The Jack Noodle Journal

Yes, I submitted something to Wieden and Kennedy’s giant cattle call that they named W+K Seeking. The advertising monolith requested any and all comers submit a PDF of work to them for review. They would fly the creators of the best work to their Portland offices where they would see what happened. I guess that meant a job? It was a tad cryptic (which I liked).

I was so hoping for a flight to Portland.
Oh.. yeah.

I wasn’t going to send anything at first. Something about the whole thing seemed to be American Idol-y or the Apprentice-y. I’m SO done with that reality show shlock as I think everyone should be. I’d be damned if I was going to stand up in front of ad execs and have them judge me on camera and then make me sing.

It also looked like they were going to have something decided and going in March which I told myself was getting too close to baby time.

I’m getting really tired of having to prove myself as well.

Oh yeah, and I already have a job.

That’s all good loser speak for “Oh, I didn’t want it anyway”.

Inspiration hit though as I noted here in the journal back then, probably while washing dishes. I got a little scheme brewing and submitted my PDF.

Here’s what I sent.

So what was I thinking?

They asked for a 11 by 17 landscape PDF document no more than 20 pages long. I sent them a one page PDF with one photo and one sentence.

I thought it would be something different and unusual for them in the midst of going through a mountain of 20 page PDF portfolio pieces. I think quite a few other people had the same thought.

It was a gamble. I wanted them to puzzle over it and maybe think,
“I wonder what would happen if I put the sentence, ‘robots biting their thumbs at each other’ into a search engine?”

If they did do that, the Jack Noodle Journal would pop up to the top (of Google) and they would click and go to this post. Yes, the post that faithful readers of the Journal were getting annoyed with that kept moving around.

From there they would be able to get to my portfolio site and work.

I have been fascinated with alternate reality gaming lately and how it plays into marketing. I love what was done with find815.com and the fun of discovering the Lost billboard. I am also into the artistry of 42 Entertainment and the work they are doing on projects like Year Zero. I think as the war for eyeballs wages on we are going to see all kinds of lines continue to blur in new and interesting ways. Is it an ad? A story? A game? Am I on the internet? What sort of devices and formats are being mixed and matched? How will the viewer, user, fan, reader, artist, player participate in the making of the content?

I wanted my submission to be seen as the starting point for an ARG campaign. Make them go on a scavenger hunt to find my work.
The “used jelly” post paints a weird story line and makes the reader think there may be more clues buried in the text.

I figured that if the Wieden and Kennedy kids going through and reviewing the submissions really got what I was trying to do and appreciated the merits of the attempt, I would be stoked if they picked me to work on whatever project they had requiring that sort of thinking and creativity. If they didn’t get it and were annoyed that someone only sent a photo with a sentence, then it was probably fine that I didn’t get picked.

Could I be any more highfalutin?

About 12 hours after emailing in my submission, I started to get antsy and began to fidget.

I was starting to think that only hinting at the possibility of an extended ARG experience wouldn’t be enough. I was going to have to go all the way!

I saw that one possible direction that could be taken from the post was that there could be clues at this place called the Pirate’s Cove where the mysterious meeting took place.

I was really excited when I found out that the Pirate’s Cove was actually a giant jug! When I originally wrote about the meeting I was thinking of the Pirate’s Cove over by the Jolly Roger on Hawthorne.

I put a picture of the Pirate’s Cove in my Flickr account to leave an even more obvious clue.

If the viewer actually went to the Pirate’s Cove they would eventually find a Jack Noodle sticker in the men’s restroom with /555-7306.pdf written on it with a sharpie.

Then putting 2 and 2 together the player would get back on the internet and find that the 555-7306 number took them to this file.

The player, viewer, or whatever would then get an email address that they could contact for further instructions or maybe I was going to send them a doodle or something. I was going to use the email as a way of confirming if someone put all the puzzle pieces together.

Nobody ever emailed though.

So that was that.
My submission was complete.

Probably not that great of a ARG mystery though.

The Wieden and Kennedy folks say that they picked 40 winners out of the 1600 entries they received.

