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Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross

I’m captivated by this book I just bought on Alex Ross. I wasn’t a big fan when I first read Kingdom Come, because I thought the characters all looked old and out of shape, but the more I read, the more I appreciate how he was able to add a 3D dimension to 2D comic books.

Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross

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During my first week at work, Bill Pearce, Del Monte’s CMO, called the marketing department in for a meeting on our long-range plans.  At the end of the meeting, we were surprised when he asked us if anyone in the room had seen a movie called “Balto.” Balto is based on a true story of an Alaskan malamute who saved an Alaskan city from an outbreak of a disease called diphtheria in 1925.  The anti-toxin serum that could stop the outbreak was located in Anchorage, which was 1000 miles away.  Anchorage sent 20 dogsled teams to Anchorage…soon after, all of them had turned away except for one lead by Balto, the black and white malamute, who reached the city of Nome in 5 days and 7 hours. To Bill, the story Balto represents courage, determination and perserverance. As a kid in New York, his parents would also take him to Central Park, where kids loved to pet a statue of Balto.  He then revealed that he had a replica of the Central Park status made, and that little Balto trophies would be awarded to people in the company who display those same qualities. He gave one out to the manager of the Starkist team, for his hard work in getting the company ready for sale.  He gave out another one yesterday to a manager on the Pet Snacks team for leading his team even while moving his family from Pittsburgh to San Francisco. One of my goals for the next 3 years is to win a Balto!

During my first week at work, Bill Pearce, Del Monte’s CMO, called the marketing department in for a meeting on our long-range plans.  At the end of the meeting, we were surprised when he asked us if anyone in the room had seen a movie called “Balto.”

Balto is based on a true story of an Alaskan malamute who saved an Alaskan city from an outbreak of a disease called diphtheria in 1925.  The anti-toxin serum that could stop the outbreak was located in Anchorage, which was 1000 miles away.  Anchorage sent 20 dogsled teams to Anchorage…soon after, all of them had turned away except for one lead by Balto, the black and white malamute, who reached the city of Nome in 5 days and 7 hours.

To Bill, the story Balto represents courage, determination and perserverance. As a kid in New York, his parents would also take him to Central Park, where kids loved to pet a statue of Balto.  He then revealed that he had a replica of the Central Park status made, and that little Balto trophies would be awarded to people in the company who display those same qualities.

He gave one out to the manager of the Starkist team, for his hard work in getting the company ready for sale.  He gave out another one yesterday to a manager on the Pet Snacks team for leading his team even while moving his family from Pittsburgh to San Francisco.

One of my goals for the next 3 years is to win a Balto!

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Josh pointed me to this note was left on a car in Noe Valley in San Francisco.  How Berkeley! I guess Berkeleyans aren’t really respected for their manners…they’re known to campaign for the greater good without much consideration for individual welfare.  Just look at the tree people! At the same time, anyone who has the time to compose a note like this clearly has too much free time on his or her hands.  Notice how “two” is repeated numerically just to be crystal clear.  The ending is especially magnificent — “may the fleas of a 1000 camels invade your armpits.”  I don’t have a good grasp on how many fleas that would actually be, but I assume it would be a lot.  Sounds pretty horrible.

Josh pointed me to this note was left on a car in Noe Valley in San Francisco.  How Berkeley! I guess Berkeleyans aren’t really respected for their manners…they’re known to campaign for the greater good without much consideration for individual welfare.  Just look at the tree people!

At the same time, anyone who has the time to compose a note like this clearly has too much free time on his or her hands.  Notice how “two” is repeated numerically just to be crystal clear.  The ending is especially magnificent — “may the fleas of a 1000 camels invade your armpits.”  I don’t have a good grasp on how many fleas that would actually be, but I assume it would be a lot.  Sounds pretty horrible.

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What do you think about the Spanish national basketball team posing for a picture while using their fingers to make their eyes look slanted “like Chinese people”?  While I don’t think they had bad intentions, it’s still an incredibly ignorant thing to do.  Calderon even referred to China as the “Far East”, I guess that’s how they still think of us.  I guess we still sport Fu Manchu moustaches, queues down our backs and smoke opium all day.

What do you think about the Spanish national basketball team posing for a picture while using their fingers to make their eyes look slanted “like Chinese people”?  While I don’t think they had bad intentions, it’s still an incredibly ignorant thing to do.  Calderon even referred to China as the “Far East”, I guess that’s how they still think of us.  I guess we still sport Fu Manchu moustaches, queues down our backs and smoke opium all day.

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What is Del Monte?

