NHS wins coolest health care system award.

I've been writing or rather, trying to write a paper on the politics of health care provision. In so doing I've come across this great video by the NHS on the 'essential use of condom wear'. Titled 'beer goggles', the message I'm getting is that too much alcohol blurs your vision, thus leading to casual sex with unattractive women... thus one should use condoms just in case this leads to undesirable genetics? You know, the more I blog, the more I realize how viral ads might not actually be the best form of conveying a message as I anticipated it to be, in terms of message richness and 'readability' in corp comms talkspeak. Here's the fun ad! I'm not sure why it struck me as bizarre but it might have been the facial acrobatics the fat lady is attempting.



Admittedly this ad does add value to NHS nonetheless! Apart from disparaging its distribution system (my money=bum on the bench's medical benefits), it makes me think of it more fondly. Naturally this is no comparison at all to the MOH's advertising methods... wait, are there any?

By the way ripping off the Youtube embed link for an SWF video upload into blogger is way more efficient- and I must say, smarter, than copying it into Photobucket or Google pages (that by the way is pretty much defunct) that I'm-all-that techies have been writing about all over the Internet. Yes, I am shamelessly showcasing my indubitable talent for amateur blogging, so sue me.

Doctor, doctor.

Wow this is weird. An ad by Treximet which is the equivalent of our Panadol:


I don't think 'holding my head in my hands' has ever been so literally illustrated before. Don't think this ad would soothe any headache I had.

The following is kind of irrelevant but I should think, interesting, for those into branding, semiotics, social networks etc.- which was what really got me interested in advertising and subsequently my internship last summer, in the first place. Anyway for those who want to , check it out.

Culture Networks (Lecture)

View more presentations from Tim Stock.

All the above is from Brandnoise.

Tech tip for the freak

I've always hated the 'man vs. machine' theme that began with 1984, and 'man = machine' doesn't sit well with me either.

Recently Jerry Jalava from Finland lost a finger in an accident. Being a computer programmer I guess he was being opportunistic when he replaced it with an prosthetic finger that had a USB drive attached. He 'uses the 2GB memory stick, accessed by peeling back the "nail", to store photos, movies and programmes'. While that might make most SMU students drool, it really does not turn me on!

Read more about the 'finger drive' here.

Two scoops please!

Am flailing in an essay cesspool, so I decided to go looking for an e-pick-me-up by researching something that is representative of all things beautiful. Ice Cream! Except that throwing in 'weird' before the phrase kind of skews thing a little.



Photo Credit: Who Sucks

The Japs have come up with ice-cream in Fish, Octopus, Squid and Ox Tongue flavours (including horsemeat and many more). How about that to whet your tastebuds?

Sheepvertising

Check out Samsung advertising their LED technology with LED-lit sheep!

"More than a million internet users have watched the viral video in the four days since it was released online.

The 200 second ad also sees the creatures manoeuvred into position to create a giant sheep and even has them creating the Mona Lisa with the various coloured LEDs on their back." - Telegraph UK

What are they going to make animals do next?!?! But yes, pretty cool.

Vamp it down!

First there was Dracula, then there was Buffy the sexy vampire. I vaguely remember reading Christopher Pike's series, The Last Vampire, in between- slightly sordid and disturbingly salacious children's fiction that I gobbled up with naughty pubescent curiosity. Then came the unstoppable proliferation of vampires from movies like Blade to recent tv series True Blood, and then Twilight came along. The books are shit, the movie's average, and now it's just become plain obnoxious as it takes over jewellery lines and fashion shows with comicon-lookalikes, turning fashion shows into total bloodbaths.

Picture credits: Trendhunter

Hungry?

This space has been pretty quiet the past week, as it's been inundated with paper after paper that has drained me, spent me and shot my stress level to hell. And there is only more to look forward to! But before I'm rained down by another essay avalanche here's what people have been getting up to.

I love the Guinness World Records- it AMAZES me. Here's an update on Uribe, the fattest man in the world.

