The ‘Paradiso’ font by Brian J. Bonislawsky at Astigmatic
MyFonts.com, in their most recent email newsletter, has this to say about the font: "On a stroll across his home town, the Vegas-based, self-proclaimed ‘Professor of Fontology’ found a similar source of inspiration in the Paris Resort and Casino. Its logo has a high “ooh-la-la” factor, with a capital P that is decidedly lustful."
Not to downplay the incredibly complex process of creating a font, but given that this one is so closely related to the Paris Las Vegas logo, how much creative credit can be given for stylistically filling in the rest of the letters? And then to name it "Paradiso."
While it’s a beautiful font, where can we find that oh-la-la inspiration factor? He did the same thing with the Mirage resort/casinos logo font (the hotel with the "South Seas vibe") and named it after another Vegas-area development. Why? Is he a self-proclaimed "culture vulture"? Please tell me that this guy played some design role on these two iconic logo projects.
In his defense, he’s got a huge body of other notable work. His fonts pop.
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Posted on March 4, 2008
Filed Under Art, Deserts | Leave a Comment
Court: whales are protected against Navy exercises
From The San Francisco Chronicle: "A federal appeals court has ruled that the Navy must protect endangered whales from the potentially lethal effects of underwater sonar during anti-submarine training off the Southern California coast, rejecting President Bush’s attempt to exempt the exercises from environmental laws." Read the whole article here.
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Posted on March 3, 2008
Filed Under Dolphins and Whales, Military, War | Leave a Comment
Flint Tropics’ Will Ferrell movie has a slow open
While "Semi-Pro," the new Will Ferrell movie about the Flint Tropics basketball team, topped the box office numbers over the weekend, it still only brought in $15.3 million according to Alicia Chang via the AP. Chang says that, according to "box office analysts," it’s possible that either a slow time of year or the movie’s rating may have had the biggest impact, especially compared to two other Ferrell films: "Talledega Nights" and "Blades of Glory." The other option is that it just didn’t stand out as particularly fresh or funny. I talked a little about my premonitions on this one here and here.
"Talledega" had the appeal of the well-established religion of NASCAR, and "Blades of Glory" had that "not-gay" family appeal with Napoleon Dynamism. All "Semi-Pro" seemed to offer was a foul-mouthed, Old-Spice-wearing hairy beast in a jersey emblazoned with a ridiculous "mascot." What’s there to love?
I’m sure that it’s doing great with the foul-mouthed, "definitely-not-gay" crowd: e.g., UVa fraternities. After all, they know how hard it is to explain what their mascot is exactly (and who that mystery man was sitting with them at the movie theater on Friday).
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Posted on March 3, 2008
Filed Under Film, Sports | Leave a Comment
Coffee Art
Here’s a new bunch of images I pulled from a coffee art email that’s making the rounds. There’s the fish:
Butterfly:
I like the sailboat one in particular:
There were several others in the email too.
It looks like at least one of these is from Israel. I would like to credit them properly if anybody knows who the artist and photographer are.
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Posted on March 1, 2008
Filed Under Butterflies, Fish, Irresistible Spam & Bacn, Sailboats, Ships, Yachts, and Boats | Leave a Comment
The single palm tree of ‘South Pacific’ at Lincoln Center Theater
There is something completely weird and poetic about the idea that a single palm tree is all that is needed to convey a place in the Lincoln Center Theater production of "South Pacific" as seen in this photo of the palm by Sara Krulwich (New York Times):
The Times writes: "Stagehands load in the lone palm tree that is used on the set of the revival of ‘South Pacific’ at Lincoln Center Theater."
Click on the link above to see more pictures and to read the full the caption from this one. The Rogers and Hammerstein show, set during WWII, opens once again on April 3, 2008. Learn more about what’s going on with the show at the backstage blog.
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Posted on February 28, 2008
Filed Under Art, Islands, Palm Trees | Leave a Comment
Harvard Business School 2 + 2 ~ Summer = Beach
The Harvard Business School has launched a new program called “HBS 2+2″ in which undergraduates in their third year apply for admission into the two-year MBA program. The students must first work for two years prior to making their way to the Boston campus.
You may have already seen this ad with the repetitive Crimson folding chair popping up around the Internet:
This ad popped up at Thesaurus.com.
What’s Rapidsea remarkable about this program you ask? Well, They provide a four-year timeline to describe the program, which includes this four-season Flash graphic:
Summer is, of course, represented as a stock photo day at the beach, even though that Crimson chair pops up in each of the seasons. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere you might not necessarily think of the same images when you see these photos. But don’t worry. You’re not really going to be spending that much time at the beach.
There are two important points about this image and the HBS program:
1) You will never have to sit in a chair that uncomfortable if you get into HBS. The school has one of the most extravagant campuses you will ever see.
2) While you might get some beach time in the first summer (before graduation), there will not be much beach time in the summer after graduation, as you will be at HBS.
Dare I say that this is a cheap attempt at attracting top talent to the HBS MBA program early on while still making students go through the awkward, but essential, first two years out of college?
Okay, let’s give Harvard some credit that maybe they are truly trying to help people see their own light before coming to B-school — very much against the alarming trend of students’ wanting to go to grad school directly out of college. After all, Harvard has always pushed for students to learn about the world (and themselves) before delving into technical fields like business.
Unless you’re hell bent on going into a specific area of business that a Harvard MBA will help to propel you into, I say to hell with early B-school decisions. If you’re not sure, don’t lock yourself down too soon. First, go off and really explore who you want to be. Grad school should be your time to invest in your passion and to truly dictate the direction you want to take in life. Don’t just wander in without knowing who you are.
Remember that if you’re capable of even getting in now, you’ll most likely be capable of getting in later.
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Posted on February 28, 2008
Filed Under Advertising, Beaches, Business and Commerce, Internet Advertising | 1 Comment
If you had to choose between eye sight and islands
Here’s a special new ad from CareCredit (click to enlarge):
What makes this one interesting is that they’re not trying to equate LASIK with a tropical island, just telling you that you can have both good eye sight and a tropical vacation. CareCredit offers financing for healthcare procedures that insurance doesn’t necessarily cover. It is a part of GE Money.
American debt continues to build. We CAN have it all? We even get to see it with our own eyes.
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Posted on February 27, 2008
Filed Under Advertising, Health and Wellness, Internet Advertising, Islands, Travel | Leave a Comment
CMC Markets ~ Put on your suit and surf that online trading market
"Woo hoo!" that’s what your trader says just before he reaches the top of this chart from an animated ad for CMC Markets:
Online trading is just like surfing the North Shore in a suit. And to "ride the market without the risk" that’s, well, probably a humongous stretch of an ad.
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Posted on February 25, 2008
Filed Under Advertising, Business and Commerce, Internet Advertising | 1 Comment
Acuvue lets you snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
Acuvue Oasys is a moisture-giving contact lens that purportedly allows you to venture places that other contacts cannot take you, like snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef in Australia:
This ad had other places including the wilds of Africa, but this image was the main one.
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Posted on February 23, 2008
Filed Under Coral, Diving, Oasis, Pharmaceuticals | Leave a Comment
Tropical bird kitchenware ~ the toucan can opener and the parakeet garlic press
There were a couple of little kitchen items that I stumbled upon this week totally separately. The first is this toucan can opener found in Metropolitan Home (March 2008 Page 8):
The second is a parakeet garlic press.
Both are good for the people who want nothing and both are made by a company called Animal House. Don’t tell me you can’t picture exactly the person who might like these.
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Posted on February 22, 2008
Filed Under Animals and Pets, Household Goods | Leave a Comment
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