Nov 7, 2009
Nov 6, 2009
File under “Things that Keep on Happening”
She’s 44, the single mom of a 13 year-old boy.
The only job she’s had in her life is at this company – She’s been here for 20 years.
She’s always been pro corporate.
She’s put in her share of “over time” – nights, weekends, cancelled vacations, etc.
She even “went the extra mile” during her arduous chemo sessions.
She’s the epitome of team player and all that crap.
Yesterday, she was laid off.
The only job she’s had in her life is at this company – She’s been here for 20 years.
She’s always been pro corporate.
She’s put in her share of “over time” – nights, weekends, cancelled vacations, etc.
She even “went the extra mile” during her arduous chemo sessions.
She’s the epitome of team player and all that crap.
Yesterday, she was laid off.
Nov 4, 2009
Holy Jesus... I got my Prenatals.
Just a quick update. So... I bought my Prenatal pills today. We both went to the pharmacy and stood in the supplement section together. I took that bottle and I swear to you, my eyes got teary eyed. We were all smiles, gave each other a kiss and went on our way.
This is actually happening!!! I'm still choked up. Whoa. What an experience this is turning out to be.
This is actually happening!!! I'm still choked up. Whoa. What an experience this is turning out to be.
Nov 3, 2009
Just because you're called a copy doesn't mean you have to
As time passes by and I'm two weeks away from having been a full year away from advertising, something becomes abundantly clear, people will continue to shove out knockoff ideas without one hint of remorse. If anything I'm proud of my 5 year stint and all the freelance work I did is that I never copied from anyone and was actually fortunate enough to have people copy some of the work I produced with my creative significant others.
I occassionally browsed creative magazines, but normally ideas came from analysis of the brief, brain storming, and pretty much shooting the shit. The only rules were that it needed to be different enough to break the clutter, it needed to comply with everything established in the brief and it had to be defendable even in the eyes of the douchiest asshole client I could concoct. I change agencies, adapt to the nuances of every bullshit place, but for the most part that was the formula, and it worked pretty well except I didn't win an award, probably to do with my choice of agencies, but I won't bitch since to me, it really didn't make a difference since I saw the ads that did win, and along with variuos other people barfed in my mouth a little or whispered the words bullshit over and over.
That slice of life out of the way, I have to admit that instead of seeing less unoriginal ideas, I see more and more knockoffs and have actually passed by the experience of seeing an idea from 4 years ago, rehashed, refreshed and resold to clients demanding out of the box ideas and only approving inside the box executions.
To make things worse, there are actually entire categories that have the same exact concept rebottled for different clients. Don't believe me? Then instead of ogling on car and candy ads, look towards the junior college category and see if a few things don't look a bit similar. Base premise is the person interacting with themselves in some way or form after they graduate. You can have a person visualizing themselves doing that awesome nurse job, you can have that person seeing themselves in the mirror already graduated, or you can have that person meeting two future versions of themselves, the one that studied and the one that decided to down Roofies and Schnapps and fuck the college mascot.
Simply put, it's the same shit, over and over and over. And that comes in part from the occassional axiom people dare speak that there is no such thing as an original idea, that everything's been done, that you should only modify the dog's old tricks. Well to that thought I say suck it. It's conformity at its most pathetic and though it might be a bitch to come up with something new and fresh, working with the mentality that such a feat is impossible is just asking to be a hack.
That's why I enjoyed working shitty categories like banking and having to deal with difficult clients because when I finally got a good idea approved, it was a huge success on all fronts. From conception to convincing the square thinkers to give the circle a go, it was satisfying even if it wasn't elite because at the very least, it was solid and it worked at least marginally well.
But instead of people embracing their own flavor or style, they opt for the cop out, look for the archive, change a couple of elements and good to go. I dunno, somehow having a person do that and still insist on being called a creative is a bit douchy if you ask me. Any thoughts?
I occassionally browsed creative magazines, but normally ideas came from analysis of the brief, brain storming, and pretty much shooting the shit. The only rules were that it needed to be different enough to break the clutter, it needed to comply with everything established in the brief and it had to be defendable even in the eyes of the douchiest asshole client I could concoct. I change agencies, adapt to the nuances of every bullshit place, but for the most part that was the formula, and it worked pretty well except I didn't win an award, probably to do with my choice of agencies, but I won't bitch since to me, it really didn't make a difference since I saw the ads that did win, and along with variuos other people barfed in my mouth a little or whispered the words bullshit over and over.
That slice of life out of the way, I have to admit that instead of seeing less unoriginal ideas, I see more and more knockoffs and have actually passed by the experience of seeing an idea from 4 years ago, rehashed, refreshed and resold to clients demanding out of the box ideas and only approving inside the box executions.
To make things worse, there are actually entire categories that have the same exact concept rebottled for different clients. Don't believe me? Then instead of ogling on car and candy ads, look towards the junior college category and see if a few things don't look a bit similar. Base premise is the person interacting with themselves in some way or form after they graduate. You can have a person visualizing themselves doing that awesome nurse job, you can have that person seeing themselves in the mirror already graduated, or you can have that person meeting two future versions of themselves, the one that studied and the one that decided to down Roofies and Schnapps and fuck the college mascot.
Simply put, it's the same shit, over and over and over. And that comes in part from the occassional axiom people dare speak that there is no such thing as an original idea, that everything's been done, that you should only modify the dog's old tricks. Well to that thought I say suck it. It's conformity at its most pathetic and though it might be a bitch to come up with something new and fresh, working with the mentality that such a feat is impossible is just asking to be a hack.
