So, as per our women in advertising post, we were the only girl/girl team in the building. Until now!
As you know, li and I moved up to the third floor. And in our little empty seats down there, a new team of youngbloods moved in. Whose names just happen to begin with an la and an li. Lauren and Lina. And Lauren’s last name even begins with an “S!” AND she’s the copywriter! (PS I’ve already started getting emails meant for her!) And as coincidences continue, we’ve also been put on the same project, working together. Who woulda thunk it. So, when Bob and Patrick (who were our CDs for United, working under Rob and Patrick – Bob and Rob, Patrick and Patrick, what? huh? My brain just had a mild spasm) wanted to get some help for lali on this Infiniti campaign we’re working on, they thought it would be a good idea to put Lauren and Lina under Lauren and Lindsey.
It’s even been joked about by the higher ups in this building who have better things to do than remember our nicknames, but still do. Rob Schwartz is now calling them lila. And we’d like to introduce you to our doppelgangers.
The Li’s, in photo, at our old desk and their new one. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lscribbly/6009108001/in/photostream
Meet Lina, and her book. She’s an Art Director from Austin, TX, went to Portfolio Center in Atlanta and most recently worked at Modernista in Boston. She also happens to be obsessed with reality TV and a die-hard UFC and MMA fan. Who wants to see LINDSEY VS. LINA in the cage together, duking it out over photoshopped fist punches, fouled logo designs and color correction grappling.
The La’s, in photo, at our old desk and their new one. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lscribbly/6009667076/in/photostream
Meet Lauren, and her book. She copywriting at VCU Brandcenter, but originally hail from Philly. She used to throw the javelin, has been painted in gold, is seven states shy of visiting the entire US and is a self-proclaimed movie reviewer (but more like life reviewer). Well, I can’t throw anything because I have terrible hand-eye coordination, let alone a javelin, but I have been painted entirely green, have visited exactly half of the states and love ummmm watching movies and reviewing life. Looks like we’ll get along.
Welcome lila to some Chiat Days and Nights and maybe we’ll get a guest adgirl blog post out of them one of these days :)
When li and I started this blog, we thought maybe no one would read it. Besides maybe us. And our closest friends who we would force to read it and then comment on it, but they would only read it because we forced them to by bribery, pleading and threats.
Now we’ve got to get back to doing some talking. 5:30 presentation that’s supposed to take twenty minutes but when lali’s in the room laliang…. who knows how long it will take!
for those of you who read our blog’s comments, you’ll recognize the name chren… lali’s crotchety foil whose tagline goes something like “two grumpy madmen who wish those adgirls would shut up.”
well, the other day, la and i learned mr. ken pappanduros (or, “en”) is leaving us for the greener pastures and customizable schedules of the freelance world. good for him!
ken would have you believe he’s a salty advertising curmudgeon, but don’t you believe it. he and his art director partner chris were two of the five friendly faces we met when we interviewed at chiat. we liked them right away, and i guess they liked us too because we got the job! since then, they have been awesome ACDs, allies, and faithful blog readers during our time together at chiat. i’ve only seen the chren persona in action ONE time… when en hung up on an account guy who was asking him to do (potentially) unnecessary work. classic.
anyway, wednesday night was ken’s grand finale, and we celebrated over beers at the price o’ whales… as evidenced by they photos of lali being lali and chren being chren.
I really feel a deep connection to this place. Says Win Butler before playing his last song in the drizzling rain in front of two sets of stacked lights and behind rows of Christmas lights and swaying fans, oh oh OH oh oh, oh OHing to the first strands of Wake Up.
(it gets really good at 1:04, please watch, and gets epic at 1:35, so keep watching!)
Now that I’m older, my heart is colder. He sings. Before we all oooh again. Well, none of our hearts were cold that night. And when he said children, don’t grow up – we certainly didn’t. And I certainly don’t think I will ever forget seeing Arcade Fire with 249 other people, in a clearing in the woods in Big Sur, with rain drops and bright stars and big trees.
There was “no rain” chanting, Colin Stetson on the saxophone for the first time live – after a fitting LCD-like anticipatory build-up for “We Used To Wait” – singing Happy Birthday to Will Butler, my arms reaching out and touching Win Butler as he ran through the fans, Regine with streamers bouncing around the stage – a moment of abandoned brightness in Arcade’s dark lyrics – for Sprawl II.
