just dreamy

two out of three

Does this ad make me laugh?

Yes.

Does this ad make me want to share it with others?

Yep.

Does it make me want to take action to address deforestation?

No.

Two out of three . . . is bad.

is the force with barack?

del.icio.us tags: cool (?) stuff

You Think Big of Yourself, Don't Ya? — Hillary sent me a link and Tony asked me what I thought of it. Big Think? I'm a sucker for smart people (Really. Me + remote small island + smart people = good.). Nevertheless, there's something rather antithetical to everything social media stands for when a site says, on its "about" page, "The Web has no shortage of self-anointed experts, and the Expert Network is our way of reclaiming a little nook of cyberspace where depth of knowledge and expertise still reign."

I DO like the fact that they're using the Errol Morris "technique" (Is it the actual Interrotron?), although no one comes across as quite so simultaneously intimidating and sad as Robert McNamara in The Fog of War.

What do YOU think?

Home Sweet Home — I have always been too obsessive compulsive -- and, alas, not punque roque enough (as Alejandro once said -- with love) -- to adopt the aesthetic, but the homes in Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy are pretty damn familiar to me (I can smell the odor of non-leather footwear and tempeh stir fry wafting through the air . . .) and, therefore, like home after all.

The Beat Goes On — 100 people, ages 1 to 100, playing the drums. Any further explanation required? (via the Portable Film Festival)

more about the pink project

MTV's John Norris interviewed Brad Pitt about The Pink Project and posted the video today.

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

del.icio.us tags 12.23.07

The British Royal Family has launched their own YouTube channel. Tune in on Christmas Day for the Queen's annual Christmas broadcast. In the meantime, the thrilling (and three part) A Day in the Life of the Prince of Wales is riveting.

The League of Conservation Voters thinks that the Sunday morning news show hosts are neglecting the climate change issue when interviewing the presidential candidates. Head over to What Are They Waiting For? if you think 3 of 2275 questions just isn't enough. Sign the petition. Tell a friend about the site. Get more information. Donate. Keep the media accountable.


Finally, the Pew Internet and American Life Project released their latest report on teens and their use of social media. Lots of good data (as always), but few surprises. The number of teens who are online and creating content is on the rise. Social network use is on the rise, as is blogging, with the latter particularly on the rise among teens from lower income and single parent families. Teens are posting more photos and video than adult internet users. And, whatever you may think, teens who are heavy Internet users are also active offline. And those who are most plugged in are the most communicative and social of all.

del.icio.us tags 12.02.07

Lots of good advice that you probably won't follow. A little bit of geek porn in the form of campaign promises. An experiment that needs some attention. Stories that need to be told. Great pictures, great video, great shopping and a bag that I want to buy.

Search - Aaron and Giovanna Wall published "The Blogger's Guide to Search Engine Optimization." Great stuff. I'm not doing any of it. I don't do most things that I should do. It's a problem.

Viral Video - Kevin Nalts shares his "Ten Lessons for Marketers Using Viral Videos." The list essentially hammers home the point that it's basically a crap shoot when you are trying to figure out what is going to capture consumers' attention and, even then, you still may not manage to actually turn those eyeballs into sales.

Photos - Square America is a collection of vintage snapshots, all of which tell a great story, even if you need to fill in the blanks. The photos remind me of a the "American Snapshot" show I saw recently at the National Gallery. Great stuff. Don't use the photos without an attribute. Give this guy credit (I think his name is Martin Johnson) for what he has put together.

I took this picture outside the Gallery when I went to see the American Snapshot show.

But I like this picture that I took at the National Archives better.

More Photos - Polanoid is working on building the largest collection of Polaroid photos on the planet. Send your pictures!

Storytelling - Polanoid and Square America are telling stories about everyday people, as is StoryCorps. I recently heard the nonprofit's founder, Dave Isay, on NPR talking about the publication of the StoryCorps book with a couple of the project's participants and cried like a baby. I'm a sucker for listening to people tell their stories, both because of the artistry of a good tale and the empowerment of believing that your story is worth being told. Don't tell anyone, but I think a few of you might be getting the StoryCorps book for Hanukkah or Christmas.

