Text messaging can be deadly. Especially when mixed with deaf beauty queens, railroad tracks, and oncoming trains. [CNN]
“My daddy died in Iraq. What did yours do to win Hannah Montana tickets?” [CNN]
Mel Gibson’s drunken, xenophobic rant tirades were actually so last year. [The Smoking Gun]
We mourned Tony Soprano and the end of an era. And that song by Journey that helped revive Steve Perry’s career tenfold. [YouTube]
We are all sinners and going to Hell to hang out w/the homos (according to Mike Huckabee) and Anna Nicole. Besides, she’s already keeping the place warm for Howard K. Stern. [Wonkette]
The joke fodder that couldn’t die a proper death: Larry Craig’s public bathroom etiquette. Personally, I prefer using stalls with the disposable seat covers. [About.com]
16 and 0 don’t come easy. But last night, after a nerve-racking game, the Pats managed to beat the Giants 38-35, and with that, to break a few records (including 16-0 perfect regular season and 589 points - the most a team has ever made in one season, 50 TD passes by Tom Brady, and Randy Moss broke the TD receptions record) All of that is great, but won’t count for much if the Pats don’t make it to the Superbowl and win it.
But who am I to be a spoiled sport and start worrying about this stuff? Let’s let Bill Belichick deal with that. For now, let’s enjoy some pictures from the victory over the Giants.
Something struck me recently when reading Dave Churbuck’s blog. For those of you unfamiliar with Churbuck, he is VP Marketing at Lenovo and a pretty fab blogger in his own right. He has a way of cutting through much of the subtle, latent Web 2.0 BS and calling things out.
I happened upon Churbuck’s post around the time I was “connecting” on LinkedIn with past coworkers and trying to loogle them. It started out quite innocently with me trying to find one of my good friends on there who is a student at UCLA’s management school. I realized just how annoying it is to be prompted for the umpteenth time to upgrade my account with that tiny yellow bar of a button that kept flashing every time I tried and failed to click away from the page.
Why must I be menaced so? What had I done but been a happy user who made frequent visits to the site and spread good word about its attributes? When did LinkedIn start bugging me to upgrade my membership? Thinking back, I had started noticing this a while back, but it took a few months to settle in my mind to the point of distracting me from enjoying the site.
Unfortunately around the time this malaise set in, I was also on Facebook. My friend had sent me another of those SuperWall pictures which required me clicking on the image, but before I could get to that image I was navigated to yet another page which prompted me to send the very image to all of my friends before I was allowed to open the actual image. Thankfully it also selected all of my friends as recipients of this picture so it saved me the work of having to send a picture of a dog to 50 of my nearest and dearest.
On the flipside, when I tried to “pull one over” on the system by “unselecting” all, it prompted me to choose one lucky recipient of an Alaskan Husky picture which most likely barked, licked its nutz, and said “Happy Holidaze” when clicked on. Annoyed that I had just spent seven minutes of my life driving towards a reality far less appealing than the my mind’s conjurings, I started to philosophize a bit on Churbuck’s likening of “spam” to this tactic that Facebook API developers have taken to spreading the word of their creations. Initially I had taken to this feature, especially because I could choose which of my friends would care to partake in a game of Scrabble with me and go a few rounds. Same with Flixter. In a sense it also allowed me to be more social with people I wouldn’t have contact with on a daily basis and rediscover or discover connections I never would have found otherwise.
Newsweek maintains that Facebook is the console of the future (replacing Wii??) and it will connect people socially through computers as never before. Considering it’s the sixth most trafficked site in the world, it’s a possibility. But really short of wireless remotes combined with action-oriented kicking ass, competitive games w/amazing graphics, how can the existing Facebook APIs compete with what Sony, IBM, and Microsoft are putting out?
After finally getting my Wii and spending the past few days manically hooked on Wii Tennis and upping my all-time score to “professional,” I’ve decided that I now need to focus my energies on something a bit more tangible and likely to give equal amounts of attainable bliss: Shopping.
