Daedalus Howell's Blog

Art is Where Ambition and Limitation Often Meet Some artists carry the cultural burden of their genius and mounting legacy. Ahem—not I. Having run through Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ first four stages of grief as pertains to my career (denial, anger, bargaining, depression), I’ve finally come to acceptance: I’m clearly burdened by neither genius nor legacy. This […]

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There are two quotes that describe my feelings on the future. The first comes courtesy of The Amazing Criswell’s dead-eyed introduction in filmmaker Ed Wood’s cinematic abortion, Plan 9 From Outer Space: “We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.” Criswell, […]

The post Future Imperfect: It Gets Better …Probably appeared first on Daedalus Howell.

The Drive with Daedalus Howell, 95.5 FM. The cobbler’s children have no shoes. But they’re hobbits, so it’s fine. This has been my maxim during a recent k-hole-like work experience that absorbed most of my waking hours—and whatever dreams might’ve come. Like a lot of culture serfs whose lifestyles are sustained (😂) by a confluence of revenue streams, my […]

The post Radio Daze appeared first on Daedalus Howell.

When I was a kid in the ’70s and ’80s, they told us, “You can be anything you want.” Thus empowered, Sesame Street’s Big Bird decided to be a firefighter. Failure ensued. Later in the same episode, a camera-toting cast member named Olivia sings “You Can Be Anything You Want To” with Big Bird, who […]

The post Substack: Video Killed the Newsletter Star appeared first on Daedalus Howell.

The media is like that apocryphal Mark Twain quote—the reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. It hasn’t died so much as evolved, perhaps beyond recognition, but vestigial elements persist. This is the case for so-called legacy media—print, broadcast, cable/satellite, theatrically released films, out-of-home billboards and artefacts like one’s precious vinyl—which are like neanderthals—they’re cruder, […]

The post Media Served Rare: ‘Legacy’ forms still resonate appeared first on Daedalus Howell.

Long before performative provocation became de rigueur for many media makers, ad man George Lois was drowning Andy Warhol in a can of Campbell’s soup. The so-called “original” Mad Man, Lois had a side hustle creating covers for Esquire magazine during its 60s era heyday under the editorship of Harold Hayes. The famed 1969 Warhol […]

The post Happy Birthday, ‘Mad Man’ George Lois appeared first on Daedalus Howell & Co..

Life, the Universe and Anguishing Like many jacks-of-all-trades, I’ve long yearned for a “unified field theory” of my career. I’m not a Renaissance Man in the conventional sense since the scope of my interests is limited to media, meaning-making and occasionally manipulating both for laughs. Call it a controlled burn with occasional fireworks. The “UFT” […]

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How to Commute your Commuting Sentence A recent poll confirms what every Angeleno has already shouted into their steering wheel — Interstate 405 is, officially, the most soul-crushing commute in California. The survey, run by Potamkin Hyundai (yes, really), asked 3,004 drivers which rush hour route makes them rethink their entire existence. No surprise, the […]

The post Driven Mad appeared first on Daedalus Howell & Co..

Career Goals, Readings/Workshops, and where to hang your damn Chat Noir It’s Spring, which means it’s time for the first of my biannual identity crises. With every industry I’ve ever worked in undergoing massive disruption (sure to be followed by a contraction so tight it’s liable to collapse into a black hole), I’m acutely attuned […]

The post The Accidental Conceptual Artist appeared first on Daedalus Howell & Co..

Is this the year IP movies fail? It’s predicted that up to 70% of the movies released from the six major studios this year be “will be related to existing [intellectual property].” And yet, those properties have a “much higher higher flop factor than normal,” according to The Gamer’s Stacey Henley. Call it franchise fatigue — Marvel’s […]

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