10/30/2006

knock knock

A friend here at the office received these slang cards from knock knock. It's like the urban dictionary in color. I picked one out - "bunk":

an adjective - from a remark made by the congressman of Buncombe County, North Carolina, who defended an irrelevant speech by claiming he was speaking to Buncombe. Meanings are false, of poor quality, or nonsensical/absurd. Use it in a sentence - "I don't care if those haters say my squirrel collection is bunk."

I love the knock knock website - it's got that small company just-trying-to-make-it vibe with professional quality materials... a killer combo

10/24/2006

chaos


I wish I still lived in Austin for many reasons - this conference is the latest. Looks like a great lineup of speakers and panels.

It's not terribly expensive and it's one of the cooler cities around... the only thing that would make it better is to be held at ACL in-between acts.

10/19/2006

it's the little things



What a great way to wrap up a rough day.

how-tos


This could be the hardest how-to guide ever written. Are they kidding?

10/17/2006

frugal beer

I'm a huge Trader Joe's fan - it's all food that you can trust to be good, and the staff is 10 times nicer than any other grocery store. Trader's is more fun than chore - they've hit on a new, non-obvious, useful idea.

I picked up this beer there the other day - it's o.k., actually a notch or two above ordinary. Packaging that doesn't overpromise is just great to see, it doesn't happen enough...




10/12/2006

music


Wired has a great section this month on the changing music industry- music reborn, with 2 articles that are must-reads:

Beck
Nettwerk

Excerpt from Nettwerk article: Industry insiders like McBride think the old model is as antiquated as the 8-track. "The future of the business isn't selling records," McBride says. "It's in selling music, in every form imaginable." And by establishing a series of so-called artist-run labels, McBride is creating the next-gen music company. "We become the management company, the publishing company, and the record company rolled into one," McBride says. "We take our 20 percent cut of the whole pie."

More important, he says, the new model frees him and his artists from the overgrown bureaucracy of the music industry, and that means more money for everyone.


It's great to see such different artists as Beck and BNL getting smart about this stuff, and even more refreshing to see them taking a chance on things that even 2 years ago wouldn't be considered, like sharing single instrument files of an album online and allowing for anyone to mix as they see fit. The artists are finally getting paid what they deserve, too, not just a miniscule $1 per disc sold.

On a similar note, Gareth wrote a great post about blogs and music here. Even HBS is getting in on this subject, with a study done by a couple of professors that found downloading music may not be all that bad.


(cartoon from the always fabulous toothpaste for dinner.)

spaghetti marshmallows

So, we finally had the chance to play the spaghetti marshmallow tower game at our agency after coming back from the planning conference months ago. It went well - one team figured out the trick, and others hung from the ceiling - they said the rules did not exclude that as an option (connected to the ground via one really long spaghetti/tape combination). Good times were had by all.




10/04/2006

the art of looking sideways

Michael Bierut, partner at Pentagram, wrote a touching obituary over at Design Observer about a week ago for design legend and author Alan Fletcher. Quote of the month:

"I'd sooner do the same on Monday or Wednesday as I do on a Saturday or Sunday. I don't divide my life between labour and pleasure." - Alan Fletcher