the cocktail napkin*

Monkey Butt

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:10:08 +0000

Working from home today with a bit of a sore throat and a toothache. Good a time as any to rant about something that's been driving me crazy. Apologies for wind noise. It's a nice day and the windows are open. As such, it was a bit breezy. In this episode: Plastic monkeys, curmudgeonly ol' dad checking in, Conversing with college freshmen on Facebook, even if it's an informal conversation: LEARN TO WRITE FOR GOD'S SAKE, lamebook.com, disdain for uneducated morons, get off my lawn, Nathan swears he won't write like an uneducated moron (in front of me, anyway), monkey butt, Rolling Stone, rock stars with kids.

Mmmmm..

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:07:54 +0000

On the roof garden, reflecting on my recent speaking engagement at the University of Kansas. Good students, great conversation, and a nugget of inspiration to keep doing something I was beginning to think was a dumb idea.In this episode: Mentioning the dry spell between episodes by trying not to mention it, packing up "From Cowboy To Astronaut", mentally starting the FAQ list, great conversation leads to great inspiration, "How To Fake Your Way Into Advertising", always/never have a plan for what you're making, back to basics with the iSight camera, saving money for a Panasonic Lumix GH1, production value can't save a bad idea.

Explore

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:38:51 +0000

the COCKTAIL NAPKIN returns after a long dry spell, this time coming from the 11th floor of the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. While working on the presentation for the Zappos.com agency review, we really concentrated on the undercurrent philosophy of our agency... exploration. Through the exploration of finding fresh ways to vie for new business, we rediscovered and re-energized ourselves. In This Episode: Vegas, Zappos.com, rockets, exploration, pizza, illustration, tired eyes, poor autofocus. Also, I want to hear from you! In addition to the episodes I've already got planned, I want to hear what you'd like to see. Send ideas to ideas@thecocktailnapkin.com or on Twitter @3rdmartini.

tcn* - Pub Crawl For Cancer

Fri, 29 May 2009 23:46:34 +0000

We were part of a team of 10 that participated in the 2009 Crawl For Cancer ( http://www.crawlforcancer.org/kansascity ). Our team went around to five bars in the Westport area of Kansas City and enjoyed 20 pitchers of the cheapest beer that each bar could get away with serving. Needless to say, it was a blast. Proceeds from the mass debauchery went to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. In this episode: Robin (@rabbittini) guest hosts and we show a travelogue of the day's progress.

tcn* - Dead Week

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:26:38 +0000

After seeing a Facebook mention of Dead Week at Oklahoma State University, I had a weird flashback of dread which prompted me to not only come clean to all of you my sordid academic past, but also to contemplate what would have happened to me if I paid attention to my classwork the way most normal people do?In this episode: Aspen Coffee Company, Oklahoma State University, Dead Week, skipping lots of class, electronics technology, pocket protectors, first "Pruno" promo, x-ray porn glasses.

tcn* - Switching It Up

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:46:08 +0000

Have you ever been so engaged in creative work that it has just drained you? Mentally and physically? That's me right now. I'm absolutely exhausted because I've been riding a creative energy high for over a month and I just crashed. I figured while I'm in a valley I'd take a moment to let you know that there are a couple of things that are going to change/be added to the cocktail napkin* in the near future. Things that I'll enjoy doing and most likely you'll find more interesting and engaging than episode after episode of a talking head. In this episode: Creative "burnout", new plans for the future, eventual replenishment.

tcn* - Deep in the Heart of Texas

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Another episode from the road. This time from San Angelo, TX. Another big thank you to the San Angelo AAF for being great hosts for the keynote presentation I delivered there. In this episode: The Concho Valley, DFW, early adpoters, taking technology for granted, airplane winglets, kaizen. As always, I'd love to hear comments below and your likes are always appreciated. If you want to follow the cocktail napkin* discussion on Twitter, just use or search for this hashtag: #thecocktailnapkin.

tcn* - Observations

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:09:00 +0000

I took a day that would normally be spent rushing around with proverbial blinders on and tried to open up my mind by making as many small observations about the world around me as I could.What started as an exercise in creativity yielded the type of insights that any hack situational comedian in the late 80's/early 90's would have killed for.In this episode: Observations, Coexist bumper stickers, Bath & Body Works soaps, patchouli, hemp traders, Hooville, presentation clickers, ChipIn to help bring Vimeo Plus to the cocktail napkin.

tcn* - Cardioversary

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:03:00 +0000

February is American Heart Month. February 2nd also marks the second anniversary of my triple bypass surgery.In this episode: Heart surgery memories.

tcn* - Fingers In Pies

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:52:00 +0000

I tried to take advantage of the halfway decent weather to share some thoughts on how to focus one's energy only toward things that yield great creative work. What resulted was an interesting looking video that unfortunately lost its focus.Hey. These videos aren't all going to be perfect. That's kind of the point.In this episode: Creative focus, again with the Merlin Mann, man crush?, fingers in pies, temporally coincidental graffitti, dead camera batteries.

tcn* - Zit Videos On YouTube

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:44:28 +0000

I'm trying to get in the habit of making videos regularly so that video becomes more of a top-of-mind tool in my creative problem solving.!!!WARNING!!! If you are a fairly squeamish person, there's about 3 seconds of video in here that may make you vomit on your keyboard. You've been warned, and I think you'll know when it's coming. In this episode: Buzz Aldrin conference room, Tim & Eric Awesome Tour 2009, benefits of YouTube vs. Vimeo, zit popping videos on YouTube = bad, thought provoking videos on Vimeo = good, lavalier mics and HD cameras, Most Days by Merlin Mann, Encore by David Liebe Hart.

tcn* - Old German Pistol

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Still working on the format of the podcast? finding my voice if you will. My son Nathan guest stars. And yes, I realize that I'm a tree hugging hippie for not liking guns. Been around them my whole life, shot them on a few occasions, just don't like 'em. In this episode: Mac & Cheese hair, first birthday party, old Nazi pistol, distraction.

tcn* - Introductions

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Hi.the cocktail napkin* is a video podcast supplement to my blog, the martini shaker*.Basically I get a lot of ideas from time to time that I don't think easily fit as a post because they're either too long and would equate to a novel online or they're such small ideas that it seems like they wouldn't be worth posting.But around here, all ideas (well, maybe not all ideas) are worthy of sharing and I wanted to give those ideas a place to live. Hence the new show.And despite what people have wondered, I'm really not drunk in this video. Just tired. Sorry to disappoint.In this episode: Introductions, Nashville, Bar-B-Cutie, Woodford Reserve Manhattans.