Cory Collier

So last night I met my buddy Jon, and a couple of new friends for a secret Against Me! concert held in the ghetto of Orlando. The ‘venue’ was a garage covered in graffiti and surrounded by a barbed wire fence. There were opening bands, and Against Me hung out with all of the kids at the show.

View Larger Map

I’m still (and always will be) a huge fan of Florida Death Metal. However, Against Me is still a great band, and really proved to me their ability to stay grounded.

Watching the crowed at the show was probably as much fun as the show itself. It was all the die-hard fans jumping all over each other. I can’t explain the stink of body odor in that garage, but trust me, it was rough.

More importantly, I can’t describe how surreal it was to see a bunch of white kids, probably living with their parents in a suburb somewhere, all hanging out at a place that provides no security, in the middle of one of the supposedly more violent places in the state of Florida.

Great times

My second family at Hydra Studio and I have moved our office. We’ve got our own floor in the Fidelity Federal Bldg off of Court Ave in Downtown Orlando. This ends the roommate style relationship we’ve had with Push for a while. The new place is awesome, even though we’ve got a few things to button up.

We’ve shared space with Push for 18 months now. We love those folks. They’re an amazing bunch of people, who I’m pretty stoked to call friends now. Friendship aside however, it was time we had our own space, to *push* our own identity. Hopefully we’ll all still see each other at Lizzy’s. Our new office _is_ right there anyways …

All of the team spent a hell of a lot of time preparing the new office into something we could call home. When we got the space, it was setup for a construction company. I guess that’s a bit ironic for me, but it plain sucks for everyone else. So, we all worked our asses off to remove carpet, paint, clean, and do a million other things to make the office into something that begins to represent Hydra, the raddest digital agency in the world.

The whole process was a little cliche of the things you’d expect from working your balls off after a full day’s worth of regular work with co-workers. I have a bit more respect for everyone, and I definitely care a smidgeon more about everyone there. I know it sounds like a load of crap, but everyone really gave it their all, and I couldn’t be more proud of what all of us have been able to pull off. 

The move definitely had it’s perils though. I had to dodge insane traffic to pick up equipment I dropped in the middle of 50 during rush hour. We destroyed some walls we had to put back. More than a few nerves were a little frayed from the tremendous amount of work we had to do. 

I know I’m gonna get some shit for this: Regardless, of everyone who stands out in this whole process, Bobby Jones is definitely the man. Bobby is undoubtedly the best employer I’ve ever known. During the entire transition between offices, Bobby probably worked 80 to 100 hours on the new office. He poured himself into making the transition relatively smooth, and keeping the rest of us motivated while we helped realize his vision. The sort of stress he must have been under is impressive. What’s more impressive, is how calm and collected he remained throughout the affair. Ask Rob and Parker how many times Bobby took the late workers out to IHOP at 5:00am to feed the most dedicated of folks. I’ll probably follow up my ‘Folks that mean shit to me’ lineup with Bobby next (even if it does give me a brown nose).

Anyways, a mega-huge thanks to everyone at Hydra for working your asses off doing shit you didn’t know how to do, but did it anyways. I’m honored to call all of you my coworkers, and more honored to call all of you, my friends. I’ve worked with some of the toughest people in the world. I’d trade every one of them for you guys, you’re all the best.

Last August I started work at Hydra Studio in Downtown Orlando. Hydra shares office space with a local ad agency, Push. Push celebrates their anniversary on Halloween. As you can imagine, an ad agency can be quite creative on Halloween, when celebrating at work.

I was warned ahead of time that a costume was an absolute must for the day. I was also warned that the festivities started early and it was unlikely that any work would get done for the day. One of the major take-home points I got from talking to folks who had been part of celebrations in years past, was ‘Go big or go home’. 

I’m an over-the-top kind of guy. The thought of being challenged gets my blood flowing. When I heard there was a bit of competition behind the costume contest, I was pretty excited to be a part of it.

I’m also a really busy guy. Work has been very busy lately and I’ve little time for my side project, Florida Death Metal. Any spare time I’ve got lately I have to use wisely.

Continue reading »

Recently my boss, Sterling , wrote up about all of us at NFi on his personal blog. It’s flattering to hear what he has to say. I probably shouldn’t care too much about the accolades that I may, or may not recieve from other people, but I do.

