[Source: A Mark Gonzales piece called 'Untitled Poem', photographed from the pages of a culture and design book at the eclectic uber-kitschy store called 'The Asylum' located on Singapore's Ann Siang Road]
Archive for March, 2006
Quote of the Day
March 31, 2006Quote of the Day
March 25, 2006
[Source: Seen on this classic Chinese communist propaganda poster on sale on the streetside in Chinatown, Singapore]
Quote of the Day
March 21, 2006
“Punk rock is freedom: punk rock is speaking your mind.”
- Israeli punk rock group Useless ID’s Yotam in the documentary movie ‘Jericho’s Echo’
[Source: YRB Magazine, Issue #61]
Quote of the Day
March 16, 2006“The possession of anything begins in the mind.”
- Bruce Lee (Kung-Fu superstar)
Quote of the Day
March 15, 2006
[Source: Photographed on the closed shutters of a store on 116th Street in Harlem section of New York City]
Quote of the Day
March 13, 2006“Simplicity equals equality” – An Amish saying
[Source: From our horse-drawn carriage driver and guide to the Amish country tours in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania]
Quote of the Day
March 11, 2006“You dive at your own risk.”
- A doctor’s advice to the diving-obsessed Italian character Enzo Molinari (played by Jean Reno) in Luc Besson’s cult-classic diving movie “The Big Blue”.
Graphic Book Travalogues
March 10, 2006Was browsing through a National Geographic Traveller magazine issue and chanced upon a small writeup about couple of travalogues that has been publiched in a sort of graphic-novel/comic book/journal format. I think it’s a wonderful idea to capture interesting travel stories with pictures, cartoons and other interesting tit-bits like tickets, souveniers, postcards etc thrown in. Still have to get my hands on these recommended titles, but looking forward to pick one up for my upcoming Singapore trip.
Matryoshka Revival
March 10, 2006The Matryoshka doll is a cultural Russian export to the world. I saw a whole shelf of various Matryoshka’s for sale at the Princeton University Art Center Store. Kind of made me rewind to other instances when I had come across the Matryoshka theme lately. The Matryoshka seems to pop in different settings. Here are three instances of them from mainstream culture that I’ve seen.
The Matryoshka doll concept was the main theme in the brilliantly concepted Smirnoff vodka ads done by JWT London. The whole campaign based on the Smirnoff Triple Distill theme is one of the most exciting and brilliantly executed TV ad campiagns I can recall from the last two years.
Secondly, and more surprising bit was how the Matryoshka popped up on skateboards from the British skateboard company Blueprint Skateboards. It’s a splendid collection of boards as you can see below.
Here’s my Princeton University Matryoshka sighting.
Quote of the Day
March 10, 2006“Advertising is the lie that tells the truth.”
– Peter Coughter’s (Ex-East Coast Ad guy and consultant and my teacher at VCU Adcenter) interpretation of Plato’s famous musing which goes like this: “Art is the lie that tells the truth.”
[Source: My old journals from my Adcenter days]
