I received my first Christmas card from a vendor.
(I'm growing up!)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
One of my favorites: SF Zoo
This piece of communication by BBDO West has been around for a while but I keep forgetting to share it. Bus shelter posters that require interaction and encourage you to participate with the website -- what a fun way to get people involved with and interested in the zoo! I love that not only are people interacting with the zoo, but they're actually becoming (and so hopefully, relating to) animals.
http://www.oursfzoo.org/
Bobby Shew, fantastic and motivational
I saw Bobby Shew perform this summer at The Fox Note in Princeton, Wisconsin. I would guess there were about 100 people at the concert, which took place in a fabulous little hall and was incredibly intimate.
The music was fantastic; it was fun to see and hear Shew play with the John Harmon trio, which he doesn't normally play with. They obviously enjoyed working with each other, and the jazz seemed more like a story than a series of songs.
Best of all, though, was when Shew told us about a talk he gives to his students. At some point, he explains to each student that as a musician, you can either impress someone with your playing, or you can touch someone with your music. And then he went on to tell the audience the he hoped we weren't impressed with his playing. He hoped, instead, that he had manage to touch us.
Congratulations, Bobby Shew. Not only did you make wonderful music and perform a riveting concert; you were so moving I can't stop thinking about it four months afterward.
The music was fantastic; it was fun to see and hear Shew play with the John Harmon trio, which he doesn't normally play with. They obviously enjoyed working with each other, and the jazz seemed more like a story than a series of songs.
Best of all, though, was when Shew told us about a talk he gives to his students. At some point, he explains to each student that as a musician, you can either impress someone with your playing, or you can touch someone with your music. And then he went on to tell the audience the he hoped we weren't impressed with his playing. He hoped, instead, that he had manage to touch us.
Congratulations, Bobby Shew. Not only did you make wonderful music and perform a riveting concert; you were so moving I can't stop thinking about it four months afterward.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Overkill
While looking for variations on the phrase "like using an atom bomb to kill an ant," I found some fantastic images on The Mish Mash. If you ever need pictural representations of "overkill," check them out:
http://www.themishmash.com/2007/12/overkill.html
http://www.themishmash.com/2007/12/overkill.html
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
From the New York Times: How Home Became Homeland
How Home Became Homeland
Oh, it’s good to be home.
The threat level has been raised (or was that lowered?) to orange. I wonder idly what this means — an image of medium-intensity jihadist chatter menacing Armonk, N.Y., comes to mind — but I have no time to get that vision in focus before another cheery message rolls out across the airport.
“Do not make jokes about security. You could be arrested.”
O.K., I won’t ask the Transport Security Administration guys with “TSA” on their shirts if the letters stand for “Team Standing Around,” and I won’t say, “Hey, remember how the U.S.A. used to be a land without fences and nobody ever called it a homeland,” and I won’t say, “Arrested? Ha! And then what?”
Nor will I mention the other America before “threat levels” and two wars and renditions and bumper stickers saying “Freedom is not free” — the land where jokes were not yet grounds for arrest and nobody got wrestled to the floor for “looking” suspicious and fear was not yet a coin of the realm.
Oh, but it’s good to be home, even if it’s a homeland now.
Just take a look at our home! A screeching belt in a bunker-like, airless hall (last painted in 1957) turns and turns without bags on it, watched by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of ragged travelers straining to hear inaudible announcements, darting here and there like ants in a panic, blocking their ears against the screech, comforting babies, searching in vain for Delta baggage agents who’ve all gone home because there was a storm and it’s late and, hey, it’s summer!
Some of the marooned crowd are on cellphones screaming “Sorry, honey, you cut out, WHAT?” and the chorus rises, “Sorry, honey, you cut out, WHAT?” and I think that’s not a bad bumper sticker for this unraveled, disconnected homeland almost eight years into Bush.
Oh, yes, it’s good to be home.
Even if it’s a homeland, at least it’s not a fatherland. And how, I wonder, does our home look to others? As former President Bill Clinton noted at the Democratic national convention in Denver, the United States does better when it leads with “the power of our example” than with “the example of our power.”
To think this airport is named after J.F.K. — all that promise, and my Dad weeping at his loss in faraway London. Kennedy who asked us to ask ourselves what we could do for our country. Whatever happened to Lincoln’s “last, best hope?”
It got frayed. Let’s stop talking about an infrastructure bottleneck, sounds too like something in a Soviet 10-year Plan, and start talking about collapsing bridges, crawling trains, dilapidated airports, potholed roads, subway blues — the great national failure to build a network of public transport worthy of a modern state in the age of $110 oil.
We’ve been spending too much on fear while others spend on the future. And now J.F.K. looks like LOTH — Lagos-on-the-Hudson — while the Hong Kong airport shimmers the way American promise once did.
Yes, it’s good to be home. As Robert Frost noted, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in.”
Unless you make the wrong joke, or knock yourself out on the scaffolding, or have a weird beard.
Speaking of the Democratic National Convention, security there involved police in shades with sub-machine guns riding around on the backs of trucks and the image they summoned with their truculent menace was Pinochet’s Chile circa 1986, the main difference being the Colorado vehicles still had license plates.
Police dogs combed through the gym and pool area of the Denver Grand Hyatt sniffing goggles and towels as wide-eyed kids gaped.
