Politics + Design & Branding = Very Interesting Stuff
I'm still out in Australia at the moment (sorry to everyone who have called me and have not gotten a response as yet). But while I had a bit of downtime, I wanted to post these videos I came across. In the following videos, the design mavens of the Obama campaign talk through the origin of the Obama "O" logo...
"There is no stigma now because so many people have lost jobs," she said. "The joke is that the new status symbol, instead of a Porsche or Ferrari, is having health insurance and a desk."
There were a lot of inspiring scenes televised across the nation and the world last night.
But there was one that I'm afraid many of you missed... One that will be forever engraved in my memory:
Hipsters, in the middle of DC's 14th and U-Street neighborhood, in the middle of the night, singing the Star Spangled Banner while waving American flags and pictures of our new President.
Say what you will about the politics involved. But the patriotism is undeniable.
John McCain's ad men are taking this to a new level
I love negative campaign ads. I love them, even if they are against someone I support. For example, take the ad below. This is, by far, one of the best negative ads I've seen this election cycle.
My god, they are really laying the smack-down on Obama these days.
Now, for the background: The "sex ed" Obama wants to teach to kindergartners was age-appropriate education to protect them from pedophiles.
Obama Spokesperson: "Barack Obama supports sensible, community-driven education for children because, among other things, he believes it could help protect them from pedophiles. A child's knowledge of the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching is crucial to keeping them safe from predators."
If I were working for the Obama people, I would cut an ad right now that pushes the point: "McCain supports Pedophiles". At this point, fuck it... Who cares what's true anymore.
"I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America."
"Eight years ago, such a scenario would have been laughable. Obama was broke and without political friends of any consequence. He had to gatecrash the 2000 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles after arriving on a cheap flight at the last minute. A rental car company rejected his maxed-out American Express card and he watched Al Gore accept the party's nomination on television screens at the perimeter of the convention centre."
Damn... if that doesn't sound like a "Regular Joe", I don't know what does.
I saw this live yesterday... and my jaw nearly hit the floor. Talk about Hardball? Chris Mathews handed this kid an intellectual ass-whooping. (Be sure to watch the entire thing)
What's especially fun about this video is that the point Mathews made is exactly the point Obama and company should use throughout the election. In many ways, Mr. Kevin James just handed the Democrats a nice little gift this election season.
Yeah, yeah. I know... I skipped a week. Boo hoo. Besides, with the reaction I got from last week's pick, I'm sure very few of you were waiting anxiously for my next selection out of the funk bag.
But anyways, this week I want to highlight my second favorite band from the short-lived Acid Jazz phase: The Brand New Heavies. Their stuff was always great, but they never had that spark that I felt with Jamiroquai. In fact, the legend has it that Jamiroquai's lead singer, Jason Kay, only formed his band after an unsuccessful audition for the Brand New Heavies vacant lead singer spot. I guess that's why I always viewed the BNH as the "Poor Man's Jamiroquai."
But enough of the back story. This week, I couldn't select just one BNH song, so here's two of my favorites: Their take on "Midnight at the Oasis" and one of their more popular tracks "Sometimes" (check out the shout-out to Playboy in the video).
Midnight at the Oasis:
Sometimes:
Update: Alright, I have to include the video to the "Sometimes" remix which includes a few bars of Q-tip's nasally rhymes:
So yes, I'm a couple days late here with the Funky Monday post. Got caught up with work over the last days and I'm prepping for a long weekend trip to Orlando.
With that said, this week I want to highlight one of the "guilty pleasure" bands I have on my iPod: Pizzicato Five. Yes, I'm not afraid to admit it... I enjoy a fair-share of J-Pop. And P5 was one of the funkiest J-Pop outfits out there. Here's one of my favorites: "It's a Beautiful Day"
