This could possibly be the most delicious keyboard ever constructed. As the Murdock family can vouch for, i’m a sucker for S’mores. It’s probably a good thing this isn’t in my office or else i’d be getting fatter and way less productive as keys start disappearing. Probably would last about 25 minutes. I’d also probably rest it on my Macbook laptop so the chocolate would melt a little bit. Yum
There’s an article i read today (thanks to Lizard) about how Twitter can you a better and happier person. The reasons listed in the article are:
I find all of these true. Sometimes i want to post a tweet about my life and i have to reflect about what i’m really doing and how it’s interesting to others. It often makes me adjust what i’m actually doing – and if i don’t do that then it makes me realize how i’m actually living my life. In that respect, it’s quite helpful.
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There’s a good article in the USA Today about John Grisham. It’s the 20th anniversary of Time To Kill, his first novel about a young 10-year old woman who got raped, her father who took revenge into his own hands, and the lawyer representing him. It was an autobiographical story for Grisham and a great book. However, writing a great book doesn’t necessarily mean it will fly off the shelves. The article states:
When Grisham finished A Time to Kill in January 1987, it was a stack of legal pads. When typed, the manuscript was 900 pages.
The first chapters went out to a couple dozen publishers and agents. The rejections stacked up.
That April 15, after Grisham returned from his accountant frustrated, broke and about to borrow money to pay his taxes, agent Jay Garon called wanting to represent him.
Wynwood Press, a small company in New York, bought the manuscript a year later and printed 5,000 copies of A Time to Kill — at a length about a third shorter than the original manuscript — in June 1989. Grisham ordered 1,000 himself. Wynwood didn’t have marketing muscle, so Grisham concocted his own book tour.
“I had this scheme where I would throw a party in my local library and the whole town would show up and I would sell a lot. I have pictures of kids climbing on stacks of A Time to Kill.” But when the party was over, he still owned most of the copies.
It’s an interesting story – especially since we think of him as being so successful.
Last night i watched this video of Ze Frank (below). He’s a kooky guy but totally entertaining. I do like that he takes common elements of the internet and uses them to better connect people and to create social happenings and actual events and items. Instead of people trying to create products and platforms, he’s actually trying to create content in innovative ways – which i find both interesting and refreshing. I think some of the things he posted in here were just awesome.
First, he found this song on the internet that a dad was singing for his daughter called “I’m going to whoop somebody’s ass”. He took the song asked his fans to sign along and interact. The fans did that and more. This song spawned countless numbers of remixes. A video was created. A video was story boarded by a member of the “audience”, then another member offered portrait sketches to anyone who would help fill in the video. The video was made. The remix appeared in a movie, in a car commercial and countless other places and suddenly the creator – a unsuspecting PhD-turned-preacher nammed Ray, now finds the trajectory of his life shifted, as he is inundated with countless versions of his song, in audio and even video format. Awesome. (below is a video remix of Ray’s song)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbGtefy_Uqw]
Ze does a lot with songs. Another intance, he created a song for a woman who wrote in that she was scared of the dark and he made up a song for her. You can hear that song by clicking on the image below
Another fun thing that he did was called “youngme / nowme” where people take picturs of themselves when they were young and recreate those pictures now. It’s hilarious to see what people have done. Some are simple, some are very involved. In both cases, they are fun to look at. He’s got a whole site with the submissions here 2gfdyuszhp
There are lots of examples of cool things Ze has done in his talk. These are just a few. I always enjoy his creativity and if you have some time, it’s worth checking out.
I’m just a little person,
One person in a sea
Of many little people
Who are not aware of me.I do my little job
And live my little life,
Eat my little meals,
Miss my little kid and wifeAnd somewhere, maybe someday,
Maybe somewhere far away,
I’ll find a second little person
who will look at me and say,“I know you
You’re the one I’ve waited for.
Let’s have some fun.”Life is precious every minute,
and more precious with you in it,
so let’s have some funWe’ll take a road trip way out west. You’re the one I like the best.
I’m glad I’ve found you,
Like being around you
You’re the one I like the best.Somewhere, maybe someday,
Maybe somewhere far away,
I’ll meet a second little person
And we’ll go out and play.
— Little Person, “Synecdoche, New York”
The lines bring me back to the movie “Synecdoche, New York” which is extremely provocative. I’m not sure i would call it entertaining but i definitely enjoyed it. I’m pretty sure i need to see it again. I do think Charlie Kaufman (the writer and director) is a genius. He’s written some incredible films – all about the mind and how we intereact with it. In fact, here’s how i categorize all his films:
I’m not sure which one is my favorite as they are all good in different ways. Which ones do you like?
