We're here in Chicago at Greenbuild with Native Trails, (no Abe Froman sightings yet) holding boothside media visits and scoping out what's new and notable in Green and Sustainability.

What can I say, you can't take San Francisco out of the Mortar.  Back off, L.A. Kidding! (or are we?)

Greenbuild 2010 did a phenomenal job organizing the space, offering amenties and incorporating new technologies, down to the last detail. Which is why this one fleeting moment of hilarious irony caught our eye:

The "Social Networking Lounge" being decidedly un-social. One might even call it anti-social, as this lowly patron hangs his weary head in his hands.

We feel you, man. Trade-showing is hard.

Bueller…Bueller?

Saw our Reno Tahoe billboard "Some call it apres ski, we just call it drinking" on the 101 today. It's still looking good after 6 months. Plus, If you don't already read Thrillist, you definitely should start.  After we gave them the low-down on Reno's hidden wonders, they couldn't wait to get up there and live the dream, Thrillist-style. Ye be warned- this online 'zine is extremely addictive.

When we were young, we read Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions. And we enjoyed it mightily. But the one thing that stuck with us above all the many things that could have stuck with us about the book was this:

Now it wasn't so much Vonnegut's use of the word "asshole" that surprised us. (We hear it a lot in our business.) What surprised us blew us completely out of the water was his willingness to break the rules.The man just up and drew an asterisk! In the middle of the page! Of a novel! You can't DO that!
But he did. And it was shockingly unexpected. Yet no one arrested him. In fact, he sold a ton of books. Tons of books, plural. Great heaving boxcars of books. And slightly smaller boxcars filled with cash came back to him.

Which brings us to these delightful "Go Fishing" spots from takemefishingfilms:

The Bassador himself? Funny, but not roll-on-the-ground funny. But check this one out:

Wait a minute. You use half of your too-long-by-sixty-seconds-spot to argue with a talking fish? Using beautifully typeset graphics? In a video? With no music? You can't DO that! But they did. And it was shockingly unexpected. And we liked it. Not only that – we want to go fishing now. We doubt this will bring anyone great heaving boxcars of cash. But we do applaud the fish people's willingness to break arbitrary rules in the service of their idea. That's just good stuff.

Plus, we hope someone reels in that mouthy fish. He's begging for it.

Reeled in from the S.S. Adrants.

This is a picture of an anime character known as Kaneda. He has a cool motorcycle. 

Mix up the letters a little and you get Kenada,  the alter ego of our own Scott, who will be spinning "eclectric" (yes, more mixed up letters) music tomorrow night at Otis. What's "eclectric?" Just what it sounds like. You take two tracks and make something even better out of them. Hear it for yourself. It's just the thing to take the sting out of Tuesdays, which, as of last report, still suck.