Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Celebritwins



Hells to the yeah! I don't know how accurate this software is, but I like the results! (We are both part Scandanavian so its at least a little believable) So if I have a similar face, I just gotta work on the body now...lol



Upload your face and find out what celebrities you look like at My Heritage.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Monday Mirecommendations Vol I

Is there such a thing as being too random? Maybe. I was recently inspired by some of my blogging buddies to add a weekly segment to prove I can have some sort of method to my madness. Hence, this is the first entry for the Monday Mirecommendations.
Basically I'll highlight some of my favorite movies, music, artists, whatever.

I was watching TV the other day because it was raining and I've learned the hard way that pretty much the whole island freaks out whenever we get precipitation. One of my favorite underrated movies was on, Into The Blue.

An abundance of action, sweet plot twists, buried treasure, starring Paul Walker in board shorts and Jessica Alba in a bikini. What else do you need in a movie? It's kind of like The Beach mixed with a modern day Pirates of the Caribbean with a dash of the Discovery Channel.



And the best part? Karma bites people in the ass. Literally. They get attacked by sharks. Not as dramatic as Jaws, but still pretty cool.



I don't know what's up with the first schizo, over-photoshopped poster. This second one is much better. They look like two different movies. But they have one thing in common: cheesetastic taglines.

Pop Culture Clash

My dad said he "about fell off the couch laughing" when he saw this commercial during the UNC game yesterday!



I mean, how else could you combine College Basketball coaches Bob Knight, rivals Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) and Roy Williams (UNC) and Rick Pitino, Risky Business and Metallica and video games?

A perfect example of why we advertisers should stay on top of all types of pop culture. I wasn't surprised to find it out it's by CP+B since I saw a ton of GH comps up when I was out there. It makes sense since they already have Microsoft, which makes XBOX, which supports the game.
Read More...

>>> 10:13 PM >>> UPDATE!!! >>>>>>

I just saw the follow-up commercial to this one! The house is empty then you see the coaches tied up outside then you see Metallica blow up the house. FRICKIN AWESOME!!!



Get more Metallica madness at the website.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Personal Space

Here's some stuff that will make you feel like an insignificant speck in an infinite universe...

Found this via one of Anne's twitter posts. Interactive Art Direction specialists at Hyper Island in collaboration with the Swedish Space Corporation is sending our messages to space! Hurry, tho. There's only 8 more days til the launch!





I was a little surprised to see one of the first messages from a familiar name. :)



Yea, my message is a little cheese-tastic. But it's true.



Gotta love those Swedes! It almost makes me want to drive up to Disney World in Orlando just to ride Space Mountain.

Next, I found this little social experiment called twistori. It's inspired by We Feel Fine, which I've posted about before, but it anonymously aggregates peoples' tweets in real time based on a couple of keywords.




It was created by Amy Hoy and Thomas Fuchs of Slash7, and you can even download it as a screensaver (for macs, anyways).

Night Lights

Here's a couple photos my friends and I created collaboratively to celebrate Earth Hour here on Miami Beach a little while ago. All you need is a camera, a flashlight and some good company! Thanks Aron, Julio & especially Cristina!







See more pictures and videos of the rest of the world showing their support for Earth Hour 2009!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Vote for Earth!

Ok I totally stole this from MM's blog, but I think it's important enough to repost. Earth Hour is a great concept, cause and I love the art direction!



It would be even more awesome if they could coordinate a massive game of manhunt since all the lights are supposed to be out...

Check out the website and see all the stuff you can do from 8:30-9:30 tomorrow night.

A Recent DisCovery

Has anyone else seen the latest Cover Girl commercials on TV featuring Ellen DeGeneres?



I was all kinds of surprised. I mean, I know they've been branching out from the stereotypical supermodels that graced the ads when I read Seventeen magazine in high school by using Drew Barrymore and Queen Latifa recently. But they are actresses, not a far reach from models.

Ellen is in a whole nother league occupationally, generationally and sexual orientationally. (I may have made up that last word.) I do have to admit she is pretty and it's cool to see someone outside the glamorous celeb-o-sphere endorsing beauty products. Also interesting is that CG is partnering with a semi-rival brand, Oil of Olay. (I say semi-rival because I feel like they only have products for my mom).

