Friday, January 30, 2009

Free Will + Free Willy

Max, Rachel and I had an epiphany about “Free Willy” the movie. Could the title be driven by the values propelling Willy’s escape?

Max explains.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

YouTube controls my life

From now on, all flash pieces will be made in 30 frames per second so they flow better on youtube. This is a lesson learned too late for my honesty project, seen above. Please excuse the choppiness.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Gain weight, get out of prison in 1967


While reading an article about the science of weight gain, I ran into this past study,

"In 1967, a medical researcher, Ethan Sims, carried out an experiment at Vermont state prison in the US. He recruited inmates to eat as much as they could to gain 25% of their body weight, in return for early release from prison."-bbc.com

The things we do continue to amaze me- "I don't care who you killed. Try to gain a bunch of weight and we'll let you out of prison early in the name of science?"

“Advertising” needs to be rebranded

Everyone hates “advertising.” Industry professionals say the public only hates “bad” advertising. I used to believe this, but I’m not so sure anymore.

The problem is the “brand” advertising; it’s a nasty one full of lies, ugly typefaces and clutter.

I’m pretty sure the industry tried to rebrand advertising by changing its name to “branding.” This may of worked for a while, but now branding has become the band that sold out to MTV. We throw the word “branding” into every sentence because we think it’s like putting sprinkles on a cupcake. Everyone loves color, flavorless sugar bits.

How do you rebrand a word/industry?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Sounds like a beach

Sometimes we make things for no reason at all. This is one of those things. Rachel and I aren't terrorists, we just wanted to look bad ass in the credits. All authentic beach sounds used in this production came straight from Rachel's mouth.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Loss of Innocence

Humans are primates, duh


Anthropologists will tell you a hundred times over that female reproductive success is based on access to food and male reproductive success is dependent on access to females.

It took the hundredth time of me hearing this to realize how accurately it applies to humans. On a basic level, guys only want to score with girls, while girls are content eating chocolate...

Hence the birth of the classic dinner date. It satisfies both female and male instincts; males get to spend time with a female, and females get to stuff their faces.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Don't eat the sea kittens?


I want to love PETA, but come-- on rebranding fish as “sea kittens”?

I see where PETA is coming from. Kittens are cute, fish aren’t; people love kittens, not fish. But seriously, does PETA think it can change the English language and raise a new generation who call fish “sea kittens”? PETA even went as far writing a children's bedtime story telling the horrors of fishing. Kids aren't dumb, they'll know the fish are sea kittens when they see them swimming without their "kitten" suits on.

Imagine the guy who pitched this idea.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Digital this, that and cigarettes?


A friend showed me this commercial for an electronic cigarette, or “e-cigarette.” According to the ad, “You still get the nicotine hit but offer none of the negative side effects of smoking tobacco.” I still find it hard to believe that this isn’t an ad playing in the background of Blade Runner or 1984.

As absurd and creepy as the idea of a straight nicotine hit is, I love how companies tried their best to make the e-cigarette look like the real deal including installing an LED light so the cigarette appears to burn.

I used to believe there were some things that never become digital. Now I question the future of coffee, hugs and the handshake.

Perhaps someday apple will buy out the e-cigarette, call it the i-cigarette and charge twice as much.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Every president needs an ugly friend

I’ve been thinking about the ugly friend philosophy- the idea that a person will look more attractive when standing next to his or her ugly friend. This is based on the idea that you will always fall somewhere in between an array of people, some who look better than you and some who don’t.

All politics aside, I think this theory plays into presidential elections. The losers tend to look homely next to their Vice Presidents while the winners shin a little brighter when standing next to their running mates.

George Bush and Dan Quayle don’t fit this, but all rules need a few exceptions.



Who knew you could make Bush look ... charming?




The opposite is true when holding animals. The animal will always be better looking than you, but will cause you to look more caring which always makes you appear more attractive. Check out these famous people holding cats as proof.