Alec Brownstein Speaks at CPS

Last night Alec Brownstein (http://www.alecbrownstein.com) , creator of the google job experiment and winner of about every award known to man came to speak at CPS. Honestly the guy is a genius. His whole speech really focuses on the fact that you really don't need much beyond a good idea and a group of friends with some know how to produce some great work. Its all about understanding the free resources around you, and more or less having the drive to just get shit done. Alec showed us a number of examples of videos and short clips of very simple and well executed ideas that have gone viral. The common message with the majority of our speakers is that you need to get off your ass and get things done, which I really couldn't agree with more. I am in a rare situation where every day I get to go to a place surrounded by student who just wanna make shit and get noticed, and who have the skills to do so.

On another note, the first week of the quarter is finished and a lot has gone down. First of all the first round of the Royal Rumble is complete. My partners and I got some decent feedback on our idea and how to push forward. We went with a concept of "Personal Comfort" and had an app, some print and bunch of social media in our campaign. The next round of judging is Thursday the 14th so we have a lot of work to do before then.

Also I have a whole new lineup of professors and to be honest they kick some serious ass. Natalie Taylor is my concepts teacher, she is a copywriter at Ogilvy and she literally just refuses to suck. Natalie addressed us at the beginning of class that her job is to make other students and teacher jealous they aren't in our class and that if our best campaign doesn't come from this class than she hasn't done her job. I have Joel Wheat tuesday nights in art direction, Joel has held about every job in the industry and what I like about his class is we are really getting to learn a lot about famous people in pop culture as well as work on producing some past work that we have done. Next wednesday I have David Sieren for typography who has picked up right were last semesters type class ended and seems to have a real passion and knowledge for design in general. Lastly Thursday nights I have Tony Marin who integrated campaigns, Tony is the first teacher I have had that actually went to CPS which is cool to see someone who is very successful and has come from the school. He has allowed us to pair up with one person for the entire semester and I wound up going with copywriter Justin Florio who I have worked with now on a couple different projects, and am definitely looking forward to working with more.

Other than that all thats new is that the One Show nominations have been pushed back to Monday the 11th so fingers are still crossed hoping Marta and I get nominated. This week we have to work on projects for Amazon Kindle, a household cleaner that is enviromentally friendly, and I am just continuing to update my website and work on my resume.. oh ya just going out and "getting shit done."

Switching Gears...Da Bulls

How bout them bulls! 20 years ago Mike, Scottie and a cast of characters landed Chicago their first championship, beating Magic Johnsons Lakers in a 5 game route. The way this season is shaping up I would be shocked to see a re-peat of that same final. The Bulls are hitting full stride right at the right time which in my experience is more important than anything. Look at teams in all sports who have hit it hot at the end of the season, the Rangers last year in the MLB, the Giants and Packers in recent memory in the NFL, the Blackhawks in the NHL, its all about getting hot at the right time and Chicago is on fire. To me the Celtics still pose the biggest test to the Bulls in the Eastern Conference, although Miami is going to be a tough out for anyone in the playoffs I think they are one year and one more piece away from being a true title contender. Boston on the other team has something you can never underestimate according to ex Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, "the heart of a champion." They have the vets who have been there and know how to get it done, but they do lack a big man. My prediction is that the Celtics will meet the Bulls in the conference finals and there lack of size and increasing lack of depth will start to take a toll on the aging veterans, making way and passing the torch if you will to the Bulls. If I am the Lakers I do not want to meet Chicago in the finals, the Bulls have the ability to matchup size on size with Boozer and Noah on Gasol and Bynum. Loul Deng's length makes him a huge to guard Kobe and I would suggest starting Taj on Artest. The biggest factor in this game would be that the Bulls biggest strength is LA's biggest weakness, the point gaurd. Derrick Fischer would stand no chance against soon to be MVP D Rose. We won't have to wait much longer to see how it all plays out but it should be an explosive post season!