If you are looking for some costume inspiration, check out these pics I snapped last Halloween at New York City's Halloween parade. If you are ever in NYC for Halloween, do check it out. It was an amazing experience.

Oh Sarah, how you entertain us (and scare us). See her here in all her glory brought to you by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Biscuit Filmworks USA director Clay Weiner, editorial by Spotwelders and vfx by A52. Full credits here (love that they gave her a copywriter credit).

Head Gear Animation has just completed two follow-up spots to their 2007 campaign for the rebrand of the Detroit Institute of Arts. The two new spots are Son of Hatman and Thinker. "The look is comprised of simple black and white drawings, cel-animated and composited in After Effects and was developed to appeal to a very broad audience...so, sophisticated but not elitist, artful yet droll. Basically, come to the museum to get inspired people!" Says Head Gear director Julian Grey. Watch the 2007 and 2008 spots on the Head Gear site here. Full credits for this year's campaign are here.

Check out the great spot that Dancing Diablo created to open the Boards Summit, held last week in NYC, and showcase it's sponsors. Nicely done. Thanks to Beatriz for the link.

Part TV commercial shoot and part PR stunt, this past Sunday Carnival Cruise Lines dropped the world's biggest beach ball on to a Dallas street. The two three story-tall balls got in the Guiness Book of Records, on the news and there is a TV campaign to follow. There are rumors of another Carnival larger-than-life stunt happening later this week. CBS video is here (you'll have to watch a show promo first).

I recently saw the Canadian documentary Sharkwater, and until then, I was not aware that sharks were facing extinction. I was happy to see this great creative for the SharkProject out of Y&R Frankfurt. The SharkProject is an initiative to raise awareness about the threat of shark extinction, centered on “finning” – a practice in which the shark is caught, their fins cut off and the rest of the animal thrown back to the sea. View the amazing mailer here. Scooped from advertising/design goodness.

Eight years after the "Wassup" spot for Budweiser was a viral success, the Wassup guys are back in this short film in support of Obama. This spot broke late last week and was produced pro bono by Believe Media and directed by Charles Stone (directed the original "Wassup") with support from vfx house MassMarket, Union Editorial and Sound Lounge. Wassup 08 was added to YouTube on Friday and at the time of this posting it was already up to 1.3 million views. Watch it on YouTube. Full credits are posted are here. More info on wassup08.com.

Here are three new spots for Ask.com directed by The Perlorian Brothers for Hanft Raboy & Partners. Thanks to Kristy at Raging Artists for sending them my way.

I'm at the Boards Summit this week in NYC - running out door now to go there. I'll try to update later.

Fable II - Destiny is the latest from T.A.G. for XBOX 360 directed by Mark Molloy with visual effects by MassMarket, Los Angeles. I like the eerie darkness of the spot. Reminds me a bit of 28 Days Later (love that film and actor Cillian Murphy - the actor's voice reminds me a bit of him). Full credits are posted here.

Here are two (well, kind of four bundled into two) very clever and funny spots to promote Alberta's Libraries from Rethink Vancouver and Holiday Films directors Adam & Dave. Watch Scrapbooking/Kama Sutra here (currently the top spot on Boards) and CPR/Mount Everest here. Full credits are posted here. If you like comedy, take a few minutes to watch Adam & Dave's reel.

I have to agree with Make the Logo Bigger that this is the best casket commercial ever (I also cannot recall another one). Watch it. I laughed out loud.

Back in August (see August 7th 2008 post here) I jokingly asked if parrots were going to be the new gorillas of advertising as I had seen them popping up in a number of ads. Now, it seems that Cadbury's latest interactive campaign features a parrot (imagine that!).  On this new site you design your own Dairy Milk chocolate bar and if the parrot judge likes your creation, you may actually receive your custom bar in the post (I'm guessing UK only). The picky thing only liked two out of the five chocolate bars I created (okay, I did make one really nasty on purpose).

Hubert, Whiskas' meat-loving man/cat, is back and (surprise) he wants more meat. "According to Hubert" is directed by James Haworth (Partners Film) and the agency is TBWA Toronto. Full credits are posted here.

I've posted this before, but every Monday Chris Kalani posts a new edition of Yay! Monday!, a weekly collection of design, art and photography. Check this week's selection of creative goodies here. I particularly enjoyed Maria Luisa Isaza's work.

Here's an interesting spot for Mattoni Karlovarksé Minerální Vody out of MPG, Italy directed by Matthias Zentner (Cow & Boys, Italy) with vfx by Black Mountain. More info on how it was made is posted here. Scooped from Motionographer.

Crush has just completed visual effects on two new spots for MasterCard, Timeline and Pep Talk, out of MacLaren McCann, Toronto. Timeline stars and chronicles the career of hockey legend Bobby Orr (thanks to Dave at AdFreak for pointing that out to the hockey illiterate) via his injuries and is my favourite of the two (yes, I'm picking a favourite). I love the concept and look of it. Credits are posted here.

