Most of us have seen the latest Old Spice TV commercials - an attractive, shirtless, bearded dude, spouts a ridiculous yet witty sales pitch as the setting changes around him (if you haven't seen them, watch the latest here.)

Old Spice has been updating their image rather successfully lately with their hilarious, off-beat commercials starring Bruce Campbell and, now since the Super Bowl, Isaiah Mustafa of Seahawks fame. Today they've taken their campaign a huge leap forward through viral social media by taking over the @oldpsice twitter feed, announcing "Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into Twitter, Or maybe the Old Spice man shows up."

Sine then, the "Old Spice Guy" has been going strong, fielding questions and comments from users on Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit and responding with personalized videos posted to YouTube. What's more, these personalized responses are being posted about every 10 minutes and are getting the attention of celebrities, tech magazines, and newspapers. What's more, this campaign isn't just selling product, it's bringing people together. In the following video, the "Old Spice Guy" proposes to a woman on behalf of a twitter user.

She said yes.

If you're looking for a laugh, to learn how Old Spice can make you smell like the manly Old Spice Guy, or to see an awesome viral campaign at work, visit the Old Spice channel on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/oldspice or tweet them @oldspice.

Though the temperature lately has probably got you thinking of wearing the least amount of clothing possible, let me introduce you to the phenomenon that is Threadless. Threadless is a community-centered online apparel store where members of the Threadless community submit t-shirt designs online; the designs are then put to a public vote. A small percentage of submitted designs are selected for printing and sold through an online store. Creators of the winning designs receive a prize of cash and store credit.

The Threadless phenomenon reaches beyond just voting for T-shirt designs. The site also hosts blogs, Threadless TV, and interviews with designers, all the while fostering self-expression and originality from its contributors. Commonly the most successful designs boast interesting conceptualization, attractive colour schemes, and unique illustration styles or techniques - and a cheeky tagline doesn't usually hurt either. This outlet for designers is just another way graphic design is being encompassed in to the everyday, no media being left out. So maybe it's time to upgrade your tuxedo t-shirt afterall..

And no excuses, there really is a shirt design for almost everyone.. Here are a few that remind me of the guys in the office:

"I Thought the Future Would Have More Beep Boop Sounds"

"Nutritious Breakfast"

"Revenge Of The Sushi"

And my personal favorite:

"Real Bear Hugs Are Often Fatal"

As I patiently await the release of the iPhone 4G, I couldn’t help but contemplate the great marketing machine of Apple. A few months ago I wrote that I didn’t really want an iPad, until, last week, I stopped to see one at the store. It was, I admit, kinda cool. I might even…want one. I might even be able to convince myself that I need one. Yes, I will admit my apparent weakness for Apple anything, I’ve had it since 1989 actually. And, as I toss my Blackberry to the curb, in favour of adding an iPhone to my ever growing collection of Apple products, I thought I’d make fun of myself just a little, content in the knowledge that I’m not the only one out there with a soft spot for Apple.

For example, you can date other Apple fans on a Mac-inspired singles dating site: cupidtino.com

Or, you can join a church of Mac: www.macgeniustony.com/thechurchofmac.html

Watch a movie about Apple fanatics: www.macheadsthemovie.com

Dress (or undress) Steve Jobs: www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/692flash.html

Read a blog dedicated to the cult of Mac: www.cultofmac.com

Make fun of us Apple owners: theoatmeal.com/comics/apple

And, last but not least, shop for Apple online: http://store.apple.com/us

Oh come on, I’m not the only fan out there, who else has some fun ones to add?

It's hard to believe that The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is eight years old, but it's been almost a decade since the book changed the face of marketing. I recently finished his 2008 book Outliers, which encouraged me to re-read his original blockbuster for the first time since I was in college. Now that I'm working at a branding agency it got me thinking - can good design contribute to making a product sticky?

If you recall, in The Tipping Point Gladwell refers to stickiness as the memorability of a product. His conclusion was that stickiness plays an enormous role in "tipping" a product in the public consciousness - the more memorable a product is the quicker it will take off in popularity. When the right people (Salesmen, Connectors, Mavens) view a memorable product (Stickiness) at the right time (the Power of Context), a product is well positioned to tip.

When I first learned about the Tipping Point, I looked at the formula as a marketer would - how can I target my client's products towards Salesmen, Connectors, and Mavens? But now that I've spent more time at a branding agency I've started to see how important stickiness is to the whole equation - in fact, it might be the most critical piece.

Take the song "Soy Tu Aire" by the Spanish band Labuat:

It's a pretty song, and if you speak Spanish it's probably even more relevant to you, but, twenty minutes from now you'll more than likely forget you've ever seen this video. In short, it's not sticky. You could send this to every connector you know but chances are they're not going to recommend Labuat to anyone, because it's just not powerful enough to motivate them.

So the question is, how can we make the song sticky? Obviously the music isn't going to change, so what can we do to improve the experience? Well, that's where design comes in.

I want you to visit this page: http://soytuaire.labuat.com/ . Make sure you have your speakers or headphones on (it's useless without the music), and once it's done loading simply press the play button (PS you'll need Flash, sorry Apple).

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Back? All of a sudden listening to that song has become an experience. You've become a part of it, and it's helped you create something wonderful. Now you have a reason to like it, share it, and remember it. Simply by adding a beautifully designed user experience, they've created something sticky. Get this into the hands of a connector, and Labuat could see their popularity sky rocket.

It's too easy for marketers to focus solely on the finding our target market; sometimes we need to turn our attention inward to make sure our message is as polished as it could be. This doesn't just apply to musicians, it is relevant to any business; even if you're a small widget maker today, well-designed marketing materials could be the memorable impetus that tips your company on to bigger things.

