Archive for February, 2009
February 27, 2009
1 Comment
[Austin, Texas]
Dear Crazy, Deranged Fools,
For those who missed it, here’s an extract from this week’s “Crazy, Deranged Fools” Newsletter:
2. Holiday Cottage? South Congress? What? Again, let me give you the skinny…
B.J., the groovy cat who owns Verde Camp here in Austin [The cottages are painted light green, hence the name…], is letting me stay here for free, which is very kind of him. He’s a friend of a friend, he had a free cottage going, so what the hey, I thought in exchange for his kindness, maybe we could do a little “Marketing 2.0″ experiment together– you know how much I like trying these things out…
B.J. is a very cool cat. He worked for Yahoo in the 1990’s as some sort of techie fellow, before leaving there and opening an art gallery in San Francisco soon after. Somehow he managed to make to Austin [I’m sure his now-wife played some part in the story]. He actually knows another SF-art-world friend of mine, Scott Beale of Laughing Squid . Small world. So he bought this piece of property in South Congress, thinking he was building some sort of private home for himself and his lovely wife– somehow it turned out to be a guest cottage enterprise thing. Crazy & Deranged & Foolish. Exactly.
So, my fellow CDF’s, here’s what you can do for me. Please go check out his website, and if you like what you see, please tell your friends about it, or if you REALLY like the look of it, please drop BJ an email and let him know that you checked it out, and say that ol’ Hughie sent ya. Seriously, you’ll make his day. And it’ll be a very useful experiment for me, to see what happens etc. The Power of The Network etc. Please don’t hesitate, Thanks.
Earlier we were at dinner at Guero’s with two other of his friends– he was picking my brains about marketing, and I gave him my whole “Social Object” schpiel … “How do we make Verde Camp a social object?” etc etc. Sadly, he’s already fully booked for SXSW, but he’d be VERY interested in hearing from you, nonetheless.
I can sincerely attest– it’s a very sweet little setup he has going here– if travels ever take you to Austin, I hope you’ll check it out.
This is what “Marketing 2.0″ is all about, People… Cool friends of cool friends doing cool shit and sharing it with other cool folk, for fun and to make an honest living– at least, that’s what it means to me… Social Objects, Baby… Crazy, Deranged Foolishness at its finest, Baby… Yeah, Baby… Baby… Baby…
So far I am REALLY enjoying the Newsletter format. So far, it feels like I’m talking to people more directly [to people who actually want to hear from me, as opposed to me being just one more blogger to skim over in one’s RSS feed etc]. Just one man’s opinion etc. I hope you’ll sign up.
Thanks Again for Your Love And Support,
Yours in Crazy, Deranged Foolishness,
Hugh MacLeod
February 24, 2009
7 Comments
[Me signing the “Bluetrain” prints earlier this evening…]
Dear Crazy, Deranged Fools,
Ok, so that’s the Bluetrain edition signed. Tomorrow I take them to the art packer’s, in order for them to be packed flat and shipped via UPS to their new owners.
From here in Alpine, Texas, to London, Hong Kong, Boston, Paris, New York, Austin, Seattle… all 100% enabled by our little, evil friend, The Internet. This is EXACTLY what I meant when I talked about The Global Microbrand, back in 2005. All happening for me now etc.
For those of you who have ordered one, please expect to receive an embedded PayPal button in an email from me, during the next couple of days. We were first waiting to see much an actual print weighs when fully packed, so we’d know how much to charge y’all for shipping. Thanks.
Yes, it has its complicated moments, but it’s all very exciting… I hope y’all feel likewise.
Thanks Again for Your Love And Support,
Yours in Crazy, Deranged Foolishness,
Hugh MacLeod
[PS: Check out the latest limited edition coming out: “We Need To Talk”.]
[PPS: Sign up for The “Crazy, Deranged Fools” Newsletter here…]
2 Comments
Dear Crazy, Deranged Fools,
After receiving a lot of feedback from y’all about the three choices, we decided to go with “We Need To Talk” as the next gapingvoid limited edition print.
