A Collection. Links for Your Inner History Nerd.

Mai 22nd, 2012 • Links, We like
Tags: Blogging, Creativity, Facebook, history, Links, pinterest, Twitter, World

People who know me personally also know my enthusiasm when it comes to bizarre niche history knowledge. History is hardly a hot topic across the web. History (as well as my other favorite topic politics) traditionally has not got a reputation for being extremely digestable…or even entertaining.

This has changed a lot lately. More and more people with a very distinct taste in niche history topics popped up recently and created impressive, inspiring and sometimes just very interesting places for people like me (and potentially you). Most of the people driving the following links are not just very entertaining but extremely knowledgeable in their specific niche.

Even though I follow so many inspiring history nerds I would just like to highlight a couple of sources that I regularly use and that I find absolutely remarkable. Of course this cannot even come close to a comprehensive list. But I am always happy to learn about entertaining, smart historical online sources that I haven’t heard of. Just leave a comment underneath this article (please).

Four great blogs on history

Of course I have to start up any list of my favorite history sources with Retronaut. The blog is a steady stream of quality historical content – sometimes random but always smart and interesting. Its focus definitely lies on the last 200 years, primarily snippets from the lifes of ordinary people as well as celebrities.

Retro Future has a slightly different approach to history. Its founder Matt Novak has launched a platform that exclusively features future visions from the past – a history that never was. Paleo Future is now part of the Smithsonian family of blogs. And Matt has additionally started to feed a very interesting Youtube channel around the same topic.

Letters of Note again follows a completely different route to explain and feature historical events. The site collects and displays some of the most remarkable and – at the same time – least known letters of famous people. It is simply a delight to find out that even Abraham Lincoln had very worldly problems when he recommended his bankrupt step-brother: “You are now in need of some money; and what I propose is, that you shall go to work, “tooth and nail,” for somebody who will give you money for it.” Touché Mister Lincoln.

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Animated GIFs. The History of an Almost Art Form.

März 12th, 2012 • Experimental, Media
Tags: Cool, Creativity, Experimental, Funny, Gifs, hipsters, history, Meme, People, Tech, Tools, visual

Okay, let’s just get one thing straight: Animated Gifs are the best thing since sliced bread. And if you don’t agree you are worse than Kony which is pretty bad.

Some people actually consider animated GIFs as an art form (I prefer to use things like GifShop to create stupid loops like that). And the following 6 minute documentary takes us back to a time when GIFs’ were early crude incarnations (American flags, “under construction” signs, flames) before taking us through to the more sophisticated cinemagraphs around the web today. (via Co.Design).

There is one strangely annoying thing about this film…possibly about Animated Gifs in general. To quote a Youtube comment: if feels like ‘Look at this fucking hipster: the movie. But let’s not get distracted by that. AnimatedGifs are great. And I am not a hipster.

Amsterdam DNA. City History Goes 3D.

Januar 5th, 2012 • Display, Events
Tags: 3D, Agencies, Amsterdam, Culture, Display, Events, history, museum, Netherlands, PlusOne, Presentation, World

As an Amsterdamer by choice I can hardly imagine anybody without a certain trace of local pride when it comes to this wonderful city. No matter if you live here for two weeks or your whole life: the citizens of Amsterdam know in what an exciting place rich in history they live.

Amsterdam DNA is a new exhibition in the Amsterdam Museum that takes the spectator on a three-dimensional 45-minute journey through the history of the City. The versatile story of the city is presented in seven intriguing films produced by PlusOne Amsterdam.

The first film is called Revolt. And it deals with the city’s struggle for freedom after the middle-ages. I am looking forward to the exhibition. Well done Guys.

Amsterdam DNA – Revolt from PlusOne on Vimeo.

google Zeitgeist. What the World searched for in 2011.

Dezember 15th, 2011 • 1 comment Trends
Tags: data, google, history, People, Politics, search, seo, Trends, World, Zeitgeist

As the year 2011 ends google has once again collated the world’s searches into one platform about the last 12 months. Nothing says as much about what people are really interested in than search data. And google really did a great job to stage Zeitgeist 2011 with a lot of interesting information on what this horrible great exciting year was all about for people all over the world: http://www.googlezeitgeist.com

We definitely like: Chevrolet’s ‘True Story’.

