the art of conversation

Pictures and meanings (again)

Turns out it's a film, this year's summer blockbuster maybe. The Time Traveler's (sic) Wife ... He Came From The Future, Upside Down!

WHY exactly is this poster portrait format? Is it to do with the sites available? I honestly thought it was advertising a book, not a film, maybe because the poster is book-shaped, not film-shaped.

I know, it says 'cinemas August 14', but I was so absorbed by the bloke (Eric, presumably) dangling down to cuddle Rachel (presumably), that I missed that detail.

An astute media observation, or just a bit stoopid. You decide.

All very trivial, but our first blog post via iPhone!

Introducing Twitcam

21st July saw the launch of yet another Twitter themed application: Twitcam.

The idea is similar to Qik and 12seconds whereby you post a comment or a tweet audio/visually as opposed to text (as per standard Twitter fashion). Alongside each tweet via Twitcam, Tweeters are able to post text comments alongside what they see and hear. 

There is also the possibility of a live webstream from your computer so fellow Tweeters can not only follow you for longer but get a real sense of who you are. To give you an example, here is a still of Siamack and Kevin trialling Twitcam's livestream here at EverydayLives Towers:

This is just another example of the many Twitter themed gizmos available at the moment (of which we are currently enjoying Twitpic, Twibes, Tweetdeck, Twitter 101). Take a look at the Twitter Book for a useful summary of other Twitstuff.

    

A point was raised a while back at the Tuttle Club about the direction of social media comms being VITAL (visual, image, text, audio, link) based. It seems Twitter are trying to move beyond text.

Interesting to see how Google deals with the expansion and potential threat of Twitter and its applications, as Google looks to continue its development of applications within similar online territories.

Simon

 

In Praise of Everyday People

On Monday this week, Antony Gormley's fourth plinth exhibit opened, titled 'One and Other'.

The purpose of the project is for the general public to occupy the fourth plinth space 'normally reserved for statues of Kings and Generals' and to 'become an image of themselves, and a representation of the whole of humanity.' The plinth will be filled for 24 hours a day over the next 100 days.

We took to the exhibit because of its promotion of the everyday person from realtive obscurity to publicity and celebration. It tells us that we are (to some extent at least) fascinating and worth paying attention to - something core to our belief when it comes to interviewing and observation.

We captured a few vox pops of people's impressions of the event in which they praise the exhibition of everyday people:

4th Plinth, One and Another, Antony Gormley from Wardle Mclean on Vimeo.

Simon

PICTURES, BRANDS AND MEANINGS (CONT'D)

So it seems we were right, they are models, not tennis players. But there are many more games going on here as well as tennis.

Wimbledon is in full swing and Andy Murray is in the semis (2 July), having survived a tricky post-match interview with Gary Richardson (surely the model for fake sports interviewer, Alan Partridge?)

But what is really going on in this new poster for Evian? Clearly it is all about sex and the usurping of male values and institutions. 'Order, order', the old order is changing. John Bercow must be a woman in drag. 

The picture shows a fragile phallic structure with male legs disappearing out the top of the picture and two women underneath, able to topple the unseen male blazer at any moment. The woman on the left represents women seeking equality in sport, demurely checking her racket and trying to be taken seriously. Her partner on the right is brazenly flaunting conventions and showing off her body, provocatively holding a bottle of Evian to her legs with an expression of pleasure on her upturned face, as if to say, is this what you want? 

The onlookers who are nearly all male, are impassive and self-centred, like viewers of porn, not a sporting spectacle. Everyone is waiting, time is suspended, while the woman on the right reflects back our inauthentic gaze with her fake performance and her partner waits to do the real thing.

Sisters are doing it, for themselves.

And of course the scene links back to The Great Gatsby, in which a bunch of privileged and morally bankrupt characters swan around, drinking heavily and bitching about each other, in the oppressive heat, under the symbolic gaze of the spectacles (here replaced by a pair of legs). Representing the end of the male-dominated era, the absent hero, the arrival of women at last in society.

Of course, Evian's sponsorship of Wimbledon is a clever recognition of the sexualisation of women tennis players and is a celebration of the inauthentic nature of our interest in the tournament. Possibly. They are clearly complicit in undermining the old, male order with surreal, distracting imagery, in order to allow women to infiltrate into the scene. And to support Roger Federer with these mind games ...