I recently saw a recut of this video for a television ad that I really loved and tried to find to share with you, but sadly, I could not locate the 60 second version of this (which I actually preferred to the original video), so I figured I may as well share the entire 2 minute and 46 second version with you:
Music: "All I Want" by Kodaline, Video production by Whirled Creative
Mark Lee from the blog Overthinking It did a little data analysis of his own regarding the past five years of Google's Zeitgeist (their year-end round up of search trends on Google) that I'd like to share with you. I've reprinted his findings, complete with his hypotheses and commentary below.
His first step was to compile the last 5 years of Google Zeitgeist Top 10 Trending Search Terms and assign each item to a category:
A few things to keep in mind regarding these lists:
• These are lists of top trending Google search terms, not highest volume Google search terms. Google defines “trending” as “search queries with the highest amount of traffic over a sustained period in 2012 as compared to 2011.” (Emphasis is his.) Hence the “flash-in-a-pan” nature of the more derided results like Rebecca Black and Chatroulette.
• These lists reflect worldwide Google activity. Remember that Google’s share of the web search market is not as dominating in some parts of the world as it is in the United States; China being the most notable example.
• He used his own taxonomy based on his intuitive understanding of the different phenomena presented in the results. For example, rather than lump both Whitney Houston and Rebecca Black into the “music” category, he put Whitney Houston and Steve Jobs together in the “celebrity death” category.
• Although Google Zeitgeist goes back to 2001, Lee only went back 5 years, partly because it’s a nice round number, partly because there was no year-end roundup for 2006, and partly because he wanted to limit the amount that changing search habits and demographics could skew the results.
Here’s what the data looks like when you aggregate across the years, by category:
All fine and good, but what we really want to see is if there are any changes in search interests over the past five years:
So what do we make of this? Here are a few possible takeaways according to Lee:
• TV and movies are surprisingly underrepresented. The sole TV entry in the Top 10 over five years is Big Brother Brazil 12, and the sole movie entry is Twilight: New Moon.This is consistent with the idea that our media landscape is more diverse and less mass-market than it was in the pre-internet age. That being said, I’m still surprised that not even Avatar made the list, perhaps due to the year-over-year comparison calculation that powers these results.
• Searches for various social media sites has steadily declined since 2008. Is it because people are using social media less? Far from it, if Facebook and Twitter’s statistics are to believed. Instead, it’s probably due to two things: 1) the growth of social media is slowing as Facebook approaches near-total saturation and 2) the growth of social media web searches is slowing as more people access them using smart phone apps instead of a web browser.
• Sports cracked the Top 10 only twice, both in Summer Olympics years (the Euro 2008 soccer tournament also made the list). Why less love for the Winter Olympics? It may have something to do with the lack of beach volleyball (and exposed skin in general). Just a wild guess.
• Celebrity deaths are a reliable source of spikes in Google search activity, but 2010 had no such searches make the top 10 list. He perused several awful slideshows of 2010 celebrity deaths (so you don’t have to), and reports with some confidence that no one of the iconic stature of Steve Jobs, Whitney Houston, or Michael Jackson left us in 2010. Not that iconic stature is the only requirement for making this list; Ryan Dunn of Jackass fame seems to have qualified based on the alignment of the circumstances of his death and his daredevil image.
To Lee, the biggest surprise in this exercise was the tailing off of social media searches. As a reminder, it’s not because the total volume is declining; it’s because the year-over-year growth in searches isn’t enough to get these terms into the top 10. Still, if his theories are right–that social media is approaching full saturation and that the usage of it is moving towards mobile devices–then we do have a finding that approaches the idea of a “zeitgeist” in the traditional sense of the term: “the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.” Social media–this potentially radical revolution in how humans interact with each other–not only became a “new normal” over the past five years, but is also undergoing a radical shift from the stationary computer screen to the mobile, always-on-you device. And if this radical reinvention of the radical reinvention isn’t reflective of the zeitgeist, Lee claims he doesn't know what is.
One last thought on the nature of Google Zeitgeist itself: Lee wondered if he was imbuing it with outsized importance by assuming that the Google Zeitgeist is more of a part of the popular imagination (the zeitgeist, if you will) than it actually is. To find out he asked none other than Google:
Over the last five years, Google Zeitgeist has remained a popular year-end search term, though not with any consistent growth or shrinkage in popularity:
That being said, it’s still dwarfed by other popular search terms like “iPad” or “Michael Jackson.” Even “lolcats,” a niche but once-hugely popular internet meme, has towered over Google Zeitgeist over the past 5 years:
Granted, the gap has narrowed recently as searches for “lolcats” has declined while “Google Zeitgeist’ remains more or less consistent, but the point should be clear: the Google Zeitgeist itself is far from a cultural juggernaut compared to the items it contains. It’s not surprising, but it does provide some needed perspective on the matter.
About Lee
Mark Lee is, depending on the day and the hour, a management consultant, a musician, a technologist, and one of the managing editors for Overthinking It. He is a devoted fan of the Terminator movies and Microsoft Excel. Follow him on Twitter: @goestotwelve.
To ring in the New Year, I bring you this unusual selection of cover versions of the New Years' Eve song to which that no one really knows the words. (thank you Mashable)
With the upcoming release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (the latest of the J.R.R. Tolkien movies, all of which have been filmed in New Zealand), Air New Zealand has pulled out all the stops to market itself as 'The Airline of Middle Earth.'
above: their website design reflects the imagery from the movies.
With a fully wrapped plane in the movies' graphics, on board promotional items like hairy socks, sleeping masks and usb drives, a baggage carousel made to look like The Shire and a Hobbit-Inspired inflight safety video.
