B.C based ad agency Eclipse Creative creates the Shrinking Mortgage for Island Savings — Island Savings Introduces the ‘Incredible Shrinking Mortgage’ to the Island. A Mortgage so revolutionary it will move you to party!

VICTORIA, BC June 6, 2013 — The rewards and benefits of Island Saving’s Incredible Shrinking Mortgage are undeniable, exceptional and a true leader in the market. A product so revolutionary, it’s liable to move people to celebration because of its unique step down feature.

Island Savings is putting a fun spin on mortgages with a playful “Mortgage Party” campaign running on Vancouver Island from April to the end of June. To emphasize the benefits of their new Incredible Shrinking Mortgage, Eclipse Creative has taken traditional forms of media and put an innovative twist on them. Their interactive stunt TSA, bursting flex form print ad, 3-dimensional mall posters, Facebook app, video-scribe pre-roll video, flash ads and creative bus ads with a party hat extension show that their new mortgage will give customers a reason to party!

“Mortgages can be such a daunting commitment,” notes Jason Dauphinee, Creative Director at Eclipse Creative.

“With this revolutionary product we wanted to get people excited about these great features. By truly thinking differently, Island Savings has allowed us to help grow their brand in a smart, honest and engaging way.”

Island Savings has also found a way to give back to the Vancouver Island community through the campaign and remain true to their core brand values. Their Facebook contest allows visitors to select an Island housing charity to receive $1 with their entry.

“We’re always looking at how we can support the vitality of the communities where both our members and employees live and work,” says Bronwyn Dunbar, Senior Manager of Marketing & Community Investment, Island Savings.

“With the launch of our new mortgage product, we saw alignment with Island housing charities that our research shows continue to need support.”

About Eclipse Creative
Eclipse Creative is an award-winning, full-service communications agency located in Victoria, BC. In addition to Island Savings, Eclipse Creative’s client list includes Tourism Victoria, Victoria Hospitals Foundation, Rogers’ Chocolates, and Money Mart to name a few. Founded in 1999, Eclipse has built their business by working collaboratively with clients and supplying concept-driven results. For information about Eclipse Creative, visit www.eclipsecreative.ca

The Diesel Island

Diesel has started new adv campaign «Diesel Island» within the limits of strategy «Be Stupid».
If you do not manage to advance the outlooks on life in an old society, it's necessary — to keep away from those who does not accept innovative principles, and to organize the own state. Diesel continues to throw brushwood in a movement fire «Be Stupid», starting new advertising campaign «Diesel Island».

Freedom Island for Free People

Is a story of desperate young people which were tired of a boring society with all its interdiction dictated by «big brother's mind». The young people has landed on paradise islands to create the new nation to take all best principles of the device of the existing countries and forever to eliminate social injustice.

People on a photos, it «the pioneers, which profits on Diesel Island in search of rescue from tyranny, an economic crisis, political corruption and reality shows», begin new life in which there is no place for silly restrictions of the usual world.

The army of these people consists of pair-three the person, armed with soft pillows, inhabitants of this kingdom of rest project ecological means of transportation (for example, the car which copes from a strength of wind), and also gradually steal Wi-Fi from neighboring countries. Being children of a wind, the sun and freedom, they do not accept all totalitarian powers.

The Good Island

XXXX have got an island for Australian mates to experience the good life. So check out a slice of Island of free-love where rules are rules, everyone is equal and visitors are free from all of the fancy 5 star treatments. It's not Club Med - it's more Club Shed. Simply kick back and enjoy a beer with your mates.

Category: Drinks;
Client: Lion;
Agency: BMF;
Art Director / Copywriter: Alex Booker;
Executive Creative Director: Shane Bradnick;
Art Director / Copywriter: Philip Sicklinger;
Photographer: Kent Matthews;
Retoucher: Vanessa Brownlee;
Art Buyer - Basir Salleh.

XXXX Island

An island at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Sicily occupied a pivotal place in antiquity between Greece, North Africa, and the Italian peninsula.

“This is the first major exhibition to arise from the Getty’s 2010 Cultural Agreement with Sicily, presenting masterpieces that are among the most accomplished examples of ancient Greek art in the world,” said Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

“We are especially thrilled to have on view the exceptional statue of a victorious Charioteer from Mozia that the Getty has recently conserved. This object is a unique expression of the marvelous artistry of Greek sculptors at the dawn of the Classical era.”

Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome, co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Assessorato dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identita Siciliana, features some 150 objects, a major portion on loan from institutions in Sicily, including stone and bronze sculptures, vase-paintings, votive terracotta statuettes and reliefs, carved ivory, gold and silver metalwork, jewelry, inscriptions, architectural revetments, and coins.

“These splendid objects bear witness to the athletic and military victories, religious rituals, opulent lifestyles, and intellectual attainments of the Sicilian Greeks, which shaped Greek culture at its peak,” explains Claire Lyons, acting senior curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum and curator of the exhibition.

The Mozia Charioteer

The Mozia Charioteer, widely considered one of the the finest surviving examples of Greek sculpture, serves as the exhibition’s centerpiece. Recently on view at the British Museum in London during the 2012 Summer Olympics, the statue has since undergone conservation treatment at the Getty Villa. Part of the Getty’s cultural agreement with Sicily, this 18-month collaborative conservation project involved remounting the sculpture and the provision of a seismic isolation base, which will accompany the object when it is reinstalled at the Whitaker Museum on the island of Mozia.