Here are the basics:
1. The print will retail for $400 [plus shipping & handling], once it goes to print. You can pre-order it for $250 [plus shipping & handling], BUT ONLY if you’re already signed up to the “Crazy Deranged Fools” Newsletter [Sign up here if you haven’t already]. This pre-order offer only extends to the first 45 prints in the edition.
2. The print will be a signed, limited edition of 85, same as “Bluetrain” Dimension will be the same as “Bluetrain” as well.
3. If you’re interested, please email me at gapingvoidprints@gmail.com with your name, shipping address and a phone number for the UPS delivery guy.
4. The prints will be shipped flat, packed by a professional; not simply rolled up in a tube etc.
5. For more details, either e-mail me or go to yesterday’s blog post, Thanks.
This has been a pretty exciting 24 hours. Already a quarter of the edition has been pre-ordered, even though “Bluetrain” hasn’t even shipped yet.
Somebody emailed me this morning:
I believe the only viable future for artists (or most anyone else) is DIY, collaboration and cooperation. the existing systems, structures, paradigms and rules don’t work (never have actually, except for a chosen few, who worked hard to create the illusion that these things applied equally for everyone, lying bastards).
I wrote back:
Thanks. Yeah, the trick here is me trying to bypass as many established art-world systems as possible, in order to make [A] a point and [B] profit.
I have a lot of artists watching me at the moment, wondering if I can actually pull it off. It’ll be good for us all if I can.
We live in interesting times…
Thanks SO MUCH for your love and support,
Yours in Crazy, Deranged Foolishness,
Hugh MacLeod
February 23, 2009
69 Comments
[“We Need To Talk”]
[“1 Corinthians 13″]
[“SMS Important Thoughts”]
[UPDATE: Please e-mail me at gapingvoidprints@gmail.com if you want to pre-order, Thanks.]
Well, the plan is to start sending out the Bluetrain prints this week. It took a while to get the right fine art printer in place, and get the silk screens just right. For those who are unfamiliar with the process, we chose the somewhat labor-intensive process of silk screening, so I had to proof the edition and make sure each image was perfect. Anyway, they are being flat packed (shipping tubes could damage the print if people wanted to store them long-term) and hopefully shipped late this week
[“Bluetrain”]
Here are some notes on the next Edition:
1. Above are the three contenders for the next limited edition– “We Need To Talk”, “1 Corinthians 13″, and “SMS Important Thoughts”. The one that rings the most bells win, so let’s hear your comments below, Thanks.
2. Like last time, it’ll be a signed, Limited Edition of eighty-five, plus some artist proofs. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
3. This edition will retail for $400 apiece. Like last time, we’ll be offering a discount to those people who pre-order before the actual printing– $150 off– so $250 each [Plus shipping & handling]. Except this time there’s an added stipulation– only people who have signed up to my Crazy Deranged Fools Newsletter will be able to pre-order. So if you’re a CDF member, please be watching your email inboxes in the next few days, or feel free to sign up now, Thanks.
4. The print will be silk screened on pH neutral, French-made, archival paper– just as The Bluetrain was. Dimensions will be proportional to the images above with the rectangular ones being about 25“x36”.
5. If you have any specific questions or issues about the edition, I have set up a new email address to handle all the print-related business: gapingvoidprints@gmail.com. Please address all queries and/or issues there, Thanks.
6. WHY THESE PRINTS RETAIL FOR ONLY $400.00 When the Bluetrain went up for sale, a number of people mentioned that they thought it was too cheap. Lots of people think that ‘good’ art needs to be expensive. That used to be true. We are all used to the idea that the web can make things more efficient and cost effective, but there are few products where this is more true than with art. Here’s why:
The art market is set up where there are ‘artists’, ‘publishers’ and ‘galleries’. As expected, everyone along the way needs to make a margin. The artist gets paid for his image, the publisher finances and contracts for the printing, and then markets the prints to galleries. It is a ‘charming’ 19th Century system. Unfortunately, everything gets very expensive. Quickly.
