Oct 28, 2011
Oct 27, 2011
How to make a turd of an ad: Herman Cain Edition
No matter that this candidate is a total dickwad. This commercial takes the word shit and, in good republican fashion, puts a spin on it. This is by far the worst one I've seen in a long time, because it TRIED to be creative and social-network oriented. Mr Cain, you suck just like your tv ads.
Oct 24, 2011
Oct 19, 2011
Oct 18, 2011
Oct 13, 2011
Stop looking at me funny: I'm taking just one day!
Today RestrictionsApply reports by text that he is working overtime - like I am - for just one stupid reason. We all are traveling together this weekend and we decided to take ONE FUCKING DAY off so we can do it in time and with no rush. Ok, let me say this again: it's just one day. One simple day of 8 working hours. No more, no less. We are not gone for a week. Not a month. This is just one day that we are not in the office.
And ever since the moment that people knew of this fact, we have been enduring life on hell, basically. What. The. Fuck.
But the best part is the weird things that we see and hear around us. Now all of the sudden WE are the assholes. We are the ones that get the snarky lines. The bad looks. The complicated briefs. The extremely long and obnoxious changes for no reason. Yeah, we are paying those 8 working hours with blood. With a vengeance. Like we are the evil doers, like we are the worst human beings on the planet.
Now, let's get this shit straight. For loads of work, I haven't been able to visit a doctor for my now new and amazing pain in my neck. I haven't seen my mother in like two weeks. I barely go out for a drink because I'm so tired. I've been stressing over work, presentations - like there is no tomorrow, like the world is going to end. And I know that he has, as well. We have been slaving at our job, non stop. So we decided, months ago, that we were going to take this one little Friday, and bingo. "Shit needs to get done before you go", we hear.
Great.
We should have just said we were sick, got on the fucking plane and disappeared. But no, we decided to take the higher ground and actually report to our "superiors" the simple fact that Friday, our respective cubicles are closed for business. Instead of getting the normal "we'll wait until Monday" routine, we have been bombarded with stupid jobs that WE KNOW can wait 8 more damn hours. And for what? Well, today he sent me a message that I didn't think about - hence the post.
It's all about power. We have the power to get the fuck out of dodge for a couple of hours and they hate it. For a while, there will be no one at that office that does our job, and they don't like this idea one bit. So we are going to have to slave away until late hours in the night just because we had the balls to do such an amazing and insulting thing as this.
This happens every time I say that I'm going to be out of the office. But the worst is when it's just for a day, because I can see the bullshit coming at me for no reason whatsoever. This makes no sense. If I was going away for two weeks, or a month, this amount of overtime would seem normal. But a couple of hours? Really?
Today is one of those days when I remember perfectly why this blog has its name. Because it's right.
It sucks. Beyond belief.
And ever since the moment that people knew of this fact, we have been enduring life on hell, basically. What. The. Fuck.
But the best part is the weird things that we see and hear around us. Now all of the sudden WE are the assholes. We are the ones that get the snarky lines. The bad looks. The complicated briefs. The extremely long and obnoxious changes for no reason. Yeah, we are paying those 8 working hours with blood. With a vengeance. Like we are the evil doers, like we are the worst human beings on the planet.
Now, let's get this shit straight. For loads of work, I haven't been able to visit a doctor for my now new and amazing pain in my neck. I haven't seen my mother in like two weeks. I barely go out for a drink because I'm so tired. I've been stressing over work, presentations - like there is no tomorrow, like the world is going to end. And I know that he has, as well. We have been slaving at our job, non stop. So we decided, months ago, that we were going to take this one little Friday, and bingo. "Shit needs to get done before you go", we hear.
Great.
We should have just said we were sick, got on the fucking plane and disappeared. But no, we decided to take the higher ground and actually report to our "superiors" the simple fact that Friday, our respective cubicles are closed for business. Instead of getting the normal "we'll wait until Monday" routine, we have been bombarded with stupid jobs that WE KNOW can wait 8 more damn hours. And for what? Well, today he sent me a message that I didn't think about - hence the post.
It's all about power. We have the power to get the fuck out of dodge for a couple of hours and they hate it. For a while, there will be no one at that office that does our job, and they don't like this idea one bit. So we are going to have to slave away until late hours in the night just because we had the balls to do such an amazing and insulting thing as this.
This happens every time I say that I'm going to be out of the office. But the worst is when it's just for a day, because I can see the bullshit coming at me for no reason whatsoever. This makes no sense. If I was going away for two weeks, or a month, this amount of overtime would seem normal. But a couple of hours? Really?
Today is one of those days when I remember perfectly why this blog has its name. Because it's right.
It sucks. Beyond belief.
Oct 10, 2011
Oct 9, 2011
Did I mention I'm getting Married?
It was a very sweet proposal in Central Park near the Bethesda Fountain, I cried like a nervous baby. He asked, I said "you must be joking, yeah yeah"... Calling him out on his bluff, I said "Yes", and he replied "cool, now I can give you THIS!"... and bingo, there he was opening this little blue box with a very amazing ring in it!
