Archive for June 2008

Lens Culture brings us a book of photographs by Hans Eijkelboom that explores patterns of fashion and art in three cities across the globe: New York, Shanghai and Paris.

The brilliant design of the book folds out to reveal three connected books with identical sequences of near-identical subject-matter: opened and stretched out on your reading desk you have three books side-by-side. It then becomes natural to turn the pages of all three books simultaneously as you proceed. With delight, we are presented with, for instance, photographs of French, American, and Chinese men all wearing camouflage clothes as fashion statements in all three cities — lots of men, lots of camouflage, in cities!

Eijkelboom’s book sounds like a pleasure to read - or, more accurately, look at. There’s a constant push and pull between regional individualism on the one hand, and mass-market globalization of trends on the other. This book highlights just how similar we’ve all become.

After conquering the worlds of search and advertising, Google has set it’s sights on entertainment. It was announced today that Family Guy creator Seth Mcfarlane is teaming up with the search giant to “reinvent mass media”. The project, titled Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy will be distributed via Google’s Adsense system. It’s an animated series that will consist of 50, 2 minute episodes that will be pushed to websites matching the Family Guy demographic (you’ll see the animated shorts instead of google ads). The show will contain advertising in the form of preroll commercials or banners at the bottom of the video.

[NYT via Read Write Web]

With the threat of decreased consumer spending and a weak U.S. economy, fast food chains have had the most to gain from value-driven, price conscious consumers. Brands have employed a wide range of strategies to reach consumers during a time when every penny counts.

Aside from the ongoing dollar or value menu wars, chains have stepped up their efforts to match each other on both menu offerings and prices. Following the success of McDonald’s “Snack Wrap”, KFC has aggressively pushed its “Toasted Wrap” and “Snacker” while Wendy’s has responded with “Chicken Go Wraps”. And the food wars have not been limited to classic fast food fare; Quiznos is offering its own “$5 Large Deli Favorite Subs” to go head to head with Subway’s “$5 Footlong Subs”. But undercutting all competition in price is Taco Bell, with value menu items starting at $.79.

While some brands are trading down, others have adopted a premium positioning during this rough period, hoping to improve their margins. Wendy’s has used its latest tagline, “It’s waaaay better than fast food”, to push more expensive products like its “Premium Fish Fillet Sandwich” and “Hand-spun Frosty Shakes”. McDonald’s has done more than upgrade its menu. It has been in the process of giving most of its 14,000 U.S. stores a facelift, adding new decor, seating, plasma TVs, and even fireplaces in some locations. To shake things up even more, McDonald’s is rolling out McCafes at all U.S. locations, offering specialty coffee drinks and their take on lattes and cappuccinos.

Another strategy that has helped chains offset a decline in domestic sales is overseas expansion. McDonald’s announced last Monday that same-store sales globally increased 7.7 percent for May, beating analysts’ expectations. While sales were up 4.3 percent at U.S. locations, total sales were bolstered by a 9.6 percent rise in Europe and a 9.7 percent rise in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa division. Sales overseas for the chain have been outpacing domestic sales for some time now. A recent WSJ article highlights this strategy, as more U.S. chains like Burger King and Papa John’s International Inc. are looking to international expansion for growth.

So as gas prices rise and the tough times continue, not everyone in America is suffering. While restaurants and upscale coffeehouses may be feeling the pinch, it seems that the glory days for fast food restaurants have just begun.

-Contributed by Robert Hsu of Peep Insights

We are thrilled to be having Jeremy Townsend of The Ghetto Gourmet joining us for PSFK Conference San Francisco 2008 on our “San Francisco Snapshot” panel, where passionate SFers will discuss what aspects of local culture inspire them the most, and what makes the Bay Area tick. The panel will be led by Colin Nagy (Attention) and will include Liz Dunn (FunnyOrDie) and Amit Gupta (Photojojo).

First, who are you and what do you do?

I’m Jeremy Townsend. I’m a writer, event producer and creative marketer. I’m the founder of the Ghetto Gourmet. Using the internet, a fun brand and a little mystery, I took a monday night “underground restaurant” project and organized over 300 community dining events all over the country. I juxtapose the culinary and performing arts in “secret” locations and invite a bunch of strangers. I like to make great things happen, and I’m always looking for new challenges.

You’ll be speaking on our “San Francisco Snapshot” panel. Can you explain what you find inspirational about the Bay Area and why? What makes it different than any other place in the world?

