JabrWoky - Following the white rabbit since...

291 Days in 291 Pictures

Eider Suso (who was one year senior to me at grad school at VCU Adcenter) has uploaded her fantastic travalogue through South East Asia and India. She took off the beaten path for 291 days (I wish I could take off like that!) soaking in the cleanliness of Singapore, the spirituality of Cambodia, the seclusion of Myanmar, the grandness of the Himalayas, and not to mention the heat, dust and raw beauty of Varanasi, India. It is a highly inspiring journey depicted through one visual capturing the mood and deeper emotions of each day.

Below is a sampling of Eider's simple (yet profound) thoughts and observations from the journey:

Day 6: Singapore - "Narrow windows. Do they match the Asian eyes?"


Day 24: Cambodia - "Can a doodle do justice?"


Day 24: Vietnam - "Do we travel to escape or to figure out where to go next?"


Day 62: Laos - "Once you see the face of your fear, you realize it isn't that scary."


Day 93: Myanmar - "One day in Bagan it rained gold, and with that they built the temples."


Day 230: India - "NYC-Kashi, the energy of the two more powerful cities I've lived in."

A Lifetime's Synthesis of Content & Form

The One Show pays tribute to the legendary graphic designer Paul Rand.

"Without content there is no form; without form there is no content."

Final word of advice from Paul:

"Don't try to be original, try to be good."

Experiment, Fail, Learn

And while you are at it make sure you are staying on track, having fun, and growing wiser!!
Spotted on the biking and roller-blading path at East Coast Park.

Indra Sinha - Rediscovered

I remember a few years back when I had just started grad school at the VCU Adcenter I stumbled on the bible of copywriters (at least the ones who were in the copywriting program) called 'The Copy Book'. It was there that I discovered some interesting advertising characters like Neil French, Bill Bernbach etc. But there was one name in there that quite captured my interest, and that was an Indian bloke called Indra Sinha. And my initial thoughts were like how the hell did this Indian dude get on to this list of caucasian writers. He seemed like the perfect misfit. And that's exactly what I liked about him the further I started reading about him. And with an iconoclastic ad like the one below for which he won some D&AD pencils, it was no surprise that he was on that coveted list.

It's been a while since I last heard anything about Indra and today came to know from the Booker Prize announcements that Indra's new book 'Animal's People' was on the final shortlist. His fantastic interview about the book and it's purpose is here.
As I move on figuring out my place in the ad world, I rediscover Indra again. Only this time he has left the ad world and moved on to other more meaningful and interesting things. And it is fantastic that he is alive and kickin on the web. All sorts of interesting viewpoints and stuff to read on his site.
Like I was reading about the topic of the reuse of old ideas here (like how the Honda Cog ad was actually inspired by the Fischli and Weiss short film 'The Way Things Go'). The latest Sony Bravia 'Play-Doh' denials is covered here. Indra has this interesting piece on the same topic - in this case the famous 1980's Levi's Laundrette ad which had a predecessor in a Hamlet Cigars ad (the laundrette one from this collection from the 1960s). Especially in a digital age where everything is becoming more open and shared and new ideas emerge from mutations of old ones, Indra's explanation is quite apt that an old and used idea should not be wasted if it's a natural fit for the brand:

"I don’t for a moment think that John Hegarty or Tony Scott would stoop to purloining someone else’s work. I prefer to think of the Levi’s ad as a tribute to its predecessor which, although not one of the best Hamlet ads, was an idea so natural for Levi’s that it proved simply too good to waste."

A whole bunch of stuff to read on his site. It's a delight to see him active and inspire us online. Keep it rockin' Indra!!

inspiration!

"LEONARDO DA VINCI’S 15th-century vision of mechanical flight apparently never included fixed wings assisted by propellers or jet engines. His chief inspiration was birds, reflected in drawings of a flying machine fashioned to stay aloft by flapping its wings."

[New York Times technology section, Feb 8, 2007]

money is like oxygen

"To me, money is like oxygen. You can’t live without it. But is not the reason for living."

From an inspirational speech by Dan Wieden (Founder & chairman of W+K)

Influences

"The only god I ever relied on was Mark Twain. I read Huckleberry Finn every year for 80 years. If you do that you're either a fool or you're going to learn something about morality." - Chuck Jones (Master animator & creator of Bugs Bunny)

[Source: John Leland's book 'Hip: The History']