The Dangerous thing of doing a favor.

As you all may already know by heart, I have a dead beat dad. The wonderful thing is, like many other stuff or people in my life that I don't like, I have been able to delete him from my life and move on. You cannot imagine how precious my life is without him. Nope, this post is not about him. I am using this piece of shit man to make a point. You see, when you are in advertising, the most suckiest people ever in the world will call you up to ask for a favor. Let me explain.

I have made sure that this man does not even have my phone. But I guess I didn't alert the proper authorities, because a couple of years ago, he actually had the ball sack to call me and ask for a favor. Can you design this logo for me? I almost went ballistic. WHAT? You don't call for 15 years and you want a fucking logo? Up yours, man. I would gladly design a logo for the devil himself instead of you. I mean... talk about a nice pair of hairy testes.

Fast forward to today. A friend calls. Seems that a high school "friend" of mine wants another favor. She may need some designs for some crap idea she wants to sell. Again. You don't call for 20 years (almost) and now you want me to help? People sure have balls.

Damn it. Have people watched Godfather enough? Did any of you see Don Vito kill someone just because he was someone else's neighbor? No man, favors are done specifically for those who have done something back or those who you know for sure will return the favor down the line someday.

The real beef that I have with us designers and copy doing favors is... people think it's very easy. People think we have all the time in the world, that we can stop working on a campaign which will probably pay the rent, power and car, just to do a simple logo. We got news for you people: it's not so easy. It takes hours, even days to deliver anything that is at least decent - well, except the 2012 London logo, don't get me started on that one.

If I had a nickel for everytime I've heard: can you design my baby's birthday card, can you design my wedding invitation, can you design a logo for my boat... can you this... can you do that... And then, when you give in and actually help out, they don't ever call you back, even to say... hey, how's it hanging?

Don't get me wrong. I do favors for those extremely good friends that I adore. In fact, I don't even call them favors. Good friends are there for you not only for favors, but for nice chats, a drink once in a while, a call to see what you are up to... so those people have my total backup for anything they need. But for those who just appear when they need you... no way man.

So. A favor. Ha. Bona Sera. Bona Sera.

Interesting...

There seems to be a nice movement on Flickr. Type Message for Obama on the search box and you will find over 900 pictures of people sending a message to him. Here's three of them... enjoy.

Calling all French Dudes... Part Deux.

Ok so I've already started practicing my old french - I used to talk a little because my mom was married to a French Guy for a few years. I already have maps of all the normal stuff people do there: the tower, the arc, the museum, the cemetery...

What else? We bought over 100 bucks on books and still, I'd prefer French dudes to tell me what's cool. If you would come to my mysterious place in the universe, I sure would tell you the coolest places that don't usually appear in Fodor's.

So, again I go: any ideas?

Um... Someone told me not to ask for ice. Why the fuck not?

Quick poll

If I had the chance to work in something just outside of advertising, meaning Public Relations or an in house department for a company that offers better hours, better benefits and better wages, should I take that job?

Better yet, I'll take a cue from other blogs who have asked this same exact question: Should I stay in advertising or stray from the path of the damned?

Feel free to comment any and everything you want.

cheers

joker's 20 on 20 with a twist: The Advertising Agency blog

For anyone who thought I couldn't keep count, don't think I've finished with my 20 on 20 series. This next installment though, took me by oh so pleasant surprise as The Ad Agency Blog is posting the Q & A on their blog. If you've never been to The Advertising Agency Blog know that you're missing a great take on Advertising from a really great writer who hails from the lands of luscious kangaroo meat, great white sharks, crocodiles, blond sheilas and great surf.

His blog is a series of blurbs, conversations and brilliant posts that capture advertising idiocy in all its glory and you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't visit it from time to time just to verify that the unholy trek of advertising is not limited to any specific hemisphere or tectonic plate. Here are the links to the first three installments of the Q and A. Enjoy.

This first three parts of the 20-20 are in the following links. so feel free to click or copy and paste em.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3


My comments to all posts shall be added once the entire Q & A session is complete, which in reality means when I'm not ultra swamped with work, which should be rather soon.

Cheers, enjoy and stay tuned because I recently got the next batch of answers to the next 20-20.

Ciao

Joker

Coming Soon! Fanboys

A New Hope.

Today I was talking to my good friend RestrictionsApply. We were talking about Obama's win and what it meant for us. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to write about this because... well, I need to acknowledge history in the making. You see, for as long as I've had reason, I thought that would never, in a million years, happen. An intelligent, able black man has been chosen to lead. For me, it was, just a dream. Not for me, but because I know how ugly and dumb people can be. I mean, come on. In a world where a woman earns less than a man in a same position, where gays cannot marry because people cannot fathom the idea of two people loving each other regardless of being of the same sex, where abortion doctors get a bullet in their heads because women want a choice... it just seemed impossible.

But last night, something happened. Yes, Obama won. That wasn't the only thing that made me go aaaaaaaah. As I sat there, watching the acceptance speech, the camera panned into the thousands of people waiting to hear him. And suddenly, my eyes got teary. It wasn't the music, it wasn't the setting. It was just the fact that as the camera moved, you could see people of all colors and ages looking up and smiling. It was just striking to me that this group of people, diverse as night and day, had all come together to do something for their future. You just had to see their smiles and get it. They had hope and they worked together to make it happen.

Thank you, honestly, for all of you out there who got dressed, got out and voted. Why? My faith in human kind has been restored.

Yes we can, dammit.

"This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can."

You did a good thing, America. I'm proud of you...

So today's the day

No it's not that today is November 4th or that it's a tuesday or that it's the 309th day of the year. No people, it's the day where it shall be decided whether a 71 year old conservatively conventional man with an Alaskan sideshow sidekick or a Black man with a conventional white man sidekick will be elected as the governing forces of the United States of America. Fanaticism is at an all time high, logical arguments are quickly eclipsed by illogical attacks and desperate pleas for your vote, but when it all comes down to it, it's up to you to have gotten up your ass to vote or to let someone else do the voting for you.

The economy is in the shits, social tensions are ever more frothing at the mouth and though we're getting a break on the petrol side of life, it would be ignorant to insist that we don't need to find new ways to make an energetic living. So if you haven't done so until now, I doubt you'll check each side's policies so just look at the picture and see who you think will be better for the country. A guy who is going to preach the same doctrine you've been fed the last 8 years or a guy who might bring something new to the table.

By the way, please don't ignore the fact that it's a white man versus a black man. Everyone is making an issue out of not looking at the race but I suggest you do and for one simple reason: if you have a problem voting for someone BASED on their race, their religion, their age or where they're from, feel free to take a look in the mirror and have a reality check at what you're pondering: your vote to do your part to determine the future of a country that isn't doing well based on the wrong things.

The country will not sink if you vote for an old man and it will not burn and corrode if you vote for a black man. It will react based on the performance of the person you vote for and their respective backup plans and you should take a close look at all 4 people running for president, because in essence, a President and his VP should be equally qualified to run the country.

Cheers and happy voting

You got work to do tomorrow.

Come on guys, let's have a real change. Vote Obama!

We're almost there