Awesome District 9 Trailer

'Uninvited' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

Michael Jackson: King of Commercials?

Like everyone this morning I am saddened by the news of Michael Jackson's death yesterday at the age of 50 and only a few weeks prior to his latest "comeback" attempt. Whatever your feelings about the life and music of Michael, and the strange road his life took over the last few decades, his place in the history of music is assured. As is his impact on all of us to one degree or another. Michael even had an impact on the world of advertising, anyone remember his hair catching on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial? I do.

Here is one from 1984.



Ok, here is an even older one from Japan of all places.



And speaking of hair being on fire, here is the commercial that it happened during. Of course they edited it out of the final. This was a pretty big event commercial at the time, if I remember correctly.



Here's one for LA Gear that I hadn't seen before.



There are others that you can find easily enough. Next is the Man in the Mirror clip from Moonwalker. I picked this for two reasons. First I believe that more than any other of his songs, this one comes the closest to opening a window into the real Michael Jackson. A man torn between many worlds and conflicted by what he saw, not only in the world around him but in himself as well. Again, armchair analysis, but its my opinion. Secondly, in case you forget, this shows the incredible impact that the man had once upon a time.



And finally my own personal favorite Michael Jackson video, with his sister Janet, "SCREAM". When this video came out I remember watching it over and over again, very innovative at the time. Plus the attitude from Michael and Janet is just hardcore and strangely funny all at the same time. Yet another cry for help? Maybe.



Rest in Peace Michael.

The New Giant Website!

Today we have launched the New and Improved Giant Ideas main website!! Lots of work remains to be done, but we felt it was far enough along to launch. The new website is built upon a completely new foundation that allows us to update it more easily and more often, as well as offering expanded content and services - which we will be adding in the weeks and months to come. There are many exciting projects in various stages waiting to be added, including a Giant Store which will feature our own line of Giant T-Shirts and other items. It is very exciting and we look forward to your feedback about the new site.

So take a moment to go check it out and let us know what you think.

The Beatles: Rockband Cinematic

Wow. This is the opening cinematic for the upcoming Beatles Rockband video game and it is... well, perfect leaps to mind. I don't even know what else to say, except follow the link and watch it for yourself. Go on. Yes, now.

The Great Penguin Migration

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy the Penguins won the Stanley Cup and all, but seriously... 200+ thousand people lining the streets downtown on a Monday? When I hear someone say that sports and entertainment is nothing more than an opiate for the masses, I usually scoff. But to be honest I'm beginning to wonder. Yes, it is exciting. Yes, they overcame great odds to win. And yes, it is good for the city that both the Steelers and the Penguins won Championships this year. Although exactly how it is good for the City is open for debate. Mostly I think it is good for those rich people who have suddenly gotten even richer. It hasn't benefitted me or my business in any way, other than negatively. And t-shirt sales. I saw a lot of people buying $25-30 t-shirts this morning. Good PR I suppose. Although it has been proven time and time again that cities with sports teams don't do as well economically as those without.

The point being that I know several people that could not get into work this morning. If I know several that means there are hundreds that stayed home, turned around and went home or joined the throng along the parade route. Hundreds of thousands that are not at work today. Several of our employees.

I don't want to complain, but seriously, shouldn't we have these parades on a Saturday or Sunday? We should, but we won't. And you know why? Because of the players, most of whom will be on a plane as soon as they can to fly home. Just like the Steelers. Most of the players don't live here in Pittsburgh, they live in their million dollar homes somewhere else, probably somewhere that gets more sun.

I don't have a problem with that and neither do the thousands lining the streets, cheering on the millionaires that play a game for a living. All while they take a day off from making their own.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins for winning the Stanley Cup last night by crushing the hated Red Wings and exacting revenge for last year's loss. Many thought such an outcome was impossible, or at least highly improbable, but the guys showed everyone just how wrong they were in grand style. Game 7 in Detroit, mostly without the play of Sidney Crosby, everyone stepped up their game and proved they deserved to be called Champions. Wow, Well played.

Photo Associated Press

The Penguins

All of us here at Giant hope the Penguins can pull it out in Detroit and bring home Lord Stanley. Go Pens!! We'll be rooting and cheering and bitting our nails right along with everyone else.

