7 posts tagged “2003”

Let’s see: State of Play, remade. Life on Mars, remade. What are the chances the Americans will redo Tuesday?
   I think there is a conspiracy to remake anything that John Simm and Philip Glenister appear in.

Family Guy was cancelled once. Fox brought it back when it realized there was, in fact, a huge fan following, evidenced by the DVD sales. When the show returned, the characters specifically refer to the cancellation, with this dialogue. In some ways it expresses all that is wrong about modern television and the crap people put on. (Admittedly, there were a few acceptable shows in this bunch but the majority is awful.)

   Peter: Everybody, I’ve got bad news. We’ve been cancelled.
   Lois: Oh no! Peter, how could they do that?
   Peter: Well, unfortunately, Lois, there’s just no more room on the schedule. We’ve just got to accept the fact that Fox has to make room for terrific shows like Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Action, That ’80s Show, Wonderfalls, Fastlane, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Skin, Girls’ Club, Cracking Up, The Pitts, Firefly, Get Real, FreakyLinks, Wanda at Large, Costello, The Lone Gunmen, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Normal, Ohio, Pasadena, Harsh Realm, Keen Eddie, The Street, American Embassy, Cedric the Entertainer, The Tick, Louie, and Greg the Bunny.
   Lois: Is there no hope?
   Peter: Well, I suppose if all those shows go down the tubes, we might have a shot.

I rather liked Keen Eddie and the American cop-in-Britain premise (like Brannigan and Dempsey & Makepeace). And come on, it had Sienna Miller in it as the dumb-blonde neighbour. Sienna Miller, people!
   I assume American Embassy was a US remake of the 1990s’ Australian series Embassy.
   Now, back to Sienna Miller. And for those who think she’s English, she was born in NYC. Never seems to come out in interviews though.

I spent a day helping friends—one with her CV and another, Jennifer Hamilton, with her website. This is how girl group Avidiva’s site looks today after doing something very simple: adding two pink bands left and right. It’s made a lot of difference.

090329 Avidiva home page

   What are friends for if they can’t help out with a bit of web design every now and then?
   We also updated the photo gallery and noticed how some competing groups have adopted the same idea since we put one in back in 2003. Ditto with the Avidiva blog. But it’s great that we can share these ideas—it’s not as though we have a monopoly over photo galleries and blogs!
   We also added two extra demo tracks, if you are musically inclined:

Here’s the trailer to US State of Play, which in the BBC original starred John Simm, Bill Nighy, James McAvoy and, in a minor supporting role, Philip Glenister. Unlike the Life on Mars remake, the comments on YouTube have been fairly subdued. No spouting about Americans ruining a good British serial by sticking Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck in it (originally Brad Pitt and Edward Norton), probably because Universal had the good sense to cast Helen Mirren (in Bill Nighy’s BAFTA-winning role) as well.

Before this gets remade by the Americans with Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe, a glimpse at John Simm and Philip Glenister in State of Play.

[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.

[Cross-posted] I received a very nice email from Amber Peebles, the MTV New Zealand host, who is on last month’s Girlfriend cover in New Zealand. I must say I do like this Girlfriend cover: it’s very Amber, and very fresh.
   As some who follow this blog know, Amber appeared as the first New Zealander on a printed Lucire cover (not counting the prototypes we did in 2004). She wrote:

Thank you so much for gracing me with yours. It has put me in a very different light. It’s amazing what exposure like that does to people’s perceptions.

   Lucire was not Amber’s first cover—I remember Madison in New Zealand (the original one, not the Australian one that went and registered the name while the Kiwi one was still running)—but it’s nice to know that after 10 years, we continue to have that positive halo effect for people.