Huh. Looks familiar.

The University of What's Next - Portfolio Magazine

I'm linking this article in Portfolio for two reasons: one, its the most indepth approximation of what goes on here. There are a few pieces of misguided publicity-speak (we're not permitted to use the showers), but on the whole the article does a good job. And that's the second reason I'm linking it: it's the most brazenly positive review of the school I've seen. I'm attributing this to the fact that the writer knows Mark Fenske personally.

A Man of Culture #1

While I started this blog with a singular purpose, I've found I really enjoy using it for taste-making (read: sharing the slices of pop culture I've been enjoying.) In an effort to pretend like I'm running a serious publication, I'm going to codify these posts under the "A Man of Culture" heading. Consider this the first official one. I suppose my Top Ten Albums post was #0.

That brings me to Bon Iver (pronounced "bone hee-vair.") An intentional misspelling of the French for "Good Winter", Justin Vernon's one-man psych folk project is persuasive enough to make months of cold cabin-dwelling sound haunting and irresistible.

Take a listen to his recent live performance in Washington, DC. You probably won't regret it.

Bon Iver - Live

From the ashes come Lions

It's no secret that the American automotive industry is having a tough couple decades. SUVs and trucks were saving graces during the 90s, but with eco-guilt becoming a force to be reckoned with, I'm not sure how they're going stay competitive in the next 20 years. Honestly, ask yourself: what would it take to save Ford and GM? What scenario can you envision in which their future will start improving?

Catastrophes of this scale have opportunity written all over them. Brilliant creative alone won't bring these companies back, but GM and Ford are two clients for whom great work could be the difference between life and death. It doesn't even have to be particularly edgy; it just needs to effectively redefine the brands of Chevy and Ford as something other than "greedy", "environmentally dispassionate" and "of poor construction" in the minds of my generation.

I'm not in love with mega-agency Campbell Ewald, but I appreciate what they're trying to do.

Like something out of a dystopian sci-fi...

Quick post to let everyone know about Piclens, a powerful Firefox plugin that I added a few days ago. It lets you scroll through photo sites in a fully immersive environment, exposing your mind to a staggering visual zeitgeist. Invaluable for finding stock photos, but when teamed with a dramatic soundtrack it can be a little frightening. Or maybe I'm just having a fragile day.

Anyway, thanks to whoever scrawled about it on the downstairs whiteboard.

N.I.P.

Had a little Super Bowl party at our house. Reporter and photographer were nice enough to show up. No big deal. It's about ads.

http://www.styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=16254

Favorites Among the Favorites

I've decided to heed Jake and J.D.'s call and post my favorite pieces from this year's CA Annual. It's wildly different from both of theirs. I think between us we've mentioned every piece in the book. Which isn't a bad thing.

Without further ado, and in no particular order, my choices:

Horton Crossbows/Factory Design Labs/p. 7
Orkin/Rethink/p. 43
Apple Beer/Richter7/p. 50
Mini-Oreo/Draftfcb/p. 21
Bud Light/DDB/p. 72
McDonalds/Leo Burnett/p. 52
Guinness/BBDO/p. 82
WWF/BBDO Guerra Ortega/p. 106
Public Radio International/Mono/p. 17
Nike/Cole & Weber United/p. 62

"The internet is responsible for the greatest generation gap since Rock and Roll."

This week PBS's Frontline examines what it means to be part of the first generation to come of age in the internet era. While it confronts some of the normal scaremongering we've heard before regarding teens and the internet, the most powerful observations are those concerning the generation gap between baby boomers and their children. It drives home the point that there are millions of Americans for whom Facebook, YouTube and Blogs are just words that may or may not carry any real meaning. While we take a wired world for granted, huge portions of our target market (and the people that control our jobs, countries, etc) have no idea what the fuck is going on. None at all.

I consider this essential viewing for anyone with aspirations of working in marketing. If you actually take a moment to think about the title quote of this post, you should be clamoring to see this film.

Preview is in the player above. The full film is available to watch online here.