household name : : : blog

Talent You Should Know : iTunes Reviewers

Yes, really; some of the best critical writing on music can be found on iTunes.

'Eager with melody and attracted to smooth surfaces.'

Or as the New Musical Express, somewhat less charitably described Coldplay: "Music for bedwetters."

Peg 'O The Day : Pool Chairs

Household Name commends the groundsman of this Texas resort hotel for this stunning piece of lateral thinking.

What do you do to save the pool chairs when hurricane Ike is headed your way?

We'll let you close the circle.

The Palin / McCain Ticket

Aka women on top. Gotta hand it to the GOP, this is a great piece of marketing. (This ain't Fixed News here––we do fair and balanced.)

First rule of branding: What has the product got that we can use?

Nice.

Annals Of Naming : NYC Cabbie

Allow us to be low-brow once in a while.

(Props to Seb Gollings for spotting this one.)

Soccer Is Business And Business Is Soccer

Tagged as 'Confidential' this locker room handout was distributed by Arsene Wenger at the Gunners team meeting last week.

Perhaps this is why they're top of the Premiership League table.

The team:

A team is as strong as the relationships within it.

The driving force of a team is its member's ability to create and maintain excellent relationships within the team that can add an extra dimension and robustness to the team dynamic.

This attitude can be used by our team to focus on the gratitude and the vitally important benefits that the team brings to our own lives. It can be used to strengthen and deepen the relationships with it and maximize the opportunities that await a strong and united team.

Our team becomes stronger by:

Displaying a positive attitude on and off the pitch

Everyone making the right decisions for the team

Have an unshakable belief that we can achieve our target

Believe in the strength of the team

Always want more--always give more

Focus on our communication

Be demanding with yourself

Be fresh and prepared to win

Focus on being mentally stronger and always keep going until the end

When we play away from home, believe in our identity and play the football we love to play at home

Stick together

Stay grounded and humble as a player and as a person

Show the desire to win in all that you do

Enjoy and contribute to all that is special about being in a team--don't take it for granted

(Props to Jonathan Bell at WANT Branding for this tip.)

DNA Art

This artwork––known as Visual DNA––is the data visualisation of sequenced animal and plant genes.

German creator Daniel Becker explains how the process of translating DNA text into colorful symbols is not as complicated as it sounds.

"DNA art interprets the complex information of DNA with the help of symbols and colors," says the 29-year-old Frankfurter. "The result is a individual graphic pattern for any creature or plant. For the naked eye a DNA sequence is a string of thousands of those four letters. So I came up with the idea to interpret these genes into symbols and colors."

Still with us?

A Student of Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, Daniel came up with the idea during a study for his University design course.

"A gene is shown in the typically four letter style G, A T and C for the four bases of the DNA, But for the naked eye it is not easily possible to see the difference between a human and a shark, because the information is too complex.

"Younger people are interested in the more dangerous animals and plants--for example the Great White Shark patterns are very popular with men. But patterns of mice, elephants and koalas are popular amongst women."

Ahhh.

And Daniel is hoping that in years to come, people will be able to use their own DNA to make their own art.

Household name wishes Daniel the best of luck.

The Real Difference Between Liberals And Conservatives

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right or center.

In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most.

Fascinating. And, naturally, polarizing.

The Talk

(Props to Eric Perret for this link.)

Painted Trucks

Stunning trompe l'oeil on a European big-rig. These crates are actually painted on the side panels.

Digital Art

Digital art has come such a long way in the last decade it's almost churlish to call it 'photo-realistic.'

I prefer 'a hyper sense of reality.'

More stunning work here:

Vector Art Gallery

Peg 'O The Day : Petrol-Powered Dolphin

Guaranteed to make a big splash in the watersport world. The inventors claim a cruising speed of 45mph and 20 mph submerged.

Can we say, "Here Flipper!"

Tooth Tattoos

If that gemstone in your front tooth is starting to feel a little old you might want to upgrade to the hottest dental item walking the street: a tooth tattoo.

The Heward Dental Lab say their technicians are trained to be artist's first, dental technicians second. You be the judge:

Above are Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, Simon Cowell, David Beckham, Amy Winehouse, Abraham Lincoln, Elvis, David Letterman, Tiger Woods, George Washington.

And if this all seems a bit too flashy you might consider a 'white collar tattoo'. This artwork is done on the molars (on the cheek side of the tooth) and is seen only when you wish to allow a close friend stare deep into your mouth.

