Fritinancy: F-Plus

November 07, 2014

F-Plus

Four new F-word sightings in the public square, from coy rebus to unexpurgated vulgarism.

“Who the [fork] will win?” Ad for the Bravo TV series “Best New Restaurant,” premiering January 21. (Thanks to Karen Wise for the tip.)

A Merry Friggin’ Christmas, in theaters and on demand today. Rated PG-13 (“for language and crude humor throughout”), it’s one of the last movies completed by Robin Williams, who committed suicide in August. As Jesse Sheidlower documents in The F Word, “frigging” (noun and modifier) has been a coarse synonym for “fucking” for centuries; James Joyce famously employed it in Ulysses (“that frigging drawing”).

In addition to the vulgarism in the title, the movie is notable for its poster design, which is either a homage to or a ripoff of the great designer Saul Bass, who created titles and posters for Vertigo, Spartacus, Anatomy of a Murder, and many other movies. As noted in a recent Reddit thread, the Merry Friggin’ Christmas poster also bears a startling resemblance to the poster for the 2008 Coen Brothers film Burn After Reading. (A Merry Friggin’ Christmas was directed by the memorably named Tristram Shapeero.)

For the Strategy magazine Agency of the Year competition, Canadian marketing agency Cossette promoted itself with a video that asked a single question: “What the fuck is going on at Cossette?”

NSFW unless you use headphones.

AdFreak called the video “amusing,” and congratulated “people from rival agencies who make cameos here, including Carlos Moreno and Peter Ignazi of BBDO and—at the very end—Geoffrey Roche, who founded Lowe Roche. Other folks making appearances include the Trailer Park Boys, Chris Van Dyke of School Editing and Ted Rosnick of RMW Music.”

Cossette (named for founder Claude Cossette) did not win.

Finally, a greeting card that clearly doesn’t come from Hallmark.

“You Are Doing a Fucking Great Job,” Seen at eye level at Nathan & Co., a gift shop on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland; created by Emily McDowell, who also offers a “ready-to-frame art print” with the identical sentiment.