Advertising agencies try so hard to be badass it's funny. Believe it or not, one agency used to call its creative groups "fox holes."

Another calls the act of working endless hours for a fool's errand "falling on a hand grenade."

And of course in every agency I've ever worked, the designated pitch room is called the "war room."

Good journalism elicits a powerful response.
Scandinavia's largest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat proved this by creating an Emotion Cube that actually gauges its readers emotions after reading a story in the paper.

That large cube (4 meters/13 feet high) glows a different color based on the emotions Hope, Sorrow, Joy, Worry, Interest, Anger, Compassion and Surprise.

Users who read the newspaper on mobile, tablet or PC share their feelings and the cube turns colors based on said feelings. Nice way of getting users to spend more time at the site and hopefully start making more comments. Making a giant cube glow based on my emotions is a pretty cool incentive, no?

Any great job comes with plenty of perks: paid vacations, great insurance, maybe even a health club discount. However, employees and clients who step into the Manhattan post-production supercenter housing Fluid, Butter, Mr.

When twice-Academy Award-nominated director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Milk) was filming and then completing his new movie Promised Land in 2012, he enlisted MPC colorist Mark Gethin to define the broad panoramas, barrooms, and homesteads of the film’s country landscape.

That didn't take long. Snapchat, the popular private photo messaging app that allows users to send photos that disappear now has an advertiser jumping on board: The Frozen Yogurt chain 16 Handles.

If you aren't familiar with Snapchat, let me be your guide. Remember Chat Roulette? It's kinda like that except the photos and vids you send disappear after ten seconds.

I for one loathe end of year lists and it seems to me like easy fodder for people who would rather be on vacation than have to think. Recaps just aren't my bag. In this case though I'll make an acception to the rule.

Digital Music News Digital Music News came out with its list of people who changed the music industry in 2012. Spoiler Alert: Amanda Palmer is not on the list.

This story comes out of Pitchfork.

"Experimental" "Punk" band No Age hoisted a giant F.U. to Converse at a recent show on December 18th in Barcelona, while also enabling Converse to sell shoes because it was a Converse sponsored event.

No Age have done this anti-corporate stuff before, headlining an Anti Walmart concert protesting Walmart. I believe it was called the Low Hanging Fruit concert.

This is the last printed issue of Newsweek, carrying a hashtag on the cover. A new era has begun, where piles of read papers don't have to be dragged out to the recycling bin any more. For 80 years, this magazine has been available in print form, but is now moving to digital only. There's 50 ad pages in this edition, it has an all star lineup with Jon Meacham, the former editor in chief, writing on the magazine's presidential covers and Mark Whitaker writing about the Newsweek civil rights coverage.

A resolution drafted by two senators is calling on the Village Voice “to act as a responsible global citizen” and take down the adult classifieds section on its Backpage website. Kind of like Craigslist, Backpage is a place to get used sundries, free sofas, junk and treasures, and in Backpage's case, child prostitutes.

The Press Release reads:

This year, instead of spending all of their fourth quarter earnings on extravagant gifts for their clients, Lowe Roche has decided to pledge their support to those less fortunate. Their interns. And they'd love your help. For every visit to the site, Lowe Roche will donate $1 to their working-for-absolutely-nothing-in-the-name-of-experience cause. Lowe Roche thanks you, from the bottom of their hearts. And their egos.

M&C Saatchi, China bring a different type of ad-- one stressing fuel efficiency and environmentally friendly messaging for the Chinese market in this Volkswagen spot. Production by academy award winning Pixomondo. While it's not riveting stuff for westerners, but the Chinese market, it's a whole new message, and one that's positive.

Award-winning director, Marcus Nispel, has signed with Tool of North America.

Nispel cites Tool’s physical production and post-production capabilities as a primary motivation for the move. “Tool goes beyond just representing directors,” Nispel said. “Big jobs don’t always come with big budgets anymore. To maximize a client’s budget this kind of infrastructure is needed.”

Gone are the days of Twitter users sharing pertinent information, like during the Mumbai bombings, or even being vital for that matter.
What was once a real-time news stream has become a raging sea of outrage, populated by elitists with portable soap boxes, always at the ready.
Even the social media gurus so famous for insisting brands invest time (and loads of money) into 'talking to their fans,' are now saying quite the opposite: shut up.

Here's something to chew on. Digital Music News reports that USC's Annenberg Innovation Lab is currently conducting a study to find out, hopefully once and for all, how much money from advertising is providing support for the likes of pirate bay and other illegal content sites.

If you're reading this and work in advertising on a major brand, there's a good chance that you, dear reader are unwittingly helping line the pockets of very few people who are hell-bent on exploiting artists, musicians and movie makers all in the so-called name of Free Culture. And if you work in media placement then you may be wittingly doing so.

Dallas-basaed TM created this for the Dallas chapter of March Of Dimes, the non-profit that a lot of people have heard of, but aren't sure what they do.

In fact, not only are people unaware that March Of Dimes raises money for research to help ensure all babies have a chance to be born healthy, they also aren't aware that their biggest fundraiser, Signature Chef's Auction is key to ensuring money gets raised.

To TM's thinking, Signature Chef's Auction crates signature dishes, the same way someone's signature is a pledge to help.

Just weeks after signing Creative Director of Digital, David Estis, integrated creative studio MPC NY is further bolstering its roster with the addition of Director of Interactive Technology, Adam Chapman. A veteran of Saatchi & Saatchi and Deutsch, Chapman’s deep agency experience and artistic bent inform his creative approach to production.

Have 500 Euro or more burning a hole in your pocket? Why not buy your way to advertising fame for your award-cabinet at home. The Grand Prix Lion from 1989 is on Ebay and the starting bid is 500 Euro. It's Spanish agency Contrapunto who decided to auction off the 1989 Grand Prix Lion they received for the film "Scooter /Suitcase". The commercial for TV Espana featured an lovable but sad dog who packs his bags and leaves as his master would rather watch TV than play with him. Aaaaaawwww. Wook at his widdle suitcase. So kyoot.

Backyard has added Xander™ to the roster, a deft storyteller whose natural facility with talent – including celebrities, sports figures and non-actors – has produced a reel featuring a host of outstanding brands. Xander™ comes over to Backyard from multi-faceted production studio East Pleasant.

Each year people spend millions on gifts around christmas. Gifts that people sometimes don't want or need. Unicef want to remind the generous folk that give so much that there are things people do really need that make perfect gifts. At unicef.se, you can buy actual field products such as vaccine, medicine and nutrition and Unicef will make sure that these products reach the children who need them most. Like Unicef-santas. To advertise that Unicef does this, Forsman and Bodenfors time travelled back to year 0 in Bethlehem and spied on the three wise men as they pondered what kids like these days. The more things change, the more they are the same.

"I definitely don't relate to the whole chef is a rock star thing..if anything you have to take a punk rock approach to it and try to not be the rock star and do things yourself and try to do it your way" -- Chef Richie Nakano.

For some people, the dream of starting their own (fill in the blank) is too strong to resist regardless of the repercussions and pitfalls and potential failures that might happen. The road is dark ahead, and who the hell knows what might happen?

Chef Richie Nakano is just such a man. He's obsessed and passionate about ramen, and is trying to stake his claim by opening a ramen shop in San Francisco called Hapa.