I don’t think I was picked but I might have to go back to the Pirate’s Cove to see if there are any clues that they may have left for me that could lead to my missing acceptance letter.

This guy here was picked as one of the 40, and has links to some of the other entries that were submitted.

There was some pretty good stuff!

I probably would have gotten a bit further if I would have hit harder with a more attention grabbing initial piece. I should have thought a bit more about the audience that would be looking at it at first. With 1600 submissions to go through there’s no way that they were going to spend the time with it that I was demanding.

I think it was a pretty entertaining exercise and I did learn some things.

My next outing as a dungeon master will be even more informed now with the experience.

I didn’t do much of anything today.

It felt great!

I spent a lot of time catching up with my internet surfing.
It’s crazy how fast a day goes by when you are clicking from page to page. Right?

I updated my home computer links today so that my work RSS feeds are mimicked here where I have more time to read them.

I watched this interesting video interview with Don Tapscott. Some good stuff. He is the author of the book “Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything” . It looks like it might be a pretty good book. I’ll have to check it out later.

I’m a little bummed out though after learning a bit about the wikinomics. How come Generation Xers are always left out of the fun? It’s always you kids after us that are the great digital marvels, raised by computers, hopes for the future. Come on, we’re cool too!

We have been staying up to date with our LOST season 4 viewing. We have watched every episode this season over the internet. It’s pretty cool. We’ve been taking the laptop to bed with us Friday nights to watch. The episodes are coming through crisp, full screen without any blips and less commercial interruption. A great way to watch your shows.

So I think it was around Thanksgiving or Christmas, no wait, was it in September? I was sitting at my brother’s house talking to my mother and aunt telling them how great the movie “No Country For Old Men” was. They looked at me with blank stares then and didn’t know what I was talking about. I remember telling them, “You guys just watch. Come awards season you’ll remember back to this moment when I was telling you how great a film it was”. Oh yeah. I should have put some money down on it back then.

I found out about this disturbing bit of news today. K and I were walking the dogs through Laurelhurst Park on Sunday morning! We walked by the pond but didn’t see anything.

That’s just a few of the web surfing exploits today.

There is an undercurrent of another thing unfolding that is a tad early for Journal disclosure. We’ll get to it though.

Oh yeah. I did update Mom’s website today and I washed several days worth of dishes.

I did do a few things.

Yes we are quite a bit younger and prettier in this photo.

Today marks the beginning of baby shower season. Woo Hoo.
I’m anticipating lots of fun.

We’ve been getting the question quite a bit, “What do you guys need?”
I’m very thankful to have friends and family so happy and ready to build a village around Little Noodle. I am baffled by the question though. Partly because I don’t really know what we need. Partly also when it comes down to it, we need everything!

Well, not EVERYTHING. We do have a few things already.

I guess we need to make a checklist.

Our midwife has told us not to stress about it too much because all a newborn really needs is a blanket.

Oh yes and diapers. We will need mountains and mountains of diapers.

You know, we are almost caught up with all of our tasks and chores. All that will be left to do is chill and feel the baby kicks, which are getting stronger.

It’s going to be a fun weekend.

Did you see how bright it was at the hour it was this morning? There was almost daylight during the drive in to the office.

Did you see the moon this morning? It was huge and bright over downtown.
Did you see the lunar eclipse last night? It was pretty amazing. I stared at it with my binoculars.

Did you see?
Did you see?

Gosh, I’m hungry.
Hold on one second, I think the coffee I am brewing is done. mmmm coffee.

Yeah it’s getting bright out there.
Looks like it is going to be another nice day outside. Wait, was yesterday a nice day? I don’t remember. I think it was.
I’ll stay inside today in the darkness of my cube. You all enjoy your out of doors without me.

I feel pretty good this morning.

Not too much to report and yet everything to report.

I’m definitely going to sport the old headphones all day and stay under the radar.

Oh my, it is a lovely one out there kiddos!
The sunshine feels so awesomely wonderful on the face.

K and I just got back from walking the dogs to their doggy daycare. We also stopped for a mocha fix on the way back.
It is a wonderful day for a walk. You should totally get out there.

