What I do.

I am a copywriter for an advertising agency. That is widely known, at least among my peeps, but not everyone knows what that means. So, you ask, what is a copywriter? I guess it's a just a fancy word for someone who writes copy, and for the record, it has nothing to do with trademarks, copyrights or anything like that.

I create ads, brochures, radio spots, TV ads, videos, eblasts, websites, billboards and anything else for our clients, for our company or just for fun. I basically help come up with the idea for an ad, what it should look like and what it should say. And along the way I work with an art director who creates the layout or design of the ad, brochure, etc. It is a fun job (most of the time) and I wouldn't trade it for anything, except to be a pro golfer, basketball player, skateboarder or maybe photographer, or maybe rock star. But other than that, I love it!

And now I finally have my portfolio site finished, after working on it for quite some time. Here it is, robotkinson.com.

It allows me to showcase my talents to anyone who is interested in what I can do. Feel free to click around and explore the things I've done in the past. I will update it when I have new stuff that I am proud of.

Thanks kids.

Robot.

Awesome movie

Here is the trailer for a unique documentary that came out last year, but I just finally got around to seeing it. It is called The King of Kong.

If you like good documentaries, or if you are just a fan of old video games, this movie is highly recommended. I hoped it would be good, but little did I know that there was such a compelling story to tell in the world of competitive Donkey Kong. It's a tale of good vs. evil, David vs. Goliath, Luke vs. Darth. But who will win? I guess you'll have to watch it to find out.

I hope you enjoy it. I sure did.

My boys can swim!

It appears that my guys aren't as lazy as I am and managed to beat the odds, as well as Melissa's defense mechanisms, to successfully knock her up. The good news is that we didn't have to use alcohol or a drive in movie to make it happen. Yeah! Here is a picture of the little guy or gal. If you look close enough, you can see that it has my eyes and Melissa's bum.

I am white

and I quite enjoy this site:

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

The Arcade Fire

As you may or may not know, The Arcade Fire is one of m'very favorite bands. To me, you will be hard pressed to find someone who rocks better than them. As an example, here is one of my bestest, most favoritist of their songs, 4%20Intervention.mp3 . Melissa and I saw them in LA last year, and the energy at that show was unmatched by pretty much any other band I have ever seen.

But in addition to making amazing songs, they are breaking new ground by utilizing the worldwide net to their advantage. For example, they have created a few mini websites for some of the songs off their latest album, Neon Bible. These sites act like music videos for the songs, but the cool thing is that you can interact with each site and control what is going on by rolling over and clicking around. For a good time, click on the following links to see what I am talking about. Spend some time with them, they are way cool:

http://www.neonbible.com/readme.html

http://rorrimkcalb.com/arcadefire.html

http://www.beonlineb.com/click_around.html

Delayed (update)

Just to let everybody know, I arrived in Salt Lake at about 1:00 am, only 6 1/2 hours after I arrived at the San Diego airport. Not bad for an hour and a half flight.

Also, I purchased some Peanut M&Ms to eat on the plane, but the first thing that they tell us when we board at 9:45 is that we can't open anything with peanuts in them because someone had a severe peanut allergy. What a roast!

Delayed

Sitting in the airport is awesome. I usually find myself quite amused by airport life. Cranking the iPod, watching the world go by and wondering how some of these people managed to get a plane ticket. I find myself wondering if maybe they would have been better off buying a square meal for themselves, not to mention some clothes and a place to stay, but whatever.

Today, however, is not so awesome. I'm heading to Utah for a few days and had a 7:05 flight on JetBlue. So, I arrived the customary 90 minutes early, just in case something goes wrong. Immediately I find out that my flight is now leaving at 8:16, so I'm WAY early. Great, no big deal, I'll crank some tunes, buy a big Coke and read a bit.

