On a five day journey through the parks of Walt Disney
World, I saved the best for last and ventured out on my last day to the Magic
Kingdom. It was a Friday and there was a morning Extra Magic Hour, but I had no
concern of extra crowding and was glad to make use of the opportunity. I took
the bus from the resort an hour before park opening and after the ride and
security I hotfooted down Main Street to get to the castle right at the start. I
had a strict schedule that required I be there, ready to go, and I was determined
to make the magic happen, one choreographed minute at a time.
It’s easy to go the right way at the start of Extra Magic
Hour, because that’s the direction you have to go, to Fantasyland or
Tomorrowland (unless going left to a character breakfast). Bradley from
Knoxville (above), with his somewhat easy to overlook sign, was the official
notice that go that way you must. To me, the cast members have always been the
best part of Disney World, so in a way Bradley, unwavering and noble, was like
a statue of a liberty, tacitly welcoming all to the refuge of fantasy and fun.
"Give me your tired..." Bradley from Knoxville lifts his sign beside the golden door.
Since Peter Pan’s Flight is so popular, I weaved my way
around the castle and many single and double strollers to go there first. It’s
a trippy ride and a good place to start things off on an early morning. Being
there early, the wait time was negligible. However by the time I had finished
the ride the line was significantly longer than when I arrived. Minutes count.
Walking back the way I came (Liberty Square was still roped
off), I was still buzzing from thinking of the happiest things (it’s the same
as having wings) and ready for the next event. Next door is Mickey’s
PhilharMagic and I could tell I had time to see the show and still get to
Adventureland before its opening at 9am as my schedule dictated. The cast member outside of
PhilharMagic was taking off or putting on his socks, so I skipped taking a
picture although it would have been a good unusual shot. Inside the theater
there were maybe a dozen people in the audience, so it’s not popular with the Extra
Magic throng, but I think the show and the 3d quality was worth seeing.
The wait at the entrance to Adventureland
To hit my next mark, I had to go all the way back around the
castle and across the hub to get to the entrance to Adventureland. I had FP+
for the Jungle Cruise, but I wanted to get a quick run through Pirates of the
Caribbean before that. Right at 9am, the cast members walked us all to the
various attractions. I followed right behind a pirate and was able to get into the
first boat of the day. It’s a classic ride, except for the inclusion of Jack
Sparrow, which you kind of wish that maybe his audio-animatronics just aren’t
working right and hopefully the imagineers didn’t really intend them to look
like that.
Pirates
The Pirates merchandise store, like most of the stores this
trip, didn’t have anything I really wanted, although I did like the Mickey dressed as a pirate. I might get that the next time I go back.
Next was Jungle Cruise. Even with the FP+ there was a short
wait to get on boat, and the FP+ guests were out in the sun, which I didn’t
care for. Once on board it was clear sailing, and though this attraction should feel very tired and old, it's still like a party boat without the alcohol. I get into the spirit of it and ride the wave of the puns.
Fresh off the boat, I stayed in Adventureland since I don't go for crisscrossing the park to see things in priority order. I want to do one land at a time. With my schedule, I was able to fit in even some minor attractions, so the next nearby stop was Enchanted Tiki Room. This attraction also should seem old and tired, and in this case it is. Even changing it up to having the birds sing the songs from Frozen would be an improvement.
Being done with Adventureland for the moment, I went toward Main Street for the first live entertainment of the day. The entertainment is at specific times and ephemeral, so it's important to know when and where to go. I wanted to see the 10:10 Main Street Trolley Show, but I wasn't exactly sure where it would be. Fortunately, as I get to the Hub, there's a trolley and there's a cast member with headset on, so I know something is going to happen soon.
I waited by the trolley, but it started traveling with no show yet, so I had to trail it until the performance started. I saw it at its first stop, but I didn't quite get the photos I wanted, so I had to trail it again to its second stop, further up Main Street. You wouldn't think a horse pulling a trolley with people on it could move so fast, but I had to quickstep to catch up with it. I watched it again and got my song and dance fix. I think next time I'll position myself at Town Square to see it there.
Main Street Trolley Show
The day was bright, the air was sweet
The smell of honeysuckle charmed me off my feet
More live entertainment followed as it was then time for Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire at the Cinderella Castle Forecourt stage. The sun was getting a little warm and I tried to stay as well as I could in the narrow shadow of a streetlamp. I'm not sure why I bothered to watch the show. Shows in front of the castle have always been incomprehensible. Characters appear, music plays, and wondering rather than wonderment ensues.
People waiting for the Friendship Faire to begin
Costumes
Naveen
I wandered away from the Faire, but mainly to get to the next live entertainment, which was The Muppets Present Great Moments in American History. I'm not a Muppets fan, although I do like history. I trust the show was about history, but I couldn't follow along. I don't think it went over my head, but maybe way under it.
Muppets providing a teachable moment, or something
Across the way was the next use of FP+, at the Haunted Mansion. It was really too fast, as I walked right in without being able to appreciate the exterior sights. The entry rooms also seemed to be over quicker than I remember them being. The ride itself is so-so for me anymore. I'm ready for an overhaul to create something really surprising. Maybe a cast member becoming possessed in a magical moment gone awry.
Anthony goes out into the light to oversee the queue at Haunted Mansion
Near Haunted Mansion was the lunch stop, Columbia Harbour House. It's got some variety for a quick service (the fried fish plate is relatively worthwhile) and it's got some good views upstairs with a table by a window.
