i cover the whole spectrum call me roy b. giv

the adicolors campaign has the focus of adidas activewear/sneakers placed on customization and creativity via color. the line is a throwback to/relaunch of the adicolor line that dropped in 1983. these kicks were white on white but came with a package of markers in (yellow,black,pink,green,red and blue) to allow you to customize em. the original adicolors inspired a slew of creativity amongst graffiti writers/artist and the generally stylish of the day. In '83 sneaker culture in the mainstream was still in it's infancy. Savy sneaker connoisseurs could trek to tucked away mom and pops to find kicks in various colors, while others would customize their kicks with spray paint or markers to get unique colors, but the masses were still relatively limited to primary colors. So to allow buyers to have whatever they wanted on their sneakers was a really BIG move.

adidas has expanded on that spirit of creativity in their revived campaign in a couple different ways. for their mass produced sneakers they've collaborated with a bunch of different artist from various fields. from the "Mr. Happy" Yellow kicks using a character created by british illustrator Roger Hargreaves to the Tron inspired Black sneakers, to the Green hightops designed by fashion designer Emilio Pucci alot of different creative fields are covered.

for their video presence adidas handed over each color to a different director/illustrator/animator/creative agency to create ads for. instead of going the more traditional route of a tv spot for what could be considered a rather niche market (designer sneaker buyers and streetwear connoisseurs), adidas instead has their collaborators come up with a 3-4 minute non sequitor video spot. these videos are the definition of what makes good viral marketing. they stand on their own as exceptional pieces of art, some focusing on humor others on being obtuse and odd, while some are merely sleek and sexy too the level of any hollywood production. no matter what their focus they all present the viewer with the same "what the fuck?" cool appeal. that appeal that inspires the early adopter, zero patient viewer to pass it on to a couple of friends or blog about it.

it would appear in the spirit of creativity adidas gave their collaborators little in the way of briefing or restrictions and let them each come up with pretty unique interpretations of their various colors.






YELLOW

Neill Blomkamp covers yellow with a faux trailer in the form of an action sci-fi movie. he interprets each color as a different make of cyborg, with the yellow model having escaped from the research facility and agents attempting to track it down. the trailer evokes Bladerunner with its treatment and reverence of cyborgs but feels as though it was directed by a post "Fight Club" pre "Panic Room" David Fincher or possibly a more subdued "Closer" era Mark Romanek. If this was an actual movie id be VERY interested in seeing it based upon this trailer. It carries a seriousness we don't really see in action movies alot but still has the kick assness of ROBOTS and KUNG FU. game over.





RED
for the color Red adidas teamed up with the least known of the Coppola clan, Roman Coppola. Roman creates "A Brief History Of Red" which uses simple cut and paste animation in the style of South Park to illustrate a absurd Monty Python esque journey through the story of the color red. the Rock Lobster was a particularly nice touch.




GREEN
the happy corp serves up a very Chris Cunningham esque short film for green featuring a group of elderly people in a drab, post nuclear winter future* celebrating a green holiday by getting blasted by paintballs. the slow motion combined with the quasi sexual narration and splattering of paint creates a uneasy feel throughout the whole work. but without ever getting smutty. well played happy corp, well played.

the links to the remaining four movies are below, each one a uniquely odd take on their given color. but all are captivating and well crafted. the RGBURL's are a nice touch as well.




BLACK





WHITE





BLUE





PINK

* there are really few things more badass than the combniation of words "post nuclear winter future". dave mustaine prolly has that exact phrase tattooed on his megadeth.

i love it when she rocks her hips from side to side

im in love with the [fairly] new crime mob song "Rock Yo Hips". it seems with *the mob being old enough to vote now theyve someone mellowed out a lil bit and have stopped threatening to "beat you ass", "get knuck", or "fuck niggas up". instead they just want a young lady to just "rock her hips". aint that sweet. no shake it like a salt shaker, no put em on the glass, no laffy taffy. just rock your hips. understatement. class. crime mob.

also the jam "Wuz up" with Bo Hagen and dude from D4L is next level. when dude starts talkin about seeing spaceships and shit... game over. and really at this point any song with princess and diamond from the mob on it, is automatically going to the top of my playlist.

check out the fight club homage video "I'll Beat Your Ass" as well. am i the only one concerned that princess or diamond might in fact beat my ass? sayin'







*im really pushing the mob as the official abbreviation of crime mob. disseminate it at will.

ruminations on the new superman

First and foremost if you werent aware the full length trailer for the new Superman movie [Superman Returns] just dropped on apple's site.check the technique. Bryan Singer [Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, Xmen 1 & 2] is behind the lense on this new movie and frankly from this trailer it looks like itll be exceptional. From the shots shown in the trailer it seems as though hes really embraced the grandiosity and epic scope of the Superman mythology (peep the opening shot as the camera pulls into the ice of the north pole or the amazing interiors of the fortress of Solitude. This aspect was missing from the earlier 70's/80's incarnation of Superman, one would imagine because of budget/FX limitations. But it looks oh so pretty on film here. Like Alicia Keys pretty, you know "i keep fallliinnn innnn love..." type o' shit. The scenes of the daily planet reveal what seems to be a 40's inspired decorating scheme on that art deco tip. that with some of the clothing choices and the lighting in some of these Lois/Superman scenes seems to indicate a film noir feel for this movie which is very exciting. "why so exciting?" you ask?

Well, upon first hearing about an update/sequel to the Superman franchise the obvious question is "how do you update Superman?". hes always been a bit of a one note character. stongest dude ever/impenetrable/truth, justice and the american way. giant boy scout blah blah blah. how does that fit into the world now? the character feels extremely dated and irrelevant. You have the X-men movies which serve as perfect allegory to discrimination and alienation [racial, age, sexual preference etc] you have Batman Begins and V for Vendetta with their thoughts on revenge, hedgemony and despotism [which taking into account our current political/foreign policy/war status is very interesting] and you have Spiderman which incorporates the problems of the everyman into the world of a superhero. all very relatable ideas masked in well...masks and capes. But with superman you have a much harder concept to deliver, how many of us deal with the problems of being invulnerable and the burden of essentially being a God amongst men? not many. However judging from the trailer and materials floating around on the production/story it seems that Singer may have found a way to humanize and make relevant an extremely dated and foreign character. the movie deals with Superman returning to earth after an unspecified absence to find a world that may or may not need him and a Lois Lane whose got a kid and is married.



The idea of a lover whose moved on and/or blowing a chance with said lover is definetly a relatable concept. It allows us to see Superman as a human for the first time as he is truly and completely fallable in a way we have all experienced. If we look back to the events of the classic Superman II [in which Superman relenquishes his powers so that he can have a romantic life with Lois Lane] and connect those with the idea of Superman being weakened [at least emotionally and id imagine to some extent physically threatened or endangered] by the new relationship of Lois Lane, one could make an argument [albeit a tenuous one] that suggest Lois is the greatest threat to the life of Superman sans kryptonite. And if we accept Superman as a representation of the superego* and Lois as a representation of women in general, could we extrapolate that women are the great danger to the idealized man????

i dunno, maybe i have too much time on my hands/think too much. either way im stoked to see this movie.

*i'm referencing the superego in the sense of holding social norms and idealized behaviors/morals NOT in the Oedipal sense.