The FDA plans on making these packages mandatory for all cigarettes sold in America. Oh but these are just a few....there are like 10 different designs. Gotta collect them all, huh?

“These labels are frank, honest and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking, and they will help encourage smokers to quit, and prevent children from smoking,” is there official statement. My opinion...this is a little bit much. If it were to pass, the cigarette koozie business will be booming.

I'm just saying....if you can't stop people from doing drugs illegally, what makes you think you can stop smokers?

VIA nytimes

Really Italy?

This could be a slight nod to the term "shit storm." But what it definitely is: a stab at New Orleans (even if you don't thinks so), which is tacky. And for a baby....

Agency: JWT/RMG Connect Milan

VIA copyranter

A PSA i don't appreciate.

Warning: This is an Opinion post.

Ok, I'm going to break from my routine for a quick second. I want to make sure I get this straight. A group was created, I Need A Freakin Job (INAFJ) for the sole purpose of making a PSA and encouraging a social movement that asks the president of the United States to personally supply them with jobs?

Cause you know...he is the sole person holding you back. The President alone, holds to the key to your personal success. In a country that prides itself on democracy, the allotment of government and a free market of supply and demand, some how the President (this President who was just elected after years of a mishandled presidency and an unsanctioned economy) should give you a job.

How about you go look for one, instead of asking for handouts. Handouts that you probably cannot mentally grasp the repercussions of. Maybe you should update your resume instead of poorly designing and producing advertisements that make it seem like you live in a third world country under the regime of a dictator who is holding jobs from you. I'm so tired of people talking out of their asses instead of trying to understand the issues that cause and regulate the situation we are in.

And if you are all unemployeed....how did you pay for that bill board? ::side eye::

I Need A Freakin Job @ Yahoo! Video

VIA makethelogobigger

Poor Tiger...let's move on.

I know, I know....it's un-American to feel bad for the man who cheats on his wife. Especially when he takes cheating to the level of ridiculousness the Tiger Woods toke it- enough mistresses to form a professional basketball team. But it's kinda sad that the man is trying to get back to making a living at the only thing he is know for...and he can't do it without pranksters getting at him.

At this past weekend Augusta Nationals, Tiger tried to enter his first Master tournament since the scandal...and pranksters hired an Aerial messenger service to fly signs over the golf course as he was playing on it. One of the air plane messages is in the video below...which makes a pun on Budism...which I guess was Tiger's religion of choice (now, we all know it should've been Christianity...cause then none of this wouldve happened).

Now, don't get me wrong. This is funny. And one could take the stance that he deserves it. I personally think Tiger is completely in the wrong. But like I have already said here on this blog before....Tiger is NOT the only professional athlete that cheats on his wife. And now that he has been caught/outed...the man has got bills to pay. He needs to get back to his profession and make some money to financially pay for his transgressions. He has been playing the martyr role for some time now. I just want to put a question out there. Would someone would pay over a grand per aerial message to fly a plan over the Vatican against child molesters? Or pay for aerial messages that go over the house of a local government representative who is anti-gay rights but doesn't let his wife and family know about his college boyfriend? I have not seen such.

Yes, Tiger is in the spot light...so his life will be out there for us to see. Sure, he may be in the wrong sport to be acting a fool. Conservative WASPS that consider khakis and polos to be sportswear will probably not support the colored guy. Not to mention the colored guy who has been kicking their asses and taking their free money for a few years now. Tiger is" no longer a role model"? Did they really need to take time out of their schedule to let the world know their personal feelings on cheating men? What makes Tiger so special?

That's all I wanted to point out. I guess I'm just a little tired of Tiger's public martyrdom. We get it. The guy fucked up. Just cause he's a golf player doesn't make him any less or more fucked up than the next guy or gal. But that's just my opinion.

With that said did you guys see his new Nike spot? Well...after you check out that...you have to see the remixes....HYSTERICAL.

VIA nbc

Monica. Everything to Me.

