From Love to Bingo
A great use of stock photography to tell a story.
Authenticity. Experiences.
Culture. Trends. Design.
The world’s first concert at 50m height - or so claim Coca-Cola. It’s an interesting idea, but as a well-seasoned gig woman who’s attended thousands of shows, I’ve gotta give this one a wag of the finger as it’s not very audience-friendly. It’s hard enough getting a decent view of the band, let alone straining your neck (whilst giving yourself RSI downloading tracks), so somewhere in here, I think the thinking about audience experience got lost……
James Bond Production Design - In Reality
No, it’s not a set design sketch for the new James Bond movie. But yes, it does look like the sort of lair that Blofeld (or Dr.Evil) would inhabit. This is the architectural design for a new luxury experience in Dubai - The Water Discus Hotel - currently in the planning stages. As a lifelong fan of the Bond movie production designer, Ken Adam, whose work led to the construction of the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios, I’m blown away to see something like this even being conceived, let alone planned. Adam had an extraordinary eye for detail, and is probably THE designer to study if you’re into the representation of mid-century design in film. Anyhoo, back to this incredible project. Click the first two images to load some video tours.
The superb production design at Prince’s “Welcome to Australia Tour”. Sadly, I think the phenomenal craftsmanship of the show was too sophisticated for the local crew who struggled with the sound and living up to Prince’s rigorous demands with his instruments, but the lighting and stage multmedia was fantastic.
Superlative Transmedia Storytelling: Alien vs. TED
Talking about exploiting the zeitgeist. In a brilliant combination of performance, direction, promotion, mythology and presentation, here’s a clip created by Lost’s Damon Lindelof and Ridley Scott featuring the “founder” of Weyland-Yutani (that’s the evil corporation behind the Alien series, folks) presenting at a TED Talk in 2023. Click the image to load.
Morgan Spurlock Takes on Geek Culture
Interested to see that the man behind the brilliant documentaries “Super Size Me” and “The Greatest Picture Ever Sold” is tackling the fascinating world of Cons. Having attended New York Comic-Con in 2011 as part of The Experience Safari, as well as a few other fanfests, I’m really interested to see what Spurlock makes of San Diego Comic-Con, which is The Mothership (pun intended) of all Cons.
Philosophy Visualised
This is a great little design challenge from Genis Carreras: Illustrate complex philosophical ideas using simple forms and colour. 
THE VERDICT ON MADONNA’S SUPERBOWL HALFTIME EXPERIENCE
THE GOOD:
1. Projection Mapping - Superb (especially the magazine covers during “Vogue”).
2. Choreography - Excellent (very Busby-Berkeley).
3. Staging - Fantastic (echoes of Liz Taylor’s entrance in “Cleopatra” and a live re-imagining of Oliver Stone’s gladiator metaphor in “Any Given Sunday”).
4. Ceee-Lo Green. Actually SINGING! Smart to use him in “Like a Prayer” when you need a biiig gospel voice.
THE BAD
1. Involvement of LMFAO, MIA and Nicky Minaj: Yet another use of trendy popsters in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.
2. Costume design: Cheesy. No, even worse. VEGAS FLASH.
3. Madonna’s new song. Of course it’s going to become a gay anthem, but when the main thrust of your song is “L..U..V…Madonna!!”, it hardly stacks up alongside “Vogue”, “LIke a Prayer” and “Music”.
THE UGLY
1. Miming. Madonna has always asserted that she’s not the best singer in the world, and she definitely puts on a show, but this was just not on.
2. The reaction to M.I.A’s “accidental” flipping of the bird. OH GROW UP, AMERICA!!!
And there you jolly well go.
PS. Is it me, or is Madonna looking more and more like Cher?
