My Home Screen #2

I love photography. ( It runs in the family ) I love to trap a moment, and hold onto it forever. If you are patient and curious you can collect some very special slices of life. One of my favorite things about the magic phone is that it makes sharing these moments so very easy to do. I send a lot of pictures to the web from my little, hand held friend.

The magic phone is ultra-capable  – you may have heard, there an app for just about anything. The ability to edit pictures on the iPhone is a really cool feature, and one that I take advantage of all of the time. Here is a quick look at the apps i use to style my mobile pics. …

CameraBag: This is a one-stop shop of awesomeness. One of my first photography apps for the iPhone and still one of my favorites. This $3 application offers nine different styles which can be applied to any image housed on the phone, or the styles can be applied as the photgraphs are made through the application. I really like the square ratio that is delivered by the “Helga” and “Lolo” styles. It reminds me of my old Hasselblads.

CameraBag for iPhone

TiltShift: A fun $2 application for manipulating perspective and depth of field, TiltShift allows for a lot of creative expression. I don’t use TiltShift as much as I use the other photography apps, but when I do, I’m always pleased with the results.

TiltShift / CameraBag for iPhone

FocalLab: Similar in service to TiltShift, FocalLab offers the ability to alter the appearance of an image’s depth of field. FocalLab also offers the ability to ad faux-motion to an image with multiple “blur” options. FocalLab carries a price tag of $2.

CameraKit: The easiest to use of all of the photography applications that i own. CameraKit, another $2 application, makes it very easy to add vignetting, saturated processing, and a slightly softened focus to any image.

Photogene: The swiss army knife of iPhone photography applications, Photogene offers a user-friendly interface for performing several essential photo-editing tasks. I use this $3 app for adding a slight white border to my images.

FocalLab / CameraKit / Photogene for iPhone

ToyCamera: I was too much of a creative snob to buy ToyCamera when it first came to the app store. It was a toy for the folks who didn’t know how to use the legitimate tools – at least that is what I thought back then. A few weeks ago, a friend at work showed me some shots that he had taken with this $1 app, and I was floored with how cool they looked. I use ToyCamera to deliver random processing effects for cool antiqued photographs.

ToyCamera / Photogene for iPhone

QuadCam: Another one of the painfully simple to use applications, QuadCam produces some incredible stories. The images captured with this $2 application allow the viewer to see a moment from several different perspectives enabling the imagination to create a unique narrative. I am a big fan of QuadCam.

QuadCam for iPhone

I’m out of words now…

Whole Brevity Thing: Savinelli Slowdown

There are days.

There are always days.

There are days when I’m thankful for traffic jams that stretch the drive home at the end of the day from the normal 15 minutes to 30 or so. It’s not a sadistic pleasure, this is a decompression necessity. I love The Dramatic and the Little Dudes and Dudette, and I think that it’s best that they not see me when I’m frustrated by the immovable objects that exist at my place of employment.

On those days, rather than driving home to the jaunty rhythms of Los Campesinos! or the good ol’ Beasties, a more mellow vibe is needed. So my good friend Mr. Savinelli and I meander home via the long way with the chilled Savinelli Slowdown mix.

Because you may also have the need for an attitude adjustment from time to time, I’m sharing the goods. Not Mr. Savinelli, the tunes, man…

[download savinelli slowdown]

1. Details In The Fabric (Feat. James Morrison) / Jason Mraz
2. Float On (Live Modest Mouse Cover) / Ben Lee
3. Be Be Your Love (Live At KCRW) / Rachael Yamagata
4. Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own (Live In Studio) / U2
5. In the Middle / Mat Kearney
6. No Envy No Fear / Joshua Radin
7. Dance, Dance, Dance / Lykke Li
8. Heretics (Early Version) / Andrew Bird
9. Love Vigilantes (New Order Cover) / Iron & Wine
10. Modern Love (David Bowie Cover) / The Last Town Chorus
11. Running To Stand Still (U2 Cover) / Elbow
12. Naked As We Came (Iron & Wine Cover) / MDL
13. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (The Postal Service cover) / Jonna Lee
14. You Really Got A Hold On Me (The Miracles Cover) / She & Him
15. All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down (Hank Williams Jr. Cover) / Elliott Smith
16. Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me) / The Flaming Lips
17. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard (Paul Simon Cover) / Julie Doiron
18. She Says (One-U2) / Howie Day
19. To Zion / Lauryn Hill