Video Games Live logo

I was privileged to have attended the Video Games Live Concert series in Vancouver. Aside from the hours of great ochestrated music and light show, there were plenty of things going on. They had a costume contest, video game competitions (Guitar Hero, NHL 2k10, Street Fighter 4, and Punch Out), an on-stage Frogger duel, and a few give aways. It was quite the experience and amazing to see the hardcore gamers coming out and dressing up as their favourite game personality. (Although Earthworm Jim did look pretty sweet, I still think the lady dressed up as the orange Pacman ghost should have won.)

Having grown up in the era when home entertainment systems were becoming mainstream, the experience allowed me to reminisce about some of the more memorable games of the past 30 years; namely, Chrono Trigger, Megaman, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gauntlet, and Centipede.

Overall, the one thing that I was most surprised about amoung all of the music, vidoes, and events was their branding. They were able to capture the experience in their brochures/programs, logo, website and advertising by utilizing their colour scheme to set the tone for the whole event. Everything was kept simple and clean and it was targeted directly at the audience that they were hoping to capture. One thing is for sure, I'll never forget their logo; that 8-bit pixelated space invader wearing headphones.

Here's the video for the Costume Content for those curious enough to watch.

And for those of you that remember the awesome music of Chrono Trigger:

Graphic Designers and Marketing professionals are a competitive bunch, but Sherry recently decided we needed more "female-friendly" competitions around the office; apparently gorging ourselves on samosas wasn't feminine enough (although I'd argue Caitlin's total of 3.5 samosas was pretty girly). So this past Friday we held the inaugural Studiothink cubicle decorating contest.

Limitations on decorations were pretty simple - no permanent structures (so Rob's engraving of Bill Joy wouldn't work) and a $40 spending limit (so Caitlin had to scale back her plans of a full tanning bed). Judging criteria was simple, we all just voted based on...well...who knows. Whatever we felt like, I guess.

Here were the entries (note that Dave abstained due to the sniffles, and Sherry was too busy drinking wine to decorate)

Caitlin

Mike

Sarah

Chandra

And the winner:
Rob

Congrats on your cubicle-interior designs skills, and congrats on yet again winning another Studiothink challenge. Next month's challenge? Don't know yet, but it will be something that doesn't allow for candy bribing.

Another year goes by, and we all get a little bit wiser. This Sunday, two of our graphic designers, Caitlin and Dave, will both be celebrating their birthdays.

In keeping with StudioTHINK tradition, Caitlin and Dave both got to choose their own birthday cake. Caitin stuck with a traditional chocolate cake, but Dave wanted to be different. Initially he wanted a Banoffee Pie, but his vote was vetoed by those in the office that detest bananas. Instead, he went with a Danish Whipped Cream Cake, which I must admit was surprisingly good.

Although they both don't have big plans for their birthdays (at least they didn't want to tell me), I can only infer that Dave will be hitting up Gabby's Cabaret for some line dancing hoe-down goodness, and Caitlin will be strutting her stuff in her home-brewed Twilight Moon cosplay outfit.

Feel free to wish them happy birthday in the comments, or email them your greetings/photos, or anything else that you think they'd like to see.

Am I the only one who is addicted to Apps, preferably free? I enjoy finding new little things to keep me entertained, but often don't keep them for long (although somehow the Cat Piano has survived the monthly sweep). Blame it on my short attention span. One of the rather frivolous reasons I'd love to upgrade my iPod Touch to an iPhone is so I can get the Shazam app that helps me name songs.

Recently I came across a rather cool app from Pantone, which I thought has the potential to be a very useful tool for anyone who needs to go out and meet clients, and who often find themselves without a famous Pantone swatch book close at hand. The only thing holding me back from trying it out is the rather steep $9.99 price tag. Is anyone else using this yet?

This week I thought I'd throw it out there to our readers to give me some new app suggestions, I'd love to know, what are some of your favorites? Leave them in the comment box!

When I first heard of Mattel's Mindflex last year, I knew I had to get my hands on one. A toy that uses EEG technology to read brainwaves, looks like magic, and comes with a fashionable headset? What's not to love? Unfortunately, it proved to be a long, cold, telekinesis-free winter, with the coveted game sold out everywhere. Finally, just this month, with the Christmas season over and outrageously overpriced eBay sales waning, the game is back in stock, and the Studiothink team got a chance to put their brainpower to the test.

The idea behind Mindflex is relatively simple. According to their website, it "uses a variation of EEG technology to 'read' the intensity of brainwaves via sensors positioned on your forehead and ears....Once the headset recognizes your brainwaves, it transmits a signal to a fan within the console. This fan controls ball levitation. Your brainwaves, in turn, control the power of the fan. The more effectively you concentrate, the stronger the fan blows and the higher the ball floats. Relaxing your mind relaxes the fan's airflow, which lowers the ball."

So how did the team do? Mike and Rob proved to be instant masters with the device, and were quickly able to kill the fan or push it to its highest level after a bit of practice. Sherry, with a steely look of concentration on her face (see above) was also able to move it quite well. Being the highly-organized one of the group, it wasn't surprising that Sarah had a hard time shutting her brain off - the ball rarely left the maximum height of the device. Finally, the more serene Caitlin had a bit of trouble getting the ball floating, and struggled to push it to the higher levels.

Sherry's considering getting one for each team member in the office so she can keep tabs on how much brainpower we're using throughout the day. Of course, in the interest of helping the team achieve a more zen-like state of mind, we could always turn the machine into an evil ectro-shock device...