If at this point you're seriously considering going under the ink, you'll be please to know these tattoos is that they can easily be removed in five minutes in the dentist’s office with just a little grinding with a rubber wheel.

The Tooth Artist

The First Billionaire Artist

Yep, you guessed it––it's Damien Hirst.

Artist's compensation has come an awful long way since Van Gough died penniless having sold just one painting his entire life.

Hirst's 'The Golden Calf' is a 7ft high Charolais bull pickled in formaldehyde (again) which boasts hooves, horns and a disc on its head all made of solid 18-carat gold.

Encased in a gold-plated cabinet, the calf––a symbol of the idolatrous worship of material things (wink, wink)--could make him up to $140 million.

That will add significantly to the 43-year-old's existing fortune which his manager Frank Dunphy said now exceededs one billion dollars.

By selling direct to buyers and cutting out the gallery middleman Hirst hopes to make even more money from the sale of his pieces.

"If you say to someone that galleries take 50 percent they'd be shocked by that," said Hirst. "In any other business it's an extortionate amount of money. I've never thought it made much sense."

Sotheby's will not be charging him to stage the auction but successful bidders will pay Sotheby's usual buyer's premium.

Both the White Cube in London and the Gasogian Gallery in America, with whom he has non-exclusive sales arrangements, have insisted they're not worried by the development. Perhaps because they know that most artists don't have the power of the Hirst brand.

This month's auction however comes amid damning remarks of his work.

Robert Hughes described his works as "tacky" and "absurd" while Richard Wentworth, who taught him at Goldsmith's in the early Nineties, said it was "vulgar".

Pretty much exactly the response the establishment had to Impressionism when it was first displayed at Parisian salons.

Born In The USA

As a rule this blog doesn't critique ads––plenty of other sites do that––but this Harley banner perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the moment.

They know how to tap into the prevailing emotions of being an American; what they believe in, what they want, what they love, and what they cherish. Which is mainly, of course, freedom, and the desire to be left alone to do whatever the hell we want.

This is a brilliant move for Harley. They are not afraid to stand for something and these days that's admirable and cements people's allegiances.

'Screw it. Let's ride.' It's a spirit not a tagline.

(Props to George at www.wordbang.com for this post)

Chilean Street Art

A Chilean Banksy goes to work on the Mapocho river in Santiago.

Classic Food Packaging

 

A fascinating backwards glance at all the food that rotted your teeth as a child.

 

Cans 'N Stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hendrix's Torched Guitar

A photo like this just brings the Hendrix experience alive––you just wish you'd have been in the crowd to see him petrol his axe, then set it alight.

Talk about an indelible image.

The rock legend torched his '65 Fender Strat at the end of a show at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, north London, in March 1967.

The stunt sent roadies rushing to put out the flames and left Hendrix needing treatment for minor burns.

But amid the hubbub press officer Tony Garland cleared away the scorched Stratocaster and stored it in his parents garage in Hove, East Sussex, where it lay forgotten for nearly 40 years.

Even as Hendrix became famous for burning his guitars on stage the instrument remained undiscovered until last year when it was unearthed by Garland's nephew.

The guitar was bought for just over the estimated price at the Fame Bureau's 'It's More Than Rock And Roll' auction in east London by American collector Daniel Boucher.

"I thought I'd have to pay a little bit more for it, actually. I am going to play it, I hope some of it rubs off on me," said Boucher. "It changed music, he raised the bar so high you couldn't get over it. Obviously it is an investment, it couldn't not be an investment for that amount of money, but I bought it because I like it."

The price for a piece of rock history?

$550,000.

Guns And Sex

Sadly, this photo may help her image. Only in America kids.

(Thank you Perez).

World's Largest Photo Mosaic

Called 'The 'Big Picture,' this photo mosaic in Birmingham, England is 1,500 foot square and is made of thousands of photographs submitted by the public.

Constructed from 288 panels each holding 392 individually placed photographs it set a new World record.

Peg 'O The Day : Sydney Skyline

A storm rolls in over the Sydney skyline.

Painting The Favelas

The French photographer known simply as JR has painted the walls of houses in the favela of Providencia in Rio de Janeiro with portraits of all the inhabitants who've lost relatives in the drug traffic conflict.

Wisely enough, he shuns the limelight he deserves.