Idealog
- Business Magazine of the Year MPA Awards 2007, 2008 & 2009 Business Website of the Year MPA Awards 2009
A calmer kind of business
Welcome to Idealog Weekly, the free email newsletter for New Zealand commercial creatives, entrepreneurs and anyone rich with ideas.
Apologies for the lateness of this edition of the Weekly. Some friends of ours sent out their own newsletter on Friday and the resulting traffic bought their—that is, our—web server to a halt. So we thought we’d wait and despatch this issue over the weekend. In the meantime, we have some big iron on order so the problem doesn’t happen again. We have some new gadgetry for you too—check out our Navman giveaway in this issue!
A calmer kind of business
Jyoti Morningstar got a helluva shock in 2004. The Wellington yoga instructor was in a good place when within the space of a few months George Bush, John Howard and Kerry Prendergast were voted back into public office in Washington, Canberra and Wellington. “It made me realise the world was not as I thought it was,” she tells Felicity Monk in the latest Idealog. “I was really out of touch."
Voters may not have thought it was a time for change, but Morningstar did—and so began a chain of events that has left her partnering with former Bendon chief executive Stefan Preston in We’ar, a fashion eco-label that’s inspired by yogic principles and aims to be a holistic business. If that sounds like an unlikely partnership, well, the pair admit they don’t always see things the same way—and that might be their greatest strength. Read Felicity Monk’s interview in Celsias (which is bundled with Idealog #23), or on our website.
Where the Wild Things would like to be
Last year we got all excited at the news that Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) would direct a movie version of Maurice Sendak’s much-loved children’s book Where The Wild Things Are. Not long after that came the miserable news that studio execs didn’t like Jonze’s film because they thought it would be too scary for small kids. Hey, it’s supposed to be scary. They’re wild!
It seems Jonze had a powerful ally, though—Sendak himself. Check out this featurette on Jonze and Sendak where the author talks about the difficulty he had convincing publishers to sell his work and the instant panning it received from critics. So he can sympathise with Jonze, but what’s fantastic is the praise Sendak showers on the filmmaker. “He’s turned it into his—without giving up on mine, but embodying mine with Spike Jonze.
“There will be controversy about this, but the film has an entire emotional, spiritual, visual life which is as valid as the book. He’s done it … in a more brilliant, modern, fantastical way, which takes nothing from my book but enhances, enriches my book.”
The start of StopPress
This week the presses stopped and we launched StopPress—the first online-only product by HB Media, the company that creates each issue of Idealog. StopPress is a free blog and twice-weekly newsletter for everyone in marketing, advertising and media, edited by online newshound Frances Chan. It’s the online voice of our sister publication, NZ Marketing. We’ve had a fantastic response and if your job involves marketing, advertising, social media, PR, digital media, SEO or media sales, you want StopPress. Check out the website and sign up for the newsletter while you’re there.
Can’t find my way home
If that’s you, Idealog Weekly is here to save your blushes. We have an awesome new Navman GPS—worth $549—to give to one lucky reader. The sleek, good-looking, time-and-petrol-saving Navman MY55’s large 4.7" screen has tap or touchscreen options for ease of use with 3D junction views and landmarks bringing the map to life. It also has Bluetooth for hands-free calling, live weather updates and extended seven day forecast, pedestrian mode to be guided on-foot, and a petrol efficiency mode.
The optional AA Traffic (sold separately) will give you the latest traffic updates on your trip as well as suggesting alternative routes if there’s bad news ahead.
What’s more, if your gas is running low, tap the petrol shortcut on the main menu and all the closest petrol stations will appear on the screen. Same goes with finding food—if you’re hungry, tap the food shortcut to find cafes, takeaway bars and restaurants nearby.
You won’t want to leave home without the MY55. To win yours, email editor@idealog.co.nz with your most embarrassing misnavigation story. We’ll pick a winner before the next Weekly is despatched, so don’t delay.
Pocketing a Tuanz
Congratulations to pocket entrepreneurs Francois Bondiguel, Jason Leong and James Wigglesworth, who on Thursday won the Commerce award at the annual Tuanz awards—beating Fonterra and Air New Zealand in the process. It’s amazing what can be done with energy, ideas and $120 a month.
Data points
Last weekend a crowd gathered in Wellington determined to mash up some public property. No, not Te Papa—this crowd had its eyes on something less substantial but probably just as valuable, government data. “Who knew data was sexy enough to persuade 150-odd people out of bed and into a bunker on a sunny Saturday morning for six solid hours of talk and no pay?" asks Julie Starr on the Idealog blog. Well, how about improving traffic flow, health delivery, or informing local councils which roads need repairs? Or improving news coverage of elections? Or—just maybe—threatening the stability of our government? Julie came away from the event she may have witnessed the return of older ideas about community. Find out why in her post on the Idealog website.