After that we went to have a drink (boy did I need one... or a hundred) at the Blue Fin, where I stood in shock for... basically 48 more hours! We called our parents and our best friends, everyone knew but me! LOL! The sweetest part was that the rest of our weekend there, he kept grabbing my hand where my ring now is and kept kissing it and telling me how much he loved me. I'm such a lucky girl...
I just wanted to tell you because I know there are a few of you out there who care about us and read us everyday, you are our internet family!
A very engaged and extremely happy Me.
Sunday Playlists - Smiley playlist
On this glorious Sunday I have to work, so I need to desist from focusing on the negative and focus on the positive and smile. I'm leaving for my honeyversary in 6 days, I'm employed, I'm halfway done through the final version of my book and I have my health. There are good things to smile about always, it just takes some effort to focus on that rather than the rest.
So here's to smiling always
The Who – Magic Bus
I'm going to be taking a Magic Air Bus in a couple of days. Here's to living life.
Ismael Rivera – Maña Maña
How do you improve on the timeless classic that is the Mana Mana song? You sing it in salsa.
Blind Melon – No Rain
The most famous Melon song and one that can consistently make me smile with those first 4 notes. :D
Chuck Berry – Memphis, Tennessee
Chuck Berry is a legend... and a smart ass. Listen closely to the lyrics and see if you can figure what he's singing about.
Jack Johnson - Banana Pancakes
One of the songs of me and my wife. I played it right after we got engaged on the beach after a 3 hour scavenger hunt. Definitely worth a smile if you ask me.
Matt Costa - Yellow Taxi
Think of this everytime you step into a cab.
Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I am
Ingrid Michaelson got famous because one of her songs was used for a commercial... that story makes me smile... and so does her music. Cheers luv.
Queen - Bycicle Race
Choosing one Queen song that makes me smile most than the rest is almost impossible, so I chose one of the least quoted ones. Salud, Freddy!
Fishbone – Party at Ground Zero
One of the most fun songs I've ever heard. Plus, it actually makes me wonder what Pink Vapor Stew tastes like.
The Beatles - All you need is love
Seriously, what the hell else do you need in life.
Cheers
So here's to smiling always
The Who – Magic Bus
I'm going to be taking a Magic Air Bus in a couple of days. Here's to living life.
Ismael Rivera – Maña Maña
How do you improve on the timeless classic that is the Mana Mana song? You sing it in salsa.
Blind Melon – No Rain
The most famous Melon song and one that can consistently make me smile with those first 4 notes. :D
Chuck Berry – Memphis, Tennessee
Chuck Berry is a legend... and a smart ass. Listen closely to the lyrics and see if you can figure what he's singing about.
Jack Johnson - Banana Pancakes
One of the songs of me and my wife. I played it right after we got engaged on the beach after a 3 hour scavenger hunt. Definitely worth a smile if you ask me.
Matt Costa - Yellow Taxi
Think of this everytime you step into a cab.
Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I am
Ingrid Michaelson got famous because one of her songs was used for a commercial... that story makes me smile... and so does her music. Cheers luv.
Queen - Bycicle Race
Choosing one Queen song that makes me smile most than the rest is almost impossible, so I chose one of the least quoted ones. Salud, Freddy!
Fishbone – Party at Ground Zero
One of the most fun songs I've ever heard. Plus, it actually makes me wonder what Pink Vapor Stew tastes like.
The Beatles - All you need is love
Seriously, what the hell else do you need in life.
Cheers
Oct 7, 2011
Apples and oranges
To be honest, I don’t want to admit that I care that Steve Jobs has passed away. I don’t want to allow yet another stranger in my life to influence me to the point of feeling regret or sadness. Two days ago I was able to not care so much, maybe because I was focused on trying to cheer my wife up, since it clearly affected her. Maybe it was just that I was so tired that I didn’t let it affect me. Maybe it was even that I was focused on the pilot episode for the new American Horror Story series. But mainly, I don’t want to admit that I mind his passing because some part of me doesn’t want to be part of the trend… but the reality is that unlike other passing brands and things in life, Apple in its core achieved success because it wasn’t necessarily about trends or fads… it was about life and making things easier, more fun or just cooler. Behind Apple there might have been a chorus of minds jamming away and coming up with brilliant things, but there was only one conductor, one true frontman. Steve Jobs.
Reading the barrage of tweets, posts, articles and facebook wall posts as well as listening to people comment around and away from the water cooler, it seems that everyone has their own reason for lamenting the loss. People considered him a visionary, a legend, a hero even… but when you hear people talk about him, I really do think that a vast majority considered him a distant but very real friend; someone who understood what you wanted; someone whose mere influence made life a bit better even. Unlike MySpace’s Tom Anderson, who was a default friend on your profile and ignored by everyone, a lot of people WANTED to be friends, meet, talk with or just interact with Mr. Jobs. He was a hell of a business man, a pitchman like few others and was able to build a small company into a behemoth, and not just once either.
