I somewhat didn’t see that when it happenned but H&M bought a 60% stake in Cheap Monday jeans for $92 millions US.

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Philippe Starck tells magazine design is dead: “”I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact […] Everything I designed was unnecessary.”

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Imagine a 9-year-old heroin junkie. In Dallas, health officials are seeing children that young being brought to hospitals with signs of heroin withdrawal. The city is in its third year of what drug abuse experts call a “mini-epidemic” among young Hispanics snorting a mild but addictive heroin called “cheese.”

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Top 50 Shockvertisements - Controversial Ads

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Google offices in Zurich

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AgencySpy is live blogging the PSFK event (trendhunting, innovation and such…)

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Aston Martin MILF ad. “See what an Aston Martin does for you”. Errr… ok.
via adrants

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Photoshop Express VS Aviary: Online photo editing.

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“Every winter, people die on the streets.
The campaign aimed to make people aware of the life-threatening situation faced by people who live on the streets, especially in wintertime. In the winter, they dressed a mannequin as the Grim Reaper and placed it next to a road sign. The mannequin held onto the sign in such a way that the sign ended up looking like a scythe. “Death” wore a sign around his neck, saying: “Every winter, people die on the streets. Help us stop this from happening”. This radical idea really grabbed people’s attention and illustrated the shockingly simple correlation between the streets and death.” via ibelieveinadv

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Filmgoers get a taste of the good life: Luxury exhib chain plans $35 film tickets. Which I think is a good idea. Back when I was in Mumbai, there was some of those screens. Some would offer different prices depending on the seats offered while other would have a high-end offer with leather-vibrating-massaging-seats and a waiter bringing you your pop-corn (not kidding).
“…the circuit will especially push its culinary offerings — made-to-order meals like sushi and other theater-friendly foods from on-site chefs (a service button at each seat calls a waiter). […] Gold Class Cinemas won’t be the first luxury theater circuit in the U.S. Regal Entertainment, Cinemark, National Amusements and Sundance Cinemas offer similar services, including high-end food and concierges, at much cheaper prices of around $12-$18 per ticket. […] There are an estimated 300 high-end multiplexes operating in the U.S.”

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Advertising VS reality: a product comparaison

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The TATA Jaguar/Land Rover fetched $2.3bn US.

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“At TED2008 in Monterey, two sketch artists captured the Big Questions live as they happened — watching each speaker, sketching their impressions, and feeding everything into a groundbreaking new system for sharing and connecting ideas.” The PDF is available here.

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Today, Iceland imports essentially no coal or oil for heat and power: 70% of its energy is renewable. (Just for your info, it’s 96% in Quebec (hydroelectricity..)). Reykjavik is at the center of this energy vanguard, filling all of its needs from green sources, either geothermal or hydroelectric. […] The next step: Proving that cars can run on something other than gasoline. That they can run, in fact, on hydrogen.

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You can easily share/stream 12 songs with Muxtape.

Mixwit offers a similar service but you don’t have to upload any song..

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Starbucks want you to do their job: “You know better than anyone else what you want from Starbucks. So tell us. What’s your Starbucks Idea? Revolutionary or simple—we want to hear it. Share your ideas, tell us what you think of other people’s ideas and join the discussion. We’re here, and we’re ready to make ideas happen. Let’s get started.”

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Yesterday was the beginning of the Montreal Fashion Week.

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Erykah Badu released her fourth album 2 or 3 weeks back. Here’s an excellent piece on her in the New Yorker. ““New Amerykah” is a swirling, turbid thing, and while it represents a shift in stylistic emphasis […] For the moment—a deeply apolitical moment in R. & B.—we should simply be grateful that a verified pop star has quietly brought politics and noise back into black pop.

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The YouTube video awards. Not kidding. Featuring great spots like, the cat playing piano, the baby laughing and knocking his head and the Huck Chuck facts.

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a new type of librarian is emerging — […] who are notable not just for their pink-streaked hair but also for their passion for pop culture, activism and technology..”

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artist of the day: WHY?
“For their third LP, Alopecia, Why? asked fans to contribute photographs of their palms (hands) for the album’s artwork. The album was released March 11, 2008, to positive reviews. The first single was “The Hollows.” Two different European and US versions of the single were released, featuring remixes and covers by Boards of Canada, Xiu Xiu, Dntel, Half-Handed Cloud, Dump and Islands on their respective issues.”(via wikipedia)

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What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008? Everything there’s from computer-regulated circulation to temperature-controled cities under glass domes… (Nov, 1968)

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Flee the army, immigrate to Canada. “Next month, the Canadian House of Commons is slated to debate a resolution that would allow conscientious objectors “who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations” (i.e. militaries that deserted the U.S. army) to apply for residency in Canada.” (desertion carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment)
Let’s say you wanna get involve, you can find the contact info of your member of parliament here and the contact of Stephen Harper here.

