The Farm Blog

What's in a Name?

2011-05-11T08:58:00.000-04:00

We are in the process of adding a lot of new work to our website, including this fun little piece that we did during the last football season. We're hoping to find a home this fall for our "What's in a Name?" campaign to promote NFL games throughout the upcoming season - assuming of course that the NFL actually has a season, and not a strike.

Gannett Case Study

2011-04-18T15:30:00.000-04:00

We wanted everyone to know that we just did a complete rebrand for Gannett - logo, tagline, digital, website, print, the works. To learn more about our work for this Fortune 500 media and marketing solutions company, just click the "Gannett Case Study" link below.

GannettCaseStudy

Shiny happy people are just better for you

2010-12-21T12:44:00.004-05:00

People who spend time with happy people are more likely to become happy themselves. That’s according to a July 2010 study that examined how emotions spread contagiously.

David Rand: The more friends you have that are content with their lives, the more likely you are to become content. And the more friends you have that are discontent, the more likely you are to become discontent.

David Rand of Harvard is one of the study’s authors. He said this study was designed to understand how changes in long-term emotional states – meaning, whether you consider yourself a happy or sad person overall – are affected by the people you know.

We found that sadness is twice as infectious as happiness.

Rand and his co-authors compared emotional states of groups of friends, families, and coworkers to models of how infectious diseases – like the flu – spread. Then they looked at the probability that a person would become happy or become sad, based on the number of happy or sad people around them.

One aspect that’s new is that we showed in a formal sense that these long-term emotional states really are contagious. Which is interesting, and it’s important for trying to understand why people feel the way they do about their lives. Rand said that understanding the “contagious” aspect of emotions was key to the study.

A contagious process is something where your probability of contracting it--if it’s a disease--depends on whether your friends are sick. If you think about your probability of catching the flu, the more sick friends you have the more likely you are to get the flu. That makes it contagious. So we find that same thing with happiness or sadness.

Rand and his co-authors used data from the Framingham Health Study, which has been collecting health and social information from the community of Framingham, Massachusetts, for the past 40 years. They deduced the real-life social networks of the town based on information the study participants filled out about their family, work, and contacts. The information about emotions came from a standard 20-question psychology survey that categorizes people as happy, sad, or neutral.

In order to ask whether the process is infectious or not, you want to know, if you are in a “neutral” state, is there a probability of switching from neutral to happy increasing in your number of happy friends? So we took all the people who were neutral, in the first measurement wave, and we asked how many of them had zero happy friends. We looked at all the people who had no happy friends, and asked how many of them switched from neutral to happy. Okay, what about all the people had one happy friend, two happy friends, and so on.

They found that, like the flu, the more friends a person had who were happy, the more likely the person was to become happy themselves. Additionally, they found that sadness was more transmissive than happiness – meaning, it takes fewer sad friends to make you become sad. But Rand added that people recover from sadness more quickly than they recover – or change states – from being happy.

So dump all those sad sacks, and get on the Happy Train, folks! Happy Holidays...later Scrooge!!!

Law and CLE

2010-12-10T14:47:00.009-05:00

I am in the middle of listening to some incredibly boring talk about how lawyers can use social media. Why do lawyers have to be so boring when they are talking about technology? Do they hear that no one is listening? And, yes, I'm a lawyer...barred in New York and Virginia. I know, kind a similar shock to folks that I am also a high school seminarian. More on that later. --John Anderson

9/11 Day of Service with Denis Leary and The Farm

2010-09-11T11:35:00.017-04:00

Nine years today, 9/11 still feels like yesterday. Here's something our director, John Anderson, shot with Denis Leary of F/X's "Rescue Me" TV series to hopefully turn a very big negative into positive change. Please sign up for your good deed to make 9/11 a Day of Service. And let's remember all the 2819 people who died today. 911 Day of Service

Love this coffee bag- simple and clean

2010-08-17T10:31:00.003-04:00

Our beloved Kurt Braunohler

2010-07-26T14:26:00.001-04:00

We are so fortunate to have had such talented creative folks work for us over the years at The Farm. Here's one of them - Kurt Braunohler- who came to us first as an office manager, and who is now one of the funniest folks in show business. Right now he's doing awesome work with Kristen Schaal who've you've either seen ("Dinner with Schmucks") or heard ("Toy Story 3") everywhere.

Here's a bit from their critically-acclaimed BBC show "Penelope Princess of Pets."

Enjoy.

We are living in exponential times

2010-02-03T11:48:00.007-05:00

Most of you have probably already seen this video, but somehow it still makes my brain hurt...in a good, thinking kinda way.

The little fat man with the pug nose face

2010-01-29T15:04:00.004-05:00

David Bowie doing comedy...so f-in funny. With Ricky Gervais at the receiving end.

The Soul of the Saints

2010-01-28T11:04:00.009-05:00

Those who really dig a great ol’ fashion sports columnist love the writings of sportswriter Wright Thompson. He was originally a writer for the N'awlins paper, the Times-Picayune.

The upcoming Super Bowl isn't just any old Super Bowl. It's got soul, SO much soul, 'cause it's the soul of New Orleans we're talking about here. It's all about overcoming Katrina, and rebuilding. So when Thompson narrates a video chronicling the Big Easy’s resurgence and how the Super Bowl-bound Saints played a huge part in that comeback, you know this is special. This has to be an all-time great YouTube video. If it doesn't bring tears to your eyes, something is wrong with you, serious. This jazzy redemption tale leaves you no choice but to root for the Saints. So here you go - "The Soul of New Orleans."

iPad

2010-01-27T15:38:00.005-05:00

The report on Apple's iPad just in from infosyncworld, which we've spelled out below. But first, get all the Apple juice from the Apple Farmer himself, Sir Steve himself in the video above.

The Apple iPad release date is set to April 2010 and will sport Apple's new ARM-based processor with integrated GPU.

The name of the new tablet was revealed only a few days ago, and aims to separate itself from tablet computers such as Microsoft's new Slate PC category. Leaks have prepared us all for an "iPhone on steroids" and we recently estimated the release date to be April 2010. The "iPhone on steroids" has turned out to be a good description of the new Apple iPad, and the release date will indeed be April 2010.

According to Steve Jobs, the reason for its existence is to beat both smartphones and laptops when it comes to the categories in bold throughout this story. Of course, with such a mission the Apple iPad will likely walk down the same road as the iPhone: Either you'll grow to love the Apple iPad, or you'll return it and hope that the netbook category will soon be offering optimized software and services too.

So, we all know what a netbook can and can't do for the time being, and now the time has finally come to figure out what the Apple iPad can and can't do:

Browsing

The Safari browser on the Apple iPad is just as capable as the iPhone browser. Steve Jobs pitches it as a way to see the full page you're surfing on without zooming in and out, something you can obviously not do on the iPhone. There's of course also landscape and portrait mode support, and the built-in accelerometer will take care of the switching for you. That being said, Apple is known to be a strong supporter of HTML5, and there's no doubt that the Apple iPad is part of the company's effort to get Web developers moving in the right direction in that regard. There's no Flash or Silverlight support at the time of writing here.

Email

The Apple iPad offers a very nice presentation layout, and a large on-board QWERTY keyboard will appear when you need to enter text. Will the iPad beat a laptop keyboard? The iPad Keyboard Dock will be available as an accessory, offering a full-size traditional keyboard for those who need that.

Photos

Apple's way of presenting photos is already highly acclaimed. Especially taking flick scrolling to this new level where it can be combined with a larger screen real estate, should really give you the feeling of an "iPhone on steroids". We're sure it's going to be a whole lot easier to bring out old memories when friends comes to visit after the Apple iPad hits store shelves than before. Showing photos on a laptop is fine, but the Apple iPad will basically act like an advanced photo frame in that regard. There's likely no smartphone or laptop that'll be able to beat that experience.

Video & Music

Videos on the Apple iPad will obviously be a challenge when it comes to power. With built-in access to the iTunes store, as well as YouTube and YouTube HD streaming being available, it'll be easy to throw your smartphone or laptop away in favor of the Apple iPad. You can play movies, TV shows and music videos. When it comes to music playback, we guess playing those music videos will be the most alluring part here, as the iPad would obviously not beat the iPhone when it comes to portability and battery life.

Games

A large part of the iPhone apps out there are games and the Apple iPad will run any iPhone app out-of-box without modifications. To take advantage of the iPad's large screen, one can also double the pixels on-the-fly and run apps in full screen mode. Popular iPhone developers will offer optimized iPad apps pretty quickly to take full advantage of the larger screen though, and an Apple iPad Developer SDK was released today to ensure that every developer out there can offer optimized iPad apps. The app store will be an integral part of the iPad.

