Political Boundary Maps Too Dull? - February 8, 2010

If political boundary maps feel a bit monotonous, try WorldMapper on for size. It looks at how the size of countries would shift (proportionally of course, and based on the amount of land on earth to date) according to a specific condition. For example, you can look at anything from how land size would shift according to Peptic Ulcer related deaths, type of transport, amount of emigrants, etc.

Highly recommended, and very insightful.

Socially Awkward - February 4, 2010

Real world experiences are starting to become a thing of the past as the digital age continually encompasses us in its dark shadow. Catching up with an old friend over coffee has been replaced with a quick five minute conversation over gchat or Facebook. The value of sharing a story in person, is losing its worth almost as quickly as the American dollar.

Fortunately, a few people have managed to take the "always on" mentality and flush it down the web 2.0 toilet. While I still prefer to maintain a fun, stalker-esque awareness of my friends and their whereabouts, others have chosen to scale back and focus on the relationships that matter. Enter the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine.

Here's its self-description:

"This machine lets you delete all your energy sucking social-networking profiles, kill your fake virtual friends, and completely do away with your Web2.0 alterego. The machine is just a metaphor for the website which moddr_ is hosting; the belly of the beast where the web2.0 suicide scripts are maintained. Our service currently runs with Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and LinkedIn! Commit NOW!"

I love the concept, but I'm not ready to sever my digital connection. As long as I remember that there is no substitute for the real deal, I'm certain I'll never have to commit web 2.0 suicide. How about you?

Alive and Shrinking - November 2, 2009

Yes, it's true I've been terribly negligent of my blog. Most of this is in part due to my laziness because I feel like my day is pretty busy as is, and I haven't taken the initiative to actually post stuff. Time to break that trend! I realized that continuous blogging actually helps me stay on top of trends and cool stuff that I should pay attention to.

SO, without further adieu, here's something unique I came across. While I was watching TV last night, I saw this commercial for a television show on the National Geographic Channel about lost tribes in the Amazon that are head shrinkers. I was curious, and checked out the website. When I went there, I found something very interesting. On this site, you are invited to upload an image of your face to be "shrunk", and you can preview your shrunken face in 3D and rotate it.

Here's the URL: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/expedition-week-headshrinker

I also included a few screenshots of it, so you can see it for yourself. Enjoy!

Bay to Breakers 2009!!!! - May 15, 2009

Oh yes, the time has come again. A magical moment of the year where 80,000 people flock to walk the streets of San Francisco from the bay to the breakers (the ocean people!). See the map below for the route.
Because we're San Franciscans, we of course can't do anything conservatively. Almost every single participant is dressed up, semi-clothed, or naked. Wild doesn't even begin to describe how insane it is. My favorite description of the event is as a "party warzone." I took this photo below at last year's B2B, and it happens to be one of my most viewed photos on Flickr.
This year's B2B almost didn't happen because one of the neighborhoods complained about the amount of urine deposited on their homes, sidewalks, and streets. Also, the amount of garbage that's generated by a sweeping mass of individuals is incredible, and probably the true reason why officials thought about banning floats and alcohol. Good thing that the Citizens For the Preservation of Bay to Breakers did what they could to make sure the event remained the way it should be.

Besides saving the race, they did do another very interesting thing. CFPB2B are trying to encourage B2B participants to take pictures, send tweets, shoot video, sent texts, and follow live news feeds via Twitter about any wrong doings happening in the race. Particularly, they want people to take pictures of incredibly crowded porta-potty lines, police harassing people, and generally unjust things. I'm assuming they'll use this material as a defense tool if the fun part of the race tries to get shut down again. See everyone out there...and make sure to bring some water!

Ghosty Dance Version 2.0 - May 14, 2009

A while back I posted some video about what it might look like to dance with a sheet on top of myself. I found it to be pretty funny. This time, Ghosty dance has been taken up a notch by using yooouuutuuube.com. Check out the frames, or just watch the video here!




In case you want to make your own yooouuutuuube video, you can do so here.

Bento Boxes! - May 12, 2009

I've been studying Japanese health and diet for a couple months now, and I've come to really love how fun they make their food to eat. Here are some prime examples of incredible bento boxes from Cute-o-Bento!

I think many of these bento boxes are filled with foods that are all colors of the rainbow, which is a Japanese style of eating to ensure you get all the nutrients your body needs.

Swine Flu Anyone - April 30, 2009

In case you are trying to find a person infected with Swine Flu, I found a site that conveniently allows you to find areas of the world that have the densest population of sick people.
It's amazing to see how all the latest technologies out there quickly managed to help inform people about the Swine Flu. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Obama administration embraces these technologies to create a more official and structured protocol as to how to remain in contact with Americans about pressing issues.

World's Best Business Card? - April 21, 2009

I might be a little late to the punch on this, but I've been seeing this video pop-up in a few places. I'm not sure if it's a joke, or this guy is doing some sort of odd viral marketing for his business. Regardless, it's amazing that it took him 25 years to design a terrible looking business card.

10 Reasons Big Rigs Rock - April 15, 2009

Like many Americans, I too have spent countless hours driving the highways of our country. It's amazing to see how many truckers are out there. No matter where you go, eighteen-wheelers are always around. It's easy to dismiss them as creepy dudes with no lives, but I actually find them quite fascinating. There are about 15.5 million trucks operating in the U.S., and of this figure 1.9 million are tractor trailers, "big rigs". There are about 3.5 million truck drivers in the U.S, and one in nine are independent, a majority of which are owner operators.

So, here's my personal list of the top ten reasons big rigs rock!

