A Heartbreaker retired tonight

Okay so it's a bad ripoff that doesn't have the same force as "A comedian died in New York tonight" but as I watched the TV it was the line that stuck in my head.

Shawn Michaels, one of the most charismatic and controversial pro-wrestlers ever, walked away tonight after losing at WrestleMania to the Undertaker.

It was a significant event in pop-culture because, Michaels, a veteran of the WWF/E for over 20 years has been involved in some of the company's most significant matches, and out-of-ring events (yeah I'm talking about the Montreal Screwjob). He was a jerk, a pain in the ass, and you could probably go as far as saying a cancer to the company. He cleaned up, found Jesus (seriously) and throughout it all, remained one of the biggest draws with a devote and dedicated fan base (Canada excluded).

I'm not going to comment on his actual fairwell speech, I will say that it was sincere and from the heart. He thanked one of the video production guys, by name, for "making him look good all these years". Prior to the actual speech, with Michaels in the ring and the crowd chanting "Thank you Shawn", the Undertakers music hit. He walked out to the top of the ramp, paused, tipped his hat to Michaels and then returned to the dressing room. Once again proving, the Undertaker is the greatest character ever.
Anyway, I'm sad to see Shawn go (even though I really haven't watched WWE in years) but understand after all those years, and all the personal shit he's been through, the guy has earned some time at home with his family. And I'm most glad, that the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak is still in tact. Even though pro-wrestling isn't a real sport, it does have history, mythology and legends that need to be preserved.

The Heart Break Kid, Shawn Michaels, is one of those legends.

Reality isn't friendly

Sure this commercial probably won't win Sony any points with women but it's pretty close to accurate. Remember years ago when GTA: Vice City came out and then there were reports of couples breaking up, marriages ending and a whole slew of couples therapists being able to add new cars to their garages. God of War III is another game like that, glad that Sony is staying true with this "It only does everything" campaign and making the tongue and cheek joke everyone knows is reality.

Just your typical NYC Night

Last night I headed down to the Lower East Side to take in a show - a burlesque show - at the Slipper Room for my friend Lauren's birthday.

Accompanying me on the trip, a.k.a. giving me a ride to the train station and back home, was my friend Jenn and her boyfriend Dave. After arriving at Grand Central, which still instills me with awe every time I pass through it, we headed out to the streets towards Bryant Park where we would pick up the F downtown. At the corner of 42nd and Avenue of the Americas I sent Jenn and Dave on their way as I stepped up for my favorite of NY delicacies - the dirty water dog. A $9 "Makes Bob Happy" Meal later (for those not from around here, that's 2 dogs and a pretzel) I headed across the street, met them at the entrance to the subway, polished off the 2 dogs so I could have a hand to hold my pretzel and we were on our way. Now I had offered to share a meal with my accomplices, but Jenn mentioned that Dave doesn't eat hot dogs and if he weren't the size of a small mountain I probably would have given him shit for it. But he is, so I didn't.

We took the subway down, Jenn briefly called my sister to give her directions to the Slipper Room and we made our way to the venue. We still had time to kill before meeting everyone else and the show starting, and with Jenn and Dave both hungry, we made our way to a local pub so they could eat and I could catch up on my rapidly imploding NCAA bracket. We visited the 6th Ward. I finished off the 20oz Mountain Dew I had picked up earlier while gleefully learning that Kansas had been upset by Northern Iowa. I was also shockingly surprised to hear the Buzzcocks "Ever Fall in Love (with someone you shouldn't)" played in the bar. Fantastic saw and such a great bit of pop-culture. It's the song playing during the montage of J.D. and Elliot's first time in a relationship together on Scrubs. Season 1, episode 15, "My Bed Banter and Beyond". What can I say, I love that episode and Sarah Chalke/Dr. Elliot Reid was a major crush. She's married now, well Sarah Chalke is, but I guess Dr. Reid can still be a crush. (Note: I'll have to explain my personal rules on crushing sometime so that this makes a bit more sense).

Anyway, to the Slipper Room!

