Hodgman fans flesh out his mole-man army

In a season rich with religious celebration, it's good to know someone is honoring AdFreak's patron saint, John Hodgman. While best known for his "I'm a PC" acting work, Hodgman's talents are truly on display in his writing, most notably his 2005 book The Areas of My Expertise. Now, his follow-up tome, More Information Than You Require, has sparked an ambitious fan effort known as the 700 Mole-Men Project. Artists around the world are challenged to illustrate each of the 700 mole-men whose names are listed in Hodgman's new book. The endeavor is a natural evolution of the 700 Hoboes Project, which helped visualize Hodgman's bizarre appendix in The Areas of My Expertise. So, if you've got some artistic skill and a desire to stake your claim in the pantheon of history's greatest mole-men, post your creation on Flickr and add it to the 700 Mole-Men Group. Oh, and consider buying Hodgman's book. It offers advice on such weighty topics as "how to cook owls" and "how to be a famous minor television celebrity." The man speaks from experience. I hear his braised owl is to die for.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on December 23, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Griner, John Hodgman

PC tries an op-ed in his battle against Mac

Apple's done quite a few of these Flash-based PC and Mac ads, but the latest one, designed to run on news sites (and currently live on NYTimes.com), is especially well rendered, as PC drags a news-style text box onscreen to literally put himself in the story. John Hodgman makes some truly funny faces, while Justin Long, scowling down from above, at one point looks like a monkey. When I saw this clip, my immediate reaction was: Here's the first Mac/PC ad I've seen since Microsoft debuted its Seinfeld-Gates extravaganza last Friday. And I wondered how Jerry and Bill would fare in such a set-up. I know most people hate the Microsoft spot, but if nothing else, it makes you look at Apple's marketing efforts in a new light—and that's got to be some kind of progress. Would I switch to a PC running Windows Vista? Lord, no! Though I do seem to get that spinning pizza of death icon popping up on my Mac an awful lot. I blame Justin Long. Bad monkey!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on September 10, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Apple, Gianatasio, John Hodgman, Microsoft, Web video

John Hodgman's newest area of expertise

If you can't stand the gaps between John Hodgman's new "Get a Mac" ads, and his three-sentence blog entries are too much of a commitment, I have good news. Hodgman has now jumped on the Twitter train. Like everyone else, he’s still trying to figure out the micro-blogging service, and he occasionally violates Tangerine Toad’s Twitter Commandments by doing things like saying “Good morning.” Actually, his feed reads more like a parody of Twitter than anything, with posts often consisting solely of messages like “GRADE A NON SEQUITUR” and “BATTLESTAR GALACTICA REFERENCE.” But hey, it’s better than @justinlong.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on April 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Griner, John Hodgman

Apple keeps busy reinventing the banner

Apple undeniably has great TV advertising with TBWA’s “Get a Mac” spots, starring AdFreak favorite John Hodgman. As we mentioned previously, it’s also been extending its creative excellence to that most humble of vehicles, the Web banner. Today’s NYTimes.com continues Apple’s latest innovation of syncing up Web-display ads to work together to tell a story. The first iteration of this approach was so successful that it has drawn over 600,000 views on YouTube. The only problem was, it crashed some browsers, leading tech blog Engadget to pull the ad. They seem to have worked out the kinks for the new execution.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on January 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under John Hodgman, Morrissey

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Hodgman

More than ever, we at AdFreak are now certain that we love John Hodgman in all his forms: scribal, oral, theological, anecdotal and, just in time for the holidays, musical. Apple has released this animated spin on its impressively durable campaign, and in a surprise to no one, Hodgman steals the show. Unlike the Mac, Santa knows better than to interrupt a master at work. Via Adrants.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on December 14, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Griner, John Hodgman

Mac banner ad tightens screws on Vista

As Apple continues to poke the festering wound that is Microsoft Vista, one of the best spots actually isn’t on TV. The new “Get a Mac” online ad offers a nice twist on multiple banners, which are usually just the same ads in different formats. It also shows Justin Long at his best—which is when he lets John Hodgman do all the talking. UPDATE: In a twist that must have Bill Gates gnawing on his glasses, the Apple banner apparently caused some browsers to crash—but that just seemed to get people to love it even more. Now that’s a company with a powerful brand.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on November 27, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Griner, John Hodgman

