Brace yourself, she's about to pop

The truth of advertising

Blarg.

Those of us who are called "creatives" in the advertising biz are constantly hoping, praying, begging, schmoozing and pleading for more “creative” projects to run across our desks.

And, unless you’re one of the few very lucky ones, a scant few come your way over the course of a year.

Sometimes that makes you very grumpy. Other times, you are smart enough to calm down and realize how lucky you are to have a very decent J.O.B. and that you should shut the fuck up. After all, you’re not making cold calls, castrating sheep, holding a cardboard sign by the freeway exit, or being forced to marry the Vice Presidential nominee’s daughter.

So, really, shut your cake hole. You’re living the dream.

Sure, sometimes you get to see your work on T.V., hear it on the radio, look at it lording over a busy street corner, or even have a cool URL to send your friends and say, “Hey, I worked on that!”

The reality is, though, is that often you’re writing letters. Editing brochures. Creating sales sheets. Honing someone’s power point presentation. More days than you’d care to admit, your significant other will ask, “What did you work on today?”, and you’ll cringe. Not because you’re unhappy with what you’ve done, but it’s just too boring to explain. You’ve only got so many minutes in a day so why waste it with rehashing stuff like that?

As the great guys from American Copywriter like to call it, the “That poor bastard” scenario. As in, you see a piece of un-fun advertising and say, “Man, some poor bastard had to write that.” In truth, we’re all “that poor bastard” from time to time.

But here’s the real dirty little secret. The sales sheets, letters, brochures, presentations etc. do most of the selling in this industry. And unless your client is a soda company, brewery, sports team or candy factory, you need facts to back up your product promise. So yeah, the cool stuff is awesome to work on, but it’s the down-and-dirty projects that keep the wheels of commerce moving, jobs happening and families fed.

Plus, you can actually have fun working on this stuff. You can inject great thinking. You can think conceptually and make great work. It just isn't going to win you any major awards or make your portfolio sexier. But that's okay.

I say, keep your heads up, my hard working writers and art directors out there. You are making a difference.

Comic from words & pictures. Go there. Every week.

If Palin were a Democrat...

Thanks, Salon.

It's a travesty

Crustodio sent me a link to a photo set on Flickr, where this guy has been on a long mission to photograph every school in Ohio. I was excited to see the schools from Mantua, the small village I grew up in. But I was shocked to see the absolutely horrible renovations they did to my old elementary school in the last few years. Above is a shot I took in 2002 and below, what it looks like now.

Apparently it's a doctor's office now. How in the hell did these sick fucks justify tearing up the lawn and cutting down those beautiful old trees. And they got rid of the giant Opportunity sign above the front door?? Imagine how proud the members of this tiny farming community were when they built this school in 1929 and etched the word Opportunity into the sandstone. It makes me sick to my stomach to see the changes made in the name of progress. The person who approved this project should be run out of town on a rail. I sort of feel like Charlton Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes, when he sees the Statue of Liberty buried in the sand. Well, maybe that's overstating it a tad.

Inspirational image of the day

This one time on Bandcamp

Just heard about a new site for musicians to sell/share their music called Bandcamp. It actually looks pretty great, and I plan to take advantage of it soon. Check it out:


Bandcamp Screencast from Ethan Diamond on Vimeo.

Thanks, Waxy.

Making out at the end of the world.

Nice piece of video here.

A soundtrack makes all the difference

Thanks, Mr. Crunchy

In tackiness we trust...

Now that it's September 12th and only 364 days till we next memorialize Iraq attacking us, here's a gallery of tacky and kitschy 9/11 artwork.


Thanks, Wonkette.

Lazy Video Post

I'm trying here, people. It's just gonna take some time to get up to speed again.

Anyway, stumbled across this today during my regular ad blog trolling. Pretty sweet.



And, completely unrelated, here's a video from Gnarls Barkley. Me likey.

Getting my poop together

Yeah, I know - it's been a long time between postings. A million excuses/reasons, but whatever. I'll get back to it soon enough.

In the meantime, here are some shots of my new office location in Pioneer Square. Great neighborhood, far hipper than shopping central. Even better, I take the train in now. About 40-45 minutes door-to-door. I may live longer now that I don't scream at other drivers every day.

RIP, Snowman

Goodbye to good old Jerry Reed. You may remember him as the Snowman in Smokey and the Bandit, but he was also one hot-shit musician and singer songwriter.

Breakfast with Repp

Our old pal Corrina has a new video.  While watching this I was hoping for a brief "I can bring home the bacon /  and fry it up in the pan" homage, but no such luck. I really like simple concept-y videos like this. Nice one.


Corrina Repp - "Space And All Dead Things" from HUSH Records on Vimeo.