If you’re interested in advertising at all, I’d encourage you check out Ace of Admen.
Ace of Admen is a new blog from semi-retired ad man, Curvin O’Rielly. Curvin’s name will be familiar to some Saab folks out there. He worked on some early Saab ads during Bob Sinclair’s tenure as chief of Saab USA. He also had some great ideas for contemporary Saab advertising, which he shared at the Saab Owners Convention back in 2010.
I first met Curvin in Boston, at the 2010 Swedish Car Day hosted by Charles River Saab. We met again in New York last year for the New York Auto Show. He’s a wonderful guy with a huge kit bag of advertising knowledge and a library of war stories that go back decades and involve some of the most prominent names in advertising. He’s been there and done that.
Check out Ace of Admen. There’s not much to read at the moment as it’s literally brand new, created within the last 24 hours. But I’m quite sure there’ll be plenty of protein there in due course.
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My other tip for anyone interested in advertising would be to hit up Youtube and search for clips of The Gruen Transfer and/or Gruen Nation. It’s an Aussie show about advertising, and it’s fantastic.
Consider this kind of like the old TS/SU Snippets posts….
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It’s been a week since I’ve last blogged. I think this is quite possibly the longest unenforced break that I’ve had from writing in seven years. It felt a little strange, yet somehow quite relaxing.
That’s not to say I’ve been idle the whole week. Not at all!
I’ve actually been working hard on another automotive website. It’ll be launched in the next few weeks and it’s been a pleasure to work on. I didn’t create the content, but the people who did aren’t native English speakers so I’ve been helping them out with some editorial work that’ll hopefully make the whole site comes across a bit better to the English speaking audience.
A fun job.
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The title of this post comes from the Question of the Week: Why the hell was Rebecca Black at the Grammys?
If you’re asking “who’s Rebecca Black” right now, then consider yourself fortunate enough to have never heard this (and I urge caution before you hit ‘play’):
Ms Black got her 15 minutes of fame by recording something so bad that it became popular, mostly for its “eew!” value. There were a lot of cruel remarks made, stuff that a young teenage girl shouldn’t have to bear, to be honest, but it is a mediocre performance of a terrible song. Her notoriety is based mostly on the negative reception given to her ‘work’.
So why did she score an invite to music’s premiere awards night. Aren’t there boundaries for this sort of thing? Can anyone just write in and request a seat or is it actually for people in the music business (as opposed to people in the Youtube business).
Some will opine that the Grammys became a cliche some time ago but we’re still usually happy to see one of our favourite artists lauded there. And for good reason, too. There should be something like the Grammys to reward musicians who are gifted and do their best.
I wish the girl well, but I’m also thankful she wasn’t nominated for anything.
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I feel kind of dirty now, having written that. But after hearing that she was there, I just had to get it off my chest. Some institutions should retain a minimum entrance level, shouldn’t they?
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Back to more familiar ground….
I went and had a look at my first prospective 2012 car purchase this evening – a Subaru Brumby. It’s fairly agricultural compared to what I’m used to driving, but that’s part of the attraction. This is meant to be a purchase with a purpose, to get something cheap, basic and utilitarian for the dump-run, etc.
Not the Brumby I looked at. This one is much redder:
It’s quite basic – no power steering and a flat-four carby engine. The tray is actually quite a bit bigger than it looks and whilst I wouldn’t want to drive it for hours on end, it’s comfortable enough for the short runs I do around town here in Hobart.
I’m looking at another one this weekend and will decide between the two after that.
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And finally, the conclusion to the Sanding posts!!
I actually completed the cabinet some time ago. The intention was to use some other furniture here at the house as a base for it, but that turned out to be too much of a compromise, so I had to make a base with the leftover timber, one that would suit the cabinet itself and enable it to sit at a more appropriate height.
It’s actually still a little unfinished, but it’s probably as finished as it’s going to actually get (and yes, I ran out of Huon Pine, which is why the pattern on the base is missing one piece).
For those who might be wondering, the big box is made from MDF on an oak frame and covered with a veneer made of individual lengths of Huon Pine and Myrtle (both native to Tasmania). The base is made of Tasmanian oak, three lengths with simple butt joints, and then veneered with the same timbers. The legs are 3/8th-inch threaded rods with tee-nuts in one end and standard bolts in the other, with square aluminium covering the threaded rods (for looks and to provide a standard length).
It’s not perfect, but I made it myself. And that feels good.
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And now for the bad news – I’m back at my regular 9-to-5 this week.
It’s good to be home and I’m very fortunate to have had a job to come back to, but geez it’s boring compared to my work with Saab. I’m going to miss Saab and the car industry in general, very much.
Back at the start of this revolution around the sun, I made some New Year’s Un-Resolutions. I’m pleased to say I haven’t faltered on any of them yet, though one’s looking a little shaky.
I’d like to report on one in particular, not because I think it’ll be of particular interest to anyone, but mostly to put on record my satisfaction with the company that has provided the service.
Whilst I’ve used an iPad this year, I’m pleased to say I haven’t bought one. That might change due to work requirements, but associated with that un-resolution was a commitment to not buy an iPhone. Well, today I took possession of a nice, shiny new Sony Ericsson Experia Arc courtesy of Virgin Mobile.
So why pick this one?
I went for Android over iOS simply because I wanted to keep my options open in terms of handsets and because I didn’t want to tie myself in completely with Apple’s infrastructure. I’m an Apple user and I absolutely love their stuff, but I also like Google’s ecosystem and am very comfortable with that.
I picked the Sony Ericsson partly due to their historical connection with Saab (I’m a little sentimental) but mostly because one of my mates at Maptun had one and it looked pretty impressive when he showed it to me.
And finally, I went with Virgin Mobile because their plans were hands-down the absolute best I could find in terms of suiting my phone needs. I’m not a heavy user at all and the company plans I saw during my research all seem to be geared towards heavy users. The $29 caps I could find (with a phone supplied) all had very minimal call credits included. In fact, the Virgin plan had more than twice the call credit than my next favourite plan ($450 with Virgin vs $180 with Optus).
Virgin use the Optus network so coverage shouldn’t be a problem at all. AND thanks to a web deal they’ve got on at the moment, I save $10 a month off my account for the first 10 months.
The Virgin Mobile setup process couldn’t have been easier. I signed up online yesterday and the phone arrived by courier at my home late this morning. I assembled the phone, completed the start-up process online and my phone’s been working ever since.
It’s not often that I praise a company publicly. I don’t know if every mobile phone company makes it this easy to get going, but I’m very impressed by Virgin Mobile’s setup and service so far.
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Now…… anyone got any good app recommendations for Android? 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Other resolutions:
Not compromising on my next car purchase – I haven’t bought a car yet, so this one’s OK for now. I’ve come very close to buying an old Subaru Brumby small ute but have not pulled the trigger (yet). It’d be quite handy for carting stuff around. I’ve also made some enquiries about another vehicle I’d like to buy, but talks on that one are still ongoing.
Not neglecting my family – I think I’m going OK on this one. You might need to ask them.
No internet snark – Going well, though TTAC aren’t making this one easy. The site has deteriorated so much (further) since Ed Niedermeyer took some time off.
Not dying – I haven’t exactly improved my health, but I’m not dead. Score!
One more coat of oil and then some black on the inside and it’s all finished…..
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This shot is a little out of focus, but I love the grain of the Huon Pine. It’s almost translucent.
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I hadn’t anticipated how satisfying this project would be. Now that it’s nearly finished, I’m very excited and can’t wait to get it into the house. This cabinet’s full of flaws, but it’s made by me – and that feels very, very good.
I’m working on Mrs Swade’s 2011 Christmas present, which should hopefully be ready by Christmas 2012……
Some of you know that Mrs Swade likes to do watercolor paintings. This is a cabinet intended to provide some flat storage for her finished work and stock paper.
The cabinet frame is made from Tasmanian Oak covered with 9mm MDF. The box is then finished with a 4mm veneer featuring some Tasmanian timbers – Myrtle and Huon Pine – cut into strips.
If you’ve never seen Huon Pine before, it’s worth travelling to Tasmania – the only place in the world where it grows natively – just to inhale its beautiful smell. I spent nearly an hour sweeping the floor before cutting the Huon on my table saw, just so I could make sure the shavings would remain unpolluted. Magic stuff.
The top and sides of the cabinet have a pattern effect, mostly myrtle.
The front fascia will be all Huon Pine.
Experienced woodworkers out there, please forgive the roughness of this job. I’m the rankest of rank amateurs, but I enjoy the therapy it provides.
It should look better once the sanding’s all done and the oil is applied.
