12 posts tagged “1999”

Then Hugo said you go

I’m not sure how my friend Pearl came up with the scenario of Agent Smith from The Matrix (shown at left in one of his many guises—I think this was the scene where he battled Neo in a gay bar, before one of his stilettos broke) battling Joseph Stalin, but I took her lead:

   Smith: Mr Stalin.
   Stalin: Who are you? How did you get in to the Kremlin?
   Smith: It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals.
   Stalin: Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.
   Smith: You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area.
   Stalin: Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach.
   Smith: There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You’re a plague and we are the cure.
   Stalin: Death is the solution to all problems. No man, no problem.

As Agent Smith contemplates Stalin’s response, a Soviet Red Guard shoots Smith in the back with an AK-47. As Smith appears to die, Joseph Stalin turns into Agent Smith.
   Agent Smith 1, Soviet Union 0.

I know Qantas has made more of these but I still love the 1999 version of its TVC. The arrangement is the best of the lot, in my opinion, never mind the butchering of some of Peter Allen’s lyrics (I might not be an Aussie, but I always thought it was ‘From New York to Rio and old London town,’ not Rome).

Are you doing anything special to celebrate Easter?

Isn’t this question a day late, even for Americans? Anyway, the special event was visiting the grave of my friends Chris and Linda.

Chris & Linda's memorial

   I took a pic as I am quite proud of the plaque, which I laid out based on Chris’s family’s requests, using a typeface family that Chris saw me develop in 1995. He saw the original drawings I did and I still remember having a brief discussion about them. I was honoured that I could give something to keep Chris and Linda’s memory alive.

Ten years ago: Rory Bremner was imitating Bill Clinton, in an interview with Juliet Morris. The show was Channel 4’s Beware of Imitations. The man was a genius then, and still is today. Apparently he spends a long time perfecting his voices and mannerisms.

This is no surprise given the promotions that Sen. Obama has been getting in the media: ‘Obama elicits more excitement than McCain’, according to USA Today.
   I want to be the voice of reason but 21 years in communications tell me that this is important. If your brand, personal or organizational, elicits excitement among its constituents, then you have a greater chance of mobilizing those people when you need them.
   Even when it comes to politics, to get messages across to voters, one has to resort to the tried and trusted techniques of branding and marketing.
   There are few in the present generations who will, as many bloggers do, investigate someone’s voting record or dig deeply into their histories. It would be nice to say that presidents are not elected based on how much excitement they can generate. Or that we should place greater emphasis on other qualities like honour and sincerity.
   While some might point to exceptions, such as the Tory victory in the UK of 1992, I beg to differ. That campaign was hard fought by the Conservatives and depended on party unity—which was sorely lacking in 1997 when Tony Blair was elected. The National victory in New Zealand of 1990 was a result of the cry for change and the belief that Labour was leaderless.
   And the cry for change is such a powerful message in politics, because politicians understand our nature: even the vaguest change is better than the strongest, best defined policies if a party has been in power for too long.
   Labour in the UK in 1997, National in New Zealand in 1990, Labour in New Zealand in 1999, Clinton in 1992—all these are examples of that message. And that, too, “excites”.
   Sen. McCain should not pursue an excitement route himself, but he should capitalize on mistakes that the Obama campaign is making with greater regularity. The New Yorker gaffe—where Sen. Obama felt the need to comment rather than appear presidential and above satire—was an opportunity missed. Meanwhile, I wonder if people appreciate the maverick, go-it-alone style of John McCain, which plays well in the Senate, but could be symptomatic of future Cabinet divisiveness under his administration.
   A winner is by no means clear, and a week remains a long time in politics. Months, as Sen. Clinton will attest as she went from dead cert to second-best, are an eternity.

Can fellow New Zealanders give Janette any advice? She’s a Kiwi who has lived abroad since 1999 (in Canada and Costa Rica) and is due to head back there. What changes will she see, especially in Dunedin, where she’s heading? Please hop over to her blog and post your thoughts.