But…For those of you who know me, I hate shopping. I hate spending money. I hate crowds and I hate holidays that feed off of consumer greed and guilt. Now that the holiday season is officially over (well, the songs are off the radio anyways), and people are rushing back to stores to return and exchange gifts, I’ve decided to let a few days blow over, have some of the carte madness disperse a bit, and slowly get back out there and take advantage of some of these sales. In order to be successfully proactive in my shopping, I’ve decided to start with the essentials so as to eliminate all the unnecessary headache I usually attach to malls and people. Hopefully by me revealing the most common myths, you too can be enlightened and on your way to an even jollier 2008.
1) Myth # 1: Holiday season is over post-Christmas.
I lied in the previous paragraph when I said the holiday season was in fact officially over. If big name dept. stores like Kohl’s and Macy’s can be burning the midnight oil and opening at 6 AM the day after Christmas, you know there has to be an audience for this. Yeah and that audience would be the very same people that actually spend the day after Thanksgiving at strip malls, revving up on Starbucks lattes at 4 AM just to kick them out of that Tryptophan-state and anointing holiday-like status to a day of shopping. Canucks aside, who does that?
2) Myth # 2: Exhibit Kindness & Goodwill to Thy Neighbor
Ok, so this rule might apply to your literal neighbor, but don’t start getting all figurative on this one. If you see a Wii in Target or Best Buy, grab that puppy. Don’t do that polite thing when it comes to the things you want or you’ll never get anything in return - besides a lot of bitching and moaning when you come home empty-handed or realize you should have fought a little harder to stay in line to return that damn vase you have no use for but didn’t want to start rough-housing it with the old lady with the walker. Does she really need that walker is what you should really be asking yourself…
3) Myth # 3: People don’t like to Shop Online
Bullocks! Did you know that in England and Scotland, online sales pre-empted retail sales? Did you care?
4) Myth # 4: Giftcards are the Natural Remedy for a Fledgling Economy
Retailers are banking on giftcards pulling them out of this season’s sales slump? Yeah, good luck with that..
5) Myth # 5: Wii is Purely a State of Mii
And the most sought after product of the greed-fueled, consumer driven holiday season?
The Nintendo Wii was the most sought-after product, with the Transformers Ultimate Bumblebee a close second, according to Yahoo Shopping.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I got some Wii ass to cook.
Though living in Boston, and enjoying the huge success of its sports teams, when it comes to Basketball, my heart lies in California. 3900 W. Manchester Blvd. Inglewood, California if to be more specific, the address to the good old Forum. I remember the day when I was just a little boy, in the only one TV channel land of far away, when a weird looking guy appeared on the screen and said he is going to show us Basketball from a different world. It was the early Eighties, and the new names that I heard on that day: Magic, Bird, Mchale, Jabar, Parish and Worthy, filled my head, and stayed there ever since. You had only two options back then, you were either a Celtics fan, or a Laker fan, and I went with Magic. More then 20 years have past since (shit I’m so old), in which Michael Jordan came and went, and then came back just to go and come back again, and while doing all of that changed the game of Basketball forever. The Lakers left the Forum moved to the Staples center in which they won a few more championships but lost many more games and went into a 5 year draft that made Coach Phil Jackson a relatively calm person to out of his way, and call Kobe Bryant “uncoachable“.
But this past week, I got a chance to watch the Lakers play, and I think that we can see the light. Kobe is better then ever, the team is looking very good. The game Vs. the Suns on Tuesday was a big test for them, and they passed in flashing colors. This year’s Boston Celtics is a better team then any other in the NBA, and I think they are favorites to win the title, but I also think the Los Angeles Lakers have a good chance to win the western conference.
Rarely do I venture on Friendster or MySpace these days, but I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit after reading this profile excerpt on a Friendster page:
“I need to put new pics up…. I just joined MYSPACE and i love it! Add me if you’re on it!!!”
To read more about how you too can use Friendster to promote MySpace, click here.