John Hodgman talks about being the PC

In the latest episode of This American Life, John Hodgman gives a hilarious overview of his newfound fame playing the PC in Apple’s high-profile ad campaign. Here’s the episode’s home page. (Click on “free download” to get the MP3, or “full episode” to stream it. The segment begins at 8:20.) He opens by relating an anecdote about visiting Hollywood as a boy and being approach by a “small human dressed as Charlie Chaplin,” who tries to get Hodgman to kiss him. “At the time,” he says, “I had no idea why someone would expect a complete stranger to want to kiss them on the cheek. But now I understand, because now I am on television. Now my life has glamour.” (This despite the fact that John realizes he is “older and fatter and more jowly than most people who are making their careers on TV.”) But fame turns out to be a double-edged sword, to say the least—particularly when he visits the Apple store in SoHo. Via Adland.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 16, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Filed under John Hodgman

John Hodgman explains it all for you

Speaking of John Hodgman, the PC from the “Get a Mac” campaign gets another boost with his appearance as the poster child—I mean, cover subject—of the February issue of Wired. Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise, among his other things, has written a story with the mind-bending topic of “What We Don’t Know.” He explains in the piece that “while I am not actually a human supercomputer/mentat, I do play one on television, and I understand the temptation to believe that you have all the answers.”

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on January 24, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Filed under John Hodgman

Mac, PC to get loaded on eggnog together

Mac and PC try to put aside their differences in this very enjoyable holiday spot from Apple. Meanwhile, in his other life, John Hodgman (who plays the PC) is trying to pacify his non-U.S. fans, who have been excluded from the U.S.-only iTunes offer this week of a free audiobook download of Hodgman’s book, The Areas of My Expertise. On his blog, Hodgman explains (minus some all caps): “It is true, you are all out of luck. ... This is not done out of spite (except perhaps in the case of Canada) but because you live in sovereign nations, some of which currently offer no legal edition of my book to begin with in any format (including microfiche) and one of which (Canada) persists in having its own laws, economy, and publishing territories despite our obvious kinship and mutual love of fries with gravy. I’m sorry if you feel vexed or disappointed.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on December 20, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Filed under John Hodgman

iTunes freebie: John Hodgman’s audiobook

PC fans, rejoice. Today, iTunes is giving away the audiobook version of John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise for free. It’s no C++ GUI Programming Guide, but it looks pretty good. Here’s the write-up on the iTunes page: “In the great tradition of the American almanac, The Areas of My Expertise is a brilliant and hilarious compendium of handy reference tables, fascinating trivia, and sage wisdom on all topics large and small. Although best sellers such as Poor Richard’s Almanack and The Book of Lists were certainly valuable, they also were largely true. Here is a different kind of handy desk reference, one in which all of the historical oddities and amazing true facts are sifted through the singular, illuminating imagination of John Hodgman, which is the nice way of saying: He made it all up.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on December 19, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (1)
Filed under John Hodgman

Isn’t a Mac campaign without a Mac just an ad for a PC?

I really should find more important topics to think about, but nonetheless, I’ve occasionally pondered over the last few days what the Mac vs. PC ads might look like with no Mac. As you’ve no doubt read by now, Justin Long, who played the Mac, has been put out to pasture, along with legions of other castoffs from once prominent ad campaigns, but the ads will continue with John Hodgman as the PC. Will Apple and TBWA\Chiat\Day find someone more appealing to play the Mac, or will Hodgman continue on solo, as news reports seem to imply? And if so, won’t that put more focus on the dorky yet strangely lovable PC than Steve Jobs would want? Obviously, this is a riddle for greater minds than mine to solve. UPDATE: As you've no doubt heard by now, that report that everyone reported that Long was no longer doing Mac ads seems to be erroneous.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on November 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Filed under John Hodgman

End of the line for the smug little twit?