$5 cover to get in, we knew this in advance, and it's fairly nice sized space. It get's a little cramped up by the stage but there are some comfortable booths lining the outside and then there's the bar on the opposite wall. Not a huge place, but still bigger than your average bar in San Francisco. Saw some people I hadn't in a long time and caught up with them, saw some of the gang I hadn't seen since coming into town, and well you know, the usual stuff you do and conversations you have when you're with friends. Of course wished the birthday girl a happy birthday and gave her the great news that a team decked out in purple had been the ones to take down the might Kansas Jayhawks. Night continued, drank, posed for pictures, told jokes, stories and the what not.

Time to leave, back on the subway and to Grand Central. Slight mix up (in my head) with what time the train leaves - it leaves at 1:50 I thought 1:53 - so while standing on line at the hot dog cart at 1:49 I casually said to myself "I've got this" as I ordered another "Makes Bob Happy" Meal, this time with a Mountain Dew since there was no other place I could get one. Grabbed my bag and sprinted to catch the train. Made it to track 33 to see no train there. Immediately called Jenn and asked "where's the train?" she said, "it's moving." I began to protest that at 1:52 (the then current time) a 1:53 train should have already left. She set me straight on the train times and I quickly ran back to the main hall and then down another corridor to the 1:53 Harlem line train where if I could catch it and get off at the Croton Falls stop, Jenn would come get me. Fortunately, I made that train after finding a seat amongst the typical Saturday night last train back to the 'burbs drunken masses, settled in to enjoy my meal. It was good, however, not even the delicious ambrosia that is Mountain Dew could wash out the taste of guilt I had for mixing up the train times and requiring special attention like a drunk girl. Luckily Jenn is a great friend and well, I've had to take care of her on a plethora of drunken nights so I while, I'm sure an annoying way to end the evening, there were no hostilities or anything. Although I did feel like an idiot for screwing up when not even drunk.

Ah well. You've always got to come away from the night with a story.

GDC 2010 - Disappointment

So I went to the Game Developers Conference today, on a free Expo pass that I got from a friend at school. Thank goodness because if I had to pay $250 to get in there I probably would have rage killed and teabagged everyone in there like a 15 year old on Xbox Live. At least I would have had the common decency not to shout racist epithets while doing so.

Anyway, here's why it was a disappointment, and it's probably my own fault - incorrect expectations. This isn't like the TGS (Tokyo Game Show), CES (Consumer Electronics Show) or E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) - no, this is a convention for Game Developers to learn about new industry technologies, paddle their resumes around, network with other nerds and occassionaly catch a glimpse of top quality developer's masturbatory material. For an ad school student, you're really out of place, no matter how much you like games.

Want to know the highlights? There were 2: 1) Registration - you have to enter your name, company name and position which will be printed on your badge. Thanks to some genius programming those are all required fields. So being the quick thinking writer that I am, I filled them in. Bob Tallman "The Next Big Thing" Miami Ad School. Yup, that's probably my number 1 highlight. 2) Watching a couple of guys play through probably the first 2 hours of God of War III. Game looks great, the boss deaths are awesomely hilarious and fun - killing Poseidon was great.

Now don't get me wrong, it was intersting to walk around the expo floor and see a veritable whos-who of the industry: Naughty Dog (whose Uncharted 2 picked up 5 more awards), Ubisoft, Telltale Games, 38 Studios (owned by Curt Schilling and now involved with EA on a major project), Blizzard and their evil half - Activision and many more. But all of these companies were trying to recruit young developers and other talent and gain favor with them by offering small trinkets and schwag, and for me, there was nothing relevant. Oh well, it was an experience, and I did get some industry mags for free and got to see God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII (has me worried) and the Playstation Move up close.

I guess it was worth the $2 bus fare.

Undercover Boss: Hooters

Based on a suggestion from my buddy Scott I decided to check out this episode. I was a bit unsure what to expect because, well it's Hooters and it's Scott. What I forgot was that Scotty is actually fairly business savvy - especially when it comes to the food service/restaurant biz.

So as the episode starts off we're introduced to Coby Brooks, the current President and CEO and he gives us the company backstory. I kind of knew the basics, that it was founded by a bunch of guys who got tired of getting kicked out of bars. What I didn't know was about how Coby's dad got involved and basically turned it into a family business. Most interesting was the fact that Coby's relationship with his father was sort of rocky and he got the job when his dad walked into a board meeting, announced that the former president had been fired and that Coby was taking over (without Coby's own knowledge). From there you sort of get the stereotypical Southern family dynamics where, now after his father's passing the son is trying to get out from the shadow while making the uncomplimentary old man proud. Basically it's as cliche as hell, but when you see it in terms of real people and not actors in a script, it still hits with a weight.

So throughout his week undercover Coby does a bunch of jobs. I will say this, the 7-11 people were definitely more entertaining and seemed to have more personality. Plus I felt bad for that CEO because he had graveyard and insane morning shifts to deal with.

Anyway, so all of the Hooters establishments featured were in the south. Not surprisingly you came across a few stereotypes - like Jimbo, your basic run of the mill Texas chauvinist who had the job so that he could feel like a real man by telling attractive girls what to do. And actually the best part of that scene was that you saw Coby cringe at what was going on, wanting to break cover. Say what you will about Hooters, but the guy in charge knows there are lines and wants them enforced strictly. He's not Larry Flint, he's just the head of a restaurant organization with gimmick, and that gimmick is attractive girls and a suggestive name.

Obviously the best part of the episode was when Coby (undercover) was out with 2 of the girls from a local Texas Hooters, giving away free samples to the public and interacting with people. You know that by sending those girls out there you're putting them in a tough spot; between stupid guys and really opinionated women, it's a no win for them. And now you had the CEO of the company standing right next to them seeing what it's like, hearing what people say etc. Personally, I think that had to be, for him, and for the company, the most valuable part.

So anyway I'll spare you the details on the reveals and stuff because like I said, 7-11 was better. But this episode was really good to watch to realize what a pain it is to be the head of a company that is controversial.

Culinary Kick Ass

In case I haven't ever mentioned this before, I hate the camera on my phone. It doesn't work right. Half the time it takes a picture, tells me that it's saved and then when I go to look at it, show it off or send it, I see a stupid little icon with a question mark. I've looked online, no help. I've been to the Verizon store out here, no answers. It's incredibly frustrating when the only camera you have on you is your phone for that "one time only, thank goodness I have a camera on me", type moment is one that won't take the picture.

Latest incident - tonight, my kitchen. I cooked myself up a really great Sunday dinner: Spaghetti marinara with mussels in a tomato and garlic sauce with garlic bread. I snapped not 1, but 2 pictures to make sure that it saved so that I could show it off later. Later comes around, go to send the pictures to my email so I can post on Facebook, yeah, stupid question mark again. Really pissed about it because I had already written the captions in my head too. When I get home I'm taking the damn thing back to Verizon and having them figure it out or call LG to figure it out or whatever. My contract isn't up until September so I'm pretty much stuck with this damn phone so I'd like it to work.

Anyway, while I couldn't get a picture of the meal, here is a hilarious rendition of me doing my Iron Chef look.

Into the homestretch (again)

One week left in this quarter and then it's back home (where I'll be doing just as much work there as I have been here). Spent a few hours in the ER yesterday to take care of a side-effect of the iron pills I was put on, but all seems to be good now. Besides, once I land in NY and that cold March air hits, I'll snap back to my East Coast form (which like all things East Coast is tougher) and grab some dirty water dogs and a pretzel for dinner and grab the train back to moms.

So I'm hoping to post some of my work here after the quarter ends. I just get a little nervous because I'm not sure about actually copywrighting things and I don't want some jr. hack at Hackly & Associates to find it in a random internet search and steal my ideas. But I do have some work that won't amount to anything in the advertising game that I can post when it's done, i.e. my Shawn Michaels tribute poster, so look for that.

Got a pretty good beat on the end of the quarter. No need to rush, panic or stress. I'm as cool as the otherside of the pillow. No word yet on if any of my work has been selected for the end of the quarter awards this time. It'd be nice to have something entered. Well, actually it'd be nice to have something win again, would really help my chances for getting my top choice (Iris in London) for quarter away in the Summer. We'll see what happens, even if nothing gets selected this quarter I still think I'm in a fairly competitive position.






Here's some of my previous work from my Illustrator class. It won 2nd place (1st among copywriters)