John Lennon eerily returns to push OLPC cause

John Lennon may have departed this planet 28 years ago, but that's not to say he can't still have an impact. With the assistance of technology and the consent of Yoko Ono, the heralded Beatle has returned in a new OLPC spot. In the ad, the late musician proclaims: "Imagine every child no matter where in the world they were could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want." If this sounds like just the inspiration you needed to get your donation on, hop on past the break to see the vid in its entirety.

[Via Laptop Mag]

[gahahha @ Dec 28th 2008 10:51AM]

i did not know the OLPC is capable of going backwards in time.

[matt merritt @ Dec 28th 2008 11:09AM]

They did it technologically, why not physically?

[MRLN @ Dec 28th 2008 10:55AM]

Hey, I'm second!

What's so great? Was it all computer generated, or did they move pictures?

Or are they demonstrating their new time machine?

[loocas @ Dec 28th 2008 4:46PM]

This one is actually quite "simple". Notice the quotes, please. It's a hell-of-a-lot of work for a compositor/2d artist. I don't think it's 3D, that'd be a bit unnecessary, in my opinion, but who knows? Might have been. A few camera projections, simple, yet effective, morphs here and there, a bit of 2D alchemy and you've got what you saw in the ad.

If I could, I'd criticise the lips motion. I'm not completely sold on that one, altought, it's a very, very good job. Really, I appretiate this kind of work ;)

[Mental Issues @ Dec 28th 2008 10:56AM]

Well, this isn't anything new. Paul's been endorsing all sorts of things since he was killed 40 years ago.

[General @ Dec 28th 2008 11:07AM]

In case someone doesn't understand the reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_is_dead

(sigh...there's practically a wiki for EVERYTHING)

[CubeGuy @ Dec 28th 2008 11:21AM]

No. If someone doesn't get the reference, they don't deserve to know.

>:C

[Davis @ Dec 28th 2008 10:58AM]

Totally photoshopped; the reflections are all wrong. ;)

[bill cant fart @ Dec 28th 2008 12:35PM]

Oh man, that is so fake. I can totally see the strings.

[User7 @ Dec 28th 2008 10:59AM]

Where is that kid in the video going to charge that?

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 28th 2008 11:03AM]

The witch doctor's school.

[Stiv @ Dec 28th 2008 11:20AM]

Buffoon! They have electricity in the third world.

[AroruaLeona @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:50PM]

Solar powered. Charges outside in the sun.

[a ham sandwich @ Dec 28th 2008 11:05AM]

you're right. that was unnecessarily creepy.

[Bored at work @ Jan 2nd 2009 5:27PM]

This was a bit creepy but the voice did sound like him (to me anyway) and John Lennon using the term laptop is just too much for me. It just doesn't "jive".

[matt merritt @ Dec 28th 2008 11:09AM]

Nope. Still Nothing.

[Darla Dixon @ Dec 28th 2008 11:11AM]

I think Yoko feels that this is something that John would have wanted to support, if it had been around in his time.

[Stiv @ Dec 28th 2008 11:17AM]

Thank you, Darla, for making the first relevant post.

Guys - humor is good, but it has to be funny.

[AJR @ Dec 28th 2008 11:16AM]

absolutely creepy and uncomfortable to watch

[JerkyChew @ Dec 28th 2008 11:32AM]

Wow, just wow.

Ok, it has Yoko Ono's consent. Yeah, it's going to help out poor children. But having a voiceover impression of Lennon? That's just wrong. I thought that they had pulled up some old audio footage of him saying that it would be great for kids everywhere to have access to a world of information, but then I heard the word "Laptop". This is dumb, hokey, in poor taste, etc etc. Yoko and everyone involved should be ashamed.

[STINK @ Dec 28th 2008 11:54AM]

I'll support the cause by NOT buying one so the Taiwainese kiddies don't have to build any.

Oh right, that doesn't happen...

[Mark @ Dec 28th 2008 5:51PM]

Erm.

