By Jake Camozzi

Let me start by saying that a barbecue nerd in Texas complaining about lack of barbecue authenticity on a reality TV contest is a little silly—it’s reality TV, not a documentary and I get that.

Let me continue by saying that the contestants on Top Chef are obviously an incredibly talented bunch, it seems like every season the participants come from more prestigious kitchens. In addition to that, I’m a Top Chef fan and have treated the show as appointment viewing for several seasons.

So they’re all brilliant, sure. But what they’re all clearly not, is pit-masters. Most of that sad, dried-out beef served during a recent episode looked like a very far cry from the barbecue Austinites enjoy on a pretty regular basis. I guess when you put otherwise talented people in extreme conditions, take away their sleep and then ask them to adequately interpret some very dogmatic regional specialties you get… what you got. And what you got was not good looking and, with the exception of Paul Qui’s winning dishes, it wasn’t barbecue. The first red flag occurred when a contestant excitedly stated “I love grilling!” She said this about barbecue. Barbecue ain’t grilling. Grilling is grilling. And barbecue is art, at least it should be.

Quality central Texas barbecue is a result of loving intuition between a pit master and their fire. It is cooking with hardwood smoke. It’s the sex and mystery that takes place in a wood-resined pit when an elemental force meats a big chunk of cow and makes sweet, sweet love to it. It’s not the result of sugary sauces, soda pop mops or whatever else the losing chefs tried to pull out of their toques. In the end I guess it’s obvious that the fine art of quality hill country barbecue is not something that can be learned overnight and, unfortunately, that’s exactly what the poor chef’s were expected to do.

In his spare time Jake writes leavemetheoink.com, a food blog here in Austin that covers, among other things, making brisket.

It seems like every other day, there’s a new crowdfunding website coming online, trying to help entrepreneurs and indie filmmakers raise money for a project they’re passionate about.  Some of the ones you’ve probably heard of: Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Start Some Good.

But what if you’re already an established small business and you want to expand or do something new at your current location?

That’s where Lucky Ant comes in.  It’s a new crowdfunding website that allows small-scale entrepreneurs to ask their community of customers for a little help with funding special projects.  For customers who already love the business, it’s a way for them to contribute beyond their daily purchase and make “micro-investments” to help the business grow.

Here’s how it works.

Right now, it’s only available in NYC, but I imagine it will be as ubiquitous as Kickstarter in the next several months.  If Lucky Ant were to come to Austin next, which businesses would you like to make micro-investments in?  Book People?  Austin Java? Alamo Drafthouse?  Which are your favorite local businesses that you wish had the money to expand?

I guess my New Year’s resolution isn’t so shocking unless you know me. I am just your basic run-of-the-mill English major/writer/QA person. I am actually particularly vanilla by Austin standards; I mean, I have yet to sport a tattoo or open for the opening band at a third-rate venue in my own rockin’ garage band. This is where you ask, “So, totally boring person, what is your resolution? You have 10 seconds before my attention is pulled away by a YouTube video about marmots.”

Well, cue the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse to start mounting up because this woman is going to learn some programming, mofos. I recommend if you want any job security for the next 40 years of your working life (our generation will never be able to retire, remember?) that you join me on this odyssey of enlightenment, discovery and sheer mental cardio.

Though I may be a boring suburbanite, apparently my resolution is timely and lauded by more credible sources. Check out Slate.com‘s write-up about Code Year, “a new project that aims to teach neophytes the basics of programming over the course of 2012.” This article also nicely delineates why more people should get comfortable with programming for their own good and long-term professional development. I was heartened to find such support as I dive into a lot of coursework and books and whatever else I can find.

If you have interest, please join me as I cradle my HTML, XHTML & CSS for Dummies book and call it “my precious.” As I cry wrapping my brain more fully around server- and client-side programming. As I look PHP in the face and declare, “Your name sounds like an disease, not a language!” We can do this together, people! Cross the Rubicon with me!

Updates on my success and lack thereof to come over the year, so stay tuned.

I try to be good. I really do. But when standing in front of a giant God-only-knows-what that looks angry and the conversation is heading down a dangerous path I sometimes panic–I start blasting. Then again, I’m a smuggler, that’s what I do.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is the newest massive multiplayer online (MMO) game to hit the shelves and it’s freaking amazing. I won’t bother with a full review because PCGamer has a great one. But, I will give you my impressions.

