Archive for September, 2008

Hey Huckabee, You’re Hot!

September 28th 2008


I’ve always though my brother Mike and his wife Tina were the coolest people on earth. He’s a doctor who made a commitment to medicine at 16, plays bass guitar and rams around America on his Harley. She’s a hairdresser-turned-lawyer and hard-working single mom (’til she met Mike) and is now President of the South Dakota Bar. But she’s also a hot biker chick who rides her own bike with Mike and their friends. 

What I especially love about them is their passion. They are great at their jobs, and they work hard. But boy do they have fun.  The Soffer Collec+ive peeps are like that too. We kill ourselves for clients every day but we’re all a little nuts. Manny shows in galleries across America and pedals his bike thru Miami like a crazy person. Amanda builds furniture. Diego simmers with movie ideas. An Academy Award for him someday. Rojie is a budding photographer and hits the heck out of a golf ball. Boogie thinks he’s coaching the Dallas Cowboys. We have our own band here called “Coochie Beach.” And so on . . .. Passion everywhere! 

And now there’s Mike Huckabee. Yes, THAT Mike Huckabee. 

This former governor of Arkansas and a real contender for the VP position on this year’s Republican ticket launched his new show, “Huckabee” on Fox News this weekend. It could have been just one more annoying pundit show, but he had a new IDEA!! (We love Ideas here). His passion is playing guitar, so he put together an all-FOX employee band and they close the show with original and cover music.  

How cool is that??  A balding, middle-aged Republican sex symbol is born!

Plus, I’ve never seen anyone play guitar in a suit and tie.

 

Posted by Patty Soffer under Art & Business & Design & Economy & Music & Politics & The Collec+ive | No Comments »

READ, BABY, READ.

September 28th 2008

Quite a week, boys and girls. Quite a week.

One thing should be very clear to us all: Piggy Piggy Piggy isn’t going to cut it anymore any.

As the owner of this 10-year old advertising/design/ branding/strategy company that has had to reinvent itself over time and yes, borrow money from banks to hang in there,  I understand the concept of working damn hard to achieve the American Dream. At no time did anyone ever teach me to “charge it”, as so many have done in recent years, landing America in an economic and philosophical sinkhole that will require extraordinary vision and commitment to get out of. 

Politics is not my bailiwick  -  I tend to think politicians cause more trouble than they are worth because the premise of politics and how politics works is essentially flawed. All you have to do is listen to the junk and lies they feed us just to get elected. 

But there is a voice out there that goes past the politics and simply says things that make perfect sense. And –this is the best part–he is optimistic that Americans can return to the meritocracy that drove innovation and ingenuity to make us a great country in the first place. 

Author and New York Times Foreign Affair Columnist Thomas Friedman, whose work for the New York Times often brands him as a bleeding liberal, doesn’t succumb to hyperbole, a constituency or special interest groups. He just gets it and he really really cares. About everything. 

Even if you have not read “The World is Flat” , his newest book,  “Hot, Flat and Crowded” catches you up, takes you further and should be required reading for all high school/college students and anyone else who wants to have a future, no matter the country.
(From www.thomaslfriedman.com)

Friedman proposes that an ambitious national strategy—which he calls “Geo-Greenism“—is not only what we need to save the planet from overheating; it is what we need to make America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure.

He agrees with David Rothkopf that “Green is not simply a new form of generating electric power. It is a new form of generation NATIONAL power.

Friedman sets out the clean-technology breakthroughs we, and the world, will need; he shows that the ET (Energy Technology) revolution will be both transformative and disruptive; and he explains why America must lead this revolution—with the first Green President and a Green New Deal, spurred by the Greenest Generation.

Drill Baby Drill,  as anything more than a very short-term position, is a good way to extinct this planet faster than we already are. Friedman, on CNN this morning, has a better mantra: 

GREEN, BABY, GREEN. 

Here at the Collec+ive, we’re in the IDEA business. So I have an idea: READ THIS BOOK. HAVE YOUR KIDS READ THIS BOOK. HAVE EVERYONE YOU KNOW READ THIS BOOK.

And then decide which presidential candidate has the vision and THE COURAGE to get us where we need to be. Not where we need to be next week or even next year. Where we need to be to survive. 

The color of my presidential choice this year won’t be black or white. It will be GREEN. 

So READ, BABY, READ.

Posted by Patty Soffer under Art & Books & Business & Design & Economy & Green & Politics & The Collec+ive | No Comments »

Does ANYONE Have Any Experience?

September 3rd 2008

HEY AMERICA! I’M TOSSING MY CROWN INTO THE RING!

I am running as an INDEPENDENT (woman, that is). 

I am running on the 2-inch platform (literally) of my new Gucci ankle-strap shoes.
Don’t think for a minute that this being a woman thing isn’t tough.

Not sure what I am running for (or from?) but I bring so much to the table it would be a shame to waste it. Like, for instance  . . .

I

Qualifications:

+ Emmons County Spelling Bee Champion 1968 

+ Sister of Miss Singer Sewing Machine 1969 
    (Yes, great beauty does run in my family) 

+ Miss Black Angus 1970

+ Miss North Dakota Teenager 1970
     (Also won talent competition at the local and state level. But not Miss Congeniality.) 

+ North Dakota’s Junior Miss 1972

+ Runner-Up Model of the Year 1973 (the blonde won, as usual)

+ Divorced single mother of two children

+ I have two rescued dogs and my rescued cat has no teeth.

+ I once fired a gun at the Sunset Range. The shell casing kicked back and landed 
    inside my shirt. Burned the hell outta my chest. What I won’t do for my country’s security.

+ I once ran a perfectly good business straight into the ground.

 

All kidding aside, no matter who you vote for this year, please make sure you do get out and vote.

It’s never been more important.

See you at the polls this November 4th.

God Bless You and God Bless America! 

 

Posted by Patty Soffer under Awards & The Collec+ive & Uncategorized | No Comments »