Boo Breaks Another Record!
It’s official! This year’s Safeway Boo at the Zoo has already set an attendance record, with over 44,000 visitors so far, and four nights to go! That’s a 400 % increase over 2010 attendance!
“The numbers we’re experiencing are unprecedented,” said Lorne Perrin, VP Marketing & Park Services with the Assiniboine Park Conservancy (APC) which organizes the event, now in its 16th year. “We’re absolutely thrilled with the enthusiasm for this year’s Safeway Boo at the Zoo and we love to hear that people are enjoying the new aspects of the event.”
Read the Winnipeg Free Press story here.
What the article doesn’t mention is the extensive use of troll magic, courtesy of Icky, Boo’s new mascot. Icky was discovered on a recent zoological expedition to Northern Manitoba by Velocity Designer Colette Boisvert. The big purple troll was lured out of his cozy cave with the promise of all the free chocolate bars, cold pizza, and sweat socks he could eat.
Boo at the Zoo runs till Sunday!
Velocity Branding is hiring!
The work keeps coming and we continue to welcome new clients and expand current relationships! For this we are starting to look for some additional help around the office.
We are looking for a Print Production Designer and a WordPress Developer/Designer. Click for more.
Bry Spy Vol. 07
Persol produced this interesting video documenting the process of crafting eyewear by hand. Enjoy!
A BOOtiful Weekend for a Troll!
This year’s Safeway Boo at the Zoo has broken a sales record in just four days!
From Thursday Oct. 20 to Sunday Oct. 23,
nearly 27,000 tickets were sold — SPOOKTACULAR!
In addition to the record, feedback has been monstrously positive! We like to think that Icky the Troll, discovered in the remote wilderness of Northern Manitoba by Velocity senior designer Colette Boisvert, may have had a hand in boosting attendance. How? Troll magic.
Here’s a shot of Icky with Colette (left) and Creative Director Karla Burr (right).
Icky loves the ladies.
Safeway Boo at the Zoo runs till Sunday, October 30.
Weekend POP! 21/10/2011
*Credits:
Anthony K: Karma – Waka Flocka Flame, Toast To The Gods – ASAP Rocky, When Will They Shoot? – Ice Cube, Supa Dupa Lemonade – Big Sean, Sick – Salem • Bryan N: Drop – The Pharcyde, Let’s Ride – Q-Tip, I Left My Wallet in El Segundo – A Tribe Called Quest, I Wish – Skeelo • Christopher S: Supersonic – J. J. Fad, Sunshine – Jay-Z This Shit Is Easy – Cool Kids, Peter Piper – Run DMC
Bry Spy Vol. 06
Doubleday & Cartwright worked with one of my favourite illustrators, James Blagden, animator Phillip Niemeyer of Double Triple, and the “Beats Rhymes & Life” team to create the original animation and integrate it into evolving cuts of the documentary film about rap group, A Tribe Called Quest. The title sequence sets the tone for the film with a Tribe-inflected, technicolor palette.
“Beats Rhymes & Life” premiered at Sundance 2011, played for a packed house at the Tribeca Film Festival, won the audience award for documentaries at the Los Angeles Film Festival, was purchased by Sony Pictures Classics and opened 7/9/11 in NY and LA for a twenty city theatrical release.
The film is playing wednesday to saturday of this week at Cinemateque starting at 9PM. BE THERE!
Did You Know Tuesday: Testudoplasty
Hello again scholars, are you ready to expand you minds? Well here comes a Did You Know Tuesday that you can take to the library and share with all your study pals.
Did You Know:
That your nose is the perfect shape for drawing an outline of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?!
Just remember to keep your giggles to a minimum whilst in the library, as we don’t want to interrupt your fellow pupils ruminating.
Hubba Bla Bla
I saw a good movie lately. And I just happened to be a huge part of it.
