If you are a fan of comedy, live in the New York area and want to support a good cause, mark December 17 & 18 in your calendar for the John Roberts Comedy Show in support of HUNGRR. John Roberts is the co-writer (along with Clay Weiner) and star of the YouTube hits The Tree, Jackie & Debra and The Phone Call (just to name a few). View all things John Roberts here and full event details here. All donations from these two nights will go to Community Food Bank of New Jersey.

Synchronized for the Audi Q5 the latest from Psyop, produced with Tempomedia and Stink, for Berlin agency Heimat. Psyop was asked to show the principle of synchronicity and to find interesting ways to create real images of driving using thousands of perfectly synchronized humans holding cards. A Q&A with Psyop directors Eben Mears and Marco Spier is posted here along with full production credits. 

This is the third time that I'm posting a link to Yay! Monday! It's out every Monday and is a great place for creative inspiration or diversion. In this week's edition, I really like the work of Paris-based illustrator Emmanuel Polanco and photographer Narelle Autio.

This spot for JC Penny, by Saatchi & Saatchi New York and directed by Hungry Man's Bryan Buckley, hits home on so many levels (too many to get into). So many things are great about this spot; the intercom relaying positive messages, the line "duel bag doesn't even know why he's here" and the review board - priceless. Thank you peg leg Tommy for sending it my way. It made my day. Question: do they sell these fantastical "dog houses" at JC Penny? If yes, put me down for two.

This spot has reminded me how much I miss Mad Men. When will season three start (dying here). If you feel the same way, get a little Don Draper and Robert Sterling fix in this video created to promote the CTAM Awards. Found on AdRants (thanks Steve & Angela).

I've been a fan of Montreal-based Sid Lee for some time now and I'm happy to report that they've just opened the doors to their new European office in Amsterdam. Sid Lee's Amsterdam headquarters not only houses the agency, but also the company’s first creative gallery, retail store and café. It all sounds super cool. Good thing they changed their name a few years back from Diesel to Sid Lee. The name Diesel would have been really confusing in regards to the retail store. The full story, with pics, is here on Marketing's site.

Droga5's latest viral for Guitar Hero World Tour is a rockin' ride - watch it here. Directed by Smuggler's Jaron Albertin with visual effects by Method.

This Lexus spot is currently being shown in cinemas in Canada - I saw it before A Quantum of Solace the other day, which has the least amount of sex I've ever been in a Bond film. Back to Lexus. "We were given an audio clip of the car running full tilt and asked 'what would that sound look like?' We then interpreted the sounds visually and used Maya and After Effects to create imagery that built adrenaline and took the audience on a journey," Crush CD Gary Thomas explains. Crush directed the spot via Dentsu Canada. Full credits are here.

I've been meaning to post this for a few days - ever since I bumped into Pablo from JAM3MEDIA at the ADCC Awards. The Sept/Oct issue of Communication Arts is the Interactive Annual and you can view all the goodies inside it here. My friends over at JAM3MEDIA are featured in the self-promo section (see their feature here). Congrats to the JAM3 gang for recognition of work well done.

Publicis Toronto has launched a new integrated campaign for the United Way consisting of print, online, outdoor and two television spots. The two television spots, Youth and Homelessness, are directed by Sons and Daughters Mark Zibert and Sean Cochrane with visual effects by Crush. Full spot credits are here. Zibert also shot the print component that was re-touched by Brett Simms.

Taxi New York has launched its global awareness campaign for One Laptop Per Child. Watch the PSA titled "Zimi" here. Scooped from Boards.

Separated at Birth is the latest from Biscuit Filmworks USA director Aaron Ruell for Comcast via Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Full credits are posted here. Ruell is also a photographer and shots did a news story on him and his photography in their newsletter last week, check it out here.

This past Wednesday night I went to the ADCC Awards in Toronto - Canada's ADC. I always enjoy this show. The screening theatre is nice, the show is short and the after party is at the ROM. You can check out all the winners on the ADCC site here, but in the next few posts I highlight some of the winning entries.

I have to confess, when I first saw the TV spot for this campaign I was not a fan. When I saw the first viral market research spot, I still was not a fan. But when I saw this video, which was made for Cannes (it's shot off the screen at Cannes but the quality is surprisingly good), I realized that as an integrated campaign it's brilliant (yes Hunter, I was wrong). Watch the video. The Diamond Shreddies campaign won Advertising Broadcast & Multiple Media, Multiple Media Gold. Agency is Ogilvy Toronto.

Warning: this spot is long. 4:54 to be exact. But if you have five minutes to spare, it's worth the time. Whatzisface was created by Publicis Vancouver and animator Paul Gill for the 2007 Lotus Awards, British Columbia's regional ad awards (actually, the 2008 show was last night). I digress. This spot won a gold in Broadcast & Multimedia, Advertising Broadcast Crafts, Animation (that's a mouthful).