Some high-def games will be available from companies such as Electronics Arts from day one. EA's Need for Speed Shift will for instance offer a range of new touch controls besides taking advantage of the obvious graphics power and display technology hidden in the Apple iPad.

eBooks & Newspapers

Of course, eReaders will never look the same after you've seen what type of content the Apple iPad can offer. New York Times have created a showcase of its newspaper, which will for sure become a popular service on the iPad. In stead of holding a static newspaper in front of you, you can simply load up New York Times on the iPad, boasting multimedia such as in-line video streaming. Yes, you read that right. It's that simple to reinvigorate newspapers, as long as you have the world's largest gadget maker enabling it, of course. If you're an independent sketch artist, Apple will of course also provide you with an application called Brushes. We guess its potential is self-explanatory.

There's also a new iBook Store, which will basically compete directly with certain other eBook stores out there. Apple has partnered up with Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette Book Group, and eBooks will be available in the ePub format.

Productivity & Scheduling

Steve Jobs have pushed his army to create iWorks for Apple iPad, and will sell it for $10 each (Pages, Numbers and Keynote). A calendar for scheduling is also available out-of-box, of course. It's an interesting move Apple has made here though, no doubt about that.

Apple iPad Specifications

The Apple iPad is 0.5 inches thick (just as slim as the iPhone) and weighs in at 1.5 pounds. It sports a 9.7-inch IPS display and offers "full capacitive multi-touch". Compared to TFT displays, IPS displays require a brighter backlight, subsequently drawing more power. In return, Apple iPad users will get a wider viewing angle (178 degrees to be exact) and accurate color reproduction. The Apple iPad is the first consumer device to take advantage of an IPS display (LG.Philips is likely the brain behind this screen).

The Apple iPad will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions. It also boasts 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR connectivity, speaker, microphone and an Apple 30-pin port. Apple promises a battery life of up to 10 hours and over a month of standby time.

The bomb shell as far as specifications is concerned: The 1GHz Apple A4 chip. It's an ARM SoC with an integrated graphics processing unit (GPU) manufactured by P.A. Semi. Apple acquired P.A. Semi back in April 2008, and this is the first Apple chip to appear. We guess it's just a matter of time before Apple's iPhone will be powered by an Apple chip as well. In other words, companies like Qualcomm and Intel doesn't seem to get much fun out of Apple's new mobile adventure in the future.

Price and availability

The Apple iPad Wi-Fi models will start shipping worldwide in late March 2010 ($500 for 16GB version, $600 for 32GB, and $700 for 64GB).

The Apple iPad 3G models will start shipping in the U.S. and selected countries in April 2010 ($630 for 16GB version, $730 for 32GB, and $830 for 64GB). International pricing and worldwide availability will be announced at a later date. Apple expects to have international carrier deals ready by June 2010.

The Apple iPad 3G models (7.2Mbps HSDPA) will be sold with an unlocked micro SIM card, but Apple has a new prepaid data plan deal with AT&T Wireless: $30 per month for unlimited data or $15 per month for up to 250MB. AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots will be free to use when signing up for a data plan with AT&T. There's no contract and you can cancel it at anytime. The AT&T plans can also be activated on the Apple iPad.

Avatar puts people into depression

2010-01-26T09:53:00.005-05:00

We just saw this piece on CNN about how folks are getting depressed, and even having suicidal thoughts, after they see "Avatar" and reenter the real world. It is, as one of 'em put it, as if the world is now all gray. We say...get a life!!! Second Life is now 3D.

Here's the link http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html

Getting 4 year old crazy

2009-12-19T15:07:00.003-05:00

Freedom!

2009-12-04T16:54:00.004-05:00

You gotta love this video by George Michael, even after all these years. It's never a hard thing to watch....ever! Naomi, Linda, Cindy, Christy, and Tatjana.

Robots as Caregivers

2009-12-02T09:43:00.001-05:00

I am reading an article in the November 2nd issue of the New Yorker that talks about the future of robots being caregivers. It's written by Dr. Jerome Groopman, and the piece is called ""Robots that Care: Advances in technological therapy." The piece talks about robot researchers at the University of Southern California developing robots who assist patients recovering from strokes as well as working with Alzheimer patients. It's a fascinating piece, especially when it talks about how robots, as caregivers, need to be different with patients who are introverted versus extroverted. Maya Mataric is the lead scientist. Here's her take on it:

Mataric concluded that, as with human caregivers, temperament would be a key factor. The robots would need to be able to judge whether a patient was introverted or extroverted, and know how to respond in the appropriate manner.

To test their theory, Mataric and her team categorized the personalities of healthy volunteers, using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and observed their responses to robots that were programmed to behave as introverts or extroverts. A robot’s degree of sociability was defined by how far it positioned itself from the patient, the speed of its movements, and its type of communication. For people who were more extroverted, Mataric programmed the robot to move close. “We are not talking sociopathically close, because we always maintain three to four feet of
safety distance between the user and the robot,” she explained. “But, with the extroverted robots, they move into your area, and talk with a slightly higher pitch, more words per unit time, and they say things that are more forceful,
like ‘Come on, you can do three more. I know you can do better than that.’ ” The more introverted robots were programmed to stay farther away from the user, to gesticulate less, and to speak with a slightly lower pitch and at a slower tempo. “You don’t want to make the introversion glaring,” Mataric said. The introverted robots also said more soothing things and offered more praise.

To read the whole article go to "Robots that Care," New Yorker, November 2, 2009

New Boyz Concert Divas

2009-12-01T15:49:00.008-05:00

We're sending this to our friends at Saturday Night Live. When you see Kristen Wiig do this in about a week or two, you know where you first saw it. The Jerkesses have arrived!

Mavericky

2009-11-18T21:35:00.003-05:00

What the heck does this word mean? Actually, nothing, but boy does it sell books for Sarah Palin. But maybe it really is an affectionate longing for "Maverick." Riverboat ring your bell!

Isaac's personal style

2009-11-11T15:07:00.011-05:00

I love teenagers. I know they can drive us all nuts, but man, they are so into finding their own voices of expression. This week, my son Isaac (age 13) got his braces. He didn't hesitate what color he wanted them to be - BLUE - so that he could show everyone with his wonderful smile that he is a Big Blue New York Giants fan. Everyone's got their own style, and favorite color. Gotta love teenage conviction.--John Anderson

The Fun Theory

2009-10-15T10:30:00.001-04:00

There's a market for anything

2009-09-16T12:33:00.005-04:00

How 'bout...Viking thrasher rock?

Sure.

OPRAH FLASH MOB

2009-09-11T16:03:00.007-04:00

As hard as this day is, for all of us, there is still such great positive up energy out there in the world that we have to tap into whenever we can. Here's just one wonderful example of that - OPRAH Flash Mobbing with the Black Eye Peas...You go O! 24th season, and getting better all the time.

Eight years ago today

2009-09-11T13:54:00.004-04:00

It was eight years ago today when I watched with my own eyes both Towers fall before me. I will never forget that day, and will never forget all those people who died, and the pain and suffering that their families continue to feel, especially today. --John Anderson

Collaboration with in-house creative

2009-09-07T15:23:00.006-04:00

We are finding that more and more of our clients want us to work with their in-house creative capabilities. In this very challenging environment, it makes complete sense because it maximizes the internal resources of the client with an added boost of creative energy from us. We're going to share some examples of this in the coming weeks.

Moma blues

2009-07-30T08:22:00.004-04:00

I always seem to miss seeing something at Moma because I always plan on going on Tuesday - when it's closed. There's an exhibit there right now by a Chinese artist named Song Dong called Waste Not where where he collects the contents of his mom's house over the last 50 years. Need to see that. Stuff as art. When's Moma coming to my house to collect all my things? --John Anderson

Chairman Mao Child

2009-06-30T18:26:00.002-04:00

Komen Global Race for the Cure

2009-06-08T15:21:00.008-04:00

Sharon Rapoport and John Anderson of The Farm were honored to attend a special reception held by the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure folks at their Washington DC office to launch their first Global Race for the Cure. We met incredible women from Egypt to Greece to Germany to South Africa, who will be spearheading Race for the Cure events in their respective countries this year. Sharon walked with fellow cancer survivors (which included John's sister, Mary Enright and Sharon's close friend/fellow survivor Brenda Foster) in the Breast Cancer Survivors hero walk, and then joined 50,000 supporters to walk the 5k event on Saturday. John ran. It was an incredible experience.

Fear

2009-06-03T22:09:00.001-04:00

Whatever floats your boat

2009-05-19T19:50:00.002-04:00

Sid lives on with "My Way"

2009-05-13T14:59:00.002-04:00

An original in the truest sense of the world.