The triumphant Mozia Charioteer, discovered in 1976 on the island of Mozia in western Sicily, is believed to represent a charioteer who competed at Olympia on behalf of one of the Sicilian rulers. The extraordinary style of the sculpture, especially notable in the sinuous pleating of the long linen xystis that sheathes the figure’s athletic physique, is a tour-de-force of stone carving. Clearly a master of his craft, the sculptor was able to reveal the torso and limbs beneath the thin fabric. With its confident gaze and proud stance, this statue conveys the high level of originality and experimentation achieved by Greek sculptors working in Sicily.

The “Signing Masters”

Important evidence of Sicilian artistic innovation is also apparent in the exquisite coins of the time. Beginning in the late fifth century B.C., a group of Sicilian Greek coin engravers, mainly based in Syracuse, added their signatures to the dies used to stamp coins. Known as the “Signing Masters,” these remarkable craftsmen created extraordinary works of art on a miniature scale. Departing from the traditional profile view, they devised novel ways of representing the human body in a lively three-quarter perspective or striking frontal pose. This testimony of individual mastery of the medium is virtually exclusive to Sicilian Greek coins created around 400 B.C. Often abbreviated in tiny but legible script, the artists’ signatures are typically all but hidden in locks of hair or elements of jewelry.

Known as the “coin of coins,” the unique Aitna tetradrachm from the Royal Library of Belgium is one of the most precious ancient coins in the world. On view in the exhibition along with 50 other exceptionally crafted Sicilian Greek coins, the image on the tetradrachm depicts the head of Silenos on the obverse and on the reverse, Zeus enthroned with an eagle perched beside him, imagery that alludes to the cult of Zeus on Mt. Etna.
Greek settlers and their gods

Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome will also examine how settlers from the Greek mainland brought their myths and religious practices to Sicily. To sanctify new colonies and maintain ties with mother cities, they built altars and temples to such gods as Apollo, the patron deity of colonists, as well as the deified hero Herakles. Included are terracotta heads of Apollo, Hades, and Persephone, created as cult or votive images of deities that played a central role in ancient Sicilian worship. The skillfully modeled clay, embellished with striking polychrome pigments, compares favorably with the most accomplished works in marble and bronze. An exceptional example of metalwork is a religious offering dish made of two and a half pounds of gold. Known as a phiale mesomphalos, the vessel is embossed from the center outward with bands of beechnuts, acorns, and bees above blossoms; the owner’s name —Damarchos, son of Achyris— is inscribed beneath the rim, together with its equivalent weight in gold coins.

The divine hero Herakles was also embraced by Greek settlers, who linked his deeds to their cities. Contrasting aspects of Herakles’ identity —peaceful healer, solitary herdsman, and violent aggressor— heightened the appeal of his cult among the men of rural Sicily, who tended flocks and worked as mercenary soldiers. Among the objects on view is a finely preserved bronze statuette of Herakles recovered from a river-bed in Contrada Cafeo (Modica), which suggests that a shrine to the hero was situated nearby.

Preeminent among the honored deities was Demeter, goddess of agriculture, and her daughter Persephone (or Kore). Sanctuaries of the goddesses dotted the island, but their cult was most enthusiastically embraced in central Sicily, where, according to myth, Kore descended to the Underworld as the bride of Hades. Depictions of these deities include a terracotta bust with a rare painted figural scene that may represent part of a ritual honoring or celebrating the goddesses, and a cult statuette disc overed near an altar in Gela together with an offering jug of carbonized seeds of grain.

Archimedes of Syracuse

A section of the exhibition will focus on Archimedes of Syracuse (about 287–212 B.C.), one of history’s foremost scientists and mathematicians. More than a millennium ahead of its time, his work laid the foundation for branches of math, physics, engineering, and even computer science. When Syracuse’s King Hieron II asked him to determine whether a crown was made of pure gold, Archimedes made his legendary deduction that a solid displaces a volume of liquid equal to its own volume, a discovery that supposedly caused the scientist to leap from his bath and run naked through the streets crying “Eureka” (“I have found it!”).

On view is a leaf from the Archimedes Palimpsest, the only surviving manuscript containing copies of Archimedes’ writings. The medieval prayer book that included this leaf was inked by a scribe onto recycled parchment that originally bore the theories of Archimedes. The pages were scraped clean before being overwritten, but with the use of advanced imaging technology, the original writing is visible. The leaf on view is a section of text from “Proposition 1” from Archimedes’ Method, a work integrating geometry and physics.

Literature on Sicilian art

Finally, the exhibition examines the reflections of literature in Sicilian visual arts. Many mainland Greeks became familiar with Sicily through the epic poetry of Homer, including Odysseus’s wanderings after the Trojan War, which took him to the western Mediterranean.

