The Long Lost Mexican Twin of President Obama
Could it be that President Obama has a long lost twin from my hometown?
![clip_image001[4]](http://blog.peaceworks.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/clip-image0014.jpg "clip_image001[4]")
![clip_image001[6]](http://blog.peaceworks.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/clip-image0016.jpg "clip_image001[6]")
Smirnoff Ice Drinkers Gain Attention
by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky
Smirnoff Ice, a sugary alcoholic beverage, has become the key ingredient to the latest popular drinking game known as “icing.” When approached with a Smirnoff Ice, the recipient is required to get down on one knee and chug the whole bottle (unless of course he is armed with the same drink, in which case his benefactor is required to drink both). While Smirnoff denies any association with the drinking game that has created amazing free advertising to their benefit, it is possible that a tiny group of consumers truly started it, but then the company discreetly buttressed it. As the New York Times put it, “[t]he game has exposed the mercurial line between guerrilla advertising and genuine social media trends, raising questions about how young consumers can know when they have co-opted a brand for their own purposes, and when that brand has co-opted them.”
A KIND Celebration
Check out this very creative surprise for a Danish bus driver - it was part guerrilla promotion for the bus company, part fun for the voyagers, and part KINDING for the birthday of the targeted bus driver!
Lost in Translation
by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky
The New York Times had a fun compilation of signs across the world that conveyed something surprising, not always unintended, but always funny.
Ridiculously outdated advertisements
By Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky
Check out these disturbing old advertisements to realize just how far we’ve come. It’s ridiculous that society used to be this way!
![clip_image001[4]](http://blog.peaceworks.net/wp-content/uploads/Ridiculouslyoutdatedadvertisements_B3FE/clip_image0014.jpg "clip_image001[4]")
![clip_image001[12]](http://blog.peaceworks.net/wp-content/uploads/Ridiculouslyoutdatedadvertisements_B3FE/clip_image00112.jpg "clip_image001[12]")
![clip_image001[6]](http://blog.peaceworks.net/wp-content/uploads/Ridiculouslyoutdatedadvertisements_B3FE/clip_image0016.jpg "clip_image001[6]")
![clip_image001[8]](http://blog.peaceworks.net/wp-content/uploads/Ridiculouslyoutdatedadvertisements_B3FE/clip_image0018.jpg "clip_image001[8]")
![clip_image001[10]](http://blog.peaceworks.net/wp-content/uploads/Ridiculouslyoutdatedadvertisements_B3FE/clip_image00110.jpg "clip_image001[10]")
Chinese Magic - literally
Very impressive! Watch till the end! Does anyone know how the last part is done?
My briefing at the Pentagon
Ok, ok, this picture is actually a joke. I was at the Pentagon, but I just asked an officer to stand there by this podium they keep at the visitors center for silly visitors like me to take a picture.
The pentagon is like a city unto itself, and the building includes all the shops and services one could imagine needing.
Japanese Fiddler On the Roof
Not lost in translation!
Self-criticism & Independent Opinions in the Arab World
Amman (the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) recently hosted a comedy festival organized by Arab-American comedians.
Beyond being a constructive exercise, it exposed the need to encourage more introspection and independent thinking in Arab education, which is not just valuable to comedy (self-deprecating humor, sarcastic humor) as the article points out, but would also strengthen democratic institutions and foster entrepreneurial values, innovation, and balance of power.
Great Pop call-outs by TIME
While many of the choices on TIME Magazine’s Top 10 lists for 2009 were lame or uninspired, here are a few worthwhile picks:
MOST HILARIOUS VIDEO:
Bonnie Tyler spoof of 80s (Other viral videos: I had already noted great videos including of Susan Boyle, and there are other good ones like this wedding procession, the post-it film "deadline", the mock ad for Flutter that underlines the silliness of the world we live in, and the baby dancing that even my grandmother had forwarded me)
FUNNIEST AD:
Hulu
COOL AND DEEP:
The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.
Also Cool Scientific Discoveries:
- The Human Epigenome, Decoded
- Gene Therapy Cures Color Blindness
- A Robot Performs Science
- Breeding Tuna on Land
- Teleportation!
- Top 10 New Species
- A 3D Digital Camera
-
Progressive Business Ventures
-
Enterpreneurial Social Ventures
