As you may have read in previous posts from Shane and myself, we've been following the Apple vs PC battle pretty closely since the Microsoft account went to über hot-shot CP+B. Expecting some magic, we watched in awe as the Sienfeld spots rolled out (apparently done just to create a buzz and get people talking), then the launch of the actual campaign – without being overly redundant, a rather weak attempt at trying to steal some of Mac's coolness. Then hours before Apple's new laptop announcement, Microsoft crossed the line and went negative.
And now, Apple is hitting back. Taking their fantastic spots from poking a little fun at Microsoft to just flat-out slapping them in the face. And, I must say, they deserve it. Oh Bill, what were you thinking?
Is it just me or has iStockphoto gone to the dogs?
Like thousands of other small-to-mid sized ad/design firms out there, we have come to rely on iStock as part of our tool belt to create great design for clients that are on somewhat of a limited budget. The quality of their photos used to blow us away; they provided outstanding Royalty Free photography at a fraction of the cost to other sites like Veer & Corbis. In many cases, I couldn't believe that some of the pictures that the design team would show me actually came from iStock. But lately, something has changed, and as a result, iStock now appears to be just one click ahead of the weaker annual subscription sites like ablestock.com or photos.com. Lately, it seems that every search results in nothing but bad pictures with forced subject matter shot against a white back-drop with bad composition. What in the hell happened?
What happens when you hit writer’s block harder than a Kimbo Slice right hook. Maybe after last weekend that is a bad analogy but until last weekend at a get together I didn’t even know who Kimbo Slice was. I thought it referred to a deli meat. But this is not a blog about MMA or WWE or whatever it is the men watch these days. It’s about the fact I have not been able to think of anything to write this blog about. I guess it’s a blog about not being able to write a blog.
I tried to get my boyfriend to write it but between the perils of being a new teacher, a multitude of fantasy hockey and football drafts, and the most recent rerun of Seinfeld I just couldn’t get five minutes of his time. So then what was a girl to do?
Jeez, I’m just a little blonde, I’m not a writer. Blondes don’t write blogs they text. If I could have submitted my blog in a quick text I would have been done in no...
For the record, I am a huge Lost fanboy. So much that I have actually had “Lost-like” dreams where I am trapped on an island with several strangers and trying to find a way off the island. Building rafts, finding secret hatches buried underground, even smoke monsters...
Weird, yes I am aware of that, but I guess I am just a sucker for survivalist scenarios in fiction, film and now on tv. I have painstakingly watched every single episode of Lost (maybe more than once), contributed my ideas to theories on internet message boards with friends, I am a geek. You get it. For me the show is just a fun escape, and I really like all of the extra drama and character building. At times the pacing of the show can be really irritating, with filler episodes being a common occurrence, but over all I think (read: hope) that it will pay off in the end and the revelations that I am anticipating...
Everyone that knows me (especially my wife) will tell you that I'm officially addicted to Entourage. Although I didn't discover Entourage until pre-season 3, I remember it like my first date. It was a cool rainy Sunday in March and The Movie Network did an Entourage marathon. Six consecutive commercial-free hours of the boys living the dream,every guys dream – I was in the dog-house for that one (we are on a single dish satellite)
Since then, I have watched every episode from season 1-4 (roughly 48 episodes) at least 3 times. On weekends that my wife was away, I would get my son to bed, cook up a big steak, crack a bottle of vino and watch about 4 hours of episodes back-to-back – I couldn't get enough of it. It is the quintessential 'guys' show, although I have spoken with plenty of females that concur, 'This show is the bomb'.
I truly believe that the creators and producers...
Welcome to our shiny new blog. At they integrated we are constantly inspired by everything around us, whether it be in real life, or in the media in general. We will frequently be writing blog posts on topics that interest us such as: Advertising, Marketing, Design, Web, Pop Culture, etc.