We’ve chosen to self-publish, and sell through the blog, even though I have been approached by many galleries over the years. I just don’t think that people who want to collect my work should have to pay for publishers margins, high real estate prices in trendy neighborhoods, gallery employee payrolls, free wine for the hangers-on, markups on the framing etc. All of these things jack the prices up.
Next thing you know, instead of paying $400 for a print, you’re paying $1500-$2000. Go hang in Chelsea [Manhattan] if you don’t believe me. Sure, fine art is traditionally expensive– it’s a luxury item after all, an indicator of surplus wealth etc– but with the Internet now so evolved, does it have to be this way? I’m not just talking about the old– fashioned, “We passed the savings onto you” angle. It’s more like, since you’ve invested in my work, I owe it to you guys to do my damnedest to see that your investment pays off over the long-term. And that’s more likely to happen at $400, than at $2000; do the math. Even if you’re never going to sell it, even if you got it at a steal, knowing that it’s worth far more than you paid for it makes you feel far better than the alternative. Of course it does.
Is self publishing risky? Sure it is. Am I planning to sell my work for far more than $400 in the long run? Of course. But, I do know that [A] there is nothing like a good deal and [B] the folks who support me early on will, in the fullness of time, be very happy that they did.
7. Yes, I will admit, taking the plunge into the art business is a nerve-wracking experience. Crazy, Deranged and Foolish, I know. I don’t care, frankly. I’ve worked damn hard for many years to get to this point. Fuck ‘em if they don’t like it.
As Always, thank you for your love and support. Rock on.
[PLEASE LEAVE YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. THANKS.]
February 21, 2009
3 Comments
Here Loren Feldman interviews Andrew Suber, one of the first friends I made when I moved to Alpine, Texas.
Andrew is one of the smartest people in town. He pretty much raised and educated himself as kid down in Terlingua [His father wasn’t around much, so I am told]. Somehow by sheer force of will, he managed to get an undergraduate degree from UT Austin and a law degree from William & Mary.
He could have easily moved to the big city and gotten himself a high paying lawyer job. For whatever reason, he decided to stay in Alpine and live the life of an aesthete.
His main claim to fame is hosting the local Trivia Night every second Tuesday, down at The Railroad Blues. He takes it scary seriously, which is a good thing for the rest of us.
He had nice things to say about Stormhoek, when it first came to town. We like him for that. Rock on.
Is Andrew a “Crazy, Deranged Fool”? Of course he is! How could he possibly not be?
Dream Big. Alpine, Texas. Exactly.
February 20, 2009
6 Comments
To bring you truly great beer,
we have focused our efforts to one simple pursuit…ignore mainstream.
We brew the beer we want to drink.
In this pursuit we have found lower efficiencies, higher cost, less yields and smaller market share. This may seem like an unsound business model, but in our pursuit for bigger and better beer we have discovered a subculture of microbrewery aficionados. People like you, who enjoy beers that push the envelope of creativity.
That sounds like Crazy, Deranged Foolishness to me.
Thanks to Craic for the link, and for his most excellent blog post, “Crazy, Deranged Fools: Grand Rapids Hall of Fame”. Rock on.
February 19, 2009
6 Comments
If you look at the top-right sidebar of my homepage, you’ll notice the new “Crazy Deranged Fool” sign-up blurb for the newsletter. Click on the cartoon or the links and it’ll take you to the sign-up page.
P.S. If you’ve already signed up for the newsletter, and you like that wee cartoon mascot, feel free to lift it and put it onto your blog sidebar, e-mail signature or whatever. Thanks!
18 Comments
Dear Crazy, Deranged Fools,
I’m starting newsletter for you guys. Like I said in my last blog post,
A CrazyDerangedFool [CDF for short] is, like me, somebody who has the temerity to aspire to work in a way that produces both joy, meaning and contribution for both them and others, while also paying the bills. It’s about creativity, it’s about finding meaning, but it’s also about living in the real world. That’s the reality I want to live in, and from the vast quantities of e-mails and comments I get from y’all, that seems to be your game plan, as well.
Yes, Hugh has a new, secret evil plan. Rock on.
