gallery

another new york gallery - it already seems like so long ago

home

ahhhhh... I missed this. Its so good to be home. The few days I'm here are passing way too fast. Only a few more days before I'm back on a plane again, but I can hardly complain. After the last few weeks, I'm ready for vacation!

history

"America, we are better than these last eight years, We are a better country than this."

"In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is – you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – even if you don't have boots. You're on your own. Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America."

"We love this country too much to let the next four years be like the last eight."

"I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class."

"Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know."

"I don't know about you, but I'm not about to take a 10% chance on change."

"That's the promise of America – the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper."

"McCain says he'll follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives."

"And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have."

"So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first."

"America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise – that American promise – and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess."

all that, plus 30 specific policy proposals in one speech.

Watch the full speech here

take it from the top

On our last day of work or the Olympics, during which there really wasn't a lot to do (the closing ceremonies had already ended in real life, they just had yet to be broadcast - so we needed to be there "just in case"), a bunch of us finally took a field trip up to the "Top of the Rock" observation deck (three levels of decks actually) at the top of Rockefeller Center. It was kind of a nice way to say bye to New York, and also a really impressive view of the rivers, Central Park and other New York landmarks. These, obviously, are shots from that trek. But just to add another twist, I'm posting these in my first ever blog post from 38,000 feet. Our airplane has wireless, which was just too much for me to resist using for a post midway between Manhattan and Manhattan Beach.

game over

Well, it's over. And just like in Torino, despite all the bitching and whining during it, it's sad when you get to the last day. Even the snack selection had dwindled to a sad little display. We had a really good crew this year that was pretty talented and more importantly, a lot of fun. As cliche as it may be, its like a little family. Hopefully we'll have another 'reunion' in two years for Vancouver. For those of you (like Mom and Dad) who endured the closing ceremonies to look for my name in the credits, sorry - it turns out they put the designers into the credits that aired on one of the cable networks in the daytime. One of our compadres in Beijing sent a still of it though. All I know is that I can't wait to see the ocean again.

bumps in the night

a couple more bumps, including movies of how they were used on air...

Track & Field bump on air

Platform Diving bump on air (in monitor)

curious

I've written a couple times over the past year or two about Coca-Cola's branding and how impressive it has become since their label/can redesign, particularly for how well controlled it is and how well it has extended to all aspects of its packaging and advertising. Because of that, I find it curious that they are running this commercial very heavily in the Olympics. Its a good image spot, its fun and upbeat and speaks to summer. It works. So this isn't necessarily a criticism, just a curiosity...because its an old spot from 2005. And even moreso, because the diet Coke cans throughout the commercial feature the old label and old logo that was replaced a year ago. Chances are, nobody noticed - which is why I don't know that it's a bad thing. But advertising folks are really hypersensitive about this kind of thing. For an ad buy as high profile as the Olympics, and for a company as thorough about their brand management lately, I just find it interesting.

in motion

I've had a few requests to see the movies of the bumps that I've posted frames of - thanks to my friend and coworker Dave I'm able to show you even better - a couple of these as they were used on air. The other two are shown as I delivered them. We never know how they will end up being used or if they will be used at all, so its always a bonus when we or someone else catches them on-air. And when they do something interesting with them like play them on the set rather than just playing them full frame on-air, thats even more of a bonus for us. A couple of these are the last design/format that I posted frames of, and the other two are the 'next step' or 'next phase' that I came up with (of course, I'm not posting the couple of not-so-successful attempts that came in between).

Day Torch bump on air

Platform Diving bump on air

Swimming bump as delivered

BMX finals bump as delivered

when snacks attack

When working the Olympics in Torino, one of the benefits of working at the International Broadcast Center was the 24-hour free commissary and the various 'craft services' tables all over the building. Those table (almost) always had a plentiful array of snacks - from candy bars or chips to fruit, yogurt, cheese, etc - along with the fully stocked cooler of soda and drinks. Needless to say, my addiction to diet Coke/Pepsi was in full gear there, especially since I like the taste of Coke Light (the European equivalent) even better. One of the fun things about those tables is that the snacks were local Italian snacks, which were often interesting or unusual combinations or flavors,or just unusual names (for instance, they often had bags of chips out that were called "Teenagers"). To provide a similar benefit, NBC has snack tables around our offices here in New York during the Olympics, one of which is right by the door to our room. To their credit, they keep it stocked; but the snacks offered have never changed. Chips, Oreos, NutriGrain bars and Snackwell cookies. Day in, day out. I built a house out of them one day out of frustration. So it was big news today when some new snacks appeared! Teddy Grahams! SunChips! They didn't last long. And as much as we whine and bitch about only having a selection of junk there, we still keep grabbing 'em constantly through the day. (By the way, the fruit you see in the pics is stuff we bought ourselves to try to have something healthy on hand). And that Diet Pepsi habit I got rid of a few while ago? Forget it. I couldn't begin to tell you how many I've had in the last three weeks. Trips to the gym? I can count those on one hand.

ny gallery

a few New York slivers...

more bumps

A few more bumps from the past couple days that you might or might not have seen. This was the style loosely based on constructivist influence that I'm pleased with and feel like I can fairly claim some ownership of. Now that this style is becoming a little routine (sometimes by necessity as we have to crank some of these out pretty fast sometimes and its just a matter of finding a way to get it done), its time to figure out how to push it to something else. Stay tuned.