New Ffffound Pt. IV

dubs. out.

Quote of The Week, DiNoto - 5/18/08

Be an animal. This business rewards the hungry and relentless.

-Greg DiNoto, DiNoto NY

I think that the most successful people are the nitpickers, the worriers, those who are never satisfied with what they have. The people who will never truly be happy because they will never have all that they want.

Because they'll always want too much.

This is both a blessing and a curse. Hopefully, if things work out for me, it will end up being more of the former.

dubs. out.

Reflections From Week 30

We had our portfolio reviews yesterday. I know I've been using the word "anticlimactic" a lot recently, but there is really no better adjective to describe it.

But with that, I am officially done with 2 semesters of grad school.

Everyone I've talked to has said that First Year at the Brandcenter is the hump. It's where you find out about yourself, learn to trust yourself, and get to know what it is that makes you tick.

I can't think of any particular time where I've grown more both mentally and maturity-wise than this past year, and for that I am incredibly thankful.

Like last semester, here's my run-down of what I thought.

As if you give a shit.

Earl Cox's Strategic Brand Concepts- Earl said that this was perhaps the most important class we will take in our time here, and although most of the creatives groaned when he said that, I think the old man was right. Earl's was where everything came together. It's what makes the ad business a business, where creativity meets commerce, the reason the artist inside us can pay the bills.

Cabell Harris' Ad Concept Development- Out of every professor at the Brandcenter, with all of the egos and the money and successes, there is still only one man whose life I would aspire to have. Cabell is the epitome of a man who has become wildly successful, wealthy and famous doing what he loves, and yet has still remained humble. What was great about Cabell's class is that he's interested in solving problems, not making ads. If there is a void in the human experience and a brand can fill that void, he's all for it. Ads are the last thing he wants, and out of everyone at this school, he has truly grasped the fact that this is where the business is heading.

Coz Cotzias' Concepts of Copy II- Last semester I called Coz a beast. A mean, tempermental, genius beast. I take nothing back from that statement. Coz is often mean--there's nothing untruthful about that--but he's always mean with a purpose. He cares about us, and sometimes I think we forget that. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Coz is the best professor at this school, and he's probably the best teacher I've ever had. He is the main reason for the Brandcenter's success, and I almost feel guilty now for ever doubting his methods. It took me a long time to realize that he wasn't holding us back, but instead (to use a lame metaphor) was laying the start of tracks that would let our trains go on their own. (Goddamn that was lame)

Looking forward to summer, to Boulder, to Crispin, and to the next 5 days of freedom in between what I know was an endless barrage of work, and what I've heard is an even bigger endless barage of work before returning to another endless barrage of work.

I'm glad I enjoy what I do.

dubs. out.

Quote of The Week, Silverman – 4/11/08

Wealth awaits the writer who values the art director over the dictionary.

-Paul Silverman, former CCO, Mullen

It’s no secret around the Brandcenter that I am someone who has yet to truly embrace technology.

Some say I'm scared, claiming that people fear that which they don't understand, but I disagree.

While I have no problems thinking visually and digitally, or trying to work in the crazy netherword that is the internet and in creating new ways to do so, I have yet to actually be able to perform any of it beyond a Microsoft Word document or piece of notebook paper.

Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash and FinalCut are not currently my friends, as much as I’d like them to be. And although I will hopefully be able to use this summer and next year to become more efficient in seducing them, it hasn’t happened yet.

So to every art director I’ve ever worked with, here is my formal thank you.

Thank you for putting up with my annoying requests, my obnoxious 3AM copy changes, my aggravating pokes at your screens as I insist the logo be pushed 3 centimeters to the left.

Thank you for putting up with me, despite the fact that I cracked most of the eggshells I walked on while speaking to you.

More than anything else, thank you for always coming through for me, and with me.

I couldn’t have done this year without you.

dubs. out.

I Still Suck

After more than a month of hard work and a prodigious amount of Doritos, this superb, giant pencil paperweight is what I have to show for it:


Winning my first pencil (although bronze) was truly a treat. It was exciting and amazing, but it was also extraordinarily humbling.

It made me realize that no one really cares if you win or not.

Even the One Club didn't seem to care, as they put our commercial in the wrong order when they announced the winners, and skipped over it entirely.

Our shining moment of anticlimatic glory came upon us and vanished just as fast. The only thing we were left with was the stinging pain of irony, slapping us hard across our faces. If this particular irony made a sound, it would be devilish, helium-octaved laughter.

But even still, it was a blast.

To see the fruits of our labor, click here. (Pay close attention to the brown-haired stud in the fantastic pair of pants).

Though we didn't win the client pitch, we had a great showing and I was proud of our presentation. And in the spirit of camaraderie, at least it was the other Brandcenter team that walked away with the title, one member of which is my roommate's girlfriend, who deserves it more than anyone else I know.

But I did get to hear Nick Law announce my name. Which could be the last time that ever happens.

But hopefully not.

dubs. out.

The Day The World Will Come Together

Today, May 10th, is Pangea Day.

Pangea Day is a global event in which a live program of impactful films, live music, and speakers from around the globe will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, TV, and mobile phones.

It was the wish of filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, who in 2006 won the TED Prize, an annual award given at the TED Conference in Monterey, CA. She was granted $100,000 along with her one wish to change the world.

Hers was to create a day in which the world came together through film, and looks as if it's going to be the world's first truly global event, something that has been thousands of years in the making.

To get a further view of what this day means, check out this:



And this, which I thought was incredible:



The idea of world peace has become an eye-rolling cliche, something devalued by the empty wishes of beauty queens and those who consider caring trendy. But I really do believe that the more we can start to see things through the eyes of others, the more we will move towards a peaceful world.

dubs. out.

Quote of The Week, Bogusky - 5/4/08

We like to go with that one idea that we’ve really fallen in love with. That one idea that’s most highly evolved and expresses itself really easily. But you have to be careful about that Eureka moment where you have the feeling that you’ve found the perfect campaign. Because if you don’t apply scrutiny to your idea afterwards you can end up realizing that you haven’t been in love – you only had a mental orgasm.

-Alex Bogusky, CP+B

I have mental orgasms pretty much every other day. I come up with things that I'm excited about all the time. Things that I write down that the world will never know about. I'm the epitome of the "go-with-your-first-decent-idea" guy.

The problem?

Most of it is just that. Decent.

And I think a good way to look at decent, is the same way we look at shit.

dubs. out.