The Baggage Carousel:
The Socks:
The Sleeping Mask:
The USB Drive:
The Commemorative Pin:
The Safety vests worn by airport ground crew officials:
The Wrapped Plane:
In addition to all the above, Air New Zealand partnered with WETA Workshop on a brand new Hobbit-inspired Safety Video which actually has a cameo by Hobbit director and Oscar winner Sir Peter Jackson.
The film, titled An Unexpected Briefing in reference to a chapter from The Lord Of The Rings novel, shows an aircraft packed with hobbits, dwarves and orcs preparing to take flight.
Oscar winner Sir Peter makes a cameo appearance as a Gollum-inspired creature before disappearing after finding The One Ring on the floor and slipping it on:
Flight attendants are dressed as elves and wizards as they take their passengers through a list of safety instructions, all of which are inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien
Gollum is seen prowling the aisles as Tolkien's great-grandsons Mike and Royd Tolkien argue in the front row, and actor Dean O'Gorman, who plays Fili the Dwarf in the movie, demonstrates safety equipment.
behind the scenes:
The official trailer for the upcoming movie:
The movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure officially opens December 14th.
The Official Movie site.
all images courtesy of Air New Zealand
For the first time since I began this blog five years ago, I can feature the Pirelli Calendar without having to tag the post NSFW. 
For 39 years, the Pirelli Calendar has been known for it's risque and artful photos of female and male nudity (like the Sexy Greek Gods calendar from 2011). But this year, the calendar, shot in Rio by photojournalist Steve McCurry, includes images of fully clothed models, actresses and singers along with pictures of Brazil's art and culture. A departure from the past, McCurry wanted this year's calendar to focus on women active in charity and let their sexiness and beauty exude from within. In addition to the models, the calendar features several images of Brazil's people, art and culture.
The models in the 2013 Pirelli calendar.
Brazilian model Isabeli Fontana:
Brazilian model Adriana Lima:
Actress Sonia Braga:
Singer Marisa Monte:
Italian-egyptian actress Elisa Sednaoui:
Czech model Petra Nemcova:
Tunisian model Hanaa Ben Abdesslem:
Ethiopian model Liya Kebede:
American model Karlie Kloss:
American model Kyleigh Kuhn:
American model Summer Rayne Oakes: 
The press has only released 6 images of the 34 thus far, But I've included several more shots in the form of stills from a video about 'the making of' for you:
Summer Rayne Oakes stands alluringly amongst the bamboo:
A pregnant and sexy Adriana Lima:
Brazilian actress Sonia Braga amidst the ruins:
Capoeira masters practicing their art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
A fruit seller at the market in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
Street art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
Other shots from the calendar:
Steve Curry talks about shooting the calendar in the "Behind The Scenes" video below:
The 40th edition of the calendar includes 34 color photographs, including 23 portraits of actresses, singers and models, nine photographs depicting Rio de Janeiro’s everyday life, and two pictures of graffiti art and murals.
Adriana Lima, who was photographed while pregnant, is joined in the calendar by Elisa Sednaoui, Petra Nemcova, Isabeli Fontana, Sonia Braga, Liya Kebede and Karlie Kloss.
Launched in 1964, the Pirelli calendar has attracted some of the most famous photographers over the years, including Herb Ritts, Albert Watson, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Annie Liebovitz, Mario Testino, Mario Sorrenti, Karl Lagerfeld, Terry Richardson, Peter Beard and Patrick Demarchelier.
Wish you could see all the past Pirelli Calendars? there have been several books published of Pirelli's calendars over the years:
The Press Release:
There are 34 colorful images in the 2013 Pirelli Calendar, bound together in a calendar-book: 23 portraits of actresses and models, nine images depicting bits and pieces of daily life, and two pictures entirely composed of graffiti and murals. These represent an expression of popular artistic expression that attracted McCurry's attention with their ability to reflect the social aspects he was interpreting, and became the background in many photographs.
The Calendar features 11 models, actresses and singers: Brazilians Isabeli Fontana (who appeared in Bruce Weber's 2003 Pirelli Calendar, in Patrick Demarchelier's 2005 edition, in Peter Beard's of 2009, in Karl Lagerfeld's of 2011 and in Mario Sorrenti's of 2012) and Adriana Lima (also in Patrick Demarchelier's 2005 edition), actress Sonia Braga and singer Marisa Monte; Italian-egyptian actress Elisa Sednaoui, Czech model Petra Nemcova, Tunisian model Hanaa Ben Abdesslem, Ethiopian model Liya Kebede, and American models Karlie Kloss, Kyleigh Kuhn and Summer Rayne Oakes.
"I tried to portray Brazil, its landscape, its economy and its culture, along with the human element" said McCurry. "This was the story I wanted to tell through my lens. For me photography is an important expressive means to tell large and small stories of daily life." In the background, Rio is bustling with life, with its historic quarters like Lapa and Santa Teresa, its favelas, its bars and nightclubs, its markets, dance centers and gyms, its schools and bus stops. The city appears at its most authentic, very different from the usual stereotypes. "I walked a lot through the streets, looking at all these moments of daily life and taking lots and lots of pictures," said McCurry. "I look for the moment of passage, when the image reveals a bit of tension."
“I would say I am a street photographer doing ‘found situations.’ You can photograph nudes anywhere. But these models are clothed, and each of them has her own charity. They are purposeful and idealistic people. So I wanted to photograph them in a special place, and Rio was perfect for this,”
Presented in Rio de Janeiro at the "Pier Mauá", warehouses at the old port of the "Cidade Maravilhosa.
