instantgirl

Hilarious. My mind went right to this when I heard the name of the product. It’s possible there were no women on the product development team and it’s also possible that they simply didn’t do any linguistics testing or cultural clearance on the name. It’s too bad because it looks like a fun product. Btw, I think the MadTV skit was done in 2007. Didn’t anyone think to do a LITTLE searching on the web before locking the product name? I know they own the trademark to anything that begins with “i” but someone needs to look at the broader picture. I’m sure someone is developing a “Flo comes to town” application for the iPad right now.

OK, this is hilarious. We’ve all been there, we’ve all done that, we’ve all worked with THAT client, we all think we’re hipper than we are. Thanks to Dan for sending this via Sam. Now go get a job!

I have no idea if this movie is good or not, but I know the poster is NOT good. The movie “9,” which IMDB describes as “a post-apocalyptic nightmare in which all of humanity is threatened” is being promoted in theaters with the poster at left. Theoretically, you are supposed to scan the barcode with your phone and that takes you somewhere fab. Well, it takes you a lot of places and then you end up where you started. Check out this review of the promo. Visually, the barcode is interesting because these barcodes are just creeping into U.S. use, but why not just make the whole thing look better and make whatever I’m clicking through to be worth it.

Apparently, this poster has won some sort of award but that makes me sad. Award for what? Overuse of the glow feature in Photoshop? Most clicks before getting to a relevant destination?

Yet another example of good concept, bad execution.

This isn’t the whole headline. Read the whole headline here. As my friend John, who sent the link to me, said, “This is the funniest headline I’ve seen in years.”

It’s true that it’s blue, but it’s really funny.

OK, I used to work there so I have a soft spot in my heart for Disney. However, when they make animatronic figures of living people they just don’t turn out very well.

The picture on the right shows Barack Obama as an animatronic figure in the Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World. The picture on the left shows the Madam Tussauds wax figure of Barack Obama.  I think the guy on the left looks more like the real guy, no?

Kudos to Disney for bringing history to life but work on those facial features!

So I just returned from vacation in Paris and the UK. Yes, I am a lucky gal.

Anyway, I was struck by these weird Orangina ads. Each one has a sexualized animal on them. Some are women, like the big-busted deer at left, and some are men. All are physically fit to the extreme and their bodies are human but they have animal hair and animal heads.

Why?

A sexy deer or manly bear isn’t going to make me rush out to spend 2 Euro on a bubbly orange drink but maybe I’m just too American to get it.

These ads were made by an agency called Fred & Farid in Paris.  Check out some other Orangina work here. The TV ads are funnier than the outdoor. I guess you have to see the TV ads to get the context but I didn’t see any TV ads for Orangina while I was there but I sure did see a lot of outdoor. These guys apparently have a thing for sexy animals.

Wish I could get a client like that. So the idea is that there’s this whale that’s a pregnant woman and she’s worried about her weight…

OK, so normally it’s a freak show down here on Main Street in Santa Monica, but today is freakier than most.  A couple of stilt people showed up to get their picture taken.  Then a clown arrived. Then a gal in a sparkly mini with a hula-hoop showed up.  I can’t wait to see what the afternoon will bring.

The brilliant folks at Bravo think that viewers want to do nothing more than watch sales assistants fight over who can sell the most stuff to people with too much money.  That’s why they are developing a new reality show based on Fred Segal in Santa Monica.  Check out the Hollywood Reporter article here.

Well, I worked in the building next door to Fred Segal in Santa Monica for four years and I went there virtually every day for coffee (the good coffee place AND the good restaurant have since closed). I’d rather watch paint dry.  No, wait, I’d rather get a root canal.  No, wait, I’d rather have surgery with no anesthesia…

Check out this article about Freeman Dyson’s position on global warming. His position on global warming is right to Al Gore’s left. Dyson believes that increased levels of carbon dioxide are OK because we can reduce them with carbon-eating trees. Sounds crazy but the guy is very into bio-technology.  I went to school with his youngest daughter and the only thing I remember about their house is that their guest bathroom was entirely purple–right down to a purple sink and toilet.  Faboosh!  Anyway, it seems to me that Dyson and Gore both feel that humans can solve the problem but Dyson believes that the improvement of the human condition in the short term is far more important than improvement of the planet in the long term.  He seems to feel like we (humans) can fix anything that could potentially happen to the planet in the future.  Interesting point, coming from someone who worked on nuclear projects and then came out strongly against nuclear power as used for war.

I just found this article on Gawker about several print celeb’s forays into web publishing.  It doesn’t really give me a lot of new information, and it’s pretty snarky, but I agree that the only way print will survive is if the publishers figure out ways to drive paper readers online and vice versa.  I’ve seen so many magazines close in the kids category that it becomes depressing to think about.  If I were a publisher, I’d integrate website references throughout the print publication and withhold info from the online versions of the mags which will drive folks to the paper version.  This only will work for entertainment and opinion magzines and not news. With news, you have to simply cater to your audience.  I read the WSJ online and have done for years but I know people who only will read the print version. I will always love print and I hope that publishers around the country will innovate.