After recording many a scratch voiceover track at Crew Cuts for myself and my fellow editors, I finally scored a real VO gig! The talented and kind creatives for Kotex thought my voice would be a good fit for their spots, and of course I was thrilled for the opportunity. My voice ended up on three :15s that are airing nationally and even in Canada. Check them out below!

I think the spots are really great, and I am so stoked to be a part of them! And maybe, if I’m lucky, they will open a door for future voiceover work down the road. (In other words, please book me!!)

This “news” is coming about a month or so late, so is it really still news? Is a tomato really a fruit? These are difficult questions to which we will probably never have answers.

But to make it official, here’s the first and latest Brooklynography video, starring my good friend and local musician Chris Littler, as he takes us on a tour of his favorite places in his neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Next up in the series are Brooklyn food celebs Matt & Allison Robicelli taking us to all their favorite food spots in Bay Ridge. Trailer coming soon.

Discover the new Cartier film, a journey between dream and reality.
For the very first time, Cartier has decided to create a cinema epic focusing on its history, its values and inspiration, its artistic and universal scope.

is how Cartier describes this indulgent spot that makes use of intense computer generated graphics, exotic animals, and global locations.

Sure the video is beautiful, but it’s rumored that the three-and-a-half-minute “film” took two years to create, and obviously, many thousands of dollars.

Is it alienating to consumers for a company to flaunt their monetary resources in this way? Does it make Cartier, already aimed at the super-wealthy, more appealing to those seeking money and status? Besides the fact that the film is excessively indulgent from a financial standpoint, what about its indulgence from an artistic standpoint (over-the-top, fairly absurd imagery and “story”)?

Has Cartier gotten people’s attention with their insane, big-budget, “epic” film? Probably. Will it be parodied on Saturday Night Live next week? I sure hope so.

I really respect and appreciate the fact that Toyota seems to have a sense of humor about itself, especially regarding a car called the “Yaris.” I have no idea what a Yaris is or what the word refers to, but I’m glad this work is a complete 180 from the usual, boring car ads that feature repetitive selling points like, “It’s fast!” “It’s good for your family!” or “Great gas mileage!” The Yaris’s selling point? “It’s a car!” Yes, it is! And now I kind of want one!

The spots are silly, clean, and focus on the product without pandering or patronizing. Laughs go a long way when you want someone to buy something.

This is a great example of coherent, thoughtful advertising that encourages an audience beyond a single viewing on TV. It’s refreshing that Toyota trusts their customers/audience to have a sense of humor about the company and themselves, and that they were willing to take a bit of a risk rather than rely on the same old song and dance about “high performance” and “safety.” Who cares about those things anyway?!

At first watch, it’s definitely a really neat, very cool-looking, slick spot. It’s fun, it’s cute, it’s edgier than most ads you’ll see for breakfast cereal (though I do wish the concept were a bit more fleshed out).

Watching the “Behind the Scenes,” however, takes it to another level:

The talent is obviously great, and it’s awesome to see that the dancing bears are actually full-sized professional dancers in giant fluffy bear suits instead of computer-generated characters. The amount of work that went into this 1 minute spot for breakfast cereal is incredible!

Last night was AICE’s 2011 Camp Kuleshov screening and awards event! I recut the film “The Boost,” a 1980′s social drama about drug use, into a TV sitcom in the style of Seinfeld. Let’s hope no one at TBS gets mad about it.

While I didn’t win or place, I’m pretty happy with my trailer and had a great time at the event. Among my favorite entries were “Splash” as a documentary and “Grease” as French New Wave.