Methinks this Cover Girl campaign is at least a little bit influenced by the Dove Real Beauty revolution. After all, they're only separated by an aisle or two at Target.

Sidenote: I've always wondered who wrote their ridiculous tagline: Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, Cover Girl. So basically if you wear the makeup you are promiscuous and an airhead, but hey, you'll be pretty because that's all that matters. lol.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

10 Things To Do Before I'm 30 (Part II)

and the list continues from yesterday...

05. Create Outside the Computer

I miss my sketchbook and my oil pastels. I just don't have much spare time or money to invest in more traditional art. I still doodle a lot and LOVE it when I get to illustrate stuff for a campaign. My Anime skills must be pretty decent because Ronney told me I draw like an Asian. I guess that's a compliment. :)

I also want to do something with music. I would definitely be more in tune with an instrument if my mom hadn't forbade me to play the drums in sixth grade because it would make too much noise. (Of course my sister started playing the trumpet the next year which is way worse, even if you are good at it.) But I guess if I had been more into music I wouldn't have gotten so into sports so I don't have too many regrets.

Besides, I aced a piano class in college. I pretty much just practiced and memorized where my fingers were supposed to go. So if i do become better friends with my old friend music, I would lean towards the piano or guitar. I've had some prior experience with both, if you count Guitar Hero.

My Canon Rebel has also become a victim of neglect. I think I'm better at capturing candid moments with the cybershot... Which I recently lost the battery and charger for, so I guess I have no choice but to use the Rebel more often anyways.

Lastly, I love writing. You usually don't hear that from an art director but my first advertising internship was as a copywriter. I have so much content, especially from my quarter away experiences, to collect and put into a single novella. I'm not saying it would make the best seller list, but it would be pretty entertaining. Especially if I include illustrations of the notoriously topless grandma and the bird from the Bohemian Bordello.



04. Date A Non-D-Bag

I'm pretty bad at picking guys, and I have proof. Facebook news feed alerted me that one of my ex's had uploaded some St. Patrick's Day pics, so I sent one to a great little blog called Hot Chicks with Douche Bags and it was uploaded with creative commentary the next day. (He's on the left.)



I haven't exactly been in the best of Douche-free markets lately. My university was unfortunately plagued with My New Haircut guys and Miami isn't much better. I literally cringed when I heard the obnoxious New York/Jersey accents a few chairs down from me at the pool today and almost barfed when I saw the gang of tanorexic, spiky haired steroid addicts from which said aural annoyance was emanating.

On the bright side, I don't really have time to worry about guys anyways.



03. Work at CP+B

You can love or hate the agency, but you have to respect most of the work that comes out of it. I got a little appetizer when I was out there for Greenhouse, which left me craving an entree. My planner Pam described me as "drinking the Crispin Kool-Aid." I mean I think I could see myself in one of those little cubicles lost in the 'factory' and spending my days in Boulder, Colorado. The view of the mountains is amazing and I would definitely have to invest in a snowboard and a bike, which leads me to my next goal...



02. Compete in a Triathlon

I recently got back into running consistently, which is making me a bit more ambitious. Obviously I would have to train. A lot. Maybe I'll summon all that I learned on swim team in Jr. High and hit the pool here early in the morning. And I've been meaning to get a bike anyways. I much prefer this kind of exercise to being stuck in the gym. I've even started researching it and there are annual triathlons in all the major US advertising markets: New York, Chicago, LA, San Fran and Dallas. Coincidence?



01. Win Something

It would be awesome to win any and/or all of the following: Addy, Clio, One Show Pencil, D&AD, Cannes Lion, Young Gun.

[These were in no particular order. I just felt like writing.]

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

10 Things To Do Before I'm 30

So I was laying out at the pool today after a decent run, thinking about how I have been 24 for over a month now, and I am approximately 3 months away from being done with school forever. Then comes the perennial priority of finding a job.

But there's lots of other things I want to do after I finish school as well, and I'm giving myself a 6 year deadline. Cause I feel like life is a whole lot less fun once you reach your third decade. Or at least it's a different kind of fun, and by fun I mean the responsibilities you get when you have to start settling down and growing up for real.

