Freedom

wham:a different corner
Originally uploaded by visualpanic

There's something about summer that really opens you up to a sense of possibilities.

Right now we're facing down the barrel of uncertainty. Jude doesn't know where her career might take her, I don't know where mine will allow me to go but we're kind of certain that when you offer things up to the universe they have a way of settling that just works.

Were all of this "where are we heading next?' stuff going on during the winter I'm sure that we'd be feeling a little weighed down by it, a little daunted, a little tired of the thought of another book cull, another moving company rip-off, another new town to negotiate.

But it's summer. And that means that what this is now all about is possibility. We're thinking about which places have the longest summers, the closest proximity to beaches, which have the most fabulous houses, the most amazing people, the most opportunity for growth. And it's actually all pretty spirit raising.

Who knows. We may stay in the US, we may head back toward familiar Asia, we may move to strange new Asia but the great thing is that with the decision will come some certainty. It will have been six years of living out of a metaphorical suitcase. First "here until the PhD." is over. Then "here for the length of a post-doc" contract. But with the next move comes - "here for as long as we want to be" - which temporally may be no different, but emotionally makes all the difference in the world

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh

mantis @ cedar point
Originally uploaded by haap

Just got a call to ask whether I wanted to head out to Cedar Point and ride some of the biggest rollercoasters in the world. To which I said "Hell yeah"....

It's a two hour drive but it should be worth it - the thing looks completely insane. 17 Roller coasters is just the start. And they have names like Mantis, Raptor and Mean Streak. Yessss!

I've not been this excited since Britney first checked outta rehab

What were they thinking?

1982 Ford Promo - California Highway Patrol Special Service Mustang Ad
Originally uploaded by ssp.vortech

One of the best ways to start looking at the cultural narrative on a brand is to go back through all of its communication and look at the threads that lay there.

I did just that on Mustang this morning. Of course Mustang is odd in that its story runs much deeper than anything it's ever said... it's as much an icon of America as it is an American icon and that's as much down to Bullit, to racing, to father and son driveway moments and things like Farrah and Charlie's Angels as it is the advertising. And it's just as well. Because the ads spent decades talking about room for dogs, shagpile carpet and the fact that the dashboard is badded and the seats were vinyl.

But there were some threads in there. Basically Mustang ran the Smirnoff strategy for a long, long time, Mustang is transformational - it allows you to cast off your dowdy accountant self and embrace your uninhibited, sexy self.

Smirnoff does it by making you so drunk that you don't care (the world looks different through the bottom of a bottle) Mustang did it by making you feel so cool you took on a new persona.

The other story in there was that this release was the attainment of the dream. Mustang was about escape for a very long time. Whic h makes sense when you think that the original buyers were in a buttoned up world where self expression was frowned upon.

There was a lot about heritage too. About how each generation was related to the previous generation (and how it had improved). This communication split into two real camps. There was 'approval from a father figure' in which a new Mustang pulls up alongside an old Mustang and the older driver passes positive comment. And there was trans-generational transfer in which a father passes on the feeling of a Mustang to his son. I found the latter more powerful.

Best of all though was the MadMen style sexism of the times.

"Should a single gal buy a 1968 Mustang? Sure - it's a sports car she can afford even on her secretary's salary"

Or the woman who begins her test-drive with the words

"I really should be in the kitchen"

Hilarious but all a part of the legend. Mustang it seems has always been an invitation to show your sexier side --- what that means in a world full of college jazz mags, explicit blogs, high street sex shops, hardcore downloads and teen hypersexuality is the big challenge.

But it's great to be thinking about something that has real cultural currency than trying to work out something new to say about a new watermelon flavored yellow fat.

Weird but true

oh no
Originally uploaded by [douglasdickel]

So yesterday at around 4pm I head down for a coffee and hear the sounds of a band who seem somehow familiar... walk around the corner to the meeting room best known as Boffo and who should be playing?.... Supergrass

Yup - the monkey resembling pop combo from the late 90s were all set up and rocking a select crowd of Detroit office drones on a Monday afternoon.

And that's why I love this business.

Much happening

Cow Parede IV - The Cow and the Poet
Originally uploaded by whereohwhere

So the posts recently have been thinner than a Bullemic's tooth enamel (my fave phrase at the moment) - partly because I've been stupidly busy. Partly because I've been knackered from being so stupidly busy. Which isn't a bad thing.

The gym continues - and the weight keeps rising; which has to be a good thing.

The mosquitos keep biting and the lumps keep getting bigger and uglier (which can't be a good thing, can it?)

The dog keeps getting walked longer and seems to be coping (yesterday's doggy companion got stung by a bee, bitten by bugs, developed diahorrea and seemed quite burned, Velcro just smelled a little worse)

People are still filling our days and spare rooms - we have Zenu for another week, then Bonnie and Lorraine and then my parents.

Work continues to focus on the launch of new cars, the putting together of a plan for new product for a toy company and the task of persuading more people to eat more cheese (or similar numbers of people to eat a lot more cheese)

So nothing major but the minute hands are moving fast at the moment.