Charting the Eighties

We've all been subjected to terrible powerpoint presentations,
We've all suffered data fatigue in our share of darkened conference rooms.

My colleague/co-founder at Reelpunk, and I were marveling this very afternoon at how Keynote can make even the most banal data look pretty appealing. All it takes is a little self restraint to keep the data to a minimum. As a test, we took the most abstract subject matter as a test.
We decided to create graphic representations of some of the pop-iest tunes from the eighties.
We resisted applying any fancy transitions, soundtracks, or animations, in order to just focus on what the "data" was telling us.

Click on the image below to dim the lights and begin the presentation.



There were many songs that didn't make the final cut, and we decided to withhold songs from other decades for future posts.

Truth in Advertising

We went out on a limb this week and tried the "Super Yogurt" at Wegmans.



After all, who am I to dismiss a product called Super-anything?
After a few lunches worth of these, I can say that they taste pretty good, although a bit "zingier" than their other sour milk offerings. I will leave the long-winded reviews to people who know more about yogurt than I. (yogurt-savvy, if you will)

The packaging is a welcome departure from most staid Wegman's branded products, with it's vacuum shrunk plastic casing, made popular by the revolutionary one-off milk bottles in the late nineties.

But it's what's on the top label that is a little disconcerting.

That's right....BILLION, as in three commas and ten digits.
There are 1,430,000,000 of these -whatever they are- swimming around in an 8-ounce tank. This makes sea-monkeys look like a home-school glee club.
It's ok if don't trust me, you can count them.... i'll wait.

This number seems terrifyingly specific to me. After all, once you're over a million, wouldn't it suffice to simply state: "we stopped counting, trust us though, there's a crap-load!"

Not only do six of these containers contain more wigglies than the human race, they only counted the "Live and Active" cultures. So all of the cultures that were too lazy to get up from their recliners and turn off their X-boxes are not on the list.

In fact, I just recently got ahold of the recent micro-biotic census form that was used to calculate this cess-pool. Here are some interesting excerpts:

Question #245:
How long have you been a culture?
Question #654:
Have you recently relocated from another 8-ounce container?
Question #689:
How long have you been in yogurt?
Question #750:
Are you pro-biotic or anti-biotic?
Question #904:
How many thousands of children do you have?
Question #904b:
Are they all in yogurt? (this could really save us alot of time)
Question #1042:
Do you consider yourself "active"?
Question #1042b:
If yes, when was the last time you touched your toes?
Question #1042c:
If no, do you even have toes?

Upon closer inspection, I think that I have traced the source of the afore mentioned "zingy-ness". It can in all likely-hood be attributed to the "beef gelatin" and "fish oil" additives. That sure is "Super!"

omg - fxfowle gets pwn3d @ lvhrd ;-p

400 hipsters (the kind who would have no trouble understanding that post title) from a variety of design trades, dressed as lumberjacks, watched in stunned silence at the Music Hall of Williamsburg as four architects representing two firms in Pink-Foam Battle Royale.

Here's the teaser for the event:


Here's the resulting model from Konyk:


Here's the resulting model from FXFOWLE:


The online and in-person voting results were as follows:
Konyk. . . . . . . . . 765
FXFOWLE . . . . . . 623

Konyk "Brung It" and "Drank FXFOWLES Milkshake"

Staff Changes

We lost a dear member of our staff last Autumn. Sadie was as good an office manager as one could hope for.


Frank was brought in to fill her sizable paws as office manager. As a ten year old Beagle, he comes with a breadth of experience in office management and human resources. Although he will be traveling occasionally as special envoy to my wife's place of work, the rest of the staff will probably avail themselves to his expertise in conflict resolution.


Henry, meanwhile, has proven his trustworthiness and unflappable work ethic over the past 2 years with us. We are delighted to announce that he has been promoted to Head of Accounts Receivable. Those of you who have had the unfortunate experience of calling the studio during mail delivery time, will undoubtedly recognize his voice. Take our word for it, you will not want to get a phone call from him.


Maggie is the newest addition to the staff. She will be starting out in shipping and receiving, for her probationary period, as Henry trains her to replace his duties as file clerk.

Annual Prognistication

As many of you know, Groundhogs Day is a big tradition here, for many reasons. Not the least of which is that it's a testament to the indomitable American spirit that for one day we ignore all empirical weather data and rely solely on the intelligence and apparent pupil dilation of a small marmot.

Here is this years prediction:

Here Ye! Here Ye! Here Ye!

On Gobbler's Knob on this fabulous Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2008
Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators,
Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting a weathered eye toward thousands of his faithful followers,
Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed:

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me.
Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

....and here are some photos from this years event in Punxatawney.

Crazy Fans



Crazy Crowds


Crazy Marmot


As a Penn State Alumn, I must insist that you accept no substitutes. Punxatawney Phil is THE only furry four legged creature with this divine meteorological intuition.