David Lidsky's Blog, page 4658

Most Creative People 2010: #15 Sheila Nevins

She has spent her career chronicling real life, but Sheila Nevins's work is the antithesis of stereotypical reality TV. "I do less-fanciful reality. I celebrate the fat, the ugly, the women who can't get guys," she says. "I'm not trying to entertain you; I'm trying to make you passionate." Famously hands-on, Nevins has overseen production of more than 1,000 documentary programs, spotlighting everything from Nevada brothels to Alzheimer's.

Most Creative People 2010: #14 Igor Pusenjak

Doodle The Doodler is a happy little hand-drawn figure, jumping calmly higher while dodging sweetly nonthreatening monsters and the occasional black hole. He's friendly, gentle, tenacious, and insanely addicting. "People seem to project a lot of interesting things on him," says Igor Pušenjak, 34, of the character who is at the heart of an iPhone game that has catapulted into the Apple Store record books.

Most Creative People 2010: #13 Phoebe Philo

It takes chutzpah to walk away from the top job at one of the hottest fashion houses at the height of your career. But that's exactly what Phoebe Philo -- designer of Chloé's iconic Paddington bag -- did in 2006, to raise her two small children.

Most Creative People 2010: #12 Dr. C. Martin Harris

When it comes to health-care IT standards, Dr. C. Martin Harris is the go-to expert, collaborating with patients, providers, businesses, and government to create truly transferable medical records.

Most Creative People 2010: #11 Jay-Z

"I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man," Jay-Z rapped on Kanye West's 2005 "Diamonds From Sierra Leone." He has backed up the boast: Jay-Z, 40, is co-brand director for Budweiser Select; he sold his Rocawear clothing company for $204 million yet retains creative interest; after resigning as Def Jam president (he signed West and discovered Rihanna), he started his own label, Roc Nation, in partnership with Live Nation, an unprecedented "360" deal reported at $150 million.

Design Crime: New Luxury Hotel Is a Five-Star Disaster Shelter

Slumming it never felt so rich.

Move over, Four Seasons! A new building concept takes its design cues from ad hoc
disaster shelters and can transform into just about anything including
yes, a swanky hotel! Like you're slumming it, but with turndown
service!

The designers, WATG, call it pop-up hospitality. You
know, like pop-up shops,
pop-up cafes, and, of course, pop-up relief
shelters.
Modular units, which they say resemble prisms (and we say resemble
melting ice cubes), are...

The World Cup's Official Art: 14 Artists Interpret the Games

In terms of World Cup swag, we've seen everything from artist-edition track jackets to soccer ball–shaped ice-cube makers. For those with more highbrow tastes, there's the Official Art Poster Edition, a series of 17 prints, commissioned by FIFA to promote next month's South African games. The first edition of its kind debuted in 2006, with entries by contemporary artists like Andreas Gursky and Sarah Morris. This year's set pays homage to the Cup's host country with nearly a dozen prints by a...

Ka-Boom! How Explosions Became Commonplace in Kids' Branding

For a century, food brands have toyed with images of explosions, hoping to (figuratively) explode off the shelf. It was only a matter of time until the explosion blasted off the package. So how that branding trend begin, and how did it develop?

Almost Genius: What the iPad Really Needs? Velcro

A new video shows how the iPad could well replace every device in your home.

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For anyone still thinking that the iPad is basically a
glorified Kindle, think again: In this quicky video, Northern California
filmmaker Jesse Rosten shows the wildly transformative effect of mounting two
strips of Velcro on the back of an iPad.

[vimeo 11886557:]

Pop it on the dashboard, and it
becomes an easily navigable GPS or a movie player for bored kids; throw it up on
the wall, and it's suddenly a chic...

Indy500's Danica Effect: Brands, Are You Listening?

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've been going to the Indianapolis 500 since I was in diapers; my parents first brought me to the event when I was just a year old, and I've been attending every Memorial Day weekend since. As a kid I had little appreciation for the event, but over the years my passion for Indy has become near-obsessive, and I anticipate the race--which takes place this Sunday--as some do the Super Bowl, the Oscars, or even their own wedding (sorry, honey).

For me...