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Archive for December, 2006

Never Forget

23 Dec 2006

20 years ago, the world was in shock. The Chernobyl disaster, an accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26th, 1986, at 01:23 a.m., consisted of an explosion at the plant and subsequent radioactive contamination of the surrounding geographic area. It is regarded as the worst accident ever in the history of nuclear power. A plume of radioactive fallout drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, the UK, Ireland and eastern North America. Large areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people. The ads below were made for the Red Cross (and the Red Half Moon, its Arabian version) to remind people about this tragedy, to never forget and to donate. This campaign is striking because I’ve seen picture galleries of journalists who’ve been there, and it really looks like this. Entire towns have been evacuated, and they look like people plainly have been erased. The remains are spooky, almost like ghost towns you see in the movies. Tables set, cars in the middle of the road, doors open…

Chernobyl - Red Cross 1

Chernobyl - Red Cross 2

Chernobyl - Red Cross 3

Copy:
“20 years after the disater, Chernobyl’s landscape reminds one of a barren planet. Even more damage was done to local residents, their bodies and minds alike. Red Cross provides them with both medical and psychological assistance. Recently, radiotion linked illnesses have increased. Please support us. Keep up your interest in Chernobyl.”

Agency: Leo Burnett Ukraine
Bronze Epica Award
Via: Houtlust

 

Negra y Criminal (2)

23 Dec 2006

Following on the previous “Negra y Criminal” post from last month come these three cool ads for the same book store. Also made by the JWT agency from Barcelona, the ads evoke the same kind of emotions and atmosphere. I really like the approach and the way innocent stories are being pictured with a seriously deranged twist. The artwork is quite creative and the quality of it is outstanding. I hope bookshops in Belgium will turn to this kind of amusing artertainment soon. I bet it’ll help a lot to increase the amount of people that will start reading more, or… start reading all together. One thing the internet took away from me is the time to sit aside, put life on hold and enjoy a good book (a non-work related one). I used to read so much, but now I rarely find time for it. The power of imagination and fantasy is heavily underestimated, and I miss those moments. I think I’ll go buy myself some books to read when I’m stuck in some airport or flying somewhere.

Crime & Detective 1

Crime & Detective 2

Crime & Detective 3

Copy:
Intruders Not Welcome
The Crime & Detective Bookshop
www.negraycriminal.com

Titles:
First ad: The Old Man And The Sea
Second ad: Little Women
Third ad: Juggler

Agency: JWT, Barcelona, Spain
Creative Director: Jaime Chavarri
Art director: Napi Rivera
Photographer: Garigosa Studio
Via: AdsOfTheWorld

 

The Office US, Season 3

23 Dec 2006

Yesterday I accidentally stumbled upon an episode of the American version of The Office, the masterpiece that first saw daylight behind the twinkling eyes of Ricky Gervais. I had heard that the US version was not as good as the UK version, but frankly, I have to reconsider my point of view. I just love this, really. Nobody can replace Ricky Gervais, true, but you just have to check this out. It’s hilarious. In this case, The Office takes a painfully funny look at the interactions of cubicle jockeys at the Dunder Mifflin paper supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Tune in for the full third season and enjoy. If I have some more time this week, I’ll dig up the other seasons and line them up on this blog as well.

The Office US cast

All episodes of the third season after the jump. – Read the rest of this entry »

 
29 Comments

Posted in Geek, Humor, Video

 

Blog Sticks

19 Dec 2006

So, thank you Maarten, Robin, Geert and Randy for throwing me the blog sticks. I think I have enough to start a campfire by now :) Apparently you guys are very interested in those 5 things about me. So, just to satisfy in your tabloid needs, here are the 5 facts about me you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask when we were chatting.

  1. My graduation paper that got awarded with a ‘bachelor award of excellence’ in Flanders was actually written in 3 hours because I had forgotten the due date and was only remembered of it because a fellow student had changed his nickname on MSN into ‘f*cking paper, I hate you’. So I asked him what was up and he said he had been working on it all night because it was due at 1 PM. At that time it was 11 AM. I handed in mine at 3 PM (had to take the train to school etc) – The paper was supposed to be around 20 pages and I had to put in over 10 pages worth of screenshots to make it. And still people thought it was good. Hah.
  2. When I was still young and innocent, I’ve been an altar boy for several years in the church in my street, until the priest caught me eating all the Hosts before the service and also because I kind of lost interest in the entire ‘church thing’. It was pretty cool to ring the bell too early or too late though, because that really annoyed the priest and the entire church was looking at you in a ‘when the hell is he going to hit the gong’ kind of way. Sheer power :)
  3. I was a loner during elementary school and I bought off friendship with candy. During lunch recess we got to play soccer, and I always had to be the goalie because I was a little more fat than the other guys of my class. They were also playing in local youth teams so I never got to play ‘in the field’. Then we got to the finale of the inter-class competetion and we ended up taking penalties. All the wizzkids missed their shot, or it got blocked by the goalie. Then, because we ran out of ‘pro’ players, I finally had the chance to actually try to make a goal. I kicked the ball right under the cross of the goal and all of the sudden I was everyone’s friend, at least for the next week. Then I got back to being the goalie because no one else wanted to do it.
  4. I loved to draw and doodle when I was in high school and did some graffiti work back in the days, mostly on bridges or electricity cabins next to railways. I used the skill to write the names of the girls and boys in my class in some fancy urban style and they loved it. It made me less of a loner. I had a few anarchistic, anti-establishment friends when I was about 15 or so, but I needed a look-out for a nightly job and invited them to come along. I planned do to a nice piece of futuristic city-scapes, but all they wanted to do was spray things like ‘fuck the state’ and ‘imperialistic whores’. I started bombing the wall, but since the punks were smoking and drinking and spraying themselves, they failed to keep an eye open for possible witnesses. Then the cops arrived and we had to flee on our bikes, into the night. I never cycled so fast in my life. I bet at that time I could’ve beaten Lance Armstrong or so. Anyway, I never got caught because I was still sober. The two punks got arrested and they really wanted to tell my name to the cops, but they didn’t know it. Hah. Hard to tell on someone if you don’t have a name. The two punks had to pay for the repainting of the bridge, and four months later when it was done, I put a nice new piece over the fresh white walls. Felt great.
  5. I played classical guitar for over 6 years, finished my classes of music theory and all that, but stopped going to the music school because I never got to play on an electrical guitar like the guys from Metallica, which was why I started studying guitar in the first place.