Often depicted in vase-painting and sculpture, Odysseus’s encounters with strange creatures like the Cyclops and Scylla were allegories for early colonial settlement and trading enterprises that spread Greek culture to distant, exotic regions. The pastoral genre created and perfected by the Syracusan poet Theokritos (about 300–after 260 B.C.) flourished as Sicily was falling under the dominion of Rome in the third century B.C. He is renowned for his Idylls (literally, “little pictures”), which paint nostalgic word-images of Sicilian country life from the point of view of a sophisticated urbanite. Theokritos’s rustic characters—including satyrs, shepherds, and the woodland deity Priapos—also populated the visual arts of the period, attesting to the appeal of rural fantasies during a time of civic turmoil. On extended loan from Syracuse, a life-size statue of the fertility god Priapos, the earliest such figure in Greek art will be featured in the exhibition. Like the Mozia Charioteer, it was also the subject of a collaborative conservation project undertaken by the Getty Museum.

The importance and popularity of Greek comedy and drama outside of Athens is evident in the theatrical figurines, masks and scenes on vases, many of which come from the island of Lipari. The celebrated “Father of Tragedy,” Aeschylus (Greek, 525–456 B.C.) traveled to Sicily on at least two occasions, where his plays found fertile ground in the strong local tradition of performance on the island.

On display is a terracotta mixing vessel with the earliest known depiction of the myth of Perseus and Andromeda, which likely reflects a performance of Sophocles’ Andromeda (about 450 B.C.). The Greek inscription painted above the figure of Perseus—“Euaion, the son of Aeschylus, is handsome”— names the actor, son of the great tragedian.

Rich harvests, bountiful seas, and a favorable trade location brought immense wealth to the Sicilian city-states, and the exhibition highlights their widespread reputation for luxurious lifestyles with five gilt-silver vessels, part of a larger group of fifteen. The silver treasure had been buried for safekeeping beneath the floor of a house in Morgantina during the Roman sack of the city in 211 B.C. The entire hoard comprises religious vessels as well as a set for the symposion, a convivial drinking party for men that was an important part of the social life of well-to-do Greeks.

Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome is the latest in a series of cooperative efforts between the Getty and the Sicili an Ministry of Culture and Sicilian Identity arising from a 2010 agreement that calls for a number of collaborative projects, including object conservation, seismic protection of collections, exhibitions, scholarly research, and conferences. Recent related projects include the 2010 loan of the Gela Krater, a monumental red-figured volute krater (wine mixing vessel) attributed to the Niobid Painter; The Agrigento Youth, a rare example of an early classical marble statue called a kouros (an idealized nude young man), loaned to the Getty from the Museo Archeologico Regionale in Agrigento (2010/2011); and most recently the loan of thirty-six objects from the sanctuaries of Demeter at Morgantina (2012/January 2013).

The exhibition is co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Assessorato dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identita Siciliana, and celebrates 2013 as the Year of Italian Culture in the United States, an initiative of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, realized under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Italy.

Source: The J. Paul Getty Museum [March 19, 2013]

Axe has an Island, seriously they did. Promoting the His and Hers Axe Anachy the one-minute commercial entitled "Supplies," a speedboat speeds across the cerulean seas of the Caribbean to a soundtrack that would make any Miami Vice fan excited. The Axe ad also features an array of characters from girls pillow fighting, bartenders, masseuses, and pizza delivery guys all on their way to the Chaos Island.

Credits:
Ad Agency: BBH London
Directed by Tim Godsall.
via:Fastcocreate.com

“The archaeologist,” said Sir Mortimer Wheeler, one of the grand old men of archaeology, “is digging up, not things, but people.” The point about sites of antiquity is that, often surviving in a fragmented state, their meaning doesn’t immediately rear up and hit you between the eyes. It can be hard on a 21st century holiday to see a temple and imagine the priests and priestesses, the colours, the crowds, the ceremony and the sacrifices.

Sicily’s archaeology is extremely high calibre. The island was at the centre of trade routes in the days when travel was often easiest via sea. Ancient empires, from the Greeks and Romans to the Moors and the Normans, cast covetous eyes upon Sicily and left an enduring imprint with a great many magnificent buildings.

When the Greeks arrived here shortly after the turn of the first millennium BC, they quickly settled and started building their magnificent stone temples on an enormous scale. At Agrigento, they were erected along a ridge to create an intimidating line of massive architecture visible from the sea, which remains visually arresting today.

At Syracuse — once occupied by the Corinthians and over which the Greeks and Romans waged a drawn-out war – much of the story is told by remaining monuments: temples, fortifications and the famous stone quarries which doubled as the final prison of thousands of enemy soldiers used as slaves, most of whom died.

All of ancient life is here; religious, military, those of vast fortune with their showy villas, as well as the gifted craftsmen and artists who made them.

In some places in Sicily, the archaeologist’s trained eye helps put together the less obvious clues to bring the place vividly back to life.

The Graeco-Roman theatre at Taormina, set against the formidable backdrop of Mount Etna, also takes some beating for sheer emotional impact.

Andante stresses the “knowledge worn lightly” aspect of these comprehensive tours of the island, and also offers a Relaxed Break here – seven days based in one lovely hotel on the island of Ortygia with your own archaeologist, as well as Andante With Independence, for those who want the archaeologist and the specialist arrangements, but less of the “group” aspect.

Sir Mortimer would have been proud — on every tour it is not the monuments that are the focus, but the people who made them.