1. Your bed is never more than one step away from where you work
2. You get to see the country and get paid for it (average of 30 cents a mile)
3. Trucker stations have the best novelty gifts - french tickler anyone?
4. Air horn - need I say more
5. The potential to drive to Mexico with expensive cargo and sell it then retire
6. Ability to grow a gnarly beard and not hear your employer complain about it
7. Possibility of being featured on a Discovery TV show
8. Buying custom mud flaps with your initials on them
9. Spitting rocks onto annoying rich people driving extravagantly expensive cars
10. You'll be perfectly safe in pretty much any accident

Totally random interesting side note: In 1896 there were only four cars registered in all the United States. Two of them collided with each other in St. Louis.

On another truck related side note: The world’s most solitary tree is located at an oasis in the Tenere Desert in Central Africa. There’s not one other standing tree within 31 miles. In 1960, it was smashed into by a truck.

7 to Heaven - April 14, 2009

I'm currently taking an advanced advertising class at a local college to help sharpen up my ad-man skills. It's been an interesting class, and last night we had to do a down and dirty branding exercise.

The assignment: Name and package a new product that Red Bull is producing.

The what: Red Bull is coming out with a warm tea that makes you sleepy, sleepy, sleepy

Timeline: 15 minutes (WTF mate, that's not enough time, but alas it was)

In a semi-state of panic, our team was able to figure out the following.

- Red Bull's brand is all about instant gratification for the person who wants it now. So, how can we leverage that? We decided to take that same on-demand, instantaneous brand equity behind Red Bull and apply it to this warm tea.
- The name had to reflect what the Red Bull brand was all about, and at the same time give the consumer an indication about what the product was going to do for them
- The packaging needed to tap into the consumer's deep-seeded associations of things that remind them of sleep and getting ready for bed
- The target audience had to be sleep deprived, stressed-out, I want it now-type individuals. Sure they could be moms, but mostly we were shooting for the younger demographic
- The communication for this product would take place in urban areas where our primary targets most likely live

So what did we come up with?

The product name = 7 to Heaven

The packaging = A coffee cup style mug. The handle lifts up to crack the chemical pouch that instantly heats the tea.

Bad, Bad, Bad (Fake) Hair - April 7, 2009

I feel like balding has become more acceptable in today's society. Sure, there are still terrible hair-in-a-can infomercials that run on TV, but for the most part, men have given up on actually getting a full head of hair back. It's not about regrowing what you lost, it's about keeping what you have. Not a bad thing, but you have to make sure you catch it early enough before it's too late.

What happens if you do miss the boat? One day you wake up and look in the mirror and realize it's all gone? Besides having a rude awakening, most men roll with it. Some shave their head, some just kinda leave it as is, and some might try to style it as best as they can. Then, there's the very, very few who decide they need to get a toupee. They completely ignore how ridiculous they look, and they never look good, yet they decide to get one anyways.

Last week when I was on the BART, I came across this dude. Woahhhhhhh buddy! This is perhaps the worst of all attempts to dupe the world into thinking you actually still have hair. Notice the major discoloration between the top of his hair and the side of his hair. Completely different colors! Then there's the whole fact it's like 10x as long and 10x as poofy then hair should be! Did he really think he could get away with this? Incredible. Embrace the baldness dude! The crazy part was that he was actually trying to have a business conversation with a guy across from him, and I have no idea why anyone would trust a man who would dare go into public wearing a fake hair piece like this.

I hope I'm not being mean, but it's important to spread the word that toupees are not cool, nor will they ever be.

Artistic Food For Thought - March 28, 2009

State of Creativity & Big Idea Thinking - March 27, 2009

Ahhh…the world of advertising, what is it really about, who does what, how is money made, when are great ideas born, etc, etc, etc.

DDB San Francisco (soon to officially be DDB West) just launched the Official Internet Report on the State of Creativity and Big Idea Thinking. It’s a fantastically sarcastic point of view on how the innards of the ad agency actually thinks.

My personal favorite revealing question, “What’s the dirtiest term on the web?” Email blast, pinging the router, poke, or upload. To find out, you’ll have to check out the site for yourself, but in the meantime, here are some screenshots:

Bacon Infused Vodka - March 16, 2009

Bacon lovers (and maybe even haters that secretly love bacon), I've embarked on a journey to combine some of the best things in life; bacon and booze. The whole idea was to take Bloody Marys to a whole new level by giving it a bacon flavor, and how else might one do that but through a vodka infusion.

Check out the Instructable I wrote up for the project. I swear, it's actually delicious, but be careful, as too much of a good thing can be bad.

Why Is This So Damn Mesmerizing? - March 11, 2009

It's so simple, yet I never seem to tire of it!!!

A Secret Place in the Bay Area - March 3, 2009

A few weeks ago, Hip E and I were cruising the Bay Area, and stumbled upon a secret little harbor that probably next to no one knows about. The locals called it Pirate Bay, but historically it’s known as Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor. Our wanderings into this rural community weren’t exactly an invited one (perhaps we should have been clued off by the skeleton hanging from the fence). Upon our entrance, a rugged fellow who was touting a screw in his mouth like one might with a toothpick quickly met us. After quickly defusing the situation, he left us alone, as I certainly didn’t want to end up with a gun pointed at me, as he inferred through his stories about how he has dealt with strangers previously.

Here’s a picture of him looking slightly less threatening:This little harbor village is home to a few dozen individuals, and is located on the east side of the far end of Point San Pablo. This Point is just north of where the Richmond Bridge meets Richmond. Inside the tiny community is a small cove where the marina is protected from waves, in addition to a breakwater. It even has a café. It is surrounded by many small and undeveloped hills that give this place a very secretive feel. To make this place that much more intriguing, the village has spectacular panoramic views of the undeveloped coastlines of southern Napa, Sonoma, and Solano counties and eastern central Marin County.

Here is the Pirate Bay’s location:



Just another secret place in the Bay!