I can't tell how many times I've heard "Things happen for a reason" in the last two days

So, I’m officially single and looking to mingle.

I found out on Friday that it was my last day at Wieden, a casualty of us dropping the Starbucks account. Karen and I knew it was coming, but it still feels a little heavier when the words are spoken.

I can’t say I’m not disappointed. It’s been a tremendous honor and pleasure to work here, and I had my heart set on staying. And beyond that, Portland was really starting to feel like home.

But such is the business. At least I got the business of my first layoff(?) out of the way early. I’ll be a pro by the time the next one rolls around.

And besides getting used to losing my job, I’ve learned so much since I’ve been here. Both from some supremely talented people and just from being inside the doors of an agency like Wieden.

So, now it’s on to the next big thing, whatever that is. For the time being it’s renting a car and driving down the PCH for a few days. Then, crashing on a couch in San Fran for a week (possible Obsequious reunion tour?) before flying back to Atlanta. Might as well since I’ve got the time, right?

See you cats on the other side.

Bucking the 'Buck

I’m amazed at how quickly news of Tuesday’s break-up spread. Obviously since many of my friends are in advertising they follow industry news. But even my mom texted me. (Yes, my mom is sort of into texting now, which is awesome in it’s own right. Text I received last week at work: “I’ve got mono. Go figure.”)

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, on Tuesday Wieden+Kennedy announced we were dropping the Starbucks account. Check out the AdAge article: Wieden Parts Ways with Starbucks.

It’s a great idea for both parties involved. A tough decision, but the right one in the end.

Unfortunately, it means that Karen's and my future is a bit more up in the air. We’re still waiting to hear details. In a bizarre coincidence, we both found out about what was going down in Portland while we were in New York for the Creative Circus portfolio review. (I guess Wieden just couldn’t get along with us for one day.) I must say, it was very fortuitous that we went to the review. I got to put my book down in front of some very talented people and hear what they thought.

So, while the future is uncertain at the moment, I’m still excited. It just means a shot at something new, whether it’s here or somewhere else in the world.

Sometimes it’s nice being at the bottom because it means you can only move up.

The final frontier of viral marketing

What if an advertising agency hired your boyfriend to be your boyfriend. Brilliant video.

Sort of the Truman Show of advertising. Love the The Women tie-in. So funny.

My, this kool-aid is good.

I think I officially became inducted into the Wieden+Kennedy family today. Not because I sold a great campaign (which I didn't) or got my picture hung with everyone else's in the entry (again, didn't do that either). No, I became member of Wieden today because I just got back from the Nike Employee Store.

Everything is basically half price. You buy like a parent at Christmas just because everything is so cheap. In case you can't tell, that's a pair of running shorts, socks, training jacket, AirMax running shoes and the new 6.0 Dunks. All for $144. Holy craps.


You know, a lot people always talk about "drinking the Wieden kool-aid." (I'm not really sure specifically who says this or why but people do.) Well, you're damn right you drink the kool-aid. It's delicious.

The agency takes care of their employees so well and is full of such awesome people that there's a reason people love it. Getting to work under someone like Dan Wieden, Founders' Day (which is supposed to be quite the party), kegerators of Heineken around the office, a gym, free Coke machine, access to the Nike store. I was joking the other day that we need to get a really awesome snack food client like Combos or something. Free Combos would be awesome.

But beyond all the perks, it's just a great place that's always a pleasure to work for—even when it's 2:30 in the moring and you've been there all weekend and all the past six weeks and you've just scraped and rebuilt the campaign for the fifteenth time.

The way my apartment is situated I could walk in the back entrance to the agency. But instead I stop at Whole Foods which takes me to the other side. That way I can walk in the front entrance, past the giant wood beaver and up the stairs. I pass the little reception area, and every day I think of that first day I came here, and that feeling of everything being big and shiny and exciting. It's nice to remember that sort of thing.

Ready for this?

I don't mean to get all political, but I saw this year and could believe my eyes/ears.

Jump to 3:07 in the video and check out Sarah Palin's answer to criticism that she's not experienced enough to take on big foreign policy decisions.

. . . which I guess is better than her previous answer.



