Rant and Roll page 1

We have a theory

Life as we know it, is about cosmic balance

for every possible action

there is an equally possible reaction

and that is the reason why monks don't act on much

because they ain't about to rack up any more reaction bonuslink points on our cosmic credit card (no credit limit)

Last week was a great week with the clients

I had a 'this is why i'm in advertising' kinda week

great campaigns

fantastic creatives that got sold (that's real work, earned through blood, sweat and tears - my eczema soaked blood, our air-conditioning-unsoaked sweat, and of course the account managers' tears physical or otherwise)

Now this is the kind of week that got me laughing

and got me a little worried

Because this week came along

and it's one of those weeks when i say the say thing, but with a question mark,

THIS IS WHY I'M IN ADVERTISING?

Client after client

meeting after meeting

we were the dildos to the client's egos

we were the virginal a-hole of a very straight but very desperate junkie willing to do anything so to give birth to his precious conceptual babies

we were prince-fuckin-charmin-gint

The only respite is the fact that cosmic karmic credit card rewards the resilient, dedicated and true

and i don't wish proverbial cancer upon anyone

but i do smile because i'm a half-full glass kinda guy

so here's why the week so far is half-full

1. i'm proud that my creative teams got a chip off the ol' block and sold their souls and respective campaigns on their own. One art director even pulled off a jedi-like mind trick, to calm a nervous new Associate Account Director and briefed her on the preso deck. My creative team scares me. Good.

2. We got put through the meat grinder. But we sorta got to know the clients a lil better as well. And we got a pretty decent brief and direction at the end of the day. Sure it took 10 TV concepts to get them to agree on the direction, but hey, them conceptual babies are as cheap as a tissue paper filled with mastubatory sperm. Time to hit the drawing block again boys.

3. I saw a pretty awesome Barca team school them Manchester pansies in the art of football. Class.

4. I've declared a long weekend ahead. So it's time to die and get reborn. 

Mister clients, I ain't givin up just cause you're a bit of a shite. In fact, i'm gonna try and find a silver lining, so that i can see you in un-shite-like light. I've put in too much to see your brands get destroyed by inflation (economically and egonomically). 

Cool Use of COMMON SENSE CREATIVITY FROM UNCOMMON SOURCES by Channel 4 for Honda UK

(Image from Guardian.co.uk)

Nope.

Channel 4 isn't a cool new advertising agency

Cannel 4 is... Channel 4! On BBC

So web advocates beware

TV is very much alive

and there are some very smart, savvy and obviously super well-coordinated super-humans in there

How else can they pull off a super ballsy effort such as this.

Imagine that we were in a brainstorm, and we work in a TV channel instead of an ad agency

You draw questions, based on the experiences from work.

You would ask, 'When was the last time we showed something really cool on the news?'

And if you take away the floods, F1 crashes, fires, rioting and homeless people from the largest consumerist country, probably nothing.

Now that's a great place to start a brainstorm.

Next question... 'We've seen live news updates from around the world... why is it that we haven't seen any live advertising, besides the stereotypical hollywood scene of a douchebag with a home-made banner with 'HI MOM WE'RE ON TV' on it?'

Sometimes, you just gotta ask the right questions.

Something i'll try and employ at work.

So there. The low-down. 'Difficult is worth doing'

It's a message that's better off for Bugatti, Lambo or if you stretch it... a Lexus.

Lo and behold, of course Honda UK, who's been kicking ass as far as advertising campaigns are concerned, continues to be the coolest cat of all.

There was Honda Cog. Grrr. And now, Difficult is worth doing. An ad campaign strategy that reflects its brand persona, without ever showing the product - in the most conventional sense. (Honda Cog literally  showed every part of the car, and Grrr met every automobile manufacturer's mandatory of 'showing my product in every frame of the commercial)

So here it is. The world's first commercial, filmed and aired LIVE during an ad break.

The feat itself was phenomenal. 

