penny for a thought | Patrick on every & anything

Ok, so, unlike my previous post, this video isn’t for everyone, but I’m confident the majority of my readers will appreciate this re-mix of a classic Richard Simmons exercise video. Credit goes to a Portland-based creative who writes for a Portland-based juggernaut in the ad game.

There’s never a shortage of random videos–online–intended to make one laugh. Everyone has their own opinion of what’s funny or not, but here’s one I think anyone can appreciate. It’s a non-offensive, :30 TV ad a Portland, OR ad agency did for the Oregon Aquarium… Brilliant!

Last week’s hot topic in viral media was a video of Kobe Bryant jumping a speeding sports car. Considering a vehicle would have to be traveling upwards of 150 MPH, I venture to guess magic (perhaps Harry Potter) was involved during this video’s production; but spectacular nonetheless. It’s viral for several reasons: a.) The video has received more than 3.5 million views on YouTube alone, b.) It’s all the rage in the mainstream media, and c.) The original video has spawned a number of “re-edits,” some morbidly funny. Check them out, starting with the original.

In my opinion, you’re never too old to laugh at a good sex joke. That said, there’s nothing funny about (STIs) sexually transmitted infections (not that I’d know, honestly!) But they are fun to make fun of, especially for the sake of education. That’s the approach Planned Parenthood is taking with TakeCareDownThere.org, an action-based website intended to educate, inform and bust your spleen laughing. It accomplishes all three and then some by allowing medically challenged individuals in Portland, OR schedule an appointment online.

Great work by one of Portland’s hidden creative treasures, Leopold Ketel & Partners. Here’s to making fun of the things which scare me most!

Strung-out by their long running “Got Milk?” campaign, Milk, with help from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, launched a “made for web,” digital campaign built around a fictional rocker, White Gold. One part moderately creepy human and one part mystic moon goddess, White Gold is sure to please; whether or not he’ll persuade you to consume more/any milk is beyond me. Very funny and entertaining nonetheless.

Milk’s “White Gold is White Gold” campaign is, in fact, achieving its viral goal, but I’m forced to question the actual usefulness of the campaign. I mean, sure, White Gold’s videos are well produced and supported by a flashy website–which In my opinion is not very user friendly–but where’s the call to action? What’s the goal?

Is White Gold meant to simply build brand recognition/equity? He does, pretty well… Or, should White Gold be a bit more of a universal advocate for Milk, reiterating Milk’s health benefits in a way which gets consumers involved? Now we’re talking interactivity!! Call me the Devil’s advocate, but I just feel like a genius campaign is missing a little something that would’ve made all the difference. Instead of a pretty, but complex, website with only a “send to a friend” function, I’d like to see something a little more community oriented, user generated content (video and/or social networking) perhaps.

That’s my $0.02, check it out for yourself.

Following up from yesterday’s entry, I haven’t been bed ridden; in fact, I didn’t miss a day of work and still managed to force in some painful training rides (though I’m sure the exercise was counterintuitive.) Between work, cycling and the lady friend, I had zero energy to do much else. That said, life has been good, I won’t detail the past 6-weeks verbatim, but here’s a few happenings worth mentioning:

• The Cleveland Cavs are absolutely killing round 1 of the NBA Playoffs… Whoop! Whoop!
• The Longborder Cafe in San Diego is the best place for breakfast in SoCal, possibly the Universe
• I built up my new, ultra light, ultra sweet team issued bicycle
• I now have a new boss
• I’ve created a blog for a friend who’s currently en route to the highest point on Earth, Preacclimate.com
• While at home, I live in a bubble… Note to self, no one likes the boy in the bubble

Wow! A nearly two-month blogging hiatus, how could I? I’ll tell you, it has actually been easy… Remember my last blogosphere disappearance when I joked about using illness as my excuse? Well, Karma got the best of me as soon after that statement a life altering (non-contagious) intestinal virus hit me like a home-run in the 9th inning, bases loaded.

Up until about a month ago I argued that I was invincible, or at least the healthiest human on Earth. Now I’m humbled and thrilled to be myself again. It’s a weird feeling to know something isn’t right, but have doctors and nurses tell you it’s just lil’ bug or indigestion… WRONG!

After three-weeks in Purgatory and countless hours explaining my symptoms, it took just 5-minutes on the phone with one of, in my opinion, OHSU’s/the World’s finest doctors to tell me what he thought was wrong. Two days, three blood tests and another less-pleasant test later and the doctor’s prognosis was confirmed, I had Giardia–a parasite which terrorizes the small intestine. Wait, that’s not all. This particular Giardia strain was so powerful it prevented my body from absorbing nutrients necessary to life (e.g. Iron and protein.) As a result I had become Anemic and protein deficient.

How did I contract such a parasite you ask. This is debatable, but I’m fairly certain I contracted Giardia while backpacking in Hawaii last fall. If you’re unfamiliar with Giardia, it’s a parasite humans can pick up from water contaminated with animal fickle… I know, I know… GROSS! Apparently Giradia can only be killed via boiling your water or by adding iodine to it; I did neither. Mario however used my water filter the whole time and did not contract the virus.

In the end what amazes me is that it took more than 4-months for the protozoa to come out of their dormitory state and wreak havoc on my body. Nonetheless, it’s good to be back and feel like myself again, just a few more days of uber-antibiotics and I”ll be “tip top.” Probably the hardest part of the whole ordeal was not being able to race or train well on my bicycle, not to mention family and friends thinking I’ve become lame. Oh yeah, explaining that Girardia is not a sexual transmitted disease was pretty hard too.

There’s my story. I look forward to getting back on the blogging bandwagon. Cheers!

-Patrick

Just about everyday, without fail, I walk, ride or skate through Portland State University’s campus to get home… It’s a good cut-through, no cars, lot’s of girls (it’s not creepy because I’m still young enough to be in University.) In the end, living near PSU keeps me young. Though, most recently it has helped keep me conscious of what’s going on in other parts of the world.

Three grass covered park blocks on PSU’s campus are now covered with white and red flags. The flags represent the number of people killed since the U.S. invaded Iraq. Each white flag represents five Iraqi people, while red flags represents five Americans’ who’ve fallen victim to the war. It’s a see of white to say the least, but the number of red flags is astonishing as well.

Politically, I can go either way here, so I’m not going to get all opinionated and risk losing part of my already slim readership. Here’s an image, but it doesn’t do the memorial much justice. If you’re in the area I encourage you to check it out.

I’m completely obsessed with the soundtrack to a spot advertising Nike SPARQ Training, a new service offering which aims to help you “be a better athlete.” Something about the ad in its entirety just really turns me on. It makes me want to train, do uphill intervals until my legs feel like bleeding, recover, then do it over again. For me, the spot brings out a sense of aggression, but aggression coupled with happiness, which stems from knowing I can work harder to be better. After all, in sports there’s only so much “god-given” talent one can have. In the end it comes down who’s going to work the hardest and, ultimately, who wants it the most.

Addendum: OMG! A friend/co-worker let me know who the artist is and, turns out, I’ve had this songs in my iTunes all-along. It’s “List of Demands” by Saul Williams, who, ironically, I’m seeing live on Tuesday at the Aladdin Theatre. Gosh I feel silly… Thanks Kasia

First off, I’d like to make claim to a new term/acronym, Web Video on Demand (WVOD,) which I’m fairly certain I created. Second, I want to spread the word about hulu.com, a new way to watch video online. Ask yourself, what happens when two giant broadcast networks, FOX and NBC, join forces to bring their programs online? You get hulu.com, that’s what!

One year in the making and an estimated $15 million in development, hulu revolutionizes the way in which video is streamed online. It’s pretty, easy to use and the video quality is out of this world. In fact, it’s so good, some are calling hulu a YouTube killer, but that’s a bit of an overstatement if you ask me. After all, YouTube runs on the foundation of user generated content; so you’re not going to find a good Cat Fight on hulu.

Hulu is still in beta testing, but it’s supposed to launch for the general public any minute now. So stay tuned (pun intended.)

Psych! Just playing, I wasn’t sick, though, suffering from an illness was the firs thing to pop into my head to excuse my blogging hiatus. I bet those of you (D echo, Mom & Dad, Hess, MT and that weirdo in Eastern Washington who keeps offering me a job on his Pony farm) that complained about my disappearance from the blogosphereo would’ve felt really bad if I said, “sorry, it’s hard to type when you’ve lost both hands to Leprosy.” Nevertheless, I’m back and if being too busy having fun is a crime, then lock me in solitary confinement, because that’s my only excuse… Get over it

Anyhow, I am pretty sure a lot has happened in the past month. Here’s my mediocre attempt to recap:

• I’m 24 years old now… Yes, another pointless age. At least I’m now just one year away from lower car insurance, right?
• I started racing my bicycle again and it feels good to go fast. Now if I could just get in shape.
• I’ve eaten roughly 10 Belgian waffles since my last blog… Thanks Aunt Judy, everyone loves my “Holiday Inn-like” waffle maker.
• I now commute to work on a skate board and have crashed twice. No injuries, just a lot of embarrassment.
• Jay won the Portland Beer Mile last night. Honorable mention goes to 3rd-place finisher, D echo, for having the best outfit, courtesy of yours truly. Jay drank 4 Budweisers and ran 1 mile in just 6.22… Amazing!

Alright, that’s probably enough egomaniacism (I know, I know, that’s not a real word) for one day. After all, I’d hat t lose my 10 regular readers on my first entry back. Cheers!

It’s truly calming to sit, on a Sunday night, and reflect on what you’ve learned over the weekend. Here’s my attempt.

• Yahoo! LIVE might be able to put the “social” back into “Social Media”
• Belgian Waffles at 2:00AM are a really good idea
• The sun does shine in Portland in February
• A 4-hour bike ride after an evening of 4-6 micro brews, probably not a good idea
• A hand built bicycle is a lot more beautiful than a manufactured one
• There’s a new strip club in Portland, Casa Diablo. It’s tucked away in the NW industrial park, a part of town only frequented by truckers and cyclists. I’m guessing CD’s target market is truckers… Strippers + spandex-clad cyclists = bad idea, I’m sure.
• Jack Johnson’s new album is over produced and unimpressive. Poor Guy!
• An incredible $18 show does exists, Umphrey’s McGee proved it by ending a 3.5-hour, two set show with a cover of the CLASH’s London Calling

Over the weekend Yahoo! launched a revolution, one only recognized online and of value to those of us with a web cam/iSite, not to mention a blazing fast connection, but a revolution nonetheless. It’s Yahoo! LIVE, a live video-streaming service that has all the potential to, once again, change the way we use the internet. Don’t trifle, Yahoo LIVE! is a-ways-away from perfect, so you haven’t missed anything big yet… but it’s definitely worth your perusal.

Yahoo! LIVE is a lot like existing apps, Ustream for example, but boasts some pretty rad features, like the ability to embed your LIVE video-casts on third-party websites/blogs. LIVE also has a handy chat window (b/c the audio component is totally messed.) My favorite is multi-camera viewing, which enables you to see video channels of other people watching the same stream you are. It sounds complicated, but you can jump around from channel-to-channel quickly and change the lineup however you’d like.

Thanks goes to the Digital Merlin for introducing me to Yahoo’s time/soul-sucking app. There’s no better way to spend Portland’s warmest day of 2008 than in a video chat-room with a plethora of dudes suffering from hair loss… Just playing. It was honestly incredibly exciting, don’t let my depressed look fool ya. Check it out!

Alright, so getting a free iPhone is near impossible; that is unless you win, find or steal one. However, it’s not difficult to get an iPhone for under a-hundred-bucks. It just takes some effort, not to mention a bit of questionable hustling. I did it and ended up paying roughly $60 for my iPhone just a few months after its release. Now, many of my friends have jumped the bandwagon; take dEcho for example, my pal who–just last week–paid next to nothing for his iPhone.

If you’re up for it here’s what you do:

1. Wait until your current cell-phone contract is up
2. Log onto Amazon.com and find a Blackberry Curve 8310 being offered through AT&T
3. Purchase the Blackberry Curve for the low price of FREE after rebates when you sign up or renew your 2-year contract
4. Wait a few days until you get the Blackberry Curve from Amazon
5. Take some good pictures and post the Blackberry for sale on eBay
6. I suggest starting the auction for $1
7. Make sure you post the Blackberry under the appropriate categories to maximize the final sale price
8. If done right,the phone should sell for around $300
9. Take your newly earned skrilla to Apple and put it towards a shiny new iPhone

It works, I promise… Enjoy!

Ahhh… The Super Bowl, an evening of athletic excellence, cheap beer, nachos and yes… Clever advertising. Or is it not? As of late I’ve heard only sighs of disappointment surrounding the 30-second wonders that are Super Bowl commercials. I on the other-hand was particularly impressed with this year’s Super Bowl spots. For me, so long as I laugh or cry and the ad resonates enough for me to remember the brand and talk about it the next day, it’s a success.

You can watch all the Super Bowl spots here, thanks to Advertising Age. Oh! And if you’re wondering–my favorites were the E * TRADE baby spots.