I decided that i needed to give you all (my readers) more music. I get lots of requests for recommendations and thus i decided to expand my minuature blogging empire a little bit. So, starting today there is a new site assciociated with Loo.me and it’s called ILikeThisSong.com
What is ILikeThisSong.com? It’s a site which will have a new song posted there every day. These are my favorite songs of the moment. Also, there is a popout player that will play ALL of the site’s tracks for you like a radio station. This radio station will soon be linked on Loo.me. I’m currently working on that.
For now though there is limited integration. But feel free to check out the new site and let me know what you think
Last week i went and saw Pixar‘s latest masterpiece called Up. If you’ve never heard of the film, it’s an animated movie about an old man, Carl, who is a recluse. He’s at the end of his days and is holding out against the world. He keeps his home as a memorial and still talks to the absent wife Ellie. One day Carl decides to pack up and fly away–literally. Having worked all his life as a balloon man, he has the equipment on hand to suspend the house from countless helium-filled balloons and fulfill his dream of seeking a beautiful Argentinian waterfall called Paradise Falls.
First, let me just say that the film begins with a montage of Carl and Ellie that is one of the best 10 minutes of film that i have ever seen. It is so sweet and wonderful that i’d go back and pay just to see that part.
The film is a funny adventure and the characters are often more real than human actors. I find it refreshing that the main character is a 70-year old man instead of the latest hearthtrob of the moment. Where Star Trek felt it had to have all youngsters dominate the film, Pixar handed the reins to what would seem a total unsympathetic character. Instead, he’s completely refreshing.
It’s a funny thing to say but I wish more movies had the creativity of Up, the realism of Carl, and the emotional weight of this animated film.
Am i alone on this?
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I’m an iPhone users and i love it. It has transformed my mobile phone usage and dare i say, my life. With the internet at my fingertips, i no longer go more than 10 seconds without knowing the answer to a question. I have come to realize that the world of computers and the internet will always be with me, following me around and enriching my life. It also makes me realize that my relationship with my computer is going to change. Because i can Google, email, YouTube, Facebook, and check sports scores from my cell – my desire to have my computer near me is dwindling.
The new iPhone 3GS makes me think about the landscape of the computers out there. If you don’t know it, there’s a new type of machine that’s becoming popular called The Netbook. It’s a $200-400 machine that is quite small and sometimes comes attached to a wireless contract so it can be connected at all times. In this regard, it is very similar to a cell phone purchase except in a bigger form factor. (click here to check out HP’s 200 dollar machine)
When i think about the machines out there, i think of this continuum:
One thing that is interesting is how Apple is has high priced machines in their Macbook Pro’s and Air devices and “lowend” machines in their iPhone. Whatever market you’re at, Apple will have the slickest machine. Microsoft, on the other hand, has less slick highend machines, and netbooks on the lowend. Personally, i like Apple’s direction more but it’d be even better if they had a tablet or smaller sized laptop that was an iPhone/laptop hybrid for $400. I think the regular PC starts to disappear and all sales are Netbook sales. Why would anyone pay $1000 when they can get a decently powerful machine for $200?
What will be great is the day day when all i have is my cell phone and i just plug it into monitors and keyboards when i want to work at a desk. My iPhone cradle gets a lot more functional and my need for a second machine disappears.
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I read a great article by Malcolm Gladwell last week called How David Beats Goliath. It talks about a Silicon Valley CEO who has never coached basketball before and how he takes a novel approach towards basketball strategy when coaching his 12-year-old girl’s team.
Realizing his girl’s team is lacking the talent needed to compete, he decides to change the rules. Instead of falling back into their half to play defense, they do a full-court press each time. Their number 1 goal is to steal the opening pass. After that, they try to keep the team from crossing the halfway line. This approach is never used and its unconventional nature results in great success. He also pulls in the former San Francisco 49er, Roger Craig, as his assistant coach which makes the story that much more entertaining.
If that was the end of the story, it’d be an interesting piece but he overlays into the piece other stories of underdogs. He talks about the battle of David vs. Goliath and Lawrence of Arabia’s revolt against the Ottoman Army near the end of the First World War. In both cases, changing the nature of the game was the difference. Gladwell remarks:
David’s victory over Goliath, in the Biblical account, is held to be an anomaly. It was not. Davids win all the time. The political scientist Ivan Arreguín-Toft recently looked at every war fought in the past two hundred years between strong and weak combatants. The Goliaths, he found, won in 71.5 per cent of the cases.
He always jumps back to the basketball example and has interviews with amazingly successful NCAA basketball coach Rick Pitino who talks about the press and overachieving.
Great article, check it out
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