Monica (yep I'm talking about monica on this blog) just dropped a new single that samples a very well known song from the 80's that my momma use to play on repeat.

Deniece Williams. Silly.

vs.

Monica.



No normally, I would ask...who did it better. But it's not that type of blog post. I want to chronicle Monica's career for a second or two. Remember the early 90's? Blissful, right? Remember the first album, Miss Thang. Yeah...I owned it. I use to crank the song "Angel" on full blast and sing out loud like I was a girl. Dont Take it Personal was the epitome of how hip-hop/r&b was made in the 90's. Monica was young. The song's weren't deep...cause she hadn't experienced life yet. But she could sing.

Then she got classy (and sexy) in the late 90's. She was dropping tracks like Angel of Mine and Street Symphony. Remember when she completely out sang Brandy on her own track? Monica is a true and talented singer. Then...she kinda disappeared from the mainstream. She had a few club songs. But she kinda fell into the underground circuit of R&B singers, singing to a niche. Sure, I heard a person here and there who would promote her new album, so I knew she was still around. But everything I heard from her all sounded the same. With an array of weaves and "I'm going clubbing shirts", she let the world know she was a southern girl (and a little hood at that). Then she dropped that sh*t with Keiysha Cole. And to that, I say "Hell Naw." I mean....Keiysha Cole hasn't made a memorable track since her debut song "Love" (in my opinion) and I'm pretty sure that was a fluke. So that collabo was a real bust, as well as the song.

And here we are today. She is making music like the video above. And it's brilliant. The song is well put together. She sounds great. She look's hot (giant side weave and all). Not to sure about the stalker themed video, but overall Welcome Back Monica *finger crossed* for your new album. And I just wanted to write a throwback blog post about Monica. Now we patiently await the return of Brandy.

That is all. 

Obligatory Super Bowl Ads Post.

So. I'm a day late. I had some....well, some kick back from the Super Bowl that caused me to need some R&R. Though I didn't care about the teams, in general...I must say that the game was pretty entertaining. There wasn't that time in the 3rd quarter where the multiple commercial break seemingly bring the game to a halt and you are thinking about how late it's getting in comparison to how much you are drinking and how you're out of witty things to bring to the "Comment-Out-Loud" in front of strangers act that is the Super Bowl party. But...I must admit that I was high off the euphoria cuteness of Puppy Bowl for like a half an hour. But that is neither here nor there.

But let's talk about Super Bowl commercials shall we. They pretty much all sucked this year. So when I do this breakdown, you have to take it in context. The Good, the Bad and the In between. So, "The good"....metaphorically speaking would be like the skinniest kid in fat camp.

The Good.

Snickers. Betty White made this spot. The end.




Fiddling Beaver. I have a soft spot for stupid stuff like this.



Doritos: "Keep Your Hand off my momma, keep your hand off my Doritos." Hysterical. And is some cases, this consumer generated ad has way more context than alot of the bigger agency spots.





Two...seemingly alright Bud Light spots. I put these here, because when I lived in Chicago...making Super Bowl ads with BBDO for Bud light ads was a young creatives life goal. Bud light is well known for man ads during the Superbowl, but in comparison to the stuff they have put out in the past....these...well while they still have the funny, they seem to be lacking in production quality. There are funny lines. And last minute scenario twists. But the overall executions seem lacking in thought. But that's just my opinion.

The Bad

Taco Bell. Charles....you are not allowed to eat anymore Taco Bell. Have you glanced in the mirror lately? Taco Bell is not agreeing with you waste line. And taco bells...what are you stuck in contract with this dude? What part of this spot makes you think a consumer would want to see it?



Budweiser. We get it. Animal trainers are making bank. The damn horses make friends. And then the horses and the friends remember each other years later. And they hang out. I think I've seen this execution before. Lazy.



Dove for Men. This was ok. Until....(you guessed it), the end. So know that you are comfortable in your life and with yourself...you can be comfortable using a girls soap? I think not.