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Eiffel Tower + Flying Saucer = The Eiffel Tower will have a relooking for its 120th anniversary next year. “Serero Architects of Paris has won the competition to redesign the structure’s public viewing platform and reception areas. The winning design (above), which will be 276 metres (905ft) above the ground, will not require any permanent modification of the existing structure. It will double the capacity of the public viewing area on the tower’s top floor.”

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Ford’s sale of Land Rover and Jaguar to Tata, the Indian conglomerate, could be finalised as soon as tomorrow and fetch upwards of $2 billion (£1 billion). […] Last year, Tata, whose interests run from tea plantations to IT outsourcing, confirmed its global status by buying the Anglo Dutch steelmaker Corus for £6.2 billion. Its international buying spree has also included Tetley, the tea maker, Daewoo’s commercial vehicle arm and the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Boston. […] Winning the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, however, would open a radical new chapter in the company’s history.

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A Guide to the French. Handle With Care. “In five and a half years living in Paris as an American correspondent, I have tried to make the country my own, knowing that I never will completely fit in, but always will be fascinated. ”

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The new Modernista! website is simply brilliant. It uses a left navigation bar to bring you on different sites that explains the company a bit more (wikipedia for the presentation, flickr for their work, …) while keeping the navigation on the top left corner. It kinda remind me of the hypertextual narrative I blog about earlier..

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“AudienceGames turns crowds into communities through “advergaming,” while creating innovative and memorable brand experiences.” From USA Today: “Movie goers at 12 UK cinemas became human joysticks… they were shown an ad for the Volvo XC70 and were asked to put their hands in the air and wave them left or right - as a group to steer a car. That participatory commercial represents a growing trend in movie theater advertising, with on- screen ads and lobby displays becoming more interactive, more entertainment-oriented and frequently offbeat.”"

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Luxury for sale…. or rent

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Here’s the future of presentation skills training, from a recent session at this year’s SXSW.

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Beds of people and people in their beds. Click on “au lit”.

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Students invent a vanishing nail varnish to beat their school ban on makeup.

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The New U.S. 5$ Bill

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The “peace” symbol turns 50: “It started life as the emblem of the British anti-nuclear movement but it has become an international sign for peace, and arguably the most widely used protest symbol in the world. It has also been adapted, attacked and commercialised.”

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Is Our Happiness Preordained? “Two new studies this month add to a growing body of evidence that factors like genes and age may impact our general well-being more than our best day-to-day attempts at joy.” […] Across the world, people in their 40s generally claim to be less happy than those who are younger or older, and the global happiness nadir appears to hit somewhere around 44. […]

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Taaz lets you upload a picture of yourself and change your appearance.

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Sequoia advices for presenting a bplan to a VC firm.

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The Face of La Defense in Paris is going to change a bit with those propositions for the Tour Signal.

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Yves Béhar won Design of the Year for the One laptop per child.

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Cancer-free cigarets: “Scientists have genetically modified tobacco plants to knock out a gene that helps turns nicotine into one of the carcinogens in cured tobacco.” I was really hoping that somebody would turn my 4 packs a day habit into somebody less harmful.

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Lawrence Lessig & Joe Trippi launched Change Congress

“The Change Congress project’s first mission is to diminish the influence of money in the legislative body by influencing the outcome of the 2008 election campaigns of 67 members of congress which are up for grabs. As the Change Congress project founder Larry Lessig noted in the project’s launch Thursday afternoon, there haven’t been so many seats open up for challenge in more than a decade.”
Wired article

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Artist of the day: Vampire Weekend, thanks to my collegue.

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*update* My favorite study just came out. Prices and Earnings by UBS 2008: you can check it here 

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We’re celebrating(??) today the 5th anniversary of Iraq invasion. hum. Happy anniversary…

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Strawberry Cocaine: Coming Soon To Nostrils Near You!
“The cops say the fruity stuff sold for $1,100–1,400 an ounce ($38–$49 a gram)– about twice as much as the “wholesale” price of ordinary coke. […] Back in 2006, the oh-so venerable news source TMZ said the “buzz in Hollywood” was all about “strawberry cocaine” that had “exploded in the club scene.” Nine months later, six people were arrested with “three pounds of strawberry- and coconut-flavored cocaine”
Def not a breaking news but still funny.