For the rest of the mixes available via whole brevity thing, here’s the link: original soundtrack

I’m out of words now…

Old Favorites

Normally, when my jeans have reached the end of their blue days, I hop online and purchase another pair of old favorites. I’d love to be able to run to the Gap and pick up a new pair, but 38×36 is one of those “additional sizes available online.” So, it’s off to the internets for me. …

Last month I found that it was time to let another pair of jeans fade away, so webbing I went to order their replacements. Amazingly, the price of my favorite jeans now rings up the cash register at $69.00. Outside of the sophomoric humor of the price, WHOA!, when did jeans become luxury items? This dude can’t afford fancy pants, so I needed another option.

I’ve always wondered whether or not it was possible to dye faded jeans back to their blue glory of the past. Theoretically it is possible, right? With nothing to lose, I set off into the the world of mommy bloggers to solve this mystery. If I can handle coloring The Dramatic’s hair, certainly I can wade into the waters of the stitch and bitch. The answer was simple…of course you can! Apparently this skill has been handed down from mothers to daughters for generations, they’ve just been holding out on the guys all this time.

After decoding the language of the moms, here is the best recipe for jean rejuvenation that I have found:

Ingredients Needed:

• One box of Rit Denim Blue Dye
• One box of Rit Black Dye
• One box (24 bags) of Lipton Iced Tea

Order of Operations:

1. Wash and dry the Old Favorites.
2. Start a small wash cycle using whatever water temperature you wish, pausing the cycle before agitation begins.
3. On a stove top bring a quart of water to boil in a sauce pan, and then mix in the denim dye until stirring until the powder is fully dissolved.
4. Repeat Step 3 for the black dye as well.
5. Add the two saucepans full of dissolved die to the water in the washing machine, and let the agitation commence. (Sidenote, I think that is what the obstetrician cried upon my delivery into this world.)
6. After 30 seconds of agitation, add the Old Favorites to the murky black-blue water of the washing machine.
7. Allow the wash cycle to carry on for 2 minutes, and then pause the cycle allowing the jeans to soak for 10 minutes.
8. Repeat Step 7 until the wash cycle is complete.
9. Allow the jeans to dry as you see fit.
10. Take the largest pot you have and fill it half way full with water and bring to a boil, and then remove the pot from the heat.
11. Add the 24 tea bags to the boiling water and allow all of the dark goodness to work its way from the bag to the water.
12. Add the dyed and dried jeans to the pot of ultra strong tea and stir them in until fully covered.
13. Allow the tea to stain the jeans for 30 minutes, then remove the jeans and allow to dry.

That’s it. Simple enough, really. The secret to the whole process is the tea-staining. Without staining the jeans with tea, or coffee if you wish, the jeans will come out with a purpleish-hue. That’s cool, too, but not exactly the look I was going for. If you follow the steps above, you should be out about eight bucks, and have jeans that look like this:

Restored Old Favorites (click pic to view larger)

I’m out of words now…

At the house where the dude abides, we are in the heat of the mow-ment. Yesterday’s bush-whacking welcomed me with 100+ degrees of love and affection.

As I’ve said before, I learn a lot from lawn care. It’s definitely not the pacing back and forth that molds my mind, it is the company that I keep on this journey to and fro. Summer school is back in session for the dude. …

More to the point, the first semester of Briggs and Stratton University’s summer term has wrapped. The recently completed course work focused on my current major: Commercial Persuasion. There were 21 hours of lecture in all, and for the most part, that time flew by.

The first eight hours were dedicated to Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.” I’ll admit, that I’m about two years late to the Long Tail party, but I’m glad that I finally journeyed down this trail blazed by Wired’s Anderson. Much like Freakonomics and Blink, The Long Tail is a book that is not easily categorized. It could easily find itself at home in the Cultural Anthropology or Business/Marketing section of your local Barnes and Noble.

There are many things that I could say about this book, but this is what resonated with me the most: This book provides a lens that allows the reader to see markets and societies as complex inter-woven independent tribes that are brought together by common interests and values. These tribes are born out of “and” not “or”, meaning there are significant amounts of overlap among these indie, affinity-based groups. I think “mainstream” is becoming no more. I highly recommend The Long Tail.

