12 04 20
… mr. reindeer’s dream …
in the quiet of nowhere, a dream. empty but for a glowing house … up is down, down is up, looking up, a snow-flocked tree looks down, looking ahead, a blue-antlered reindeer enters the scene … a wooden dancer, at rest in black tie tails and tutu. mr. reindeer approaches, pulls out his grosgrain key and winds. one crank, two cranks, three… dancer, the masterpiece, springs to life … a plié, an arabesque, a grand jeté. dancer takes the stage, mr. reindeer applauds with delight, a magnificent show, soon to be shared … nearby, on mr. reindeer’s pebble leather desk pad, a list. a top secret, confidential, don’t tell anyone, very important holiday list … who gets what and what goes to whom, mr. reindeer takes note and examines his haul … four-bar holiday stockings … grosgrain ribbons … grey faille boxes … a tree trimmed with lights and grosgrain ribbon bows … the scene is now set, the guests enter, bundled in a holiday sweaters featuring holiday joys, bows and ornaments and hector in a hat a patchwork skirt, a patchwork sweater, a patchwork hand crocheted scarf … with a pirouette, dancer is at the pile of gifts. to you good sir, an aran cable classic crewneck. to you dear madam, a full set of fragrance. to both, a down-filled four bar scarf … floating through the air, another round of gifts, the guests are back for more … a holiday hector with snowman pullover, a prince-of-wales cardholder. for the study, a pen holder with gold pen and a black leather notebook … the guests once again, more gifts in the air, is hector wearing a tuxedo? it’s a black tie affair … with that, a “happy holidays”, and “thank you for coming” … “goodbye, my guests, see you next year” … for mr. reindeer and dancer, one last plié, one more arabesque. one more pirouette … before dancer winds down, he offers a note, with the gleam of a letter opener, pulled from its black pebble grain case. a flourish, a lightning swipe, the letter is clear … …thank you mr. reindeer… …oh no… …what have you done… …one tear… discover thom browne gifting now, on thombrowne.com
12 03 20
What is romance these days? The recently released commercial for Match.com from Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort production company, with Satan himself meeting his perfect match in a petit, athleisure-clad woman, the hellish year, 2020 offers a humorous take on finding one‘s true love (or at least a date). Set to Taylor Swift’s 2008 smash-hit “Love Story,” Together, they romp around reveling in the decline of modern society, stealing toilet paper from public restrooms, catching a movie in an empty theater, and enjoying an empty football stadium in pandemic-ravaged America. Certainly captures today’s vibe. All set to Taylor Swift. Good for a few chuckles. May God help us…
11 17 20
It might sound familiar already, that’s probably because Google Workspace was previously called G Suite. The search giant introduces the new brand identity along with enhanced integration between included individual apps. On the brand identity side, the most noticeable change other than the name change is the new Gmail logo, which is now a colorful “M”, replacing the envelope icon. The logo shift is meant to represent the tweaks made to the service earlier this year, with the incorporation of video conversations and real-time chat. Google obviously sees the need to make its move on potential competition including Slack, Zoom, Facebook and Microsoft Teams. Hence, Meet’s video conferencing being built into Docs, Sheets and Slides, in order to the user fewer reasons to want to switch platforms. With Covid and many more of us working at home, the improved integration makes total sense. While we do find the numerous icons in the brand’s company roster of apps and features a bit confusing visually, they are “more Google” or on brand. We are big believers in giving new identities some time to be used and accepted. Fair enough?
