The life and work of Josh Rachlis: Copywriter, voice actor, comedian, TV and radio personality, screenwriter, cartoonist, singer/songwriter, environmentalist, politician and cupcake judge.
A girl in North Carolina popped up on my Facebook just now and asked if that's me on the "enemies of OKCupid page." I had no idea what she was talking about, so I Googled it, and, well, of course it's me. That's just how my life is. Check it out: http://www.okcenemies.com/post/25447844858#notes
I'm not sure if that's something I should be posting on this site that's supposed to be about my creative work. But, well, maybe being vilified on a blog about awful Internet dating profiles is a kind of fame in this modern age. After all, as I write this, there are 76 "notes" under the posting, which is more comments than I've ever gotten on my own Facebook posts. And because the girl who told me about it is N.C., that means I'm "known" in the United States. And I'd like to believe that it was my creative writing and photographing that made me worthy of this international public ridicule.
For the record, there's a bit more to the story than made it into the blog. I didn't just write "I'm not gay!" in my profile and leave it at that. I'm weird, but not that weird. If you're interested in the context, feel free to read my full profile at http://www.okcupid.com/profile/BertSeeksErnie. It seems everyone else in the world already has.
The initial warning on Facebook. Boy, I love getting messages like this. How come nobody can ever just say "Hey, how are you?"
The posting on OKCupid Enemies. (Couldn't I be an OKCupid Annoyance? Am I really so bad as to be an Enemy?
Here's a little something that popped up when I Googled myself this morning. (Yes, I'm that vain/lonely. Deal with it.) The photography studio Sugino Studio just blogged about the back-end of a Canadian Special K commercial they worked on, which I helped adapt from an American commercial. For this kind of thing, I rewrite the script so that it speaks to Canadians and takes into account any differences in the product up here, and I help direct the voice over artist, in this case the talented actress/comedian Katie Crown, whom we patched in from her new home base in Los Angeles. The spot likely won't win me a Lion at Cannes, but it's part of what I do every day, and it's always a joy to help get the message out about delightful Kellogg's products. And for Special K in particular, it's fun to be able to use my profound understanding of the female mind to talk to women in a way they can relate to. Sigh. If only I was as good at dating women as I am at marketing to them. To see the blog post and the clip from the commercial, click here.
I'm not personally attending the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity that's happening this week. But I've just learned that a couple of things I worked on have been shortlisted. Which is almost as exciting as cavorting on a beach in the South of France. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.
In terms of my Copywriting - The Mr. Clean facebook page, for which I helped develop the Mr. Clean character and wrote many of his status updates, is in there:
And get this... I'm in this James Ready Beer campaign as an Illustrator. That's right, I was asked to draw some of the newsletters that came in the beer boxes. I knew that doodling on my school notebooks would come in handy one day.
Toronto's surprise move to ban plastic bag giveaways at stores is the talk of the town today. So The Huffington Post Canada did a story about people's reactions, and I'm proud to say that the popular online newspaper did not consider my thoughts to be "disposable." Rather, they "reused" my Facebook comment for their article. I'm glad Toronto is following their lead by doing the same with plastic bags. To read my quote, check out the article by clicking here.
In late 2009, I rented out my condo to a girl who wanted it for just one night. Turns out, that wasn't my best idea ever. Months later, I submitted a one-sentence summary in response to an L.A. casting call I saw from Judge Karen's Court. Though the show normally only uses people in California, and certainly just Americans, the producer loved the story so much that in December 2010, they flew me and the defendant down from Canada to Los Angeles for 24 hours to be on their show. So, my apartment got trashed, but I got my first appearance on a national U.S. television show. I believe this is what's called "turning lemons into lemonade." This is the first time I'm seeing the episode - It took me this long to track down a copy. But I already knew it ran a couple of times, because I've gotten emails from an ex-pat Canadian woman in the U.S. asking how the court case in Canada went, and from a guy in New York state who just wanted to tell me that I'm cute. Being called cute? That is the greatest outcome I could ask for from a court case.
On Wednesday, Mike Schreiner (the Green Party of Ontario leader) and I sat in the viewing gallery of Question Period at Queen's Park. Mike goes all the time - the reporters and even the security guards all knew him - and he was kind enough to invite me for this trip. Why'd we go? Because even though the Green Party doesn't have a seat in Provincial Parliament (yet), we're passionate about holding the government accountable for the health and well-being of Ontarians. Also, sitting in Queen's Park makes me feel all important and stuff. But mostly it was for the holding accountable thing.