In the news today, Ford is launching a host of widget ads to promote their new Microsoft-powered affiliation, the highly touted voice command device for mobile and digital music, Sync. For those of you who haven’t yet visited the site, the Sync My Ride slogan is rather catchy for a domain even if the commercial campaign for the Ford Focus which cross-advertises the Sync doesn’t quite convey the message as readily. Both campaigns are in line with a Net-Gen/MTVu-generation demographic which makes sense given the pricetag of the Focus and the interactive-heavy, rich design feature set of Sync.
Ford’s widget ads, which can be seen on AOL sites starting this week, will boast portable API-friendly code to embed the widget on other sites. While I understand what Ford and Microsoft have to gain in the process of building a community of MySpace and Facebook users flaunting their products, I’m not sure what users get in return. To this point, if there isn’t an existing community of users and advocates for a product (like Sync), how does a campaign like this get wheels. Does it have all the ingredients? Or is a bit like putting a cart before a horse?
Google’s Gmail ad campaign stemmed from a preexisting fan base of avid and enthusiastic users to build a more cohesive community through the power of user-generated video and the simplicity of its message: Just how does a single email navigate from point A to point B? In other words, what’s its path? (Google’s satellite feature to map out user video locations is a nice add-on to the video visual) Google’s success with this ad, much like many of their initiatives, stems from a keen understanding of the precise intersect between timing and innovation. Had Google launched a campaign like this before Gmail branded itself as synonymous with “email” and asked users the very same question, it would have sunk.
Widget ads do appear to be the wave of the now with major industries (entertainment, automotive, romance) piggy-backing on the new trend, but again, I’m brought back to the same burning question. What’s in it for me? As the consumer? As the Facebook member? As the occasional MySpace voyeur? What do I have to gain from posting a widget from the film August Rush with trailers from the film and local show times unless I’m a publicity agent at a PR firm or an industry-related site owner that gets some sort of monetary pay-per-click/pay-per-impression incentive? (assuming there is a performance model in place) Companies like ClearSpring, PointRoll, and Interpolls, who is hosting the Sync product, are already fast-track on the way to creating systems for tracking and monetizing traffic based on widget ad revenue. As an aside, Yahoo is currently working on sprucing up their widget platform, most likely to accommodate for this growing trend.
I get that advertising models these days are shifting with the times to incorporate ways of involving the everyday person in opportunities to have a “voice” in their public campaigns and that truly successful campaigns empower individuals by giving them ownership and a sense of tangible pride in their brand, but whether the widget ad model can support this model remains to be seen.
I know that we don’t normally write about consumer issues in this blog. But I am so angry at this lousy web site, that I’ve decided to write my story.
I placed an order with Buy.com, it was a 3 user any- virus software for a very low price, when some time had passed and I still didn’t get the package, I tracked it on the UPS website and was surprised to find that it was already shipped. then I tried to contact Buy.com customer service, and I hate to say it, but sometimes you get what you pay for…The worst customer service ever. Shipped to the wrong address (I spoke to UPS and confirmed it) and then denied my claim saying that it was shipped to the right address. They don’t advertise their phone no. online, and when I finally managed to get a No. I waited over 30 minutes only to speak to someone who couldn’t give me any information regarding their claim department. She couldn’t even transfer me to the supervisor, because “She is too busy…”
So please be careful next time you want to buy from this site, they will take your money alright, but then you are all alone.
In the interest of bringing you a quirky newsbit of the week, I scoured Youtube for fake Apple/Mac ads. The premise behind this: Everyone wants to be Apple (er, Google) or at the very least, win a chance to work for them. Plenty of parodies exist on the theme of the the Mac/PC guy. Some more memorable than others, but the best Apple ad of all time (and a REAL one, at that) remains the Orwellian commercial that came out around this time of season way back before Apple was Macintosh. In the interest of keeping with the 80s theme here: There’s something about growing up in the Max Headroom-inflicted era of the 80s and hearing, Music is my boyfriend [and girlfriend] alongside an electronica beat that I can’t help but swoon over.
