not sure what the topic for this week is so here's a cool thing I found

Check out www.megaplanet.com. Its a unique art project that involves the entire world. This guy, Simpson, makes orbs of glass that contain intricate patterns designed to enhance creative thinking. Now I have seen these "planets", they are amazing. He makes them, then travels the world depositing them in random places. Its a unique way of making connections between people, and I believe shows art at its truest form, making connections.

Vot banan!

Ok, when I was in Moscow there was a really weird commercial that used dual coding. I did not understand it for awhile but as my Russian improved I realized it was a very clever commercial. There were different versions, but one of my favourites started with a man carrying so many boxes he could not see where he was walking. He walks up to an open manhole and falls in, hurting himself. Then a cyclist runs him over and consequently gets thrown off his bike and ricochets off another car damaging it in the process. Then the commercial cuts scene to a banana where this evil music is playing. Suddenly the camera zooms in so the entire screen is filled by the banana and the music peaks in its evilness. Then the scene cuts to an army of people lead by a beautiful woman who always said, "Vot banan!," and then she bites the banana as does everyone else. "Vot banan!" is basically the Russian equivalent of "Oh my God there's a banana!" This was a commercial put forth by the Russian banana business. The premise of the commercial was to say that bananas are evil and out to get us, so we should destroy them before they can destroy us. Now every time I see a banana I think about how they are hurting people, and I need to do my part to eliminate this threat. Eat a banana, save a life.