The 80th Anniversary, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation by Bulova

"Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities." 
Frank Lloyd Wright

Courtesy of Bulova

I became somewhat obsessed by the life, works and words of Frank Lloyd Wright in my late 20s while working in Finland. That has continued on to this very day as in the midst of re-designing our Adult Education center at NSCAP this past month, I have frequently referred back to Mr. Lloyd Wright's Larkin Building -



There have been a lot of attempts to create jewelry, home furnishings and other sundry items to commemorate his work, but many have been disappointing. But judging from this offering from Bulova, it appears that there is finally something that lives up to the work of the man who inspired it!

Courtesy of Bulova

Now as luxuries go, this one is affordable (at least by watch collecting standards) and is offered at $475 US.

Courtesy of Bulova

Limited to 500 pieces, this one is a bit special.
Here are the pertinents -
Technical Specs
Case Material:

Stainless Steel
Case Diameter:

35 mm
Case Thickness:

10 mm
Functions:

3 Hand - Hours, minutes, seconds
Crystal:

Curved Mineral Crystal
Water Resistance:

30M

When You Reach Your Star - Wordy Rappinghood Part the Second

A rap rap here and a rap rap there
Here rap, there rap
Everywhere a rap rap

Lyrics to Wordy Rappinghood courtesy of Tom Tom Club

So it seems that I might have hit a nerve yesterday with my remarks about Zenith's now trending tagline, "Reach Your Star".  Some commented that I was being a "grammar cop", others that I clearly had no imagination, and one very sincere email from someone who said that a non-native English speaker should not be held to an unfair standard.

All of these opposing points of view are absolutely valid, and having said that, I stand by my comments. It's interesting to note that there was very little love or sympathy for Tudor, in fact, several harsher things were shared with me, some which are not fit for a family publication ; )

But let's get back to Zenith and "Reach Your Star".  A few readers pointed out that Zenith's logo is a star, and that by reaching your star, you are reaching the Zenith watch that is just right for you. Okay, fair enough. Let's run with that idea -

Rolex - Reach Your Crown

Alpina - Reach Your Triangle

Tudor - Reach Your Rose / Reach Your Shield

Corum - Reach Your Upside Down, Stylized Skeleton Key (or whatever the hell that thing is)

Eterna - Reach Your Five (5) Ball Bearings

Ulysse Nardin - Reach Your Anchor

Yes, I am being extremely facetious, but I still believe that Zenith could have done better here.  

I realize and appreciate that it is easy to be critical, so I will now share with you, gentle readers, that I am the person responsible for the DOXA tagline and advertising campaign -

The Inventors of Orange

Folks from DOXA Europe and I went round and round on this one. They truly wanted to call it - 

The Inventors of THE Orange

In the end, I won that particular battle of the
tagline ; )

Writing a good tagline is hard, needless to say -
all critiques of my work from 12 years ago are welcome!

Rap it up for the common good
Let us enlist the neighborhood
It's okay, I've over stood
This is a wordy rapping hood, okay, bye

Lyrics to Wordy Rappinghood courtesy of Tom Tom Club

Wordy Rappinghood

What are words worth?
What are words worth? Words
Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood

So I thought it might be fun to look at two of the tag lines and catchphrases from two big brands. Now while this is not intended to be an exercise in sarcasm, some of these are just a bit odd.

Time To Reach Your Star - Zenith
I have absolutely no idea what that means. You can't really reach a star (at least the gaseous type that acts as the furnace of our solar system), because you will be incinerated - at least if science  is to be believed. In fairness there was that cult favorite Japanese cartoon series (Space Battleship Yamato) -

Shamelessly Borrowed From My Youth

But I am not even sure if they actually set-down on a star.  Now even if we discount the notion that they literally mean a "star" but rather are indirectly making reference to the brand name, it is still a bit janky.  

Now I realize that I say this again, and again, and again, but language is not always universal in translation, and "reach your star" makes just about zero linguistic sense.  Reach for your star?  Sure!  Hold on to your star?  Why not?  Reach your star?  It starts to remind me of what happened when the life clock ran out in Logan's Run and those who had timed out had to proceed to "Carousel" -

Shamelessly borrowed from the world-wide infoweb

Born to Dare - Tudor
Hand to God, I am still not sure I really understand that one either.  In visiting their site not so long ago, it seems to have morphed a bit.  Apparently, David Beckham was "Born for a purpose".  I leave you to ruminate over what that purpose is. No offense to Becks, the man could hit a free kick like nobody else. So, free kicks and tattoos aside, I feel quite confident that there's more, but Tudor's wordsmiths have left it somewhat vague. Because when you get down to it, depending on your spiritual views, weren't we all born for a purpose?

And good news sports fans, you can also "Dare to live the moment with David Beckham".  The big risk or "dare" here is the time you will spend reading about his winter jaunt with an Olympic snowboarder.

Lady Gaga apparently "dares to be vulnerable".  Fair enough.  I am more of a crying on the inside kind of guy, but I can relate.

Jay Chou, it would seem, "dares to discover".  

Beauden Barrett "dares to challenge himself".

And in truth, the irony in all of this is that Lady Gaga is putting it out there in very real ways with her Born This Way Foundation. David Beckham works with Malaria No More among others, as well as his work for UNICEF.  and I have no doubt the others have real, interesting, relatable things and accomplishments that would show even more "daring" than those that are contrived by the marketing office. 

What are words worth?
What are words worth? Words

Lyrics to Wordy Rappinghood courtesy of Tom Tom Club