This is the teaser for Volkswagen’s Super Bowl commercial. Outside of the the beaver saving the motorist commercial, the best ad from 2011 was easily the “kid Vader” one Volkswagen put out. This might beat it:

So I apologize in advance for all the Australia-related posts coming down the pike in the next few days—it’s just that it’s very exciting to be able to blog about weird stuff I’ve experienced first-hand, as opposed to mining the web for content. To that end, please let me introduce you to SYN.

SYN (Student Youth Network) is a youth-run media organization that operates and broadcasts out of Melbourne, Victoria. A lot of their marketing mentions it’s for young people aged 12-25, which is a pretty wide spread. The cool thing is that it’s 100% true—over the course of the week and a half I was there, I heard DJs in various time-slots that were anywhere from 12/13 to 25, with shows ranging from mall-punk music and horror movie critiques from 14 year olds to sex advice from 25 year olds. Among other show themes, there was a time-slot focused on Formula 1 racing, stand-up comedy, Korean pop, Cantonese pop, Japanese pop, a show devoted entirely to Radiohead (cleverly titled Radiohead to Tail), and even a show hosted by a pair of dudes with mental disabilities discussing their favorite cars and music. But the show that really caught our ear as we were driving around the Yarra Valley looking for good wineries? Happy Hour at the Cantina.

HHatC, sadly, was broadcasting their final show of the season (possibly ever?), but nothing quite prepares you for turning on the radio to hear adults (or close to it) discussing the pros and cons of living with an ewok housemate (“Well, you’d have to have a treehouse in the back yard for it to live in.” “CORRECTION: you’d GET to have a treehouse in your backyard for it to live in!”), and how unfair it is that outside of Wicket and the Chief, none of the other ewoks were given names. This went on for the better part of an hour, interspersed with Star Wars-themed songs, like a Russian klezmer jam about how Boba Fett and Grand Moff Tarkin were childhood friends but had a falling out. REAL. TALK.

And this is just the DJ’s conversing—by and large, the music on SYN is top-notch, and we were exposed to a lot of cool Aussie indie-rock that we otherwise wouldn’t have ever heard of (it seems like Pitchfork et al only champion a few Aussie bands a year). And the great thing is, you can stream it live online! I highly recommend tuning in periodically to get a taste. Just remember—they’re on the other side of the world, so the best time to tune in is in the evening for their morning programming, being broadcast from the future!

So this weekend was Otakon, Baltimore’s annual anime convention. Though this was my first foray into the actual convention center, Otakon weekend (along with Baltimore Comic-Con weekend) has long been a favorite event of ours, purely for the people-watching. This year I got to experience it first-hand as a vendor in the Dealer Room, and it. Was. Awesome.

We got a primo position, directly across from the restrooms (seriously. Guaranteed foot-traffic!) and had a pretty sweet booth set-up, if I do say so myself. For the sake of clarity, I snapped this before the attendees were allowed in for an unobstructed view; with 30,000 people strolling around in costumes that in many cases doubled their actual size, I figured I should take a pic before it got blocked out by a giant dragon:

Yeah, that’s Spyro. And there’s more where that came from!

Everyone’s favorite Pokemon trainer, Ash Ketchum, also put in an appearance!

Not sure what was going on here conceptually, but that hair is awesome! And those beads—like a Japanese Mardi Gras reveler from the future!

An assortment of costumed attendees.

Lots of cute doll costumes like this cupcake-themed one…

…as well as more traditional, less food-centric ones.

We also spied this creepy quasi-Gentleman from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The whole Joker fam, including Joker’s Daughter, Harley Quinn, and the clown prince of crime himself!

And nothing Japanese-inspired would be complete without an appearance from the Mario Bros (or Sisters!), Mario & Luigi.

There were also some more generic characters, like this spacey schoolgirl.

And this attendee, who seemed to have a pretty original look going on, though the hat, bowtie & jacket definitely remind me of Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen.

There were also a TON of steampunk aficionados in attendance throughout the weekend…

And of course, you had your staples, which ran the spectrum from your traditional Darth Vader (shown here attempting to choke me out from afar via The Force)…

…to more creative renderings of classic characters, like Leia in a balloon bikini.

By far one of my faves was just this cute little pink bear, giving me either the double-bird, or two thumbs up (I hope the latter.)

Even better, I got some new super-fans! I saw this one sporting her new Fuzz tee the day after she bought it, and (shocker of shockers) experienced seeing someone I don’t know walking around with my stuff on for the very first time. I imagine it’s a lot like hearing your song on the radio for the first time. The Beatles>Jesus, Me=The Beatles…am I a god? Probably only when facing Gozer the Gozarian on the roof of an apartment building. Baby steps!

All in all, it was a great experience, and I can’t wait to do it again next summer. To fans new and old that came out and said hi, you guys are awesome! And especially thanks to Adrienne, Tony, Lauren, David, & Andrea for helping me man the booth and pimping my wares throughout the weekend—you’re all the second-best friends a guy could ask for (the wife wins that one every time!)

Submit your caption in the comments section below! Winner gets cyber-hugs (the non-pervy kind)!

