PC BS or The History Of Dissembling & The Quicksand Of Safe Zones & Trigger Words
Political correctness is a horrible thing that was born in the nineties which seeks to police the way that people express themselves and goes a long way to making charged areas even more overly sensitive. Why? Because people dissemble and don’t actually say what...
Trump And Clinton: Marketing A Hobson’s Choice
Anyone else burnt out on stupid? Burnt out on the depraved lowest common denominator BS that is being paraded around as if it were actually politics? Are these two people the best that the country can do in terms of leaders? If so, we should not really wonder at why...
Truth Sells, Dishonesty Paints A False Picture
Whitewashing; pinkwashing; greenwashing. It basically boils down to dishonesty. Dishonesty annoys people, and it isn’t going to get a very good reception. Those movies and books and other cultural artifacts that people take to their hearts are the ones that...
A New Definition Of Healthy – The Shifting Language Of The FDA
What’s in a name? The meaning of words change over time, and though the acceptance of said change can be something that takes a while, it does happen. It’s often the case that slang claims it, champions it for a while, let’s it drop, and then the old...
Celebrity And Politics
If Bono goes anywhere near a political debate people kind of groan – his brand of millionaire earnestness is quickly parodied and poked with a pin. He’s not the only one who falls foul of some people’s desire for the entertainers just to entertain...
Are Honest Politicians Really As Rare As Hen’s Teeth?
Finding an honest politician is like finding hen’s teeth, unicorns, the holy grail … you get the idea. No one expects the noise made in the electoral process to be mirrored by the actions in office. Well, that’s not strictly true – for a brief...
Sloganeering – All In A Phrase
Politicians, or more specifically Presidential Candidates. Where do they sit? How do they view the lay of the land? What do their slogans say about them and their relationship with the country they want to rule. Make America Great Again presupposes that it isn’t...
Facebook: A Technology And A Media Company
The Facebook Algorithm And The Trending Problem Zuckerberg doesn’t often get caught flat-footed; doesn’t often issue a statement that seems like a blunder: but no one’s perfect. In the ever-evolving environment that is Facebook sometimes things are...
No Voice Recognition For Me
Do you like living in a world where you can just ask your phone to call someone? Do you want to be able to have a smart interconnected home where you can regulate the lights and the thermostat and other smart things with a single voice command? Well, you need to be...
Pokemon Go – A Game That Gets You Out And About!
Pokemon – A Game That Gets People Exercising: Genius! It’s kind of funny that a computer game would get you out and walking about – they’re not generally known for that; in fact they’re known for the exact opposite. But this weekend I got...
The Philosophy Of Battle Weapons – Programming The Environment With Your Products
Causing A Shift In The Market Before You Release Into It Is A Very Smart Move How do you prime someone for a brand new sound that you are going to put out there? How do you teach them how to dance to your new groove, beat, stuttering industrial sound, etc? You release...
The Chelsea Handler Netflix Experience
Netflix Is Actively Shaping How Their Viewers Watch Things I’d read about it a bit before, and had meant to write about it earlier, but I forgot about it – these things happen. Anyway, it popped up in that little scrolling window of recommended shows on my...
Time Magazine’s Timely Covers
Magazine Covers That Succinctly Communicate The Whole Story I have read Time Magazine on and off since 1982 or maybe earlier, but it had its biggest impact when I was 7 years old. Two issues from that period of time stick in my mind – one featured Michael...
Muhammad Ali – The Greatest At Self Promotion And More
Muhammad Ali Changed What It Meant To Be A Boxer Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Everyone knows that one – and there were many more. Whether you consider it poetry or something else, Muhammad Ali elevated the art of pre-fight smack-talk beyond anything...
Adjusting Your Signal To Noise Ratio
Too Much Noise You Want To Stop Listening I have been reading a lot lately about signal to noise ratio – tuning out all the extraneous crap that the information deluge from social media and every other internet media outlet throws at you. And the rules that...
Everything Is Bad For You, Everyone Wants To Kill You, And Nothing Good Ever Happens
Bad News Sells A World No-one Wants To Live In This is what you could come to believe if you just swallowed the general line that is pushed on a daily basis. News outlets, Facebook walls, feed-readers, the spam email that gets flung past the filters into your psychic...
Punk At 40: Filthy Lucre?
The 3rd album I ever bought was the The Clash: The Singles, and back when I was 18 Combat Rock was one of my favorite albums. I used to sing along to The Sex Pistols regularly. I idolized Siouxsie Sioux. I was super aware of it as a kid, and had a crush on a neighbor...
Radiohead: Blank Screen Advertising
Learn The Game And The Broke The Rules Having an internet presence is one way to publicize yourself and generate interest. Erasing said web presence is an interesting twist on how to use that power. If you are big enough doing something like that would generate a huge...
Beyonce’s Lemonade
Lemonade Is Something Different Done Well If you’re going to release an album these days and make any kind of splash with it – any kind of cultural impact – then you need to do something big, and you need to do something innovative. Beyonce brings us...
Prince’s PR And Purple Reign
Prince’s Was A Professional Who Kept His Good Deeds Private Bowie’s passing affected a lot of people. Prince’s death seems to be affecting, if not more people, then it seems to be affecting them in a different way – with their grief being of...
Re-shooting Movies Is Suicide
Suicide Squad Reshoots May Kill It Dead It’s funny how decisions get made on some of these big blockbuster movies – and the way they get treated really does make them seem more like product than pieces of art, which must be a really disconcerting...
The Role Of Fictional Presidents
There Are Some Fictional Presidents We’d Rather Vote For Presidents get judged in many ways, and the expectations we place on them, and the criticisms we level at them, aren’t just based on the records of their contemporaries or their predecessors. We see...
Panel Syndicate As A Publishing Model
Panel Syndicate Offers A Way To Get Work Out There & Get Paid Radiohead lead the way in music – offering their albums up for download with a choose your own price model. Panel Syndicate are doing a similar thing with comics. It seems to be working, but why?...