Cadbury’s Gorilla- 12th Anniversary

Today marks 12 years since the famous Gorilla ad for Cadbury Dairy Milk was first aired.

Some fun stuff about the ad:

• It was first aired during the 2007 finale of Big Brother (UK).
• The same day it was uploaded on YouTube, and received 500,000 views within a week.  The original upload is still there on YouTube and that alone has over 9 million views.
• By some accounts, over 70 Facebook groups came up, in appreciation of the ad, and over 300 spoof versions of the ad have been posted online.
• Probably the most talked-about parody of the ad was by Wonderbra, which Adweek described as an attempt “to improve on the original by featuring a much less hairy drummer and lots of gratuitous boob-bouncing.”
• The gorilla suit, procured from Hollywood, was operated by three people- one inside, and two remotely.
• When asked about the gorilla, Collins jokingly commented: “Not only is he a better drummer than me, he also has more hair.”
• Cadbury World, Birmingham, features an animatronic version of the gorilla.
• The ad was instrumental in reversing a 3 year decline in sales of Cadbury Daily Milk in the UK.  The year leading to the ad had been marked by, among other things, product contamination, that forced Cadbury Schweppes to recall more than 1 million of its chocolate bars at a cost of over £20 million.
• In 2015, readers of Marketing magazine voted it as their most favourite ad of all time in the UK.

The Wedding Guest

This is a 2019 movie, written and directed by Michael Winterbottom, and starring Dev Patel and Radhika Apte.  My quick take: interesting but disappointing.

What I liked: Well shot, it immerses you into the streets and sounds of the Indian sub-continent.  It has good performances and a beautiful background score.

What I didn’t like: The way it has been written.  It sets you up to expect a fast paced thriller.  Then half-way through, it switches into a gently paced, romantic road movie that has a superficial connection to the first half.  What I found especially maddening is that in the first half- an excellent first half, I must add- it gets into minute details that you would only expect from a thriller.  And that attention to detail eventually adds up to nothing, which made me wonder what was the point of it all.

Sweden vs. Trump

In the days leading to the verdict in the A$AP Rocky trial, two weeks ago, someone put out a superbly conceived, IKEA-style manual for the benefit of Donald Trump and others, titled The $wedish Justice System (Presidential Edition).  For those who need some background on the case and Trump’s tweets, you can scroll down the home page of this specially created website or read this.

Here are some extracts from the manual:

First of all, you can't pay bail because Sweden doesn't have a bail system. This one might be tricky to understand (even for a very stable genius) but it means you can't buy your way to freedom.

Unlike other places *cough cough* presidents can't interfere with an ongoing investigation. While waiting you could grab a traditional Swedish "fika" and maybe a covfefe? Enjoy!

Sorry, but Sweden doesn't care about you, your tweets or your attacks. In fact, only 10% of the Swedish population likes you. But maybe that makes us one of those shithole countries?

For a slightly more mobile-friendly version of the manual, click here.

Clean Oceans via Dirty Porn

Pornhub’s new campaign redefines ‘dirty porn’ and may give all of us- even those who don’t fancy porn- a reason to thank them.

Alternative link

Xfinity- Rendezvous

A wonderfully creative promo for their wi-fi management app, that is nothing like what you might expect.

Movie buff trivia: to add to the authenticity of the 80’s style, John Hughes feel, the ad was shot at the house where Ferris Bueller's Day Off was filmed.

Let Siblings Be Siblings

This is an ad campaign that I stumbled upon, that presumably came out to coincide with the Indian festival of Raksha Bandhan.  The agency behind it is Tiny Tall Creative, based out of Chennai, India.  Beyond that, its origins are a mystery to me. 

Dog Ads

Today is International Dog Day.  So it seems appropriate to share a couple of recent ads directed at dog owners.

Azrieli Sniff Card: By some accounts, Tel Aviv, Israel has the highest ratio of dogs to humans for any city in the world.  This campaign is to promote the Azrieli Mall as being canine-friendly.

