Des Temps

The only blog you’ll ever need.

  • America's Best Dance Crews….

    from the bronx to korea to bucktown
    The 2 strongest troupes from the MTV hit America’s Best Dance Crew, Jabbawockeez and Kaba Modern, help to illustrate that US BBoying is now very much ‘an Asian thing’. While Asian agency in hip-hop has been big since the late 90’s (turntablism + sneaker culture being the strongest), it’s now gonna go pop on the mass culture radar. Soon a raft of them cool brands will have ads featuring Asian breakers, a new move in representational politics for the danceform.

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    (the dad in the above McDonalds spot is not just wondering “What is my kid doing?” but “Who is this ad reaching?”)

    In addition to the MTV show, the sharp doco Planet BBoy takes this conversation onto the global level, examining different crews from around the world. Witness a clip on the recent Korean BBoy explosion:

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    In all honesty, the last thing I want to see is more hip-hop used in adverts. In the 80’s, BBoys and breaking were overexposed in pop culture, and the form went back underground. Twenty years hence, with this ‘new’ BBoy writ large, I do wonder what connections (or caricatures) will come from Madison Avenue.
    split level?
    (photog credit)
    —–
    6/10/08 Model Minority?

  • Weak Rappers Need to Step Off

    This one is for all my XHTML/CSS heads out there:

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    I hate to sound like a broken record on this one, but umm:

    …the nerd who is possessed wholly of a black American masculinity is a specific character that enjoys a renaissance today even as the hip-hop world continues to project a cartoonishly grotesque opposite.
    …the proliferation of media voices and sources enabled by the internet has allowed a more nuanced and less gangster voice of young black America to emerge untempered by market concerns and sensationalism.

    When I originally wrote about black nerds, much of the backlash in the comments amounted to something like this: What are you talking about!? There have been black nerds forever!!; this despite the fact that I had made the same point in the piece. And while there were enough sane comments for a decent conversation to ensue, an email exchange with one of the ranters contained this gem, “I don’t think I fully read your article the first time.” SMH.

    The thrust of the piece remains vital — that because of our more democratized communication tools we are beginning to see a more accurate depiction of black america. Mainly because that media is actually being created by, ahem, black people. But all of these things are articulated more succinctly by the SEO Rapper above, whose seamless integration of the swagger required of an MC with the pedantry of the digerati is too smooth for hypertext.

    —
    Oh yeah, the industry’s onto his words on SEO and Social Media too.
    Original link via startsnitching.

  • Chocolate Haas

    to melt with youIf Cadbury didn’t move you, artist Sander Plug has some Dutch chocolate on tap. Honestly don’t know what anthro to add to this, but I’ve been watching it on repeat. It’s an artfully rendered execution of what many a lad did to their GI Joes, or a Barbie Doll, if vexed with sis.

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    —-
    shout to Josh S for the OG report and Josh K for sending it our way.

  • Cadbury, Airport Trucks, WTF***?

    Art can have no clear endingFallon’s new Cadbury ad fails in every way that Gorilla succeeds. No whimsy. No personal touch. It ain’t going viral.

    The premise of the spot is that a fleet of airport vehicles has “pimped themselves to show their unique character, ready for the race of their lives.”[1] So, like Pixar’s Cars, we’re expecting cheeky and anthropomorphized characters.
    Cool, let’s roll.

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    Now it feels like the truck we’re supposed to root for is the small orange underdog we follow from last place. But just as it gets toward the front, the spot cuts to a Dukes of Hazzard shot of the large blue truck. So is that now our hero? Dunno. In closing the camera pulls up, Queen sings “no stopping” and the trucks keep trucking. So not only am I still sans hero, I don’t know who wins the great race.

    Well, maybe the spot is not about one truck in particular, but about their collective joy at an illicit runway race. Yet throughout the ad, we keep seeing bits and pieces of humans, prepping and driving the vehicles. This furthers our narrative dissonance: Are our heros the trucks or the drivers? We never meet the drivers, so can’t pick a fave, but care less about the trucks, cause they haven’t truly “pimped themselves”.

    I’m lost and lonely on the tarmac.

    Now dear reader I love abstraction. Some of my favourite movies have no clear arc or heroic payoff – Lost in Translation, I’m Not There, Hiroshima Mon Amour, etc… Great adverts and art empower themselves to tweak narrative conventions. Fallon’s Gorilla is one of those greats, a 90 second window into the world of a hirsute drummer. I love that spot like a fat kid loves cake. But Airport Trucks? Similac.

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    [1]Cadbury’s Tony Bilsborough

  • PSFK: Postcards From Yo Momma

    Kathryn Hunt. With RayBans. Before You.smrtgrl Kat Hunt and I were talking about the newnew blog Postcards From Yo Momma – could it be the next
    Stuff White People Like? Maybe so, maybe not, as a friend of Kat’s declared Momma passe….after two days, an ohso New York thing to do. We might be the fastest moving creatures on earth, but does this always lead to innovation?my baby's got a secret
    Pre-2.0, part of being a New Yorker was about knowing secrets. In the era of Flavorpill, Thrillist, etc.. anyone can paratroop into town and dial into what was once clandestine. The counterpunch to this is a spike in secret clubs/bars – Milk+Honey, The Back Room, Old Rabbit Club – and guerilla dining units. Yet their currency is one of quick cool, not really innovative culture. Is our fairtown flatlining or just us types? Or is this question passe?

    Like the artworld moving from Paris to NYC in the 1950’s, I wonder if BRIC will come to the cultural fore. TATA buying luxury while making the $2500 car. Baile Funk influencing Diplo then to Wburg. Moscow’s billionaires. China PWNing the web. In 2058, is there gonna be a new New York?
    2009

    *my spies now tell me Momma’s got a book deal

  • PSFK: Conference Culturejamming

    Nike + hurdler Liu Xiang(soaked up heaps of ideas at PSFK yesterday, so begins a lil loop of yawps, queries + kisses)
    —
    Earlier this month, Business Week wrote about Pepsi, Nike and other big guns subverting the ‘official’ brands of the Beijing Olympics. But could a brand hack or subversively sponsor an advertising conference? If well executed, would it be well received? I imagine a large conference is fair game, but are the nimble new off-limits?

    Banksy on the inside of 4 museums
    Quicker than quick, cooler than cool.

    6/9/2008
    Olympic Advert Hijack

    March 28, 2008

  • Real Recognize Real

    poochy.jpgAs Eric Henderson and Agency Spy recently wrote, all cultures are rooted in unique codes and mores. If you are an outsider reaching in, be honest about your status, otherwise you’ll just get shook. One of my favorite examples of cultural missteps in the YouTube era is the P Diddy & Burger King collab.

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    On a platform whose billion dollar market value is based in egalitarian DIY, Diddy not only looks pompous, but gets all the codes wrong. BK ‘bought’ him a YouTube channel? And so this gets flipped by Lisa Nova to the tune of +1.5 million views.

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    It spawns a raft of other spoofs and poor press for both ‘Kings’. While DiddyTV is going strong, BK is MIA and Young Nov’ is keeping it real in the YouTube era.
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    read about it in this book, matey
    —
    12/10/08 Naked shows that Diddy just seems to be outta touch. It aint even that’s he’s so lux, he’s just so lame.