Most fashionable ads in 2012

Check out Harpers Bazaar's list of 2012's best fashion ads. I love the Missoni family portrait. Oh, and Kate Moss. Will there ever be anyone quite like her?

Prada is No. 1

Christmas Kisses for all

I don't know what it is, but I seem to define the start of all major holidays and seasons by the first time I see my favourite yearly commercials.

Well, this Sunday, Christmas season officially began (for me at least) with this commercial.

Kisses.

This is NOT Poster ...

... but you should definitely check them out at thisisposter.com.

I finally got my prize for winning the @thisisposter Instagram contest and just had to show it off a little. Got this iPod Shuffle from Think Shift with the cutest exercise in branding that I've ever seen.

This was folded into the case of my new Shuffle with the words "Psst ... take me out!" written on the back. Inside was a playlist to download and a congrats for winning the contest.

Love it.

Thanks guys!

Must Watch!

Melbourne Metro

The Visual

Deciding on which of the (many) online resume builders I was going to make use of this weekend, I realized something about my pecking process: the visual really matters to me.

It's not that most of the websites don't offer the same basic thing--they do. (LinkedIn stills seems to be the most useful in making connections with other colleagues and professionals.) But what I was looking for when I scrolled through the sample resumes on each site was which of them looked the most professional.

Now, I know flash doesn't ever compensate for substance, but with little professional experience to my name (unless you count those years at university and college) I feel the need to supplement the content of my resume with my design skills.

I found a website whose design comes close to what I do if I had the skills necessary to create one.

It's called, Do You Buzz.

I guess the answer is: now I do =) The link to my resume is just to the right.

The display of Do You Buzz online resume builder.

Telus' Animal Farm

My Christmas Anthem

Nice play on the tortoise and the hare story

Let's talk about Telus. What I love about Telus' current branding scheme (animals, white background, light music, sense of humour) is the consistency. Now that may sound a little bit boring coming from an advertising major (generally, we're supposed to be creative types). But I like that when a Telus commercial comes on in between my shows that I know what I'm in for.

Yup, this feels like a Telus commercial.

I'm convinced this is what makes a great brand and by great brand, I mean a strong brand. A simple idea (can animals set to music and floating text be considered an idea??) and the follow-through.

My person favourites are the hippos. Though I hear the little guys are actually quite aggressive in real life. The top commercial is my Christmas anthem.

The Marshmallow Challenge

Proud to announce that Mike Cuma, Alex Kyle, and myself are the winners of the Advertising Major's 2012 Marshmallow Challenge with a 20 inch structure of dry spaghetti and masking tape ... with a marshmallow on top.

Check out our tower.

P.S. I have to admit we won by default. Ours was the only structure that could stand by itself.

Stressed about Social Media?

:) (:

My dad told me about an article he read in the paper this week that said the anxiety people my age (in their 20s) feel in relation to maintaining their social media accounts is the same kind of stress our bodies feel when facing a moving train head on. Our bodies, the article said, can't tell the difference.

That got me wondering about my own social media behaviour. I pin, I don't Facebook, I tweet, I don't Facebook. I also Instagram, but it didn't fit into the little rhythm I had going there. The main point I'm going to make it that, yes, I do get stressed about my social media. The trick is to manage your intake to combat that frenetic energy.

When I'm in the midst of a busy homework weekend--let's face it, that's most of them lately--I don't want to hear about how far behind my classmates are on their own projects. I've got enough of my plate right now without heaping some of yours onto it, thank you. So, I leave my Instagram feed unchecked until Monday morning. Then it's a nice little catch up with friends by the virtual water cooler. The second I see a photo of one of my friends chilling out with a glass of wine mid-Saturday--or worse, two of them--I feel like a complete dud because I stayed in with my laptop and sweats.

But the other side of it, because there's always another side, is when I need a ten minute break from the proposal I'm working on or the copy I'm trying to write and I log into Pinterest to browse for ideas for my ad design. It's still productive, but it's fun.

So, I'm left with the conclusion (wow, I haven't used that word in a while) that social media is what you make of it. And how much you buy into the instantaneousness of it all. It may be instant, but your response doesn't have to be.

Next time you feel like you're starting down a speeding train, turn your phone onto vibrate. Half the time the thing doesn't work and you won't hear the alerts for hours.

Later,

       (and try to de-stress)

"There's a Story"

Well, I passed the halfway mark on my Independent Professional Project (IPP) a couple of weeks ago and decided it was looking at little blank without a cover. I'm writing a book, by the way. About my lovely family and a funeral. It's really a funny story.