And there, at the convention, was another Kennedy, Senator Edward Kennedy, rising from his hospital bed with a bull-like courage that nobody who witnessed it will forget, and saying, unbowed: “We are all called to a better country and a newer world.”
Yes, it can still be good to be home.
Barack Obama had this to say: “America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.”
I reckon John McCain can agree with that. Everyone — Democrat, Republican or independent — can. Certainly the rest of the world can. Its thirst to close the Bush chapter is near feverish.
Winston Churchill said of the United States that it can be counted on to do “the right thing,” but only after it has tried every alternative. As Roger Smith, an acute political observer and blogger, put it in an e-mail: “Well, George W. is every other alternative.”
Unless you count Sarah Palin, John McCain’s new sidekick, the Republican lady risen from the ice out near Russia. She’s certainly alternative.
It’s good to be home, but it sure could be better.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/opinion/04Cohen.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Pimp my Bike
With gas prices at record highs, car culture has taken a turn for the creative. A group of Trinidadian teenagers in Queens, once famous for cruising the streets in big cars with hyped up sound, are facing the gas crisis by creating a new driving alternative.
I think this is amazingly creative, as well as future-focused. In a time when soccer moms are complaning they can't live without their Yukons and Suburbans, these kids have taken culture and future into their own hands and trying something new.
On a side note, can you imagine the calf muscles these kids will have after biking around with 100+ pounds of speakers?
I think this is amazingly creative, as well as future-focused. In a time when soccer moms are complaning they can't live without their Yukons and Suburbans, these kids have taken culture and future into their own hands and trying something new.
On a side note, can you imagine the calf muscles these kids will have after biking around with 100+ pounds of speakers?
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The right time for a wax job
So gross. So irresponsible.
Doesn't everyone deserve to feel good about themselves for at least a few years before "we" show them a thousand ways they could be better/prettier/sexier?
Doesn't everyone deserve to feel good about themselves for at least a few years before "we" show them a thousand ways they could be better/prettier/sexier?
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Something to think about
In 1899, President McKinley was assured by the director of the US Patent Office that "everything that can be invented has already been invented."
Friday, July 11, 2008
The Wise Words of My Mother
"It's tought being a big cheese in a small pond."
How true. In fact, I think it might be tought to be any kind of cheese in a pond.
How true. In fact, I think it might be tought to be any kind of cheese in a pond.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Moving Green(ish)
I can in no way say that my move back to Chicago will be a "Green" move. I will be driving 500+ miles, I am using lots of boxes, etc, etc, etc. But I am trying.
Moving out of college dorm rooms four years in a row, I tended to box up the important stuff and throw out the rest. As a person who grew up recycling, that is weird behavior. But I am also a person who hates to move, and so that side has generally won out. This year, however, I decided to try and throw out as little as possible. While I can't call the experience a complete success, I think I've made some steps in the right direction.
I've posted almost 20 ads on Craigslist and Richmond.com and have sold almost half of the items that I put up for sale. I have recycled every piece of paper that I no longer need. I am dropping two large bags of food off at a friend's apartment tomorrow afternoon. I have been to Goodwill's Second Debut store three times to drop off carloads of clothing that I no longer wear and assorted odds and ends that still have some useful life left in them.
Aside from a terrible woman I met today who picked up two dressers that I listed on Craigslist (Pauline from the West End: if you truly think what you did today was decent human behavior, you need a tune-up. Or an overhaul.), I'm glad that I chose this route. The only real problem is that throwing things away was about 10 times faster.
Moving out of college dorm rooms four years in a row, I tended to box up the important stuff and throw out the rest. As a person who grew up recycling, that is weird behavior. But I am also a person who hates to move, and so that side has generally won out. This year, however, I decided to try and throw out as little as possible. While I can't call the experience a complete success, I think I've made some steps in the right direction.
I've posted almost 20 ads on Craigslist and Richmond.com and have sold almost half of the items that I put up for sale. I have recycled every piece of paper that I no longer need. I am dropping two large bags of food off at a friend's apartment tomorrow afternoon. I have been to Goodwill's Second Debut store three times to drop off carloads of clothing that I no longer wear and assorted odds and ends that still have some useful life left in them.
Aside from a terrible woman I met today who picked up two dressers that I listed on Craigslist (Pauline from the West End: if you truly think what you did today was decent human behavior, you need a tune-up. Or an overhaul.), I'm glad that I chose this route. The only real problem is that throwing things away was about 10 times faster.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Namelessly Famous
I (sort of) made Ad Age! More accurately, my jam did. Yes, the jam with the accordian fold brochure I mentioned a few entries ago.
Perhaps it was the small white mound, clearly meant to look like cocaine, sitting next to the art director's portfolio with a straw: "Welcome recruiters!"
Or the tempting stack of cherry jam jars inviting us to take one in exchange for looking at the planner's portfolio.
Or the stylish purple rubber wristbands with the copywriter's portfolio URL.
No matter how the students at VCU Brandcenter dressed their tables to draw attention to their two years of work, you could feel the passion before you even met them. These were professionally trained ad grads with a clear CTA: I'm great. Hire me.
This was my first time at VCU Brandcenter's agency recruitment days. Nanette, our agency recruiter, and I flew down to join dozens of other agencies to meet over two days some of the brightest copywriters, art directors, planners and brand managers entering the business.
