The McCarthy's at Chicky's

Garrett and i saw these guys on Friday night. (at least the first hour anyway). with songs like "Hillbilly Highway" and "Here comes trouble" (which he lovingly dedicated to his brother Alan) we had a real good time !

Mmm...cake.

Bacardi Rum Cake

I might give this recipe a try some time !

How's Ernie ?

Fred J Eaglesmith

it might take a while for the website to load but it is a pretty funny song !

Duck...duck...

Goose ?

Jeez, you throw a few pieces of bread in the water and before you know it, you've got a melee on your hands !

Just read - Cordelia Underwood

This was the first one of the series. Great stories. A girl inherits some land, and maybe hidden treasure, in the wilds of Millinocket around 1900...a train ride and other adventures paint a wonderful picture of Portland and elsewhere at the turn of the century.

Stewart at the VIP shoot

Good thing he's very creative....clearly, wardrobe is not his forte'.

Filming a Winter TV ad at VIP

"So we'd like to get some winter footage to use in a TV campaign next year."

No problem. Sometimes you need to get a little chilly when you are trying to communicate a clients 'core truth'.

Truth was, the guys at VIP spent a good part of the Blizzard in the parking lot putting on new wiper blades, headlight bulbs and tires. Our actors were glad to only have to do it when the direction said 'Action!'

Notice the big blue snow machine next to the truck...for extra dramatic effect.

Food pitching is a bitch

We got some interesting coverage for one of our clients, Rustic Crust...trying (too hard) to tap into the Super Bowl hype.

Any publicity is good publicity, right ?

I may never eat another Snicker's bar again

Office pool

Can you tell i work for an advertising agency ?

Snap!

Shoelace broken
Snapped in two,
Turns my day
From green to blue.

Holding it together
Over time, it gives way
Keep moving forward
Just a bit slower today.

repeat

sorry, the only way that i can get this picture back in my profile is to host it somewhere. after months of painful thought, it donned on me that i could host it myself and then just link back to my own blog.

Bored yet ?

Even with me in it, its a pretty good picture of the Alps.

Garrett's joke

Question:

If you are standing outside the bathroom, are you American ?

Yes

If you are inside the bathroom, are you STILL American ?

Yes

No, European !

EMS - Get Back

looks like EMS is trying to get back to its roots. I like the strategy, because it embraces the brands core truth.

"Which is easier," asks Bradbury, "teaching kids who can fold sweaters how to ice climb, or teaching ice climbers how to fold sweaters?"

The right employees make all the difference in building trust with the customer...and keeping the brand honest and true to itself.

Moving forward

No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn. - Jim Morrison

Right vs. Righteous

Trying to reach righteousness is more important than trying to be right.

Slant 6 - Bluegrass

i'll be checking out this band next week at our Ethos 1 yr (in our new building) anniversary party

Garrett and Alan Feeding Birds at the Beach

These birds would catch the bread right out of the air ! With their heads in the wind, they were able to just hover over us while we tossed pieces up to them.

Portland marketing guy may get Super Bowl ad aired !

Local creative guy sent in an idea for an ad and if he gets enough votes, they produce the ad and play it on the Super Bowl. pretty good idea/pitch too.

"Look like you're thinking about something"

That was the "creative direction" they gave me when they were taking new pictures for our website. Now i know why i'm better on the other side of the camera !

Reading now - The City of Falling Angels

The Fenice in Venice....falls mainly on the plain. Woops, wrong limerick. Good book so far though. - TK

You can almost hear the wind blowing through the windows...

....or through the engine bay.

Believe it or not, this is considered "close" to being done. Anyone else thnk he should sandbag it one more year, until 2008 to make it an even 20-year project ?

1988- ?

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Why We Worry About The Things We Shouldn't... ...And Ignore The Things We Should.

Some very interesting reading that will make you think.

This says it all:

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to tell the difference. -Amen

Buy Walden stuff here

Pretty cool Christmas party band !

Here’s a quick quiz:

What do Bob Dylan, Jay McShann, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, John Hammond, the late Jimmy Witherspoon, Dr. John, Maria Muldaur, Roomful of Blues, and the Canadian band The Rockin’ Highliners all have in common?

Answer: Duke Robillard.

This was the band that played at our Christmas Party last night. He definately cooked !