View from Columbia Harbour House
After lunch, it was on to Fantasyland. The first stop there was Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid. It wasn't there the last time I was at the Magic Kingdom, so I had to walk around a little bit to determine where to enter. Like probably a lot of people, I first walked up to the entrance to Meet Ariel at her Grotto. The cast member told me somewhat disdainfully that this was the entry to meet Ariel, as if I wouldn't be trying to do such a thing. True, I wanted to hang out with Prince Eric in his castle, but I felt for a moment like meeting the sea creature just to prove Miss Assumption wrong. I backed up though and found my way to Under the Sea, which like the Tiki Room was also trippy. The figures of Ariel were rather jarring though as she looked a little odd. In her wedding dress it seemed like the prince would have been better off taking out the hook and throwing her back in.
Prince Eric, big hands
Exploring some more I came to Gaston's Tavern. Friendly Noah from University of Miami welcomed visitors to have a LeFou's Brew and get a $4.49 cinnamon roll. I don't do snacks in the parks at WDW, other than Dole Whip. When I spend money on food, I get a meal. It seemed like an inviting place though.
Noah at Gaston's Tavern
At this point I was kind of done with Fantasyland and was going to head to Frontierland.
Hard working cast member in Fantasyland
One last stop on the way was It's a Small World. It's not small of a world or walkway for an old man on an ECV not to hit me with his vehicle, but outside the attraction I was struck by a hit-and-meander driver. Fortunately I sustained no injury, but I let out an exclamation that would not have been suitable for singing Small World children to hear.
From Small World, I went to Frontierland to stake a claim to a parade watching spot. I had originally thought about watching the Festival of Fantasy Parade from Main Street train station, but settled on looking for a good vantage point in the West. I wanted to a spot where no one would try to move in at the last minute or try to put their kid in front of me. So I found a shaded spot right behind a rope pole and I wrapped myself around it so that you would need to an explosive to dislodge me from there. The ploy was successful and I got the unobstructed view that I wanted.
Brian leads the parade
Pretty costumes
Prince Charming and his +1
Most important part of FofF: The Lost Boys
Keeping the parade running smoothly
At the end of the parade, I jumped behind the rope walkers and trailed the parade with them. It was tempting to wave to the spectators, but that was just a short-term thrill. I veered off to cut through the passage to Adventureland and then made my way to the hub to watch the back half of the parade again. Being in that section of the park, guests are hemmed in until the end of the parade passes the hub, and my next destination was Tomorrowland, so I had to wait no matter what.
With the parade over, I sauntered into Tomorrowland and realized I didn't really have a set schedule at that point. I had about two hours until my dinner reservation, so I looked around for what I could do. The PeopleMover was an obvious choice and I did that first. After that I did Carousel of Progress, where I was subjected to a very non-Magical Moment. Throughout the show, a giant female farm animal sat slumped in the seat next to me and used her brightly lit phone to do non-stop texting. It's difficult to understand how people can be so callous. The modern technology of the family in the final scene didn't seem so great when it was in the hands of the she-beast near me.
Connor stands guard at Carousel of Progress
Done with Tomorrowland for the moment, I traveled back to the Adventureland/Frontierland area to do stuff before dinner at Skipper Canteen. I rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, just because I could. Afterward, I looked around the area to see if there was Aladdin merchandise, since after all, he was the title character of the movie. The character merchandise strangely is all Jasmine. The princess-centric nature of Disney character merchandise is just too much. Fortunately, the real thing was at hand, although not baggable as a souvenir.
Aladdin, non-merchandise
Strolling around there, there were a number of cast members to bag and tag, figuratively.
Skipper Canteen for dinner was disappointing. It wasn't much of an experience and the food wasn't that great. I left there in time for a nearby Hoedown Happening.
Alex getting ready to start a Happening
Lucas, unzipped
After that, I killed time, blah-blah-blah, in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, riding the terrible Speedway and the lofty Dumbo, and getting some laughs at the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. I then parked my behind on the ground in front of the castle and waited for the fireworks. I can enjoy the aerial display, but what I really like is the projection mapping, especially in the Once Upon a Time show. It was nice that by waiting in the park for the final show, it was less crowded exiting the park afterward.
All-in-all, the itinerary was pretty successful. I will probably repeat a lot of it the next time. My wait time was practically non-existent and I packed a lot of things in to see and do.
If the London 2012 Olympic medals look big, it’s because
they are big. They‘re 20% bigger than
the Beijing 2008 medals (in diameter), and 40% bigger than those awarded at
Athens in 2004. In fact, they're the largest Summer Olympic medals ever. Perhaps more importantly, they are also the heaviest, as in
twice the weight of the Beijing medals. If Michael Phelps had won as many golds
in London as he did in Beijing and wore
them around his neck all at once, he’d have 7 pounds of metal hanging on his chest.
The weight of the London 2012 medals is 375-400g, and they are 85mm in diameter and 7mm thick. That’s 0.83-0.88 pounds, 3 1/3” in diameter and 1/4“ thick. The largest Summer Olympic medals before London were those from Barcelona, in 1992. They were 70mm across and weighed 231 grams. In the Winter Games, there have been several that had larger and/or heavier medals, with the largest being 107mm (4.2") in Torino in 2006.
What are the London 2012 Olympic medals made of? By the
numbers, gold and silver Olympic medals have almost exactly the same metal composition.
Since 1978, the International Olympic Committee requires that both gold and
silver medals be 92.5% silver. The gold in the gold medal just needs to have at least 6 grams of gilding. Other materials can be added to the mix as long as they don’t
shortchange the gold and silver requirements. For the London 2012 medals, copper is the extra ingredient added to
the gold and silver medals to bring them up to their full weight.
