Nike’s World Cup Curse and it’s Dutch “Write the Future”

Just looking at the current survivors of the World cup and after yesterday’s semifinal between Spain and Germany, you wouldnb’t be the first to notice just how funny Nike’s (most successful viral ever) “Write the Future” ad looks at the moment. It may even be prophetic,what with the vision of Wayne Rooney in some trailer park with a huge beard, but obviously he won’t be looking at Franck Ribery’s poster, but rather one of the never-seen-in-a-world-cup-final-before Dutch or Spanish players.

After yesterday’s final, Nike has come out with their new “All Dutch” Ad supporting the holland team in the final. Personally, I hope the Spanish win. Here’s Nike’s new ad… “Orange is the colour of Insanity”

There was a spoof of the ad which came out talking about how Nike’s ad’s are the curse of the World Cup where all the players it features seem to mess up/disappoint/fail… and here it is…

And here’s a japanese Spoof which was pretty funny. Reminded me of Kung Fu Hustle in a way :)

Google Earth’s 3D rendering of World Cup Stadia

Looks like Google Earth also has World Cup Fever. It’s integrated an awesome 3D look at every single World Cup Stadium in South Africa into its mapping system. Brilliant mix of Football Fanatic and Tech Junkie. I like it.

World Cup Thoughts

The World Cup Concert last night was disappointing to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my country but that Shakira’s Waka Waka song is absolutely KAK for a World Cup song held in South Africa.

Firstly, there’s not a single Zulu/Xhosa word in the song, which should definitely have been included… but they do use words from west africa. I can understand the whole “Africa” tie-in and everything… but not a single word? Come on. Besides it is a shit song, people only watch it for Shakira.

Reviving Dr.Alban’s “Hello Africa” would’ve been a much better song. And whose brilliant Idea was it to have Alicia Keys? “New York” is a nice city and the song is brilliant, but wrong bloody context don’t you think? and throwing in “Joburg” at the end of the song was just cheap.

Did anyone even notice Freshly Ground? showing up for three seconds at the end. Come on man…

But Enough of that… SA Drew against Mexico in the first match and their First goal was AWESOME! Bloody Hell. What a rush. The boys played well, they did not disappoint.

All the naysayers about SA hosting the World Cup can have a nice supper of their words right about now.

Go SA! ===<() *PAAARP!*

Digital Designers Face Off in Digital Drag Race Today

Intel’s Digital Drag Race launches today. It’s a competition in which professional digital designers go head-to-head at designing under pressure. The site also has a consumer-generated aspect for non-professional designers.

The Idea: a collection of professional designers will spend 70 minutes on a computer powered by the brand new Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition Processor using Adobe Creative Suite 4 to create a 17 second motion graphic using supplied assets; video, music, vector images. The content of the videos are to center on the themes of power, speed and innovation.

After each race, judges will select competitors with the best final product. The first two digital drag races will be unveiled on the Digital Drag Race today, site visitors will be able to view and vote for their favorite designs.

There is a cool Social Media Aspect to the campaign, other designers and artistsare able to download the same tools used in the competition to create their own 17 second masterpiece which can then be uploaded to a YouTube Channel and will also be featured on the Digital Drag Race site.

Razorfish developed the program and Ignite Social Media developed the social media portion of the campaign.

Link

Review: Rocky Balboa

I finally watched it and I’d like to tell all the people that told me that it was a waste of time that they were wrong. Dead wrong.

I really enjoyed the movie simply because it seemed, well… real. The story, the characters, the setting, etc. All of it really jumped off the screen and hit you like it was some adaptation of a true life story. Apart from the brand heritage which Rocky Balboa has for anyone who grew up during the 70′s and 80′s. Rocky is a Legend, and Stallone really did a good job of bringing the franchise back for one last go… the same as the protagonist.

Normally, what you’ll find with the last-shot-at-it type movies is that they fall flat and don’t ring true to the originals… This one really does, paying homage to it’s glorious past and still being true to modern cinema.

I grew up with Rocky… I remember shouting at the TV every single time he was in the ring, no matter how many re-runs of it I saw. I have written something similar about Why I Like Rambo before, and I think the same goes here. The movie does not seem strewn together in order to make a little money off the side off of a dying franchise, but it has heart… real heart. The emotions which the movie invokes on so many different occasions is incredible. The only reason I can think that so many people don’t get it and hate it (and this goes for most movies) is because they sit “outside” the movie and try and judge it critically instead of sitting there, getting involved in the movie and seeing if you really enjoy it or it irritates you.

So that’s it from me. What do you think about Stallone’s foray into making the last sequels in the Rocky and Rambo franchises? And did you enjoy them?

This was posted on Screenhead

Drag Racing in Dubai!

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in the land of Decadence. Crazy Cars. Must’ve been really fun.

Compared to the Durban Drag Racing Scene where all you see is Blinged-out Toyota’s, Mini’s, VW Golf’s and Honda Civics… This is Crazy. Also this looks legitimate and professionally run, South African drag racing often involves running from the cops.

How to Design a Logo: Beijing 2008

I got this on e-mail and made an animation from it. I totally support the Reporters Sans Frontieres in their boycott of the Beijing Olympics. Such an oppressive regime doesn’t deserve to be given such an honour or any economic benefit.

Technorati Tags: Beijing, Olympics, 2008, Oppression, Animation, Logo

90 Minutes for Mandela

The game last night between the Africa 11 and the World 11 was pretty good. I mean it had its boring moments like most other soccer matches, but over all it was pretty engaging. The score ended up 3-3, and the level of play was brilliant.

I found it funny though that as soon as the match ended, spectators flooded the field to get near the the stars on the pitch… All you could see after while was people dodging security guards and running and shaking hands with players… and it wasn’t like 2 or 3 people it was more like 20 to 30 people.

What I most admired about the match though was the dignity and behaviour of the players.  All of them were smiling and even after a few fouls that took place on the pitch, they shook hands and slapped each other on the back knowing it wasn’t intended.  I really admired that.  I wish the World cup Players were watching and took notice of this, since the general trend in the World cup with players is to feign injury and cause all other nonsense, in order to get an edge in a game.

I guess the context and the age of the players played a major role in this match though.  you can’t expect the same from younger players with less experience and more ambition to get to the top.  Fame Corrupts.

Peace,

M.

Technorati Tags: World 11, African 11, 90 minutes for Mandela, Pele, Samuel Eto’o, Soccer