I hope you will sign up, Thanks. I’m thinking this newsletter will be sent out 2 – 3 times a month; no more. I certainly don’t want it to be a daily thing, nosiree…
Yours in Crazy, Deranged Foolishness,
Hugh MacLeod
February 17, 2009
42 Comments
[UPDATE: Please sign up for the “Crazy, Deranged Fools” Newsletter. Thanks!]
Dear Crazy, Deranged Fools,
For a while, I’ve been thinking about what to call y’all collectively, i.e. the people who follow my work with regularity.
My friend, Jason Calacanis calls his regular readers “Jason Nation”. I thought that was very clever; I liked it a lot. Hey, it rhymes! In a similar exercise in wordplay, I thought about “Voidettes”, “Gapingvoiders”, “Hughtrainers” or whatever, but nothing really stuck. I guess that’s because these kind of names were “All About Hugh”. And, well, let’s face it, it isn’t all about me– you guys have your own stuff going on, as well. That’s what makes it interesting.
So what unites us? The answer came to me in flash this morning, in a blog post:
A. Most people work for the money. Most people wouldn’t do their jobs for free.
B. Most people hate their jobs.
But I’m not thinking about “Most People” right now. I’m thinking about the small percentage of the population who want to love their work; who want to find meaning in their work… and are willing to work like hell to find out how.
Those crazy, deranged fools…
How do they manage to exist? How dare they exist!
Are you one of them? Just curious…
A CrazyDerangedFool [CDF for short] is, like me, somebody who has the temerity to aspire to work in a way that produces both joy, meaning and contribution for both them and others, while also paying the bills. It’s about creativity, it’s about finding meaning, but it’s also about living in the real world. That’s the reality I want to live in, and from the vast quantities of e-mails and comments I get from y’all, that seems to be your game plan, as well.
I really liked what Ms Constantine said in the comments of the aforementioned post:
I’m working about 30 hours a week on top of my “day job” so that one day I’ll be able to do the work I love.
I’m currently doing the extra hours for free, so I’m kind of one of them.
Gotta pay the bills though.
Ms Constantine, that too has been my life for the last twenty years. I too am a CDF. This IS INDEED the crazy, deranged, foolish world of my own making that I chose to live in. And this IS INDEED the crazy, deranged, foolish world I will die in. I’ve already crossed the Rubicon. Alea iacta est. There is no going back. Ever.
With Love and Respect to You All,
Thank You. Seriously. Godspeed!
–Hugh MacLeod
2 Comments
[The latest Stormhoek video from Loren Feldman. An interview with Todd Elrod, blacksmith and harmonica player with The Doodlin’ Hogwallops.]
Alpine, Texas. I was telling somebody the other day over at Harry’s Tinaja that there was no way in God’s Earth that Loren’s insanely brilliant “Skater” video for Stormhoek would ever win a major advertising or marketing award.
Which is EXACTLY why it deserves to win one…
24 Comments
[More thoughts on “A Love Letter To God”…]
A. Most people work for the money. Most people wouldn’t do their jobs for free.
B. Most people hate their jobs.
But I’m not thinking about “Most People” right now. I’m thinking about the small percentage of the population who want to love their work; who want to find meaning in their work… and are willing to work like hell to find out how.
Those crazy, deranged fools…
How do they manage to exist? How dare they exist!
Are you one of them? Just curious…
[Cartoon Title: “Good iPhone”]
February 16, 2009
8 Comments
Dear God, I just want to say ‘Thanks’ for this brief life you have given me. I tried to do something meaningful with it. I really did. Thank You.
In December, 2008, I posted the preceding statment on my blog.
Since then, I’ve been pondering what I exactly I meant by it. What exactly did I mean by “meaningful”?
When we say “Meaning”, what are we actually talking about?
I have a few thoughts on the subject.
[To Be Continued…]
February 12, 2009
3 Comments
[Cartoon inspired by @jleslie’s recent Tweet etc.]
14 Comments
[Video: “Skater”. Todd Elrod, harmonica player with The Doodlin’ Hogwallops. Alpine, Texas.]
