Photographic Divination

It was in MoMA's courtyard, while resting near the water basin, when it struck me: there was a strange crack in the architectural landscape around us. Three seconds later, I knew what it was: the most clear cut, modern and unmagical pool in the world was full of coins, a clear sign that we must be surrounded by a lot of unhapiness. Funny enough, probably the most of it has something to do with money.

So as the water was waving, distorting the image of the world (well, mostly the trees & the vegetation around the pool), I've made this photographic, almost divinatory experiment: I've shoot a rapid sequence of pictures (around 30), trying to capture the elusive images hidden into the flickering shadow.

Around seven of them tell discernable stories.

The Devil's Eye

Temptation I (18th century man facing temptation)

Greed I (Visceral, like the eel biting of anything that glitters)

Temptation II (The Easter Island man is looking at the sky, imagining the Universe)

Greed III (A coin flipping claw)

Temtation III (My face should be on this coin)

Brooklyn Bridge

City lights

Night drive

This is New York

32

Kindle Demographics

It's like technological Viagra. A not so scientific study suggests that the early adopters for this technology are in fact much older than previously foreseen, questioning the preconception on the domination of the 18-34 group over this category.

More on the Kindle Culture blog.

Zilele triste ale filmului european

- Aoleo, parca s-au strans toti necajitii in filmul european. Mai lipseau un catzel schiop cersetor si o tzestoasa cu hemoroizi.
- Nu cred ca exista asa ceva.
- Normal ca exista. Ce crezi ca s-a intamplat cu tzestoasele ninja dupa ce au imbatranit?!

It's fucking Richard Burton

Al naibii, cred ca sunt ultimul om de pe planeta care s-a prins cine e naratorul :). Richard Burton recita din Dylan Thomas intr-unul din ad-urile mele favorite, facut de fostii mei colegi de retea de la DDB London pentru Volkswagen.

Also check out www.night-driving.com, it pays.

Despre mestesugari

Intrand week end ul asta la Green Hours, am realizat brusc ce ma sacaia in legatura cu targurile de hand made de prin Bucuresti: people, you got it all wrong. You don't struggle for perfection. You show no craftmanship. You have no self respect.

Lucrurile pe care le faceti arata ca si cum ati lucra pe banda rulanta, in graba, lipind cu putin clei idei de mana a doua. Pana una alta, cunosc doar trei mestesugari romani care isi merita numele: Lola, Monica Paduret si Ana Ponta.

A, ar mai si Rolando Negoita, doar ca daca te uiti la price tag, intelegi ca el are chiar foarte mult respect fata de sine.

Ceea ce e bine.

Holy Grail

"... There was even a Start-​3 pro­to­type, about which we know next to noth­ing. Ap­par­ent­ly it was sold on the black mar­ket, and can now be had for an as­tro­nom­i­cal price at the Leica Shop Wien..."

The essential Cadillac

Woman reading the Quran

Third grade encounter

Doua infinite

"Am marit viteza la Internetul Mobil! Ai trafic nelimitat incepand cu 9 EUR+TVA, iar pentru doar 2 EUR in plus primesti dublu! Te asteptam la Vodafone!"

SMS Vodafone trimis catre clienti*.

Zic sa nu va grabiti. Vine Pastele, asteptati oferta cu trei infinite de la Orange.

___
(* primit de la dl. Glontz, caruia ii multumim pentru forward)

Chairman Mao's Little Red Cellphone

llustration for Discovery Network used in promotion of a Ted Koppel documentary on China's emerging middle class, made by Tavis Coburn. Somehow reminds me of another excelent piece: the fake "Kim Jong Il getting the moon" propaganda movie, made by the Onion some time ago :)

Oh, the passion...

Video no longer available.

Pacat, zic.

The Old Smoke

Lamarde's cigs & tabacco advertising collection. Art nouveau & smoking. Can't get any better (if you ignore the fact that you need to log in to get there).

Nescafe

"...un gust de trei ori bun, un zambet impreuna.".

Exista in spatele acestui slogan /adline niste intrebari ingrijoratoare despre cum functoneaza industria de advertising, daca te gandesti cam prin ce trece un slogan inainte sa fie aprobat.
Vorbim de o chestie care a fost scrisa de un copywriter, in teorie un profesionist al comunicarii, de cateva layere decizionale la client, in care specialisti in marketing si comunicare stau si intorc lucrurile pe toate partile, si nu in ultimul rand despre un consumator pe care mi l-as fi dorit un pic mai putin anesteziat.

