Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Is it easy being green?


I got the whooooooole wooooooorld, on my caaaar...

Autosport's article on Honda F1's official paint scheme unveiling yesterday, where they finally announced that they are introducing something RADICAL.

many sources had rumored Honda would go in a green direction with their new scheme, but even with that it's a radical departure. Honda, which joined forces with the British American Tobacco-owned British-American Racing team in 2000 as an engine supplier, bought controlling interest in the team in the winter of 2005 before the 2006 season once BAT's interest fully waned (tied directly to tobacco sponsorship laws). They kept BAT's Lucky Strike brand on as primary sponsor last year, but everybody knew they'd get a new sponsor for this year. While champion team Renault went with insurance company ING for this year after dropping their tobacco sponsorship, Honda's gone global...

what's striking is the minimalism, and the "pledging" program on their new site, myearthdream.com which will apparently provide the only words on the car - the names of those pledging to help take steps to improve the world. Their team logo, the car's number and a required Bridgestone logo (they're the exclusive tire manufacturer for the series) are the only 'traditional' aspects on the car.

I find it fascinating and rather cool looking, and I think the sports marketing angle is incredibly interesting. Red Bull have taken this approach in a much less extreme fashion - get your smaller sponsors to sign on to become a part of "the image" instead of getting your name specifically on the car, but this is going on step farther. Maybe two. It's also interesting to see how much positive press Honda as a car, motorcycle and marine manufacturer can get from doing this - will it be more powerful as an advertising tool than your car plastered with your name on it? I think so. It's a break from tradition, and while it looks good at the unveiling, I just hope it doesn't look awkward at the track.

Just for comparison's sake, here's how they looked last year:


Monday, February 26, 2007

post two, electric boogaloo: YouTube series



you know, it's the NFL that has the "no fun league" label already attached...allowing Gary Coleman-looking Knick point guard Nate Robinson to go into the second round of the dunk contest at the NBA All-Star game robbed us of the above video, which is Dwight Howard kissing something very unsanitary.



that he didn't get to the second round after *that* is ridiculous, and down to the fact that they didn't play up the fact that he had a sticker in his hand. Not enough showmanship and flash.

We Must Have a Purpose



you know, I was thinking about doing something like this anyways.

the yearning to compile everything in one spot is pretty strong. the yearning to have a place to put not-top-secret-information (ZOMG!) is good. breaking through the genre-definition barriers that felt constricting in the previous, scattershot format I've been using is pretty powerful.

so what is this? the seed is a class assignment (ABRAHM!) for J361 here (as the title says) in the rainy NW at the University of Oregon...there are at least three topics to be covered on any given week (one aping a favorite blogger's style [this is where the FD love goes], one about the Poynter Institutes' blog, and one just on our own) but expect all of that, plus content gleamed from other sources:

My 1up blog, where everything gaming goes
fitting thoughts and such from my usually-friends-only LJ blog. YES I'M COOL ENOUGH TO STILL HAVE ONE. now go excuse me while I go be emo.
my stillborn sports blog, Robo-Duck's Revenge, which currently is gathering much dust.
opinion fit to print with a nod to the Emerald's blog. If only to point out how the Em blog has turned into Sports vs. Fashion. I imagine a knife fight between myself and Pulse ed Lindsay will happen soon, with snapping, bad early '50s fashion and all the west side story accoutrement.

expect (besides the basic requirements) a lot of sports coverage because that's what I've got my head buried in right now, and hopefully some other musings on stuff that actually matters.

and probably funny YouTube videos. Those are always welcome.

Welcome to the Thunderdome, bitches. Enjoy.