10. Surf in Hawaii
Although I've lived in Florida the majority of the past six years, I haven't ever found time time to take up the sport. I'm already a fan of anything on a board, particularly involving a wake or snow. And it's not like the waves on the Gulf or Atlantic side are that impressive. I guess the closest I got was skimboarding in Cocoa Beach one time.

And I've always wanted to visit Hawaii. It's just one of those super touristy places that you don't care is super touristy and want to visit anyways. I think it would be more fun to live such a laid-back life like the chicks in Blue Crush. And I could definitely eat coconut and pineapple for the rest of my life.




09. Skydive in Australia
Ok I've been absolutely infatuated with the land down under forever. See, my dad would only let us rent videos from the library when my sister and I were young. So there were pretty much two options: Disney and National Geographic (I guess the Lion King kind of counted as both).

Anyways, I generally preferred to watch a cheetah chase and capture a gazelle (even though I still felt a little bad for the gazelle) than the standard singing, dancing princess. So I watched this NG series of videos specifically made for kids, called really WILD animals with this little globe mascot whose name really was something like Globey. I guess the "Wonders Down Under" was the one that started my lifelong obsession with one day visiting what I thought was the coolest place in the world.



Later I became and still am a fan of The Rescuers Down Under and Crocodile Dundee. I still want a koala for a pet. They seem pretty low maintenance, high off eucalyptus leaves all the time.

Anyways, I swore I was going to study abroad there in college, but dual degrees and being president of everything kept me on campus all 4 years. Then I found out I had the possibility of interning in Sydney through MAS, but considering I already have my last quarter all set to intern at Sapient, I doubt that's going to happen.

And the skydiving part? For some reason, pretty much all of my friends that have visited any part of the continent all did it. I want to continue the tradition.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to marry a guy from there just for his accent. I'm just kidding. Kind of.



08. Learn Another Language
I've come to learn that I am definitely in the minority being unilingual in Miami and especially at Miami Ad School. Growing up where I did in suburban South Carolina it's not considered imperative to learn a second language because most people there never leave the state, let alone the country. I only took two semesters of Spanish in high school because (a) it was required and (b) it sounded more like English than French or German.

I also picked up a little Deutsch living in Hamburg for 3 months. Even though most everyone there speaks English, my friend's mom who I had to communicate with frequently since I lived at her house, was not one of those people. She was fluent in German, of course and Spanish. Not so much English. So we kind of spoke a hybrid Gerspanglish. I further improved my Espanol by talking with her nephew who lived in Spain but was at the house a lot since it was summer. He was six. He was already fluent in German and Spanish and starting to learn English.

Depending on how ambitious I feel I would love to learn an Asian language like Japanese or Mandarin, but I will probably end up buying the Rosetta Stone series for Spanish (or just tuning in to Dora the Explorer more often) since I already know a little bit of vocab and it's probably the most useful for me.



07. Become a Better Designer
Thanks to my Marketing major, I spent all four years of college learning about balance sheets, the product life cycle, market research and management strategies. I could do it all, but I always had more fun picking the color schemes for pie charts and designing the Powerpoint slides for the presentations as opposed to the carefully prepared content that we were actually being graded on.

I'd say I'm not that bad of a designer considering I just learned Photoshop and Illustrator a little less than 2 years ago. I'd rate myself about a 6.87 on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being Paul Rand or Chip Kidd or Stefan Sagmeister. I always knew I wanted to be an art director. It just took being a Marketing Major, Communication Major, Media Intern, Public Relations Assistant, Corporate Marketing Intern, Copywriting Intern and student at Miami Ad School for two more years to get there.

Trading in my Cosmos and Elles for Prints and CMYKs and HOWs is a good start. I've also invested in a Wacom tablet and check/comment on several design blogs. Finally, I've vowed never to use Comic Sans or Papyrus or Curlz MT. Ever.



06. Own a Cat
It's a simple goal. I've wanted my own little furball since I graduated college, but it's hard to keep track of myself and my inanimate stuff, let alone a pet when I'm moving every few months. Hopefully as soon as I secure a job and apartment for an extended period of time, this will probably be the first thing to be crossed off the list.