Levi and Freerunning

2009-05-07T22:10:00.002-04:00

Gotta love this guy...he's art in motion

Joe Torre: the Yankee Years

2009-05-03T14:50:00.004-04:00

I've been reading Joe Torre's memoir about his years as a Yankee manager. It covers all the glory years of their four World Series titles - '96, '98,'99 and '00, as well as all the years after, especially that incredible 2001 Series right after 9.11. I recently bought the DVD, "Nine Innings from Ground Zero" by HBO, which covers that historic time. It's something every New Yorker should see. Listen, we really miss Joe here at The Farm. What a class act. Not to say our new Joe, Joey G, isn't class either. It's just there can only be one Joe manager, and he's no longer with us. What were they thinking when they let him get away to the Dodgers? --John Anderson

Gabrielle Hamilton, the best chef ever

2009-04-29T10:34:00.010-04:00

We just learned that Gabrielle Hamilton has been nominated for Best Chef in New York City for the James Beard Awards. And we knew her when! Her restaurant, Prune, has been our favorite place to go for all time in the City. And now we are never EVER going to get a table, right Ms. G?

Gabrielle actually catered Sharon and my wedding way back in 1992. She dug a hole with her own hands and grilled a whole lamb in the ground after filling the hole with charcoal! We knew back then she would go big time.

You have to love some of the comments she made about the nomination to Time Out New York. Here's just a few:

What does your nomination as the only woman in the Best Chef NYC category mean for you, personally and professionally?

It means it fucks things up, and undermines all the potential joy of the nomination. In a way, I tend not to spin out on that stuff. I can’t help but think they needed to pick a girl, and of the girls, I’m pretty good. I could go down that path for hours, but I’m not going to. I’ll just say that I’m honored.

What will you be wearing to the awards? The ceremony is, after all, the Oscars of the food world.

You’re just like my female staff at Prune! The minute they found out, they were like, “What will you wear?” I don’t know—it’s supposed to be long, right? It says evening attire. I know how to clean up, so I’ll clean up just fine. We’re decidedly not Hollywood types, we’re not trained for this sort of thing. We spend a lot of time eating pork. To see us with burn marks on our arms in these fancy clothes… We’ll figure it out.

If you win Best Chef NYC, what will you do to celebrate?

The same thing we’re already doing—just going to the party for the fun of it. We might come back to Prune with a couple of very close friends and eat burgers.

Most beautiful girl in the room

2009-04-24T16:31:00.003-04:00

Great way to go into the weekend.

College tour

2009-04-17T08:29:00.006-04:00

The college tour is a very interesting phenomenon. You would think that after all these years, most of them would be about the same. But they aren't. I am early to the game, travelling this spring break with my sophomore son who wants to get a jump on the whole process. This trip was the mid-Atlantic tour. We visited George Washington University, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and today we go to William & Mary. Granted there are many similarities. All schools have students lead the tours. They point out the general history of the school, the size of the student body, the security procedures on campus, and the all-important mess halls. But what is very different is the intro talk. At Georgetown, it was lead by the Dean of Admissions, a pretty dry affair, Powerpoint-heavy. Johns Hopkins, meanwhile, was given by this incredibly impressive senior co-ed who gave a commanding 45 minute talk in front of 200 people WITHOUT notes. She is an international studies student going on to the London School of Economics. Perhaps the favorite was a combo talk, admissions person and student, at GW. Today, it's on to William & Mary after a much needed break yesterday - my son off to Busch Gardens, and me and Mom off to the outlet stores. --John Anderson

Any guesses?

2009-04-02T22:23:00.005-04:00

Glass Fish

2009-03-24T17:07:00.004-04:00

Glass blowing in the wind

2009-03-23T19:34:00.003-04:00

Lost Generation @ age 50

2009-03-18T12:44:00.005-04:00

You got to love this video done for AARP that asks the BIG question: What will you be @ 50?

Check this out for a mind blender:

What's Love got to do with it?

2009-03-11T11:09:00.006-04:00

New York mag's Madoff cover

2009-03-08T10:23:00.004-04:00

US Airways Flight 1549 trip via animation

2009-03-07T13:04:00.000-05:00

A Glimmer of Hope?

2009-03-04T16:32:00.006-05:00

The market went up today..does it mean that we are going to finally start a turn upwards in the market based on the fact this is the Year of the Ox in the Chinese New Year calendar? Let's hope so. There's two problems here, however. First, this ox is red and second, perhaps far more importantly, an ox is a castrated bull...so what the hell do we do with that information?

A Bad Snow Day

2009-03-03T17:21:00.007-05:00

With all the snow pounding down on our heads, we had to post this shot of Isaac Anderson taken a few years back when he really REALLY didn't want to be out there making a snowman. If you click the pic, you can see just how miserable he really is out there. Gotta love the drool on the side of the jacket. Spring is nearly here..hang in there everybody!

Abbey Road Live

2009-03-02T14:54:00.008-05:00

Since it seems we are going back in time anyway, thanks to the stock market, we figured it wouldn't hurt to hear some great Beatles music from a tribute band called Abbey Road Live. We were a bit skeptical when we were first invited, because when you see Beatles tribute bands, they are usually trying to look like the Fab 4 and doing all their early bubble gum songs. Well, Abbey Road Live dresses up a bit 60s style, but they don't try to act or look like John, Paul, George and Ringo. They all sing, like the originals, but they take on the hardest stuff the Beatles ever wrote - the late Beatles catalogue that was never performed publicly (except for that stint they did on the rooftop). ARL begin by playing the WHOLE Abbey Road album! After a break, they followup with just about the entire Sergeant Pepper album, and then throw in a healthy mix of The White Album to boot! They do a bit of the early stuff, but Revolver hip, not the poppy early stuff.

They can play over 100 Beatles songs..they take requests and deliver.

These fellas are out of Athens GA, so if you get a chance to see them, go. You might see a little girl running wild through the audience, being chased by her nanny. She's adorable, and she's the guitarist/keyboardist's daughter. Coo coo kachoo ka coo coo kachoo. Learn more about these guys at http://www.abbeyroadlive.com.

Here's a compilation hit list by Abbey Road Live:

Chicken Houses going bust!

2009-02-13T16:48:00.029-05:00

I just saw an article about the demise of chicken houses across the country in this week's Wall Street Journal. It reminded me of my Granddaddy Anderson who by day made his living making feed for my great-uncle's company, Bayshore Foods in Easton, Maryland. They made feed for Frank Perdue, coming up with a proprietary feed mix that made chicken skin "yellower" which they marketed as healtier. Granddaddy saw the huge potential of Perdue's company, and so invested in four chicken houses where he raised chicks for Frank. I remember chasing the chicks around inside the chicken house when I was a little kid, which infuriated Granddaddy because he was worried that when the chicks all stacked up in a corner that his investment would suffocate. I just loved seeing all the feathers kicking up all over the place and the chicks squawking by the thousands.

Now chicken houses are going out of business, not because of disturbing little kids like me, but because of this disturbing economy. My granddaddy had put all of his nest egg in one basket, and won. This is not the case now. The chicken farmers are getting left with an empty nest of bankruptcy. ---John Anderson

If you've never been in a chicken house, here's a virtual tour:

Radio Radio

2009-02-11T21:31:00.006-05:00

We've been reading a lot lately about how bad radio companies are doing. In The Wall Street Journal, Clear Channel bonds are really low because investors are worried whether the company is even going to be around in five years. Same goes for Sirius/XM satellite radio. Well, we haven't given up on these guys yet. The solution, we think, is to try and work back some of that wonderful local/regional pizzaz and identity that radio was once famous for.

Hey, radio people, get those crazy DJs back on the air...that do their own thing. Back in the day, it was dudes like the Wolfman.

Then, maybe just maybe it will be a brand new day for R-A-D-I-O.

Strike the Pose

2009-02-09T23:15:00.004-05:00

The Football Yankees - Pittsburgh Steelers

2009-02-02T12:05:00.008-05:00

Well, I guess there is no question now who is the greatest team in football - the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steeler Nation is only going to grow after the Steelers secured their sixth Super Bowl title. Congrats to all those black and gold fans everywhere. The Steelers are now the football version of the Yankees. --John Anderson

My heroes

2009-01-21T15:13:00.011-05:00

I finally sent off to my editor last week the book that I've been writing. It is a breast cancer caregiving book for men when their loved ones are diagnosed. I have had four women go through breast cancer in my life - my wife, my sister, my mom and my mom's best friend. My mom died from breast cancer, unfortunately, in 1988, but Caryl (mom's best friend who was my babysitter growing up), Sharon (my wife) and Mary (my sister), pictured here from left to right at the Race for the Cure in Washington, DC are still here, thank God. They are my true heroes. --John Anderson

Remembering the the Water Cube in Beijing

2009-01-19T17:21:00.004-05:00

This is such an amazing piece of architecture. It will be remembered long after Michael Phelps isn't.

