SparkBlog by The Hartman Group

Soulful Green for the People

These days it’s no secret that it’s easier than ever to be green. Just last night our half-veggie-half-pepperoni pizza was delivered with a special note about composting and harnessing kinder, gentler energy sources. Once your local purveyor of fatty indulgence starts talking about sustainability, it’s time to listen up.

When trying to figure out what all the fuss is about, it's helpful to see what the kids are doing on the Internet. Perhaps you’d be interested in updating your Facebook profile to include your eco-friendly efforts while viewing Ben Affleck’s ethanol-rich "flex-fuel" PSAs and searching for sustainably grown food near you? Green sites are popping up all over the web, including the always trendy Treehugger, which not only implores its visitors to "get informed, interact and take action" in their communities, but to also make their daily lives as sustainable as possible, right down to the, ahem, more personal products they utilize.

From the glow of our monitors to the sparkle of the big screen, last week we were fortunate enough to attend a showing of The Real Dirt on Farmer John, a documentary exploring the lifetime struggles of Midwestern farmer John Peterson to heal and enrich his community. The fruits of  John's labor turned into Angelic Organics, a successful CSA bringing fresh, local vegetables to the people. In case you haven't heard, community-supported agriculture is en vogue, due in part to the efforts of many, many small farms like John's.

In a post-screening Q and A, John's longtime friend and director Taggart Siegel noted the fact that while his documentary has been around for a full two years, the climate (pun partially intended) simply wasn't right to receive the film until just now.

Talking to John, you can see that all of this green hullabaloo is simply not a trend to him. Rather, his idea of sustainable living is completely connected to his commitment to the farm. While his story may be inspiring, he is not, as one reviewer calls him, "Joe DiMaggio, Alice Waters and Spider-Man all rolled into one." At least, not deliberately. As far as we can see, John Peterson is a quirky farmer with his foot in two increasingly overlapping cultures.

While we're pretty sure we wouldn't take to farm life (both rural and urban) very well, we'd all do better to incorporate a little more green into our day to day habits, even if it means taking a minute to read the pizza box before chowing down.

On Robert Altman's passing...

Sadly, we now walk in a land with one less giant.

While film fans may squabble about the relative merits of his films (Have you ever sat through O.C. & Stiggs? Does anyone remember Popeye?) there is little dispute of Robert Altman’s contributions to his craft. To quote Elliot Gould:

“Bob’s legacy will continue to nourish filmmakers and artists for generations to come. He was the last great film director.”

And, we might add, there may well be no more.

And while many of Altman’s contributions to the craft are now mainstream, few recognize how truly innovative and radical his approach was when he arrived in the early 1970s.

From the chaos and cacophony of the opening scene of M.A.S.H., many understood that, for better or worse, filmmaking would never be the same. And while the scholars are wont to proclaim Citizen Kane the great American masterpiece, my vote always goes to Altman’s Nashville, a timeless critique of the American penchant for vanity and cowardice.

His fondness for interlocking narratives (now de rigeur in films such as Pulp Fiction or Crash), extended tracking shots designed to test the audience's patience, and throwing scripts to the wind scared the living beejesus out of most in Hollywood.

As well it should!

For it was this underlying fear that revealed a darker, more sinister secret. Namely, that the supposed “creative” industry that was Hollywood wasn’t very creative because, well, it was an industry.

You see, industries have processes and rules and ways of doing things. Industries exist to get things done and to do so efficiently and predictably.   

Industries allow us to pay the mortgage and work well into our 70s.

As a general rule, industries despise creativity because creativity questions the very rules and methods which allow the industry to thrive.

And this, of course, is the central tension for those in the innovation business. How can we attempt to be even half as creative as someone like Altman when we’re working within the confines of these strange creatures we call industries?

Last night while driving home from work, we listened as Elliot Gould was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered. You could hear the emotion in his voice as he was reminiscing of his friend and colleague. With the audible equivalent of tears in his eyes, he shared his favorite Altman quote:

“I learned how to put it together in chaos and therefore I create chaos in which to put it together”

We couldn’t have said it better.

And while we're at it, Mr. Altman, we forgive you for Popeye.

A new Sony Bravia advertisement...

By now most are aware of Sony's wonderful Bravia advertisement featuring many hundreds of thousands of colorful bouncy balls. The ad was a viral success and got them better publicity off the air than on.

Well, round two is scheduled for release in the next week. In this case they got uber director Jonathan Glazer to direct the spot, which hacks an old building scheduled for demolition with explosive charges of colored paints...

While the video will be released next week on Sony's Bravia website, you can check out a sneak peak here.

All told, it's pretty darned elaborate, and not unpleasant to watch, but the effect is nowhere near as exhilarating as the bouncy ball commercial. Besides, you don't get any Jose Gonzalez music.

Reimagining Folgers

We must admit, we weren’t sure what to make of the following film ad by Steve Ayson for Folgers Coffee (see inset video below).

But after several viewings, the commercial really began to grow on us. It’s a great example of updating a tired genre to reflect a more accurate, authentic portrayal of daily life, in the process updating the brand’s relevance.

For many years, Folgers print and television ads referenced this imaginary time and place where people apparently had nothing better to do than sit around the breakfast table relaxing with their morning coffee. And of course, while these ads continued to roll across television screens, consumers abandoned their breakfast tables in droves for Starbucks, their automobiles, etc.

Like most innovative TV spots, this appears as though it wasn’t initially targeted for U.S. viewers (from the credits, we’re thinking New Zealand), but we sure as heck hope the powers that be bring it to the U.S. sometime soon. How can you not love a tag line that reads “You can sleep when you are dead!”

(via 'boards)