Bonus, because I got four sticks:

  1. I participated in the Belgian Championship of 1995 for the “Magic: The Gathering” fantasy card game. I ended up with the last ten.
  2. My dad and me are bee keepers. Every summer we harvest honey from them. It just fascinates me how they live, what they do and I can spend hours just sitting in front of the boxes, watching the bees fly in and out.

Hmm. Who should I pass this on to? Kris? Oh, no you just got it. Most of the other bloggers I know or read have already been tagged with this in one way or the other, or they’re not into personal things on their blogs. I’ll just ask it out in the open. Whoever wants this stick, drop a line in the comments and I’ll link you here.

Update:
First stick goes to Grapplica | second stick goes to Darren Straight

 

A Skin Cell Like No Other

18 Dec 2006

slotsbet

 

Don’t Die Ding

18 Dec 2006

Have you ever tried to imagine the way ideas are born? No? Me neither. Apparently some guys did, and the result is a Flash animation that’s pretty weird and fascinating. This is the story of Ding. As Ding realizes firsthand, being an idea maybe isn’t such a great idea. His birth sends ripples of unwanted attention through the mind, as nasty things circle overhead, underfoot, and everywhere in between. He races through a dark and mysterious mindscape—through thickets of thought and brambles of brain. He must fly. He has to fly. ‘Don’t Die Ding!: A Holiday Spectacular’ was an idea hatched in the minds of executive creative director Steve Klinetobe, art director and illustrator Alberto Cerriteno, motion arts expert Lloyd Bagtas, and writer/composer Dale Basye. All these people work for Curiosity Group, a place where ideas are wrapped in fluffy blankets and sent into the world with nicely packed lunch pails. Be sure to scroll down on the page to read the words about the ‘characters’ in the flash clip. They all represent obstacles everyone has met before.

Agency: Curiosity Group
Executive Creative Director: Steve Klinetobe
Art Director / illustrator: Alberto Cerriteno
Motion Arts Expert: Lloyd Bagtas
Writer / Composer: Dale Basye

Download QuickTime file (43.6 MB) [right-click, save as]
Download WinMedia (28 MB) [right-click, save as]
YouTube Link
Google Video Link

Thanks, Frank

 
 

LED Deer

17 Dec 2006

In a parking lot in downtown Vancouver, this billboard was lit around the clock for five days by pedal power to demonstrate the energy efficiency of LED lights. The project, executed by the Canadian branch of DDB on behalf of BC Hydro, required some 120 volunteers – from the client, the agency and local organizations – to keep the 1,500 LED lights glowing. According to BC Hydro, if the billboard featured traditional mini incandescent bulbs, only 120 lights could be lit with the same amount of energy. Just comes to show you that a billboard can be interactive as well.

BC Hydro 1

BC Hydro 2

Copy:
“LED Lights use less energy. Power smart. BC Hydro”

Agency: DDB, Canada
Via: A/D Goodness

 

Don’t Forget

17 Dec 2006

I’ve seen some cute installments for Sixt already. The car rental company mostly picks airports for its advertising, so it seems, and that’s quite logical. They pump a lot of money into their commercial messages because most of their target audience consists in fact of people that need transportation to continue their journey. Bert Heymans pointed me to an image in his Flickr feed where Sixt one-upped the knots that have been placed around the Antwerp Cinema complex in the run towards the Superman Returns movie release. I have to say this looks far more impressive than attaching posters on mini-billboards to lamp posts in the street. Quite impressive. The image below has been taken at the Cologne Airport (Köln) in Germany. All I can say is: that’s a huge knot, and it blends in perfect with its environment. Nice work. Really.

Sixt Rental Cars

Copy:
“Don’t forget! Favourable rental cars are found at Sixt”

Thanks, Bert