Make a difference: Buy American

World News with Diane Sawyer asks: Are You In?

In a story that began almost a year ago by Diane Sawyer at ABC News about how buying American-made products can help create jobs, this holiday season, the network is launching a new campaign called, 'The Great Made In America Christmas.' 

According to the report, most American's will spend an average of $704 dollars this holiday season, totaling more than $465 billion, based on estimates by the National Retail Federation. If we all spent $64 of those dollars on American-made products during the holiday season, the result would be 200,000 new jobs. Now, I'm not a mathematician, but I know a good thing when I hear it and this is a good thing.

Millions of Americans are losing their resources for earning or gaining money and part of the answer is more jobs. While China's middle class is growing by leaps and bounds – on September 5, 2011, Forbes.com published a story on how China's middle class will be roughly four times the size of the American middle class population – why are American's still buying imports? If you can do something as easy as buying American to help grow our economy, why wouldn't you?

So, ABC News with Diane Sawyer is asking: Are you in? Will you spend at least $64 dollars of your holiday budget on something made in America? I know I will. Do something to make a difference, no matter how small.

Sources:
Made In America Christmas: Are You In? – ABC World News with Diane Sawyer
Within A Generation, China Middle Class Four Times Larger Than America's – Forbes.com

The View From My Window

AT WORK

Currently, I'm working in Burbank at an agency that specializes in
entertainment advertising. This is the view from my office window. 

Weekend Movie Review

COWBOYS AND ALIENS

This Thanksgiving weekend, we had food, friends, desserts and a movie to watch - 'Cowboys and Aliens.'

Directed by 'Iron Man' director, Jon Favreau, this movie draws you in from the get go. However, it takes a while for the story to unveil its missing links and there are some dragging moments. Lots of subplots to complete the story.

The twist to this flick, if that's what you'd call it, is that this all takes place in 1843. A good premise but less than stellar production considering the powerhouse names behind it – Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Steven Spielberg, to name only a few. The film critic for the Los Angeles Times said it best – he said that it felt more like a business deal than an action/adventure film.

Daniel Craig does his best to pull this film together and there is plenty of action. I appreciate the story and the overall big picture of the plot, I just felt as if there were a few holes in final production. I rate this picture 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Kenneth Turan, the Los Angeles Times film critic hated the film. For his review, please see click here.

The Holidays Are Here

This weekend, we were inspired to put up a tree and the
lights outside. It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas.

It's official. The holidays have arrived. It feels like Halloween was just last week and now the long Thanksgiving weekend will soon be over and the new year will be here. Did you get your holiday shopping started this weekend? Did you put up any lights or buy a tree?

Our Thanksgiving feast consisted of a fresh 15-pound turkey, green beans, dressing, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, and much, much more. What I thought would be the start of a long and depressing holiday period has so far started out pretty good. My best buddy and roommate, Jeff, and I cooked our turkey in our new oven. We covered it with a mixture of honey and orange juice and Jeff added paprika to the spices to give it that reddish color. He also made his famous green beans with bacon, garlic and pepper, as well as Grandma's Cornbread Dressing with cornbread, onions, celery, chicken stock and green peppers.

My roommate glazed our turkey with a mixture of honey and fresh squeezed
orange juice with paprika for color. He also made his Texas-style green beans
with bacon and garlic, minus the potatoes (we had plenty of potatoes).

Our friend, Manny, brought a beautiful, glazed ham and I made no-salt glazed carrots with ginger. They were delicious. Our other friend, Robert, cooked his little heart out. He brought a platter of home made, individual cheesecakes; a home made pumpkin pie; glazed yams; and, the coup de grace was the home made creamed corn, with white and yellow corn, green onions, heavy cream and lots of butter. OMG...it was the best creamed corn I have ever had. Cereal. (Seriously.) Our next door neighbor, Miss K, brought over beer, ice cream and an extra pie. We had a lot to be grateful for.