The Push/Pull of Life

2009-01-15T11:49:00.006-05:00

Ha ha ha

2009-01-14T21:58:00.006-05:00

Sacha Baron Cohen

2009-01-12T12:50:00.005-05:00

We love this guy. He calls it like it is. Some times Sacha can go too far, true, but man when he hits the mark, look out. His target this time is celeb world at the Golden Globes last night. He has balls the size of two Ohios.

The pain, the pain

2009-01-11T18:28:00.004-05:00

It's over. But what a run. Thank you G-men for a great season. Sorry that it had to go out this way, especially to the Eagles. But hey,it's better than Dallas, right?

Cardinals make it!

2009-01-11T12:15:00.007-05:00

The Arizona Cardinals are going to be in the NFC Championship. They truly are the Chicago Cubs of the NFL. The Cardinals, in fact, are the only team never to have played in a Championship game since the AFL and NFL merged back in 1970. Wow. Of course we want it all to end for them there, on a cold blustery day in the Meadowlands against our beloved Giants.

For that to come true, though, we need to beat those birds in green.

Go Giants!

yes, no say it ain't so

2009-01-10T18:03:00.012-05:00

I grew up a huge Yes fan. I have my friend Ray Pohl to thank for that who used to play crazy sections of "Tales from Topographic Oceans" on his Gibson guitar. Anyway, I just learned that Jon Anderson, lead singer of the band, was tossed out because he's sick.

The other members replaced him with a singer named David Benoit who they found on You Tube as a singer for a Yes tribute band.

Here's the clip of the tribute band.

And here's the real singer, who wrote the darn song featured "Close to the Edge."

Wow. There's nothing sacred any more, when your favorite band in high school replaces the lead singer with a tribute band singer. --john anderson

I want you Joe Frazier!

2009-01-09T16:31:00.001-05:00

Blah Blah Blah

2009-01-08T22:41:00.003-05:00

The Farm... as a band

2009-01-08T15:58:00.005-05:00

We found this video on You Tube and we liked the name of the band. It makes you want to get over to the land of the Union Jack and have a pint, doesn't it?

What the hay?

2009-01-08T00:02:00.003-05:00

iFunk

2009-01-05T10:07:00.026-05:00

Staying with our dancing theme, we figured we'd mention the band iFunk, whose members include my oldest son Seth, age 15. He plays a mean alto sax. When he's not with "the band," he plays in his high school marching band, the Patrick Henry Patriots who played at the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day in Jacksonville, Florida at halftime in front of 67,000 crazy Nebraska and Clemson fans.

Gotta love the iFunk logo. iFunk plays gigs for, as Seth says, "tens of dollars." You can find them on Facebook where they do a mean Average White Band version of "Pick up the Pieces." --John Anderson

The Chicken Dance/The Dancing Chicken

2009-01-04T23:49:00.009-05:00

We were in Sanford, Florida near Orlando on Friday at a wild German restaurant called Hollerbach's Willow Tree Cafe , and we saw folks doing the chicken dance. So, in the spirit of the New Year, we bring you the chicken dance, as well as the dancing chicken. Then it's back to work tomorrow, everyone.

The 0-16 Lions - time to change their colors

2008-12-29T09:23:00.007-05:00

Wow...you gotta feel for a team that sets a new record for losing. 0-16. Maybe some of that federal funding can go to the team.

As if Detroit didn't have enough problems this year. One idea to fix their problems next year is to change the color of their uniforms. Their colors are blue and silver (after their owners, the Ford Motor Co.), but maybe they need to be a bit more regal and go for brown and gold, like their mascot, and one day become king of the football jungle.

Isaac turned 13

2008-12-24T16:14:00.013-05:00

In the crazy holiday season leading up to Xmas, my son Isaac turned 13 on December 13th. My baby boy is, according to the Jewish faith anyway, a man now. Not really, but he is a teenager.

We recently saw a college football game together on the sidelines when my alma mater, University of Delaware played James Madison University, and got a chance to hang with my good old college buddy, Coach K.C. Keeler of the Fighting Blue Hens.

We stood next to the cheerleaders and I was able to capture this moment of Isaac in his new aged glory. Happy Birthday Isaac. Love ya. ---John Anderson

The Russian Standart vodka

2008-12-23T11:14:00.006-05:00

'Tis the season to imbibe, and we have really been enjoying a new Russian vodka called The Russian Standart (the Russians use a "t" instead of a "d," but you can also call it Russian Standard - they don't mind. It is better than all those other top-shelf brands - Ketel One, Grey Goose, Belvedere, you name it, it beats 'em all. The actual meaning of vodka in Russian is "little water." The Russian Standart is made in St. Petersburg, and is the #1 selling premium vodka over there.

Check this spot out...Russian madness with very pretty Russian women everywhere. We can't figure out where that one on the swing went though, after she flew through the bar.

This stuff is tremendous coming straight out of the freezer, pored over ice with a slice of lemon. The best thing of all is that it's half the price of all those other name brands with twice the flavor. Gotta hand it to those Russians...they sure know how to ferment those potatoes. Happy Holidays.

The Kings of Belmont

2008-12-22T16:43:00.010-05:00

We saw this band in Virginia over the weekend, and man can these fellas play! When we walked in the door, they were playing the Doors, and the lead singer looked like Jim M. himself - no lie. They covered a wide variety of stuff - Pink Floyd, Cranberries, crazy..right? Their own stuff is really good. They are out of Charlottesville, Virginia. Here's their website. kingsofbelmont.com Check em out some time. Love the song Booze Em Up. They did this crazy Santa song bout him being all boozed up and on pills. This while they were downing PBR and whiskey on stage. Whiskey a go-go.

Your kid's art

2008-12-19T15:11:00.007-05:00

Given the economy, we - like everyone else we know - are cutting back on gifts this year. Our kids are making gifts for their cousins and family, instead of buying things. The greatest thing of all is that these gifts will be remembered far longer than an iTunes card. I've been greatly admiring of late some art done by my two boys. This art is the best stuff that we own. Above is a masterpiece done by Isaac Anderson. I'm sure you feel the same way about your kid's work. Gotta love love. Happy holidays everyone. --John Anderson

Allen & Son - Chapel Hill, NC - great BBQ, pork style

2008-12-16T20:49:00.015-05:00

We were in Chapel Hill recently, visiting some university folk at the University of Carolina, Chapel Hill. Go Tar Heels! We wanted to learn more about what students were up to at the journalism and advertising programs there. Great visit.

On our way around the area, we came across this incredible BBQ joint called Allen & Co. They smoke their pig, real slow, in this crappy old container that looked like it used to be part of a 40s or 50s refrigerator truck.

The BBQ was so tender, and the pies were just as good. Put a little slaw on top of the pork, and bam, you got yourself heaven in a bun. Don't forget to order the pecan pie for dessert, ice cream on the side. All this while eating on green tablecloth..yum!

Best of all is the scenic trailer park right behind the joint. It ain't gettin' more authentic than this, fellas!

"The Farm" aka "La Masia" by Joan Miró

2008-12-14T22:23:00.012-05:00

We really enjoyed this article about "The Farm" painting by Joan Miró that showed up in Saturday's Wall Street Journal. We love the painting even more.

By MICHAEL FITZGERALD

After working on "The Farm" seven or eight hours a day for more than nine months beginning in July 1921 and continuing through the following spring, Joan Miró (1893-1983) threw himself into the challenging process of finding a buyer for the painting in the fickle Parisian art world. As he recalled, "In the evening, I would go to the gym to do boxing. My intellectual work all day required a physical outlet." One of his sparring partners at the popular American club was Ernest Hemingway. Miró's aggressive punching, despite his short stature, won Hemingway's respect and helped Miró score an artistic knockout -- the writer ultimately bought "The Farm" and extolled it in print as capturing "all that you feel about Spain when you are there and all that you feel when you are away and cannot go there. . . . No one could look at it and not know it was painted by a great painter."

For once, a critic's words matched the artist's intentions. "The Farm was a résumé of my entire life in the country. I wanted to put everything I loved about the country into that canvas -- from a huge tree to a tiny little snail." Miró had labored so long on the canvas because he conceived it as a true masterpiece -- a proof of his artistic achievements up to that time. In the process, it opened the path to his finest work of the later '20s and probably the greatest of his career, paintings that share "The Farm"'s central vision but reverse its celebration of plentitude with radically austere compositions of sparely drawn figures and saturated fields of color.

