Merry Christmas And I'm Out Like The Vapours

Since I don't have the net at home I won't be able to update for a while so this is prolly my final post for 2007. I just want to say thanks to everyone that read and left comments on this blog. A lot of people find the concept of blogging weird (confronting) that you would share such intimate thoughts to God knows who. But I can honestly say I wouldn't know what to do without my generic little Blogger page.

So to all my blog buddies and lurkers, have a Merry Christmas and awesome New Year!

I'll leave you with a video that made me cry laughing the first time I watched it because the kid reminds me so much of my brother Dave it's not funny... he even looks exactly like the kid version of him! In the true sense of this blog, I'll also leave a UGC remix version that takes it to the next level.

Seeyaz in the 08.

Thanks from the staff at In My Atmosphere.

Selfish Music

I was speaking to an interesting girl on Saturday night about music. It was clear we had different tastes when she expressed that Bjork, Radiohead and Sigur Ross "make up her soul". As much as I found a statement like that quite full on, she then went on to say how she is feeling uneasy about Bjork's performance at next years Big Day Out festival.

"Scared?" I asked. She went on to explain that Bjork means so much to her that she almost doesn't want to have to share the experience with the rest of the 100,000 people that will be there.

"What so you'd prefer a one on one sesh?"

Yes. She then went on to tell me that she would not know how to react if some people were to slag off Bjork during the performance. I told her that if I was there I would no doubt be slagging her whiny ugly ass off, and as much as this went down badly, I told her to stop being so selfish about the music she listens to.

You see, I'm the kind of person who loves sharing my musical taste. I believe that you can tell a lot about someone by what kind of music they listen to, so I use it as a way of letting people know who I am, and sometimes what I think of them.

"Hey have you heard 2Pac's Wonder Why They Call You Bitch? the little keyboard sample in it is sooo cool!"

I'm constantly burning CD's for specific people, but this girl could not fathom it. She gave in and told me that she would break from her selfish ways and burn me a Sigur Ross CD, which to be honest I haven't heard much from. But she prefaced the offer by saying that if I didn't like it, she would really find it hard to respect me as a person. WTF? She actually means it too. I told her I'd make her a John Mayer CD, and that if she didn't like it I wouldn't sleep with her.

I guess either way I'm fucked.

Original Is Something

Ok, so you'd know by now that I'm not the greatest fan of Adidas... I think the brand is weak because there is no relationship between what they want to stand for "Impossible Is Nothing" and most of their retail work - old school originals. This disconnect has made it almost impossible for me to see them as a serious sports brand - if it weren't for Beckham they'd have nothing. Rob, I know you're going to disagree with me here!

Anyways, I stumbled across this article this morning which almost made me spill my Nutrigrain (read: not good, not good AT ALL because I love my Nutri). It's written (by someone with a personal relationship to the agency that produced the ad so that speaks volumes as it is) about the BIG Adidas Olympics 08 campaign screening in China at the moment and apparently it's causing quite a bit of a fuss as "one of the coolest commercials we (have) ever seen in Shanghai (or anywhere else, for that matter)".



Sorry, but I must disagree. Not only does the spot lack any energy or excitement - things usually associated with SPORT - but you get the impression that the makers fell in love with their own imagery a little too much. Watching it again, it's simply boring. Oh, did I forget to mention the small fact that Visa did the same idea (not illustrated either) almost two years ago for a series of ads for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games?



I guess Impossible Is Something then...

Age's Awesome Movie Moments # 6

For a long period of my teens I was obsessed with The Crow. I won't go into why it's still one of my favourite movies of all time, though I will say that a lot of the themes in this film I relate to very deeply - even if it is a goth/emo cult film.

Now for some random Crow trivia. In the film, we see Eric Draven transform into the Crow character when he revisits his old apartment (a year after his brutal murder). It's a traumatic experience and he is filled with such rage that he makes himself over as some sort of angel of death. Coolness. What a lot of people missed though, is that half way through the film Eric appears to have his arms taped heavilly with black electrical tape - all for no reason.

In the original comic (which is fucking brilliant btw) there is a disturbing chapter where Eric is again in his old house, and doing a bit of reminiscing. Shattered over what has happened to him and the love of his life, he takes to his own wrists with a razor blade, trying over and over to kill himself, rejecting his newfound immortality in the hope of having peace with his love. He cuts himself up pretty bad and is forced to do some repair work with the tape.