Wake up, people! Un zambet impreuna?!

The last of the barn finds

"In this undated image released by Bonhams, an extremely rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, is seen in a garage in Gosforth, England, where it was found by relatives after the death of the owner, an elderly doctor who last used it around 1960. The Bugatti, one of only 17 ever made, is expected to draw a record price when it is auctioned in Paris next month." (AFP)

So said the joker to the thief

A venit vremea, drumurile noastre se despart aici. O sa imi fie dor de voi.

Elegantly branded

If you miss the simple beauty of good old branding (a rare sight on the web, I must admit), check out the "Title" section of the Royal Opera House.

Believe

Frumos de la Honda.

Portret

Stiu cum vreau sa il fotografiez pe Vamos. In tinuta voievodala, in postura de ctitor, tinand in brate o macheta de Bradley M2A3 in loc de biserica.

Who do you call?

According to the London-based The Future Laboratory think tank, the amount of people arranging to have their cellphones or portable media players buried with them is on the rise, with a family service counselor for Hollywood Forever funeral home and cemetery stating that "it seems that everyone under 40 who dies takes their cellphone with them." Truth be told, the psychology behind it isn't all that odd; after all, in today's world, mobile phones go a long way to connecting one person with other loved ones. Just make sure to not go down with a Vertu or the like - wouldn't want to get unwillingly exhumed, now would we?

via The Inquirer

Cum sa-ti faci o mica agentie de publicitate

Iti iei una mare si astepti. (Banc de la Vamos :)

Niste postere

Alcoolismul - inamicul productiei

Nu e niciodata prea tarziu sa te lasi

Ai mila de copilul tau

Thanks, Sicko

Fructele maniei

Free stuff

Cu un pic de ajutor de la un prieten, caruia ii multumesc pe aceasta cale, a iesit un ad pentru o campanie sociala impotriva violentei domestice. Donam ideea / executia oricarei organizatii dispuse sa il foloseasca.

Daca doriti sa revedeti...

... selectii din programul de Revelion 1988. Astazi, Arkanoid.

Food vs. sex

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up and believe... whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

So what should it be: Triferment™ or Viagra™ ?

Gotcha!

"Beware! Cigar stealing penguins."

Excellent design

... from Art Lebedev.

Arta de a gresi

"In momentele care conteaza, aleg un deodorant pe care ma pot baza".

Dragutz, stau si ma intreb cam ce faci tu in restul timpului. Ah, lasa-ma sa ghicesc, esti roman. Folosesti unul mai prost, pe care nu te poti baza, sau pur si simplu nu mai folosesti deodorant deloc.

Felicitari domnule copywriter, din greseala ati adaptat perfect textul.

Magritte!

This is not a birthday, we know. But still, a certain painter should not use surrealism as a lame excuse for not buying a round of drinks on his birthday.

The other battlefront

A nice article about taliban PR in Afganistan.

Despre vopsitul ciorii

Stim cu totii ca stam prost. Bucurestiul, precum multe alte orase ale Romaniei, e ca un scaun vechi: descleiat, incomod si cu un picior in groapa. Traim intr-un cerc vicios: suntem vai de curul nostru, istoria nu ne da credit, noi nu schimbam mobilierul.

Evident, vom fi fortati sa reparam (din nou) acelasi vechi scaun, sa vopsim (din nou) aceeasi batrana cioara. Si daca tot trebuie sa mai batem un cui in incheieturile pline de gauri ale acestui oras care se drogheaza cu provizorat, zic sa o facem macar de data asta cum trebuie.

Daca va intereseaza subiectul, treceti prin foaierul Muzeului Taranului Roman pana pe 15 noiembrie sa vedeti "Idei mici pentru un oras mare", una din expozitiile Bienalei de Arhitectura Bucuresti 2008. Sau intrati pe site-ul http://www.arhitectura1906.ro, unde puteti sa vedeti si eventual sa votati 16 posibile solutii pentru problemele noastre.

Pieta

Hearing Test

7 Kino Typo Projects

Holy Grail

"In total, 12 modified Hasselblad 500EL fitted with Zeiss lenses were left on the moon between 1969 and 1972. Only their film magazines were brought back to Earth. In fact they are still there now, somewhere in the Sea of Tranquillity..."