November 25th, 2011 • Ads, We like
Tags: Ads, Automotive, Brands, Creativity, history, People, Storytelling, We like

Fantastic commercial, Chevy. With 5 minutes it is a bit too long to enthuse everyone. But dear Chevrolet: Do yourself a favour and turn your boring Youtube channel into a hub for your consumer’s childhood memories. That’s a great story. And even though I as a European have no personal memories of Chevy – I guess a lot of Americans do.

Thx to Creative Criminals. More ‘stuff we like’ here.

Hiroshima. A Panoramic View from August 1945.

August 10th, 2011 • Experimental, Politics
Tags: history, Panorama, photo, Politics, sad, visual, War, World

August 6, 1945 was a turning point for mankind. At 8.15am the mushroom cloud of the world’s first Atomic Bomb rose over the City of Hiroshima, killing hundreds of thousands and pushing mankind into a future threatened by constant mutual destruction. Hiroshima and Nagasaki influenced my life even five decades later. As a kid growing up in Germany of the 1980s Cold War era I knew everything about the bomb. Years later the fear of it made me study Politics and specialize in security Politics (writing my thesis about Nuclear Proliferation in North Korea).

Last week the world mourned the end of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the 66th time. I just stumbled upon this breathtaking 360 panoramic view of the city of Hiroshima, taken in August 1945. As there were really few pictures of the actual bombing this is one of the most shocking views I have ever seen. What you see below used to be a buzzing city of 330,000 inhabitants.

The Panorama consists of 5 pieces taken by U.S. and Japanes photographers. I have integrated Piece 1 and Piece 3. Find all the other pieces here.

Hiroshima after the Atomic Bomb (1 of 5) by Shigeo Hayashi in Japan

The following Panorama was shot from a different position by the American photographer Harbert F Austin Jr.

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I love it. Russia’s History told by the worker of a Tetris Factory.

Mai 14th, 2011 • Politics, We like
Tags: Cool, Creativity, Funny, Games, Gaming, history, Ideas, Lifestyle, Music, Politics, Russia, Tetris, visual, We like

I guess the following film tells one of the smartest stories in a music videos that I have seen so far. It was created by the ‘world’s best neo-post-post-music hall anti-folk band’ Pig with the Face of a Boy and it stages the story of Russia from the perspective of a worker…well…who is responsible to spin the Tetris blocks that fall down from the sky. A great metaphor to describe life in Russia since the 1870s and a very nice, clever song. Well done guys. I hope you become really, really successful. Check out the band here…

A letter to Warhol. ‘I hear you like Tomato Soup’.

August 12th, 2010 • We like
Tags: Art, Cool, Funny, history, PR, World

Lovely.

This is a letter from 1964 written by overjoyed William McFarland, at that time product marketing manager at Campbell’s Soup to the young Andy Warhol. Some complimentary cans of soup soon followed. Two years prior to the letter Warhol had staged 32 of his now world famous Campbell Soup Can pictures.

Ah…multiplier outreach. You gotta love it. And as a letter almost as good as Mick Jagger’s letter to Andy Warhol five years later.

(thanks to A letter of note)

google. A not so evil look back on its History.

August 9th, 2010 • Brands
Tags: Business, google, history, net neutrality, Presentation, Truth, visual, World

google sure does combine many elements of a modern tech fairy tale. It is extremely successful (please, don’t mention social networks now), it did not exist 15 years ago and started with a very philanthropic vision…at least they tried. While the company still pretends to stick to its ‘Don’t be evil‘ mantra, others call it ‘a company on steroids with fingers in every industry’. The glass is always half full or half empty, right?

Google UK has now staged a (very) quick look back at the its history over the last 11 years. From Stanford to Mountain View and around the world, featuring many different products, starting with BackRub (Search) up to Google Wave, StreetView and Chrome. Enjoy the cute little animations and in case you are keener on a more critical view of the brand, try the Beast File. (via)

Absolut. 25 years in fantastic ads.

Dezember 7th, 2009 • 1 comment Ads, Brands, Classics
Tags: Absolut, Ads, Branding, Brands, Classics, Cool, Creativity, history, Lifestyle, Print, visual, We like, World

My friends at Creative Criminals have published this fantastic compilation quite a while ago. But it is still worth taking a look at: For over 25 years Absolut vodka has run a simply überinspiring advertising campaign. The well known bottle of Absolut is formed in the shape of a tradtional Swedish medicine flagon. It may be hard to use for bartenders but the shape was an inspiration for their print campaign which just does one thing: Position the product as hero.

Check out the ad compilation here.