent of panache might be). The Hindenberg disaster put paid to travel by blimp, it's popularity going down like a flaming lead zeppelin. The Manned Cloud is a very, very cool concept that could; by all accounts be airborne in as little as a year from now. Aside from the cool whale design of the blimp it would be able to circumnavigate the globe in as little as 3 days. I'd be inclined not to rush things. The craft would be able to land in places where conventional aircraft would not - it doesn't need a runway and, like a cruise ship, the cloud is its own accommodation centre. According to its designer, Jean Marie Massaud , this hotel-cruise-dirigible will allow the ...

I think the measure of a great teacher is one who brings a topic alive. I was just reading in the NY Times about a physics professor at MIT who does just that. . I won't reiterate the content of the article here, I recommend you read it and visit Prof Lewin's online courses to see for yourself the phenomenon…I very nearly became interested in physics. I never have been before. And, if you doubted for a moment that living in the 21st Century is as good as it gets, MIT have free online courses here . Ignornance can run but it can't hide.

Ah, the voice over booth. The scene of many a tragi-comic exchange. Nicely captured in 'The Santa Sessions' (above) and in the trailer for Jerry Seinfield's movie 'Comedian' (below) - which is the best trailer for a movie I ever seen. Or, rather, the best trailer for a movie I've never seen. Was it released? (apparently so, it rates a 7.0 on the IMDB .

The wires are beginning to fill with chatter about a new product from Google. The Knol. It will be an encyclopedia like Wikipedia - except the content will be created by expert authors accredited by Google. I don't have any issue with that. Students have been discouraged from relying too heavily on what they read in the Wikipedia because the source is unverified. It is, after all the work of unknown authors with axes to grind, agendas and, quite possibly, sketchy knowledge of the topic. Errors and omissions can be altered by others, making it an organic process. I have read some criticism of the Knol suggesting that Google's success, in part, has been based on its independence from the content. With knol it will share revenue with the content creators from the Adwords panels that appear on the page. Knol would also, most likely, be given a priority in searches, pushing Wikipedia down the list of search results. That might be construed as anticompetitive. Others have doubts ove...

I wanted a picture for the cover of my book. My way of working is to visualise things. Make things seem real even before they really exist. It's something I learned working in advertising. People are visual. If I was to present you with a long document you'd yawn and read it later. I posterise the idea and it's a whole different story. So I was thrilled when I found a perfect image on Flickr. Contacted the photographer and within days had a permission to use the image - in return for a credit. So, thanks to Zoran Kovacevic , a superb photographer…and generous with it.

…Mr Whippy is melting. A clever installation by the Glue Society "Hot with a Chance of a Late Storm" "a comment on global warming in which a melting ice cream van oozed across the promenade and onto the sand at Tamarama in Australia last year as part of Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea event" via Creative Review Blog Oddly enough I feel a strange craving for ice-cream…and gherkins. Could I be…no… I shot one of the characters in Vanishing Act yesterday. We'll, I didn't but someone did. But who? Colonel Mustard, dining room, Colt 45. Have to decide whether he will survive or not. Oh, the humanity…

Let's have a McDonald's moment Here's where it all began. …Here's where it all goes a bit strange. And here's a curio from 1973 when reporters smoked and Ronald spoke.I'm Lovin' it.

I thought this might entertain you. A sculpture by Erwin Wurm found on fffound .

I had an idea a little while ago. What if there was a venue where creative entrepreneurs could exchange skills to get private projects off the ground? It came to me when I was listening (actually only half listening) to a presentation by Mark Wheldon of the NZ Stock exchange talk about the stock market - I think (I tend to glaze a little on these things). It was an Idealog function at the Hilton on Princess Wharf. Lots of suits. How did the creative economy get hijacked by the suits I thought to myself? Which naturally segued into Hey, how about setting up an exchange for us - the people who actually create things. We need to speed up the creation of IP; make money in our sleep from our fabulous endeavours. So, today I launched the beta verison of the CEX - The Creative Exchange. It's rustic right now. I'm offering to trade some of my skills for some web development time. Anyway, check it out www.thecex.com If you have a project and would like a hand to realise it - register y...

I'm not sure if it would be legal to package your brand with this overt positioning in New Zealand. We're very PC here. Which is code for 'big girls blouses'. Apparently sales of the enrobed chocolate bar from Nestle has increased since the 'Not For Girls' message began appearing on pack. Biggest increase in sales…you guessed it…women. My friend Dr Gill Webster, the brilliant scientist who is working on a vaccine to cure HIV, told me the other day that the chromasome that makes men is getting shorter and that, soon, male humans will be redundant. Presumably women will find all the satisfaction they need from Yorkie bars. The mind boggles.

