Ever felt like you're insignificant
and no one wants to even hear what your thoughts are
on any given subject?

THINK AGAIN.

In this day and age, everyone
wants to know what everyone's
saying, doing, thinking...

And those who realize that the best
and know how to make the most of it
stand out from the pack the fastest!

It is the case for this one,
K.O. Kelly Oxford
(Kelly Osbourne no longer has
the exclusive on those initials -
and the former makes much more with it
than the latter, anyways...!)
who qualifies as "unruly" here
for the fact that she is a pioneer of the net
as well as one of its masters of modern witticisms
(mistresses?) in 140 characters or less..

With her double assault
of Twitter/Tumblr
wisecracks and funny anecdotes,
she has garnered an impressive following
as well as some great deals along the way -
so, yes, she is
a barbarian - LP style!  For she ransacks and plunders now -  and it has only begun! 
A title she surely never saw coming her way, either...

And I am sure she doesn't give a damn about that too!
She looks wittier (as in ''edgier'') on her Twitter pic, though  - than she does, for example, in any of her live appearances!  Jessica Alba (Invisible Dark Angel of the Deep Blue Sea herself)  will lend her dark exotic looks to remedy to that... soon!  K.O. can carry on smiling - indeed.

...

Labels: Late Night TV, never-surrender, original thinking, sarcasm, shenanigans

Benetton -or, really, Alessandro & Co- has done it again: in their efforts to be (or remain) the top dog in its domain, they've conjured up a series of doctored snapshots that makes any photoshop aficionado simply salivate in envy: okay, maybe that is not the appropriate statement to go with that just now, considering the nature of those photoshopped pics...!

Angela Merkel & Nicolas Sarkozy. Barack Obama & Hugo Chavez. The Pope and the Egyptian Imam. North Korea and South Korea leaders - Palestinian and Israeli - the works! All kissing and making up. All "unhating"...! What a concept for an ad campaign - heck, for a FOUNDATION, as Benetton swears there is such a thing as the "Unhate Foundation"(they probably meant to donate 10 cents on every portion of 100 dollars sold of highly-expensive trendy clothes to it - see what you ruined there by protesting too much, Vatican? But we're getting ahead of ourselves here...)

The Unhate Foundation - what a concept! And "exorcising the fear of the other" is their aim! It is truly a genial idea to create such a foundation: for, why share your profit by donating to an external one when you can create your own, keep all the cash flow within the ranks and keep and maintain the appearance of being one of those (highly) commercial enterprises that "gives back"...? It is an improvement upon a formula that was seen in Japan, in the United States too (of course) and, now (almost typoed it "nwo" here - wow), finally, in Europe, in mama Italia, cradle of all civilization (sorry, Greece!)

But all that is another story - let us concentrate, here and now, on the infamous ad campaign...! And, in order to just just that, let us, first and foremost, run through that series of disturbing shots - again:



Ah yes - we needed to see that again - didn't we?
(Actually, did we just see it again - or didn't we? Depends which way the wind is blowing on YouTube, Blogger and the net overall, really...! And on the good humor of your internet provider - and, of course, your home computer as well! All of them may protest as virulently and vehemently as the Vatican did, at any given time here...! But we are digressing now...)

This ad campaign has, of course, given rise to a storm of controversy on all levels, be it religious, political as even artistic and even ethical...!

For this campaign has sparked organized (highly so, really) guerrilla actions throughout the world (wherever there is a United Colors of Benetton banner, really...) so forget the Occupy movement - this one has professionally-doctored striking images to show the world!

So much so that it stirred Benetton to concoct an explanatory video to basically justify itself in its choice to greenlight this risky ad campaign at all in the first place; watch...



Even though it was all a fruitless, pointless and quite in vain explanation in the end (the ads have been pulled out) it still fueled conversation and every pundit in town (even those types that we have almost forgotten about - and some we barely know about) have gone over it, over and over again...

Benetton was once again successful -extremely successful- at raising awareness of an issue dear to them (they are, after all, the "United Colors of Benetton" - not just "Benetton"!) and, most importantly for them, at setting themselves widely apart from all of their competition because, after all is said and done, at the end of the mercantile day, Benetton is really nothing other than a clothing firm! A glitzy, slightly eccentric, off the charts Italian clothing firm, sure, but nothing else, really!