Author: Jack Wilkinson | Source: The Telegraph/UK [February 03, 2012]

Even today, the world of the ancient Greek gods has lost none of its fascination. Accounts of the deeds of mighty Zeus, his jealous wife Hera, the twins Apollo and Artemis, beautiful Aph-rodite, and Dionysos the god of wine, are as enthralling as ever after more than 2000 years.

Greek poets and artists conveyed a vivid picture of the world of these gods. Their work set creative precedents and were a source of inspiration; they also furnished models and a stim-ulus for new interpretations and original compositions by Roman writers and sculptors.

Over a period of more than three hundred years, the Brandenburg-Prussian Electors and Kings in Berlin collected antique works of art, which are now in the museums of the ‘Preußischer Kulturbesitz’ Foundation – the Pergamon Museum and the Collection of Antiqui-ties. For the first time in Cologne, in the exhibition The Return of the Gods, the Olympian world of the Greek gods is recreated with marble statues, stone reliefs, bronzes and luxurious vases from the Berlin collections – a cross section of outstanding European art from early Greek times to the imperial Roman period.

Zeus, Hades, Poseidon

Zeus, the Romans’ Jupiter, was the majestic ruler of the Olympian world. As the lord of the heavens, he carried a thunderbolt as his weapon. Zeus was the father of nu-merous gods and heroes; most of his offspring were not begotten with his wife Hera, but were the result of his many erotic liaisons.

Poseidon was the master of the sea, inland waters and storms. As the “shaker of the Earth”, who made the Earth tremble with his trident, he was held responsible for earthquakes and natural disasters. People also venerated him as the protector of their ships. The Romans called this god Neptune.

Brother of Zeus and Poseidon was Hades, the Romans’ Pluto. He became the lord of the underworld when the gods drew lots to divide the world between them.

All these “Father Gods” are represented as mature, dignified and mighty. Zeus the father of the gods, Hades the ruler of the underworld and Poseidon the god of the sea, are difficult to tell apart when not depicted with their characteristic attributes

Asclepius, the Healing God

Asclepius was the god of medicine and healing. He was the son of Apollo and a mortal woman, so merely a demigod. He was nevertheless worshipped as a god but not regarded as one of the Olympian gods.

Asclepius’ place was among the people. He is represented in the likeness of a Greek citizen: bearded, wearing a robe and leaning on a staff. A snake is coiled around his staff and the staff (or rod) of Asclepius is still the traditional symbol of medicine.

Asclepius had many sanctuaries that attracted throngs of worshippers, where the sick sought cures through healing sleep (incubation). A centre of his cult developed at Epidaurus and another was located on the island of Kos. The physicians of Kos achieved great fame in the 5th century BC. The best known was Hippocrates and, even today, doctors swear the “Hippocratic Oath”.

The cult of Asclepius reached the western part of the Roman Empire in 293 BC when the Epidaurus sanctuary established a shrine to the Latinised Aesculapius on Rome’s Tiber Island.

Hera and Demeter – the Mothers

Hera, the Romans’ Juno, was the sister and spouse of Zeus. As the queen of the gods she watched over marriage and legitimate offspring. She therefore pursued the amorous escapades of her husband with jealous severity.

Demeter, Ceres for the Romans, was the goddess of the fertile earth, of grain and agriculture. According to the “Homeric” hymn to Demeter, her daughter Kore was abducted by Hades and, as Persephone/Proserpina, became his wife in the under-world. Searching for her daughter, the desperate Demeter neglected her responsibilities as the goddess of agriculture, which led to a severe drought. Only after the return of her daughter for two-thirds of the year did she allow everything to grow and flourish again, but Kore-Persephone had to spend one third of each year with Hades in the underworld, during which time nature was also dead.

Demeter and Hera are usually depicted as motherly goddesses, often wearing a dia-dem and veil. When ears of wheat – a specific attribute of Demeter – are not shown, it is scarcely possible to distinguish between the two.

Aphrodite and Hermes

Aphrodite’s sphere of influence was love; her son Eros was the personified god of love. From the 5th century BC onwards, Aphrodite was depicted in ever more reveal-ing clothes: light and flimsy garments accentuated the beauty of the female body. Aphrodite first appeared completely naked in the 4th century BC, as a statue by Praxiteles, whose visualisation of the goddess was widely copied. Venus, the Roman equivalent of Aphrodite, was said to be the mother of Aeneas. Hence she became the mythical ancestress of the family of the Julii, to which both Caesar and Augustus belonged.

Hermes was the messenger of the gods, the god of roads, boundaries and herds-men, the patron of thieves. He guided the souls of the dead into the after-world.

Hermes wore the clothes of a traveller: a short cape, a broad-brimmed hat and boots or sandals. Speed was suggested by wings attached to his hat, shoes or heels. In addition, he carried a messenger’s staff with two snakes (Kerykeion). The Roman equivalent of Hermes was Mercury, the god of commerce and economic prosperity.

Athena – the Patroness of Great Works

Athena was the wise daughter of Zeus. Before his marriage to Hera, Zeus was the husband of Metis, the goddess of wisdom. Zeus then swallowed his consort when she was pregnant with Athena because it had been prophesied that she would bear him a child stronger than himself, who would ultimately depose him. Athena was born when Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, cleaved open her father’s skull.

