I’m going to put my cards on the table. I love metal. Ever since I heard Black Sabbath when I was 12. Just obliterated by it. And the heavier and darker the better.
I tried to get away from it, I really did. I put away my Iron Maiden t-shirt during my first year at a New England prep school. Stopped playing air drums to The Trooper. Stopped gushing about discovering Metallica on 2 am underground radio. Ground to a halt my obsession with War Pigs. Started digging on punk rock, folk, and whatever else was palatable to my Ivy League-bound peers. Oh, the things we do for acceptance. But by the time I hit college, I could no longer deny my deep and abiding love for headbanging. I returned to the fold just in time for the creative zenith of Thrash and the rise of a million new amazing metal styles. Continue reading
In days gone by, if you were an American celebrity and you were looking for a little extra scratch – and we’re talking about a currently popular and active celebrity – you wouldn’t even think about doing TV commercials in the U.S. Chances are, you’d hedge by doing TV spots in other countries, not unlike Bill Murray’s character in Lost in Translation.
Over the past few years, it’s been a sort of battle cry for folks who are trying to divine where marketing and advertising are headed. The meaning behind the battle cry? That marketers must accept that, in an age of heightened interactivity, consumers are the 
I just sat down in this cozy little independent coffee shop in my current city of residence (San Francisco) to write a little bit about Starbucks…and maybe a little about local versus corporate economies as well. I’ve actually been meaning to turn my attention to these guys for a while, ever since I noticed their new “fair trade” iconography gracing the bus stops of my fair city some months ago. You may have seen this, it’s large-scale representations of a very organic, very hand-knit looking light brown sack, which is, of course, how all fair trade coffee gets transported to our caffeine-starved shores. Tongue out of cheek, though, seriously, I like the campaign and the way Starbucks seems to be constantly evolving their brand. 
I really like this series of Liberty Mutual Insurance TV commercials that’s been on the tube for a few years now. Have you seen any of these?