I've had a thing about Atlanta for quite a while now, surfing every site about the place to figure out how it might be to live there, and as luck has it I know Brandon one of the School of Humans founders, his missus Trudy and their adorable baby girl @carysbarr who treated me to lunch in little five point during my long Atlanta layover. The hood was exactly as I had pictured it, but with better vintage stores (I almost scored an Elvira-dress, the only thing that stopped me was my sensible side knowing that I seldom get to prance around all decked out in rhinestone-covered gala dresses), and now I'm totally sold on the place and want to live there. I even got to peek at Brandon's house which is adorable and has a pink flamingo in the garden, how awesome is that? Now that Perle has learned to eat american food (on our Boston trip she basically survived on fruit alone), even she agrees: "Lets move here, it's summer all the time!"

I wish I had stayed longer actually, the south has a special place in my heart and Georgia works for me.

Be honest now, I have a thing for hats but I can't seem to pull off the girly-classic beret, sequined or not. I can pull off ridiculous pillbox hats, oversized & 1960-fied newsboy caps, the trilby, the pork pie, the Selentino Kojak, the top hat, the derby and even a fedora, and have a fine collection of these. But the soft and girly beret? Not sure about this, Garbo knew how to do it, and men in stiff green ones look bad-ass, but not I. Mental note: stop buying berets.

* this post brought to you by a sudden urge to mock "fashion blogs".

Adverve show is now online, and as I was listening to it, cringing at my own voice I suddenly remembered a funny exchange that would have been perfect for the show.

One of my copywriters asked me with a straight face: Would you sleep with someone to get a job? I didn't even look up from my sketchpad when I replied "Sure, if I get it in writing ....and then I'll sue that motherfuckers ass off... Would you?"

Yeah, we split as a team after that. I'm still not sure if he was being serious or just joshing me, because dude, seriously? Did you just ask that?

It's about five-six hours ago that we wrapped it up now, me Bill Green of Makethlogobigger and Angela Natividad Live and Uncensored recorded show 11 for AdVerve (@Adverve) where we talk about sexism in advertising. Sexist ads, and sexism at the workplace. I'm still kicking myself for yet again not managing to be ...what's the word, oh yeah, diplomatic. I know that whatever I said on this topic will probably return to bite me in the ass sooner rather than later, each word chosen should be carefully so, but I've never been that good at filtering between what my brain thinks and what my mouth says. I'm pretty sure I cursed a few times too, oops.

I gave the full disclosure that yes, I am a feminist, no matter what other people may think this word means, to me not being a feminist is not possible. There are people who argue that the word "feminism" is excluding men by being a gendered word to begin with. Like I said on the show: Civil rights was already taken. That is what it is. I, as a female human being, should have the same rights as a male human being. Human being is key here - feminism is inclusionary, racism needs to end as well as sexism - basta. Despite all the progress that has been made since the civil rights movement truly sparked in the states, there's still blatant racism in the workplace and in advertising, something Hadji spoke about at length on the very same show. There are people who argue that 'extreme versions' of feminism tainted the word and it's so polarizing it overshadows any coherent argument one might make under its mantle. I've had pals argue with me that the word "humanist" should be used instead, since they know so well my stance on wanting equality for all in the human rat race. But it doesn't matter what word we label it with, to those who don't want to listen, it'll always be the wrong word. We could call it fluffycup and someone would turn it around to say fluffycup-nazibitches, I promise you.

I'm also kicking myself for not telling the rather ironic story of when I worked on a campaign about women's rights - as the only woman on the core team - with a household name brand. The work was web-only, so we only communicated via the phone and email. The job began in february, and for whatever reason, the deadline for the sitelaunch kept moving, first it was July, then September, then finally October 4. At that phone-conferance I informed them that I could not work as hard after October 4 as That's my probable due date. The meeting was cut short and the project leader called me up gasping rather agitated How could you not have informed us of this!? failing completely to see the irony of it all. I was rather cold and told him that I had accepted a freelance assignment set to end in July, so if deadlines had been held, there was no reason to inform him that I was pregnant.

