Shawn gave me a bottle of Templeton Rye, a.k.a. “The Good Stuff” last winter. We opened it tonight.
It always fun when a microbrand has a special story to tell. Templeton Rye has lots of stories to tell–one story being that it was Al Capone’s favorite–and the producers and old-timers around Templeton, Iowa are busy telling them on the brand’s blog, on Twitter and on YouTube. Which makes a sense, since this is the kind of product which benefits greatly from word of mouth.
As a bourbon drinker, I needn’t venture far to enter rye whiskey land. Rye is a bit spicier and it doesn’t have the caramel notes found in the Kentucky variety. It also benefits from an exceptionally clean finish.
The Helga de Alvear gallery in Madrid is currently running a (very timely) exhibition on the controversial topic of Extraordinary Rendition. The expression was coined by the Bush administration to define new legal measures designed to sidestep the existing Human Rights system and deprive some individuals from its protection in the name of the fight against terrorism.
Detainees at Camp X-Ray, at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
The Patriot Act, for example, expands the authority of US law enforcement agencies for “terrorism investigation.” It limits -when it does not completely abolish it- citizens’ right to privacy or freedom of expression, allows for kidnapping and confinement of persons without charges, without trial or a detention period as has been happening in Guantanamo since 2002.
The gallery invited four renowned artists to reflect on the issue.
Elmgreen and Dragset, Phone Home, 2008
Phone Home (2003), by Elmgreen & Dragset, is the only work on exhibit that has not been created specifically for the show. The installation looks at the loss of the right to privacy in communications. Five telephone cabins are lined up in the gallery. A note informs visitors that they can call anyone they want in the world for free. Of course there’s a trick: the conversation you are planning to have will be broadcast in the gallery, recorded and a table with audio players and headphones will enable future visitors to listen to what you said.
Under the new rules of extraordinary rendition, physical and psychological torture is justified. Spanish Inquisition-like methods of torture get toned down but that’s because some of them are given new names, like waterboarding, in an attempt to disguise their true meaning.
Santiago Sierra, Público iluminado con generador de gasolina, 2008
True to his wam bam approach, Santiago Sierra chose to address torture and one of its most commonly applied methods: the sleep deprivation of detainees for days and months. A huge spotlight operated by a generator are the only elements in Público iluminado con generador de gasolina [Public illuminated by oil generator]. Unfortunately the gallery had run out of oil (another very timely issue) when i went there and the installation was turned off.
Alicia Framis, Welcome to Guantanamo, 2008. Image courtesy of GalerÃa Helga de Alvear, Madrid
Alicia Framis is presenting the first part of a wider project called Welcome to Guantánamo Museum. The installation documents the key elements that would form this hypothetical museum on the US detention centre in Cuba. Scale models, drawings, prototypes, floor plans and structures are exhibited together with an audio piece created with Enrique Vila Matas and Blixa Bargeld. The project echoes our society’s need to museify everything, think of Auschwitz and Alcatraz. Should we recoil at the idea of turning horror into a tourist attraction or should we decide that such museums are not a necessary evil, a way of ensuring that atrocities are not forgotten?
Alicia Framis, Welcome to Guantanamo, 2008. Image courtesy of GalerÃa Helga de Alvear, Madrid
The proposal for a Guantanamo Museum will include a selection of exhibition objects and merchandising that reflect the museum’s theme and motto — Things to forget. There will be a Le Corbusier chaise longue turned into an electric chair, a non-existent mailbox, shoes which contain inside their heels a system to allow prisoners to commit suicide, a series of orange clothing and objects designed by Framis together with students during workshops, furniture for the museum will be designed and built using the material of inmates’ cells, etc. At the same time a sound room will recall the names of all the caged prisoners in Guantanamo.
James Casebere, Flooded cell #2, 2008
James Casebere made photos of what he calls Flooded Cells. These images conjure up allusions to prisons, claustrophobic and oppressive spaces somehow reminiscent of Piranesi‘s fictitious and distressing prisons (carceri) yet also referencing the method of torture by simulated drowning.
Extraordinary is part of the Off programme of PhotoEspana. You can see the show until July 19 at the Helga de Alvear gallery in Madrid. My images.
Related stories: Trevor Paglen’s talk at Transmediale, Interview with the Institute for Applied Autonomy, They make art not bioterrorism, Tracking the Torture Taxis.
Threadless is on the cover of Inc.
Jake Nickell and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, two north side of Chicago graphic designers figured out how to create community and a thriving business in the same move. Academics, venture capitalists and the entrepreneurs who read Inc. are paying attention.
Threadless is at the vanguard of a new innovation model that is quietly reshaping a host of industries. Whether it’s called user innovation, crowdsourcing, or open source, it means drastically rethinking your relationship with your customers. “Threadless completely blurs that line of who is a producer and who is a consumer,” says Karim Lakhani, a professor at the Harvard Business School. “The customers end up playing a critical role across all its operations: idea generation, marketing, sales forecasting. All that has been distributed.”
