It's Friday, Have Some Fun

Enjoy this video from Circo Ripopolo, a comic duo from Belgium (I think!) playing with balloons AND your browser.

(just click on the image to launch
and do not resize your browser!)

Enjoy!

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TBWP - An Interview

Just yesterday, after finding out about it through a friend, I blogged about why I liked the idea behind "The Big Word Project".

Finding myself having some troubles with a word I wanted to buy, I contacted them and I got a pretty quick response.
We started exchanging emails back and forward and as I am always interested in how ideas are born, I ended up asking the guys (Lee and Paddy, the ones in the picture) if they would agree to an interview via email.
They agreed to answer my questions... and (insert here music of Law and Order) this is their story:

Was this born out of boredom, the need to make some bucks or....?
- Lee: Paddy and I both studied the same under grad course and we've been thinking of different projects for years but we never got round to implementing them. We incorporated TBWP into our course so that we would have the time. I guess you could say it partly down to University research and partly high student debts :-)

How you came up with the idea? Was it deliberately (where you searching for something like this) or just appeared brainstorming about something else?
- Paddy: We always knew that we needed a mass collaboration project where thousands of people contribute a small amount of money/effort to make it work. One day we just thought, why not sell the words of the dictionary?!

Is it in any way connected to your Master?
- Lee: Yeah, we thought of the idea and then thought we could incorporate it as part of our Masters as a mini-project (that grew into a big-project). I was researching web applications and Paddy viral marketing so it fitted in nicely.
- Paddy: We have been able to gain so much knowledge from this project and also obtain a whole wealth of contacts to avail of in future projects. Our project management skills have been vastly improved which has really helped us to structure and carry out other Masters projects.

I noticed that some words are going to sites that are under construction or parked. You are not filtering at all the content or do you have some type of filter (i.e. porno) but you still allow parked sites just because they pay?
- Paddy: We go through all the websites submitted to The Big Word Project and flag any ones that contain obscene/ offensive/ adult content. We offer them the chance to change their link or a full refund. So far the website hasn't seen that many pornographic sites submitted. Yeah, we allow parked sites, a lot of people see a word that would be perfect for their site but their site is still in production so parked site's are fine.

Are the words pre-approved (you have a list and what is not there can't be use) and therefore finite? Or ANYTHING that is in a dictionary can go there?

- Lee: Not at all, anything that's a real word can be used. We're using the Oxford English Dictionary as reference. We have about 180,000 words on the site but we're missing loads so feel free to suggest more. We're not including places or names (unless the name is in the dictionary).

Have you been surprised for the response so far? Have you ever make any assumptions at the beginning of how large could be the demand for words and therefore how much money can be made?
- Paddy: We have been amazed at the response so far! The site really took off after 3 days when John Gruber mentioned us and has grown since then. We've been blogged about more than 250 times (that we know about) and we're continuing to sell words everyday. We just passed the 4,000 mark so we're really pleased! If we sell all the words that are currently in our list we could potentially make around $1.5Million. Who knows, we may get there yet!
- Lee: That would be nice :-)

I guess that if you are approving the sites, you have seen so far around 4000 sites. Anyone that caught your eye?
- Lee: Oh yeah, there's loads of interesting sites out there that we've come across. Visit our blog to see what interesting sites we come across. Everything from racoons to foot fetish sites are among the words. Some words that link to 'big' sites include 'skins', 'treacle', 'movie' and 'brick'.

---

So this is the idea in their own words. If you still haven't visit The Big Word Project, check it out... and let me know if you can avoid the temptation of clicking on every word, just to see what website is behind it!

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Ex Boyfriend's Jewelry

"You don't want it.
He can't have it back."

That's the slogan for ExBoyfriend.com, a relatively new site where girls (and I guess boys too, why not?) can sell those mementos that they really don't want anymore around them.

OF COURSE, the more appealing part of the site comes with the description of the jewelty: things like "Got rid of the guy, now the ring's gotta go!" or "Never take back a cheater.. even if he's willing to bribe yo with jewelry" takes the whole experience of looking at rings and necklaces to the next level!

The site looks a bit amateur, but I guess you have to start somewhere. The idea behind it is a very original one and they even have a category -that made me smile- called "Gifts That Should Have Been Jewelry"... Plus, the fact that most of the jewelry is being sold at a fixed price but including a "or best offer" option, doesn't hurt at all!

Check them out! -Exboyfriendjewelry-

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The Art of Being Patient

You may recall the classic Honda ad made with parts that took more than 600 hundrend takes to get done. For me, that amount of patience is something I can't even start to comprehend.

Today I got this video via email with another awesome "domino" effect this time mixing pool and dominoes. I have no clue how much time that setup may have taken, nor how many times you have to try and failed until getting it right, but it just amazing that someone would take so much time and energies to get this right, specially considering that the whole thing is gone in less than 2 minutes. Another example of extreme patience, that at least for me, is almost painful to consider.

Take a look:

Now, this "domino effect" remind me instantly about the relatively new Guinness ad, that was filmed in my country, Argentina, more specifically in the north, in the little town of Iruya, Salta.