Athena was the goddess of battle, depicted with a helmet, lance and shield. Another emblem was the “aegis”, a breastplate with the head of the Gorgon Medusa in the centre. Athena was the patroness of the crafts and all artistic activities. She is also said to have invented the flute. While playing it beside a stream, she saw a reflection of herself with her cheeks puffed out, and crossly cast the instrument aside. The satyr Marsyas retrieved the flute and later challenged Apollo to a musical contest.

Many cities invoked the protection of Athena, especially Athens, where she was worshipped on the Acropolis. Her Roman equivalent was Minerva.

Apollo and Artemis — divine twins

The twins Apollo and Artemis were the children of Zeus and Leto. Jealous Hera pur-sued her rival relentlessly until, finally, the island of Delos allowed Leto to give birth to her children there.

Apollo was the upholder of order in human society, slaying wrongdoers with his bow and sending pestilence as a punishment. He defended religious purity. His attribute was the laurel. He was also the god of oracles and divine prophesies, leader of the muses and a master of the lyre. He was depicted as an idealized youth with long hair.

Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and huntsmen, represented unspoiled nature. Known since ancient times as the “Mistress of the Animals” and the “unconquered virgin”, she nurtured and protected young animals, but was also a huntress who killed her prey. Since the late classical period, she has usually been depicted as a young girl in a hunting tunic with a bow and a quiver full of arrows, often accompanied by an animal. Just as her brother was both the god of healing and the god of pestilence, so Artemis was the goddess of childbirth and the bringer of death in childbirth.

The Sanctuary

In the Greek and Roman world, the sanctuary was the most important place for wor-shipping the gods. People would go there with votive offerings and gifts to praise or appease a deity and to ask for favours.

At larger ritual sites there were temples with a cult image of the god. However, the centre of the sanctuary was always the altar where sacrifices were offered. At public ceremonies, cattle were often sacrificed: the priests would burn the bones, fat and hide of the animal as an offering to the gods; the meat would then be consumed by the worshippers at a ritual feast. Individual citizens usually donated smaller animals, fruit or libations. The rites could be accompanied by processions, dancing and music.

An abundance of offerings of various types would accumulate at such sacred sites. Large objects like statues would be set up on display while smaller votive objects, such as miniature figurines or weapons captured from the enemy, were deposited somewhere. In large Greek sanctuaries, Olympia and Delphi for example, there were also treasuries where valuable offerings were stored.

Dionysus and the Theatre

Dionysus was the god of wine and delirious ecstasy. Those who gave themselves to this god had to risk becoming “possessed”. Dionysus was surrounded by a retinue (thiasos) of half-wild hybrid creatures, youthful satyrs, older sileni, and frenzied maenads who often danced to the music of flutes and drums.

Dionysus was depicted as child, as a seductive youth with a body that is sometimes rather feminine, and as an old man leaning on a satyr. His attributes were the ivy, either as a wreath to prevent intoxication or wound around a staff (thyrsos), and a drinking vessel (kantharos). He always symbolised a hedonistic way of life.

Greek theatre originated in the cult of Dionysus. In many places of worship, dramatic performances were part of his festivals. Starting in Athens in the 6th century BC, first tragedies, then “satyr” plays and – after 486 BC – comedies were performed during the Great Dionysia festival. All the roles in the plays, even female roles, were taken by three male actors wearing costumes and masks, accompanied by a choir.

The Pergamon Altar

In the conflicts to succeed Alexander the Great, Philhetairos was able to establish his rule in Asia Minor, at Pergamon. His grandson, Attalos I, took the title of King. The latter’s son, Eumenes II (197-159 BC), defeated the invading Celts and developed the fortress into a Hellenistic city with prestigious marble buildings.

The religious centre was the altar of Zeus, which was visible from afar. A flight of steps led up to a podium and the colonnaded area with the altar for burnt offerings. The podium was decorated on all sides by a frieze depicting the battle of the gods against the giants. The rear walls illustrated the history of the founding of Perga-mon. Acroteria with figures stood on the roof.

The gigantomachy on the Pergamon Altar marks the pinnacle of Hellenistic art. It is the most complete antique depiction of the struggle of the younger generation of Olympian gods, together with Hercules, against the giants, born out of chaos, who were trying to destroy the new world order. Zeus with his lightning bolts is shown fighting a snake-footed giant, an allusion to the victory over the Celts.

The thrilling second chapter of the epic HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON trilogy brings us back to the fantastical world of Hiccup and Toothless five years after the two have successfully united dragons and vikings on the island of Berk. While Astrid, Snoutlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races (the island's new favorite contact sport), the now inseparable pair journey through the skies, charting unmapped territories and exploring new worlds. When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace. Now, Hiccup and Toothless must unite to stand up for what they believe while recognizing that only together do they have the power to change the future of both men and dragons.

Director: Dean DeBlois
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig

I have no idea what's happening in this ad, but they seemed to have discovered two new islands, the Megan Fox Island and, ready for this? The Mike Tyson Island.

Fresh from its debut screening at London Collections: Men we're delighted to share our latest film collaboration with designer Tom Lipop and director Aoife McArdle.

Inspired by the tactile and naturalistic quality of Tom Lipop's pieces, Aoife contrasts the designer's AW13 Design Forum Collection against the aftermath of an apocalypse in a short film commissioned by River Island.