The InBetween

This was good....up until the end. Que, vintage car driving on a desert road otherwise known as "a scene from any given 80's film." PS...I will never throw my underwear in the basket. Cause I am Man.




Parisian Google love. As my friends texted me after the spot "So using Google will eventually lead to making babies?"



Weird, as usual. But perhaps not weird enough.

See all the Super Bowl spots that didnt make my list here.

And then there were the spots that didn't make it to the Super Bowl. Man Crush is getting a considerable amount of attention. I'm not sure why. I recall the Snickers man on man make-out last year. In some respects....it might not be the worste thing to not make it to the superbowl. Especially if someone who has a blog is generally comparing all Superbowl Ads to a fat camp.

Wowsers...what an asshole.

White House Party Crashers?

White house party crashers? Now, I don't want to say that this was done on purpose. But I hope the unemployment line gets a little longer after these shenanigans. Because, clearly someone didn't care enough to do their jobs.

I mean seriously, there is security and list readers located right here in Manhatten, at certain clubs (in Hell's Kitchen) that do a better job than the seceret service of keep people out. Have you ever gotten into Diddy's White party? Exactly.  This...is a sad, sad joke...and there needs to be sad, sad consequences.

Obama is a Reptile Alien.

OK, lets just dive right back into it. The Turkey was good and so was the company( a little drama-perhaps a failed engagement), but I miss the crazy that is other peoples thoughts. FOX news reported a gem recently. They are claiming that the new prime time show "V" is in some way mocking the liberal agenda, in particular President Obama admirers.

Here's my thought.....have you seen the show? I'm aware it a remake of some old cult classic or something, but the plot is about as complicated and interesting as an old piece of belly button lint. If this is the best Obama bashing one can think to deliver then we should all be join the priesthood. The show is about a reptile alien race that is trying to take over the world by gaining human trust. Can we take a second to appreciate the simple discrimination of comparing Aliens to the President of the United States on national tv?

Yawn. How about some semi relevant and believable news. Or is Julia from LOST and Morris Chestnut giving away O'Rielly handjob sandwiches and i dint get a memo? I hate when that happens.

And then I wittnessed Spill O'Rielly....

VIA aperfectlycrumulentblog

This is Nice (I have 2 points here).

This is part of the reason why I cant do the Twitter thing. I see the positive attributes of the site, I really do. On a business end, it could be invaluable.  But on an individual pedestrian level, I don't think every f*cking numb nut with Internet access should be able to spread and share their stupidity with the world. I prefer not to see the opinionated underbelly of America. FOX news handles that quiet well. And that's what twitter is...a scribbling board of unjustified, unwarranted half thoughts filled with stupidity, irrelevance and prejudices. And twitter gives these people a medium to thrive in. Like fucking pigs in mud. No one deserves to be called a N*GGER. That's called racism. 

On another note, I don't want to dive in too deep here. But why is it that when an African American person does something wrong, the flood gates open up. I'm not justifying Kanye's doucheness at all, but everyday people do ridiculous and wrong things. Politicians spend state money on hookers and prostitutes. Priests touch little kid in church. People are allowed to call the president of the United states a liar on national tv. Celebrities do drugs and have sex on camera and sell it to the media. I mean....the list goes on and on. You have to ask yourself, what is it about black culture that lends itself to outright hate? And why aren't there limitations? But oh...wait, I forgot that race is no longer a problem in this county... 

Never mind, keep twitting america. It's not like anyone is out there to stop you. 

VIA multicultureclassics and mediaassasins

This pic pretty much sums up the NY West Indian parade.

Alot of questionable boobs. Texting. And glitter.

VIA nyt

Awesome Student Work.

HP - invent from Tom and Matt on Vimeo.

This should be an HP ad. Get that money students...get that money.

VIA dailyobsessional

Redesign of a Classic Done Well.

