Bowen '08 "'tis the season"

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EXPO 67 Designs

These are cool, that's all there is to say...

What I want for christmas...

In the spirit of consumerism, Christmas and the 21st century...

I am going to attempt to compile my Christmas list online this year.

Those of you who care enough to even be here can take a peak, add suggestions and post comments.

Gone are the days of lists on the fridge or letters to the North Pole...Santa if you have a problem with this...then blog about it!

happy holidays.

LIST:

1) Digital Camera (Canon)

2) Liverpool track jacket

3) Cologne

4) Ipod Nano (8 gig)

5) Mac Leopard OS

6) Running socks

7) "Lost" Season 3 DVD

8) Graphic t-shirts (medium)

9) Donation to 'Malaria No More" (http://www.malarianomore.org/)

10) Running Jacket (Nike etc)

no cussing

Apparently when the residents of VA Beach were debating whether a proposed law banning "cussing" violated freedom of speech, they said "fuck it".

So now as you cruise the strip, not only will you experience the highest number of souvenir shops per capita but also the highest number of "fudge, shoot and gosh dams".

fuck ya.

Discounted sweaters at 4 a.m.

As someone new to thanksgiving in the U.S. I have got to say, a couple of things have taken me by surprise. Now the fundamentals of turkey-day are not new to me, growing up in Canada we also celebrate thanksgiving, it just happens to fall in October and no one knows why we are giving thanks.

However being a rookie in the American fall classic has certainly afford me some new experiences. The first being the time the feast takes place, today I had "dinner" at 2pm, as in 2 hours past noon. Now I don't really have anything against eating a meal at this time, it's usually when I have lunch. It's just when it is 5 pounds of turkey, gravy and all the sides, my body feels weird.

The second is black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving that marks the start of the Christmas by offering American’s a gluttony of sales. Now I must admit I already knew about this event, but spending the majority of my time in front of the T.V. this break has exposed me to sever lengths retailers go to promote rampant shopping.

J.C. Penny is opening at 4 a.m. That's right as in four hours after midnight, a couple of hours before the sun rises. What possibly posses the CEO of J.C. Penny to think "you know what American's need at 4 a.m.?...Discounted sweaters."

Where has this excessive promotion of consumerism come from? Has it always been inside of us? Probably not, but American culture has never been shy to flex their purchasing power, hell you could argue that the country was built on it. And I am not saying that the promotion of it is evil. But why is it that retailer's need to tempt people with discounted prices on leather coats, t.v.'s and Ipods at 4 a.m?

Why is it that they encourage people to stand in lines for hours, crawl over their fellow man and then punch them in the face for a half priced toaster?

I have no idea, so in the spirit of the season and research I am going to venture out tomorrow in search of that elusive discounted sweater, which if the commercials’ don’t lie, will complete my holiday look.

Wish me luck.

keep on walking

Flight to Boston

Better consider the train next time.

FFFFOUND.com

Recently I was introduced to the image website ffffound.com by a friend.

Basically the website acts like a giant image bookmarking website. Participants simply bookmark images that they have discovered through out their daily musings.

The result is amazing, the depth and breath of graphic/pictorial/illustration inspiration is endless.

Here is a sample.

Now with real life killing action!!!

Amazing!

I came across while doing some research, it was on the back of an old comic book.

The copy is as entertaining as the headline.

It is no wonder why we have neo-cons sticking our country into every war they can get their hands on.

All you need to do is look at what was advertised to them as children.

We should advertise renewable energy toys, like windmills with "new spinning motion" in hopes that the next generation will grow up trying to stick those all over the world.

Mao Gore Pumpkin

The product of a make-shift template and a broken pumpkin carving utensil is the first ever political hybrid, Mao - Gore. Etched into a pumpkin one can only speculate what would happen if this indeed wasn't a pumpkin but in fact a actual political player.

I imagine "inconvenient peoples revolution" or something silly like that.

Think about it.

I want to thank everyone who came out and listen to our presentation on homeless culture and especially those who showed a great interest in what Theo had to say.

Often as we spend our days running around from meeting to meeting trying to create the next advertising, branding or communication solution we allow ourselves to become overly stressed out.

Why?

No one is going to die,

The world isn't going to implode if we don't come up with the next great wild posting or online avatar. Personally I think we could all benefit from taking ourselves a little less seriously.

Listening to Theo's story yesterday again reminded me of that (For those of you who don't know his story, trying to recount it on a blog won't do it justice, you'll have to find me).

So the next time you find yourself trying to claw out your eyes because of a strategy or headline, step back, step outside and realize how silly the whole thing is.

It is a incredibly liberating experience, and I guarantee that you will end up doing better work.

Still the most powerful job?

This is a question that I have found myself asking for the last couple of years. Referring to the man who occupies the oval office, I can't help but think that perhaps the answer is NO.

One just has to look to at the job that Bill Clinton is doing since leaving the white house. The Clinton Foundation is arguablly one of the most succesful charities in the world especially considering the short amount of time since its inception. And you could easily argue that President Clinton's has been able to do more good for the world then he ever could while leading the country.

My theory is further supported, when you look at some of the achievements of other charities that are are headed by people who never dreamed of taking the top job. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, supported by Warren Buffets incredible donation are doing more for the worlds poor than any President could ever imagine.

So much is required of a president, that even if they have the best intentions of making a dramatic change in the world he rarely gets the chance.

Last week as Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in raising awareness for Global Warming, I couldn't help but think that even had he been in the white house, he wouldn't be able to raise the level of awareness that his book, movie and foundation has.

And while I still hold great hope that someone will seize their opportunity as President to enact real change in my life time.

But perhaps this world has a lot more to benefit from the Mr. Gore not winning the 2000 election.

Free Faith Project

We'll talk about almost anything to do with our lives.

But why not our religious views, no matter what they are?

The more we talk about things the greater a community we make.

I'm in love with a gorilla

Yup, its true,

a large primate,

a very big, very hairy, rhythmically inclined gorilla.

I am guilty of watching him almost everyday.

here you can watch him to

What makes me so happy about this, is that it showcases that advertising can still be fun and inventive.

As cheesy as it sounds it restores my faith a little, that perhaps the communications industry that I am entering still has a couple of tricks up its sleeves.