Threadless runs design competitions on their site where members submit their ideas for T-shirts — hundreds each week — and then vote on which ones they like best. Threadless produces the most popular designs and sells them via their online store and at their new retail location in Lakeside.
Revenue is growing 500 percent a year, despite the fact that the company has never advertised, employed no professional designers, used no modeling agency or fashion photographers, has no sales force, and enjoys no retail distribution, except to their own store. Margins run above 30 percent, because community members tell them precisely which shirts to make – and every product eventually sells out. Threadless has never produced a flop.
Those videos with cell phones popping corn have been floating around since May 28 and have garnered much discussion surrounding their validity.
Choose Ur Play-ground. Redtape Urbanwear.
Advertising Agency: Makani Creatives, Mumbai, India
Creative Director: Ashish Makani
Art Director: Bhushan B.Dalvi
Copywriters: Sameer Makani, Bhushan B.Dalvi
Photographer: Vibhash Tiwari
Sr. Visualiser: Sachin Padavey
Production: Mansi Mehta
Published: April 2008
Choose Ur Play-ground. Redtape Urbanwear.
Advertising Agency: Makani Creatives, Mumbai, India
Creative Director: Ashish Makani
Art Director: Bhushan B.Dalvi
Copywriters: Sameer Makani, Bhushan B.Dalvi
Photographer: Vibhash Tiwari
Sr. Visualiser: Sachin Padavey
Production: Mansi Mehta
Published: April 2008
Choose Ur Play-ground. Redtape Urbanwear.
Advertising Agency: Makani Creatives, Mumbai, India
Creative Director: Ashish Makani
Art Director: Bhushan B.Dalvi
Copywriters: Sameer Makani, Bhushan B.Dalvi
Photographer: Vibhash Tiwari
Sr. Visualiser: Sachin Padavey
Production: Mansi Mehta
Published: April 2008
TBS isn’t afraid to interrupt your flow. Not at all.
According to Ad Age, TBS is using an “overlay” during episodes of “Family Guy” meant to promote “The Bill Engvall Show.”
Ad Age blames internet advertising for this development.
TBS’s chatty come-on offers yet another illustration of how consumers’ growing comfort with the way content is designed and displayed in digital venues is starting to affect the flow of advertising in more-traditional areas, particularly TV.
“I almost wonder if the ad overlays, which are becoming more and more ubiquitous on the digital video screen, are almost laying the groundwork for TV,” said John Moore, senior VP-director of ideas and innovation at Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Mullen.
In one of the best examples of interactive advertising, the Twix ‘Get the Girl’ campaign lets you choose your own adventure. Although some might not appreciate the underlying goal of deception, the interactive adventure is very entertaining. In addition, the product placement is great, with each decision…
Whether you like Apple’s iPhone or not, there is no denying it started a revolution that has forever changed phone design. It was an iPod, an Internet device, and a phone without having buttons.
From its official announcement a year ago, the iPhone had all the big guns scrambling to come up with an…
(TrendHunter.com) In one of the best examples of interactive advertising, the Twix ‘Get the Girl’ campaign lets you choose your own adventure. Although some might not appreciate the underlying goal of deception, the interactive…
(TrendHunter.com) Trend Hunter is excited to announce Community Editing. Now anyone can edit or enhance any of our 20,000 trends.
With this new tool, you can recommend a new title video, excerpt or link to any post!…
UPDATE July 16th: After creating a lot of controversy, the Barack Obama Sock Monkey is no longer available. The site notes, “We are very apologetic to all who were upset by our toy idea. We will not be proceeding with the manufacturing of this toy. Thank you.â€
Now you can own a Barack Obama sock…
Now you can own a Barack Obama sock monkey…. But is it racist?
With Barack Obama recently becoming the chosen democrat candidate and a favorite in the election, we can expect more novelty Obama toys and unique promotional items. The latest is TheSockObama, a sock monkey kitted doll that is born and…
Now you can own a Barack Obama sock monkey…. But is it racist?
With Barack Obama recently becoming the chosen democrat candidate and a favorite in the election, we can expect more novelty Obama toys and unique promotional items. The latest is TheSockObama, a sock monkey kitted doll that is born and…
With The Dark Knight movie invading theaters on July 18, its promotion machine is in full swing. We have already seen Got Milk? ads and multiple magazine covers, but now we have a super cool batphone in the shape of the Nokia 6205 Dark Knight Edition that is sure to get batman fans everywhere drooling.…
(TrendHunter.com) In this video, Jake from Zoomdoggle recreates Barack Obama’s famous image using (allegedly) 21,156 thumb tacks. If that count is right, that’s one thumb tack for each delegate. Poetic.
Zoomdoggle’s…
It’s hard to believe, but vinyl records are making a comeback, at the same time that CD sales are on the decline.
In fact, one major grocery store chain, Fred Meyer, still has LP (Long Playing – usually 33 1/3 revolutions per minute… That used to be important!) Fred Meyer, owned by Kroger, is testing…
(TrendHunter.com) This sure must have looked good on the drawing board. Everybody crowded around oohing and ahhing over how popular this would be with the sailors. Sailors love lighthouses like prisoners love soap.
Apparently…
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