The next five hours of enlightenment were guided by Seth Godin and his “Meatball Sundae.” Seth was the first author with whom I identified when I became a marketer. Here’s why: Seth is smart, and he thinks that people are smart, too. He’s against black hat marketing (lying about bad products so that suckers will be duped into buying junk) and he serves as a great advocate for authentic storytelling.

Meatball Sundae is an excellent primer on the “new” marketing. Very early on in this book Seth clarifies life Before, During and After advertising. To be clear, we now live in a time After Advertising. To read free samples of this book, follow this link.

The final eight hours of lecture were delivered by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff via “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.” Admittedly, ownership of this book puts me in a very small circle of friends… a circle with a lot of pocket-protectors and red, Swingline staplers.

Over the last three months, I have given away more than a dozen copies of Groundswell. Way more. For me, this book is like cheating. Case studies, practical applications and road-tested theories are the backbone of this book. There is jargon, and considering that the book was published by Harvard Business School Press, it can leave some folks behind, but for the most part this book will open the eyes of business leaders to the opportunities that are bouncing all over the internets.

Following an hour long tour of Audible’s library, I have chosen the next 18 hours of lecture for my second semester: “Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You” by Sam Gosling and “Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are” by Rob Walker. Both of these books are fresh releases, May and June 2008 respectively, and after a few more miles across my yard, hopefully I’ll be able to share some of their insights.

Finally… I’m out of words now…

The dude’s golfing prowess was again on display, today. My father-in-law was kind enough to let me whack away until the ball landed in the cup on each and every hole. That’s significant, because in the past, he’d say, “that’s enough for this hole, why don’t you pick it up, and we’ll try again from the next tee.”

But the course wasn’t so crowded, so there was time for me to discover new forms of fauna in the Florida wilderness while seeking yet another shanked Titleist. I am not lying when I tell you that a greenskeeper actually tracked me down after one foray into a bog to warn me about the pygmy rattlesnakes. “So, do they give you any warning?” I asked. “Not unless you consider a strike a warning.” I saw his point.

All in all, it was a great round… I finished 6 over. To be clear, that means I finised the day with 6 more balls than I started with.

One more thing. Before we left for the course, my littlest dude asked me why I had to go play golf. “I GET to go play golf, Will. Its a good thing, and one day, you’ll join me and Poppy while we play”, I reassured him. His response was instantaneous, “yeah, but by then Poppy will almost be dead.”

I’m out of words now…

Through the magic of the google, last week I re-connected with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Mark Austin. Shaggy (a.k.a. Mark) and I had not been in touch in about 5 years, and I totally take the blame. How sad is that? Shaggy was my best man, but I let time and 700 miles get in the way of our friendship.

I met Shaggy in 9th grade, and looking back, I can’t really remember my high school years without thinking of him. We were always connected. When I wasn’t living out of my Blazer, I lived at Shaggy’s house. Whenever Johnny-Law needed to correct some inappropriate behavior, Shaggy was detained right along side me. Tight. Always.

When we were sophmores, we were both diggin’ on two freshman hotties, Lauren Wood and Kelly Quartaro. What are best friends to do when they can’t decide who would ask who out? Yup… coin-flip. Mark and Lauren ended up dating for the next three years, while Kelly and I dated off and on for three. Mostly off. Ok, we dated for about four months, and then there was just this weird tension for two years while she dated other guys, and I didn’t date much.

So in honor of the flip of the coin, here’s e.s.l. covering Girls originally recorded by the Beastie Boys. (you can listen to the original here)

I am out of words now.

“…this aggression will not stand, man.”

Today (Valentine’s Day) my daughter came home from school with two boxes of chocolates given to her by a boy. I’m sorry, I misspoke. Today my 10-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER came home with two boxes of chocolates given to her BY A BOY! I have so many different responses to that, that I actually have no response. Wait… I just thought of one. Next year we’re not going to celebrate this Hallmark Holiday. That’ll work, won’t it? … The snowball has started rolling downhill, but I knew that it would have to start someday soon. She has her mother’s beauty, and kind heart. The little dude who brought Lil the candy is Jun, the new kid in the class. Jun is both new to her class and new to the US, having moved to Little Rock from South Korea last year. He doesn’t speak much English, but apparently he asks her daily “you like boy?” Lil has been very concerned with Jun feeling welcome and at home in our little burg, and as a dad, that thrills me beyond words. I praise her intelligence. I praise her beauty. But, I celebrate her character.

