Real Estate TV Ads: Who Does it Best?

Voting day...

Don't forget to vote.

The spring home buying season is in full bloom, and most of the nation’s major real estate franchisors are airing national TV ads designed to burn their brands in consumers’ brains, Paul Hagey reports on inman.com.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate, Century 21 Real Estate, Re/Max and newcomer Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices all have spots, and Inman wants to know which one you think is most effective in reaching consumers, Hagey wrote.

See the spots and choose the one you like best in the poll below: http://www.inman.com/2015/04/28/which-real-estate-brands-tv-spot-does-it-best/

(Polls close tonight, April 30, at midnight Eastern time.)

Rocket Science Tackles the High Heel

Comfort zone...

Rethinking the stiletto

While working in a super clean rocket plant in California, Dolly Singh's high heels became a problem: How to find what she called pretty shoes that are comfortable.

The relationship with shoes is very intimate and personal, she says.

So in her search for a comfort zone, Singh decided: Don't complain.  Do something, she told bloomberg.com.

And she founded Thesis Couture, a fashion-technology company working to reinvent the stiletto.

See how Singh has teamed with an astronaut, a rocket scientist, and orthopedic surgeon and a fashion scientist to design and craft what she calls the world's first high performance, high fashion high heels in this new Bloomberg video by Jennafer Savino and Amy Marino: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-04-29/rocket-scientists-are-inventing-a-new-high-heel

F for Fake

Lessons...

Orson Welles filming Chimes at Midnight, Spain, 1964

The old master is back...and he's in fine form.

Ladies and gentlemen, Orson Welles says, this is a film about trickery, fraud...about lies.

And you're hooked.

Everybody loves good movies, and in F for Fake Welles shows how to make them and never lose an audience.

Don't miss this new and very good video based on F for Fake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GXv2C7vwX0

Welles on the set of Citizen Kane, 1941

And directing Anthony Perkins on the set of The Trial, 1962

Trailer for what is considered one of the greatest films of all time, starring Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, and Welles : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bTHnw2NUys

The Aluminum Can: A Modern Marvel

A glorious thing...

 Cans of one of the world's best known products

  

This story caught my eye for two reasons.

First, it brought back memories of canning seasons long ago when my mother and her friends' and relatives' kitchens would be filled with Ball's Mason jars.

And, second because the aluminum can, which we all take for granted, turns out to be a masterpiece and far more complicated to produce than we might imagine.

The Ball Corporation no longer makes those famous jars of yester-year.

Today, it's the largest producer of recyclable beverage cans in the world.

And I hope you'll enjoy this intriguing story about its remarkable products by Jonathan Waldman on wired.com:

When was the last time you paused between sips of your favorite soda and wondered about that can in your hand? If you’re like most people, the answer is likely never. But that seemingly unremarkable object is actually a marvel of modern manufacturing. It is, in fact, a glorious thing, Waldman wrote.

A few years ago, I finagled my way into Can School, a small industry-only event hosted annually by the Ball Corporation, the world’s largest can-maker. There, in a conference room just north of Denver, engineers chatted about “improved pour rates” and “recloseability” and the “opening performance” of cans.

For more:  http://www.wired.com/2015/03/secret-life-aluminum-can-true-modern-marvel/

Some Bright Spots in TV Advertising

Engaging...

Advertising whimsy 

What a relief it is to find some bright spots in the otherwise dreary wilderness that makes up a lot of TV advertising.

It's a wonder sponsors pay incredible amounts for ads that barely register with many viewers.

Fortunately, it's possible to find some good ones now and then that are engaging.

Here are some that can really make you stop and watch: 

Progressive:  Flo; After School, "Sprinkles are for Winners": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAw2TXsgBbY

Progressive: Flo; Back in Time, "I Didn't Turn Your Daughter into a Rooster":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSOcMXQZ5Go

Allstate: Mayhem Commercials, "I'm a wild deer.  I freeze in the headlights because that's what we do": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErGzrPGJmoY

State Farm: State of  Unrest, "What are you wearing, Jake from State Farm?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47cAxRX3aDg

GEICO: Chicken Commercial, "If You're a Free Range Chicken, You Roam Free": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt6jZHvVNA8

GEICO:  Family: Unskippable, "It's already over": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvcj9xptNOQ

BMW: Sprout Brook Inn, "Is this it?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jYHBrmD2iU

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Trailer #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOVFvcNfvE , Trailer #2:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc2v7izk8w

Musical Moments: Tchaikovsky, Waltz of the Flowers

Classic...

