Mojo

What a great word. Do you know how you can tell it’s a great word?

Look at is synonyms. I was just looking through my writer’s thesaurus and stumbled across it. Check out what Oxford chimed in with:

mojo noun informal 1 get our mojo working MAGIC, voodoo, hoodoo, wizardry, sorcery; charm, lucky charm, amulet, talisman, churinga

2 he’s lost his mojo ENERGY, vitality, spirit, zest, verve; power, dynamism, drive; fire, passion, ardor, zeal; informal zip, zing, pep, pizzazz, punch, bounce, oomph, moxie, go, get-up-and-go, vim and vigor, feistiness

Hizzah! Wham! Pow!

(Special shout-out to Andi. Chartreuse llama.)

Dan Kelly made this

Or at least he should have.

Dick's Sporting Goods/Nike spot

It was actually done by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, but whatever.

Check out Dan's lifelong body of work here: Just Kidding, But Seriously. And just wait for when he tears it up at david&goliath. Coming soon.

Putting the F in fantasy and football

OK, I know I'm a little late on these, but somehow I managed not to click on these for the past five months. But now, thankfully, faithful reader ___ has brought them to my attention. They're nice 'n tricky, just the way the internet likes 'em.

NFL Fantasy Football

Big night

I was within an hour and a half of pulling an all-nighter last night. Left the office around 7 in the morning. Sevenish briefs. Lots of stuff.

Sort of feel like this guy. But without the awesome party the night before.

Pure Waters

A really nice/heart-warming/witty spot for Tasmanian beer James Boags done by Aussie agency Publicis Mojo.

James Boags - "Pure Waters"
Reminds me of so much of the other stuff out there right now. It's sort of this nostalgic fanciful style akin to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? or Big Fish. Still, it makes for a nice spot almost every time.

I want some of that water. I mean, beer.

Welcome to 2009

In case you didn't know, advertising takes place in real time now.

It's crazy.

Lenin is watching. Lenin is always watching.

An email blast from the past

My Entourage notifier just popped up telling me I had a new email. "No subject, probably Nuno," I thought. But when I clicked on it, this is what I saw:


I think someone from the past is trying to send me a message through email. Maybe someone time traveled back to 1904, and is attempting to reach me to tell me that they're trapped.

I'm trying to think of who I know that could possibly have time travel capabilities, and I'm drawing a bit of a blank. If you're the person that's trying to contact me, leave me a message scrawled under the right back table of the Laughing Goat coffee shop (or whatever it is in 1904) in Boulder, Colorado.

My Ode to the Economy

Cheer up, little guy.

President Please!

A heart-warming story out of Harlem. Apparently the word "president" has replaced the N-word in honor of President Obama.

President replaces N-word

Clearly a parody of some sort. But well done. Check out President Please for more. Not sure how deep this rabbit hole goes, but it's funny either way.

(Rank on ViralVideoChart: 10)

Job is fun

This is what yesterday felt like. (Skip ahead to :57 for best representation.)

Yesterday
And this is today:


I just found this picture. There are so many things wrong with it. In fact, I want you to click on it and really take it all in. Thanks.

Live Rat Mirror!

Rat staring contest

Reminds me off the two rats I used to have, Socrates and Vince MacMahon.

Helvetica: The Blog Post

I finally watched the documentary Helvetica last night. If you haven't seen it—and are a total design nerd—I'd highly recommend it. The film tracks the origins of the universal typeface, how it changed our visual and cultural landscape and where it's left us today. A flock of type and design gods weigh in with their own very strong beliefs on the typeface, ranging from the embodiment of perfect ecstasy to a criminal representation of design facism.

If you have Netflix (and I recommend that you get that too), you can watch it instantly. So go for it. Right now. Here's just a little taste:

Helvetica trailer

And in honor of the movie, I thought I'd post this piece that sits in our house, made by my roommate, the illustrious and unflappable Nuno Ferreira. (The kerning's a little off, but we'll overlook that.)


Brilliant.

THAT Guy

You may know that guy. You know, that guy. The one that jumps into the background of an innocent group of girls' photo and utterly ruins it with some bizarre face or obscene gesture. Well, one of my friends from UGA discovered a flaw in the UGA Facebook system and was able to create an account for him. Check him out here, friend him so you can tag your own pictures with him in it.

Oddly enough, Valentine's Day is THAT Guy's birthday (note the spelling). And recently College Humor published a gallery of some of his greatest work. It's not connected to the Facebook page, but still awesome in its own right. Here's just a taste.

