A couple years ago, I had a pleasure of attending a real estate trade show in San Francisco where Hugh McLeod was the keynote speaker.  At the time, Hugh spoke at length about his work for a small tailor in London and with the Stormhoek Winery.  He also talked about his humble beginnings as a struggling copywriter who started to doodle on the back of business cards while sitting at a bar.  He has parlayed his art into the social media marketing space very effectively.  His ideas were incredibly interesting, and I instantly became a fan.

Ever since, I’ve made it a point to follow Hugh’s exploits through his blog Gapingvoid.com.  As a big fan of unique business cards, I’ve become a big fan of both the artwork he’s done for businesses and the quirky doodles he’s published from the backs of business cards.  Hugh has really leveraged social media and blogging more than most artists I’ve seen.  Some of his work, like Microsoft’s Blue Monster, has really become viral.

Recently, Hugh’s taken to creating larger format 21″ x 30″ art pieces that sell for around $400.  He also recently published a book, Ignore Everybody: and 39 Keys to Creativity, which goes into more detail on his ideas about marketing and mostly creativity.  He’s also having a great sale on his Create or Die! print, normally $400 is just $165 for a limited time only.  All you have to do to take advantage of this great deal is to go to the Gapingvoid Gallery, add the Create or Die image to your cart, an d enter the coupon code cod235 in the appropriate field at checkout.

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Have you ever actually bothered to ever read some of the subject lines of the ridiculous spam emails you get?  Author Daniel M. Clark decided to do just that – and record all this sarcastic and funny gut reactions to them all in his new book, The Big Book of Spam, available for a reasonable $13.99.

I admit – without knowing Daniel or much about the book he was writing, he sent me one to reivew and I was worried that it might be dry with marketing analysis of spam headlines, and that I wouldn’t get around to reading it (like the last Joel Comm AdSense Secrets eBook I received that I still haven’t read).  But this was a great fun read while I was jetting around the western United States a couple weeks ago on planes and in airports.

Relatively small considering it’s the BIG book of spam (funny in itself), the fonts are big, there’s generally two subject lines and their remarks per page, and it is really funny.  I want to share with you my top 10 from the book.  I shall warn you in advance, there’s some off-color language in a couple.  More than half the book was devoted to the “Sex and Celebrities” category.

1. Do you wish ladies would have an… An…?  What?  An… aardvark?  An… obelisk?  An… infection?  Eww, no, probably not that. An… ice cream cone?  Oooh, yummy!  Yes, I wish ladies would have an ice cream cone, because maybe I could get a lick.  Of the ice cream cone.
   
2. Avoid enhancement pills I’m working on it.  These days the kids are popping enhancement pills like candy, much the same way that my generation used to “smoke the weed”.  It’s very, very important for the word to get out on “the street” that enhancement pills are very “dangerous”.  Parents, heed the words of our noble spammer.  Make sure your “kids” are “staying away” from the enhancement pills.  This “public service message” brought to you by The Big Book of Spam, the spammer who sent it to us, donations from viewers like you, and this station.  Also by a grant from the Corporation for Annoying the Hell Out of People.  And the letter B.  And the number 7.
3. Girls go wild, screaming and stripping and running after me when they see me at the door. It’s embarrassing, really.  Last time it happened, I was walking into a church.  Talk about awkward.
4. Does your spouse bore you to death?  Cheer up! Are you trapped in a boring, loveless marriage?  Do you wish you were happy?  Do you wish that ugly, overweight, unfuckable hag in the ridiculous house coat would just spontaneously combust?  Cheer up!  For only three easy payments of $1999.99, we can arrange… something.  If you know what we mean.
5. No hardware needed, satellite tv on your pc Computer, monitor, network card or modem, a router perhaps… a big satellite in outer goddamn space… nope, no hardware needed at all.
6. Cleanse your Excess Weight Look, I know I’m not Johnny Six-Pack in the abs here, but I don’t need to be told to cleanse my excess weight.  I do that when I shower, and don’t need to be reminded that I should be hitting the gym instead of sitting in front of a computer for ten hours a day.
7. Locate super and despicable Box Software for PC and All Macs!!! Your thesaurus has failed you.
8. Open Your Eyes to Extreme Multidimensional Mascara! I hope it stops at three, because once you start getting into fouth- and fifth-dimensional mascara, strange shit starts to happen.
9. Have your own Vegas Vacation – Participation Required “Honey, I’m off to Vegas.  What?  NO, this thing says I have to.  I’ll be back in a week, I swear – maybe ten days.  Seriously, the email says I have to.  No, of course I won’t hire any hookers.  No, it won’t be like last time.”
10. Paris Hilton Sextape.  We keep up to date with today’s hottest stars Her sex tape was news in 2003 – you’re not keeping up very well with today’s hottest stars if that’s the best you can do.

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