The minute I saw this simple site I started thinking of all the ways that different industries could use the concept. It’s a site that’s set up so that the default is ‘dear Copenhagen’ and then visitors can use 250 characters to tell Copenhagen what they think of their city.
Here’s the best part:
Comments are divided by category into colors – so traffic comments are yellow, talk about social issues (like noisy streets) are blue, and so on. This way viewers can see at a glance what the most popular topics are.
People can ‘agree’ ‘disagree’ or comment on the comments.  It’s all share-able.  Suddenly, Copenhagen has a place for people to discuss things with each other that’s not on a boring city forum.

photo credit: Julie and Katherine Hat tip for the Copenhagen site find: Guerrilla Innovation

The Stork Club ~

“Founded as a speakeasy in the 1920′s, the Stork became the first and last word in elite supper-clubbing.  Everyone went there: Jack and Jackie, Marilyn and Joe, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Hemingway, and Hitchcock.

Each little table sported a discreet telephone, on which you could dial the other tables.”

~ Vanity Fair November

I love the idea of little phones at your table!  Someone should do this as a pop up restaurant….

Made me smile – $18 by Jacqueline Dufresne.

Wow. Portuguese street artist Vhils makes this incredible art by digging into plaster and brick and they are so scarily realistic. Now, the marketer in me is immediately thinking “why isn’t anyone sponsoring this guy?” followed immediately by… “who would be the ideal sponsor?”  Converse sponsored that tattoo artist from Mexico which was a pretty bold / great move. 

Vhils reminds me of that quote about Michelangelo saying that his sculptures were already in the stone and he just carved the stone to let them out.

What about a car company?  What about something like Crayons?

My landlord would hate me if I used these on the walls but I love this look so much that I’m considering digging out my lease to remember just how much I put down in security deposit.

I almost never get it back anyway – this year already we’ve accidentally torn the refrigerator handle off and our porch screen door is off (I think someone walked through it?)  Anyway, I just can’t look at those blank white walls for too long before I one Saturday I’m having a glass of wine and get my paints out and by the time anyone stops me I have created something cool but can never let my landlord come in again.

This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve painted walls the color of a highlighter either.  One day a friend of mine and I were sitting on his front stoop in Santa Fe and we had the brilliant idea to paint his walls fluorescent orange.  I wasn’t there when his landlord first saw it but I heard about it later and it wasn’t good.

How cool do these look though?

Have any of you amended your apartments despite not being allowed to?

To say I’ve been anxiously awaiting summer would be a mild understatement but when I stumbled across the retro photos of Jena Ardell, I spent about 20 blissful minutes on her site.  She photographs lots of beach scenes but my favorites are the lovely little beach bungalows that you can almost imagine yourself in. 

This is where Wayne Coyne, Flaming Lips singer, lives.  How awesome is this house?  (hat tip: Black Eiffel)  It’s actually a lot less odd then I thought it would be.  The first song I ever heard them put out was Vaseline…. remember that one?

I thought I had been everywhere in Madison since I’ve been here almost 3 years and winters here will have you scouring every cranny of this city looking for something new but I did it, I found something new.  The Love and Hate Art Show at Club Inferno had everything I needed to get my art fix.  An artist that was a Zach Galifianakis look-a-like who paints a disturbing family portrait over and over, Betty Page Posters, and a big box of scissors that people seemed instinctively to want to stick their hands in (and as it got later, I saw people sticking their heads in as well)

Also, on Saturday there was a little Alessi bird on my counter that I have been drooling over for years that the New Jersey-ite gave me (the man remembers things that I forgot I even wanted).  I think I’m going to use it for coffee creamer.  Alessi, by the way, has some of the most amazing kitchen items you could ever want.

I decided to cut out of work early yesterday and take myself to the movies.  I’d been wanting to see A Single Man for a while but yesterday just seemed like a good day to steal some time for myself.  Plus I’ve been wanting to eat popcorn every day lately.
The house that the main character lives in is absolutely stunning.  I wanted to memorize it and copy it exactly.  It’s pure 60′s LA goodness.
The wardrobe (being directed by Tom Ford) is excellent.  The best part is that a lot of the looks are totally copy-able.  Guys, you should get some thinner ties they look great.
Lastly, I’m not really the kind of girl that normally lusts over actors but good GOD some of the guys were sensational looking in that film.  Totally worth it although it was kind of awkward seeing as I was the youngest person in the theater by around 40 years or so.  As an added bonus – Julianne Moore’s make-up close up is so amazing that I’m tempted to try out the look.

Rhett and Link are a comedic team from North Carolina (one of my Craiglist stalking cities) and they make all kinds of videos.  I hadn’t seen them until this T-Shirt War video and I think it’s a pretty funny idea.  You can also buy the shirts so it’s also one of the more successful product placement ventures I’ve seen in a while.
I am really interested to see how product placement in our programming continues to evolve but anyone thinking of doing it – watch videos like these for inspiration.  Don’t just turn the soda can logo out and smile.