We sure had some great ideas for this season and for the run-up to the new arena. Like so many great (or giant) ideas that never see the light of day... well, those would normally never see the light of day. Until the Internet, until heads of agencies have their own blogs that is. Like the gentleman I am however, I have waited until the season is officially over, but starting next week (win or lose) I thought I would share with you just some of the ideas and concepts that you missed out on this year. The image above being just a small taste of the attitude we brought to the project.

It's a shame when great work doesn't get used and one of the things this blog affords us is the chance to share some of that work with you. So Go Pens!

The Webby Awards

You can check out other Webby Awards videos by visiting their YouTube Channel.
Editors Note: He does say a bad word at the end of this video.

The Steamiest TV Commercials Ever

What a joke. Forbes of all magazines has found time to waste in yet another endless round of meaningless "best ever" stories, this one titled the same as this post. These types of stories are so inane and pointless as to defy logic, reason and simple ice cube level intelligence it isn't even funny. But, since they took the time to write and publish it, I can manage the time to rip it to shreds.

First of all, the judges "judged" 35 commercials... TOTAL! 35 commercials? 35!!? Are you kidding me? That doesn't even need to be addressed does it?

Watch the name dropping in the article, they even mention the research company that provided the meters for the judges to vote with. What, they found it tiring to write notes on 35 commercials? Even if they watched :60's, thats a half hour tops. Just on a normal day I probably watch that many commercials at work and I don't turn on the television. (Unlike so many in the industry, I actually watch commercials. A lot of commercials.) Poor judges. The name dropping continues, as does the total lack of historical perspective from the participants. I love this quote from Liz Vanzura who is an Emerson College professor and the former global marketing director at Cadillac! (Whoa, you'd think she'd know better. Know better than to participate in a stupid "best ever" article like this one that's based on 35 commercials!) When she remarked on the famous 1994 Diet Coke ad that depicted an office full of women ogling a buff construction worker pulling off his shirt and drinking a Diet Coke. Nothing wrong with the ad, it was great actually. But get this quote, "It was the first time that a marketer turned the table and showed women appreciating male bodies." Really? C'mon Liz you can't possibly mean that. Yes the ad was a breakthrough, in the way it showed things and the mainstream appeal that it generated... but the first time? I don't think so. Not even close.

They are right about some older ads never being able to run today. So they did manage to make a single worthwhile point in the article. Sadly, that point comes at the very end. Otherwise its a load of tripe. And I wrote this post because I read it and wasted five minutes of my life doing so. I'll never get those minutes back. Ever.

The Story of the Allegheny Observatory

I've always been a sucker for a good story. I've also notoriously always been a sucker for a good story that involves history, science, aviation, space travel and interesting people. Dr. Dan Handley came by awhile ago and told me such a story regarding the Allegheny Observatory and a film he was making that told its relatively unknown history. It is an amazing story, all the more amazing that it happened right here in Pittsburgh. I agreed that we would help him to market and promote the documentary, which is still under production.

The website we did just launched last week and I encourage you to visit and explore the site. A group of us from Giant will be going to the Observatory later today to do that in person. I'll post more about that later today or tomorrow.

In 1858, a group of wealthy Pittsburgh business people decided to purchase a large telescope after witnessing the passing of Donati's comet that winter. Their idea was simply to buy a hobby telescope with which their fellow citizens could marvel at the night sky. But as big-thinking industrialists, they decided to purchase one of the largest telescopes available. And that meant they needed to construct a building to house it. Thus, the first Allegheny Observatory was born in 1859.

The hobbyists didn't realize that an astronomical observatory needs a great deal of care and upkeep by dedicated experts. And so they decided to donate the observatory to the Western University of Pennsylvania (which would become the University of Pittsburgh). The University sought out a young astronomer by the name of Samuel Langley to become its first scientifiic director in 1867. Later, in 1900, telescope instrument maker John Brashear began making plans and collecting donations to build a newer, much larger observatory in Pittsburgh's Riverview Park.

Among its distinctions:

• The Allegheny Observatory has the 3rd largest refracting telescope in the United States.

