Crayon: Congratulations to Me

Crayon has launched, and I've refrained from really saying too much, partly because I wasn't sure what it would become, but also because I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

I couldn't figure it out, all the right things are being said.  We should be flocking like sheep to their lead, right?  Well, no.  Not yet, at least.

I figured it out while listening to the official Second Life launch on Across the Sound this morning.  It felt very self-congratulatory.

Let me explain.  Jaffe, as a new media pundit, along with the rest of his team of colors, are meant to be loud, audacious, opinionated.  I love the rants, the unabashed faithfulness to finding a better way.  But, that's as Jaffe, the man, or C.C., or Shel or Neville, as people.  But, this is different. 

While they are probably all walking the walk every day, and much better than me, with this new company, I want to see the work.  It's all about the work.  And, only because they are brand new, there is none.  At least not collectively. 

While I respect that they're setting up shop in Second Life, and they'll be using new approaches, it still feels backwards.  Get out there, make fucking rockin' work, and stand behind it  Don't yell about what you're going to do, just fucking do it, and then yell about that.  At the end of the day, that's the only thing that matters to anyone from the outside looking in.  I don't care how you got there, just get there.

Crayon has the opportunity to change world, I truly believe that.  No one has gotten it right yet, but someone will.  I trust the cast they've put together to make good decisions to represent new marketing faithfully in the way it should be represented, so they probably have a better chance than most others.  I guess I just wish the work spoke first.

And, that goes for all of us, really.  It's not yet time to pat ourselves on the back.  We all know that there are bigger and better things to come. But, the fact that we feel it doesn't yet make it real.  We have no choice but to continually stand behind the work we do, so, throw the parade for that, not for just showing up to the party.

Bloggerrific!

The lovely Christina Kerley threw on a cowboy hat and some boots, and two-stepped her way to Texas last night, taking over the town like I'm guessing she takes over most towns. 

A quick blogger cliche rundown, perhaps?

1.  Felt like I knew her for years...check.
2.  Is a real person...check.
3.  Interesting, great conversation...check.
4.  Got drunk...check.  Ok, maybe that's not a normal thing to say after a blogger meetup, but c'mon, you know you do it, too.

What's the hardest question to answer going into last night?

Friend: Hey, man.  So, what are you doing tonight?

Me: Ahhh, Fuck!!!!   Oh, I mean, ummm...

...well, meeting this, umm, blogger-type person.

Friend: Blogger-type person?  Are you internet dating?

Me: No, fucker.  It's like, a, you know, work thing, sort of, but with blogs.

Friend: Dude, you're so gay.

And, yes, I am so gay.  Not in the traditional sense, but just an overall air of geekiness.

But, I tell you what, it was all worth it.  Good steaks, good booze, and good conversation.  Even a late night call to our friend, Mack, who blew us off.  Well, maybe he was sleeping, but whatever.

And, my favorite thing from the night.  It's late as shit.  I'm having trouble stringing 3 coherent words together, and CK, of course, still, somehow, has the energy of 3 toddlers, combined.  So, it being the Saturday before Halloween, there were plenty of costumed revelers out and about.  At this late hour, CK decides to complement a pack of girls on their "costumes."

CK: So, what are you guys supposed to be tonight, the Supremes?

Drunk Girls: Uhh, we're not dressed up.

Priceless. Pictures to come over at CK's Blog.

Tune In Saturdays: The Panda Band

Whaddup Beach Boys!  Whaddup Beatles!

You've got some fans in The Panda Band, with their leg kickin' album The Vital Chapter.  It's full of enough harmonies, hooks, bleeps, blips and big beats to keep any fan of the Flaming Lips or alliteration happier than a pig in shit.  See, there's some Texas for ya!

While searching around for a little background info, I stumbled across a better review than I could ever do.  It's a brilliant video review of Eyelashes by the impeccably tasted Cincinnati video blog, The Anchor Center.  I'll let them hold down the fort from here...

Home.
MySpace.

Marketing: Where Does the Me Stop, and the We Begin?

It's unfortunate that marketing has displaced reality.  It's official.  I am embarrassed to be a part of this dirty industry.  Actually, I'm disgusted that there are so many corrupt pieces of shit in an industry that could be used to do so much good.

We hold in our hands magnificently powerful tools, and unfortunately, it can be used to prey on the weakest parts of human nature, our insecurities, body images, fear.  Our laziness, hopefulness and trust.  We have been exploited.

Our public discourse has been hijacked, partly with the use these tools, by crooked, scared, selfish politicians, more concerned with staying on top than standing for good.  The fashion industry has fed our irrational desires for perfection. The notion of human equality is dealt blow after blow from campaigns built on fear of differences. Obesity rates are skyrocketing as our children are fed another comfort food or drink while marketers hide behind a pointed finger at parental responsibility.  We slip further into debt as a silly need to be a part of the group is manipulated. 

It's true that blame lies equally in personal and parental responsibility, but that obligation does not absolve us of the corporate lust for money, at the greater cost of human decency.

Until we pick today to stand up for the good we can do, the power we have to empower, then we have only ourselves to blame.  We have a burden to not accept the excuses and finger pointing, and purge and shun those with only one aim, to selfishly gain.

What legacy will you leave?  Will you make us better, and our children stronger?

Get mad, and do something about it.

Tune In Saturdays: The Lovely Feathers

Well, I've officially read the most annoying website band bio ever, and that distinction belongs to poppy Canadians The Lovely Feathers.

The Lovely Feathers
are a band which toots blossomy, extractive post-punk-infused eccentric pop.