Canada’s fourth most popular digital pop parody act
Radio-friendly pop music: why it sucks, told in a decidedly radio-friendly style by Jon Lajoie, who is apparently the most popular Canadian on Youtube. Take that, MTV. (I should warn readers that the language in this video is definitely not radio friendly and it should not be watched by children or your employer.)
Pacific in Bloomsbury
In Idealog #3 I met George Nuku, an Auckland artist who had spent months working with Dan Willdridge and Omeka Takiari in a Glenfield garage on a most unusual project: a marae carved entirely from perspex. They were way behind schedule and had a rigid deadline to meet to take pride of place at the Pacifica Styles exhibition in Cambridge, UK, in May 2006.
Nuku and his creation both made their flight—and Nuku is still there. This week he’ll join Rosanna Raymond, Shigeyuki Kihara and Lisa Reihana at ‘ethKnowcentrix: Museums Inside the Artist’, an exhibition at London’s October Gallery. The four are New Zealand artists of Maori and Samoan heritage, and they’re bringing a unique Pacific sensibility to the old country.
ethKnowcentrix runs until October 10. And check out Alistair Guthrie’s photographs of Nuku, Wildridge and Takiari at work.
Assembled design
Design Assembly is about to turn one. On the evening of September 30, the not-yet-venerable but definitely inspirational event will reconvene at AUT University’s Art & Design building for a typically eclectic event, including Meena Kadri on hand-lettered typography from the streets of India, David Gardener and Andrea Wilkinson on alternative urban landscapes in New Zealand, and Alt Group’s Toby Curnow on grids and tessellations in art and design. RSVP on the Design Assembly website.
Quote of the week
“The whole green movement is boring … why can’t an eco-business be about abundance and be sexy? I think that’s an interesting conversation.”
– Stefan Preston on the saucy side of sustainability
More at Idealog online
Read more on our website: web exclusives, opinion, creative directory, Idealog TV, the Idealog blogs and the Idealog podcast. See you at idealog.co.nz.
Matt Cooney
Editor
{We have issues} Previous
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Previously in Idealog Weekly …
October 30, 2009: Man of the moment
October 23, 2009: By the numbers
October 16, 2009: Pavlova principles
October 9, 2009: The secret of the songbook
October 2, 2009: Free and easy
September 25, 2009: What the world wants
September 18, 2009: A slice of the pie
September 11, 2009: Walking man
September 6, 2009: A calmer kind of business
August 28, 2009: We have issues
August 21, 2009: Mincing about in waistcoats
August 14, 2009: Wired on pop culture
August 7, 2009: Trust is not a commodity
July 31, 2009: Fuzzy logic
July 24, 2009: Game of life
July 17, 2009: Grape expectations
July 10, 2009: Blade runners
July 3, 2009: Free: another word for nothing left to lose
June 26, 2009: Poorly pleased
June 19, 2009: The giver
June 12, 2009: Buggy on down
June 5, 2009: Brand Cambo
May 29, 2009: When the going gets tough, go proactive
May 22, 2009: Bayerische Wasserstoffmotorenwerke
May 15, 2009: Rugger blogger
May 8, 2009: Get on our cloud
May 1, 2009: Easy Tiger
April 24, 2009: Tiki tacky
April 17, 2009: The not-so-great indoors
April 3, 2009: A site for sore eyes
March 27, 2009: Dual control
March 20, 2009: Worth their Alt
March 13, 2009: Biofuels or bio-fools?
March 6, 2009: It's electrifying
February 27, 2009: Experience-rich and theory-poor
February 20, 2009: It's a hundred-and-fourteen-pager
February 13, 2009: Own your mistakes
February 5, 2009: Rules—made to be broken
January 30, 2009: Money: that's what I want
December 5, 2008: Framed by the thousands
November 28, 2008: Spank-branding novelty next week
November 21, 2008: In the Loop
November 14, 2008: Your good health
November 7, 2008: Misfits of science
October 31, 2008: No absence of colour
October 24, 2008: Plain-speaking Peri
October 17, 2008: Rebels with a cause
October 10, 2008: Seoulipsism
October 3, 2008: Fall seven times and stand up eight
September 26, 2008: Don't label us
September 19, 2008: Bloody Graham
September 19, 2008: Dream proposition
September 5, 2008: Taxi!!!
August 29, 2008: Up-Skilling on Idealog TV
August 22, 2008: 144 pages of pure pleasure, plus politics
August 15, 2008: Wash down that Lovemark with a Steinie
August 8, 2008: Strange journey
August 1, 2008: SMElly and happy
July 25, 2008: What a dive
July 18, 2008: Softly and woolly does it
July 11, 2008: The saviour from Timaru
July 4, 2008: Last laugh
June 27, 2008: King Kev
June 20, 2008: Slow ART
June 13, 2008: Killing two birds with methane
June 6, 2008: A combine harvester
May 30, 2008: Gold paint
May 23, 2008: Rock, out
May 16, 2008: Goodwill hunting
May 9, 2008: No wine jokes please
May 2, 2008: Who's bad?