As for the bronze medal, a lot of people are happy that they won at least one of those, but it really is a big step down from the gold and silver, at least in
content. The London 2012 bronze medals are 97% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5%
percent tin. If U.S. pennies were 100% copper (which they’re not), the bronze
medal would be equivalent only to about 144 of them.
So how much are the London 2012 medals worth? To the athlete
they have enormous indeterminable value, but the value of the metal in definitely calculable. As would be expected, the metal in the bronze medal
is worth only a small amount, less than $5. The silver medal is worth between
$300 and $350. The gold medal is worth about $650.
Olympic gold medals haven’t been solid gold since 1912, so it’s
the norm to make them out of something other than gold with only a gold covering. If they
were solid gold, they would be worth a lot more. If the size were kept the same, a
London 2012 solid gold medal would be worth about $24,000.
What is the design on the medals?
On the obverse is the goddess of victory, Nike. A lot of
media have incorrectly stated that she is shown coming out of the Parthenon. The
Parthenon is in the background, but she is actually walking/flying of the Panathinaiko
Stadium in Athens. The Panathinaiko Stadium was the centerpiece of the 1896 Olympics
in Athens, which was the start of the modern Olympic movement. Another thing some major
media have gotten wrong is stating that Nike has always been
shown on Olympic medals coming out of this stadium. The truth is that between 1928 and 2000, Nike was
shown next to the Colosseum. In 2004, Athens as the host city decided to correct this historical inaccuracy and put Nike where she belonged, in Athens, Greece, and
not hanging out next to the Colosseum in Rome.
The reverse is an original design by the artist David
Watkins. It shows the London 2012 logo on top of a ribbon representing the River Thames. According to the LOCOG site, the design also
has these symbolic elements:
The curved background implies a bowl similar to the design
of an amphitheatre.
The core emblem is an architectural expression, a metaphor
for the modern city, and is deliberately jewel-like.
The grid suggests both a pulling together and a sense of
outreach – an image of radiating energy that represents the athletes’
efforts.
The River Thames in the background is a symbol for London
and also suggests a fluttering baroque ribbon, adding a sense of
celebration.
The square is the final balancing motif of the design,
opposing the overall circularity of the design, emphasizing its focus on the
center and reinforcing the sense of ‘place’ as in a map inset.
Triva: the majority of the metal in the London 2012 Olympic medals came from the Kennecott Copper Mine in Utah. (Besides copper, the mine also produces gold and silver.) So whenever there's reference to bringing the medals home, it's literally true. photo: London 2012, LOCOG
One of the greatest television commercials ever is the Nike “Tag” commercial. In the TV ad, a young man is walking along in a large city with his newspaper and coffee and is “tagged” from behind. Since he is now “it”, he is required to chase all the people around him, who are now fleeing to get away from him, so that he can tag someone else to be “it”. Humor ensues as he finds it difficult to chase and make contact with any of the ordinary city dwellers who have now stopped their normal routines and become intensely active in this massive citywide game.
The Nike “Tag” commercial was one of four TV adverts in a summer 2001 Nike campaign that had the theme of “Play”. The other three commercials in the campaign were “Shaderunner”, “Racing”, and “Tailgating”. The Tag ad premiered on American television on June 25th, 2001, and ran until Labor Day, September 3rd, 2001. It had the unusual length of 90 seconds for its initial version, which ran on television for a week. After that, a 60 second and 30 second version were used instead.
The Tag commercial, from the advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), was a huge success in the advertising world, winning the Grand Prix at the 2002 Cannes International Advertising Festival. It was one of the ten most-awarded commercials of 2002, and in 2010 was voted one of the top ten advertisements of the decade by Campaign magazine.
Three of the Nike “Play” commercials, Shaderunner, Racing, and Tag were filmed together in Toronto, Canada. Location scouts spent a month looking for the right spots to film in Toronto, but because of bad weather during the filming period, changes in the scripts, locations, and schedule had to be made. It was decided to film all three commercials simultaneously in a compressed 10 day period, shooting scenes whenever a location was available and the weather was cooperating.
“Shaderunner” required real shade being cast by the city buildings onto where the runner was running, and so the filming of the other two commercials had to work around the availability of sun and shade as the film crew had to move quickly to use it whenever they had it. The filming of Tag then ended up having a lot of “winging it” to get it done in the time available. That flexibility allowed such important ideas like the trashcan hiders to be added while filming was going on.
The film crew used 16mm film and three cameras to shoot each scene. The goal was to do each scene in one take, and the three cameras would allow for different views of the action to be put together. With the short schedule and 400 to 500 extras taking part, it was important to minimize the retakes.
The success and the lasting appeal of the commercial can be attributed in part to the sympathetic protagonist of the piece and the actor who played him. Who is the guy in the Nike Tag commercial, the one who is “it”? It is actor Moti Yona, also known as Moti Yona Rosen, or Moti Rosen. He is a Canadian actor, who among other things appeared as Charley in the 2003 move Twist. Tag was Moti’s first commercial. The story is that he was selected right before filming from the hundreds of extras who answered the call to show up and be part of the commercial. Moti was amazed to be the lead, and with the many extras around him during his first scene (the crane shot showing his realization and exasperation that he had been tagged), it felt to him like being in a feature film.
The commercial was shot in several locations in Toronto, which was evident by the reflection of the CN tower on the glass side of an office building in one of the shots. The initial scene of Moti being tagged was at the intersection of York and Wellington, next to the Canadian Pacific Tower. The famous scene of the line of people hiding behind the trashcan was at Emily and King Streets. An interesting production note is that when the mob of people are running north on Emily to King Street, the film is reversed. When Moti gets to the intersection and looks around, the film is the correct orientation again.