For a painting that Miró hoped would establish his reputation in Paris, he picked an odd subject: the family farm, or masia, outside Barcelona. The even brilliance of the sky and tawny raw earth provide an elemental setting capturing a sense of the intense Mediterranean light that illuminates every exposed surface and casts the darkest of shadows. Miró harnessed this contrast of blazing clarity and deep obscurity to create a scene both tangible and strange. Whether one's eyes are drawn to the abundance of cracks that turn the house's façade into a veritable topographic map, the motley array of buckets, pails and watering cans littering the yard, the families of rabbits and chickens in the coop, or the lizards and snails meandering over the unplowed ground in the right foreground, each object -- animate or not -- is rendered with indiscriminate, comprehensive detail and given individual prominence by appearing in isolation against a light background. The result is a vast menagerie that turns the arid farmyard into a veritable Garden of Eden.

Miró has done more than showcase his remarkable skill as a draftsman and realist. He has set his subjects in a world that tips into the profoundly unreal. In a space that should recede to distant mountains, there is hardly any difference between the very near and the very far. The hawthorn plant in the left foreground is as precisely rendered as the eucalyptus tree in the center and the horse-drawn mill on the edge of the distant woods. The house and barn flatten like cardboard cutouts instead of serving their traditional purpose of mapping three-dimensional depth. Even the square paving stones in the central foreground seem to point up to the sky rather than lead back into the illusory space of the painted world. The teaming life of Miró's farm presses forward and nearly tumbles onto our laps.

Miró had no intention of merely portraying a typical Catalan farm. For him, these ancient homesteads were deeply imbedded in the natural order. In his rendering, the woman drawing water at a trough and baby playing nearby are easily overlooked even though they are near the center of the composition, and nothing distinguishes them from the surrounding animals, plants or rocks. Miró celebrates a transcendent belief in the unity of nature, a riot of vitality that unites all things.

The great eucalyptus tree stands at the heart of Miró's conception. Its tall trunk nearly ascends the height of the painting. Next to a full moon, its rangy branches stretch across the sky with bright edges and clusters of black leaves like an inverse of nighttime constellations. Rising from the soil, its trunk bears every gnarl and pit of its ancient age. Miró juxtaposed his wildest conceit to this exacting realism. The trunk is not rooted in the ground but floats, surrounded by a black circle from which it seems to grow. This disk is Miró's symbol of the world, an abstract microcosm from which the largest and most vital thing propagates. He improvised the image from another Catalonian legacy, the remarkable 12th-century wall paintings that are among the greatest achievements of European art. In these boldly drawn and highly stylized images of damnation and salvation, the blessing hand of God appears disembodied in a surrounding sphere of deep colors. Miró metamorphosed it, freed of Catholic doctrine, into the central emblem of a pantheistic natural order.

For all its evocation of Catalonian culture, "The Farm" was completed in Paris, where Miró famously tore a fistful of grass from the Bois de Boulogne to guide his finishing touches. Even more than a celebration of Miró's native land, it is a picture that demonstrates the power of the imagination to transform reality, preserving the uniqueness of every little thing and sweeping them together in a grand vision of universal vitality. This resort to the fantastic soon made Miró a darling of the Surrealists, even if they never understood that his inspiration lay in the countryside of Catalonia rather than the cafés of Paris. Still, Miró left a clue that he wasn't thinking only of his homeland. The watering can in the central foreground of the picture sits on a folded newspaper whose masthead read in full L'Intransigeant -- the Parisian journal most favored by the avant-garde.

Despite this bow to his chosen audience, Miró did spend months drumming up interest after he completed the painting in the spring of 1922. He finally found a dealer willing to take it on consignment after Picasso stepped in to aid his friend. Hemingway's purchase three years later not only helped diminish that neglect but started the picture on an odyssey through Hemingway's family that finally ended with its donation to the National Gallery of Art in 1987.

Mr. FitzGerald teaches the history of modern art at Trinity College.

Men multitasking

2008-12-12T16:41:00.005-05:00

Gotta love the Brits for this one.

Car bailout

2008-12-12T11:11:00.012-05:00

This print ad was circulating through our office emails yesterday - very clever, but depressing at the same time. It's hard to figure this issue out...there are good arguments on both sides. It would be a tragedy to lose any of the Big Three auto makers, yet at the same time, Detroit has been making substandard vehicles for years. What's a president-elect to do?

Miss it?

2008-12-11T09:11:00.013-05:00

As we close in on the shortest day of the year, you have to ask yourself- where did that doggone sun go? Only five and a half more months 'til Memorial Day and chewin' on some salt water taffy, licking on a lollipop the size of your head, and steaming the greatest food ever to come from salt water - the Maryland blue crab. Hang in there.

The Farm of Tomorrow

2008-12-10T11:27:00.004-05:00

We found this wonderful cartoon from MGM cartoons called "The Farm of Tomorrow." It was directed by Tex Avery, the same guy who created Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Droopy. It's got that crazy 50s soundtrack to it. The theme is all about what happens when you cross-breed animals. Since we are always cross-breeding ourselves, from TV to web to print to radio, we could certainly relate. Enjoy.

Beware of the Doghouse

2008-12-09T11:05:00.011-05:00

You have to see this extremely funny bit about guys in the doghouse for buying the totally wrong gift at Xmas. Here's the link to see it in high rez: bewareofthedoghouse.com/videoPage.aspx

It's branded entertainment, at its best, for J C Penney to better help the retail chain get men to buy jewelry during this brutal holiday season.

Before Santa had a sleigh, he plowed fields on The Farm

2008-12-08T20:57:00.005-05:00

Ugly Homes

2008-12-08T17:29:00.003-05:00

Given that this is the worst housing crisis in our memory, we thought what it must be like for owners of the ugliest houses in America. How could you ever sell these?

Heart of Dixie

2008-12-08T13:27:00.012-05:00

Does anyone really know where the Heart of Dixie is located? Google Images thinks it does:

Rocky Patel

2008-12-05T14:12:00.011-05:00

In the midst of this crazy global financial meltdown, there is one guy who is growing his business - literally. His name is Rocky Patel, an amazing guy that I met about a month ago. He travels the country promoting his premium cigars. He was a lawyer who got tired of reading paper, so he decided to go into a business that burns, very smoothly.

I was talking to David of Milan Tobacconists the other day http://www.milantobacco.com
who told me that Rocky is now the fifth largest cigar seller in the country. You have to check out his website http://www.rockypatel.com. You gotta love the open..very Vegas meets Cuba. There you can see the Rock wandering through his tobacco fields. He invited me to come visit his factory, which I may do (if the gods, and my wife allow me to). Anyway, I just picked up his premium Decade cigar which I'll review here after I fire that baby up.

Here is Rocky telling us about it.

I won it from my cigar purveyor Poochie who is an avid Redskins fan (and who sillily bet against the Giants). If you like lighter cigars, try the Connecticut vintage 1999 cigar...smooth as silk. For a darker, richer, deep cigar go for the 1992 version. Anyway, gotta go and light up.

--john anderson

Father and Son

2008-12-04T13:47:00.003-05:00

OK, call me corny, but I had to post this incredible father/son picture that our good friend, Sarah Hazlegrove, took of my son Seth and I. He is now a sophomore in high school. Time is clicking bye just too darn fast, but when Seth laid his head down on my shoulder for this picture, time stood still.

Pearl Jam, Brown Bag bootlegs

2008-12-04T13:27:00.005-05:00

My iPod starting playing today this amazing series of live songs from Pearl Jam that I bought way back in 2000. It was when Eddy and the lads were fighting like hell against the music establishment, specifically Ticketmaster. They released a series of official bootleg CDs that showed up in Tower Records (remember Tower on Broadway @ 4th and the other store on Broadway @66 th? That'll be another blog entry soon).

Anyway, there was this huge stack of brown bag-covered CDs at Tower that featured each live show by Pearl Jam. There was no art on the CD cover, just a stamp like the one shown here.

The first show was the one that I bought which was in Lisbon on May 23, 2000 is the first in Pearl Jam's official bootleg series of the 2000 tour of Europe and North America. There were 2 CDs in it, which cost about $10, jock a block full with PJ's greatest hits.

