Zebulon

Mt. Middle Carter

2010-11-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

Mt. Adams

2010-11-26T13:33:00.000-08:00

Mt. Jefferson

2010-11-26T11:25:00.000-08:00

Mt. Tom

2010-11-26T11:11:00.001-08:00

Mt. Field

2010-11-26T11:07:00.001-08:00

Mt. Willey

2010-11-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

Mt. Moriah

2010-07-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

Mt. Flume

2010-07-23T11:25:00.001-07:00

Mt. Liberty

2010-07-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

North Tripyramid

2010-07-23T10:57:00.001-07:00

Middle Tripyramid

2010-07-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Mt. Moosilauke

2010-07-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

One of the most beautiful hikes in the white mountains

Mt. Tecumseh

2010-07-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

Cannon Mountain

2009-12-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

Mt. Tecumseh / Waterville valley

2009-12-27T14:07:00.000-08:00

Hike up, snowboard down

Ice fishing

2009-12-27T14:05:00.001-08:00

Mt. South Hancock

2009-12-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

Mt. North Hancock

2009-12-27T13:28:00.001-08:00

Mt. Whiteface

2009-12-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

MT. Passconaway

2009-12-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

Send gifts from the free page of Craigslist

2009-12-09T17:42:00.000-08:00

The new Holiday card site I made for KG Partners is live!
http://www.notyouraveragefruitcake.com/

Mt. Isolation

2009-11-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

At my farthest point out I was 10 miles from the closest road. I didn't anybody for 2.5 days.

Ryohei Hase

2009-11-15T19:52:00.000-08:00

Awesome digital artist.

Mt. Monroe

2009-11-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

It's a good thing I had a 60 lbs. pack, otherwise I might have been blown right off the mountain. Awesome views of washington. Cool little hut near the peak.

Mt. Eisenhower

2009-11-15T18:58:00.003-08:00

Lawn art

2009-11-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

There is so much beauty in Japan

Mt. Pierce

2009-11-15T18:40:00.000-08:00

Awesome views of the presidential range. Make sure to stop down at the Mizpah hut.

Mt. Jackson

2009-11-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

The southern most peak of the presidential range, Mt Jackson has a couple steep points but is generally a pretty easy trail. It overlooks the entire presidential range from the south. We fed some birds on the top who we're gutsy enough to land on our hands.

East Osceola

2009-11-15T17:24:00.000-08:00

An easy hike. If you're climbing Oceola, you might as well take the 1 mile trip to it's eastern peak. No view though. The peak is literally a pile of rocks in the forrest. Met some good hiking friends along the way.

Mt Osceola

2009-11-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

An easy hike with a beautiful view. The trail isn't to steep or too long. The mountain opens up to a bald peak that faces all of white mountain national park from the south.

Pumpkins!!!!!

2009-11-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

a very common form of art.

Mt. Moosilauke

2009-10-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

This hike was insane. We started hiking at 9pm in the pitch black. Water raged all around us, leaving us within feet of driving down ferocious waterfalls. And it was snowing. We lost the trail a couple times and couldn't find the shelter we were planning on staying in. We ended up setting up camp on the frosty ground and battled a vicious storm all night. The next day we couldn't summit. The entire trail consisted of rocks covered in a sheet of Ice. We turned back half a mile from the summit and braved our way back down the steep, slippery river trail. We will be back, and will conquer Moosilauke.

Mt. Pisgah

2009-10-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

A small mountain in back country Maine with good views. It has a 50 ft. Tower and what looks like an oil drilling machine at the top We also found rural antique store we found on the way back.

Pumpkin Fest

2009-10-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

My agency threw this fund raiser to help support a really great cause. We won the pumpkin carving competition and brought home the cup. I dressed up as the mascot for most of the time. I was on the local news dancing around stage in my pumpkin costume as the Mayor announced the event.

Jonathan Haggard

2009-10-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

A really amazing retro designer with a beautiful sense of typography.

Oktoberfest

2009-10-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

I beer drinking festival thrown by the Blue hills Brewing company. The beer they brew is really good.

I recommend their I.P.A.
They use american hops which gives it a citrus, almost tangerine aroma from the top of the glass. As you drink the beer you can taste the sweet creamy caramel malt roll over your tongue. It leaves you with a wonderful hoppy flavor in your mouth.

The main events was a Keg hunt (I lost) and a Keg toss.

There's nothing quite like copious amounts of sausage and beer on a Sunday.

Sushi art

2009-10-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

makes me hungry

Fort Gorges

2009-10-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from my kayaking trip out on Portland bay.

Nature will blow your F-ing mind

2009-10-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

made by me

Portland first friday art walk

2009-10-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

I'm really happy that Portland has a vibrant artsy community. The arts culture breaths luminescence into our corporate urban societies(Not that Portland, Maine is all that Urban). Portland's walk is a little smaller than Richmond's, but certainly not lacking in quality. I saw many things last night I had never seen before.

The Urban Assault Trail

2009-10-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

This type of mountain biking is more intense than anything I've ever laid rubber on before. AND it's right in Portland's back yard. If you're interested search Urban Assault Trail on Bikely.com. I found myself racing across narrow bridges five feet up, narrowly squeezing between tree trunks, and navigating down steep rocky declines. My roommate's handle bars hit a tree and he went head over heels. Thank god the ground in front of him was just dirt. The first half mile is pretty tame urban roads, but once you start to get into the trails at Baxter park the experience kicks into high gear. I highly recommend trying...but bring a helmet!

The Common ground fair

2009-10-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

This wasn't any ordinary fair. There were no rides, no snow cones, and no clowns. The fair's tagline was "Celebrating rural life"........ and this is what I saw.

White pumpkins

Lama looking animals

Old hippy busses

Lobster rides

Farming lessons

Stone masons making houses

The Wednesday Spinners.

Old fire trucks

Free water

People dancing in Lederhosen

Speakers on livestock

Lots and lots of live stock

Hay rides

Old tractors

Logging demonstrations

This lady is trimming the hair off a live rabbit.

Canoe building

Indian vocalists

Scary looking protestors

This girl took you through a 20 minute tour of the drawing behind her, relating it to the problems she think our society faces.

All in all it was one hell of a cultural event.

Meet Coco

2009-10-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Evan's daughter, her favorite band is The White Stripes and she is just 4 years old.

I'm such a geek

2009-10-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

....but I love it

Mt. Major

2009-10-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

A small mountain that over looks lake Winnipesaukee. It's a very short and easy hike. Brandon and I went up and down in 2 hours.

New website I designed goes live for Conway

2009-10-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

www.trueLTL.com

Manhattan

2009-10-03T13:01:00.001-07:00

....before and after Columbus

Boat show on Lake Winnipesaukee

2009-10-03T12:45:00.001-07:00

Antique boats with muscle car engines

Finally there were some characters at this event, including the Gordon's fish sticks guy.

Awesome Robot illustrations

2009-10-03T12:43:00.001-07:00

Portland Schooner

2009-10-03T12:42:00.001-07:00

KG partners does free-lance work for the Portland Schooner company which takes people out around the Portland Harbor. We decided to hit them up for our company outing. The boats were made 100 years ago and are about 50 feet long. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day, or a better time. I glad I work for a company I can have so much fun with. Once again I played around with a bunch of HDR photography.

Cape Elizabeth

A sail pulling competition between Pam and I

Our boat, the Wendameen

Japanese manhole covers

2009-10-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

...making the ordinary beautiful

MT. Washington

2009-10-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

The highest mountain in the north east, conquered. Stephen and I woke up early drove all the way to N.H. and took this beast down. We hiked up the Amonoosuc Ravine trail up the front of Washington, which turned out to be a surprising difficult hike. The first 2.5 miles include a pretty mellow incline. The last 2 miles are ridiculously steep. Overall, awesome day. 1 4k footer down, 47 to go.

some HDR photo work

The best view we had all day

Look no clouds at the summit!

The Cog railway which runs to the top of the mountain

Right before we hiked into the cloud.

Lake of the clouds hut, earning it's name.

The sign reads: STOP: The area ahead has the worst weather in America. Many have died there from exposure even in the summer. Turn back no if the weather is bad

Summit

We chickened out and took the train down.

The hamburgler is the least of your problems

2009-10-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

The Saco river

2009-10-03T07:53:00.001-07:00

Probably the most popular river in Maine, the Saco river is a Frat party on water. There were canoe traffic jams all along the river. Groups of 20 people with 10 canoes all tied to each other. People floating down the river with nothing but an inner tube and a case of beer. People grilling right on the canoes. People who had turned their boat into Tiki huts. And women offering to flash you for a cigarette. Next time I'm definitely choosing a different river. When I venture out into nature I usually like to get away from society, not join a party. It was quite the experience though, definitely worth doing once.

We found a couch in the river and decided to hop in and float down on it, drinking beers.
A great shot of all of us together.

Absurd combination: Utilities

2009-09-27T14:01:00.001-07:00

Bradbury Mountain

2009-09-27T13:44:00.001-07:00

A tiny little mountain about 20 minutes outside Portland. This is a mountain for the kids. It has a real easy incline and the whole hike can be under a mile if you take the shortest route. My friends and I had loop around back trails to make this close to a decent hike.

There was some interesting wildlife, this frog was kind enough not to jump away before I could snap a pick of him.

This shows just how pathetic this mountain was. This was the longest trail you could take.

My roommate seth who came with me.

Hank, my other roommate's dog.
The peak opened up about 240 degrees. No mountains in the background, just forrest, a power plant, and the ocean way off in the distance.

I had red hot dogs on the way home. Apparently red hot dogs are pretty popular up here. The casing is a little thicker, no difference in taste though.

Happy Birthday

2009-09-27T13:35:00.001-07:00

to me

Consumer opinion is not king

2009-09-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

The Taco Bell dog scored very well amongst focus groups, but it did nothing for Taco Bell's sales.

Don't get me wrong, research is an integral part of the advertising business. Research leads to insights, or human truths, that are the basis of all good ideas. However, testing concepts doesn't provide the same types of insights.

"If I asked the public what they wanted, they would have told me a faster horse" - Henry Ford

Who's awesome

2009-09-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Fort Williams on Cape Elizabeth

2009-09-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Located right outside of Portland, this park that runs along the coast and is a must see.

There is a full spectrum of plant life including edible rose hips which taste like tomatoes.

The lighthouse at the edge of the cape is stunning. It's the subject of many local postcards. It has awe inspiring symmetry if you look at it from the right angle.

These guys and gals came up and stayed at my house for a few days. They were passing through on a road trip from Florida to California(I guess they were taking the long route). I cooked them pancakes for breakfast so they brought me out here. Karma. Very cool people, I hope to see them again someday.

Along the coastline there are a lot of cliffs that you can climb up and across. It's incredibly serene to have waves crashing 270 degrees around where you're sitting.

An eerie old mansion sits atop the park.

Ahhh, graffiti.

An HDR photo of myself

Antique modernism

2009-09-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

is delicious

Maine

2009-09-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

I probably should have made this post a while ago but I've been really busy. This isn't the first time I've lived in Maine, I had an internship here 3 years ago. Now I'm back, ready to take on the great Maine outdoors.

This is a photo of the new house I live in, I share it with 4 cool roommates. I live in the top left windows.

This is the ice cream truck that passes by my house everyday.

Sometimes it rains while it shines.

The most important thing about Maine. Cheap lobster. I once paid $150 for a 3 pound lobster in Virginia. Now I pay one of my friends who works on a boat 20 dollars for 8 lobsters.

Forrest Gump is real

2009-09-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

Meet my roommate John.
He's lived in all 50 states, played semi-pro tennis, has been married twice, and owns a japanese Bob-tail cat.
He flips burgers at burger kings.

Made in Amsterdam

2009-09-21T17:19:00.001-07:00

all out of oranges.

Wilco in Maine

2009-09-12T11:00:00.001-07:00

Wilco came to Portland recently and played out at the end of a pier on the ocean. My friends from work and I sat on a nearby pier and free-loaded the concert. There were many free-loaders on boats as well. I surprised at how good it was. I had never heard of Wilco before so my expectations weren't very high. I'd say they're a cross between Phish and OAR. Wild guitar riffs mixed with a pop-like beat and rhythm. I definitely recommend checking out a show if they come to a venue near you.

Help me pick a car

2009-08-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

My Honda is getting old and I've been looking at upgrading.

Work I strive to do

2009-08-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

http://adland.tv/commercials/johnnie-walker-man-who-walked-around-world-2009-628-uk

The link is worth going to, I highly recommend it.
These videos are really story telling at it's finest. Good big idea. Good story. Good execution.
The idea makes the liquor so much more than a liquor. It has a point of view and it stands for something consumers want to be a part of.

Next time your in Asia

2009-07-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

Be careful, they might throw you in one of those prisons where they're forced to dance to Michael Jackson.

The greatest honor in life

2009-07-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

Is to have millions of people from around the world emulate content you created in your life.

KG Partners

2009-07-14T17:47:00.001-07:00

No, I havn't joined Jack Black and his side kick from Tenacious D. I've accepted a job at KG Partners in Maine! I just got settled in my new apartment and start on Thursday. I actually spent the entire day today in the hospital because I threw out my back moving in. My partner is this cool writer from Miami Ad school and I'm working with some other VCU alums whom I can learn from on my journey. I've decided to conjure a set of professional goals for the year to keep me on track.

1. Win 2 Hatch awards (local New England advertising award).
2. Win 1 One show award.
3. Have 3 pieces of work make it to KG's Portfolio.

I won't always have sexy assignments that will allow me to accomplish these goals. When the opportunities arise however I'm going to make sure I'm there to grab them. Sometimes small assignments are opportunities to create something new, different, and award winning as well. Even if I'm making a business brochure I will try my hardest to create art that nobody has ever seen before.

I'm sure I'll paste plenty of office and apartment pictures in the future.

The food report from Chicago

2009-07-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

I went out to eat every night in Chicago so I figured I give my millions of blog readers a run down

Amazing greek food restaurant in the west side of Chicago. They will serve you way more than you can eat. They lit a plate of cheese on fire for our appetizer.

Edwardo's was a very organic deep dish pizza place. The whole wheat crust worked well with the chunks of cheese and spinach in the middle. They have 3 locations around the city, definitely worth a visit.

Taste of Chicago was a food tasting event where you could sample a little of everything for 2 or 3 bucks a dish. I started with a turkey leg and finished with a slice of cheese cake. The event is a great way for local restaurants to get their name out and make some money.

NEVER EAT AT RAW BAR. Or any other place in Chicago the serves seafood for that matter. I made the mistake of ordering muscles 500 miles away from the closest muscle living area.

Burlesque

2009-07-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

Not quite what I was expecting. I got the 15 dollar tickets for free and had to see what it was all about. It's no longer about the peep show and the drinks. In this day and age it's a theatre performance filled with comedy and skits. Still lots of hooting and hollering from the crowd which is sometimes part of their act. I recommend checking it out. Sorry I couldn't take pictures, the 80 year old woman in a bathing suit ordered me not to.

The best art at the MOMA wasn't in the exhibits

2009-07-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

It was the third time I had been to the MOMA in NYC so I knew what to expect. Some interesting drawing, some sculpture, and some famous Jackson Pollock pieces. Then i stumbled on this in the food court. This was the first thing I had never seen before. There is something very interesting about combining cultural competitors. What if there was a pc operating a mac os, or a red sox player sitting arm in arm with a yankee player.

Gone fishin'

2009-07-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

I got the chance to go fishing with Meagan down in New Orleans and it was wild. We caught 9 trout, 2 red fish and a flounder. We also caught about 15 catfish and 5 crabs but we had to throw those back. Fishing is a different kind of sport when you're reeling in a new fish every other catch. In Boston I have gone fishing all day and felt lucky if I caught 1 Bass. We caught all these fish in 3 hours. We took the fish home, scaled them and ate them. It was one hell of a day.

VCU Brandcenter

2009-07-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

The end of 2 years of my life that felt more like 7. Although it's hard to enjoy all-nighter after all-nighter, I can look back on my experience with a smile. The skills I have developed will have a profound effect on my life. I've met some really good friends whom I won't forget. We've come a long way from Barilla pasta.

Every Brand should be more like a sports franchise

2009-03-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

In the last 6 months I’ve had the opportunity to go to 3 Bruins games, 2 Celtics games, 3 Red sox games, and a Patriots game.

It got me thinking…

Professional sports aren’t just about winning and losing. There are winning teams without many fans, and losing teams with diehard fans. A winning record certainly helps garner interest, but there are deeper aspects of the competitive world that keep fans buying season tickets. Corporations would be wise to learn from our sports organizations.

Legends

The Curse of the Bambino – Red Sox curse regarding the sale of Babe Ruth – was really no curse to the team at all. Every time the Red Sox made it to the playoffs, fans went crazy over the chance that it may be the year the curse is broken. It made winning the World Series in 2004 a lot more exciting.
Legends become part of our culture; engineering the fabric of the society we live in. The curse had been such a part of Boston culture that when a road sign on the city's much-used Storrow Drive was vandalized from "Reverse Curve" to "Reverse The Curse", officials left it in place until after the Red Sox won the Series in a 4-0 sweep.
After New York's defeat, the Curse was poked fun at during the "Weekend Update" segment of Saturday Night Live, when the ghost of Babe Ruth explains that he left during Game Four with the ghosts of Mickey Mantle and Rodney Dangerfield to go drinking.
The Ben Harper song "Get It Like you Like It" includes the lines "But Johnny Damon swung his bat. Grand Slam. That was that. An 86 year curse is gone."
The entire 2004 Red Sox season was detailed in Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King's book Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season. O'Nan and King decided to write the book before the season began.
There are hundreds more references to the legend, which are all good for the team.

Heroes

These folks don’t only serve as roll models. A hero is a character in the team’s brand story. Fans watch their stats, follow their moves on the field/court/rink, get excited to see them play, and buy their jerseys. The media will cover any story they find or create about the hero. The Boston Bruins need to do a better job of creating a hero. Ever since Ray Borque played for them, they haven’t figured out who’s next. I recommend Kessel.
Michael Phelps is another good example of a sports hero. There are 35 sports, 400 events, and 649 athletes who compete in the Olympics every year. Fans need somebody to follow in all that clutter. I’m not sure what made him a bigger hero, the 8 gold medals or NBC.
Many Brands like Nike have successfully associated themselves with heroes. However heroes can also come from within. Steve Jobs is just as much a cultural hero as Lebron.

Villains

Villains are also good for a team. When Johnny Damon left the Red Sox for the Yankees, fans hated him. What’s an extra million dollars when you already make 12? Red sox fans also hate our rivals (Yankees) and all of their heroes. But we LOVE to hate them. We pass around posters that have Jeter and ARod posing like they’re in Brokeback Mountain. We wear t-shirts and put bumper stickers on our cars that advertise to the world that we think the Yankees suck. At the heart of it though, we’re really just Red Sox brand advocates.

Iconography

The symbols, logos, and colors are all very meaningful. Take the Patriot’s red and blue logo for example. Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love. It is also a very emotionally intense color. Blue is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, and intelligence. Blue is also a masculine color; highly accepted among males. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability.
All of these things send a message about the brand and their story.

Identity

The sport or team a fan chooses to follow says a lot about who they are. If I had Nascar fan on my Facebook profile you would expect somebody completely different than a Hockey fan. We are defined by the cultures we participate in.

Ordinary is opportunity

2008-12-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

Another display of beauty where there previously was none.
Leo

Luke Chueh

2008-10-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

His work http://www.lukechueh.com/ reminds me of Jim Riswold's work. It's gruesome, but the tension between a stuffed animal and it's dark nature makes it delightful.

My fancy has been tickled

2008-10-12T16:46:00.001-07:00

I love when an artist takes the mundane things is life and make them beautiful.
This week...door knobs.

Rodeo!

2008-10-12T15:07:00.001-07:00

Riding a mechanical bull was a blast. I thought I'd have a disadvantage with my height but I made up for it by being flexible. You can't fight the mechanical bull, you have to go with it's flow. The operator said I made it to 75% power before was thrown off.

I talked to a Bull rider after the match (not the guy I'm pictured with) and he summed the sport up well. "It all started with a bunch of drunken cowboys sitting around a fire making bets with one another."
Just like a baseball game; we stood for the national anthem, we had built in stretch breaks, and opponents competed for a prize. Other than that a rodeo is nothing like any other American sport.
The main event(bull riding) doesn't happen until the end of the event and it only lasts ten minutes. In that ten minutes only 10 seconds were actually spent riding a Bull. None of the riders we saw lasted more than 3 seconds. The rest of the time is split 50/50 between lesser events and filler. They sent horses around the track, lassoed cattle, and jumped off horses to catch calves. The rest of the time some bozo clown entertained us with bad magic tricks.
The audience was consisted of an older crowd. About 50% had chaps or cowboy boots on.

I had a great time and will definitely attend another rodeo. No cowboy hat yet though.

Cirque de shanghai

2008-09-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

No..not Cirque du Soleil, this performance was all about the stunts. The things humans can do to adapt their body is amazing. They make a double backflip look lame. They twist the dragons tale in a way no circus has done before.

Of course I had to sit in the open seats near the front when our tickets called for the nosebleeds. Little did I know I would be taken up on stage to hula hoop in front of a crowd of 300. Three 8-12 year old girls showed me up on stage but at least I didn't let the thing drop from my hips. (Picture below)

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Underwater Hockey

2008-09-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

Underwater hockey (also called Octopush) is a non-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into goals. Two teams of up to ten players compete, with six players on each team in play at once. Before the start of play the puck is placed in the middle of the pool, and the players wait in the water, touching the wall above the goals they are defending. At the start-of-play signal, in-play members of both teams are free to swim anywhere in the play area and try to score by sending the puck into the opponents' goal. Players wear a diving mask, fins and a snorkel for play.

I should have brought beer and peanuts

2008-08-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

First I listened to a young lady sing the national anthem.
I watched a Toyota half time show.
I saw the heroes and foes of the organization.
I listened to intro theme music when those heroes came to the stage.
Stevie wonder sang music.
The audience did the wave.
There was celebrity interviews at slower points in the event

Obama won the match...but I guess we all knew that before the DNC started.

Cheese Rolling

2008-08-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

This sport began in 1935 in the U.K. and attracts an audience of 14,000 people today. The event begins when the cheese master(pictured above) counts to three and rolls the wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the hill. On the count of 4, the contestants lunge down the hill at great speed.

3rd place gets a small cash prize
2nd place gets a small cash prize
1st place gets the cheese.

The slope is rough and uneven making it impossible to stand up. The amount of booz these guys drink probably doesn't help either.

"Survival of the Curious"

2008-08-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry Darwin, it's time for your theory to evolve.

Cultural experiences make you interesting, to other curious people. You know something they don't, or share an uncommon experience, and therefore you intrigue them.

This keeps curious people at the top of the food chain

I (heart) the 80's

2008-08-26T08:51:00.001-07:00

Ahmen Colbert

2008-08-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

Another creative process parallel

"We often discuss satire — the sort of thing he does and to a certain extent I do — as distillery," Mr. Colbert continued. "You have an enormous amount of material, and you have to distill it to a syrup by the end of the day. So much of it is a hewing process, chipping away at things that aren't the point or aren’t the story or aren't the intention. Really it's that last couple of drops you’re distilling that makes all the difference. It isn’t that hard to get a ton of corn into a gallon of sour mash, but to get that gallon of sour mash down to that one shot of pure whiskey takes patience" as well as "discipline and focus."

Who is Zebulon?

2008-08-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

Goals

101. Perform music for an audience
100. Write a good song
99. Perform stand up comedy
98. Be an actor in a Shakespeare play
97. Visit all 7 continents
96. Direct a music video
95. Direct a major motion picture
94. Direct a :30 second spot
93. Act in a major motion picture
92. Visit all countries in Europe
91. Visit all countries in south east asia
90. Live in the Alaskan wilderness for a month
89. Own a Samurai sword
88. Own my own island in Fiji
87. Own a snowboarding mountain
86. Design my own snowboarding line
85. Design a dream house
84. Climb the 7 highest peaks
83. Hike the great wall of China
82. Explore ocean depths in a submarine
81. Have my blog reach 1,000,000 visitors
80. Visit the moon
79. Hike a volcano
78. Surf 6 foot waves
77. Visit Jerusalem
76. Start my own donation fund
75. Adopt a child
74. Have 3 children
73. Be married for 20 years
72. Live to be 100
71. Live to 2100
70. Stop smoking
69. Write a novel
68. Write 3 novels
67. Become a professor
66. Win NSAC as a professor
65. Head an advertising school
64. Have my student sweep the one show
63. Eat a 7 lbs. Lobster
62. Start my own company
61. Win 3 Clios
60. Win 10 Clios
59. Win 25 Clios
58. Win 10 pencils
57. Win 20 pencils
56. Win 50 pencils
55. Start my own advertising agency
54. ECD an agency
53. Win 30 new business pitches
52. Pull a backflip 360 on a snowboard
51. Own a water park
50. Excavate a tomb in Egypt
49. Provide an African village with clean water
48. Learn Zen from a budist monk.
47. Lead up Hillary's step
46. Invent a new mode of transportation
45. Stay in touch with old friends
44. Keep the house I grew up in(but not live in it)
43. Become a mayor
42. Become a governor
41. Become president
40. Fight in a war
39. Design my own clothing line
38. Open my own restaurant
37. Start a wine vineyard
36. Brew my own beer
35. Have a penguin as a pet
34. Fly a small plane
33. Fly a helicopter
32. Take a yacht across the ocean.
31. Be part of a sailing team again
30. Visit Omaha beach
29. Visit the Taj mahal
28. Swing a sword in Rome's colosseum
27. Hike the Mayan temples in Guatemala
26. Visit the throne hall of Persepolis
25. Visit the parthenon on Athens
24. See the Shwedagon Pagoda
23. See stonehenge in England
22. Rock climb Devil's ledge, Wyoming
21. Snowboard down Everest
20. Visit the Sydney Opera House
19. Kayak down the Grand Canyon
18. Scuba dive the great barrier reef
17. Climb the freedom towers
16. Collect original Van Gogh pieces
15. Visit Peru's Machu Picchu
14. Visit the Petra in Jordan
13. Visit Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid
12. Love and have loved
11. Mentor ten people
10. Visit Victoria Falls
9. Plunder the Catacombs of Alexandria
8. Discover a pirate ship
7. Rappel the Eiffel Tower
6. Sky dive over Fiji
5. Budgie jump the world's highest
4. Photograph the statue of Zues at Olympia
3. Photograph the hanging gardens on Babylon
2. Invent a renewable energy source.
1. Make as many people smile as possible.

Top ten things to do when you have to stay overnight at an airport

2008-08-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Why do airlines give you pillows and blankets on the plane, but once your stuck overnight in an airport they don't give you anything?

Anyway

10. Watch movies.
I was not fortunate enough to bring my laptop on my last trip, but it certainly would have helped.

9. Read a book.
You may finish War and Peace before your plane arrives.

8. Prank phone calls.
Dial that 1-800 number and ask the person on the other line if they knew their number was 1-800-condom5.

7. Arts and crafts.
Rip up the local brochures and make origami, gimp, chain necklaces, a blanket, or a floor pad.

6. Fun with wheel chairs.
Ever wondered what it was like to roll around in a wheel chair? Now is your chance. See how fast you can go. See if you can trick anybody into helping you with the door, then use your feet to wheel away.

5. Write or draw.
I managed to write a list of 101 goals for the rest of my life.

4. Find a good place to sleep.
For me, sleeping was impossible, but it took up a good chunk of time trying to make the best of a bad situation. A phone book can be a pillow. Brochures can be crafted into a blanket. The best spots I had last night were a carpeted baggage dolly and a bench outside.

3. Yodel.
Because...well...I never knew I could.

2. Learn to walk on your hands
You never know when this will come in handy

1. Meet people.
Everyone is has something unique or engaging about them. They want to talk to you just as bad as you want somebody to talk to.

Culture Crash

2008-07-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

I have had the unique opportunity to see both "Batman: Dark Knight" and an exquisite performance of "As you like it" by Shakespeare in the last 2 days.

Acting
Batman: 9
As you like it: 10

Don't get me wrong, Heath Ledger's performance was phenomenal. He gave the joker quirks and gestures that made the character come together in an very authentic way. He also captured the ridiculous nature of the character well. Christian Bale and Morgan freeman came through as usual. However Maggie Gyllenhaal(Rachel Daws)let me down. Christopher Nolan was right to take Katie Holmes(previous Rachel Daws) out of the picture, but he didn't make the right solve.

I thought long and hard about this section because acting for a play is much different than acting for a movie. Taking into account the over-the-top acting style in theatre, the cast's performance was beautiful. Best acting I've ever seen.

Relevance
Batman: 9
As you like it: 7

Many characters in Batman are could literally be plucked from today's society. The problems encountered and the places they go and grandiose but could technically exist on our society today. The suspension of disbelief was little heavy, especially when they 300 people board boats without knowing about barrels of explosives.

As you like it was a little outdated. Although a magnificent time capsule to another era, love just doesn't work in the same way as it used to. Male and female roles have change more than Bush's approval rating. There are however, some innate human truths that will never cease. Jealousy, love struck, being more sought after when you unavailable, anger, revenge, courage, desperation.