Creep McGee.

A classic. A favorite.

The ultimate.

The sasquatch. (Also, what is going on in this picture? And how can I be there?)

Check out the whole gallery for yourself. As someone who's been THAT Guy his fair share of times, I can tell you, there are some true gems in here.

He says he quit surfing

Oh hey. Look who it is. Mr. Editor-In-Chief himself.

I'm going to start a whole blog that's just pictures of Brandon. It'll be call the Brandon Blog. The Brandblog. The Brandog.

Scary.

I've seen some dorky things

... but this one is perhaps wins it. It might just be because I identify with this one so much. Behold, KERN the iPhone game.

KERN iphone game demo from Jason Franzen on Vimeo

I just downloaded it a few minutes ago. The design is really clean and somewhat unconventional. It's worth the $0.99 for that alone. (Also, how rad is that vertical Vimeo player? Great for iPhone demos.)

After some clicking, I found that these guys have made another app too. Check out EYE vs. EYE.


EYE vs. EYE iPhone game demo from Jason Franzen on Vimeo

If anyone from the Circus is reading this, I dare you to get this game and challenge Sylvia to a round. I double dog dare ya.

Thanks to Mr. Mind for this gem.

EPIC Dance

Captured from the Celtics Jumbotron feed, this is Jeremy Fry. Way epic.

Celtics fan dance

Today's post goes out to Kasia Haupt. She knows why.

15 Inches of Fame, or My First Ad

It's been over six month now since I left school and jumped into adlandia, and just now am I starting to see the fruits of my labor (or my loins or whatever). While I was at Wieden I mostly worked on two campaigns, one for Starbucks Via which was just announced yesterday. The other was for a new set of Tazo Tea products that debuted a week or two ago. It wasn't my campaign, but I ended up writing some OOH, print, in-store and doing some interactive.

Budgets ended up getting cut, and I left Wieden so I didn't think much of it. That is, until I was walking past a Starbucks the other day and caught glimpse of a sign. It wasn't something I wrote, but still it was like, "Hey, that my first campaign."


Then, Tuesday morning I was in Target, walking out past the in-store Starbucks, when I noticed another sign. This time it was one of the lines I wrote (albeit a slightly bastardized version).


(Sorry, no zoom on iPhone. It says, "Let one of these be your to-do-list.")

I always thought the first time you see one of your ads run would be a transcendental experience. Suddenly your catapulted into the upper eschelons of communicative arts and stardom. You've created a piece of propaganda seen by millions (or maybe just thousands).

Maybe it had something to do with the fact it was a 18x24 poster behind the counter of an in-Target Starbucks or or the fact the budget for the campaign got gutted to encompass only in-store signage or the fact that I'm so distanced from Starbucks at this point, but I just sort of felt apathetic.

I think one thing I realized was that I make advertising. There are millions upon millions of ads and images and message out there. Mine was just another piece out there. No more or less special than any other piece, just because I made it.

Overall, it was good positive though. It put things into perspective, for at least a moment. All I am is a poster hanging in Starbucks. Tomorrow I may be more. But it's good to remember who we are, what we do and to be humble about both.

An Internet Orgy of Awesome

David After Dentist just won't die. And why should it? It's one of the best virals to hit the interwebs since Two Girls. (Man, do you remember when you thought you'd be talking about that video every day for the rest of your life?)

Well, today we have a bit of a meme mashup. When you add this:

David After Dentist

to this:

<
Kittens Inspired by Kitten

you get this:


Kittens Inspired by David After Dentist

Yaaaaay internet!

Obey banners

Has anyone else been seeing this AWFUL banners everywhere around the internet? Or is it just me?

Seriously. WTF. I see these everywhere, and they're grossing me out. Anyone? Maybe I'm just going to all the wrong sites. I don't know. But I want it to stop.

(This is some brilliant new project by Shepard Fairey?)

Instant inferiority complex coming in 3, 2, 1 . . .

Want to feel bad about how lazy and stupid you are? Perfect!

See this little kid right here? This nine-year old kid? Well, he just wrote an app for the iPhone that allows you to finger paint on the screen. It's called Doodle Kids.


That's not all. Our little Chinese wunderkind here is already fluent six programming languages. Yes, Lim Ding Wen "first started using a computer when he was two-years-old, discovered programming aged seven, and has since completed more than 20 programming projects."