Here's a magazine ad for Styx Underwear out of the Czech Republic. Styx claims to be underwear that wont stick in your ass (I know girls hate that, but I didn't know it was an issue for men).  View the ad here. Scooped from Ads of the World, where some people have come out with some rather witty comments  like, "very cheeky, who's the fart director?" Read the comments here.

I just posted this great spoof of a-ha's "Take on Me" to my Facebook profile. Watch it, it's hilarious. It also got me thinking of the original video and I have been wondering for some time who directed it - as it is so amazing and was so ahead of its time. Anyway, a close personal friend of mine, who requested not to be named, just emailed me to let me know that he was actually a PA on the shoot for Take on Me. How cool is that? At the third MTV Music Awards in 1986, Take on Me won for Best New Concept Video, Best New Artist Video, Best Special Effects, Best Direction, Most Experimental and the Viewers Choice Award. It was directed by Steve Barron of Limelight.

Pens are my Friends, debut volume of collected works by UK illustrator Jon Burgerman has just been released from IdN.  The book features Burgerman’s commercial, personal and collaborative works including toys, clothing, exhibitions, murals and sketchbooks. In addition to the artist’s work, the book also includes essays and a look into Burgerman’s creative process. Found on Cpluv.

The Boards Summit is on next week (Oct 23-24) in New York and this year's keynote speaker is Future Forecaster and Game Designer Jane McGonigal. McGonigal is a world-renowned designer of innovative ways to use mass collaboration to conduct research, build communities, connect with markets and shape our future. In 2006, MIT Technology Review named her one of the top 35 innovators changing the world through technology. More on McGonigal. More on the Boards Summit.

Here's a beautiful new spot from Motionholic (AKA DongHyun Kim) titled Walk on the Nostalgia. He describes it as "an artist's translation of a story of a girl's memory into a visualized form of time". View it with full credits on Vimeo or on the Motionholic site. The music, which I think is lovely, is Sigur Ros "Seaglopur".

Waking Up Hannah is the latest for Dove from Ogilvy Toronto, The Barbarian Group and Paranoid Picture's director (the lovely) Nicole McDonald. I really enjoyed checking out the site which is in a choose your own adventure style based on the selection of different Dove deodorants and body washes. I found Hannah to be really likable and the story is well told, shot and executed. The interactive bits are cool too - like browsing through Hannah's phone (where I found a cameo of the director - nice touch) and going to the doorman/actors website (if you choose that path). Take a few minutes to check it out. Great work.

I love cranberries. I'll actually eat cranberry sauce by the spoonful. As part of their "Straight From the Bog" campaign, Ocean Spray built a 1,500 square-foot cranberry bog outside of Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Cranberry growers waded in the approximately 2,000 pounds of cranberries floating in water, and explained the harvesting process to spectators. Similar installations will hit Los Angeles and Foxboro, Mass. later this month. For the full story, including video footage, visit Ad Age. Scooped from Creativity. I like that Ocean Spray is promoting their brand by educating people about where cranberries come from. Oh, and they look pretty too.

As readers of this site know, I am a huge fan of Nagi Noda's work and I am so saddened by her passing last month. Today I received a beautiful retrospective of her work in Gas Book 22 Nagi Noda. I'm so happy to have it. Thought I'd share.

Tourism Australia has launched “Transformation”, a new advertising campaign being rolled out in 22 countries around the world. Baz Luhrmann, known for his movies Moulin Rouge and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, was responsible for the television and cinema commercials set in New York, Shanghai and Western Australia. Watch the New York spot here and the Shanghai spot here. Both spots are directed by Bruce Hunt. Original music was composed for both spots by Nylon Studios. Full credits.

Frame Four, repping photographers Babbette Hines, Marcy Robinson and Aaron Ruell, has just been launched by Gary Naccarato who is also the Head of Creative at Biscuit Filmworks. Gary has always had a profound appreciation for photographers and their work and I'm so happy to see that he's made a business out of a passion. His first show is on November 7 in Los Angeles. Congratulations Gary!

I'm a big fan of Montreal-based Sid Lee (formerly Diesel a few years back). They have just launched a fresh new website. Kudos to them on creating an agency site that is fun to visit.

 I like when nice little goodies show up in my in box. This one is from The Acid House, a small studio from the Philippines, who have just completed this video for Up Dharma Down's "We Give in Sometimes" in collaboration with Inksurge and Everywhere We Shoot. Thanks Ivan for sending it my way.

Here's another new spot from Psyop LA with visual effects by there sister company MassMarket (they are sharing relatively new diggs in Venice). BMW Yet is directed by Psyop's Chris Staves and Laurent Ledru. Agency is GSD&M Idea City, Austin. Full credits are here.

Here's a great new spot from director James Haworth (hi James!) for Specsavers. I love the gritty cop shop film look & the punchline at the end made me laugh out loud (doesn't happen that often & I've had a bad day). Agency is Specsavers Creative. Pro co is Another Film Company. Full credits and some production info is posted here.