It had to happen sooner or later. Radar’s blog, Fresh Intelligence, is reporting that Justin Long, the Mac from Apple’s latest ads, has been unplugged from the “Get a Mac” campaign — even though the director, Phil Morrison, will shoot more spots with John Hodgman, who plays the PC. Radar is basically saying Long was fired, which wouldn’t surprise us. A rep for the actor confirms to Radar that Long and Apple have split, but adds: “Justin’s a movie star, not a commercial guy.” Right. If true, this may be the best outcome for all involved. Apple’s had a smug little twit on its hands for too long. And the last time we heard from Long, he didn’t sound too crazy about Apple anymore either. UPDATE: Someone claiming to be Mr. Long has refuted this story on the official Justin Long Web site, writing, “As for the mac commercials, i don’t know where that report came from that said i wasn’t going to do anymore - i [am] literally setting my alarm right now to wake up for a mac shoot tomorrow.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on November 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Filed under John Hodgman

Who wouldn’t want to dress like this guy?

Justin Long, the Mac from the “Get a Mac” ads, has his vocal supporters (see the comments under this item) who no doubt appreciate his relaxed yet stylish clothing as much as they enjoy his can-do attitude. These fans will be over the moon today thanks to a Web site called LifeClever, which reveals exactly where to buy Justin’s entire outfit (smugness not included), and how much it will set you back. The site describes Justin’s style this way: “Smart, but approachable; informal and casual but not slovenly; a simple color palette of cool blues and greys; minimal, with no visible logos or slogans.” There’s no mention (yet) of how to look like John Hodgman. Via TUAW. UPDATE: McSweeney’s has posted a somewhat amusing article today titled, “Three New Mac Ad Ideas.” Instead of “portly old dweeb” and “smug little twit” (Seth Stevenson’s assessment of the PC and Mac), Tom Batten describes them as “antiquated but sweet” and “effortlessly hip but still harmlessly nerdy.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on September 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (2)
Filed under John Hodgman

The Mac vs. PC wars continue

Go ahead—accuse us of grabbing a Kleenex every time Steve Jobs sneezes, but wanted to point to the latest ads in the Mac vs. PC series. Apparently, if you watched the Emmys last night, you’ve already seen ‘em. (Above, John Hodgman—aka PC—appears in triplicate, as an angel, the devil, and himself.)

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on August 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Filed under John Hodgman

Batman is cooler than the Mac dude, too

Since we posted a clip from The Daily Show today featuring John Hodgman, the “portly old dweeb” who plays the PC in Apple’s latest ads, it seemed only fair to extend the same courtesy to the “smug little twit” who plays the Mac. So here’s Justin Long playing Robin opposite Batman in a short film that’s meant to be a comedy. He doesn’t come off that well in this pairing either. I never saw Ed or Jeepers Creepers or anything else that Long has been in, but if you have, please feel free to leap to his defense.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on July 21, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)
Filed under John Hodgman

Hodgman talks computers on ‘Daily Show’

Lots of people think John Hodgman, the “portly old dweeb” PC in Apple’s new ads, is cooler and funnier than the “smug little twit” who plays the Mac. This video clip from The Daily Show won’t change their minds. Unlike in the Apple ads, here Hodgman is very much a savvy computerist. (The title of his interview with Jon Stewart: “The Internet Is Not a Big Truck.”) Imagine the scruffy Mac hipster trying to do this. There's no way. They actually cheer for Hodgman when he says, “I'm a PC.” Is there anyone out there who still thinks Apple didn’t screw up the casting on this one? Via TUAW.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on July 21, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
Filed under John Hodgman

‘Portly old dweeb’ versus ‘smug little twit’

Over at Slate, Seth Stevenson finally weighs in on the new Apple ads, and he doesn’t like them much. “My problem with these ads begins with the casting,” he writes. “As the Mac character, Justin Long (who was in the forgettable movie Dodgeball and the forgettabler TV show Ed) is just the sort of unshaven, hoodie-wearing, hands-in-pockets hipster we’ve always imagined when picturing a Mac enthusiast. He’s perfect. Too perfect. It’s like Apple is parodying its own image while also cementing it.” Stevenson prefers the other actor, John Hodgman. He explains: “The ads pose a seemingly obvious question—would you rather be the laid-back young dude or the portly old dweeb?—but I found myself consistently giving the ‘wrong’ answer: I’d much sooner associate myself with Hodgman than with Long.” Stevenson, a PC user, says the ads give him little reason to switch. Maybe Apple should bring back Ellen Feiss, the Benadryl-afflicted star of that old “Switchers” ad. No could could accuse her of being a “smug little twit.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on June 19, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (27)
Filed under John Hodgman