And...the Piranhas attack!

Finally stepped out of my coccoon and checked out Strawberry Fields .... after 4 long years!!! (Thanks again, Anand!)

Managed to watch a couple of competing bands (that turned out to be the winners later) and headlining acts Lounge Piranha and Bhayanak Maut.

Bhayanak Maut literally means 'Scary Death'. Though their name sounds like a B-grade horror flick (is it one?), they are anything but B-grade. They took the place by storm. Their act was one hell of an ASSAULT. My neck still hurts after all that head banging!

As tight as a band can get, the band pulled off flawless originals. Kudos to Vinay's lung power in delivering those killer vocals!

Anyways, now let's shift the focus to Lounge Piranha.

DAMN! What a BAND!!!!

It's the kind of act you watch once and say "&@#$!That's the kinda band I wanna be in!!!"

They are miles ahead of all other bands in the the Indian scene with their unique sound, brilliant self compositions and commendable stage act.

Lounge Piranha is not a band.. it's a Brand...an experience!

Watch them play once or just take a look at their website and you'll know why.


How many bands in the Indian Scene are working as hard in creating their own signature sound and visual identity?

How many use lights, projections, didgeridoos to connect with their audience??

Bah! Don't even try answering those questions. Just catch Lounge Piranha's next gig :)

Geeky Action

The Business Development Team from Corbis dropped in at my previous agency, to introduce us to killer keywords that promised better search results.

Here's a list of them:
- Cut-out
- Copy space
- Sunburst
- Personal perspective
- Motion Blur
- Contrast

To keep the engagement levels high, they even had a little impromptu contest with interesting giveaways. The Einstein 'action figure' shown here was undoubtedly the best one of the lot.

Did a little googling for the Einstein figurine and chanced upon ThinkGeek, an amazing resource to find those ever-so-elusive geeky gifts!

Besides Einstein and Litte Einstein figurines, you'll also find an eager-to-indulge-in-an-intellectual-chat Freud (and a whole lot of other interesting stuff!)




Or better still, click on action shots to see images of Einstein in 'action' :D

This one shown below was titled: Every Geek's Dream :)

Air Traffic

Can't recollect on whose blog I saw this video. Loved it to death....just had to post it here!

New look

Had been contemplating making changes to the appearance of my blog for a long time.

I cant stop grinning now!

You see the header image above that says: 'A Hypnotype's Blog!'? That came all the way from Sri Lanka :)

Thanks to Nikhila - my good friend (and a promising AdMan based in Lowe Colombo), my blog's finally got that much needed new look.

------------------------

A couple of weeks back, Manish's post led me to Tehelka's issue exposing the men behind the 2002 Gujarat riots.

I must be honest enough to admit that I couldn't stomach the content. I was only brave enough to read the highlighted bits. The last straw was an image displaying the charred remains of an infant being carried out of a train.

Pages after pages, the issue was filled with proud testimonials of unimaginable atrocities committed by men. To think all of that was true and the fact the human race is capable of such horrendous deeds! Shame!

The Team at Tehelka did make a wise decision in avoiding ads in the aforementioned issue. Tehelka does deserve kudos for carrying out a groundbreaking investigation and then printing an issue covering a sensitive topic devoid of senseless ads.

There are times when I sit down and analyze if I am in the right career at all. Mind you, I love ads and everything that goes into creating great pieces of communication. But more often than not, I wonder why everything around us revolves around money and ulterior motives.

That brings me to Tehelka's follow-up issue where Santosh Desai (MD & CEO, Futurebrands) says: Nobody (in the media) seems really interested; Aaj Tak has got the viewership spike it wanted, other media were never keen on it in any case....The only real question is: Did the Ratings go up last week?"

And here's the proof (found it in India Today's latest issue):









AajTak also has the audacity to claim "Sabse TEZ" (We are the Fastest!)

Fastest at what??????

Channel Share % over a 5 hr period???? Is that what all this comes down to?

And the man shown in the above 'ad', Qutu-buddin Ansari,is trying really hard to move on from the worst phase of his life. Thanks Aaj Tak for making his life all the more miserable!

Trust all your cold-blooded Ad Salesmen must be striking killer deals with those equally stone-hearted Clients...........................

Beijing 2008: The Cloud of Promise

No more TREBLE :)

After struggling to pick up gear for ages and after a couple of unsuccessful attempts at starting a rock band (and after a never ending love-hate relationship with my bass guitar); I've finally laid my hands on the bass processor I had dreamt of owning 4 years back. (Thanks again Shantha Auntie!)

The Digitech BP200 is an absolute cracker of a processor. I've spent 4 hours on it today sifting my way through 30 brilliant genre based drum loops and 40 factory pre-sets!

I love the fretless simulator and the synthlike preset and the expression pedal (wah! all the way) and the headphone jack :)

My favorite feature however is "jam-a-long" - it allows to me connect my mp3 player and finally master those killer basslines.

I'm in love all over again! :)

Anti Skeptic SCREAM

Tired of searching for good online radio stations?

Fed-up of annoying ads on the ones you do find?

Given up on streaming radio altogether?

Worry not! Screamer Radio is by far the best online radio player I've been referred to (Thanks again, Katty!)

Once you download it, a simple interface lets you choose radio stations based on your preferences. You can choose by Genre, Language, Network or Region. You can even bookmark your favorite stations to go to them directly.