Through the process of editing my chapters I'm finding I like the voice of the first five or so chapters and the rest, well, they could use a little work.

First a break, to get some distance. In the meantime, here's the interm cover and the chapter names.






Chapters:

Chapter One: A Bunch of Blonde Indians
Chapter Two: Car No. Two says, "Are we there yet?"
Chapter Three: The Dog Won't Leave
Chapter Four: Nobody Move--My Pie is Missing
Chapter Five: As the Crow Flies
Chapter Six: Same guy, Different Telephone
Chapter Seven: Clean sheets and Good scotch
Chapter Eight: On the Road ... Again
Chapter Nine: Oh, We're Not Even Close
Chapter Ten: Sun up, Sun down
Chapter Eleven: There's a Story

New design - JL

This week I'm finishing up the design of my personal logo for one of my classes. I've loved the simplicity of initials designs even since I saw India Hicks' necklace designs in a magazine. So simple and beautiful. You should definitely check them out, but be wary of the price if you're a student.

My dream is the 18kt Gold Pendant.

So, anyway. Thanks to my parents for the great initials (my sister and grandma have the same ones). They were the inspiration for my new personal logo. Now I'm questioning whether I should brand all my social media accounts, including my blog.

I wonder if there's a space for logos built in. I suppose if I wait a year there probably will be one.

JL

Recipe

Today for supper we took our cues from advertising. More specifically, from a Hellmann's Mayonnaise commercial. It was fantastic--the chicken was tender and the bit of breadcrumbs in the topping made it taste so decadent. It was so good I had to share it.

Cheers, to truth in advertising.

Parmesan-crusted chicken
    *Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients: thawed chicken breasts (one per serving); 1/2 cup Hellmann's® Real Mayonnaise; 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the pre-grated stuff is fine); 4 tsp. Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs (or whatever bread crumbs you have in the cupboard and add in some dried oregano, dried parsley, and a dash of garlic powder)

To cook: 

• Mix mayonnasie, parmesan cheese and seasoned bread cumbs together in a regular cereal bowl;
• Place chicken breast in a glass baking pan lined with tin-foil (makes for easy clean-up) and coat each piece with a thick layer of your mayonnaise mixture;
• Pop it in the oven for 20ish minutes @425 degrees Celsius until top is starting to brown (our oven cooks hot so we had it on for 40 minutes @400 degrees Celsius;
• Stand back and impress your friends :) 

**So easy for inexperienced chefs like myself.

And breathe

With a dozen things forever on the horizon, Thanksgiving was the perfect time to take a chill, relax, and take stock of how the semester is going so far. Life at the moment is pretty darn good. I'm keeping on top of things, instagraming and pinning away those pesky minutes between "All done!" and sleep.

Though there's still at least one day a week when you're like ... that's due tomorrow??

Screen capture of Katie. TV editing assignment.

Best wishes for the week,

dis.com.bob.u.lat.ed

meaning confused, frustrated, or upset

It's the first time I've seen it written in a book. I love words.

Body art

An interesting post by my friend Sarah Panas got me thinking. She is currently in the throws of a debate with herself over whether to remove her cheek piercings to "keep doors open" for herself once we're on the job market in a year. So I started wondering about workplaces and if our body piercings or body art have become integral to our self image, do we want to work in a place that looks down on them?

My initial thoughts are so long your adornments aren't a distraction when meeting new people or, say, talking to your boss they should be fine. I don't think Sarah's piercings are. But what will she do?

My tattoo. Matches my father's tattoo. Easily concealed by a sleeve.
Photo by Maria Cristina Laureano.

#latergram

This summer I spent five incredible weeks on Vancouver Island immersed in a french language program at the University of Victoria. The fact sad was that I missed my friends at home. Facebook isn't really for me. (I don't like the idea of people knowing more about me than what I've told them myself.) But letting them see what I can see, or what I care to show them, sounds like a brilliant idea.

I will admit to being timid in my initial approach to personal social media. Instagram though, I took to instantly. No puns, please. It solves the constant-traveller's problem of, "I wish you could see this." Instagram is saying, "Go ahead. Show them."

So in a final farewell to my summer in Victoria I leave you these photos. If ya like, follow me on Instagram @jaclynleskiw.

Irony at a vintage clothing store

Buchart Gardens

Robot earrings

New friends say goodbye

Design

For a school calendar assignment I drew inspiration from my summer in Victoria, BC. A truly lovely city with a downtown that I'm still dreaming about it's ripe with ice cream shops and killer smoked salmon. However, it was the lights of the parliament building in the evening that were the jumping off point for the design. That, and that little spot of turquoise-green on the tip. Beautiful.