As this clip, which integrates Mr. Bean, the Spice Girls, an iPod, iTunes, and Mac/PC illustrates, the tragic flaw of majority of the pseudo Mac ads is their lack of simplicity - the core ingredient to Apple’s success in advertising. Witnessing a few of these ads in succession makes one even more nostalgic and appreciative for the type of vision, clarity, and intent with which Apple creates their ads. So as a final follow up, the best fake Apple ad of the season is indeed the Wired toted disco Christmas ad with the Mac computer displays. But there is a hope for novice hacks out there: Companies that are able to capitalize on the success of Apple ads by piggybacking on those infamous light bulb Mac ideas and leveraging this popularity, have the best chance at creating memorable ads this holiday season.
So start creating and uploading to YouTube. Just keep the Muppets, Michael Jackson, and Columbine out of it.
It was early Sunday morning, Seven o’clock to be precise. The Northeastern storm that started during the previous night was at it’s pick. A mix of snow and ice was slamming against the faces of about one hundred and some brave people, myself included, who were waiting in a perfect line outside the store, only to have a slim chance to be among the few, the brave, the Wii owners. I was there, I am a witness. I drove in six inches of snow, and walked from the parking lot to that line and waited for the voucher that confirmed my eligibilty to be the proud recipient of a brand spanking new Wii. But all was worth it, because hey, we have a Wii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I Am Legend is the almost movie of the year. It’s an almost movie because it’s not a bad one, but when you come out of the theater you feel that it could have been so much better. If you are a Will Smith fan, or a groupie of a deadly virus killed everyone but one sole immune survivor genre, then you are all set. Smith is doing a good enough acting job and with an adorable German Shepherd as a sidekick, you can’t really go wrong. The story, based on the book I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, is not so bad either, at least the starting point (again, you gotta love the genre).
Dr. Robert Neville (played by Smith) is the last human survivor in New York City ruins, fighting the infected mutant who come out at night and will kill any living creature, while trying to find a vaccine to their disease. Ten years ago, this might have been a great movie, but today, after movies like 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, or even The Invasion, it’s only almost, borderline mediocre.
In his Yahoo! Sports column, Michael Silver points six reasons why the New England Patriots are so hated.
1. Coach Bill Belichick’s personality.
2. Randy Moss’s bad turned good image.
3. The fact that others think that the Pats see themselves as superior.
4. Dynasty factor.
5. The Spygate scandal BS.
6. The common claim that the Pats have run up the score.
But I think that you can probably sum it all up by saying that everyone roots for the underdog, and the Patriots by all means, are not the underdog, especially not this season.
Two of our little blog’s favorite subjects are in the news lately.
Amy Winehouse, who’s always in the spotlight, has been nominated for 6 Grammy awards, including one for Album of the year. Despite the wide varity of her recent issues, Amy is eager to perform in the show. One of the singer’s reps told People Magazine, “Amy is thrilled to be nominated for six Grammys and is very much hoping to attend. She is determined to be ready and well for that performance. It’s a really difficult time and she’s been channeling it into her music.”
Jennifer Love Hewitt, who just recently announced her engagement to actor Ross McCall is now suffering the wrath of all sorts of gossip websites, and all because of some unflattering pictures of her that appeared on the cover of People Magazine, wearing a bikini … If this new obsession with Love Hewitt’s butt suggests that we’ll hear less about Britney’s, it’s great, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen…
Maybe the last post for a while about the has been Quarterback, inmate to be Michael Vick. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison. For the event Vick was dressed in a black-and-white striped prison suit. The shame the humiliation, his downfall, is a massage to all those overnight superstars, to take responsibility for their actions.
I would like to end this short post with an old Yiddish saying: Man plans, and God laughs… I’m not sure it’s applicable to Michael Vick’s story, but hey, it’s still a good sentence no?