Now that I’ve been working for a week and a half, I feel like I can (and should) clear up some misconceptions about Del Monte.  If you’re somewhat hazy about the company and the brand, don’t feel bad, in some ways, it really is THAT complicated.  For starters:

Del Monte IS located in San Francisco.
Our building at One Market (across from the Ferry Building) is a historical building.  We been in SF since the late 1800s.

Del Monte IS NOT located on a pineapple plantation in the Philippines!

Del Monte IS canned tomato products, canned vegetable (all kinds!) and canned fruits.
We also have some neat shelf-stable products like Fruit Chillers sorbet and College Inn broths.

Del Monte IS NOT imported bananas or pineapples!
We don’t have any fresh produce.  That’s another company that we licensed our brand out to.

Del Monte IS Contadina and S&W tomato products.  Del Monte IS pet products like Snausages, Milk-Bone, Meox Mix, Pupperoni and Kibble ‘n’ Bits.  Del Monte WAS Starkist.
We just sold the Starkist brand to a Korean company.  We’ve had the pet product brands since the start of the century and they’re doing really well for us.  We have an interesting mix of brands that I’m interested in learning more about.

Del Monte IS NOT Dole!
Gawddyammit!

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OMG. Lickable.  “Luscious, smooth, sweet and fun”??  Are these words that we want associated with pictures of 5-year old girls bending over?  I mean, I know sex sells, but this is ridiculous.  Breyers, you should be ashamed. THIS IS WRONG. SO SO WRONG. peroty: onemoretimewithfeeling: via i34.tinypic.com Creamsicle, you may want to rethink your choice of ad agency. I’ve seen this before. I bet this was made by a committee.

OMG. Lickable.  “Luscious, smooth, sweet and fun”??  Are these words that we want associated with pictures of 5-year old girls bending over?  I mean, I know sex sells, but this is ridiculous.  Breyers, you should be ashamed.

THIS IS WRONG. SO SO WRONG.

peroty:

onemoretimewithfeeling:

via i34.tinypic.com

Creamsicle, you may want to rethink your choice of ad agency.

I’ve seen this before. I bet this was made by a committee.

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Wow, how impressive is this cake?  Em says it’s made from frosting, so you really only get one chance to nail it. robot-heart: puzzler:scout:unicornology:lomo: impressionist cake (via megpi)

Wow, how impressive is this cake?  Em says it’s made from frosting, so you really only get one chance to nail it.


robot-heart:

puzzler:scout:unicornology:lomo: impressionist cake (via megpi)
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While watching the extravagence of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday, I joked that the money spent on fireworks alone was probably more than the GDP of several participating countries.  There were 29,000 fireworks shells used at the opening ceremonies…I wonder how much each shell costs?While costs for the opening ceremonies have been kept a secret, estimates place the final cost as high as $300MM US.  By comparison, here are the 2007 GDPs of some of the participating countries: Guinea-Bissau $295MSolomon Islands $286MDominica $279MTonga $244MMicronesia $232MCook Islands $183MPalau $145MMarshall Islands $144MTuvalu $14M China also used 15,000 performers at the opening ceremonies (9,000 of which were on loan from the army).  By comparison: Total number of athletes at the Olympics: 16,000Population of the British Virgin Islands: 23,000Population of Palau: 20,000Population of Tuvalu: 11,000 Does anyone else think that all the extravagence is a little ridiculous and over-the-top?  The Chinese government has given about $1.5 billion in domestic aid to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake since May.  The money spent on the opening ceremonies represented about 1/5 of that.

While watching the extravagence of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday, I joked that the money spent on fireworks alone was probably more than the GDP of several participating countries.  There were 29,000 fireworks shells used at the opening ceremonies…I wonder how much each shell costs?

While costs for the opening ceremonies have been kept a secret, estimates place the final cost as high as $300MM US.  By comparison, here are the 2007 GDPs of some of the participating countries:

Guinea-Bissau $295M
Solomon Islands $286M
Dominica $279M
Tonga $244M
Micronesia $232M
Cook Islands $183M
Palau $145M
Marshall Islands $144M
Tuvalu $14M

China also used 15,000 performers at the opening ceremonies (9,000 of which were on loan from the army).  By comparison:

Total number of athletes at the Olympics: 16,000
Population of the British Virgin Islands: 23,000
Population of Palau: 20,000
Population of Tuvalu: 11,000

Does anyone else think that all the extravagence is a little ridiculous and over-the-top?  The Chinese government has given about $1.5 billion in domestic aid to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake since May.  The money spent on the opening ceremonies represented about 1/5 of that.

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