Archive for » July, 2010 «

30

Jul

{iStyle} Marc Jacobs v Louis Vuitton: Where Will Life Take You?

By: Kelly Ahern, guest blogger

With its chic simple lines and easily distinguishable monogram it is not hard for one to become entranced in all that is Louis.

Surrounded by the earthy smell of fresh leather, you are invited to step into a world of class and luxe sophistication. No wonder the French conglomerate has yet to lose its seat at the top.

This year marks the 5th Anniversary of BrandZ’s Top 100 Annual Report.

Millward Brown Optimor created the BrandZ Top 100 ranking system as a way to identify the world’s most valuable brands, based on dollar value, of course. The role of a brand is vital, especially in today’s unsteady economy, consumers need a brand that they not only admire but one that they trust.

Well when it comes to luxury, the people choose Louis Vuitton.

This year’s report named Louis Vuitton the number one brand in the luxury sector. Besides its refined appeal and sensible style, what makes Louis stand out? more…

28

Jul

{iStyle} Who Designed It Best for the CFDA & Vogue Fashion Fund?

By: Julia Rachlin, guest blogger

There are multiple ways designers install themselves into the fashion-lover’s guide to life.

One of these ways is to marry a really rich dude who funds you until you become one of the most prolific (and admittedly in this case, talented) designers out there….. more…

Category: {iStyle} Tags: Alexander Wang contest, Anna Wintour, Barney's, Blake Lively, CDFA, CDFA stands for, christian cota, Contest for Fashion Design, Contest for Fashion Designers, Council of Fashion Designers of America, Devil Wears Prada, diane von furstenberg, Eddie Borgo, Erin Wasson, Erin Wasson is, Fashion Design, Fashion Design Contest, Francisco Costa, Georgina Chapman, Gregory Parkinson and Billy Reid., Harvey Weinstein, haute couture, j. crew, Jenna Lyons, Joseph Altuzarra of Altuzarra, Julie Gilhart, Kate Hudson, Moss Lipow, Oliver Helden and Paul Marlow of Loden Dager, Oscar de la Renta, Pamela Love of Pamela Love Jewelry, prabal gurung, Prada, President of CDFA is, Robert Geller, Tom Ford and Zac Posen., Tory Burch, Vogue, Vogue Fashion Fund, Where did Alexander Wang start, Who is Alexander Wang's muse, Who is the president of CDFA, Yigal Azrouël Leave a Comment

28

Jul

MAD MEN: 7 Reasons To VOTE Me One of the MAD WOMEN

IMG 2289 MAD MEN: 7 Reasons To VOTE Me One of the MAD WOMEN

Don Draper

I love Don Draper.

No, not John Hamm (though he’s quite the looker), I love Don Draper.

He is this complex entity that has a handsome exterior laced with a lethal temper, dry wit, savvy wisdom and this keen ability to make the world work for him.

He’s the original AD man; he’s the quintessential of what makes the Mad Men.

About a week ago more…

27

Jul

‘Ballergasm: Stylish St. Iker for FHM Spain

Earlier, in February 2010, St. Iker (Casillas, Spain goal-keeper and el capitán extraordinaire) had a photo shoot for Spain’s FHM and I missed it.

But everyone knows Oh, Capitán, My Capitán is ‘baller-blissful-photogasmic, so regardless, Pink Book is making up for lost time more…

Category: 'Ballergasm, {iStyle} Tags: Casilla Sevilla, Casillas Real madrid, Diego Perotti, el capitán, el capitán means, el capitán means the captain, FHM, Iker Casillas, Iker Casillas for FHM, Iker Casillas Save Sevilla, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Spanish football, Spanish Soccer, St. Iker, what does el capitán mean 14 Comments

26

Jul

LOOKSISM: Kardashian Look Alike Surgery Is What’s Wrong With Today’s Culture

People want to be everyone but themselves.

Heidi Montag did it, so did Victoria Beckham, Demi Moore, Charice Pempengco, Tara Reid, Ashley Tisdale, Madonna and countless others.

It’s this inherent desire to be “perfect.”

Sheyla Hershey could tell anyone who would care to listen all about it. After all, she’s the current world-record holder for the globe’s largest breasts (no pun intended.)