I brought up something dubbed Schrödinger’s Rapist on the show, you should read the monster thread here at Metafilter: "Hi watcha reading?" for a full blow of women's experiences when we walk down the street to fully grasp what that helpful tutorial was trying to tell the Nice Guy™. The original post is simply trying to explain to Nice Guy™ why a woman may seem "cold" when approached in public. We've been trained by experience. Even just glancing through the monster thread you will see women from all walks of life sharing why they fear and get ever so angry about having to feel that way. It is in that light you need to view ads where women are the sexy half-naked decoration. It's from that point of view that you will understand why it hurts to see sexist ads, these ads are an extension of the harassing world I greet whenever I step outside of my own front door.

Sexist ads reinforce women being owned by other people than themselves, and to top it off these ads invade our home and our daughters brains. We shouldn't have to "lighten up", it's time people try to understand fully where the complaints are coming from. Those asking us to lighten up about it aren't looking at the full picture.

Are some people overreacting to some ads, when they are intended to be funny? I dunno, how many times will you have to hear: "You're cute when you're angry" before you completely loose it?

And, as I have argued before, these ads are insulting to men with brains too. Like one quipped under that post on adland "It practically screams "HELLO CAVEMAN WE OWN YOU WITH HORMONES". I've got news for BMW, my reptilian brain does not make expensive car purchasing decisions and I'm truly insulted you thought that it did."

Product as hero ads are really hard to do well, they always were. It's not just because products and services have become more complex, only the best creative shops did great product as hero campaigns. This is the holy grail to strive for. Selling without making a joke on someones expense is a great skill. These days it looks like adpeople aren't even trying sometimes.

Working in advertising isn't all that different from working anywhere else, women will be treated different in advertising because they are treated differently in the world. I brought up this study as well: Salary, Gender and the Social Cost of Haggling, to underline my point that salaries being lower for women isn't just because we aren't asking for higher pay. We know that when we do ask, we're labelled "hard to work with". I am, as I have learned, throughout the years, incredibly hard to work with. They said the same about my mentor Paul Arden, but of course when he was, it was cool.

Det är lika krångligt varje år att förklara för folk i närheten varför man inte springer och tar en latte med dem dagarna innan Super bowl. Även om The Super Bowl matchen i sig visas på TV och alltfler sportbarer har nattöppet runt Europa för att visa matchen, så är hypen inte fullt så stor här som den är därborta i det stora landet i väst. Därborta är hypen stor i stil med enorm. Alla pratar om det. Vuxna män gråter av lycka när deras lag på något mirakulöst sätt tar sig fram till finalen. Det är Amerikanernas variant av Fotbolls-VM, men det händer varje år, typ. Visst, det snackas på sportsidor om bowlen härborta numera, till och med mats Olsson har sett gråtande män överallt, men den största biten av folkfesten är det tyst om i Europa fast den har rullat runt tidningarna och TV sedan December nu borta i USA: Vilka reklamfilmer kommer att finnas på Super Bowl?.

Det är den biten som är svår att förklara. Superbowlens reklamfilmer är årets höjdpunkt i den amerikanska reklamvärlden. Det är dagen när lekmän faktiskt tittar på, kommenterar och engagerar sig i "vanlig reklamfilm": Och de gör detta för att filmerna inte är det gamla vanliga, på Superbowl satsar man allt i pengar, kreativitet och galenhet. Hur ofta får du 90.7 miljoner TV tittare som inte växlar bort reklamen nuförtiden? Svar, en gång om året. ;)
SvD har fattat det och skriver om "Supereffekt" men tydligen har releasen de fick inte träffat rätt journalist för där pips det inte ett ord om världens största superbowlfilmsarkiv (som dessutom är svenskt).

Folk här greppar inte att detta är reklamfilmsmecca på sitt vis, ekonomiska barometer-teorier byggs på superbowlfilmer - "är de riktigt crazy så spricker bubblan nästa år". Den teorin var mycket i ropet när Outpost.com tatuerade dagisbarn i pannan och lät folk bli jagade av vargar i 1998 just när IT-bubblan var på topp.

