Awhile back, my friend Finn and I were having some Pimm’s cups, and we got to talking about fan fiction culture.  I think how it came about was that we were talking about the X Files, I said I’d never seen it and asked if the characters ever hooked up, and Finn asked if I was a ’shipper.

Thus started my descent into madness fan fiction vocabulary, and the esoteric etymology behind some of the words.  I’ve only scratched the surface, I’m sure, but here are some of my favorites so far.  The definitions are taken from this online fan fiction glossary, the content of which may stun and bewilder if you had no idea this world existed.

’shipper: (short for relationshipper) a ’shipper is someone who believes that a chosen pair of characters “belong together,” and who diligently reads and/or writes tales to that effect. The term originated in the X-Files fanfic, but has migrated over to comicfic in full force with the advent of the X-Men movie and a subsequent boom in Logan/Rogue ’shipping. 

The whole notion of ’shipping gets waaaaay more interesting with Harry Potter fanfic.  Each ’ship, or pairing of characters in the canon (meaning original work by the author), is given it’s own esoteric name based on characteristics of the people involved.  For example, “Orange Crush” is Harry and Ginny.    This is an entire list of Harry Potter ’ships, and links to subsequent fan fiction threads for each ’ship.   (Sadly, I understood most of the meanings of the ’ship names.)

There are, like, a million of these.  Characters, children of characters, ghosts, monsters - every combination of relationship you can imagine.  Platonic ’ships are not allowed on this board,  and  incest / beastiality doesn’t really seem to be a barrier to developing ’ships for these characters. So beware.

Sometimes the ’ship names are also denoted by HMS (her majesty’s ship) at the beginning.  So HMS Orange Crush would tell me exactly what the fan fiction thread would be about, if I understood the language.  uh, and now I do.

Ok, on to Mary Sue.

Mary Sue : The generic name for any new character (usually female) who’s a ego-stroke for the writer: she’s beautiful, has amazing skills/powers, gets into a love affair with an existing character, or (usually) all of the above. Mary Sues often convince characters to hook up romantically, especially in slash. Good writers can write good Mary Sues, but this is not the norm.

So basically, people who write Mary Sue’s insert a character that is essentially a stand-in for themselves into their stories, and let all the cool shit happen to them.   The term “Mary Sue” originated in a 1974 Star Trek fanzine ( which is where fan fiction lived before the internet) by one Paula Smith.  She created a  Lieutenant Mary Sue (”the youngest Lieutenant in the fleet — only fifteen and a half years old”), and I guess Lieutenant Mary Sue got to make out with Captain Kirk and do all sorts of snazzy stuff. 

This comic, which is hilarious, makes fun of Mary Sue stories where the writers place their own character in an imagined 5th House in Harry Potter, called…(wait for it)….Sparklypoo.  Yes.  Hopefully the guy that made it doesn’t mind me putting it up here.

I thought it was pretty funny.  Apparently there are a lot of people who like to read Mary Sue’s, and they’re known as Suvians.   You are probably realizing, at this point, that fan fiction has a lot of names for a lot of things that don’t really need names, just like in marketing!

There is just so much stuff. crazy stuff.  terms like “pepper-jack cheese”, which refers to a lame detail included in a fanfic because it’s peculiar to the author. Coined after a story wherein the author insisted that Hermione loved pepper-jack cheese because she (the author) did. Commonly seen in Mary Sue stories.

I love that this whole world exists.  It completely amazes me - I knew about fan culture and fan fiction before this, but I guess I never explored the details until now.  It’s kind of funny, because there are people who can’t STAND to see deviations or alterations of something they’ve read or seen, which is the camp that I thought I fell into.  But now that I’ve been reading some*, I think I’m becoming more accepting of the evolution of characters beyond the vision of their original creators.   I mean, anything that contains the phrase “Ginny performed a quick birth control spell” is pretty amazing, you have to admit.

*shut up.

As promised, our friends at Naked Tokyo have translated the Brutus Magazine article on Naked NY for us. Thanks, guys!

Naked Communications is based in the residential loft building in the middle of SoHo. Reflecting its characteristic as the advertising consulting company who is known for progressive marketing strategies, the office is unique and different based on the “house” concept, having two floors. On the lower floor, several people are having brainstorming, and others are meditating, in the ‘greenhouse’ within the building. In the next ‘living room’, other staffs are enjoying video gaming on a couch. On the upper floor where actual work is done, appr 40 people are focusing on working, sitting side by side in front of the long, aligned desks. Because of the philosophy that imagination would be stuck when staff get used to routine, the management shuffles seating at random, which helps free flow of communications amongst staffs. The office environment is considered to prioritise ‘Flexible mindset and unique idea construction’, and it represents peculiar business model of this unique company. Whilst belonging to the advertising industry, Naked neither produces advertising nor functions as a traditional agency, but just generate ideas for clients. If you look at the huge chalkboard in the meeting room, you see their corporate philosophy, ‘Naked Truth 6 clauses’, such as “everything communicates”, “the world of communications is bigger than the world of advertising”, etc.