After a week of holding out hope of buying a Wii anytime in the near future, I’m spent. I know from my quest that I am not alone. Hell, I’ve run into a lot of the same moms desperately hoping to appease their whiny kids by waking up at ungodly hours and schlepping out to the nearest Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Circuit City and any other promised mecca just to secure within their tiny, tight grips a new Nintendo Wii bundle for a mere $250. Having wasted my Sunday morning high-tailing it to every electronics/technology superstore around and being met with the same bemused reaction ad infinitum from every salesperson, I’ve started to catch a bit of the anti-Wii. There’s only so much flaunting and teasing one company and one product, for that matter, should be allowed. With the new Playstation 3 valued anywhere from $400-$500 and XBox 360 at $350, game consoles are the hottest ticket around this holiday season and they don’t come cheap.
But not coming at all?
Conspiracy theorists and other people with way too much time on their hands aside, I’m not of the mindset that Nintendo is holding out on us, more that they simply haven’t manufactured enough Wiis to fill the supply end of their high demand. The fact that the search for the Wii has borne the brunt of every late night talk show (if there wasn’t a writer’s strike) and DJ’s AM joke doesn’t discourage me. If anything, it compels me to push on in my search. The reality being no one relishes healthy competition more than myself. I get that glazed, demonic look in my eyes and march to the possessed beat of a win-at-all-cost drum. But there is no winning with the Wii.
I’m self-defeated at the moment. Angry at Wii, at Bill Gates for his damn Xbox 360 (completely unrelated). Incapable to discerning if I even want the Wii so much anymore, or I just can’t stand to not finish something once I set my mind to it. I may be feeling anti-Wiiish at present, but much like the initial hurdle of running from mile 7 to mile 8 when training for a marathon, this might be more of a mental obstacle than anything else. I might wake up tomorrow with renewed hope, but for now I’ll stick with the odds of the Patriots beating the Steelers this evening. Those are odds which will more likely play out in my favor.
Yesterday I wrote about me developing an eye for Showtime’s Dexter. Today I read that I’m not alone. According to Reuters, CBS CEO, Leslie Moonves, said that CBS is planning to air edited version of Dexter, because of content shortage, due to the ongoing writers strike. Reuters also points that CBS is the leader in the forensic crime drama genre with the “CSI” franchise.
On a different note, the latest issue of the Rolling Stone Magazine covers the Led zeppelin reunion. Last night a got a chance to go over the piece and it is highly recommended if you are a fan of the band. Here is a taste of what Jimmy Page had to say about the reunion: “It was immediate, Everybody went in with a will to work and to enjoy it. It was a delight.”
As if I wasn’t watching enough TV, along came Dexter. Watching Monday night television is a complicated mission to accomplish. We watch NBC Chuck, and then Heroes getting less and less interesting while still just as addictive as before, not to mention Monday Night Football (especially if the Patriots ((12-0!!!)) are playing.) So you have to understand, that if it wasn’t for the esthetically designed On Demand button on the remote control, watching shows like Weeds, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Dexter on Showtime, would not have been an option for us. But since it’s there, and since we had a couple boring Tuesdays we started following the tales of a Miami Metro Police Department blood spatter analyst, who also happens to be a serial killer, and goes by the name Dexter. Though it may not be the best show on TV, it delivers a great story. And while some of the dialogs are poor and boring, the main character’s monologue supports the plot’s development, and helps in maintaining the suspense. So I’m hooked, again, what can I do? It’s cold outside…
Text messaging can be deadly. Especially when mixed with deaf beauty queens, railroad tracks, and oncoming trains. [CNN]
great, but won’t count for much if the Pats don’t make it to the Superbowl and win it.
Something 
After finally getting my Wii and spending the past few days manically hooked on Wii Tennis and upping my all-time score to “professional,” I’ve decided that I now need to focus my energies on something a bit more tangible and likely to give equal amounts of attainable bliss: Shopping.