After Moti realizes that people are hiding behind the trashcan and starts to chase them, people run down the stairs into the St. Andrew subway station. When they get to the bottom, they are however at Toronto’s abandoned Lower Bay station, which was only used as an actual subway station for six months after it opened in 1966. It was closed and unused thereafter, but it found a second career as a filming location for many movies, television and commercials.
The music for the Nike Tag commercial was an original piece written by David Wittman, a composer at the music production company Elias Associates. The advertising agency had asked him to create something that didn’t sound like a typical TV advert score, and he was happy to comply. The techno track he composed included drums, a cello baseline, a bongo solo throughout, and some simple techno-type elements. Wittman wanted a fun sound that fit the intriguing and unusual storyline.
The shoes on Moti Yona are the black/grey Nike Air Fantaposite Max. The strangest aspect of the commercial is that everyone, including businessmen in dress shoes, is all able to outrun the guy wearing these Nike shoes. That’s not necessarily a good testament for the shoes’ capabilities.
Eleven thousand sky lanterns were released into the night sky on June 21, 2011, in Poznan, Poland, to celebrate Midsummer Night. The event was promoted on Facebook as "Poznan's most romantic night". People were invited to come and buy paper lanterns (for about $1.80) and release them into the sky after lighting their fuel and letting the hot air take them up and away.
The event was scheduled to start at 10:30 pm and around 1000 of these Chinese lanterns were released all at once. Within an hour an additional 10,000 were gradually released, creating an impressive image of thousands of lights in the Polish sky.
The number of sky lanterns released at one time was a record for Poland, which was a goal of the event's organizers. It may also be a Guiness World Record, as 11,000 floating lanterns flown simultaneously would beat the previous record of 10,318 lanterns held by Indonesia.
The Midsummer Night occurs on the shortest night of the year, on June 21st or 22nd. It is near to the time of "Ivan Kupala" (or Noc Kupały), a feast day for St. John the Baptist, which is also a reason for the celebration.
Sky lanterns are traditional paper lanterns used in parts of Asia. They are usually made from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame, which can easily burn up, but there are also now flame-retardant sky lanterns available made from bio-degradable material. The lanterns float in the air due to a small candle or fuel source secured to the frame creating hot air that lifts the lantern.
Of course there is a downside to having thousands of little fires floating to who knows where, carrying its own paper trash. Beside distributing litter, they can cause crop fires and injure or kill livestock that eat the wire frames.
The large display of sky lanterns is reminiscent of the beautiful floating lanterns seen in the Disney movie Tangled, during the "I See the Light" song.
The Japanese really excel at men’s rhythmic gymnastics and this video shows it. The video shows the performance of the team from Aomori University at the 2009 All Japan Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship. With this wonderful routine, Aomori received 1st place on the university level at the championship.
The routine is a great example of synchronization and precision, but it is also enormously artistic. It’s filled with tumbling, but it seems more like an emotive dance routine than just a display of athleticism.
Men’s rhythmic gymnastics in Japan has both individual and group competition. The individual routines use apparatuses (sticks, rings, rope, clubs) while the group routine does not. The group routine is free exercise done by a six member team on a spring floor.
Aomori University is a private school located in Aomori, Japan, which on the north end of the main island of Japan (Honshu).
Besides the physical performance of the athletes, an essential part of the overall beauty of the routine is the music that accompanies it. The song is “Blue”, by the five woman group D.F.O. (Digital Future Orchestra), from their album “Runner”. That group later became a duo, retaining the initials D.F.O., but changing it to stand for Double Female Orchestra.
The song and album are not available in the U.S., but can be downloaded from iTunes Japan (if you have an account on iTunes Japan). The song was also used in a commercial for Japan Airlines.
Same performance, but different view and in high definition:
What is a lip dub? A lipdub is a type of music video. In the video people lip-sync to music, and later the original version of the music is dubbed in, replacing any audio that was recorded during the making of the video.
That’s the simple definition. However there are certain important elements that are commonly used in the videos described as lip dubs, and a lot of these elements are what make a great lip dub video versus a common piece of YouTube crap.
The thing that these elements have in common is that they are intended to make the video visually interesting. People aren’t watching lip dubs to hear the music or see how well people can lip-sync; viewers want to see something that will stimulate their visual cortex.
So if you are ready to make a lip dub, let’s look at the key elements for doing it right. The most important element is the music. It needs to be a song that people are going to like, preferably something fun and upbeat. It doesn’t matter how good the video part of your video is if the music is no good. People will stop watching it and move on to something else if they don’t like the song, or if the music isn’t exciting enough to keep their attention.
Once you have selected your song, you need to deal with the legalities, assuming you want to make your lipdub available to the public. You need to get a synchronization license and master use license from the publisher and record company. If you don't get permission to use the song, the music company can have the video taken down from any website or have the audio removed. Then you'd only have a silent video of people strangely moving around.
Concerning the video part, it should be mentioned that you should make sure you can get a couple hundred of your friends to be in it. You can make a good lip dub with a much smaller number, but you’ll see why that’s hard to do as we consider the most important aspects of the visual components.
The first important visual aspect is the near universal convention that lip dubs be done with one continuous shot. It adds a “wow” factor that would be a lot less if the video were a typically edited product that allowed parts to be added in or redone using multiple takes. Some great lipdubs do cheat a little by disguising their cuts, but they do try to make it look like it could have been a continuous shot.
The second important aspect of the visuals is that lip dub videos move, literally, and at a good clip. They are the opposite of home videos where the camera stays still and focuses on one thing for a torturous length of time. In a lip dub the camera is moving most of the time, going through the scenery. For that reason, a Steadicam is essential. It keeps the picture from bouncing around with the moving cameraman. You can rent a Steadicam, and while you're at it, you might as well hire a professional cameraman to operate it to create a better product.
