Easter Eggs for the Holidays

Christopher Walken has a fake blog where I found this clip he claims to have forged.




Beatbox in the subway. Watch the guy doing the crossword who keeps his back turned as if he'd rather disappear into the night. Phil Collins never sounded so good.



The Lindy Hop from 1941's Hellzapoppin':



I think they call this joie de vivre:

The Most Amazing Conspiracy Theory of All Time

Here's one conspiracy theory we can all get on the tin foil train with:



And, leave Brittany alone, too.

Nucular Brilliance and Kangaroos and Armageddon or not

This is apropos of nothing that's remotely business related, except perhaps as an example of the brilliant synergy of words and images playing well together.

Be warned, if your ears are virgins, do not click through--some of the language is a bit rude. I'm trusting most of you speak French, or have at least had it pardoned in your presence, and won't find yourself in need of heart massage. If not, I don't know where you can safely go in this world, but godspeed to you.

"But I am le tired," is perhaps the most perfect line, though I wouldn't fall on my sword for it.

Bremner, Bird and Fortune--The Moral Blackmail of Modern Life?

This is British humour at its finest. I just can't get over how fabulous this is on so many levels. Enjoy!

Cambium Creative Takes Pictures!

Hot summer photos!

Steve Martin's King Tut

King Tut

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User Generated Advertising and a $50,000 Payday

I ran across this website (thank you Stumble) and knew right away that this isgoing to be hot.

They haven't launched yet, but Change Advertising Forever is an idea for which the world is ripe. The concept extends the success of the user-generated phenomenon in a fascinating new direction.

Change Advertising Forever will post advertising briefs from companies wanting a swank ad. All comers are invited to submit their own ads. Those chosen are paid $50,000. Cool, huh?

I'm curious to see what the ratio of neophytes to post-neophytes will be. But I'm really looking forward to seeing the work. I'm guessing edgier work. There are no constraints other than the client brief, so it's a very different cubicle of thought.

Ad agencies are an amazing amalgam of metrics, professional bonhomie and a creative product. Usually, these disparate people come together without coming to blows, but it's a sustained balancing act. There's an air of hiptitude that belies the fact that creative advertising is some of the hardest brain work there is. Madison Avenue and its less iconic brethren are seldom as free spirited as we'd like to be.

But in this scenario, it's a creative brief and a creative product, without any other pressures. The clip below tells the story:



Is this the wave of the future? Is that a good thing or not? Will elderly creatives be lunching on Alpo because of clever 16-year-olds?

Of course not. This concept is applicable to a thin stripe of the ad rainbow. Good advertising of a broad scope and lasting sort depends on relationships and expertise.

That said, I think it could be an incredible showcase for giving talented unknowns the chance to get noticed.

Personal DNA Personality Quiz

I can't resist a personality quiz, and this was a good one:

According to this quiz, I'm a benevolent director. Doesn't that sound nice?


Mouse over the color bars for results.


It's a pretty good read on me. Want to take the test yourself? Check it out.

If you're into this sort of thing, some months ago I ran across this personality quiz that I thought was especially fun. You're asked to choose from a selection of images to define various characteristics and that's the raw data they turn into what they call your "visual DNA." Hooey? Maybe, but I liked it.

"I think I was always misunderstood," said the wind.

Poetry, Unexpected

There's a bard in my comment section. Here's what he (I'm assuming it's a he from the contents of the poem, but I could be wrong) wrote:

4 June 2007

After the storm, my mind cleared.

And a high wind arose and blew the tropics north.

running quartz crystals through a blender.

sand through your engines.

bubbles in your bays.

estuaries reaching out toward forbidden seas…

sand through your eyes.

5 June 2007

Calm as baby’s breath

as peaceful as the storm’s eye

Clouds spread and drawn with rough strokes of stratospheric winds

a warm and windy tropical day.

7 June 2007

Black water at dusk.

Lighting on the horizon.

Warm winds coming in across the darkening waters.

A flash of white wings as an egret takes flight.

And Thunder like God clearing his throat.

8 June 2007

Morning star in the still of the clear, dark waters.

a sky as clear eyed as a young girl.

bruised and tattered storm remnants limp off in the gathering light.

9 June 2007

Tickled her fancy.

giggling all the day long.

pretty good for a Saturday.

Clouds on the lake floating aimlessly by.

She smiled big–grinned really.

12 JUne 2007

A silver sky

ripe for the mirror.

you can not see yourself in this mirror

you can only see others

moreover, you can only see what others choose to expose.

Their houses, their boats, their sea-doos.

Birds skimming low over the water could

like as not

see them selves if they were to look down

as they skim low over the water

but they never do.

Rather they allow their reflections to chase them

quick and sharp over the still, glistening waters

while the bird’s mind remains ever fixed on

food, or other birds, or escaping those damn noisy humans.

A dense forest impenetrable as a gaze.

13 JUne 2007

Like angry bee’s eyes

the metal screen seen through the bamboo blinds.