As I said, Elizabeth’s beauty is totally attributed to her old lady. Today marks the 16th Valentine’s Day in a row, that the cutest girl in class has chosen to be mine. My response to that tidbit of shock and awe can best be summed up in the words of one of her top ten favs.

I’m out of words now.

—————-
now playing on dude tunes: The Black Keys – Heavy Soul (Alt. Version)
via FoxyTunes

today was such a day. these days start like normal, then, well i’ll just say they start out normal…

then there are footballs…

discussions about portobello mushrooms…

there was some pre-Christmas ice cream…

then, i found some caffine, but it didn’t help…

maybe a little patchouli oil. (my boss said i made his office smell like “damned hippy BO”)

oh… i found some great things on the net today: a great Obama video (that is not an endorsement, just a note of appreciation… the only candidate that has drawn me out of my political closet is the Kinkster); a bonkers home theater; a little everyday wookie wisdom; and a bit more.

if you’ve stayed with me this long, check out this cool toy we made for Arkansas. it launched in early january, but that dealie was a major reason for the dude’s lack of abiding in november and december.

hey, if you didn’t already know, the short fat kid has moved to the funk box, and ironical is now the dramatic.

i’m out of words now.
—————-
Now playing: Thao – Bag Of Hammers
via FoxyTunes

While baking through a little lawnwork today… and when i say little, i mean four hours in 100 degree heat… I realized that mowing my yard has advanced my career in a huge way. It’s not the immediate satisfaction of seeing instant progress, it’s the time with my iPod.

I’ve always listened to something while mowing, when I was 14 it was Joshua Tree, 17 the Mighty Lemon Drops. Then there was a blessed seven-year hiatus from yardwork until i owned my own house in 1997, and from then until just a couple of years ago, sports talk-radio was my overheated companion. I guess I need something to help me pass the time.  …

Now it’s audiobooks. Apple has made a lot of life easier for me, and learning, may just be the best. Here is a sampling of some of the books that have altered my mind recently:

The World is Flat
All Marketers Are Liars
Re-Imagine Business
Small Is The New Big
The Big Moo
Blink
The Tipping Point
Freakonomics

Today, I began my second tour through Freakonomics, and I have to say, It’s one of the most fascinating reads (listens) I’ve ever had. If you have any interest in sociology, or why people do what they do, then this is a must be read. Mind-altering is truly an appropriate description.

Taking the time to engage these books has helped this proud owner of a B.A. in History to navigate the business world just a bit better. And, become a little more knowledgeable about things other than the benefits of the 3-4 defense.

I’m out of words now.

As an Interactive Producer, it is my job to help people communicate. The message may be deep / brief / large-audience / silly / etc. You get the idea… the message could be anything, the challenge is shaping it to be received well by the intended audience. And if the message is delivered well, then hopefully a conversation will ensue as the audience responds, and ideas / loyalty / relationships are shared.

You know what, it’s a great gig. If you are a friend of mine, you could attest to the fact that I can be a bit chatty. I’m not ashamed, I like stories and odds are that on any given day I may share 37 of them, give or take twenty.

This week, two terrific articles on communicating well via the web have been passed on to me, and true to form, I’m blabbing about them here. …

I’ll begin with the article that Duke, a brilliant Experience Architect (he told me not to call him an Information Architect anymore), sent me this afternoon. The article is about amazing ways to visualize data. He is an expert in this field, and if it moved Duke enough to pass it on to me, I thought it would be worth my time to read it.

Data visualization may seem like an obscure Advanced Physics pre-req, but actually it’s a part of your everyday life. Highway signs, magazine articles, convenience store shelves, they are all examples of how information is put together to so that the user can make quick, informed decisions. Check out the link. You’ll dig it, and if you don’t, then feel free to call me a Nerd for thinking so.

The second article that I want to pass along was shared by The Short Fat Kid. The article is about words. Beautiful, meaningful words. Some time back the idea was adopted that the words used on the web should be quick and dirty… Not that kind of dirty.

