As promised below is a link to the final submission I’m sending into the W+K seeking thing.
WK_SEEKING Final

Nothing like waiting till the last minute to send something in. Thanks to everyone who gave me a little feedback. I’ll certainly let you know how things go. I still have a problem with some of the layout, pacing and design of this pdf although I think the content is ok. Someday I’ll be able to dedicate a week or so to projects like this.
At least I learned how to make a PDF!

Feedback is still appreciated, just know that this has already been sent so any major mistakes or flaws will just have to be laughed at and let go.

Happy New Year!
2008 is going to be the best year yet for MoHDI (as long as we get that hosting payed). See you next year.

Well I told myself I would send something into the Wieden and Kennedy seeking thing. Since I actually have all day tomorrow to get something in, I’m going to post my first attempt up on MoHDI in the hopes to get some feedback as well to share with other people who have waited till the last minute to build this PDF what I’m doing. Perhaps it will help others get some ideas.

My initial plan with this was to incorporate tons of art that would transition to each page of the pdf and maintain a flow of reading that would be almost unnoticed but maintain an overall good feeling about it.

I think tomorrow I’ll make some more changes to the file and probably add some more personal information. I really wanted my piece to stand out, right now, I don’t think this totally stands out just yet. Perhaps a few more hours on the thing might make the world of difference.
Being an idea person is amazing but, to be an idea person that gets paid is even better. I’m not totally sure what I’m looking for with this.

Please feel free to download the PDF here and give me what ever feedback you would like in the comments of this post. It’s a work in progress and I probably know best what needs to be improved upon however I’m curious to hear what you have to say. Please be brutal and be constructive. Compliment sandwiches are nice too.

It’s hard to say a lot in such a short presentation. I think I might add some marketing things, perhaps some images of my MoHDI dollar or maybe talk about the Adventure Social Club or Monster Dating, I didn’t even mention that I know Flash pretty well or that I learned Illustrator last Friday. I’m certain the version I send tomorrow will be a bit different that the one I posted today.

In the world of Hundred Dollar Ideas, there is a lot to go over. The holiday has been great although, it sort of felt like forced procrastination. I feel like I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on and I’ve got a ton of wonderful ideas that need to be shared with everyone.
As the new year approaches there are tons of resolutions, projects and ideas that must be worked on. As far as MoHDI is concerned 2008 show promise to be the best year yet.
There is a lot to cover…

Art Buy the Inch Status
After consulting with the think tank and my advisory board we’ve decided that the best course of action for Art Buy the Inch is to get the doors open as soon as possible. The best way to do this for me is to actually spend some time working and saving some money up to make everything happen. Another realization is that I’m most likely not going to be able to spend as much time as I need in the space as I would like. The decision to find a partner on this project was not too difficult to do and is almost a necessity in order to have the space actually open.
I’ve decided that I’m going to open the space under the name MoHDI and then keep part of the space dedicated to Art Buy the Inch. This will then allow me to sell some retail items or to do what ever I might please with the space. It might be fun to change the name of the space each month or perhaps have installations each month along with a small retail section. I’m not totally sure what’s going to happen but, it’s going to happen soon.
I’ve been seeking a new partner but have yet to find someone. So if you or someone you know might be interested in working out of a small space to do pretty much anything you would like, please contact me.
If you have a product or a great idea you would like to put in the space please let me know. I’m seeing a consignment type shop being one of the first things in the space along with the art.
Essentially with an investment of time and perhaps a little money we could make this space a wonderful creative type storefront that will be a unique addition to Portland.
Once again please contact me if you would be interested. My contact info is in the sidebar, feel free to call or write.

Hosting Woes
The biggest problem with buying two years of hosting in advance is when that two years runs out. That time is in the very near future and I’m slightly worried that the bill might be a bit more than what I’m going to be capable of paying. On January 6th, 2008 I’m going to need to shell out $382 for two more years of hosting. It breaks down to about $16/month. For what I need hosting wise this is about the cheapest I can get it. The wonderful thing about DreamHost is that I can host as many domains as I would like and I get a ton of bandwidth usage.
So I host a number of my sites like buymysketchbook.com, describbles.com, mustacheregistry.com and about 20 others as well my Mom’s pottery site Red Bird Pottery.

So I’m currently seeking some help with the hosting for the next two years. The nice thing about donating to the hosting is that it goes directly to the hosting company so you know exactly where your help will go.

Click this button below to lend us a hand if you are feeling generous.

For those of you that are wondering if this site has made any money, I’m still working on getting to that point. The sponsors have really helped in keeping the gallery space although it might be a little longer before this site actually makes any money. MoHDI just isn’t to the point where we are pulling in more than $16 a month. I might actually try marketing the site one of these days.

If you are not in the donation type mode perhaps you could check out the shop and see if there is anything you might be interested in. I hope to get another run of Powered by Gasoline stickers printed up soon.

Art Shows
I’ve got two art show coming up.
Friday January 4th 6-9PM the SE Tiny’s coffee shop will be the first art show of the month. I’ll be showing some of my best new work yet.
In February I’ll be in a group show at the Goodfoot and will be displaying a piece that is my largest and most ambitious work yet. It’s something that you will not want to miss.

Wieden + Kennedy Seeking
Some advertising company in Portland is actively seeking some creative talent.
www.wk.com/seeking

By January 1st they are trying to get 5000 people to submit a pdf to them that is no larger than 6 megs and under 20 pages of pretty much what ever content you want. 50 people out of the 5000 will be chosen to come to Portland (at WK expense) and hang out at the agency for a little while to see if it would be a good fit.

