Teh Radness #009

Been a while but I have been collecting links in between the focus groups and online questionnaires...

Click here to download for links.

Enjoy and thanks for contributions.

Teh Radness #009

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This Post Is For Marvin

Honestly Triple J... so much respect has been lost. Whilst I'm level headed enough to know that trying to achieve this feat was never going to please everyone, this list is a complete joke (read: waste of time holds no relevance at all).

This is an alternative/wannabe-edgy-but-usually-just-come-across-as-ignorant station like Triple J spoon feeding more rubbish than this blogger can take.

The Top 100 hottest songs OF ALL TIME. The most redundant and offensive radio promo of all time. Period.


So basically this list smacks every genre apart from rock music in the face. There is ONE urban song on there... Hilltop Hoods 'Nosebleed Section' coming in at #17... just think about EVERY SONG YOU'VE EVER HEARD and then tell me if that song deserves to be the 17th best one ever, let alone one that flies the solo flag for hip hop culture.

What a joke!!!

Not to mention some other glaring omissions...

ZERO RAP... anyone heard 'Hit Em Up'? Pretty much dropped an A-bomb on East V West relations and would be the catalyst for changing a whole genre/industry/country/generation forever. And that's just in the 90's... anyone got ANY love for what happened in the 80's?! NWA? Public Enemy? KRS? This angers me so much.

ZERO SOUL... anyone heard of James Brown, Nina Simone, or Roberta Flack!? Marvin Gaye? Anyone... hello... Marvin??!!

ZERO JAZZ... Miles Davis mother fucker?! These kids even heard of Kind of Blue? Coltrane, A Love Supreme?

ZERO CROONERS... Frank? Sammy? Dean?

ZERO BLUES... no BB King? No Eric Clapton? AUTOFAIL. Seriously. Not even Cream?

ZERO POP MUSIC from across the decades of hits apart from TWO Michael Jackson songs qualifying more from sympathy than anything. Sorry Elvis, sorry Sam Cooke, sorry Otis Redding, Buddy Holly, Frankie Valley, Ritchie Valens, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, The Flamingos, Bon Jovi (yes, Bon Jovi dammit!), sorry The Police, sorry Madonna, sorry Springsteen, sorry Janis Joplin... how many others?? *sigh*

Seriously, if you're going to do it, do it properly. Otherwise this isn't a survey about the hottest 100 songs of all time, it's an exercise is demonstrating how fucking stupid Triple J and their listeners are.

/rant.

Why I'm A Dog Person

O.....K.....



A crazy scene from the colourful 1977 Japanese horror movie 'Hausu'.

Envy #2

I've spoken about how envy can be good in the past. Here's something that got me green as hell!



Props to the agency responsible (sorry, I dunno who it was but I'm stoked they got to Cannes!). They thought THROUGH the obstacles to still deliver an effective message. Usually brief obstacles in your path can cause the creative process to come to a stop... on this occasion the team decided to drive right into it and smash the idea open into an interesting place.

It's all wrapped up in a beautiful campaign that engages not only intensely, but also over an extended period of time. Excellent!

Completely Gratuitous

I actually own a few NSW tees and they're nice.
Organic cotton feel FTW.

Who Knew They Did Meatballs?

We were starving but couldn't figure out how to cook them! Boom-tish!

#manweek

My Dad came to Australia when he was 16. He came alone on the boat from Italy, leaving his parents, brothers and sister back home. 3 months on a boat. 16 years old. No English at all. Completely alone. (I sometimes wonder if I could of done that.)

He arrived and slept on a bed at his uncle Vittorio's house. Vittorio had arrived years early and had found work on the railways. All my father knew about was cars, so he tried his hand at being a mechanic. Soon, another Italian migrant who had successfully been running a service station and workshop in Fitzroy took him on board.