All of us at NFi work very hard to produce product that is above and beyond client expectation. Just the other day I worked from 8 in the morning until midnight. While that’s not an everyday occurence, it happens quite a bit. Sometimes in this business, there’s just far too much to do. So when I hear some appreciation from the boss, I guess I get a little choked up.

I shoud count my blessings. I work in an environment where I can wear just about whatever I want, I can say pretty much whatever is on my mind, and I can listen to Death Metal all day (with headphones, of course).

Sterling is a dedicated entreprenuer who has the insight to know that while teamwork and dedication are critical to success, an uptight or stifling atmosphere is not. There’s a weird balance between fostering creativity, and discouraging a lack of productivity that Sterling does a pretty stand up job at acheiving here.

The guys (and gals) I work with are a really cool bunch of folks. I’ve mentioned Sterling, but Derek, Bender, Elizabeth, Rick, CJ, and now Chris are all friends to me. I routinely heckle Bender and Derek is always teaching me something.

Our office is awesome. It’s in the heart of Downtown Orlando. We have wood floors, and a great view (though the shades are frequently closed to keep the glare to a minimum). We get to meet a lot of really awesome folks because of our location alone.

So, I really like working with these guys at NFi. I can’t think of a better place to be.

I had the opportunity tonight to hang out with everyone at the Crooked Bayou for Florida Creatives . Most of the regulars showed, plus some newer folks, and some not-so-new but not-so-veteran peeps as well. It’s usually pretty easy to have a good time at the Bayou, but Florida Creatives is really awesome.

It’s funny how I started going to networking events a while back in order to meet people to further my career. I suppose that’s still a possibility, but these days I go because I geniuinely enjoy the company of the characters I get to talk to. I can’t say enough good things about all the guys I get to see every couple weeks.

I can try however:

So, I’d like to buy a beer for Chis , Erik , Gregg , Al , Ryan , John , Greg , and yes, even Bender. I should buy a beer for a few more of y’all, but those are the first few honkies I can think of.

I also had the oppotunity to meet a few guys from a really young startup, Dyverse . It’s neat to see the ambition of people who are willing to lay a lot on the line, to get where they want to be. John looks a lot like a younger version of Sterling, which might be a good thing for him.

Speaking of startups, I had the great opportunity to meet Gabriel Chapman, CEO for the locally started Talent Database . Talent Database is a great idea with tons of potential. I was thoroughly impressed with the humble nature of a man behind something with such promise. I guess it reinforces my egalitarian view of what the world should be.

So, this being the ‘Thanksgiving’ edition of Florida Creatives, I suppose I should mention what I’m grateful for: Having a Florida Creatives to go to. Thanks to all of you who keep it going.

I’ve been outspoken that Orlando is more than Mickey . Today however, I enjoyed the benefits of tourism in Orlando. My wife, Melissa, and I went to the Food & Wine Festival held at Epcot.

We left the house around 3:30pm and made the drive on I-4 down there. I had been working all day on my new side project, so I hadn’t eaten anything before I got there. That probably explains why I pounded empinadas and margaritas for the first half hour when we got there.

After we settled in, we took our time to enjoy the cheap booze and food from ‘Around The World’. Our first more leisurely stop, was appropriate for me: Ireland, and Guinness. Then we headd over to China, so Melissa could pick up a Green Tea Plum Wine Cooler.

After that we skipped over most stuff and headed over to Germany. That seems fitting, given that some coworkers at NFi and I are heading to Germany this Thursday. We took our time there, and I asked a guy (supposedly from Munich), where to go while I was there. He was predictably vague, but he did mention some general areas I had an inkling to go to before.

From there we continued on, sampling food and drink from America (ha ha ha), Morocco, France, England, and Peru. When we had gotten ‘Around the World’, we went around again. I guess we just couldn’t resist the opportunity

To wrap up the night, we stayed for the Illuminations show Epcot shows every night. I should be able to recognize the corporate motivations for the show. However, it was so well done (especially after a better than $150 bar tab), that I couldn’t help but be moved by it. We hauled ass to get out of there afterwards, which is tricky with thousands of clueless tourists.

Overall, I’m glad we went to the Food & Wine Festival. It’s easier to be less picky, given we didn’t pay to get in (which is up to $65 for entry). However, we had a really good time, and I recommend it to anyone, who might spend the money elsewhere.