July 2011
Anonymous asked: Animal Collective
inkeibence asked: The Monochrome Set
firstworld-problems asked: How about The Stone Roses?
davidkatz asked: cardiacs
dubquixote asked: The Fall
"Only $249!"
Dear Tom,
Income inequality may be a political talking point in Washington D.C., but it’s also a reality that marketers need to consider when they are positioning products aimed at upscale consumers. In the wake of the Great Recession, it’s time to rethink how to market to the segment that drives nearly 50% of consumer spending.
This Ad Age Insights white paper – The New Wave of...
Ask The Fans →
Unusually, this Guardian column was a commission of sorts - too late for a full feature on Amy Winehouse, I was told, but could I write something mentioning her? I was very happy to be asked - obviously it’s what I’d spent the earlier part of this week thinking about anyway.
As it turns out the Amy pieces are still bringing the hits in, so this has a somewhat more SEO-tastic title...
All Is Discovered. Flee at once. →
Tracing the genesis of a favourite anecdote (which I first heard from dubdobdee, of course).
"Horizon Shift" Thinking →
When Mr Hilton was looking at ways to cut the deficit, he suggested replacing hundreds of government press officers with a single person in each department who would convey all necessary information via a blog.
The 42-year-old, “Big Society” advocate’s solution to long-term unemployment was to abolish all jobcentres and to hand out money to community groups.
But perhaps his most ambitious...
Martin Skidmore →
My friend Martin died earlier today, of cancer. He was a great guy: I wrote about him as a writer and internet dude at the link above. William Swygart remembered him here and Ned Raggett paid tribute here.
Deindividuation and Networks
blackbeardblog:
Still thinking about that Guardian piece.
Read More
You were warned! My thoughts on this got so long I put them on my ‘work blog’.
Back to music soon, promise.
“The Earth is a Man is a band that plays post-rock music. The term “post-rock”...”
– Amazing opening to a PR email, found by Kat S.
“When we think about difficult users there are two kinds,” Wales said, with...”
– The two people interviewed for this Guardian piece with experience of moderating within long-running communities both say broadly the same thing, which chimes absolutely with my own experience, for what that’s worth. The real grind isn’t flamers or trolls - the community routes itself...
“At first, she was talented enough to get by. Live performances, although...”
– Amy Winehouse’s Untimely Death Is a Wake Up Call for Small Business Owners
I feel dirty linking to the Huffington Post, but this blog post is one of the most absurd things I have read in a while. I am certain that it is the result of HuffPo editors looking at trending terms and getting a writer to...
Names →
Sensible article by Caterina Fake (formerly of Flickr and Hunch) on anonymity and pseudonymity.
I think quite often about real names and how useful they are or aren’t, not just in terms of communities but in terms of technology in general. Names are a technology themselves - a means of identifying someone you don’t personally know. Different cultures establish different conventions to...
100 Proof Voice →
Via Maura. Worth reading.
I’ve seen people criticising the British tabloids for their treatment of Amy Winehouse over the last few years. Quite right too. I doubt the way music people tended to write and talk about her was very helpful either. There was an unpleasant swirl of mythology and cliche around her which this piece reflects rather well. It didn’t kill her, it didn’t...
The Unheard
I have a lot of bands to write about, thankyou Tumblr. Happy to take more requests of course!
As far as I know I’ve never actually listened to: The Unicorns, Whiskeytown OR Ryan Adams, Galliano, Fiona Apple.
I know I have listened to AMM - their seminal waxing “The Crypt” was played by Andrew L in the bookshop once - but I can remember nothing about it. :(
danmacrae asked: Barenaked Ladies.
strictlyalright asked: Depeche Mode.
timocraticyouth asked: the mountain goats
t33j asked: Paul McCartney's post-Beatles stuff
Anonymous asked: Steely Dan
Anonymous asked: The Fiery Furnaces
screwrocknroll asked: Hmm... how about Billy Bragg?
jakec asked: Savage Garden.
In the "Never Heard Anything" file
Toad The Wet Sprocket. Gene Defcon. Sunn 0))). Happy to try and answer with specific tracks linked tho!
katherinestasaph asked: Christina Aguilera. (I'd say LMFAO but, you know.)
Autocritique
Name a musical artist in the ask box and I’ll try and say something interesting about them, or at least tell you what I think of ‘em.
1 tag
Google+ "versus" Brands →
The linked article talks about some of the ways brands - particularly tech brands - are a little bit butthurt about not being allowed into Google+ just yet. It quotes someone from Google as saying that their treatment of brands has been a “mistake”.
Clumsy, for sure, but I disagree. The lack of brands on Google+ is one of the more refreshing things about it - one of the few refreshing...
Does it still make sense...
…to talk about “the Internet” as a unitary thing, especially re. culture, behaviour etc (“On the Internet…”). I know I do it all the time! But:
- it brings to mind a particular situation (individual sitting at PC) which is increasingly misleading especially if used as the basis for analysis.
- the internet is v big!
I mean people still talk about...
Soundout →
Welcome, readers, to the strange world of Soundout, where aspiring acts pay people to review their songs. Or rather, pay a research company to get people to review their songs - the incentivisation of the reviewers is rather opaque. These people have just got $2 million thrown at them, so someone’s taking it seriously.
Well worth looking at the example report (PDF) to see the calibre of...
If You Have To Ask You'll Never Know
After watching the Murdochs’ committee hearing yesterday I went out for dinner with some former colleagues. They’d all been watching it too. These are mostly senior research people, client-facing and so steeped in business: I was interested to hear how the Murdochs’ performance (and the scandal in general) was playing with them, since they’re outside my Twitter...
The Way We Live Now →
Yesterday Mr Whittingdale brushed off the links, pointing out that he had lots of “Facebook friends” including Labour MP Chris Bryant.
Defendeding reports that he was Facebook “friends” with Ms Brooks, he insisted he had met “almost every major figure in the media”.
Speaking to Andrew Marr over the weekend he added: “I have 570 friends on Facebook, whether or not...
go pj harvey and katy b →
These are my favourite records this year, I think, so I’m pleased they’re on the list, for all that it confirms my innate Dadness.
“Rupert is – on top of everything else - an incredibly shy man”
– It must be amazing fun being Michael Wolff at the moment.
3 tags
Anonymous asked: What makes something "pop"?
“Starbucks became the market leader in an American coffee-shop explosion, and now...”
– Word Spy - time porn (via @kimlovesstuff)
Unrelatedly, I can’t get over the fact that Faith Popcorn is called Faith Popcorn. It’s one of the all time great renamings - marketing’s equivalent of Johnny Rotten or Sid Vicious.
The Great British Rock Album →
Judging from a couple of Twitter comments my tone of voice in this wasn’t quite as ambivalent as I’d hoped. Anyway this is a column about the lure of arena rock for British bands and why it’s a bad thing.