TK

What i'm reading- The Fall of the Year

Excellent storywriting here...even if i did kindof guess where it was headed, i did really enjoy the writing it took to get me there. It's the journey, not the destination, right ?

Snap the Whip - Winslow Homer

Not so Silly anymore

American troops use the Silly String to detect trip wires around bombs.

Mars Hill, ME

Traveled far to say goodbye
Strangers, friends and family try
To remember jokes, jabs and winks
Content to amuse only one.

Cold, gray and damp we trudge together
Far away saws hum and blades spin
through the weather.

A final prank. Where are the keys?
Safe and dry, locked inside.
Men in black will be walking home.
We all smile a little with pride.

Be

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.

- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden"

What would MacGyver do ?

Check out a book that a very funny guy i work with contributed to...makes a great stocking stuffer!

What I'm reading - Fiddler's Green

"The greatest mystery concerning the State of Maine's Moosepath League is that its members involved themselves with so many adventures and contributed so significantly to the solutions of several celebrated riddles, and yet are relatively unknown to the public at large."

Painters with a Maine cause

Capturing a moment in time

Good Wine

Philosophy
St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, located in the heart of Sonoma Valley, produces big, bold, full-bodied wines that deliver on flavor. Each wine is produced from 100% hand-picked Sonoma County fruit and is a direct expression of our winemaking philosophy of “maximum extraction, minimal intervention."

Where is the outrage ?

File away as two great tastes that DON'T taste great together:

You would think two of my favorite things, Jimi Hendrix music and Victoria's Secret TV commercials, would make me want to stand up and cheer. But it didn't...

Maybe Hendrix's estate is trying to make this list:

Special Report
Top-Earning Dead Celebrities

Scarborough Land Trust

Local group that I'm going to work with to help make sure they don't "pave paradise to put up a parking lot."

I like what they are doing because of the "active conservation" of the land that they promote. Not all development is evil and land should be protected but also enjoyed by as many as possible by allowing biking, hiking, hunting etc.

Community Auditions

Star of the day
Who will it be ?
Your vote may hold the key.
It's up to you
Tell us who
Will be star of the day.

(it's saying something when a jingle stays in your head for 30 years!) - TK

Pop Quiz

Can you find me in this picture ?

Volunteer Fair PR

Here's a recent article about a local event that i helped promote.

Not exactly the sexiest thing in the world....but hey, it pays the bills, OK ?

Volunteer fair aims at tapping retirees
By Erica Thoits

Hot Toddy

DRINK RECIPE

Hot Toddy
Bring on Winter !!
1 oz. Brandy
1 Tablespoon Honey
1/4 Lemon
1 cup Boiling Water
1 Tea Bag

Coat the bottom of a mug with the honey. Add brandy and juice of lemon quarter. On the side, boil water and add tea bag to make hot tea. Pour steaming tea into honey/brandy/lemon combination.

Word puzzles - Jumble

Often, this is my favorite part of reading the newspaper. Not so much the puzzle or the solution but the ability to find the time to do it.

Blue

A nice place to grab a pint and listen to some tunes. Being Portland, always an eclectic mix of customers.

What I'm reading - Cannery Row

I'm reading this one again. I am suprised again in Steinbeck's clarity of writing. He (and his characters) say what they mean and mean what they say. It's refreshing in a world of spin and false promises.

If you can't get out of it, get into it!

Sax man

Copyright - Peter Interland

SI- Fan value at the ballpark

.....well at least Fenway is in front of Shea. So what if that's the ONLY team they actually rate better than.

The numbers tell the tale. A night at Fenway will knock you back $400 at least.

Vacationland

So far, since Mid-July, we have seen and recorded 22 different out of state license plates in Scarborough. Contest runs until Columbus day weekend.

Imagine - John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
and the world will be as one.

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

Crikey...RIP

What i'm reading- The True Account: A Novel of the Lewis and Clark and Kinneson Expeditions

One of those "parallel history" type of stories that has just enough truth in it to cause you to wonder if it really did happen.

No Lycopene

this is the first season since 1992 that i have not grown a single tomato plant

Garrett likes them too !

Alan enjoys a Sea Dog biscuit

Riders on the Storm

one of my favorite keyboard solos of all time...backed by rythem guitar. here is the back story. Almost as good as "little stevie" winwood's jam in Voodoo Chile.

Time

If you could go back and talk to yourself in ten year incriments, what would you say ?

