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EMRL
1020 Tenth Street
Sacramento, California 95814
(415) 689-4820

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  • Waking up in a cold sweat with an idea, actually writing it down

    It’s always struck me how many Americans (at least those living west of the Rockies) will say that they are going “back east” when they are travelling to just about anywhere east of Chicago. Sometimes they are actually returning to the east – so the phrase makes literal sense. Many times they are not, so…

  • In which I was suddenly reminded we operate a radio station

    We have been running an internet radio station called Culture Failure for a number of years. It mostly just kinda runs and doesn’t need much human intervention except when its time to update the playlist. ]It’s kind of a weird playlist… everything from John Cage to Gogol Bordello. I haven’t listened to it in a while,…

  • People keep dying

    I read this morning that another person was found dead on the street in front of city hall. The second time in a week. That’s pretty horrific. Both of the dead men were assumed to be homeless. On the upside it seems the city is opening one of their buildings across from city hall to be used…

  • Party time, excellent.

    One day at lunch I leaned over to Elise and said: I once thought I had mono for an entire year. It turned out I was just really bored. At that moment, we knew it was fate to dress up as the famous Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar from Wayne’s World for Halloween. Turns out…

  • Well that was fun

    We made it back from our Redwoods trip. It was super fun. We went on some hikes, sat around campfires, visited a cheese factory, and didn’t talk much about work. I made everyone Corpse Revivers too. It was pretty fun being able to share one of my favorite areas of California with the people I work with.…

  • We are going to the redwoods

    We are doing something we’ve never tried before. Everyone at EMRL is grabbing their significant others and heading up to the redwoods for a few days as a group to hang out, go hiking, look at giant trees, eat some food, drink some booze, drive thru some trees, check out some big foot-inspired chain saw carvings,…

  • I made an analog mess

    Today I got to make a mess at work. Even more messy than my usual mess. A big happy sketchy drawing mess with paint and water colors and a lotta lotta pieces of paper. The only problem is my analog mess always ends up becoming a digital mess that takes me forever to finish. After…

  • Oops

    Sometimes I like to noodle around on instruments while I’m thinking. It used to be a Takamine 12 string acoustic guitar with only 6 strings on it, but last month I let myself be decadent and bought an old Rickenbacker 4001. In my book, those are the best bass guitars ever made, built so well, so…

  • Gotta catch ’em all!

    For the longest while, Ashley and I have been talking about Pokémon and how it was so nostalgic back in the good ‘ol days. I vaguely remember having a first generation Charizard card stashed somewhere in my parents’ shed back in Sydney. It was 5:05pm. Ashley was egging me to go to Rite-Aid but I was completely hesitant.…

  • First Assistant Camera

    Ken was my First Assistant Cameraman for a little over 10 years. He was 79 when I met him, and he was still freelancing on shoots whenever he could. Still lugging camera gear around. Still chasing after girls on set. Still being generally awesome.

  • In Soviet Russia, camera shoots you

    I’ve always tried to be a creative person, but I usually just end up tagging along with the creative people hoping it will somehow rub off on me. The only praise I ever got on my creative attempts was from my mom. Thanks mom! But that’s ok, I somehow landed this job where I get to…

  • The FNG

    Hello. My name is Brian. I am the new guy. Being the new guy around here seems like being the newest Oompa Loompa at Wonka’s factory. There’s cool stuff everywhere, the work is hard but worth it, and occasionally there are treats. The only downside is they’re not teaching me any songs to sing for…

  • Decorating is for Cakes

    “Design is not decoration.” This is something one of my favorite professors would always say in college, and it’s something that Floyd also says here at EMRL. More than anything else, it’s what I aspire to in my career as a designer. It’s an important distinction to understand. We like to think that design is…

  • Welcome to 2009

    So I’m back in the shop, enjoying the view from my drafting table. I’ve been working on and off throughout the holiday season, but actually managed to take some time to do other stuff too – I saw a few friends I haven’t seen in a while, went on some fun road trips, and threw…