Since I’m pretty much a powerhouse of creativity, I feel this might be a good opportunity for me to apply. I honesty feel I have a decent chance of being 1out of 100 people picked for this. I’ve had no time though to work on a large pdf yet, my plan is to do this over the weekend. I figure most people will put together some sort of portfolio that contains information about them with some interesting work and some interesting and fun art or creative stuff. The content of my pdf is going to basically talk about my ideas and contain a small bio while being wrapped in some of my drawings and doodles. When I finish what I send them, I’ll post the file someplace so you can see what I sent to them. I doubt I’ll get much feedback from them right away but it will be interesting to hear what others think of it.
I know my own strengths and weaknesses better than most, I realize though that it’s good to throw something out there for feedback as it can be a great learning experience.
I believe I would be a great fit at W+K if it’s in the right position. I suppose my dream job would be to sit around and come up with ideas all day then have someone bankroll my ideas as I develop them. Idea Developer, I wonder if that’s a position they are looking for?

I heard from someone who heard from someone who know a person that works at Wieden + Kennedy and they said they are “cleaning house” and that is part of the reason for the whole Seeking thing. I feel the source is reliable enough so I sort of feel bad for current employees of them who are not feeling like it’s working out.
This might be totally wrong though as I also heard that they just went through some house cleaning not to long ago. When I say “house cleaning” I actually mean layoffs and firing.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

If it doesn’t work out with them, I’ll probably just start my own advertising agency, I think I would like that.

MoHDI Seeking
So… I was talking with my friend Jen the other day and the idea of Seeking came up. This is going to be something you will see on mohdi in the next year sometime but, basically it’s an interactive social chart of friends that allows people to easily find the person you are “Seeking”. It’s a very interesting idea that I’m going to do a working model of on MoHDI and then probably all of the social networks will steal it as it’s actually brilliant and social networks lack something like this… Perhaps I’ll develop it for facebook as it’s fresh, new and would be very useful.

Great Idea, maybe next year
I probably should have done this but it could wait till next year or translate to other holidays.
Imagine an online application that allows you to upload a photo of your house with your holiday decorations up, then you can choose from a variety of Santa images to composite them into your photo, you could then print them out and leave them for kids on xmas day saying you woke up and caught Santa in your home.
It’s a fun idea that might have to wait till next year to implement…

It’s good to be back home and there are tons more things to share but, they must wait for another day. It’s past 4:00 AM and I need to get some rest so I can spend the weekend working on this Seeking thing.

Wednesday morning I woke out of a lucid dream with this idea. Jerk Notes, is basically an online application that allows people to collaborate on ideas. While this might be difficult to explain with words I do promise at some point to make a better sketch of how this will actually work. Let me attempt to explain using words.

Basically this is like an online endless sketchbook. Notes are taken as a virtual loop constantly moves towards you. So as you take notes the z depth of what you are working on is decreasing slowly with time. Since you can control the size of this virtual loop and add segments of notes to the loop at anytime, you will be able to continue working on your ideas. Keeping the loop a smaller size has it’s advantages as you will be able to see what you worked on earlier in the idea and be able to add to it. You can of course control where you are on the loop. The nice thing about Jerk Notes is that you can easily be reminded of all aspects of an idea in a linear looping kind of way.

Perhaps someday I’ll actually make the app when I find some time. It might be a nice AIR application. I’ll probably run some test models and see if it’s going to worth spending the energy. In the dream it was cool cause multiple people worked on it at the same time! Amazing.

The name Jerk Notes came up because of the way the notes would move, also I think subconsciously I thought it was a funny and suitable name.

Dreams are funny like that.

Awesome video.

This marketing works on me. If you are ever selling something, sell people their own dreams, their hopes, their own ideas and make them recall future memories.

X PRIZE is brilliant all around. It would be great to use the concept of X PRIZE to solve other World Problems. I suppose completing or solving any important issue will result in a value far beyond $30,000,000.

I could probably use $30 Million dollars for something although, I haven’t decided yet if I have time to enter this contest or not.

In theory you can have a great pinball machine without having a great theme. STERN, the only manufacturer of pinball machines has just released Wheel of Fortune. When I first heard of Wheel of Fortune pinball, I was thinking it could be pretty cool and despite the geriatric theme it might actually be a fun table to play on. Angelo’s in Portland was the first to pick up the new machine and so far the verdict is that the new game is horrible.
I must admit the graphics and displays on the game are really cool and the actual wheel isn’t that bad, it’s the shots the drains the bumper in the middle and about 100 other things about this machine that are just wicked.
Why didn’t someone at STERN just step up and say, “Hey, this gameplay really sucks.”
I guess not all machines STERN produces can be winners, I’m going to say that Wheel of Fortune is probably better than Nascar at least.
Spiderman pinball was and is a totally awesome game, I hope that the next machine they produce (Transformers?) will be more thought out and have a bit better play to it.

What is the demographic of pinball players really?

Here are some ideas for pinball machines that will reach out to that older demographic that Wheel of Fortune seems to be marketed towards.

Murder She Wrote Pinball
Matlock Pinball
The View Pinball
Opera Pinball?
Wilfred Brimley’s Quaker Oats Party Pinball?

I’m sure the list could go on and on.

The theme doesn’t really matter as long as it has good play.

Nice try STERN.

I’m wonder what Crocodile Hunter is going to be like???

This is so fantastic that it deserves a link.

No mention to MoHDI though, perhaps next year.

Thanks to Jeremy who by direction of QBN turned me on to the link.

I like Jeremy’s site, he’s got some great stuff on it.
How else would I have known about Pabst Blue Ribbon water? ???