There is a general openness in the Bay Area that makes it a great sandbox and incubator for news ideas. I think that comes from the West Coast being a little younger and wilder than the East Coast. People come here with a desire for adventure, a willingness to trust and an passion for building something new. When I first came here I was struck by how many people seemed to lead two lives: a corporate full-time career and a terrifically unrelated hobby or passion that, with any luck, might someday take over their day jobs. The Bay Area is not just permissive of experimentation, we tend to encourage it. There is a curiosity and genuine interest in seeing what people can come up with.

Five sites that provide you with inspiration:

Improv Everywhere
intellectual properties
TED
Inhabitat
thehappycorp

Thanks, Jeremy!

Why not learn more from Jeremy at PSFK Conference San Francisco on July 17?

Frequent readers of PSFK will note we’ve been keeping an eye on inspired school designs that aim to create innovative places for learning. The recent renovation of the Fuji Kindergarten in the Tokyo suburb of Tachikawa definitely got our attention. The project is the result of work by Tezuka Architects and a collaboration with designer Kashiwa Sato (who contributed to the design of the New York Uniqlo store) to expand the building but retain the schools unique spirit. Fuji is known for it’s Montessori teaching methods and open-minded policy that all children are welcome no matter what economic background their families have.

The architects resulting design is a circular building with a large interior courtyard. The building’s roof is a wooden deck that the children can use as a play space. The site contained several existing trees which the architects left and built the structure around. There’s rope ladders on the trees that the kids can use to climb on. The most striking (and controversial) part of the interior of the building is there are no solid walls. Even the bathrooms are as barrier free as possible. The intention was to create as open a space as possible and to reduce the confining barrier of walls in regards to learning. Even signs with school rules were kept to a minimum to emphasize personal responsibility in the young students.

Adjacent to the school is a farming area where the children grow vegetables and keep rabbits and goats. The school intends to plant grass in the courtyard for the goats to graze on and use the milk to make cheese for the children.

540 students attend the school and there is a huge waiting list to enter. The staff intends to expand the enrollment to 650 soon which will make Fuji the largest kindergarten in Japan in a single building.

More photos here.

[via Archinect]

Frango Rock! is a photographic collection of people, places, and inspiration from around the world, captured by photographers Mike Vargas and Tat Ho Yee. The two New York-based photographers collaborated on a filmmaking project that took them through Mexico, Chile, and Brazil, but it was Yee’s recent journey through India that inspired both to create Frango Rock!, a culmination of the vibrant scenes they encountered around the globe. Frango Rock! will be on view at the Brecht Forum from July 3 - 23 (don’t miss the opening reception on the 3rd, from 6-11pm with food and drink provided and music by DJ Laylo).

Frango Rock! at the Brecht Forum
451 West Street (between Bank and Bethune)
New York, NY
July 3-23 2008 (opening reception on July 3, 6-11pm)
Frangorock.com

A staple of building construction for ages, the brick has gotten a sleek makeover. Architect Greg Lynn has designed an updated version made of lightweight recyclable plastic. Each tri-cornered unit can be mass produced, and is robotically-cut through a process called rotational molding. Lynn has demonstrated the versatility of these interlocking bricks with a structure called The Blobwall Pavilion, currently on display at the Sci-Arc Gallery in Los Angeles.

The Blobwall Pavilion

Zappos is streamlining their already zippy shoe delivery service by replacing humans with robots in their Kentucky warehouse. Management and fetching of products in the e-tail’s inventory facility will now be managed by Kiva Systems’ Mobile Fulfillment System, a set of programmed drive units and storage bots. As Zappos continues expanding its offerings to clothing, accessories, and more, their speediness is what might separate them from the myriad of competing sell-all e-tailers already in the market.

[via Engadget]

Fans of Japanese game shows, such as Human Tetris and Slip ’n’ Slide bowling, will be happy to know that American producers are planning on emulating them for US TV audiences. The New York Times reports that shows such as “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” and “Wipeout” recently made their debut on ABC.

Ones of the producers interviewed describes a particularly unique challenge from the show “Baby Go Boom”

Wearing baby bonnets and diapers, the competitors spin around in cribs until they’re dizzy. Then they try to cross a teeter-totter, get past spinning plates and overcome other obstacles without spilling a jug of milk that they carry. The team that manages to spill the least milk wins.

In Japan, these shows are known as batsu games, or punishment and humiliation games, and they celebrate the spirit of embarrassment and ability to laugh at oneself. As David Goldberg, the president of Endemol USA, put it, “The whole idea of watching people crash and burn — but not get hurt — is something that people seem to be drawn to.”

NYT: Japanese-Style Game Shows: Cash for Winners, Humiliation for Losers