While stumbling through The Internet the other day, I came across an interactive online short film called Bla Bla. It was on NFB (National Film Board of Canada)’s website, which, of course, hints that the quality of the film would match the quality of the visuals. The person behind this online “choose-your-own-adventure” is Vincent Morisset, a self described “web-friendly director” (according to an article by Catherine Perreault).
Despite the lack of dialogue, the film is about exploring the basics of human communication. Finding this out after playing around in what I thought was simply a visual stimulant made me go back and play around with it further. With communication in mind, I discovered new interactions between the characters/objects/images on the screen that I had missed the first time around. It made me realize that one person’s experience with this animated short is more than likely completely different from the next, making this film truly unique.
I could go on and on about how perfect the accompanying audio is, or how satisfying it is to command a storyline within such a beautifully sculpted world, but instead I suggest you stop reading and go explore through the 6 chapters of this masterpiece yourself. I’m also stopping because I just realized that I’m starting to sound sappy. Bla.
VELOCITYWG #3 — “Pembina Strip”
The name Pembina is derived from the French Canadian name for the berry of the viburnum trilobum or Highbush Cranberry. Pembina Highway* takes it name from the old Pembina Trail, which led from what we now call Winnipeg to Fort Pembina, a fur trading post run by the North West Company.
VELOCITYWG #3 is “Pembina Strip” by Velocity Interactive Designer, Lee Froese.
Pembina Strip is roughly the area north of Bishop Grandin and south of Chevrier Boulevard and Crescent Drive. It’s a small area of the city, and not one that most Winnipeggers would normally consider iconic or representative of the city, or talk about with out-of-towners.
But it’s not without its charms. Home to Celebrations Dinner Theatre, numerous bars and ethnic restaurants, apartment blocks, shops and amenities, it’s a bustling community at the crossroads of two major transportation arteries, and minutes from the University of Manitoba.
Lee’s comments:
The logo came out looking old-timey and that’s what I wanted. It’s a tip of the hat to the Pembina Trail and the early settlers using horse-drawn carriages.
Enjoy a coffee, a bubble tea, or a beer at one of the local pubs, take a walk through Plaza Drive Park, hangout dockside at the Pony Corral, or get a late night slice of pie.
Although personally, I miss the old Cinema City.
VELOCITYWG is a weekly design project: simple exercises in unfettered creativity with a common theme that’s near and dear to our hearts: celebrating the streets, suburbs, and cityscape of Manitoba’s capital.
VELOCITYWG, Rebranding One Great City, continues next week.
Comments? jay@velocitybranding.com
*Added fun fact: Just across the street from the Round Table near Pembina and Taylor, is a nifty little plaque commemorating Winnipeg’s 1974 centennial, and the 75th anniversary of the Pine to Palm Highway.
With the completion of Highway 75 (Lord Selkirk Highway) in 1899, the first continuous roadway opened from Winnipeg to New Orleans, Louisiana, dubbed the “Pine to Palm Highway” — no doubt because in those days, New Orleans has an abundance of palm trees, and Winnipeg had a number of wealthy pine-flavoured candy manufacturing barons with the surname “Pine.”
Really. Look it up.
Weekend POP! 14/10/2010
*Credits:
Sara F: Heart In Your Heartbreak – The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Scared But Not That Scared – 1,2,3 • Jadyn K: The Fool – Coolrunnings, Two Rivers (fest. Heems) – Small Black • Anthony K: Wake Bake Skate – Fidlar, Roll Up Your Sleeves – We Were Promised Jetpacks • Christopher K: Steve Biko (Stir It Up) – A Tribe Called Quest, Going Places – Tord Gustavsen Trio • Bryan N: Ephemeral Artery – Neon Indian, Streets of Heaven (Promises Promises) – Sam Roberts Band • Mark R: Limelight – Rush, Spirit of the Radio – Rush • Christopher S: The Girls Want To Be With The Girls – Talking Heads, The One – The Radio Dept.