Studiothink's competitive streak has been well-documented (the 2010 version of our Chili Cook-off should be underway soon), and so when Caitlin bragged she could eat 9 samosas "easy", I couldn't help but call her bluff, and I challenged everyone to an eating contest.

If you're not familiar with Samosa's, check out Wikipedia's entry to gain a full appreciation for what we were up against - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosa. We figured out that if Caitlin actually ate 9, she'd be ingesting something in the vicinity of 2600 calories.

Today was the big showdown - Caitlin would take on all comers in a battle for samosa consumption supremacy. The contenders? I was first to throw my hat in the ring, going so far as to scoff at the idea that Caitlin could eat 9 (I questioned whether she had actually every seen one of the tasty Indian treats). Rob was game, and based on his previous success in winning contests, he represented a big threat. Finally, Dave didn't officially join the festivities, but decided he would just start eating and let the chips fall where they may.

We bought 34 samosas from local Langley eatery Ashoka, and settled down over our paper plates. When Caitlin saw the size of them she almost passed out, and soon came out with attempts to back off of her 9 benchmark, but it was too late - this was happening.

The results?

Mike - 5
Caitlin - 4.5
Dave - 4

And The Winner:

Rob - 7

Plus , we had 4 disgusted bystanders, who were incredulous we could eat that much fried food.

Congrats to Rob on your incredible feat, but credit goes to your incredible strength, stamina, and stomach!

Yes, tomorrow is the big day when New Moon hits store shelves, and Tweens everywhere will be a-squealin'. To celebrate, (and to give Caitlin something to keep her company tonight when she's in line) we decided to collect the some awesome anti-Twilight-related humour here, for your enjoyment!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs. Edward from Twilight - http://www.rebelliouspixels.com/2009/buffy-vs-edward-twilight-remixed#

Don't know how many Tron fans there are out there, but a sequel is finally coming out this Summer. As part of the run-up to the film all kinds of viral and underground marketing has started to leak out promoting Flynn & crew.

One of our favourite pieces is this challenging visual puzzle game that contains 56 hidden video game titles in various pictograms. We won't give away any of the answers, but the top score in the office (nicely done, Dave) was 45. Let us know how you do!

http://www.arcadeaid.com/challengingstage/quiz.htm

You might not know the name Rube Goldberg, but you've definitely seen his machines at work. He was the inventor of the cartoon depiction a tremendously complicated device that completed a relatively simple task (an authentic Goldberg cartoon is above).

We love these things, and decided to collect a few videos of them here for your enjoyment.

Mouse Trap
The famous children's game from 1963 is a great example of a Rube Goldberg device at work. I don't recall actually ever properly playing the game, we would just build and set off the trap, then re-pack everything. Check out this awesome 60's commercial promoting it.

Der Lauf der Dinge
One of the best-known examples caught on video is Der Lauf der Dinge by artists Fischli & Weiss. Translated from Swiss it means (spoiler alert!) The Way Things Go, and boy do they go. First revealed in 1987, the 15 minute performance inspired many of the clips further down this list.

The Cog
In 2003 Honda produced this 2 minute long epic commercial to promote their flagship Accord model. It cost 1 million pounds to produce, and involved over 600 takes to get right. In the end, the time, cost, and effort was worth it as it became one of the most famous ads of all time. And to think in North America we got stuck with the "opportunity knocks guy".

This Too Shall Pass
The latest video from OK Go, and the inspiration for this blog, is for their new single This Too Shall Pass. Not only is the sequence exquisitely complex, but it also operates in time to the music. Look carefully and you might spot a model Martian rover in the video - that's because some of the engineers in the video actually helped build the real Spirit Rover!

I wanted to take an opportunity to show off some awesome art produced by our Senior Graphic Designer Dave Williams. Initially we were thinking of using these in a new website design, but they were abandoned when we changed directions on the site. Instead of letting them go to waste, I thought I'd share them with all of you. Eventually all the team members were going to have their own poster, but we just never got around to them all. Who knows, maybe we'll be able to resurrect them someday for another project.

By now everyone has taken the time to look up their house on streetview and the novelty is starting to wear off. No worries! Here's three great ways to have some fun with Google Maps:

1. Take A Virtual Holiday
Need to get away, but short on cash? Why not take a virtual trip with Google? Their industrious team of streetview-ers have modified bikes and snowmobiles to allow us access to complete tours of Legoland California, Stonehenge UK, and Whistler Mountain BC. All the fun of a holiday, without the screaming children - Sherry's perfect trip.

Take a trip to Legoland

Experience the Olympic ski runs at Whistler

Rockout at Stonehenge (let us know if you see Spinal Tap).

2. Go For a Drive
Sure you can get driving directions from Google Maps, but what about actually driving on the map itself? The folks at Geoquake came up with this fun driving simulator that lets you floor the accelerator any where you want. Choose from their preset locations (like Manhattan or Laguna Seca) or enter in your own address and do donuts on the neighbor's lawn.

http://geoquake.jp/en/webgame/DrivingSimulatorGM/

3. Find Waldo
Who doesn't fondly remember sitting down with a Where's Waldo book as a child? Well, local Vancouver artist Melanie Coles decided to up the ante by making the entire world a place for Waldo to hide. In 2008 Waldo was found on her rooftop, but since then he's been spotted in various spots around the globe. Not only is Melanie giving away her giant friend for a new person to hide, she also provided plans on her site for building your own Waldo. Where is he now? That's up to you to find out.

http://whereonearthiswaldo.wordpress.com/

What with Olympic spirit filling the air, and images of a dancing Quatchi filling our minds, what better way to kick off the 2010 games than with a look at some of the lesser lights amongst former Olympic Mascots.

