small talk

Sunday Soul: Heatwave

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:31:00 +0000

Growing up, Sundays were spent praising and cleaning. And unlike most households, our household always had a soul soundtrack on Sundays. Each week, I will extend a piece of soul (or funk/old-school/r&b/Motown golden era/quiet storm classics) to you. Enjoy these sweet, smooth sounds as you clean up or host brunch at your place.

Heatwave was founded in West Germany during the height of the disco years. Having an eclectic band line-up, the group consisted of members from the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Jamaica and Czechoslovakia. The groups leader, Johnnie Wilder, Jr., hailed from Dayton, OH and eventually recruited his younger brother Keith to join. During their heyday, the band recorded such classic tunes as 'Always & Forever', 'Boogie Nights' and 'Mind Blowing Decisions'.

Enjoy!

'Like' and Be Rewarded [Big Brother]

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:45:00 +0000

Currently, somewhere in Singapore, someone is shopping, using a rewards card and receiving discounts on merchandise simply for liking that business on Facebook. Welcome to the future.

Now, you may be curious as to how such activity is possible. One word: Taggo. Taggo, combined from the two words tap and go, is a service designed by Aneace Haddad. The goal of the service is to bring fan recognition to the actual point of sale; merging online with the real world. It also moves consumers away from coupons and having a loyalty card for every store they visit--which, if you're an avid shopper, can be a bit excessive. How do you use it? Simply by using a plastic contactless card with an unique identity number. And what is that exactly? Well, chances are you have one of these in your wallet already if you are a commuter or use a pre-paid phone card. If you are neither, these are not at all hard to come across. Once you have this card with the unique number, you register it online with the Taggo service. From there you Like shops and business accordingly, tap and go.

The soft launch of Taggo is taking place in Singapore because Haddad says it is a growing market for Facebook as well as tap and go. There are nearly 9 million tap and go cards in use in Singapore and business are putting up Facebook pages before they are even securing web domains.

While there haven't been any reports released yet to detail the success (or lack thereof) of Taggo in Singapore, it does seem like one really good idea for business in the U.S. Esepecially those business eagerly seeking new ways to cut down costs.

Read more on this at BBC.

Small Idea Raises $366,865+ on Kickstarter

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:00:00 +0000

In the keynote delivered in June, Steve Jobs mentioned that the latest iPod Nano could do many things, suggesting that it could even be a watch. Well Chicago-based designer Scott Wilson set out to make the iPod Nano do just that. Under his MINIMAL imprint, Wilson has designed two Nano watches: TikTok and LunaTik. TikTok is a snap-in design while the LunaTik is a premium conversion kit.

The original fundraising goal set was $15,000. The project has gained a lot of popularity and support receiving nearly 5,000 backers. The fundraising initiative was launched on Kickstarter nearly one week ago and, to date, this project is has received the most donations on the site. The project has currently raised $366,865, 2448% more than the initial fundraising goal, and the pledges keep coming in by the minute, literally.

Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

Visit this project on Kickstarter here.

Storytelling with Tim Burton and Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:25:00 +0000

The Cadavre Exquis or Exquisite Corpse, Stainboy, is the latest project from the mind of Tim Burton. This crowdsourcing technique of storytelling works by each participant adding to the story in one-sentence sequences, building off of the last sentence added. If you would like to contribute to Stainboy all you need to do is tweet your sentence of what happens next and hastag it with #burtonstory. It's kind of like choose your own adventure in a social media friendly sort of way. Anyone with a Twitter account can participate between now and December 6, 2010. The best tweets of the day will be selected to build the story. Watch it unfold on the official website.

This social media campaign was launched in efforts to build excitement for the Toronto International Film Festival which will be honoring Burton and his work this year.

Sneakerpedia? [Swipe!]

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Today's blog post comes from Kiss My Black Ads. It's where I keep up on all of the latest multi-cultural advertising campaigns. This one is for all of the sneakerheads.

Sneakerpedia Trailer from Sneakerpedia on Vimeo.

This is one of the smartest marketing coups of all time. If this works and I believe it will Footlocker is poised to run things in the minds of sneaker-heads throughout the known universe and beyond. In a mixture of social networking like Facebook and a collaborative encyclopedia project like Wikipedia, the network Foot Locker presents to the world Sneakerpedia .