Och prislappen sen då! TRE MILJONER DOLLAR för en reklamfilm på trettio sekunder! Det är ju helt sjukt mycket pengar. Något som till och med har kommenterats i en superbowl film, SB 2000, när E*trade lät en apa dansa i trettio sekunder får att ramma hem sin poäng.

Så att ha världens största arkiv av just Superbowl reklamfilmerna (37 år nu) är inte bara intressant för reklamnördar, utan är även en intressant skiva populärkulturshistoria - men allt detta är inte så lätt att säga när man tackar nej till en Latte-stund. Jag säger bara "kan inte, superbowl vet du." som om alla vet för jag har superbowl på hjärnan från December och framåt varje år.

Filmerna kommer ju att påverka resten av året i reklambranschen världen runt vare sig vi vill det eller inte. Ta till exempel Coca Cola "happiness factory" som du såg på TV stup i kvarten här i Sverige i två års tid - det var en Superbowl film 2007. Jag tippar på att årets Heist är den Cola-film som kommer vandra runt jorden härnäst och den har premiär på söndag, men som sagt, man kan se den redan nu på min sajt för du vet, det är ju det jag gör varje år. Gud vad jag tjatar men [insert Ballerina reklam-röst här] Adland är inte bara störst utan även också först varje år. Förra året hade numera konkade konkurrenten Firebrand inte snappat detta utan skickade sina betalda Buzz-personer att spamma om deras sketna "Superbowl Tuesday" under en artikel om de fem sämsta superbowl filmerna här, men mina trevliga användare / adgrunts sparkade snart bakut över deras otroligt kassa stil. Bäst är kommentaren: NBC Universal should have sent Dabitch the money that firebrand burned och jag håller helt och hållet med. Firebrand gjorde en massa saker jag har länge velat göra men på helt fel sätt . Pappskallar!

Det är nästan lite synd att Pepsi inte kommer skicka "I'm good" (som också har premiär nu på söndag) jorden runt för den tycker jag är bra mycket roligare än de senare varianterna i Coke Zero kampanjerna som vi ser här - fast det är samma karla-karl målgrupp och "message" (en diet dricka som inte smakar ptviii-blä). Men jag är ju lite svag för slapstick. Idag släppte jag dessutom Denny's filmen som är den första gången Denny's är på the superbowl, och igen, världspremiär att se den på Adland innan bowlen.

Kontaktmannen är den första svenska reklam-bloggen (om vi definerar det som 'skriver om reklam/jobbar med reklam') som gjort ett inlägg på just Superbowls arkivet som finns på Adland, och det tackar jag honom för. Scoopar Dagens Media och Resumé på att hela reklamfilmsarkivet numera är tillgängligt gratis för alla gör han också, trots att jag faktiskt ringt bägge tidningar om just denna nyhet för två veckor sedan. Jag har ingen aning om varför detta inte var av intresse. Medievärlden tyckte i alla fall att det var kul nog att ringa upp mig för Superbowl samlingens skull, och Axel Andén retades lite med frågan "Vem vill se 37 år gamla reklamfilmer?" Hahaa! Jag borde ha svarat "ASMÅNGA!" men jag slängde in det där med populärkultur. När du kollar gamla SNL sketcher mitt i natten - som jag gör för Chris Rock var så herrans sköj på den tiden - så körde de aslänge med "Are those Bugle Boy Jeans you're wearing?". Var kom det ifrån tror ni? Superbowl reklam 1991 med the Go-Go's, vars annars?

HD.se's sportbloggen har också noterat att arkivet finns, och säger "Det är alltid trevligt med nördar" vilket jag var tvungen att emaila och tacka för - jag har nu nördpoäng whohoo! - sånt bli en (nördig) flicka glad av.

Nu skall jag nörda vidare. Vi ses på andra sidan bowlen, barn. För att riktigt cementera hur viktigt Super Bowl är för oss på Adland, ta gärna en titt på David Jones' fina serie han gjorde åt oss How Adland watches the superbowl, som förklarar allt. ;)

Update! hoppla, just som jag sitter och knackar här gör Ms "As good as it gets" Ulrika Good ett inlägg om Superbowl reklamfilmsarkivet, tjolahopp och tack!

