Young, dumb and full of fun.

Last week was an extreme week. We’re in a pretty needless legal battle, the details of which we can’t go into, but the situation is our first of its kind and therefore a little extra specially unpleasant.

On the more pleasing side of things, we went to see our adorable friends Jonathan, Sarah and Jared of We Should Do It All, speak at the Art Director’s Club as part of their duties as winners of the Young Guns Award. The panel was entitled Big vs. Small, WSDIA being the small, to BBDO’s big. It was incredibly interesting seeing what they shared and where they differed. Both were extremely precise, with exactingly executed campaigns, but the concepts and designs were polar. It was quite the exemplification of mainstream versus conceptual. The BBDO stuff was as you’d expect -TV bits for HBO’s Entourage, or print ads for Nike and Guinness that were super fast, very funny, slick and glossy. WSDIA presented stunning, beautiful, conscientious websites or interior architecture plans that still gave the instant gratification of a glamourous product but had a lingering, slow release of carefully considered ideas. They would take into account material, environment, interaction, palette, structure; it was a more unified application of marketing -more experiential.

It was very motivating for me to watch WSDIA speak. It was a reminder that there are other people, like Kate and I, taking a big risk, a leap of faith, to make a dream real. It can be very scary and very isolating to do what we’re doing. The context of the panel –Big vs. Small, was a reminder in the David and Goliath style, that small can definitely challenge big, if not very well knock Big on its ass. I was also very struck with their integrity, they work entirely for portfolio, not selling themselves just to work, it’s a luxurious position to be in, but one I aim to attain.



Saturday was the EP release party for Heloise and The Savoir Faire. I was feeling pretty tired and I can’t turn my head from a recurring Muay Thai injury, but since we shot the cover, I pony-ed up the goods and went anyway. The inimitable Todd Thomas is now designing costumes for the band, and Heloise was looking as glowingly stunning as ever in her fluorescent yellow cocktail dress. Because of the neck injury, I took up residency on one of the banquets and became impromptu coat check girl –which included minding Elijah Wood’s messenger bag, I’m intentionally dropping his name because truly, it’s surreal to look into those big blue eyes and think, “I’ve seen you wrestle with Smeagol".

Elijah was there because he signed Heloise to his label Simian, and since this new development good things have definitely been happening for the band at a super quick clip. Every time I see them they get exponentially better sounding, her voice sounds especially killer. Speaking of killing –Heloise and Joe Joe threw CDs out to the crowd and the very first one almost took Constance’s eye out, one hit my boob and everyone starting ducking because the CDs were basically Ninja stars, it was scary. Con has a big puncture wound on her eyelid. Nice gesture, bad idea.

I realise we’re always plugging friends here, and I thought, is that weird? And then I thought, no, everyone I know is truly special, and the stuff they do is interesting and creative and I’m happy to shout about it.

Late night thought: Watching South Park and seeing the Saddam Hussein character is eerie and feels sort of inappropriate now.

Sunday was awesome, after playing Doctor Milla and tending to Constance’s eye, we hopped on our bikes and rode to Red Hook. There’s a new garden centre right by the water, it’s in the middle of nowhere, nestled among junkyards and redbrick factory buildings. As you approach you see hibiscus trees and hanging baskets and they blast classical music and then you realise they have the most unbelievable view of Lady Liberty, we got there just as the sun was at its most epic -shafts of light carved in the sky from clouds to water. Around the corner is Steve’s Key Lime Pies. Steve was there; grilling lamp chops with his wife and cutie fat baby. We ate one of his signature mini pies, which is stuck on a wooden stick, dipped in dark chocolate and frozen. Yes, please.

Then we explored a bit more, and ended up and the Pioneer Bar B Q shack -I like to eat dinner after dessert, it’s my new habit. We had the best pulled-pork ever, and Constance kept beating me at Connect 4. It was a great day.

Kisses dudes.

-Milla