One bonus is that I discovered a sports bar showing the NBA 3-point and Slam Dunk contests—so maybe things won't be so bad. Wrong. It is now 8:24, and I am not leaving till probably 9:30. So, I was WAY, WAY early. The plane I am waiting for is arriving soon, but it has to sit on the runway while another plane lands, boards and takes off. How did they manage that? I called to butting in line, but they didn't listen. So I have to wait here longer. At least I don't have to wait on the plane I guess.

To top it off, there is no where to sit at my gate. Oh, rest assured, there are a lot of seats without people sitting in them, but they all have their poop on them, and when I give them dirty looks, they just look the other way and pretend they didn't see me. So now I am at another gate, hoping that somehow my flight doesn't change again and I miss it. I do feel bad for my brother-in-law, who was to pick me up at 10 pm Utah time, but now it will be about 1 am. Again, that's awesome.

In fact, maybe I should go sit at the gate, on the hard tile floor in the hallway, that sounds like fun.

This is what I look like when I've been at the airport for 3 hours, with another to go:

Frank is retarded

IMG_1607.JPG
Originally uploaded by Robotkinson

So, the other morning, we found ourselves lying in bed, watching some TV. I could hear a banging noise that sounded like Frank playing with a box, however, both Melissa and I ignored it, thinking that he had found a new toy or something. After a minute, it dawned on us to see what exactly he was up to, since we didn't remember a box being in the room. Well, as you can see, Frank had found the empty Kleenex box that Mel had thrown on the floor. His head was stuck in there, and he couldn't get it out. We laughed SO HARD. At this point, he had just given up and was leaning against the wall. After we got our chuckles out, grabbed the box while he pulled his head out. It was really stuck on there. If we hadn't been home, it would have been on there all day. What a weird cat.

A weekend with my Dad

As most, or all of you know, my Dad passed away on February 17, 2007. We were by his side the night that he died, but he was in a coma, so it wasn't like we were really with him. But, one year ago today was the last day that I was really able to spend with him. I can't believe it has already been one year.

On January 5, 2007, the doctor told him that he only had a few months to live. Up until that day, we knew that he had a melanoma, and that things weren't looking especially good, but we didn't know how quickly things could happen. So when we found out that he only had a few months left, Melissa and I decided that we need to spend as much time as possible with him. So we made plans to fly up to Salt Lake for the weekend. He was in the hospital being treated for an infection, but he was himself for the most part. He felt bad that we couldn't be at the house, or doing other things, but I honestly didn't care. I was just happy to be there with him. I spent pretty much the entire weekend with him at the hospital, and I couldn't have been happier (considering the circumstances); we watched some golf, a BYU Basketball game and just talked a lot.

I didn't know that it would be the last time I would spend with him, but when I was leaving Sunday night, I remember giving him a big hug and telling him that I love him. As Mel and I were walking down the hallway, I mentioned, "what if that is the last time I see him alive?"

Considering he would pass away three weeks later, I am very happy that we decided to plan that trip right then, instead of waiting a few weeks. It turned out that he was really sick the next couple of weeks, and really wasn't quite himself. We were up there on the perfect weekend. I miss him a lot. Everyday. But I cherish every memory and every moment I spent with him.

Here is a picture I took of him that Sunday. It is Dad doing his favorite thing, playing with one of his grandkids (my nephew Court).

A monster, a handicam and a case of nausea. What's not to like?

We saw this movie on a week or so ago, on 01.18.08:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/cloverfield/

And I must say I quite enjoyed it, despite the case of motion sickness I experienced. It's a monster movie along the likes of Godzilla, but the entire movie is filmed on a handicam—just giving you that warning now. I won't say much else about the show, so as not to give too much away, but it was very enjoyable. It was made by the guy who created Lost, JJ Abrams. And, like Lost, you can just watch it once, and enjoy it on a very basic level, or if you so desire, you can delve deeper into the mysteries of the phenomenon by researching the subject online.

Hope you enjoy it.

2007, a year in music

Here is a list of my favorite albums of the year. Critics on various sites would disagree with a lot of my choices, but I don't really care. This is my list.