That suicide scene from the comic never actually made the final working script but a razor does make an appearance during FunBoy's death sequence. Funnily enough though, this scene - and the bit which relates to Eric's slashed arms - was cut short from the final movie for some reason. So that explains the mysterious taped arms appearing! But thanks to special edition DVD's and Youtube, here is the extended FunBoy death scene you may not have ever seen that will show why Eric has his arms taped from that point on. This movie changed my life...

A Post For You, My "Cursed"

An Italian tradition spanning thousands of years...

How to detect Malocchio:

1. Fill a bowl with spring water and drop three drops of olive oil into the water. Make sure that each drop of olive oil follows right after the other.

2. If the olive oil drops stay together and remain as circles, no "evil eye" is present. If the drops spread out or break, you are infected with Malocchio - the bad thoughts of others, who in most cases are secretly envious of you.

How to remove Malocchio:

1. Take two sewing needles and stick one sharp point into the other's eye while chanting the following:

"mmidia e malocchio
curnucille all`occhio
crepa l`ammidia e scoppia lu malocchio
n' nome di Di e d' Santa Mari
lu malocchio se n' pozza ye.
Lunedi Santo, Martedi Santo, Mercoledi Santo,Giovedi Santo, Venerdi
Santo, Sabato Santo, e Domenica di Pasqua, lu malocchio crepa!"

A very loose English translation:

"Eye to evil eye, eye stabs evil eye, evil eye bursts and leaks,

in the name of Saint Mary, evil eye shall pool and bleed.

Each day for every day thy power will weaken;

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and the Sunday of Passover, evil eye leak!"

2. Next drop the needles into the water and sprinkle three dashes of consecrated (blessed) salt over the needles.

3. Take a scissors and cut the air over the water three times.

This should effectively break the curse.

Best.News.Story.Ever.

Imagine seeing this on your way to work!!

Selling Shit Is Taken Too Seriously

Here is a great post from Ruby Pseudo's blog quoting a young 17 year old kid called Oliver. He's provided what is probably the most accurate description of youth marketing I've ever read. It's confusing, contradictory, and as a planner, quite insightful.

I’m the kind of person that likes brands to be one step ahead of me and have the things I need before I need them.

I like to have the freedom to use them as and when I please and not be pestered when I’m not using it. (If they’re good they will be used again)

I like them at my fingertips but not in my way.

What I’m doing has to look good, be easy to accomplish but not simple. Involves skill but not time consuming.

My dress sense is like my uniform, I need to look good but not smart, has to match but not be the same.

I like to follow the trends but be different, look like everyone else but stand out. Be the same but unique.

Same as everyone else’s but better. The same, but exclusive…

Hate expensive but it can’t be cheap.

I like them to be real. I see through the sugar coating, if you have something that can be useful to me then sell it.

When someone’s trying to sell something to me, I want them to be straight up, but I don’t want them to say, I’ve got this, do you want it?’, I want it to be relevant.

Like a mate, I want them there when I need them, in the background, when I need them, I need them to let me know what they’re there for and leave it at that.

I’ve got friends who I want to be around everyday, who I can rely on, I’ve got friends I call up just for a good time that I know wouldn’t be there if I needed them, but I don’t mind that. I want the same from brands. Like my phone, they’ve got to be reliable, around all the time, and there when you need them, if I’m going to go and buy a pair of kicks, I want the ones that look the best that no one else has.

We’re not as easily influenced as you think, we’re tired of video games and films being used as excuse to justify the behaviour of a few. My friends are talented, cool people. I see the talents in them. Don’t insult their intelligence. Don’t insult mine.

I can only imagine a bunch of suits sitting in a boardroom somewhere trying to make sense of this, or better yet, using it in their next client preso to try and appear "in with the youth". For all the bullshit and brainstorming and focus groups and product testing, it just goes to show that marketers will probably never truly understand what really makes kids tick... and I LOVE that because for me, kids are cool for just being cool.

I Hear Ad People

How's this?!

Reportedly... the below billboard actually transmits voices into your head to make you think you're hearing the whispers of ghosts!


Is this subliminal advertising taken to the next level? Who cares, it's just plain fucking wrongtown. Though I did have a laugh thinking about the poor bastard living in the apartment next door, he must be losing his marbles, ha!!!