Sometimes you need a monkey

A student showed me this when I was complaining about how boring commercials have gotten.  You can't get much more interesting than a monkey riding a dog handing out burritos. 

Music

Simple music video that works well, is interesting, and didn't take a lot of resources to film

== Crew ==
Producer: Genki Sudo / Director：Genki Sudo:MAEDAYA / Chife Choreographer:Ryo Noguchi　/ Video: Takeshi Fukunaga, Retsu Motoyoshi / Hair&Make: Yukari Momotomi（BLOC）, Asami Sato（BLOC）/ Coordinator: Mari Koda

Your video is boring

I really hate it when bands I like make crap music videos.  I REALLY like both of the songs in the videos below, but the videos are just incredibly boring. 

First off, we have Surface by Imperative Reaction.  Nothing says lazy and boring like a video that is nothing but the band miming playing instruments.  The shots are too tight and the background is boring.  It honestly makes it look like they are practicing in their mom's basement. 

director: Chad Michael Ward 

Next up is Inhuman by Aesthetic Perfection.  While not quite as bad as the first video, it's still rather boring.  The location is a bit more interesting, and we no longer have the instrument miming, but we do get Daniel Graves in emo nerd glasses lip synching to someone's bored girlfriend.  It could really tell a story, but it just kind of gives up and focuses on Daniel being a rock star.  I really dig Aesthetic Perfection, but you have to wonder about a guy that sells t-shirts with his own face on them.

Directed by Max Nadolny
Camera and Editing by Garth von Glehn   

Something you don't think about

A lot of folks I know do event photography.  They do weddings, birthdays, and other such boring events.  On a good day, they might get to do a concert or festival.  The problem is, a lot of folks who shoot such events forget a major part of the event.  The people.  When shooting a festival or concert, most photographers focus on the band.  Granted, the band is important, but the crowd can be so much more interesting.  I used to have a professor who told me that if you want great reaction shots, go to a pro wrestling event.  Don't shoot the wrestlers, shoot people in the crowd.

I started thinking about this after coming across a really great set of photos from last year's Kinetik festival.  I was at this concert, and this series does an amazing job of capturing the atmosphere of the event.  Here's a link to the photo series on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/neonyme/6262319927/in/set-72157627935224606/lightbox/ 

Here's my favorite photo from the series:

Catchphrases and typography

I find video game catch phrases to be incredibly annoying.  I really don't care much about what a character has to say, and it's usually repetitive.  I do like the idea of turning those phrases into experimental typography.  Here are a couple of posters created using only type and simple graphics: http://nerdwire.co/post/17661045265/the-full-series-of-ten-prints-are-available-in-the

This is probably my favorite:

Simple

I really like Japanese city logos.  They are simple and effective.  I really wish more designs would be this clean. 

There are some that aren't quite as good.  At times the simplification goes so far that the shape loses any kind of meaning.  For example, the logo of Osaka.

The first logo is for Fujiyoshida, the area where Mt. Fuji is located.  It's obvious and it works.  Osaka's logo, on the other hand, doesn't really really look like much of anything.  It's boring and rather uninspired.

To see more, go here: http://pinktentacle.com/2010/04/50-japanese-town-logos-with-kanji/

A waste of money

Every semester, when I start talking about business cards, my students start bringing up all the wacky stuff that they have come across on the internet.  There are a million gimmicks out there for business cards right now, and they are all useless.  One of the most important things to remember with a business card is that it needs to be cheap to produce so you can hand them out like candy.  If you spend a lot of money on a business card, you will be less likely to hand them out.  If only the "important people" get your card, then you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Below are some of the stupid ideas people have used for business cards:

Overly die-cut card is overly die-cut.  Imagine trying to pull this out of your wallet. 

Metal cards are cool looking, but waaay too expensive

Business card made of meat.  Not useful at all.  I can't imagine eating it.