The fact that they pulled it off, of course generated news throughout the UK and indeed spread worldwide via the web. (okay web fans, wipe that smirk off your faces... the bottom line is, you and TV gotta be friends now right? no elitist bigotry goin around)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F--WmVtfhYY

day 16 & 17 SAMBAdy bring out the drums! + the lou hungs get some restekpa

Day 16 - 

Samba was good 

I think it was the green surroundings that put us at ease

Wished there was some time to squeeze in a mortal

But if there's one thing i learnt from capoeira + advertising,

Is that it's that there's no better place to be 

than in the moment you're in right now

So we played

and we played 

and we played

till my pansy hands blistered 

and we played

and we enjoyed every moment of it

here's to more great sessions with the band.

Day 17

Started out another lazy sunday warming up with some futsal with the same juvies from coupla weeks back

Quek looked at me in disdain

'Wanna join?'

Quek, 'NO!' and proceeded with workman-like efficiency to warmup

Fine... don't want no nothing to happen to me fresh layer of foot skin anyway

A little clueless as to where/what to do

so proceeded to practice coupla au semaos

did ten reps

felt pretty good, variations of compasso and armada into it

Tried a few from martelo crusado

Getting good air on that kick

Trying to focus and control the movement so i can go into compasso and semao clean

getting there

Coupla kids also dropped by to tell us 'we were very good'

i told them they were the first people to compliment my martelo crusado. 

Must be doing something right.

Tried a flippety flop into qaeda de rins

I seem to have lost it

quek said i'm getting considerably more height

rotation almost at shoulder length

and that could be why i couldn't plant my weight better

time to research on that.

Meialua into little handspin thingy is not bad

just a slight revision

think i'll just focus on these three floreios and its variations for the next few park sessions

Twas a short one

but a valuable respite from work

Quek's on parole so we cut it short

and i did 3 x 3 assisted chin ups to cap the day off

lookin forward to the next outing.

(maybe throw in a mortal as well)

day 15: the crucifixion of coelho

Coelho no go for tranao for 2 weeks
Coelho miss aula
Coelho come late, good, don't like stretches
Coelho ginga and teach perereca new tricks (but scared perereka teach me back one day)
Coelho ginga with cueca
Coelho happy.

Coelho practice the Crucifix
Coelho like crucifix
Coelho don't like people martello beautiful face
Coelho crucifix perereka
Coelho crucifix cueca
Coelho get crucifix too
Coelho happy.

Coelho do simple au, into role, switch to es dobrado
Coelho do all that, and then into qaeda de rins, ponche and walkover
Coelho no do
Coelho try
Coelho still no do
Coelho not happy
Coelho want to experiment and do his own version in park with cueca

Coelho do new pushup
Coelho look like dog pissing
Coelho do situps
Coelho look like he need more situps
Coelho do ponche
Coelho can stretch more now...
Coelho feel happy again.

Cool Use of HORROR by Crispin, Porter + Bogusky for Doritos

Hotel626.com

Most Junk Food commercials range from the stupid to the stupidly funny
that's because it's junk food
and since you can't sell trans-fatty acid as a proposition
you sell the so-called fun you get when you ingest this apparently hallucinogenic manna from heaven
Every brand's guilty of this angle - drink/eat my beverage/snack, and you/your friends/your surrounding/your life/your waistline and cholesterol level will transform.

That's why from the outset,
The idea that CP+B (that's the cool way to name drop Crispin, Porter and Bogusky) came up with from the start - Bringing 2 long-dead flavours back from the dead
was already so refreshing

My web-savvy copywriter Rudy (follow him at rudylafaber @ twitter) is a huge fan of CP+B
We all are
and after visiting the website so will you
we did
at 3am in the morning at Pixelpost
numb from 12 hours of post work
we checked-in to Hotel626.