Content - WGBH (Boston's public television station and home of Sesame Street) has opened its vaults, providing users with "online access to unique and historically important content," through Open Vault. I wish the search tool was a little more revealing as far as what was possible. It is a great site when you know what you are looking for, but sometimes it's just fun to browse, and it's not friendly to browsers.

The Media - Beat Blogging is an experiment. Thirteen news organizations, along with NewAssignment.net, are trying to understand how journalists can better use social networks to improve beat reporting. There have been no posts since November 20, so the first lesson they should learn is that consistent content is the way to maintain people's attention and engage them in your efforts. Hello, are you out there?

Politics - Barack Obama's campaign has released their "technology and innovation plan." Jon Stokes at Ars Technica doesn't think the document is close to perfect, but he's still pleased that Obama's campaign appears to be paying attention to what the technology geeks are saying, and that's a huge step forward from conversation about clogged tubes and "the Google."

Shopping - If you don't hear from me for a while, I'm probably sitting in my own filth in my apartment, buying things from Supermarket, where they sell fabulous stuff (clothes, bags, household stuff, and paper products) brought to you straight from the designer. Add the site to my list of reasons why the Internet is a fabulous thing.

More Shopping - I want a Carga bag.

juvenile humor

Speaking of ass kicking, this is almost a year old and it's essentially the equivalent of America's Funniest Home Videos, but it still cracks me up every time.

i'm thinking of getting an iPhone

bring it on, boys

My dad brought me to an Italian street festival in the south end of Hartford CT in, I guess, 1984, because Geraldine Ferraro -- the first woman vice presidential nominee -- was speaking.

At the time, I don't think I really "got it" that it was a big deal that Ferraro was on the ticket and I don't think the importance of it really sunk in until about four years ago (20 years later) when I had the opportunity to hear Walter Mondale speak about the decision to pick Ferraro as his running mate when he visited a grad school class I was TA'ing on the presidential campaign.


Both Mondale and Ferraro were back in the news yesterday, as Mondale endorsed Hillary Clinton and Ferraro, who is also endorsing Clinton, said something that makes me want to vomit in my shoes.

(I don't think the fact that her statement caused me to have intestinal issues is the newsworthy part, but you understand what I mean.)

In response to the debate last week during which poor defenseless Hillary was the target of criticism by her male opponents:

“'John Edwards, specifically, as well as the press, would never attack Barack Obama for two hours they way they attacked her,' said Geraldine A. Ferraro, the 1984 vice presidential candidate who supports Mrs. Clinton. 'It’s O.K. in this country to be sexist,' Ms. Ferraro said. 'It’s certainly not O.K. to be racist. I think if Barack Obama had been attacked for two hours — well, I don’t think Barack Obama would have been attacked for two hours.'

You have got to be kidding me! First of all, it's pretty damn okay to be racist in this country (Dog Chapman notwithstanding). I'll introduce you to some kids in Jena, Mississippi if you're feeling doubtful of this fact. Or maybe I'll just share a really dumb statement that Senator Joe Biden made earlier this year about Senator Barack Obama being "clean."

But, come on, can we PLEASE (I am begging you) STOP this nonsense. They are picking on Hillary because she is the anointed front runner. If they weren't picking on her, THEN, I would be concerned that they were being sexist. And, please, dear G-d, let us hope that she can take the jibes. My guess is that, if she is elected president, she's going to need to stand up to so much more.

Yesterday on This Week, George Stephanopoulos referred to single women as the "new evanglical Christians." We are the most powerful voting group in this election and we like it that way. We have stood up to more in our lifetimes than getting criticized by a group of politicians and so has Hillary.

Like Kirsten Dunst once stated so eloquently, "Bring it on."

del.icio.us tags 10.21.07

While on the road in the country, Debbie Weil has pulled together her list of the "Best Links to Learn about Blogging, Social Media, Web 2.0 and Technology in China."

I don't have a Moleskine because I don't quite buy the pretentious "cooler than thou" aspect of owning one. I have an aversion to the idea of belonging to any club whose members demonstrate their uniqueness by owning/doing/wearing the same thing. (It's like punk in the early 90's.) But I should own a Moleskine because I'm a notebook fetishist and because I have fallen prey to more than my share of, "I will buy this thing because it is cool -- at least that's what they told me." The folks at The Moleskine Project don't share my hang ups and are asking folks to send in their best Moleskine doodles.

my favorite so far from The Moleskine Project -- from lapin at les calapins de lapin

Bob Garfield is using his anger toward Comcast -- and their less than stellar customer service -- for good through ComcastMustDie.com, providing the cable company's clients with the opportunity to air their grievances via the blog's comments and calling on the company to, in response, reach out to these customers and resolve their issues. So far, everyone's playing their part.