While many success stories have various chapters, few times does it include someone revisiting an old chapter or overlapping territory… From 1976, Steve Jobs took Apple to the top and in 1985 he was ousted, quite publicly, as has been mentioned in many places. Naturally he was hurt, confused and lost for a time, and then he saw the light. This wasn’t a catastrophe, it was an opportunity. It was at this time that he created the foundations for Pixar and NeXT, two companies that might have struggled initially but who eventually became blockbusters in their own right. He had come back from the entrepreneurial grave, but in 1997, he was faced with an even more interesting twist… NeXT was bought by Apple, the same people who had fired him 12 years prior and who were tanking horrendously. After he came aboard again, the iMac was born, a commitment to quality and style that gave a big “up yours” to personal computer standards at the time, since they weren’t being designed to satisfy companies… they were being made to satisfy people.
From then, Apple has grown back to be the 600,000 pound gorilla it used to be, except it’s had a makeover and apart from packing a punch, it looks like a million bucks… or a billion bucks if we want to near what yearly revenues achieve nowadays.
But let’s go back a step. Steve Jobs helped make Apple… then Apple fired him, then because of chance, he was put at the helm again. The curious thing isn’t that he accepted the job; it was that instead of duplicating original results, they were exceeded. He put aside his pride and focused on what he did best and never looked back, reconnecting with his baby and nurturing Apple back to health. Actually, that sounds super sweet, in reality he did manage to oust the Apple board members who would have been problematic and put himself at the helm, but before those moves, I suspect that at some point he probably had some second thoughts, but he threw caution to the wind and said let’s do this, because this is mine… and he took it back.
An adopted kid who dropped out of college, Steve Jobs lived life the way he managed his company… always choosing quality versus quantity. Whereas other companies cut corners to reduce costs and be competitive, Apple focused on giving you what you wanted how you wanted it. Are Macs more expensive? You bet your ass, but how many people do you know who regret buying Mac or switching sides? I’ve always been an analog kind of guy, listening to music on CDs rather than an iPod or any of the other ho-hum MP3 players in existence. Apart from being hardheaded, the reason I’ve been so reluctant to buy iPods is because I’ve heard way too many horror stories of iPods dying and whole libraries being lost… that was my safety net to maintain my analog paradigm… so of course they had to create a cloud based software, thus eradicating my fear of loss and putting a severe dent in my lifestyle, and inviting me to change for the better. I used to record music with a tape recorder, now I’m starting to use Garage Band.
This is happening not because I’m conceding to a trend, but because being practical and accepting help to achieve comfort and realize my dreams is part of the whole Apple Mantra in no short part due to Steve’s commitment to quality versus quantity.
While reading his 2005 Stanford commencement speech for about the 8th time in my life, something peculiar happened, the song Don’t Go Away by Oasis came on my headphones. True, it may not be the best song in the world, but it was curious that instead of having it as background noise while I ground out another project, I listened to the lyrics and choked up a bit as I read text written by him. I’ve read the commencement speech at least 4 times since Wednesday and truth be told, I’m going to try and read it once a month just as a written reminder to be foolish.
From all the things that have been said about Steve, one resonates a lot… he always followed his gut. Through thick and thin, instead of relying on analysis, market research, test groups and all the nonsensical crap we’ve come up with to try and guarantee success, he did what everyone should do with their work, he measured it against his own moral barometer. If he wouldn’t buy it, if he didn’t think it was worthwhile, then why the hell would anyone else? That takes balls, but the results speak for themselves.
I’ve always tried to listen to my gut and though we have a good communication, on many occasions I’ve felt the need to calm my gut down and tell it that we have to stay calm for a bit, that our time will come. Steve Jobs didn’t have that safety mechanism that often yields mediocre results and frustration. If he saw that something was a waste of time he stopped doing it and he got busy living, because what the hell is a life worth, if you’re always waiting for the right time to do anything?
The reality is that ideal conditions do not happen often and it is quite common that either we don’t recognize what those conditions are, or we don’t even get to see those conditions happen. Opportunity manifests itself best when it is created. If not, we run the risk of arriving at old age and having nothing truly worthwhile to show for our efforts, simply because we were waiting.
As for the Apple experience, well it all starts from the beginning. When you first turn on your Mac, as in out of the box, there’s an intro video that blows you away and makes you want to play with all of the features available on your Mac and keep learning. When was the last time you felt that pumped up to use a PC? Actually, feel free to compare your reaction to when you listen to a PC turn on and when a Mac turns on… the experience could not be more different. With a PC, you feel like you’re listening to an American Airlines instructional video… on a Mac, that single chime makes your entire sensorial mainframe say “let’s get it on”.