Though living in Boston, and enjoying the 
It was the early Eighties, and the new names that I heard on that day: Magic, Bird, Mchale, Jabar, Parish and Worthy, filled my head, and stayed there ever since. You had only two options back then, you were either a Celtics fan, or a Laker fan, and I went with Magic. More then 20 years have past since (shit I’m so old), in which Michael Jordan came and went, and then came back just to go and come back again, and while doing all of that changed the game of Basketball forever. The Lakers left the Forum moved to the Staples center in which they won a few more championships but lost many more games and went into a 5 year draft that made Coach Phil Jackson a relatively calm person to out of his way, and call Kobe Bryant “
Rarely do I venture on Friendster or MySpace these days, but I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit after reading this profile excerpt on a Friendster page:
In the news today, Ford is launching a host of widget ads to promote their new Microsoft-powered affiliation, the highly touted voice command device for mobile and digital music, 
I know that we don’t normally write about consumer issues in this blog. But I am so angry at this lousy web site, that I’ve decided to write my story.
In the interest of bringing you a quirky newsbit of the week, I scoured Youtube for 
It was early Sunday morning, Seven o’clock to be precise. The Northeastern storm that started during the previous night was at it’s pick. A mix of snow and ice was slamming against the faces of about one hundred and some brave people, myself included, who were waiting in a perfect line outside the store, only to have a slim chance to be among the 
I Am Legend is the almost movie of the year. It’s an almost movie because it’s not a bad one, but when you come out of the theater you feel that it could have been so much better. If you are a Will Smith fan, or a groupie of a deadly virus killed everyone but one sole immune survivor genre, then you are all set. Smith is doing a good enough acting job and with an adorable German Shepherd as a sidekick, you can’t really go wrong. The story, based on the book I Am Legend by 
Two of our little blog’s favorite subjects are in the news lately.
recently announced her 
engagement to actor Ross McCall is now suffering the wrath of all sorts of gossip websites, and all because of some unflattering pictures of her that appeared on the cover of People Magazine, wearing a bikini … If this new obsession with Love Hewitt’s butt suggests that we’ll hear less about Britney’s, it’s great, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen…
Maybe the last post for a while about the has been Quarterback, inmate to be Michael Vick. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison. For the event Vick was dressed in a black-and-white striped prison suit. The shame the humiliation, his downfall, is a massage to all those overnight superstars, to take responsibility for their actions.
After a week of holding out hope of buying a Wii anytime in the near future, I’m spent. I know from my quest that I am not alone. Hell, I’ve run into a lot of the same moms desperately hoping to appease their whiny kids by waking up at ungodly hours and schlepping out to the nearest Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Circuit City and any other promised mecca just to secure within their tiny, tight grips a new Nintendo Wii bundle for a mere $250. Having wasted my Sunday morning high-tailing it to every electronics/technology superstore around and being met with the same bemused reaction ad infinitum from every salesperson, I’ve started to catch a bit of the anti-Wii. There’s only so much flaunting and teasing one company and one product, for that matter, should be allowed. With the new Playstation 3 valued anywhere from $400-$500 and XBox 360 at $350, game consoles are the hottest ticket around this holiday season and they don’t come cheap. 
Yesterday I wrote about me developing an eye for Showtime’s Dexter. Today I read that I’m not alone.
According to 
As if I wasn’t watching enough TV, along came Dexter. Watching Monday night television is a complicated mission to accomplish. We watch NBC Chuck, and then Heroes getting less and less interesting while still just as addictive as before, not to mention Monday Night Football (especially if the Patriots ((12-0!!!)) are playing.) So you have to understand, that if it wasn’t for the esthetically designed On Demand button on the remote control, watching shows like Weeds, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Dexter on Showtime, would not have been an option for us. But since it’s there, and since we had a couple boring Tuesdays we started following the tales of a Miami Metro Police Department blood spatter analyst, who also happens to be a serial killer, and goes by the name Dexter. Though it may not be the best show on TV, it delivers a great story. And while some of the dialogs are poor and boring, the main character’s monologue supports the plot’s development, and helps in maintaining the suspense. So I’m hooked, again, what can I do? It’s cold outside…
