Social Chameleon

Well, at least it’s better than testicles

Posted by Erin under Found in the tubes

*Sigh* Oh rednecks, is there nothing you won’t attach to your trailer hitch?

Hitch Hands - Middle Finger for your Trailer Hitch

via Strange New Products

Photoshop Disasters

Posted by Erin under Found in the tubes

Photoshop Disasters has quickly become my new favorite blog. In newspapers, digitally manipulating an image can amount to a blacklist-able offense; in advertising, however, it’s par for the course. We all know that beauty magazines airbrush the hell out of their subjects, but when it’s done right, the changes are imperceptible. Images can only be taken to a certain degree before they start tumbling into the uncanny valley. What Photoshop Disasters does is compiles some of the laziest, most egregious uses of image manipulation ever to be unleashed on the general public.

This is what bugs me when people ask if I “know” Photoshop. Yes I do… technically. I know what all the tools are, what they do and how to switch between them, how to select certain parts of a picture and stack things using layers. Does that mean I know what do do with those tools? Partially. I have a laundry list of parlor tricks I can perform with reasonable accuracy (so long as you’re not looking for anything sharper than 180 dpi reproduced on newsprint). Am I any good at it? Not really. But I’m learning.

At least I know not to play fast and loose with perspective and bizarre limb-lengthening.

I can has con?

Posted by Erin under Brainco, Found in the tubes

Oh man, where the heck have I been? How am I just now finding out about ROFLcon? Where some of the greatest internet memes and leaders of the LOLosphere gathered to discuss the future of internet culture. Half my bookmark list was there: Homestar Runner, xkcd, Cyanide and Happiness, Drew Curtis, Stuff White People Like, Diesel Sweeties. The list goes on.

So why is this so great? It’s and acknowledgment that all these seemingly light humor pieces floating around the tubes are actually powerful tools which can rapidly forge bonds between people around the globe. Randall Munroe put it more succinctly than I ever could:

XKCD: There is a mindset that people share, but aren’t aware they share. XKCD helps them discover each other.

I collect lolcats. I even went as one for Halloween. Being plugged into these memes will one day help me in my career. The best way to talk to geeks (heck, any group) is to speak their language, get inside their heads and show that you’re one of them. Genuinely.  We know what missing the mark can look like. Whether through direct references or via the same channels of communications, this is the way advertisers can most quickly reach Gen-Y.

I will know that I have made it in this industry when I’m pulling down mad money to slap Impact cutlines over photos of cute animals. Just you wait.