  • I am Times New Roman

    The fantastic documentary Helvetica is going to air on PBS tomorrow night (check your local listings!). My friend Sandra and I actually traveled to The City on a weeknight(!) to see this film in the theater when it was first released back in 2007. It was definitely worth the drive. Apparently the television version isn’t full-length,…

  • Let’s Drown 2008 In Booze

    You may or may not already know about Sacramento’s big ball drop thingie happening tonight. Although they’re dropping a giant light-up ball, I thought it would be cooler if we dropped a cow (this is Sacramento after all) but I don’t think that would have made it past the committee. The event is happening in…

  • Merry Xmass

    Yesterday I heard this nutcake guy outside our shop yelling at the world. He was walking out in traffic, and clearly felt like he had something important to say. Most of it sounded like blah blahblah blahblah blah until I heard him say this: Every day spent above ground is a good day! A totally…

  • Faintly Macabre

    I was thinking of how cool The Phantom Tollbooth is. I think it’s one of my favorite books ever, certainly was my favorite when I was 12 or whatever. If a book has a character in it named Faintly Macabre, the not-so-wicked Which how can it not be cool? I remember Aunt Faintly getting all…

  • Film Came Back

    We got our film back from our last shoot. Looks pretty good considering the inclement weather, kind of gritty. We had it transferred to 1080p, exciting as this will be our first spot finished in HD. About time, considering old tv dies in February. Here’s a couple stills from the raw footage.

  • Fairy!

    I have an 8 year old niece (Liza), who is really into fairies right now. Completely understandable. I was into fairies at that age, too. I believed they existed. I grew up on the north coast, and whenever my sister and I saw a mushroom ring, we just KNEW that fairies were afoot. There is…

  • Uphill, Both Ways

    Last Saturday we shot our television spot for Californians for Patient Care. It was freezing and foggy. It started raining frogs and we were attacked by zombies. Despite these issues, I think we got some good footage and it should cut together into a neat PSA. Oh here’s a few still images as well. We…

  • Hands On

    One of the things that kind of makes us different, weird, eccentric, or whatever in relation to many other advertising agencies is that we actually enjoy the process of making the stuff, hands-on style. Designing the master plan creative stuff is awesome too, but the fun of “getting your hands dirty” (I mean this literally)…

  • I will not join you

    So, Chevron’s latest campaign really sucks. The campaign has a threatening overtone and when combined with the whole greenwashing thing its got going on, it really makes me want to pull down my pants and scream and shake my fists at the world. In answer to the campaign’s question/title “Will you join us?”, no I…

  • The Ultimate Vulgarity

    Rosser Reeves made a series of TV spots for Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1952 election campaign. They were some of the first political television advertisements ever made. Some of the spots were just dumb, like this one that was animated by Disney but others were far more contemporary in feel. David Olgivy called using advertising to sell…

  • Still Looking…

    Help!  We need someone who can help us build websites – we posted this previously (in September) but still haven’t found just the right person.  If you’re pretty skilled with web stuff (see below) and think you might want to work at the happiest ad agency on earth, let us know and drop us a…

  • Test Your Eyeballs

    Here is a fun little online test to see how well you can ‘eyeball’ things without actually measuring: http://woodgears.ca/eyeball/ The lower your score the better. I got a 10.71 which probably isn’t that great. Can anyone else do better?

  • A Little Joke

    Shrek, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were all having lunch together. Shrek said, “I have always thought that I’m the strongest man in the world, but how can I be sure.” Brad Pitt said, “I’m pretty sure I’m the sexiest man alive but I’ve never had it confirmed.” Angelina Jolie agreed. “I’m told I’m the…

  • Economics, with cows

    SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour. COMMUNISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

  • Ad Clichés Are for the Birds

    I wonder how much big-picture thought honestly goes into much of the advertising we’re all exposed to. Although I don’t think it works like this in the “real world”, I believe that we (the people in marketing and advertising) have a responsibility to ourselves, our clients, and our target audiences to avoid pat clichés and…