Steve Jobs was also famously combative, reported as one hell of an egomaniac and the amount of existing stories have to be enough to write a whole encyclopedia’s worth of Jobs anecdotes… but throughout it all, no one could deny their respect for the man or his vision. Confrontational, wired, intense and other words have been used to describe Steve and I think that’s awesome because although he would have busted your balls monstrously, something tells me he was just as harsh on himself and pushed so people would pursue excellence and settle for nothing less. Seriously, ask yourself how many bosses you have met that have pushed you to go beyond your supposed limits. To boot, he’s also been accused of being mean by people who wanted to take a picture with him. The reason I write this is to try and balance out the perception of the man and create a more plausible vision of who he was, since he was pretty private. I’m sure there will be various biographies about him… some positive, some horrendous, some fair, and many grossly unfair just for the sake of selling a book, so that pretty much guarantees I’ll never know the real Steve Jobs. That could be a good thing or a bad thing… though I suspect my life would have benefited from meeting a no-nonsense guy with such an amazing vision who demanded excellence each and every time out and would have called my bullshit when I halfassed something. True, it might have shaved some years off my life, but I’m pretty sure it would have been worth it. Even at a distance and as a recent Apple convert, that’s what I have to hold on to and enjoy… the vision of a guy who wasn’t afraid to take chances and occasionally be foolish. Someone who always pursued excellence, someone who mocked the mediocre and wasn’t afraid to be disliked by people for being the way he really was.
All we have left is a vision… and I couldn’t be more thankful.
In my life, there have been few public deaths that have truly rattled me. Shannon Hoon, Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Arturo Gatti, Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Mark Foo, and Andy Irons come to mind. My reactions have varied with the person and the circumstances but one thing rings true for each of them… it feels like they left too soon (even Carlin who passed away at the age of 71). Some might argue that talking about all these people in one context is like talking about apples and oranges… and they may be right, because although I’ll miss all of them, amongst all of these heroes, one apple shined brightest.
Here’s to being foolish enough to pursue excellence.
Cheers
Reading the barrage of tweets, posts, articles and facebook wall posts as well as listening to people comment around and away from the water cooler, it seems that everyone has their own reason for lamenting the loss. People considered him a visionary, a legend, a hero even… but when you hear people talk about him, I really do think that a vast majority considered him a distant but very real friend; someone who understood what you wanted; someone whose mere influence made life a bit better even. Unlike MySpace’s Tom Anderson, who was a default friend on your profile and ignored by everyone, a lot of people WANTED to be friends, meet, talk with or just interact with Mr. Jobs. He was a hell of a business man, a pitchman like few others and was able to build a small company into a behemoth, and not just once either.
While many success stories have various chapters, few times does it include someone revisiting an old chapter or overlapping territory… From 1976, Steve Jobs took Apple to the top and in 1985 he was ousted, quite publicly, as has been mentioned in many places. Naturally he was hurt, confused and lost for a time, and then he saw the light. This wasn’t a catastrophe, it was an opportunity. It was at this time that he created the foundations for Pixar and NeXT, two companies that might have struggled initially but who eventually became blockbusters in their own right. He had come back from the entrepreneurial grave, but in 1997, he was faced with an even more interesting twist… NeXT was bought by Apple, the same people who had fired him 12 years prior and who were tanking horrendously. After he came aboard again, the iMac was born, a commitment to quality and style that gave a big “up yours” to personal computer standards at the time, since they weren’t being designed to satisfy companies… they were being made to satisfy people.
From then, Apple has grown back to be the 600,000 pound gorilla it used to be, except it’s had a makeover and apart from packing a punch, it looks like a million bucks… or a billion bucks if we want to near what yearly revenues achieve nowadays.
But let’s go back a step. Steve Jobs helped make Apple… then Apple fired him, then because of chance, he was put at the helm again. The curious thing isn’t that he accepted the job; it was that instead of duplicating original results, they were exceeded. He put aside his pride and focused on what he did best and never looked back, reconnecting with his baby and nurturing Apple back to health. Actually, that sounds super sweet, in reality he did manage to oust the Apple board members who would have been problematic and put himself at the helm, but before those moves, I suspect that at some point he probably had some second thoughts, but he threw caution to the wind and said let’s do this, because this is mine… and he took it back.
An adopted kid who dropped out of college, Steve Jobs lived life the way he managed his company… always choosing quality versus quantity. Whereas other companies cut corners to reduce costs and be competitive, Apple focused on giving you what you wanted how you wanted it. Are Macs more expensive? You bet your ass, but how many people do you know who regret buying Mac or switching sides? I’ve always been an analog kind of guy, listening to music on CDs rather than an iPod or any of the other ho-hum MP3 players in existence. Apart from being hardheaded, the reason I’ve been so reluctant to buy iPods is because I’ve heard way too many horror stories of iPods dying and whole libraries being lost… that was my safety net to maintain my analog paradigm… so of course they had to create a cloud based software, thus eradicating my fear of loss and putting a severe dent in my lifestyle, and inviting me to change for the better. I used to record music with a tape recorder, now I’m starting to use Garage Band.
This is happening not because I’m conceding to a trend, but because being practical and accepting help to achieve comfort and realize my dreams is part of the whole Apple Mantra in no short part due to Steve’s commitment to quality versus quantity.
While reading his 2005 Stanford commencement speech for about the 8th time in my life, something peculiar happened, the song Don’t Go Away by Oasis came on my headphones. True, it may not be the best song in the world, but it was curious that instead of having it as background noise while I ground out another project, I listened to the lyrics and choked up a bit as I read text written by him. I’ve read the commencement speech at least 4 times since Wednesday and truth be told, I’m going to try and read it once a month just as a written reminder to be foolish.