1. Fuwa, Beijing 2008

You don't have to go back far in time to see the first of our terrible mascots. Not only are 5 mascots just too many, but they don't even look like what they're supposed to represent (for your reference, the blue one is a fish). Even worse, in a country that has been accused of enforcing conformity on its citizens, its mascots seem to celebrate everyone looking and acting alike. Not cool.

2. The Snowlets, Nagano, 1998

The Nagano Olympics are remembered for a lot of things (like Bourque shooting instead of Gretzky), but I don't think anyone looks back with fond nostalgia for the Snowlets, Japan's official mascots of that year. For the record, those are owls, despite looking like reject Wuzzles.

3. Izzy, Atlanta 1996

Hailed as the first mascot ever designed on a computer, this abomination looks like it was actually dreamed up during an acid trip. The name Izzy was inspired by the first thing people said when the saw it: "What is it?". That probably should been the designer's first warning sign that things weren't looking up.

Hon. Men. Waldi, Munich, 1972

Who knew wiener dogs were the forgotten symbol of athletic perfection and the triumph of the human spirit? I would've moved this one higher, but Dave would never forgive me.

Ah Super Bowl Sunday, a chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy my yearly maximum intake of pork rinds. But, to some, the enjoyment of the big day comes not from the action on the field, or even the (prosaic) half time show. No, there is a huge cadre of people for whom the Super Bowl is appointment television simply for the ads.

While there have been some classic campaigns to come out of the weekend, there have also been some super-stinkers. And what else would WTFriday cover if not the absolute worst of the bunch.

Just For Feet: Kenya Mission, 1999

Do you feel slightly icky after watching that? Perhaps, ashamed that it would ever air on North American television? So too did the advertiser, Just for Feet, who turned around and tried to sue their agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, for malpractice after spending $7 million dollars on the spot. In the end it didn't really matter as Just for Feet went out business later the same year.

McDonald's: Mc D.L.T., 1986

"It was the 80's". That excuse bails out a lot of corporate mistakes (The DeLorean, Members Only Jackets, New Coke), but it's not nearly enough to explain to us how McDonald's thought they could possibly tie in Shakespeare and beef. Maybe the Merchant of Venice would've been a better choice.

Apple: 1984, 1984

Sorry for the confusing headline, but somehow I'll bet the actual ad was far more confusing than anything in this blog. Now, it's hard to knock 1984 because of the reverence which many advertisers hold for it. But, viewed today, it simply comes off as awkward, overblown, and corny. In other words, like a Window ad.

Mike and I were in the McDonald's drive-thru last week on our daily lunch excursion when we spotted an advertisement for McDonaldland cookies. We were instantly flooded with long-lost childhood memories of the tasty snack, and we decided to add a box to our order. Imagine our surprise and sadness when we returned to the office to find that the vessel that contained these wonderful culinary delights was not the same from our childhood, namely a sturdy box with bright hues, bubbly fonts, and colourful characters, but rather a minimalistic, one-colour plastic pouch adorned with Ronald McDonald's mugshot. Something was not right in McDonaldland. Where was the rest of the gang? Where was the sneaky Hamburgler, bumbling Grimace (who's a giant taste-bud, by the way), authoritative Mayor McCheese (my favorite), or the obligatory-but-utterly-boring Birdie? The cookies were still shaped to represent the various mascot faces, but any hint as to who or what you were about to digest could only be garnered from hazy memory.

Mascots have been selling products and services with charm and smile for years (Bibendum, the Michelin Man, was created in 1894 and is still going strong), and many that we know and love today were born during the mascot golden age of the 1950s and 60s, when companies sought to add personality to their business, and instill trust and familiarity within the consumer. As a graphic designer, I would absolutely love a chance to work with a team to develop or revamp a corporate mascot but, unfortunately, times change, and mascots aren't in favor like they used to be. There are some mascots, however, who have recently been given a new chance at life and have been given a timely reboot, bringing sometimes effective, sometimes disturbing results.

Jack from Jack in the Box: Created in 1951, Jack was simply a clown head atop the franchise signs, with little to no personality. In 1980 the company decided to reject its image, become more "mature" and do away with Jack altogether. Finally, in the mid-90s, following a major food contamination crisis, they rebranded again and brought Jack back, this time in an ironic, humorous business-suit-wearing executive, that helped raise sales and gain brand notoriety.

The King, from Burger King: Originally part of the sign of the first Burger King restaurant in Miami, Florida in 1955, the king had many different representations throughout the years, including a role as the "Marvelous, Magical Burger King" in the late 70s, who wore Victorian garb and performed magic tricks. In 2003 the Miami advertising firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky took over the advertising and decided to use a 70s era over sized King head found on eBay, originally meant as a brainstorming prop, to reboot the brand. Now, after a few years of humorous viral marketing starring a creepy and disturbing king head, Burger King has a mascot powerhouse loved by its target market, and featured on shows like The Tonight Show and the Simpsons.

So how 'bout it, McDonalds? Ronald has always been a strong part of the brand, but when will you bring back the rest of the gang and give them the camera time they deserve? Or, barring that, when will Ronald himself get another reboot? Perhaps creepy, ironic, and modern, just like your competition?

On second thought, scratch that idea. You're fine just the way you are, Ronald.
What about you, dear reader? Who are your favorite mascots?

For most of the office the newspaper is the equivalent to a Walkman - an anachronism. But if there's one thing that might potentially get us to open one up, it's the funnies. Unfortunately, most of the strips in the comics section nowadays suck - Cathy is still bikini-less, Hagar is still browbeaten, and Dagwood is still not funny. I can't be bothered to read past Get Fuzzy.

