DETROIT ­ -- As your inbox fills with launch announcements each day, it becomes
obvious that our Detroit office is full of exceptionally talented folks.

But, what you don¹t get to see is some of our more, um, unique talents. To
showcase our skills outside of the digital realm, we sent Cory Pampalone
from the SOMO group around with a video camera to capture special abilities
from quarter tossing to choreographed dancing, to all sorts of vocal treats.
We proudly introduce "Organic¹s Got Talent." (Volume 1?)

--Debbie Klaft

I started collecting art 7 years ago. The first piece I purchased was a very small, sweet oil still life for $500.00; I was a nervous wreck when I went back to The Black Fine Art show to purchase the painting.

My interest in art started with a postcard of the Number 5 by Charles Demuth. I love that painting. I worked near Christie's Auction house when it was on Park Avenue and 59^th Street. I would go on my lunch hour; it was like going to a museum for free. After a while I could pretty much look at a painting and identify the artist. I never thought about buying art until I started dating an artist. I knew little about black artists outside Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence; he introduced me to the work of many artists, some of whom I had the good fortune to meet. I decided after buying my first piece I would buy what I like without any parameters except for what I could afford.

I didn't want to build a collection of work only by black artists. I buy what I like with no regard to race. I was especially drawn to abstraction. The artist I dated taught me how to see movement in a piece, composition, how one part of a painting flowed into another, I learned about the different mediums artists use. I was taken by color, though I have a lot of earth toned paintings and a wall filled with black and white ink drawings, linocuts, water colors, etc. Black and white keeps my mind still, when I see color I may think of the beach or a sunny day in the park, there are times I don't want to be anywhere or think anything, so I look at the black and white wall.

I'm in galleries every other weekend. I've traveled to Basel Miami twice; I attended the inaugural Freize Art Fair in London. This weekend, 3/29, I plan to spend hours roaming The Armory Show here in New York with a promising emerging artist. I love studio visits, most artists are happy to oblige.

I look forward to sharing what I know about the art scene with postings on shows, interesting articles, advice on starting a collection and any other points of interest.

--Yvette Durant

Happenings

March 27^th-30^th

The Armory Show New York City

Pier 94

12 Avenue at 55^th Street

www.thearmoryshow.com

NEW YORK -- All Hands is happy to announce the coming content stylings of Yvette Durant, who will let us into the world of art and art collecting in the weeks and months to come. So look forward to that.

In other news, the NCAA Bracket Challenge is becoming a heated affair with a logjam at the top of the rankings with a four-way tie for first among Sam Cannon, Steve Conroy, the trash-talking Krystine May and Mike Dawson.

 



It's NCAA Tourney Time and here's your chance to match wits against your co-workers once again -- the AllHands.Organic.Com March Madness Group at Facebook. Simply go here http://apps.facebook.com/cbssports/groups/group/102337 and join up to make your picks and be entered. (You need a Facebook profile to play...and you need to enter before the games start!)

The group has been left open to anyone, so feel free to invite others. But in order to compete for the top prizes, only current employees will be eligible. (Gift card type prizes for 1st and 2nd place...TBD)

Alan Robertson and I traveled to the University of Toledo to attend the engineering career fair. We had high hopes of finding some bright young minds to fill a few spots within the summer internship program, known this year as The Farm. The event went well, but as the day progressed Alan and I noticed how many of our experiences related to TV, celebrities, and other semi-comical situations. Needless to say, we had a good laugh.

Our booth was set up right next to the elevator - exactly as The Office's Michael Scott plans for his hotel party; to insure "more foot traffic".

On that note, traffic to the booth was infrequent; busy at times and slow at others which fit again inline with the Michael's party. Michael Scott to potential party guest who inquires as to where everyone is "People have been filtering in and out".

One engineer must have been Matt Leinart's, Arizona Cardinals Quarterback, long lost twin. Alan wanted to asked him for his autograph.

The recruiter for the company across from us consistently talked to people in the Captain Morgan pose. He loved to put his foot up on his chair. This also related to a clip from Family Guy entitled "Running Mates" where Peter in scene after scene walks to an object and puts his foot on it while addressing the camera.

Mr Potato Head showed up in the form of a foot long version for lunch. Add that to the spring mix, aka weeds salad, and you now can recreate the lunch offerings of UT catering.

One of the students working during the event was wearing red and stood out in the sea of black suits. She filtered through the crowd frequently and reminded us of the Woman in the red dress from The Matrix.

All in all Alan and I had a successful day at UT. We met some solid students, expanded the Organic brand to an up-in-coming generation and had a lot of fun while doing it.

--steve

We're in the midst of a technology upgrade of sorts, endowing many eager minds with the ability to post directly to this humble blog. Perhaps we might call them Captains? All Hands? Sailing? Naval? Ahoy! Maybe not.

And at the same time, we hope to get a bunch of super-hip-cool-fantastic-fun little features going around the design, too. So pardon our dust for the next few weeks and look for the brilliant thoughts and adventures of your coworkers right here.

In the meanwhile, this came in from Nicole Craine:

This may not be an EE in the digital sense, but being a coffee lover myself, I really enjoyed seeing the blending of creativity with a morning caffeine fix. These are from a series of three Vancouver coffee shops.