Story
Batman: 10
As you like it: 10

Twist after twist after twist. Setting after setting after setting. Bravo

Epilogue
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances.

NYC is cool and all....but....

2008-07-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

Want a man with a scar on his face and a peg leg
Drives his beamer fifty miles per hour down Tremont St.
Looks at me with his crooked smile while Spencer finishes his drink.
Hits his breaks and points out the green monster, a real treat

Its the rythmn of the rain that falls
Its a cab ride at three a.m.
Copley's got me with it's music and it's sun
Boston, Mass. I'm coming home again

I sit and smile think about summer sundays and the roller skates
And their wigs and rainbow socks float past like a ballet
Hot dog vendors poppin' up on every corner can't you taste that taste
Makes me long for an early morning ride on the T train

Its the rythmn of the rain that falls
Its a cab ride at three a.m.
Copley's got me with it's music and it's sun
Boston, Mass. I'm coming home again

You can drink all the drinks you want a redsox game.
Take your boat and a fishing rod, spend the day on the Charles.
Find a deer, find a moose, and snap some pics.
Climb a mountain or snowboard down one.

Its the rythmn of the rain that falls
Its a cab ride at three a.m.
Copley's got me with it's music and it's sun
Boston, Mass. I'm coming home again
Boston, Mass. I'm coming home again
Boston, Mass. I'm coming home again

2 months? or an entire era of my life

2008-07-27T19:25:00.001-07:00

This picture is of all the interns and intern coordinators I worked with.

What I've learned:

1. The people you work with are more important than the clients your working on. Clients that have a boring stigma behind them aren't so boring when your working with really great people. When you work in an office full of great people, you look forward to going to work, no matter what you have to work on that day. It seems less like work, and more like going to hang out with friends.

2. It's better to have really smart planners in your group whom you butt heads with than planners who know nothing.

3. NYC is expensive....and does not contain snowboarding of any kind.

4. Sometimes your creative work and presentation can kick butt, but you can still lose a new business pitch because you don't have the best strategy.

5. The "gang bang" policy.
Some agencies put multiple creative teams on the same project. This can be advantageous if you want to get the opportunity to work on accounts other than the ones you are assigned to. Most creative directors will be willing to let your team take a stab at it.
Some agencies don't let more than one team on the same project. This can be advantageous if you're really unlucky. In this situation you don't have other teams who can beat you every time(making you un-needed at your agency).
Some agencies do a hybrid of these styles.

6. It's good to have a partner who wants to work as hard as you do. If you want to pull late nights and fight for good work, find a partner who will be there with you. If you want to come in at 10, get coffee and breakfast till 11, and start banging out work half an hour before lunch, find a partner likes to do this too. People can change, but only if they're personally motivated too.

7. The interview - it's not about your work, they've seen your book, now they want to know about you - talk about Harry Potter, anything HBO, hobbies, etc.

8. Good creative directors really know how to handle creatives. Sometimes we put so much effort into our work, we start to get attached to it, and feel negative when people try to change it. I put 50 hours into a website this summer in 4 days. It was phenomenal, and certainly a book piece. The creative director was impressed, but changes had to be made for branding/client reasons. So he began his speech: "You did that website? wow, you really spent a lot of time on that. Thank you for putting in so much effort. If you could just......." After getting that kind of recognition, I didn't feel so bad making changes to my baby.

When a creative notices they start to get frustrated at changes to their newborn, they need to remember;
A. As much as you don't believe it, your work might be better after the changes
B. If it comes out a lot worse, other people will notice and revert back to your original.
C. You can always keep the best copy for your book.
D. Good, better best is subjective, everyone will a different opinion.

9. Hard work pays off. Some people get lucky and stumble upon genius between 9-5. The people I saw at the office after 7pm were the ones winning.

10. It's not rocket surgery, it's just advertising

Nostalgia

2008-07-08T17:33:00.001-07:00

Duck hunt

Mortal Kombat

Coincidence photos

2008-07-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

demographic report

2008-07-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

Save your time, don't read the 30 page demographic report on ad age. Only read the highlights I copied and pasted.

1. GENERATION AARP
THE TREND: The average age for a U.S. head of household is 49.5— just six months shy of getting a sign-up pitch from AARP. The first boomers will turn 65 in less than three years.

MARKETING CHALLENGE: Older consumers tend to be more risk-averse and less open to new ideas.

WHAT TO DO: Don't pander ("60 is the new 40"). Play up messages suggesting advantages such as guarantees, safety and experience.

2. CONSUMER CHASM
THE TREND: The gulf is widening among consumers when it comes to attitudes and behavior. The online- and wireless-centric consumer lives in a different world from the older newspaper reader.

WHAT TO DO: Rethink strategies for target marketing. Put more emphasis on ethnographic research into the culture, beliefs and activities of the target consumer

3. REGIONAL DISCONNECT
THE TREND: One nation, but hardly united or homogeneous. The Northeast is older, largely white with fewer children; the West is younger and more diverse. Two thirds of recent immigrants have settled in the South or West.

