Ted, I think we have a problem…
Is it color or colour?
I guess it depends on where you live. Also today I saw the word ‘Lead.’ Why do/did we make it so hard on ourselves by
a. giving multiple meanings or pronunciations to one word spelled one way (Lead, follow or get out the way; Don’t eat that paint, its Lead-based)
b. make so may words sound the same but spelled differently (their, there, they’re)
Anyways, back to color. I have always liked the following commercial for the Sony Bravia TV’s, its a few years old but always fun to watch. Take 250,000 ‘Superballs,’ a blocked off San Francisco street, no CGI, 23 camera men, and give them all one take.
I love everything about this commercial. The color, the balls bouncing, the frog, the kid looking around the corner, the way they balls get into everything including the storm gutters and the music by Jose Gonzalez.
From their (ere, ey’re) ‘How we did it’:
In an age when CGI is commonplace, this makes the commercial all the more extraordinary. Every single frame was shot over two days – with the main sequence involving a 23-man camera crew and only one chance to get it right.
An entire block was closed off and special compressed-air cannons shot the balls into the air, while earth moving equipment poured thousands down the street. Not that you’d know it from the finished product, but these balls can do some damage, so all the cars were props and crew members went so far as to having protective shields and crash helmets.
But when you get it right, you get it right. The goal at the beginning was to deliver a “really simple, visual celebration of colour”. We think you’ll agree the results speak for themselves.
It took a while but I think they’ve created another commercial on par with the bouncy balls. This time they outfitted some buildings, grass, and other things with paint cannons to achieve the ‘colour fest’ similar to fireworks. Although the clown scares me a little…
Watch it:
From the website:
Our latest TV ad – featuring massive paint explosions – took 10 days and 250 people to film. Huge quantities of paint were needed to accomplish this, which had to be delivered in 1 tonne trucks and mixed on-site by 20 people.
The effect was stunning, but afterwards a major clean-up operation was required to clear away all that paint!
The cleaning took 5 days and 60 people. Thankfully, the use of a special water-based paint made it easy to scrape-up once the water had evaporated.
Keeping everyone safe was also an important factor. A special kind of non-toxic paint was used that is safe enough to drink (it contains the same thickeners that are sometimes used in soups). It was also completely harmless to the skin.
Want proof of my laziness?
Recently, my lawn mower died, mid-mow. It was created and referred to as Frankenstein by a buddy of mine who combined the working parts of two mowers he had. It lived a good life, or three.
I’ll leave out the details of the lead-up, but I got a flyer on my door last week for a guy in the neighborhood starting a lawncare business. It sat on my desk for several days but on Friday before we headed out of town I gave Wayne (flyer distributor and lawncare entrepreneur) a call. Nice guy, drove over for a moment to quote me a price and we worked out a deal and a schedule.
Wayne informed me that he was retired, and looking for a way to stay busy. I told him the story of my mower and the lead-up to calling him. Handshake occurred, deal was made. After a much needed knock down of my St. Augustine on Friday, Wayne would start a regular rotation on Wednesdays.
Now, I know some of you may be thinking to yourself at this point, “now that Christian is a strapping young lad with rock-hard abs and the endurance of a wild antelope, why would he need someone to help him with the weekly task of mowing the lawn?” Two reasons:
1. Brandon (previous homeowner to 890 E. Riverside) failed to mention the work he put into making and keeping his yard the best looking on the block.
2. I’m lazy.
By understanding the two stated reasons fully, I knew that it would be much more to my benefit to find a man like Wayne who enjoyed his time as a green thumb and was willing to keep my yard in tip-top for a small fee.
But, as the radio great Paul Harvey always states, ‘…and now, the rest of the story…’
This Wednesday was my first, regularly scheduled day for lawn maintenance with Wayne and I was a bit excited. One, to be able to thank him for the fantastic job he did on Friday. And two, to reward him for it with a check in his name.
Wayne made it to the house as scheduled on Wednesday. The lawnmower started and thus I headed to the living room to get said check for him. As I made it out the front door, I noticed several things right off the bat. First, the Texas heat and DFW humidity were in full force that day. Second, the familiar sound of a lawnmower running. And third, the sight of Wayne standing by the pick-up truck filling the weed-eater with gas.
Now if you can put 1, 2, and 3 together you can probably tell Wayne wasn’t running the mower.
At that moment all proof of my laziness struck me; currently mowing my lawn was Wayne’s “supervisor” – his wife. His nice, older, should-have-been-enjoying-life-from-her-back-porch, wife.
I am that guy. The 29 year old, able-bodied male, who makes retired ladies cut his lawn. Feel free to insult me at any point. You have a free pass.
So here’s my dilemma: I now pay a retired lady to mow my lawn but there’s no possible way to fire her.
Thanks a lot laziness, you burned me again.
Say it ain’t so…
They say all good things must come to an end. This better be just a bad rumor.
Quick hits
Laptop update: Getting worse by the minute.
Updated pictures. Called Dell today, got a response I liked. Spoke to a nice gentleman who I am sure has no idea he stole a job from an American. He told me to send it in, repair time was 5-7 business days, and then they would ship it back. I proceeded to let him know how it would actually work. I should be receiving my new replacement screen in 5-10 business days. I hope mine can hold up that long.
I guess the old MacBook Pro will return to the wish list once again.
The Cavs are finished. Had a chance tonight but just couldn’t put the ball in the basket. Sorry Cleveland fans. It could be worse, you could be a Dallas sports fan.
With that, today I came across a pretty cool video. Except for the music. Turn off the sound if you are going to watch it. The music is one of those songs NBA ad-exec’s think will pump up the crowd for their team. Too forced and a wrong audience for the most part. Know your audience.
Anyways, sound or no, the video is cool. Get your own personalized one for only $7500.
Edit: for those using a reader, there is a video here that you probably can’t see. Visit the site to watch.
World Issues: Sanctions imposed on Sudan by U.S. could deprive world of Coca Cola.
In a case of ‘that guy is completely out of his mind,’ the Sudanese ambassador to the U.S. paid $600 for a room and props to be able to hold a press conference to speak out against the President and his decision to hold sanctions against Sudan.
Highlights of his speech: There is no genocide in Darfur; 400,000 people haven’t died; Darfurians love sugar and the sanctions will deprive them of it, so they will die. But the best of them all is that they will quit shipping Gum Arabic, the emulsifier in Cokes, to the western world.
So, if we stop the killing in Darfur, we will likely lose our carbonated beverages. Tough call. (From the Washington Post, and no I don’t normally read the WP)
