Link roundup

1. The Oakland A's were the talk of the sports world on Monday after signing Cuban slugger/outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who put out a truly outlandish promotional video. If you're not convinced it's worth your time to watch, read this detailed description.

2. A lengthy analysis of why the Death Star's trash compactor makes little sense.

3. Bonsai tree houses.

4. Gyroscopically stabilized pool table for cruise ships.

Link roundup

1. 5 secret drinks at Starbucks including the Snickers Frappuccino (Java Chip Frappuccino with caramel and toffee nut).

2. Online ads:

Who’s buying the lions’ share of advertising on news websites? Nobody. For most of the 22 news organizations PEJ studied, the top category of advertising was in-house — ie. self-promotional ads for the publishers’ own products or services. Those accounted for 21% of the ads on in the sample of websites the study tracked, a group that includes newspapers like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, web-only outlets like Yahoo and the Huffington Post, magazines like Time and The Atlantic and TV networks’ web companion sites like cbsnews.com and cnn.com

3. Looks like Kickstarter will make close to $100,000 by the time Double Fine's Kickstarter ends.

4. If you don't mind spamming your friends on Twitter, MTV is giving away a big McFarlane toys prize pack.

5. Here's another art idea, create a poster for Angelina Jolie as Maleficent.

Cabinet of Dreams: A Virtual Charity Shop

WomensAidGifts by Grey:

This Valentine's Day, advertising agency Grey London has teamed up with national charity Women's Aid to offer shoppers something a little more interesting than the usual chocolates or flowers with some truly magical, once-in-a-lifetime gifts. The Women's Aid Cabinet of Dreams features nine extraordinary Valentine's gifts that, literally, money can't buy! Designed by Grey and displayed majestically in bell-jars in a Soho shopfront 3D installation, each gift has its own unique interpretation and illustration from one of London's top artists or collectives, including Rob Ryan, Kyle Bean, Fred Butler, The Last Tuesday Society, Nicole Mueller, Suck & Chew, Francesca Mair, Marie-Louise Jones and Charlotte Brown. Shoppers can "purchase" the gifts by texting the number next to each item, and donate an amount between £2 and £20 to Women's Aid. The purchase will then be sent via text to the recipient who will be informed of the donation and their unique present. While £10 can buy a simple bouquet, for Women's Aid it would be a valuable contribution towards providing lifesaving services, with the added extra of being a truly romantic and unique gift.

You can buy the virtual items here, and read about the designers of the objects here.





Via.

Advertisements for a karate school

Karate school advertisements by Grey. Via.

Gotham City Impostors cosplay

Marketing for Gotham City Impostors. (I like the character designs infinitely more than the actual game.)

Alan Wake's American Nightmare

Here's the first developer's diary for Alan Wake's American Nightmare. Ignore their blather about the game's features and pay attention to what's going on behind them. Via.

*Previously: Watch Bright Falls, the Alan Wake prequel.

The Secret Policeman's Ball

Advertisement for Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Ball, featuring character designs by McBess.




*Buy McBess Dunnys at eBay.

Woody Harrelson and his publicist misunderstood Reddit

He volunteered to participate in an Ask Me Anything session, apparently thinking he could simply promote his new movie, and ignore the community's questions. Big mistake. Huge.

Link roundup

1. Links to the personal websites of the Tron Uprising art team.

2. Astonishing data on the number of politicians in India also facing criminal charges.

3. "'Huffington Post' Employee Sucked Into Aggregation Turbine
Horrified Workers Watch As Colleague Torn Apart By Powerful Content-Gathering Engine"

4. Are we headed to a future where our wars will be entirely fought by robots and the only people at risk are contractors?

5. Oops:

An advertising agency for BMW has paid to name a cold weather front sweeping Europe "Cooper" in Germany, after the carmaker's Mini Cooper.

But the public-relations stunt by the agency went wrong after the freezing conditions led to dozens of deaths.

*Buy Tron Legacy posters at eBay.

Commercial for Nike Football Combines

Advertisement by Nimpsy for Nike's football training sessions. Via.

*Buy the Nike+ Sportband at Amazon.

Me and You by Nero

Me and You by Nero - - the song from the commercial for Beats by Dr. Dre at Best Buy.



This is good, too: Nero - Must Be The Feeling (Delta Heavy Remix):



Available as a free download.

Super simple way to use Facebook to promote your town

One tiny town in Switzerland found a fun (and entirely wholesome) way to promote itself on Facebook. Via.

Link roundup

1. Didn't work for me, but apparently you can play right in your browser the Alice: Madness Returns demo.

2. Speaking of video games, The Old Republic is $45 right now at Amazon. (Again, it's fascinating watching the algorithm work. When I started writing this post, a third party seller was offering the $45 (with shipping) rate. And just after I published, Amazon, which had been selling it for $53 matched the $45 price.)

3. Oreos had to stop being Oreos to succeed in China. Via.

4. Cool video of remote control planes modified to look like flying people. A marketing stunt, of course.

Intriguing Tanline

Hawaii 5-0 advertisement by Bleublancrouge.

*Previously: Temporary suntan tattoo.

Cat food for mutant cats?

Cat food advertisements by Hermandad that are highly reminiscent of Casey Weldon's paintings.

Vampires advertise Audi's new car

The rare commercial that's very funny and actually tells you something notable about the product.

The new ad from the Colbert Super PAC calls Mitt Romney a serial killer

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

New mischief from the Colbert Super PAC:

AMERICA – The Definitely Not Coordinated With Stephen Colbert Super PAC released its first TV ad today, in advance of South Carolina's upcoming unnamed GOP Primary. The ad, which takes an objective look at Mitt Romney's private sector experience, is entitled "Attack In B Minor For Strings."

"Mitt Romney claims to be pro-corporations," said Jon Stewart, President of The Definitely Not Coordinated With Stephen Colbert Super PAC. "But would you let him date your daughter's corporation? Americans have been clamoring for a comprehensive study of this crucial issue, so we splurged for the full sixty-second commercial. We think South Carolinians will agree – they deserve a leader who shares their state's values, and perhaps even their state's initials."

Illustration roundup

A few paintings by Samuli Heimonen, who has various prints on sale as described here. Via these sites.





Advertisements by Cornett-IMS for Canadian Hunter Whiskey, illustrated by Brad Mancuso. Via.






Advertisements by R&R Partners, illustrated by A.J. Bell. Via.




Tom Whalen's contribution to the upcoming Adult Swim show at Gallery 1988.




Spider-Man by Matt Ferguson.

Disturbing piggy bank does not make me want to save

"Nationally recognized comedy director Matt Pittroff of Twist partnered with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Ad Council to create a television spot in multiple lengths for their national multimedia public service advertising campaign for Financial Literacy, Feed the Pig. This campaign helps 25- to 34-year-olds take control of their finances and add saving to their daily lives. Educating the youth market in this post-Great Recession era about the pros of saving money, the humorous new commercial features an epic chase scene between a man and Benjamin Bankes, the campaign’s iconic ”spokespig." Via.

Not as bad as Gamestop

Clever ad by Hub Strategy for video game retailer Glyde.com which aims to simply be not as bad as Gamestop. Via.