Observation on Anti-Bullying Week
From an opinion piece in the context of Anti-Bullying Week, earlier this month:
It says a lot about human beings that we need a whole week dedicated to not being pricks to each other.
Posts
A Christmas food shopping adventure
This is a personal story from a former employee of Marks & Spencer, who shared it on Twitter, a few days ago. It is heartwarming, hilarious, and wonderfully told. Here’s the link.
Make Christmas Great Again
This is a Christmas commercial for The Norwegian Postal Service that stands out for its wacky vision of Santa’s world, and is all the more amusing for its allusions to Donald Trump. It portrays Santa on the couch, lamenting to an elf psychiatrist about being put out of business by the postal service. It is replete with off-kilter imagery that includes a bare-chested Santa, riding a jet ski, and him uprooting mailboxes, wearing a baseball cap that reads “Make Christmas Great Again”.
Ghost
From the Czech Republic: a PSA from IKEA that plays out like scenes from a horror movie. It ends with a spine-chilling message that makes you realize that those scenes could have happened in real life. Here’s a link.
A Whiteware Christmas
From New Zealand: a Christmas commercial that stands out for a very unexpected twist.
Drum and Docks
From British electronic and audiovisual artists, Addictive TV, comes this extraordinary blend of percussion pieces that use boats, railings, footbridges, and more as instruments. Here’s a link to the video.
Long Live Little Brats
A kid being a brat can be a good thing: that’s the idea driving this commercial for The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Punctuation Matters
A London restaurant by the name of Anu’s Kitchen was in the spotlight this week for a “punctuation oversight”. Beyond the glaring lapse that was the centre of attention, the oversight seems to extend to its logo as well, as it appears on its flyers.
KFCheese - Everything's Better
From Singapore: a cheese-dripping ad for KFC that takes a sly jab at the competition.
BBC Dad is back
Twitter’s new explainer ad for its conversation settings isn’t particularly exceptional but for the fact that it revives memories of this exquisitely awkward 2017 BBC interview that went viral, much before WFH video call interruptions became commonplace.
Domino’s- Jurassic Car Park
Despite a preposterous premise, this new commercial for Domino’s Car Park Delivery service makes the need for it almost believable.
Search Boliden
From Thailand: an inexplicably titled, hilarious, 3 minute commercial that features zombies, the Frankenstein monster, and plenty of unbelievable absurdity, all in the service of promoting a car battery. Here’s a link.
Plenty- Xmess
It is the complete opposite of what you’d expect a Christmas commercial to look like. Depending on your point of view, you may find it disgusting, or funny, or both. If you still feel like checking it out, here’s a link.
Billboards that disinfect mobile phones
From Finland: a 15 second solution to disinfect mobile phones while on the move.
When things have a mind of their own
From New Zealand: AMI makes the case for having insurance for the times when things around you… decide to do their own thing.
Fall in Stock Prices of Gunmakers
Going by this report, it would appear to be a matter of concern for some on Wall Street.
Stocks of gun manufacturers have sold off since the U.S. presidential election, despite continued worries about politically motivated violence.
Pyromaniac’s Manual
This is an artbook from Polish visual artist Ada Zielińska whose work apparently “seeks out or stages acts of demolition, in order to capture the power inherent in disintegration.”
From the publisher’s introduction to the book:
Once you decide to literally set things on fire, Pyromaniac’s Manual will guide you safely through the process. The best fire is a controlled one, as the author points out, and getting hurt is not a success. Don’t forget to collect your trophies (such as selfies with “victims”), though.
Pyromaniac’s Manual marks an end to a 5-year long project that became one of Ada Zielińska’s trademarks, as well as a form of therapy for the artist. Regardless of your pyromaniac experience, the publication may come in handy in a number of everyday situations such as family road trips, Sunday strolls in a park or simply sitting patiently on your bookshelf, waiting for the right moment.
We wish you an enjoyable pyromania experience.