The threat of nuclear war seemed to subside after the end of the Cold War. Nonetheless this presentation by Carl Sagan is as pertinent today as when it was recorded (seems to be a theme for the week). The threat to planet Earth might be different today - climate change and environmental brinksmanship have become our dread fixations - Though sabre rattling by the 'dim leader of the free world' about Iran may give us pause for thought if we imagine ourselves safe. Via Presentation Zen

More rubble. I found this snap of my old Willys truck and Sunbeam motorcycle. I guess I had a thing for green. Actually it was utterly random that I ended up with two old machines in kermit shades. Both machines had a nice, cruisy quality. Little kids would wave and laugh. Mostly laugh as their mum's station wagon overtook me on the upside of the harbour bridge. I made an idle remark to my first wife that I always wanted a cobb pipe like Eisenhower or the hillbilly bears in the old fashioned cartoon about, well…hillbilly bears. So she got me one. I have never smoked so it was an affectation to drive my old truck with my cob pipe clenched between my teeth and my big hairy dog in the passenger seat. Those were the days.

I always liked John Webster's work - although I never found the Cadbury Smash Martians to be all that endearing. If you look at the date on the lower right hand side of the clipping in the picture you'll see it was January 1988. I tore it out of Campaign magazine when I was a copywriter, working at an advertisng agency called Rialto. My office had a panoramic view of the Auckland harbour. When I wasn't looking out of it I was tearing things out of Campaign. The interesting thing about the viewpoint by Mr Webster (sadly now deceased)is that almost everything he said back then, 20 years ago, is just as true as it ever was. "Whoever it was that created the human mind designed it to respond to a set of basic emotions: love, fear, pride, envy, humour-things like that. Anyway, in the list of of priorities it's fair to guess "scratch video" came pretty low" "Faced with the onslaught of computer-graphics, paint-on-film animation, grain and pop-promo loo...

I have been clearing out my books and the rubble that has accumulated over the year. You might be interested in a couple of D&AD Annuals (if you live in Auckland - they're heavy to ship). I've listed them on an Auction. They are very rare. Not available retail (here in NZ at least). Great thought starters for you designy, arty creative types. 2006 2007

Here's my column in the latest editon of Idealog Magazine : How do advertising agencies differentiate themselves from their competition? “Easy!” I hear the cry go up “We’re more creative than them.” If you were to rank New Zealand ad agencies on the basis of their creative output how would you do it? By the number of awards that they won in the previous year? Awards don’t all have the same currency. You might argue that prestigious awards like British Design & Art Direction or Cannes Lions have more gravity than, say, the kiwi Axis awards. The local award might be a more useful measure of ability because it is judged by peers from local industry. On the other hand D&AD or Cannes is more credible because it is not judged by peers in the local industry. What happens if an ad agency has cabinets full of awards for advertising you think is bollocks? …scam ads or ‘ambient’ messages that were noticed by exactly seven people (two of whom were the art director’s dear old schizop...

If you're going to do something, you might as well be the best at it. I recently read Seth Godin's book The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) . I'd been asked to review it. The interesting part of his short thesis is that not everything is worth doing. Knowing when quit is crucial. Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em and all that. On that subject: The best ugly person in showbiz - the Pogues' Shane McGowan (Lyle Lovitt can only manage a distant second) singing the best of the worst genre in music: The Christmas Song…

I received this in my inbox just this morning. You have to love the language (reminded me of the Ze Frank presentation to TED - see below) 52 Oxford Street, Manchester M13 9L, England. Here writes Lady Toreth Hughes, suffering from cancerous ailment. I was married to Sir Richard Hughes an Englishman who is dead. My husband was into private practice all his life before his death. Our life together as man and wife lasted for three decades without child. My husband died after a protracted illness. My husband and I made a vow to uplift the down-trodden and the less- privileged individuals as he had passion for persons who can not help themselves due to physical disability or financial predicament. I can adduce this to the fact that he needed a Child from this relationship, which never came. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of 20 Million (20 Million Great Britain Pounds Sterling which were derived from his vast estates and investment in capital market) with his bank here ...

Have you ever nipped down to the shops to pick up a loaf of bread and some milk and come home with kalamata olives, stinky blue cheese and a six pack of Belgian heavy beer? I guess that is what happened here. I was perfectly innocently looking for information about superyachts - research for Vanishing Act, my book - when I came across this baby… The Dodge Tomahawk…8.5 litre V10 Ignore what I said before. Dear Santa…

There are very few international beer brands. Beer is a regional product. Partly because it doesn't travel well: heavy, subject to degradation from light…all sorts of reasons. Perhaps the most obvious one is that beer is often highly partisan. When Steinlager, the premium New Zealand beer, was at its peak its advertising was closely linked with the brand's sponsorship of the All Blacks - when rules about not using 'heroes of the young' were like Italian speed signs,…guidelines. National pride was its selling point - if only by association. But beer is more regional than national. Waikato Bitter is not consumed by anyone in their right minds outside of the Waikato region. Lion Red was predominant in the north half of the north island. Wellingtonians had their very own sub species - Lion Brown and, of course in the south Speights Ale was favoured. Times have changed recently. In the search for more exotic experiences an increasingly homogenised population turns to brands ...

