I’m not a big fan of adverts, but Nike ones are often worth watching. Sometimes it’s because of their artistic production, but often just because they can inspire you to work harder, if only for an hour. I think we can all use such a lift from time to time (what else would explain those posters with kittens hanging from clothes lines?) Even Nike’s corporate tag line – Just Do It – is capable of raising your spirits, if you can get past the cliche it has become (and forget about whatever harm you may feel the company itself does).
Perhaps my favourite is this Lance Armstrong response to the many accusations about drug abuse over his career:
“Everybody wants to know what I’m on. What am I on? I’m on my bike, busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?”
(Here’s an interesting New Yorker article that mentions the ad)
Wuzz
I saw a couple of kids playing on a Nintendo Wii at the weekend. It’s USP is a motion-sensing controller that, in the case of the demo I saw, lets you play tennis by swinging the controller around like the actual tennis racket. Very cool, and I have to say I’m more tempted by this than by any other console, even though it doesn’t play Gran Tourismo. What might tip the scales for me is if there was a Star Wars game that allowed you to press a button on the controller to extend your light-saber (ok, enough with the smutty innuendo thanks) and then wave the controller around with a satisfying ‘wuzz’. I have a suspicion that you just couldn’t get cooler than that.
Things you’ve probably never heard of, part 1
This consists of a bale of straw (ends uppermost), for men to urinate on. The liquid soaks in and composts the middle of the bale in a few months.
Dodgy Headlines
Who is this Minister, and how did he manage to set up a moonbase? Has this been going on long? Is he even human? And why is he holding talks with NASA?
Urban Cactus
No, not a t-shirt company, Urban Cactus is a (proposed?) apartment block in Amsterdam. I’m not much for hi-rise living, but I can see the attraction of something done differently, and this certainly counts.
(HT: BoingBoing)