51 posts tagged “jack yan”

I thought this was awesome news in that the photographer, Giuliano Bekor, shot regularly for Lucire. From the Lucire ‘Insider’ section.

Giuliano Bekor, whose credits include numerous Lucire shoots, photographed Hayden Panettiere for her 2008 Candie’s print campaign.

Hayden Panettiere will star in Candie’s back to school 2008 television, print and online advertising campaign, according to the company. Hayden, who is known as an award-winning actress, activist and star of NBC’s hit television series Heroes can now add recording artist to her résumé.
   Following last year’s marketing campaign with Grammy-award winning artist Fergie, the new fall TV commercial will be a direct lift from Panettiere’s first music video, ‘Wake Up Call’, which was styled using Candie’s apparel, footwear and accessories.
   This is Panettiere’s second season with the brand.
   To coincide with TV, a print campaign will feature Panettiere in a variety of sexy and sweet vignettes as she playfully poses with a piano, behind a beaded curtain and in a club-like setting among others. The ‘Wake Up Call’ video and the Candie’s commercial were shot in Los Angeles by famed music video director Chris Applebaum and the print campaign was shot by fashion photographer Giuliano Bekor, whose credits include Lucire, and created by the Iconix in-house marketing team.
   Fans can listen to ‘Wake Up Call’ exclusively at www.candies.com and www.kohls.com/inspire (streaming only) beginning today. The single will be available for download on iTunes beginning August 5. The single is being released by Hollywood Records.

I reached the 500th model milestone today on Autocade. The 500th entry was a very unlikely one, but it goes to show how varied the models are, and how they are not necessarily cars I even like!

Ford Fairlane (NL). 1996–9 (prod. unknown). 4-door sedan. F/R, 3984 cm³ (6 cyl. OHC), 4942 cm³ (V8 OHV). Final Fairlane on this platform, and last one to have a code unique to itself and LTD—its EA169 successor would be grouped under the AU colloquialism. Ghia trim reintroduced for 1998. Usual luxuries on a fairly rugged platform, beloved of hire car companies Down Under. Roomy and comfortable, though detail finish behind that of European and Japanese luxury cars.

I had wondered which marque would get to have its entire range from one period all represented on Autocade. It dawned on me that it is Jaguar, today.

Jaguar X-type. 2001 to date (prod. under 300,000 approx.). 4-door saloon, 5-door estate. F/F, F/A, 2099, 2495, 2967 cm³ (V6 DOHC), 1998, 2198 cm³ diesel (4 cyl. DOHC). Ford Mondeo (CD132)-based small Jaguar, developed by Ford in Dearborn and presented to Jaguar management as a fait accompli. Failed to fit in with Jaguar design direction and wound up cannibalizing XJ sales. Seen as backward in a segment that wanted modernity; dynamically, actually poorer than the much-cheaper Ford. Most cars had too much standard equipment and too high a price, and the Mondeo-in-drag rumour spread very far; yet Jaguar management had to defend it. Not really a descendant of the Jaguar 2·4, no matter what Ford management wished. Never made much of a dent in BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz sales. Estate added 2004. UK deleted most petrol engines from line-up in 2007 except 3·0-litre for Estate. Range deleted from US market for 2008, despite arrival of facelifted model that year.

Jaguar XF. 2007 to date (prod. unknown). 4-door saloon. F/R, 2720 cm³ diesel, 2967 cm³ petrol (V6 DOHC), 4196 cm³ (V8 DOHC). Jaguar finally got a contemporary close-coupled sporting saloon rather than the retro-styled barges of decades past. First Jaguar saloon under head of design Ian Callum. Successfully evoked image of Mk II. Not the most modern under the skin compared with German rivals but a strong performer thanks to shared suspension design with XK. Initial tests indicate car is thirsty. Supercharger on SV8 model. 
 

Jaguar XJ6/Jaguar XJ8/Jaguar XJR (X350). 2002 to date (prod. unknown). 4-door saloon. F/R, 2720 cm³ diesel, 2967 cm³ petrol (V6 DOHC), 3555, 4196 cm³ (V8 DOHC). All-new XJ series with aluminium panels, hampered by looking too much like its predecessor—which in turn looked too much like the 1968 XJ6. Last of the late Geoff Lawson’s designs to be released. Much bigger, with proper rear space, but alongside Mercedes Benz S-Klasse and BMW 7er-Reihe, perceived as old hat despite being technologically advanced in many respects. Facelift with addition of side vents in front wings in 2007.