By the time we finished eating the second time, we were ready to just sit and watch a movie. And, we did. Thankfully, we could all agree on 'Cowboys & Aliens' – the star-powered western-meets-sci-fi flick about a handsome cowboy (Daniel Craig) and his evil nemesis (Harrison Ford) who team up with Native Americans to defeat aliens from another planet. To read my review of this movie, please click here.

Manny's ham and my glazed carrots were equally delicious and
part of a larger reason to be thankful.

All in all, it was a holiday weekend to be thankful for. We had lots of food, friends and a nice, long, mellow weekend at home. My roommate was inspired to go buy a tree on Saturday, so we headed out to the local Home Depot where there was a large selection of fresh cut trees at reasonable prices. Six-to-eight-foot trees were priced around $35 dollars. Not bad for a biggish tree.

The holidays are here and in spite of the current economy, American's have much to be thankful for – with our freedom and our constitutional rights alone, we are very lucky, indeed. I wish you all a happy, healthy and safe holiday season with the ones you love and cherish most by your side. Happy holidays!

CD Review: Talk that talk

Rihanna's new Album 'Talk That Talk' is the dance album
you've been waiting for from Rihanna.

RIHANNA

Recently, I've been listening to a lot of Rihanna – from her first U.S. album with the fun dance hit 'S.O.S.', as well as the groovy 'We Ride' to her last album (which I LOVE) 'Loud' – I suddenly realize that I really like the way this girl sounds. From her true-to-life lyrics to the different mixes of music styles she combines on mostly all of her albums, there is something about Rihanna's music that resonates with me.

If you like Rihanna, too, but have been waiting for her to make a dance-heavy album, this is 'da one.' I can't stop listening and dancing to the ultra-anthems 'Where Have You Been' and my ultimate favorite 'We Found Love' with its happy intro, enchanting lyrics and '90s  tea-dance beat. Not since Madonna's 'Hard Candy' or Gaga's 'Born This Way' have I been so excited about a dance album. Let's not forget to mention the easy-to-sway-to 'You Da One' and 'We All Want Love'.

Rihanna is not only a good singer, but she can rap pretty well, too. I think she could give Nikki Minaj a run for her money. But, there's something about Rihanna's voice that is haunting and deeply rooted to her soul. I love this album!

For a more detailed review, please see USA Today's review by Steve Jones.

The 2011 Coca-Cola Holiday Can

HAVE YOU SEEN IT, YET?

The New Coca-Cola 2011 Holiday can. Have you seen it, yet?

It's the little things...

Our new stove is not the fanciest, but
it's WAY better than what we had. 

This weekend, we got a brand new stove and I couldn't be happier. Our old one was really old – the oven didn't work anymore and only three of the four burners did. I've been cooking in a toaster oven, crock pot and microwave for over a year now. I am so happy to have a brand new, working stove, oven and broiler. I'll be cooking a lot more than I already do and we'll start this weekend with Thanksgiving dinner. I'll keep you posted.

It's the little things.

Life as a freelance artist in L.A.

Life as a freelancer in L.A. has its perks. Working on a studio lot is
one of them. Both of these images were taken on the Universal lot
when I was working at The NBC Agency in 2008-09.

Life as a freelance artist in L.A. can be very lucrative, but can also be short lived. There are perks and pitfalls to being a freelance artist in Los Angeles and I should know – I've been freelancing for more than a decade now.

One of the things that has changed in my world of graphic design that has also changed in the world overall is the availability of jobs – or lack thereof. More art directors my age are teaching these days for lack of work in the job force. Or, they're changing their careers, altogether. Loyalty is also a word seldom heard or used these days. Companies are less loyal to employees, and in turn, employees are less loyal to the companies they work for.

I have been freelancing since 9/11 and I expect to be doing this for a while. Try as I may, it takes years to land a full-time gig at a studio, if you're lucky. It appears to be the new norm in the art world but especially in the entertainment world. A lot like dating but without any climax. Companies and studios will hire an art director for a particular freelance project, and if they like said art director, keep them around until someone better (or cheaper) comes along. Gone are the days of loyalty and apprentices and here-to-stay are the days of 'use you up and spit you out.' It's a phenomenon, really. Despite studies that show employees work harder and more efficiently with a little support and reinforcement from their jobs, employers are still focused on the bottom line instead of the long-term investment.