I don't know much about the cat right now, but I know I am adopting it from a shelter or the Humane Society and its name will be Fluffernutter. Until then, I get my feline fix on I can has cheezburger.




I am now exhausted and it's nearly 3 AM so I'll finish part deux tomorrow. (I had a couple hours of sabbatical because one of my friends stopped by to enjoy a comedy buffet of Jim Gaffagin, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny.)

Monday, March 23, 2009

PES + Bacardi

LOVE LOVE LOVE these Bacardi ads by stop-motion master director PES. They are fantastically art directed, down to the last detail. Everything is made out of cocktail paraphernalia. I'm guessing the concept is Bacardi takes you to the party? (I couldn't embed, so you have to watch them on PES's website.) The ad agency behind it is David & Goliath based in Los Angeles.




Self Secrets

So although MAS has a schoolwide paperless policy, I was still required to print two books for Ron's Brand Called You class. The first was just a compilation of all the random projects we had to do for the class and the other was a book of poems; one written and illustrated for each year of our lives, so I had 24.
I'm not really into rhyming or long written narratives, so I decided to do mine Post Secret style. I mean if haikus count as poetry, then this style does too!
Here's a few of my favorites:








I highly recommend blurb for all your personal publishing needs!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Small Shop Talk

An interesting article in Ad Age by Alex Bogusky about the importance of smaller agencies, especially during this lovely economy. Thanks, Julio!

And, the Top 10 Media and Marketing Books of All Time. I've read two of them; Hey Whipple, Squeeze This which I borrowed from Christy last year and The Book of Gossage which my TIR teachers Carl and Anya from Crispin required us to buy for the class they taught. Blink is definitely next on my list; it's the only Malcolm Gladwell book I haven't read yet.



Jack Attack

Check out this ad I saw during the commercial break of a Scrubs rerun yesterday:



Wow, a blatant attack by Jack in the Box on Burger King. According to my new favorite blog, Agency Spy, the ad was done by Secret Weapon Marketing. It's like all the fast food chains are disregarding the McBehemoth and are focusing on battling each other for runner up. (PS, is that a new logo at the end? According to Brand New, apparently so.)



Speaking of McDonald's, I think their ads, especially for the filet o fish, have been floundering lately (haha pun intended).



This one really, really gets on my nerves:

Friday, March 20, 2009

Spring and Sports

To celebrate the first day of spring, Google themed it's home page by paying tribute to Eric Carle's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.



This was totally one of my favorite books when I was a kid!
According to this article,
The book, published in 1969, still sells one copy every 30 seconds in the world, 40 years after it was originally published.

Written and illustrated by Eric Carle (a graphic designer who later became art director of an advertising agency before moving into book illustration), it has sold more than 29 million copies, and is published in 47 languages.

Mr Carle, who turns 80 this year, said he got the idea from a hole puncher.

"One day I was punching holes with a hole puncher into a stack of paper, and I thought of a bookworm and so I created a story called "A Week with Willi the Worm". Then my editor suggested a caterpillar instead and I said "Butterfly!" That's how it began," he said.


I love the illustrative style. I hope to do other things than just advertising art direction too, like maybe also write a book, go surfing in Hawaii, go skydiving in Australia, possibly do a triathalon. The usual. LoL



And speaking of sports, Wake Forest plays their first game of the NCAA tourney against Cleveland State in about two minutes! They better win, even though my brackets are all messed up now because Clemson lost last night to Michigan....





...12:04 AM: And Wake is out. First round. 84-69. Hmm, deja vous, a la the ACC tourney. Oh well. I guess I'll root for the Tarheels now!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Yummy Bubbies

I discovered these at Whole Foods a couple weeks ago. They are hella expensive, probably because they have to stay frozen all the way from Hawaii to here.



Bubbies are basically ice cream surrounded by a soft, chewy shell made from rice. My friend Aiden said these things originated in Asia (like one of my other favorite treats, Bubble/Boba Tea!). I've tried the vanilla and lychee flavors and they are both fantastic.



If you are ever in Honolulu, you can check out one of their yummy boutiques, which have very creative names for their frozen treats.