I’ve always been amazed at how a band so darkly introspective in lyrics can become so anthemic and uplifting in spirit. If you’re not part of a surging crowd – be it a couple hundred or 18,000 – you aren’t really experiencing Arcade Fire. And this was the most intimate, backyard wondrousness with which I’ve ever experienced them, or any other band for that matter.
After the show, we lay around in the grass and stared at the stars, look what Big Sur will do to a bunch of semi-LA hipsters, and then wandered over to the side of the Henry Miller library, where Win Butler and Tim Kingsbury just kinda hung out, signed stuff, and talked.
I used this opportunity to say to him: “Hey, I read this New York Times article where you say – ‘It’s not like we’d license Keep the Car Running to a car company’ – and I just wanna let you know I know your secret. You almost did. To us.” (article here) To which he responded something like, “We just couldn’t do it. I mean, we wanted to raise money for Haiti but in the end it just isn’t us.” To which I – mortified at this point, not believing the words came out of my mouth to the lead singer of one of my favorite bands ever whose music I’ve essentially grown up with, can’t believe I’ve brought up something as unimportant to him as our one ad – respond, “It doesn’t matter. You’re the best.” Mumbled something more of the sort and mumbled more about them being the best band I’ve ever seen at Coachella.
BTW, they did play “Keep the Car Running” and it was a strange combination of memories of long nights in VBE listening to that song over and over again and the magnitude of seeing it live, feet from the stage and singing along to him singing. Thought about texting li, but then realized I wasn’t getting any cell service.
And then Allyson said, my friend has something to tell you! And Jacqui said, I have never danced so much in my life! And then I said, And she dances a LOT!
And then I asked him to sign something, but I already have the vinyl so didn’t buy it at the show and used the closest thing handy made of paper – pictured below.
I could have just waxed poetic to W. B. about how magical and wonderful the show was or something like that, kind of how I want to do with this blog entry. But I embarrassed myself instead. Ah well, at least I was being myself.
For blog brevity’s sake, I’m going to post some pictures and the setlist. Instead of rambling on.
And finally, this blog post wouldn’t be complete without a shout out to Lyle Hysen and Sarah Smith at Bank Robber Music, through Merge Records, who got us into the show, minus a minor snafu where my +1 didn’t show up on their clipboard will call list and I had to run up an enormous hill to get service after waiting an hour in line and call Sarah Smith (ironically, not the Sarah Smith my sister) and have her call the Henry Miller library, the tour manager, and text me all this info in order to get Noah in just ten minutes before Arcade Fire got on stage. Whew. Thanks Sarah!
And finally finally, a huge shout out to the crew for being awesome friends, dancers, beer drinkers, campers and troopers.
PS Drove back six hours from Big Sur after zero sleep on a deflated air mattress in the freezing cold and drizzling rain, didn't go home, went straight to work for a few hours, drank with co-workers for a going away party, and then was up after midnight writing copydecks for a 10a presentation today. That's dedication to work, Chiat Day!
As we’ve blogged about earlier, our nickname – “lali” – was inspired by the first syllables of our names. However, when we googled “lali” we found that there was another, coincidental metaphor in the shape of a girl born with two heads, connected by one brain. Seems apt, no?
Thanks Chase Madrid, art director at TBWA\Chiat\Day, lali friend, and owner of many fedoras, for your truly inspiring photoshopping skills. We’re glad your training as a designer could come in handy for our blog!
Thank goodness. Because when li came back last week, she got so many comments about how people were glad she was back because I wasn’t myself while she was gone. Apparently I spent a week moping around and lamenting my missing partner. I guess I blogged about it too.
Which apparently inspires others. My old coworker and dear friend, Hobart, who apparently reads laliadverts.wordpress.com on the sly, sent this email:
“Just something stumbled upon while on an image search that I thought might
lessen the separation anxiety you two seem to get when away from each other.
This would ensure you guys are right next to each other throughout the day.”
re: this chair
Apparently all our posts about separation anxiety linger in people’s minds so much that while they are image searching for random comping on a lonely Sunday at the office and they come across strange pictures of connected chairs, we come to mind! Hobart! Admit you read our blog! Now that we’ve posted about it, you can’t deny it any more! Maybe you’ll finally comment…
xoxo hobart,
written by la
but with love from la and li
lali adverts 
