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The Stories Behind 10 Famous Product Placements

I saw Run, Fatboy, Run this weekend. Loved it. The movie centers around a marathon called the Nike River Run. This, of course, was accompanied by Nike River Run signs splattered all over London. At one point, the main character receives a brand-spanking-new pair of running shoes—Nike, of course—and is told that they are "the best money can buy." My first thought was, "I wonder how much Nike paid for that." I read that the filmmakers originally wanted the race to be the London... READ ON

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The Mike Wallace Interview

Most of us know Mike Wallace from his long career on 60 Minutes, the Sunday-night staple of American TV. But long before 60 Minutes, Wallace established himself on his eponymous The Mike Wallace Interview, a long-form interview show that started in 1957. Wallace donated recordings of some early Interview programs to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, and now the interviews and transcripts are available online. Watching the interviews, you're transported back forty years to a time when... READ ON

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Stefan Sagmeister on Design and Happiness

Amidst today's rash of April Fool's pranks, here's an alternative: a 2004 TED talk that's both sober and entertaining. In this talk, designer Stefan Sagmeister discusses the things in life that have made him the happiest. He goes further, trying to understand why these things made him happy, and how design relates to happiness. I really appreciate his story of the combination of a Walkman, motorcycle, and the album Synchronicity combining to form one of his happiest moments. Viewers of the... READ ON

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Apostrophe Atrophy

I'm a sucker for any hyper-specific blog about typography, grammar, even handwriting. Anything to do with words or word-nerd stuff, really. Witness: my recent post on The Lowercase L, my longtime devotion to "misused" quotation marks, and some awesomely smart signs. Today allow me expand your nerdy typographic horizons with Apostrophe Atrophy, a blog about the misuse of "dumb apostrophes" and "dumb quotes." What's dumb about an apostrophe or a quote? Well, Apostrophe Atrophy is referring to those... READ ON

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One Year Ago Today: Advertising, Remixed

I started blogging for the _floss one year ago today, so I thought I'd share my first blog post ever: Advertising,... READ ON

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The Great Celebrity Endorsement Quiz

Each of these high-profile celebs has signed multiple contracts with companies. But here's the real question: can you pick out the product the celebrity hasn't shilled for? Get ten out of ten, and maybe we'll consider putting you in our next... READ ON

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Monday Fun - Wii Fit Parody

So I saw a video a few weeks ago that got me excited about the Nintendo Wii. It was a Wii Fit video advertising this little white add-on pad and a set of "fitness games" that involve stepping on the pad and doing stuff. I figured: finally, a way to exercise while playing video games! Tragically, the Wii Fit add-on (the white thing you step on) isn't shipping yet, so I may have to wait until next year to get my step on. Then I saw a parody video that made me think twice about whether I needed to buy a... READ ON

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A little Monday press release fun

You know when you want to back up that urban legend with something official like a press release? Well, after spending all weekend listening to Outkast covers, I remembered how Polaroid issued a press release admonishing all those who were suddenly quick to shake their Polaroid pictures, as "Hey Ya!" urges. Well I couldn't find that press release, but that doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't exist (I'd just have to leave my Philip Marlowe hat on a little longer); however, I did cruise through the Polaroid... READ ON

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Brand Affinity

I don't tend to think of myself as being particularly tied to brands, but after reading my friend Lyza's Brand Affinity post, it occurred to me that I might have a few brand affinities. I define brand affinity as any special connection to a line of products, and they tend to fall into two categories: first, there are brands that I seek out when buying a new widget (as in, "Need a new mouse, and my old Microsoft mouse was great..."); second, there are brands that I actively follow to see what new widgets... READ ON

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Spam As Art

Every time I check my spam folder, I'm amused by the subject lines. They seem to fall into two categories: first, there are human-edited lines that try to trick me into clicking; second, there are crazy nonsense subjects, presumably assembled through some algorithm (most appear to use Markov Chains). I can usually distinguish the randomized stuff from subjects written by a human -- today I received the clearly human subjects: "Customer Notification," "CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!," "talk to me," and so on.... READ ON