Follow you till I die: This is a poignant 2 minute spot on canine loyalty, meant to cause a rethink among pet owners.

Christine (2016)

Christine, starring Rebecca Hall, seeks to tell the story of Christine Chubbuck, a small town TV journalist who made headlines in 1974, for reasons that are best left unsaid here (for the benefit of those unaware and wanting a spoiler-free experience).  There is a certain oddness about the fact that, beyond what happened (to make those headlines), there is little that is known of Chubbuck, and that were it not for what happened, there may have been no reason for this movie.  Yet, as Rebecca Hall, in particular, has forcefully argued, this is a story that needed to be told. 

The movie portrays Chubbuck as a tormented individual who, on one hand, struggled to have meaningful relationships, while on the other, grappled with balancing her professional ambition with the ground realities of her job.  It’s not an easy movie to watch, but it is one that should be seen.  It is topical and thought provoking, and Hall gives a performance that is astonishing and heartbreaking. 

PS: I didn’t realize it at the time, but the day that I watched the movie was what would have been Christine Chubbuck’s 75th birthday.

Yorkshire Tea- Induction

Their latest ad stars Sean Bean.  In their own words:

At Yorkshire Tea, we've always done things proper. So when we have new starters, there is only one man we can call on for a proper induction.

Edmund the Magnificent

A charming short film starring David Bradley, with narration by Ian McKellen.

Vintage Mobile Phones

If you search on Google Images for vintage mobile phones, you’ll find a surfeit of images that, depending on your age, might take you down memory lane, or make you aware of the existence of so-called ‘brick phones’.  If you want something more structured, here’s a website that looks at the history of mobile phones in UK (pre-2000).

Oh, and if you’re holding on to vintage mobile phones, here’s something worth checking out.

Siam Commercial Bank- Fish Flops

A fun ad to promote SCB Mae Manee Sri Online : a 100% digital lending platform for SMEs.

Free Solo

Free Solo is a 2018 documentary that was originally intended to be a straightforward profile of rock climber, Alex Honnold, who is one of the leading practitioners of free solo climbing (i.e. climbing alone without ropes, harnesses, or any protective equipment).  Somewhere along the way, the project needed serious rethinking, after Honnold suggested that he be filmed doing an unprecedented free solo climb of the ~3,000 feet El Capitan rock wall in Yosemite National Park.  Eventually, the project was back on track, with that attempted climb becoming a key focus of the documentary.

Knowing this background should make one wonder about how the filmmakers looked at the ethics and hazards of making a film in which there is the risk that the main subject could die.  It’s an issue that they talk about in the film, and have also addressed in subsequent interviews.

This apart, there are three things about Free Solo that stand out for me. 

The first is the choice of Alex Honnold as the subject of the documentary.  Like a magnet, he instantly draws you in, making you want to know more about him.  For someone who is an extraordinary achiever in an extraordinary vocation, he comes across as extremely down-to-earth.  Furthermore, as the film quickly establishes, he is not a thrill seeker.  He is someone in pursuit of perfection in a sport where, falling the slightest bit short of perfection, could be fatal.  Not only is he acutely aware of this, he is clear, articulate and upfront about why he does what he does. 

The second is the verite footage that takes you up close into Honnold’s spartan lifestyle, and  his rigorous planning process.  The footage also captures poignant moments with the people around Honnold that show what they think about his choices in general, and this climb, in particular. 

The third is the way that the climb is filmed.  It involved an elite crew of climbers-cum-cinematographers, either perched upon the rock wall, or moving with Honnold as he did his climb.  It gives the climb a very intimate feel, especially when it comes to highlighting the key obstacles that Honnold faces.  And it greatly adds to the suspense of the outcome (even for those who know what the eventual outcome was).

Here is a link to the spoiler-free trailer.

IKEA- Finally Your Own Space

Consider this scenario.  The grown-up kid is moving from his parents’ place to a place of his own.  As he bids goodbye to his room and to his parents, they are feeling miserable and teary-eyed.  Into this scenario, IKEA steps in with some quirky and wild (read: saucy) suggestions about how the parents could cheer themselves up by making good use of that room, with the help of stuff from IKEA (of course).  That’s what a new series of ads from IKEA is all about.

