What the hell Arby's?

Since when do you not have Homestyle Fries?

I demand answers!

Tuscabama.

Professor Truth and I survived our trip to the Deep South. I'm capitalizing that because, in all honesty, it is another country entirely. It's a scary place where every native speaker sounds dumb as a post, the cool kids where short pants and deck shoes, and there is absolutely no wind.

Honest to God, short pants. Like, above the knee.

The week was a success. By the time it was over, Truth had made a college-aged woman cry at a dance club, Max Power had gone international, and the Tripod invented Cemetery Golf. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like it is.

So there you have it. A solid week of making my liver say "uncle!". Four days of yelling at 14 year old athletes who wanted to be anywhere else but in the gym. One unforgettable hour hitting experienced golf balls to their (and Dorothy Pearson's) final resting place.

Thanks Suede and Schmang for being such excellent hosts.

It's good to feel your weight on me again.

Green, Red, Yellow, Yellow, Blue.

I've been exposed to Guitar Hero and it has borne in me a desire to shred. I want my computer avatar to rock all night long and party ev-er-y day. I've long wanted to rock out on the guitar, and now I can, by proxy.

My lack of ownership of a gaming console (aside from my beloved Nintendo 64) means I can only throw down when invited by others. But when Guitar Hero III comes out for the Wii, I might just take that step.

With a pocket full of shells.

Quarter Life Crisis

An awesomely brief podcast featuring John January of American Copywriter talking about the "Quarter Life Crisis" that twentysomethings go through when they finish school.

Good stuff.

You're only as old as you feel.

Cheerwine.

Seriously guys. Drink this stuff. I tried it for the first time three weeks ago, and I am firmly in the Church of Cheerwine. I'm a Cheerwinist, devout follower of Cheerwinism and believer in He Who Is Cherry. I'm casting off the shackles of my noodly God and forsaking my ties with Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. Instead, I'll now proselytize to other about the joy of Cheery Cherry Soda.

Cheerwine for one and all. The Cheer starts here. A Cheerwine in every glass. Weapons of Mass Cheerwine.All other sodas, nay, all other liquids pale in comparison to the rose tinted nectar of Cheerwine. It's a unique combination of cherry, win, and awesome. It has no equal. It is without compare.

It is as if they bottled sunshine, infused it with a rainbow, made it cherry flavored, and then shot it into space. In that icy vacuum it was exposed to whatever things are exposed and returned greater, stronger, and more flavorful than it left our world.

Thank you. That is all.

I really like it.

Absenteeism.

Sorry I've been truant. I am swamped with work and have one major piece of remarkable in the oven. If it rises correctly, I'll be sure to let all of you sample the baked goodness here at this blog first.

Funny stuff going on over at Will It Bill.

Since I've missed two NMWs, I'll throw you guys a bone. Dolores O'Riordan is best known as the lead singer for The Cranberries. She recently released a solo album that is very, very good. Here is the first single, Ordinary Day.

I highly recommend the entire album titled "Are You Listening".



Life is more intricate than it seems.

The Table collapses.

With Ben already gone, and Bill having flown the Coop (see what I did there?) the Brotherhood of the Table is officially broken. We didn't get a chance to tag Ben with an electronic tracking device before he left, but we did get Billy.

Follow his zany antics here.

That's all, for now.

It's perfect as it is.

This headline, and subsequent story, needs no exposition from me.

Armless driver eludes police chase

Absolutely awesome.

[Boing Boing]

An alternate world, part 1(?)

There is a great piece over at Ad Age about the work TBWA has done for Starburst and Skittles. Essentially, the author implies TBWA has crafted an alternate world for their products to inhabit. A world where the absurd is commonplace. The following commercial is a great example of this.



The Ad Age article points out how neither of the two guys approached by the Little Lad react in a way which acknowledges how obviously out of place the Dickensian character is. It is implied he is not out of place. Sure he's odd, but he's not so out of context the other two are overtly taken aback by his behavior.

Starburst is not the only product to receive this treatment from our friends at TBWA. You might remember this Skittles commercial:



Or this one:



They're brilliant in they all inhabit the same world. TBWA has set up an alternate reality for these products to exist in. The beauty is it's the same world. For all we know it might run tangental to ours. Perhaps a Skittles leak is formed when someone in our reality inevitably spills a pound of Skittles in a movie theater.

The point is TBWA has taken Adam Savage's quote "I reject your reality and substitute my own" to a literal level with this work for Starburst and Skittles. The question now is will they maintain this alternate reality and use it to engage their consumers?

That's how you fix it?

[Ad Age]

Poetry in motion.

An incredible cliche of a title, wouldn't you say? Regardless, I love this website. It documents a project which takes poetry written by Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins, and gives it an animated treatment.

I love the fusion of media. The written word, the spoken word, the animation. It's beautiful and fun and stimulating.

Today is one of those days.

This one goes out to Max.

The title of this post is paraphrasing something actually uttered by Pete Mitchell at the No More Kings concert last night. It was right before they played "Zombie Me", which is very fitting. The show was good though the crowd was sparse. The guys from No More Kings looked like they were having fun, and it showed in their performance.