Sunday Soul: Sly & The Family Stone

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 18:49:00 +0000

With me being back home in California, this Sunday Soul is dedicated to none other than Sly & The Family Stone. Hailing from San Francisco, CA. many consider Sly & The Family Stone to be the first to have a racial + gender integrated line-up. Collectively, they were undoubtedly musical geniuses. But like most bands springing up in the height of the hippie-era, they indulged in some pretty heavy drugs which would ultimately cut their genius short. The band was only active between 1967-1975 but they managed to release at least a solid 5 pioneering funk/rock albums. You'll find some albums post 1975 credited as Sly & The Family Stone but in actuality, that's just Sly.

There's A Riot Goin' On is a really great album in the same vein like Fleetwood Mac's Rumors. The band itself was going through a bunch of inner turmoil and disagreements and though that sounds terrible, on wax, the results were amazing. This album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts as did the lead single "Family Affair". This album eventually went platinum.

Enjoy!

The 44th Annual Kent State Folk Festival [Posters]

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:00:00 +0000

These anti-social media/pro-social interaction posters designed by Cleveland ad agency Marcus Thomas.

Digital Marketing Lessons from Kanye West

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:54:00 +0000

Kanye West's 5th studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is being released Monday. Before I rush out to the store to physically purchase my copy (sorry iTunes), I decided to take a look at just how well Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. team are at marketing albums--or, marketing his albums at least.

After spending some months out of the media (and creating his new album), Kanye came back ready to get engaged. So what does he do? He meets the media in their space. No fancy interview set-ups just Mr. West and crew talking to the media while they are at work. What's interesting is Kanye's particular interest in new media. Though it was a surprise visit to Rolling Stone some could call it expected since, Rolling Stone is, after all, one of the leading music media outlets. It was his surprise visits to Twitter and Facebook that got me thinking Kanye West single-handedly changed the term of SMT. All of a sudden the Satellite Media Tour turned into the Social Media Tour. And it worked very well. Outside of Will.I.Am speaking at a Twitter-sponsored conference earlier this year, it's safe to say that no celebrity has ever actually visited the sites that engage a significant amount of their fan base. Since Kanye's Visit, Facebook at least has seen visits from rappers Yelawolf and Raekwon. Soon after his visit to Silicon Valley, we then saw Kanye engage with fans over another popular tool, UStream, where he was able to answer questions live from his laptop and fans could see him and interact. He even gave his fans a sample of the song he planned to make his next single. And I'm sure Kanye will not stop his social media brigade here. In case anyone at G.O.O.D. is reading, I propose getting on Foursquare quickly. (And if you're curious as to what the specific strategy is, email me. I can't give the world these free ideas.)

Kanye West understands the importance of cross-marketing and he is always very clever with his choices. Cross-marketing in music is rather simple because all you need to do is simply feature another artist or be featured on another artists song. Hip-hop makes it even easier because hip-hop invented a little something known as the remix. So how does Kanye cross-market? He remixes a Justin Bieber song and gets Raekwon as a feature. Now, I have to be honest here. Prior to the "Runaway Love" remix, I've never heard a Justin Bieber song. I saw a music video of his playing once while shopping but I had never actually heard his song. All I knew about Justin Bieber is that he is the equivalent of Justin Timberlake circa 2000 but without the help of being in a boy band. That means he is every tweens dream. I also knew he sold quite a lot of records for a 16-year-old, broke a YouTube record and he is Usher's protégé. While I'm sure Bieber's fans had probably heard of Kanye West, I'm almost certain they had never heard of Raekwon. The only way to get the remix of course was to visit Kanye's website and enter in your e-mail address. So Justin gets some exposure to the hip-hop community and Kanye gets some help adding names to his database. This, people, is a mutually beneficial relationship.

And then there's Kanye's branding; something he's always been conscious of and great at keeping up with throughout his career. The lesson here: consistency is key. He uses the same font and (almost) the same color for every release of his G.O.O.D. Friday songs (with all of the features). He uses www.kanyewest.com as an online hub. There, you can also see his short film 'Runaway' and purchase his album through a link to iTunes. Speaking of 'Runaway', another great way to get people hype about your album is to create a movie around it. Michael Jackson was great at this, most of his music videos were considered "mini-movies". And Prince's 'Purple Rain' is another great example.

For the most part the above mentioned helped Kanye West push his album a great deal. But we also can't forget the nude pics and the recent performance on a Delta Airlines flight. Nor can we forget that a former U.S. President is currently name-dropping Kanye West to sell his own book. Of course none of this would be as successful without having a great product. And since Kanye West has yet to disappoint me since his 2004 debut, I'm going to go ahead and say everything was well worth it.

