OK. So I’m like 2 years late on this, but I’m just now getting into Entourage and the show is just really fresh. They say it’s like Sex and the City for guys, but I don’t know about it. It’s more like Swingers the show. Now the question is, which character do I identify most with? Actually, being a young person, it’s more like who is the person I’d most aspire to be like? For me, it’s either Eric (the loyal manager best friend) or Ari (the bulldog hustling agent). The Alpha/Beta vs. the full out Alpha male. Why did no one tell me to watch this sooner?!
Anyhow, back to the show.
Archive Page 2
06
May
08
Got it on lock like a Vice
Last week I had a super funky fresh time at the Mezzanine SF, where I saw Thunderheist and Black Ghost. There were free drinks courtesy of sake2me and Colt45 Malt Liquour and free pics at the Nokia photo area. AND there was no cover. All put together by Vice Magazine.
What’s not to like? No cover, free show, free drinks, people way cooler than me, and an opportunity to indulge in narcissisms.
Mezzanine is a sweet venue with 5 bars, a primary dance floor, a loft area, good ventilation, and a kickin sound system. They’ve housed eclectic shows ranging from electro to hip hop with artists like Mos Def, MIA, Keisha Cole, and Anthony Hamilton to name a few. It’s also small enough to provide an intimate setting, but also big enough to dance in. Really I can’t say anything bad about this place.
Thunderheist tore it down that evening with a sick set that felt like a live mix with vocals; each song smoothly transitioned to the next, keeping the the crowd in constant movement. The Lead singer was electric with sass, spice, and charisma. Her confidence was alluring. The sound was electrocrunk. The end of the set was an invitation to stage to the entire audience. Siiiiick.
Sorry, Black Ghost. After a hype set like that two guys behind turn tables just wasn’t hard hitting enough.
I’ve gotta hand it to the folks at Vice. They throw a jumpin party.
Here’s a pic from the stage:
06
May
08
Happy APA Heritage Month.
I don’t know who Ken Lee is, but this tribute song to him is incredible.
28
Apr
08
Dragon Bar
Last night I went to Dragon Bar, on Broadway St. in San Francisco’s North Beach district. Up until this year I’ve generally not been very keen about venturing to North Beach at night due to parking issues, but for the past 6 months I’ve spent at least 2 nights a month in the area, and it’s mostly because of Dragon Bar. Dragon Bar is by no means an ultra cool club. But it always delivers on a solid good time, with no drama, and has become kind of a default venue for my friends and I.
Why I like it:
- Always well attended with a good mixed crowd that doesn’t take themselves too seriously
- Solid DJ’s who spin top 40’s and good hip hop (really limited amount of mashups, I haaaaate mashups)
- Reasonable cover charge and free before a certain time
- Good smoking area where non smokers can hang out also
- No dress code, but people still keep it fresh and clean (not a hype beast scene. you go to Milk for that)
- It’s just an easy no fuss kind of joint
What I kind of don’t like
- DJ’s don’t play enough reggae or Bay hip hop
- It’s all Asian themed but I’ve never seen an Asian person work there
- Kind of small, about 2,500 square feet
For the most part though it’s a cool little place to let loose when you don’t feel like fussing. I’d recommend stopping by if you’re club hopping on Broadway.
18
Apr
08
ad:tech part one – the topline
Before we get into what ad:tech is, here’s a quick re-cap of what I experienced:
- Was pitched to by crazy ass vendors, not too different from sales people at phone kiosks
- Went to a Revision 3 shindig
- Saw a live show of Internet Superstar
- Got really annoyed with my current job
- Learned Tech/Marketing savvy-ness + Hot Girl = Fire Hot Sauce
For the past few days the annual ad:tech conference had been going on at SF’s Moscone Center. The conference revolves around the digital side of advertising, primarily regarding the internet, with some exposure for alternative outdoor (e.g. those touch directories in malls or TV screens at gas stations) and mobile phones. I know, mega awesome.
To a young media/marketing person (me) Ad:Tech was super stimulating with some really interesting panels and an exhibit hall packed wall to wall with vendors (who gave out a bunch of free stuff. not the best free stuff. but it was still free stuff.). Unlike a car show or consumer tech convention, where I’d usually just gawk at things, Ad:Tech was all about learning and growing an individual’s understanding of the media landscape. It was kind of exhausting.
Panels that I attended revolved around:
- utilizing Web 2.0 technology to maintain communication with consumers regarding your brand
- the current status of the interactive landscape in regards to digital video and mobile phones
- how millennials incorporate tech into their lifestyles
- A live episode of Internet Superstar with Martin Sargent, Kevin Rose of Diggnation, Kent Nichols of Ask a Ninja Guy, Jeff Macpherson of Tiki Bar TV, and Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV.
The exhibit hall was crazy overwhelming with vendors up the wazoo presenting tons of services. Rather than listing the companies, you can read about them on the ad:tech site.
I had a lot of mixed feelings about the whole event and did a few neat things. I’m sure it would be boring if I were to go into a marathon entry now. So I’ll re-cap my experiences over a few entries.
Entries to come:
- It’s so hard to not be a fan-boy – Meeting rev3 people
- Mind Flexing, Future Speaking – Trends
- Is this the beginning of the end? – Where’s my world fit into this?
- The lists (Because everyone loves lists) – the good and the bad
05
Apr
08
Darn it…I’ve got to get checked.
I went to a club tonight and it was mighty crowded and people were really sweaty, and I got groped. Truth! No lie! And now I’ve got to go get tested after I burn all my skin off. See the PSA below. It’s serious business.
04
Apr
08
Rad-vertising!
I work in the exciting world of advertising. The world of fast talking, quicker thinking, power suites, power handshakes, shmoozing, wining and dining, trend spotting, one upping, hot chicks, alpha males, need inducing, emotion evoking, conference rooms, business trips, filming, photography, models, big brands, big budgets, and all that glam. EXTREME!
Sort of.
There’s this perception that the advertisers are the rock stars of the business world; closing fat deals, running off on photo shoots, and seeing the fruits of their labor airing during the Super Bowl. But people don’t see the late nights, data mining, number crunching, brainstorming, conference room arguing, memo after memo writing, testing revising and testing again that goes into that $2 million thirty second spot.
Personally I’m in media. I don’t create beautiful ads and I don’t close big deals. I work on communication efforts. In the simplest terms, it is my job to figure out the best way to bring my client’s message to you, the consumer. If the ad was a glass slipper, it would be my job to find a way to reach Cinderella.
Media is exciting because it’s forever evolving and it demands a sense of diligence, creativity, tenacity, and sensitivity to do well.
To be honest though, media people are some of the biggest anal retentive geeks out there. And we’re not even the cool tech geeks. We’re the number geeks. We crunch CRAZY numbers. Seriously, I spend 70% of my time on Excel. Furthermore, we work with budgets, and where there’s budgets, there’s accounting close by. I don’t know how I got caught up in this, because I HAAAAATED numbers in college. I was that guy who went into marketing because I didn’t want to deal with numbers. I just wanted to make stuff sexy.
Now I hear myself telling media reps, “show me the numbers”. I’m ASKING for the numbers. It’s like thanking god that it’s Monday! The irony is so epic I feel like I should be paying Alanis Morissette royalties for basing my life off of her song. Should I wear galoshes on my wedding day?
Anyhow I’m going to be sharing more about my work in the future, because I’m a total newbie and I’m sure there will be some exciting stuff to come. I also have a feeling that most of you still don’t get what I do. I’ll talk about stressful deadlines, how I want to make an excel spreadsheet inspired print for a shirt, how when I’m at work reading blogs and trolling through digg.com or Myspace I can say I’m doing research, how someone tried to bribe me once, how there’s some really sick trends in the industry, and about all the cool people I get to meet.
Let’s make a deal. I’ll try to keep it fun, and you try to stay interested. Deal? Deal.
Have you ever felt so busy that you just don’t know where the time goes because it seems like everything is moving so fast that you don’t have time to think about what you’re doing considering that there are 52 and a half deadlines that need to be met yesterday and when you actually finish those projects they just lead to more projects?
Pause…. Breathe…. Continue.
Life is really really really exciting right now but I must say that I feel incredibly busy and the days are just flying by. I think I was most concerned the other day when I looked at my clock at 3pm in the afternoon, then got freaked that the week had only 4 days left (it was Monday). It was already bad enough that I went in that morning saying, “Thank god it’s only Monday”.
I was THANKING God that it was ONLY Monday! Ahem… What??
The odd thing is that I keep thinking that I need to do MORE. I need to read more. I need to learn more. I need to eat more because somehow I lost tons of weight in my neck, making it look like I have a HUGE head. I have to exercise more because I’m losing muscle mass, so now I’m skinny and have a little neck with a huge head, like ET. I need to blog more. I need to speak up more. I need to hang out with my friends more. I need to go out and experience the world more. I need to travel more. I need to look out for myself more. I need to give myself a break more. I need to be better…more. I need to find something that makes me stop and say, “yes, this is exactly where I want to be”…more.
Hmmm…Interesting where this entry lead me. Maybe I should have started off like this:
Have you ever started down a path thinking you would go somewhere, but in the end you wound up elsewhere?
Sometimes even though “somewhere” is where you wanted to be, if you wound up in “elsewhere”, then “elsewhere” is most likely where you belong. Write that down, Confucius!
Ummmmm….What the hell did my dad put in my tea?! This is crazy talk.
Have you ever tried to write your own profile and for some reason it took you ALL OF ETERNITY and the morning after, yet all you have to show for it is just over 200 words? Well, that’s what I just did. So I couldn’t write a proper post.
I apologize to those of you who were super amped to read my next groundbreaking epiphany. Opinions and observations are so much easier to write about, while writing about a person (myself in this case) is really hard to do in the abbreviated format that blog readers are accustomed to (due to that fact that, when online, people have the attention span of a gold fish with ADD who forgot to take his meds, while watching the three ringed circus known as the Tyra Show). Was that too much?
Anyhow, it’s hard for me to write about a person, because I can never write enough about that person to properly do their character justice. So, to your right you can read a few truths about me. It doesn’t say much, but it should suffice for now.
I swear my daily dependency on this thing called “sleep” is ruining my life!
Have you ever wondered how technology affects a new relationship? Between all the advancements in telecommunications and social networking sites, you really never have to be out of contact with a person for very long periods. And we all know that there have been those few times in our lives when we’ve met someone new and happened to get caught up in the moment, ending up having them on our mind 24/7. It’s these times, when without some restraint, where advancements in tech can greatly expedite the honeymooner stage, leading to a prematurely fizzled relationship. It sucks.
Between talking on the phone, instant messaging, e-mail, and texting you can be in constant communication with a person all day. What used to take us at least 3 dates, of 5 hours each, to learn about a person, we can now do in one 15 hour long conversation. So that cuts the “let’s get to know each other” phase down to a third of what it used to take. And if you want to bypass the 15 hour long conversation, you can just Google a person for 15 minutes and find out all you need to know, through whatever social networking site they’re on. You can even find out who they last dated and read all the sappy crap they posted about each other. Creepy, but not unheard of.
Sure you might be thinking only teenagers would do that. However I have to admit I’ve done it before. To my defense I generally Google people for professional reasons only. Generally. In regards to talking to someone all day: I was on AIM all day at work on my desktop, transitioned to AIM on my phone, resorted to texting when I couldn’t find a network, and then ended the evening over the phone. It’s really not that hard when you’re interested in someone new.
Like I was saying though, technology really speeds things up. It’s great when you’re trying to be efficient, but it can really screw up the timing of a relationship. I’ve gotten intrigued, caught feelings, lost feelings, and just plain over a person within 2 weeks. You aren’t really given the opportunity to miss someone and appreciate their company when they’re so accessible. It’s like cooking something on high, when it normally should be slow cooked on low. The courtship process has been abbreviated.
The honeymooner stage is usually the sweetest part of a relationship. Enjoying the beginning of a relationship used to be like nursing a fine cognac and really savoring the complexity of all the flavors. But now it’s like taking that same glass cognac as shot, only to feel it hit the back of your throat without knowing what you missed out on. It’s not romantic, it’s not paced, there’s no finesse, and you find yourself asking, “what’s the big deal?”. Because in the current ultra fast paced process of getting to know someone, you miss out on the quirks and all the things that make a person human, likable, or even lovable.
But what are you going to do when you see the screen name of someone you like flash bold when they sign online, or when you receive that email that says whatsitsface has posted a comment about you on Myspace, or when that envelope icon on your phone pops up to show you’ve got a text? You can’t ignore it.
At that point it’s just bottoms up.