Jaguar XK/Jaguar XKR. 2006 to date (prod. unknown). 3-door coupé, 2-door convertible. F/R, 3498, 4196 cm³ (V8 DOHC). Attractive, all-new XK has aluminium monocoque chassis. While engines (regular, supercharged) are less advanced than German competition’s, light weight helps overall performance. Bonnet is “deployed” to protect pedestrians if struck, raising above a certain level. Modern styling by Ian Callum, shaking off retro style, closely related to Aluminium Lightweight Coupé concept. Entry-level 3·5-litre introduced 2007.

It’s quite easy to work out the agenda of the mainstream media when it comes to an article like this, trying to harm Samantha Powell’s chances at Miss Universe tomorrow night.

• Personal aggrandizement of the journalist, or, if not the journalist, then the newspaper editors or management trying to look like they can set agenda. (The part about Val Lott hanging up the phone, I understand, is total fiction—so if something so minor is untrue, can we trust the rest?)
• Trying to cause a split between pākehā and Māori when in fact there is none. Fact: the photograph of Samantha Powell doing the pukana was actually published in mid-June—and even ran in a rival newspaper here! There were no complaints from anyone, Māori or any other group, until the Herald made it a race issue yesterday. Or the Herald is trying to play catch-up because it missed the photos a month ago and was desperate for a fresh angle.
• Racism: come on, the headline is clearly poking fun at Māori and the pukana. I don’t appreciate the newspaper doing that, and I would say my Māori friends would be more upset at that than the Herald’s false defence of the haka. Like a newspaper owned by Australians and the Irish really understands Māoridom.
• Implying that two beauty queens are at odds with one another. False. Samantha Powell is in communicado for the most part in Nha Trong, Vietnam, and I severely doubt Miss World New Zealand, Kahurangi Taylor, would risk criticizing another pageant for fear of damaging her own chances when she goes to Miss World.
• Tall-poppy syndrome. (The newspaper failed there: the judges decided their top 15 last week.)
• Lack of patriotism: you would never drag the All Blacks down a peg the day before a big international. And places like Venezuela treat Miss Universe with greater fervour than we treat a rugby match. But an absence of supporting New Zealand is understandable, since The New Zealand Herald is owned by a company listed on the Australian exchange and in turn owned in part by a company based in Dublin. Pity: their business pages are good, so it’s a shame some of these others are dragging them down.

   My views about the appropriateness of Samantha Powell’s haka are at the Lucire blog. I agree that Māori culture should be defended. But you couldn’t really call it a haka. She just did a few moves. It would be like a Caucasian donning a lion mask and moving two metres and calling that a Chinese New Year’s lion dance.
   As I said in Lucire: ‘I know of no Māori who, while rightly guarding against improper use of their culture, would deny a chance for it to be promoted or be rendered so “untouchable” to those who came later to Aotearoa. In fact, one kaumatua I spoke to says it is our duty, regardless of our ethnic origins, to be promoting Māori culture when we are abroad. 
   ‘Sometimes, because we have not been immersed in the culture, we err. It is to be expected. And, when the one who errs is not of our own race, we forgive and we educate, but we do not criticize.
   ‘All New Zealanders should be proud to propagate Māori culture as the alternative would be to ignore it and pretend we are mere facsimile of Great Britain, as many Kiwis did 50 years ago.’
   I’d hate to see us head back to those monocultural times—though it looks like the Herald wants that to happen by running a story like this.
   Since the newspaper has been shifting a lot of its work to Australia, I imagine an Anglicized monoculture makes it easier to take more editing work away from Kiwis.
   Any time you see a story about over-sensitive Māori getting upset about the way the culture has been portrayed, think again about the agenda.
   All the Māori I know put mana first and actually see this as an opportunity to reach out and educate in order to promote their culture. 
   A big fail for the Herald. Sam’s still going to wow the world tomorrow night.