The design world is abuzz. Apparently Baker did some new packaging for some old classics (but only in Target). I kinda agree with Jetpacks on this one. This is not the disastrous Orange Juice redesign of 09, that made moms across America stand in revolt. And it certainly didn't incorporate any smiles. There may be some confusion of the TA. Kids (big and small) may not appreciate the move to junk food modernism. But the packaging is simple. It is clean. And they do make me instantly say "Nice."

And they did it to the Cherios packaging as well. 

Before.

After.

I may still be on the fence about the cheerios box. It's a little bit too MOMA for me (seeing as how Cheerios is a staple "I have no food in the house, but I can survive on Cheerios" kinda thing for me). Im sure I could care less though....

That's all.

Integration.

"...Have we simply traded one form of inequality for another? Before we had separate and unequal and today we have separate and still unequal, but you can go to the Starbucks without being attacked by a firehose?"

Danielle from The Blacksnob has a seriously interesting post about the double edge sword of integration in America. Every point made was valid. Is it better to go to a historically black college (if you are a minority)? Or is there some impeding gain to integrated institutions? Or is the black community just all screwed up (and it's kinda integration's fault)?

I have an opinion. Do you? If not...still an interesting read.

It's Raining men who like other Men.

A Rainbow Coalition is made up of people of every creed and color (except those Gay ones). Don't we have better things to do than unjustly advocate for the relinquishment of people's rights? Do you know what they also teach in school or "force" your kid to learn? That slavery was evil, that the genocide of a religious group was not a moral ideal and that putting a race of people in a camp is unjust. 

What a coincidence.  

VIA smartaches

A Little Disheartening.

I will admit it. The video above weighs a little bit heavy on the heart .It claims that Disney has been copying and pasting their creative jeans...I mean genes for years. And it makes me a little sad.Those damn you tubers sitting around in there PJs on a Saturday night in their mom's basement editing old Disney films to kill the hopes and dreams of children around the world (instead of getting out there and making something original for themselves). But alas....I have a rebuttal. If you pay close attention, there are only a few films shown. All of them are old. And all of them are hand drawn.

Nerd alert...these films use to take 10 years to produce. They were hand drawn. So it is clear to me that if the cartoonist knew how to draw the movements necessary for a little Dosie Doe, he( I wouls say she, but it's def a he) might want to simply redo the dance drawing techniques used in the next movie that would also take a decade to produce. And hey...if it's not broken, why fix it? It was as simple as the times they lived in. So you must excuse me if i take offense to comment like: “Looks like the Disney Vault has a purpose after all - to keep us from realizing how similar our favorite classic Disney movies truly are. According to this video, Disney only ever made one movie, and they’ve been tracing it ever since.”

I just don't take kindly to uncreative people judging the talent and skill of those who are creative. It's like a judging Brady's throw when you have no arms. Dude, you can't even eat the doritos. YOU HAVE NO ARMS!!!!!

 It just doesn't sit well with me. And you know I have a heart string for Disney. Cha, don't even get me started....

If this is not a sign...then what is?

Glenn Beck is the newest entourage of Fox's right winged elite "spread hate, lies and bullsh*t team." And I say that with an open heart and a sound mind. I swear...they recruit these people straight from the remote juggles of Backwards thinking land (ahem...midwest). He is steadily building is roaster of ridiculous quotations as if it were a game or something.

Well...now he is making his guests pass out. Literally. Like....they have time to warn him. Which leads me to believe that maybe these Fox kids aren't all that crazy. Maybe it's something in the air at Fox. Maybe their air is too thin and they are all high. Maybe they are pumping looney fumes through the ventilation system. Either...or, this should be a clear sign that Fox isthe neglected spawn of the devil. That fainting guy got off easy.

BTW, is passing out the manly form of fainting? Cause I wanted to be like, "Dude...you just fainted, like a chic!"

Pirates? Solution.

So I just got back from Texas. I was visiting the girlfriend's family. It was my first time in Texas and I do have some proclamations. But I will leave that for another blog post. Let's talk about pirates, shall we.