The film's atmospheric and emotive narrative explores the intimate everyday moments of a lone survivor, focusing on the psychology of his solitary existence. Using clothing as a last emblem of identity and humanity, the film explores themes of heroism and the illuminating effect of unconventional friendships in a desolate environment.

Credits:

Written and Directed by Aoife McArdle
Man — Tony Adams
Boys — Austin & Jonathan
A co-production at White Lodge, Colonel Blimp, Good Company
Executive Producers — Stephen Whelan, Tamsin Glasson
Executive Producers USA — Brian Welsh, Jonathan Lia
Line Producer — Brian Welsh
Production Supervisor — Anna Rau
Director of Photography — Steve Annis
Production Design and Styling — Alexis Johnson
1st AC — Robby Hart
2nd AC — Jojo Canon
DIT — Eli Berg
Gaffer — Nghia Khuu
Key Grip — Julien Janigo
Swing — Mike Prim
Mixer — Justino Martinez
Production Assistants — Ben Wesley, Tay Hawes, Eric Sheffield, Marc Lacso
Panavision — Jennifer Kuwabara
Editor — Dan Sherwen at Final Cut
Telecine — Rich Fearon at MPC
Music Supervision — Major Tom
Additional Composition and Sound Mix — Freddie & Joe

The new “Vikings” exhibition at Discovery Times Square is, in a sense, built around something that isn’t there.

The exhibition, which opens on Friday, was organized by the Swedish History Museum in conjunction with MuseumPartners in Austria, and the people behind it really want you to know that during the 350 years (750 to 1100) that Viking culture flourished, horned helmets were never a thing. They have amassed 500 artifacts — some copies; many the genuine article — to make the point.

There’s not a horned helmet among them (unless you count an amusing sight gag as you exit), because no such headpiece has ever come out of an archaeological dig. The ubiquitous headgear often associated with Vikings, we’re told in the exhibition, actually came out of the imagination of an 1876 costume designer staging a Wagner opera. And that’s not the only misperception this exhibition is intent on correcting.

The first thing you see in the introductory film as you enter is a farming scene. Raiding was certainly part of what Vikings did, but it is de-emphasized here — perhaps too much so — in favor of displays that highlight social and religious life and try to give women their due.

Countless fictional portrayals might have left the impression that Viking culture was somehow 90 percent male, wild-haired and sword-wielding, but of course it wasn’t, as the jewelry and many other women’s artifacts here attest. The now-rusted keys on display, we’re told, were often carried by women, because with men frequently on the road, they ran the farm.

What’s most interesting about the exhibition, though, is the way it places Vikings within the evolving world. It includes, for instance, a shell found on Gotland, the Swedish island, that came from the waters off distant Cyprus, because one thing Vikings were good at was getting around.

From Scandinavia, the Vikings vikinged far and wide, encountering other emerging cultures. The exhibition is organized by themes rather than chronologically, and the cross-cultural pollination is especially clear in a section on religion. Norse gods and Christian symbolism combine on brooches and pendants, tangible evidence of the kind of slow cultural conquest or merging that is harder to dramatize than a plain old military invasion but fascinating to contemplate.

The ships that made all this roaming possible are well represented. There’s a reproduction of a Viking boat, but just as compelling is a display that speaks to the archaeologist’s frustration: So many materials, including wood, deteriorate in a harsh climate. The display — “We call it the ghost ship,” Ms. Hejll said — consists only of what might be left of a ship at an archaeological dig: the metal hardware that held it together. Dozens of weatherworn rivets and other pieces of ancient hardware dangle from strings, creating the shape of a vessel; only the actual vessel is missing.

The exhibition is geared toward a general audience, with several interactive features likely to appeal to children. One especially illuminating one involves shipbuilding. It presents a graphic display of a landscape, then asks you to select what you’d need to build a Viking ship. Rope? Sure — make that choice and all the horses in the landscape lose their tails, because horsetail hair was used for rope. Wood? Of course — make that selection and all the trees disappear. Deforestation, it turns out, was not just an Industrial Age problem. The Viking commitment to a seafaring life was also a commitment to expend a lot of natural resources.

The Vikings Exhibition runs from Feb. 5 – Sept. 5, 2016, at Discovery Times Square: 226 West 44th Street, Manhattan, NYC.

Author: Neil Genzlinger | Source: The New York Times [March 02, 2016]

A young nurse learns the shocking secret behind her brand new medical degree in the second ad for Band-Aid brand bandages. Check out the Band-Aid Musical here .

Credits:Agency: Mommy Space Island ProductionsDirector: Will KindrickProducer: Jeffrey BenavidesDirector of Photogrpahy: Chris SaulComposers: Adam Deibert Editor: Tony HelloSound: Ryan KnouffCasting Director: Brighton Hertford, Ellen HoulihanProduction Design/Art Department: Adirenne Garcia, Sharmila Ray, Sonja JohnsonHair/makeup: Jill GalstererWardrobe: Ashli Pingry1st Assistant Director: Trina K SandalGrips/PA'S: Joe Lujan, David Yeaman, Kyle Wright, Charlie Valencia, Aaron WhitePost Production Supervisor: Tony HelloStarring:Brighton HertfordMichael Coady Brody Fitzgerald

Pro Skater Eli Reed teams up with Playboy for “Lost Paradise,” a short film featuring Reed skating the Playboy Mansion. Check out the short film, sponsored by Diamond Supply Co. and Tenga, wherein the skater takes a nasty fall in New York City’s Chinatown and consequently wakes up in the Playboy Mansion to the likes of Playmate’s Kayla Collins, Ashley Doris, Carly Lauren, Crystal McCahill, Jaslyn Ome, Tiffany Toth, and Dani Mathers.

