Film & Television

Best Thing Of The Day

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

The award for Best Thing Of The Day on this Tuesday, 17th September goes to a television commercial from Thailand that is sure to bring a lump to the throat:

 

The organisation Americans Against The Tea Party (AATTP), whose political outlook and objectives are clearly not naturally aligned to my own, but on whose website I happened to stumble upon this video, described it thus:

Sometimes you don’t need a two or three-hour movie to tell a story, make a statement and move people.  Sometimes you can do it in three minutes with little dialog and a minuscule budget.  Sometimes simple imagery does it better than any special effects or big production pieces.  Sometimes you find such artistry in the most unexpected places – you know – like maybe within a television commercial.

In a three-minute commercial called “Giving True,” a Thai telecom company does just that and, while it may seem to be a bit crass to put the company out there as some major philanthropic organization, the end product is an excellent morality tale.

It tells the story of a man who does a good deed with no expectation of repayment and, who many years later, is repaid many times over for his kindness.  In three minutes this mini movie tells a touching story and elicits a strong emotional response.  If it does not move you and, at the very least, bring a lump to the throat then there is something wrong . . . you have no heart.

Those tearjerker commercials will get you every time, though I can’t help thinking that True Move, the company behind the ad, has certainly set the bar very high for themselves in terms of their own behaviour, corporate governance and customer service!

Best Thing Of The Day

Samuel Hooper1 Comment

If you have not already discovered TED Talks, the online channel featuring short, insightful lectures by prominent people from all fields and walks of life about topics that interest them, I highly encourage you to take a visit, either to their YouTube channel or their homepage.

For those who don’t know: With the slogan “Ideas Worth Spreading”, TED began as a conference for people from the worlds of technology, entertainment and design (hence the acronym), but has since expanded to cover just about every conceivable topic. One of the principle outputs from the TED conferences, which take place in cities all over the globe, are the TED Talks, in which an expert in their given field must give an informative, entertaining talk in eighteen minutes or less.

Which brings me to this excellent example from Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, whose work is notable for using sustainable building materials such as cardboard tubes and paper. As well as their obvious usefulness in terms of providing temporary shelter and accommodation during humanitarian disasters, these principles can also be applied to longer term constructions, as Ban’s talk demonstrates:

 

I had no idea that it was conceivably possible to construct multi-story structures out of such materials, and much as I love watching the rise of the new steel and glass skyscrapers in my home city of London, it is wonderful to appreciate these radically different, more natural structures too.

Pushing the boundaries of possibility even further in another TED Talk, architect Michael Green proposes building safe, multi-purpose structures such as skyscrapers out of wood:

 

As Green says (and I am in no position to refute despite my love of the steel frame skyscraper):

“Every time I go into my buildings that are wood, I notice that [people] react completely differently. I’ve never seen anybody walk into one of my buildings and hug a steel or a concrete column, but I’ve actually seen that in a wood building, I’ve seen how people touch the wood. And I think there’s a reason for it. Just like snowflakes, no two pieces of wood can ever be the same, anywhere on Earth. That’s a wonderful thing.”

Definitely my best discovery of the day.

On Louis CK

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Louis CK would, I am sure, have a fairly biting put-down ready for me, were he to read this – if for no other reason than the fact that it is being published a day late. Ah well. As the man himself would say, “I don’t care”.

Huffington Post certainly seems to care though, as yesterday they published a short tribute to the provocative comedian on the occasion of his birthday, together with a compilation of twenty three of the most biting, acerbic comments from his stand-up routines and interviews:

Today is Louis C.K.’s birthday. Louie’s had a good year: He decided to take a well-deserved break from his brilliant show “Louie” to recharge his batteries, and got a role in a Woody Allen movie.

Too bad that “Louie” is on hiatus, but at least we have these gems to laugh at, and a neurotic movie to look forward to. Some of my favourite Louis CK observations are presented here:

louis1

That may be true, but things sure do taste a little sweeter now that it isn’t George W. Bush in the oval office.

louis2

This blog has always been a firm supporter of equal rights for gay couples, and I certainly have no patience for people who, on realising that they have lost the core civil rights argument, fall back on rhetorically weak complaints such as this one – that legalising gay marriage may force them into having a conversation with their children. Quelle horreur!

louis3

Wise words, applicable to anyone with the courage to climb up on stage and tell jokes, run for public office, or even just to hit “publish” on a controversial blog post.

louisfinal

Again, very true. The British Education Secretary, Michael Gove, made a similar point during his testimony to the Leveson Enquiry into the behaviour of the British media last year, patiently explaining to Leveson that free speech really means nothing unless you accept the fact that some of the people are going to be offended some of the time.

Louis CK is certainly no new phenomenon (in my typical behind-the-curve style, I discovered what the fuss was about several years later), but he is fast becoming one of my favourite comedians for the very point that he expresses in the above caption. When political correctness begins to impinge on every facet of life, when politicians and the media bow down before it rather than speaking difficult truths and exhibiting the leadership that we need, it has largely fallen to comedians and satirists to shine a spotlight on the absurdity taking place around us.

For those interested in this topic, I highly recommend the following video, a round table discussion with Louis CK, Ricky Gervais, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld:

 

Enjoy.

Best Thing Of The Day

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

A retro one this time, from the 1997 movie “Good Will Hunting”:

 

Even when I was at Cambridge I never saw a guy try to pick up a girl using the “let me dazzle you with memorised passages from a pretentious textbook” approach (though that is not to say that it never happened).

Plagiarism – how not to do it.

Best Thing Of The Day

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

The advertising in this bus stop is a little more…let’s say interactive, than your average.

 

And the resulting YouTube ad for Qualcomm, a mobile technology company, becomes Best Thing Of The Day.