Album of the Year:
Neon Bible, The Arcade Fire

Thoroughly enjoyable, very damn good albums:
Our Love to Admire, Interpol
Icky Thump, The White Stripes
Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
Our Ill Wills, The Shout Out Louds
Wincing the Night Away, The Shins
Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, The Foo Fighters
Snakes and Arrows, Rush

The Best of the Rest:
A Weekend in the City, Bloc Party
Last Light, Matt Pond PA
Because of the Times, Kings of Leon
A Lesson in Crime, Tokyo Police Club
Nighttiming, Coconut Records
In Rainbows, Radiohead

(I am sure that more albums will come to my mind, or that I will purchase more music that was released in 2007. If that happens, I'll update this list)

My favorite movies of 2007

Here are my favorite movies of the year. Some made money, some didn't. Some got great reviews, some didn't. But these are the ones that struck a chord with me.

We saw our fair share of shows this year, but didn't quite make it to see every one. In fact, a few that we missed would have had a shot at making this list (including The King of Kong, Michael Clayton, Rocket Science and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead).

I really tried to narrow this list down to 10, but it proved too difficult. Here is the list, in no particular order

Oscar contenders:
•No Country for Old Men (probably my choice for best picture, with There Will Be Blood #2)
•There Will Be Blood (A tense, powerful film; Daniel Day-Lewis is my best actor)
•Sweeney Todd
•American Gangster
•Eastern Promises (Viggo Mortenson is so good in this)
•Atonement (very powerful, the performances were amazing)
•Juno

No shot at Best Picture Oscar, but great movies:
•The Bourne Ultimatum (Jason Bourne is a bad man)
•The Darjeeling Limited (probably my overall favorite movie of the year)
•Lars and the Real Girl (a great show, Ryan Gosling is exceptional in it)
•Gone, Baby Gone (underrated movie that I would nominate for best picture)
•Ocean's 13 (very good, much better than Ocean's 12)
•Zodiac (another underrated film that should be receiving more attention)
•The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•The Simpsons Movie (Simpsons; spider pig; enough said)
•300 (visually stunning; very fun)
•The Lookout (no one's heard of it, but it is great)
•We Own the Night (almost forgot about this one, but I really like it a lot)

Very good movies that didn't quite make the cut:
•The Savages (amazing acting performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney)
•Reign Over Me (Adam Sandler, yes, Adam Sandler turns in a solid dramatic performance)

Frank

Frank is our cat. We are pretty sure he is part Siamese and part bobcat, and could best be described as schizophrenic. One minute he is licking your face or rubbing his head against you, then the next minute he has his front legs wrapped around your arm as he is gnawing on your hand. We are not sure what causes these mood swings. It is especially confusing when you are just trying to pet him as he lays in your lap, and he turns his head to bite your hand. What cat doesn't want you to pet him. We could easily have named him Hannibal Lecter or Norman Bates. We do, however, love that he has a ton of personality. He doesn't run and hide when we have company. In fact, if you are new to our house, or if you happen to stay over, you become his new best friend.

Here are a couple pictures that illustrate my point of his bipolar disorder:

Dr. Jekyl


Mr. Hyde

The wifey

Santa brought Mel and me a kick a$$ new camera for Christmas, the Canon EOS Rebel XTi. It is awesome, although I feel stupid since I am currently using it to about 2% of it's full capacity. But that's okay, because even the pictures taken with the "Auto Focus" setting still look amazing. I think we'll be taking a class or two to try and get the most out of our new toy. Here are a couple of shots of m'wife that I am fond of.

Not all wedding parties are created equal.

A couple of months ago, my mom and brother were in town on vacation. So, the wifey and I showed them the sites. Now, there are certain things in San Diego that you can count on showing people: La Jolla Shores, Torrey Pines, Coronado, Point Loma, Balboa Park, etc. But, there are certain things that you just can't plan on, but somehow bring you as much joy as the Hotel Del.
One of those things happened to be an amazing wedding party that we encountered. We went out to Coronado to eat lunch at the Hotel Del, and just walk around. Afterwards we went to the other side of the island to see the cool view of Downtown San Diego. Now, the following pictures aren't the greatest, because I had to take them covertly. A couple of them were taken while walking right by the people. I didn't want 12 bridesmaids and groomsmen attacking me for making fun of them.
I guess my only regret is not choosing this color scheme for my wedding. But, alas, it's too late. For any of my single friends out there, feel free to take inspiration from this.