Eli Reed teamed up with Playboy.com to romanticize the imagination of a New York City skater in “Lost Paradise”. As he skates through the sweltering, concrete island that is NYC he takes a nasty spill and wakes up in easy, breezy Beverly Hills. His eyes flutter open to find himself draped in women inside of the Playboy Mansion. He finds paradise in the arms of Playmates Kayla Collins, Ashley Doris, Carly Lauren, Crystal McCahill, Jaslyn Ome, Tiffany Toth, and Dani Mathers.

As we watch pro skater Eli Reed skate around the forbidden Playboy Mansion in his flamingo pink Marc Jacobs suit, we are met with visually stunning imagery of Hugh Heffner’s iconic home. The film is a new twist on an old favorite. Babes, boards and bunnies.

What are men truly made of when taken out of their daily lives and dropped into the great unknown? To find out, Heineken dropped the Irish Murray and the Polish Jakub on a deserted island in the Philippines. And they got to know each other very very well. Legends aren't born, they're dropped.

Credits:
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam
Production: Wefilm
Country: Netherlands
Director: Roel Welling
Executive Creative Director: Eric Quennoy
Creative Director: thierry albert
Creative Director: Faustin Claverie
Executive Creative Director: Mark Bernath
Art Director: Philip Brink
Copywriter: Hugo van Woerden
Producer: Tobias Wilbrink
Executive Producer: Bas Welling
Agency Producer: Niko Koot
Global Brand Director: Cyril Charzat & Gianluca Di Tondo
Global Communications Director: Sandrine Huijgen
Global Digital Director: Paul Smailes
Global Communications Manager: Sarah Nisenbaum
Global Digital Manager: Nourdin Rejeb
Head of Production: Erik Verheijen
Planner: Nick Docherty
Communications Planner: Richard Oldfield
Episode Directors: Joeri Holsheimer & Lennart Verstegen
Episode Producers: Sara Nix & Bo Polak
Editor: Julien Mangois, Robin Pijpers
AUDIO POST PRODUCTION: Wave Amsterdam
Sound Engineer: Alex Nicholls-Lee
Group Account Director: Jordi Pont
Account Director: Clare Pickens
Account Manager: Luis Ortiz
Project Manager: Jackie Barbour
Business Affairs: Justine Young

In honor of Universal Children's Day, this beautiful ad comes to us from ad agency Grey (Germany) entitled "Lost Choir" for the International Children's Fund.

Every 3 seconds the world loses a child due to hunger, disease and contaminated water. To highlight this fact on Universal Children's Day, the Wuppertaler Kurrende Boy's Choir performed Mad World in front of an unsuspecting audience. During the performance a singer left the stage every 3 seconds until only one boy was left to deliver the message to a stunned audience.
Credits:
Brand: International Children's Fund
Title: Lost Choir
Agency: Grey Worldwide Düsseldprf, Germany
CCO: Roland Vanoni
CD: Mark Hendy & Neil Elliot
Creative: Dominik Janning
Art Director: Michael Kucharski
Producer: Anne Parlesch
Account Manager: Anna-Christin Saric
Production Company: Parasol Island
Producer: Kim Düsselberg
DoP: Tim Neiser
2nd Unit: Lukas Remie
Sound: Class Berger
Post production: Dennis Guth
Mastering: Marco Manzo, Studio Funk, Düsseldorf.

Mr. Worldwide, indeed: Pitbull will fly to Kodiak, Alaska, to visit the small island's Walmart store as part of a competition sponsored by the WalMart and Sheets by Listerine. The contest promised that the rapper would appear at whichever Walmart branch got the most likes on Facebook and, early on, it was hijacked by David Thorpe and Jon Hendren of the website Something Awful, who started a campaign to send Pitbull all the way to the Kodiak Walmart. As a result, the store's page netted over 71,000 likes, even though Kodiak's population is just over 6,000 according to the 2010 U.S. census.

Pitbull seems stoked, anyway. "I heard that Kodiak, Alaska, has the most likes due to someone who thinks he was playing a prank," the rapper said in the announcement video. "But you gotta understand, I'll go anywhere in the world for my fans." He even took the opportunity to extend an invitation to the pranksters. Nice work, Internet!
Via

Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey Macy's video remake of Mariah Carey’s 1994 song “All I want for Christmas is You”. The video filmed at the Macy’s store on West 34th Street, New York. Mariah looks fabulous, and I want to thank Justin for ruining this for me.

Credits:
Directed by Sanaa Hamri via Rockhard Films
Executive producer Nicole Acacio, commissioned by Mildred Delamota at Island Def Jam.