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Paris, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
“No one has more contempt for Paris or French people than French Parisians. On any topic that irks visitors: strikes, the lack of politeness on the Metro, the taxi shortage as caused by protectionist taxi unions. Then again, French Parisians don’t like much of anything. […] “See this is a thing I hate about the French,” he said. “They are too proud. They have a problem about being proud. They don’t say they like anything in public. Even when inside they love something, the most they will say is, ‘Enh, pas mal (not bad).’ And they don’t like to admit when they’re wrong.”
I love that girl.

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Rent Vs. Buy Myths That Ruined the Housing Market. I’ve been talking about that to all my friends so I’m always glad when there’s an article coming up about why you should not (necessarily) buy. Considering that a house is probably the biggest investment most ppl do in their life, I relaly like the fifth myth: Myth #5: Houses are a Good Investment. “Although home prices can go up (and down), the rate of appreciation on housing does not surpass inflation levels over the long-term. Between 1890 and 2004, the real return on housing was a pathetic 0.4 percent per year over the last 100 years, according to Robert Shiller, a housing expert and Yale economist.”

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Penguin started their “hypertextual narrative” that I talked about earlier. The Website, called We Tell Stories, will featured 6 authors - 6 stories in 6 weeks. This week is 21 steps. Enjoy!

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Arthur C. Clarke, a writer whose seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination helped usher in the space age, died early Wednesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90. [From 1948], he wrote a series of nonfiction bestsellers as well as his best-known novels, including “Childhood’s End” (1953) and “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968). […] His works have been translated into some 40 languages, and worldwide sales have been estimated at more than $25 million. […] His visions helped bring about the future he longed to see. His contributions to the space program were lauded by Charles Kohlhase, who planned NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn and who said of Mr. Clarke, “When you dream what is possible, and add a knowledge of physics, you make it happen.”
A Wired tribute

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Barack Obama’s Speech on Races: the transcript + the video. I remember the CNN version having quotes totally out of context saying stuff like ” I […] disown […] my […] white grandmother.” and “Your dreams will not […] comes at my dreams expense” Not kidding. Quotes taken out of context are such a joke….

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“The Dalai Lama is a wolf wrapped in a habit, a monster with human face and the hearf of an animal,” said the Chinese leader of Tibet.

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If think that’s a great idea: Modern hang-ups is an innovative new hanging solution that uses an adhesive-backed flexible steel grip and magnetic tacks to turn any wall into a discreet display surface.

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“Let’s peep at various desks of Brits and Japanese working in the creative industry.”

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“France is the world’s most sophisticated practitioner of counterterrorism. The U.S. can learn from her experience.” Well, you learn stuff everyday. In comparaison, for those of you who speak french, I highly recommand the hilarious sketch by french comedian Gad Elmaleh on french counter-terrorism mesure:” In France, we’re going to fight terrorism with scotchtape.”

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An American Apparel model’s defense of the controversial CEO. I’m still on the quote taking out of the context issue… That article could be quite funny. I mean, I could quote stuff like:
” I love Dov Charney […] Dov is just like any other dude who loves soda and hot girls, except he created the perfect T-shirt and he likes sex … a lot […] he’s the man they’ve always wanted in their lives, the one who shoves French takeout in front of them, tells them they’re beautiful in spandex, and gives them vibrators just because. “[…]”… I am a dumb ho who is too strung out on coke and low self-esteem to note the difference between a compliment and harassment”
More seriously, the article was a good read. Even if the girl is slightly deviant (aren’t we all?), you know there’s a part of truth in what she’s saying. I just hope the good part is the one…

And they have a gallery of the most famous and provocative (that’s like an overstatement, ads are not that famous nor provocative, but anyway…) AA ads.

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Virgin Mobile moved quickly this week to produce an Eliot Spitzer print ad as part of its “You call the shots” campaign.

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“You already knew about Danny DeVito making limoncello out of a PR lemon, and you heard The Donald and P Diddy were all over the vodka thing, but since then, others have gotten into the spirit of things. […] Little John. Dan Ayckroyd. Barry Manilow. Lorraine Bracco. Paul Newman. Paris Hilton. Martha Stewart. Wayne Gretzky. Mike Ditka. Greg Norman. John Daly. Arnold Palmer. Ernie Els.” They all now have their wine brand.

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“May God bless your brand. “Christvertising is a network of communication specialists and avertising professionals which helps you navigate through the maze that is the world of competitive brands. […] We focus on the ultimate end-user: God. […] a network of creative […] who will help you, through intensive prayer, improve your brand […] If God likes your brand, it will become stronger and more successful. Pray-Connect- Reach.”
Hilarious.