Spring is in the air. So long winter. We never really liked you much anyway. You won’t be missed.

Oh yeah, happy President’s day to you! Won’t it be exciting when we have a new President that makes President’s day worth celebrating again?

K and I took a bit of a pause last night walking through Freddy’s. The Easter stuff is out already.

We are having an Easter baby.

A spring baby.

Spring is almost here!

Yesterday was gorgeous as well. We sat outside for lunch. It’s a tad chilly still for outside eating. You had to be in the sun and the wind had to not be blowing to be comfortable.

We have been taking care of business here at the Noodle compound. Working hard.

The rooms are pretty much situated. Painting is done.

Items are stowed away in the overhead compartments of the attic and tucked snugly under the seats of the basement. We will be approaching the runway for taxiing shortly. Please make sure your seat belts are fastened.

I have been pretty good with the to-do lists as often is my nature, and we have been checking off the boxes.
I’m going to write up a fresh to-do list again once I hang up here.

On the to-do list:

- Go pick up our finished taxes. The earliest we’ve had our taxes finished! Looks like we are going to owe again this year? How did that happen?

- Get co-signer fiasco on student loans squared away.

- Go to doctor’s appointment.

- Get K’s info filled out on the health insurance papers.

- Get the shower invite sized. Make into PDF. – Print shower invite. – Mail shower invite.

- Remove tape from molding in baby’s room.

- Continue birth readings. Today’s selection is “The Birth Partner: Everything You Need to Know to Help a Woman Through Childbirth.” by Penny Simkin.

- Put extra chairs and miscellaneous items in the basement.

- Take a nap.

There you have it. What else is there though? Hmmm? What am I missing?
Pretty exciting huh?

Believe it or not I’m not the only one who finds to-do lists entertaining.
While at Powell’s over the weekend, I found and thumbed through, “To-Do Lists: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us.” by Sasha Cagen. There’s some cool images of actual lists in there that are kind of funny.

I didn’t buy it though because new books are no longer allowed in our house.

Happy Valentine’s day lovers.

I hope you are doing something nice for your valentine.

My gorgeous, big bellied, valentine princess gets a prenatal massage at Zenana. I hear that’s what the ladies like. I’m not sure what goes into a prenatal massage. Some sort of belly rubbing is involved though I imagine.

I do love that little lady so.

Boy oh boy. They are keeping me busy at the office. I am really having a hard time finding web surfing time!
Several excellent nuggets have been filling up my RSS feeds and I keep telling myself “Oh I’ve got to read that one when I get home. OH! Another interesting topic…”

I’ve got to get a better reading and writing schedule going.

I’m going to figure out a way to get paid to surf the web, look at cool stuff, and post blog entries all day.
REALLY!

Yesterday much to the dismay of my coworkers (I don’t understand why), I was telling them about that Dream Theater song, no wait, House of Lords song, “Can’t Find My Way Home“. It was totally featured in my favorite 21 Jumpstreet episode. You know the one where Johnny Depp goes deep undercover into a prison?

I started wondering then if it would be possible to watch that episode online.

After a “can’t find my way home house of lords 21 jumpstreet” Google search, this page pops up to the top of the search.

Oh yeah.

Have I already reached the old man repeating his stories phase of life in my mid thirties?

Please let me know if I am covering material I have already gone over.

I like to keep a fresh Noodle journal you know.

UPDATE: The internets have told me that the 21 Jump Street (two words) episode that has been haunting me is called: “Swallowed Alive“. They also tell me that the song “Can’t Find My Way Home” was replaced on the DVD version of the show.

Feeeeew! I’ll sleep better tonight.

I just made it through a 84 song Marilyn Manson marathon this week. Pretty awesome. My ears and brain are filled with rotten goodness now. It had been a year or two since I had heard the album “Smells Like Children“. It’s quite tasty. I think Manson might have been his creepiest on that early outing.

I’m listening to Wu-Tang Clan, “Wu-Tang Forever” now.