Thankfully, webcomics have filled the void in bold and creative fashion, producing strips that are infinitely funnier than anything in hard copy. Here's a few of Studiothink's favourites:

Rob: XKCD
A web comic rooted in science, love, math, and comedy, started by a former robotics researcher at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. Smart and funny at the same time.

Dave: Dinosaur Comics
Some webcomic Canadian Content! A comic where the panels, artwork, and characters are the same in every strip. And yet there is something hilarious about these talking dinosaurs that keeps us coming back.

Mike: Garfield Minus Garfield
Garfield hasn't been funny since 1988. But somehow when you remove every mention of Garfield from every strip, it becomes a strange brew of depressing and funny, all at the same time. It's just Jon's slow descent into madness, and it's fascinating.

Caitlin: The Oatmeal
A webcomic for design folk, but really for anyone who enjoys a cynical laugh now and then. I'd post a sample strip, but they're like 3000pixels long, and would probably crash the blog.

These are our picks, but we love to find new ones - please post your favourites in the comments section!

On October 29 this past year, geeks worldwide (including some of us here at Studiothink) celebrated the Internet's 40th birthday. Today marked another moment in history when it was announced that NASA has finished an upgrade to the International Space Station that will allow its astronauts to connect to the internet. Yep, the World-Wide-Web is now in orbit, and the first cosmic internet communication came in the form of a Twitter post. It's only a matter of time until Colonel TJ Creamer starts getting stellar spam emails selling him Viagra, discount watches, and membership to prestigious "Who's Who" lists.

There's nearly 2 billion people using the internet and that number now includes residents of the International Space Station. We've come a long way. For a bit of perspective, we bring you a good ol' Canadian broadcast from 1993, discussing this mysterious phenomenon called simply, "Internet."

We may be grown men, but David, Rob and I all agree these new Avatar toys are totally awesome.

If you can't tell from the video, essentially you hold the little card on the avatar game board, which is sitting in front of a webcam, and the action unfolds on the computer monitor in front of you.

I think the reason we're all excited is because it brings us one step closer to this:

The whole Studiothink team would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas, and a safe and happy New Years. There will be some big changes coming to Studiothink in 2010, and we can't wait to share them with our fans. For now though, we've got a special holiday treat for you; sit back, grab a glass of rum and eggnog, and enjoy the Studiothink Christmas Special - Thinkin' 'bout Christmas.

Quite frankly, the concept of YouTube is brilliant. Humans love to share their creations; whether we're scrawling woolly mammoths on cave walls, or pasting our kids' construction-paper collage to our fridge, we want to put our art out there for others to see. Social Media sites like YouTube have allowed this innate need to expand globally.

But, sometimes, someone comes along that make us question whether this is a good thing. In YouTube's case, it has to be CONRADCIGARSPIPES. The standard post from Conrad is simple - he smokes his pipe listening to music. Sometimes he describes the clothing he's wearing, other times he just sits in silence glowering at the computer screen. Either way, there's not a lot going on.

But it's not his videos that make him so bizarre, it's that they're so prolific. Over the span of one year YouTube viewers have been treated to over 10,000 clips of Conrad's gruff mug. Do the math: that's 27 videos per day.

My only guess is this is some kind of absurdist or neo-surrealist art that I just can't appreciate. Either way, I give you PIPE TOBACCOS:BUTZ-CHOQUIN PRELUDE EXTRA, SMOKING, WITH BLUE JEANS HAT; AND " VAMOS CARIÑITO by CONRADCIGARSPIPES:

*credit goes to Michael Swaim at Cracked for first sharing the wonder of Conrad with us all.

Consider this an early Christmas present from your friends at Studiothink (and the Muppets):

When we asked Caitlin about her life outside of work, she mentioned she had a new hobby - roller derby. This was way too good of an opportunity to pass up, and so we convinced her to dress in her "uniform" for her team-member photo shoot. The results were part beautiful, part scary, and mostly hilarious - kind of like roller derby itself.

Enjoy this bonus outtake:

Courtesy of a Tweet from @vedrashko, I bring you one of the coolest billboards I've seen in a long time. Outdoor advertising is a dying art and more creativity/fresh-thinking like this is needed to save it from the scrap heap of advertising (where it will join pop-up ads, animated gif banners, and drive-in movie theater intermission jingles).

Maybe it's because my poor barbeque (or for our American cousins, barbecue) is in storage for the winter, or maybe because I'm in the middle of a diet, but I've been spending an inordinate amount of time lately dreaming of delicious burgers. Dave, who is planning a trip to Seattle, filled me in on one of the hidden gems of the underground burger scene - The Lunchbox Labratory (home of the burger shown above, the Kansas City Crusher, amongst many others).

Inspired by the awesomeness of the Laboratory, I decided to share some of my favourite burgers, and burger websites with all of you. I've included some local Surrey and Vancouver choices, along with some that are off the beaten path.

Best Burger Joints & Favourite Fare
Vera's Burger Shack, Vancouver - The Frank
White Spot, Across BC - Double Double Platter
Bob's Burger and Brew, Washington State - The B.O.B.
The Ice House Tavern, Regina SK - The Iceberg
Fat Smitty's, Port Townsend WA - Fat Smitty Burger
The Slow Club, San Francisco - Burger (yes, it's so great it doesn't even need a name)
Splitz Grill, Vancouver - The Legendary Splitz Burger
Boonies BBQ & Soul Food, reopen soon Boonies! - Boonies burger

Best Burger Websites
www.cheeseandburger.com
www.thisiswhyyourefat.com

Have any great burger joints you want to share? How about a good burger website, or recipe? Let us know in the comments section!

PS To anyone who owns an awesome burger shack and needs a website - call us, we will work for burgers!