Jag glömde en annan kul länk - Metafilter: Bomb, Blitz, Fumble, or Pass - Super Bowl Ads Go Long gjorde en riktigt kul djupdykning i historien om SB filmer i Torsdags med en massa länkar till Adland's fina arkiv. Den är rolig att läsa om du förkovra dig i mer SBreklamfilmshistoria och hur dessa filmer skapade varumärken (Apple "1984") eller dödade dem direkt (Just For Feet - Kenya Mission) bara genom en endaste SB film.

Update igen! Nu hittar jag att även Deeped pekar på Adland och summerar varför det imponerar att Denny's har ringt både Goodby och the Perlorian Brothers för att göra filmen - "de är reklamvärldens motsvarighet till bröderna Coen.". Jepp. Dessutom är Denny's ett billigt hak, föreställ er China Box med reklamfilmer regisserade av Traktor. Stackars deeped blev ju ratad när han ville ses sist han var i Malmö för att "Herregud, kaninteju superbowl!" dessutom, så det var snällt av honom. :)

STORT TACK till deeped vars magiska RSS läsare hade den enda hårda kopian av denna post i hela världen - samt så sitter han och hamstrar Adland poster som om han är en samlarmyra med OCD - Hurra!

Did you hear about the twitter-tempest in a teapot this weekend involving Motrin and mommybloggers? Seems Motrins latest ad campaignreleased on Saturday was too snarky for some who reckoned they were bashing "babywearing" moms causing a social media fail whale where a whole bunch of moms tweeted #motrinmoms to express their dislike in a trackable way, and in the end someone even posted a youtube video with a bunch of tweets in it see it here.
Motrin removed the ad. Even fellow Swede Kullin had to throw two öre in.

Now, I might be getting old or something but I couldn't muster up enough outrage to even care about that ad. That kinetic typography fad has been in everything from car ads to Obama ads by now and was cool *five years ago*(OK, so there's my art director outrage) but jumped the shark with bells on when Obama used in "vote for hope". Besides, there are much cooler ways of doing it - behold Typographics. Or Great scenes from TV and Film using only typography. Saul Bass' kinetic typography in North by Northwest is still numero uno in the flying fonts game. Are we done yet?

So here's me and Perle, in the hand-me-down family-heirloom Baby Björn that carried three other babies before her. You'll never catch me wearing my offspring in a sling though - and that's probably where the Motrin ad went wrong - it forgot nuances. It also forgot to mention anything about "safe to take when nursing" which pretty much screams "has no idea what is on target moms top of mind". Or maybe it just screams "not talking to me", which is why it failed to score any outrage because they clearly weren't talking to me. I'm of the old-school common sense logic breed: Your high heels hurt? Take the heels off. Baby sling putting a strain on left shoulder? Quit using it that way. Not a fan of the "we have a pill for that" school of thought. I bet they even have pills for that! They're called anti-pillefreifandom® and can not be mixed with alcohol.

Image reposted from the art of looking cool Sunday, June 18, 2006.

Poolparty with Sunshine Rabbits rockin' out to "The colour of the fur" - Sunday september 7 in a pool in Höllviken.

The email inviting us was pretty straightforward: "Get dressed up in gear that you may swim in. Crazy shit. Bear suits! Platform shoes!" So we did, and there was silver platform shoes represented, as well as neon pink underwear and day-glo orange nailpolish, eighties sunglasses, two-toned suits made from two suits, potato sack-outfits, glittering blue turbans and men in dresses.

On the count of three, we all had to hop into the pool and rock out. Which we did. High energy hop-hop-hop bunnies! Raah! Holy cow, it was actually quite cold.

I even got Perle - decked out in her fave Hello Kitty suit of course - to join in for a bit. Our over-energetic splashing will end up in the video for Sunshine Rabbits - but don't count on seeing me much, I got way to into it and kept twirling around with my back to the camera. ;)

After everyone was out, I stayed in the cold water to swirl my wee princess around in a giant swan. She dug that. I think she's contemplating world domination here. "No Mr Bond, I expect you to die!"