Momentum was built around this line of thought for two reasons. First, speed was king. No malice was intended. It was believed to serve the reader best to be brief, and be done. Second, and this is just a shame, is because the words on the web were not crafted by gifted writers, rather they were assembled by programmers or whoever else in the office had time to help out.

Read the article. You’ll be encouraged that there are people out there that believe that you are intelligent, and that you can be moved by beauty.

I’m out of words now.

I love being a dad. It’s what I always wanted to be when I grew up. You know that career question that you get at work from time to time “so, where do you see yourself in five years?”… my first thought is always: being the best dad that i can be for my three kids. But being a dad has cut short one of my passions – experiencing really good live music in small vibrant venues.

This week, Sarabeth let me slip out on a school night to get a firat hand look at one of my favorite bands. Reckless Kelly came to town and their live shows are legendary. I needed to see it. As much as dance means to her , SB knows live music means just as much to me. Feeling the deep percussion of the kick drum… witnessing a guitarist dance with his instrument… experiencing the vocalist feel his words as he shares them with the world… there is a power there that moves me like no other. So, last Tuesday…

…I called Bucket, and we snuck out to see these Austin boys. There is no myth to this legend. For two+ hours Reckless Kelly thrilled us. Driving alt country that makes Nashville look silly. Drinking songs and heartfelt ballads that made me proud to be from the Hill Country. Man, I’ve missed this. They played the Revolution Music Room, an acoustically vibrant joint, to perfection. Should Reckless Kelly pass your way — even if you don’t like indie-country — GO SEE THEM!

Here are two reasons why:

i am out of words now.

I’ve been working on a playlist for Bucket (a.k.a. Chris Shelton). He hasn’t asked… I’m just throwing out a set that might work well for a summer party… at Bobby and Rhonda’s… on the back patio… around the pool… with Phil smokin’ some ribs…

Or… maybe at the new Tiki Lounge.

(Just click the track name to play, or right-click to save.)

01. Baby Got Back
02. Lodi Dodi
03. Hey Ya
04. Hot In Herre
05. Ice Ice Baby
06. Faith
07. Get Your Freak On
08. Crazy in Love
09. …Baby One More Time
10. Insane In the Brain
11. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
12. Careless Whisper
13. Frontin’
14. Thriller
15. Jessie’s Girl
16. Pour Some Sugar On Me
17. Afternoon Delight

Did I miss anything? Let me know what else I should include in this Bucket Wish list. Maybe he could play them for MILLIEPALOOZA 2007?

(Of course, these songs are here for your sampling pleasure. If you enjoy them, then please go buy them.)

I am out of words now.

Way back in 2004, some good friends of mine were planning the trip of a lifetime… hike down the Bright Angel Trail of the Grand Canyon to raft the Colorado River. A nine day float trip through one of the eight wonders of the world. They had been planning the trip for about six months, when one member of this testosterone-party had to back out, and they needed a sixth person to fill their raft. If I have only one talent… filling empty space may just be it. Let the photo shoot begin…

facing the canyon in person was beyond words

Norm, Chris, Jones, Sean, Todd and Kent

Ok, here’s the deal, the hike from the edge of the canyon to the river is over nine miles. Sure it’s all down hill, but we were carrying a ton of stuff, and it was 100+ degrees, and… Waa, waa, waa… I got to live a kid’s dream, quit your whining fat-boy.

really, they just brought me along to take pictures

Here’s Freaky Phil, one of our guides

Because the waiting list to raft the canyon is 10+ years, we found a great company, Outdoors Unlimited, who sold us space on one of their trips. We loved the guides, the food and all of the extracurriculars offered by OU.

febreeze and axe can only do so much

the day hikes off of the river were unbelievable

SB didn’t know the trip was co-ed

We ate like kings, shared our life’s stories, laughed hard, and… we melted! It was hot, but they say it’s a dry heat. 120 is 120, I don’t care if it’s a dry heat, it’s dragon breath hot. At night it did drop into the low 90′s, but the desert wind would cruise in from the south, and it felt like you were trying to sleep while someone was blowing a hair dryer all over you. However the river is all melted snow, and it was frigid, so sometimes at night we would sleep with our feet in the river. And speaking of the river, it was the star of the show. It was the reason that we made the trek, and it certainly did not disappoint.

