The following is the unedited product of one such Sunday morning:

A few minutes after the cafe’s radio switches from G&R’s “Live and Let Die” to Orleans’ “Still the One” the man in the corner is still whistling the first eight notes from Slash’s rift. Perched on a stool next to a counter jetting from the wall opposite the cash register, the man is focused. His left arm is bent and wedged between his overweight form and the stool’s backrest. His right arm floats unsupported, heavily hanging from his body and doing all the work.  An outstretched index finger taps the video game machine supported from the ground by a single black steel pole. Neither of his generic white sneakers reach the ground and are instead tucked behind the stools bottom cross support, toes pointing at the ground.

Another man, similar in age to video poker guy (VPG), peers through the cafe’s front door, hands on the glass and cupped around his eyes to block out the sun behind him. He yanks open the door and walks in with a gusto no one could have seen coming from a short, aging man sporting a worn flannel work shirt, faded (unintentionally) jeans and brown, beat up steel toes. The hipster girl behind the cash register reorganizing the color-coded cardboard boxes of teas almost purposefully ignores his entrance. Before the door closes behind him, Flannel Man has entered into conversation with VPG, who never diverts his attention from the screen maneuvered to face him.

A few short, unrelated exchanges later, Flannel Man says to VPG, in sudden volume, “Shit, I owe you $10,” and exits with the same urgency with which he came.

By this time the cafe’s radio has again switched songs, but VPG, whose mind, tucked away behind those awful, over-sized, auto-shading glasses common to the elderly, is a million miles away and hasn’t seemed to notice because he continues to whistle the same eight notes over and over.

VPG’s size surely has to be testing the limits of that stool, which couldn’t possibly have been designed to support such a load, at least not for an extended period of time, and certainly not to facilitate video poker addictions, which this must be given it’s 9 am on a Sunday morning in an overwhelmingly Italian neighborhood and there are at least three churches within walking distance, not counting the one across the street whose steeple is casting a shadow on to the cafe’s original hardwood floor and ending directly beneath VPG’s toes.

Without warning the radio begins to emit a bothersome collection of noises, soon recognized to be Haddaway’s “What is Love,” AKA the Night at the Roxbury song. This immediately irritates VPG and he stands mid-game, grabs his cane and portable oxygen bottle, and limps out the front door.

Share/Save

One new bit of new content you should definitely be checking out is a passion project a few friends have put together called The Drunk Yinzer. Two good guys who are avid homebrewers and incredibly knowledgeable about beer are giving the world great brewery tours, craft beer reviews and homebrewing tips. We try to hit up a few different Pittsburgh spots a week and let you know what’s on tap and where.

Share/Save

This is not the case with Makin’ Ads recent post, “10 Other Ways to Become a Better Creative.” Each of Greg’s points provide helpful advice backed by real-world reasoning. I don’t know if I’ve come across a more concise set of tips for copywriters. As the lead image suggests, all of Greg’s advice makes you open your eyes and jump into areas you may have never considered. In my experience, this is the best way to expand your skills and your reach as a writer.

Kudos to Makin’ Ads. Go check it out.

Share/Save

Stand up if you won the war.

Via one of my favorite blogs (and surely best-named), even though he’s English, If This Is A Blog Then What’s Christmas.

Share/Save

Share/Save

Nick Feltron has for the past few years:

Each day in 2009, I asked every person with whom I had a meaningful encounter to submit a record of this meeting through an online survey. These reports form the heart of the 2009 Annual Report. From parents to old friends, to people I met for the first time, to my dentist… any time I felt that someone had discerned enough of my personality and activities, they were given a card with a URL and unique number to record their experience.

Nick then collects the data, graphically represents these interactions and sells the results in a print version that you can buy on his site. So very cool, can’t wait for mine to arrive in the mail.

Share/Save

And there is nothing quite like the feeling cracking a difficult advertising problem. What seemed impossible when you sat down face the empty white square now seems to obvious. It is this very obviousness of a great idea that prompted Polaroid camera inventor E.H. Land to define creativity as “the sudden cessation of stupidity.”

- Luke Sullivan, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This

Share/Save

1. Haven’t had enough of the AT&T/Luke Wilson commercial bashing? Read some more.
2. Google quietly releases Goggles, allowing you to search by picture taken from your phone. Sick.
3. If you had $500 to spend on a digital campaign, what would you do? I bet it’s not as smart as this.
4. Social media gives branding a bad name. The Grumpy Brit straightens it all out for us. (Love the last line of this)
5. How to make street flyers a little bit better.
6. Think online video is huge? Think again.
7. Dave Trott takes simple soccer advice and eloquently applies it to advertising. Love it.
8. Worst post of the week: 137 Twitter Marketing Tips for Small Businesses. 137? Really? Twitter is the simplest tool on Earth, don’t complicate it.
9. Best post of the week: The Content Strategist as a Digital Curator. Really unique perspective on managing online content. Long but certainly worth it.
10. Timely post of the week: The Art of Manliness Holiday Gift Guide 2009. Definitely asking Santa for that vintage tweed MP3/Radio.

Not satisfied? This 5-minute video of Dan Wieden should do the trick.


Between The Cracks is a weekly roundup of noteworthy links that you may have missed. It is most definitely not a weekly commentary on defecation. Get your mind right.

Share/Save

A brief round-up of what caught my eye this week, in no particular order:

1. Steffan Postaer over at Gods of Advertising nicely reviews Southwest Airlines’ new “Bags fly free” tagline.
2. The New York Times launched a new way to read the newspaper online. Big fan of this idea.
3. 10 Ideas for Transforming Advertising.
4. Want to know why Google doesn’t see your inbound links? Best SEO Blog breaks it down for you.
5. I loved the campaign and I love the car. Scott Monty summarizes the Ford Fiesta marketing effort. Pay attention, GM.
6. An illustrated guide of eight ways to kill an idea.
7. Warren Berger at the AIGA tells us about four things he’s learned about designers. (via @JasonSpector)
8. There’s a guy in a desert in Spain camping next to a pay phone. Call him.
9. To Hell With Personal Branding
10. Huge fan of McSweeneys’ ‘Lists” feature. This one is entitled, “My MFA Workshop Responds to My Twitter Status Updates.” If you laugh at this, we can be good friends.

Share/Save