one last thing before I quit

There's an indie band from Brooklyn called Grizzly Bear. I've listened to some of their songs here and there, and they aren't too shabby. They've opened for both TV on the Radio and Feist, just to give you an idea of their genre. But that's not my point.

Growing up I never had MTV, Much Music or anything that showed music videos. With the emergence of YouTube over the years, I have certainly caught up on many of my favorite bands' videos. Something that I'm sure we've all found while looking for videos are fan videos. They tend to look like one of two ways: a photo montage of the band or a photo montage of the fan's friends with horrible typography tacked on everywhere.

But here's a rare gem. Gabe Askew put together a video for Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks song. Phenomenal. But compare for yourself.

It's not too often that we see something new on a Jumbotron at a sporting event. I still remember the dancing hot dog at Winnipeg Jets games. It was a pixelated animation that didn't quite loop properly, and it was shown up through their last game in the 90's.

I came across this new technology called CrowdWave. It's an entertainment platform that's controlled by the fans, live! A bunch of cameras and software determine the movement of the crowd and translates it on screen. There seems to be a Guitar Hero example where you have to move your arms left, right or up at the right time to score points. There's also a hockey game where you have to move your arms in a direction to make a save. Super cool.

I don't agree with their statement that it'll bring more people to the games and generate more revenue, but I do think that it's a great way for the crowd to actually feel like a part of something. It could lead to less cameras panning around and looking for someone to dance silly, and actually help kids who struggle to sit through a full game move around.

I was unable to find any examples on YouTube, so I recommend that you go to their site and check it out there.

I came across a cool initiative the other day. It's a project called CitID and it's these guys who are trying to get a different design/identity for every single city in the world. They're hoping to 'harness creatives' loves for their cities and create a global visual anthology of city identities'. Ambitious, much?

LONDON, EnglandBORDEAUX, France

With over 150 cities already done up, there certainly are some unique ones. There's also many places that you may have never heard of. Anyway, I think it's a very creative idea that designers around the world can take part in, be it from the big city, or a basement of a cabin in the woods.

The most surprising thing thus far? There are no entries for ANY Canadian city. There's not one for Toronto, Vancouver or even Montreal. Here's a few more examples:PORTLAND, United States of America

BERLIN, Germany

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands

I encourage you to check out more. Maybe even spend a lazy day drawing up one yourself.

In 2008, I was blessed to see a god on stage. I am fortunate enough to get the chance to see him once again. Neil Young is coming home in July to play back-to-back gigs at the wonderfully fitting Centennial Concert Hall.



I am unbelievably stoked for this show. After seeing him in '08, I never again imagined that he'd make it back to Winnipeg. There's too many words that can be used to describe Young and his imprint in music and politics. He's fought through polio, diabetes, epilepsy and divorce. He's compiled 46 studio albums, 6 live albums, 43 singles and has even directed 5 movies. I'm forever grateful that I've been able to share in part of his 5 decade shining career.

These couple of videos are from his Heart of Gold DVD. Without a doubt, this is the best concert DVD that I have ever seen. It's truly a showcase into his heart. I could no recommend enough for everyone to watch the whole concert.

I have to say that I had mixed feelings over the NHL's series of 'History' playoff commercials. I loved the first batch that features some of the most iconic plays, may them be saves, hits, goals, in hockey history and simply asks 'What if so-and-so didn't do this?'





Now I lost interest when they started taking relevant plays in this year's playoffs and put them in the mix. We'll have to wait many years to actually know if these plays were actually memorable, which I can't imagine the case being. Especially since I don't remember any of these plays, and it's only been a few weeks.



But, I do believe that they have redeem themselves with a new ad. I feel like it truly showcases the emotional and physical toll that it takes on a person. Having been fortunate enough to win a few small things in my lifetime, although the scale is clearly not as large, I can relate to this.



Congratulations Blackhawks! Nice to see the Cup come back to Winnipeg for a bit.

Thanks to Alan Cross for sharing this with us today...

This band is called Rudely Interrupted. They're a six piece from Australia. Their singer, Rory Burnside, lives with Asperger's and was born without eyes. And it gets better. four of the other five members have a kind of disability, including blindness, deafness and Down syndrome. CRAZY!

There's a documentary being made about them. This is the teaser for it. I'm not too sure how much of a release the movie will get.



Then there's a couple live videos. This band is for real folks!

Close My Eyes - Rudely Interrupted from Scope Victoria on Vimeo.

Just saw this the other day. It's a public bathroom in China. It looks fairly nice, and is apparently really busy every day.


Now, I'm very open to new ideas and directions in advertising and awareness. Taking chances are how some of today's best works have been made. But the signage that they use in this bathroom just throws me right off.