Somebody get me Starbucks

I've been uploading TD50 entries for about seven hours now. I'm one-third of the way through 153 entries from 31 agencies. And my eyes are going bleary on me. The work is looking good. In places, great.

UPDATE: Saturday, 4:45p. I'm at 138 of the 167 entries from 32 agencies. (My count from last night was a little off.)

UPDATE: Saturday, 10:17p. Everything is online. I've listened to You Forgot it in People and Howl at least three times apiece. Good luck, Denver.

TD50 entry deadline extended

In an effort to prevent panic attacks, heart problems and nervous meltdowns, we have extended the deadline for Denver 50 entries until Friday, August 31st at 5:00 p.m. You can drop off entries with me at Karsh\Hagan or with Ted at Thomas Taber & Drazen.

A parable

You find a great foreign film/viral video that you want to make into a Hollywood blockbuster/TV spot. So you go to the studio heads/account team and tell them about it. And they say that the foreign film/viral video lacks a love triangle/unique selling proposition. And action scenes/jump cuts. And a happy ending/big logo. And it would have been better directed by Martin Scorsese/Thanonchai Sornsrivichai.

So they ask you if you can make those little changes and still turn out something great. And you nod your head very seriously and assure them you can. But you can't.

But when you enter it into the Oscars/One Show, it wins anyway. Because Scorsese/Sornsrivichai is still Scorsese/Sornsrivichai, after all.

Join the TD50 Facebook group

A few quick notes about The Denver 50:

• The Denver 50 has a group on Facebook. You have to be a Facebook member and send a request to join the group.

• I'm working at Karsh\Hagan now. You can drop off entries on August 28th there or at Thomas Taber & Drazen.

• We still need models for our show book cover shoot this Thursday and Friday.

Denver 50 call for entries

The call for entries is out. If you missed it, here it is again. And here are the details.

The DBJ on The D50

The Denver Business Journal:

The brains behind a new advertising-award program for Denver say the city's ad creators need to crow louder if they want the national recognition they deserve.

That's one goal of "Denver 50," unveiled this month. The project, leading to an award show and book displaying the city's best ad ideas, is being organized under the wing of the New Denver Ad Club, founded in April as a regional advertising professional group after the demise of the Denver Advertising Federation in 2004.

The rest of the article is mostly an interview with Norm Shearer and me. (Blush.) But it's great for the DBJ to give us this coverage. Since the article's print publication last Friday, I've received a couple calls asking me for more information.

The Simpsons, Halloween and other sacred things

I love Cactus because they blogged the Simpsonization of their entire agency. My own illustrates this post, which is only sort of about The Simpsons.

This post is about messing with the sacred, Which the Simpsons movie certainly does. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to seeing it or if I'm worried that my favorite show has jumped the shark. (A phrase which has itself jumped the shark.)

For me, Rob Zombie's upcoming reimagining of Halloween is an even bigger concern. The 1978 original is a monument in indie film, horror and urban legend. It's one of the few films to successfully mythologize around the awfulness of fate. And it's scary as hell, without ever getting gory. Zombie is unlikely to take the same approach.

Messing with the sacred pays huge dividends if you do it right. In the world of film, Batman Begins introduced the masses to the real Dark Knight. In the world of advertising, Adidas reclaimed its legitimacy with great work from EVB and 180 Amsterdam.

What the reinventions of Batman and Adidas have in common is that they weren't reinventions at all, but rather a restoration of core values. Batman became the strong shadow of The Long Halloween. Adidas returned to its global athletic roots, which are a couple decades deeper than Nike's, with spots starring worldwide stars like Ian Thorpe and David Beckham.

The lesson is that when you have the opportunity to work on something sacred, you shouldn't superimpose your own values upon it.

I really, really hope Rob Zombie understands that.