Wild Mountain Thyme- Trailer
It isn’t often that a movie trailer gets this sort of attention. As one reviewer put it:
Despite the PG-13 rating, the trailer also features the bloody, grisly and gratuitous murder of the Irish accent.
Here’s a link to the trailer.
Voter Fraud of Another Kind
Extracts from a report in the The Sydney Morning Herald, filed under ‘World Elections’:
New Zealand's annual Bird of the Year contest has actual proof of electoral interference - and it's not for the first time either.
Organisers of the 2020 contest have revealed that 1500 fraudulent votes have been cast for the little spotted kiwi, catapulting the bird into first place in this year's contest.
The interference took place between 1am and 3am, with the organisation's digital detectives deducing all of the votes arrived, by email, from the one computer IP address.
Megan Hubscher, Bird of the Year spokeswoman for advocacy group Forest and Bird, said the interference wasn't the first time the election had been hacked, either.
In 2018, rogue Australian actors attempted to pervert the course of New Zealand's election with 310 dodgy votes cast from across the pond.
Meanwhile, The Guardian highlighted another development in this election:
The poll’s success has attracted commercial interests, such as the endorsement this week by Adult Toy Megastore of the hihi, a “polyamorous, sexually fluid bird with big testicles”.
The hihi, or stitchbird, is the only bird in the world to mate face to face, according to a statement released by Adult Toy Megastore as part of its campaign endorsement.
Arby’s Deep Fried Turkey Pillow
For those who thought that the Ostrich pillow was strange, here’s something that tops that: a wearable “deep fried turkey pillow”. It’s being sold by American fast food chain Arby’s, which is promoting it with this assurance:
…pairs with any turkey tryptophan to give you the best sleep in the history of the world.
Gojek- The Flow
It is an ad that befits the ambition of Indonesian tech company, Gojek, and conveys the seamless integration of multiple services under its super app. It is also one of the most mind-blowing commercials of the year, especially in the way that it was visualised and filmed.
Consider these facts: it involved building a set to give the feel of a city, it engaged around 200 extras, and it features cars and bikes driving on walls, with very little use of CGI. What’s more, three days before the shoot, part of the set was destroyed by a hurricane and had to be rebuilt. And in case you’re wondering, it was shot in the middle of this year, “practicing thorough sanitisation and observing social distancing throughout the shoot”.
Here’s a link to the ad.
Here’s a link to a video that provides an overview of the campaign.
What the Chinese internet calls Trump
Nicknames are a way of life on the Chinese internet. Netizens use these to secretively, mockingly, or affectionately reference practically anyone who is someone- from world leaders to local politicians, celebrities to sports stars. But it might be hard to find someone who has more nicknames than Donald Trump. This report lists seven nicknames that include Chuan Bao (“Trump the Baby”), Te Mei Pu (“very capricious”) and a sarcastic recent addition, Dong Wang (“the king of knowledge”).
Greens and Sex
Continuing PETA’s promotion of veganism as a way to enhance one’s libido, this print campaign from earlier this year, features surreal imagery that looks like Ents getting it on.
Voter Fraud Evidence
When asked where was the evidence to back his claim of voter fraud in the US election, this is what British politician, Nigel Farage had to say:
It's so new… it hasn't come to light yet…
The Girls Have Spoken
This US political ad stands out, among other things, for putting to rhythm one of the most extraordinary descriptions of Trump ever:
…a crotch-grabbing goblin, hugging power from his golden shower tower and resort.
Sound Asleep
Music albums that help you sleep are not new. What’s unusual about this one is that it is made up of tracks composed from sounds of home appliances and gadgets that include microwaves, dishwashers, televisions, and vacuum cleaners, and it’s been “scientifically engineered” to put listeners to sleep. It’s been commissioned by UK retailer, Currys PC World, and was inspired by a survey that suggested that a large number of people use white noise from home appliances and gadgets to help them fall asleep.