Alternate link

A History of the Kashmir Conflict

I have no real opinion on the so-called ‘Kashmir conflict’ other than that I regard what has happened over my adult lifetime to be messy, and a colossal tragedy.  I have no idea on how to apportion blame and no sense of how the recent developments will help or hinder matters.  But I have been keen to understand how this mess came about.  Unfortunately, whatever stuff I have thus far read or watched, has been a bit too dense for me. 

Early this week, someone shared a link to a documentary made by Times Now last year, Kashmir: The Story.  It tells the history of Jammu & Kashmir, and offers some historical context on the crisis, with a bit of commentary.  Frankly, I didn’t expect Times Now (or any Indian news channel, for that matter) to present a reasonably unbiased narrative.  Still, I must admit that, compared to anything else that I have read or watched, this gave me a clearer (and hopefully accurate) picture of the key events that have led to the present situation.

Live and Let Die- Crocodile Jump

Here’s the scene from the movie.

Here’s the footage of the outtakes.  Notice how, after the second jump, the crocodiles were more prepared, so to speak, for the subsequent jumps.

Fun facts:

• The ‘stuntman’, Ross Kananga, was the owner of the crocodile farm where the scene was shot.
• During location scouting, the film crew chanced upon the farm after noticing a sign that said ‘TRESPASSERS WILL BE EATEN’. 
• Kananga inspired the screenwriter, Tom Mankiewicz, to name the villain of the movie after him. 
• Kananga suggested the stunt of jumping on the crocodiles.
• The crocodile jump took weeks of preparation and involved tying down the legs of the crocodiles. 
• In the words of the director, Guy Hamilton, Kananga was “an absolutely marvellous man, a complete lunatic”.

Bobby Fischer’s Detention in Japan

Last week, I came across a piece on Bobby Fischer and it set me on a path to revisit what I remembered about him, and fill in any gaps.  Of course, a large part of his life was out of the public gaze and I wasn’t expecting to gain any insights on that.  It turned out that my memory was especially fuzzy about his detention in Japan over 2004-05.  It’s an important and thought provoking episode in which the actions of the US and Japanese governments don’t stand up well to scrutiny.  Unfortunately, most of the mainstream media coverage was lacklustre.  Thankfully, I could latch on to stuff that shone some light on what happened.  

• Bobby Fischer's strangest endgame, Salon, July 2004
• The Fischer defence, The Telegraph, August 2004

But both of these pale in comparison to the incredibly detailed and sustained coverage on ChessBase.

In addition, I was able to locate a collection of footage bundled together as part of a documentary, Me and Bobby Fischer.  It is told from the point of view of Saemundur Palsson, who was Fischer’s bodyguard during the 1972 title championship, and with whom Fischer struck up a friendship.  While Fischer was apparently unhappy over how the documentary was put together, it needs to be seen for its astonishing footage of the team that worked on Fischer’s release.

PS: Unrelated to the above, I chanced upon this beautiful clip of Garry Kasparov’s visit to Fischer’s grave on what would have been Fischer’s 71st birthday.

License to Beg

Begging has become a hot button issue in Sweden, or so it seems.

Two years ago, one town in Sweden moved to ban begging.  That ban was then overturned by a county administrative board, noting that they had received only a small number of complaints about begging and that these were cases of people “experiencing discomfort, rather than disturbance”.  That ruling was overturned by Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court, following which, some more towns enforced a ban on begging.

Meanwhile, last year, one town decided to go another way, proposing a license to beg. After a series of legal delays, that has come into force this month.  Anyone who wants to ask people for money on the street will have to pay for a permit that will cost the equivalent of 23 euros, valid for 3 months. And for those wondering, there is the option to pay online, if you like.

The Tour Bunny

The Tour Bunny is an Iceland-based tour guide’s unique and brilliant depiction of the challenges of his job.  He uses comic sketches to highlight some of the most absurd encounters that he has had with tourists.

