So Labor Day weekend is upon us here in the States. It's the time when we're supposed to remember, uh ... what was it? Oh yeah, laborers.
Labor Day originated in 1882, when the Central Labor Union of New York City aimed to create a day off for working citizens. It became an federal holiday in 1894.
Today, we mostly treat the holiday as another excuse to get in our cars, sit in traffic and scream at fellow citizens in an attempt to make our way to islands, beaches or mountainous regions to squeeze out that last ounce of summer before autumn slaps us in the face with colder weather, back to school insanity and, usually, a heavier workload.
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You'd have the best of two depraved worlds: a gaudy lustfest and some seriously decadent cake. Kind of like the ad at left, which was ganked out of last month's Travel and Leisure magazine.
Tagline: "Everything's sexier in Paris Las Vegas." I don't know about sexy, but it's sort of pretty after a few Pernods, and David Hasselhoff makes the occasional cameo. Plus, who can beat rooms starting at $89? Okay, okay, besides Circus Circus.
I just got word that Ice Cream Man, which I guess hocks freezer pops to indie bands and starlets, is looking for events to sponsor. In addition to being liberally photographed with all the right people, the company's mission is to travel the world giving ice cream away for free.
Wish they were around when I was a kid, because seriously, those suburban ice cream truck guys were stingy. They wouldn't take pennies, for a start. If you're gonna make a living driving 2MPH and playing a repetitive tune in order to bait children into racing over to your goddamn truck, don't act like you're selling ribeyes in SoHo.
Red-blooded brand Ford partnered with Microsoft to produce SYNC, a 28-city nationwide tour that kicked off at the 2008 Super Bowl. The power pair tapped Xperience Communications -- which either ran out of Xtra Es or pulled its name out of a retro hat -- to help fuel tech enthusiasm.
The tour sought to educate attendees about Microsoft technology in Ford vehicles: hands-free calling, audible text messages, voice-activated music, instant voice recognition (one would hope), automatic phonebook transfer, and multilingual capabilities, among other exciting distractions.
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I got up early this morning to play with the website for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, a Wackness-meets-Go-type movie featuring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings.
It feels totally inspired by the chaos of Manhattan. You're hit with a trailer, after which you can enter the site, riddled with cardboard cut-outs, frenetic noise (honking horns, sirens) and, under "Music," an Infinite Playlist that's not so infinite. (Two songs so far. Will there be more? Somebody needs to contract this guy.)
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One-time babykiller Gary Oldman is back on the hunt -- this time, for glory. Following in the footsteps of Rosario Dawson and Neil Patrick Harris, the actor is starring in his own web series, The Gloryhunter.
UPDATE: Looks like Oldman's not in The Gloryhunter after all. (We never got to see it; Silverlight is not our friend.)
Oldman appears in an ad for ITV's live football (that is, soccer) programming. See ad.
So weird seeing Oldman kick soccer balls around after trying to off Natalie Portman in a bathroom. Guess that's the way of things.
What's the best way to get attention and promote Australia's Queensland as a winter vacation destination? The same way you'd get attention or just about anything else: hot guys and girls in swimwear flashing passersby on the street. It's simple. It's low budget. It catches attention. It's fun. Why over engineer when you don't have to? And who doesn't like to ogle a hottie in the morning?
OK so Matt Maxwell isn't the world's greatest singer but his five songs about Flash, design and web technology are a decidedly different self-promotional tact. Singing about one of the biggest of pet peeves around here, Maxwell croons:
And-it's-been-a long preloader
And there's reason to believe
Before-its-finished I will certainly be dead
I can't believe a web designer could be so heartless
Making something that's so bloated for the web
Yea, it's a little rough around the edges but the sentiment is there.
- It's targeted you with limited-edition designer bottles and luxury facial sprays. Now Evian wants your kids. Introducing Evian Les Petits!
- Greenwich aspires to seize the spotlight as soon as it's off Beijing.
- Microsoft UK's Multimap uses pigeons to promote its "bird's eye view" feature. Created by digital agency LBi, it marks the first time Multimap has used cartoons to advertise.
- Check out the Word Clock typographic screensaver, which one Bos AD thinks is the "coolest screensaver EVER." It's pretty cool. Kind of like UNIQLOCK without the girls, or the music, or the colors.
- If you're following HBO's online campaign for True Blood, you should catch this 3-minute Ad Age video about virals. True Blood premieres September 7. Dude, sometimes it sucks to not have cable.
Guerrilla marketing firm CreateHere stenciled 35°85°* all over Chattanooga to promote 35°85° A Chattanooga Party, which I guess is a free house party thrown by CreateHere and other local businesses. (I concluded that based on the Facebook page and not the website, which only gave me some Wordle-looking nonsense. Who decided making readers crane their heads and squint was a smart game plan?)
Oddly (or stupidly) enough, the party is not at 35 degrees latitude and 85 degrees longitude. Google Maps says that's somewhere in China. Let's hope nobody put on their party pants and tried going.
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