From all the things that have been said about Steve, one resonates a lot… he always followed his gut. Through thick and thin, instead of relying on analysis, market research, test groups and all the nonsensical crap we’ve come up with to try and guarantee success, he did what everyone should do with their work, he measured it against his own moral barometer. If he wouldn’t buy it, if he didn’t think it was worthwhile, then why the hell would anyone else? That takes balls, but the results speak for themselves.
I’ve always tried to listen to my gut and though we have a good communication, on many occasions I’ve felt the need to calm my gut down and tell it that we have to stay calm for a bit, that our time will come. Steve Jobs didn’t have that safety mechanism that often yields mediocre results and frustration. If he saw that something was a waste of time he stopped doing it and he got busy living, because what the hell is a life worth, if you’re always waiting for the right time to do anything?
The reality is that ideal conditions do not happen often and it is quite common that either we don’t recognize what those conditions are, or we don’t even get to see those conditions happen. Opportunity manifests itself best when it is created. If not, we run the risk of arriving at old age and having nothing truly worthwhile to show for our efforts, simply because we were waiting.
As for the Apple experience, well it all starts from the beginning. When you first turn on your Mac, as in out of the box, there’s an intro video that blows you away and makes you want to play with all of the features available on your Mac and keep learning. When was the last time you felt that pumped up to use a PC? Actually, feel free to compare your reaction to when you listen to a PC turn on and when a Mac turns on… the experience could not be more different. With a PC, you feel like you’re listening to an American Airlines instructional video… on a Mac, that single chime makes your entire sensorial mainframe say “let’s get it on”.
Steve Jobs was also famously combative, reported as one hell of an egomaniac and the amount of existing stories have to be enough to write a whole encyclopedia’s worth of Jobs anecdotes… but throughout it all, no one could deny their respect for the man or his vision. Confrontational, wired, intense and other words have been used to describe Steve and I think that’s awesome because although he would have busted your balls monstrously, something tells me he was just as harsh on himself and pushed so people would pursue excellence and settle for nothing less. Seriously, ask yourself how many bosses you have met that have pushed you to go beyond your supposed limits. To boot, he’s also been accused of being mean by people who wanted to take a picture with him. The reason I write this is to try and balance out the perception of the man and create a more plausible vision of who he was, since he was pretty private. I’m sure there will be various biographies about him… some positive, some horrendous, some fair, and many grossly unfair just for the sake of selling a book, so that pretty much guarantees I’ll never know the real Steve Jobs. That could be a good thing or a bad thing… though I suspect my life would have benefited from meeting a no-nonsense guy with such an amazing vision who demanded excellence each and every time out and would have called my bullshit when I halfassed something. True, it might have shaved some years off my life, but I’m pretty sure it would have been worth it. Even at a distance and as a recent Apple convert, that’s what I have to hold on to and enjoy… the vision of a guy who wasn’t afraid to take chances and occasionally be foolish. Someone who always pursued excellence, someone who mocked the mediocre and wasn’t afraid to be disliked by people for being the way he really was.
All we have left is a vision… and I couldn’t be more thankful.
In my life, there have been few public deaths that have truly rattled me. Shannon Hoon, Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Arturo Gatti, Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Mark Foo, and Andy Irons come to mind. My reactions have varied with the person and the circumstances but one thing rings true for each of them… it feels like they left too soon (even Carlin who passed away at the age of 71). Some might argue that talking about all these people in one context is like talking about apples and oranges… and they may be right, because although I’ll miss all of them, amongst all of these heroes, one apple shined brightest.
Here’s to being foolish enough to pursue excellence.
Cheers
Labels:
Apple,
apple computer,
steve jobs
So you made three good ads in one year, hooray for you
Working in advertising, the odds of encountering fevered egos that have convinced themselves they are god’s gift to the world are actually quite high. I’m not saying it doesn’t take skill to do advertising, I’m just saying that it’s much less of a deal than some jackasses make it out to be. Having done my time in 6 agencies, I know just how big an ego can inflate itself over a meaningless ad, and truth be told, it’s a bit nauseating.
You see, if you think your typical artist is full to the brim with conceit for the rest of mankind and a sense of entitlement that would make a toddler seem humble and generous in comparison, that’s nothing compared to a pretentious copywriter or artist. The level of douchery is staggering to say the least because though there is skill required, let’s remember people, it’s an advert we’re doing. It’s not a song, it’s not a movie, it’s not a painting, it’s not story/screenplay/book… it’s a means to an end and the end is sales or communication… that’s it.
But noooo… Don’t tell that to Sir Fuckface or Madam Cuntmerta, because they are The Shit (note the caps) and you should fucking bow to them. Actually, you should go to a rose garden, kill all the roses, pluck the petals and grace their steps with freshly murdered flowers. Better yet, you should carve out a stone idol in their image and hold your breath in their presence because you are not worthy.