The Portugese really dig the show, doing all kinds of soccer chants. Eddie can't remember the lyrics at time. You have to check out "Immortality" if you can find it. I would love to get my hands on other concerts, but they are very rare to find now. I found this site that had a few European imports -

http://www.bigwentertainment.com.au/artist/pearl_jam_2743.html

Hear are the songs on my two brown bagged CDs:

Disk 1
1.	Of the Girl [6:56]
2.	Do the Evolution [3:49]
3.	Animal [2:56]
4.	Red Mosquito [5:09]
5.	Corduroy [5:29]
6.	Grievance [4:31]
7.	Light Years [5:12]
8.	Nothing as It Seems [5:57]
9.	Given to Fly [4:12]
10.	Even Flow [5:13]
11.	Faithful [4:43]
12.	[Untitled] [3:59]
13.	Last Kiss [3:27]
14.	Mfc [2:37]
15.	Breakerfall [2:47]
16.	Wishlist [3:52]
Disk 2
17.	Thin Air [3:55]
18.	Daughter [6:45]
19.	Evacuation [3:03]
20.	Immortality [6:03]
21.	Betterman [4:52]
22.	Black [7:20]
23.	Go [3:50]
24.	Encore Break [3:30]
25.	Last Exit [2:49]
26.	Jeremy [6:24]
27.	Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town [3:39]
28.	Alive [10:44]
29.	Yellow Ledbetter [*] [6:19] --john anderson

Basketball: Robert Smith, Goth Bunnies, & the Yellow Jackets

2008-12-02T14:46:00.019-05:00

We're coaching a basketball team of 12 year olds, and so we started kicking around some ideas for a team name. Our favorite was the Goth Bunnies, inspired by this fellow, Robert Smith of The Cure.

The problem is that we don't think the rest of the league would have appreciated the name or the mascot image, especially for an all-boys team.

So we decided to go a safer route with black by adding a bit of gold and becoming the Yellow Jackets instead.

But what if we had our cheerleading squad be the Goth Bunnies. Here's a possible approach. How do you think the parents would react then? No good..bad idea...but fun to think about nonetheless.

What was he thinking?

2008-12-02T14:33:00.003-05:00

We are so happy that the Giants are 11-1 despite Plaxico Burress' antics, as detailed below. What is Coach Couglin going to say to this guy? Here's the summary of the situation from USA Today:

NEW YORK — New York Giants star wide receiver Plaxico Burress faces an uncertain future after he was charged Monday with two felony counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, stemming from the accidental discharge of a gun.

Released on $100,000 bond, Burress, who was led into court handcuffed, faces 3½ to 15 years in prison if convicted. New York state law requires mandatory prison for carrying a loaded handgun.

GIANT DISTRACTION? Champs are built to weather Plax's trouble

AGENT: Burress will report to Giants on Tuesday

HOSPITAL'S MISTAKE: Acknowledges failure to report wound

Both the NFL and the defending Super Bowl champions are monitoring the police investigation. A criminal complaint released by prosecutors provides an account from a witness at the Latin Quarter in Manhattan last Friday night who heard a popping sound, then saw a bloody pistol — a .40 caliber Glock — fall out of Burress' pant leg. He did not have a permit to carry a handgun in New York.

"This is a law enforcement matter and we are continuing to cooperate fully with the police," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "In addition, it will be reviewed under our league policies."

What was he thinking?

James

2008-11-14T11:43:00.007-05:00

We have been meaning to write about our friend, Deborah Williamson, for awhile now, ever since she and her husband Bryan Calvert opened their Brooklyn restaurant called James. It is an amazing place. Bryan is the chef, and he's incredible. We remember him from way back when he worked at Union Pacific under Rocco DiSpirito as a sous chef. Deborah handles all the details at the front of the house. She knows how to make anyone feel right at home. We bet it has a lot to do with her Fort Worth, Texas upbringing. We met her Dad when she and Bryan got married, and he is perhaps the happiest, coolest Pop on the planet Earth!

James is named after Bryan's grandpa, and its atmosphere is tin ceiling, distressed wall chic. Grandpa's portrait hangs right over the door to the kitchen.

They found this amazing chandelier that emits light in a unique way. It doesn't translate in the picture here, so you have to just go there yourself to see what we're talking about.

Here's a great little summary of the place by The New Yorker:

Tables for Two

James

605 Carlton Ave., at St. Marks Ave., Brooklyn (718-942-4255)

by Mike Peed October 13, 2008

Text Size:: Small Text; Medium Text; Large Text

Print E-Mail Feeds

Keywords: James 605 Carlton Ave., at St. Mark’s Ave., Brooklyn (718-384-6343);; Prospect Heights;; American Restaurants;; Calvert, Bryan;; Williamson, Deborah

Deep in the brownstones of Prospect Heights, away from the cafés of Flatbush and Vanderbilt Avenues, with their homelier crowds and everyday fare, James glows like a well-kept campfire, luring diners to an otherwise quiet residential block. For several years, this historic Brooklyn neighborhood has been enduring a growth spurt, and the locals’ eager acceptance of James, coupled with what is essentially a no-reservation policy, has led to hour-long waits. Since James has little room to spare, would-be diners are sometimes forced curbside, left to watch the action within. Once you’re seated, the place is dreamlike: amber beams from an outré Lucite chandelier are reflected in opposite mirrors, and James’s affectations—the grand palms at the end of the bar; the deliberately distressed wall; the copious votive candles—evoke Rick’s Café Américain, via Klimt’s “The Kiss.”

Too many servers conflate good with frequently ordered, but at James recently a diner’s request for guidance induced a waitress to recite nearly the whole menu—“seasonal-American . . . with ‘old-world European influences,’ ” as the Web site has it. She was right, beginning with a crab-cake starter that’s capped, in her words, with “super-fresh and really yummy micro-greens.” (The co-owners, Bryan Calvert, who cooks, and his wife, Deborah Williamson, who mingles, live above the restaurant, where they tend a six-hundred-square-foot herb garden.) Seared scallops float in a watercress purée studded with sweet roasted corn, while flaxen prawns are served with a sunchoke purée and garlic confit. An excellent fillet of brook trout is first sautéed, then covered with hazelnuts and chives, folded in half, tied with a string of budding chive, and balanced with a side of fennel and oranges—evidence of James’s vast but not vulgar aspirations. A tender loin of lamb, encrusted with pine nuts and rosemary, and served with a buttery three-bean stew, struck just the right notes of heavy and light. The desserts, though, especially the warm ricotta beignets, win out. On a recent evening, the finest compliment, aside from the empty plates and the vows to return, came from a couple who live just down the block. Thinking of their postprandial chores, one of the two leaned in to say, “We’ll never let our dog go pee on their planters.” (Open Tuesdays through Sundays for dinner. Entrées $14-$29.) ♦

And here's a review of the joint by the NY Times:


605 Carlton Avenue (St. Marks Avenue) Brooklyn, NY Phone (718) 942-4255	American, European Brooklyn $$$

On the ground floor of an apartment building on a residential block of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, James is a small, sweet restaurant that exemplifies how pleasing and quietly sophisticated the food at such neighborhood refuges has become. It's also a Mom-and-Pop restaurant for the Alice Waters era, owned and managed a married couple, Bryan Calvert and Deborah Williamson, who live smack above it and pluck herbs from a rooftop garden next door. Mr. Calvert worked at Bouley and Union Pacific, and that experience serves him well across a succinct New American menu. He doesn't nail every dish, but the salads, the roasted chicken and the roasted loin of lamb are first-rate. -- Frank Bruni
-The New York Times

Blackberry Storm

2008-11-13T16:47:00.002-05:00

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I've been obsessing of late about the Blackberry Storm..when is that darn thing ever going to come out? Well, Verizon has teased the hell out of us on this until it really got ridiculous. So they have finally given us a date - Friday, November 21st. The good news for me is that I am right on my renewal contract, so I will qualify to get one (if, of course, I can find one available). Let's see if this thing really can take on the iPhone. As an Apple worshiper it remains to be seen.

Before I go, here's a little clip from across the pond where it is already available to the Brits on Vodafone -- john anderson

8-1...how sweet it is

2008-11-10T17:43:00.002-05:00

What more needs to be said....8-1 in the toughest division in football. Sweet, sweeter, sweetest.

Sweet Virginia is blue, as told by our creative director

2008-11-07T09:39:00.048-05:00

Today is a new day for all of us at The Farm, because the country finally switched back to blue! We were especially happy that Virginia switched colors for the first time since 1964, in no small part due to the efforts of our Creative Director, Sharon Rapoport. Here is her Obama volunteer story:

I want to allow all of you a glimpse into what this election meant to us
here in Virginia, but I already know I cannot begin to describe it sufficiently. Anyway, here goes:

We began our work back in May. During the primaries, the sense that something truly historic was happening was immediate and palpable. My hometown, Roanoke, is in Southwestern Virginia, which is very Republican.

