<3 Flickr

Even during maintenance they have a sense of humor.

typewritten

a blog entry
Originally uploaded by tokyohanna.

You can click here for a blown up version of this. If it becomes too cumbersome to read, I might retype it on my iBook for you guys. Just some stuff I thought about today.

happy everything

Christmas
Originally uploaded by tokyohanna.

This is me with a silly smile, wishing you a Happy [whatever you celebrate]. I would say "See you in 2007" but I have some things to write about that may not be able to wait (: For now, though, smile, laugh and eat lots of food. gingerbread. brisket. candy canes. stollen. mmm!

branding into my subconscious

I once read a quote from Warren Beatty that says "You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what you're doing is work or play." Well, I don't know if this is completely related, but all I remember of my dream last night is that the entire thing had a soundtrack. It was all Gwen, too, like how Jon Brion is all you know of the music behind I Heart Huckabees. Reminds me of some year-3,000-future-of-marketing thing (which I may hope never happens): brands sponsoring your dreams. Yes, I'm reading into this too much, but this has never happened to me before and I thought it was interesting.

sketches

treestripe
Originally uploaded by Sticherbeast.

I'd like to point everyone over to this Flickr set to see Dave's black and white sketches. Dave is a friend of my roommate's, and hopefully soon will be my friend as well. He has an amazing talent of conveying so much with so few lines. A lot of the more organic parts, like this tree, remind me of art nouveau, which of course always makes me happy. Enjoy!

Faile @ Naked

Faile @ Naked
Originally uploaded by thisidisforjoe.

Head on over to Joe's photo set for the new mural we got downstairs. We just finished painting everything and putting new flooring down, and the next logical step (well, maybe after lighting) was getting this mural, done by Faile. If you haven't heard of them, Faile is a creative street collaborative (three people). You've probably seen their stuff around your city. You can also find them at Kid Robot. When you walk in, this piece truly does what it says: it silences you. It's phenomenal.

cold sunny morning

cold sunny morning
Originally uploaded by tokyohanna.

I was trying to figure out a good way to explain what I was feeling this morning at 8.00am when walking in the sunny 30-something degrees. Everything smelled clear, and I was walking at such a pace that the sun was hitting me through the fence with a happy machine gun effect, to the exact beat of Ratatat's Montanita. I was thinking of using words and phrases like "transcendental," "at peace with the world /myself /life," etc. but it all sounded corny.

With that, I leave you with my favorite Joseph Campbell quote: The best things cannot be told because they transcend thought.

generosity.

a medieval Noodle
Originally uploaded by johanna on video.

This time of year, more than most, reminds me of how generous people can be. Sure, random acts of kindness throughout the year are prevalent, but something about this time makes people feel a little more generous, I think. This is nothing new, of course: people tip more, smile more (for the most part), laugh more with each other (or maybe that was just at our long long Christmas lunch last night), etc.

Yesterday, we did Secret Santa here. The theme was "The Knight Before Christmas," probably because of our battle against the medieval marketing model. Well, Neal got me, and knowing that I dressed up as Noodle for Halloween, bought me the Noodle doll from Kid Robot. To stay in theme, he dressed her up in armor and gave her a sword and shield to match her guitar. I was positively tickled.

Then I get home, cloudy and fuzzy from our long Christmas lunch, and have an email from Flickr saying that Clay bought me a pro account. WOW! I have been wanting a pro account for quite some time, but kept putting off for when I had more disposable income. I am so so touched. What a generous and thoughtful thing to do. He said "you carry that camera around all the time, so I figure you must be using it, and you don't post pictures on Flickr that much, so...I connected the dots." Very, very nice. I am so thankful. And just a few days ago I was thinking about how I am posting fewer photos on my server and more on Flickr. Web 2.0 and the heightened level of sharing has certainly gotten to me.

So, thank you to Neal and Clay for making my Monday (and week /season) wonderful.

tagged

I was tagged by Amber of Big Secret Pizza Party to list five things you didn't know about me. Then I get to tag five other people.

I like this. First of all, I love lists. Second of all, I love multiples of five. Third of all, I never think anybody ever reads my blog, and then something like this happens! Is there some kind of master list of everyone who has participated? That would be a cool project, if no: follow the tag chain backwards and make a web site with everyone's lists. Who wants to do this? It could be a visual cloud, almost. Maybe something like 43things.

Okay, here goes.

1. I have Autosomal dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst Syndrome (ACHOO). I am mildly photosensitive in that I sneeze when exposed to bright light. Usually if I feel a sneeze coming on and I need to get it out, I can stare upwards towards the sun for a couple of seconds, and there you go. About a quarter of humans have it.

2. I am one half German (Alsfeld), a quarter Italian (Trento /Lago di Garda), an eighth Portuguese (Macao) and an eighth Japanese (Nagasaki). Maybe I'll tell you guys this story in my next entry?

3. Seahorses are my favorite animal. They are also - not by accident - the only thing I know how to draw. Any sketchbook or notebook of mine will have dozens of seahorses srinkled throughout.

4. I studied Tang Soo Do for three years, and have a two-striped green belt. I always think about starting up again (maybe Judo this time).

5. I sometimes feel like it was a serendipitous accident that led to my being asked to join the team at Naked. I am in constant awe of everyone I work with, and wonder every so often whether I belong here. I hear this is fairly normal, though.