Because the videos move and are timed to a specific song, it's essential to establish "marks" along the path you are going to travel through your location. You need to determine where the camera needs to be at certain points in the song so you can ties the visuals to the lyrics and so the cast knows which segment of the song they'll be performing at their spot.
The third important aspect of the visuals is that lipdubs are all about the variety in the performance, the appearance of the people moving around and lip-syncing before the camera, and the locations the camera passes through. It’s a showcase of how many varied visual elements you can cram into a song-length video.
You can probably see now that if the video is one continuous shot, with the camera moving fast and the focus of the shot on the variety of the participants and the locations, you need a lot of people involved. If you had a small number of people it would require a lot of quick changes by the cast in appearance and props and a lot of running to the next location to be ready for their next on-camera moment.
To create the variety, here is a list of elements that are commonly used within the lip dup videos:
1) In general the camera moves at a good clip, but the speed should vary when moving from one “scene” to the next.
2) When moving the camera, don’t only move forward, in one direction. A good lip dub turns directions constantly, moves forward, backward and sideways, turning corners, entering rooms, moving up and down stairs. It also points in directions other than only straight ahead.
3) The cast should wear a variety of clothes/costumes, use lots of different props, and perform a lot of different actions.
4) The cast needs to look like they are having a good time. The video is supposed to be fun, not work.
5) The camera moves past some people and moves with others, following them and sometimes chasing them.
6) The camera and the cast is always leading to the next thing to be shown, drawing the camera and the viewer along to see the next “reveal”. A common way to do a reveal is opening doors, exposing the next scene and set of performers.
7) When people lead the camera from one scene to another, the people on the next scene should already be on the move as the previous one slow or go off camera. Think of it like passing a baton in a relay, where both racers are moving at the same time.
8) The video is about the people, so don’t leave gaps where there is far more scenery than cast. It’s important to keep the camera close enough to fill much of the viewing area.
9) Some miscellaneous elements that are commonly used: people throwing stuff, the camera going between a double line of people, the camera moving directly through a line of people as they divide and go to the left and right, and a group of people moving with all stopping except one who moves forward to transition to the next location.
10) There should be at least one massive crowd scene. It adds another “wow” for the immenseness of the undertaking.
11) Don’t forget Waldo!
Here is a link to my playlist of the best lip dubs on YouTube.
All of the best lip dub videos are in this player:
One of my favorite Coca-Cola commercials is an “Always Coca-Cola” ad from 1993. It has the rapidly changing images behind the traditional Coke red disk logo (see video, above). The appeal of the commercial is not so much from the imagery, but rather the catchy jingle that accompanies it. I like it so much I actually have the 3 minute version of the song on my music player and listen to it often. It’s a song that can always makes you happy.
The ad came about when Coke was looking to improve its advertising in the early 90s. The work of their traditional ad agency had gotten bland and boring. To turn it around, the company made the bold move of handing responsibility for the ads of its flagship brands of Coke and Classic Coke not to a different ad agency, but rather to a Hollywood talent agency. The agency was Creative Artists Agency (CAA), headed by Michael Ovitz.
What CAA did was unconventionally to pitch to Coke the creation of a large number of commercials that would be targeted to specific market segments, and be tailored to fit whatever would work best for those groups. This was different from the standard cohesive look and theme for Coca-Cola ad campaigns. The only consistencies between the ads would be the use of the “Always Coca-Cola” slogan, the contoured Coke bottle, and the red disc logo (and perhaps some sense of “always”).
CAA went on to make over two dozen, very distinct commercials for the start of the campaign in February, 1993. That was a lot considering in 1992 there had been only seven commercials used in the whole year.
The commercials used the familiar contour bottle and red disc logo because Coca-Cola didn’t want to alienate their existing loyal customers. Nevertheless, at the same time, the company wanted to attract and gain the loyalty of new drinkers, specifcally, young people. Coke and CAA figured that to sell to Gen X, who were cynical about ads (having been immersed with TV ads their entire lives), the focus needed to be on entertaining and grabbing attention. So for this early MTV generation, whose attention span was said to be reduced because of the quick cuts in music videos, an ad with a flashing background should work well with them. In fact this ad above did run on MTV for those attention deficient consumers.
The jingle in the song was written by the song writing/producing team of Terry Coffey and Jon Nettlesbey. They had signed on with CAA in the early 90’s with the intention of working on film scores, but for the new Coke campaign, CAA asked them if they could write a commercial jingle.
In an interview with SongwriterUniverse, Coffey and Nettlesbey explained how Coffey recorded the upbeat track and Nettlesbey wrote the lyrics. Nettlesbey said he wrote verses about positive things that were always around, just like Coca-Cola. For the chorus, it was circumstance that produced the result. The pair had performed a demo of the song for the Coke execs before the words of the chorus had been written, so they just sang “Do do do do do - Always Coca-Cola.” When the Coke executives heard the demo, they liked the “Do do do do do” so much that it was left just as it was.
Joey Diggs is the singer who sang the jingle for commercial. Here is his 3 minute version of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgayORZ0CTY The song was also recorded in a dance version by Un Disco Latina: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_523um0UDcc I have the dance version on LP. I’m told that Coke workers in Atlanta would dance to this tune at the time in the nightclubs of the city.
While this is my favorite of the set of 1993 CAA Coke commercials, it's definitely didn't end up as the favorite of the general public. That distinction went to the stars of Coke's "Northern Lights" commercial, the animated polar bears.