PS, the girl in the pink dress was the bride! Her groom is in the white suit with hot pink cumber bun. To quote Borat, very nice.

Signage

The wife and I ate at In N' Out the other day. Now, as a general rule, when I am going to eat at In N' Out, I am pretty focused on one thing: the Double Double (w/o onions), fries and Coke that I'm preparing to consume. But on this particular occasion, as I was nearing the In N' Out in Pacific Beach, I noticed an amazing sign. I've eaten at that location 2.4 million times, and I've never seen this sign before. So, I told the wifey, I NEED to take a picture of that. So, after consuming my #1 combo, I took a minute to take the following picture. Hopefully you'll appreciate it as much as I do. I have to say that although I agree with the message of the sign, I can't say that I would pay money to have huge sign produced and mounted on the side of my building. Perhaps I need to reevaluate my commitment? On a related note, I love reading and dissecting people's signs, billboards, etc. when I'm about town. It's one of my favorite things. Melissa can attest to this.

Enjoy (ps, I am not writing about the parking sign)

Company slogans

When you come up with a company slogan, I think it's important to be honest, straightforward, and basically state what your company does in a succinct manner. So today's winner comes courtesy of my sister. She is doing receivables for Insta-Chain, our family business, and one of their customers uses the following slogan:

"We Mount Anything"

Amazing. Nothing more needs to be said.

Sick (at work) day.

Today is one of those days when you feel sick, but not quite sick enough to stay home from work. If I was any worse, or if I didn't have anything to do at work today, I'd probably have called in. But I thought I'd give it my best shot.

However, that didn't stop me from going to my car for what amounted to a one hour nap, while listening to Okkervil River. I was so tired, but now I feel refreshed, although I still feel a tad poopy.

Naps are awesome.

Dad

So, Thanksgiving weekend was the first time I've been to Utah and, in turn, visited the cemetery since my Dad passed away. Last time I was there was on February 24, the day we left to come back home to San Diego. In April his headstone was installed as was his name on the Veterans Memorial, located just a few feet from his grave site. It was a pretty surreal site to see his name engraved on the granite, and it once again sunk in to me that it was all final. I knew that returning home was going to be hard, but I also knew that it would be good for me. I was really looking forward to see the grave and the memorial.
Probably one of the weirdest things was walking into the house for the first time and not seeing him in his white recliner, watching TV or reading a book. He'd always be in that chair, then, when we would walk in, he'd get right up and come greet us. It signified that we were home. So that was a little hard, but it was okay. Mom came rushing to the door when we came in, and it was so great to see her, and give her a big hug. It did feel good to be home again. I don't want her to feel like her house isn't home anymore, because it does feel like home, it's just a little different. I know that a lot of the family is having a very hard time with everything, but I just hope they don't forget about her, and that it is still home to them even though Dad/Grandpa isn't there any more. He is there in spirit anyway, watching over everyone.
We had a wonderful time up in Utah, but it went way too fast. It was definitely a melancholy trip at times, just remembering my Dad, and missing him a lot, but it was great to be able to spend a lot of time with the family and see a bunch of old friends again.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

Melissa and I spent Thanksgiving in Utah, and while we were there, we visited my Dad's grave a few times. One thing I noticed when I was there is that sometimes you might want to leave some flowers for a loved one, but you don't happen to have a vase with you. And, of course you don't want to just lay the flowers on the headstone, that's just not classy enough. So, what I learned is that you can just cut the top off of whatever you happen to be drinking (preferably in a can), put the flowers in that "vase" and leave it on the headstone.



I'd like to thank Ralph's relatives for teaching me that a can of Natural Ice makes the perfect vase for pink roses. Classy.