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Welcome. Currently on the site:
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 — 8:18am
Phantom Votes!
Welcome to the new month. Bit of a funny set of items here. In 1989 and 1990, the Australian government produced two comic books aimed at the Aboriginal community with instructions on how to register to vote and how to run for office. The comics present good information about participating in elections, but the chosen messenger to the Aborigines is Lee Falk's classic adventure strip superhero THE PHANTOM.
Here's both issues:
Added to the archive primarily because this is one weird combination of spokesperson and subject, here now is the complete set of PHANTOM TEACHES ABORIGINES VOTING RIGHTS.
New York State Senator Adriano Espaillat Calls Primary Race ‘Phantom Election’
Interesting postscript to this: Recent protesters in Mexico, claiming voter fraud over the recent election that re-instated the PRI, have referred to some of the proceedings as a "Phantom Election" - and it's not an uncommon phrase, meaning a number of things (fraudulent votes, fake voters, etc) — and recently in the US, NY State Senator Adirano Espaillat referred to possible vote error in his primary race as a "Phantom Election" (New York Times, July 2 2012) — So that's what the phrase means.
"Phantom Votes" as a big pun and joke on Australia's Aboriginal community is totally unlikely, but as an unintended humor, it's an interesting (unintended) comment on how minority votes are viewed.
Long-time listeners/visitors of this site know that we've been putting out albums for about ten years. I'm never in a big hurry on these things, but am about a third through the next one. Contains a suprising number of serious moments, but as a preview, here's a dented fun track, "High Dollar Hustler"
HIGH DOLLAR HUSTLER
new song, for evading the police on your boat
A lot more of the new album as it gets finished up, but in the meantime enjoy the fable of the H$H. — Ethan
Infographic: Logos & Meaning PART ONE: "MITT ROMNEY BELIEVES IN COOKIES"
In logo design and messaging, everything from color and font is a carefully deliberated decision. It's important to discuss what is being inferred, particularly for political organizations. As a quick infographic, let's discuss two of them. First up, "Romney: Believe in America"
In visual communication, there is the phrase "Sub-Slogan" - an example being the striped IBM logo, where the stripes imply "speed and efficiency" - Graphic Designers are taught that if you have a phrase, for example "Believe in America", that the way you present it graphically will deliver the sub-message, something that is felt and affects you deeper than something that is read. So, the question is, "What is the sub-message" in Mitt Romney's logo? We're excited to say we've cracked the nut on it. The answer is found in the Romney's obvious inspiration for their logo, Girl Scouts of America:
While associations with money prevent Romney from painting his logo green, the triple red-white-and-blue wave of the Romney "R" is a near identical rip-off of the Girl Scout silhouette, down to the width of the band. This is more obvious when you match the color palettes. I believe the hidden Sub-Message of Mitt Romney's "Believe in America" campaign becomes cookie-crumbingly obvious!
Infographic: Logos & Meaning PART TWO: "WHO IS THE JOKE ON WITH THIS ONE?"
I've been wanting to make the "Mitt Romney is a Girl Scout" logo comparison for a while, but haven't had a stronger example of outrageous logo similarities to justify the post. All that changed when I was introduced recently to one of the more vile Super PACs in existence, "Americans for Prosperity".
If you haven't heard about AFP, they are a gigantic conservative group, and have been pumping the worst sorts of subversive advertising all over the country. Chances are if you run into a relative who is convinced healthcare is unhealthy, education is stupid, labor is lazy, and the wealthy need welfare, it is because of an ad campaign from "Americans for Prosperity".
Want the joke? Their logo is a complete match, in color and font, of the world's greatest satire paper, THE ONION:
