OMG, a 21st Century Blog.

Been Busy.

With Thanksgiving coming around and job hunting well under way, I've been a bit busy to say the least. I've definitely missed commenting on a couple of key techy things that have happened the past couple of weeks, but I'll be back on the horse soon. A few things I'm working on are some guy/girl digital christmas lists, why Foursquare might actuallly be growing on me, and a Winter playlist. So much good new music recently. Also, been watching a lott of movies recently--Art & Copy was good, but I expected more for some reason; was a good birds-eye view of the industry though. Oh, and because somehow this has become really fun, visit my SuperPoke! Pet haha (it's like a 21st century Tamagotchi that doesn't die!): http://mooboosplace.superpokepets.com/

New Tech-ish Word for the Dictionary

New Oxford American Dictionary has chosen to add "Unfriend" (removing someone as a "friend" from facebook) this year. I think it's a kind of funny addition because you could never really physically "Unfriend" someone, but in social media land, you totally can, and do. In fact, in honor of this new word addition, I may just unfriend ten people right now--hope you've been nice to me lately :)

The Words are Dead

I wasn't aware there were so many good words out there that nobody uses anymore. I adopted 'Alabandical'--which means to be 'stupefied from drink'--how great is that? haha. Plus the website is pretty fun and interactive.

http://savethewords.org/

Cell (oh c'mon it's more like a pocket computer now) phones and love life.

Remember that song Video Killed The Radio Star (Not to mention the sort of awesome music video)? Well, Cellphones killed Dating. Courtship. And other things. Like the drop-by. I'd venture to say that cellphones, or maybe more accurately texting, even killed good interpersonal conversation in general. I read this great Op-Ed piece in the NYTimes last week that actually left me a bit unnerved about the state of relationships, not just romantic ones, in the 21st century. David Brooks likens our current method of finding relationships to an Ebay auction and that as a result of technology it makes "...it easier to jump from one option to another, [where] you will naturally adopt the mentality of a comparison shopper. It also seems to encourage an atmosphere of general disenchantment." Wow. That sounds like it sucks. How did we get here?

I used to be much better on the phone, but with the onslaught of available methods of communication not requiring me to open my mouth (though may induce an early onset of arthritis from typing around 100 wpm), it kind of seems like talking is becoming antiquated. Yes, people still talk--but very few are fluid or eloquent in their speech. I think the art of strong verbal communication is being lost in a way as a result of people not having live, in depth, face to face conversations. One could argue that people are less inhibited behind a screen to say what they are really thinking or feeling, but I feel like it's an excuse for people that are afraid of making bold statements or opinions and the repercussions that come along; in other words the fear of not being liked and having that more strongly associated with your image.

On the relationship front in terms of conversations, I think we've gotten more awkward. We almost feel more comfortable behind a screen than we do in person; yes, I think you finally reach a point where it doesn't matter and face to face interaction is no longer weird--but I think initially when we meet people, we have trouble knowing what to say since we've said all we want to say on our FB profiles.

More on this later...but those are thoughts for now...what do you think?

Gum Kissing Ads. Really?

The gum for unbreakable kisses? @agencyspy said this was possibly the "...best ad I've ever seen." Really? Sure I get it. So minty/fresh but wouldn't you wanna not break away from a kiss cause you don't wanna break away from that person just in general? I guess that's part of the point too. Idk. It just seems a bit much for gum. I was expecting some kind of great cause. Does it make it funny that it's gum?

Here's the link, embed wasn't working: http://creativity-online.com/work/topline-the-kiss/17812

Dude. No, Dewwwww.

Ashley and I did this little snippet of fun for a Mountain Dew 12 Second Contest. It's super simple, but we think that it has the potential to have bigger "Dude...No, Dewwww..." situations and that "The Dew Dudes" with glowing bottles of Dew could be great spokesdudes. (Too many dudes...I know.) Please favorite/bump/RT and comment! You just sign in with your Twitter or Facebook account and the site does the work for you :) Love y'all.

Ashley Tisdale vs. Family Guy for Microsoft? Um, really?

So apparently Microsoft is shocked by the humor content in Family Guy. I read this article last week and thought "Really? How could they not know the kind of humor in Family Guy as 21st century Microsoftians--and if they truly don't, why on earth would they try to have branded mentions in the show without doing some research?" I'm not really sure how media buys are made, but my guess is the media buyers suggest certain shows based on the demographic the show tends to draw in and the people with the purse strings make decisions from there. Fine. Okay.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the kinds of people that Microsoft is going for with Family Guy would be people with Xboxes; and I must say--I think that Family Guy absolutely makes sense for that target, not to mention all the PC game players out there that are likely viewers as well. Yet they pulled out. Then, in what seems like a weird move to me, they open their first store in Scottsdale, AZ and use Ashley Tisdale as a draw... Wtf Microsoft? Ashley Tisdale? I wasn't aware you were going after girly tweens--did I miss something? I guess she does have some kind of sex appeal for the awkward, lan-partying, barely post-pubescent 16 year old, but she's still got this tween draw. I think there could have been a much better person to open your PC mecca Microsoft. I mean, rlly.

Liberty Mutual knows we laugh at the demise of others.

This video won't be visible for long because Creativity only leaves them up for a few days before requiring a membership to view it, so make sure and watch it now.

I think the insight Liberty Mutual had to create this short film is incredibly interesting; we laugh, point, and genuinely enjoy watching someone get hurt. It's funny when people are doing it on purpose, and they deserve whatever pain is coming their way, but in this film we start to feel bad about laughing. How did they do that? For myself, it suddenly became too much when all the people in the building were watching and laughing--and person after person was being hurt walking over the loose piece of sidewalk. The idea of watching people get hurt as a communal event is somehow eerie. Makes you wonder why people actually went to hangings and public beatings.

This piece works for insurance. Things happen to people on a daily basis, whether little or big--they're still getting hurt in some way, and someone somewhere has to decide and make sure it won't happen to more people. It stops being funny once they people in the building think the little bird has died. It stopped being funny when the old man put the warning marker over the sidewalk, cause there was nothing left to watch. The message is, 'it's not supposed to be funny--but we're still entertaining you with that thought.' I like stuff that makes you think.

Art & Copy Documentary @ The Roxie

Going with a bunch of people from work to see Art & Copy on November 16th @ The Roxie in the Mission if anyone is interested in coming along. Here's the trailer below and it seriously gave me goosebumps. I love this effing industry.

Coincidentally I watched this great TED Talk yesteday about building perceived value, the perception we have of one brand over another (when they're exactly the same thing) and how advertising plays a role. It's a good one and really makes you think about what you believe something to be versus what it actually is.

Workin' the blogosphere.