It’s not a WoW killer but it can stand toe to toe with the great one. World of Warcraft (WoW) has been the gold standard of MMOs for years. Many contenders have taken it on. All have failed. SWTOR could be the one to dent its armor. Why? Because it’s almost exactly like WoW only it’s Star Wars and that’s way cooler.

Who hasn’t pretended to be Luke or Han or even Boba Fett or Darth Vader? Well, now you can be them in your own Star Wars movie. From the beginning, SWTOR throws you into a complex universe of blaster fire, politics and tough decisions. Like life, there are no do overs. Piss someone off or make an enemy, they’re that way for life. Make an iron clad ally and they’ll die for you. Every player’s story is different and that story plays like a movie with every interaction animated and voice acted. It’s a herculean effort of programming and a pretty jaw-dropping experience.

The game’s look is beautiful and massive like a good Star Wars movie should be. It’s story is deep and interesting like the new movies should have been. The combat is familiar if not simplistic but I’m guessing it will get harder as I progress in levels.

I guess I should draw out some sort of lesson or insight into advertising from this so here goes: be smart and tell good stories and people will love you.

Oh, and always shoot first. Always.

Sketching things out sometimes is the clearest way to think. Here are some visuals about life, liberty and the pursuit of advertising.

Click the image to enlarge.

Musings from Houndstooth Coffee of new year’s resolutions and “Star Wars.”

A doodle dedicated to the lightsaber master, Bob Anderson.

Hey, has anyone seen my 2011? No, seriously, where did it go?

2011 blew by, and now that 2012 is TOMORROW (I hope you all have your water jugs and anti-asteroid helmets prepared), the year end lists are upon us! List-o-mania! In honor of this internets-old practice, here are a few of my favorite lists of 2011.

1. Splitsider’s 11 Funny Comedians with Serious Music Albums

This isn’t a “top” list, and it doesn’t have anything to do with 2011, but it’s a fun list all the same. This list is especially fun for me because I remember the first time I saw Steve Martin play the banjo. I thought he was joking for at least half of it. At some point I realized that, nope, he’s just really good at the banjo.

2. Stereogum’s Most Downloaded MP3s of 2011

I’ll admit I didn’t listen to lots of these, but there are some real gems on this list, including two from Bon Iver, Youth Lagoon, and Destroyer. Plus, added bonus, free downloads!

3. Paste’s Top 20 Covers of 2011

Confession time: I’m a sucker for a good cover, and 2011 brought a lot of them. I mean, just put Bon Iver’s cover of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” on and try to argue it didn’t. That video has a permanent home in my browser window. I mean, no it doesn’t. That’d be weird…

4. Videogum’s Best People of 2011

This is just a fun blog post about great people. I think we can all agree that Louis C.K. killed it in 2011. Plus, more sand girl. (The Worst People of 2011 is also a fun read, but in more of a fist shaking way.)

So there you go.

Honorable mentions: My shopping list, lisps (so close!), and David Letterman’s Top Tens (ye olde list that started it all (probably)).

Hugh MacLeod cuts through the bullshit and tells things like they really are, whether you want to hear it or not. We met Hugh back in March at SXSW, when he displayed some of his great art in our building. He’s worked with purpose-driven brands like Rackspace and Intel, helping relay their brand story.

When Hugh brought up “Culture Jamming” on his blog, it struck a chord with me. This is what GSD&M is about – our thriving company culture, the work we do for our clients and helping our clients make a difference in consumers lives’.

Proud to be jammin’. Read Hugh’s full post here.

2011 has been a great year for Ryan Gosling, Adele, Dirk Nowitzki and Frank Sinatra. Of course, Sinatra sets himself apart from the pack by being the only one I listed that had a great year posthumously.

It’s so true, though – at least from an advertising perspective. Ciroc Vodka, Nike and PacSun all used Sinatra tracks for ads in 2011. Check ‘em out!

Between the opening of the brand new Austin City Limits Live and Emo’s East, SXSW, Austin City Limits and Fun Fun Fun Festivals and the regular minstrels performing about town, the year in live music is one to be remembered.