My Dad was hard. He grew up on the dodgy streets of Brunswick/Fitzroy through the 60's and 70's (apparently his nickname was Tony TuffBoy, hehe), and spent most of his days on his back under greasy cars, his nights at coffee bars and pool halls. He fought with the boss constantly but in true Italian style, this only earned him the old man’s respect. He married the boss’s daughter, and ended up taking over the business. The rest is as they say...

Since boarding that boat so long ago... he has always been at it. Even when the diabetes started fucking up his life, he still got under the cars, he still built gardens and retaining walls, or helped mates pave their driveways or paint their house on the weekends. Never stopping working... never. I might be the only ad planner on the planet that can serve you up a strat deck, replace your brake pads and grout your bathroom all at once.

You should know though that my old man and I rarely see eye to eye. I think at times he fails to understand that I chose to live in a world polar opposite to his. One of travel, ideas, ambitions, hopes and chasing desires... a disconnection exacerbated by my older brother who chooses a more traditional save, invest, and settle lifestyle. But even still... in him (the good, the bad and even the at times despicable) I have learned everything about what my journey to manhood has to involve.

It's a little bit about how physically tough you are. It's a little bit about how mentally tough you are. It's a little bit how you "act" in certain situations, even how you don't act in situations. Getting on the boat. Choosing your career. Arguing with the boss. Sticking up for what you believe in. Taking over the business. Relishing a sense of ownership and responsibility. It’s not about bravery or any of that macho bullshit. For me... being a man is about pride. Pride that when it's all done and dusted, you can know you did the best thing for you and the ones you love.

I can't argue with that about Papa, and he'd be proud to know that.

#manweek is an initiative from Reach Out aimed at encouraging men to talk more openly about their feelings.

Relics From An 80's Espresso Bar

Salvaged by my friend Shunny from the shed of an old couple that ran a Brunswick coffee bar in the mid 80's. Love the detail in the flowing hair!

The Rulers Back

Jay-Z bringing Death of Autotune.

I'm really liking this. It feels nice to have a rapper come out and speak on where this genre has been going of late. I dig an angry Jay-Z... it's like he's one of only a few people left in the biz who could crush you with a million dollars AND (more importantly) a truck of credibility cause he's been doing it so good for so long. Everything about this feels like defiance. Me like, me like.

Teh Radness #008

Been quite busy of late - trying to spend less time online and more time in the real world - but always inspired by Teh Radness!

Teh Radness #008

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R.I.P. Michael Jackson

My cousin Antonella got me hooked on MJ when she recorded her vinyl copy of Off The Wall onto a tape for me. I was only 8 or 9 years old at the time ("On The Floor" still gets massive respect on my iTunes Play Count). Ever since, I've been a fan of Jacko. And I'm sure everyone has a similar Michael Jackson story of their own.

I loved this guy. I've openly spoken about how the Dangerous album changed the way I felt about pop music and sound production. It's still amazing. Even promo wise... every single was a short film... a Sunday night special TV event... Never again. Never.

One of my favs (and sadly fitting)...

"I think we'll mourn his loss as well as the loss of ourselves as children listening to his music on the record player."

Tiles At Nonna's House

Do What You Will

[Firstly, I should add that I am not the AA wearing, Cazal rocking, designer track bike riding type. Whilst I find that whole scene really interesting, this is purely an objective look at a brand. So...]

Stumbled across the recent launch of the Nike SW x Undefeated CTRS Bike Store and it got me thinking about brands in the real world. Oh shit... you mean a non online social media experience? The way some bloggers are carrying on you'd think this kinda stuff doesn't happen anymore. Sure social media could (and I say could because it's not right for everyone) COULD be ONE part of an overall comms platform, but I for one am a big believer in brands being able to achieve more in the REAL world than anywhere else: by successfully identifying their targets and not just talking to them, but living and being part of their interests and subcultures by successfully participating in and hopefully contributing to it. But that's a blog for another time...