We do have a large African American community here, and those two factors have made things interesting. Early work sessions were memorable simply because of the racial, class, and age diversity. We would look around the room into this sea of contrasting faces and we knew already that here-- right here in the Southern state which once housed the capital of the Confederacy-- change had come.

By June we were putting up some Obama campaign operatives in our home who were arriving throughout the summer to help. At that point, we were focusing on voter registration, spending long days in front of Wal-Mart and other very public venues, asking everyone if they were registered to vote, and registering them when they said no. I am proud that our state ended up
registering more new voters than any other, almost a half million.

By late August, we were housing Jay, a (very) young, EXTREMELY earnest 19 year old man (now 20) who was sent from Ohio to run the entire campaign here. He moved into our home with an open end check out. (He's still here, until Saturday).

Though I originally said I didn't want to, I suddenly found myself going door to door, asking for support. We were doing this almost every weekend. Fundraisers were arranged, students were organized, we were becoming an army. Bitter debates were happening everywhere. Signs went up...our Obama yard signs were flanked on either side by McCain Palin signs. The friendly
neighborhood atmosphere was becoming chilly long before the cool weather set in. But we continued to build momentum, adding names to our databases every day.

As a very active volunteer, I was selected to work a Town Hall with Obama in a nearby small town. It was incredible to finally see him in such an intimate setting. This had a roll-up your-sleeves kind of agenda in a very blue collar area...he really had to sell the room. It was riveting.

He signed my copy of his book, which already had a very moving inscription
inside that was written by my 15 year old son, including some very sweet things about me being a cancer survivor. Talk about a prized possession!

Time passed. We worked harder. Speakers came every week. Campaign leaders, Terry McAuliffe (who ran Hillary's campaign), General Wes Clark, Senator Evan Bayh...

I met all of them and was able to hear each of them give very
different takes on why they were supporting Obama and why they needed us to work...yes, EVEN HARDER.

October was a blur of working, canvassing mostly. By now people were either pissed off that we were coming back again, slamming doors in our faces in the name of McCain, or embracing us and asking where to go to volunteer. The international press had somehow decided that Roanoke was everytown America because of our demographics, so they came and set up camp. A columnist for The Guardian from Britain stayed for six weeks to cover the election.

He covered a local pub debate where I was one of the debaters for Obama. Not something I would ever have done before....again, an example of profound change!

In Mid-October, Obama came to Roanoke for a rally. Because I had already
seen him, I wasn't quite as excited about it as before. Little did I know. To see him in that kind of setting was completely different than the Town Hall had been...I get tears in my eyes now when I think of what it was like to look around that stadium and see how moved all these people in my hometown were by this man. It was a rainy, cold day...but he was the sunshine we needed to keep us going for 3 more weeks.

By late October, I was completely obsessed that we weren't going to be able to handle all the new voters on Nov. 4th, so I was writing letters to
everyone I could think of to beg for some provisions. We never really got them.

The day of reckoning finally arrived. My husband John is an attorney, and he had gone through training in order to be a Democratic Party Protect The Vote official at one of the polls in an African American neighborhood. He got up at 4:30 in the morning to be there by 5:00 AM. He had a very full day uncovering incompetencies. One of the things he was dealing with was making sure that people who were being turned away for not being registered or not having the proper id, were able to vote if at all possible. One such man was a 65 year old Indian man who had never voted in his life. He had gone through all the proper steps to register and never got his card. John went through a tremendous amount of trouble to make sure this man got his chance, it took 2 campaign workers and a personal visit from the city registrar...he finally got to vote 2 minutes after the polls had closed. I was so proud of John...he cried later that night when one of the campaign workers told him that this man had, indeed, been able to vote.

I spent the entire day FREAKING OUT. It was raining. In the morning I went door-to-door in the poorest African-American neighborhood -- the projects -- where I encountered 18 year old mothers who didn't want to stand in line for hours getting drenched with two toddlers in tow, and elderly people who said they just couldn't stand that long. We got them rides. We got them ponchos. We bought coloring books, donuts and hot cocoa for the toddlers. I called everyone I knew and begged them to help us. They did. In the afternoon, more houses, more doors, more, more, more. People would say, 'hey, he's gonna win, he don't need my vote!' or 'it's obvious he's in, look at how long the lines are. I got to go to work!'. We said NO HE WILL NOT WIN IF YOU DON'T GO RIGHT NOW AND TELL EVERYONE ELSE YOU KNOW TO GO, TOO! YOU MUST WAIT AS LONG AS IT TAKES!!!! Amongst the volunteers there was such dread and fear that we
literally couldn't look at each other. The reports were telling us that turnout wasn't what we needed. I wanted to vomit. We knocked on well over 100 doors that day and stopped everyone in the streets.

At 7:00 the polls closed. I exhaled, it was out of my hands. I went to several watch parties and ended up in the small pub in my neighborhood with all the Obama campaign staffers and longtime volunteers like myself. My kids were there, my best friend who was a Virginia delegate in Denver and who first convinced me to support Obama, my homies. The first time I cried was
when the initial numbers for Virginia came in with McCain ahead. This cannot happen, I thought. It cannot. Results from state after state came in, we were still behind. F**K ME. Then it was tied. Holy S**t, mother of God...how much more must we endure!

By the time they finally called Virginia, I had already downed enough alcohol that I was practically on my knees. I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT MOMENT. WE DID IT. Everything we had done had paid off. We now had a comeback to the insensitive 'red-state' comments from my friends in New York (easy to say from the armchair). I was in a room of devoted Democrats, converted Republicans, and spirited Independents, a room of black, white, old, young, male, female...a room of sobbing, screaming, sweating SOUTHERN Americans who had redefined patriotism, and I was damn proud to be one of them. YES WE DID.

After all that, you might think that the announcement that he had won was anti-climactic. It wasn't. More screaming, slobbering, hugging, weeping, shouting. Phone calls, texts...free drinks on the house. And then, the speech. Are you kidding me? How does he do that...raising the bar
every time? I wept so much, I needed Gatorade to stay hydrated. Virginia went blue for President Barack Obama.

The morning of Nov. 5 held another first. I awakened with fresh tears rolling down my face because I was DREAMING of being happy. I had never experienced that before either.

And then, I read the emails waiting in my inbox from friends around the world. More tears. To those of you living outside the US, I do have one more important thing to say: you kept us going. We wanted to earn back your respect and your friendship. We knew you were watching,having little to no control over the outcome. We felt that deeply, and we worked not just for ourselves but for YOU. Please believe that...I swear it is as true as anything I've ever known.

Love to all, may this moment be something we can look back on to draw the
strength we will need to help this new leader flourish.

-Sharon

Wassup!!! A lot, actually, just before Election Day

2008-10-30T18:35:00.005-04:00

We were looking around for what director Chuck Stone III has been up to lately, when lo and behold we found this incredibly dark parody that he just released on You Tube called "Wassup." It mimics his famous Budweiser spot called, you got it, "Wassup," which first aired on Monday Night football back in December, 1999. The same cast from the original spot are here again, suffering mightily, like the rest of us, 8 years later through the Iraq War, the Wall Street/World crash, the mortgage meltdown, and our at-home health care crisis.

We first met Chuck years ago through his dad, Professor Chuck Stone, who recently retired from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Journalism School after an incredibly esteemed journo career at the Philadelphia Daily News (Both Chucks must be jacked about the Phillies...we'll report back to you on that one). What was wild about Chuck Sr. is he always wrote with brown ink, which he said made him "unique." Well, his son got his talents for the last word as well.

Check it out:

We also love this other Election year spot from Farm friend Lubna Abu-Osba who we've known since her days at Kirshenbaum & Bond. This spot is all about sexy Democrats cutting off access to the good stuff if you vote Republican. It's called "True Love Waits for a Democrat."

Both Chuck and Lubna urge all of us to get out and vote, to finally get some real change around this joint called USA!!!

Smashing Pumpkins

2008-10-26T22:11:00.004-04:00

We were listening to NPR (National Public Radi0) and heard this piece about the growing of the largest pumpkins in the world. Turns out that if anything goes wrong in trying to grow a 1800 lb. orange behemoth, they explode.

You can think of Smashing Pumpkins like this:

or this:

Pencils

2008-10-24T13:05:00.005-04:00

Whatever happened to the good old
# 2 pencil? We still see our kids using them occasionally when they have to write out a difficult math problem. You can hear the red eraser scratching the paper when the numbers just don't add up right(maybe Wall Street should take the same hands-on lead/eraser approach to their work given all the crazy math we've seen there of late).

