Beyond the stress and deadlines: Finding time to dig up life's little mundanities
Hi.
If you’re one of the few people who may come to stumble upon this site, then I just want to give you a heads-up: I’ve moved to another blog address.
I’ll keep this domain up for 2 weeks or so, and then delete it. There might be someone out there wanting to use the domain name theinquirer. :]
See you at Perplexigirl.
~Yanna
Do more creative ads like these really encourage people to buy the product? Or do they just smile, take a picture of the ad, thinking, ‘Heck, this is cool!’, post it on a blog and forget about the main topic: the product?
Manila is one big Billboard City, but they’re all of the same young celebrities or models smiling or pouting back at me. Rarely do I see ads that really push the limit, grab you by the neck, shake you up and scream, ‘LOOK AT ME AND BUY WHAT I’M SELLING!!!‘
Advertising is the field I really want to get into when I get out of college–that is, until I become financially stable enough to set up my own business. From there, hopefully, I can grow to become not just any business woman, but a social entrepreneur. But before all that, I want to make ads that will incomparably stand out from all those generic ones all over the metro today. And wow, how are these for inspiration?
They Really Took ‘Sky’s the Limit’ Seriously
My favorite one would have to be the soccer billboard for Adidas, and the tongue stretcher for Mars (I’m biased ’cause that’s my favorite chocolate bar).
If you want more extreme billboards, then take a look at these:
Strong Tape – Strong enough to hold the billboard!
Papa John’s Pizza – Look! There’s pizza at the door! Well, there will be if you call Papa John’s. Smart.
Group E’s Electric Boards – Billboards that actually generate electricity! Not.
There are a lot more optical illusions at Virtual Fun House, so you might want to hop on over there. And this imaginative streak isn’t stopping at billboards; check out Valerie Morrison’s blog for photos of super cool, mind-boggling truck designs!
Do the dominant colors in one’s wardrobe reflect that individual’s personality?
If that’s the case, then I must be downright boring.
I’ve got a closetful of blacks, whites, dark blues and greys. That’s basically it. I think for the past year or so, I just went overboard with the whole jeans-and-tee look because I got too lazy to care, but now its come to the point that my personality and love for color just got washed out. So now I’m scouring the web for inspiration to spruce up my wardrobe with some brights and a few unique pieces.
I love yellow, so I am absolutely all over Sonia Rykiel’s ads for her new collection. Read more about it on FabSugar [Fab Ad: Sonia Rykiel Spring 2008].
But here’s a sneak peek–
Eye Candy Bazaar also features ‘wearable art’ in delicious green: [Wear Your Art: Spring's Painterly Prints].
Purple and aqua also rank high on my Get Happy Color List. And they make for a super classy but striking number on Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester (who, I may add, looks like a cross between Alexis Bledel and Rachel Bilson).
This got me searching for more info and pictures on the fashionable Miss Meester because—whew, I may top the Uncool College Girls List for saying this—but no, I haven’t watched a single episode of Gossip Girl yet. Snippets, yes, but very short and very few.
But now that I’ve seen these pictures, I’m making sure I’ll be getting my own copy of Season 1 tomorrow!
Leighton Meester a.k.a ‘Blair Waldorf’
Did you hear about Earth Hour 2008? More importantly, did you participate?
Anybody who hasn’t heard about it yet is even more in the dark than the thousands of people who switched off their lights last March 29, 8:00-9:00 PM in a show of support for the battle against climate change.
People from all over the world plunged into the darkness for one whole hour to save energy, and consequently reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Even Nelly Furtado said ‘Turn Out the Light’, and Google embraced the blackness!)
I pledged my participation to EarthHour.org about a month ago, which I chanced upon while slaving away researching for our final presentation in the HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards. Since we started on that project, I’ve honestly been more conscious about having a greener lifestyle. Besides, don’t you feel it? The weather is going berserk–you step out of your house dressed for the scorching heat (yet your sweat glands still go on overdrive)–the next thing you know, you’re needing a jacket and an umbrella because the rain just won’t let up. Hello, Global Warming, don’t you think you’re getting a little too friendly?