A desire that could eventually kill her.

I’ve been mulling over this for awhile but didn’t want to beat a dead horse into the ground. Except on Saturday July 24, 2010 Kim Kardashian showed up on my Twitter feed, highlighting something that really gets under my skin.

A die-hard fan of hers named Brisa Johnson (who has since deleted her Twitter account) tweeted, more…

25

Jul

Jane Austen’s FIGHT CLUB: We Were No Longer ‘Good Society’ [VIDEO]

In recent years, there has been a trend online and offline to make parodies of well-known entities. The idea has been to take the very best, the very worst, and the very ridiculous out of them, turning the new creations into hybrids built on well-intentioned humor.

From Harry Potter‘s Puppet Pals and “The Mysterious Ticking Noise” (over 83 million views), to Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) mockery-extrordinary “The Guild” (over 40 million views combined), to Pride and Prejudice and ZOMBIES –

What?

Yes, zombies. It takes the original work by Jane Austen and more…

23

Jul

{iStyle} Era of the Ice Queen: A History on Anna Wintour

{iStyle} Era of the Ice Queen: A History on Anna Wintour

Image via NY Mag

By: Louise Whitehill, guest blogger

She is the epitome of chic, an empress of fashion and a beacon of power.

With 22 years as editor-in-chief of US Vogue, Anna Wintour is top dog among the fashion elite.

One of five children, Anna grew up with journalism in her family. Her father, Charles Wintour, was the editor of the London Evening Standard and her younger brother, Patrick, followed suit and is now political editor at the Guardian newspaper.

With Fleet Street in her blood, Anna took her first steps into journalism as a wide-eyed teenager. With her father’s help, she created a print publication that spoke to her generation. more…

22

Jul

Over-Analyzing the MAD MEN S4 Promo Poster For Glee

MAD WOMEN logo/name/likeness by Sasha H. Muradali. 2009 All Rights Reserved.

After no debate or deliberation, we’ve decided to over-analyze the Mad Men Season Four promo of the cast because we had better things to do but couldn’t help our McDraper Dreaminess needs.

madmenbig custom1 Over Analyzing the MAD MEN S4 Promo Poster For Glee

Click to Enlarge, Magnify on Picasa.

This serves no purpose other than to let out our yearning to talk about one of our favourite shows, that we’ve waited a year to bloody see.

So *yay!* and a big *le squeee* more…

21

Jul

{ADbitious} The Future Has Been Written, Just Not By Nike

FutureWritten01 {ADbitious} The Future Has Been Written, Just Not By Nike

Nike - The Future Has Been Written

Prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, sporting goods giant Nike, released a string of advertisements centered around something they called “Write the Future.”

It was more like Write the Fail, because it fell short, in more ways than one, regardless of its exceptional filming, A-List cast of footballers and truly inspirational message.

With the release of “The Future Has Been Written,” two weeks after the 2010 World Cup Final that Spain won against the Netherlands, it seems like the brand is trying to reestablish itself – except it’s quite hypocritical. more…

Category: ADbitious, Football, Sports, Television Tags: ADIDAS Jabulani ball, Alejandro González Iñárritu, alpha male england, alpha males in football, André Ooijer, beautiful game, Bobby Solo, Cannavaro, Cesc Fabregas, commercial, CR7, Cristiano Ronaldo, curse of the nike ad, Didier Drogba, el capitano, European Final ad, Fabio Cannavaro, football alpha male, Franck Ribéry, Gael Garcia Bernal, Homer Simpson, Jérémy Toulalan, kobe bryant, Landon Donavan, Landon Donovan, madden curse, mueller said england alpha male, muller calls england alpha male, nike, Nike ad, Nike Elite Series, Nike Football ad, Nike Football commercial, Nike Football TV ad, Nike Football TV advert, Nike TV ad, Nike TV advert, problem with the english football, psychology behing write the future, psychology of football, psychology of soccer, Robinho, Roger Federer, Ronaldinho, Sir Wayne Rooney, soccer, sports curses, sports illustrated curse, the beautiful game, Theo Walcott, thomas mueller said england too many alpha males, Tim Howard, W+K, Wayne Rooney, Wieden + Kennedy, write the fail, Write The Future, write the future curse Leave a Comment

21

Jul

The Mad Men School of Seduction

MAD WOMEN logo/name/likeness by Sasha H. Muradali. 2009 All Rights Reserved.