So It's 5am and I am at Lagaurdia Gate B13 or something, and CNN is ranting a raving about these pirates off the coast of Somalia and how they took hostages. Now, I have been hearing about these pirates since last summer and I remember thinking how bizarre the whole story was. In 2009, African pirates are seizing large vessels off of the coast and literally taking ships? Really? And wait...there is no Johhny Depp to make the story even plausibly entertaining? I was confused as to why the pirates where still such a threat...now, months after the breaking story. We still hadn't figured out a way to avoid the row boats or avoid the bows and arrows? And now they took a hostage? I felt like I was watching a recap of an episode of Pirates of Dark Waters. All that was missing was a giant monkey bird and killer oil spills.

And then like lightening striking, we wised up and remembered that it was indeed 2009. We are Americans. We destroy nations. We tax the poor and award the rich. And we have have an apps for every situation known to man (trade marked by Apple). Obama gave the go ahead...and we shot those mofos. And during my plan ride home, at a lay over in Minneapolis, CNN reported that we had indeed sent in some Navy seals, shot the pirates and restored piece and prosperity to the land (seas). We got our hostage and we killed the bad guys. Three days. It took three days to come up with that game plan and execute it. What took so long? They are pirates....in 2009 for Christ sake.

I guess all I am trying to say is, what took America 3 days to figure out. Some people (see below) could've figured out in 2 hours back n the 90's.

....

A Seagal Solution.

Meeting adjourned...Now excuse me as I go look up all I can about the cartoon Pirates of Dark Waters.

We Made You. Eminem.

Didn't we already cover this...like 10 years ago. Same sh*t different decade. Dress up in drag and talk trash about people you don't know. It was funnier back then. My opinion.

VIA animalnewyork

Covering March 2009.

No really...is there any cover that Michelle Obama hasn't graced? Even Oprah gave up the limelight. And that makes me both proud and hopeful.

Still...The New Yorker cover is kinda questionable. 

Dora Explores Training Bras.

I'm writing this blog specifically for Rhe K. She has a bit of an obsession with Dora the Explorer. And it appears as if Dora is getting a make over.

Dora is being turned into a Tween. Now, I would be lying if I said that I hadn't caught an episode or two. In fact, after baby sitting my lil nephew and his Dora the Explorer tape for a night...I could not help but to hum the catchy opening credits. But that Dora will soon be no more. Where as Dora was a spunky little bilingual Mexican girl that figured stuff out with her brain and literally taught kids with a colorful monkey at her side and her cousin Diego from the burrio....she will soon join the ranks of Miley Cirus and Taylor Hicks. 

I have already kinda spoken on this subject. Mattel and Nickelodeon claim that the new Dora is meant to emulate kids 5 years old and up. They claim that they want Dora to grow up with the kid audience she has today. It's a solid argument (not to mention the tween accessories the parent will be forced to buy in the name of love). But I do have a rebuttal. How about just letting the kids grow up? Let the kids fall out of love with the character and find a new appropriate one all by themselves. I mean...that's what my generation had to do. We had to make a conscience decision to let go of Nick Jr and move onto the Disney Afternoon (well, some of us did....ahem Rhe K.). We stopped watching Eureka's Castle and started watching Blossom. Why? Not because Blossom was an incredibly good show....but because its natural to grow the f*ck up. It's natural to move on. Progression is natural. Maturing is natural. Training one's own abilities to make a decision is natural. 

The only thing unnatural about this whole Mattel/Nick scheme, is the fact that they they are trying to keep up with an aging demographic. There are 1 million babies being born a day (according to wiki). Instead of focusing on these kids who are growing up, how about you try to keep up with the spremlets being born today.  

btw this is Dora's new silhouette.

UPDATE: I just reread this post. Sorry. I feel like I just channeled my inner parent. D.A.P.M.B.D. (dads against poorly made branding decisions).