God damn.
This is by far one of the best effort in the horror genre gaming by far
not even full-length games can come close
the gameplay's pretty straightforward
but what's fantastic is the level of detail being layered unto your gambit through the hallway
every room is a puzzle to solve, to escape and to throw yourself into another agonisingly creepy room/puzzle.

What's amazing as well is the amount of effort they make you put into the game
here're a few that just blew my mind
1. You can only log on between 6pm to 6am (hotel626 ma...) - this immediately limits the engagement to hardcore late-night gamers/youth. Freeing up significant amount of server space for the highly detailed environment.

2. when you log in, the system takes a photo of you. Halfway into the game, your photo is hung out to dry in a creepy darkroom/stairwell. Making you wonder WHAT THE FUCK WHEN DID THEY SNAP MY PIC!

3. the game uses every arsenal in your laptop. You have to 'sing' the baby to sleep, and you do so by using the built-in mic on your laptop (if you don't, shame on you. get a macbook)

4. It's terribly hard to finish. Specifically one stage when you have 2 or 3 tries to decipher what the madman is saying, and make sense of it through his manic sketches on the hotel room wall. Failure to do so results in him devouring you (it's up to your imagination... personally i think i could've taken Skinny in real life) - This provides participants a reason to blog/discuss and talk about hotel626. Trust me, google it, there are pages upon pages of discussions.

The user experience in Malaysia's horrid unless you've got a 4MBPS line. But try it in the office. If it's before 6pm, just adjust your computer's internal clock.

While Malaysia's winning gold for web banners (But it's a gold because of the idea!), Hotel626 is picking up awards from judges, gamers, bloggers, web designers, brothers, sisters... basically you end it with an 'er'... chances are, they'll love hotel626. It's definitely way ahead of its time in terms of redefining the web experience (microsites specifically).

And that is why, Hotel626.com is totally godlike. A great idea. Fantastic attention to details. Immersive storyline. Easy to learn hard to complete gameplay. May I apply for an internship CP+B?

check it. Hotel626.com
(can't tell enough people about this website!)

day 13 & 14: Roda Rust

Saturday

very happy to have made it for the show to help Malcolm out

lots of young blood

could this be the next generation?

core group of LinguaDeBoi, Perereka, Cabecao, Lynn, Malcolm, Jeanette 

managed to play a game or two

semaos are a bit rusty

but at least pulling them off in the roda

only managed a few short games

definitely still itching for more

personal roda rating - 5/10

Roda Axe rating - 6.5/10

Sunday

was a sleepy lacklustre and lazily hot day

arrived at 7pm to only 2 people

twas a small group

i guess i'm just adjusting from the anniversary roda in the academy

energia was definitely something we needed work on

so was the singing

there was some faux pas in the swapping of instruments

need to be mindful of that

my personal roda radar - the awareness of where and who and what, was a bit off today

had a few decent games clocked in

need to learn to play better with the juniors

meaning - play WITH them

ah, but so many moves with no chances to pull off

definitely was a little too aggressive on some of them

they need some hard lovin'

flippety flop was a total flop, couldn't get enough snap to rotate myself into a decent qaeda de rin

need to clock in more park sessions to perfect the floreies

timed a perfect rasteida de frente

which was good for practice

my jogo ground movements are still intact

mixing a lil' more kicks into the game

but need to move around the person more

also need to work on my conditioning

i blame the weather, sleep deprivation, work and flu

but above all

roda rust is definitely showing

time to clock in the hours

personal roda rating - 5/10

roda axe rating - 4.5/10

Cool Use of RANDOM PEOPLE by Saatchi & Saatchi London for T-Mobile

Photo courtesy of vook.wordpress.com.

Campaign courtesy of Saatchi & Saatchi London

Brave, ballsy, adventurous marketing manager courtesy of T-Mobile

We all awe at how 'I Will Follow You' by DiGi was one of the best ad to never win an award in Malaysia. It's got a whacky Yellow Man prancing around online, onground and on TV (The agency, Naga DDB has an abbreviation for him, TYM i think, i could be wrong).