(Via LikeCool.com)

This weekend my wife and I made a quick jaunt up to New York City to visit family. It was only about a 24-hour long visit, but it was packed with a lot of great experiences; here are a few of them:

First, we stopped off at my cousin David’s in Hoboken, NJ to decompress from the drive before heading out for a bite to eat in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood. While we were walking toward our chosen eatery, we randomly bumped into our friend Jamie, who diverted us to the magical Indian restaurant Milon, pictured above. It was extremely hot, cramped, and sweaty, and the food was only so-so…but look at the light show! And there’s nothing like two competing doormen screaming at/begging you to come into their respective establishments to stroke your ego.

The next morning we met my wife’s uncle for brunch in Park Slope, Brooklyn before he took us wandering around the neighborhood to look at some of the shops & boutiques, one of which was the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.

There are a lot of cool things about the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. While most of the “inventory” is merely for show and used as a vehicle for creative package design (canisters of “matter” and “anti-matter” are pretty obviously full of sand), they do sell some actual items, like fake glasses and masks and capes. Plus, the overall concept is a lot of fun, it’s just a neat place to wander around in and admire the design aesthetic of the labeling and packages. The coolest part though is that it doubles as a front for 826NYC, a creative and expository writing workshop and classroom space founded by writer Dave Eggers for young writers to hone their craft in.

We then headed over to Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood so my wife could attend & speak at a small business forum while I strolled over to Brooklyn Bridge Park to work on some new design sketches:

Finally, to wrap up our adventure, on our way back down to Baltimore we discovered how Yoda & Obi-Wan were able to afford all those technologically-advanced lightsabers:

(Apparently with a little help from the Wendy’s guy.)

Oh, nerds…

Full disclosure: I love the original Star Wars trilogy, and my love of comic books and other geekery has been well-documented here on the blog, as well as in many of my tee designs. That said, I’m not into cosplay, conventions, LARRPing, and many of the other elements of fanboy/girl-ism. Furthermore, I don’t really take issue with these kids at PA Jedi engaging in what interests them; so long as you’re not touching kids inappropriately or beating up animals, I’m pretty much a live-and-let-live kinda guy. Especially given the fact that many of their “performances” benefit various charities. Kudos for that.

But understand this, nerd-lingers: When you do this kind of thing as a hobby, record it on camera, and post it all over the internet for everyone to see, you have to deal with some pointing and laughing from time to time. Further uncool points awarded for including a hit-counter on your website, a la Geocities/Angelfire circa 1997: 5,669 visitors in a YEAR? This hurts me more than it hurts you, guys:

Never change, you guys.

OK, guys. I don’t have anything particularly witty or clever to say about this ad. Sometimes there just are no words.

But in this case, there are. Five of them.

Japanese. Darth. Vader. Cell. Phone.

Actually, here’s a brief summation of my thoughts on this ad: It’s not as if this is the weirdest Japanese ad in the world. In fact, it’s pretty tame, apart from the the unexplained presence of Vader—is he a metaphor? What does he symbolize? Is the phone called “The Sith”, or “The Darth” or something? I can’t tell. But I just love the fact that the commercial’s director can’t just do a straight ad—he/she just can’t resist ratcheting up the Japanese-bizarreness quotient around the 40-second mark with Mr. Over-exaggerated Elvis Hair.

Although I spend my fair share of time at the gym, I must confess, I never developed a fondness for yoga. My gym has free classes, but I’d sooner lick a bus stop than sit though an hour of lotus pose set to Southeast Asia-style hippie tunes. I don’t want to hug the earth or feel the child’s pose. I just want to listen to some Fugazi and sweat out last night’s boozy indiscretions.

I guess in an effort to get yoga to man up (or nerd up), You Will Not Believe has come up with a “Star Wars” themed yoga system. I’m not duped by this obvious ruse though. Whether it’s “downward facing wookie” or “downward dog”, I’d rather spend my afternoon on the treadmill thanks.

Speaking of boozy indiscretions, $5 Dos Equis yards at Woody’s Rum Bar in Fells Point tonight. I’m there!

This ad is most excellent because:
a. It’s eco-friendly
b. It’s punny
c. It involves Darth Vader cuddling a lamb
d. All of the above!

Via Like Cool

Today’s WTF Wednesday is a double dose, because there’s lots of weird stuff to share. First up, Star Wars themed burlesque, because apparently sexy girls in and of themselves aren’t enough to excite men? If you’re in LA and want to see a topless C3PO have at it I guess?

Via LA Weekly

In other totally unrelated WTF news, remember last month when the mayor of Copenhagen made a fuss about how the environmental summit crowd should save the planet by avoiding the city’s prostitutes? This puritanical posturing seems like quite a far cry from the country’s bizarre attempt at viral marketing.

VisitDenmark put out a video featuring an attractive young Danish woman claiming that she was looking for the father of her baby — a tourist she had a drunken one night stand with. So I guess the message was supposed to be something along the lines of “Denmark: come for the beer, stay for the unprotected sex with our loose women?”  I like how, in the video, she say she hasn’t been with anyone but this tourist, so he must be the father. That’s right, hot Danish girls are saving themselves for unsafe sex with drunk tourists.

When asked about this major marketing fail, VisitDenmark’s spokeswoman said “Karens story shows that Denmark is a free place with space for you to be who you want. The film is good exposure for Danish self sufficient and dignified women.” WTF?! Naturally, response to this video was less than favorable and VisitDenmark removed their video, but you know how it is, once in cyberspace, always in cyberspace. You can enjoy the WTFery below:

Would this actually make people want to visit Denmark?

via Adland