That's why I enjoyed working shitty categories like banking and having to deal with difficult clients because when I finally got a good idea approved, it was a huge success on all fronts. From conception to convincing the square thinkers to give the circle a go, it was satisfying even if it wasn't elite because at the very least, it was solid and it worked at least marginally well.
But instead of people embracing their own flavor or style, they opt for the cop out, look for the archive, change a couple of elements and good to go. I dunno, somehow having a person do that and still insist on being called a creative is a bit douchy if you ask me. Any thoughts?
Marge, give me more of a reason to help make donut holes
If you haven't heard, Marge Simpson "posed" nude for Playboy. Seeing as Marge missed out on my top 69 fictional women, it comes as no surprise that what I've been able to see of the Blue haired mistress left me wondering why she didn't show more. Trust me, when I heard she was posing, curiosity bit me on the balls and it was an itch I almost scratched by buying the mag.
Then I said, let me wait a while and see them online and see if it's worth back ordering. After seeing the pics, some or all of which you can see by clicking the title of this post, I was left underwhelmed because if anything men have demonstrated, it's that we're sick bastards and at the very least two things should have been on the side of the spectator after seeing the pics.
1.) A clear shot of Momma Simpson's boobs.
2.) The answer to the question everyone has always asked about Marge, is she a real blue head?
At the end of the day, it's a fun add to any collector's horde, but with the crazy things we've been able to see throughout the years, I thought they were going to push the bar a bit more, if only to satisfy the potheads and pervs that discuss fictitious boning and such.
What do you think about the whole Marge thing?
Then I said, let me wait a while and see them online and see if it's worth back ordering. After seeing the pics, some or all of which you can see by clicking the title of this post, I was left underwhelmed because if anything men have demonstrated, it's that we're sick bastards and at the very least two things should have been on the side of the spectator after seeing the pics.
1.) A clear shot of Momma Simpson's boobs.
2.) The answer to the question everyone has always asked about Marge, is she a real blue head?
At the end of the day, it's a fun add to any collector's horde, but with the crazy things we've been able to see throughout the years, I thought they were going to push the bar a bit more, if only to satisfy the potheads and pervs that discuss fictitious boning and such.
What do you think about the whole Marge thing?
Nov 2, 2009
A "no" is a terrible thing to waste
Screw minds, the future of our nation and all the other things we really want to save, the value of the word no is highly underrated and ludicrously underused. If you disagree with me, do me one simple favor; think of how many times you could have avoided a shit load of meaningless work and fuss if one person had said no.
I need this by tomorrow... Ummmm no. You can have it the day after because a life will not be saved if something is handed in a span of 24 hours just so you look at it three days after you receive the thing.
True, sometimes, the word rush is used, higher ups are beckoned and the whole boogie man routine is put into play. (BTW, the boogie man routine consists of an AE or Traffic person bluffing their way into your work queue, so you do what they asked for first, because they "talked with the VP", or the "President needs this with the utmost urgency"). The fact of the matter is that sometimes, a negative response can actually yield positive results. Saying no to a rush job that isn't rush actually allows for work to be distributed humanely, produced with higher quality and little suckup power hogs learn their role and see how the game can be played so we take them seriously when they say rush.
So kindly, next time someone suggests you do too much work in too little time, two letters can save you a whole lot of trouble and also contribute to strengthening your spinal chord.
Cheers
I need this by tomorrow... Ummmm no. You can have it the day after because a life will not be saved if something is handed in a span of 24 hours just so you look at it three days after you receive the thing.
True, sometimes, the word rush is used, higher ups are beckoned and the whole boogie man routine is put into play. (BTW, the boogie man routine consists of an AE or Traffic person bluffing their way into your work queue, so you do what they asked for first, because they "talked with the VP", or the "President needs this with the utmost urgency"). The fact of the matter is that sometimes, a negative response can actually yield positive results. Saying no to a rush job that isn't rush actually allows for work to be distributed humanely, produced with higher quality and little suckup power hogs learn their role and see how the game can be played so we take them seriously when they say rush.
So kindly, next time someone suggests you do too much work in too little time, two letters can save you a whole lot of trouble and also contribute to strengthening your spinal chord.
Cheers
Vacation Hangovers
Like the morning after a night of wild partying, vacations have a way of biting you in the ass. You get used to waking up when you wanted to, eating when you were truly hungry and at complete liberty of laying down spread eagle and naked in front of an air conditioner without a care in the world. Then you get back to work.
You feel nauseaus, your head hurts, you're tired, you don't want to do anything and basically anything that involves motor skills is not going to happen smooth sailing. Unlike booze hangovers though, vacation never bring along quotes of:
"Oh, I'll never go on vacation again."
"Why didn't anyone stop me from going on vacation?"
"I had one day off too many."
That's because not only are vacations inherently necessary so we all don't go batshit crazy and start killing people via staple gun fatalities, but because we can also have a beer at noon and it's completely normal. I could go on and on, but instead of a really elaborate metaphor, or some lame but slightly clever pun, I'll just spit it out...
I wish I could have had one more day, even if it was rainy Philadelphia.
Cheers
You feel nauseaus, your head hurts, you're tired, you don't want to do anything and basically anything that involves motor skills is not going to happen smooth sailing. Unlike booze hangovers though, vacation never bring along quotes of:
"Oh, I'll never go on vacation again."
"Why didn't anyone stop me from going on vacation?"
"I had one day off too many."
That's because not only are vacations inherently necessary so we all don't go batshit crazy and start killing people via staple gun fatalities, but because we can also have a beer at noon and it's completely normal. I could go on and on, but instead of a really elaborate metaphor, or some lame but slightly clever pun, I'll just spit it out...
I wish I could have had one more day, even if it was rainy Philadelphia.
Cheers
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