RIP Diane Keaton

From Peter Bradshaw’s tribute in The Guardian:

The millpond calm of her face, its beauty, its gentleness, its openness and unworldliness became even more heart stopping when she laughed or cried – and generations of moviegoers felt their own crush on Diane Keaton escalate into something more. She was more than America’s sweetheart: Keaton was the sophisticated, sweet-natured, unaffectedly sensual woman with whom America was unrequitedly in love. Diane Keaton was out of America’s league.

The high-water mark of Diane Keaton’s late period of gentler romance was in Meyers’s Something’s Gotta Give in 2003, when she finds herself being courted by two men: Jack Nicholson, the ageing roué notorious for dating younger women and humbled by a non-fatal heart attack, and by Keanu Reeves, the impossibly dishy doctor whom Keaton meets because of Nicholson’s heart scare.

For a female star to be adored by these two amazing movie galacticos is a difficult look to pull off and really Keaton was the only candidate: even in middle age she has that innocence and unaffected charm – and if the focus in her performance is fuzzy, it only added to her appeal. The thought of Hollywood without Diane Keaton is unbearably sad.

And here’s her, freaking out, at the doctor’s, in Baby Boom (1987).

Olivia Colman sells you on London

Technically, it’s a campaign from Burberry to promote its outerwear.   It’s titled ‘It’s Always Burberry Weather: Postcards from London’.  But it’s the presence of Colman that elevates it beyond the ordinary.  The actress oozes her irresistible charm, donning the roles of a tour guide, a chip shop worker, and a cricket enthusiast.

Spot 1: Fish and Chips

Spot 2: Tour Guide

Spot 3: Cricket

Police chase ‘runaway inflatable pumpkin’

To quote from an AP News report:

Police in Ohio went in pursuit of a runaway inflatable pumpkin that proved difficult to grasp after receiving calls of a giant orange object rolling down the street. Body camera footage shows officers pursuing the inflatable pumpkin Tuesday night.

And this, from a post by the local police department:

We received several requests to release the body cam from this morning’s unusual pumpkin pursuit.

Officers can confirm that Cinderella’s carriage did, in fact, turn back into a pumpkin just after midnight in Parma Heights.

Link to video

Heinz unveils Ketchup Dress at Paris Fashion Week

This is how one of the creatives behind the dressing-inspired dress summed it up:

We normally use fashion to express ourselves.

So nothing better than a Heinz ketchup dress to express the irrational love for Heinz.

Natural to crave a Whopper

A new spot for Burger King weaves together footage of adorable toddlers, eager to get a taste of what their parents are having.

Link to video

The jeans are all that matter

NYC-based Olga Basha jeans follows up its ‘mystery label’ spot from earlier this year with a new 2 minute film that is, well, not for someone who is squeamish.

Link to video

‘Indian civil servant’, explained by Wikipedia

To quote:

Indian civil servants, often referred to as “Babus”, collectively widely perceived as the self-serving collective known as the “babudom” at all levels of government and government-linked organisations, marked by the very low Government effectiveness index by the self-preserving hierarchies of tax-payers-paid government servants with the colonial exploitative mentality of lording over the tax-payers the babus are paid to serve. Though the good people in the system exist (even their goodness is questionable if they do not self-preservingly blow the whistle despite knowing the corruption), yet the Babus blatantly violate the conflict of interest by enabling, collaborating and complying with the corrupt politician dynasties and groups and breed the corruption and cronyism to maximising the corrupt spoils for themselves by the deliberate introducing illegal bribe-inducing procedural delays hindering the effective governance and public service delivery. They thrive beyond the elected term of corrupt political collaborators though the culture of self-preserving and risk aversion. They are ought to uphold, but have the ill repute of being the reverse of the good citizen, who violate the professional ethics lacking the voice of conscience, through their deliberate proactive hindrance to the customer service to the citizens they bring down the national productivity slowing down the development of nation.^{[1] [2][3] [4]}

Indian civil servants, could be employed by the national, state or local government, PSU or elected officials at any level, they are easily recognised by the same attitude of entitlement, propensity for corruption and impunity with arrogance when questioned or held accountable.

Anything for Cheetos

Wednesday’s Thing is the star of a new spot for the snack brand, in partnership with Netflix.