• The Allegheny Observatory achieved world-wide fame among astronomers for star mapping of the highest precision. Until recent improvements in star mapping by satellites, the Allegheny Observatory was responsible for determining 40% of the known stellar distances.

• The Allegheny Observatory was the site of a famous lens-napping! The 13" objective lens of the Fitz telescope had been stolen, and a ransom note demanded money for the safe return of the lens. Professor Langley refused to pay the ransom, and negotiated its return. The lens was recovered, but it had large scratches on it. The lens was sent for re-grinding to remove the scratches and came back far better than the original lens had been.

• James Keeler pioneered precision spectroscopy at the Allegheny Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among his discoveries was proof of the particulate nature of Saturn’s rings, discovery of clouds on the planet Venus, and the earliest studies of interstellar nebulae.

• The Allegheny Observatory possesses over 110,000 photographic plate exposures of star positions dating back to 1914—one of the largest such collections in the world.

• The Allegheny Observatory was the site of Samuel Pierpont Langley’s major achievements in science and technology.

• The Allegheny Observatory was also the central site connected with John Brashear’s remarkable achievements.

Back in the saddle

To say that the last few weeks have been busy here at Giant would be a gross understatement. Between the final touches of the move (which are ongoing sadly) to new business pitches, things have been very busy. Which is good. Sadly my focus has not been on writing in the blog as much as I like. I hope that changes in the coming days.

In other good news, my son started his first Summer internship here today and will be hanging out with us all Summer. I'm not 100% sure what he'll be doing yet, but I think that is part of the fun. The great unknown. I do know that we will be touring the Allegheny Observatory this afternoon for a project we've been working on. And I will be posting more on that later today hopefully. Very exciting.

Actually, I'll post about that now. Why wait?

Let it shine

Cool Guys

This is the third time I've posted this, they keep taking down the video. When will they learn?

Mobile Coupons

Unilever is testing new technology that allows discount coupons to be applied at supermarket checkout by scanning your cell phone. It was only a matter of time. In fact, we will be seeing more and more of this as time goes on. Mobile phones, and the iPhone and Blackberry's of the world in particular, are making it easier and easier to combine technologies into one mobile device. It can be argued that the iPhone is some proto-computer type device of the future. That is an argument that I happen to agree with. I already use my iPhone for web, email, directions, address book, facebook, weather, gaming, photos... heck I can even draw on the darn thing.

Blog Pressure

It is all self-imposed, but the pressure I put on myself to write or post on the blog everyday is intense. Most of the time I don't even notice it, until I've gone a few days without posting or even one day. To be honest I am not being paid to write in this blog, that would be one thing and I feel for those bloggers out there who have to write something every day. Or many somethings, that must be tough. Cause, again being totally honest here, sometimes I just don't have anything to say. Like right now.

I have nothing to talk about at the moment, or at least anything that I feel is worthy of talking about or that has formed fully in my brain yet. Lots of thoughts in there, but not a single one has defeated the others to reign supreme. Oh but they are fighting. They always do. So I am writing a post about not being able to write a post and that is something. But is it worthy? Probably not.

Its June finally. The Pens are down 2-0 in the SCP and soon the Steeler's training camp will be starting up again. (Do we even have a Baseball team, I forget?) GM is bankrupt and no, I never thought I would live to see the day. The new administration keeps pumping money we don't have into the economy and I'm just waiting, like the rest of you, for the news about how they plan on paying that back. I fully expect lots of new and fun taxes in our futures. As well as double digit inflation and higher interest rates. Oh boy.

Not that we American's seem to care. A fact pointed out by none other than Pravda. And that's another thing I never thought I'd live to see, a Russian warning us abut the dangers of marxism here in the good 'ol U.S. Funny how the world works. Or not.

The Vendor Client Relationship

We've often joked that the things we take for granted in the ad business would never go over in the real world. And now someone has taken the time to show it in action. The acting is pretty bad in this, but sadly the points are all valid. I've personally heard each and every one of these time and time again. Even more sadly, I've probably used some of them myself. Hopefully with more sincerity and honesty than was given.



I got the link for this from 3 people this morning and I'm thinking more will send it to me as the day goes on. Thanks guys!