Let's take a look at how DiGi and the good people at Naga DDB can take a page out of a very generic, corporate, mobile brand tagline 'Life's For Sharing'... not so different from Digi's 'I will follow you'... and take the brand/idea to the next level.

Telcos bombard conventional advertising media with gusto. In fact, you could say they're keeping half the advertising industry in malaysia alive. I'm sure it's the same, or even more competitive in the UK. What better way to break the clutter than to apply a good ol' BBH wisdom - when the world zigs, zag.

And Zag they did. A truly viral experience. It brings out the emotional moment and very essence of 'life's for sharing'. 

People ask me what the hell was the big deal with Cadbury Gorilla. I think the tagline says it was trying to capture the essence of 'a glass and a half full of joy'. I say that's very subjective because firstly, i don't think gorillas are very sad creatures to start with (angry certainly, but not sad), so the juxtaposition is lost on me. Secondly, i hate phil collins. Which scarily enough, brings me to the theory that award judges firstly, don't watch discovery channel. Secondly, love phil collins.

Back to DANCE by Saatchi London. I love it. You can see the effort put into the viral on the main website 

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/dance/

my favourite clip is 'The Making Of...' 

as a creative person

i feel the tension and suspense of preparing and creating something that has never been done before

that sadistically sweet cocktail of fear and expectation

kinda like unhooking a bra for the first time

so if online porn's getting a bit of a chore

maybe it's time to get voyeuristic with a little randomness...

flash mob guerilla

definitely something i wanna pull off before i die a creative death.

So here it is again just in case you've missed it...

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/dance/

and just when you thought to yourself...

'nah it's from saatchis, it's gotta be a scam! they didn't have that many people dancing.. it might as well been every staff in the office + their friends and family'

feast your eyes on this link... oh jaded one -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orukqxeWmM0

i almost shed a tear from the sheer emotion of it all. 

something a phil collins-loving gorilla can only dream of doing.

And that is why Saatchi London gets my vote for Cool Use of RANDOM PEOPLE.

The formula for creativity

equation courtesy of BBH @ bbh-labs.com

Day 12: Another Lou-hung day at the park

twas a bright and sunny sunday evenin

lookin forward to some nice sunshine

don't get that much at work

it's gonna be a glorious flippety-flot day indeed

decided to warm-up with a buncha kids ranging from a quarter of my age, to the oldest being a third.

yes. i'm that old/they're that young depending on the half-empty/half-full point-of-view

was a good runabout

quek decide to join me

ouch

i feel a tear and searing heat/pain

looked at my foot, and the sole ripped open a fresh blister

hmmm

my feet used to be much tougher

must be the lack of capoeira conditioning

and the fact that we did lotsa high impact gingas in the previous training

whatever the reason

it is the cause of the demise of my flippety-flop afternoon

quek did a coupla elegant mortals

nice height and very clean tuck

jealous

well it's off to the training area for some upper body resistance training

Push ups - 2, assisted. second attempt - 3, assisted

I. Am. A. Weakling.

situp bench, incline - 30 curlups. 30 reverse curlups. not too bad thanks to benguela/30-year-old trunk

pushups - 30, okler, standard

horizontal bar chest pullups - 2x10. 

dips - 2x5

hanging leg swivel - 10, half height

discovered a nice simple shoulder stretch though

shall do it more often

hmm after blogging it down

the above doesn't look like i did much

must work on my strength.

maybe waiting on my pansy fairy feet to heel up (yes! my first blog pun!) i shall do so

Your online footprint

okay

i know i'm supposed to name-drop the source of where i get things from

i know

but i forgot

but i felt it necessary for whoever who's viewing (probably the entire nation of Me) 

to get a low-down on how web-savvy exactly are we

the chart above works as sort of a new media/advertising/pr/marketing blueprint of how extensive is your client's brand's web presence

and if you're still proposing microsites and flash banners only

well that isn't a footprint

just the big toe

Day 11: Twist and Shout (ouch)