Of course The Star Spangled Banner is my favorite national anthem, but my second favorite is Australia's Advance Australia Fair. The melody is stirring and joyful and the lyrics are meaningful. It makes me wish my home were also girt by sea.
It has only been the official anthem since 1984, although the song dates back to 1878. It originally had 4 verses, which were whittled down to just two in its official form. Understandably, several references were removed about Australia just being an extension of England, along with Australia's mixed feelings about Britannia: "With all her faults we love her still."
My favorite performance of the song is the one at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympics (see video). I love the harmony of Human Nature and the strength of Julie Anthony's voice.
A team of archaeologists claims they have found the palace of Odysseus, the mythical king of Ithaca who fought in the Trojan War and who famously took 10 years to find his way home after the war ended.
Despite the fantastical stories about Odysseus told in the Odyssey, the archaeologists believe there is some truth to his existence and that the palace they discovered on the island of Ithaca, in the Ionian sea off the north-west coast of Greece, belonged to him.
A team from the University of Ioannina found the remains of the extensive three story building. The palace complex features a well from the 8th century BC, which is approximately the period in which Odysseus is believed to have been king of Ithaca.
However, it’s still questionable as to whether or not Odysseus actually existed. Also, some believe that ancient Ithaca was not in the same location as its modern namesake. They believe ancient Ithaca was located on the Paliki peninsula, on the island of Cephalonia.
Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy.
This is the 1922 Kodachrome Motion Picture Test No. III made at Paragon Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It’s stunningly beautiful in its simplified color and tenebrist style with illuminated subjects and black background. It is one of the earliest color film examples existing.
The test footage includes actresses Mae Murray and Hope Hampton, with the latter modeling costumes from the movie The Light in the Dark (1922), which contained the first commercial use of Two-Color Kodachrome in a feature film. Ziegfeld Follies actress Mary Eaton and an unidentified woman and child also appear.
The Two-Color Kodachrome Process was an attempt to give natural lifelike colors to film using a subtractive color system. The subtractive part is done by using a dual-lens camera with color filters to record images on black/white negative stock. The negatives would show not just light and dark, but with color filters, show where the unfiltered color existed (or didn’t exist depending on your perspective). Through a complicated process of treating the negatives and dyeing one side of the finished film stock (that had double sided emulsion) with green/blue and red on the other, a range of colors could be produced.
A full three color process was used in a full length feature film for the first time 13 years later, in 1935.
This may be the best version of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da ever made. It’s classic.
The Gameboy Music Club formed in the Summer of 2002. A lot of their music is created using music programs and the Nintendo Game Boy. The objective is to provide general and simple access to the infinite world of the present day music. It’s about the allure of using a cheap electronic musical instrument and music software and reducing music to the essentials.
The Forma Urbis Romae, or Severan Marble Plan, was an immense 3rd century map of the
city of ancient Rome,
carved into 150 adjoining slabs of marble and covering a wall rising over four stories
tall. It was created at an approximate scale of 1:240 and measured 60’
wide by 45’ high. The map depicted the location of the buildings and
structures that existed in central Rome, and it was detailed enough to show the
floor plans of nearly every temple, bath, house, shop, warehouse, and apartment
building in the city’s core. Unfortunately, only fragments of the map still
survive, but they provide details about the topography and lesser-known
neighborhoods of ancient Rome
that otherwise would have been unknown today.
The map was created sometime between 203 and 211 A.D, during the time of the
emperor Septimius Severus. It may have been used by the city prefect
(praefectus urbis) or, perhaps was merely a decoration for his office, which stored more practical sized maps drawn on papyrus. The marble map was affixed
to an interior wall of what was then the Temple of Peace
(Templum Pacis). The same wall is now an exterior wall of the 6th
century Church of
Saints Cosmas and Damian
(Basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano). The holes in the wall where the bronze
clamps attached the marble slabs in place can still be seen.
The Severan Plan was gradually destroyed during the Middle Ages, as the
marble stones were torn away to be used as building materials or for making
lime for fertilizer or cement. Whatever was left fell to the ground, breaking apart
into many unrecognizable pieces and becoming buried over time.
In the 16th century fragments of it were found, but they did not
elicit much lasting interest. In later years, as more fragments were found (or
lost and then rediscovered) there was an interest in trying to fit the pieces
together. The work was like a giant jigsaw puzzle, with only a few famous
landmarks, like the Colosseum, incised into the stone to give any clue as to
how the pieces should be assembled.
To date, only about 10% to 15% of the original surface area of the plan is
known to still exist, and that much is broken into almost 1200 pieces of
various sizes. Some of these fragments are relatively easy to piece together,
but others are more difficult since their adjoining pieces don’t exist, or because
the fragments have been altered (such as when their edges were sawn off in the
18th century to fit within display frames in a museum). In modern
times, archaeologists have turned to using computer and coded algorithms to try
to determine the correct placement of the pieces.
Additional fragments continue to be discovered in Rome, and there may be more so in the near future. Excavations for Rome’s new Line C metro subway are being done at the site of the Forum of Peace, where
the plan was located. Great care is being taken to preserve any antiquities that
may be found, and it is hoped that among the artifacts they find will be more
pieces of the plan. Since some of the map fell from the wall to the ground
through the years as it was torn away or dropped, it is possible that more fragments may yet be unearthed from
this important archaeological site.
The piecing together of the world’s
greatest jigsaw puzzle continues.
Mr. Potato Head got his start when his inventor George Lerner would take potatoes from his mother’s garden and, using other fruits and vegetables as facial features, would make “dolls” with which his younger sisters could play. In the early 1950s, Lerner came up with the idea of making a marketable toy that consisted of small, manufactured body and face pieces that could be inserted into ordinary fruits and vegetables to create a “funny face man”.