A million insects dot the lake spreading micro ripples

14 June 2007

Of Fly Catchers and hidden lakes.

Of sleeping lizards and morning dew.

It is of birdsong and misty dawns

and fleeced clouds floating in a still pool.

The waters ripple awake in the gathering morn.

The first water birds head out for the far shore.






20 June 2007


A garden of elephant ears.

A lake of light.

A furrowed sky.

Warm air, tinged with the coolness of a passing shower.

A swath of short green swords with serrated edges.







22 JUne 2007


Of Stone Poets and shattered wooden quays.

Bolts of clay and carpets of mud.

Footholds on pyrrhic shores.

Fusillades of futilty and wars of choice.



23 June 2007


Wind and water.

Stone glass and stone poets.


Air plants and sudden acts of Feng Shui.











24 June 2007


Seaparate ponds like a string of pearls gleaming in the twilight.


The ages of man, the lovers of a lifetime


bright and shiny thoughts flickering like little fires banked against the great dark.


The toothy smiles of a pretty woman or two.


Events and ages the like of which will not be seen again.

Claim yourself, Poetry! Who you be?

Dylan, Beatles, Jose Feliciano--music to watch letters turn into illustrations by

Typography becomes illustration while you watch. Great soundtracks, too. Don't miss this one.

This woman is incredibly flexible, probably double-jointed

Perfect weirdness.

The networks' web conversion experience has a creepy side

Cynthia Little has written quite the interesting article in last Friday's Variety, "Networks go on blitz for Web hits: CBS, Fox, NBC adopt online syndie strategies."

She runs down the ways the major networks have gone from hand wringing to high fiving the many compliments it's received from the great www. They've realized the sincerity of this particular form of flattery and have moved from litigating to monetizing.

I'm so happy for everyone. Happy. Happy. Happy. But then there was a bit about the depth of demographic information suddenly available to data miners. While I'm always happy for every bit of this kind of data when I'm developing a campaign, as a consumer, it creeped me out.

... CBS brass are as intrigued by how much the electronic connection of the Web will allow them to study their consumers in granular detail. Do "CSI" fans also tend to like Avril Lavigne? Do "America's Next Top Model" viewers spend more time on fashion-oriented Web sites? The marketing and sales potential of the kind of demographic and audience profile data that can be built on the back of every download is astounding, Smith says.

You may look at my chunks, but my grains are private.

High Concept Low Tech: Poetry in Stop Motion

This piece is the visual equivalent of about three good pieces of Godiva chocolate. Not nutritious, but pure sensory joy for the time it takes to watch this bit of magic being made.

It's called "Minilogue: Hitchiker's Choice" by an artist cryptically named "kristoferstrom," via YouTube:

Homeland Security's Sandstone Spy Portal/Porthole

But that's not all! From Roundrock Journal:

Stone Cold, Rock Hard, Hard Rock, Rock Garden

The Times, They Are A'Changin'

The Break Up
Uploaded by geertdesager

Bald Cypress

The next two photos are of the same tree, likely planted for the World's Fair in 1904.

A regal bald cypress, this poor tree has an enormous carbunckle (I'm making things up now, but you know what I mean) at its base, probably three feet square. Like some of your better driftwood.


The next photo was just fine straight from the camera, but I used the Orton Effect in Photoshop. This technique is all over the Internets, it's basically a blurred multiplied layer atop a sharp layer that gives a wonderful glow.












Bald cypress are one of the few deciduous conifers. Like an aspen, its leaves turn a golden yellow and gently fall like so many soft feathers. A noble tree.

Spring Into Spring

I ran Hebrew School carpool for Jonathan yesterday so he could hit a tight deadline. On the way home, I stopped by Forest Park with my new camera.

The shoreline of this little stream is lined with incredible stones, like the kind you see on Peuget Sound or maybe one of the Great Lakes. They're wonderfully round and richly colored. Lots of granite and quartz. I think I even found some very dirty amethyst.

Inklings of a Fine Mind: Walter Bureck

Inklings, the Copywriter's Blog, Walter Bureck's ongoing exploration of the noble and naked truths of copywriting. His quotes from the greats are square meal deals in themselves. Just one a fine example is Bill Bernbach's famous letter, excerpted below:

In the past year I must have interviewed about 80 people – writers and artists. Many of them were from the so-called giants of the agency field. It was appalling to see how few of these people were genuinely creative. Sure, they had advertising know-how. Yes, they were up on advertising technique.

But look beneath the technique and what did you find? A sameness, a mental weariness, a mediocrity of ideas. But they could defend every ad on the basis that it obeyed the rules of advertising. It was like worshipping a ritual instead of the God.

Genuine creativity will never be a commodity. It's damned hard work to do it well, and it makes your brain ache. 90 percent of writing is the not-writing, brain bleeding foreplay. Another gem from Walter's site:

“Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.”

- Gene Fowler



Well done. A new favorite.