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C'est comme ça

"Nous avons la tristesse de vous annoncer la disparition de Fred Chichin, des Rita Mitsouko, survenue ce matin, des suites d'un cancer fulgurant qui l'a emporté."

(photo)

For those whose French is even rustier than mine: Fred Chichin, co-founder and guitarist of les Rita Mitousko, a slightly eccentric and colourful French pop/rock band that, as far as I am concerned, is among the best that France ever produced, died of cancer this morning. Catherine Ringer will have to carry on alone from now on. Still, it probably will never be the same.

But hey... c'est comme ça:

BTW: if you didn't know them (that well), they are definitely worth checking out. Too bad Fred won't live to see the day you all turning into fans.

Silence is sexy

Let me introduce you to Piet, a colleague of mine:

Piet is a very nice chap. A quality which is excellently captured in this photo, wouldn't you agree? I think so. The photographer is another colleague of mine, Steven.

Now, it's Steven I really wanted to talk about in this post. He is, well, more of the quiet type. Great sense of humour, though, and a great photographer. So if you ever need one: contact him.

Steven is also a music fan, They Might Be Giants and Einstürzende Neubauten being two of his favourite bands. The latter I totally understand. The former... well, I guess it's a matter of taste :-}.

Anyway, we went to see the Neubauten in Brussels a couple of years ago. Great experience. And hence the reference in the title. Steven is, after all, perhaps the rather silent type. But just for the record: I do NOT find him sexy...

 

Domino dancing

Did you watch Domino Day last week? I did. Well, parts of it. But since the kids were holding the tv set hostage, I had no choice but to watch too. Funny how thousands of falling domino stones can fascinate people to such great extent.

I wonder what the Domino Day builders would have to say about this great commercial for one of my favourite brands ever (in terms of communication that is, I'm still acquiring the taste, even after all these years :-) ). Yep, good things come to those who wait (via Arvind):

I seem to be having a Pet Shop Boys period, wouldn't you say? Strange, because I never really liked them when they were popular. Anyway, they did make great video clips, even though they were slightly homo-erotic:

It's a sin

For once, the category for this post is 100% ironic. I couldn't agree more with Maddox (found via bnox):

Somehow reminds me of this 80s dance floor filler (great video, by the way):

The kid's alright

Former Belgian basketball player Pieter Loridon (aka The Bomb, Antwerp Giants #11) is sick of the media portraying youngsters solely as being either agressive, or antisocial, or alcoholic, or anorexic and so on (as you might have noticed: so far, I did'nt get any further than the letter 'a').

  [photo]

The result of his frustration: www.theokgeneration.com, an organisation for kids who are OK and who are proud to be so.

I would be lying if I said I used to be a big fan of his (he played for the wrong team instead of the right one, after all :-) ), but he was a great player and he's never been afraid of ventilating his opinion in an outspoken fashion. For that, I tend to respect him. This time too, I can see his point.

Are there any other similar projects abroad as well, I wonder? If so, let me know. After all, I too believe the kid's alright:

Doctor doctor

Most women have a thing about shoes. Normally, I don't really understand why. But on the other hand: I seem to have something with Dr Martens boots and shoes. Whenever I need a new pair, I almost always seem to turn to Dr Martens. Admittedly, I have been unfaithful in the past, but I just keep coming back to the brand that, it is probably fair to say, was one of the first to be adopted by a very large audience without spending huge amounts on marketing and advertising.

Recently, Dr Martens have launched a new website, which, in my view, looks really great and in line with the brand. Currently, they are also running a 'design your own boot' contest. I don't really feel the need, because I prefer my boots in plain black. But still: if you feel creative - have a go...

BTW, does anybody remember this 80s classic? Let's face it: the hairdo was a lot more dangerous-looking than the music...

Tempted

It's new. It's futuristic. It's powerful. And it's almost available. No, I am not switching bikes again. Although it's tempting...

The new Honda CB 1000 R, as found on Motornet.be.

Bring it back again

I've been lagging behind on posting lately. Blame it on work, the autumn holidays and our trip to Paris.

More about that later, but first I have to do what I had been wanting to do for some time: point you to one of the winners at the first ever Belgian MIXX Awards (Marketing and Interactive Excellence): the 'Bring the love back' campaign that Openhere developed for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions (which also happen to be one of the sponsors of our college's CONGA Award, but that's beside the point and only meant as a quick plug for our own little award :-) ). And why the sudden hurry? Well, because the MIXX Awards were handed out on 18 October and because even Philip Young beat me to it...

Anyway: this just about sums up the situation in which traditional advertisers are today:

Needless to say the title of this campaign also reminded me of a song that is still stuck somewhere in the corner of my mind. Careful: you might be humming it all day long...