More thoughts on “Futile Marketing”…
1. In the last few weeks, with the help of Loren Feldman’s trusty video camera, we launched Stormhoek in Alpine, Texas, of all places. As I said earlier:
Re. Wine marketing: Usually, when an imported wine launches in the States, a familiar pattern emerges. Hire New York or SF restaurant for the evening. Organize wine tasting. Try to get the usual freeloaders, PR wannabe’s, and random warm bodies to attend. If a C-List celeb somehow turns up by some Miracle of God, become ecstatic. Send Press Release out to the usual suspects in the media. Watch Press Release be utterly disregarded by All & Sundry. Watch absolutely nothing happen afterwards. Witness the entire story disappearing into the dustbin of history within nanoseconds. And so on.
So we at Stormhoek decided to go in the exact opposite direction, as far away from the Usual Suspects as possible. “Hey, let’s launch in Alpine, Texas! Let’s see if we can get real West Texan cowboys to like South African wine! It’s totally insane! It’s totally futile! It’s totally wrong! Let’s do it anyway!”
[The official “Dream Big” t-shirt…]
2. Our campaign tagline is “Dream Big. Alpine, Texas”. Inspired by the back label on the Stormhoek bottle, of course.
3. I think you really need to “Dream Big” on some level to live out here in the high Texas desert, 400 miles West of Austin. This is true whether you’re working construction, waiting tables, teaching elementary school or launching a wine brand.
4. You may lovee the tagline, you may hate the tagline. Whatever. They seem to like it out here. A lot. That’s all that matters.
5. We’re just going to concentrate on marketing the wine in Texas for the time being. Trying to do it nationally is just too much work. This country is way too big.
6. We’re starting in Alpine, then we’ll ripple out. Next is Marfa, Texas, then Marathon, Fort Davis, Terlingua, Presidio, Fort Stockton, San Angelo, Midland-Odessa, Del Rio… If that goes well, we’ll get ambitious. Ozona, Sanoma, Junction, Harper, Fredericksberg… We’ll keep going till we hit the bigger towns: Houston, Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, El Paso, San Antonio, Amarillo…
7. Texans don’t drink a lot of South African Wine. They will by the time I’m done with them.
8. Dream Big. Alpine, Texas. Exactly.
[Update:] Talking about this blog post on Twitter: “I’m either going to make this thing fucking work or die trying.” Yes.
February 10, 2009
26 Comments
Recently on Twitter, inspired by the great 1982 bestseller, “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche”, I’ve been making a small, random list re. “The Behavior of Real Men in the Web 2.0 Generation”.
@rajtilak from Calcutta kindly compiled the entire list and put it on his blog. Thanks, Rajtilak!