My first tranao as a married man

well technically not

but i've proposed

so that means i'm owned

and have to get used to calling uncle, dad and auntie, mom

and my girlfriend, my fiancee. I don't even know how to put that wiggle above the 'e' 

which 'e' should i wiggle?!

bah

back to training

started with cardio warmups

it's actually better than doing normal stretches

gets the blood pumping and the sweat oozing

then it was back to good ol stretches

hamstrings feel good

and they stretch more on their own now

which gives me hope for my shoulder flexibility and ponche

KILLER STRETCH 

legs apart, hands to the floor shoulder width apart

stretch one leg across and over like an au

push your head through your shoulders

stretch the leg some more

repeat 29 more times

when my fellow-non-flexible-capoeira-partner-in-crime Durim tells me it's killer

i trust him

and it's true... it's killer. but i think it's a good stretch for me. as usual, the more flexible ones get by much easier. Bastards.

GINGA DRILLS WITH GROUND MOVEMENTS

paired up with fellow-low-hung-in-crime Cueca

we read each other's game much better these days

the difference from coupla years back

we're not capo-blocking each other because of that

rather therapeutic 

Opponent Qaeshada, you RASTEIDA FRENTE

I find it hard to execute this move when opponent is doing a qaeshada, but maybe cause i'm short, i dunno

the trick's to fake a negativa... maintining eye contact is ideal

of course, i wasn't wearing glasses since my new training regime is to 'train blind'

i always find it easier to execute RASTEIDA FRENTE from compasso, armada or meia luas

Opponent Meia-Lua, you RASTEIDA FRENTE

ah... this is more like it

either Rafa realises this as well

or we collectively suck in the previous drill and he wants us to start with an easier kick

could be both

this is more like a refresher course for quek and me

of course in drills our heads are 'lazier' and more exposed when going in for the rasteida

must take note and not take it for granted

Opponent Meia-Lua, you RASTEIDA FRENTE, Opponent Paralela, you switch to a TEISOURA FRENTE

Rasteidas and the frente variants always send opponents into a reflex-induced panic

or they're confident/quick/slick enough to know they can shift their weight quickly from their kick into a paralella or back into ginga position

don't force this move if you see that his leg is too far back (ginga position)

the trick's to look first

and personally, the RASTEIDA FRENTE works better as a fake, for this move

the trick's to STAY LOW when you turn and move into the TEISOURA FRENTE

quick, low and fast

reaching your arms quickly to the ground helps keep you grounded, and homed-in on your opponent

Quek and I are still struggling with this one

but agree that it's a kickass move to pull off in a benguela game

godly if executed in regional.

MEIA LUA, oppenent rasteida frente, you CONTRA RASTEIDA with a PARALLELA

Do not attempt this on bigger/stronger and more experienced capoeristas if they are doing a normal rasteida, wrong timing means they'll literally sweep you off your feet

a rasteida frente's more technical and  a finesse move, so it is possible to block him off with this

just make sure that you mark the ankle joint which is his weakest link

make contact with lower leg, because if it's too high, it's his shin VS your calf muscle

you know who wins on that one.

Executed well, this can put you in a very advantageous position of having his back facing you

and ripe for a...

TESOURA FRENTE TEMPO

i don't quite know how else to explain this move

except that once you get the hang of it, it's super fun and actually quite game-finishing.

Lots of people tend to do role, and do tempos with their backs to you

this too can be applied to them.

Back to the move

his back's facing you

and you've rastaida's his rasteida frente leg, meaning his weight is on the other leg

do a quick hop/shuffle with your meialua/parallela-rasteida leg in between his, step in with the other - now you both are facing one direction

all that awaits is for you to pop your hips and twist

reach your hands outwards into a role move for added torque

this is a nice move and practice worthy.

