Archives for April 2013
All great artists and thinkers are great workers, adept at rejecting, sifting, transforming and ordering
“Artists have a vested interest in our believing in the flash of revelation, the so-called inspiration…shining down from heavens as a ray of grace. In reality, the imagination of the good artist or thinker produces continuously good, mediocre or bad things, but his judgment, trained and sharpened to a fine point, rejects, selects, connects…. All great artists and thinkers are great workers, indefatigable not only in inventing, but also in rejecting, sifting, transforming, ordering.”
~Friedrich Nietzsche
Facade: Intangible Dance Hall / Wistful Penal Stockade With Patronizing Manchurian Arch Treatment

Facade: Unauthorized Reproduction of the Mansbridge Directive Black Hole Facilities Maintenance Secretariat, Dusky Rollups Division

Facade: Move Along This Seemingly Derelict Building Certainly Could Not Contain A Traversable Wormhole With Trapdoor & Chain-Link Accent Treatment

Facade: Inconspicuous Ruttish Wicket, Sluice Purse and Randy Turnstile Effluvium

Zinzin news and updates
~Charles Lamb
Happy April Fools Day! But no foolin’, here’s a roundup of recent Zinzin news and website updates:
New name: pivot (lowercase) is our name for a new social action and general entertainment TV network from Participant Media. Pivot is all about thinking on your feet, adaptation and informed change. The old ways of thinking and relating to the world aren’t working. It’s time to pivot.
Read the pivot Case Study.
New name: Larky is our name for a company and mobile app that keeps track of all your perks and reward program memberships in one place. Larky plays off “lark” — a carefree or spirited adventure, harmless prank, or family of melodious songbirds — in fun, playful, singsong way, and also conjures up a “lucky” feeling.
Read the Larky Case Study.
New name: Gravy is our name for a hyperlocal event listings mobile app. Gravy is the good stuff, the “secret sauce,” a source for discovering all the juicy things going on around you. The brand embodies — and the new name demonstrates — a rich and flavorful experience.
Read the Gravy Case Study.
New CAN entries: We have added new entries to the Compendium of Amazing Names (CAN), with more to come soon. The CAN is where we highlight great company, product and services names, wherever in the world we find them.
Some recent articles:
- Five steps to avoid defining an empty set in your brand positioning
- Brand Mascots 100. No.98: Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works Skunk
- Bowie and Burroughs: systematic derangement
- Who was Arno Schmidt and what is Zettels Traum? Some evidentiary fragments…
- Diogenes, the original punk/Dadaist/Cynic, meets Alvin Lustig
- Escudero Etchebaster Solidad Casals: Style, by Marianne Moore
- Sightings: Bigfoot, Elf and J.D. Salinger