A bit of neighborhood buzz around our New Urbanism enclave (other Belmar posts here) about Eddie Murphy's new movie filming scenes at Belmar's ice rink. According to IMDB, the movie stars Murphy and Vanessa Williams and the plot is summarized here:
A financial executive (Murphy) who can't stop his career downspiral is invited into his daughter's imaginary world, where solutions to his problems await.
It's scheduled to be released in late 2008.
The folks at Cool Hunting put together a nice digest of art and culture from around the world. Each week or so they post a snappy video, usually after attending an art show or design expo or the like. It's a great source of inspiration and creative perspective, and subscribing to the podcast puts it all in one place.
You have to go see this moviefilm. Otherwise Borat will be execute.
It's got a little for everyone. The Jesus haters, the southern separtists, the regular ol' middle American xenophobes, and the Jews. Yes, the Jews. Borat hates them. Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) is Jewish himself. And he pulls off a beautiful move by protraying himself as a loving antisemetic imbicile. Every scene in the movie was like watching a train wreck. You knew the gag was coming. You knew it would be bad - so bad it was hilarious - but you never knew exactly when it would strike.
I saw some of his equally memorable promo interviews with Regis, Conan and Jay. I'd say the best moment was when he tried to 'harvest' some of Conan's 'red pubis' in order to sell it to feed a Kazhak village for two months. Conan wasn't interested but it led to a fight where Azamat the producer got in on the action.
I believe in planners as catalysts for creative innovation; in drawing insight from unusual sources; in never being cynical; and above all, I believe that simple is smart.
The opinions, observations and nonsense published here are purely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
Margaret Mark: The Hero and the Outlaw
The leading book on using archetypes in brand strategy, this blends motivational theory into the mix in a very readable way. It also segues nicely into storytelling.
Phil Dusenberry: One Great Insight Is Worth a Thousand Good Ideas
Daniel Pink: A Whole New Mind
I saw Daniel Pink speak at Future Trends a year ago. Compelling speaker and a reluctant creative; a left-brain telling a right-brain story.
Cheri Huber: How You Do Anything is How You Do Everything
This handwritten self-help workbook asks the simplest of questions, meant to reveal your inner priorities and motivations. Excellent as a spark for creating consumer workbooks.
Adam Morgan: The Pirate Inside
As a follow-up to Eating the Big Fish this is a solid handbook for anyone advocating a challenger position in their organization.
Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics
This is a comic book about comic books, but it completely goes to school on visual communications. A good aid for demistifying layouts and visual ideas.
Wendy Gordon: Good Thinking
This well known British researcher gives a grounding for planners on how to think about qualitative research.