I got the chance to talk with Pete a little before and after the show, and he is a rad dude (I'm sure the same can be said for the rest of the band as well). We talked pop culture, the current self-important musical landscape, dynamics of sequels to successful movies, and the pending zombie apocalypse.

All and all, a good show. I hope they come back to Lincoln soon.

All the zombies in the house say "Hey-ay!"

Celebration!

You know what's better than simply celebrating a coworkers birthday? Convincing everyone in the office she's 40 (she's not). The perfect touch was when her husband and two kids came into the office with a balloon which read "Happy 40th!". Perfect.

And we get to do it all over again next year.

NMW: No More Kings, Sweep The Leg

DeeCee turned me onto these guys about a month (maybe more) ago. They just released their debut album on March 27th, and Pete Mitchell (lead singer, animator, speaker of Japanese) described it as "A love letter to the eighties." There are songs about Knight Rider, the Smurfs, Peanuts (the comic strip), and of course, Karate Kid.

I guarantee you this is the best band with a song written entirely from the point of view of a 80's movie antagonist portrayed by William Zabka.

What's more, these guys are going to be rocking Knickerbockers tomorrow night with Traceback and As The City Sleeps. I'll be there, for sure. I'm thinking about rocking the gi, crane kick style!



Send him home in a body bag Johnny!

Very interesting.

This YouTube video is disarming. It illustrates two things that I'm not proud of:

1. Subliminal messaging works, even on advertisers.
2. People who work in advertising are really like those two guys.

Pretty remarkable.

[Via Adrants]

Michael Power!

Ha! The lovely and talented B.L. Ochman name dropped me over on her What's Next Blog. Well, it was close. She dubbed me "Michael Power" - which is an awesome combination of what my mom calls me (Michael Johnson) and what my friends call me (Max Power).

Either way, she linked me and told the flacks over at Jones Soda to send me some free samples! That would be huge, as I am a major fan of Jones Soda, but never think to buy it. It's always one of those impulse purchases when it catches my eye at the store. I need to have a six pack always in my fridge.

Note to self: Jones Soda six pack. (Do they come in six packs?)

She has much back.

This is what the internet is meant for. Talk about remarkable. The editing is solid, the song very well done. This is the kind of entertaining stuff that my industry needs to be spending time creating. I love it.



When it comes to the fairer sex...

NMW: Bob Schneider, Metal and Steel

I saw Bob in concert way back in the beginning of April at Knickerbockers. He put on a great live show. He even records it and then makes the CDs available immediately following the performance. It's a brilliant idea and I've been listening to it ever since. While "Metal and Steel" isn't my favorite song, it's one of his more mainstream ballads that people will like.



This song, which I call "I'm Ready", is great and shows you how he spans genres. The lovely woman in the background is Sharon Little, who will probably be a NMW artist in the future.



And finally, a picture of me and Bob after his show. He looks thrilled to be there, doesn't he?



You ready? I'm ready. I'm ready. Let's roll.

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

And many more!

Online comics.

Comeeko is perhaps the greatest thing since sliced bread. It allows you to upload pictures and create a comic out of them. For example:



If you think I'm not going to mess around with this, you are sorely mistaken!

I think I might have to make a series of Office Ninja comics.

Mythomania

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day is "mythomania", which is defined as

an excessive or abnormal propensity of lying and exaggerating.

If this is a chronic and constant issue, I can see how it would be a bad thing. However, if wielded correctly, isn't this just the definition of a good storyteller?

Just thinking out loud here.

Twitter.

Just an update that I still find Twitter remarkable. It's a great little web-app that people are flocking too. Lots of talk and chatter about it making blogs obsolete. I don't know about that, but I do enjoy Twitterville quite a bit. Great way to stay up to date on those you find interesting.

If you sit in front of a computer all day (or any part of the day, for that matter), it might be worth checking out.

www.twitter.com/maxpower

Two flew the coop.

I want to extend congratulations to Billy for landing a job at Furman University. He leaves sometime in May to assume his position. I wish him all the luck in the world. Go Paladins.

Also, lost in the shuffle of a hectic first quarter was Benjamin leaving for Alabama. I don't know if I properly highlighted his hiring by the University of Alabama on the blog, so I'll do it now. Good job Ben. Roll Tide.

It's a little scary to think every member of the table is now gainfully employed in the real world. Good job everyone. We did it, despite our best efforts.

I forsee some vacations in the south.

Welcome.

I received this card from a friend a few weeks ago along with the following words:

You are fabulous! Your energy & passion is contagious and shines through in all that you do.

Now you know the inspiration for this blog, which is really just a new twist in the road from my old blog, which in my opinion no longer had my full energy and passion.

You'll see some familiar things around here, such as Maxster's New English Dictionary, New Music Wednesdays, and The List. Hopefully you'll see some fresh things as well. Some remarkable things. Things I'm proud of and want to share. Lets have some fun.

I hope you enjoy.