Allstate Insurance Thanksgiving ad campaign says thank you to their agents for all their efforts after Super Storm Sandy. Three new commercials, two of which will highlight Allstate agents (below) Frank Vento and Lilian Rodriguez.

Sandy was one of the most devastating storms to hit our country in the last 50 years. Over 50 million Americans in 20 states were impacted. Today, Allstate would like to thank the over 1,000 Allstate Agents who worked around the clock, helping customers before, during and after, super storm Sandy. All of you truly are, Agents of Good. Share their good works with others.

Staten Island, NY was heavily impacted by Sandy. Allstate would like to thank local Allstate Agent Frank Vento whose hard work & dedication made a difference in peoples' lives. Frank truly is an Agent of Good.

Allstate Agent Lilian Rodriguez's home was flooded during Sandy. Despite her own problems, she put her customers' problems first. Allstate would like to acknowledge her efforts. Lilian truly is an Agent of Good.

The newest Target commercial created by Wieden+Kennedy entitled "Color Changes Everything"(filmed in Buenos Aires in la plaza de San Martin) is great, but the Target ad featuring Adele's song Rolling In The Deep sung on a school bus even better....if you like Adele, and who doesn't right now?
The young lady singing is Denise from PS22 School Chorus (Staten Island, NYC). The school chorus was featured at the end of last year's Academy Awards.

Credits:
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy New York
Client: Target
Executive Creative Director: Susan Hoffman
Executive Creative Director: Mark Fitzloff

Creative Director:
Ben Hughes
Creative Director:
Julia Leach
Copywriter:
Andrew Jasperson
Art Director:
Mathieu Zarbatany
Head of Content Production:
Gary Krieg
Executive Producer:
Temma Shoaf
Producer:
Alison Hill
Product Producer:
Jen Hundis
Director of Business Affairs:
Sara Jagielski
Production Company:
Smuggler
Director:
Filip Engstrom
Executive Producer/COO:
Lisa Rich
Executive Producer:
Allison Kunzman
Line Producer:
Tim Kerrison
Director of Photography:
Crille Forsberg
Editorial Company:
Final Cut
Editor:
Jeff Buchanan
Post Producer:
Viet-An Nguyen
Post Executive Producer:
Lauren Bieiweiss
Editorial Assistant:
Betty Jo Moore
VFX Comapny:
The Mill
VFX Lead Flame:
Iwan Zwarts
VFX Supervisor:
Iwan Zwarts
VFX Supervisor:
Adrian Hurley
VFX Flame Artist:
Keith Sullivan
VFX Flame Artist:
Melissa Graff
VFX Flame Artist:
Jeff Robins
VFX CG Artists:
Boris Ustaev
VFX CG Artists:
Naotaka Minami
Producer:
Charlotte Arnold
Telecine Company:
CO3
Colorist:
Tim Masick
Mix Company:
Heard City
Mixer: Philip Loeb
Sound Designer: Philip Loeb
Producer: Gloria Pitagorsky
Song: Allouette
Artist: The Delta Rhythm Boys

El Rico

What happens when a stuntman, actor/director and screenwriter walk into a Gold Coast bar? They come up with the concept for an action fantasy film that is already raising eyebrows in Hollywood no joke. Rene Perrin, Avelino `El Rico' Lescot and Susan Macguillicuddy are the trio behind The Black Sun, which recently took out the Most Ambitious Screenplay award at the 2015 International Action on Film Festival in Los Angeles.

The locals are hoping the added hype surrounding their screenplay will push the project into production and attract the eye of distributors. Lescot, a Gold Coast-based actor, stuntman and filmmaker who has worked on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Peter Pan and The Condemned, said The Black Sun incorporates several genres.

``It's enchanting and mystical,'' he said.
``It's a gypsy, action, adventure, romance, western with a strong supernatural feel that is set in the Pacific Islands, Mexico, China, New Zealand and here.
``At the moment the film industry needs something different but financially manageable and that's The Black Sun.''

He said The Black Sun's `twist ending' had helped draw attention to the project. The film follows a warrior's worldwide journey on the Matariki boat, which Lescot said is `like another star of the film'. Lescot and Perrin have an impressive international fanbase thanks to the success of their action film Among Dead Men. It won several awards for best fight choreography and generated considerable profits in DVD sales in Canada, Germany, Thailand, Cambodia, Poland, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Hong Kong. It also grossed several times its $7000 budget in DVD sales through Walmart in the US. Perrin, who has worked as a stunt performer on films such as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Daybreakers, Nim's Island, Fool's Gold and Ghost Ship, said they wanted to combine their `love of action with a love of romance' in The Black Sun.

Balancing out the testosterone on the team is screenwriter Susan Macguillicuddy. Despite having worked with the likes of Cate Blanchett, Jessica Alba, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffiths, Macguillicuddy said working with `the boys' on The Black Sun has been her `most cherished writing experience'.

``It's like we each started at one end of the canvas and worked our way to the middle, fine-tuning the parts of the script we liked,'' she said.
``It took us about a year and hundreds of meetings but we're happy with the finished product.
``We wanted to do something very avant garde with the genre and something new.
``Getting the Most Ambitious Screenplay award means we really pushed the genre, which is what we set out to do.''

International distributors have shown interest in The Black Sun and the trio is currently in the process of looking for investors.