(supposedly) it's not a voiceover impression - it's Lennon's own voice. They took a variety of recordings on Lennon, and picked out the various words (and in the case of laptop, sounds), and digitally remastered it into this endorsement.

[Agent .25i @ Dec 28th 2008 11:46AM]

Lennon - Ono... Terrorists.

[3dpenguin @ Dec 28th 2008 11:57AM]

No, it was Richard M Nixon that was the terrorist, so according to guilt by association so was Elvis Presley, since that is what your conclusion is doing. The reason why Lennon got put on this list associated with terrorist was because he participated in a belief that all things aren't equal and action has to be taken to balance the power, he did it more with words, but unfortunately some people whom he sided and associated with went more with action. Words only have as much power as the person behind them, and John had a lot more power than most of the US Government, because people actually listened to him, and this pissed the powers that be in the White House off, who often resorted to terroristic, big brother is watching, type actions.

[Agent .25i @ Dec 28th 2008 12:21PM]

Oh, I agree with you 3dpenguin, mostly. But using one form of terrorism to fight another shouldn't be accepted. I would say a portion of his monies went into funding the people he associated with. I also believe this has been shown (in bank statements and account activity's) to be true.

[Solidstate @ Dec 28th 2008 11:46AM]

Worst Lennon impersonation ever.
Should have used Peter Serafinowicz - he's got it spot on... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jcVS9ssNYVQ#t=1m24

[Basic @ Dec 28th 2008 12:38PM]

It sounded like a comedian's impression of Lennon.

[Mr. Picklesworth @ Dec 28th 2008 1:37PM]

...Or they could have a REAL celebrity endorsement -- you know, that actually carries the weight of being that guy's honest belief instead of just words stuffed in a dead man's mouth. (At least take a line he actually DID say and call it a clip!)

Believe it or not, people like John Lennon are alive today. It is a major shame that the OLPC project thinks they are not, and that a John Lennon zombie is more effective than anyone else.

[Alec @ Dec 28th 2008 5:44PM]

Name ONE. (If you say Bono I will hunt you down.)

[Ryan Trevisol @ Dec 28th 2008 3:00PM]

"I tried to do it with my music . . . YOU can change the world"

So dead lennon is saying he's a failure, and you can change the world MORE than him (pfft!) by buying a $99 laptop.

*facepalm

[whiskey @ Dec 28th 2008 3:36PM]

How much would you say the world has changed by this "Lennon" person's actions?

A WHOLE DAMN LOT, don't you think? It doesn't say he failed changing the world... It says that in order to change it further, you can contribute with the cause by donating $200 to get a poor kid in a poor country a computer.

What do you do to help others, besides overthinking about the message of a charity ad?

[John @ Dec 28th 2008 4:28PM]

I think the only way that Lennon really changed the world was giving do-nothing hippies a new "country" and writing "Imagine" so that it could be covered by pretty much everyone. Oh, and he gave Yoko Ono an audience, which is pretty much undeniably changing the world for the worse. Does anybody think "what would Lennon do" on a daily basis?

[BigD145 @ Dec 28th 2008 9:12PM]

"Rome wasn't built in a day."

He didn't fail at all. He's obviously still affecting people today.

[kevin konrad @ Dec 29th 2008 11:32AM]

The quote was obviously taken out of context, but someone HAS stopped his music from being made..

[Artie Lange @ Dec 28th 2008 3:24PM]

I can't wait for the baby boomers to disappear like the dinosaurs after a giant meteorite.

[The Angry Intern @ Dec 28th 2008 4:43PM]

Homer Simpson must be behind this!

[terry @ Dec 28th 2008 4:49PM]

yeah, and when them cheap ass notebooks get viruses, or naturally start to break up, how the hell are those countries going to fix them? This is an ill conceived social experiment. Put good teachers in those countries, better train the ones there and give them good books. Don't try to get them up to speed with the twisted internet. How are they suppose to even verify that the information they're receiving is even correct?


