What’s up, beer drinking, ideas producing nation? And by nation I mean Jake and Elias. Leaving 2009 behind us, much to my relief, here is the first Link Dump of 2010. Enjoy it while it lasts.

British copywriter Howard Fletcher has an awesome website. With words.

Really not much else.

Feel like change? Get sacked. Check out what can happen when you get laid off and make the best of it. There’s life beyond this industry. Actually, only there. Lemonade.

WTF of the day: First I found ten Euros on the streets. Then THESE fellas send me a big

package of spicery, sauces and awesome - to an address where I don’t live anymore for

over ten years.
So either these guys are really fucking late with their orders or somebody is

trying to be funny. Either way, as I certainly didn’t order anything from those fine people,

I just say Thank You for the chili-ketchup. Finally I come home and find a book in my mailbox, wrapped as a gift - with no sender. Unexpected. It’s like the universe finally is okay with the decisions I made lately. It’s about freaking time, universe.

We’ve come a long way.

Speaking about food Feran Adria practically has no home, always thinks, never rests, just cooks. Interview with a maniac. From 2006, but still inspiring. Via H.O.M.E. mag. 

Insane animation tests. Tracked with PFHoe Pro. Man, you got to be kidding me.

Design case: The Holy Bible in a Moleskin version might just be what the Vatikan needs.

Via ADC.

What kills businesses: lazyness, mostly. Copying signs your death warrant afterwards.

We knew it. Great article over at Hadelsblatt.com.

Handsome AND smart: Stefan Niggemeier interview at dctp.com. Also online: Sascha Lobo talks about himself. For proper 40 minutes. If you really hate your life, you’re welcome.

Exactly two years ago I was sitting in a bar in Hamburg with a fellow copywriter thinking about how it was time to start a green agency. Of course we never realized it. Because we are idiots. Somebody else did. Fair enough.

You think winter in Berlin sucks? Try good ol’ Russia.

All the most incredible pictures of 2009 - and some more. The Big Picture at Boston.com.

Copywriter Bob Bly makes a point by posting what he won’t and will do for free for you.
It may sound tacky but I know how he feels. I was recently asked to come up with a claim for a multi-million Euro Start Up, you know, as a favor, but only if I had nothing else to do at night.
Think about it, these people have so much money they could hire a team of scientists to grow a genetically enhanced leprechaun in a lab who then builds a massive claim out of solid gold yet they ask you to do it for free.

Because it’s 2010 and things need to change - again - this is the guitar I’m going to buy. Isn’t she a pretty thing?

To see what a man with his guitar can do in times of need check out this little film of a guy called Josh Wilson who lightened up the spirits of a lot of people while stuck at the Newark airport a few days ago. Nice one, Josh.

I discovered a really, realy, really cool German actress around Christmas, while sitting on the couch with my mom watching TV. I will not admit what kind of movie it was. Let’s just say my mom enjoyed it a lot. And Paula Kalenberg made it worth my while.

Finally: Thanks to Björn (Studio314), his girlfriend and all the good people of the Wiener Straße for an awesome New Years Eve. Good times. And thanks to Jochen for the Zimtschnecken.

PS: It’s not that you fall. It’s how you land.

Take good care of yourselves and the ones you love.

While wondering if there is still life on this blog, here is a Link Dump that’s willing to fight to the death: The Fight Version.

What Your Favorite MMA Fighter Says About You

10 Signs of the Post-Apocalypse. Via Screenjunkies.

5 Rare Martial Arts. Via Mademan.

Fight Club Memorable Quotes. Via IMDB.

Man, Vitor Belfort is back, knocking fools out. Watch the countdown to UFC 103 HERE and

some of his greatest knockouts HERE.

If you are struggling with fate (or a magnificent lack of breast in your life) let Aaron Karo

give you a high five and a top ten list why it is awesome to be single. Via Askmen.

Photographer of the week: Kenneth Cappello, via RVCA. Featuring Erin Wasson and

basically everyone else who is hot in popculture right now.