[Cross-posted] This has been official for a while (or so I think—not that I ever heard what the Electoral Commission thought, but I did see it on its website). However, I wanted the party to approve the news first before sharing it with you all. The following is the overseas release which was rewritten from the one sent to domestic newsmedia. One that includes a mention of the Bush–Cheney campaign of 2004 was sent to US media.

JY&A Consulting revamps logo for New Zealand’s Alliance Party

Wellington, May 9 (JY&A Media) New Zealand political party, the Alliance, is looking more modern and relevant, thanks to its new logo by JY&A Consulting (http://jya.net/consulting).
   Devised by JY&A Consulting’s Jack Yan, the new logo signifies a new beginning for the democratic socialist political party.
   Mr Yan says that he has been a keen observer of general elections in the UK, US and New Zealand since the 1980s and that played a part in his team’s design.
   He says the Conservatives in 1983, Labour in the UK in 1997 and 2002 and Labour in New Zealand in 1999 and 2003 had certain commonalties in their campaigns, centring around typography.
   He also said that in those years, the party’s name was important, not the symbol—hence the traditional Labour rose was not present on that party’s election materials in 1997 and 2002.
   By abandoning the old A symbol of the Alliance and concentrating on the word, Mr Yan says that the party looks more professional and ready.
   The Alliance has contested every General Election in New Zealand since 1993. However, due to party changes it is trying to rebuild itself for the country’s General Election later this year.
   ‘We have two major parties in New Zealand that vote pretty much the same on all issues,’ says Mr Yan, ‘and minor parties that get ignored because of a lack of visibility. I wanted to change that. Why should minor parties be laboured with second-rate brands?’
   The logo is based around the Frutiger typeface and its lettering is predominantly in red, with a red dot over the i in Alliance to signify its environmental awareness.
   He says the letter i also shows the humanizing aspect of the party.
   ‘As a piece of design I think it looks more cohesive than the committee-led logos of National and Labour,’ he says, criticizing the major two parties in New Zealand.
   ‘I was given a lot of freedom, which is a good sign of how the party leadership handles matters. It clearly believes in trusting the right people.’
   As well as heading JY&A Consulting’s parent, Jack Yan & Associates, Mr Yan co-wrote Beyond Branding in 2003 and is a director of the Medinge Group, a branding think-tank based in Sweden.
   In October 2007 he was a keynote speaker for the Alliance Party at its annual conference.

I’ve inputted some information into Autocade over the last half-hour about the Rover 75*, a model that saw the end of volume British-owned car manufacturing—and which might mean the beginning of two marques in Red China. Here I chart the history of this tragic car, beset by publicity gaffes from BMW and a British press with its claws out, only for it to begin making good produced in Shanghai and Nanjing. Even in Italy it won an award for the most beautiful car when it launched, but the Brits never warmed to the 75. Summary: fairly timeless look, but I still wouldn’t buy one due to quality concerns.

* It took many times longer to copy and paste this into Vox (hours!) than writing and researching all of the below, due to the site crashing my browser due to a script error constantly!

Rover 75 Mk I

Rover 75 Mk I

Rover 75. 1998–2004 (prod. 169,250, 1998–2003). 4-door saloon, 4-door LWB saloon, 5-door estate. F/F, 1794 cm³ (4 cyl. DOHC), 1997, 2497 cm³ (V6 DOHC), 1951 cm³ diesel (4 cyl. DOHC). Retro-themed and too-English Rover styled by Richard Woolley, with lavish use of chrome. Soft ride to distinguish it from BMW cars. Very robust, refined car but never appealed to enthusiasts; suffered from BMW’s indecision on and changes to marketing from launch day onwards, as well as British media apathy. Related MG ZT from 2001, after production shifted to Longbridge for all models following BMW sale of Rover. LWB saloon brought back Vanden Plas tag temporarily.