I have a friend for whom the height of Christmas cheer is to have a Blinky Bill advent calendar - the kind with a chocolate morsel behind each numbered flap. Not, I am assuming, to fetishise the countdown to Christmas, but to meter her chocolate consumption. It fascinates me how attracted we are to lists. Turn them into a countdown and we go into a lather of excited anticipation…what will be number one. I came across this little work on art out there in the wilds (via Laughing Squid ). It is genius. The only reason for the inclusion of a movie in the sequence is its use of a number. My personal favourite is 35, a line from Harvey (I think), the movie where Jimmy Stewart is Elwood P. Dowd who has a 6 ft invisible rabbit as a friend: "Well, I wrestled with reality for 35 years doctor and I am happy to state I finally won out over it."

Toyota are a company that proudly claims to be committed to the environment - as you'll see in their 'Why Not' campaign in North America . (Link via Another Planning Blog ). It's a cute commercial - I used to have own a Fiat Abarth that looked like it was rotting before my very eyes at, roughly, the same speed as the one in the commercial. Oddly enough I was thinking about Toyota the other day. They are one of Japan's biggest and certainly most high profile companies and the number one car producer in Japan. Their hybrid cars are the highest profile. But there's a problem with Japan. It wants to slaughter whales in the Southern Ocean "Japan has declared that for the first time it will kill 50 humpbacks, as well as 50 fin whales and hundreds of minke whales. The Japanese argue that the ban on whale hunting means levels of fin and humpback whales have recovered and they can withstand being harpooned again." NZ Herald The Japanese claim the whaling will ...

What happens when you click the 'Unsubscribe' button on an email from Nestle? This is what: Not acceptable.

Philipe Starck has gone up in my estimation, having watched this video from the TED Conferences. I have been a little peeved about the calibre of students at design schools M. Starck articulates the idea that design needs to move to a new level of inquiry. Designers who are happy to make a decorative contribution will be left behind.

I want to share an interesting experience with you. This evening I was reading a series of essays by Milan Kundera The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts I read this: "While History (mankind's History) might have the poor taste itself, the history of an art Will not stand for repetitions." David Byrne comments on his blog in a similar way: Oddly, in the fashion megaverse and some other retail areas, a brand, design or image accepted and successful amongst a tiny (usually wealthy) social demographic means that it will inevitably be desired by those lower down on the social and economic ladder, either via logo imprinted items, knockoffs, counterfeits or copies. The fact that the hoi polloi will now be interested in the item makes it naturally less interesting to the elite. It will go out of favor, and becomes last year’s model, soon to be relegated to the closet or the giveaway pile. If it’s too popular, it can’t be cool anymore. As a result, the creative folks, the designe...

I have admired the campaign for mental illness that was created by FCB some time ago and which currently stars a former All Black admitting to having battled deppression. It has done much to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness. I understand sales have gone through the roof…but I feel this approach is better. If that gets you down, get in touch with the Mental Health Foundation and stop watching the news.

Whatever happened to Harry Enfield? Perhaps he was run out of town by rabid feminists? I miss quality Bwitish comedy on New Zealand television. If anyone knows where I can get a copy of the Harry Enfield Guide to Opera…for pity's sake, let me know.

Well Movember ended. Thanks to the friends who sponsored me. I am relieved to be able to have played a part in the fund raising for prostate cancer awareness but more relieved to have removed it. Until next year. Couldn't make it to the Parte but I understand it celebrated raising more than $1.6 million dollars and, hopefully, encouraged more blokes to get their prostates checked.

At the risk of sounding akin to the Grinch: "Humbug". I'm already thoroughly tired of seeing advertising for Christmas products and December has barely gotten out of the blocks. This year I came out as a fully fledged atheist. Observing Christmas, therefore, is about as ridiculous as celebrating Ramadan. I don't know about Ramadan but I do know that most of the people who get swept up in the 'spirit' of Christmas probably have little genuine regard for its religious significance in any case. The inconvenient truth, I if I might borrow from the sage wisdom of Al Gore, is that Christmas - Xmas as it is repackaged to avoid the Christ allusion for those folks who like their religious festivities 'lite', is that the festival is one of consumption. This year I think it would be useful to consider the following when you are exchanging gift on Christ's birthday: 1. Make it useful. Forget about stocking stuffers. You shouldn't have to overwhelm people y...

I have never been able to see nudes in ice cubes. I've tried but have never had the pleasure. Subliminal advertising is curious topic. Most of the people who believe this insidious technique is being practiced on them are the same people who simply don't like advertising. While I agree there is much to dislike, the thought that advertisers can fool you into buying something without knowing where your motivation comes from seems to be an oddly paranoid theory. Unfortunately for advertisers most overt techniques don't work so projecting a logo on the screen for a micro second is hardly likely to have any considerable effect. In fact most ads appear below the threshold of normal awareness - they simply have no impact, often because they are not relevant. Relevance is, I believe, the most important goal for advertising in the 21st Century. Flashing logos on the screen is an irrelevance and serves no meaningful function. If you can't engage with the brand what is the point ...