Thursday I had the opportunity to tag along on the New Mexico Ad Federation’s luncheon with advertising legend and well-known author of “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This,” Luke Sullivan (a must-have book for anyone interested in not just advertising, but creativity in general).

Sullivan gave a presentation called “How to Suck Less,” formally titled “How Not to Suck.” Given that we’re all mere humans with a tendency to suck, Sullivan said he thought it more appropriate to retitle his presentation to something more realistic.

He described his transformation from a construction worker to Group Creative Director with more than twenty medals to his credit in the prestigious One Show, some of the more interesting adventures he’d had in his twenty-plus years of advertising experience and some tips on how to be better at anything. Yes, anything.

Among his tips; get rid of things that cause you to suck. Certainly tips we all can learn from, here are those he specifically pointed out:

• Laziness – although seemingly a no-brainer, Sullivan did point out that when you’re working a job you care about, this almost never comes up.
• Arrogance – don’t look down on the little jobs that come your way; they’re another chance to hone your craft.
• Get over yourself – if you believe that you’re a god in your field, it just becomes an excuse for complacency, and ultimately to suck.
• God is in the details – this is the sum of all the details put into a creation; make every little part better than it has to be.

So there you have some points to ponder. Go get his book if you’re looking for some inspiration mixed with humor.

(The picture up top is my freshly-inked copy of “Hey Whipple…” In case you’re wondering, it says “Go ye forth and rock!” Amen, Sullivan…)

Cookie Monster recently appeared in a candid and compelling interview on NPR, describing his nights freebasing raw dough, the days chasing Prarie Dawn and roughing up Elmo for lunch money… just kidding. The video’s pretty funny and definitely worth a watch:

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December 24, 2006

What’s Wrong With Cinderella?

By Peggy Orenstein

I finally came unhinged in the dentist’s office — one of those ritzy pediatric practices tricked out with comic books, DVDs and arcade games — where I’d taken my 3-year-old daughter for her first exam. Until then, I’d held my tongue. I’d smiled politely every time the supermarket-checkout clerk greeted her with “Hi, Princess”; ignored the waitress at our local breakfast joint who called the funny-face pancakes she ordered her “princess meal”; made no comment when the lady at Longs Drugs said, “I bet I know your favorite color” and handed her a pink balloon rather than letting her choose for herself. Maybe it was the dentist’s Betty Boop inflection that got to me, but when she pointed to the exam chair and said, “Would you like to sit in my special princess throne so I can sparkle your teeth?” I lost it.“Oh, for God’s sake,” I snapped. “Do you have a princess drill, too?”

She stared at me as if I were an evil stepmother.

“Come on!” I continued, my voice rising. “It’s 2006, not 1950. This is Berkeley, Calif. Does every little girl really have to be a princess?”

My daughter, who was reaching for a Cinderella sticker, looked back and forth between us. “Why are you so mad, Mama?” she asked. “What’s wrong with princesses?”

(more…)

“Skateboarders jeopardize safety of UNM pedestrians”

Daily Lobo, Issue date: 2/12/07

Editor,

This past Friday, I was walking past the Duck Pond on the way to teach in Dane Smith Hall when a student on a skateboard ran into me. He continued down the sidewalk. I called out, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” He responded, “(Expletive) you,” and then he flipped me off.

I once considered students on skateboards as an amusing, albeit destructive, part of campus life, but no more. They should be totally banned. They destroy property on campus. They are dangerous, and those who ride them are offensively rude. Other campuses have banned them. Why not UNM?

James Burbank
UNM faculty

The band (me included) played an awesome show Tuesday night at Ralli’s in Albuquerque. Much to our suprise, the place was packed out — no small feat for a bar off the beaten path on a Tuesday evening.

We played with the Seattle group, the bradbury press, which is always a fun and talented bunch of guys to jam with.

The crowd was pretty much made up of college students, and they were really a great bunch to play for. It’s always encouraging to have your audience respond to you positively, and even more so when there’s a lot of them.

The set of music went awesome, and aside from our bass player’s rig dying (I felt its pain) in the middle of the set, it really was a blast.

I don’t have any pictures from the show on hand (I know… I’m a slacker…), but I’m trying to track some down, and when I do, I’ll get ‘em up here.

Until I do, here’s a copy of my set list (pretty much my cheat-sheet which tells me what song we all agreed to play next) that I tape to the floor during shows:

If you didn’t get to come see us play, you can check out the set list and pretend you were there.

Besides our own stuff, our set included covers of Radiohead, Switchfoot, and the Foo Fighters.

We dedicated “My Hero” by the Foo Fighters to our friend, Jeremy Aranda who is leaving later this month to do another tour with the Army, this time in Iraq.

Stay safe, bro.

Just for fun:

Man Finds 188-Year-Old Bible in Dump Bin