Sharpen up

Continuing my love affair with all things Mad Men and 50's based - build a Don Draper in your own image!

http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/madmenyourself/

'I can see the Gallery from 'ere...'

Passed through Trafalgar Square last week and spent a good while gawping with the tourists at the living sculpture on the empty 4th plinth, courtesy of One and Other by Anthony Gormley. 2,400 people, 100 days, 24 hours, one every hour. 

Part of the intrigue is in waiting to see what each person will be doing for their 60 mins of fame, transmitted by Sky Arts online and tv. I witnessed a young woman wearing angel wings, happily blowing bubbles and throwing balls of tin foil at the crowd whilst shouting through a megaphone, to be replaced by a lady in a long flowing dress who promptly sat down and started reading. Not exactly edge-of-the-seat stuff, but intriguing enough (for a short while at least). It's how Big Brother could be, without the personal publicists, and likewise uncomfortably addictive. You can watch online at www.oneandother.co.uk, and see what each of the 'plinthers' have planned. I was sucked in, and like the other 26,000 applicants, have applied. I will find out on August 1st whether I will be required to strut my stuff in September. Hope it's not a beery Saturday night slot... Think David Blaine and eggs.

What would I do with my time? That's quite a brief. Better start preparing...

Design Week Awards

The book came through the post last week (not invited this year - pah!). Some great work as always. What immediately grabbed my attention was Johnson Banks' Mouse logo (the copyright symbol is just beautiful), Hat-Trick's Scottish Opera logo (simple, classic and therefore timeless), Purpose's christmas promotion for Greenford Press (Pantone + Food = Panettone), The Partners poster for Richard House Children's Hospice (witty and eye catching) and Pearlfisher's packaging for This Water (Innocent derivative in a good way). The digital category was a bit light, no-one was pushing the boundaries, despite what the Lynda Relph-Knight said. It's difficult to be impressed with a site and not by the technology behind it, Flash or video, and good old fashioned ideas are a bit rarer. I guess that's why Eagle Clean was the winner as there is a simple concept but it's a bit ho hum. Design Week doesn't seem to be keeping pace with digital developments.

Morph reborn!

As a subscriber to Esquire, I receive line-free versions of the magazine through my letterbox. Last month, the cover star was not either a most-lusted or most-wanted celeb, but the more understated but not underdressed Morph. He was the star of a fashion shoot, the first time he has been dressed, and his plasticine accessories (by Paul Smith, Gucci, Prada and Hermes, amongst others) were tailormade. The white leather gucci loafers were very cute.

And with Max Clifford like PR planning, he descended onto the Tate Modern for a very fashionable flash-mob to celebrate his mentor, the recently deceased Tony Hart. Tony (sadly without his sidekick, but with his agent) opened my degree show in the mid 90s and drew some pictures which were auctioned off for the college at the end of the private view. We have a frog at home somewhere.

Aardman Animations who look after Morph and Wallace and Gromit have severed their relationship with the Hollywood Sudios that funded films like Chicken Run, citing creative stiflement. Maybe its now the time to relaunch the very English superstar Morph back on our screens, but how long before he will be papped with crack and admitted to rehab?

Going to do the Hoovering

Genericised trademarks are trademarks that were for specific products but have lodged so deep into consumers concious that they are often used for so much more, including a whole brand category. Hoover is an obvious example (being shorter than the more accutrate but cumbersome vacuum cleaning) - but this article is a list from A to Z. Some that you know (Photoshop now stands for any type of photo retouching) but others that are unexpected (Astro Turf, Jet Ski, Microchip). Ford tried to do it with the Ka, but you just can't force it. As usual Wikipedia have an article as well.

Twitterings

Just as it has hit critical mass, I (or rather we, our business Spinner) have joined the Twitterers and gone Twittering crazy at www.twitter.com/studiospinner. Great fun, and it's truly reflective of our social behaviours. Short, supposedly sharp, and badly spelt - the noughties in a nutshell. The trouble with so many blogs is that there is this presumption that everyone has the time and inclination to read an essay on your life. We haven't, though I am interested if you can grab my attention for long enough. A twitter does just that, though I can hear Stephen Fry bemoaning the erosion of our language, and he's the greatest Twitterer of them all.

James Bond

Just saw the titles for Quantum of Solace (on DVD) - rather underwhelmed by them. Keeping a balance between the iconic stylism of previous openings and producing something fresh and relevant must be a challenge, but i think they (MK12) failed. Neither sexy, innovative nor exciting. To be honest, I wasn't that keen on Casino Royale either, and there was a time when the titles were one of the most anticipated aspects of a new Bond film (with the new Bond Girls). The song's ok though.

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