Monday Advertising Inspiration

Working on freelance projects as a sole stream of revenue is hard work (impossible?) at best. I am probably charging way too little for my services to start, and also putting in about one-third of the required sales and networking effort required to secure new clients.... SIGH. It's Monday, I'm sure you're depressed enough already, so here are some great ads from the recent issue of WIRED to give you a little creative boost to start the week of right!!

FIRST OFF... what the actual hell guys, the future is here and we didn't even know it. Apparently it is now possible to manipulate 3D holograms in real time using collaborative software from this company called bluebeam? All I can think is that this technology must be pretty shitty, otherwise wouldn't the fact that building the holodeck is just a few years away not be front page news!?!?! woahhhhh

Ray ban has a pretty badass multi-page ad. Wear Ray Bans: Cowboys and Rockstars do. BRANDING at its FINEST.

And this threw me for a loop: cigarette ads in a magazine subscription to a Canadian address without all kinds of crazy cancer messages!? But other than the fact that due to cost they decided to skip the third panel in this multi-paged ad (What happened to Original?), I like the esthetics of this a lot and the fact that I think the second picture is also used in a billboard campaign in Spain for pre-teen social network Tuenti which is funny... "Taste it all" does seem like a weird tagline though for cigarettes, now that it is pretty much public knowledge that "tasting it all" would imply enjoying the flavors of tar, cyanide, and rat poison....

 Go motorola! Tapping into the on-shore manufacturing craze, our obsessive need to customize everything AND accessorize your already accessorized device with hipster-esque background objects. FTW. All you need is some tiny infographic about 3D printing, and a little pic of the models-as-hipsters/engineers (because our company is so trendy) that we can all look up to for inspiration. DESIGNED, BY, YOU, MADE IN AMERICA

 Okay, I'll admit, the miles and miles thing is pretty dumb, but I love the colors, and this car looks cute and ready for adventures, just like my own 'Lil Red!! Good job, Toyota USA print agency, whoever you are...

Thank god for Netflix Vampires...

First of all, if you don't know me, then you need to know this: I have an unshakeable, pre-twilight love for vampire stories... Having thought about why I love them so much, I can only possibly trace it back to a childhood obsession with Beauty and the Beast, but I digress.

My latest obsession (I'm a bit behind...) has been Netflix videos, and I am a passionate supporter of torrents, so this is a big step for me, but there is something exciting about having instant access to thousands of movies just a click away... Being in Canada, there are some limitations (aka: pretty limited selection of shit movies), but I just consider that an added challenge!!

Check out these gems I've found in the past few weeks:

Hemlock Grove (TV show)
This is a Netflix original series with some seriously slow first few episodes, but it's worth the lead-up to the season finale!!




8 Reasons to watch:
1) Alexander Skarsgard (Eric from True Blood!)'s little brother stars... and noticing little gestures and speech patterns similar between them is an added bonus activity! Sadly, he's nowhere near as sexy, but does a REAL good "creepy".
2) The prince from Ever After grew up, and is also a lot less charming, but he's here too!
3) Jean Gray/Pheonix from X-Men is very mysterious and has awesome outfits.
4) It's all filmed in Canada! and another fun activity is noticing all the Canadian stuff (ie: cigarettes covered in the convenience stores, roadsigns, etc)
5) The main guy is also Canadian and a hotttiiieeeee
6) It is probably what Vampire Diaries was aiming for but miserably failed to acheive due to it's PG rating and poor, poor acting abilities of all the main characters. No such fail here. :)
7) Spoiler: the werewolf transformation is SO COOL...
8) It leaves about as many opened mysteries and curiosities as the first season of Lost

 Midnight Son (2011): I am always skeptical on Netflix watching these independent horror-esque films, but this one got some stupid high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it's actually one of the most original vampire movies I have ever seen... I wish the main actor was a bit better looking, and the storyline was a little less rambling, but overall, a surprisingly good watch!

...and I am quite looking forward to these three: