Observations While Aging +1

1. Expectations vs. Reality:

 2. #shestooyoungforyoubro‘s just a Jersey Shore thing. (Decided it was time to give up GTL after watching 5 seasons.)

3. The majority of my friends fall within the 25-30 range and happen to be either 1) artists on the side (film or DJs), 2)  working in the science (engineering or computer) or education industry, or 3) were marketing or math- related majors in college. All of my supervisors have been female, in their 50s, and graciously offered me much advice (especially with relationships).

4.  I don’t know why the above tends to happen, so I’m working on diversifying. That said,  ”how can you avoid becoming too close-minded as you age?” (See Quora answers)

5. The picture below belongs to Tribune Media. Copyrights are very, very important (like, for Pinterest).

6. Dunning-Kruger Effect: which can probably best be described by this:

This just in though: M&M’s won the viewer vote in YouTube’s Ad Blitz 2012 Contest (yet the real winner was decided by whichever marketing survey you decide to believe):

I’m not sure whether the hype-kilLing was attributed to brands’ decisions to pre-release the Superbowl ads a few weeks before (and maybe I should have waited too), the global economy’s state and thus less budget to work with, or just playing it safe- but in that process, I think the level of creative efforts went down as well.

My dad, who’s definitely not as sentimental in that space, asked: ”Why do companies spend more (average of 3.5 million for a 30-sec. spot ) promoting a product when they should be improving product quality?” Typical cynical response (and Asian perspective)- but honestly, to this day, I don’t know the answer to this question.

To a lot of questions, actually:

• Is there such a thing as a stupid or a dumb question? 
• Why is Google everywhere on the subway?
• Where is mobile advertising traveLing, especially next month?
• How loud will a Mountain Lion roar?
• Or this one upon stumbLing on Pinterest:

Sorting through Linty data is sort of like the feeLing of pure childish delight from peeLing the Elmer’s glue off my fingers. What to do with the vanity metrics, though, is another story…

And the science gets done.
And you make a neat gun-
for the people who are still alive.

]]> http://vforvoraciousbobcat.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/you-just-keep-on-trying-til-you-run-out-of-cake/feed/ 1 Van11 Am I? http://vforvoraciousbobcat.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/an-absolute-value-equation/ http://vforvoraciousbobcat.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/an-absolute-value-equation/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:43:27 +0000 Vannie http://vforvoraciousbobcat.wordpress.com/?p=1191 Read more.]]> The fascination started in high school – on a browse for “surreal desktop wallpapers”. One day, I stumbled upon a decent jpg, and then before I knew it, I began collecting and saving Absolut ads on my computer.

So, here  begins an: (kudos if you can read the fine print [no pun intended]) 

Over the years, I’ve been trying to figure out why I’ve loved them so much- whether they were genuinely generated by Absolut or by other artists putting their own spin on the ads.

I think it stems from the belief that I’m as adept as a 2-month old baby when it comes to drawing. In kindergarten, my arts and crafts teacher told me she was disappointed with my lack of skill during an origami session, since I’d ask her for help every class. Therefore, since I was “bad” at art, I hated it as a kid and dismissed it as boring. It wasn’t until I took an art history class (why? I still don’t know to this day..probably because I was suffering from extreme senioritis)  that I began reconsidering. It’s why I admire copywriters and graphic designers who are good at their craft: it’s a combination of both intuition and craft one needs to execute and perfect.

One thing remains, however: when the brand name comes up, my mind automatically gears to the ads. It’s like the ads  have transcended the logo- by becoming the logo itself.

These are the ones I keep coming back to:

Nevertheless, I think Absolut’s one of the few consistently impressionable brands out there, next to Coke’s “Happiness“,  that have established themselves via print (nowadays, it’s mostly commercials you remember products for).  It’s probably interesting to note this phenomenon only in the food/drink industry, unlike the fashion world (where print still reigns) or maybe tech like Apple.

Maybe it’s also because the ads that suck me in tend to envision an alternate reality or parallel universe. Like these:

Call it idealistic. The first one is a little radical; the second, slightly achievable (“Iron Man” much?). But with science picking up the pace  and filling in empty pages these days, who or what’s to say that nothing is impossible?

So there you have it: a verbal proof of the absolute value equation for creative ad thinking. No matter how “real” or “complex” the number is, the destination will be far from zero. Its value is always positive- and Absolut[ely] Brilliant.

it’s time to rewind:

realign, reassign, recombine

the DNA from scene of my crimes.

[And yes, I'm doing this in rhyme.]

Let’s start from Cloud 9:

From Earth's birth, I remember last year when-

Dishing here with Red Sox fans at college in 2010;

Now living in fear of not paying the rent.

 I used to stick this in my “quotes” store:

But I realized more here-

to truly hear=

only you can adhere

to the words you pioneer. So:

My ex-wallpaper on my desktop.

The fresh wallpaper to be next swapped.

“This is Not the Net You Knew“:

The new Twitter frittered the nightly news.

We paid Steve Jobs his knightly dues.

Google ‘s newest doodle ooh’s-

while Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich stews.

It’s sugar, and spice, and everything nice-

Thus, a New Year's resolution: cure sweet tooth.

 But it comes down to stop sugarcoating the truth-

a countdown to a year with all & nothing to  lose.

George: All right, but we’re not buyin’ it at Bloomingdale’s. I will buy it, you pay me back later. I’ll sniff out a deal. I have a sixth sense.

Jerry: Cheapness is not a sense. 

(Aha! Maybe bargains are the universal cure to battling that tryptophan?)

Midnight city shopping sounded like an adventure, so I decided to join the party of misers & shopaholics. Since I do most of my year’s shopping on Black Friday, I equipped myself with a battle plan- a backpack, bottle of water, and mental breakdown of each destination en route within each time frame.

There I stood. “Waiting for a roar. Looking at the mutating skyline.” 

Honestly, I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to first-handedly collect any amusing stories like these here:

Nevertheless, I’m relieved that the day was rated PG; although after a few minutes of initially feeling the adrenaline rush from the crowds, it got overwhelming. Of all the Black Fridays I’ve stuck around for, the turnout this year seemed a lot larger. Good for the economy, I guess. And for that, I’m thankful.

And for Cyber Monday (Black Friday’s e-version..or another deal’s eversion). According to this, Shop.org: you rock.

And for you, Siri.

And for Google +.

Last but not least- for a long weekend pondering the fate of technology. And like the ghosts of Christmas past/present/future, what the human race/you/and I choose to do with it.

It seems the entire world, across the span of the seven seas, has commemorated Cap’n Steve Jobs’ passing. After watching his commencement address at Stanford on Youtube a few years ago, I found myself sitting through the entire video- from start to finish-without budging. That in itself, I think it’s safe to say that his presence already claimed its legitimate place as master of technology’s helm.

I realized a sad truth: I was more fascinated by the difference between the iPhone 4s and the first model and how iPads worked,  than the person behind the scenes. So I watched a couple of more conversations:

Then, maybe Jobs preferred it that way. Usually, a face represents your brand- but strangely, Apple has still been equally successful, a dual corporation and playground.

I think the biggest revelation I’ve had so far is that I’ve probably known this my entire life, yet never pinpointed why. Certainly explains and justifies the “weird” things I used to do from the age of four- writing stories with stickers, associating objects with numbers (ex. an umbrella would be ’73′, but not ’1′. Don’t ask.), making my classmates climb across monkey bars for crackers, and more that I hesitate in revealing…Jobs simply re-iterated it:

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” 

And while I may not have had any imaginary friends as a child, inspiration has always been there for me. It keeps me at Best Buy for hours- geeking over the difference between a LED and LCD  tv and playing “Need for Speed” on the Amazon Kindle. Whether it’s writing, moving, or subconsciously dreaming up song lyrics (now if only I can remember them..), it’s that wanderlust.

So thanks, Inspiration. I owe it to you to be living in my head- but on a budget. Especially when I have to redesign a new apartment that I hopefully will be permanently moving into by the end of this year!

A brainstorm for now:

bathroom floor

bathroom wall

blue pendant lighting for the kitchen

“My mind’s racing from chasing pirates.“

During winter breaks, I used to host friends from Bates staying over at my apartment-  worrying that they weren’t getting the best New York experience. Between each tour, I’d ask if they were hungry. One day, one of my friends replied exasperatedly, “We just ate 2 hours ago. My God, let me digest.”

I had just uncovered my secret obsession with food.

With neighborhood favorites including Italian rice balls and Russian chocolates and the fact that my father worked in restaurants- I think it certainly stems from my childhood. Now add wanderlust to the mix, and the concoction of the thrill of food trucks puts my tongue in heat.

So, I decided to volunteer at the Vendy Awards this year. They’re coordinated by the Street Vendor Project, a non-profit organization affiliated with the Urban Justice Center. which aims to develop community outreach. They were supposed to start at 12:30, but since I luckily got the part to help out (there were only 300 volunteers selected!), we were given free access, food truck goodies, snacks, and alcohol before they opened the lines to the public and V.I.P members:

Since my shift started at 9 am, I didn’t get a chance to take a shot of each truck (plus, talk about 8 volunteers checking in 2,000 people at 2 tables for tickets!), so here are my favorites of whom I fortunately and finally got to sample:

Mexicue

Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

Korilla BBQ

Luke's Lobster

On the trip home:

And if this post isn’t a self-promoting story about nonsense, or maybe a conspiracy theory about veraciously voracious appetites,

I don’t know what is:

Copyrights go to The New Yorker.

So was my visit to the MoMA.

First stop was here:

'Standard Deviations: Types and Families in Contemporary Design'

Integration of technology into the human race has been a curious journey from the beginning of accumulation in the human pool for talent. I’ve never been a self-proclaimed computer fanatic well-versed in ‘leet speak‘, but the more we marry the digital species, a kind of interracial fascination has sprouted over the years.

There’s still my obsession with words- but until now, I’ve never studied cyber language closely. Ever wondered how those Microsoft fonts were designed (my favorite still has to be Jokerman; certainly had  too much time on my hands experimenting as a child..)? For machines by humans, of course. Which is exactly why I find the following ironic:

"Never send a human to do a machine's job." Matrix moment, anyone?

Geek's version of fun: playing with typefaces.

I suppose in a way, writing  is advertising itself. In the creative process especially, less is truly more. Writing poetry over the years, I found myself shunning and dropping articles (“a”/”‘the”) left and right. Copywriting and logo branding are perfect examples of ‘beauty is nothing without brains’. Why else would Diet Coke give its face a makeover, or JCPenney vomit their words of girls being too pretty to do homework?

Also, I learned a new word of the day:

A "pangram": A sentence that contains all letters of the alphabet. Sure beats playing Scrabble.

And reunited with an ancient childhood friend:

Wow. Anyone remember these?

On to the next stop:

'Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects'

You may have heard of Google’s new app “Newsmap“:

Google's Newsmap feature.

When it first came out, I was a little irritated- seeing as I had mentally concocted that idea a year before (guess it pays to patent!). The only difference is that I hadn’t thought of the color coding (in addition, instead of providing links to articles, I thought that my ideal version of a news article would list under 10 bullet points of relevant statistics, facts, & quotes).

I’m glad that communication has become so much more diversely interactive- like Chris Woebken’s billboard housing bats and translating bat lingo for humans:

Finally, maybe we'll get to see Batman.

Or Jack Schulze’s “Here and There”- a 3D spin off Foursquare (which reminds me of this futuristic scene from “Inception”)

Dialogue really has transformed- from written to oral to digital. Think this image really best sums it up:

So, what’s happening? We are talking. Maybe about TPS reports, but in terms of social media, the constant chatter that drives the majority of us to communicate with each other is overlapping. I think it comes down to how much you want to say, and what truly is important- minimally speaking, just listening.

How do YOU want to define yourself?

The question remains, especially in this jobless economy: Do you want to let the world know who you are, without the bravado of vanity metrics?

“Joanna: Yeah. You know what, yeah, I do. I do want to express myself, okay. And I don’t need 37 pieces of flair to do it.”

[And as for tomorrow, I think I'll be okay...]

• working with autistic kids
• my first earthquake that hit
• Warren Buffet attacking
• Rupert Murdoch sacking
• Steve Jobs gaunter
• ..and now sauntering into a hurricane- resulting in the city turning off all of its public transportation systems (how I’ll survive without the subway and bus for 2 days is unthinkable, but it’ll be the first and last time I’ll get to sleep in before the rush in September!). I also don’t think I’ve ever seen a supermarket run out of shopping carts this quickly (note: not a sound idea to head to Costco on your own on a late Friday night to stock up..)
•  trips to the pasticceria, Dunkin Donuts, McDonald’s, & Burger King (places I haven’t been in a year with the sole purpose of curbing those late night cravings)
• concert with one of my favorite DJ’s

It may sound morbid, but I’m kind of excited for Irene’s arrival (because there’s nothing better than a memorably muggy night of free ice cream and flashlight-dancing with strangers on unlit streets in ’03). Makes you think how much we’ve taken for granted the luxuries we have today.

Speaking of caveman days, I’ve decided to reminisce by following up on a promise in my last entry. Here’s some of my writing from a primitive mind of a fourteen-year old:

——————————————————–

The Subconscious

——————————————————–

Look what is in your hands

do you see the dustlike fragments

yes they are your dreams

dreams pent up

in the prison of your mind

now freed

——————————————————–

well go ahead touch them

swim thru the whirlpools of hidden emotions

relive the memories

——————————————————–

sew them up with your invisible needle

into a tapestry

here is your thread of time

quickly gently

don’t let anything slip through

your fingers of wanton oblivion

——————————————————–

you have your cosmic creation?

now come with me

slowly quietly

I have the key to reality

shall we now go unlock the past?

——————————————————–

The Leech (Shakespearean sonnet)

——————————————————–

Pray tell me why you turn that gentle face;

you claim that it’s because you haven’t shaved.

My dear: no matter, ’cause you always are-

adorable to me in heart by far.

——————————————————–

And when you say I’m nothing worth,

I’ll still pursue you to the ends of Earth.

You’ll beat, you’ll slug, you’ll scream, you may demand,

but I will still refuse to release your hand.

——————————————————–

And when life’s fires within me burn out,

my lips delay to cling warmth from your mouth.

Your garlicky breath I eagerly steal

will keep me stocked in spice for future meals.

——————————————————–

And now that, babe, you’ve heard what I have said,

make room, sweetheart; let me sleep in your bed!

——————————————————–

With nowhere to go, the rest of this weekend will be painful. Maybe I’ll pick a fight with someone on Google + chat, try to decode logo trends, and take a short break mixing Coke flavors on Facebook- but spend the majority pondering striking the balance between ‘see, no touch’ and ‘touch, no see‘  and the likes of those things- such as: ‘What is the Matrix‘?

“The answer is out there, Neo, and it’s looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.”