About fifteen years ago, I met Theo, Traction's chief creative poobah, through a group of artists called artgroop that used to get together once a week at somebody's apartment. Everyone would show up with a bottle of wine, a sketchbook and $10 to kick in for a model who would perch themselves on the host's coffee table while fifteen or twenty of us practiced our skills.

Last Friday, we got back to our roots.

Traction is an office of connoisseurs. It informs how we work, how we play, and most especially how we eat.  From Glenn's to-die-for lemon meringue pie to Kele's home-brews to Julie's delectable cheesecake to Adam BBQ obsession we're an office that loves fine food and drink. We're also an office that loves cutthroat, blood-thirsty competition. Hence our quarterly Traction Cook-Offs.

The latest internet sensation is the Flying Dutchman, Jarno Smeets and his "Human Birdwings" project.

In his videos, you supposedly see him take flight with large flapping wings of fury—a modern day Icarus propelled by personal drive and innovation.

Roving reporter, here. Hanging out in the blogger lounge at SXSW. I sat down to recharge next to Zac Bowling from SeatMe, a startup aiming to give Open Table some competition. Zac was just featured in Wired because he's a self-professed hackathon junky.

There's been some interest at Traction for throwing a hackathon so Zac gave me 4 tips for running a successful Hackathon...

In the era before mobile devices, computers, and television; advertising was an art form dominated by the printing press and the paint brush. This pre-digital world had a marked physicality to it, with advertisers using printed and hand-painted ads to all but cover the urban environment.

Occasional Creative team, co-directors and friends of Traction, Sausage films, have just released their music video for the Sons of Science track "Motherfucking Bike."

It is brilliant. We love it.  And so should you.

'Tis the season for self-indulgent agency holiday cards, websites and videos. While we usually throw our own version of merriment into the fray, this year we decided to pass all that joy onto all of you.

We're getting our Ho Ho's on over here in Tractionland. Coming at you with another blast from the past.

Yesterday, I was invited to have lunch at Burning Man's new headquarters down on 6th and Market. Lunch was yummy, we had a great conversation, and it was interesting to see the similar challenges that creatively focused organizations face—regardless of their size or the nature of their business.

We are not a sentimental lot.

But as the holidays are here again, it only seemed fitting to look back at the last time this dark cloud that is the "merry season" descended upon us.