Seriously, some day these people with fucking crash land on Earth and I’ll be the first one to rejoice at the sidewalk splatter of their egos because it’s not that I wish ill on these people, it’s just that a reality check is more than do and they annoy other people enough to receive such a check full on facial style (eyes open and up the nostrils wouldn’t be bad either). You are not the shit for making a good ad or a good campaign and you must always remember that you are only as good as the last ad you made.
Oh and if that’s not enough of a reminder of your role in reality, by all means take this nugget of knowledge and use it as a suppository:
Great accounts and understanding clients showcase potential… it’s what you do when you’re faced with a piece of shit client, no budget and a plummeting brand that truly shows how good you are.
Cheers
You see, if you think your typical artist is full to the brim with conceit for the rest of mankind and a sense of entitlement that would make a toddler seem humble and generous in comparison, that’s nothing compared to a pretentious copywriter or artist. The level of douchery is staggering to say the least because though there is skill required, let’s remember people, it’s an advert we’re doing. It’s not a song, it’s not a movie, it’s not a painting, it’s not story/screenplay/book… it’s a means to an end and the end is sales or communication… that’s it.
But noooo… Don’t tell that to Sir Fuckface or Madam Cuntmerta, because they are The Shit (note the caps) and you should fucking bow to them. Actually, you should go to a rose garden, kill all the roses, pluck the petals and grace their steps with freshly murdered flowers. Better yet, you should carve out a stone idol in their image and hold your breath in their presence because you are not worthy.
Seriously, some day these people with fucking crash land on Earth and I’ll be the first one to rejoice at the sidewalk splatter of their egos because it’s not that I wish ill on these people, it’s just that a reality check is more than do and they annoy other people enough to receive such a check full on facial style (eyes open and up the nostrils wouldn’t be bad either). You are not the shit for making a good ad or a good campaign and you must always remember that you are only as good as the last ad you made.
Oh and if that’s not enough of a reminder of your role in reality, by all means take this nugget of knowledge and use it as a suppository:
Great accounts and understanding clients showcase potential… it’s what you do when you’re faced with a piece of shit client, no budget and a plummeting brand that truly shows how good you are.
Cheers
Labels:
ad agency,
ad life,
ad realities,
office bullshit
Oct 6, 2011
Oct 5, 2011
Dear Steve.
Dear Steve;
I don't know how to write a letter to a childhood hero that just passed away, and as sad as I am right now, I need to do this. I've seen famous people go, but, to me, you're more than a celebrity or just plain famous. You made me, in part. You inspired how I am. I'm a Mac Geek. A damn proud Apple lover, user, buyer, owner. I have used - and this is totally true - almost all your products at some point in my life.
My first computer, the first that I ever used, was a Apple II computer. I remember taking it home from the office and playing with it for DAYS. It was amazing, this little cream-colored thing made it so much fun to work. I was hooked, Steve. You made me want to learn more about your system, about how it worked. At some point, I was able to fix them for myself and my coworkers at the agency. I was so proud to do so, you could not believe it. I thought I was part of your team, a little geek woman who protected your Macs with pride and honor. I even called up a friend this past week to help her Zap her PRAM. See? I'm always on watch. For you.
Steve, I can promise you that I've never used a PC nor was interested in trying. You made it so simple, so elegant, there was no way I could betray you. That meant that I had to save up to buy each of your products - and I didn't care. I knew that, while I was buying something relatively expensive compared to any other product out there - I was getting more. I was getting a slick design. I was getting quality. I was getting innovation. I was part of your brand, a part of your idea, a part of your vision. And I didn't want to be any other company's follower but yours.
Oh! Did you know I eradicated PC's from many of my friends houses and even my family? Oh yes. I sat down with people and talked about switching to your computers. I even took my computer to their house once in a while to let them fiddle around with it so they could see how fun and cool it was. Teaching my mom how to not totally destroy her MacBook Pro was a challenge, but boy, I did it. If only she could save her documents to her Desktop... oh well, I tried Steve. Command D is so easy, but hey, it's the one thing that I can't convince her to do.
But it's more than your products. You made me feel good about being a nerd, a geek. A chick who likes to read and talk about technology is sometimes not so sexy, I guess. You made me want to learn more. You made me want to read about technology, about programming, about what is new, what is coming next... and it was ok. I can't cook, but I can sit down with a fellow geek and talk about tech things. You know what? 3 iMac G5. 2 MacBook Pros. 2 iPads. 2 iPods. 1 Apple TV. I think I can power any of them up and order dinner. Think different, you said...
I really am so sad to see you go, know that the next keynote you will not be there. Well, in person. You will always be in our hearts, Steve. I will talk about you to my kids, I promise. I will tell them about Mom's superhero man who made cool things that they will surely take for granted. And don't worry, I'll be raising them correctly. Apple only, all the way.
Thank you. Really. Thank you for being a part of my life. For inspiring me. I hope that up there in iHeaven, it's all good.
I'll miss you Steve.
A very proud Mac user, Me.
I don't know how to write a letter to a childhood hero that just passed away, and as sad as I am right now, I need to do this. I've seen famous people go, but, to me, you're more than a celebrity or just plain famous. You made me, in part. You inspired how I am. I'm a Mac Geek. A damn proud Apple lover, user, buyer, owner. I have used - and this is totally true - almost all your products at some point in my life.