Rarely do we experience music that portrays the canopy of life with such clarity and tragic heartsmiles. The Lovely Feathers, in all its poppy grandeur, somehow manage to convey feelings we never knew we knew so well.

The Lovely Feathers are five people from Quebec, Canada.

They had been friends for a while, but only joined musical forces in their later years.  Bravo, bravo.

Canopy of life?  Heartsmiles?  Ok, guys, only dorky music reviewers get to say things like that.  But, if I were a dorky music reviewer, I might say something along those lines.

So, enjoy the Spoon-like hooks and the punky drumbeats over at their MySpace page.  Start with Wrong Choice, cause it kicks ass.  Or, you could watch the video for frantic below.

Next Time, Whisper Better

We're in an industry where everyone is trying to scream the loudest, when all we ever needed to do was get close enough to whisper.

For whatever reason, this thought clarified a few things for me, so I thought I'd share.

Ball of Whacks: A Product Pitch, well kinda

Roger Von Oech, the inventor of the Ball of Whacks, long time champion of innovation and inspiration, and all-around nice guy got me talking about his creativity tool by just jumping in and starting conversations.  Honestly, I have no clue how we really got to talking, either he commented over here, or I commented over at his place, and I had already read about it over at David's place, and the rest is history. 

Now, will anything I have to say move the needle?  Probably not, at least not anytime soon.  But, Roger is here, ready and waiting, writing and reading, and after a few more people hear about him and his product, those conversations will come easier and faster.  And the best part is, Roger is such an easy guy to build a rapport with, it makes the BoW easy for people to want to talk about.

So follow Roger's rules of blogobuzz:
1. Make a product you are passionate about.  If you're not passionate about it, you can't really expect anyone else to be.
2. Become a part of the community.  And that doesn't mean starting a blog, then immediately jumping up on your high horse while you declare yourself master blogger.  That means getting gritty, reading, commenting, and caring about the voices of others. 
3. Be generous.  Be nice.  Then be super nice.  Or, in Roger's case, just be yourself.
4. Don't pitch.  If you're pitching, the other guy is getting pitched. Just make a good product and set it free.
5. Be interesting.  Roger's got a great story to tell, and he tells it well.

Also, check out BMA for more...

My Spell Checker: 1984 Dictionary Certified

Sometimes it's the little things that can make or break an experience.  For instance, when I spell check "Google" using blogger, I damn well expect it not to get kicked back, you know, considering Google owns it and all. 

I decided to test a few Web 2.0-y words in both Typepad and Blogger, and found that they pretty much both suck, with a slightly-less sucking edge to Typepad.  How hard could it possibly be to fix this?  It doesn't take much time for me to ignore it, but aggregate that across the rest of the blogosphere against the four minutes it would take them to fix it...You get the picture.

Yes - recognized as a word, No - Not recognized

Google - Typepad (Yes) Blogger (No)  -- How ridiculous is that?!?
Technorati - Typepad (No) Blogger (No)
Yahoo - Typepad (Yes) Blogger (Yes)
Blog - Typepad (Yes) Blogger (No) -- If blog is not a real word in Blogger's book, they may have some problems...
Blogger - Typepad (No) Blogger (No) -- You've got to be kidding me.
Typepad - Typepad (Yes) Blogger (No)
YouTube - Typepad (No) Blogger (No)
Wikipedia - Typepad (No) Blogger (No)
Podcast - Typepad (No) Blogger (No)
Myspace - Typepad (No) Blogger (No)
Blogosphere - Typepad (No) Blogger (No)
RSS - Typepad (No) Blogger (No)
Firefox - Typepad (No) Blogger (No)
Widget - Typepad (Yes) Blogger (Sometimes) Blogger only recognizes this as a proper name for some reason.

Again, this isn't the end of the world, but the devil is always in the details.  When you're dealing with an audience of tech-savvy bloggers in a flooded market, a little thing like your spell checker can go a long way towards telling your story for you.  Let's hope the rest of the details say something different.

You don't know me, so let me be.

Before, we were able to treat people as masses.  People were a sea.  But now we see them as they are.  At least the good ones do. 

Individuals. Different, distinct, idiosyncratic.  Peculiar and personal.

Emotional, seeking inspiration, love, and to be affected.  To be unaffected.

Struggling to further define themselves, they chase connections that make them more whole.  They are smarter, more curious.  Investigating and probing, they are constant explorers, discovering their own truths.

They are self-defining, afflicted and powerful, self-assured and vulnerable.  Questioning themselves, their friends and leaders, all the while confirming, amending and reconfirming their own opinions and ideas, wrongs and rights.

They are communities, and communities of communities, tribes and creeds. They filter their thoughts through the perceptions of these denominations, allowing these groups of groups to distort, but not confuse their own experience, as they are a confederation of these experiences, liberated and unconfined.

They are people, human and flawed.  Biased and slanted, open and closed.  They respectfully demand to be shown the courtesy to not be mass-culturalized, to not be seen as mass-minded.

They are the product of certain things, demographic, psychographic and otherwise, but the things that make them what they are the most, are not the things we know or can easily recognize. Know that and adjust for it.

Tune In Saturdays: The Joggers

Somewhere in the middle between thrift-store indie rock and craziness, resides Portland, Oregon's The Joggers. They proudly wear their Pavement influences, but comparisons to Gang of Four or French Kicks are especially easy.

Head over to the MySpace page, start with Long Distance Runaround to get of a taste of the layered harmonies, jaunty beats and jazz expressionism that make them so great.  Below is the video for Hot Autism.

And, no, I have no idea what the hell jazz expressionism is, nor do I care. It sounds just about right.