Cartier's Epic Old World Luxury Storytelling Tactic Is Being Copied and Ruined

I recently noticed that Louis Vuitton's first TV commercial L'Invitation Au Voyage featuring a hot air balloon in Paris and Burberry's holiday gift campaign of gold balloons carrying presents across London landmarks reminded me a lot of Cartier's L'Odyssée campaign which premiered earlier this year in March with an epic 3:30 TV spot during prime time television.

It's clear just by looking at the websites for Louis Vuitton and Burberry that these efforts were influenced by Cartier's L'Odyssée:

Perhaps Louis Vuitton and Burberry hired Cartier's Creative Director, and that Creative Director had some spare time to work on a Martini & Rossi commercial as well (watch the last video in the post). Is the luxury and cheap champagne industry quickly losing its creative edge and identity by jumping on the latest and greatest shiny object of Golden Compass-like fantasy storytelling--a blend of old world with new attitude and lots of floating/levitation? I'll give Cartier credit for shattering the expectations of Luxury advertising and for throwing a ton of money against a very ambitious idea of creating a compelling mini-film commercial that's exciting and highlights the brand beautifully. Did Louis Vuitton achieved this with L'Invitation Au Voyage, I would say far from it. Did Martini & Rossi's golden balloons give me the sense of grandeur that Cartier's giant gold LOVE bracelets rolling in snow did? Not really. Did both of these commercials remind me of how mediocre they are compared to Cartier's epic journey through time and space, fantasy and reality? Yes. Moral of the story is 'go big or go home' and if you're going to copy a commercial make sure to include the panther.

The Thanksgiving Miracle on Lorimer St

This was my third Thanks(friends)giving in Brooklyn and the past two have been pretty amazing with homemade sweet potato fries and kabocha pie, so when I realized two days before Thanksgiving that I had not decided on what I would be cooking, let alone shopped for the ingredients, I PANICKED. Did I ruin Thanksgiving?! Thankfully, my friend and fiance told me not to worry (but naturally I worried) and took care of all the shopping, preparation and cooking. I'm a lucky girl. Our meal was colorful with lots of vegetables--parsnips, leeks, kabocha, chanterelles--and a lot of butter. Like Paula Dean would have been shocked at how much butter we used. But it was very necessary, as the over buttery, over garlicky, over eating is just how I like my Thanksgivings.    

Proof That Kids Do Love Emojis

My 8 year-old sister sent me this email today:

She's awesome.

What Is Wrong With This Picture? [UPDATE] THE L TRAIN IS BACK!

I'm not complaining because it's miraculous the city was able to get all the lines running except one in such a short amount of time. I just find it kind of funny the "L" had to be the last...

[UPDATE] 11/8 4:04PM
Look!

No Joke, This Presidential Election Was The Most Entertaining By Far

Here's a few reasons why:
Gum Election - http://gumelection.com/

Smack a Candidate - http://smackacandidate.com/ 

CNN's Empire State Building Results - http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/06/politics/empire-state-building-images/index.html

New York Times Instagramming The Election - http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/06/us/politics/instagramming-the-election.html

NBC's Rockefeller Rink Map - http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/11/06/election-2012-favorite-coverage-gimmick/

Facebook Stories Vote - http://www.facebookstories.com/vote

And the many election memes like this one (from @HeyVeronica):

And this one (from Hawaiian Memes BRAH)! Because President Obama has been reelected!