Sunday Soul: Aretha Franklin

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 17:57:00 +0000

Aretha Franklin is the reigning Queen of Soul in case you didn't know. Throughout the course of her career, she has been a woman of many firsts. She was the first female inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and the first to have 14 million-selling singles which is the most for any female artist. She is ranked #1 by Rolling Stone magazine on its list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time", has won 18 GRAMMY awards, has been in each of the top 10 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and countless others. If you are unaware of the power of Aretha Franklin's voice, please get familiar.

Lady Soul was Aretha Franklin's second #1 album on the R&B charts.

Enjoy!

Photoshop for iPad

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 21:00:00 +0000

The good people over at Adobe are always looking for new ways to get you to spend too much money. Currently, they are exploring the growing tablet market and developing ways you can use their premier product, Photoshop, on the go with your iPad or Samsung Galaxy. Tentatively referred to as the Photoshop Companion, it appears that Adobe is making a way for users to use color mixing and content-aware fills on the mobile devices. With the Adobe Creative Suite already being "too damn high," I wonder what the cost of this app will be. Click here for more information.

Bernie Madoff's Stolen Riches Up For Auction

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:31:00 +0000

You remember Bernie Madoff right? The Wall Street guy who was basically stole millions from the rich through some sort of elaborate ponzi scheme? The guy who stole so much in millions those who were once rich became middle-class or poor? Well, the government is auctioning off his things this Saturday, November 13, 2010 in efforts to get some money back. From the looks of some of the items available for auction, you can tell this guy was just spending money just because. Crystal ball? Leather bull foot stool? Leather cigar holders? 19th Century beds? Yep, all that plus more is available. Sign up to auction and/or view the items through the U.S. Marshall's website. The auction will take place at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers located on 7th Avenue at 10:00AM.

Out Of Print And On Your Shirt

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Out Of Print is a t-shirt company fueled by cover designs of out of print books. Starting at $22, fiction aficionados can show appreciation for their choice of literature classics from the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Arthur Miller, George Orwell and Ayn Rand amongst many others. You could even get cozy with a sweatshirt for winter and keep your kids looking intellectual as well.

From the website:

"Out of Print celebrates the world’s great stories through fashion. Our shirts feature iconic and often out of print book covers. Some are classics, some are just curious enough to make great t-shirts, but all are striking works of art.

We work closely with artists, authors and publishers to license the content that ends up in our collections. Each shirt is treated to feel soft and worn like a well-read book."

Kid Robot X Heinz

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:00:00 +0000

While San Francisco is banning McDonald's Happy Meals from being sold, children can still be encouraged to play with their food with Kid Robot's latest collection of Dunny toys inspired by Heinz. Created by toy designer Sket One, these toys are fully functional and can house ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and relish. Kitchen's beware!

Grocery Shopping At The 'Ceria

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Ceria sets a new standard in the retail shopping experience and boutique concepts. Located in Southern California's city of Ventura, this streetwear boutique is build around the concept of the old carniceria's. And in case your spanish is a bit rusty, that's español for market.

From the website:

"Carnicerias are known throughout the west coast, particularly in the Latino community as a market to get anything you need in a setting that is fun, makes you feel at home or simply dubbed “your neighborhood specialty store.” Carnicerias serve as being your inside source for goods you can’t find in typical grocery stores making the roots of the culture more accessible. We intend on operating by these same standards bringing you limited edition, one-of-a-kind footwear and men’s & women’s clothing. We intend on bringing you brands not typically found in any apparel shop obliging to the same reasons why carnicerias were formed. At Ceria, you’ll be able to learn about the roots of a brand you purchase and be surrounded by the music and art that fuels its creativity. Your favorite brands are not just sold, but showcased in our unique setting, store layout and display cases."

Sunday Soul: Ohio Players

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 05:53:00 +0000

The Ohio Players have the greatest album covers of all time. At least, that's what I'll always remember. They may have been considered risqué during the times of their release but now they are iconic images that do a good job of summing up the essence of music in the 70s: sexy. Most covers for The Ohio Players albums consisted solely of a beautiful woman, half-naked or naked, in a sexually suggestive pose.

Hailing from Dayton, OH; The Ohio Players originated as the Ohio Untouchables in the late 1960s. After a few member changes the group solidified itself as The Ohio Players in 1970. Over the span of twenty years, the group has brought listeners across the world such classics as "Love Rollercoaster", "Fire", "Skin Tight" and "I Want To Be Free".

Download.

Gentlemen, Size Matters

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 04:01:00 +0000

At least, that's what Durex Condoms is going with for their latest series of ads for their Durex XXL brand of condoms. These were spotted on the internet, of course, but it made me realize that I have never seen a advertisement for condoms in real life. I'd love to see what other brands could come up with. The footprints in the sand after the jump literally made me LOL.