Maybe it won’t be a once in a lifetime trip. Maybe one day I’ll pack up my boys (I’ll wait until they are big enough to pack their big bad dad’s gear down the trail) and we’ll live this dream together. And one more thing…

this is me expressing myself

I am out of words now.

Vince Griffin is a tremendously talented musician.

Because i spent so much time driving last week, I had a chance to go back and really listen to some new music on my iPod. Not just play a tune for background music, but really pay attention to all of the details. I’ve decided that Kings of Leon deserve more respect than I have given them in the past… That The Black Keys are the band that most resonates in my soul (mostly, I mean, there are exceptions)… That Bloc Party’s live performances are incredibly consistent with their studio productions. And finally that the two new bands (new to me at least) that have really impressed me are the Heartless Bastards and Bear Colony.

In the interest of personal integrity, I’ll admit that I may be biased because I’ve known Vince for the last dozen years. He’s quirky, moody, independent, and now I can add: creative beyond my imagination. When I learned that Vince had penned the lyrics and recorded the lead vocal I was truly shocked. I knew that he had written much of the music and driven the production. But I gained a much greater appreciation for Vince’s musical prowess now that I knew the words in heart as well as the music from his soul.

From an early age Vince could play any instrument that was made available to him. Drums, Percussion, Guitar, Bass, Upright Bass, Piano… Those are the instruments that I’ve seen him play, and I’m sure that there are others. Then there is the physical side of his creativity. As a visual artist Vince is reckless and inspired.

We Came Here To Die is a rich and mature album, and it makes me very proud of Vince to see the road his career is traveling. I don’t think that I’ll be able to give the album a proper critique, so I’ll let SPIN and All Things Go and LocalList work their magic.

And with that…

I am out of words now.

It happens on this annual vacation to Destin. I have decided that my golf game has a purpose: to warn others of what their golf game would look like without practice. I enjoy it though… it’s an adventure. I have no idea what’s going to happen each time that I hit the ball. Last year I hit an incredible boomerang shot. I crushed the ball. I’m telling you I thumped it hard. It flew about 40 feet, resoundingly ricocheted off of the tree that was not so directly in front of me, then returned back in my direction with great force. But thankfully, the ball did not hit me… it flew over my shoulder and hit my father-in-law square in the chest leaving him with a nice swollen purple souvenir of our time together on the course.

Later in that same round, I again killed the ball on a monster drive. The ball flew 20 feet off the tee perpendicular to the direction that I was aiming, struck the front passenger-side tire on our golf cart, rebounded and nailed me right in the ankle. Fortunately I was allowed to hit another ball, because surely the same thing could not happen again… and it didn’t. This time I jumped out of the way before the speeding Dude-Magnet had a chance to inflict more harm on my sunburned legs.

I am out of words now.

This is not a short and sweet top five list like the ones that made the movie connect so deeply with its audience. However it is about music, which is a need as basic to human existence as food and love… and SNL.

If your feelin’ me, then you too (nice pun) are a Music Hound. I had a little bit of free time over the holiday weekend, so I jumped around to the best music blogs that I know and created a new link category just for you. You know who you are, and if you don’t, here’s a hint: You Never Listen To The Radio! There’s no need for an intervention. I’ll admit to music dependency. I have no problem with that.

I love music, but the only instrument that i can play is called a File. Before that it was known as a CD, and before that as a Cassette Tape. Even though I am instrumentally incompetent, music means a lot to me. Uncovering some rare song by a favorite band, or learning about a great new artist can really make my week. And then If you are anywhere within my reach you will be subjected to hearing all about them. I can be kind of imposing, at least that’s what Sarabeth says.

I’ve been a frequent-flyer on some of these blogs for a while, and because of them I’ve found several new tunes that are now some of my most played songs. (today’s jewel that I uncovered- Prince’s – I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man – covered by Eels.) In keeping with my overbearing personality, I am now forcing them upon you all in blog form. Lookin’ for live, check out Superb Live. Whimsical mood? My Old Kentucky Blog. Indie, check out Come Pick Me Up. Looking for covers, Copy, Right? is your friend. There are lots of options here. I could go on and on, but….