Lerner shopped the idea around to toy companies, but the concept was unpopular. World War II and its food rationing were still present in people’s memory and the use of fruits and vegetables to make toys was considered too wasteful. No toy company would buy the invention.
After several years of trying to sell the toy, Lerner finally convinced a food company to distribute the plastic parts as premiums in cereal boxes. He sold the idea for $5,000. In 1951, Lerner showed the idea to textile manufacturers Henry and Merrill Hassenfeld, who conducted a small school supply and toy business called Hassenfeld Bros. (that later became Hasbro). The brothers paid the cereal company $2,000 to stop production and $5,000 for the rights. Lerner was offered an advance of $500 and a 5% royalty on every kit sold. The toy was named Mr. Potato Head and went into production and has never stopped being made since.
Mr. Potato Head was first sold in 1952. The original toy cost 98 cents, and contained hands, feet, ears, two mouths, two pairs of eyes, four noses, three hats, eyeglasses, a pipe, and 8 felt pieces resembling facial hair. There was no potato body in the kit. Parents had to supply the potatoes to make the finished product.
On April 30, 1952, Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on television directly to children. Before, all advertising about toys had been directed toward parents. Over one million kits were sold in the first year. In 1953, Mrs. Potato Head was added, and soon after, Brother Spud and Sister Yam completed the Potato Head family with accessories reflecting the affluence of the fifties that included a car, a boat trailer, a kitchen set, a stroller, and pets called Spud-ettes.
It wasn’t until 1964 that the boxed Mr. Potato Head started to contain a plastic potato to insert the face and body pieces into.
In 1975, like other fat Americans, the plastic potato and accessories doubled in size. This was done mainly because new toy child safety regulations required toy pieces big enough to prevent being a choking hazard. The change in size also increased the market to younger children, enabling them to play and attach the facial pieces easily.
Descendants of one of the ruling dynasties from Russia’s history have gone to court to regain control of property they say is rightfully theirs. The case is notable because the property in question, the Kremlin in Moscow, is some of the most famous real estate in the country. It’s also notable because a court has actually agreed to hear the case. Strangely, the case is not necessarily open-and-shut since it has been discovered that there is no official owner registered for the enormous complex. So who owns the Kremlin?
If people are familiar with a Russian dynasty, it is likely to be the Romanov dynasty of Czar Nicholas II. However the people bringing the suit are descendants of the earlier Rurik dynasty, which ruled for 700 years until 1598. It was during the times of the Rurik rulers that the stone structures in the Kremlin were first built.
The leader of the organization of Rurik descendants, Grand Prince Valery Kubarev, explains that his group (the Princes’ Foundation for the Advancement of Religious and National Consensus) is not asserting ownership as much as they are just wanting to gain access to the buildings and have management rights over the property. The prince said he wants “indefinite and 24-hour use” of at least one of the Kremlin’s four palaces or of several of its 19 towers for the Princes’ Foundation. The Prince also wants the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to be housed there, and for his foundation to be allowed to hold cultural, political and religious events inside the famous walls.
“The property was not purchased from us, was not lawfully taken away from us, and the federal authorities do not have any right to our property. The Ruriks demand the return of our property, rent from the government for the illegal possession of our property, and financial compensation,” Kubarev said.
The Moscow Arbitration Court decided to hear the case and granted the Princes’ Foundation’s request for official documentation regarding the status of the architectural elements of the Kremlin and of the underlying land. The government must present its evidence by September 14th and the case itself will be heard October 18th.
The defendants are the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture and the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo). A lawyer for Rosimushchestvo told a newspaper that the Kremlin is the property of the Russian state, but surprisingly admitted that at the current time no property rights to the historic complex have been registered by anyone. Even so, the lawyers for the Russian government have dismissed the lawsuit as a “farce” without merit and with no chance of success.
Pointing to the government’s acknowledgment of no deed, Kubarev said, “The court noted that there is no document that proves that the Kremlin is somebody’s property. All we have is a presidential decree that says that the Kremlin is his residence,” Kubarev said. “Well, I could write my own decree, too.”
On the other hand, it might make sense for the Romanovs instead of the Ruriks to bring a claim, since they were the last ruling family in Russia. However, Alexander Zakatov, a historian and spokesman for the House of Romanov, ridiculed the lawsuit as insane. “Our psychiatric hospitals are working very well in the country. They [the Ruriks] should turn first to those institutions before going to court.” He said the House of Romanov has never claimed any rights to state-owned buildings because they belong to the nation, not a single family. “We won’t do it, even if Russia becomes a monarchy again,” he said.
The city of Florence and the national government of Italy are in a dispute over which of the two owns Michelangelo Buonarroti’s famous statue of David. The dispute is more than about just pride of ownership; it’s also about who should be getting how much of the annual $10 million in admission ticket sales from visitors paying to see the statue.
The claim by Florence has been put forth for many years, but more recently a request was made by Florence to the Italian government to hand over the earnings, on the basis of Florence’s right of ownership. Following the request, the Italian Heritage Ministry commissioned a study to determine the rightful owner.
Looking through centuries of archival material, two lawyers commissioned by the national government produced a nine-page document that concluded that David belongs to Italy. The major legal point they made was that between the time of Republic of Florence, which existed at the time David was created, until the unification of Italy in 1870, the city was part of a number of successor states and they did not provide a clear continuity in ownership. More importantly, the unified Italy was the final successor state of all the Italian states and so the inheritor of all the states’ assets.
