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The rebirth of the mixtape

Thanks to Scott — the Scott who got my blog back up and running last week and brought us sites instantrimshot.com and thepennyjam.com — I’ve been acquainted with what I believe will be the next-big-thing for digital music: Muxtape.com.

Think del.icio.us meets your iTunes library. Muxtape is a site where you can make your own online mixtape that’s accessible to anyone via a web browser or iPhone. It allows you to upload your music (up to 10MB worth, or 15 songs total at a time) to be streamed on your personalized muxtape page. For example, check out mikevitellaro.muxtape.com to see my personal mixtape. Uploads are quick and streaming is instant. So awesome.

Think about the possibilities — portable playlists that require no tangible media. That has both convenience and eco-friendly implications. Awesome on both fronts. Say your iPod Touch or iPhone is out of space, but you wanted to bring some more music along with you. Add the music to your muxtape profile to be streamed instead. This is just the half of it.

I’m thoroughly impressed and look forward to seeing where this goes.

Human Movement

Awesome moves, man. Awesome editing and camera work too.

Human Movement from Jordan Clarke on Vimeo.

White Gold IS White Gold

Thanks to Scott, who seriously knows his shit, I am back in action.

And in celebration, I want to share the most precious thing I have come across since my absence from the blogosphere — White Gold. In short, I now only drink delicious dairy when I’m thirsty. Call it good advertising, but I think it was the vicious shredding of the milk-filled guitar that sold me. Goodby keeps coming up with some awesome stuff for the milk campaign.

IZZE 100% Natural

Rock Hard Ads: Miss Epil

Not sure where these ads for Miss Epil hair removal cream were printed, but they’re certainly examples of thinking outside of the box. Or maybe they were thinking about the box (get it?). Anyhow, it’s obviously not a jungle of arm hair that the poor guy is lost in. These ads employ a certain, special kind of risquè only a French agency — Lowe Stratèus — can provide

If you wanna see the rest of the campaign, click here.

My apologies for the blog delay

Sorry it’s been a few days since my last post. I’m waiting for my new iMac to arrive sometime today (and I know it’s coming because I obsessively check the tracking status online and five minute ago it said “on truck for delivery”). Right now, my home computer is nothing more than an external hard drive and a power strip. When I’m all set up, I promise to have some fresh content. Also, I recently signed up for a Creativity Online and Creativity magazine subscription, so I’ll have some prime industry info to share with all of you from now on.

TBWA\Chiat\Day tastes the rainbow

I am thoroughly impressed by the fine product getting churned out by TBWA\Chiat\Day NY recently. The stuff they’re doing for Skittles is absolutely fantastic. CW/AD team Eric Kallman and Craig Allen tag-teamed three awesome spots so far, each of which has outdone the previous. It might just be me, but all of the spots remind me of NBC’s “The Office.” The styles are similar — no music, no laugh track (obviously a commercial isn’t going to have a laugh track, but still), and, well, they take place in an office setting. Check them out let me know if you agree or not.

Rock Hard Ads: Old Spice “The 30-second slide”

Funniest spot of the day (which actually came out a couple of months ago). Once again, thank you Wieden+Kennedy.

Honda plants seeds of change to boost their “green cred”

To raise awareness of their eco-friendly, EPA-satisfying lawn and garden vehicles, Honda produced a direct mail piece that you can plant. Literally. When the seed-laden paper is soaked in water and planted in the garden, it grows into wildflowers. Well, according to the comment boards, it’s been done a few times already. Levi’s did the same thing with the tags for their Levi’s Eco line, and Timberland sent out millions of plantable postcards.

Even though Honda’s agency, Inferno London, recycled this green idea, they executed it in a different context — Honda is a manufacturer of carbon-dioxide-emitting machinery, and clearly is responsible for a larger portion of the hole in our ozone layer than Levi’s or Timberland. So, them saying “love the Earth” makes a much bigger statement. While the idea isn’t ground-shattering and new, the association of the idea and this particular brand is. Bravo. And to close with someone else’s words:

It’s been said there are no new ideas, only rearrangements. Picasso himself said, “All art is theft.” Historian Will Durant wrote, “Nothing is new except arrangement.”

-Luke Sullivan, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This

Rock Hard Ads: Air Jordan: Become Legendary pt. 2 & 3

Holy freakin’ awesome. Wieden + Kennedy keeps churning out these unbelievable TV spots for their Air Jordan: Become Legendary campaign. I wrote about the first spot, “It’s not about the shoes,” a while back but the two most recent are unarguably the best. Check them out for yourself.