"The 1958 world fair in Brus­sels not only gave us the Atom­i­um, but also Grand Prix Brus­sels 1958 lens­es. It also gave us the Kometa, KMZ's spe­cial­ly built hy­per­mod­ern rangefind­er cam­era in the league of Leica's M3, of which two pro­to­types were taken to Brus­sels that van­ished soon there­after..."

J'ai oublie les paroles.

Divine Comedy

A hired photographer misplaced his smiley card, while shooting the religious service during a wedding ceremony in the church of Mociu, Cluj.

Late Night in Zion

Echochrome

"Perhaps I am doomed to retrace my steps under the illusion that I am exploring, doomed to try and learn what I should simply recognize, learning a mere fraction of what I have forgotten."

Andre Breton, while playing Echochrome.
Now on PSP. On my PSP.

Gri

Tocmai mi-a taiat calea aceeasi pisica gri, pentru a doua oara intr-o saptamana. Aparent nici ghinionul nu mai e ce-a fost.

When Spin Goes Ballistic

In a recent muscle flexing exercise, Ahmadinejad showed off the most secret weapon in the Iranian arsenal. No, we are not talking about the Shahab 3's succesor. Beware, Israel, of the mighty force of... well, Photoshop.

While 4 rockets going up hill might have that something that puts you in the world news...
... the reality begs to differ. Apparently, the fourth cracker didn't want to pop up, revealing something that can be described as the world's most ugly milk delivery van. Embarassing like hell, I would say. Details on The Lede, The New York Times' blog.

I wonder what could be the next step; probably the destruction of Israeli properties in Second Life. Anyways, for more fun, take a look at the Engadget's response: The Iran Tech Photoshop Contest.

I love teasing

Two faceless people are popping up at high profile events in London...

The Art Round Up

Nathan "Flutebox" Lee and Beardyman@Google and...

Sa scriem frumos!

C.: "Dragostea este faptul ca se fac nunti duble intr-un cardu majestuos la Plopii Fara Sot – una mica sus, una mica jos"
raluca maria: cadru
C.: of raluca maria
C.: lasa asta
C.: poate fi o aliteratie, un efect de stil
C.: e ok
C.: :)
C.: e despre nunta cu cardu
C.: :)
raluca maria: scrisu iese si cum vrea el de multe ori
C.: da da
C.: metaforele au drumul lor spre lumina
C.: sunt ca niste cai care stiu drumul de la bufet spre casa si ishi duc carutzashul beat pana in pridvor, cu capul balanganind in josul oistei

Frumos de la Raluca Maria.

Oh, the passion...

If f/5.6 is really f/5.6568 (square-root of 32), and f/11 is f/11.3137.(sqrt of 32)... and if f/11.3137 is rounded to f/11, shouldn't f/5.65 be rounded to f/5.7 instead of f/5.6?

AND shouldn't f/22.6274 be rounded to f/23 instead of f/22?

:)

Mind Share

Monochrom tried to evaluate the actual power of brands by making Austrian people draw logos from memory. Here is what they got.

Bar Mitzvah!

NESTEA® Refrigerated Tea (Chilled) FAQ

Q: Is NESTEA® Kosher?
A: Yes, OUD

Trivia electorala

Stiati ca... in campanie, Vanghelie a avut acelasi slogan ca Johnson& Johnson - Because we care?

Fallen

Bataia cu perne

Beijing Olympics 2008

The Medalist

Batman, Batman!

Accesul interzis ramelor care se cred Batman.

Beati pauperes spiritu

Ok Banca Romaneasca, sunt fericit cu noua mea baie, da' puteti sa ii rugati pe cei care au facut spotul sa imi explice si mie cum devine sentimentu' asta inaltzator motiv de credit de consum?

Mineriada de catifea

Prima lor intalnire se consuma undeva dupa 13-15 iunie, cand Ion Iliescu isi minimaliza faptele, explicand unor ziaristi francezi cum sadeau minerii floricele si ridicau jardinierele de pe jos in Piata Universitatii. Spre vesnica aducere aminte, prietenul nostru minimalul se intoarce la locul faptei, de ziua mortului:

Ne intalnim acolo.

Pure Genius

Andrzej Dragan - physicist, composer, photographer, advertiser.