The city’s argument is that there is a legal document that Italy was a party to from 1871 that decreed that the Palazzao Vecchio (the town hall outside of which David was located at the time) and everything in it was given to the city of Florence. The counter argument from the national givernment’s lawyers is that the document did not explicitly mention David, “even though by this time it had acquired an enormous symbolic value”. In addition, when David was moved to La Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence in 1873 (to bring it inside for conservation purposes), the city did not assert any rights to the sculpture. In fact, a year later, the mayor of Florence at the time claimed David belonged to the Italian government and for that reason billed Rome for its moving cost.
The Italian Heritage Minister stated that he hoped an amicable agreement could be worked out between Italy and Florence to avoid any further controversy.
The money for the admission to the state run L’Accademia gallery in Florence goes to the Italian government, and not the city. The gallery has 1.5 million visitors a year and Florence has to pay for cleaning and security in the area. The mayor doesn’t feel that it is fair that the burden of maintaining the city and its centuries-old buildings should be paid by its citizens without them being able to share in the profit its key attractions provide.
The ruling on David is considered even more dangerous because Florence also claims ownership of many pieces of art in other local state-run museums such as the Uffizi Gallery.
Michelangelo was commissioned in 1501 to create the sculpture for the city’s cathedral. However, when it was finished in 1504, it was placed in the Piazza Della Signoria at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio. It was considered a masterpiece from the beginning, even though David has a major flaw: an uncircumcised penis on one of the most famous Hebrews of all time.
A replica was placed in the Piazza della Signoria in 1910, which remains on view for the public for free.
The “free credit report” people are looking for a new band for its commercials, one that will cause people to take notice and hopefully recognize and remember the product. They may have found it with New York’s I Love Monsters band. The group has been appearing in a commercial for the new FreeCreditScore.com website, as part of a contest by the site’s owner to select an official band for the site’s advertisements. The commercial features the vocals of lead singer Brett Spigelman, and whether you like or hate him, his voice will cut through the drone of the usual commercial fare.
The I Love Monsters commercial is one of four commercials that FreeCreditScore.com is televising to show each of the four finalists in the site’s contest to select its new band. The credit reporting company that owns the site, Experian, had a lot of success with its previous set of commercials for FreeCreditReport.com (note the name difference). In those commericials, a fake band sang a series of very popular jingles that brought a lot of attention to the site. That campaign is over, but to help introduce its new product, new website, Experian decided to reuse the concept, but this time hire a real band that would present its own sound and not just lip-sync to session recordings.
Experian did talent searches in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, using event people and promoters to find the best “undiscovered” local talent and have them apply. Experian also allowed bands from all over to submit videos of themselves for consideration. The candidates were narrowed down to four finalists by the company and those bands were then shown on TV for the first time during the MLB All-Star game in July, 2010. At that time, the contest was opened to the public to vote for their favorite. The voting contest continues through August 9th, 2010, after which the winner will be announced. Among other prizes, the winning band will be part of the FCS advertising campaign for 18 months.
Singer Brett Spigelman’s voice can be characterized as either addictive or nails on chalkboard (see video below), but either way it would cause the listening public to notice the advertisement. Brett (pictured below) graduated from Connecticut College in 2005, where he studied music and philosophy. He spent some time with a group called “Shorty 2 Inch”, and later in “4gether”. He has notably been involved with charity work, including AIDS Walk in New York and San Francisco.
Brett is on bass and vocals. The other members are Micah Weisberg on guitar and vocals, Jonathan Tortora on percussion, and Jeff Joseph Jeudy also on guitar and vocals.
I Love Monsters formed in early 2008. Three of the four members of the band, including Brett, met while in college. The fourth member, Jeff, was added later.
The group got the inspiration for its name from seeing a little boy crossing Sixth Avenue in New York City with his finger in his nose and wearing a shirt that said “I Love Monsters.” They are indie-rock, and considers their sound to be a mixture of dance rock and pop. Their stated influences include The Arctic Monkeys, Weezer, Phoenix, The Get Up Kids and The Beatles.
Their music is available for free download at http://ilovemonsters.bandcamp.com. The songs available are Spine, Satellites, Stop Pretending, Heart/Beat, Rescue, Practice with Your Heart, and Seen a Ghost.
The music from their song Heart/Beat was used in a clip on the show Entourage. Their music has also been used several times on commercials for the show American Pickers.
The video for David Archuleta’s Something ‘Bout Love, the first song released from his new album, The Other Side Of Down, has been released. It shows a reflective and exuberant David wandering the streets and then going to a party, while thinking and singing about love.
The song is another brilliant and thrilling accomplishment by Archuleta. It was originally scheduled for its digital release on July 13th, but it was delayed a week to the 20th. His people explained that he “wants to give his fans WAY more than just a single, and needed an extra week to do it.” Archuleta clearly succeeded.
The album release was also postponed, from September 14th to October 5th. About the delay, his people said, “Like the last time we dealt with a date change, this one is definitely for the best. David would like to make sure he’s delivering the best possible album and he needs just a little more time to do it.”
About the nature of the album, Archuleta said, “Most of the songs on the album represent thoughts and experiences that I’ve personally gone through. I hope this album helps people understand more of where I’m coming from as an artist and as a person. It’s about moving forward in life, making progress in accomplishing your goals and dreams while appreciating what life has given you.”
About the video for Something ‘Bout Love (below), Archuleta explained, “The video and the song are about people who are feeling a little down and a little alone and just feeling a little frustrated with love or their situation in life. Even though you might feel down with love, there’s something about it you shouldn’t give up on.”
The video also allows people to see how well Archuleta is maturing, to see what he is going to look like as an adult instead of the cute kid on American Idol. The Honduran-American hottie is still looking good, although he should probably comb his bangs down.