I'm tripping on ProgRock as you can see. Spock's Beard, Arena, Glass Hammer..name it and they have it :)

Juicy Magic Mushrooms

A Thai air force pilot has been suspended from flying duties after allegedly landing his helicopter in the countryside to collect wild mushrooms for his mother, a spokesman said Friday. More here

"The pilot will face punishment for abandoning his helicopter without anyone to look after it and also for violating other rules," spokesman Capt. Monthon Satchukorn said.

It could have been much worse, Captain. Thank your stars he didn't pop one of those mushrooms in his mouth!



Suggestion to Thai Air Force: Please screen the above video to all your pilots before they prepare for take off!

Vicious cycle?

A man caught trying to have sex with his bicycle has been sentenced to three years on probation.

Mr Stewart was caught in the act with his bicycle by cleaners in his bedroom at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr.

Gail Davidson, prosecuting, told Ayr Sheriff Court: "They knocked on the door several times and there was no reply.

"They used a master key to unlock the door and they then observed the accused wearing only a white t-shirt, naked from the waist down.

Both cleaners, who were "extremely shocked", told the hostel manager who called police.

"The accused was holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."

(source: BBC)

Come again? (pun unintended...really!)

I mean...come on..what kind of NEWS is that????

Maybe next time around, they should interview the bicycle to find out if it enjoyed the whole experience. A different take, you know? :D

Who moved my...err...furniture??

A Dutch teenager has been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from "rooms" in Habbo Hotel, a 3D social networking website. More here

Interesting case indeed!

Imagine going to bed late at night and waking up early morning only to find yourself lying on the floor. LOL!

Must be really hard for the avtars, eh? Just dress them up in some extra warm clothes next time.

Also, Wondering now why Habbo Hotel doesn't have its own police force to arrest these furniture 'thieves' :D

On a more serious note, it really makes me wonder why someone would spend 4,000 euros on virtual furniture!!!!

That money could go a long way in feeding a few poor, hungry children in Africa, no?

Bah! Whatever!

Planning for Good

Last week was fun!

Worked on cracking a UNICEF brief with IQ

Sending out a BIG Thank You to Planning for Good

In founder Edward Cotton's words:

"Planning for Good (PFG) is an organization made up of marketing communication strategists and their friends who’ve come together to lend their skills to support nonprofits…Here you’ll find some of the smartest thinkers in the business, people who intimately understand how to uncover insight, build brands and create powerful stories around them"
______________________________________________________________

Edward Cotton (no network) wrote
at 1:18pm

The response to the UNICEF brief has been amazing.

There's a list below shows the where and the who. If your stuff is MIA and not on this list, please let us know...

Responses revieved from.....

PFG Austin
PFG Sydney
PFG Burlington
PFG Boston
PFG Bangalore
PFG Boulder
PFG San Francisco
PFG London (soon)
PFG Denver
PFG Toronto
PFG New York
PFG Los Angeles (x 3)
PFG New Orleans
PFG Minneapolis
PFG Columbus
PFG@VCU
Nicole@Carat
Toasters
Katie Hamilton
Caitlin Cody

Thanks to everyone listed above who contributed their thinking, time and energy.

We are currently working our way through this mountain of creative thinking and will be sharing all the ideas with UNICEF and with everyone in the PFG group.

I will keep you posted on timing,

Thanks,

Ed

______________________________________________________________

Cool, eh? (Will post the presentation with our ideas as soon as we get the nod from PFG)

PFG really is a blessing for those of us who want do to change the world without giving up our day jobs :)

Belated

When will all this anger, hate and bigotry be gone?

President Bush is presented a T-shirt from Lcpl. Isaac Gallegos during a visit to the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, November 8, 2007.

Funniest ad ever?

Into the Void

Sea of Skin

This ad is amazing: engaging, well produced, great build-up, superb camera angles, good sound design and a fantastic ending.

The voiceover (just in case, you can't turn up the volume now):

Your skin is amazing. All 800 million cells of it. It's your waterproof barrier. Your defense against disease. It's how you sense and adjust to your surroundings. It constantly grows and replaces itself. When you're hurt, it heals itself. For years we've marveled at skin and have developed products to help keep it amazing.

Doesn't it make you wanna scream out aloud that your skin would look like fish scales if it wasn't for Vaseline? :)

Beatboxing

Ask most bass guitarists why they picked up the instrument and they will tell you that a drum kit was way too expensive or the fact that they lived in an apartment complex where noise was frowned upon. Joel Turner's story is pretty much similar and it's interesting to see how it has brought beatboxing into the limelight.

India shining

India created the largest number of jobs last year with 305,000 followed by China's 175,000, a study said on Monday. More here

100th post

Linked up my blog to Google Analytics in mid-August.

700 visits in 70 odd days is prolly the kind of number A-list bloggers would scoff at. But hey, I'm pretty proud of it! :D

Thanks to all those of you who've taken time out to drop by and spend time on my blog. Appreciate if you can leave suggestions on how I can improve. Cheers! :)

How 'bout a race, mate?

A novel solution indeed to keep the kids engaged while the mothers are busy shopping. Would love to see these shopping carts in India...

The Shopping Bag Lady

I'm no movie buff but I'm always game for a meaningful short film. And this Bert Salzman film really is a heart-rending one. Made in the 1970s yet so relevant today!

Advertising for the greater good

Click on the images to find out more about the ads.

Commendable efforts indeed from both the agencies!

There's nothing more powerful than a compelling piece of communication in today's cluttered environment. Ad Agencies realise this and initiatives like Planning for Good are a welcome sign!

Are you giving the finger too?