The Wild Things are almost here

The wait is almost over for the release of the instant classic. Here are HEAPS of spectacular visuals to help whet the appetite. You know that we are extremely excited and now we hope that you are too.

Thank you Finland

Thanks for providing our favourite videos for the month of October (the clips after the cut):

1. The awesome video for Danny & Armi’s hit from the 70’s, ‘I Wanna Love You Tender’
2. An even better version – synched to Ozzy’s ‘Crazy Train’

WTWTA Wallpapers

Download free wallpapers here for your computer or here for your iphone.

Fantasy Basketball 09-10

The NBA Fantasy Basketball season is upon us and we had our live draft on the weekend. It was a super nerdy way for 20 grown men to spend a Sunday afternoon. Unlike most fantasy sports enthusiasts, we aren’t closet players. We play year in, year out, mostly unashamedly. It is the natural progression for any hoops fanatic who realises that the dream of one day becoming a professional player in the NBA is slowly fading and must to look to alternative basketball-themed successes instead. It is also a positive outlet for all of the invested time spent following results, boxscores, news, articles and the many soap operas of the basketball world that would otherwise be redundant.

The Good Life Fantasy League is a yearly competition where friends and colleagues/clients of The Good Life who share similar basketball passion are invited to flex their basketball knowledge and team management saavy. The season ends with an eventual champion who is awarded the title and handsome prize money. We have been playing through the dynamic ESPN interface for our third year straight. It comes highly recommended and it is completely free to setup your own custom league. Ante’s and my draft results below.

Geoff McFetridge x Where The Wild Things Are

Charming hand-drawn title sequence by Geoff McFetridge. Nice in still, great in motion. Maurice would surely approve.

Medicom x Where The Wild Things Are

Cool vinyl figures for Where The Wild Things Are. Detail pics after the cut. Buy here.

Opening Ceremony x Where The Wild Things Are

Fun and outstanding artistic execution from our favourite Opening Ceremony. Obviously these are products strictly for the nerdy fan-base. In our case, we are super fans of both partners, which makes for a dreamy collab. Whether you deem this collection wearable or not, it is a creative masterpiece. Heaps of pics after the cut…

Karen O x Where The Wild Things Are

The WTWTA OST was written by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Listen to snippets here. The Soundtrack will be released in Australia later in the month.

Topshop for Sydney

In breaking news SMH reveals that at the end of the month Sydney gets it first Topshop via Incu. No word on Topman yet.

No such thing as too early

The marketing campaign for Vampire Weekend’s new album is building up steam towards it’s release date, which is NEXT YEAR! I guess there’s no such thing as too early when it comes to hype machines. It better be a good album. The link lives here.

QVB’s Magical Advertising

The ‘The Magic Lives On’ campaign for the Queen Victoria Building is well under way around Sydney CBD and I’m not sure to what extent the general public have taken notice, but I am a really big fan. PDC Creative are the agency that developed the marketing campaign which I feel is exceptional. Credit when credit is due, and you can always count on us design nerds to appreciate these kinds of little things (plus the fact that I’m a a follower of the renovators, Ipoh, who are named after the little Malaysian city where my dad is from).

From a visual standpoint the photography, styling, typography and design is beautiful. It’s impossible to fault.

But aside from the execution, the whole concept and timing for the campaign is brilliant. For the longest time I have felt that the QVB was an unappreciated, underrated, underused and misunderstood shopping destination. It has not been much more than a bus stop, a meeting spot (near the fountain) or a thoroughfare from Town Hall Station to the commercial centre of Sydney over the years. And because of the redevelopment of Pitt Street Mall coupled with the ‘financial crisis’, the majority of Sydney’s mainstream shoppers are left without a natural go-to-move. It’s about time the QVB took the throne as Sydney’s shopping mecca. It’s got the perfect locality, infrastructure, beautiful architecture, easily-recognised brand, ties to prestige and undeniable charm. It already houses all the big brands, although at the moment it feels more like their spaces are more of a status thing or a mere billboard for George St and York St traffic.

When taking all this into account the finished artwork for the campaign is marked with an A++. It visually communicates all of the messages that the QVB needed to pronounce. The bridge between historical elegance and contemporary classic is made with a dream-like approach. The communication is very strong, yet without the usual clutter and ‘dumb-down’ ellaborations. And above all, everything has been done with a whisper.

More Superchef Mitch

Housemate Mitchell Orr was featured in The Sydney Magazine (SMH) yesterday in a FP spread. The ‘Watch This Face’ feature on page 28 outlines Mitch’s background, experiences and food philosophies. The exposure just keeps rolling in since being anointed Young Chef of the Year last week.

Nate & Lee <3 NY

According to ESPN, New York cult heroes David Lee and Nate Robinson have decided to stay with the Knicks for at least one more season. That means one more year of fun for basketball fans watching them run with Coach D’Antoni’s system.

Accidentally Viral Artwork

Ante created the above artwork this morning for a bit of fun and found that it had already gone viral by afternoon, being posted on many websites, blogs, forums and also finding it’s way into many inboxes. The Good Life can deliver ‘viral campaigns’ even when it’s just for kicks. Some postings include the Daily Telegraph and The Punch.

Sydney Today!

Awesome photostream dedicated to this morning’s crazy red dust storm. How weird was it? Brings me back to Total Recall and the scene where Arnie’s eyes pop out of his head.

Photo: Janet Kavanagh.