Ziggy Street

It's certainly one of my favourite album covers.  Shot by photographer Brian Ward in January 1972 photographer Brian Ward outside a fur distribution company called "K. West" at 23 Heddon Street, London. According to The Ziggy Stardust Companion, the entire shoot was done in black and white, then colourized in those saturated tones. (You can see some outtakes here.)

"To be played at maximum volume."

The side street has apparently changed quite a bit in 40 years. But just this week, the Crown Estate mounted a "Blue Plaque" at the site to commemorate its historical significance.

Unveiled by the dude from Spandau Ballet. Remember them?

Now that David Bowie is seemingly retired, I hope this kind of thing doesn't make him feel too old.

But then again, he's the one who said we only had five years...

Thanks to Mark B for the tip.

The real St. Valentine

There he sits (his head, anyway) in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. All that we really know about him is that his feast day is today (February 14) and that he is dead. Stories about him being a priest martyred by Emperor Claudius for secretly marrying Christian couples is a bit of late Mediaeval and Renaissance embellishment, as is his association with love and romance (attributed to Chaucer).

So enjoy your cards, candies and sexy time while you may. You'll eventually be a dead person people make up stories about too.

History repeats itself. History repeats itself. History...

Mexico City's Museo Memoria y Tolerancia is an interesting idea. In a place founded on genocide and the clash of ancient empires, the museum stands "to warn about the dangers of indifference, discrimination and violence for generating, instead, responsibility, respect and awareness in each individual."

These ads, by Mexico's Made agency, paraphrase the George Santayana  quote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" and matches it with iconic images of war and violence to amplify the message.

The effect is not subtle, and you could accuse the campaign of relying too much on borrowing interest from some of the world's great tragedies. But the message is, at least, clear. and as important now as it was over 100 years ago.

Via I Believe in Advertising