April 24, 2008: Succession success
April 18, 2008: Out now or thereabouts
April 11, 2008: Paint by numbers
April 4, 2008: Reincarnated good
March 28, 2008: Making it
March 20, 2008: Knock three times
March 14, 2008: The customer is always tight
March 7, 2008: Beautiful words
February 28, 2008: Goodnight, I'm off to work
February 22, 2008: The art issue
February 15, 2008: Straight to the top
February 8, 2008: H for hot
December 13, 2007: Nothing in common? Perfect
December 6, 2007: Who needs a beer?
November 30, 2007: Dirty secret goes public
November 23, 2007: Don't speak
November 16, 2007: Worthy work (and free beer)
November 2, 2007: East meets best
October 25, 2007: Raid the fridge
October 19, 2007: Looking good
October 13, 2007: Can't miss it
October 5, 2007: Fresh meat delivery
September 28, 2007: If the walls had eyes
September 21, 2007: Phoenix rising
September 15, 2007: Can we fix it? Yes we can
September 6, 2007: Feats of social engineering
August 31, 2007: Doesn't bite
August 24, 2007: Telling us where to go
August 16, 2007: Tomorrow time
August 10, 2007: Going West
August 3, 2007: How to ... be your business
July 27, 2007: Freaky food
July 20, 2007: Meet the neighbours
July 12, 2007: Free Hollie
July 6, 2007: Green queen
June 29, 2007: The truth about youth
June 21, 2007: Walk this way
June 14, 2007: Times ten
June 7, 2007: The ape woman needs a label
June 1, 2007: Impossible is something
May 25, 2007: Yeah, we're still here
May 11, 2007: Trophy time
May 3, 2007: Friends with the band
April 23, 2007: Why worry?
April 19, 2007: Done by the big jobs
April 12, 2007: A rockin' good read
April 5, 2007: No fear
March 29, 2007: Out to pasture
March 22, 2007: Hip-hop and The Human Touch
March 15, 2007: Crazy Frog and Billy T
March 10, 2007: The Benadryl edition
March 1, 2007: We can be Xero
February 22, 2007: Back on board
December 15, 2006: Free beer
December 8, 2006: December 8, 2006
December 1, 2006: December 1, 2006
November 24, 2006: November 24, 2006
November 16, 2006: November 16, 2006
November 9, 2006: November 9, 2006
November 3, 2006: November 3, 2006
October 26, 2006: October 26, 2006
October 19, 2006: October 19, 2006
October 12, 2006: October 12, 2006
October 6, 2006: October 6, 2006
September 28, 2006: September 28, 2006
September 21, 2006: September 21, 2006
September 14, 2006: September 14, 2006
September 7, 2006: September 7, 2006
August 31, 2006: August 31, 2006
August 24, 2006: August 24, 2006
August 17, 2006: August 17, 2006
August 11, 2006: August 11, 2006
August 3, 2006: August 3, 2006
July 27, 2006: July 27, 2006
July 21, 2006: July 21, 2006
July 13, 2006: July 13, 2006
July 6, 2006: July 6, 2006
June 29, 2006: June 29, 2006
June 22, 2006: June 22, 2006
June 15, 2006: June 15, 2006
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Audi designer Wolfgang Egger brings the A5 Sportback to life right in front of our eyes. It’s all about three lines, apparently, but those three lines have been obsessed over. Enjoy the autospeak: the rear comes complete with both accent and elbow.
Latest issue: Under the sea
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Overheard
- Mark on Bigger, faster, more productive:
Fantastic! Finally some vision in establishing a key infrastructure to support New Zealand's future prosperity and commercial competitiveness. Good work Rod, Sam and Steve - your country thanks you for your patriotism! … - Margaret Holmes on NZ Institute thumbs down Key's agenda:
Unfortunately it is not just red tape - it is also the laid back kiwi attitude, compounded by educators who think achieving national standards is a bad thing. - Tim Marshall on Smile, you’re in New Zealistan:
The target of higher GDP per capita is all wrong. Aiming for it encourages more production and consumption, often at the expense of quality of life. We need to construct a Genuine Progress Index (GPI) to guide policy. Fr … - Peter McL on New note:
"You got caught up in events at EMI.." and yet shes STILL with EMI - their local branch is distributing her new album. Wonder why?
I blogged some more of Hollies comments on the details behind the fallout … - Phil Wollerman on Smile, you’re in New Zealistan:
Brilliant, insightful article, VH.
This situation has principally arisen because - simplistically - the world no longer wants what we are intrinsically advantaged in supplying.
And yeah, it doesn't look like our co … - Anon on Smile, you’re in New Zealistan:
The answer lies in a) increasing the returns to capital and b) decreasing the cost of capital. To do a) we need to reduce corporate and income taxes and replace them with land, resource, pollution and infrastructure char …
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