July 29, 2010

businesses need to be more like causes. causes need to be more like businesses.

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["Never Pick A Fight" print here.]

OK, now this is interesting…

Of the forty of so entries to the Cube Grenade competition, about one third of them are for businesses and starts ups, and about two thirds of them are for nonprofits and worthy causes.

I was expecting the opposite ratio, to be honest. [BTW There's still a couple of days left to submit an idea, so go for it etc.]

So what does this tell us?

1. Causes are more idea-driven, rather than “rational-utility” driven. “Here’s why this matters”, more than “Here’s why you should buy our product”. I think Cube Grendes are the same. They’re designed to spread ideas and start conversations, not to SELL. Designed to hit a nerve, not to just tick of a box on some random marketing checklist.

2. As nonprofits are rarely funded with anything like what they really need to get the job done, they have to be creative. And I’ve always thought that everyone has to be creative, not just those with no money. So there’s a fit there.

But there’s a fit EVERYWHERE. Business need to be more like causes. Causes need to be more like businesses. Which is what makes this whole thing so much damn fun…

July 25, 2010

alien landscape

2 Comments

July 25, 2010

“treat it like an adventure. an adventure worth sharing.”

6 Comments

["Breakfast", which I sent out in the newsletter recently. You can buy the print here etc.]

“TREAT IT LIKE AN ADVENTURE. AN ADVENTURE WORTH SHARING.”

1. Now that Evil Plans is at the publisher’s and in production (Release date: February 17th), the newsletter and the art gallery chugging along nicely, I’m starting to think about my next adventure.

Some people live paycheck to paycheck. Some people live project to project. I prefer living “adventure to adventure”.

I reckon that if you can’t treat what you’re doing like an adventure, it’s not worth doing. You might as well be dead.

What’s my next adventure about? Haven’t quite decided yet. Something to do with Cube Grenades and the next book I plan to write. Plus the cartooning, of course.

It’ll all fit together somehow…

2. Here’s what I’ve always noticed about us humans: We all want the feeling of adventure. It’s just about the closest you can get to God while you’re still alive.

And often, we fail to heed the call. We’re too busy with IMPORTANT things. Cars to buy, bills to pay, people to schmooze and meetings to attend.

It’s not the American Dream if it kills you for stupid reasons. Sorry.

3. I wrote this little rant earlier today, while in a grumpy mood:

Fuck y’all.

You know who you are.

Your endless droning on about nothing, the endless tedium that is your career…

Well, it makes the CEO of your employer rich, but does little else.

Surrounding yourself with the overpriced, plastic baubles you learned about from TV, like anyone actually cares.

And you’re raising your kids the same way, raising them to be the same fine specimen of nowheresville. Lucky them.

You are boring. You are boredom. And that’s what you peddle.

Every day. To anyone who is desperate enough to listen.

An empty life, followed by an equally empty death.

Fuck y’all and good riddance.

My definition of “Mediocrity” is: A Triumvirate of small minds, smaller hearts and even smaller deeds. Usually with some lame-ass, entitlement power trip going on. One rarely has to look very hard to find it; it’s everywhere.

To have an adventure, is to reject that.

4. The Cube Grenade idea is all about making drawings about other people’s adventures.

That’s why I started the Cube Grenade giveaway competition. That’s why I hope you’ll nominate somebody. That’s why I hope you’ll go read some of the nominations.

It’s all about the adventure, People.

5. [TO BE CONTINUED...]

July 22, 2010

crashcourse cube grenade

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A wee “cube grenade” commission I recently did for crashcourse.ca, an education resource. Yes, I wrote the headline. Go see.

[Commission your own Cube Grenade drawing.]

July 16, 2010

heartbreaking: r.i.p. brandon haskins

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The other day I got a message on Facebook from Chad Oler, somebody I hadn’t met before.

Hugh,

One of our mutual Facebook friends, Brandon Haskins, was murdered yesterday – shot to death by his step father in Troy, Ohio. His last Facebook post was just a couple of hours before it happened… he posted your drawing, ‘Life is too short not to do something that matters’. I am a small screen printer and have been asked by one of his friends to print a t-shirt for other friends and family with some kind words and, if possible, you art. No profit will be made and there will be absolutely no self-promotion on my part. Is it possible?

Thank you.

Chad Oler

So of course, I let Chad go ahead and make the t-shirt design (see above). On the other side of the shirt are printed the words, “Grace Happens”, which is a lovely little sentiment.

I hadn’t really met Brandon before, either, other than letting him friend me on Facebook. And now he’s gone; he was only 23 years old. What a truly heartbreaking story.

My deepest condolences to his family.

July 16, 2010

supergenius conference in nyny next week

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I’ll be in New York next week, speaking at Supergenius, the Word-Of-Mouth conference organized by Andy Sernovitz and his team.

I designed two prints for the event, based on Andy’s two favorite WOM lines.

My take on Word-Of-Mouth? Two thoughts:

1. Would anybody tell a friend? If it’s a social object, yes.

2. Advertising is the cost of not being a social object.

I’ll let you figure the rest out on your own…

Thanks to Andy for putting on such a swell show. Can’t wait!

[Commission your own gapingvoid print etc.]

July 15, 2010

dying is no way to live

3 Comments

[A little Blue Monster "cube grenade" I designed for my old buddy over at Microsoft, Steve Clayton.]

As I’ve said many times before, the best thing about being a blogger is the people you get to meet.

Case in Point: White Box Edibles nominated themselves for the Cube Grenade competition I’ve currently got going on.

“A medical marijuana edibles company in sunny Boulder, Colorado”?

Whatever your views on marijuana (I’ve always been fairly indifferent to it), I kinda dig the sheer chutzpah of  the enterprise, don’t you?

Or this one:

Little shop of happiness

This could make a movie.

Hungary, 2006. A retired teacher of French and Italian (Diane Keaton) and a retired ear-nose-and-throat specialist (Meryl Streep) open a pastry shop. They can’t afford the rent anywhere in the city, so they open it in a small town (Solymár), beside the highway.

It’s not your typical pastry shop, however…

People quit their jobs to start like crazy-ass businesses like these every day. Why? Sure, they want the independence and the feeling of control over their own destinies and all that, but…

I believe one of the biggest drives is:

They want to be able to tell a good story.

We all want to hear a good story about the world, that we can buy into. And we also want to create equally good stories of our own to tell. This capacity to create, absorb and share metaphors is what separates us from all the other animals.

And if we can’t do that; if we don’t have these stories that we can believe in [our own AND other people's] something inside us starts feeling like it’s dying…

And dying, as you know, is no way to live.

[Submit your own cube grenade story here etc.]

July 13, 2010

the rock

5 Comments

July 12, 2010

gapingvoid is taking some time off…

17 Comments

1. I’ve been working my ass off, all hours, seven days a week, for the last year and a half. And I was working pretty hard before that, as well….

2. I recently sent off the FINAL edit of my second book, EVIL PLANS to the publisher. Besides checking the proofs, my part is done. It comes out in April.

3. With the book finished, I’m thinking I need (and deserve) a break. I’m taking some time off.

4. The “Daily Cartoons” Newsletter will still be going out every weekday, as usual. No change there.

5. The Daily Bizcard will go on hiatus for a few weeks, while I rest and regroup.

6. You’ll still be able to find me on Twitter.

7. Besides the newsletter, my only other interest for the next while will be working on developing the Cube Grenade idea. That’s going to be my main focus of my blog and my business for the next while. If you see me post anything here in the next few weeks, it’ll most likely be about that.

8. Thanks for your support. See you on the other side. Cheers.

July 9, 2010

100709a

2 Comments

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