Excellent trailer for the upcoming film Daybreakers. Everyone is a vampire, everything explodes, what’s not to like?

Geeks fight back. And their ammunition is beauty. (Somehow RVCA is involved again.) It’s been a year or so since we posted about this film, no reason why we shouldn’t do it again. Visit Beautyfullosers.com to see the trailer or order the film.

Somehow related: Harmony Korine is one of 42 contributors to the project ONEDREAMRUSH, a creation of the New Zealand vodka company 42Below that invites various individuals to create 42-second videos exploring dreams.
If the name Harmony Korine rings any bell, you know you are in for a big portion of WTF.

Artist Kseniya Simonova delivers an exceptional performance in what seems to be Russia’s version of “Britain’s got talent”. And guess what, she is not singing or stripping. Instead she draws pictures with sand on an illuminated table creating a moving story about World War 2. Makes you kind of worried about the talent Germany has to offer. Via TechEblog. 

Jochen Distelmeyer has a very solid question here - and takes the gloves off of his songs. You talking to me? Are you talking to me? Because I don’t see nobody else around here.

Allelbows know how to produce quality kick-ass mini docus. Part two of their portrait of Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Quiet a few months old, still strong, training starts at the 5 minute mark.

If you still don’t wanna fight somebody, Look at This Fucking Hipster:

More NY hipsters worth getting punched in the head via Lastnightsparty. Includes nudity and the reason I stopped going out in Berlin. Anger issues are not for everyone. If you hate your life there are three more pointless parts.

Did you ever get the feeling your parents were actually kind of cool back then? Before they became, well, your parents? It’s all your fault, probably.

Andy McKee beats his guitar in order to create pure awesomness.

Because dudes don’t know how to fight: How you get your ex-girlfriend back. This guy is a genius. Or an idiot. I go with genius.

Don’t ever fight with your girlfriend.

Hank Moody is back fighting for the love of his life. That and cunnilingus.

Ask HER. 

*Harry Rowohlt is kind enough to let us read some of his letters he has not thrown away. Again. Further proof that beer (or being a genius) helps with writing.

*Malcolm Gladwell explains why David wins a lot more often against Goliath than we think. Find The New Yorker article HERE.

*GoSee recaps Cannes by hiring the most annoying, useless tool to make a stupid party-bit out of all of it. Way to make friends, GoSee.
*Great, great Song by Los Angeles based band Jack’s Mannequin.

*Gareth Kay talks about the “seismic shift at Cannes this year” and chances are that he is right.

*I just ordered my second Mayday lamp by Konstantin Grcic - and I am freaking pumped. Next up is Myto.

*4 days to the epic UFC 100 card. Watch the countdown HERE.

*Newest and weirdest MacBook feature: it possibly transforms into a little space-ship and flies away. (Thanks to Gilbert for the show)

…this weekend. Because it’s Eastern. Because it’s a few days off from the madness that is our lives. And to inspire you a bit here is an awesome video from Greg Laswell, directed by Autumn de Wilde, which makes me feel like it’s 1998, where producing video clips still meant something. So go out, enjoy the sun, cook something nice, meet friends, because next week just might be another week in absolut hell. Just saying.

How The Day Sounds from Miky Wolf on Vimeo.

Notes:
*Don’t ever go running the Sacramento area at night wearing a t-shirt from the brand “Full Contact Fighter”. While you cross one of the huge Safeway parkinglots one guy might just step out of his vehicle and say: “Really?” And with 190 pounds you will still be the skinny guy.
*In South California every young male tries to look like Fred Durst. It’s like the 90s never left.

*SUVs actually do make sense once you hit the freeway. Those are bumpy as hell.
*Even sane people wear Affliction shirts. I don’t even know what to make of that.

*People from the coast are less ridiculously friendly yet less ridiculous.

*Glaceau Vitamin Water has the best copy ON the label of the product. I’ve been saying this for years, nobody wants to hear about it. Can you imagine great stories about the product on Knorr instant soup labels? Maybe every month a new one? I can.