You know, McCain's VP choice wouldn't be nearly as big of a deal if he wasn't 72 and would become the oldest president if elected. A VP should not be picked to pull voters in for the last three months of an election; it should be picked as the person next best to lead the country, after the candidate, for the next four years. Can you honestly say that McCain believes that about Palin, especially after only one meeting and one phone call?



Apparently she's his soulmate.



Well, now at least. Now she's definitely his soulmate.

One last thing, back to foreign policy. Check out this Time article The Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on McCain about McCain's apparent grouping of Spain (as in the European member of the UN) into the league of other Spanish-speaking, US rivals such as Cuba and Venezuela. Scary. This country—and the world—needs a president that understands the dynamic, complex nature of international relations and doesn't automatically dismiss other countries that aren't on our list of friends. The world is a lot bigger place than just America, and I'm afraid that we'll realize it only after it's too late.

OK, stepping down off my soapbox now. Have a good day everyone.

It's amazing that it's 1:49 AM, and I'm still at the office.

This is an amazing ad.



This is an amazing squirrel.



This is amazingly awesome.

The rush and the crash

It's happened before, but never like yesterday.

As dorky as it sounds, it's entirely possible to get an intense adrenaline rush while working. In the heat of the moment, there's a deadline in an hour and a half and you have to crank out a few headlines and some body copy or maybe a few web ideas. Perhaps the ECDs are coming down to take a look at everything at 4:00, and you and a team of 10 or so people have to get it all put together and looking right with the right lines in the right spot or with the spots roughed out. And if everything is pumping at 8,000 RPMs and you love the work you're doing you can easily work yourself into a contained, self-feed combustion. It's great.

But if one gear pops out of place, you can be headed for a hard crash. Yesterday it was the ECDs saying we had veered off in the wrong direction. Wrong tone, wrong executions, wrong everything.

You know when you've been running for a while and you have to stop for something like tying your shoe and then you start running again? It's always hard to start back up again. You feel like your legs are made of cement. It's sort of like that. But with your brain turning to cement.

Or it's like driving your car into a head-on collison with a brick wall and then trying to drive off.

I'm not sure the solution for it or if there is one. Crashing from an adrenaline rush can be both physically and mentally taxing. And unfortunately, in advertising you need all your faculties to succeed.

Maybe I should've bought a bottle of 5 Hour Energy.

The presentation's tomorrow. F.

Brew on

Hey guys.

Sorry it's been a while since a formal "real life" update. This'll be just a quick one.

I'm not really sure what day it is. Honestly. I woke up and couldn't figure out for the life of me what day it might be. After some thinking I've determined it's probably Saturday, but that still doesn't feel quite right.

We've been working. A lot.

And it's been a crazy ride these past few weeks. The project that Karen and I initially started on solo has blown into, for lack of a nicer word, a monster. At any given point we've had probably at least twelve creatives on it, up from the two of us. It's been a tough brief to crack. Like, really, really tough.

I'm starting to get a little more comfortable writing TV, although none of mine has survived so fair. In fact, there was a whole other campaign that we did—print, OOH, tons of cool interactive/online and some big budget TV. Well, apparently it was all too big budget because we just found out two days ago that they were axing the whole thing to give money to another project. Pretty disheartening, but I'm not as sad as I thought I'd be. All I really wanted to see was our fun interactive babies come to life. Oh well . . .

But another thing that softens the blow is the other project (the gargantuan one). We've got a huge idea. And it's a really fun one. So, we've been spending the last two days blowing the hell out of it. It's definitely been the most fun I've had since I've been here at Wieden. There's a real freedom in finding one massive idea and just running with it, especially a really fun one.

We have the presentation on Monday so we'll be working pretty much sans sleep for the next two days (making today Saturday I guess). So, for everyone in 24 hours at the Circus right now, I'm right there with you.

I'm really excited to see what happens Monday. We all are. If this stuff ever sees the light of day, it's going to be amazing. It's a big if. This is where advertising gets really fun.

Look who's back.

Power 'Stache.

Time to get down to business.

I'm having a Big Heart Attack

I know, I know, the big news story of the day was the activation of the Large Hardon Collider (and its potential to create a black hole that would swallow up the Earth). That's awesome.

BUT, I found a way better story today. Please click over to CNN and read this story about Don Gorske, the man that's eaten over 23,000 Big Macs in 36 years. He averages two a day. Oh yeah, and two parfaits too. He's obsessive compulsive. Please just read it. The story just gets better as it goes on.