You will never know what this company is doing by just looking at the office, however, it is certain that such cool working environment helps establish Naked as ‘the agency to watch’ just within three years since the launch of the NY office. By the way, they are looking for new office, as the number of the staff is being increased too quickly.

1. ‘Greenhouse’ is the place to think, isolated from noisy working areas.
2. Many signs of generated ideas on the chalkboard in the meeting room.
3. ‘Living Room’ for the people who want to relax and refresh.
4. Bunch of tennis balls used for the event, and polaroid of people.
5. Quite congested working floor due to the increase of staffs.

Profile
Naked Communications was born in London in 2000, and launched NY office in 2005. Partner Paul Woolmington and Neal Davis are enjoying foosball. They sell media strategy and branding strategy. Recently opened the office in Tokyo. http://www.nakedcomms.com

DATA
• Lease
• Location - SoHo
• 2F/3F of five-storied residential building
• Scale – 464 sqm
• Facilities – greenhouses, meeting rooms, etc.
• Built in 1879
• Loft type, renaissance revival design
• With boutique on the ground floor and artists’ SoHo in other floors.

Here is a feature I co-wrote for the current issue of BrandWeek, with one of the Partners of Booz & Co.

With the average CMO lasting just 23 months and with three quarters of marketing departments in the throes of re-organization, marketing finds itself in crisis. It’s universally acknowledged that the impact of cultural singularities like media fragmentation and the Internet have changed the marketing environment forever. But distracted by experiments with new marketing techniques and tactics, most companies have catastrophically failed to evolve their own internal structure, culture and capabilities.

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Sometimes it’s good to take stock of how we, as individuals, are perceived in the world.

Last week Naked said goodbye to our troop of Summer interns. I think based on the amount of activity over internal emails, twitters, blog posts and good olde fashioned good bye parties it’s clear we were really happy to have them here over the Summer and are a bit sad to see them leave.

But what do the interns really think of us? Well, we got a peek into this via Summer Intern Jenna.

This morning when we arrived in the office, Jenna had very kindly left her contact info for each of us in the form of a personalized New York themed postcard (jameswoods could have taken a tip, mr. impersonal email).

On the back of these postcards Jenna left very nice personal notes with memories of our Summer experiences or regrets for not having had the opportunity to work with some of us. The interesting part is how these postcards were addressed.

Each card was addressed with our names and individual drawings. It’s in these drawings that I am trying to find some greater meaning and insight into how the world, as seen through our intern’s eyes, perceive us.

clearly, the interns were big fans of Kacy, Amber, Amy and Leila

I reckon, they saw Chas, Paul and Joe as vibrant, exciting and dynamic

Question is, what the F#*@ does this say about me?!?!?!

Usain Bolt’s finish from the 200m finals:

The NY Times had a gorgeous graphic on the front page today, showing how his time of 19.30 and Michael Johnson’s 19.32 from 12 years ago were an order of magnitude faster than anyone else has ever run the race.  No one expected Bolt to break the record — not even Bolt himself.  The record that stood for 12 years was expected to stand for decades to come.

(I wish the NY Times would let me embed their graphics.  Check it out online here instead.)

It’s not an accident, I’m sure.  The story is about training and diligence and hard work and years preparation.  But then you go out on the track and blow even your most wild-eyed expectations out of the water. You are greater than yourself.

We should celebrate — here’s to Usain Bolt.

Here’s to Michael Johnson and Jesse Owen and Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Roger Bannister and Bob Beamon and the hundreds of other transcendent performances from the world of track and field, and probably every other sport under the sun.

It’s easy to find examples of transcendence in sports, perhaps because records are so assiduously kept.  I’m trying to find the analog in other arenas outside of sports though…  And am not doing so well.

Inventing the lightbulb? The printing press?  The internet?

Going to the moon?  Scaling Everest?  Insisting that man can fly?

Deciphering DNA?  Coding the entire human genome?

Designing the iMac?

These examples come easily to mind, but I am unable to know for sure whether these are truly transcendent moments, or whether they are (merely?) incremental, inevitable improvements on what has come before.  The latter answer in no way takes away from their impact, but I’m looking for something greater still here.

What do you think?  What is transcendent in our own world today, away from the Olympics?  How can we measure and illustrate that transcendence, as the Times did today?

Most importantly, where can I find inspiration next week, once Bob Costas has hung up his microphone for the next four years?

When trying to explain Kid Robot to friends, they cannot understand why I am so enthralled by a toy store with smoking rabbits (I am very anti-smoking, however smoking bunnies for some reason I can condone). So, for those who find my fascination bizarre, here are the three main reasons why I love Kid Robot:

1. The store is like a museum - The “look, don’t touch” atmosphere created by the glass barrier between yourself and the cleverly designed plastic creatures worsens your natural desire to feel the smoothly textured toys. The museum feel is what elevates these creators off the toy shelf and into the category of ‘designer.’ Each piece in its case appearing more like a work of sculpture that tourists and other unworthy admirers can stare and drool at.