This program knows what it's doing and makes it easy in this market to connect with talent. The first half of day one we could browse their portfolios without the students present. That afternoon and the following day the grads were there with their work and we could speak to whomever we wanted -- about them, about their work, about us.
The students had finished their term days earlier and had been up into the wee hours preparing for all of us. Elaborate materials. Impeccable portfolios (online and physical). Clever giveaways (e.g. little white packets of powder).
Nanette and I were delighted to find strong copywriting, gorgeous art direction, sophisticated insights and artful communication strategies. More important, to our delight, we saw ideas and how they connected among the planners and creatives.
On the short flight back to New York, I suffered from two conflicting emotions:
First, I was optimistic about the industry's future. The caliber was top-notch and the work would intimidate and motivate my own staff. These grads were all about ideas, their work rooted in insights. The work was across channels and in many of the portfolios you could see solid digital expression of ideas. The collaboration model among the brand manager, planner and creatives really showed as you went from portfolio to portfolio and could see the strategy for, say, a Boy Scouts campaign expressed in work that resulted in every discipline. Most would say they're media neutral; they really just want to do great work, however that ends up being best expressed.
At the same time, I couldn't shake some disappointment. In a generation that I thought included digital natives, the work wasn't. There were decent digital ideas, sure, but not bold ones. The uses of technology for the idea would be fine if I saw it in my generation's books, but I was secretly hoping for more from them. I mean, I have to be patient at work and with partner agencies, but can't I hope for more in those who will take my job soon enough? And while my staff would be impressed by some of the conceptual ideas, they would shrug off a lot of what they saw in digital as a bit old school.
My advice to present and future grads is to keep the idea central, but beef up your use of digital. Not in quantity, but in adventurousness and in role. In some cases, such as a campaign for the Boy Scouts of America, you might find your target is to be found first online and your campaign should center on engagement there.
In the end, I wish I had purchased some extra one-way plane tickets to take a few grads back with me to New York. These folks are good. They are smart. They are highly creative and passionate. They know ideas and they know what they want. So my advice to agencies is:
Next year, not only attend but get involved in some of these top school programs and perhaps we can help influence the use of digital in the work.
In the mean time, there's this year: If you see a VCU portfolio, be sure to give it a good look. They're going to get great jobs -- I hope a few from me.
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=127407
Students for Hire
My Recruiting Journey to VCU Brandcenter
 Mat Zucker |
Or the tempting stack of cherry jam jars inviting us to take one in exchange for looking at the planner's portfolio.
Or the stylish purple rubber wristbands with the copywriter's portfolio URL.
No matter how the students at VCU Brandcenter dressed their tables to draw attention to their two years of work, you could feel the passion before you even met them. These were professionally trained ad grads with a clear CTA: I'm great. Hire me.
This was my first time at VCU Brandcenter's agency recruitment days. Nanette, our agency recruiter, and I flew down to join dozens of other agencies to meet over two days some of the brightest copywriters, art directors, planners and brand managers entering the business.
This program knows what it's doing and makes it easy in this market to connect with talent. The first half of day one we could browse their portfolios without the students present. That afternoon and the following day the grads were there with their work and we could speak to whomever we wanted -- about them, about their work, about us.
The students had finished their term days earlier and had been up into the wee hours preparing for all of us. Elaborate materials. Impeccable portfolios (online and physical). Clever giveaways (e.g. little white packets of powder).
Nanette and I were delighted to find strong copywriting, gorgeous art direction, sophisticated insights and artful communication strategies. More important, to our delight, we saw ideas and how they connected among the planners and creatives.
On the short flight back to New York, I suffered from two conflicting emotions:
First, I was optimistic about the industry's future. The caliber was top-notch and the work would intimidate and motivate my own staff. These grads were all about ideas, their work rooted in insights. The work was across channels and in many of the portfolios you could see solid digital expression of ideas. The collaboration model among the brand manager, planner and creatives really showed as you went from portfolio to portfolio and could see the strategy for, say, a Boy Scouts campaign expressed in work that resulted in every discipline. Most would say they're media neutral; they really just want to do great work, however that ends up being best expressed.
At the same time, I couldn't shake some disappointment. In a generation that I thought included digital natives, the work wasn't. There were decent digital ideas, sure, but not bold ones. The uses of technology for the idea would be fine if I saw it in my generation's books, but I was secretly hoping for more from them. I mean, I have to be patient at work and with partner agencies, but can't I hope for more in those who will take my job soon enough? And while my staff would be impressed by some of the conceptual ideas, they would shrug off a lot of what they saw in digital as a bit old school.
My advice to present and future grads is to keep the idea central, but beef up your use of digital. Not in quantity, but in adventurousness and in role. In some cases, such as a campaign for the Boy Scouts of America, you might find your target is to be found first online and your campaign should center on engagement there.
In the end, I wish I had purchased some extra one-way plane tickets to take a few grads back with me to New York. These folks are good. They are smart. They are highly creative and passionate. They know ideas and they know what they want. So my advice to agencies is:
Next year, not only attend but get involved in some of these top school programs and perhaps we can help influence the use of digital in the work.
In the mean time, there's this year: If you see a VCU portfolio, be sure to give it a good look. They're going to get great jobs -- I hope a few from me.
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=127407
Saturday, May 31, 2008
I'm Freaking Out
In late July of 2006, almost two years ago, I was an Account Management intern at Euro RSCG Chicago. I knew that I would be leaving for the VCU Adcenter in a few weeks. The next two years of my life, unless I failed out of school, were planned out for me. It seemed daunting, but not actually scary.
As an intern at Euro RSCG Chicago one of my tasks was to work with the other interns to form our own agency (we cleverly called ourselves INTERNational) and develop a recruitment campaign for the office that would appeal to junior and mid-level prospective employees. Overall, this was probably the best internship experience I've ever had. We were given a lot of guidance and help, but were also trusted to get it right without someone constantly shepherding us. Our four person agency worked to craft the strategy, create three creative concepts, flesh-out the winning concept, generate lots of background information, present to lots of people with VP and SVP in their title, and write POVs and other pieces of communication in order to continually keep moving forward both internally and with our client. We sometimes felt overwhelmed and we squabbled more often than necessary, but I've never learned more in such a short period of time.
Long story short, at the end of July we were weeks behind and about to lose one of our Art Directors, Devika, to a previously planned African safari trip with her family. She was devoted to her work and incredibly talented. As someone who didn't want to put anything less than her best foot forward, who had just graduated from college, and who was about to leave on Safari and had a week left to get everything done, she was a bit stressed out. In the middle of her last week, I found this post-it note on my computer screen:
Devika's note made me laugh, but it also made me try even harder to make the project come together. In the end, due to both internal and external problems, our project didn't get to the point we had hoped it would. Still, I left Euro feeling proud of our work and proud of how much we had all learned. And so instead of throwing away the post-it note, I kept it on the first page of my planner. Now, every time I open my planner I have a little reminder of the fantastic mix of love and stress and laughter (sprinkled with Saturday's spent working) that it takes to create something memorable.
Maybe I'm a bit weird, but as I go through my own Freak Out, scary as it may be, her post-it confession makes me smile. Looking at that simple statement, I can actually take a deep breath and move forward. After all, it worked out for Devika.
As an intern at Euro RSCG Chicago one of my tasks was to work with the other interns to form our own agency (we cleverly called ourselves INTERNational) and develop a recruitment campaign for the office that would appeal to junior and mid-level prospective employees. Overall, this was probably the best internship experience I've ever had. We were given a lot of guidance and help, but were also trusted to get it right without someone constantly shepherding us. Our four person agency worked to craft the strategy, create three creative concepts, flesh-out the winning concept, generate lots of background information, present to lots of people with VP and SVP in their title, and write POVs and other pieces of communication in order to continually keep moving forward both internally and with our client. We sometimes felt overwhelmed and we squabbled more often than necessary, but I've never learned more in such a short period of time.
Long story short, at the end of July we were weeks behind and about to lose one of our Art Directors, Devika, to a previously planned African safari trip with her family. She was devoted to her work and incredibly talented. As someone who didn't want to put anything less than her best foot forward, who had just graduated from college, and who was about to leave on Safari and had a week left to get everything done, she was a bit stressed out. In the middle of her last week, I found this post-it note on my computer screen:
Devika's note made me laugh, but it also made me try even harder to make the project come together. In the end, due to both internal and external problems, our project didn't get to the point we had hoped it would. Still, I left Euro feeling proud of our work and proud of how much we had all learned. And so instead of throwing away the post-it note, I kept it on the first page of my planner. Now, every time I open my planner I have a little reminder of the fantastic mix of love and stress and laughter (sprinkled with Saturday's spent working) that it takes to create something memorable.
Maybe I'm a bit weird, but as I go through my own Freak Out, scary as it may be, her post-it confession makes me smile. Looking at that simple statement, I can actually take a deep breath and move forward. After all, it worked out for Devika.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Jam Labels
For recruiter session many people made business cards. I made jam. I was worried at first that this might be a bad idea; might look like some sort of weird bribe or 1950s homemaker gesture. But I made jam and I really like how it came out.
On the jam lid, I put an 1.5" x 1.5" accordion fold brochure with some information about me and my contact information.
On my table, I put the following few sentences on a table tent.
WHY JAM?
If you hire me, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together and there are only so many hours we can spend discussing my resume or my portfolio.
An agency is more than the work that comes out of it. It is the people who spend every day creating communication together, laughing, arguing and sharing their lives with each other. And so I made jam with berries picked from a local farm.
Now, you have my contact info and you also have a little sample of who I am beyond the book: a cook, an avid tourist, a point-and-shoot photography addict.
If only I could have fit my love for jazz music in there somewhere.
On the jam lid, I put an 1.5" x 1.5" accordion fold brochure with some information about me and my contact information.
On my table, I put the following few sentences on a table tent.WHY JAM?
If you hire me, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together and there are only so many hours we can spend discussing my resume or my portfolio.
An agency is more than the work that comes out of it. It is the people who spend every day creating communication together, laughing, arguing and sharing their lives with each other. And so I made jam with berries picked from a local farm.
Now, you have my contact info and you also have a little sample of who I am beyond the book: a cook, an avid tourist, a point-and-shoot photography addict.
If only I could have fit my love for jazz music in there somewhere.
Monday, May 19, 2008
My Outline
I recently made an outline of my face. At first I thought it would be good for business cards, or maybe an email signature. Now I can't decide. Maybe it's just for my own amusement.
I would somehow love to connect it with my initials, CWC, as that is how I sign all my personal letters and emails.
How would you use an outline of yourself?
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Starbucks' New Logo
An article on Businessweek.com recently discussed the changes being made to Starbucks. The article focuses on Starbucks' logo change, speaking about the brown mermaid as a messenger for Howard Schultz. The author tosses around everything from the color to the lack of consistency in going back to an old logo twice in the last three years.
What I found most interesting is that Starbucks hasn't actually really gone back. The original mermaid had her breasts uncovered, but complaints about the nude logo's reappearance in 2006 made Starbucks produce a version where she is covered with her own hair, a la Lady Godiva.
I think that if I were the designer (and I say this with no design knowledge) I would have done it a bit differently. I think that Brian Collins, who was interviewed for this article, has a good point when he says that the logo somehow looks less Italian now that it isn't green. I also agree that the brown is a bit murky looking and that Starbucks' shade of green is so well known that it could hardly be used for any other brand.
With that in mind, I think they should have used the original woodcut but done it in Starbucks green. That way, Starbucks could make a nod to the past while showing their customers that they are truly future focused; Starbucks could go back to their core without losing the past twenty years of progress.
What I found most interesting is that Starbucks hasn't actually really gone back. The original mermaid had her breasts uncovered, but complaints about the nude logo's reappearance in 2006 made Starbucks produce a version where she is covered with her own hair, a la Lady Godiva.
I think that if I were the designer (and I say this with no design knowledge) I would have done it a bit differently. I think that Brian Collins, who was interviewed for this article, has a good point when he says that the logo somehow looks less Italian now that it isn't green. I also agree that the brown is a bit murky looking and that Starbucks' shade of green is so well known that it could hardly be used for any other brand.
With that in mind, I think they should have used the original woodcut but done it in Starbucks green. That way, Starbucks could make a nod to the past while showing their customers that they are truly future focused; Starbucks could go back to their core without losing the past twenty years of progress.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The Diablo Cody Effect
This article on Gawker struck me so I thought I'd share it. I absolutely loved Juno, but perhaps it's good to remember that everything has its time and place. Too much of a good thing, you know.
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The Diablo Cody Effect: Why Every Story Opens With A Pile Of References
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The Diablo Cody Effect: Why Every Story Opens With A Pile Of References
All through college I loved writing short stories. But because I am a cad, when I found out how unprofitable the medium was I switched to blogging and TV scripts. Turns out there's still one way to market a short story: Pack it with references. Not thought-out T.S. Eliot ones, but marginal-pop-culture ones. Your story doesn't have to be good if it's about Vampire Weekend, the Tipping Point and Twitter.
I first noticed this trick last month in a terrible short story in the New Yorker, "Raj, Bohemian." Gripped by recognizable, almost-trendy concepts (the protagonist watches pre-release bootleg movies, gets to hot clubs before "a single mention on a blog" fills it with guys in stripeys, and the whole story revolves around his offense at being targeted by stealth marketers as an "early adopter") I read the whole thing, even as the style devolved into undergrad tripe that, without all the forced relevance, could never have made it into the New Yorker.
Today I saw the same trick in a story promoted on Boing Boing. Hyperbolic sci-fi author Cory Doctorow said the piece ("Mallory" by Leonard Richardson) "reads like the first three paragraphs of Snow Crash, but extended, remixed, and oh, so sweetly." I know, that blurb should have driven me away, but my editor Nick Denton is a fan of cyberpunk so I checked whether it was good enough for Gawker.
It's bad enough for Gawker. I see why Doctorow loved it: while the style was even more cloying than his (which admittedly can be said of all of cyberpunk and its descendant genres), it uses literally ten times the insider references that the Internet's in crowd loves to read. Richardson phrase-drops "NSA data miners," "glitch metal," the habit of pretending to read a friend's blog, and Katamari Damacy all in the first scene. He also writes some of the worst sentences I've seen since freshman year: "Vijay was neither ready nor un-." "He dropped the fake cell phone like a piece of bread he'd just discovered was moldy." "'Stop being such a drama queen,' said Keith. 'It makes us actual queens look bad.'"
While this story does end up better than the New Yorker piece, the first act is almost entirely made of references calibrated to dazzle rather than to truly inform; presumably Doctorow wouldn't have gotten to the rest of the story if he didn't slog through the beginning and find himself perversely (or in his particular case, sincerely) liking the schlock. Like dry popcorn with enough salt, you might finish such a story by force of habit. Trained by blogs, news feeds and TV, you feel like you're learning something just because familiar phrases are flashed at you. You keep looking for a pattern and end up wasting your time.
When concept-dropping invades otherwise good writing, it can cripple a promising talent. Diablo Cody, scolded by some critics for overloading her script with painful references like "honest to blog," still won her Best Screenplay Oscar. The film, with disparate scenes patched together by twee indie music, still got nominated for best motion picture and best direction. While I assume the Academy recognized the more deserving parts of the film — non-clichéd supporting characters well portrayed by skilled actors, a touching story with much redeeming dialog — making allowances for concept-dropping seemed to validate it as a trick for drawing in more easily amused audiences while still entertaining those seeking a truly great film.
Before the awards, Cody had already written another screenplay full of mockable lines. Cody not only borrows specific cultural touchstones but also uses a sickly caricature of real banter. Her method of stealing relevance has expanded to a larger theft of an entire cultural vernacular. One sentence stands out: "I'm a hard-assed, Ford-tough mama bear. It's like, don't y'all touch my daughter. I'll piss on you like Calvin." Here she's almost redeemed the technique, synthesizing a corporate-approved slogan with the bootleg sticker often seen on it. But does the meaning of a Calvin pissing on a Chevy logo really say what Cody's character means? Is taking sides in a brand war analogous to protecting one's young? Or could Cody take out all the referential filler and end up with a better line?
Maybe Cody's producers will pull her back. But the millions of would-be entertainers on YouTube, or writing spec scripts in LA, or opening for Dane Cook, want a hook. And because slapping together some references is so much easier than carefully crafting a story, it's all we'll be left with as all non-referential fiction gets pegged as "too literary."
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Aliens and Anal Probes: a Marketers Dream?
I had never considered before that there might be a connection between aliens and sex toys. How creative!
From Wired.com:
Tinfoil Hats, Anal Probes Land at Alien Abduction Fest
From Wired.com:
Tinfoil Hats, Anal Probes Land at Alien Abduction Fest
TORONTO -- Cross sci-fi with crafting and you've got the Alien Abduction Festival, an event built around tinfoil hats, UFOs and the infamous anal probe purportedly conducted by curious extraterrestrials.
The festival, organized by Kris Schantz of custom toy shop Happy Worker, took place March 20 at comic book stores, bookstores and sex-toy shops on Toronto's hip Queen Street West. Attractions included an alien birthing room, tinfoil-hat tailoring, a spaceship factory and informative sessions in Probology 101. There was even a discussion group on how to talk to aliens, led by York University anthropologist Kathryn Denning at Waq-n-Raq restaurant.
The festival, held for the first time this year, drew between 50 and 75 sci-fi fans, according to Schantz.
In the picture:
Alien anal-probing "expert" Courtney Arthur, manager of sex shop Come as You Are, shows off the Bendy Beads anal "probe" for Probology 101, one of the events during the Alien Abduction Festival. The informational sessions covered the ins and outs of favored alien probes and what to expect when on the receiving end of such devices.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
This Is Our World
I wonder what the advertising would look like for this tour. How do you make a tour of repossessed homes at rip-off prices seem like something to be proud of doing?
On the rational side, I applaud this realtor for getting out there and doing something new. The current U.S. economy has not been much kinder to Realtors than to those who are losing their houses. On the emotional side, it seems pretty depressing.
From the New York Times, March 16th:
A Tour for the Times, Seeking Deals Among the Repossessed
On the rational side, I applaud this realtor for getting out there and doing something new. The current U.S. economy has not been much kinder to Realtors than to those who are losing their houses. On the emotional side, it seems pretty depressing.
From the New York Times, March 16th:
A Tour for the Times, Seeking Deals Among the Repossessed
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Most of the houses on the real estate tour in and around this quaint resort town on Lake Michigan were in fairly good condition, empty and scrubbed clean of the sort of things that might bring to mind the previous owners.
The two-bedroom on Pine Grove Avenue was a charming cottage, maybe a starter house for a young couple, but who knew? The ranch on Sugar Bush Road was pristine down to its finished basement, which might have been an office, or a home gym.
There was no telling, but lots of quiet guessing by the 15 people who paid $5 each to board a packed minibus for three hours last weekend with a real estate agent. Every house had its back story, and none of them were going to be particularly pleasant.
This was not a parade of show homes, but rather the Repo Buyers Bus Tour, one in a series of such marketing excursions popping up across the country. Every house on the tour had one thing in common: foreclosure.
The agent, Sherry White, cheerful with a binder of the listings in hand, dwelled on the potential for rebirth in the homes — not the “carcass feeding,” as one competitor characterized the appeal of the expedition. Ms. White’s tone was matter-of-fact. Banks owned the properties, she emphasized as the bus took off, “so you’re not kicking anyone out of their home.”
People on the tour also had one thing in common: they were looking for deals among the repossessed. Still, not everyone was entirely comfortable with the cold mission of cashing-in on their neighbors’ misery (and it was cold because the electricity had been turned off in most of the homes and the heat was at a minimum).
“This feels like walking in a graveyard,” said George Foster, a local newspaper publisher looking for investment property. “I felt uncomfortable even coming on this tour for that reason. There’s a lot of pain in these houses and how they became available.”
Ms. White said she had so many repossessed properties in her listings that it was just efficient to rent a bus and show them as a group. She thought up a theme: “Getting the grass green again.” The homes ranged in price from the $70,000s to the $300,000s, and most appeared to be primary residences, not second homes.
Though she had not written up any offers from the tour, she said she was encouraged by the level of interest.
“It’s sink or swim in this area,” Ms. White said of the troubled real estate market. “I decided to build a ship.”
One participant, Sandy Piotrowski, said the tour was about being pragmatic. “It’s pretty sad that there are so many houses on the market, but it’s also a good thing to move these homes,” Ms. Piotrowski said.
In Michigan, the unemployment rate has been higher than the national average since September 2000. With job loss has come home loss, only compounded by crisis in the subprime mortgage market. Census officials estimate that Michigan lost 30,500 people in the year starting July 2006, one of only two states (along with Rhode Island) to lose population in that time.