Some sources said that 10 million dollars was the final toll for this ad, some others put it at 15 million euros. One or the other, they all agree that it is so far the most expensive commercial ever done.



The cast is made up of locals from the village and surrounding area (the population of the town has to be around 1000 people, top) none of whom had ever appeared in front of a camera before. 24 hours of footage was captured. And the car toppling sequence was successfully shot in just one take. Some other numbers related to this commercial are...

6,000 dominoes; 10,000 books; 400 tires; 75 mirrors; 50 fridges; 45 wardrobes and 6 cars among many, many other things.

I must confess, personally, that I don't really like that they used BOOKS to build the pint of beer, but I guess that is because I love books way more than I love beer...

According to witness that happened to be there, the most spectacular part of it was the party that the whole town had after the commercial was done!

Talking about patience, if you can go through 9 minutes of a 'making of', this one is worth the time...



Just for a laugh, two small details: first, the fact that Guinness is not so popular in Argentina, specially outside Buenos Aires and last but not least the fact that when the director was giving orders you can see a small poster for Schneider behind him... that is another brand of beer!

Thanks to Rob's mom for the domino & pool video!

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Beautiful, Useful, Skillful

Some days ago I came across some of the most beautiful and ingenious speakers I have ever seen (the ones that you can see flanking this words).

I am not sure I would have them in my house -for space reasons-, but if I were a musician or a big time music aficionado, I would want to have them SO badly!

They can certainly add a special touch to any room or studio.

I don't really remember how I came across Philippe Guillerm's website but I simple fall in love with his sculptures, most of them portraying violins in different "attitudes" like the "Siesta" one that you can see below....

"SIESTA"

But not only from sculptures lives the artist, so he does furniture on demand plus this line of "functional art" that transforms speakers into beautiful guitars, cellos or mandolins.

Originally from France but living in Maine, USA, Philippe's work has been exhibited in galleries in Europe, South America, the Pacific Islands, Canada and the USA.

His site is not as beautiful as his art (you almost want to contact him and tell him to please please please improve his site look and feel for the sake of his art, but it is still worth a look, just to see the speakers and the inspired violins.

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The Big Word Project

Very interesting (marketing) idea from two techies from Northern Ireland.

Well, let me re-phrase that, they are in fact two students that graduated with 1st Class Honours in Interactive Multimedia Design in 2007 and have decided to continue studying.

So they are now pursuing their Masters in Multi-Disciplinary Design in the University of Belfast and I guess because they were bored and needed money or just for one of those reasons, they came up with The Big Word Project.

The idea is that you can "redefine" words using your site to do so, and at a very small cost.

How? You just go to their site, you search for a word that "represents" your site and if it is not taken you can buy it at 1$ per letter and from then on, that word will take people to your site.

For example when I found out about this site "creativity" and "innovation" were taken, so now "doggy" has been redefined and is not about dogs but about creativity because it points to my site.

Some may find this project similar to the "One million pixel project" -where another student was selling logo space in a home page at one dollar each pixel- but from a creative and business point of view, The Big Word Project is a much, much, MUCH better idea.

Why?

To start with there are more than 1 million letters when you add up all the words that can be taken. Second, is not a static page, each time you enter you can see different words and therefore be guided to different sites. Last but not least as the words are also available alphabetically is almost impossible to avoid browsing the list to see where this or that word points to. Is like a funny, addictive game, that lets you found new sites with a mix of logic and randomness.

Just so you know, I got Ugly AND Doggy and some words for some friends. If you want to get yours, visit their site right now, before is too late!

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Flag Association

Another very well known creative mechanism is what in Spanish we call "free association". I understand that in English it's called "word association" and it is also used in psychology.

It consists in a ping-pong game between two people -could be therapist and pacient or just two creative minds trying to come up with an ad or improvements to a product, for example- where one shoots words or concepts and the other one should shoot back with the first word of idea that comes to his/her mind without really thinking.

This "game" can also be useful in focus groups , to understand how a brand is positioned in the consumer's mind. Basically you are trying to get to the surface the more "raw" thoughts, without the normal censorship that good manners, proper behavior and/or politically correctness imposes to our brains, or better said, to that small gap between brain and mouth. Is all about your unconscious and your own experiences surfacing.

At the same time, it can also get you in trouble. Like I may be in trouble after making public my own association when -spending the weekend in Islamorada- I saw this car/boat at the dock of a restaurant.

Check it out:


Baptized "Nautilimo" and with some not so comfortable seats (at least in appearance, I didn't try them, but you can see them below) it was a really odd thing to see at the dock....


What was my very first thought that could get me in trouble? That the flag on it was the wrong one...

Remember, I live in South Florida.... and as I said before this "free association" is based on your own experiences. So my very first thought was that something like that should have the Cuban flag instead of the American one. Or at least both of them. I know..., it may not be a politically correct thought. But believe me, it was the very first thing that crossed my mind and when you see in the news more or less often the improvised boats trying to cross from oppressed Cuba to free Cuba (a.k.a Miami) the connection has a logic.

