I just started a twitter account, tryin to see what the fuss is about

You can check me out at @notsalamicurtis. Like a lot of you, I'm a big fan of quotes, rhetorical questions, and everyday silliness, so I'll be posting a lot of those things. It, however, will not be a play-by-play of my life...I gotta live in the real world.

Me defeating tetris

Tetris is a love of mine, and I defeated it a couple of days ago...don't believe me? watch:

Visual writing

I've learned that art and copy (pictures and words) go together, but I've been reading a lot lately and I'm starting to believe that writing is a lot more visual than pictures. Just to throw a quick cliche out there, "a picture is worth a thousand words"....than how many pictures is a word or two worth. I say writing is more visual because when you see a picture, image, or painting, the whole scene is there already. However, a writer can put words together in such a way that allows the audience to little by little imagine how the whole scene is. Imagination is probably the key to my belief...when you can't see something, all you can do is imagine, or visualize.

BBC Winter Olympics animation

Pretty sick animation.

Bill Withers-Still Bill

Tonight I had the privilege of seeing this film at the IFC Center. This movie was more than a biography or a documentary of the life and times of Bill Withers. It was about being who you are–as naturally and as authentically as possible. Because that's what makes us as human beings special.

Bill Withers was in attendance for the Q&A session after the movie, and he was as charismatic in person as he was in the film. As I was taking my post-movie restroom visit, I saw him walking, and he said, "Hey I know you", and went on to say he thought I was Gary Matthews Jr. (a baseball player in the MLB), because of my height and the baseball hat I had on.

If you get a chance, go check it out. Here's the information that you'll need.

Gossip...(Quote/Sermon in the movie "Doubt")

Father Brendan Flynn, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, told this story:

A woman was gossiping with her friend about a man whom they hardly knew - I know none of you have ever done this. That night, she had a dream: a great hand appeared over her and pointed down on her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O' Rourke, and she told him the whole thing. 'Is gossiping a sin?' she asked the old man. 'Was that God All Mighty's hand pointing down at me? Should I ask for your absolution? Father, have I done something wrong?' 'Yes,' Father O' Rourke answered her. 'Yes, you ignorant, badly-brought-up female. You have blamed false witness on your neighbor. You played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed.' So, the woman said she was sorry, and asked for forgiveness. 'Not so fast,' says O' Rourke. 'I want you to go home, take a pillow upon your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me.' So, the woman went home: took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to her roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed. 'Did you cut the pillow with a knife?' he says. 'Yes, Father.' 'And what were the results?' 'Feathers,' she said. 'Feathers?' he repeated. 'Feathers; everywhere, Father.' 'Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out onto the wind,' 'Well,' she said, 'it can't be done. I don't know where they went. The wind took them all over.' 'And that,' said Father O' Rourke, 'is gossip!'

FearLess QA with Rob Reilly of CPB and Ty Montague of JWT Worldwide

For all you advertising folks, this is a good video to check out. Interesting conversation.

click here to check it out.

Conan's letter to the people

You may know about the situation regarding NBC's late night show move, but even if you don't, the very talented comic and host, Conan O'Brien, explains and gives his thoughts on the issue.

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

(via yahoo)

Canon: The Story Behind the Still–Chapter 1

Here's Chapter 1:

Well said...

When did Noah build the ark?...before the storm. -Robert Redford, Spy Game

Canon: The Story Behind the Still

Check out this cool project that Canon is doing. Grey advertising agency was the agency that came up with this concept, and one of my former classmates, Elinor Buchler, was the art director on this. (Yep I'm name droppin)...Pretty cool.

World's Tallest Building in Dubai

I was struggling all last night trying to remember what I wanted to post on here today. I knew it was on CNN though. I knew it wasn't regarding pics of Tiger Woods on the cover of Vanity Fair, Dick Cheney/Barack Obama beef, nor that dude from Nigeria trying to blow up a plane that was headed to my hometown...anyhow, here it is:

Contest Watchers

For both students and professionals looking to enter into contests to get noticed, this website helps you keep track of the upcoming and soon-ending contests.

"Inception" movie trailer

This looks sick. I wonder if this was a book first. If so, I'm gonna have to find it; I always like a good mystery.

Mini for Christmas

These Mini boxes were placed on the street in the garbage, to appear as if people got Minis for Christmas...pretty cool idea:

(via creativecriminals and swiss-miss)

My past due "Happy New Year, let's prepare for 2010" blah blah blah post

Like most people, the last day of 2009 and the first day of 2010 pretty much merged together; and you probably couldn't tell the difference between the two, if it wasn't for the cheap plastic "happy new years" hats, and/or the typical "let's prepare for a positive, prosperous, fruitful, fulfilling new year" talk. Even though I enjoyed myself, the New Years Eve party that I went to was full of people who were trying to be too cool, putting on a facade of who they thought people may want them to be.

A huge thing I saw in 2009 was brands trying to change who they were because of the state of the economy or because other brands were changing (don't worry this ties in to the paragraph above). Pepsi, WalMart, Bounce (dryer sheets), Sierra Mist, Gatorade...all of the Pepsi Co. products, and many other products that I can't think of now changed their logos. I personally think it hurt all of those brands. Change is most definitely needed, but it's not a good thing when you're just doing it to fit the mode. Nike is one of those companies that has been the same at their core since they started. Their objective was never to appeal to everyone, but to have a communication to their target audience, athletes. John Jay, one of the worldwide creative directors of Wieden and Kennedy (the agency that helped revolutionize Nike), once said this in a lecture about brands, "They should appeal to their target audience and the masses will follow".

People love people who are themselves. Let's begin 2010 with finding out who we are, and embracing that.