Meeting in the Dark
We were going to have an overnight school org meeting on that same date, so since we were staying in another house, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to join in this event. But I was surprised that the parents of my friend were even the ones who reminded us that we should observe Earth Hour even if we were having a meeting. So by 8:00 in the evening, there we were–11 people cramped in the bedroom, talking, discussing and making decisions in the dark. Our only source of light were 2 laptops running on batteries.
The Philippines Joins In
And was I wrong when I thought that there wouldn’t be many Filipinos who’d want to be in on this. Here are also some pictures of Manila switching off (courtesy of Monsters and Critics):
Check out news from The Philippine Daily Inquirer and WWF Philippines.
Earth Hour Live writes about the success of the event in Manila:
“ON March 29th, from 8:00pm to 9:00pm, the Philippine Capital of Manila and more than 30 cities nationwide joined the world for Earth Hour. The entire stretch of Roxas Boulevard – spanning three cities – was plunged into darkness to symbolize unity in fighting climate change. … Rarely have the Filipino people been roused to such levels. … A developing nation of 7107 isles. A people working together to make a difference in the growing fight against global warming.”
It Isn’t Enough
However, some think the Earth Hour is not as successful as everyone so glowingly thinks it to be. Vaes9 of Manila says that many residents weren’t informed, a sentiment echoed by a commenter on Green Daily.
Patrick Metzger of Green Daily proposes an activity for Earth Hour 2009: Let’s Stop Driving. I agree that this one’s gonna be pretty hard to implement, and will be hell for me (my school’s worth an hour’s drive). But for one whole hour of silent streets, less pollution and decreased greenhouse gas emissions—why not?
The recently concluded Earth Hour is, and should just be, a symbol for our willingness to modify our lifestyles so that we and our children and grandchildren can continue to live on this Earth. It shouldn’t hinder us from having our own little Earth Hours. Or just do something everyday to help save energy. Why not try setting your homepage to Blackle? It’s basically Black + Google, and its creators at Heap Media say:
Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. “Image displayed is primarily a function of the user’s color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.” Roberson et al, 2002
I’m coming up with my 101 things to do in 1001 days list, and I think I’m going to include something on this and energy saving in general.
Because I have a confession to make: I’m all of 19, and I’m still scared to sleep with the lights off.
So now I have to decide what I’m more scared of: a ghost coming to eat me, or the accelerating pace of Mother Earth’s deterioration.
What’s your room like?
Mine right now is a mumbo jumbo of flamingo pink, lime green, pale yellow and electric blue. It seriously looks like an aftermath of an attack of pre-schoolers with highlighters.
Its been like this for almost three years now–
And I love it. It reminds me of those rainbow springs I played with as a kid, and well, a lot of my childhood in general.
I used to eat and breathe art. As a 3rd grader, I’d even cut classes to draw or paint in the art room. Art workshops were a summer staple, and I was basically a mainstay at the Ayala Museum. Man, I can even remember the chocolate shake I’d order everyday and would try to replicate at home. Ah, yes. Nothing can beat the old art and sweets combo.
Looking to revamp my room, I instead found some really cool works that made me want to grab a paintbrush and my trusty Prang watercolor set before my creative juices run dry with non-use. Even as a young artist, my art materials bore one thing in common: all the dark colors were the last ones to run out (if they even did), and the bright pinks, purples, yellows, reds, oranges, greens and blues were always begging for replacements.
Tina Fey Gets Layered
Watercolor is my most favorite medium, despite it being really hard to control. And I don’t know how Jordan Domont did these, but they’re amazing. Must try this layering technique some time.
Fresh Lychee Pickings
They’re at it again! I’m really loving this set they came up with for Hewlett-Packard. I think Electrolychee has a very distinct and humorous style. They’re a cute and quirky couple, very easy to deal with, as I’ve already interviewed them for an article for The GUIDON.