This shot was taken from in front of the Fairmont Empress Hotel along the harbour. A must see!

Fall

So like your wardrobe come fall, this blog is going through a bit of a revamp. It will still on occasion talk about Winnipeg--because let's face it, it is still my home--but I'm broadening its horizons a bit. To put it succinctly I'll be blogging about what interests me. I will also be trying to post more of my own original photos, artwork, and writing. Colour me inspired by my CreComm friends and their lovely blogs. So until next time ...

Summer Hiatus

Be back in September!

Dionysus In Stony Mountain

I’ll start this off by saying I enjoy plays. Never what you might call a “theatre buff.” I enjoy watching plays like I enjoy curling up with a good book—something I don’t make time for enough. But unlike reading a book, theatre isn’t something you do alone. That much was clear Wednesday night at the Rachel Browne Theatre.

As much as I wanted to settle into the overly verbose language (the real reason I watch the Big Bang Theory) there was something keeping me hyper-aware of my surroundings. It was the constant sniffling coming from my right, a sound that is like bugs crawling all over my skin.

So instead of curling up with Dionysus in Stony Mountain, I spent the better part of the two-hour play shifting awkwardly in my seat, smiling because I could see the actors between the bunches of gelled hair on the guy sitting in front of me and thinking about how my old politics professor would say ‘Nietzsche’ like she was trying to show us all her teeth. (Try is and you’ll see what I’m saying.)

The second act did bring some renewed focus for me. The introduction of Heidi’s uncle—played by the same actor who played inmate James in the first act—and the sharp banter he brought to the rest of the play helped me tune out the sniffling to my right. Again I’m thinking of the parallels between theatre and book reading; I prefer dense material I can sink into like a comfortable chair but if there are distractions around me I need something loud and quick or at least something with a bit of action to overpower those distractions.

That’s what I thought was missing from this play. For the amount of dialogue and subtleties in the acting, I thought the environment was too unregulated. People tend to be quieter in an audience when they’re all dressed up. Something about feeling uncomfortable and behaving better? Hmmm.

Aside from my idiosyncrasies that kept me from concentrating during the evening, the night was not all bad. I do enjoy the chance to see my CreComm friends outside of the classroom, even if this was technically for school. I managed to get in some unexpected exercise when I climbed up the sixth floor of the building before realizing the theatre is on the second.

Oh, and a question for the peanut gallery. Where exactly does Dionysus figure in prominently enough to deserve a spot in the title? I'm curious to know what others thought.

Favourite Thing About CreComm-Year 1

You know, it’s almost the end of term again and it’s got me thinking about my favourite things about CreComm this year. (All the lovely people aside.)

So, here’s one:

Jackie’s fave things:

1.  The days when you get to draw for an entire class. 

Monique's hand, not mine.

Post your favourite things below....

When Time Is the Essence

After Winnipeg Free Press crime reporter Mike McIntyre visited our lecture hall last Thursday decided—as per our assignment guidelines—to look up some of his stories on the Free Press website.

What I noticed when I was reading through the ones I brought up on my computer was how easy they were to read compared to Journey For Justice: How Project Angel Helped Crack the Candace Derksen Case. When reading McIntyre’s book I was distracted by the grammatical errors and the change in tone/style between the sections. So much so that I started keeping count of the typos. (I eventually stopped. What was the point?)

But the articles, written rapidly and with little patience according to McIntyre, have a kind of fluidity about them. They’re not structured in any blatantly obvious way, they just kind of answer questions as they come to mind.

I understand from listening to McIntyre talk that he’s a bit lacking in the kind of patience usually required to write and publish a book. He even mentioned that he chose a publisher that wouldn’t make him wait a year to properly vet his prose for those annoying spelling mistakes.

And, okay, I get it. He’s a reporter. He’s used to the rapid-fire gratification of seeing his words in print the very next day or within seconds if he’s posting it straight to online. A book takes longer, even with a publisher willing to print a second run of your book (hopefully free of typos).

But even so, there seems to be a weird disconnect between his book writing (so-so) and his article writing (graceful?). Where’s the justification for the difference?

Maybe I should have asked him during our Thursday seminar. Then again, I was really waiting for Wilma Derksen’s chance to speak. McIntyre often “set the stage” for any questions asked of Wilma, but what that meant was he would talk until there was nothing much for her to say.

She was the reason I was interested in the seminar.