*Or take a beer like “Fat Tire Amber Ale”. Not only has it a lovely designed label, it is said there: “Named in honor of Jeff’s mountain bike trip from brewery to brewery through Europe. Fat Tire is still crafted following the original home brew recipe that Jeff brainstormed on his cycling trip.” I don’t even know who the hell Jeff is but I do want to know more about him and his beer. Can you imagine a German brand naming their groceries after their CEOs grandmother? I can’t. But it would sure help to make their product more interesting.
*I know that I look like a total tool next to James Irvin, but who wouldn’t?

*The food in California isn’t that bad at all. You just have to look a little harder.
*I’m obsessed with American architecture. Good and God-aweful.
*Americans have something going for t-shirts with slogans on it. My favorite one was: Our President is Charlton Heston.
*The pacific coast humbles you like no other coast. It’s rougher, meaner and more beautiful.
*It does rain in California.
*Every cliche about America is true. Except it’s totally different.

I was really bummed out the last days (I know, what a freaking surprise). Work wasn’t going my way (too much, not enough time, what the hell), sport wasn’t going my way (first a whiplash than a rip injury, what the hell), friends were leaving the city - what the hell? I felt even more like a total clown when I found Breitenbach & Brown taking care of someone with real problems, trying to practise Social Media in it’s purest and most basic form.
Go THERE, care, make a picture, and make somebody feel better. Believe me, it works. It sometimes is as simple as that. So few words can make you feel so much better. “I care” is one of them.

It’s kind of an odd tradition around here to write some deep stuff on New Years Eve for this site - and never actually blog it.
But this time everything is different. No deep stuff. Just mad props and lots of love to all of the beersandideas family and friends currently preparing for a beautiful night somewhere at the coast of Holland, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Hamburg, Berlin, Woodbridge, Virginia, Sacramento, California, St. Gallen, Switzerland and Munich. Thanks for the inspiration.
Take care, enjoy, and all the best for 2009. Cheers.

Ahh, another friday night at the office. And because I struggle not to fall asleep on my keyboard I’ll do something else with it: write. In this case a meme, thanks to Flo who tagged us. Cheers, buddy. Since Flo has a twin brother it is officially impossible to battle him with stuff like that: he will always have the better stories.
* When coming home I always lock the door and leave the key in the hole. Not because I’m frightened but because I have a habbit of leaving my appartments without the keys. Last time that happened a little girl showed up with the Pizza I ordered before and opened my door with a video store member-card. She really deserved that tip.

* I used to play the guitar and was pretty good at it - but had to give up playing in bands because I was too shy for the stage. I just couldn’t figure out how to pose and play in tune at the same time. And audiences are scarry. That’s why I became a copywriter. Spending most of my time in a dark cave starring at blank sheets of paper or a computer screen. Wait, what have I done?

* I have the beard growth of a 12 year old. In fact I have seen 12 year old girls with better ’staches.

* I was listening to music while falling asleep pretty much until I was 24. Then I stopped smoking pot.

* I was once the face of a German Wrangler Jeans campaign. The photographer was a friend of mine and I needed money so we lured Wrangler into that.
* I was working at a local pub for quiet some time while studying and writing. The owner of this pub wanted to retire at some point and asked me to take over business. I was really thinking about it but then decided to work in advertising instead. It was a close decision though. Could have been a pub owner.
A friend of mine took the offer. I met him a few weeks ago. He just bought a house.

Now for somehting funny:

See what I did there? Boring, boring, funny, now you can take boring again.
The rules, as taken from Flo’s blog:

• Mention the rules on your blog.
• Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
• Tag six other
• Go to each person’s blog and let them know they are tagged.

As Flo has tagged two of us I tag the other one.

Sad fact: I seem to know only bloggers who usually don’t blog. At least not within the last months. But I tag them anyway so this whole meme-thing might be good for something after all.

Here are the unfortunate few: David, Enno, Dotti, “Davestating” Dave, and I really really want to tag Ben, but I have to set that one up so it might take a while.

And just in case you haven’t understand: You, Jake and Elias, are both freaking tagged to do the same.

All of you now have a splendid evening.

Back to work.