Culture: George Lois -- The Willy Wonka of Brain Candy

By Noah Mallin

I was thrilled to see that the Museum of Modern Art has a terrific show featuring an old family friend (Hi Mom!) -- George Lois, one of the most revered names in American advertising and graphic design. What makes Lois so incredible is his gift for discerning the mental hook -- whether it be verbal, visual or otherwise -- that will lodge an idea or client in an unsuspecting person's cerebellum. He is the man who came up with the phrase "I want my MTV!"

The show at MOMA is focused on his covers for Esquire magazine from 1962 - 1972, and they are a brilliant bunch. It's refreshing to be confronted with the graphic cleanliness and visual high concepts of Lois covers. Though his covers were the peak of the form, almost any magazine cover of the era is better designed and more eye-grabbing than today's preference for packed-in text, graphics and info all fighting for notice. I highly recommend the show for anyone in New York or visiting, but Lois' website is typically also very well laid-out and has a wealth of visuals. Even better is the extensive commentary from Lois on nearly every example.

Here are two more of my favorites:

Art/Culture: Decapitator Forces Ads to go Topless

The latest found artist to hit London is The Decapitator -- a name that brings to mind an airport thriller serial-killer. Which in a way he or she is. Witness above and below how they worked their magic on a poster for Disney's High School Musical:
You can check out their handiwork on Flickr here.

Books: All Press is Good Press

The New York Times today reports that Picador books is taking a rather direct approach to selling the paperback version of Oprah-snubbing author Jonathan Franzen memoir The Discomfort Zone. Two rather nasty quotes are included in the blurbs -- both from the Times itself. Is it that people only register the blurbs as a mass of positivity without actually reading them? Or is Picador banking on anti-Timesism?

Music: The Four-wheeling Bob Dylan

Young Bob tries out an alternate pitch for new client Cadillac...

Fresh from shilling for Victoria's Secret spokesinger Bob Dylan is lending his unique brand identity to carmaker Cadillac. Though I would have figured the term "threeway" would have been applicable to his earlier deal it does in fact describe the new tie-up between XM Satellite radio, the man who got the Beatles stoned, and the car my grandparents drove. Dylan will play and discuss Caddy-themed songs during his acclaimed Theme Time Radio Hour on XM, Cadillac will feature Dylan in a new wave of advertising rolling out for the multiple zip-code sized Escalade SUV and the aforementioned land yacht will come standard with XM satellite radio standard... on which listeners can tune into Dylan's radio show and restart the entire cycle of circle-jerkery anew. Here's the ad which I believe uses a song from Smog, appropriately enough. Also note that Bob passes several tankers (one on a truck and a few on a train) which approximate the amount of gas the behemoth Escalade uses in an average journey.