My apologies in advance if someone takes offense, but as a very well known song from Spain states: "Nunca es triste la verdad, lo que no tiene es remedio" ("truth is never a sad thing but there is no cure for it").

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In Pixieland: Tools for Creativity

This is not my spoiled UglyDoggy, but a friend's dog. The main reason she is the star of this story today is because she was caught at the scene crime and even when her face looks innocent, she is not.

See all those papers around her? Well, those were nice, neat piles product of some "let's get organized" work on my friend's side. Of course, it took Pixie (the dog) one minute to make a mess out of them!



But the story goes beyond this. When chatting with my friend about the fact that Soy (my dog) tends to do exact the same thing -to my utter frustration)- we started "talking dog" what means exchanging what we believe is their point of view on the matter. For example, when I ask if I can include this picture in my blog, the answer was:

"Sure, you can put her on UD -- but she wants it noted that the cats started it!"

That is Pixie's side of the story. Because she lives in Pixieland, her world, a parallel world to ours, a world we inhabit but we rarely think about...

An animal, a baby or even an object point of view is an excellent way to exercise creative thinking. Consider this for a minute: Does my dog think that I am an excellent hunter each time I come back from the supermarket with food? Does your cat thinks you are crazy because you are knitting instead of playing with the balls of yarn? How they look at us? Is it like the old saying, we are gods for our dogs and servants for our cats? How they perceive OUR world considering their world?

Trying to "get in their heads" and to see the world through their eyes, is a useful tool for anyone that wants to improve their creative skills, and it is a proven technique for creative writing either for advertising or for writing a novel.

In fact, two very good different campaigns right now (one in the radio and the other one on TV) play on the same resource. One is the campaign for Avis, where you can hear the thinking of the "jealous" household car. Here is one of their spots:



Try it out. And if you can find out what my dog thinks about me, your cat about you and/or what Pixie thinks about those piles she messed with, share that knowledge with us!

(Thanks Pixie for your permission to publish the picture and your argument about the cats was duly noted!)

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Thonet - The Musical

One group I have always enjoyed while living in Buenos Aires is "Les Luthiers". You can call them a "musical group" but their art is a mix of parody, comedy and good music with clever lyrics plus -as the name implies- their own homemade musical instruments, that are normally made with very unusual things, like toilet parts, typewriters or cans.

Of course I am not the only one that likes what they do, they are pretty well known, not just in Argentina but in many, many, other countries. Last year the group celebrated 40 years on stage.

For such occassion there was an exhibit of their own instruments (like the one above) but also some other artists contributed for the show with their own creations as a tribute to Les Luthiers. That is how I came across the work of Pablo Reinoso -also Argentinian-, sculptor and designer.

A huge part of his work is around the Thonet chairs: he has made Thonets "to wear", sculptures deconstructing them and now he has also transform some of those chairs into musical instruments.

Check out some of his work:

"The Melting Thonet"

Thoneteando
(that could be translated as "Thoneting")

And last but not least, one of the "musical instruments" he made as a tribute for the Les Luthiers' show... An object with a creepy name, but a great design: ladies and gentleman, with you, "The Electric Chair"!



I have some Thonet chairs in my house in Buenos Aires that I inherited from my grandma's house. I wonder if I could get them to become something like this. So far, we have been restoring them, and restoring them and restoring them, and they are not so comfortable to sit in to start with...(sigh) I rather have this electric chair!

If you want to see more of his work, visit Pablo's site.

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To Be or Not To Be (Subtle) - Part I

I am one for subtlety when possible. Let me re-phrase this, I am one of the most direct persons in the world but still I am a believer in the power of subtlety -again, if possible- when it comes to creativity.

But as with almost anything, there are occasions when you want your message to be as direct as possible, sometimes for its shocking value, sometimes to get to a wider audience.

When it comes to art, advertising or design, that is normally the case: the less subtle the more shocking and more "easy to understand" but, at the same time, because subtlety is lost something else is lost. Sometimes is the desirable "wink" from the issuer to the receptor, sometimes is its usability.

Let's see an example, in this case using some "geek jewelry"; to be more specific, "geeky wedding bands". Let's see first one with some subtlety:

This is a geeky wedding band, no doubt. It obviously says "we are geeks" (and proud of that, as they should be) ;) but also is subtle and therefore very usable. What it says? It has the initials of the bride in binary code, there is a wink to the alike.


Now, lets see an interest "object" conceived also as a geeky wedding ring, but that has no subtlety at all...

Here it is:




It gets your attention, no doubt. From a jeweler point of view is well done and a "good idea" in the sense that the artist shows her ability to mix materials. But is not subtle -not at all-, and my guess is that while it may be a great way for the author to show her skills, there will be less people brave enough to actually use these as their wedding bands. In fact, I personally would call the first set "geeky" but if in use, I would call these second set "nerdy".

Basically, the lack of subtlety give them more shocking value -you will remember these more- but makes them less usable. It doesn't make one "better" than the other, don't get me wrong. It just make one more "designed" (and easier to use) and the other one more "art" but less "practical".

Subtle ring as seen in Jakob Homan.com , not so subtle as seen in Oddee.com, more from the same artist in Flickr

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