3 minutes estimated reading time
ABC logo redesign
ABC the American network broadcast brand has had its logo redesigned. Like some of the best design in corporate American the logo owes its roots to designer Paul Rand back in 1962. It went colour when TV broadcasting did and went skeuomorphic web web 2.0 and early versions of iOS were in vogue.
The design has gone flat again, very close to Rand’s original design with slight changes in the proportions of the letters. This will work for everything from station ID and watermarking to app logos. You can read more on the ABC logo redesign at Variety.
Shang Chi
Shang-Chi is a character that Marvel came up with with the kung fu craze started to kick off in the early 1970s. Originally his power was derived from his father being Fu Manchu.
Dr Fu was invented as a character in the early 20th century as a kind of super villain in the mood of Marvel or James Bond films. He predated Marvel but appeared in the origin story in a Wold Newtonesque way. It tapped into stereotypes around yellow face portrayals of Chinese culture, eastern devilry and unemotional cruelty. Themes of orientals invading the west and white slavery came up in the books and films.
Marvel have since had to rewrite the origin story considerably for Shang Chi as they want to sanitise the original racist back story. Dr Fu becomes Xu Wenwu. Marvel managed to get Hong Kong cinema’s equivalent of Cary Grant or George Clooney Tony Leung Chiu-wa aka ‘small Tony’ to play Xu.
Despite all that work the Marvel film may not open in China at all. A straw poll of Asian friends found that the costumes felt ‘dated’ in comparison to local dramas and films of a martial arts fantasy or ‘wuxia’ style.
The veteran Hong Kong actors outshone the ‘heroes’. The main hero was ‘ugly’ and looked like a young Xi Jingping.
Iron rings are generally used for training in martial arts, in a similar way that a runner may run with ankle weights to build strength. There have been a few films where the rings became an offensive weapon notably Kung Fu Hustle, which got memed. (They are also used for fighting in the Return Of The 5 Deadly Venoms – you have to be a fan of cult kung fu films to be familiar with them. Iron rings appear as part of the training regime in Drunken Master & The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. )
D.P.
Netflix have had a ht on their hands with D.P. (Deserter Pursuit) – Korean soldiers tasked with tracking down deserters who have left the army during their conscription period. The series seems to have struck a nerve with the armed services who denied that the bullying shown in the show is tolerated any more.
But the media has plenty of conscripts willing to admit that it has and was even worse in real life.
Lady Dior bag
The Lady Dior bag is an iconic design for Christian Dior. It appears year after year in their range. It was made famous by Princess Diana. Back then it was called the Chouchou. Confused yet? You can see the bag being made from lambskin leather by hand in this video.
The bag is built around a last like a shoe, the last has a split in it, which I think is designed to aid its removal from the bag at the right time. More related content here.