This going to fail. Wait and see. You'll read about the failure of this shit in places like Time magazine. Turn the page or it'll be on the front cover. Thousands of those machines will be in landfills in short order.
Caption would read,"WHAT HAPPENED?"

[bartoron @ Dec 28th 2008 5:13PM]

People write viruses for laptops designed for 5 year olds?

Also, the laptops are designed to be easy to fix. Extra screws are even stored inside of the laptop.

[ED @ Dec 28th 2008 5:19PM]

Somebody set up us the bomb!

[bored at work @ Jan 2nd 2009 4:44PM]

I totally agree with your comments.

[ED @ Dec 28th 2008 5:18PM]

Imagine a world with food and jobs and laptops for everyone, and no wars.

Now imagine a pandemic of pig flu.

[John Sawyer @ Jan 2nd 2009 9:01PM]

Yum, pig flu for dinner...

[Manuel Reis @ Dec 28th 2008 6:03PM]

Now, that's freaky.

The guy is dead. Sure, we miss him, and we would like him to be alive, but this... Is too much.

[toma @ Dec 28th 2008 6:17PM]

artie, you are the saddest embodiment ignorance ever, to the point of my questioning evolution of mankind. It isn't a literal message, it's an artistic one. Lennon was a voice of a generation as was Kurt Cobain and other icons of music who died young. What have you done lately to move mankind ahead? To criticise baby boomers is to ignore all that have gone before to give you everything you have today. Some reverence would be appreciated, You probably even wear our bellbottoms, you fu&*ing moron. peace!

[??? @ Dec 29th 2008 12:38AM]

...and yet, you failed. 40 years ago. You had a real chance to change things, change history...and you let it fall apart. You were just too damn afraid to let go of that false ideal. You let ambition get in the way. You chose purity over unity. Or you were just too damn afraid of someone hitting you. Either way, you failed your mission. It caused a power vacuum, filled by Christianists who all but react violently like Islamic terrorists who only now are starting to fall apart. You coped in the most disgusting ways possible: Escapist music, capitalist ambition, and sometimes shunning the very causes you represented in the name of power. In the end, all you are now are husks, shells, latching to power like generations before. And don't say that you did change things with the Civil Rights Movement, cos until the day comes that normal black, white, and latino people are regularly walking down Newbury Street in Boston (of which now, the only blacks that even stand on that street are beggars), I don't see change really happening there.

When we, a generation you can't even define let alone name, begin to break through, one of the first things we'll do is cut you off, and suffer the consequences. I wouldn't mind killing off Social Security if it means paying back the debts and burdens you placed on our backs.

And let's be clear here: John Lennon was an arrogant, pompous fucking asshole. He prolly didn't care that the man he preached was directly responsible for the killing of millions of his own kind just because they POSSIBLY thought different. And he failed to see beyond his own jaded detachment from reality that many of the things he preached were impossible on a global, national, even at a city level within NYC. (I wouldn't call John Lennon a terrorist, though. Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, on the other hand...)

[Noah @ Dec 28th 2008 8:01PM]

That voice was violently annoying. Please don't tell me that is how he actually sounded.

However, I could get behind the idea. As long as the kids get the whole internet, not just firewalled versions their gov't allows.

[Steven Bates @ Dec 28th 2008 10:33PM]

This is not John's voice it sounds like an actor.

[JOSIE @ Dec 29th 2008 12:58AM]

ALL WE ARE SAYING, IS GIVE THIS A CHANCE.

[Shiftlock @ Dec 29th 2008 3:49AM]

I wonder if Yoko was paid for allowing this? Just curious, because the "with Yoko's consent" comment makes it sound like it's a public service announcement.

[Chuck @ Dec 29th 2008 11:14AM]

Big fan of John's... I actually thought I'd enjoy the ad. It was horrible... They should have used a real snip of his many great quotes, even though he doesn't say laptop, and used it a inspiration rather than a poorly faked digital mess.