Point is that most the time, no one uses pencils any more. We do when we're taking notes with a client. We pull them from this special can that sits on our desks.

It's an oyster can from the '50s. One of our grandfathers, Granddaddy Anderson to be exact (who was a farmer), used to tell us a joke about lead and oysters (punchline has to do with oysters putting lead in your pencil) so that old can filled with #2 pencils reminds us of him each and every day.

Joe Joe Joe

2008-10-16T11:55:00.003-04:00

One other thing that we had to mention today - Joe Torre. Way to go Joe!!! Taking the lame LA Dodgers to the NCLS his first season as skipper....hey, Yankees, where is your messiah now? Man oh man...what were the Steinbrenners thinkin?

Well, Joe didn't get his Dodgers to the show in '08, but there is always next season, right Joe? We've been talking an awful lot about Joe Six-Pack, and now Joe Plumber, but in our minds there is only one Joe - Joe Torre.

Any chance in heaven above that we will ever see this again? Light your candles, everyone.

Brownies

2008-10-16T11:45:00.003-04:00

We were not very happy about the Giants losing their first road game since the first week of the 2007 season (especially to a team whose mascot looks like an elf pretending to be bad ass with the weirdest big toes ever!) but if it was gonna happen, better now with the Skins AND Cowboys both losing as well last week.

We did dig the retro helmets of the Brownies, though. Gotta love old school design!

Patsy's

2008-10-14T14:02:00.004-04:00

We went to one of our favorite eating haunts in all of New York Sunday for pizza. It's called Patsy's. We know there are a few about town with the same name (must be a license agreement), but the original is the only one to visit, and it's been around since 1932, pumping out incredible pies from its coal burning oven. That's right..pizza-making since the Great Depression.

Treat yourself to a few pies with some friends. We like to put just one or two items on the pies, which come with this incredible tomato sauce and mozzarella topping. We love sausage on one pie, ricotta on the other, along with a healthy topping of garlic to boot. Patsy's has the thinnest, softest, crispiest crust we have ever tasted. Imagine a crispy pizza crepe. It's located on 1st ave, at 117th street, East Harlem. Take the 6 train to 116th, and walk east. You won't be sorry.

The Superpowers/Boston Afrobeat Society

2008-10-09T08:51:00.012-04:00

We just LOVE this band. They were first called the Boston Afrobeat Society, a name that really captured their musical style, but then the band decided they needed a higher power name, so they switched it to "The Superpowers."
A bit pretentious? Sure. But these fellas are salt of the Earth dudes. We know, because we got to know them a bit better over a few beers after a show. They are ALL about the music. Most of them are graduates of the prestigious Boston Conservatory.

The Superpowers are so into what they do that the sax player told us during a break after the first set last year that he gave up tickets to see his beloved Red Sox in the World Series just so he could play a gig with his mates! When most bands these days are making tens of dollars, you gotta love his commitment to the music. They travel all over the country in a delapidated bus powered by vegetable oil that they strain from the fryer vats in the clubs and restaurants they play. It's a modern day, green-friendly, Ken Kesey magic bus kinda vibe.

Here's how they describe their music on their myspace page:

Internationally recognized afrobeat group THE SUPERPOWERS have been hailed by critics as a "poly-rhythmic juggernaut." Originally formed as the Boston Afrobeat Society, having won the 2007 Phoenix Best Music Poll and 2006 Boston Music Award for Best World Music Act, this 21st-Century Dance Band has been blasting off in the Northeast. They have since relocated to Brooklyn where they have nurtured a monthly residency at Zebulon, one of Brooklyn's most well-respected music venues, for 2 years! They have played packed houses throughout the Eastern U.S. and shared the stage with internationally renowned artists including Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars, John Browns Body, Aphrodesia, and NOMO.

Their album Revival Time which you can find on iTunes is wonderful. Check out the horns on Abami Eda, and the amazing trombone solo on System Slaves. That trombone sound seems to be showing up everywhere for us these days (check out our blog entry on the alpshorn player earlier).

Below are a few video clips of the band that we found on You Tube.

Technorati Profile

Art Shit

2008-10-08T21:33:00.004-04:00

When we entered the term "Art Shit" in Google Images, this is what we found. So is it shit art or just art shit? You be the judge...

100 years later...and the goat curse continues

2008-10-04T16:03:00.006-04:00

It's been 100 years now since the Cubs won a World Series. What a long time to wait. Sure, we were bummed that the Yankees aren't going to make the Show either, but we have memories of three straight World Series rings - 1998, 1999, 2000.

We overheard a guy in an Irish pub act astounded that the Cubs were down two games to none to the Dodgers. Where has he been living for the past century?

So Steve Bartman still has the curse on his back.

And the Billy Goat curse continues onward as well.

We are so happy for Joe. What a manager. To take LA Blue to the playoffs in just one season. What were the Yankees thinking when they let this classic Hall of Famer go?

Finally, what was Lou Piniella thinking that he could beat Joe and Manny?

"The last two games were probably the worst two games we've played all year." Cubbie timing, yet again.

Blow that Alphorn Eliana Burki, Blow

2008-10-01T11:03:00.015-04:00

We saw a very strange article in the Wall Street Journal recently which talked about the rennaissance of the Swiss Alphorn. This traditional instrument is now being played by a pretty 25 year old Swiss woman named Eliana Burki who tours with her 7 or so foot horn around Europe. It's easy for her to take her horn around because it's made out of carbon fiber versus traditional wood. Check this out. The Alphorn goes funkadelic:

Eat your heart out Miles, or perhaps more likely J.J. Johnson since she plays the alphorn a lot like a trombone verus a trumpet. You got to hear it to believe it. She has two albums that you can get on iTunes. The music is a funk/light jazz vibe. Blues for Louis has some great soul funk riffs to it, and even a better one is Vacuum Funk.

So, do you think her success has anything to do with how she looks versus this fella who plays a mean alphorn as well?

Mac Premo

2008-09-30T18:37:00.012-04:00

We've known Mac ever since he came to work for us after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design. He's an incredible artist and animator. These days, he finds himself in his Brooklyn studio, making better and better things with his hands.

What else does he have to do, now that his beloved Yankees are not in the hunt for the first time since 1996?

Peanuts! Popcorn! Art!

With a name like Premo, you betcha it's good. To see more, go to his website macpremo.com.

Decon

2008-09-30T17:37:00.005-04:00

Does this remind anyone of the halls of Congress?

Phi Phi Island, Thailand

2008-09-27T17:30:00.000-04:00

I don't know what made me think about Phi Phi island, located in southern Thailand today...nostalgia, I guess. It's been nearly 18 years since I was aboard a longboat like the one pictured here, diving in caves buried beneath the huge rock-islands...maybe these very ones.

Back in the day when I was there, in 1990, there were only huts on the island...no hotels, and not really any tourists. I would go out ever day and go diving on one of those longboats. We would go into underwater caves, and then surface inside the island where swallows would be flying everywhere as shafts of light penetrated into the cavern. There would also be these primitive man-looking dudes on these super-high bamboo ladders risking their lives to collect the birds nests and bird drippings for the Japanese who would pay princely sums to eat it. UGH!!!!

This is the area where they filmed the Bond flick The Man with the Golden Gun.

Ah, paradise. Are there any Eden spots left on the planet that don't have a Sheraton or Hilton property on them? God, I hope so. If so, would someone please tell me where it is... -- John Anderson

War and Peace - it's about time

2008-09-23T10:57:00.001-04:00

It took a long time to tackle this goal, but I'm finally reading War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy's greatest novel, they say. I did read Anna Karenina way back when, which others argue is better. The only way to truly know is read both.

W & P...when you read a book written so long ago, you wonder how much application it has to today's world. Well, one thing's for sure. When Leo is writing about the social norms of his day, and how everyone is jockeying to get one up on each other, that sure rings a bell in '08.
More thoughts on this to follow, once I dig deeper.

One thing is for certain..the book is darn heavy. I had a Norton Critical edition, but the book was too big and long (length-wise) to read in any kind of relaxing way. Then I found out that Sharon had another copy of the book from the Modern Library. You can read this version while lying down without pulling out the ligaments in your thumb from all the weight you're holding.

Someone should think about printing the book in thirds, for portablility purposes.
It turns out that was done way back in 1915, which I found out on Google Books.

Of course an easier way to carry W & P around would via download on your iPhone (if you can read that small) or on your computer. Google scanned the entire book which they got from the UC Berkeley library. What I found fascinating was that this book has not been checked out since February 3, 1964.

I know there is a whole movement afoot to teach college students the Classics. So why hasn't this book been checked out in over 44 years?
--John Anderson