Gawker: weird things

Brazilian Paper Hates Money, America

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:09:22 EDT

A Brazilian newspaper is running a series of ads with the slogan "Understand the real value of money." So what's the real value of a dollar? Apparently it's terrorism, pollution, the Challenger disaster, war, and tornadoes. Oh, and weed. They didn't forget the weed. I won't pretend to be able to identify the underlying philosophy here, but I will point out that even dumb people have figured out that using 9/11 in ads is a bad idea. The takeaway: Give all your dollars to me. Below, the full ad from the Brasilmofascist menace:

[via Gothamist]

Photoshop Eats Reality, Spits Destruction

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:46:37 EDT

The Photoshop Monster never sleeps. In March we brought you possibly the five worst Photoshop distortions ever. But it's clear that lessons have not been learned among those who wield the program's horrific power. Must all consumers be forced to live in a world in which perspective and continuity do not exist? It doesn't seem fair. After the jump, five more abominations of our modern media world, culled from the multitudes at the Photoshop Disasters blog.

New Economist Ads Target Kindergarten Demographic

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:16:18 EDT

The Economist, the smartest magazine in the world, may not be the smartest magazine in the world any more. Oh, the articles are just fine (we assume. We haven't read it since that free trial subscription ran out). We're basing our judgment on the magazine's new ad campaign. Which is utterly baffling. What, exactly, is the message here? Is the clown-and-stuffed-animal motif too clever for me to comprehend? Quite possible, but the campaign still reeks of a weeded college student breaking into the ad agency one night and replacing the real ads with these. Disturbing. Two full-sized pics of the inexplicable things [via Copyranter], below.

The Weirdest Sports Illustrated Covers Of 1978

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:43:25 EDT

Sports Illustrated has put a huge gallery of its archived content online for free. The best part is the selection of old covers, from back in the grainy days of short shorts and wild hair. Some of the production meetings back then probably involved drugs. We've selected the five weirdest covers from 1978, a year we picked because SI put Clint Hurdle on the cover that year, and you have to admit that man has a fine name. Look at the covers below!

Leon Spinks is good at spitting between his teeth.

Stop poking Al Unser, lady!

George Foster is always ready to sneak up from behind and hit you with a bat.

Occasionally, basketball players will pull each others' shorts down, just for fun.

You don't want to meet Nancy Lopez in a dark alley.