A quick summary of this story is basically that a freelancer working out in LA agreed to do some work for a studio and after both sides agreed on a deal memo the agency decided not to honor the contract and to throw a wrench into the situation by trying to stiff the freelancer out of the total agreed upon amount.

I first came across this article on Motionographer and later decided to read further into it on the freelancers blog post here.  What makes this story interesting is not the fact that a freelancer gets jipped out of pay because I’m sure this happens alot, but because of the way the freelancer deals with the situation and how he stands up against the sometimes intimidating agency and fights the company in court. 

As a freelancer myself, luckily I have not had to deal with this situation to this severity but I can totally see how this can be a huge issue. 

Everyone’s favorite online award website, The FWA, has recently relaunched with a completely new look. The site reminds me a little bit of the new agency websites that every company has been hauling out in the past couple of months but none the less it’s a refreshing look.  A couple new features have been thrown into the mix as well including the Dock, which allows you to sign in and save some of your favorite sites.  Public Vote has also been added and as the name sounds it allows people to vote on recent submissions.  Of course, there is the social networking aspect as well that allows you to tweet and facebook the winning sites. 

Heinz has recently announced that they will be introducing a new packing for their “Ketchup” later on this fall. The new design is suppose to make it easier for people to use ketchup on the go. The package will allow consumers to have 2 options on using the condiment.  One way is tearing off the top cap and squeezing the ketchup and the other option is to peel the corner and dip your food inside the packet. I quite like the new ketchup bottle shape design and can’t wait to test it out.  For all the fans of the current ketchup packet don’t worry Heinz will still be producing those as well. 

As the Super Bowl quickly approaches one of the main things during this event that is much anticipated by tons of viewers is seeing what new commercials are debuting and by whom.  One of the usual and largest companies, Pepsi, has already decided to pull out of this years line up but many other companies have returned with newer, funnier, quirkier and sexier ads. I don’t really follow football but some of the commercials airing during the game can be quiet interesting.

Above are a couple of commercials that will be in rotation during this years Super Bowl (Doritos, Go Daddy, Tru Tv, Career Builder), click the images to view the videos. You can also watch more ads at Chiff.