Surely you read the New York Times every day, right? Well, if you don’t, there is one story today that I recommend, right there on the front page. Written by Damien Cave, it’s about cell phone culture in Iraq. The story explains that the “cool kids” all want an an Apache phone (named after the military helicopter) or a Humvee phone, or an Afendi (which the story says means “dapper,” in Turkish).
Even more telling are the text messages and images that Iraqis share over their phones. … One of the most popular messages making the rounds appears onscreen with the image of a skeleton. “Your call cannot be completed,” it says, “because the subscriber has been bombed or kidnapped.”
Aaron Rose is always up to cool stuff, whether it’s working out the next stop on the extraordinary journey of Beautiful Losers, the exhibition he co-curated, or working on the ANP Quarterly, among other things. His new project is Alleged Press: “Our mission now is to create a unique series of wonderful monographs, beautifully designed and printed, which spotlight the works of young artists, graphic designers, photographers and filmmakers who we believe reflect the tempo of the times.”
The first offering is a book called Out and About, by photographer Ari Marcopoulos. Here’s more on that.
Who is down with YarisWorks, the previously mentioned DIY/craft events that “empower everyday creativity and DIY ingenuity,” all “courtesy of Toyota”? You may recall from that earlier post that there was some consternation about corporate involvement in the DIY world. Make Magazine‘s blog offers its wrapup of a Yaris event in SF.
Posted Under:
DIYism,
Murketing by Rob Walker on August 7, 2006
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The other day I noted Target’s couture line, which is not actually available at Target. Since then, there have been a couple of interesting bits of news about America’s trendiest big-box retailer.
Notcot recounts a visit to the Target pop-up store on Melrose and La Cienega. What’s on sale there, through the end of August, is the current round of a Target series called “Go International,” which is basically collaborations with cool (or whatever) fashion designers. This time it’s Paul & Joe, a brand you can learn about at Target’s site, if you want to. Of the store/collection, Notcot says: “It is VERY impressive in presentation and packaging AND the collection was as cheap as they claim, and better quality than i expected.”
Meanwhile, Giant Robot publisher and co-editor Eric Nakamura, on his new-ish blog, offers up some pictures of items in Target’s new “‘alternative’ indie type of line, called Independent Studies.” Evan Hecox notebooks and Deanne Cheuk plates are included. Some of the stuff in this line is apparently limited edition, according to Nakmura, who adds: “While you’re at Target, get an Icee. They’re still pretty good.”
The “brand underground” story got a number of interesting reactions, ranging (predictably) from those who thought the piece was too adulatory, and those who found it too critical. The criticisms I got by email and in the comments to last week’s posting of the story on this site leaned slightly toward the “too adulatory.” Criticisms on blogs leaned a bit the other way. Obviously those who liked the story said similar things whatever by whatever means. For what it’s worth, the three main subjects of the story all seemed to think they were treated fairly, which undercuts the theory the theory that I was dismissive of them, but could be taken as evidence in support of the theory that I gave them too much hype.
Anyway, here’s a representation of what my (vanity-driven?) search for online feedback yielded.
Con: Coutorture says I’m old and un-nuanced and meandering and I just don’t get it; full-on attack by TrendyNation for allegedly being too critical and dismissive; Acronym says outsiders, contrary to what I suggest, do in fact define subcultures (or brands, which Acronym I gather sees as being the same thing as subcultures).
Pro: Thoughtful response from Heyblog; kind words from Business Week’s Jon Fine, and from Freshness; high five from Vulture Droppings for admitting that I’m not in the target demo.
I’m not sure, but interesting: PSFK says (in contrast to the above complaints that the story didn’t take the brand undergrounders seriously enough), that my take was “too romantic” (but adds that the story overall is consistent with things that other people have already said); Owlspotting examines the issues by way of a recently-received T-shirt; Pretty Goes with Pretty says “It’s a metacritical Hyperconsumerist World; We Live in It.” The always-interesting Marginal Utility wonders if “the next culture ‘war’ may be between the cool types Walker profiles who are obsessed with their own identity and measuring their own impact on the world … and the people who reject that kind of significance and atttempt a kind of anonymity that will feel more and more like freedom.”