Photo courtesy Flickr.com/suomynona
http://www.flickr.com/photos/suomynona/3756172346/

Gaming websites have been abuzz the last week or so with news that Mickey Mouse is undergoing a rebranding for the new video game "Epic Mickey". The story really picked up steam when the New York Times covered the news, including this comment from game Creative Director Warren Spector "I wanted him to be able to be naughty — when you’re playing as Mickey you can misbehave and even be a little selfish."

The thinking behind this new edgier Mickey is that kids today can't identify with the squeaky clean persona he has cultivated for 80 years. Disney feels that young audiences want an irreverent, punchier mouse, who's not afraid to be bad when necessary.

Kids Want To Play
Here's my take: I think Disney has misjudged what their audience is looking for. Their hypothesis is that users want to be able to create and control a "bad" Mickey. I think the reason MM has lost his relevance is that he doesn't "do" anything at all.

It's true that kids today don't want pure-as-driven-snow characters, but they do want some sort of interactivity. What does Mickey do when he needs to battle a bad guy? Right now, I can only assume he whistles and perhaps sics his slobbery dog on them. Young gamers want more than that - they want play.

Look at Pikachu, Japan's equivalent to Mickey who took North America by storm. Pikachu is a character who has specific powers, and fights against other "bad" Pokemon. He is stubborn and feisty, but also honourable and brave. The creators of Pikachu knew that kids wanted an interesting character that had "negative" traits, but also one that involved gamers in dramatic battles and heroic quests.

Does He Do Anything?
This, I think, is where Disney needs to focus their attention; kids don't want edgy, they want interactive. Pikachu isn't an absorbing game experience because he's edgy, it's because he fights! He has powers! He's good at things! What does Mr. Mouse do? He wears funny pants.

The trick for Disney is not to find ways for Mickey to be edgier, but to finds ways to make him more interesting to interact with. Give him magic, or powers, or make him good with gadgets - life as an anthropomorphic mouse is just not engaging enough for today's young gamers.

This is an important lesson for any firm attempting to rebrand - don't just think of how your customers will view your company, examine how they will interact with your company. If you make yourself interesting and fun to do business with, people will come back.

I read recently that people born in and after 1981 are the first generation of kids to grow up always having some sort of portable technology close at hand. We can thank the Sony Walkman (which turned 30 this year) for that. So hows does a generation of kids raised on portable music, Nintendo, and cartoons express themselves? Easy, combine them!

I give you two shining examples of the dangerous combination of technology, video games, music and too much free time:

1) Mario Paint - Funky Town: Just do a search for "Mario Paint Composer" to find a growing list of pop music painstakingly converted, note by note, in a Nintendo video game music composer first released in 1992. This rendition of "Funky Town" is a masterpiece.

2) Auto-Mario: Now take it up a notch by adding even more of the bizarre anime-frenzied Japanese culture and you get Auto-Mario videos. Originally released on Nico Nico Douga (literally, "Smiley Videos"), the Japanese equivalent of YouTube, this is 11 minutes of pure insanity, as we watch Mario travel through a sequence of levels lovingly crafted in an altered ROM of Super Mario World, with every action in the game happening in sequence and in-tune to an anime music soundtrack. You really need to watch it to understand it.

One of the prized possessions around the office is our Nerf gun. Whoever controls the Nerf gun basically has free reign to shoot up whatever unsuspecting coworker happens to walk by.

While doing some Christmas shopping for my kids, I ran across the Nerf Vulcan EBF-25 which , if purchased, would revolutionize Studiothink office combat. It's basically a Nerf machine gun, and in the world of Nerf brinkmanship it's the doomsday device - there's just no beating it.

But, being the red-blooded male that I am, I wondered if you could hack it to develop an even more devastating weapon. Thanks to manapotions.com, it turns out, yes, yes you can:

Got enough money to buy Photoshop, and a solid six months experience using MS Paint? Perhaps your work could be good enough to get featured on one of our favourite sites: Photoshop Disasters!

Enjoy!
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/

Helvetica's been around the block. It celebrated it's 50th birthday back in 2007, so I think it's safe to say that Helvetica is getting up there in the maturity department. Either way, despite popular arguments against the typeface seen virtually everywhere (you've seen it in the logos of Sears, Staples, Toyota and Microsoft just to name a few), Helvetica remains just as popular today as it ever was, popular enough to inspire designs, a documentary film, and now apparently it has eclipsed into other areas of self expression...

Oh well, I guess I kind of have to agree... you don't exactly see anyone with an 'I <3 Arial' tattoo now, do you? or Verdana for that matter, *ahem*, Rob..!

We're all pretty news-savvy people in the office (at least that's what we tell the bosses when they catch us browsing the web), and we like to stay up to date on current events. When this news item was sent around the office by Dave, we knew we had to share it with our blog readers.

Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. I need all of you, to stop what you're doing and watch this:

BY BROOKLYN (Sherry's 9 year old stepdaughter)

Today I went to StudioThink and I met some really nice people. I did so much stuff ,
#1 I did a huge pile of filing.
#2 I got stuff ready to get mailed.
#3 I went and got the mail.

But enough about what I did , lets talk about the people I met. I met a girl named Jess and I also met a man named Dave and another named Rob. It was lots of fun I got to answer phones and got to sit at the front desk. This is an experience that I will never forget!

I cant believe how many dockets Mike had sitting on his desk. I walked in and I knew that this was going to take a while. Dryden my dog came to the office to.

After 10 years in the marketing and graphic design business, we've had the opportunity to create a number of logos for companies across the Lower Mainland. But, despite a portfolio of great logo designs, we still hear random and bizarre excuses from business owners as to why "they don't need a new logo".

