Hasta La Creative!

Last month, more than 200 gravestones appeared in the Mediterranean Sea, about 200 meters off the Aegean coast of Turkey. Made of waterproof styrofoam that resembled marble, and anchored with weights, each stone bore the name of a Syrian refugee who died in the water while trying to reach Europe. 

Created by TBWAIstanbul for humanitarian aid group Support of Life, the “Sea Cemetery” bobbed on the waves like a cluster of buoys, eerie monuments to human tragedy. 

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To stand out in the piles of applications DDB Istanbul received when it was looking for an art director, Canhür Aktuglu sent out an SOS and presented his portfolio as a message in a bottle. They hired him, so obviously they like the Police as much as he does.

“After that my life changed and it was guaranteed no more boring!” he writes on Behance.

The idea was a clever one, and well executed. The cover letter was sealed inside an empty glass bottle, while his résumé and portfolio were stored on a USB stick in the bottle’s cork.

DDB Istanbul had better make good use of Aktuglu while he’s there. On Behance, he also mentions that he wants to see kangaroos and go surfing—and might look into approaching DDB Sydney next. He could even use the same bottle.

Via Design Taxi.

Taking another step to restrict Russia’s Internet, President Vladimir V. Putin quietly signed a new law requiring popular online voices

to register with the government.

So, here's a lovely little four-minute love story from Unilever's Cornetto ice cream brand in Turkey. And you're probably smarter than I am and can figure out what's actually going on in it. I've watched it at least five times, and I'm still confused.

I think it's kind of adorable and features the product in an unobtrusive way. And it's also a nice follow-up to last year's viral video from the brand.

It opens with the main character, a good looking guy, catching the eyes of the other main character, a good looking girl. I get that part. They spend the rest of the ad trying to find each other via social media. It's all set to a track by Turkish pop star Yal?n, who also makes an appearance … as a matchmaking fairy godfather. Maybe?

I can't really follow the plot, but it ends with the good-looking couple finishing off their Cornetto ice cream cones and making out while Yal?n looks on approvingly. I don't get that, either, but it's so cheesy it's cute.

I also find that the ad is much better if you mute the audio and play some Vivrant Thing instead. Your mileage may vary depending on your musical tastes.

A recording was posted on YouTube in which officials were heard discussing a plot to establish a justification for military strikes in Syria.

Recordings and leaked documents appeared to implicate high-ranking officials and some of their relatives and associates in a widespread corruption investigation.

Over a dozen opposition radio stations broadcast into Syria, and some activists try to keep their signals, and themselves, alive by running operations from places like Turkey.

Many in Turkey see the new laws as an effort to stem leaks in a corruption investigation of the prime minister and those close to him.

For the second consecutive year, Turkey is imprisoning more journalists than any other country, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists released Wednesday.

Turkey has mounted a balancing act, analysts say, of cracking down on critics of the government, but not so hard as to damage the country’s image abroad.