Influencers: A Short Film

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 04:01:00 +0000

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

This short film provides an interesting look on the world of influencers through trends, art and innovation. Worth the 13+ minutes you'll spend learning while watching.

One Photo Reviews [Internet Addiction]

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 13:00:00 +0000

A review of Paranormal Activity 2

Everyone has a website. Having a website is equivalent to having a belly button: every human has one. And if you're one of those people without a website, it's equivalent to being a person without a belly button; you're an alien. With so many websites and blogs popping up literally ever second it gets a bit tough just trying to discover a new site.

So, please point your browsers to OnePhotoReviews.com. One Photo Reviews is a review of each new blockbuster movie, powered by Tumblr. From the website:

"My name is Scott and I love movies. I give thorough reviews of the movies I see. And by thorough review I mean one photo of me. These are my One Photo Reviews."

Because movie reviews are usually so intense and detailed, the whole idea of giving a full review in a facial expression seems insane. And Scott's reviews are hilarious. My favorite so far is his review of Machete.

Cash Money: Music, Film and now Books

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 04:01:00 +0000

Slim and Baby--the multi-millionaire brothers and founders of New Orleans based Cash Money Records; who brought you such class acts as Lil' Wayne and Juvenile- are branching out into the publishing industry with the announcement of Cash Money Content. This venture already has a distribution agreement with Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Publishing Company. Cash Money Content's initial titles include Raw Law: An Urban Guide to Criminal Justice by lawyer Muhammad Ibn Bashir, Justify My Thug an original novel by Wahida Clark and the late Iceberg Slim's classic urban memoir, Pimp. Bookworms can expect to grab the aforementioned titles from bookshelves everywhere beginning February 2011.

With Cash Money Records biggest star set to be released from prison today, we're sure Cash Money Content will secure the rights to a biography or--even better- an autobiography of Lil' Wayne. The multi-platinum rapper's story is sure to be a best seller. Especially if he writes it.

Read more on this new venture at the WSJ.

Muse: Joyce Bryant

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Joyce Bryant, an Oakland born and Los Angeles raised four-octave singer, often referred to as the Black Marilyn Monroe or the Blond Bronze Bombshell. Though she came up during the same time as Dorothy Dandridge (she was even the director's choice for the lead role of Carmen) and Eartha Kitt, she felt her only competition was Josephine Baker. Not wanting to be outdone while performing on the same bill as LaBaker, she painted her hair silver in a rush backstage before she was set to perform. The silver hair would become apart of her signature look.

Check out some rare footage of Joyce Bryant below.

Name This Film

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:51:00 +0000

This movie features a male character in drag, costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier and a black President. What movie is this?

*Hint: The male character in drag and the black President character also co-starred in a 1995 comedy.

Click!

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:00:00 +0000

This piece of machinery will make this analog girl finally transform into digital. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Fuji Finepix X100. Outside of being a seemingly compact SLR, it also comes equipped with an HD camera. It will be available in 2011. I will have to have it.

Sunday Soul: Nina Simone [Halloween Edition]

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Today's Sunday Soul is the background music for tonight's themed dinner party.

Nina Simone is undoubtedly one of the most iconic singers to have ever held a microphone and one of the most prolific composers to have ever tickled the ivories. To take a quote from the Washington Post in its review of her autobiography I Put A Spell On You, "her artistry represents human indomitability." Often heralded as the High Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone recorded over 40 live and studio albums during the span of her career. "I Put A Spell On You" is one of her most popular songs and is laden with her signature sultry contralto.

Boo!

Halloween Treats [Food Porn]

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 04:01:00 +0000

Found on bakeitinacake.com, a great food porn database.

For some, Halloween is all about the tricks. The suspense of causing fright, scaring children, haunting adults, dressing up in the best costumes and playing dead. For me, Halloween has always been about the treats. Of course in my youth the treats consisted of free candy being given out by local strangers (something I'd be weary of today). Now, treats consist of all of the unique ways people make pumpkins delicious. A favorite treat of mine in general happens to be cupcakes and this Halloween I am hoping to treat friends to many.

A little Nightmare Before Christmas from OnceUponACupcake

Ghost Cupcakes from SlashFood.com

Spidersss! Found on SweetestKitchen.com

Zombie graves by JamieAnne on Flickr.

Happy Halloween! Nom nom nom!

Light Up The World [Visual Inspiration]

noreply@blogger.com (lola smalls) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 05:22:00 +0000

This is a DIY project I absolutely must re-create for my next apartment.

[via]