But it’s time for the concert season to come to a close, as I take a look back at the plethora of live music consumed this year. I was lucky enough to attend over 30 shows and 4 festivals in 2011, but the ones listed below stood out as “Holy $h!t, this will never happen again” kind of stuff.

5. Lyle Lovett @ GSD&M, 40th Anniversary, October 13, 2011.

Throughout the year, we’ve hosted some truly great up-and-coming bands at GSD&M, but sometimes it takes the original gangster to remind everyone who’s the boss. Many years ago, we worked with Lyle on a spot for Texas Tourism featuring his song “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas” and he came back to help us celebrate our 40th anniversary. It humbled us to hear him say, “The way people think of Texas wouldn’t be the same without GSD&M.”

Lyle and his friends playing “If I Had a Boat”:

4. Lord Huron @ Lamberts, November 2, 2011.

Great bands tour through all big cities during the year, but what makes Austin the “Live Music Capital of the World” are the smaller venues in town that give new bands a chance to prove themselves. Lamberts Barbecue is a restaurant that allots their upstairs for some late night rock and roll. When I happened upon the band Lord Huron on a random Thursday, I was pleasantly surprised. These young guys put on an intimate show, proving to me that the best music comes when you least expect it. BBQ and great music, that’s Austin for you.

No luck finding anything from the show I was at, but here’s them performing “The Stranger” live:

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Explained most simply, it’s an online pinboard, or some may call it an “image sharing network.” I’d agree that it’s both of those.  And a whole lot more.  It’s social bookmarking that makes sense and is highly fueled by recommendations from friends. Or people you choose to follow. (Similar to Tumblr in that sense)  I think a big part of Pinterest’s appeal is its simplicity. All shared content, is image based. Any item, recipe, idea or tip  that users decide to post is represented by an image. Additionally, the source of where the “pinned” item was found is documented right below its image. You can even add a “pin it” button to your bookmarks toolbar of your browser to easily save content you want to include on one of your boards.

To me, what’s so amazing about Pinterest is its versatility. It’s an extremely useful tool for both personal and business purposes. As an individual, I can browse and create boards for design inspiration, project inspiration, shopping ideas, cooking, decorating, you name it. And as an art director, I respond better to pictures of course   So, the visual way to explore the content is very appealing to me.

But what I found even more awesome about Pinterest is the opportunity that’s out there for brands to thrive on the site. We all know by now, the benefits of social media. And most of you are probably tired of hearing those words even. But let’s be honest, when used properly, it’s effective. And cheap. It makes a ton of sense to go where our consumers are, rather than create yet another online destination and hope they find their way.

A few brands I’ve noticed that have used Pinterest in interesting ways are: Whole Foods, Lands’ End and Nordstrom. Each of these brands utilizes Pinterest in a very different, but equally beneficial way.

Whole Foods actually has a variety of “boards” that range from gardening tips to Christmas project ideas. On their Creative Christmas Projects board, they’ve posted all types of different projects for users to do at home. Anything from how to make really cute paper ornaments to making your own snow globe. In my opinion, it was a really smart use of the site. Whole Foods is gaining even more affinity towards their brand by giving people a variety of free tools to make their holiday season a little more fun and festive.

Lands’ End used Pinterest to create a contest called Pin It To Win It. They challenged people to create their own pin boards with their favorite Lands’ End Canvas products. The winning boards, which will be judged on creativity, composition and style expertise will be qualified to win one of 10 $250 Lands’ End Canvas gift cards. I thought this was pretty cool. Lands’ End gets free promotion of their products by giving their fans a voice and making them feel important. Lisa Petrilli, CEO of a company called C-Level Strategies talks more about this promotion in a recent blog post of hers: read more.

Nordstrom gives their consumers a fun and organized way to browse their merchandise. They have boards ranging from “Holiday Sparkle,” which has a variety of festive, holiday outfits and accessories to “Bold Bangles,” which showcases a bunch of fun bracelets they have in stock.

For those of you who have not yet experienced the fun and awesomeness that is Pinterest, I encourage you to do so now. But I will warn you, it’s addicting!