Quipsologies
~ Vol. 5 ~

Controversies all around in these Quipsologies: Brand placement, doorways near giant crotch areas, more on the Guggenheim and a certain someone's photo makes a certain magazine reconsider how to give credits.

What does John Coltrane's Giant Steps look like? Israeli designer Michael Levy offers this.

Dutch postal stamp pleases Adidas… and Run-DMC.

The art director responsible for the Abercrombie & Fitch construction shed at Fifth Avenue and 56th Street in Manhattan is either negligent or a genius. Here is the Fifth Avenue facade with an amazing juxtaposition of image and pedestrian passageway, at the lower left:

...and an unfortunate detail on the 56th Street facade:

Noted: street advertisement for NYC To Tahiti Nonstop, a promotion for Air Tahiti Nui.

Noted: sign for a tie shop in New York's Penn Station.

Even more on the 'Guggenheim as brand' front.

Museum Director Thomas Krens: Our attendance is a function of branding... But I don't spend my time every morning I don't meet with my marketing people to say what do we do now improve our brand today. We tend to function on our primary business which is developing cultural discourse.

ArtsJournal's Tyler Green: "It is? Well, let's look at the Gugg's self-reported attendance numbers from 2002-2004."

Credit placement on covers of Newsweek to change based on recent controversy.

Chip Wass illustrates The New York Times' Frank Bruni's case for complicated menus that require explanations.

Re:NY to Tahiti

First question that popped into my head: Is this Felix? Or a lawsuit waiting to happen?

RE: A&F shirtless crotch-door guy

When walking around in NYC back in mid-Februrary, I looked up at that huge guy and all I could think was "man, that just makes me even colder". It always bugs me when outdoor billboards completely disregard the seasons.

Regarding Michael Levy's Interpretation of Coltrane's Giant Steps, if you're gonna make a 4.6 MB (!!!!) Flash movie, at least have the foresight to have the movie pre-load before running; and then, put it on a fast server! While the movie is nice aesthetically, from a technical standpoint, the movie freezes up so much it's painful to watch/wait. It's annoying to see pretty work that ignors basic functionality. It's like going to a restaurant and being served a dish with great presentation, but it doesn't taste very good.

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Regarding the Guggenheim:

"Our attendance is a function of branding…" If that's so, they're certainly not doing very good job of branding. And if museums are like "movie production companies," can they promote cultural discourse or is it just spin? (The latter, IMHO)

Is this Felix? Or a lawsuit waiting to happen?

Gee, I wish I owned every style I touched!

I wonder if A&F has a patent on that sexy "underwear pocket"? I seem to have a few of those starting in some of my old pairs. Better sew em up 'fore I get sued.