Since Mekanism is a creative agency full of creative people, we put everyone to the test and initiated the One Thing. These are the things that are blowing our minds. The things that make us say Fuck Yeah!

This is the second installment of Mekanism’s One Thing:

Jessi Goldstein + Amy Palmiero-Winters

Jessi Goldstein (Finance):

This is Amy Palmiero-Winters, a 39-year-old below-knee amputee who currently holds eleven world records in various track events. In July 2011, she became the first female amputee ever to complete the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon. While her many physical accomplish­ments are incredible, what I find the most inspiring is her attitude.

“Yes, bad things can happen, but what counts is how you deal with it. The loss of my leg will never change, but feeling bad won’t change anything either. I have been given a gift, and I feel it’s important to get out there and show the world what can be done.”

Pretty badass for someone who was told she would never run again.

Daisy Cheng + Mark Rothko

Daisy Cheng (Digital Influence Coordinator):

Mark Rothko’s paintings are the One Thing that inspires me. When I first encountered his paintings at an art museum, I didn’t expect a painting with a couple of blended colors to emotionally affect me, but it did. Rothko was an abstract painter who was most famous for his large color block paintings. He wanted them to evoke the most basic human emotions and cre­ate an intimate and intense experience. It wasn’t until later in his career that he created such paintings and saw the power of strip­ping down his ideas.

He believed: Simplicity –> Clarity –> Being Understood

I try to live my life with the same concept in mind, producing work that is simple yet effective.

Elijah Bilotta + KPop

Elijah Bilotta (Social Media Supervisor):

I have been a fan of K-pop since 2008 when I first discovered the Wonder Girls on YouTube. Some of my favorite groups are T-ARA, Girl’s Generation, 2NE1, 4 Minute, Girl’s Day, Sistar, After School, and Su­per Junior.

During our Rise of the Apes promotion, there were only a handful of videos that stayed on the Top Viewed YouTube charts as long as “Ape with an AK-47.” One of those was Hyuna (an original member of the Wonder Girls) with her hit single Bubble Pop. It has 23 million views to date despite promotion being cut short by the Korea Broadcasting and Communications Review Committee for being too “sexually explicit.”

You can fol­low my adventures in K-pop on Pinterest.

Emmett + United Visual Artists

Emmett Feldman (Design Director):

UVA is an interactive art and design practice based in London.

They create work at the intersection of sculpture, architecture, live performance, moving image and digital installation. Key aspects of their projects include minimal light/sound sculptures installed in old world architectural environments.

The synthesis of hi-tech and historic creates a unique experience that is equally humanistic and divine.

Edward Schmidt IV + Snuff Box

Edward Schmidt:

Snuff Box was a short lived BBC Three sketch comedy show from 2006. It lasted one season, and had six episodes.

It stars Matt Berry who plays the ”High Executioner to the King of England” and Rich Fulcher, an American who plays the “Assistant to the Hangman”. Most episodes takes place in a Gentlemen’s Club for Hangmen, where they drink whiskey while moving the loose plot forward and working in reoccurring characters. The show is very dark and often deals with issues of looniness, betrayal and jealousy. The shows theme song is weaved into every episode, and is often featured in sketches.

Here is a picture of Matt Berry. He wrote all of the music from the show, and is the main creative voice through out the series. You can watch every episode on YouTube and Netflix. You can kill the entire series in less amount of time than it takes to watch Das Boot or Fantasia.

The reason this is my Thing is that even though this is TV show, I find myself putting on episodes like they are songs. There is something about the characters that I find hilarious no matter how many times I’ve seen each episode.

Matt Berry is pure gold throughout the show. I weirdly want to be him.

Episode 1: Snuff Box

Welcome to another installment of Meet a Mekanista.

This week we celebrate our esteemed colleague and well-loved HR Coordinator, Julie Boddorff (pronounced like “dog barf”).

Note: While the writer realizes those words may not help you to say her last name without vile imagery, readers should know that Julie introduces herself this way.

Officially labeled a “hipster” after a still from this short film by Brian Williams appeared in print:

Julie came to our San Francisco office from the pages of “Look At This F*cking Hipster” (a real book) by way of Maryland. She taught art to toddlers in a past life, which lead to her insane ability to wrangle and help the adult-children of Mekanism figure out their shit.

While her main role here involves boring stuff like payroll and benefits, Julie embodies the spirit of the agency. She has made appearances in a lot of Mekanism’s shoots: repeatedly jumping barefoot onto ripe bananas, belly flopping on a mattress face-first from the top of a ladder, and doing other things that would make another HR coordinator think twice.

photo: Jorge Ayala, La Pink One

Being tirelessly enthusiastic all day doesn’t stop Julie from studying woodworking and interior design on her own time. Julie recently built a coffee table of her own design.

Julie is also an incomparable party planner. With the help of our Social Committee, she has made the legendary Mekanism holiday parties what they are. She is without a doubt one of those behind-the-scenes people who makes everything run smoothly with little thanks and a big smile on her face.

Did I mention she has great hair?

photo: Jorge Ayala, La Pink One

When asked what it is that makes Mekanism such a special place to work, she replied, “I guess it’s not a secret that we party really hard.”

“We’re on TV!” – Mekanism

Never one to shy away from a challenge, earlier this year, Jason Harris (President & CEO of Mekanism) promised ABC News’ Dan Harris we could make him “go viral.” Dozens of meetings, a twelve-camera bullet time rig, and one hugely successful cat video later, the story of how we got it all done aired on ABC’s Nightline on Monday, June 25.

Check out the full segment here, which includes a slow-motion walk-off by Mekanism’s partners:

As clients often are, Dan was initially shocked by some of our ideas for the video. But he understood going viral hinged on that extra hook that grabs viewers’ attention and convinces them not only to watch but to pass along the video. Without defaming Dan or painting him as a cat hoarder, we managed to find that right kind of catchiness in a PSA for the ASPCA starring George, the “Hovercat.” Watch it here:

It’s good to produce work for a great cause like pet adoption. And thankfully, not all videos promoting the ASPCA have to be tearjerkers to be effective.

Dan: “Were you nervous the thing wouldn’t come off?”
Jason: “Yes. Yes, I was.”

It’s not like he knew Ryan Seacrest would tweet about it.