When I grow up, I want to work in advertising

“I want to be so far removed from day-to-day business that I’ll need a crane to pull my bloated head out of my ass.”

Why do we do it? Why do we aspire to so many of the things parodied in this video? It’s not just us in and around advertising and marketing either. It’s all of us, it’s the nature of the corporate ladder, the rat-race, and maybe even competitive spirit. Are we all condemned to this vapid life?

In 15 years, the percentage of American GDP accounted for by consumer spending has gone from 63% to 70%. That jump should be so profoundly startling that it makes any American run for the hills to live in primitive isolation for fear of otherwise imploding with the rest of the country when the house of cards comes down. 70%.

Microsoft Paint – Freelove’s future (is in the past)

Sometimes it seems this way, don’t it? Lately, I’ve felt like even the venerable Google has started down the same path with its Google Docs. Can you make that line any thinner? (no.)

Special thanks to Carolyn Sonnek for the video link on Pownce.

Memory lane with Tracy Morgan of SNL

Playing Brian Fellow, host of fictitious wildlife show “Safari Planet,” Tracy Morgan was pure genius. At once dissociative, manic, innocent, and idiotic, his character is sheer joy to watch. What a great series. Here, the first in whatever I can in honor of this hilarious skit. Apologies in advance that I couldn’t embed directly…

Brian Fellows-Safari Planet guest Matt Damon – For more funny videos, click here

Pownce Pro & SXSW2008

Well, there are two bits of news, actually.  The first one is that I signed up for Pownce Pro tonight.  20 bucks, bombs away.  The value?  I think I’ve already gotten that much value from Leah and company’s creation, and my 20 bucks is a thank-you.

Second news, SXSW2008 registration to be completed by noon tomorrow.  I’ll post my anticipated location, arrival, and departure times, and look forward to seeing any of you there who can make it.  Please, come on.  Make it.

Oh yeah…  Make it.

Graphic representations of rap lyrics

We IAs and designers love good information graphics. Well, I can’t say these are good, but they’re worth a laugh.  (special thanks to Brian McNitt for putting these in my inbox.)

Fig 1.

Fig 2.

Fig 3.

View them all here: http://www.jamphat.com/rap/

Additionally, Google “Village Voice This Is Why I’m Hot” (or click that link, buddy) to see one of the most hilarious IA-esque breakdowns of a rap song in history. Peace…

Gotham redux, Nov 2007

From our midnight arrival Friday night to our Sunday flight through the Canal St. nightmare swag marketplace as we made our way for the Holland Tunnel, our New York micro-vacation was at once brisk, relaxing, renewing, intoxicating, and stimulating. Let’s take a look…

Friday
5:00 PM: Depart Pittsburgh with T-bones goodies for sustenance
11:59 PM: Arrive at Robbie Cook’s house at 13th St and 7th Ave in Brooklyn.
12:20 AM: Find parking for my car for the weekend. Stop for a 6-pack of Brooklyn Brewing company Pilsner.
12:35 AM: Commence regalia and camaraderie.
2:20 AM: Four adults consumed three beers in nearly two hours. Getting old, folks. That’s 4-3-2.

The weather along the way was horrendous. It was a miracle to have survived the turnpike between Donnegal and Breezewood. Many of you know what I mean.

Saturday
8:00 AM: Rise and shine, drink coffee, shower and chit-chat, review SAIC Alumni Directory for omissions, old crushes and friends. No hurry.
10:30 AM: Long brunch at 2nd St. Cafe in Park Slope. Excellent Eggs Florentine, fresh squeezed OJ (crying set-up), and outstanding company.
1:30 PM: Finally make our way from Brooklyn up to the Met for the Age of Rembrandt show.
5:00 PM: Depart the Met and make our way down to Washington Sq. Park to meet up with friends.
7:00 PM: Every single friend running late. This is NY. Let’s eat at Matthew Broderick’s supposed favorite restaurant on MacDougal and 3rd.
8:30 PM: Arrive at Stoned Crow on Washington, friends start to appear.
11:55 PM: Last friend finally appears.
2:00 AM: Time to find a cab back to Brooklyn.

Great day, great friends, great show. Met a couple of fascinating folks today, including painter David Jon Kassan, with whom I had a terrific conversation at the Stoned Crow. Long overdue catching up with longtime friends Raha Raissnia and James Covert.

Sunday
8:00 AM: Are you kidding? Two days in a row? No way. We’re still sleeping.
10:00 AM: Starting to stir.
11:00 AM: Stirring slightly more.
12:00 PM: Drink coffee, shower and pack. No hurry.
1:00 PM: Grab brunch on 7th. More coffee.
2:00 PM: Turn left onto Flatbush heading for the Manhattan Bridge.
2:10 PM: Manhattan Bridge in sight.
2:20 PM: Get on Manhattan Bridge
2:23 PM: Get off Manhattan Bridge
2:25 PM: OMG, It’s Sunday on Canal St.
2:51 PM: Finally made it through the swag vendor corridor and enter the Holland Tunnel.
3:01 PM: Emerge, victorious, from the Holland Tunnel. Victorious means we’re in Jersey City??
9:00 PM: We’ve made it through the Squirrel Hill Tunnel exactly six hours after escaping Manhattan’s gravitational pull. Dinner time.

After a day like Saturday, we needed a little downtime – and this day was filled with it. Even the drive back was relaxing.

Yeah, this is the redux version. Look for the youtube video some day.

Arbitrary pop culture references + politics = better education?

Special thanks to my pownce.com friend Carolyn Sonek in Minneapolis for sharing this with me.  It’s got to be the weirdest, most unsettling political ad I’ve ever seen.

On the one hand, I love its lack of polish.  There’s not a trace of an expert producer’s fingerprint on this baby.  It’s pure basement geek wetdreamery, right down to the dramatic explosion when the Death Star destroys the little red school house.  Holy hell, someone get Pa!

On the other hand, though, the appropriation of the Star Wars story reiterates exactly how addicted we are to entertainment for our digestion of civil discourse.   Similes be damned – I want to hear the benefits and drawbacks of funding structures as they pertain to the things themselves… not as they resemble (or don’t) Emperor Palpatine’s evil Empire.

…I wonder, now that election day has passed – how did this guy fare?