But back to Journey For Justice, what I though worked in the book was the first section where McIntyre is telling the story of the days after Candace disappeared. It’s set up like a crime novel with Wilma as the protagonist.

What didn’t work for me was the repetitiveness in the last two sections. I found all the doctor reports and testimonials interesting…but only the first time I read it. It’s like if McIntyre had put away the book for a few more weeks and read it back to himself another time, he could have cut out 50 pages of stuff he already said.

My first reaction to this book was Urg, why do we have to read this? I know what happened. The idea of spending my time reading a book that I knew had an unhappy ending wasn’t appealing to me. That opinion changed some as I read the book—it was interesting to see into Wilma Derksen’s family as all the media coverage swirled around them.

What I think journalists can learn from this book is how important it is to remember that, no matter what you’re writing, you’re telling a story. Only tell your readers what they need to know, nothing more, and only once (maybe twice).

Take a break, read our mag

Anyone leafing through the CreComm blogroll this week can probably tell something big--and I mean CreComm big--is happening.

The magazines that we conceptualized, wrote for, designed, laid-out, and edited are done. Let me introduce you to Interval magazine.

We're a lifestyle magazine for 13 and 14-year-olds. Why, you ask? Our answer is simple: we wanted one when we were that age.

Most of the "lifestyle" mags you come across are geared towards young, professional women. I subscribe to the Marie Claire way of life, in case you were wondering.

So we wanted to take what we could from those that came before us and make it relevant to teenagers who are still navigating their ways through middle and high-school. Think of Interval as a trail of bred crumbs that will lead you to university, college, or whatever comes next for you after graduation.

But, as many of my classmates will tell this project takes boat loads of mental energy. I find myself talking in cliches because my mind can't think of anything original to say.

As I'm writing this I'm thinking, I can do better than this. There's no witty banter, sarcastic comments or interesting insights into...okay, anything.

So my goal as it stands right now is this: make it to Friday at 3 p.m. And then sleep.

Signing off,

Why not a happy ending?

With author Mike McIntyre coming to speak with our Journalism class in the next few weeks, I read Journey For Justice: How Project Angel Cracked the Candace Derksen Case.

I started Monday, finished Tuesday afternoon. I’m not saying this to boast about my exceptionally fast reading skills (because that would be weird and to be honest, I’m not that fast). I read this book so fast because I wanted the story to be over. Just get through it.

The thing about reading this story is I knew that it wasn’t going to be happy ending. Candace Derksen died six years before I was born. Frozen forever in time as the smiling 13-year-old of the posters that plastered Winnipeg. I knew this. And yet, for reasons that had to do more with school than my own personal curiosity, I had to read it.

Let me say right now that normally I like knowing endings, if only to prepare myself for tragedy. But the tragedy here didn’t involve a character that I had become invested in—she was a actual person. Living in my city.

So I struggled. And ripped though those pages so fast I actually tore a couple.

The question I want to ask Mr. McIntyre (though I know I’ll probably ask someone else to do it for me) is how did you begin to write a story that you knew was going to end this way. Death. How do you write towards death? My only guess would be that he wanted to show all that happened after Candace’s disappearance and death.

But still, how would you decide that?

Can’t fathom it.

IPPPPPPPPPPP

The second day of the Creative Communications IPP (Independent Personal Project) Presentations are over and done with. Only half a day left.

Watching the second years give their spiels about their inspirations, motivations, and trepidations concerning their respective books, video docs and assorted other projects, I was most interested in the ones done by a team.

2 people. Not one. Now initially, you could be forgiven for thinking that two people means half the work. But not so – at least in my experience.

With a team, there are the constant checks ins to make sure you’re on the same page, the long-ass conversations when you realize that you’re not, and the assumption that your mate is putting in as many hours as you are.

Thankfully, in CreComm there aren’t many group projects. (She said dryly.) Sitting in the auditorium, listening to quite a few beautiful speeches, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that I was falling further behind my own list of things to do.

I’d venture that the end of term is like this for everyone in school. It’s that panic that sets in with just over a month to go and a list of projects longer than both my arms. Everything will get done, it always does. It won’t be your best work, it really can’t be.

But what’s killing me as I start my own home-stretch is that I can’t control whether my teammates are running along beside me at full-steam.

Because it’s not just that they’re bits aren’t done, which in an individual project would only cause THEM additional stress. When you’re working in a group, if somebody’s not finishing with their phase one, there’s only so far you can go with phase two.

It waiting that peeves me right off.