My first computer, the first that I ever used, was a Apple II computer. I remember taking it home from the office and playing with it for DAYS. It was amazing, this little cream-colored thing made it so much fun to work. I was hooked, Steve. You made me want to learn more about your system, about how it worked. At some point, I was able to fix them for myself and my coworkers at the agency. I was so proud to do so, you could not believe it. I thought I was part of your team, a little geek woman who protected your Macs with pride and honor. I even called up a friend this past week to help her Zap her PRAM. See? I'm always on watch. For you.
Steve, I can promise you that I've never used a PC nor was interested in trying. You made it so simple, so elegant, there was no way I could betray you. That meant that I had to save up to buy each of your products - and I didn't care. I knew that, while I was buying something relatively expensive compared to any other product out there - I was getting more. I was getting a slick design. I was getting quality. I was getting innovation. I was part of your brand, a part of your idea, a part of your vision. And I didn't want to be any other company's follower but yours.
Oh! Did you know I eradicated PC's from many of my friends houses and even my family? Oh yes. I sat down with people and talked about switching to your computers. I even took my computer to their house once in a while to let them fiddle around with it so they could see how fun and cool it was. Teaching my mom how to not totally destroy her MacBook Pro was a challenge, but boy, I did it. If only she could save her documents to her Desktop... oh well, I tried Steve. Command D is so easy, but hey, it's the one thing that I can't convince her to do.
But it's more than your products. You made me feel good about being a nerd, a geek. A chick who likes to read and talk about technology is sometimes not so sexy, I guess. You made me want to learn more. You made me want to read about technology, about programming, about what is new, what is coming next... and it was ok. I can't cook, but I can sit down with a fellow geek and talk about tech things. You know what? 3 iMac G5. 2 MacBook Pros. 2 iPads. 2 iPods. 1 Apple TV. I think I can power any of them up and order dinner. Think different, you said...
I really am so sad to see you go, know that the next keynote you will not be there. Well, in person. You will always be in our hearts, Steve. I will talk about you to my kids, I promise. I will tell them about Mom's superhero man who made cool things that they will surely take for granted. And don't worry, I'll be raising them correctly. Apple only, all the way.
Thank you. Really. Thank you for being a part of my life. For inspiring me. I hope that up there in iHeaven, it's all good.
I'll miss you Steve.
A very proud Mac user, Me.
Kindly reminder, I’m on your side Mr. Client
Why do clients insist on overanalyzing what you do as if you’re purposely trying to screw them over? I’m not talking about a new client who doesn’t know you. That I would understand. I’m talking about that 3 year old client that’s made your life a living hell and for whose needs you have always catered to. The one whose ass you’ve saved more times than you’d like to admit publicly and for whom extra hours have been sacrificed to no end.
I can vividly remember each and every time a client has come to me with a conflictive attitude just to shoot down the work developed by an ad team with no logical basis whatsoever for their arguments. I’ve also seen clients shoot things down because they were in a pissy mood. Hell, I’ve seen work get axed after the client asked 5 random people from different departments, at point blank, whether they thought the campaign was a piece of shit… and the people have actually defended the work….. but no. We made this campaign with secret messages and hidden penises because we want to fuck you over… actually, what’s funny is that when we half-ass things, put out a generic piece of shit or actually hide hidden cocks in the artwork, THAT’S when we get shit approved.
I often say that clients blow, but seriously. What gives? What’s your issue? What’s on your agenda that makes you think that we have nothing better to do than pine over a dumb ad that was once worthwhile, about six revisions ago?
When I present my creative, I do so either based on a strategy sent by the client or with supporting motives and reasons for everything from tone and manner to color scheme… but to them, it’s all smoke and mirrors. If it makes sense it’s that we did a good job of fooling them into thinking that the ad is ok and shame on them for not asking for four revisions.
Advertising is by no means an easy job, but not because people don’t have talent or because there’s a lack of passion. The problems of advertising are mainly due to the characters in the play, the mechanics in most agencies and the client agency relationships that doom campaigns from the getgo.
But in case you need a reminder Mr. or Mrs. Client, we’re on your side even though you’ll never be on ours.
Cheers
I can vividly remember each and every time a client has come to me with a conflictive attitude just to shoot down the work developed by an ad team with no logical basis whatsoever for their arguments. I’ve also seen clients shoot things down because they were in a pissy mood. Hell, I’ve seen work get axed after the client asked 5 random people from different departments, at point blank, whether they thought the campaign was a piece of shit… and the people have actually defended the work….. but no. We made this campaign with secret messages and hidden penises because we want to fuck you over… actually, what’s funny is that when we half-ass things, put out a generic piece of shit or actually hide hidden cocks in the artwork, THAT’S when we get shit approved.
I often say that clients blow, but seriously. What gives? What’s your issue? What’s on your agenda that makes you think that we have nothing better to do than pine over a dumb ad that was once worthwhile, about six revisions ago?