Lim Thye Chean, his fathers seems proud. This is what he had to say about it:

"Ding Wen is an above average boy with an interest in computers, especially Apple IIGS and Macs, likes to do programming, and that's it. Doodle Kids is an extremely simple program that can be done by anybody. Everybody can program - if Ding Wen can, so can you."

Don't be too excited, dad. Geez, I was happy when I was able to set up my wireless network. Google better snatch up this kid before the Chinese government does.

Here's the story from the BBC.

Squirrelkitties

This is the meeting of Kasia's and my worlds.

Cat adopts baby squirrels

Oh yeah, and the video uses Papyrus. I'm not sure what this all signifies, but I should probably be scared.

Advertising and deers

This is what's weird about working for a huge advertising agency that just randomly happens to be in the middle of nowhere (i.e. Boulder, Colorado). I was pulling in to park at home after leaving the office, and there, right next to my house is this deer. A buck. Just chilling, eating my bush. I live in the middle of Boulder. There's just a deer someone here. Hanging out.


It's funny. As I drove to work the other morning I was watching the landscape pass by my window and thought to myself, "I can guarantee that no one else in the entire advertising saw a herd of cows on their morning commute this morning." But yet, I do every morning. There's a stretch of farm land between town and our office on the outskirts of the city limits. It's just weird. And somehow awesome.

It's cool to be removed from the world somewhat, not caught up in all the stuff going on out there. It's like a mountain hideout: Lock yourself up in the basement, scheme and then emerge with an awesome/evil plan. I like it.

I like venison too.

(As an aside, I refrained from any crashing-your-friends-car-head-on-into-a-deer-so-the-deer's-ghost-is-now-following-you-to-finish-of-your-new-car jokes for Ben's sake. I care about you, dude.)

"Stop having a boring tuna. Stop having a boring life."

I'm a mild sucker for infomercials. I've never actually purchased anything from them, but they tend to fascinate me. When I was younger I used to watch late night half-hour spots about a machine that could dry any food so I could even make my own beef jerky right at home. It's a bizarre world that I don't full understand.

Anyway, I just found this one with Vince. You know, Vince, the guy from the Shamwow spots. He's good. I totally believe the Shamwow, and this new Slap Chop looks pretty awesome. There are some really good lines in here too.

Vince with Slap Chop

I'm calling now.

Ben, you suck.

Ben after Dentist

Sorry dude. You're just not as cool as David.


David after Dentist

Just dumped my pants

Apparently TV on the Radio leaked the entire Bonnaroo 2009 lineup on their MySpace page. Whoops/awesome.

Make sure you have a second set of jeans on-hand.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (2 shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello (Solo)
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov't Mule
Andrew Bird
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
Band of Horses
The Del McCoury Band
of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross

Real-life Garfield

Well, the Japanese version at least.

Cat eating gyoza

It's like a creature from a Disney movie or something.

How I ripped off a Korean tampon maker

The story begins about a year and a half ago. D&AD student briefs came in. I saw there was one to re-imagine "women's san pro" items to make them actually bearable design-wise. Worked on the project with Liza Behles and Jeff Krichmar, in the process staying awake for about 82 hours.

The fruit of our collective creative loins was Tempo, a brand of feminine hygiene products designed to be elegantly feminine without the offensive pink and blue and dots and pearls and flowers of all other brands out there. The idea was that each package was a multi-pack, covering a woman's needs for a week. Different stengths were represented by different phases of the moon (the goddess Luna + an indicator of months). Moreover, every box—pads, tampons or bullets—was actually eight individual boxes. All a woman had to do was grab a pack for the day, throw it in her purse and go. They were contained and descrete, resembling cigarette boxes.

As usual, the British didn't see our genius. We didn't win an award or change the world of women's sanitary products. Whatever.

So, fastforward to a few weeks ago. Krichmar's work gets featured on the design blog TheDieline in this post. All the reviews are rave, people love Tempo, blah, blah, blah. Then, just yesterday, two weeks after the original post, a very random comment appears:


Weird. So, Krichmar scoured the internet for any mention of a tampon called Tempo. And this is the only thing he found: http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/tampon/tempo2.html. (Make sure to crank your speakers up.)

Here's what we obviously stole. (But please, check out that link. Seriously.)