Here’s a link to his personal selection of some of his best sketches. 

To see all his sketches, check out his website.

RIP Rutger Hauer

His famous scene from Blade Runner.

Here’s him talking about that scene and how he came about to re-write the lines.

And here’s him reminiscing about the movie.

Chaplin on Tragedy as a Stimulus for Comedy

An extract from Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography, where he talks about how one of the funniest scenes in his movie, The Gold Rush, was inspired by real-life tragedy.

In the creation of comedy, it is paradoxical that tragedy stimulates the spirit of ridicule; because ridicule, I suppose, is an attitude of defiance: we must laugh in the face of our helplessness against the forces of nature – or go insane. I read a book about the Donner party who, on the way to California, missed the route and were snowbound in the mountains of Sierra Nevada. Out of one hundred and sixty pioneers only eighteen survived, most of them dying of hunger and cold. Some resorted to cannibalism, eating their dead, others roasted their moccasins to relieve their hunger. Out of this harrowing tragedy I conceived one of our funniest scenes. In dire hunger I boil my shoe and eat it, picking the nails as though they were bones of a delicious capon, and eating the shoe-laces as though they were spaghetti. In this delirium of hunger, my partner is convinced I am a chicken and wants to eat me.

The Da Vinci Code - Chevaliers de Sangreal

For me, Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack was, by far, the best part of the movie.

Charade

I tell you, this light-hearted picture is full of such gruesome violence.

Those are the words of New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, as he introduced his readers to Charade in December 1963.  I can only imagine how astonished he must have been at the movie’s playful and upbeat tone despite an increasing, and grisly, body count. 

Charade has been frequently compared with North by Northwest and that’s understandable.   Director  Stanley Donen is quoted as having said that he wanted to make such a movie and that he searched for something with “the same idiom of adventure, suspense and humor”.  While it is not clear as to how much the story or the script was influenced by Hitchcock’s movie, the similarities are certainly striking. Both films represent a blend of murder and mystery with romance and humour.  Both feature protagonists who are pursued by bad guys who have a mistaken impression of their identity/ knowledge.  Both are embellished with witty banter between the leads.  Furthermore, the presence of Cary Grant in both movies solidifies the connection. 

Yet I can’t agree with those who describe Charade as “the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made”.  Saying that, even with the best intentions, is being unfair to Donen.  North by Northwest is probably the only Hitchcock movie that Charade bears any real likeness to.  Even so, there is a vibe, a feel to Charade that puts it in a class of its own.  It is simply incomparable.

At its heart, Charade is a whodunit that has shades of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”.  But its screenplay is audacious in the way in which it constantly, and easily, swings from scenes of serious danger or murder, to scenes of blissful nonchalance, or to scenes that are deliriously funny.  What makes these shifts even more incredible is that the visual depictions of nearly all of those who die, are pretty macabre. 

A number of the individual scenes are masterfully imagined.  Indeed, some of them represent an imagination gone wild, in a good way.  The funeral chapel scene, Cary Grant’s shower scene, the ‘drowning in the bed’ scene, the telephone booth scene: I could go on and on.

Add to this, the characters and the casting.  There are several key speaking parts, yet each of these is well conceived and fleshed out, and the casting is perfect.  Much has been written about the pairing of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.  Looking at their incredible chemistry in each and every scene that they share, it is hard to believe that this was their first and only movie together.  An equally inspired piece of casting was that of Walter Matthau, whose mannerisms are a delight to behold.  Then there is the trio of bad guys played by George Kennedy, Ned Glass, and James Coburn.  Each of them portrays a distinct variety of oddness and menace.  Last but not the least, there is the French actor Jacques Marin, who steals every scene that he is in. 

To top it all, is the dialogue.  While there is a lot of word play, there is also a situational brilliance to many of the lines.  Consider: “How do you shave in there?” or “If I were you, I would not stay in my pajamas”.

For my money, Charade is the most entertaining movie from the sixties, and one of the most entertaining movies ever made.

Here is a link to its trailer that captures the spirit of the movie well.