[Cross-posted] A very established New Zealand designer, Margarita Robertson of Nom D, and a newer label, Fly Guys, are profiled on the Lucire site this week. Sam Mitchell’s Q&A with Margi is probably the most in-depth that has ever been published. And we’re running another ex-print piece: my interview with Design Museum senior curator Donna Loveday, who curated When Philip Met Isabella, the exhibition about milliner Philip Treacy and his designs for the late Tatler editor Isabella Blow. That was one of those interviews that went very smoothly, since Donna and I share tastes in modernism and music. Beyond Treacy and Blow, she has rubbed shoulders with designers such as Pablo Ferro and the daughter of Robert Brownjohn, Eliza—and, on a more trivial note, she banks at the same place as Ashes to Ashes’ Philip Glenister—TV’s Gene Hunt. I hope you enjoy this trio of articles.

I think I am doing this right, courtesy of the lovely Pam (thank you!) and her wonderful blog (check out her photography).

 
   I woke up a bit ’fluey today (again) so rather than spend too much time in front of the screen, I am going to be lazy and paste the explanation from Pam’s blog:

For those unaware this is the Arte y pico award and here are the rules:
   1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
   2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog.
   3. Each award winner (upon acceptance) should show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.
   4. Link to the Arte y pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
   5. Show these rules.

   I nominate the following:

• Nick Tomlinson at Mr Resourceful;
• Catherine Morley at Designers Who Blog;
• Khoi Vin at Subtraction—I don’t know Khoi at all but I love his design;
• Stefan Engeseth at Detective Marketing;
• various authors of Janus Thinking.

   Most of these blogs come from my workspace, the exception being Nick’s (unless he offers me a job as the head of SHADO). 

I tend not to tag others in memes but I did receive one from Steve Betz today, and thought it would be rather fun when I can’t think of anything else to write.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
Expanding Lucire, most likely. In June 1998, Richard Spiegel and I decided we would start covering New York fashion, at least on the street. I am proud to note we are one of the few dot coms from that first wave still around today.

2) What are five things on my to-do list for today?
It’s already 11 p.m. here. Emails. Tomorrow I do have a few phone calls to clients to make and chase up a few things from other parts of my company that need to be sorted. Pay my credit card. Pay a couple of personal expenses. Help my team on layouts.

3) Snacks I enjoy.
Potato chips of various flavours. I snack on one type for two weeks, then get bored of it, then move on to another.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
A few options. First is to give $995,000,000 of it away to various causes. Second is to give less of it away but retain enough to set up some philanthropic foundations, while having a small amount for the security of my family. If we are talking about a billion as the British once understood it—$1,000,000,000,000—then setting up a model community or society within a country might not be a bad idea. How about buying Baja California from Mexico and doing it there?

5) Places I have lived.
Hong Kong, New Zealand, New York, California, Sweden, France (the last few for under-90-day periods). Plus a lot of places here and there for a few weeks.

6) Jobs I have had.
Always been self-employed but among the jobs I have had to do to make a few bucks include calligrapher, typeface designer, web designer, graphic designer, publisher, brand consultant, author, marketing strategist.

If you wish to participate in this meme, please go ahead, and let me know if you have or put in a link in the comments. (Sorry, Steve, for changing the rules.)

The below is from an entry I made at my main blog, based on some very basic maths after reposting a graph from the Historian’s blog.

Just last week I was listening to the radio—one of the foreign-owned stations that seem to populate the FM airwaves (probably Coast)—and the DJ gave one of the less intelligent commentaries about oil prices I had heard. He also referred to ‘gas prices,’ which of course is the incorrect term here where gas refers to gas, not petrol or gasoline.
   Petrol prices in New Zealand rise and fall based on American news—something that is not that relevant when it comes to how much we pay for oil. When there is a rise in the US dollar oil price, but the New Zealand dollar has strengthened over the same period, then that rise should not be felt at the pump as greatly.
   Let’s assume oil prices are at US$120 a barrel and there is no inflation between 2000 and 2008. (Of course, it was less than $120 in 2000 and more than $120 now.)
   In 2000, with the New Zealand dollar at an all-time low against the greenback, we would have had to fork out NZ$300 to get that barrel.
   In 2008, with the New Zealand dollar having gone back to around 1982 levels against the greenback, the equivalent is NZ$154.
   So for a New Zealand company buying oil, it actually costs less.
   However, I am ashamed to note that once you factor in the real prices, we are looking at these figures:

2000 price of crude, US$27·39 (real, not adjusted), equalling NZ$68·48
2008 price of crude, US$134, equalling NZ$171·79

Pump prices—and I know I am ignoring refining costs and a whole bunch of other stuff—are:

2000: NZ$0·97 per litre
2008: NZ$2·14 per litre

This actually means the rate of increase New Zealanders are experiencing is not as bad as the oil prices offshore based on New Zealand dollars, even if our prices are rising more quickly than Europe’s.
   While the Americans, relative to their dollar, are paying four times more, we are paying just under three times.
   Whatever the case, I think it’s worth informing the public—especially on whom we might be able to blame these price rises. And that demand and supply have nothing to do with these high prices, because demand is actually dropping—so we can stop blaming the Americans for their big SUVs and the Red Chinese for buying new cars.
   The targets are most likely the speculators, institutional investors, price fixers, the corporations and the cartels.
   And it seems to lend some weight to isolating a small country from these threats, globalizing where it makes sense—and in other areas, developing a better model in isolation to show the world how things might be done.

Show us your favourite font.
Submitted by [this is connie].

You mean favourite typeface. There is a difference (font implies type style and point size).
   Believe it or not, it’s not one from my own company’s range. I have always liked Helvetica and the Swiss school of design, and decided to improve on the design for Lucire. The typeface is called, predictably, Lucire. A 2006 advertisement follows (it’s the headline typeface).

The above was a re-type again. Why is Vox shutting down when I click ‘Save’?

[Cross-posted] Sometimes I surprise myself on what comes up in blog comments. In a thread about the Iraq war and the short memories of nations over on Vox, I wrote the following. And as I wrote, I believed this to be a possible truth.

To go forth in the future we need to discover our past, a hard thing in an age of short memories as you say. … Leadership might not come from size but from those nations that have steadfastly refused to give in to the prevailing decline in so many places. Switzerland, for all its refusal to join the EU, has managed to maintain one of the greatest gun ownership rates in the world yet not have a single gun-related murder attributable to its own in most years; Singapore, retaining its Confucian philosophies, manages a city-state with limited natural resources.
   Their example needs to be communicated to the world, as well as the positive aspects of certain parts of the US or China—they exist, but they are hidden.
   This is one reason to like blogs because they can cut through the shield of the MSM and government propaganda. I do not think that we have reached any critical mass among netizens, networking citizens together in a form of moral leadership. … [T]here are pockets of good people everywhere as you and I have witnessed, just that we are not necessarily visible.
   But that critical mass can come—and if warfare now is at a terrorist, guerrilla level in so many places, I suspect moral leadership itself will come from a grass-roots base.
   The system needs idealists like us, reminding people of their short memories, and maybe change will be effected not through top–down governmental, propagandist methods or the MSM, but through one-on-few communications from each of us.
   I would rather hope that the next superpower, therefore, is not a nation or even an ideology, but a collective of humankind cutting through the BS and revealing the truth. Who says the ’net cannot be a force for good once more? If it can propagate hate and porn, it can just as easily propagate hope and truth.

   I get reminded of this every now and then by others who feel the same way: Chris, at the Edutainment & Convergence blog, wrote to me privately and inspired me. And when I think back to books like Beyond Branding and Typography & Branding, I think there was a great deal of post-9-11 optimism and the desire to build a better, more understanding world. I find passages of my Typography & Branding inspiring, if an author is allowed to be inspired by his own work, and I can’t have been this cynical back then.
   It’s a good zone to be in and I haven’t felt this hopeful about the potential of the ’net in about a year.
   Last year, I was bemoaning the decline of the blogosphere as it began looking more and more like the darker parts of society, with gossipmongers and rude, anonymous commenters finding their way on to it. Where were, I asked, the globally minded idealists of the 1990s?
   On the other hand, their entry into this world surely puts them closer to the hands of the idealists who can now shape agenda, creating more hopeful sites and messages.
   And maybe channelling or finding the above message from my subconscious helped me put things into perspective more. If indeed the state nation is less relevant and change is better effected by people helping people directly, because technology has now made that possible, then the moral vacuum caused by various changes in society can be filled.
   All it needs are willing participants prepared to get together to make the world a better place, regardless of their political, cultural or religious stripes.
   That’s really why I got into media.
   If we agree on this target, then the rest must follow.