Nothing is better than those outdated, shameless and downright awesome pickup lines from AMC’s award-winning drama, Mad Men.

In lieu of the countdown to Season Four, the wonderfulness that is more…

20

Jul

{iStyle} Madonna Tangos & Has Fictitious Baby For Dolce & Gabbana 2010 [UPDATED]

Italian neorealism cinema meets decadence with some vintage flavour are the easiest ways to describe the Fall/Winter 2010 advertising campaign by Dolce & Gabbana featuring Madonna.

The campaign is an illustration of how Dolce & Gabbana see the everyday Italian woman. In an interview with more…

20

Jul

Countdown to Season 4: 10 Rules of the Mad Men

MAD WOMEN logo/name/likeness by Sasha H. Muradali. 2009 All Rights Reserved.

As a promotional tool leading up the premiere of Season Four, AMC released an 18-minute long, “Mad Men Rules” featurette on iTunes.

“I sell products, not advertising.” - Don Draper

It’s for those with an interest on how to drink like a fish, self-destruct and be the runaway cog in the not-so-well-oiled machine, while looking fabulous doing it more…

19

Jul

Countdown to MAD MEN 4: A Fresh Start [VIDEO]

MAD WOMEN logo/name/likeness by Sasha H. Muradali. 2009 All Rights Reserved.

Leading into Season Four, which premieres on Sunday July 25, 2010 at 10 p.m. on AMC, the network has released a string of “A Fresh Start…” teaser clips more…

19

Jul

Twitter Global Conversation: World Cup Final Was Our Biggest Event EVER

LockerRoom07 Twitter Global Conversation: World Cup Final Was Our Biggest Event EVER

Andrés Iniesta, the man who scored the winning goal for Spain with the World Cup trophy

The FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa came to a close last week, July 11, 2010.

If you happened to be on Twitter for the month prior, you may have noticed downtime.

Not just some downtime — a lot of downtime. The Fail Whale appeared more often than not.

This is because the global ‘event’ drove record traffic to the social media outlet, resulting in trends their servers were not at all prepared for.

But, more interesting than the intensity folks online, were the staggering results that the Twitter analytics produced.

Twitter announced more…

19

Jul

#MusicMonday “Pintame” The España Version Courtesy of David Villa, Pepe Reina, Sergio Ramos & Xavi

Copyright © 2010 Sasha H. Muradali. All Rights Reserved.

You might remember Scoregasm! España’s Dancing Pepe, Drinks, David Villa and St. Iker Post-World Cup:-

from last week more…

Category: #MusicMonday Tags: David Villa, Espana, Futbol music, Grammy Awards, Iker Casillas, Latin Grammys, Music Monday, Pepe Reina, Pintame, Sergio Ramos, Spain, Spanish National football Team, Spanish National Soccer Team, Tu sonrisa, Xavi Hernández 3 Comments

16

Jul

MARKETING ANALYSIS: K’naan, Coca-Cola’s Genius & the Song That Took Over the World, Wavin’ Flag

A week before it’s release date on May 7, 2010, I had heard Shakira’s anthem of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, “Waka Waka (It’s Time for Africa)” and I was obsessed.

I tweeted about it, I Facebooked it and I told everyone how I couldn’t stop singing it in my status on GChat. Around that time, a great PR connection named Casey, who happens to live (and is from) in South Africa, told me, while Shakira’s song was awesome, I was missing out.

“What? Why?” – I wanted to know.

“Because,” he told me, “we like ‘Wavin’ Flag.’”

It’s the anthem about ‘celebrating life‘ he had said; a people song.

Me? Social media and world music lover not knowing what this was? How? I am addicted to world news and culture.