WHAT TO DO: For products aimed at older consumers, consider looking north and east. If you want younger consumers, pick your regions and then make sure the message resonates with a multicultural audience.

4. NEW FACES
THE TREND: The median age of U.S. Hispanic women is about 28—14 years younger than the median age for white, non-Hispanic women. Two in five consumers under 45 are Hispanic, Black or Asian (vs. one in five for 65- plus). More than half of household heads in California and Texas are Hispanic, Black, Asian or multiracial.

WHAT TO DO: If you want to be the choice of a new generation, embrace the cultures and voices of that generation.

5. IMMIGRATION IMPERATIVE
THE TREND: In the past seven years, 40% of U.S. population growth has come from immigration. Five big states (New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois and Connecticut) would have seen their work forces and populations shrink were it not for new immigrants.

WHAT TO DO: Marketers need to engage in the national debate about immigration. Immigrants, after all, are a source of labor—and a prime source of new consumers.

Contagious ideas

2008-06-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

I finally understand the Cadbury Gorilla.

Previously I held the point of view: Entertaining, wacky commercials are cool, but for the love of god have a message in your ad.

The days where the best plan is to strategically penetrate your target are over. It didn't work in Vietnam either. (It's about time we changed adworld terminology)

The Cadbury Gorilla increased sales of Cadbury in London by 115%....But how?

The idea was so incredibly different and so entertaining, the idea became contagious. It got 24 million youtube views in the first week. It sparked billions of conversations(where you liked it or not). It birthed interest in a stale brand.

Mark Fenske always asks what's the news. Well for once there is no news about the product, and the ad is both effective and entertaining.

Dove's Women of beauty. Barbie's virtual hangout world. Nike's Nike id+. Thermacare's Men with cramps. Budlight's superbowl commercials.

Contagious ideas:
Create a dialog with customers
Build a community of believers
Change the conversation around the brand
Co-create and share content with believers
Explore potential for customization
Have a point of view.
Are authentic to the brand(or else even the best contagious idea will fail)

Contagious ideas are so awesome it makes you think "god damn...I gotta show this to my friends"

We have entered a new era in advertising. All the rules are thrown out. A new bar is set.

I'll leave you with.......... you guessed it.... some contagious ideas.

Check out all of Neg's urban sports on youtube.

Welcome to the real world

2008-06-15T17:06:00.000-07:00

In school.....
Creating communication is about coming up with the wittiest line you can think of. Creating an art direction style that nobody has ever seen before. Creating a balance between the elements of the ad based their relative importance. Pushing that "Holy shit" factor as far as you can push it.

In the real world.......
Creating communication is sometimes about finding something the client will approve. It's about doing what the client wants done under budget. It's about following a 60 page style guide.

It's been two weeks in the real world and I've yet to have a client accept my better work. I will not succumb to soley pleasing the client. I will give the creative director the work the client wants, but I will also present them work I think is better. Perhaps one day a client will recognize the better work.

How does Crispin do it? My guess is they only accept good clients. They also have good planners to sell their work.

We're taught in school that:
A bad planner sits in a creative review to make sure the idea will work for the client.
A good planner sits in the sits in a creative review figuring out how to sell the idea to the client.
A mediocre planner plays both sides.

But a planner who always fights with the client for an idea will lose the business for an agency. People will lose jobs. People who depend on a paycheck.

I haven't found the answer.

Perhaps it has to do with the balance of power. When the client needs your agency more than your agency needs the client, you can push harder for good work. The client is also willing to accept better work.

Maybe Boyko is right. Maybe it's all about good clients, who recognize that safe ads don't get or hold people's attention.

Edward Boches once told me the story of when he came up with the Monster.com "When I grow up" campaign. Shivers ran down his spine, knowing he had struck gold. This feeling was followed by panic, knowing that the idea could only take a turn for the worse once passed through the client.

I finally understand what he went through.

3 incredible artists

2008-05-31T14:10:00.000-07:00

Damien Canderle - CGI, environments, charactars

Matt Moore - Underground, Wild vector work, master of graffiti,

Romain Segaud - Director, animator

Not another cadbury Gorilla post

2008-05-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Jose made an excellent blogpost on that ridiculous cadbury gorilla.

This campaign won a black pencil and multiple lions. I can't believe it. A one-time PR stunt that doesn't say anything about your brand should not be highly regarded in our industry.

Shame

Fear kills an effective campaign again

2008-05-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

The Rachel Ray Dunkin' doughnuts ads were pulled because a blogger "suggested she wore a scarf that looked like a keffiyeh, a typical headdress worn by arab men, some associated with jihad"

I've never really liked this campaign. Never seen a well crafted ad or a line that I like, and the concept "Rachel drinks it and so should you" is not very deep. But I read a while back that it had spruced up Dunkin' Doughnuts' sales.

We are so afraid of consumer backlash that a blog post making a ridiculous association can pull an entire campaign.

So. I've decided to try it for myself.

The suit worn by Barrack Obama in the Richmond debate was the exact same suit that Kim Jong Ill wears.

Get ready world. Now Hillary's clinched it for sure.