The last 3 entries were taken from Copyranter

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“China’s online population is now at 220 million, Beijing-based research firm BDA China said late last week, overtaking the United States as the world’s number one, highlighting the growth opportunities in the huge Asian market. Fifty-five million of China’s Internet users shopped online last year for a total turnover of 59.4 billion yuan (8.25 billion dollars), according to the China Internet Research Centre in Beijing.” According to the CIA World Factbook, there was 208 millions Internet users in the U.S. in 2006, and 162 millions in China in 2007. If BDA numbers are correct, that’s a whooping 36% increase…

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Can you predict happiness?
“When people try to estimate how much they will enjoy a future experience, they are dependably wrong, according to research by Harvard psychologists — and the reason is something they call “attentional collapse.” When we imagine future experiences, we tend to compare them with alternative experiences — experiences we’ve had in the past, or other experiences we might have before or after. But the fact is that none of those alternatives come into play once we’re actually in the moment.[…] Consider the choice to marry one sweetheart over another. If you pick the genial, down-to-earth banker, will you forever regret letting go of that free-spirited artist who loves traveling as much as you? Probably not. The very fact that you’ll be living with — and experiencing — one spouse and not the other means that the passed-over option will quickly fade in your mind. […] Envisioning what life would have been like with an alternate spouse becomes difficult and increasingly irrelevant as you settle into the life you’ve selected. “Once you make a choice in life, the unchosen alternatives evaporate.”

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“…a GBP 20m outdoor wave machine along the Thames set to open in 2011 could create an urban surfers’ paradise in East London. The attraction is part of a huge planned sports complex called Venture Xtreme.

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ButterflyBus is an overland adventure. The viable, low cost alternative to flying, it is the most environmentally efficient way from the UK to Asia overland. The ButterflyBus will take you from London to Xinjiang Province, China, a destination in itself and your gateway to India, Tibet, Japan and South East Asia.
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Artist of the day is: Jean Leloup 

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I hope you all had a great weekend! I had some free time on mine so there’s a bunch of links for today! Enjoy!
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A water purifier bike: “The Aquaduct is a pedal powered concept vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water for the developing world.” IDEO is one of my fav company.

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“The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has completed the Masterplan of Waterfront City, a city to be built from scratch by Nakheel in Dubai. Waterfront City will form a vibrant centre for the larger 140,000,000 m2 Waterfront development. Waterfront is Dubai’s largest development to date providing homes for a prospective 1.5 million new inhabitants, effectively doubling Dubai’s population and creating one million jobs.[…] OMA [was commissioned] in early 2007 to design a high density development that was free from dependency on the car. As a solution to this, Waterfront City is designed with the density of Manhattan in mind and offers a compact solution for a modern day metropolis.” I still have problems to comprehend how an architecture agency can make a proposal to build -a whole city-. It’s somehow beyond my imagination. But hey! It’s Dubai. Doubling the city’population ? Creating one million jobs? No problem! Geez…

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Porn vs. Prostitution. Why is it legal to pay someone for sex on camera?
“Porn stars are paid to act (really); prostitutes are paid for sex. Performers may engage in sex as part of their roles—they presumably follow a script—but that doesn’t count as sex for hire.”

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The NHS (UK National Health Services) has dished out advice for those struggling to squeeze a fitness regime into their busy lives (most of us then) and recommended a workout between the sheets is the ideal alternative.

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“The Anglican Church is publishing a course and a guide to marriage called “Growing Together” that encourages married couples to be open and frank with each other […] Some couples clearly need the information. The book includes one case study of a couple who were distressed at the woman’s failure to become pregnant. The guide explains why. […] “It turned out they had never had full intercourse,” it says.” They were waiting for a stork.

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Masdar announced today [feb 22nd] that it has chosen Chicago architecture firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) to design its headquarters in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste city fully powered by renewable energy. The headquarters will be the world’s first large-scale, mixed-use “positive energy” building, producing more energy than it consumes. […] The complex will utilize sustainable materials and feature integrated wind turbines, outdoor air quality monitors and one of the world’s largest building-integrated solar energy arrays. […] Masdar is Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted, multi-billion dollar investment in the development and commercialization of advanced and innovative technologies in renewable, alternative and sustainable energies as well as green design.

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Comme des Garçons (japanese clothing brand is opening guerrila shops in some locations around the world. Check it out. (More on Pop-up retail)

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Artist of the day is: Beat Assaillant

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