He's spent 6 years lying in bed, immobile. Finally getting tired of his sedentary lifestyle, he hollered out for some new wheels so he could see the world. Now, he's gotten custom fixtures added to his van to support his record-breaking weight, converting it into some kind of 'an open-air, flatbed pickup of sorts', so he can finally roll out and lounge outside of his 'remodeled garage that now include(s) a forklift to help raise his regular bed up to the level of his car bed, allowing him to switch locations from time to time'. Isn't that inspiring!!! He should totally get an episode on Pimp my ride!

Time recently posted an article that might appeal to you, if you're into weird aesthetics when it comes to food. The following images are of the Modern Toilet, an increasingly popular taiwanese food chain, where they have installed poop-shaped lights and dish covers and the curry on toilet-shaped plates in their restaurants. Personally I can think of one person - my friend M, who might appreciate this!



photo credits: Fun fever and Time

Though hardly as gross as Japan's newest shit-for-food fad (could only find a forum conversation- guess it advertises by word of mouth!), it still makes me wonder how these places actually gain popularity. Have people really run out of ideas, to the extent where they have to resort to such disturbing business innovations? I'm pretty old school myself, I like my plates and food-shaped food!

Uggs-factor

The Internet keeps churning out weirder and weirder stuff. At the rate I'm finding stuff like this, I'm starting to worry more and more about the global state of the normalcy.

Either I am utterly incompetent at identifying state-of-the-art footwear that I ought to be willing to sell my life for, or this is just... YUCK. Via Jak&Jill

In my search for the latest trends, this is what I find. I repeat... WORRYING.


Via Style and Movement

Is Ugly the new Beautiful? Somewhat unsurprisingly, there's a burgeoning industry for Ugly Models. Check it out if you need some pocket money.

The following post is dedicated to J, who I know will appreciate it best. Although I also hope it will not inspire an experiment in her maternal future.

And this is just hilarious. 1) BAD PARENTING! Ever heard of a potty? 2) What's this doing on the Internet when said bad parent should be hauling the kid out instead of snapping this kodak moment? 3) I hope nobody tried flushing. Via Dave's Daily

Yetis and microwaves

What is up with people and shaving?

Get some action here at Shave My Yeti!

No, I do not google 'shaving' on a regular basis. I don't have to find them- they find me!

And here's a semi rip-off of Mythbusters. Ever wonder what happens if you microwave ketchup packets? Or a football? They show you!

Don't try it at home.

OMNOMNOM!

Night-time hunger inspired the virtual hunt for some vicarious satisfaction. As usual, online expeditions are hardly ever predictable, as I found This Is Why You're Fat.

This is some extreme food blogging goin' on!


Meet the Hamdog and the Brick of Cheese


The Waffle Couch and the Mega Double Stuffed Oreo.

Now, I normally have a pretty high tolerance for gross food. Instead of nauseating me, Super Size Me made me crave McDonald's. Unlike typical Singaporean Twiggy extremists, I embrace the latest Mega Mac additions to the menu. Those cheapskates really should have 50 instead of 20-piece nugget sets! Even when I'm full, I consider finishing a Carl's Jr burger my sacred duty. Buffets? Hallelujah! But I have met my match. This is gross.

There's no aesthetic beauty to it! There is such a thing as quantity-control. And (I can't believe I'm saying this, oh sacrilege!) but that is just way too much cheese.

Ads these days!!!

Trends via TrendHunter.com.

For the uninitiated, the above is an ad by Durex. It contains three delightful bunnies painted in orange, blue and sweet pink, doing it like they do it on the discovery channel. Well, in slightly more variation perhaps.

Being cute, entertaining and potentially sexual fodder for the disturbed isn't what the video's all about. It's yet another safe sex-ed ad on essential condom use. Unfortunately, its meaning didn't really sink in till I read the explanatory text that came after. And that was only until I distributed the video, laughed about it, watched it again, laughed at it again, then scrolled down to the considerably less charming chunk of a paragraph below.

Recently, discussions have been broached on the efficacy of Social Media in message communication. This case study proves that desired cogency is hardly always the end result. And isn't it sad that some people are just too stupid to understand the importance of contraception?

On a lighter note, aren't sexverts great?

Check out a Trojan ad and where it all began. In the '70s.