Big levers you want to pull.

I walk past this every day on my way to and from lunch.
Oh how I want to activate it!

And, I'm still undecided about watching the new Transformers movie.
I was so disappointed by Hulk I'm not sure I can take any more big
action films.

Flight of the Navigator.

The Michael Eisner years are being purged from Disney records and Chicago’s tourists are reaping the rewards.


















It seems that Disney, in an unprecedented house-cleaning, has found a treasure-trove of props from somewhat obscure 80’s movies. These long-forgotten 80’s props are now being distributed to large and small cities across the nation in hopes of jump-starting the U.S. economy through tourism and camera sales.



















Need a reference point?
Flight of the Navigator.

Additionally, Disney’s Imagineers have wired these props to convert the energy wasted by camera flash-bulbs, (used unnecessarily in the middle of the day) to clean eco-friendly electricity. Chicago will be harnessing this surplus of electricity to power its stone-lined pizza ovens and of course, fight inner-city crime.

While the Disney company will deny any knowledge of this effort, rumors have confirmed that they intend to continue the distributing props to cities like Monkey’s Eyebrow Kentucky, Hobo Station Mississippi, and New York.
_________

This weeks lunches have been non-existent for me. I've been traveling downtown a lot for a special marketing project and just haven't had the time to pick-up even a bite. Penny has been holding down the fort at the home office as I've been calling in creative changes and other incidentals from the client’s offices at the AON Center.

The great thing is that I've been able to hang-out with some of my favorite public works... like “The Bean” (A.K.A. Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor) in Millennium Park . There are rumors that Kapoor really hates it when people call it “The Bean”.

The massive sculpture reminds me of art classes in college. Professors in those classes would speak about how sculptures are meant to be touched and enjoyed physically. Their physical nature makes them part of our lives — they participate in everyday life, unable to be ignored like a painting on a wall. Cloud Gate really has this effect on the people of Chicago and its tourists.

The video this week is a little tame, but shows what it's like to sit and watch people stroll-by, photograph and generally enjoy Cloud Gate and downtown Chicago. It's just a little Zen video for me to come back to when deadlines are compressed.

I hope you like it too.
Millennium Park Zen

NOTE: Yes, I am reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

More posts soon I'm sure,
Avoid the lunch-rush... if you can... muhhhaa ha ha.
--Fish

Lego my Lego.

Lego^® does some cool things.
Does that now include popsicles?


















There's much to be said for those little blocks that stack, interlock, and build. Most of it is in Denmarkese... wait... Denmarkian... no that's not right either... Danish, that's the one. The same goes for this little popsicle mold. I wonder if printing the actual instructions in English may have helped the final product.

We attempted to fill the mold with Gatorade as it seemed the most yellow substance we would want to put in our mouths. (Try not to think about that too much). Anyway, to keep this post short, let me just say it didn't turn out as we expected. See the video below.


Lego my Lego... Popsicle.
NOTE: Love me or hate me — Yackety Sax was the only music that really fit this video. Thank you Benny Hill.

I wonder if we should catagorize this stickless-wonder with the other popsicle disasters I've read about:
SpongeBob's Eyes and Teeth are Made of Same Substance?
Random Colors and Placements?
Tweety Scares Me?

I'm guessing that this may even start a whole new food disaster trend — molds that don't work.

_______

Well, now that we've beaten-up on the Lego company for a bit, I do want to comment on how many things they seem to be doing right. Both Penny and I own a few of the Lego video games. We had to rush out to McD’s for Penny when they had the Lego Batman figures. It's just a cool company.

And even more importantly, they've got this really cool thing in the store itself. See the bonus video below.


Lego's 3d Boxes
NOTE: Filming stuff like this in stores is really frowned upon. Do not attempt yourself unless you are okay with being kicked-out of almost everywhere. Thanks to my G10 Super Spy Camera we seem to be able to do most of this undetected. Look for a Fish gets arrested video at a later date.

The kids are calling it “Augmented Reality”. In truth it deserves a whole post on its own, but I feel it kind of belongs in the Lego section. I first heard about it being done with a German ad for the Mini Cooper. All you have to do is wave the recognizable thing in front of the camera and then a 3d object is rendered in relation to its position. It's a great effect and really cool to play around with. It seems like Lego was really up on the technology and decided that they needed it in their stores. I guess the most puzzling thing about it is that you'd walk right past it in the store if you didn’t know. There's no screaming signage around it, no big "YOU GOTTA SEE THIS" banner or anything. It’s almost a secret. I urge you all to find your nearest official Lego store to try it out.

(I also secretly urge Lego to see how much we loved this and blogged about it. I also openly urge them to acknowledge Penny and I by giving us a free "Lego Deathstar")

So that’s my summary of our Lego Adventure Lunch. I invite you to leave us a few comments or tips if you can. Maybe we did the whole Lego popsicle thing wrong?

Eat well,
--Fish

P.S.
I just found another reason for us all to worship the creative genius of Lego. Check out their business cards: I want to work at Lego