Entries from June 2001

Marketing Myopia: Endeavors to expose silliness and plain idiocy in marketing. Considering I’m in the midst of reading Naomi Klein’s quite good “No Logo”, this is a timely find. [thanks to Zeldman for the hat tip.]

The Morning News: Congrats to the folks at The Morning News for relaunching with a long awaited, spiffy new layout.

10 K 4 A HO!: If this isn’t a big joke, it’s the saddest (but one of the funniest) statements about masculine buffonery I’ve every laid… um, er.. eyes on. The music alone is worth the page load. “First thing, let me state that women are insane…” Unbelievable.

It's funny how much I crave downtime these days. I'm starting to think that I need to rent a cabin out in the middle of nowhere just to decompress my brain from all of this... activity. Just sitting on my ass, reading and listening to music. I've got lots of books that need reading, too: the last bits of No Logo, Jeffrey Zeldman's Taking your Talent to the Web, the latest issue of McSweeney's, Jacques Godbout's Salut Galarneau!...

Love those tee shirts. This is so cool - folks can surf on in and design a t-shirt, completely unfettered by corporate branding or icky logos, and then visitors vote on ‘em. The ones with high ratings get printed, which then everyone can buy for dirty cheap… plus the designer gets a couple as swag. Completely brilliant.

Pope get squished by a meteorite.: Oh, boy. This is surreal, hilarious, disturbing, bizarre, and strangely calming, all at the same time. It makes you wonder - where would I have seen something like this before the Web came around? Nowhere, that’s where.

Old Ramon: Just got back from seeing RHP at Lee's Palace here in Toronto. What a strange show; disappointing, but with a couple of truly beautiful moments. Mark Kozelek seemed distracted (he later claimed he was "getting too old for this touring thing), and at some points seemed intent on fucking up the endings of songs just to get them over with.

Still, there were good moments; a countrified version of "Find Me, Ruben Olivares", the now obligatory AC/DC covers (though he threatened to do a version of Stevie Nicks's "Leather and Lace" - uhhh), and a suprisingly hilarious exchange between him and a female fan: she wanted him to play a particular song, which he couldn't because it required a special guitar tuning.

"You're breaking my heart!" she wailed.

"Well, you're breaking my balls," he deadpanned, "so I think we're even."

Still, the song he did play was soaring, glorious, and managed the impossible: it shut up a notoriously chatty Toronto bar crowd. For three minutes, people just stood there and listened. There may be hope for them, yet.

Having a problem with the comments script (notice how all of the earlier posts have 135 comments except for the one below? I’m not THAT popular, unfortunately.). I’ve found why it’s doing that… but I don’t have time right now to fix it. Tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow.

The comments have been fixed. Muchas gracias to Dan at DotComments for the helping hand, and the great script.

Mini-Golf! I know, it’s 12:15am and I’m playing minigolf online. Just wait until tomorrow when I’m supposed to be getting work done.

Triumph of the Weblogs: Probably tens, nay, hundreds of web logs will link to this excellent piece about Web logs and their place in the content parthenon of the Web. I've quickly come to believe, like many others, that Web logs are going to be one of the major ways that words, ideas and information are exchanged on the Web.

Forget about big content houses, portals, and other large "players" in the Web writing game - from my experiences at my job, and from what I've heard and read about other portals, many of the majors are just too inextricably tied to revenue and their strategic partners to be 100% unbiased and reliable sources.

Of course, this has been with us forever: newspapers owned by massive utility companies, music magazines in the pocket of record labels... everyone, it seems, has some kind of hand that feeds them. Web logs represent the voice of the "street" of the Web; real, passionate, and potentially untainted by commerce.

Okay, enough soapboxing for one night.

SUPERSHAPES // RANDOM EXPLORATION OF FORM: “It is easy to forget what surrounds us when we pass by it everyday. The ordinary, if there is such a state, offers us many great experiences - we just have to remember to stop once in a while and regard the spectatcle in front of our eyes.”

Actor Carroll O’Connor Dies at 76.

This thought requires a longer forum to really itch properly, but for now, here’s the skinny: Moving back home very soon. Gave notice at work this week and just booked my flight. New job? MyWinnipeg.com. Why? My sweetie is going back to school for a couple of years… and we’re aiming to live in Europe after she graduates. How do I feel? I feel very strange. I’ll deconstruct this unusual feeling later when I’ve more time.

In the meantime, please share your own moving story with the world.

m e m e n t o: Just got back from seeing this, and I am impressed. Completely innovative and outstandingly put together, considering the difficulties and logistical slippery spots the script presents. Renée and I will probably be mulling this one over for a couple of days, at least. If you haven't heard how this film works, this is a very slight summary:

It's a film noir about a man who suffers from "anterograde memory loss" - he still retains long-term memories, but cannot create any new ones - he lacks short-term recall. The entire film is shot in reverse sequence - we see the climax, and then work backwards from there. I won't spoil the plot - needless to say, it's an admirable writing, directing and acting job, and the way the film deals with the question of memory and truth is outstanding. Lead Guy Pearce is impeccable, and Joe Pantoliano (Ralph Cifaretto from The Sopranos) is excellent. Definitely worth seeing.

Painful ignorance: The continuing saga of idiocy and buffonery is almost too mentally painful to think about: Network Solutions screws up a listing for the essential A List Apart, rendering it inaccessible.

Content Management for the Masses: an excellent article about how content management systems are becoming more and more available, and at lower prices (or free!). This is a good overview (albeit a bit ‘techie’) for those interested in publishing on the Web.

Worked my last day at my now "previous employer". What a strange feeling. I must be in this big-life-change induced disbelief where no reality can survive; nothing feels real. The long weekend will pass, I'll wake up on Tuesday, crawl out of bed, make some oatmeal and head off to work like nothing has happened.

Picked up moving boxes today with a friend. What do I need to do to get this move into my head? By this time next week I will be back home in Winnipeg, and the last three years and my life here in Toronto will seemingly feel like a distant dream... going home has that effect on me. Being enveloped in HOME conspires to flood out any new memories with the overwhelming familiarity and comfort of the past.

I feel incredibly fortunate, though. I've met some amazing people here, and contrary to the reputation Toronto has for being a dull, cold, money-grubbing den of selfishness, the people I have met here have been wonderfully kind and giving.

Folks, you know who you are. Thanks for giving me reason to be sad and sentimental.

Officially “locked out” of my old employer’s Exchange mail server. I guess I don’t work there anymore…