Each category above represents a sampling, not every single relevant post. I appreciate all opinions and feedback. I don’t particularly appreciate the various blogs that simply re-published the piece in its entirety without asking. Whatever. Anyway, since the Times version many people linked to is now behind a firewall, I’ve just put the full story on this site.
August 13 Update: The NYT Mag has a sampling of letters about the article in today’s issue.
[Since the version of this story many people have linked to is behind a firewall now, here it is in full. By Rob Walker, from July 30, 2006, issue of New York Times Magazine:]
Aaron Bondaroff is 29, part Puerto Rican, part Jewish, Brooklyn-born and a high-school dropout. His life weaves through the most elusive subcultures of lower Manhattan. A-Ron, as he is also known, is one of those individuals who embodies a scene. “I’m so downtown,” Bondaroff is fond of saying, “I don’t go above Delancey.”
Even so, he longs for something bigger, like the cultural noise made by the Beats in the 1950’s or Andy Warhol’s Factory in the 1960’s or the bands and fans who clustered around CBGB’s in the 1970’s. He wants to “make history” and join “the time line” of New York. He is not an artist, an author, a designer, musician, filmmaker or even a famous skateboarder or graffiti writer. So in another era, Bondaroff might have had to settle for his cameos in some of the acclaimed images of youthful outsider debauchery captured by his photographer friend Ryan McGinley. He could be, in other words, a counterculture muse, like Neal Cassady or Edie Sedgwick.
In our present era, however, he may not have to settle. There’s a new alternative, one that’s neatly summed up in a question that A-Ron has been asking himself lately: “How do I turn my lifestyle into a business?”
The answer he came up with is worth paying attention to because it speaks to a significant but little-noted development in contemporary culture. Please continue…
This week in Consumed: Mimoco: Why form needs functionality — however vague.
Cheap, boring devices don’t sit still for very long these days before somebody comes along to breathe new life — and profit margins — into them, through clever aesthetics. So it is with flash drives, which have lately become the raw, functional device onto which a variety of design identities has been layered. The most compelling example may be Mimobots, the creations of Mimoco, a “designer- toy studio meets consumer electronics brand” based in Boston that has pulled the drives into the context of collectibles.
Read the rest of the column at the NYT Magazine site, via this no-registration-required link.
Related links: Mimoco; Popgadget; Popgadget on sushi-like USB drives; Popgadget on branch-like USB drives; Gizmodo on World Cup USB drives; Flashbag; Availabot; Swiss Army Knife with USB drive.
Several weeks ago, after reading an item in Ad Age a few about American Apparel having its own island store in Second Life, I decided I had to check it out. “Second Life,” Ad Age explained, “is one of several virtual online worlds where trendsetters are flocking to exchange ideas, egos, and virtual property using IM-equipped ‘avatars,’ or highly customized 3D representations of themselves.” At left is my avatar (avatard? do people say that? is it offensive?) self: Murk Story. Since my readership here is dominated by people I’ve met, who thus know what I look like in real life, I won’t dwell on similarities and differences. I’ll admit, however, that I wanted my avatar’s aesthetic to match that of this site.)
I really am out of the office for the rest of this week, but before I disappear for a few days, I thought I’d post this dispatch from my experience getting out of the office, while I was still in the office….
Please continue…
A few weeks ago we rented The Great Rock N Roll Swindle, which I’d never actually seen, or had seen so long ago that I had basically no memory of it.
I was working on the “brand underground” story at the time, and I think maybe because of that I noticed these T shirts in one particularly absurd scene. Given the context of the movie, I assume they’re fake, and meant as satirical. But who knows? Anyway, I think somebody should make these now.