THE PERKS

There are perks, however, to being a freelance artist in Los Angeles. One of the perks of working as a freelancer in Los Angeles is the vast array of projects there are to work on. I have added some amazing work and project descriptions to my resume and portfolio. The work (almost) never gets boring. Instead of ten years of work at one studio, I have worked at several of the major studios and on several major campaigns.

Another perk is what you will learn from working at different agencies and/or studios. Different places have different ways of doing things. You're bound to learn something you didn't know by working at several agencies and studios versus only one. When I stop to think of what I have learned in the last decade versus what I knew when I first started in entertainment, I am blown away. From the best ways to create masks, to the best ways of retouching an image, I have learned so much by working at different agencies and studios.

Let's not forget the people you meet when you work as freelancer. From other art directors, designers, finishers, animation people, sales people, marketing people – you're bound to make some long-term friends.

Be Design in Hollywood (2007) – the people were great, the projects
were good and the views were amazing. What more could you ask for?

THE PITFALLS

Unfortunately, like everything else in life, there are pitfalls for each perk. I already mentioned a few at the start of this post – lack of jobs; lack of loyalty – but there are many others that I think I should mention here, as well.

The biggest pitfall of being a freelancer is instability. Marketing and design are usually one of the first things a business will cut when push comes to shove, so you have to be prepared. Jobs are scarce so you will have to be diligent when it comes to looking for new gigs and saving your money. This includes getting paid on-time, unless you work through an artist agency that will pay you every week. Most of them do these days for a hefty fee.

Another pitfall of freelancing is being on everyone's radar. As a freelancer, employers are watching what you are doing harder than they watch the employees they already know. They don't know you. They don't trust you. They will be watching your every move. If there is anything about you, your style of art or taste level someone doesn't like – consider yourself dismissed.

Working for yourself is great and if you simplify your life, it can be very doable – and then some. Just make sure you are being honest to yourself about what your needs really are and make sure you have a good agent to represent you and your work. You may pay a large percentage of your rate for getting some of your work out there, but it will get you in front of people you might otherwise never meet.

Some agencies to research for artist representation are: Artisan Creative; Creative Circle; Filter; 24Seven; and, Aquent.

What I've been cooking...Chicken salad

Baked chicken breast with
zesty garlic herb marinade.

2 skinless chicken breasts
1 head of red leaf lettuce
1/4 red onion
4 shaved carrots
1 can reduced salt garbanzo beans
1 tspn minced garlic
6 croutons
3 tblspns Italian dressing
1 tblspn red wine vinegar
2 tblspns feta cheese
Mrs. Dash No-Salt Zesty Garlic Herb Marinade
Black pepper

If there is one dish that I eat more than any other, it's this one – chicken salad. I love my chicken salads because I can make them exactly the way I like them with little to no fuss. Plus, I can make two salads at the same time so that I have one for dinner and for lunch the next day. This recipe is for two salads.

Wash and dry your chicken breasts well. Stab each breast with a fork a few times on each side, place in a Ziploc baggie and pour the Mrs. Dash Zesty Garlic Herb marinade over the breasts in the baggie. Add minced garlic and pepper to taste. Zip baggies, place on a plate in the refrigerator and let sit for a few hours, at least.

When you're ready to bake the chicken, take each breast out of the Ziploc baggie and place in a non-stick pan. (I use non-stick foil to line my pans). Cover and bake at 400-degrees for 45 minutes. For a crispy top, remove the foil and bake for an extra 10 minutes at 350-degrees. Once cooked, remove chicken breasts from any juice and let stand to cool before cutting.

Tear, wash and dry your lettuce thoroughly. Add sliced chicken breasts, carrots, onions, feta cheese, garbanzo beans and croutons. Mix your choice of Italian dressing with the vinegar and pour over salad. Add black pepper to taste.