Link to video

More power… just in case

Ford is launching its new Ranger Hybrid across Europe with a campaign that pitches its power, alongside some delightful absurdity.

Link to video

Holy Crocodile

After moving to Denmark, I never expected to be on set in the middle of Copenhagen Zoo, surrounded by kangaroos, with an actor saying, ‘So you want me to steal the Kangaroo?’. But there’s a first time for everything.

That’s from one of the creative minds behind the promotional film for this year’s Down Under Film Festival in Copenhagen, and it sure packs in a ton of fanciful ideas that many Europeans have, or so we’re told, about what someone from Australia might look or speak like.

Link to video

PS: There’s also this ‘public service announcement’ put out by the festival organisers on social media:

Crocs optional. Kangaroos not required.

Ice cream tragedies

Ice cream brand CVT employs high drama to point out the downside of drippy ice cream.

Spot 1: Lake House

Spot 2: Lottery Ticket

Ben Stiller makes a bubbly move

The actor has launched his own brand of soda with a spot in which he pitches the soda alongside wacky interjections by Justin Theroux.

Link to video

PS: As one might expect, the humour extends elsewhere across the promotion.  This is the fine print laid out for for anyone considering signing up for email updates, on the product website:

Recipients acknowledge that, despite stylistic choices in copywriting, no actual carbonation, bubbles, or sparkling matter can be transferred via the medium of email. Should bubbles appear in your inbox, you are advised to shut down your computer immediately and seek spiritual counsel.

Coyote ugly, explained

That is, as explained by the inimitable Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County, Florida, at a recent news conference.

Link to video

Willem Dafoe is delightfully expressive about Laphroaig

The single malt whiskey brand has kicked off its collaboration with the actor, with a whimsical 3 minute film that doubles as a showcase of Dafoe’s dramatic flair.

Link to video

Sausage roll-inspired design

A bean bag and a clutch—inspired by the iconic sausage roll of UK bakery chain Greggs.

RIP Claudia Cardinale

From The Guardian: A Life in Pictures

Windswept Trump at centre of Guardian billboard

The Guardian has a new outdoor campaign in the US.

Arguing over pets lead couple to seek divorce

To quote from a report out of India:

The couple bonded over their shared love for pets before marriage. The husband, a resident of Bhopal, already had a pet dog, a rabbit, and a fish tank, while the wife, originally from Uttar Pradesh, brought her cat along after their wedding.

Initially, the couple lived together without much trouble, but soon clashes between the animals sparked disputes between the couple.

According to the wife, her husband’s dog “continuously barks at her cat, leaving it scared and stressed, sometimes even refusing to eat.” The husband, however, alleged that his wife’s cat “often sits near the fish tank and stares at the fish” and has “turned violent towards the dog multiple times.”

As arguments over their pets escalated, the couple decided to seek divorce. The case has now reached the family court.

‘A whole new Disney’

Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach’s roast is brilliant and savage.

Link to video (NSFW)

2025 Ig Nobels

A few of the winner citations:

Peace Prize
“for showing that drinking alcohol sometimes improves a person’s ability to speak in a foreign language.”

Nutrition Prize
“for studying the extent to which a certain kind of lizard chooses to eat certain kinds of pizza.”

Psychology Prize
“for investigating what happens when you tell narcissists—or anyone else—that they are intelligent.”

Engineering Design Prize
“for analyzing, from an engineering design perspective, how foul-smelling shoes affect the good experience of using a shoe-rack.”

One award that deserves particular mention:

Literature Prize
“for persistently recording and analyzing the rate of growth of one of his fingernails over a period of 35 years.”

So why would this have garnered a ‘literature’ prize?  As explained in the Ars Technica coverage:

If you're surprised to see a study on fingernail growth rates under the Literature category, it will all make sense once you read the flowery prose stylings of Dr. Bean [the winner]. He really did keep detailed records of how fast his fingernails grew for 35 years, claiming in his final report that “the nail provides a slowly moving keratin kymograph that measures age on the inexorable abscissa of time.” He sprinkles his observations with ponderous references to medieval astrology, James Boswell, and Moby Dick, with a dash of curmudgeonly asides bemoaning the sterile modern medical teaching methods that permeate “the teeming mass of hope and pain, technical virtuosity, and depersonalization called a ‘health center.’”

Link to full report