One night last year while partying with my next door neighbors the topic of business came up. Usually a taboo subject while having fun, it somehow became increasingly interesting as my neighbors began to reveal their surf business called Momentum. I immediately told Mark and Matt that I am a graphic designer and that I would love to work with them. That night spawned an awesome work relationship that has continued to grow. With Momentum I have designed many (many!) shirts given my primary role as design director, but I also helped in organizing parties and other promotional things. Recently, Mark promoted me to COO, so I will be doing a lot more in the future.
My work may be interesting to read about, but this post is primarily to congratulate the two Momentum founders, Mark and Matt, for being featured in the LA Business Journal!! In the article, these two sexy men recapped their passion for surfing and how it grew into their entrepreneurial relationship. Read the article and be impressed. Go Momentum!
I have always enjoyed Paul Rudd, even back in his Clueless and Friends days, but this video sold it. I am in love now. It's odd that Sesame Street would do that. Well, they tend to make good things overly cute. Like when Feist was on:
Anyways back to dreaming about Paul Rudd. That video is amazing because -
1. He is wearing an earth costume (GO GREEN!) that only reveals his forearms making his limiting dance moves absolutely adorable. 2. His lip snarl and sexy rendition of "Earth Rocks" trumps those muppets by far. 3. His comedic genius. His subtle actions are priceless. The Huffington Post put it well - "infectious joy and self-deprecation can't help but make you laugh."
His sexy dancing can even make Jon Stewart laugh, a lot.
Random thoughts >>
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Stop the drama over the Obama dog! There are bigger issues at hand. Ahhhh I hate the media. I almost cried during the Inauguration when one station spent a good half hour with a writer from Harper's Bazaar in order to discuss Michelle's outfit. We have a new president and you want to talk clothes? Or remember when Obama was in his "honeymoon" period and several stations covered his diet and his exercise routine. Jon Stewart had a nice response to this earlier this year:
Random News station: "Obama likes herbal tea, trail mix, and guacamole" Jon Stewart: "We have all been to a grocery store, this isn't news. This is news - Barack Obama eats only bugs."
Thank you. Trivial news is pointless especially during our current situation. Well, then again, this trivial stuff is more entertaining than the economy, and actually it is helpful because the economy runs on confidence and if all the public sees is economic failure then things will spiral out of control. But current news - Pirates! Not awesome, but then awesome.
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So, Sir David Attenborough, the narrator of BBC's brilliant series Planet Earth, has recently become more vocal about the need to reduce the population to help protect wildlife. Predictable but too funny. I do agree, a continuously growing population does have ill-effects on the environment, but their proposals are in line with China, the only different is that they are requesting not mandating a limit to family size. Also, this organization, Optimum Population Trust, is focused in the UK. I am pretty sure that island is not the biggest threat in terms of population and environmental damage. Their three aims all start with the phrase "to advance," but how have I never heard of them before? Hmmmm
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Worst case scenario - you have swallowed the Higgs Boson, the God Particle, what do you do? Follow Michael Rottman's 10 steps or die. This is a real threat. Be prepared.
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Nooooo I followed a link and it was to something entertaining on Twitter!! My hatred is dwindling. I was convinced that the triviality of Twitter was worthless (kind of a redundant statement but true), even for an internet addict like myself, but things of interest/value can be found. Damn. Ahhh I love MythBusters. I am glad they keep only "human food" in their fridge.
I enjoy the saying. It is a beautiful day. I am trying to learn Italian. And Ciao Bella is the name of some wonderful gelato. Yum.
Unfortunately, even though it is beautiful day, it has been a tough week. Not only are midterms still lingering, but there was also a tragic hit and run accident involving two USC students early Sunday morning and the student body is filled with sadness and shock. The car hit two students; killing one and the other student remained on the car until the passenger and driver decided to remove the boy from the hood. I am utterly disgusted by their actions and I hope they get caught. My roommate got hit by a drunk driver last year, fortunately she was only bruised and we caught the guy. Hit and runs involving people are terrible situations, and it is heartbreaking that this one ended in death. Both students are in my thoughts and I wish their friends and families the best.
I wish more people would do good deeds in the world. Everyone is always so wrapped up in their lives that they forget little things that can be done to make things better. Compliment people, smile more, hug your friends... simple things like that can make you and other people happier.
I recently discovered freerice.com. It's an educational web game and for every answer you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated through the UN World Food Program. The internet is my favorite method of procrastination, so if I can claim I learning or doing good things for the world, I can rationalize my wasted time. Last night, while avoiding one of my research papers I practiced some math, geography, art history, and most importantly Italian. By the end of the night I raised over 1,500 grains of rice. Go me!
This summer I will be studying abroad in Rome for 5 weeks, so hopefully I can master some more Italian by then. When reading Time magazine this morning, I saw on their Pop Chart that "Rome plans Ancient Rome theme park. Get ready for Crucifixion Cove." For those of you that don't know about this Pop Chart, keep in mind that it is full of sarcasm. This theme park is not going to be like The Hold Land Experience. For example, under shockingly predictable on the pop chart, "Kiefer Sutherland to enter either season, second week of 24." (I thought that was pretty clever.)
Apparently, this theme park idea is inspired by the film Gladiator. (Great movie!! I remember being angry when it didn't get two thumbs up.) The city of Rome needs tourists and this is their solution to the Euro Disney competition in Paris. But I feel like this is the wrong solution...
"The planned park will strive for historical accuracy while offering family-friendly attractions based both on life during the Roman Republic -- which ended with the assassination of Julius Caesar and the civil war -- and during the Roman Empire."
It seems right up my alley, but it's hard to compete with Mickey...
"Mommy Mommy, can I see Caesar get assassinated again?!"
I have always been a fan of products that are both practical/functional and designed. It can add delight and beauty to the monotony of some products, and in my case often humor as well. I believe it makes life fuller and more enjoyable. And as Oscar Wilde so brilliantly stated, "life is too important to be taken seriously."
For example, I own a Das Kapital safe and a tape dispenser man.
I don't claim to only own designed items that are functional because I do have perfectly useless but INCREDIBLE items like my Mickey Mao (I have it in red).
But there are certain items that everyone needs, like ice trays. So why not buy an Ice Invader Tray? The only reasons not to is if you don't know what a space invader is, you don't like space invaders, or style scares you. My point - if you need it why not go a little farther and make it special? Being a designer, I am all about personalization. It's great for self-expression.
Now on to totally worthless designed items (excluding my Mickey Mao, because it really is brilliant). This Monday, the HRP-4C humanoid robot was revealed at Japan's fashion week. Yes, not a tech conference, fashion week, because this robot has been designed to be a runway model. According to the director of the humanoid robot engineering, "Our robot can't move elegantly like the real models that are here today." No kidding, that half squat below is really sexy... However, Darth Vader would totally buy what ever clothes are going to be modeled on that rigid metallic frame.
With 2 million dollars in production it is a little disappointing, actually no, really impressive, but why for fashion?! Sometimes I feel people develop technology just to say they developed it, but it's totally unnecessary (kind of like the new shuffle). There are some things that artificial intelligence can not replace. The research director says that another 20-30 years is needed before this robot is perfected. I think that is science wasted. However, it can easily be applied elsewhere and I never like to frown on research because any progress in science is fantastic.
The only thing this "model" could possible wear is this new clothing line that was inspired by the recent UFO sightings in China...
If I was an alien, China would be the last place I would land. Plus with all their surveillance projects I would be quickly discovered and destroyed. Unfortunately, You-Tube is banned again in China, so my brilliant alien discovery would never be broadcasted and poor Moulder would still be left believing.
So, a few Catholic bishops want people to give up technology for lent. According to the Associated Press, the Modena diocese stated, "It's a small way to remember the importance of concrete and not virtual relationships." Their argument is completely understandable, but I am going to follow the Pope and continue YouTubing. Apparently Benedict updated his YouTube channel this past Wednesday. I guess he prefers virtual relationships. Maybe he finds it similar to his connection with God...
Gizmodo phrased the contradicting request quite well, "The bishops stated that they hoped a ban on text messaging would "draw attention to the conflict in Congo, which it says is fueled by a struggle over mines that supply minerals used to make cellphones." That's sort of reasonable and at the same time also totally unreasonable, in that nobody is going to make that connection unless their phones are inscribed with 'MADE WITH THE BLOOD OF CONGOLESE MINERS" on the front.'"
If anything just give up Twitter. In the spirit of God and worthless tech applications.
With Lent in mind, or really genius publicity stunts, Vanilla Ice recorded an apology video stating, "I'm sorry for the hairdos, baggy pants, the scandals, the lies, the gangs, and I am sorry about the music. I was young, manipulated and I was a puppet."
I am sorry this video came out 20 years too late.
I am sorry he is a poor actor.
And I am sorry he didn't apologize for sampling Queen's "Under Pressure." My photo of the week: Sorority artistic appropriation at its best! I know I was a creeper for taking this snapshot with my phone, but I could not resist, it was too good! Viva USC.
The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004.
1 of every 8 couples married in the US last year met online.
If MySpace were a country, it would be the 5th-largest in the world (between Indonesia and Brazil).
India has more honors kids than America has kids.
Scary, right? I am preparing for jobs that don't exist yet. Social networks will rule the future. I will probably marry someone I meet online. And my job security is threatened by China and India. Ohhh globalization.
My conclusion - don't go to school, buy a super computer, and don't bother talking to people because you can always meet them online. :)
Ok, not really. But read Thomas Friedman's book, The World Is Flat. It is an essential update on globalization.
It is funny considering all this as I write on my blog...
Last night was the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Even though I was interested in the winners, I did not watch the Oscars because I was not in the mood to watch cheap filler sequences and awkward jokes. But I like being up to date on all current events, so I watched a few clips and read the reviews of the Oscars this morning.
Oh man! What a mess. Even though the writers strike is technically over, Hollywood is still suffering... Hugh Jackman, the host, even cracked up during a few planned sequences like the "Mr. Roboto" sing along. I love Styx, but that was simply terrible. According to recaps, there were only a few shinning moments other than the awards themselves. If the top headlines are focusing on the Jennifer and Angelina drama, I can only assume.
Instead of watching the Oscars, I watched The Godfather with a few friends. I didn't organize it because of the Oscars (I honestly forgot), I planned the movie night because several of my friends had never seem the movie!! Once realizing the scheduling conflict, I decided that watching a movie classic was more valuable then watching the Oscars. However, I am sad I missed the presentation of Best Picture. I absolutely love Slumdog Millionaire. It deserved to win. If you haven't seen it, shame on you. I would write a quick review, but it's too difficult. One reviewer stated, "It is brilliant in a million different ways." I would definitely agree.
While looking at Oscar recaps today online, I drifted towards Oscar themed photo galleries on the Vanity Fair website. Below are two of my favorite photos from the site. One features Marion Cotillard who won best actress last year for the brilliant film La Vie en Rose. In the photo, she is re-enacting the shower scene from Psycho. It is cool to see the scene redone in stills. I can't even describe the second one with Dustin Hoffman... it is perfectly hilarious. Vanity Fair has the best portraits.
Want to waste some time on the internet, check these out >
My work may be interesting to read about, but this post is primarily to congratulate the two Momentum founders, Mark and Matt, for being featured in the LA Business Journal!! In the article, these two sexy men recapped their passion for surfing and how it grew into their entrepreneurial relationship. Read the article and be impressed. Go Momentum!
