What certainly doesn’t help my cause is the fact that I watch shows like Mayday on the Discovery Channel. One hour full of pure airline terror with awful lifelike reenactments and CGI graphics that kinda make a guy feel like he’s in the plane. Yeah, not so hot. Not such a grand idea. Yet I watch, slightly terrified and hoping I’ll never be on a plane that succumbs to bad weather, electrical failure or a miscalculation of fuel weight.

I can recall a flight I took to Grande Prairie, Alberta once in a rinky-dink plane with just a couple seats on either side. It was awful, probably one of the worst flights of my life. The turbulence tossing us about like a few school kids riding a bus on a bumpy road. The self-mutilating side of me decided to pull out the ol’ laptop when I got to the hotel and watch some plane crashes or near misses…fantastic idea (I say that with all the sarcasm I can possibly muster). Here’s the kinda stuff I watched….

So yeah, those are all good things to watch to instill confidence in flying. Lord.

When I was younger I was an avid flyer and loved going to the end of the runway to watch the planes takeoff and land. I loved flying so much, I was a religious player of the Microsoft Flight Simulators all the way from 95 to the last incarnation. So what happened to me? Pfft. I have no idea…all I know is that on a recent flight from Vancouver to Calgary I had to bury my head in T’s lap so as not to feel the awful turbulence. She’s a trooper.

When we were asked by Happiness Brussels, Toyota’s Ad Agency in Belgium, to travel to Belgium and bring our Boris and Juri characters with us – we never thought it would go this far. Car Dance Party began as an idea for one of our videos, Car Dance Party Moscow, where we follow Boris and Juri in learning the proper way to have a car dance. From the moves, etiquette and application the two Russian superstars taught thousands of viewers how to do it right.

The creative people at Happiness Brussels saw our video and two weeks later we were in Brussels crafting the idea for Car Dance Party Belgium. We finished shooting a mere ten days later and when all was said an done, the two videos, Car Dance Party Belgium and the Car Dance Party Moves video were instant hits. Generating thousands of car dance uploads from regular people all over Belgium, media attention, so much…well…have a look at the video below.

Now, after winning Eurobest awards (search Aygo), 4 MIXX Awards and other honors, perhaps the best of all is the Oscars of the Ad world – two Golden Lions at the Cannes Lion Awards.

Champagne’s-a-poppin’, so come celebrate with FUDDYTV!

Cheers,
Ryan

McDonald’s Big Mac

Here’s a tasty looking Big Mac promotional shot. Mmmmm, two “all beef” patties, special sauce…you get the idea. The nicely browned onions, perfectly seeded bun, juicy beef, leafy-green lettuce, crunchy pickles and delicately melted cheese all coming together to create the most delicious looking burger. It almost makes one want to run out of the house or office right now and get your hands on this delectable item. Of course, the high soon fades when you get through the drive-thru, pop open the box and find this…

Uhhh, what happened to my delicious patties? My crispy lettuce – it looks parse and lacking nutrients – and why aren’t my onions lightly browned? Well for Pete’s sake this doesn’t look anything like the picture above at all? In fact, the beef looks a little suspect to me…

Parmalat’s “Lactantia” Butter

This one made me laugh. I was actually sitting at a Swiss Chalet and noticed little butter packs in a nice cup. I picked up the package, studied it a bit and noticed the lovely looking farm on the cover. Awww, the wholesome farm where the good people at Parmalat’s brand Lactantia make the down-home, country side butter. A small farm house with a few cows, likely named Sue, Bob and Danny, free grazing the plush green grass just bursting with pure milk waiting to be whipped with a dash of salt…

Ehhh, not so much and frankly a little insulting. You see most Parmalat products are made here and in these kinds of conditions for poor Sue, Bob and Danny. Just your run of the mill industrial plant with the machines pumping out as much hormone filled milk you could possibly want! Yay! Good wholesomeness there.

Red Baron Pizza

This one I found on Flickr, because it was ridiculously funny. You got your cheese, stretching out until it just can’t hang on any longer…beautiful pepperoni and lots of it!

Well, the reality isn’t as rosy…

Pre-Packaged Dinners

These ones always get me, the outside of the box looks incredible. A beautiful plate and delicious looking food seemingly right from a genuine kitchen.

Covered by the Name

Instead of making a decent product, it’s much easier to simply put the name to it. *The name may not reflect actual results…

….nightlight is on.

Keep in mind, it’s not 200 million bucks worth of effects here. But, for some guy workin’ on his home computer in his basement…it’s pretty frickn’ inspiring. I wish we could do effects like this guy. Enjoy.

As a young boy, his grandfather was persecuted by North Korean officials – who charged him with crimes against “The Party.” The family, guilty by association, was sent to Yoduk where they spent ten years enduring beatings, starvation, forced labour, death and disease. The book fascinates while it disturbs, and while North Korea is iffy in the “Axis of Evil”, it is a human rights catastrophe.

I wanted more information on North Korea, the secretive country of which very little is known. I came across one photo of the Yoduk concentration camp…seemingly the only one that exists, grabbed from a video of several prisoners working and guards interacting. Not the most incredible video, but interesting nonetheless.

Looking for more, I came across a 14 part series called the “Vice Guide to North Korea”. Shane Smith, founder of VICE magazine, wrote this about the beginning of the experience…

Getting into North Korea was one of the hardest and weirdest processes VBS has ever dealt with. After we went back and forth with their representatives for months, they finally said they were going to allow 16 journalists into the country to cover the Arirang Mass Games in Pyongyang. Then, ten days before we were supposed to go, they said, “No, nobody can come.” Then they said, “OK, OK, you can come. But only as tourists.” We had no idea what that was supposed to mean. They already knew we were journalists, and over there if you get caught being a journalist when you’re supposed to be a tourist you go to jail. We don’t like jail. And we’re willing to bet we’d hate jail in North Korea….

The mini-series is incredible. I wouldn’t say it was documentary style, but the most in depth visual representation of what life is like in North Korea I could find. Watch the episodes here…it is truly fascinating.

I suppose if I had to put it more accurately I would say that we play on the public courts where mosquitos are rampant, the nets have seen a few too many winters, and a run down pub is across the street, but HEY! One man’s trash….you know how it goes.

I tip my hat to you,

David.

Well here’s your thread to ask! Something been nagging you? Didn’t understand what happened in a particular scene or video? Submit your question below…

We’ll start off with a very simple one, in the “Sittin’ Pretty for Westbury Stout” what on earth does it say under the beer bottle logo? Here’s what it says:

This is some text that you’ll never actually be able to read, but you can certainly try. In fact, we should have a contest to see who can decifer exactly what this says right here. Sometimes I like to go to the edge of the airport’s runway and see if I can watch the planes land and take off. That is often fun, even though I hate to fly. I was coming home from Grande Prairie and it was the worst flight ever…bumpy as s**t.

We’ll update this post often when we think of new things…