FLOREIO of the DAY - COMPASSO TEMPO, SWING LEG and JUMP TWIST, Land and continue move with HELICOPTERO PARA TRAZ

Once again

i epic fail this due to inflexibility

Once again

i shall try and improvise this into my own devious version of it

the fundamentals are there -

i need to get accustomed and train myself to do my flippety-flop move from just one leg instead of two

getting the hang of the AU leg swing entrada for that

i shall start practicing that first before coming back to the above

Also, the KILLER STRETCH OF THE DAY could help improve this move too.

ok time for some sleep and healing.

Cool Use of JAPANESE CHICKS by BBH Asia Pac for Japan Axe

http://202.218.121.130/2008/axewakeupservice/en/

My copywriter/homeboy Alexis always likes to use the phrase 'blurring the lines between realities'
And the above is a pretty darn good example of how

Axe = Sex
The web's full of sex anyway
how else can you utilise digital in a way that stands out in the land of JAV Queens

The solution?
Get them to give you a wake up call

watch the video
get amazed as BBH 'blurs the lines between realities' when the a virtual video call happens while you're gawking at them jap chicks.

as far as submission websites go
the link is also a pretty good example of how you can keep it clean, concise and still retain the essence of your idea
so check it out peeps

http://202.218.121.130/2008/axewakeupservice/en/

Flashback to DAY 9: photoblog that says it all

Thanks Alia for capturing the story of my life with rafa
Alia's good at capturing life's stories
the above picture says a thousand words
i felt no pride in picture A
i felt no humiliation in picture B

such is capoeira
and such is capoeira with the person who taught you capoeira

If you guys wanna see more of Alia's photos check out her blog at
spectrumscraps.blogspot.com

Day 10. The 45 minute run

Okay
I come from a very cardio-strong DNA lineage
my dad at 55 is still doing full marathons
and this year he's doing Mt. Everest

I don't usually jog
But it's been so long since 'Day 9' that i've decided to sweat it out by hook or by crook
quek's schedule has been a bit unaligned with mine
so i decided to do a solo jog

i've forgotten how liberating it is to run alone under the moonlit sky
those metaphor commercials of you leaving everything behind when you go for a run
all very true

the first 20 mins was pretty bad
had a muscle pull at the abdomen
must be the love handles fighting against the formation of muscles
didn't feel out of breath though which is a good thing
also forgot that i'm 30+ so didn't warmup which could've contributed to the strain
ALSO
dinner an hour before
not a good idea

The blood rushes to your gut to digest
which means less blood and oxygen gets transmitted to your muscles
mean acid lactic buildup
means cramps and muscle pulls

capoeristas who have ill munchies before class take note
simple carbos and in low amounts before training is best
like a bun or something

the next 25 mins was pretty good
warmed up
and i think i did about 7km within 45 mins which is on par
considering the fact that i had a cramp before... not too shabby

in singapore on a biz trip now
which means being holed up in a decent hotel with a gym
will try and do some weights tomorrow morn at 7am!

goodnight world.

Cool Use of IT'S A BLOODY LAMP POST WHAT CAN WE DO WITH IT by Big Ant International USA for the Global Coalition of Peace (Yeah right)

The last posting was totally alien-like mind boggling
It was design as a communication language
sorta like watching aliens trying to talk to us
So i thought i'd balance the cerebral with the simple

a true measure of a great idea is simplicity
And a true measure of a great ambient idea is well, the use of ambients around it!
No wonder this simple wraparound's an in-book nomination in the D&AD
a simple idea - What Goes Around Comes Around
a guerilla medium - Lampost
and a dubious client - Global Coalition for Peace

Nevermind the fact that the average pedestrian in the United States isn't a gun-toting, Al-qaeda hunting Navy SEAL member
I think they should've put these posters up in Iraq
hmmm
maybe i'll do that for one of my own ambients... now that's a simple idea. Suicidal, but simple nonetheless.