Benetton is unruly by choice and, in its constant effort to be relevant, make an impact, stand out from the sea of competitors out there, it estimates its right to invade the platform of great debates such as the one revolving around "what does it take to finally have world peace" and such. The campaign is withdrawn now but it will linger on in all media for quite a while longer and even if it is utopian, odd (to put it mildly) and all-around unlikely, it generates just what Benetton really wants, ultimately - publicity for its brand. And that, my friends, is pure genius, marketing-wise anyhow...! Never mind the fact that all the snapshots are obviously fake and none of that has a snowball-in-hell's chance of ever, EVER, EVER happening in the real world...! (Well, actually, Merkel and Sarkozy I could see happening - if Carla's in the middle? But all the others are pure/impure fantasy...! Hey - Blame it on Benetton! Ok?)

Thus, its latest crazy idea for an ad campaign "that stands out" got the shaft due to the Vatican, ironically, their own backyard pontiff and crew, who deemed it highly offensive, disturbing and downright disrespectful. It stood out, all right, this latest ad campaign - it stood out too much and went too far beyond the borders of the clothing and fashion galaxy! When it begins to broach universal subjects, and in such a vigorous "shake them up to wake them up and make them react" way, it is truly a case when the fashionistas are treading upon territory that is not theirs and where they should not tread.

For fine clothing is simply not the solution that will beget world peace!

And besides, everyone knows that there isn't a single imam, politician or any Pope in history that ever, EVER, dressed at Benetton's...! Come on...!
;-)

Having said all that - kudos to Alessandro Benetton for not giving up on this at all (when controversy rose and the Vatican condemned it) and for releasing a FILM now, which you can see below, one that carries forth the campaign to the everyman and everywoman confronted with hatred - to every potential customer, hence! A film that explores the very real and far more disturbing tendency that humankind has to intermingle love and hate, go from one to the other with the greatest of ease, as if the feelings were interchangeable...? This theory (that love gives way to hate and vice-versa) is explored in full throttle in the short film commissioned by A.B. and it eludes the previous type of controversy by avoiding to use any world leaders or religious patriarchs against their will - rather, it features a selected cast of unknowns doing what comes naturally to some of their types of human nature. The new controversy it might generate will be of an entire other order: for, if the pulsion to love is truly intertwined with that to hate, humankind will assuredly self-destruct (since, on top of all that, many of the instances of spontaneous love lead nowhere fast...!) Now that is far more disturbing than any pics of annoying old goats puckering up after years of threatening the lives, welfare and all-around peace of mind of millions upon millions around the world! Wouldn't you agree?
Watch that short film now, why don't you:



On 16th November 2011, in Paris, Alessandro Benetton launched and presented to the press Unhate, the worldwide communication campaign.
The film Unhate tells of the precarious balance and complex interweaving between the drive to hate and the reasons to love.

www.unhatefoundation.org

Video: Laurent Chanez

Bravo, Alessandro - bravissimo!
Gaga was cuckoo when she made a song about Alejandro (nearly 160 million views on YT - yikes!) instead of you - or me, for that matter, but that is another story too...!
But she has more in common with you, not me - both of you condone the same types of monstruosities...!

;-)

Labels: Hilarious, Late Night TV, Luminous pundit moi, never-surrender, original thinking, politics, sarcasm, shenanigans, YouTube

Labels: Hilarious, Je Te Survivrais, Late Night TV, lugubrious simulcast, Luminous pundit moi, music, never-surrender, politics, Right In Front Of You, sarcasm, shenanigans, Unapprovable Unruly Ones, YouTube

After all, though they are irreverent, unruly and they certainly do not give a damn about the repercussions of all that (within reason - for their networks would not appreciate any unreasonable substantial lack of reason on their part!) the trio here is indeed nincompoopish in essence and not meritorious of individual entries as prior and future entries will be... We are talking about NBC's Conan O'Brien - the barbarian of late night television! And Jon Stewart, from that daily thing on the Comedy Network (somehow also seen on CTV - but maybe no longer?) AND his good buddy and partner in crime, Stephen Colbert, who's, now, even an AUTHOR... sheesh. Let's tackle them one at a time now - shall we? It's been done before - but this is done the LUMINOUS way now! ;)