MG ZT Mk I

MG ZT 190_2

MG ZT. 2001–4 (prod. 27,149 all models, incl. Mk II). 4-door saloon, 5-door estate. F/F, 1794 cm³ petrol, 1951 cm³ diesel (4 cyl. DOHC), 2497 cm³ (V6 DOHC). Sporting versions of Rover 75, finally with firmer suspension and better handling. Helped keep MG Rover numbers up for a short time, though package began looking more dated toward the end of the run. V8 model introduced 2003, covered separately.


MG ZT 260

MG ZT 260

MG ZT 260. 2003–5 (prod. 883 incl. Rover 75 V8). 4-door saloon, 5-door estate. F/R 4601 cm³ (V8 SOHC). MG Rover, on a shoestring budget, sourced a new V8 engine from Ford and, in order to get it working, changed the standard 75 platform to rear-wheel drive. Prodrive did the initial work; MG Rover brought it in-house. Hairy, raw car, in line with MG image, and with few visual cues to signify the larger engine other than badging and four exhausts. Facelift one year in, in 2004; automatics introduced toward end of run (bound to be rarest of all), but production came to an end in 2005, with no Chinese equivalent.

Rover 75 Mk II

Rover 75. 2004–5 (prod. unknown). 4-door saloon, 4-door LWB saloon, 5-door estate. F/F, 1794 cm³ (4 cyl. DOHC), 1997, 2497 cm³ (V6 DOHC), 1951 cm³ diesel (4 cyl. DOHC). Essentially carryover technology from Mk I with cosmetic facelift, while Project Drive eliminated certain parts deemed unnecessary to cut costs, which meant less refinement on some models. Never had its full run as MG Rover collapsed and the 75 found its rights sold to SAIC of China. V8 model introduced in 2004, covered separately. LWB model simply called Limousine, rather than Vanden Plas, for these final years.

MG ZT Mk II

MG ZT Mk II

MG ZT. 2004–5 (prod. 27,149 all models, incl. Mk I). 4-door saloon, 5-door estate. F/F, 1794 cm³ petrol, 1951 cm³ diesel (4 cyl. DOHC), 2497 cm³ (V6 DOHC). Facelifted ZT with minor changes, but no real mechanical changes—and no real improvement to sales. Production shifted to Nanjing, China after collapse of MG Rover in UK, restarted in 2007.

Rover 75 V8

Rover 75 V8

Rover 75 V8. 2004–5 (prod. 883 incl. MG ZT 260). 4-door saloon, 4-door LWB saloon. F/R, 4601 cm³ (V8 SOHC). Short-lived Ford V8-powered version of 75, with platform re-engineered by Prodrive and Rover to rear-wheel drive. Front grille, supposedly inspired by Rover P5B, controversial at the time, accused of copying Audi, and designer’s name not released by MG Rover. No direct predecessor—last hairy Rover V8 was SD1 Vitesse in 1980s. Good performance but car seemed heavy; interior and insulation kept English club-lounge feel. Fuel economy in the high 10s, low 20s (mpg).

Roewe 750

Roewe 750

Roewe 750. 2006 to date (prod. unknown). F/F, 1794 cm³ (4 cyl. DOHC), 2497 cm³ (V6 DOHC). Rebodied Rover 75. SAIC acquired the rights to the model in 2005 and proceeded to make its own version on the long-wheelbase platform. British consultants Ricardo did restyle and update. However, SAIC was forced to create a new marque, Roewe, after Ford bought the Rover brand that they wanted; hence, Roewe logo has the same shape as old Rover Viking longship one. Two noses: small grille for lower-spec; large grille (à la last Rover 75 V8) for higher-spec. Not as well built as old 75 according to early reports, with less safety equipment than western markets expect.

MG 7

MG 7. 2007 to date (prod. 13,000 approx.). 4-door sedan, 4-door LWB sedan. F/F, 1794 cm³ (4 cyl. DOHC), 2497 cm³ (V6 DOHC). Chinese edition of MG ZT, offered with both Mk I and II grilles contemporaneously. Engines upgraded to comply with latest Euro IV legislation, and quality said to be better than those of the cars coming off Longbridge in 2005 thanks to new factory at Nanjing. Improved specification. No estate announced. Played heavily on MG’s heritage when launched.