2. The power is in the hands of the card holder - Kid Robot is toys for adults and who ever really grows out of toys? Now that we are adults shopping for toys we are finally have the power to buy the toys we desire. No whining or begging, just card swiping!

3. Premium pricing! Truly the best strategy in play here. Putting the brand just out of reach for the common man, it creates the “Christmas-Effect.” Just as you held out all year for that one special gift (that you bought, wrapped and put under the tree for yourself) you appreciate it soo much more. Kid Robot, being as expensive as it is, makes buying one of the items a special event. Were their Dunnies or Star Wars styled creatures $20, they would get thrown aside a month after purchase. But no, if you shell out $200 for a Luke Skywalker Dunny, you will create your own museum-like atmosphere on the shelves in your office where only true fans and lovers will be privileged enough to touch the toy.

Congrats Kid Robot, you have managed to elevate your brand above any Toys R’ Us shelf. Go forth toy fans and spend $600 on a plastic toy that looks like something you’d see on a bad acid trip, after all we were all deprived of enough toys as kids.

Back in April, there was a team of very nice and gracious Japanese photographers on our 2nd floor. I knew it had something to do with a “cool offices” piece they were working on for a magazine, but I didn’t have much other information. Well, today we were sent a copy of Brutus Magazine:

You can click on the images to blow up, but unless you can read Japanese characters, all you’ll be able to understand is that they called us a World Hip Office.

We e-mailed our friends at Naked Tokyo for help in translating the article. Until then, enjoy the photography (^_^)//

just curious about what i’m carrying around with me all day…

- $136 cash
- A Receipt from Tamas Sushi of Neptune Beach Florida
- A New York State drivers license
- Two New York City MTA MetroCards (not sure how much value remains on either)
- A brochure from Chase Manhattan Bank about the new ATMs that take checks
- A Chase Visa Check Card
- An American Express Card, green
- A New York Health and Racquet member card
- A Guardian DentalGuard Preferred Network member card
- A Oxford Health Plan, Freedom Plan member card
- A $50 Chelsea Piers Golf Club card (not sure how much value remains)
- A Hong Kong MTR Octopus Card
- A Business Card from the Foreign Correspondents Club, Phnom Phen/Siem Reap Cambodia
- A Fed-ex account number card
- A HP Viera Inks card to tell me what cartridges to put in my printer
- Business Card of D.J. Puffert, proprietor Piccolo Teatro, Sausalito CA
- A Matt Umanov Guitars Member Discount Card

The wallet is Coach Water Buffalo Money Clip Card Case, which i bought in Bangkok in 2004

Last night I had the privilege of seeing Tony Award winning musical “Spring Awakening.” What truly struck me was the unique combinations of fashions. It combined German 1890s style clothing of knickerbocker pants, suspenders and stockings with 1980s punk-rock hair styles and chuck tailors. The music felt very mid-90s. The collaboration of these decade-styles created an era all it’s own, one which I will surely attempt to replicate. The costumer of this show along with that of ‘Gossip Girl’s’ are definitely a force for bringing back the stocking. Full-footed, brightly colored, even patterned. I saw a teen on her way to prom this spring wearing a full 1920s flapper dress with an eye-penciled line going up the back of her leg to complete the look. I’m thinking that the slip needs to make a come-back.

Even the new Michael Kors line is inspired by the 1960s styles showcased in HBO’s “Mad Men.” Check out the Ad Age article for more.

Classic is clearly in and the black dress is cheering. So grab your Fedora and skinny tie and head out on your own happy zeitgeist!

Like millions of other jingoists (USA! USA! USA!), I’ve intensely (and tensely) watched the Olympics these past few days. I’ve marveled at the precision of siamese diving, gasped at the flailing flesh of water polo, and oohed at the total domination of Brazil’s national soccer team and Michael Phelps, the Brazil of swimming. Whether it’s been in the pool or on the pitch, I’ve also found myself somewhat drawn to the familiarness of the Beijing 2008 logo. With its thick, black, curvy lines and handwritten/calligraphy-like style, I can’t help being reminded of some other typeface. Luckily, the Beijing logo has been visible from almost every camera angle seen during the games so I’ve had plenty of opportunities to jog my declining memory.

Finally, it struck me.

Upon closer examination, I realize they’re far from identical — at least apart from the thick, black, curvy lines… In fact, the “e”, “i”, and “n” available for comparison are quite dissimilar, but that doesn’t stop me from making an association with the Happiest Celebration on Earth. It could be due to some all-good childhood memory of a trip to Disneyland (or was it Disneyworld? the one in Orlando at any rate) and a desire to recreate that feeling. Or, it could be because the Beijing 2008 identity is in some way derivative of Disney’s logo. Let’s ignore Freud for the moment and assume it’s the latter, which leads me to a thought - and one I leave with you - about the power of being derivative. Is it a power even worth harnessing, or is the risk of being seen as unoriginal too great? Or, to mince the words of my esteemed colleague, is it sometimes more genius to imitate than to steal?