Day: November 16, 2004

They say all revolutions are started by dreamers.

If this is true, “I Have An Idea” is one long dream. We vow not to rest until we make drastic and constructive changes in the advertising industry. Why? Because the advertising industry we want to work for doesn’t yet exist.

The most valuable thing in any ad industry is not the money, fame, awards, or clients we have, but the know-how of the many talented individuals in the creative industry.

It is our mission to serve the industry as a mechanism for communication, self-analysis and intellectual growth. We will document the world’s creative community and disseminate this priceless knowledge to help it grow and flourish. We will ask questions, challenge the establishment and the norms, and make every possible effort to make add fuel to the industry we so passionately love.

This is not a website. It is an interactive project, an online and accessible pool of knowledge to which you can and should contribute. We are much bigger as a whole than as individuals.

For creatives, by creatives as one.

Web link of note: I Have An Idea
(At http://www.ihaveanidea.org/)

On my days off I did a few frantic “dim sum crawls” across Oakland Chinatown. My emphasis: the Chinese bakery / Dim Sum takeout!
The ones that stand out:

Shan Dong at 328 10th (Suite #101) is my personal favorite. It’s tricky to drive to (it’s on the last block of 10th below Broadway, which T’s into the mall) but it’s close enough to the elementary school that you can park nearby on the street if you’re driving. Shan Dong has a counter to order for their or to go, as well as a few tables to sit at (which most of the other little places do NOT have), as well as lots of kinds of freshly-baked and steamed items which you can watch them make as you order. Their specialty, however, is the dumpling, aka the pot sticker. You get ten to an order, which is a lot, and they come in 5 or 6 flavors. My favorite is their house special, the Shan Dong Dumpling, which has pork in it, but they also have a Chicken Dumpling and make a mean Veggie Dumpling. The last few times I have gone to potluck gatherings I just stopped by Shan Dong and bought a few trays (40+) of dumplings. There were never any left over!

Napoleon at 810 Franklin gets closer to what I was originally looking for- those really weird ingredients in pastries that only the Chinese or Japanese bakeries would have. Napoleon has what can only be described as “Ham and Corn Danishes,” each made with a healthy dollop of mayo. The “Fish and Cheese” pastry was good too. Their oddest traditional piece was a egg-glazed flaky pastry ball with sweet lotus seed paste and a bit of preserved duck egg in the center. They also have the “normal” stuff like a wide selection of breads and little cakes.

Tao Yuen Pastry at 816 Franklin St – easy to miss, because it’s a tiny store on a busy street. No one speaks English there. I recommend the taro ball and sesame ball, although they do have a wide selection of dumplings (not as grand as Shan Dong, but still good) as well as some very interesting shrimp things wrapped in fried tofu. Lots of rice noodle as well.

Delicious Food Co. at 734 Webster is the cleanest and most efficient of all of these. It is also the most sterile and like McDonald’s. They are your one-stop-shop for a large variety of moon cakes, and have most of the familiar dim sum pieces like things wrapped in rice noodles and at least 4 different kinds of steamed pork/veggie/what-have-you buns.