Finally, there's an article in Dagens Industri about Adland. I'd prefer it to be for a good news reason, rather than the sad 'chinagate' affair.

For the record, the photographers name is Miklas Njor - not Miklas Mjor! Also, few people will spot that I'm totally mocking the usual pink paper shots in this photo - I'm wearing my "ties suck" written in binary tie. Tee hee hee.

edit: also posted on adland: Adland is in Dagens Industri today.

It's now a long time ago since I was in Boston to attend Caff's wedding but I still haven't posted all my photos. I really loved visiting there, one day we went whale watching. It was Miklas, the über-tourist who suggested it and I happily joined, forgetting that I get pretty sea sick. Ugh, it was rough. (pun!)

After a sweet wee landbird decided to sit and have a rest on my hand while we were 25 miles out to sea, I figured it was all worth it.

The whales, humpbacks and we saw at least 17 of them, were curious about us too and swam really close to the boat and even underneath the boat which was pretty wicked awesome. Note: everyone in Boston says "Wicked Awesome" all the time.

Also, soon after this, a whale breached not far from the boat. That was, indeed, wicked awesome. A+++++ would get seasick again!

Honestly, the great thing about animals is that they just don't care.
They'll follow you in to the loo and listen to you fart and they still love you.
They'll meet the morning and your morning breath at the same time and they still love you.

Amazingly, they'll survive being flattened by your fat ass sitting on them (by mistake, I did not know he was under the covers honestly!), and after a two weeks of "you suck" glares and exactly two kitty painkillers from the pharmacy, they're right back at still loving you. Check this out, 15 year old Henry1, also known a Lord Launch Lunch, giving me extra love every day for the past week now that he feels better and gets extra salmon oil with every feeding. After I accidently sat on the poor critter he was limping pretty bad for days. Poor cuddlemunchiekyootness.

(yes the background noise is Perle watching Shrek, one two or three, whichever.)

I didn't post much about our trip to Boston, guess I got caught up with work when I returned. I loved it, Perle disliked the food a lot but we did discover that she likes pepperoni pizza. Phew.

This was in a food court somewhere in the theatre district of Boston. I can't recall what we did that day. Probably shopping - Miklas scored like a bandit in every store we went to. Annoying!

Good thing Dabitch likes pizza too. ;)

Tuesday I spent all morning in the operating room, having some surgeon reattach my ring finger tendon to the place where it should be, instead of having it curled up in the middle of my hand where it apparently was. No need to go under for this type of surgery, a local numb-my-entire-arm anaesthetic would do, so I was looking forward to witnessing the surgery. Alas, they gave me a calmative/sedative before the operation, and whatever that was it was powerful stuff which sent me straight to sleeping like a log and having terribly confusing dark dreams. yuck.

So I woke up with my hand wrapped up like this. The nurses and doctors keep asking which hand is my strong hand and I always reply that I'm ambidextrous, as I can draw with both hands. I never realized how much I do rely on my left hand until now that I can't use it, I keep trying to pick things up, open doors, unlock stuff, grab cutlery, tie shoes and all sorts with this cast monster. Do'h! Miklas loves the comedy though, as I can't seem to stop doing dumb things such as scratch my nose or wipe my forehead with the painfully heavy cast hand - resulting in a stereo-Ow since both my hand and my poor forhead hurts. I'm an old dog who can't learn new tricks. *scratch* - ow, ow!

Now I know what she gets up to while I'm sleeping. Stealing my headphones.

"what do these ear-widgets do?"

"aaah, noisy!!"

This is for a mate of mine who said" Dabitch dahling, I never see you these days. All the pictures of that kid of yours. What the hell are YOU doing these days? What color is your hair now?"

Well, I guess that's what they meant when they said your life will never be the same again. For example, I can't seem to a find a recent shot of me that doesn't have "that kid of mine" in it as well. Also, I haven't dyed my hair any funky colors in years. I barely have time to shower, forget three-hours dying sessions every three weeks!