Nevada, California and Florida lead the nation in foreclosure rates. Michigan ranks sixth, with one foreclosure for every 409 households and for its 10,957 filings in February (up 17.84 percent from February 2007), according to RealtyTrac Inc., which manages a nationwide database of real estate information.
An older couple on the tour here were hoping to find a deal on a retirement house. A young couple were looking for their first home. Others were looking just to be looking, and the chatter was about work and family and the weather.
But every once in a while, emotions buried just beneath the surface cracked through.
That was the case with the house on Greenbrier Lane. While most of the houses were silent about their pasts, this one seemed to scream its history.
In the foyer, a trampled-over card read “Happy 1st Birthday!” and the walls still showed a child’s scrawls in blue crayon. Hair pins and SweeTarts were on the floor in a bedroom. The kitchen was filthy, the bathroom unbearable, the garage door broken off.
The home, a 30-year-old, 1,400-square-foot bilevel, was listed at $100,000, about $35,000 less than its asking price in the spring of 2006. This was its second repossession (from different owners) in two years. Some wondered if it had been trashed deliberately.
As he walked through shaking his head, Richard Deskovitz, a retired teacher, asked, “Can you imagine the rage in someone’s mind when they lose their home?” He took a moment to think about it.
Others took shots at dark humor. “Those are the colors you paint the walls when you think the bank’s taking over,” one person said. There were giggles about the bright yellows and greens.
But others seemed moved by whatever lingered in the cold, dark air. Back on the warm bus, Patty Fitzgerald, an attendee who was looking for a retirement home, said of the house on Greenbrier Lane: “I don’t like to see that. I couldn’t live in that house. It’s not like somebody died there, but somebody’s heart died there.”
This was the second Repo Tour for Ms. Fitzgerald and her husband, Steve, a retired stockbroker. “You know when you see the kids’ things, the little swing sets in the backyard, remnants of a few broken toys on the carpeting, somebody’s family took a dive,” Ms. Fitzgerald said. “Somebody had a real hard time. That’s not a fun thing.”
The Fitzgeralds were hoping to see a house whose insides did not display lingering signs of pain.
But even from the outside, Joe Steffes, the tour bus driver, has a hard time looking. He grew up in this area, has lived here for decades. He knows people on these streets.
“Just tough times,” Mr. Steffes said, sitting in the idling bus outside one house. “I try not to think about it.”
Then it was off to the next address.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
I bought The Secret Life of Food today at the Hirshhorn Museum's gift shop, and could not be more pleased about my purchase. Clare Crespo is, in her own words, "completely and utterly obsessed with inspiring folks to be creative in the kitchen." I have now read the book cover to cover twice, and feel quite creatively inspired. I may not ever make cupcakes that look almost perfectly like sushi, but the fact that Clare Crespo can do such a thing makes me excited to try for more creative expression my own life.
This book will go with me to my next job. It will sit on my shelf waiting for the days when I can't seem to find an answer.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Big Ideas
I've just finished spending two weeks working on a project for Naked Communications, trying to answer the question 'What is a big idea?' At the end of those two weeks, I have my own theory on big ideas and the ownership of them. But still, I am left with a nagging doubt about the discovery of big ideas. Is it really possible to define an idea as big before it actually becomes big?
I think there are indicators, but I also think that the alignment of the stars that must take place for an idea to become truly big is so complex that it probably isn't as big as you think it is if you can predict its bigness.
I think there are indicators, but I also think that the alignment of the stars that must take place for an idea to become truly big is so complex that it probably isn't as big as you think it is if you can predict its bigness.
Friday, February 29, 2008
You're In Charge
(what you do with that is up to you)
There is a difference between dreaming and acting irresponsibly.
No one else has the time to worry about fucking you over. You're good enough at doing that yourself.
You have a choice in how you react to things.
Have passion for ideas, not passion for money.
Success is defined however you define it.
Lose the Cult of Victimization: Choose to be your own future and choose not to put up roadblocks.
Take responsibility.
There is a difference between dreaming and acting irresponsibly.
No one else has the time to worry about fucking you over. You're good enough at doing that yourself.
You have a choice in how you react to things.
Have passion for ideas, not passion for money.
Success is defined however you define it.
Lose the Cult of Victimization: Choose to be your own future and choose not to put up roadblocks.
Take responsibility.
Peter Coughter on Starting an Agency
"A lot of enterprises like that occur because people don't know what can go wrong."
Speeches vs. Pitches
Today in Account Leadership, we had an interesting discussion on speeches vs. pitches. Why is it that when speaking to clients we have to do it without notes to be believable, but that presidential candidates can read speeches that they've never read before off a teleprompter and still seem familiar? How do notes sell or not sell an idea?
Our conclusions were:
1. Different audience and presenter expectations
2. Tradition / convention
3. Belief in the product / idea being sold
4. Viewers vs. listeners
Our conclusions were:
1. Different audience and presenter expectations
2. Tradition / convention
3. Belief in the product / idea being sold
4. Viewers vs. listeners
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Charles Hall Thoughts
In class today, we discussed our recently finished projects. He had a few comments that I hope to remember.
