kenji ross

Developer, Creative :: Boston office

Kenji is a developer, markup specialist and creative in the Boston office. He’s been with us a long time, and he’s pretty awesome. He was the first technical dude in the company that we made a creative on something, long before we were smart enough to realize that anyone could be a creative, and revamped our process accordingly. It’s Kenji’s fault.

He’s one of the funniest people we’ve ever met, a genius, amazing markup and compliance developer, and a musician of the highest caliber, playing in two bands, including ex-Barbarian Boy in Static’s band.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary site

Midway through 2009, we got word that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame would be be throwing a huge concert event to celebrate their 25th anniversary. They were understandably secretive about the artist list, so when we got the final bill, our jaws dropped. Stevie Wonder. Aretha Franklin. Simon & Garfunkel performing together. Metallica with Lou Reed and Ray Davies. U2 performing with Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger. Woah.
So we got on the ball and built a fitting site. It’s simple and smooth, but packs a lot of content into a small space. It features artist biographies, iTunes playlists hand-picked by the Rock Hall, merchandise, video, and unique artist pages. The show happened back in October, but much of the site is still up at rockhall25.com.

Formal Friday - Boston Christmas Club Edition

Formal Friday - Christmas Club Boston edition

For this special Boston edition of Formal Friday, we headed in to the conference room, where Nick had kindly set up a videoconference with a friendly fire. Drinking, and this lovely holiday photo, ensued.

Second Barbarian mayoral debate raises expectations, roof

the boston office/townhall debate
BOSTON (TBG) Last night marked the second and final Barbarian Group Mayoral Debate, this time held in a townhall-style fashion in San Francisco, New York, and Boston. Surprise and dramatics were the order of the night. Previously-withdrawn candidate Anthony Dines made a last-minute return to the race, announcing his re-candidacy moments before the debate began. On a sadder note, incumbent candidate Bruce Winterton dropped his name from the running just minutes before the debate began, as rumors regarding his gender identity and secret past began to swirl about the campaign. The remaining candidates, Nicole Califano and Nick Bonadies, fought off increasing drunkenness and spandex burns to strongly explain their positions and appeal to Barbarians of all walks.
More photos from the Boston office follow the jump.

Candidates clash at inaugural Barbarian Group mayoral debate

behind the scenes at the first TBG Mayoral Debate

BOSTON (TBG) – The race for mayor of The Barbarian Group is well underway, and tonight’s debates were a thrilling testament to the power of democracy. At turns energized, thoughtful, analytic, and sober, the three candidates restated their campaign themes and worked to convince the assembled audience that they were indeed right for the job. The debate, simulcast on the Pacific and Atlantic shores via closed-circuit television, attracted a rowdy and at times vocal audience. A internet-archived video of the debates is said to be forthcoming.

Taco Dog

After the runaway success of the previous gastronomic experiment, Pickledog, it was time for us to step it up a notch. We were ready for a long-awaited challenge: the Taco Dog.
“Taco Dog” is the moniker of our pickup/delivery bike here at the Boston office, and it was high time we created some food in its glorious name. Over an evening at the nearby Feel Good Cave, Doug McDermott and I dreamed up the exact manner of execution and drew up some plans. Read on for the delicious results.

A New Gastronomical Wonder

Ladies and gentlemen, a new culinary avenue has been opened to the world, and that gaping void can be found here in the Boston offices of the Barbarian Group. Are you ready to see what our lunchtable hath wrought?

Ms. Pac Man, Auto Repair, and Client Communications

This came my way last week, and kinda blew my mind. On his eponymous site, Don Hodges has looked into some of the most famous programming bugs in early gaming history – the Donkey Kong kill screen, Pac Man’s level 256 split screen, Dig Dug’s instant-death screen, and others. Although the solutions are very technical (we’re talking assembly code here), the level of detail and understanding of the algorithms is what really impressed me.

bad day on the internets



poor mike p, and his repeatedly-crashing machine. dual monitors means twice as many bsod’s :(