Would you be able to talk to yourself at 25? How about at 15? Would you want to be their friend? You would think that you would always be the same person, but I think that I'm a lot different from the Me's of 1986 and 1996. Who wll be the me of 2016 ?

Miho Museum

Step 1 - Dig out a mountain
Step 2- Build a museum
Step 3 - Fill it in

Cross breed...of what though?

Residents wonder if dead animal is legendary mystery beast
August 16, 2006
TURNER, Maine --AP--Residents are wondering if an animal found dead over the weekend may be the mysterious creature that has mauled dogs, frightened residents and been the subject of local legend for half a generation.

What i'm reading-Bang the Drum slowly

Hey, it's summer....gotta get a baseball book in there someplace.

This summer

"I'm going to go the beach and bury a bunch of metal objects and write "Get a Life" on them. (Heard on the radio)

James Braddock

Watched Cinderalla Man over the weekend. Good movie.

My "uh huh" moment came at the closing credits. the story is all about this boxer who fights (bad luck) all through The Depression just to keep the heat on and any food ont the table for his wife and kids. Eventually, he gets back into boxing, wins some fights (all the while getting himself beat up) and eventualy becomes Champ in a time when people actually liked/cared about/respected boxers. This made him one of the biggest stars in the world at the time.

He does all this...wins...(eventually losing the title to Joe Louis) and then the last credit says something like "Jim went on to serve bravely in World War II" Wow. To say that (some) men were made of different stuff back then is an understatement. Of course the movie shows men back then (just like today) willing to make a buck at all costs, but i think the gap between those guys and the good guys was much wider back then.

Could you imagine any professional athlete today "taking off a year or two" to head over to Iraq?

TK

MTV is now older than it's target audience - NPR

Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson, Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman and Nina Blackwood.

Dictionary.com - Sylvan

Well what do you know...

syl·van also sil·van ( P ) Pronunciation Key (slvn)
adj.
Relating to or characteristic of woods or forest regions.
Located in or inhabiting a wood or forest.
Abounding in trees; wooded.

n.
One that lives in or frequents the woods.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Medieval Latin sylvnus, from Latin Silvnus, god of the woods, from silva, forest.]

Latest VIP marketing...on the trak at Beech Ridge

Interactive trivia on my cable system

Compete against local players and see where you stack up against others across the country. Hey, at least its better than melting your brain watching another American idol wannabe "Competition Reality show" .

See you online.

SI- 20 things about NASCAR sponsorships you should know

What i'm reading- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Interesting dialog on how someone else see's the world.

Sports- Ricky back for the 250

What I read - The Alchemist

Pretty good vacation book. I'll be on the lookout for Omens and trying to find my Personal Legend...

New Ethos website !

Well. our new website is now up an running! This tells a much better story of who we are and what we do.

Race Car for 250...nice design, huh?

Here's the car that Ricky Craven will be driving in the TD Banknorth 250 at the end of July. How those girls got in the picture I have no idea.

Dylan on PBS

i watched the second half of this last night and it will be on again. Very interesting look into how, when and why he did what he did. tonight, he goes electric....they've already shown clips of him being heckled by the crowd. The shear volume of writing and the ease at which it came to him is amazing. Eminem got nothin' on Bobby!

It's (not) like 86 all over again...i hope

DAN SHAUGHNESSY
Saluting the spirit of '86

By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist | June 27, 2006
There was not much buzz about them when they first gathered in Winter Haven, Fla., late in February 1986. Greater Boston was still reeling from the Patriots' maiden voyage to the Super Bowl (which ended in a severe beating by the Chicago Bears), and there were indications, later fulfilled, that the Celtics were on their way to a 16th world champions

Blow out the candles

A Special Birthday this week. Can you believe it?
Monica Lewinsky turned 31 this week.
It seems like only yesterday she was crawling around the
White House on her hands and knees.
They grow up so fast.

VIDEO from commute another way day

Here's the TV coverage we got...if you play the video, you'll see yours truly helping to bring the canoe to shore.

Ethos coverage - Canoe to Work

Here's a fun project we just did. i had one of the guys i work with paddle down the river outside our office (and his house) and we got some pretty good press coverage as a result. We were a little damp, but it was worth it in the end.

Racecar

I was informed by my 7 year old son today that racecar is spelled the same forward and backwards.