Incredibly bad movie, by the by, but some of the live-performance clips are amazing.
I was surprised when my snotty review of the Chrysler Dr. Z ads resulted in several comments defending it. Today, however, Ad Age runs a story: “Chrysler’s Dr. Z cure fails; July sales slump; Buyers unswayed by $225M of ads or chairman, who was seen as ‘fictional.'” The story says “auto experts” now predict the campaign wil be junked.
But wait! Here’s the interesting thing. Inside Ad Age is an article about some research firm on the new wave of spokespeople who are … fictional! Apparently certain fictional characters — not the actors who play them, the characters — from Desperate Housewives, Will and Grace, and Shrek, can be more efffective endorsers than actual celebrities. (Confusingly, the top “spokescharacter” is the star of Supernanny, as “played by” Jo Frost — isn’t that a reality show?)
Maybe, then, Chrysler should not dump Dr. Z, but more thoroughly fictionalize him. Put him a sitcom, or a movie, or a comic book. He needs more of a back story, his character needs to be fleshed out. People already think he’s fake, so he’s basically a blank slate.
Maybe in the fictional version he could portray, I don’t know, the head of a popular car company.
In addition to Consumed, this week’s Times Magazine includes my look at the “brand underground.” Here’s a no registration required link, although it’s a rather long piece to read online.
Here are some additional links related to the story. First, the three main example brands are The Hundreds, Barking Irons, and aNYthing. Also mentioned are Futura and Stash, I think the best link to give for them is the Recon Store site. My thanks to all of these folks for the time and patience.
Two of the blogs I mention are HypeBeast and Slam X Hype. If you’re curious about the parenthetical mentions: here are links related to Neckface and Mister Cartoon. If you’re curious about something else in the story that you’d like me to link to, just say so.
I was really pleased with the idea to have a T-shirt created by Kevin Lyons for the cover shot. I think this is his site. Here are some examples of his art. Here is a T-shirt of his, and some coasters, via Arkitip.
This week in Consumed: Wawa: A low-glamour business enjoys surprising fandom. Maybe it’s the service.
The I Love Wawa group on MySpace.com has more than 5,000 members, making it the largest of several Wawa-related groups on the online-community site. Over on Livejournal.com, there’s a group called We Love Wawa, with about 950 members. This would be pretty ho-hum if Wawa were an indie band or video game. Instead, it’s a chain of convenience stores, with 550 locations in five states on the East Coast. Many of the postings to these groups involve praise for Wawa’s house-brand goods — coffee, hoagies, etc. But the most intriguing factor in Wawa loyalty may be something else: the service.
Continue reading at the New York Times Magazine site via this no-registration required link.
Additional links: I Love Wawa Myspace group; We Love Wawa’s LiveJournal; Wawa pool on Flickr.
Posted Under:
Consumed,
Fandom,
Retail by Rob Walker on July 30, 2006
Comments Off on Convenience Cult?
Paul “Uni Watch” Lukas outdoes himself again by posting a bunch of amazing images from his collection of old uniform catalogs. The image at right, picked almost at random from the impressive assortment, is a foldout poster from a 1940 Spalding catalog.
Paul explains that he prefers catalogs from the 1950s or earlier, for these reasons: “(1) Uniform design was more interesting in those days; (2) catalog graphic design was more interesting in those days as well; and (3) the older catalogs are more likely to include fabric swatches, which makes the catalog much more appealing.” Check the rest here.
An item about Hewlett-Packard paying for placement in, of all things, a Jessica Simpson video (oh yeah, that’s cool) mentions that a guy in the video at one point holds some H-P gizmo in such a way that it “flashes H-P’s new hand-shaped logo on the back.” I haven’t seen the video, of course, but this reminded that H-P’s recent print ads have included a hand graphic that looked suspiciously familiar. A moment with Google brought me to this guy, who evidently had the same thought (and this guy, who thought of it earlier). Here’s the side-by-side graphics offered by Guy Number One:
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