Wildflowers along a forest stream

Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.

I hope you'll enjoy Tchaikovsky's classic Waltz of the Flowers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxHkLdQy5f0

New Listings Up in Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

 Reflections

Twenty new listings of property for sale led Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were

:

-- 12 price changes;

-- One accepted offer;

-- Two properties going under contract, and

-- Eight closings.

For more:

Hubble Marks 25 Years in Orbit

Eye in the sky...

Noelito Flow by Hubble

The Hubble space telescope marks the 25th anniversary of its launch into orbit today and the start of its many contributions toward a better understanding of the universe.

Hubble, which is considered one of the most important scientific instruments ever developed, got off to a rocky start.

In fact, it was labeled a failure in its early years.

It finally took astronauts to catch up with the orbiting telescope and space walks to repair it.

In the years since, Hubble has been regarded as a national treasure, providing valuable new insights about the universe.

For more about our eye in the sky, including videos about Hubble and a gallery of some of its wonderful images like the one above:  http://kenallensforum.blogspot.com/2015/04/hubble-marks-its-brilliant-25th.html

  

Stunning New Whitney Museum in New York

Great tours...

New Whitney Museum, Manhattan

The stunning new Whitney Museum of American Art is scheduled to open in Manhattan's Chelsea district next week.

The museum has produced an excellent video tracing its history in Manhattan from mid-town to Chelsea, including some of the marvelous features of its extraordinary new building:  http://whitney.org/About/NewBuilding

The Whitney's move downtown from Madison Avenue to the former meatpacking district confirms a shift in New York's social geography, which has been decades coming, Michael Kimmelman reports on nytimes.com.

  

It ratifies Chelsea and the once-funky far West Village as something closer to what the Upper East Side used to be, say, circa 1966, the year Marcel Breuer’s Whitney building opened at 75th Street, he reported.

The new $422 million Whitney, which was designed by Renzo Piano and opens May 1, lets the city pour in, Kimmelman wrote.

For more, including some interesting computer generated models of the new building's unique design and virtual tours of its new features:  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/19/arts/artsspecial/new-whitney-museum.html?smid=tw-nytimes

Some Great GIFs of the Week

Odd moments...

Well, it's early in the season.

A few more you might want to see:

Wow. Are you ok?

Never did like that bike.

   

And then something went wrong.

Gallery: Dazzling Homes of Top Sports Figures

Another world...

Team owner Stanley Kroenke, land baron with 864,000 acres

Sports stars often dazzle us with their performances.

Equally remarkable is the way some of those folks and team owners live. 

It's another world.

Emmie Martin, Melissa Stanger and Melia Robinson offer a glimpse into that world on businessinsider.com.

See some of the top sports figures' homes, including a slide show of LeBron James' Miami estate: http://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-athlete-homes-2015-4?op=1

Beethoven: Fifth Symphony, First Movement

Famous...

 Beethoven, Andy Warhol

I hope you'll enjoy the first movement of Beethoven's famous Fifth Symphony performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4IRMYuE1hI

New Listings Lead Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

Line Dancer, Harriet Westfall

New listings of property for sale led Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

Results, according to the Darien MLS were:

-- 13 new listings;

-- Five price changes;

-- Three accepted offers;

-- Three properties going under contract, and

-- Five closings.

For more: 

 

Nostalgia: The 20 Most Stylish Movies of the 90s

Film fest...

The Talented Mr. Ripley

As 90s nostalgia reigns, Calum Marsh critiques the decade's most stylish movies on esquire.com.

Marsh selected some great films -- Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, for instance.

But one of my all-time favorites is The Talented Mr. Ripley.  Superb cast, story and production.

Maybe some of your favorites are among the classics in Marsh's film fest.

Take a look:  http://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a34230/the-most-stylish-movies-of-the-90s/?lang=en&utm_campaign=10today&a.mp;flab_cell_id=3&flab_experiment_id=130&uid=72299339&utm_content=article&utm_source=email&part=s1&utm_medium=10today.0409&position=8&china_variant=False

Old Havana Looks to a New Era

Change coming...

Havana, where even an ancient Studebaker is still on the job

Architectural Digest decorative arts and antiques editor Mitchell Owens found old Havana looking forward to a new era on a recent trip to Cuba.