This post is more of an extrapolation of a thought I shared on Stan's blog re: American Apparel. The conversation revolved around the disconnect between the sexually stylised AA advertising and the very plain, boring, uneventful in-store experience. My contribution is that this is absolutely excellent play by AA, and shows a deep understanding of their (original) strategic target audience.

In addition to the high quality of the clothing that made it a hit with screen-printers and the ethical/political conditions of the company, for a long time AA was the heart of the hipster-gen kids who ran from over the top commercialisation and anyone trying to "market" something. These are the kids that every brand manager wants to understand but probably never will because they never want to be the strategic target of ANYONE. In fact, at the first tell-tale sign of such behaviour they'll turn their back immediately. Think of the cool kids, and then think of the ones that inspired them. That's who the original AA kids thought they were. I wonder even that when AA were planning their business in the early days, they ever anticipated that their brand would be hijacked like it was by this subculture... not that their accountants would have a problem with how it all went down.

I think what confuses a lot of brand managers wanting to tap into that influential youth group that AA (accidentally?) did, is just how incredibly contradictory these kids can be... especially the hip (marketing read: most valuable) ones. They openly walk away from overly commercial clothing brands/badges, but at the same time place incredible emphasis on their appearance. You're no one unless you have a sweet pair of kicks, but as soon as you rock up to the Steve Aoki party in limited Yeezy's you're nothing but a sorry hype beast. How is any brand supposed to understand how to participate in such a bitchy and materialistic world like that?


AA did though, without trying. It was because they understood these kids didn't give a fuck about a message, a demand idea, a brand promise, brand essence, propositions or any of that stuff... they were never selling them AA, they're selling them a blank canvas to create and be whoever the hell they wanted. So whilst their in-store experience may seem like you've wandered into a sterile warehouse environment, that is EXACTLY the point.

From my perspective, the ads also capture this "do what you will with our product" attitude. There is a reason why they show sexually charged models in compromising situations... it's because these photos are almost identical to the ones taken by popular hipster party photogs like lastnightsparty, all which have become more synonymous with the scene than anything. Whilst mainstream society might be confronted by those images, for the kids it's absolutely normal. AA ads sell AA by not selling AA, but merely being present in the moments they live by.

In hindsight, it's easy to look back at the success of AA and try to gather learning's but reality is, it was right place right time... and importantly, plenty of courage to let the consumers run with it. How many established brands are going to be willing to let go of control like that? Even Timberland had to go back and reclaim their intended audience of rugged workers once Timbo's were hijacked by hip hop - Timberland Pro?

Similarly, I think the most interesting thing about AA is the backlash that is starting to occur now the brand is being worn by the cool kids (and I'm talking about the high school kid who THINKS he's cool but is really on the 2nd rung of coolness). It's starting to lose it's edge a little as the real trendsetters get a sniff of the mainstream setting in, God forbid. Maybe there IS something to learn about using young influencers to drive the growth of your company? WHO to next for AA?

Future Flicks

#6 in a series of pop culture charts by Dan Meth (see the rest here)

What's The A?

I listened to this interview with Pharrell with some interest the other day and it got me thinking.
In it, he gives some advice to young kids aspiring to be rappers, clothing designers, artists whatever, just like he is. His words are "have a back up". It's good advice. There's 6 billion people on the planet and only one Pharrell Williams, but how many kids out there are growing up with the hope of being Pharrell too?

My point (and his) is whilst it's great to chase your dreams and give it all you've got... you need to have a Plan B, fuck even a Plan C.

This got me thinking a lot about recent conversations I've been having with various people. It's clear us 20 somethings feel frustrated by all this recession GFC stuff. Call us impatient, non-loyal, typical Gen-Y or whatever, but I've heard it many times in focus groups and even spoken with randoms for vox-pops myself... whilst we might not be directly affected financially (loss of super, lifetime investments etc), the fact that the world and opportunities around us are closing up or disappearing all together is starting to restrict our ambitions and grind on our emotions.