So what does this mean for my mental health? I’m asking this question: When working in a group, where should we set our expectations? Should they be as high as the ones we set for ourselves? I don’t think so – we tend to be a lot harder on ourselves than we need to be and it seems expecting that out of someone you’ve know for eight months is setting yourself up for certain failure. I’ve known myself for 20 years and I still don’t meet all the ones I set for myself.

But I can’t accept that we should expect to do more for the group than the others. I’ve always been the kid who said ‘Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ll finish it up for us at home.’ But now, the projects are bigger and we can’t do it alone. Well, we could. But we’d need a little more time than CreComm allows.

So again, I ask a question: At what point do you blow your top. (Naturally, in the most professional manner possible.)

And I’ll tell you. I’m not the only one asking that today. With 5 major assignments due next week, anyone is likely to combust with frantic energy.

And now, I must sign off. My shoulder is killing me.

Jackie

The nominees are...

The Oscars = a brand

Billy Crystal to host 2012 Oscars (I know they're called the Academy Awards)

I’m watching The Today Show where Donny Deutsch (a big ad exec, you’ve probably heard his name) was talking about the ratings for the Academy Awards.

He said last year’s ratings took such a hit with Anne Hathaway and James Franco as hosts because – get this – the Oscars were trying to be too hip.

I thought being “hip” was how your climbed the ratings ladder.

Apparently not, according to Deutsch. These young, popular hosts (Deutsch said) broke with the Oscar brand. People expect certain things from the Academy Awards. On the top of that list...TRADITION.

In comes Billy Crystal as host. For the ninth time.

On a (West) Jet plane...

Countdown is on ... okay I'm too tired to actually count but I know it's less than 24 hours until my plane takes off. To Puerto Rico that is. Yeayah.

See you in a week-ish.

Virtually celebrating

My cousin Robert and his wife Jayme are having their first child this spring. My mom hosts a great baby shower (I mean top notch). The problem: Robert and Jayme live in Austin, Texas.

So what do we do? We get together at our house and with the help of Rob’s sister, Lauren, and her husband, Billy … we Skype the parents-to-be. They were so surprised, it was really sweet.

The biggest hit when it came time to open gifts? Mine. Jet’s gear so small it could fit a Pomeranian.

(Well, at least I think it was the best.)

The only hitch in our virtual baby shower was that we couldn’t hear the others on Skype. So they wrote notes, and likely laughed at us off screen.

All in all it was a weird way to celebrate a new addition to our crazy family. But, hey, at least we got to do it, right?

Tears and Football

Three Superbowl ads that made me cry.

Chrysler: It's Halftime America

Budweiser: Flash Fans

Volkswagen: The Bark Side

I don't know why the last one,

Jackie

Dear Winnipeg

This weekend the weather was beautiful as the 11^th Annual Ironman Curling Bonspiel was held to benefit the Heart and Stroke Foundation and I have to tell you … this is the first time I’ve heard of it.

Not that this is surprising having grown up with two curlers for parents and a healthy fear of ice. I’ve taken the same position on curling as I have on perms: Not for me. (I’m clumsy. The bruises on my shins are proof.)

I never understood what the point was of a game that took so long to finish. Wouldn’t you get bored? It’s funny because when I was younger I would take my homework to the rink on Friday nights because when the only other option was to watch curling, I knew my homework would get done.

We didn’t have a TV in our club.

But a few years ago when our decrepit old rink was torn down and we hadn’t raised enough money to build the new one I realized why so many Winnipeggers love this sport/game/whatever you want to call it.

And it’s exactly what the Ironman Bonspiel did this weekend. It’ gives friends the opportunity to get together after a long week’s work…and show off your mad skills. In a freezing cold arena. 

See Jeff Stoughton video by clicking here.

Taken from Canadian Curling Association's website: www.curling.ca

Genius, I say genius.

                                             See the bear in the mountain?

Toblerone chocolate bars originated in Berne, Switzerland whose symbol is the bear. 

Crazy cool, is it not? 

By the way, I did not figure this out/am-not-genius-at-this-hour. 

To whoever did, kudos.

We need something like this for the 'Peg.
What could we hide in a picture of a low hill?
Suggestions?

3 weeks and counting...

Goal: Reading Week

As of tomorrow morning, there are three weeks until reading week. That's break time. Maybe it's the crash I'm feeling this very moment because I decided it would be great to drink coffee ALL day long but these next couple of weeks cannot come and go fast enough.

There's just so much to do that I'm not sure how we'll fit it all in. Hmmm ... Just a scosh worried.

A fun side note, for me anyway: I'm heading off the Puerto Rico. Yes, tagging along with my parents who were kind enough to invite me. Love them. (Not just for this.)

Later.