Stunned and utterly confused, I went onto YouTube and my eyes opened to, what I now consider to be, one of the greatest songs I’ve more…

Category: ADbitious, Arts & Culture, Football, Music, Sports Tags: African Music, Afrika, Afrikan, Afrikkan, AI, analysis of wavin' flag, Avril Lavigne, Banky W. & M.I., Candian music, celebration mix, celebration remix, chin injeti, Coca Cola, coca cola advertising, Coca Cola marketing, Coca-Coca, Coke, D.Anu, David Bisbal, David Guetta, deryck whibley, DJ Power, Drake, E.Solongo and E.Soyombo, Ekama Irak Yata, emily haines, esthero, Esto Es Africa, Féfé, fefe dobson, FIFA, FIFA World Cup, fightin to eat, Germany 2006, hawksley workman, hedley, how many versions of wavin' flag, Ipang, its time for africa, Jacky Cheung, jacob hoggard, Jane Zhang, Jasim, Joe Belliotti, jully black, Justin Bieber, K'naan, kardinal offishall, Ke Nako, Keinan Abdi Warsame, listen to all versions of wavin' flag, listen to wavin' flag, Machel Montano, Magyar Televízió, MikaBen, Mr. Blaza and MagicEmy, naija remix, Nálunk van a labda, Nancy Ajram, Nelly Furtado, nikki yanofsky, Open Happiness, P.Bayartsengel, Phương Vy, Pierre Bouvier, pierre lapointe, Pradeep, Professional Sinnerz feat. Komis X, Sam Roberts, Semangat Berkibar, serena ryder, Shakira, Simple Plan, Skank, Somali-Canadian, South Africa 2010, Spez, St1m, sum 41, Tattoo Colour, theory of a deadman, Tyler Connolly, united young artists, Waka Waka, watch wavin' flag, Wavin Flag, Waving Flag, we stugglin, Will I Am, World Cup anthem, world cup anthems, World Cup Football, World Cup Soccer, young artists united for haiti, ウェイヴィン・フラッグ, 旗开得胜 4 Comments

15

Jul

WATCH: Full-Length Trailer for Facebook Movie “The Social Network” is Out

The full trailer for The Social Network is out.

The Aaron Sorkin film, is the highly-anticipated and controversial retelling of the birth of Facebook.

For the past few months there have been various teaser trailers, lots of dramatic (if not creepy) music and buzz-worthy dialogue all deliciously more…

15

Jul

WRITE THE FAIL: The Curse of the Nike AD

Sports curses (The Sports Illustrated cover and Madden curse) are as infamous as the teams, players and games themselves.

It’s time for a new one to be added to the list, courtesy (inadvertently) via sporting goods company, Nike.

Pre-World Cup 2010 in South Africa, I wrote a piece called, “{ADbitious} Nike AD ‘Write the Future’ – Is it Rubbish?” which discussed the true value, if not celebrity of a celebrity-infested advertisement by Nike called “Write the Future.”

The television commercial was a huge hit with very few people critical about it. Some were dubbing it one of the best advertisements ever made. While others, like myself, criticized it for missing the mark on what makes the Beautiful Game so beautiful to begin with.

Now that the World Cup has come and gone, it is pretty safe to say that Nike’s “Write the Future,” was a big “Write the Fail.”

In its essence, more…

Category: ADbitious, Football Tags: ADIDAS Jabulani ball, Alejandro González Iñárritu, alpha male england, alpha males in football, André Ooijer, beautiful game, Bobby Solo, Cannavaro, Cesc Fabregas, commercial, CR7, Cristiano Ronaldo, curse of the nike ad, Didier Drogba, el capitano, European Final ad, Fabio Cannavaro, football alpha male, Franck Ribéry, Gael Garcia Bernal, Homer Simpson, Jérémy Toulalan, kobe bryant, Landon Donavan, Landon Donovan, madden curse, mueller said england alpha male, muller calls england alpha male, nike, Nike ad, Nike Elite Series, Nike Football ad, Nike Football commercial, Nike Football TV ad, Nike Football TV advert, Nike TV ad, Nike TV advert, problem with the english football, psychology behing write the future, psychology of football, psychology of soccer, Robinho, Roger Federer, Ronaldinho, Sir Wayne Rooney, soccer, sports curses, sports illustrated curse, the beautiful game, Theo Walcott, thomas mueller said england too many alpha males, Tim Howard, Wayne Rooney, write the fail, Write The Future, write the future curse Leave a Comment