Man Eats 23,000 Big Macs in 36 Years

Bad news.

Ha.

The Future Is Now

Big tech story today, the October issue of Esquire magazine was just released with an e-ink cover. There's also a Ford ad inside. A small start, but this is just the beginning.

Check out the full thing over at AdLab.

I'd write more, but I was at the office till 4 last night. More deadlines today. F.

What a bathroom would be like in Hell if Hell was run by the dude from Candid Camera

Since I probably won't be sleeping tonight, here's a little something from Japan to make me/you laugh.

I keep replaying this in my head

Why is this so funny to everyone at the RNC? Seriously. What's so funny? Way to show the American public that you're not a bunch of old, rich, white dudes that are out of touch with us mere plebeians.

This speech the other night made me pretty sick. And then,t when this happened:



all I could think is, "We're fucked."

It's going to be an interesting 58 days. And then 1,461.

At least it's given Jon Stewart a lot of fodder. If you didn't watch this past week, you did yourself an immense disservice.

Happy Random!

Here's a smattering of images (and other fun things) I've found recently. I really like them for one reason or another.


So awesome. So sad.


A friend of a friend shot this in Tifton, Georgia. This is amazing. I can only read it with the accent of a man named Cletus.


Found during searches for Starbucks stuff on Flickr. This is so awkward I love it.


This one's for Ben. Also, does it need two n's or just one? I guess I'm not sure how to spell my racial epithets correctly.


This is just bragging. I got a perfect score on my Color IQ. Check out what yours is here.


Spider on a frog on a turtle. Apparently someone found this trio on a pool filter of three days of rain in Charlottesville, VA, clinging to each other to survive.


Check out these banner ads. I took this screen shot from Pitchfork. These ads didn't do anything. They just sat there with the logo and did nothing. How cool. Only Nike could do that.


You have to zoom in to see this one from Creativity. Read the part that says "send to a friend." This is what ads will look like in the future. Amazing.


Lastly, take a look at this banner add on the CNN homepage. What? Alaska gets no love? It sort of looks like a fetus attached to Oregon with an umbilical cord. Weird.


OK, that's all. Carry on about your business.

Dragonconned again

Today just happens to be the one-year anniversary of this blog. I'm sorry you've been putting up with this for an entire 365 days.

The impetus was actually a lovely little festival known as Dragoncon. (Last year's entry) And guess what. It happened to fly back to Atlanta this weekend. And this weekend happened to be Dragoncon. (The two things were unrelated, I promise. Simply fortuitous.)

Dragoncon is the world's largest gathering of fantasy and sci-fi fan or anyone else whose mothers let them out of the basement for a few hours. The festival lasts from Thursday to Sunday and features all sorts of seminars, exhibitions and meet-and-greets. The big event open to the public is Saturday morning's parade—a celebratory affair starring miles-worth of costumed revelers. Below are a few highlights from this year's parade of the enthused and awkward.

OK, so I made fun of Dragoncon attendees, but hi there, Miss Venom. Wanna bite me?

This man proposed to this woman right in front of us.

Check out this picture. She does not look happy. Perhaps it's because her fiancee proposed to here in the middle of the Dragoncon parade. Or perhaps it's because he's wearing a wet suit.

This man attached his children to chains. They're going to be pretty eft up when they're get older. They'll probably be back next year on their own.

This guy was just tall and skinny. It wasn't a costume. It was creepy.

Speaking of creepy, this guy wins my favorite costume award. Demented axe-wielding pig scientist? Genius!

This guy danced around for a while. It was really entertaining.

I have no idea what this guy is.

Wow.

This is the happiest moment of this Klingon's life. He's been planning for it in his mother's basement since last year.

OK, I take it back. These are my favorite guys—the Cardboard Box Storm Troopers. They were there last year. They were just as awesome last year.

But they didn't have this guy last year. Chewboxa! Brilliant.

The Lame Troopers. (Compared to the Box Troopers.)

It sort of looks like Darth Vader is going to punch this little kid in the face. This picture is awesome.

There was unfortunately a lot of this going on. Clearly the scariest costume in the parade.

So, despite that last picture, happy one year, everybody!