We are finally ready to paint the computer lab and bedroom. Cleaning out the lab and going through everything took longer than expected. We have been chipping away at it every night this week.
I was talking a bit in my last journal post about the stacked to the rafters, creative notes, drawings, papers and projects.
It has been so fun revisiting that artistic junk heap. It’s very easy to get distracted and venture off in several different directions and tangents. That’s why it has taken so long to get a handle on.
I think there is some order now. Everything is packed away nicely.
It was quite a battle keeping K from throwing out my precious scribbles. She was right on several occasions though and lots of stuff has been thrown in the trash.

Throwing stuff away feels so good. If I was a stronger man I would throw everything away and start over.

I came to a realization this week. I guess I kind of knew this already but don’t think I have articulated it yet here in the journal.

I found going through my stacks of creative endeavors and artworks, that over the last 16 years my artistic and creative peaks have occurred during the periods of time that I have been relatively happily employed.
Most of my best creative work is being done while having a job and not worrying about finding work. Able to pay the bills. Fat and happy. There’s definitely a level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs at work here with me.

Am I a poser though? Shouldn’t my best work be happening while I’m a starving artist?

Not to put too much pressure on myself, but according to these calculations I am about due for another creative peak! I am relatively happily employed, and definitely fat and happy.
That’s exciting.

I’m a tad scared and a bit worried though. What will this coming (or current) economic recession hold for my creative outputs?

Oh my. It’s building…

I am anticipating a bunker busting, dam breaking, flood gates bursting, explosion of creativity overtaking me with the first gaze into baby’s eyes.

Yep. We have arrived at week 31 of our pregnancy. You, dear readers of the journal, are coming along nicely!

More importantly, K and the baby are doing splendidly.
K has had a pesky lingering cold, but hopefully that is on it’s way out.

Yesterday was our monthly appointment with the midwives. We are now scheduled for the every two weeks appointments, which quickly progresses to the weekly visits, which quickly brings us to baby’s birthday!

We are way excited.

Yours truly is doing marvelously. No cold here.

It was a good weekend at the Noodle compound. I spent the weekend preparing the nest.
People, we have got a lot of stuff! I have been clearing out the computer lab to make into our bedroom, and we’ll be making our current bedroom into the baby’s room. What? I’ll have to show you before and after pictures.
I have been loading the attic and basement up with tons of our nonessential items.

I have been going through quite a bit of it and trying to throw it away, but some of this stuff you just have to keep!
I have mountains of notes, drawings and papers.
There are quite a few stacks of projects and clips of inspiration laying around that I plan to one day revisit. Ideas and images that seem like they are just too good to discard.
Someday I just know that I am going to go back to work on my Bubble Factory comic book idea so that notebook is a keeper.
You can’t throw out all the notes you have on cults and Heaven’s Gate!

I am also quite fond of old Apple Macintosh magazines like the one I found touting the PowerBook Titanium as the thinest laptop ever. Come on, that stuff is good computing history. It makes you feel better when you see how you still paid a butt load of money back then for a top of the line computer that today is the equivalent of a giant, novelty size calculator.
“Ah, I’m still paying the same price but look at all the computing power I have now!”
Yes, we’ll be looking back on this post in 2012 to make ourselves feel better.

Lots of magazines and books. K has declared that all the bookshelves and books are to be banished from the living quarters. So it is.
It is nice having those bulking bookshelves out of here.

I’ve been trying to give all of my clothes away to Goodwill. They’re just taking up valuable living space. All Papa needs is a shirt and a pair of britches right? And a coat. Maybe some underwear.

Storing all this stuff away is kind of like moving.

Things are coming along nicely at the Noodle nest. I think it’s going to work.

Oh yeah, work, the office.
What a drag. I had a helluva time staying focused and concentrating last week. I was so distracted with non-work thinking. All that work stuff seems so uninteresting compared to the Noodle home life now!
I have been having wonderful weekends cut short by the monotony of cube life.

Don’t get me wrong. Work is going swell. I’m just not into it.
I’m definitely into the paychecks though so I’m going to attempt to suck it up and try to stay on task a bit better this week at the office.

Which, I should actually get in the car and drive to right now.