Doonesbury's Garry Trudeau has been collecting content from members of the military deployed in Iraq in Afghanistan via The Sandbox (housed on Slate.com) and has now published a book of some of the best stuff.

According to The New York Times, young people in Poland are attempting to turn the political tide in the country by using social media to engage their peers and turn out the vote, comparing efforts like the "I Choose" campaign to similar efforts -- like Rock the Vote -- in the U.S. Update: Looks like the kids have had an impact. Overall voter turnout in the election was higher than it has been in nearly 20 years and the Civic Platform party -- which had more support among young voters than the party currently in power (Law and Justice) -- came out ahead in this weekend's parliamentary elections.

The folks at TechPresident launched 10 Questions last week in partnership with The New York Times and MSNBC. At this stage, they are gathering questions from voters, with the aim of identifying the top 10, which will then be shared with the candidates, who will be expected to respond via video. Two thoughts -- will the site be dominated by liberals and progressives? And, by this stage in the game, how much do the candidates regret ever having said this election is about conversation?

Mashable has a new list of 20+ "sporting" social networks, whether it's fishing, biking, golf or NASCAR. Presuming of course, you want to spend any time with these people.

you can't deny

Best line?
"I know you say there are no gays in Iran,
but you're in New York now, baby."

del.icio.us: digital advocacy

YouTube has launched their new service for nonprofit organizations: Broadcast Your Cause.

The folks over at EchoDitto have created MyCommitment.org for the Clinton Global Initiative. Bill's not just asking world leaders and corporate CEOs to take responsibility for making the world a better place -- he's asking you. (By the way, CGI is taking advantage of Broadcast Your Cause.)

BiroCreative has a nice portfolio of public interest interactive projects.

A Donkey and an Elephant Walk Into a Bar is a new social bipartisan social network. It's difficult to check out the site without becoming a member, which just means I won't become a member. It's like asking me to buy a car without allowing me to take a test drive. I can only create so many profiles, folks.

del.icio.us: beastie boys

Fimoculous reader Daniel thinks that Charlie Rose's interview with the Beastie Boys was his worst ever.

I disagree.

But I'm biased.

(in three parts)

del.icio.us: food

I love food. I can't cook for sh*t, but I can eat like a pro. And I've noticed more and more that, when I travel back to places where I once lived, I'm slightly more excited to visit my favorite restaurants than I am to visit my friends.

Serious Eats makes me hungry just looking at it. Not as hungry as I get when I am looking at Tastespotting (which, as I believe I have mentioned in the past, is pure food porn), but hungry nevertheless. I subscribed to the feed for Required Eating, the site's blog, so I can be hungry on an up to the minute basis. (I have PMS. If you stopped moving for too long while standing in front of me and allowed me to pour A-1 steak sauce on you, I would probably eat you.)

In other foodie news, my favorite DC food blog, metrocurean, shared this fabulous video of Christopher Walken, which comes via Im Cooked, "a web community for video recipe sharing."

"these pears look very nice . . . "

del.icio.us tags 07.08.07

The Myth of the MySpace Generation - Research from Synovate suggests that young people (18-24) in Europe are not all that "techno-savvy" after all: 76 percent have never used MySpace, 90 percent have never blogged, 94 percent have never downloaded a ring tone for their cell phone.

But There's Hope - Facebook use is on the rise -- 89 percent in the past year -- and the new users are in the 12-17 and the 25-34 year old age group. So says ComScore, via TechCrunch.

Doing the Right Thing - Fast Company reported on the recent Geneva gathering for the UN Global Compact, including the release of three new studies that all suggest that corporate social responsibility is good for the bottom line. This may repulse those of you who think we should all do good because it's the right thing to do have my sympathy. I wish the world was ruled by justice, but, alas, it isn't. By the way, my former advisor at the Kennedy School, John Ruggie, designed and oversaw the Global Compact as Assistant Secretary General and chief adviser to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for strategic planning.