Conan O'Brien - after lucking out in his selection as "the guy who'll fill the vacant seat aka total and utter void on the late night grid following David Letterman's departure for CBS", Conan from Boston came like that Cimmerian namesake of his reputedly did to whatever town he got to be crowned in, and just TOOK OVER! Well, it was ripe for the taking too - but somebody had "TO DO IT" - and, flanked by faire-valoir / straightman Andy Richter, Conan O'Brien did just that!
Now all by his lonesome self (Andy tired of his ED McMAHONish role - who wouldn't? Although getting paid to sit down and eavesdrop on other people's conversations is a GREAT GIG...! But I am digressing...) Conan is set to take over the Tonight Show, after so many years toiling on the Late Night show Letterman left behind...! He never was Letterman's heir apparent, but he is Leno's...! Network faithfulness pays off in such grand ways, does it not? :)

Truth be told, Conan has great comedic flair - but as a host, he never was a natural. He's improved with all the practice - but still...

Jon Stewart - after a first unsuccessful try at hosting a talk-show, Stewart found both his niche and a network that would give him the ideal platform for his own brand of comedic hosting... Another "unnatural host", he found that he'd be best used as a mock anchorman - and it worked! His acolyte, Colbert, started out as one of his reporters and then got his off-shot spinoff show! Both play the opinionated types of TV personalities, especially when it pertains to politics of course, but the pupil seems to have surpassed the teacher here... Of course, Colbert was never truly Stewart's pupil either...!

Stephen Colbert - not to be confused with either Rush Limbaugh (he has more hair and never had to lose that much weight in his life!) or Robert Colbert, a childhood hero of mine - from the classic Irwin Allen show, TIME TUNNEL! :)
Stephen Colbert is the prototypical pundit TV host, largely inspired by real-life characters that are just like that on their own shows, on some other networks where any comedy is only accidental comedy...! On The Colbert Report, everything funny is supposed to be just that! It,s good to know...
Colbert was a funny collaborator of Dana Carvey's ill-fated show years back - he was mainly used as a sketch actor, though he surely helped in the writing there too, as he did on Jon Stewart's show. Now at the helm of his own program, Colbert makes the most of it by somehow luring REAL hosts such as Larry King onto his show - and returning the favor too! Plus he milks it all for ALL it's worth - writing books under the guise and pen of his TV character - which he admits is a fine line away from the true him anyway...!

It's just not surprising at all the three of them got together during the umpteenth week of the dreaded WRITERS STRIKE - when even Colbert couldn't actually WRITE much on his own show, per the Writers Guild guidelines! They saw a major political event as the IDEAL stage upon which they could crossover and in the process achieve that most precious of all things - KILL AIR TIME! They were struggling to just keep going without written material, getting by with inane, pointless ad libs and neverending interviews that went nowhere fast, with the few guests that DARED come on amidst the aforementioned strike...
Of the three, Colbert did the best - which is odd, since he must have felt the more frustrated of all, being so much the scribesman...
Oh well - within a short time, the strike ended anyway (ironically, after three weeks; three idiots, three weeks - a theme is developing here!) and the three idiots (as presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee allegedly called them first!) went back to their regular shenanigans, with a full supporting cast this time!

Hopefully, even without any good reason at all to do so, we'll see more team-ups and crossovers like this! This three-way fight was much more enjoyable than Jimmy & Jay palling around on both Kimmel's show and Leno's.

We likely will never see the TRUE feud getting resolved though: Conan taking on the host of Worldwide Pants' Late Late Show - whoever he might be by then!
It has to happen either this year or NEVER! 2009 is it for Conan; he moves on to take over (e.g. ruin) the Tonight Show while in 2010 all Late Shows on CBS could be overhauled too... Right now, it is Craig Ferguson on the back end of Letterman; can we hope to see Conan O'Brien versus Craig Ferguson before it's too late?
Inside of a steel cage. No holds barred. No time limits. No disqualification.

Rrrrrrrrrrright. *lol*

Labels: Late Night TV, Luminous pundit moi, shenanigans