I have no idea what this site means. We're thinking that with the name "Ge" and the site being hosted in Japan for a Korean tampon, there's got to be some connection. Either way, please enjoy the tunes, that troubling animation at the top of the page and stirring passages like the following:

Anyway, the goods mode carried out is the necessaries of the comfort bag to a battlefield, and is quietly borne to the corner of a kindergartener's lunch box, also wanting to make it that it is one article of suitable also for the gift to the direction of that which exists, then was indebted.

Sorry to anyone we've offended by being plagarizers. I hope you can forgive me. And thank you, Ge. I really hope that my creativity improves too.

(But seriously, there really is no way I could've ever come up with copy like that in a hundred million moons.)

This little kids is on drugs.

It's true. He just got out of the dentist and is floating pretty high. There are some killer lines in here. Check it.

Kids on drugs

Seriously, how is a kid supposed to understand what's going on? Seems like they may have given him just a little too much . . .

It was like the Super Bowl of ads

The Super Bowl comes around every January (or sometimes February) to turn the country's eyes to the advertising industry for at least a few hours of the following Monday at work. (There's a football game I've heard about too.)

In Bowl spots, two makes a trend. Thus, there were a number of trends I noticed early on. (Later on in the night after a few Left Hand American Pale Ales, I stopped paying as close of attention. Go figure.)

Trend #1: People going through windows. Bud Light's first spot + Audi's Transporter spot + Dorito's "Crystal Ball."

Trend #2: People getting hit by buses. The second Dorito's Crash the Super Bowl spot ("Magic Bag" we'll call it) and Jack in the Box (in some markets).

Trend #3: Yellow cars. The Potato Heads spot for something (Who remembers? It certainly had nothing to do with the Potato Heads), Fast and Furious (which has the same name as the original, just a different tag) and Hyundai (who ran three spots!)

Trend #4: 3D. SoBe, Pixar, NBC. WHO CARES? They ran 3D spots twenty years ago. We need holograms. Plus, Sobe spots are infuriatingly awful.

Trend #5: GoDaddy sucking. They continue to make ads that make me want to quit my job tomorrow and take a position at AdBusters. Awful. Awful. Awful.

Trend #6: Badass movie trailers. GI Joe, Star Trek, Year One. Yessss.

Trend #7: Heart-felt fake-outs. Frosted Flakes, Cars.com, Universal Studios. When you reveal the logo at the end of your spot, the audience shouldn't groan.

Trend #8: Showing old things next to their modern, updated counterparts. Audi "Transporter" and Pepsi's "Refresh."

Trend #9: Hostility in the workplace. Careerbuilder.com, Monster.com, Bud Light, Doritos and probably ten others I forgot. Not a big surprise here. Everyone hates work, right?

There were undoubtedly plenty more, but my beers were calling me later on in the game. As for my top picks, they are, in no particular order:



Careerbuilder.com - "Tips" - Wieden+Kennedy, Portland
A bit long, but so bizarrely funny. Nicely done.



Hulu - "Alec in Huluwood" - Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Crazy idea. And having Baldwin makes this spot.



Coke Zero - "Mean Troy" - Crispin Porter + Bogusky
A funny-ass remake. Awesome ending.



Monster.com - "Double Take" - BBDO, New York
Used a metaphor/visual I've never seen before. Smart and very unexpected.



Miller High Life - "One Second Ad" - Saatch & Saatchi, New York
Got a bunch of buzz even before the Bowl. (I overhead people talking about it in a coffee shop yesterday.) Great idea. Even funnier when run in with everything else.



Coca-Cola - "Heist" - Wieden+Kennedy, Portland
A beautiful, lighthearted spot. It was just nice.



Cash4Gold - "One-UP" - Euro RSCG Edge
Uhhhhhh . . . What?


Also, if you happened to be viewing the game in Boulder, Colorado, you saw a spot for Mile High Flea Market. Very random. I have a sneaking suspicion that Cash4Gold will get the highest recall simply from a WTF standpoint. Overall, I thought it was better than some past years. There was a decent enough mix to keep things interesting, and nothing so unforgivably bad I wanted to murder myself (except GoDaddy and SoBe).

So, that's my wrap-up. What'd you think? What were your favorite/most despised? Should advertising be abolished, or can we stick around for at least another year? What says you?

Radsk8r

That was the screen name of my best friend in seventh grade. We used to go into chat rooms with it and talk to girls. It was great.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with this. This is a radddical video sent to me by art director/snowboard extraordinaire Billy Simkiss. Watch these dudes rip.

That's It, That's All
I'm working up to this point now that I'm in Colorado. I'm pretty good after just two times out. Not bragging 'er anything.