One classic we hear is the gem "our customers know us by this logo, and if we change it then we'll lose our reputation in the industry". This is sort of like saying "I can't get rid of my Jheri curls, because then all my friends won't recognize me anymore". Trust us, it's okay to get rid of the greasy pseudo-mullet, and likewise you may want to trade in that Members Only jacket.

Even if your current customers know your logo, what about new customers? It could definitely be a concern if you're trying to convert new prospects with a logo on your product that looks like it belongs on the side of the A-team van. Your branding is one of the first things a potential customer sees about you, and like it or not, first impressions count.

Plus, your logo is only a part of your overall brand. Yes customers will recognize your logo, but they probably know you better for other things, like great customer service, or a quality product, or even the enjoyable relationship they have with you. In other words, you can change your logo and find that people still know and love your product or service for other, better reasons.

Need a real-world example? Hang on - tenuous analogy coming up.

In 2006, the rock band* Journey needed a new lead singer, which of course is always difficult since they are the face of the whole group, and usually the most well-known piece. So who did they hire? Another All-American rock star with teen-idol looks and a flowing ponytail? No, they hired Arnel Pineda, a Filipino lounge singer. Pretty major change, right? But somehow, despite the upheaval to the band's look, Journey's fans found that the music still rocked** as hard, and Arnel & co. have experienced a resurgence in popularity, thanks to the injection of new life.

Don't believe you can change your logo and be better than ever? Trust Journey:

*Perhaps the loosest definition of the term ever
**Definitely the loosest definition ever

On my recent trip to San Francisco there were a few places I knew I absolutely needed to visit: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and 826 Valencia. Not many people have heard of that last one - heck, the people at our hotel just raised an eyebrow when I asked if they knew how I could get to what's billed as San Francisco's only independent pirate supply shop.

Yep, you read right. And if piracy paraphernalia wasn't enough, the story of 826 Valencia made it a must-see for me. Founded by Dave Eggers (author and McSweeney's editor), 826 Valencia is a nonprofit tutoring centre with a twist. The team found the perfect location for their writing workshops but were told that, due to zoning, they were required to also have a storefront. The team decided that a pirate supply store would be best, and all proceeds from the sales would go directly to funding the free student programs!

To clarify, this is not a store that sells pirate toys. This is a store that sells supplies to pirates, like glass eyes, "scurvy begone", eye patches and leeches that cure gangrene. What's more, a local SF-based design agency was given the enviable task of designing the packaging for each product! Pirate supplies, literacy AND great packaging design? Now you can see why 826 Valencia HAD to be on my itinerary.

The shop has been so successful in raising money for the kids, they've since opened other centres in cities across America including Seattle (space travel supply) and New York (super hero supply).

You can learn more and even buy your own pirate supplies at their website: www.826valencia.org

Our latest Studiothink team competition is the time-tested favorite of grade school kids everywhere: an egg drop contest. For those of you not familiar with the term, it's a competition where contestants must create an egg container that, when dropped from a high elevation onto the hard ground below, will keep the egg inside from breaking.

Talk of wonderous flying machines, brightly-coloured parachutes, and questionable physics filled the office as we all considered the best and, most importantly, coolest way to deliver our eggs safely and securely to the office floor. As these things often go, time got the better of us and, while we couldn't physically manifest the egg-drop vessel of our dreams, we definitely made a decent effort.

Mine was the DaVinci-inspired parachute made from bamboo and rubber bands (far left in the image). Unfortunately my egg didn't survive, teaching us all a valuable lesson about the importance of wearing a seat belt.

Rob's was a bungee-seat inside a bucket he made that morning. His clever idea of encasing the egg in a single cutout of egg carton kept his egg alive.

What Chandra's egg-drop device lacked in creativity it made up for in practicality - her Disney princess bag stuffed with air bags cushioned her egg from the impact and it, too, survived.

Finally, believing strongly in the creed, "If you're going to fail, fail spectacularly," Mike sent a hockey water bottle filled with pancake syrup and water careening to the earth, his egg taped over a thin line of toilet paper covering the bottle's mouth. The idea, I guess, was that the contraption would hit the ground, the egg would continue to fall, burst through the thin paper and plunk into his syrupy solution, safe and sound. Unfortunately for Mike (and anyone standing within 13 feet or so of ground zero), the bottle slammed to the ground, firing a fountain of pancake syrup, water, and egg throughout the office. Fail spectacularly, indeed.

In the end, by unanimous decision, Rob was declared the winner of the egg drop and won a nifty new Nerf gun to store at his desk and wield against unsuspecting co-workers. Congratulations on your victory, Rob, and since you're newly armed, let me take this opportunity to say that I've always liked you best.

Last Friday at lunch, Rob appears with this cake and his two accomplices, Mike and Dave. Not only did they want me to try the cake, they wanted me to guess what the mystery ingredient was. Now, first of all, I don't even like cake. Second, Rob baked the cake, and third, all three of them wanted me to guess a mystery ingredient. Clearly this was not safe cake to eat. Upon viewing the baked creation, I was even more convinced that tasting this cake was a bad, bad idea.

After carefully sniffing, poking and examining the cake, I concluded no weird bugs had been ground up in the icing. Time for the next step. How could I lead everyone at work if I was clearly afraid of cake? I had to taste it. So, down the hatch it went. No foaming at the mouth. No side cramps. All was good. In fact, the cake tasted.....well....kind of.........yummy. It was yummy cake. In fact, it tasted almost like carrot cake, with cream cheese icing. Despite the fact that it was pink, poorly blended and lop sided, Rob had baked a good cake (in his defense, I found out he doesn't have a mixer). The trouble was, I still could not guess the mystery ingredient.