A Higher Power - Speaking of the good ol' days in Cambridge, I found this Men's Vogue article about another one of my Kennedy School profs, Samantha Power via sk*rt (a site that I mentioned in passing recently, but which I have grown to love). I'd like to say that I would like to be Power when I grow up, but I think it's too late. I enjoyed the article, but I am feeling devastatingly mediocre right about now -- and it's not because she gets to play basketball with George Clooney, I assure you.

Google (Rules the) Earth - Mashable documents Google's efforts -- some successful, some not so successful -- to take over the world (or the market) for search, advertising, video, blogging, mobile, start pages, communications, social networking, photo sharing and office suites.

del.icio.us tags 07.02.07

Kids These Days - Mike Connery at MyDD thinks it's a problem that young progressives -- who are using social networks to organize -- are cut off from the progressive blogosphere (damn, I hate that word). It's an interesting dilemma, particularly because Mike himself is a young progressive. If he wasn't, I'd be likely to dismiss him as being yet another older progressive waxing poetic about how they did things in the good ol' days.

Vote or Buy - Mike (above) pointed out that 50 million Millennials will be eligible to vote in the next major election. Along with growing political power, young people have major economic power as well. According to the Media Daily News, the teen market is going to grow to $208 billion by the year 2011.

Democrat by Default - And, because, well, they really don't get enough attention already, here's another bit of news about the kiddies. Andrew Sullivan wrote up his thoughts on the latest poll from MTV, The New York Times and CBS about the under 30 set yesterday in the The Sunday Times. Relative to the general population, they're more supportive of the war and less supportive of abortion rights and gun control. But here's the catch, despite all that, they're more likely to vote Democratic. While there may be other justifications for their party identification, Sullivan thinks it may have something to do with this: "The Republicans have never been as incoherent, corrupt or ridiculous in my lifetime. The preference for Democrats can be explained in part by default. Ditto the candidates."

MySpace Has Yet to Achieve World Dominance - Sure, you've heard of MySpace, but do you have a profile on studiverzeichnis? Nick Denton at ValleyWag shares the "world map of social networks."

Counting Made Easy - I like things that make my life easier. VideoCounter tracks video views on multiple sites all in one place. (Thanks to TechCrunch for the link.)

de.icio.us tags 06.19.07

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? - Jessi Hempel at Business Week's Next: Innovation Tools & Trends likes what Obama is doing with online video, specifically that he's not doing what Hillary Clinton is doing: treating online video like "traditional tv." But Obama, says Hempel, is no David Cameron, who I was giving my love to (for his use of social media, not for his politics) back in October 2006.

Not a Joiner - Also from Business Week, take a look at what U.S. online users are doing with their time. I like the breakdown of user types because it demonstrates that we're not all getting the same thing out of social media: creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators and inactives. I'm a creator, critic, collector and spectator myself. And you?

Online Health Fair - RevolutionHealth.com has launched their first "health fair," featuring health-related nonprofits, to which Revolution will make a donation based on the number of clicks through to their "booth." The pay off is a little lame, with the booths not particularly well-designed and the user experience falling flat. (Did Revolution give the groups a template and let them do their thing? Maybe a little quality control would have done the trick.) (Thanks to 901am for the heads up.)

Glam-orous Life - iVillage no more. Glam is now the number one social network for women. Yet another club that I have no interest in joining (via Mashable).

so pretty

Just screened here at Personal Democracy Forum.

eric schmidt doesn't care about 16th century literature

Tom Friedman from The New York Times is interviewing Eric Schmidt, CEO from Google, who, by the way, is a great storyteller.

Friedman asked Eric to talk about YouTube and where he believes it will go. After earlier discussing the impact of search on reputation, Schmidt made the point that video has an even greater impact on reputation. For example, if you heard that a politician took a long time to get his hair blow styled, it would not have the same impact as seeing as a video of it; former Senator George Allen (R-VA) saw how impactful a snippet of video could be.

As far as where YouTube is going, Schmidt is a believer in the "long tail" and doesn't think that YouTube will evolve into adopting a more current commercial broadcast model. For example, he doesn't give a sh*t about 16th century literature, but for someone out there, that information is the most important thing in the world. There are enough people, with enough diverse interests and needs to ensure that the need for the diverse and seemingly useless content on YouTube will persist.

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