For .09 Cents ? Why print them yourself

Rite Aid is offering Kodak prints (from memory card or a CD) for .09 cents each. Its a send out service and you have to wait 2-3 days. I just loaded a CD of about 120 pictures (since before christmas, shame on me!) and i'll see how they come out later in the week. By comparison, getting 24 exposures of film developed at $7.99 is .33 cents each.

A new "Mill" for Maine

Wind, that is. I heard from a trusted source that this is quite a sight to see.

Brazilian

Donald Rumsfeld briefed the President this morning. He told Bush that 3
Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq.

To everyone's amazement, all of the color ran from Bush's face, then he
collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken, almost whimpering.

Finally, he composed himself & asked Rumsfeld, "Just exactly how many is a
brazillion?"

The Simpsons as philosophy

"Cartoons abstract from real life in much the same way philosophers do. Homer is not realistic in the way a film or novel character is, but he is recognisable as a kind of American Everyman. His reality is the reality of an abstraction from real life that captures its essence, not as a real particular human who we see ourselves reflected."

...just watch out for falling anvils. - TK

Baseball Card Blog

Someday, I'll take some time to read through these. I'm still banking on some my cards helping to pay for my retirement someday.

Fireman Alan

My latest project

Mostly straight, square and level. Build one for $650 or buy for $3,000? What would you do? How do you like my skylight design?

Still gray, but not for long

At least that's what i'm told.

The Stripers must be coming

There were 4 or 5 guys out this moring along the river/marsh. There have been 1 or 2 out there for the last few weeks, but i think they are here to stay now. All last year there wasn't a single day that went by that there wasn't someone out fishing along the river. Must be good eatin ?

Staying power

The only bands that were around when i was a kid and are still relevant today are:

U2
Aerosmith
The Police (Sting)

I'm talking about bands/people that have maintained their relevance to pop culture....of course there is MUSIC from the 50's, 60's, 70's and even 80's that will be around for ever. All i'm saying is that those artists, today, are usually better remembered for what they did...and not about what they do, today.

May 17, 2003

Dad -
We all miss you so much.
Love,
Mom, Tim, Michelle, Garrett, Alan, Stephanie, Karl and all of your family and friends.

Reese - TIME 100: The People Who Shape Our World

Everyone has an opinion

I still say its pretty damn hard to hit a ball coming at you at 90mph no matter how much juice you take.

Marketing firm relocates to Westbrook

Here's an article that i pitched about our recent move. We also got a byline feature in MaineBiz on the news.

Jason's pictures from around Europe

I think the best Rock n Roll song of all time is

Sympathy for the Devil by the Roliing Stones. The drums, the guitar, the piano, the ooh ooh...if that song doesn't get you moving, nothing will!

1,000 covers of Rolling Stone on the wall

take one down, pass it around, 999 covers on the wall.

NEW YORK - Rolling Stone magazine celebrates its 1,000th issue this week with a burst of rock 'n' roll excess: a glitzy Manhattan party with the Strokes as house band and a 3-D cover that mimics the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" sleeve and cost nearly $1 million to produce.

Who's that hiding behind Elmo?

I was thinking the other day, do you think the kids that actually got to appear on Seasame Street fealt any different about seeing the characters as puppets and not "real" like they appear on TV?

Someone should do some research...maybe a "E! True Hollywood Story" The Kids of Seasame Street.

Happy Birthday Cheerios

"Look! An Oat Cereal All Ready to Eat” (1944)

What I'm reading- The Dogs of Babel

Excerpt from 'The Dogs of Babel'
By Carolyn Parkhurst

Here is what we know, those of us who can speak to tell a story: On the afternoon of October 24, my wife, Lexy Ransome, climbed to the top of the apple tree in our backyard and fell to her death. There were no witnesses, save our dog, Lorelei;

The man who never was - 1956

Garrett and I watched this movie when we were both home sick a few weeks ago. Actually, i watched it an Garrett slept through most of it. Best part of the movie (IMHO) was coming up with the concept. Toss someone out of a plane to plant information for the Nazis to "find" that would never work....but float him in the ocean and let him drift into Spain, of course that will work just fine.

interesting twists towards the end and one tries to figure out what the other is up to

.406 club is gone

Check out the new seats above home plate!

Has it finally sprung ?

I think Spring might be here to stay this week.

Simpson's Movie

Will they finally "Jump the Shark"....i doubt it.