I’m out of words now…

(Happy Texas, it just makes my Texas heart happy)

(Sidebar – On the drive down, I got a call from work that we were announcing the acquisition of an Ad Agency in Dallas, and that we needed to add their contact information to our site. I pulled into a McDonald’s in Texarkana, whipped out the MacBook Pro, and made the change right there in front of a double-cheeseburger. wow. – end of Sidebar)

I used to make trips like this often wayback in my early twenties, but with the advent of parenthood and careerhood, these are really rare occurances. Jessica has been going to school off and on for 21 years, and it has not been easy. She has four children, and many jobs, and I am immensely proud of her for pulling this off. I was in no way going to miss this celebration.

I’m grateful for this trip because I got to see dear family, and for the fact that I got to drive through the hill-country and listen to some really good country music. My musical tastes are all over the place. From age 0 to 6, I grew up in the country, so my roots go to Glenn Campbell/Jim Croce/Kenny Rogers/Don Williams. From 7 to 10, I lived near South Padre Island where Adam Ant/Loverboy/J. Geills Band rocked my Eight-Track. Then from 11-17, I grew up in San Antonio in a cassette soup of Van Halen/Black Flag/U2/Footloose/George Strait/NWA/Toad The Wet Sprocket/Def Leppard/Run DMC/The Indigo Girls/The Cure/The Innocence Mission/Jerry Jeff Walker. In college there was no money for new music, so I just wore out my David Wilcox CD.

All of those influences play a part in my soul, but there is something about driving through Texas listening to music that was brewed there, (sidebar – They have their own music chart. – end of Sidebar) that is a necessary ingredient to my life. It’s true, I need it. Without it, I forget who I am.

So on this trip I reconnected with my family, and with a dormant part of me that was found on a strip of highway 290 between Dripping Springs and Johnson City. And, just in case you didn’t know it, Reckless Kelly is the best band in country music, hands down.

I am out of words now.

ps here’s a little reckless…

For Creatives, it is mandated that we communicate creatively. It’s not a requirement written in a job description, it’s a need that lives in the soul. Sometimes the concept is too creative, and that’s cool, because if all ideas are accepted, then the work is acceptable. We don’t want to be acceptable. We want to be remarkable.

Ramble, ramble, ramble, I think that I am using up all of my words, here. What I am getting to is this: Whenever a creative sells a concept to a client or AE we go through a rationale, pre-sell, explanation about why the concept is the best one in the world and why no other creative concept could possibly be as excellent as the one that – through hours and hours of “online research”, Project Runway/UFC channel-surfing, Cap’n Crunch-eating, mental olympics caused by fear of derivation, next best-thinging and sometimes costume wearing – we have just given birth too! Hallelujah… Holy Sh@%… Where’s The Tylenol.!?!?

But, like I said, sometimes we can be too creative. For the folks who have a hard time understanding how a creative piece is going to sell their product, Diablog Cafe has created the Account Man Pop-Up to give the audience the unbelievably obvious translation that they may need. It’s brilliant. Enjoy.

I’m out of words now.

“Really? That’s the title of your first post?”

Sarabeth is curious. She wants to know if all of my posts will have a movie title embedded in the post title in some form or fashion.

Well… no… maybe… I don’t know… It might be a cool little caveat to add, but you know, one day I’m going to run out of relevant titles to use, and then I’m going to be toast, and I’ll have an awesome post about something really great, and all I’ll have to use for the title will be … Pootie Tang.

(by the way, I pledge right now to not use “…” anymore today)

The Volcano that opposes me is the battle of leadership. It’s hard. Really hard. And, it is the profession that I have chosen. For the last several years I have been a Creative. It’s a wonderful gig, and I highly endorse the calling, but a year ago, I opted for the challenge of leading Creatives. I made the move for a thousand reasons, but what has risen to be the major purpose for such a shift is that as a Creative, I learned a bit about how Creatives should be led – how I have enjoyed being led.

Remember that EDS superbowl commercial from about a decade ago?

That is how it feels at times. Lead the person, yet give them the freedom that they deserve so that they can mine the gold which only they can find. They are all brilliant, and hard workers, but never the less, I represent the man, and when things get tight, I have to be the @#$ that rides them to produce.

I’m out of words now.