I'm hearing more and more from friends (who have comfortable jobs) about how unsure they are about their future. Not because they might get fired. But more because they feel stranded in something they're not sure about or unhappy in. Maybe it's all of us growing up realising that this is just the way life is? But then again, maybe not. The thing about Plan B's is you still gotta have a Plan A. Plan A needs to be the priority. B is for B(ackup) but a backup is what you use when everything has turned to shit from Plan A. Get it?

In essence, there can't be no Plan B unless you've had a go at A.

Installation artist Lauren Brown realised last year that she was living her Plan B. She went from job to job until she made the decision to make her art her priority... Plan A. I'll let her read this post and comment but I guess being at her show last week and seeing the passion she has for her work really helped glue this all together in my mind.

Too many people I care about keep talking like they're living Plan B and I've never really known how to articulate the issue until now... you gotta start by starting at the end.

What's the A? Ask yourself, when it's all done and dusted... what does happiness look like? Have a shot, you've always got Plan B anyways.

2 Great Tracks From The Weekend

What an excellent weekend for discovering some new tunes.

Dodgy Aus-made film clip aside, this is a dope track from an excellent debut album. Nice Oz-take on the electro/hip-hop mashment going on at the moment.


I was driving home late on Saturday night listening to the radio and the distorted intro to this track tore my car apart. Seriously... does it get any better than electric drum kits? FTW! Their album is phenomenal.

Teh Radness #007

Another week of cool shit to check out.
Download the PDF with linky's here.
Hope ya had a great weekend...

Teh Radness #007

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Yes Please.

I like this. I like this very much.

Yeah so the idea of kicking a ball from scene to scene has been done a million times, but not on this scale! I think I like it even more because it shows the Gov and FFA are going absolutely all out balls-to-the-wall on our bid for the World Cup. Even KRudd gets respect! Excellent.

It's Friiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiday!

Perfect song for right now.
Clipse "I'm Good" feat Pharrell... looking forward to this album dropping. Neptunes soundin' nice!



Teh Radness coming over the weekend.

A Billion Heads

This came to my attention the other day and I found in kinda interesting. Seems that Microsoft is leveraging their sponsorship of the Cannes Lions with a (new?) website. The site has some interesting content on there and links to various talks, opinion pieces and articles which all have a tech/advertising slant in some way. It's def worth checking out. They're even tracking use of the #canneslions tag on Twitter.

What I found equally interesting was discovering a branch of Microsoft called Microsoft Advertising... especially their tag line "You dream it. We Deliver it." Granted I've never really had much of a reason to look closely at Microsoft's businesses but this is the first time I'd seen this being mixed into consumer experiences. Delving deeper, Microsoft Advertising kinda makes a hellova lot of sense.

Microsoft constantly has millions and millions of people engaged in one of their many products at most times of the day. Check the stats from their online initiatives...

Bing Search Engine... 45,428,000 unique visitors
MSN Lifestyle... 8,231,000 users
MSN Homepage... 60,547,000 active users
MSN Money... 11,414,000 unique users
XBox Live... 3,198,000 active users
Widows Live Messenger... 16,387,000 unique users
and there's a heap more without even started to tally offline products like Office.

Though I know enough about the important difference between reach VS engagement, these numbers are retarded! In fact, this article puts Microsoft's reach somewhere close to a billion people a day. If they can segment the shit out of that number down to a granular level that is pretty powerful stuff.

I was interested to see who else could possibly secure a billion visits a day so (without ignoring the irony) I went to Google and quite literally asked...

Funnily enough, even Google thought I was taking the piss, ha!

Is Microsoft about to go to the mattresses with Google over ad schemes? Is there about to be blood spilt on screen space?! What does that mean for us as humble, innocent consumer bystanders? All I know is if I ever see a pop up ad in my XBox Live Dashboard there's gonna be trouble!