I really like this site and was happy to see that it picked up a silver in the Interactive Design category. Check out Fashion at Play by Taxi Montreal for Smart Set. Tip - pick the brown top with gold sequins (pictured), I think the olive throwing machine is pretty funny.

In the Interactive Design category Crush picked up a gold for their series of promotional clips for Douglas Coupland's novel The Gum Thief. View all nine of them (yes nine) here or on Coupland's YouTube channel.

Also in Interactive Design, Bos Toronto picked up a gold in a for their WTF campaign for Mac's Froster, a slushie drink at a Canadian convenience store chain. Watch Mr. Tree, Hose Leg, and Jose's Garden.

I've been a fan of this campaign since I saw it in Creativity. It won a gold in the category of Print and Innovation. Here are three executions from this campaign by Leo Burnett Toronto for the Toronto Humane Society. Note: I could not find an image online of my favourite execution, the one with a dog and the line "I am an excellent source of outside".

My friends over at Lowe Roche Toronto completed this spot for Stella a while back with director Dougal Wilson. The Race is now airing in the Ukraine and Argentina and will air in other markets, including the USA and Canada, soon. Full credits are some notes on the spot are here.

Coca-Cola's Happiness Factory The Movie, by Psyop and W+K Amsterdam, beat out 144 titles to win the Grand Prize at the Holland Animation Film Festival. Congratulations to Todd and Kylie and everyone else at Psyop.

If you were going to try to sell homosexuality, what would the ad campaign look like? Well four different creative agencies tackled this concept for the UK's Gay Times. Check out the ads, read a Q&A on the campaign and see full credits on Creative Review's Blog.

I met Anttu from Finland-based Anima Boutique in Cannes this past year (I think everybody in Cannes met Anttu). He and his crew over at Anima have made this cute spot to raise awareness for global warming and are asking others to do the same and send them over to Anima.

Tonight I'm attending the opening of a new installation by Toronto street artists Fauxreel (he did the Vespa Squareheads) and Specter. A City Renewal Project blends the wallpapered photography techniques of Fauxreel with the graphic and painterly approach of Specter as they recreate a neighbourhood full of abandoned storefronts inside a 4000 sq ft warehouse at 39 Lisgar Avenue. The installation, which runs until November 23, is sponsored by Red Bull 381 Projects and full details are posted here. A video of part of the installation being created is here.

This ad by Zig Toronto for the Royal Winter Fair is hilarious. Love the voice over, the images and the music is amazing. Oddly, this November week on Toronto has been sunny and gorgeous. Zig creatives are CD/Art Director: Stephen Leps and CD/Copywriter: Aaron Starkman. NIce work.

It's fun to smash things, no? My friend André Breda over at Advertising etc sent me this ad that he recently completed for Relance, a new Portuguese magazine featuring design, architecture, fashion and culture. It was shot in one day with a purpose-built crushing machine and filmed in HD at 1000fps using a special high speed camera (Phantom). The watermelon is my favourite. Watch it here. The line at the end translates (loosely) to "an insightful look into all things contemporary". Full credits and some stills from the shoot are posted here.

Here's an engaging and clever spot for Transport for London. I'm not going to spoil it by telling you anything about it. Watch it on Creativity (full credits are posted there too). I also really liked Transport for London's Optical Illusions spot, released earlier this year, created by design god Peter Saville.

Open Science is the latest from Ogilvy New York for DuPont and is directed by Stink's Gaelle Denis with visual effects by MassMarket. The spot is made with miniatures and CG. Director Gaelle Denis is a bit of an expert with miniatures - check out her short film City Paradise. Full credits and a Q&A with MassMarket's Chris Staves on the production is posted here.

Yes, I did just drop the old "or are you happy to see me?" joke. Here's the latest out of Psyop Los Angeles for Sprint via Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Watch Red Zone. Full credits are here.

Back in 2005, the ALS Society of Canada (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) worked with BBDO Canada to produce two PSA's titled "Running" and "Hugging". Hugging picked up a number of awards including a Bronze Lion. At the time, Christina Yu was the AD on the spot. She is now the VP/CD at Lowe Roche and they have just completed a new PSA (the first produced since 2005) for ALS titled Head and Shoulders - set to the children's song "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes". It was directed by Untitled's John Mastromonaco and with post production by Rooster. Full credits are here.

Oscillations is the latest test film from Hollywood-based Blip Boutique (love that they have Obama up on their homepage). Blip Boutique is headed up by James Frost (he recently directed the House of Cards video for Radiohead) and Mary Fagot. For more of Blip, check out their montage reel here.