November 24, 2006
Welcome to Idealog Weekly, the free email newsletter for New Zealand commercial creatives, entrepreneurs and anyone rich with ideas. In this week’s issue: x-ray movies, the survey survey, giving in to hate, the music matrix, gigs at a genteel hour, collaborative art and the quote of the week. X-ray movies Think of video art and you’ll probably think of the small screen. Bruce Ferguson and Mike Hodgson don’t think small, though: their amazing video creations are designed to be rendered at a huge scale. “If you go to any post-production house and say we want five hours of 5,000 by 600 pixels, they’ll just laugh,” says Ferguson. But, as Simon Young reports, Hodgson and Ferguson like the challenge. It helps that their work is amazing. Big-name brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiger Beer and Lancome seek out the duo for splashy launches and unique presentations. Visit our website to read Hodgson and Ferguson’s story and check out some samples of their work.
The survey survey The clever code jockeys at Ubiquity, who run our mailing lists for us, want to know what Idealog readers think about online surveys. Naturally, they’re conducting their research with, uh, an online survey. It’s a good cause though, it’ll take just two minutes and there’s a top-of-the-range, 80-gigabyte, fifth-generation iPod to be won. So survey away!
Giving in to hate Japanese car ads are not often accompanied by country music—but here’s a car ad unlike any other, set in the key of ‘grrr’ … The music matrix Jake Pearce sent us a link to Musicovery, ‘interactive webRadio’. Musicovery, like Pandora, categorises tunes and recommends music according to your taste. But where Pandora recommends tracks based on a song or artist that you already like, Musicovery lets users select the type of music they like by selecting a point on a graphical matrix. Very cool—I was a bit distressed to see Phil Collins placed right beside the incomparable Otis Redding, but who am I to argue with the wisdom of computers? Try it out.
Gigs at a genteel hour Last night Kiwi FM and The Living Room launched the first of their ‘After 5 Live’ series of Kiwi music gigs with a performance from former Gramsci frontman Paul McLaney. The ‘After 5 Live’ events are free and start at the very human time of 5.30pm, followed by a selection of local tracks selected by Kiwi FM hosts. Next Thursday Reb Fountain and Dylan Storey will play an acoustic set—a perfect reason to get to Ponsonby Road before rush hour. The Living Room, 106 Ponsonby Rd, Auckland Collaborative art Auckland’s Treehouse Gallery is inviting people to their first ‘collaborative exhibition’ tonight. The brief: “some artists, some found materials and some paint“. It kicks off at 6pm and by 8pm we’ll know just what two hours of mass artistic frenzy can achieve. Treehouse Gallery, Level 1, 260 Queen St, Auckland Don’t forget also to check events on our Agenda pages of our magazine and website—and you can even add your own events online. Quote of the week “I only want to work with people who are really good at what they do. The team is very important. We’re always looking around for people who get excited with ideas of how to transform a space.”
—Bruce Ferguson More at Idealog online Read more on our website: Web exclusives, opinion, Idealog IP and the Idealog blogs. See you at idealog.co.nz. Matt Cooney
Editor
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