Syfy: It’s a Trap!
Drawing inspiration from real life, I decided it was time to make a cartoon of the Syfy debacle going on right now. As an added bonus, Sheldon definitely Ackbar’d it on the Big Bang Theory this week. Good times.
I <3 Nike+
It’s not only a great way to track your pace and milage, it’s got a great interface to help you train, push yourself and stay motivated. If anyone’s interested who has a Nike+ receiver, feel free to join the MakeSeriously 300 mile run.
Wacom. Oh. Em. Gee.
Found this little gem of an ad in the last Print Magazine. As a disclaimer: if you are the subject of the stock photography used by the designer of this ad, all comments are directed at the ad and not at you. They are commentary on the juxtaposition of the ad, and not on you yourself. That said, let’s move on to the ad. What’s wrong with this picture:
The most glaring mistake in the ad is the happy little photoshop accident where a layer got shifted (or perhaps not turned off) and so there’s a magic pen floating around. Yay magic pen! It’s okay for a minute, just an accident right? Keep it in the back of your mind, what it leads to may be disturbing. So we keep going on with the ad. Given the model’s posture and facial expression, I can only imagine reading the headline “I Love My Pen” a bit like Kelly would (NSFW, language). The headline really reads more like “I Love My Pen. Oh. Em. Gee.” You give ‘em attitude Wacom! Sassy! And then there’s the copy. Apparently the model is Tyler, who Wacom knows personally and who they hired because he loves his pen, oh. em. gee. According to the paragraph at the bottom however, this isn’t about his pen. It’s about why he’s named Tyler. Curiously, it’s something I’ve always wondered myself, I just never thought Wacom would take the initiative in explaining it. Wait. No it’s not. Tom-foolery Wacom! Why do you toy with my emotions so! Okay, so it really explains that when he’s using the pen to do things, it doesn’t leave his hand. That’s a pretty big step up in technology. Things that don’t leave your hand when you use them. It’s almost like.. like…. everything else that you use…? And working with the pen helps you work on your workload. Good call. I’m sold. And then you use that random catchy little phrase “Listen. Share. Learn” Seems about par for the course. Following that you invite us to “Come to Grips With” our “Pen Love”. Get it? Grips? Because you grip pens!
So there are a few mistakes. But wait, it’s all getting clear. I’m re-examining the photoshopping error… he was never holding that pen! You added it in! Tyler never had a pen, he probably doesn’t even like them! He’s probably a pencil guy, you decievers you! Well, if the pen isn’t real… maybe he’s not Tyler at all! How could you! My whole paradigm has fallen apart, advertising is a lie! How can it be!
Technorati
If you don’t use it you should. Really though, this isn’t a blog post, it’s me claiming that I own this blog to technorati. Please excuse this post, it will be down soon.
Change You Can Be Mistified By
If you’re an Indy resident and have been living under a rock (or simply don’t drive on the north side or read any local publications) you may have missed this little doozy:
In the art world there are many big cities that go mostly unnoticed for their talent. Ours here in Indy is one of them. Despite being the twelfth largest city in the nation and having a pool of very talented artists, Indy seems to go mostly unnoticed by the larger design world. To be honest, I’m not sure who Indiana Live’s agency of record is, but whomever it may be is really making life hard for those of us in Indy who really do want to be legitimate. Despite a good amount of local criticism, we’ll probably go on being known as “that major city whose designers thought it was cool to copy Obama.”
On the bright side, it never gets old to hear people try to talk about the economic stimulus. It was awesome to hear “I’m concerned about the size of his stimulus package” on NPR the other day. It was even better to hear the reporter catch himself saying it.