So, what was the mystery ingredient? Well, it was in fact, ketchup. I was eating a ketchup cake (as I breathed a sigh of relief). Try it out for yourself at your next party, just remember, don't tell everyone until after they have tasted it! You can find the recipe here.

The winner of the Chili Cooking Contest has been decided! The contest was a close one, but I managed to narrowly beat out Sherry for the prestigious title of Studiothink Chili Champion - 2009.

That title brings with it...well, not much. But I am now entitled to office bragging rights, so I figured a blog posting was in order. Plus, I got this sweet trophy!

Yes, it was a long, hard road, but it was worth it in the end. Just call me the Sultan of Spice, the Hero of Heat, the Champion of Chili!

It's Friday. The week has passed by so quickly, and we've been busy lately, but I just want everyone to know how much I hate those Mac Ads. Creative, and ingenious at first, those clever marketing people have everyone convinced that a PC must run Microsoft's Windows Vista. This is false. Most people I know run Boot Camp and have Windows installed on their Macs. Seems strange to me, if they're advertising that Windows is Evil(tm). Now I'm not saying Windows is good or bad, there are many options out there if you dislike Windows; Unix, Linux, and OS X are the main alternatives, but there are others such as Haiku (for those that remember BeOS back in the day).

Now imagine if all future robots ran on a defunct version of Windows? The good people over at Cinematic Happenings Under Development (CHUD) have come up with their list of the 5 top robot kills. Go have a look, and if you have any other suggestions, let me know.

With three guys in the office, you can bet lunch time conversation will turn to the topic of video games eventually. Rob helped temporarily slow production this week by sending us a link to this web-based flash game seductively called 'Crush the Castle.' Note that you'll need to have the Flash 10 player installed to play it.

Much to our delight, the game lives up to its name, putting you in charge of a trebuchet and a limited supply of castle-crushing boulders, you're tasked with destroying two dozen rickety castles of questionable architecture.

Not only does Crush the Castle serve as a great 5 minute diversion, it's also another great example of the power of Adobe Flash to make things fun, interesting and engaging on the web.

I stumbled on a great research tool a couple of months ago that I thought was really cool. The Way Back Machine is located at http://www.archive.org/index.php, and it allows you to view archived editions of many websites. Simply enter the website URL your choice, and the Way Back Machine will spit out all the old iterations of that site, sometimes going back over ten years! Not just a source of preserved sites, it's also a really good time-killer, allowing you to get a laugh over how some sites used to look:

- http://web.archive.org/web/20001109021600/http://www2.cnn.com/
- http://web.archive.org/web/19961225114023/http://www.nhl.com/
- http://web.archive.org/web/19981202230410/http://www.google.com/
- http://web.archive.org/web/19990421044406/http://www.hamsterdance.com/
- http://web.archive.org/web/20000817000029/http://www.studiothink.com/

Every morning we smell something yummy coming from the kitchen area, making us all hungry, and finally tracked down the scent to strawberry milkshake Pop Tarts! I haven't had Pop Tarts since I was a kid, and even then they must have been bad for you, because my parents never kept them in the house. However, Mike seems to have rediscovered his inner child with his recent Pop Tart addiction, as we found him getting a box out of his desk—obviously he doesn't trust any of us enough to keep them in the kitchen. Obviously Pop Tarts is doing some great marketing to capture that new adult market......or is it just Mike? hmmm.

Every day as I walk by our graphic designer, Dave's desk, I am greeted by a plethora of strange characters. He collects these bizarre but humorous designer toys known as urban vinyl, due to the fact I guess, that they are all made from vinyl. Some smoke, some have removable parts, some are just plain strange. What's even stranger, is that I can't help but smile every time I walk by and look at them.

Last week was his birthday, and he went downtown with Mike to get a few more for his collection. I'm thinking that if something this small can make people smile as they go past your desk, maybe I should start collecting some of my own.

p.s. If you are wondering where he gets them, here is the link to the Vancouver store called Voltage: http://voltageland.com/shop/

If you read our newsletter (or have met any of us) you know we are a tad bit competitive. We've always got some kind of office rivalry happening. This time we've started a new competition we may live to regret—a chili cookoff. Thankfully all the men sit downstairs, while my desk is upstairs with Chandra, so I'm thinking I'm fairly safe from any repercussions caused by chili ingestion.

Every Friday for the next couple of months each of us will bring a home made pot of chili for lunch, which we will rank. The winner will have bragging rights, and a prize of some sort....if we can think of something.

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with, and I'll keep you updated about our results. Rob went first last week, and faced the pressure of cooking his first ever chili. It was pretty yummy, not sure how Mike is going to top it this week....I'll try to remember to post photos....may the hottest chef win!!

Adobe Flash livens up websites with eye-catching animation, and adds a new level of user enjoyment with interactive interfaces and games (like the pong game on the new Studiothink website), but it doesn’t usually come to mind as a way to animate an entire feature film.

But that's what director Ari Folman used with his 2009 Golden Globe-winning film, Waltz with Bashir. A documentary about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the film was shot with three DVCAMs, then painstakingly transformed into animation by a team of eight animators, four illustrators, one After Effects artist, and one editor, thus creating a very artistic, original and creative production from a very limited budget.

I managed to catch the film shortly after its appearance at the Vancouver Film Festival, and was blown away; It's great to see the same tool we use to give your website a competitive edge on the web can be used in such a powerful way. It's out of theaters now, but set to be released on DVD on Jun 23, 2009. So if you're a fan of foreign films, documentaries, or creative animation, I highly recommend taking a look.