---

I tag:

Nicole Przybojewski (one of my closest friends and a brilliant copywriter in Portland),

Clay Parker Jones (blogosphere friend from Chicago and an intuitive /insightful mind),

Jack Cheng (another blogosphere friend from NY who is at SS+K and very awesome /generous /brilliant),

Lee Maschmeyer (planner @ McKinney who is SO so smart) and

Mike K (friend whom I graduated with, at our London office, very magnetic and innovative).

smart partnerships & cultures as reflected in hotels

W Seattle
Originally uploaded by johanna on video.

I love this; it seems like such a no-brainer to me. This is what I saw when I stepped into the bathroom of my W Hotel room last night. Bliss Spa sounds like such a wonderful idea for a partnership with W. Same goes for JetBlue and Dunkin' Donuts. What are some of your favorite partnerships?

I also love how different - how VASTLY different - two luxury hotels can be from each other, just based on where they are. Here is a photo from the W Seattle (click for bigger on all of these).



And here is one from the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, where I am tonight.



And we cannot forget the CandyLand that was my Chicago hotel on Monday and Tuesday.



I love it. They are all done so well, and in their own styles reflecting some of the culture of the city. Maybe not so much the Hotel Monaco in Chicago - Chicago definitely doesn't seem like Alice in Wonderland 24 hours a day - but you know what I mean.

I wish I could have seen more of Seattle - I loved it. What I did see from the airport to the hotel and back, that is. I was only there for 12 hours, and it is the city in the U.S. that I most want to visit. The only things: Starbucks and Windows win over Dunkin' Donuts and Mac. Not sure about that one. But everything else aside, I think it's great. A little more naturey than what I'm used to, in terms of density and lushness (I don't think that's a word), but I loved what I saw.



My body is confused. I don't even know what time zone I'm in anymore. But I fly HOME tomorrow. It was a crazy week, worth the exhaustion, but I'm excited to sleep in my own fluffy Cool Whip bed.

<3

dunkindonuts
Originally uploaded by johanna on video.

Brand loyalty = standing in front of a bagel stand at O'Hare airport, walking to Airport Information and asking them where the nearest Dunkin' Donuts was.

Chicago

tea
Originally uploaded by johanna on video.

I just spent a couple of days in Chicago. I had only been here once before, and it was in the spring of 2005 when I was a skittish little nervous Chihuahua in search of an internship. This time, I really could take the time to look around and appreciate things. This city is beautiful. Some of the architecture reminds me of Europe. I think the water running through parts of the city help with this too.

I got to have lunch at a great Indian restaurant called Klay Oven with Stacy Thomas, the person who introduced me to planning in the summer of 2003. I feel eternally grateful to her about this, and even still she tells me to call her if I have any dumb questions about the industry and starting a career (of which I have many). It is wonderful to catch up with people who have moved away. I also had a burrito with my friend Jim, with whom I went to Adcenter.

Clay (exitcreative.net) took me to the coolest coffee shop in Wicker Park called Filter. It was huge! I don't know where this place could possibly exist /fit in New York. There was a definite vibe to it, everyone immersed in their own thing (studying, writing, MacBooking), collectively. alone yet with a million people. It was nice. And just look at that tea - geez, it's all in the details. It vaguely reminds me of an Eastern aesthetic.

So. Chicago and New York. Chicago is more spread out, much cleaner and seemed to be louder (how is this possible?). The train system seems to be easier to figure out than the MTA, and the trains themselves are smaller and (bringing up volume again) MUCH louder. The platforms seemed to be neater /cleaner too.

There is a definite vibe and feeling of culture that I get from this city. I like it a lot. I can't really articulate what it is, though. Anyone want to help me here?

Salt.

I went to a wonderful place called Salt for lunch with the rest of the guys at Naked today. The seating is very cozy, with long solid wooden tables and a million seats arond them (sounds a bit like our office, yes?). The service was a little shaky, but that almost made it more endearing, if that makes any sense at all. We all had the cream of cauliflower soup with truffle oil. My sandwich was unreal - the perfect mix of textures and rich flavors. Rich might just have to be the magic word here. There was some sort of light soft cheese mixed with fig, almond and balsamic reduction. All on this crusty fresh delicious bread. There was a little side salad, too. My tummy is definitely happy still, two and a half hours later.

SALT | 58 Macdougal Street

New Next, December 2006

Good morning!



yay.

wonderful.

Working on a technology account can have its perks. Yesterday, we got three boxes full of Nokia E62s. I've been fiddling with mine for six hours and have only seen about a tenth of what this thing has to offer.

I'm excited to be e-mailable at any point in time. I can bring this with me on my flight tonight instead of a laptop. This makes going through security easier, turning it off and on during takeoff and landing easier, and now I don't have to worry about having a WiFi connection when coworkers or clients need a quick response. I am probably one of the last people in this industry to have an e-mail device, but oh well. I'm extremely excited. I named him Zero Cool, after the main character in the 1995 movie Hackers (which I own on VHS of course, to keep with the theme of the state of technology at the time).

What many don't realize is that on the E62, you get full Internet (I have the BlackBerry unlimited plan /chip /card /thingie). Not the crap mobile Internet that comes on most phones. full.internet. I can read my RSS feeds ANYWHERE now (well, not on the subway...). hooray! Thank you, Nokia.