Real Men 2.0
1. Real Men don’t get defensive when they learn that not everybody shares their enthusiasm for Apple products.
2. Real Men don’t give a flying fuck what the business model is.
3. Real Men don’t spend 8 hours a day on Friendfeed, “because that’s where all the interesting conversations are…”.
4. Real Men don’t throw a hissy fit when some A-Lister fails to reply to their unsolicited, 6,000-word email.
5. Real Men don’t fantasize about traffic spikes while they’re beating off.
6. Real Men have sex more often than they get onto Techmeme.
7. Real Men don’t blame their business failures on bloggers with more traffic than them.
8. Real Men don’t “Open Source” the lint in their navels.
9. Real Men don’t sigh like teenagers while watching other men trying to make an honest living.
10. Real Men don’t “Follow all the interesting conversations on Friendfeed” when they should be schtuppin’ their wives.
11. Real Men don’t have to wipe off their keyboard with a Kleenex after every time they read a news story about Apple.
12. Real Men never pretend that their personal blog “belongs to my community”.
13. Real Men don’t Twitter while their girlfriends are giving them head.
14. Real Men never use use the phrase, “Interesting Conversations” to justify their lame-ass online addiction.
15. Real Men don’t blog about blogging.
16. Real Men like blowjobs and beer, more than they like Facebook and Friendfeed.
17. Real Men don’t worry about whether Real Men use Twitter or not.
18. Real Men don’t give a rat’s ass if you prefer Linux over Windows.
19. Real Men actually spend time AWAY from their computers.
20. Real Men don’t play “Armchair Quarterback”.
21. Real Men don’t cry like schoolgirls every time another blogger starts making real money.
22. Real Men don’t confuse Cluetrain with Religion.
23. Real Men don’t linkbait.
24. Real Men don’t confuse “Getting mentioned on Techcrunch” with “Having a real business model”.
25. Real Men don’t care if their story fails to make it onto Techmeme.
26. Real Men don’t ask for sympathy fucks online.
27. Real Men don’t have to ask for clarification on every detail, no matter how trivial.
28. Real Men don’t care if it’s a Walled Garden.
29. Real Men don’t tweet REALLY OBVIOUS jokes that have already been tweeted 6 – 8 times by other people in the last 2 minutes.
30. Real Men never say, “If it doesn’t have comments, it isn’t a real blog”.
31. Real Men don’t leave comments.
32. Real Men don’t wait overnight in line to get into the Apple Store.
33. Real Men don’t even know who Jerry Yang is.
34. Real Men don’t make it to the top of Techmeme.
35. Real Men don’t use the phrase, “Quality Content”.
36. Real Men don’t care if your blog doesn’t have as much “Quality Content” as it used to.
37. Real Men don’t have “Personal Brands”.
38. Real Men do not confuse “A New Paradigm” with “Please give me your money”.
39. Real Men don’t “Open-Source” the name of their firstborn.
40. Real Men don’t measure their self-worth in terms of whuffie.
41. Real Men don’t confuse phrases like, “Real Men don’t have to worry about whether they’re being Real Men”, with actual, original thought.
No Comments
[“Wikipedia Moleskine”. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Somebody recently commissioned me to draw them one of my Moleskines. The idea is to frame and mount it, like “Moleskine 42″.
The guy has issues with Wikipedia. Long story.
2 Comments
“Futile Marketing” at its finest, Folks…
Like I said earlier, instead of launching this Stormhoek campaign in New York or whatever, we decided to launch at Harry’s Tinaja, Alpine, Texas.
Last week Loren Feldman was in town. Here he interviews Harry. Rock on.
February 4, 2009
16 Comments
I just bought the URL, www.futilemarketing.com.
I’m not planning on turning it into another website, nor am I planing to launch a new business called “Futile Marketing”. It’s just a name I very much wanted to own.
Why? Because “Futility”, as a marketing strategy, is an idea that’s currently fascinating me.
Conventional Wisdom dictates, if you’re trying to market something, the last thing you want your marketing campaign to be is “An Act of Futility”.
But… are you REALLY sure about that?
I was thinking recently how most of the stuff I’m most proud of, started off as acts of futility.
–Drawing cartoons on the back of business cards started off as an act of futility.
–Getting an English tailor to blog in the hope of selling more $5,000 suits started off as an act of futility.
–Launching a national UK supermarket wine via the blogosphere started off as an act of futility.
–Getting Microsoft to re-think about who they are using nothing but a single cartoon started off as an act of futility.
–Choosing a highly irritating puppet to launch a major new French wine started off as an act of futility.
–Convincing one of the most respected publishers in the world to turn a blog post into a hardcover book started off as an act of futility.
–Getting West Texas cowboys to start drinking South African wine started off as an act of futility.
And if you think about it, the world is full of other, similar examples.
–Getting people to pay $4 for a cup of coffee started off as an act of futility.
–Getting people to give up their horses en masse in exchange for an internal combustion engine started off as an act of futility.
–Getting people to pay for software without any hardware attached to it started off as an act of futility.
–Building a multi-million dollar cottage industry using nothing but blog advertising started off as an act of futility.
–Writing a children’s book about wizards in an Edinburgh coffee shop started off as an act of futility.
–Trying to halt the Nazi invasion using nothing but Spitfires started off as an act of futility.
–Stopping the largest army the world had ever seen with just a small phalanx of 300 Spartans started off as an act of futility.
–Trying to blow up the Death Star using nothing but thirty X-Wing fighters started off as an act of futility.
