Turncoat Politics

A DC-based creative shop with nice stuff - Pappas Group (@PappasGroup)

A friend  of mine in “the biz” turned me on to this DC-Based creative shop.  I have always been leery of shops named after people.  In a posting about “5 Tips for Naming your Business,” three of the top five are:

2. Select your business name with a passion
3. Emphasize those qualities which you wish to promote
5. Set your business apart

Those three can be ego-driven and that means that the company can be subjected to the personal whims of the owner.  I am not saying that is the case, and I don’t know how I got on this topic, but the bottom line is that a business-owner is allowed to do whatever he wants with his company.

That said, in looking at their work, they have and are wanting to do good work.  It is design-led, smart work.  The idea comes through, the experience or UI is well done, and it is fun.  A personal energy comes out in each project and the quality is clear, whether it is a regional campaign, or a national one.  Click through and check it all out.

Butler’s Gordon Hayward vs. Young Jeezy

Ok, no Jeezy, just Butler’s Gordon Hayward.

So I want a new #20 Butler Jersey.  No lie.  He grinds, is fearless, and is a 6’9” guard who used to play tennis in high school.  Now that’s a new kind of two-sport athlete.

Two things to check out:

1/ An article from Rivals talking about the potential of Hayward going pro.

2/ A rap by Hayward and his friends.  Sure it is ridiculous, but check out the lyrics (lifted from The Mid-Majority). Listen around 1:44:

But it’s not about me, it’s about the team; 
Going to the tourney with a full head of steam; 
‘Chip’s real close, it’s at our back door; 
Get a few dubs, we’ll be in the Final Four; 
Not stopping there, that’s not in store;
Push it to the limit, we want more.

It’s almost like a c-teamer from the Cash Money crew got to drop a verse on a mixtape.

Bring it on from Indy.  Go Butler.

A couple thin web applications that are great - @TeuxDeux & @Instapaper

Whereas the dot-com-one-point-oh brought us capital investment in massive companies that were going to change the world, the fallout of all those technologies and dot-com-two-point-oh and whatever we are in now created a lot of these leaner apps and and thin web experiences that serve a specific function.  Innovation, democratization, and nerds with time on their hands were able to specialize the fringe and mid-level products that were already bundled into technologies, and some have even changed the way that we work and our expectations for how we work.

Innovation makes jobs easier for everyone.

There have been a couple things recently that I have started using.  My coworker told me about TeuxDeux a few months back when it was in Beta.  I didn’t think it was that interesting, but started using it, because like most people, I have a million things to do and am terrible at prioritizing- a product of too much stimuli growing up and not enough discipline.  We could probably use a generation of physically abusive nuns (but without the pedophile-y priests), to whip us back into shape.  If we could at least just get one dominant gaming platform, kids could learn commit to something and we’d be in a better place. 

Ok, so TeuxDeux is just a simple to-do list.  It rolls over tasks day to day and doesn’t over think anything.  One thing I wish it would do is cut and paste, because there are times when I want to read an article and I will save it in there.

See, that is where Instapaper.com comes in.  I have a load of things I WANT to read.  We all do.  Mostly we don’t read them.  I seem to have 25 tabs open by the end of the day and it makes my browser move like Betty White in a Snickers commercial.  With InstaPaper you can save pages by clicking a link in your bookmarks bar.  It saves the links at InstaPaper.com and you can check it out at your leisure.  Same as bookmarks, right?!   Sort of, but really specialized for short-attention-span culture because you can access the links on the go, and read them from your device when you have time.

Kenny Rogers Fakes Out Michael Jordan

pbh3:

This epic footage of a young Michael playing ball against Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins and Kenny Rogers — yes, that Kenny Rogers! — during the country-singer-cum-chicken-magnate’s “Classic Weekend” in 1988. The best part? Kenny Rogers hitting a shot over Jordan

Picklebacks - I love ‘em

My wife must be REALLLLYYY into me cruising home at 4:00AM smelling like Jameson and Picklejuice.  Not Bruce Jameson and his West Side picklejuice, but whiskey and brine. 

My friends and I are fans of the Pickleback and it seems like everyone else is now, too.  Just ask the folks over at the New York Times.

Stolen note from TIGS on communication transposition

I was reading an article from Faris Yakob’s TIGS and got a kick out of it:

“One of the first things that happens when a new medium emerges is a form of communication transpostion - taking a model from a different platform and applying it to the new one.”

I can’t get over the new utility premise on the web

I think that there is something in the idea of a new utility premise on the web.  I think that it is rooted in the idea that a huge amount of people want to be ‘facebook famous,’ reaping real world rewards for virtual actions.  The bottom line is that if you think there is something that can get you some sort of attention or validation, and it is simple, the internets is gonna love it.

Well that was just one thing that I took from this video from Jesse Schell :

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

Convergent Technologies- using something for something else

I met Robert Tercek and he made a point that not many people do- something is what something is unless you can use something for something else.  He absolutely didn’t say it in that way, but what we were talking about was how some clients want exactly what they are seeing out in the marketplace.  For example- they want to have a place where people can upload their vacation photos because they are a hotel brand (why would they do that, youtube already exists).  They want a place where people can build a social network and talk about what they are doing at work (why would they do that, Twitter already exists).  If your experience online just does what people are doing already, it isn’t worth it.  You need to find a way to be additive.  When you are convergent using technology, you can build a bigger, better, web experience that is genuine and new- even if it is using existing technologies.  Check out this video from last summer where the Livestrong folks used Twitter and a chalker to spread fan messages: