Thursday September 27, 2007

‘Life’ Boy

In the current issue of Creativity, I talk to Chris Wilcha, the director of the television version of the popular NPR staple This American Life. Although the piece was assigned, it just so happens that I met Chris—who began his career with the Gen-X documentary The Target Shoots First—a few years ago at this party, where the then-homeless pilot for This American Life was screened. His career has really taken off since then. The show was picked up by Showtime, nominated for three Emmys (Chris lost out to Spike Lee for outstanding non-fiction direction), and will begin production on a second season shortly. Meanwhile, Chris just finished shooting a major ad campaign for Microsoft. The full Creativity article will be available without a subscription for a week or so.

Posted by jim at 04:07 PM ||

Saturday September 15, 2007

Balls

Friend and frequent commenter Pat M. found this golf ball in the rough at a golf course near my hometown. As you can see—two different sides are shown here—it was created as a promotion for a golf outing/fundraiser for the Creation Museum called the Missing Links Golf Classic. Missing links? Get it? It’s like what those evolutionists believe in! Too funny.

Posted by jim at 10:03 PM ||

The Profiler, Profiled

Back in April, I took the train up to Boston to write a profile of the ad agency Modernista! for Communication Arts. They handle advertising for Cadillac and Hummer, among other clients, and they also did the last good ads for MTV and The Gap. Lance Jensen, one of the shop’s co-founders, is also as responsible as anyone for making advertising music cool. He used Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” and Trio’s “Da Da Da” in VW spots years ago, and the rest is history. Since then, ads have replaced radio as the place for breaking new bands. Meanwhile, his partner, Gary Koepke, worked at Colors with Tibor Kalman and later became the creative director at Vibe. You can read the whole profile in the September/October issue of CA.

While I was there, web designer Geoff Lillemon dashed off the grotesque sketch of me pictured above. Although I admit that it displays some fidelity to my actual face, I comfort myself with the fact that Lillemon specializes in phantasmagoric imagery, as you can see from the agency’s homepage (which he designed) and his personal website.

Posted by jim at 03:29 PM ||

Friday September 14, 2007

Signs of Intelligent Life

I like these fake historical markers, which Norm Magnusson created as part of his “On This Site Stood” series. While they are currently on display at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Magnusson imagines dotting the length of I-75 with such signs. As he notes, “Interstate-75 beings in Sault St. Marie, Michigan, on the Canadian border. After leaving Michigan, it doesn’t touch another blue state.” It does, however, pass through my hometown, coming tantalizingly close to the Creation Museum.

Posted by jim at 11:47 AM ||