When I present my creative, I do so either based on a strategy sent by the client or with supporting motives and reasons for everything from tone and manner to color scheme… but to them, it’s all smoke and mirrors. If it makes sense it’s that we did a good job of fooling them into thinking that the ad is ok and shame on them for not asking for four revisions.
Advertising is by no means an easy job, but not because people don’t have talent or because there’s a lack of passion. The problems of advertising are mainly due to the characters in the play, the mechanics in most agencies and the client agency relationships that doom campaigns from the getgo.
But in case you need a reminder Mr. or Mrs. Client, we’re on your side even though you’ll never be on ours.
Cheers
Labels:
ad agency,
ad life,
ad realities,
office bullshit
Oct 3, 2011
Where were the news when Occupy Wall Street was going on?
Now, I have a beef. And not with Obama, in fact, I could care less. In all these days I haven't seen dick from his administration. But I have seen people get arrested for no reason - on his watch. I've seen Police brutality - on his watch. And I have seen nothing from him. Not a peep about this movement. Silence. Nada.
So I already know that more silence will be emanating from the White House, but I know that if a group of people are getting arrested in masses just for walking, I will find all the information I need at CNN, right? RIGHT?
Nope. Not a single video shot, not a single audio sample. Nothing. For the mass media, Saturday afternoon was just another day, nothing happening in Manhattan, move along, there is nothing to see here. And this is what gets me. It's the fact that we are all working our asses off and some cannot jet to where they are camping out, but we are counting on them to give them hell for all that they are doing to us - and when they get arrested, not a single source of news got interested in telling the rest of the country.
This pisses me off.
What is newsworthy, then? The Kardashians? That Kate Plus Crap chick do something weird over the weekend? No man, there were people fighting for you, getting pepper spray for standing still, getting arrested for taking photographs, getting hit for taping video. Really. And you could not see it on your tv, man. You had to log in and see it by streaming, because the good folks at CNN or any other news channel did nothing to record this more than just a soundbite. And yes, I checked. While they were getting arrested by the numbers, I tried to find one source of information that was covering it. Nothing.
This is the one time where I will get sort of political. You know why? 'Cause I'm tired. I'm tired of not seeing a crap of progress, I'm tired of people talking but no movement. We all have to Occupy something. Sitting behind our desks and our computers, letting others do the dirty job of screaming, getting punched, sleeping on the street because they believe that ALL of us deserve a better life and a better system - that doesn't work. I for one am there in less than two weeks, sitting in silence with them, wherever they wish to peacefully protest. I'm putting my ass and my money where my anger is.
If you cannot make it there, and you really want to help, send money orders only or non-perishable food (they need it) to: The UPS Store Re: Occupy Wall Street, 118A Fulton St. #205, New York, NY 10038.
Image borrowed from flickr's Occupy Wall Street Blog. Click at the name of the post for more.
Be grateful for all the things you have in life.
This woman hears herself for the very first time after getting a hearing aid. Amazing.
Oct 2, 2011
Sunday Playlists - Mellow Sunday
Another Sunday playlist to kick start your day peeps. All the best.
Antoine Dufour – These Moments
One of my favorite Candyrat guitar players to give Sunday a good start.
Red hot Chilli Peppers – Breaking the Girl
Awesome Peppers song.
The Dissociatives – Young Man Old Man
Pretty good song and interesting video from Silverchair’s former frontman’s side project, which I hope he retakes.
Superheavy – Miracle Worker
Mick Jagger in a pink suit, nuff said.
Ewan Dobson – Time 2
Raiden would be proud. :D
Ibrahim Ferrer - Marietta
Some salsa for your Sunday.
Counting Crows – Recovering the Satellites
Great song from a great album. You can hate Durtiz’s dreads, but that’s about it for me. Relaly like the band.
R.E.M. – Alligator, Aviator, Autopilot, Antimatter
R.I.P. to R.E.M. … hell of a way to go out. :D
Incubus – Wish you were here
Remember when you didn’t have to apologize for being an Incubus fan? Yeah I miss those days too.
Pearl Jam – Olé
New song, great band. What else do you want?
Antoine Dufour – These Moments
One of my favorite Candyrat guitar players to give Sunday a good start.
Red hot Chilli Peppers – Breaking the Girl
Awesome Peppers song.
The Dissociatives – Young Man Old Man
Pretty good song and interesting video from Silverchair’s former frontman’s side project, which I hope he retakes.
Superheavy – Miracle Worker
Mick Jagger in a pink suit, nuff said.
Ewan Dobson – Time 2
Raiden would be proud. :D
Ibrahim Ferrer - Marietta
Some salsa for your Sunday.
Counting Crows – Recovering the Satellites
Great song from a great album. You can hate Durtiz’s dreads, but that’s about it for me. Relaly like the band.
R.E.M. – Alligator, Aviator, Autopilot, Antimatter
R.I.P. to R.E.M. … hell of a way to go out. :D
Incubus – Wish you were here
Remember when you didn’t have to apologize for being an Incubus fan? Yeah I miss those days too.
Pearl Jam – Olé
New song, great band. What else do you want?
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