1. It's a different world. That should show in your work.
2. Take risks in your work. Take risks in your life.
3. Dare to fail and not be afraid of that failure.
4. There is more out there than what's expected.
5. It is a bigger risk not to take a risk.
6. Your goal cannot be to create ads, it must be to create culture.
1. It's a different world. That should show in your work.
2. Take risks in your work. Take risks in your life.
3. Dare to fail and not be afraid of that failure.
4. There is more out there than what's expected.
5. It is a bigger risk not to take a risk.
6. Your goal cannot be to create ads, it must be to create culture.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Volvo's Heartbeat Sensor
Is the world such a scary place that we need to have heartbeat sensors attached to our car keys to have upfront knowledge about people lurking by our cars?
I saw a Volvo commercial last night that spent their 30 seconds speaking only about the key. No car features, no open road shots, no shiny paint jobs. Just a small and frightened looking woman clutching her ominously flashing Volvo key.
I can't decide whether I think this is brilliant or just a cruel way to capitalize on the fears of overimaginative women. Either way, it's getting lots of attention. A Google search for 'volvo heartbeat key' produced 47,200 results.
I saw a Volvo commercial last night that spent their 30 seconds speaking only about the key. No car features, no open road shots, no shiny paint jobs. Just a small and frightened looking woman clutching her ominously flashing Volvo key.
I can't decide whether I think this is brilliant or just a cruel way to capitalize on the fears of overimaginative women. Either way, it's getting lots of attention. A Google search for 'volvo heartbeat key' produced 47,200 results.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Job Description
In my Advanced Portfolio Development class, we were asked to create our own job descriptions. Here is my first stab at what I want to be and where I want to work.
Job Description: Strategic Planner
The job of Strategic Planner changes from agency to agency. You may be called a Context Planner, Consumer Context Planner, Account Planner, Brand Strategist, Channel Strategist, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on, but there are some overarching qualifications. The best Planners are not afraid of all the change, but rather inspired by it. They are always reaching for the next level of involvement with and knowledge of the consumer, the brand, and the people they work with. And if the titles and the job descriptions have to change every year to keep up, that just adds to the excitement.
We Offer:
• An agency where planners are considered partners in the creative process/product
• A forward thinking attitude toward the use of media
• An agency large enough to afford quantitative resources, small enough to start out as a presence/personality instead of a number
• An environment where you will be encouraged to strike out on your own, but will still have active and interested mentors.
Responsibilities:
• Develop creative briefs that inspire and excite your creative team
• Be able to relate well with clients and truly take an interest in their business
• Work closely (and in harmony) with creatives, account teams and media teams
• Search for new media with which to effectively reach consumers
• Qualitative and Quantitative research and data interpretation
• Supplying communication strategies and insights for your accounts
Required Skills:
• Be actively interested in any brand that you are presented with
• Think outside the box and see things from many perspectives
• Skilled at long term planning
• An understanding of the difference between what people say and what they mean
• Willingness to take the leap from solid ground to more abstract ideas
• The ability to support and sell fresh, and possibly provocative, ideas
• Great people skills; in the office, on the street and with clients
• A talent for written and verbal expression
• “No Quiet Chairs”: The client is paying for everyone at the table, so we expect you to feel comfortable voicing your opinion
• Creative thinking skills
• Flexibility; a love for project-based environments and sometimes-odd hours
Job Description: Strategic Planner
The job of Strategic Planner changes from agency to agency. You may be called a Context Planner, Consumer Context Planner, Account Planner, Brand Strategist, Channel Strategist, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on, but there are some overarching qualifications. The best Planners are not afraid of all the change, but rather inspired by it. They are always reaching for the next level of involvement with and knowledge of the consumer, the brand, and the people they work with. And if the titles and the job descriptions have to change every year to keep up, that just adds to the excitement.
We Offer:
• An agency where planners are considered partners in the creative process/product
• A forward thinking attitude toward the use of media
• An agency large enough to afford quantitative resources, small enough to start out as a presence/personality instead of a number
• An environment where you will be encouraged to strike out on your own, but will still have active and interested mentors.
Responsibilities:
• Develop creative briefs that inspire and excite your creative team
• Be able to relate well with clients and truly take an interest in their business
• Work closely (and in harmony) with creatives, account teams and media teams
• Search for new media with which to effectively reach consumers
• Qualitative and Quantitative research and data interpretation
• Supplying communication strategies and insights for your accounts
Required Skills:
• Be actively interested in any brand that you are presented with
• Think outside the box and see things from many perspectives
• Skilled at long term planning
• An understanding of the difference between what people say and what they mean
• Willingness to take the leap from solid ground to more abstract ideas
• The ability to support and sell fresh, and possibly provocative, ideas
• Great people skills; in the office, on the street and with clients
• A talent for written and verbal expression
• “No Quiet Chairs”: The client is paying for everyone at the table, so we expect you to feel comfortable voicing your opinion
• Creative thinking skills
• Flexibility; a love for project-based environments and sometimes-odd hours
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Orville Redenbacher
I saw this ad yesterday on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and liked it so much that I stopped to take pictures with my phone. Unfortunately, my phone decided not to connect to my computer, so I'm borrowing my image from the JC Decaux website.
What a cool use of a bus shelter! A 3D ad, real popcorn, and a great extension of their TV ads.
What a cool use of a bus shelter! A 3D ad, real popcorn, and a great extension of their TV ads.
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