–Convincing the USA to elect an African-American as their President started off as an act of futility.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking…?
11 Comments
A few people have pinged me about this story over the last couple of days, so I guess a blog post was in order.
A couple of years ago, I drew the Microsoft Blue Monster cartoon. It started taking on a life of its own inside Microsoft.
Then back in July I blogged about how one Microsoft employee, Dan Woodman, liked the idea so much, he went and got himself a Blue Monster Tattoo. As Dan said himself,
While I can never forget how much I love this company and all of the great things we do, I wanted a daily reminder of the fact that I, as a Microsoftie, need to change the world every single day. That is why, as part of MGX this year, I decided to fully embrace the Blue Monster and all it stands for. That is my very own Blue Monster tattoo (and yes, he is real!). He’s there to make sure I don’t forget why I am here and what it is that I am doing — changing the world.
The a couple of days ago the story breaks that Dan has just been laid off from Microsoft. The job is gone, the tattoo remains etc. As the song goes, “Isn’t it ironic”.
Dan talks about here:
One of the questions I have been hearing often involves my very first blog post on this site– “What about the Blue Monster?” The truth is, I haven’t regretted that tattoo since I got it and now is no exception. The Blue Monster is staying. 
Working at Microsoft has been the greatest experience of my life and I have no desire to forget about it. And even if I don’t get back into Microsoft right away (which is, by the way, my plan!), then I have a reminder that even outside of Microsoft, I need to do my best to change the world every single day.
So being the cartoonist who spawned the Blue Monster, how do I feel about it?
Well, I don’t know Dan personally, but at the time I considered it a great honor that he would regard my work highly enough to tattoo himself with it, even if I would never be totally comfortable with that kind of responsibility. But I guess that’s the price you pay for putting your work out there. It’s like being a songwriter, and then reading in the national media that some teenager in Iowa killed himself while listening to your album. That doesn’t make you an accessory to murder. Art has a life of its own.
And yeah, getting laid off is always a risk, with or without a company tattoo to call your own. Welcome to reality.
Secondly, just because Dan doesn’t work for Microsoft Corp any more, doesn’t mean he’s no longer part of the grander cause he signed up for, for the kind of change he wants to help make. Microsoft is a huge company, but it’s dwarfed in comparison by the size of their Partner Group ecosystem. I imagine Dan could easily end up somewhere in there, working away quite happily and productively for the same cause.
And why not? I have a friend who was laid off from Microsoft last year, and guess what? She still drives to the Redmond campus every day. Only this time she’s the employee of an outside contractor, not Microsoft, but the type of work that she’s doing, and the people she’s working with inside Microsoft, really hasn’t changed too much. The lines that separate “internal” and “external” are very blurry, compared to even half a generation ago.
Thirdly, the Blue Monster was never about Dan’s paycheck. It was about an idea. I’ve been saying this for years: All a product is, all a company is, is an an “Idea Amplifier”. Products don’t excite us. Human potential excites us.
i.e. “People matter. Objects don’t.“
Good luck to you, Dan. Good luck with your next adventure, and good luck with your new blog. Rock. On. And Thanks!
3 Comments
[A video still of the “Dream Big” T-shirt, from Loren’s camera.
Loren Feldman left Alpine, Texas this morning, heading home after a week in town shooting videos.
The Stormhoek party was a great success. People really liked the t-shirts– it seemed to resonate. We printed up about 40 shirts– they were gone quickly. Most gratifying for me was how well the received the Stormhoek was.
“Damn good wine,” I heard more than once.
The owner of the biggest liquor store in town told me, “You may be on to something here.“
Loren has hours and hours of footage. Expect to see it online over the next few weeks– but that’s his department.
The first time I tried marketing Stormhoek, I did it mostly online, getting my fellow bloggers to help spread the word. This time it’ll be mostly offline. Me reaching out to real people here in West Texas etc. Trying to keep the whole thing interesting and meaningful.
If we can get West Texas nailed, we can get the rest of Texas nailed. And if we can get Texas nailed, ditto with the rest of the country.
The adventure has begun…