For Owens' report, his video of the city's varied architectural styles and a slide show for the magazine's May issue: http://www.architecturaldigest.com/video/2015/cuba-travel-video

Hubble Marks Its Brilliant 25th

A national treasure...

Pillars of Creation by Hubble

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the Hubble telescope, which has unlocked some of the biggest mysteries in the universe, according to NASA.

To celebrate the anniversary, NASA produced Expect the Unexpected, a video you won't want to miss:  http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/expect-the-unexpected-in-a-hubble-25th-anniversary-video/

And take a look at Traci Watson's terrific report on Hubble's anniversary on usatoday.com.  

It's likely that no other modern day instrument has stirred as many passions as the Hubble Space Telescope, which marks the 25th anniversary of its launch into orbit on April 24, Watson wrote.

It brought us bitter disappointment one minute and thrills the next, she wrote.

It has provoked sorrow and wonder, devotion and outrage, she added.

At one point, it was a national disgrace.  Now it's a national treasure, with the kind of name recognition usually enjoyed only by pop stars and presidents, Watson reported.

Accompanying her report are videos and photos tracing the demanding engineering challenges Hubble posed, its development and deployment and its infamous fits and starts:

 http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/hubble-telescope-hailed-on-25th-anniversary/25708323/

 For a sampling of Hubble masterpieces: 

Carina Nebula

  

Sun spits solar cloud

Cosmic ice sculptures

Eagle Nebula

Cone Nebula

Beta Pictoris

Black Eye Galaxy

  

Young stars in Doradus Nebula

Orion Nebula

  

Dusty clouds over Pismis 24

  

Yikes! Star Wars Attack on Los Angeles

Awful invasion...

Car under attack

Long, long ago in what seems like a galaxy far, far away, my hometown was peaceful Pacific Palisades along the mountains above Santa Monica Bay in Los Angeles.

But today comes word of a monstrous Star Wars imperial attack on the City of Angels.

Yikes!

Filmmaker Kaipo Jones spent a few months painstakingly animating the awful invasion, Chris Mills writes on gizmodo.com.

See the attack in Jones' new, two-minute short:  http://gizmodo.com/heres-what-an-imperial-invasion-of-la-would-look-like-1697414125

Let's hope Yoda comes to the Southland's rescue:

  May the force be with you...

The People We Want to Be

Thoughtful...

David Brooks

David Brooks wrote a thoughtful column -- The Moral Bucket List -- on nytimes.com today.

About once a month I run across a person who radiates an inner light, he wrote.

When I meet such a person it brightens my day.

A few years ago I realized that I wanted to be a bit more like those people.  I realized that if I wanted to do that I was going to have work harder to save my own soul, Brooks wrote.

For more of Brooks' column on the people we want to be:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/opinion/sunday/david-brooks-the-moral-bucket-list.html

        

Musical Moments: Adele, Someone Like You

Old favorite...

Adele

Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.
 

Here's an old favorite:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwsaoLEvWbw\

New Listings Top Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Weekly update...

Washington Arch, Spring, Childe Hassam, 1893

Twenty new listings of properties for sale topped Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

Other results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Six price changes;

-- One accepted offer;

-- Five properties going under contract, and

-- Four closings.

For more:

New Video: Secrets of Success for a Restaurant

Ingredients for success...

Charles Masson

What makes a restaurant successful?

Charles Masson, who spent years at New York's legendary La Grenouille and now is director of Chevalier which is just opening in New York's new Baccarat Hotel, knows a thing or two about the restaurant business.

For his ingredients for success, take a look at this new video by Zach Goldstein for bloomberg.com: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-04-07/the-top-five-secrets-of-a-successful-restaurant

For more about Masson, his experience and the new Chevalier from nytimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/dining/at-chevalier-charles-masson-greets-change.html

 I'd like to have dinner at Chevalier sometime.

New Video: Milton Glaser on Design's Social Impact

Engaging...

Milton Glaser design

Milton Glaser, designer of the famous I love New York logo and other creations, recalls projects over his career and discusses design's impact on society in an engaging new video by Poppy de Villeneuve for nytimes.com.

For a fascinating few minutes, check out this video with Glaser, who also designed New York Magazine:  https://vimeo.com/123640217

 New York Magazine

Milton Glaser design

Milton Glaser at work