Art

future of the interenet and technology

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Fantastic Salon article on the future of the internet and technology. Basically the same thing that was said in a really great book published back in 1999, Digital Darwinism. The book pointed out, during the height of the internet boom, the simply throwing money at any internet business was doomed to fail; that only businesses with solid business plans and real e-commerce goals would survive. People will buy things off the internet… but only certain things. And the internet is still more about ideas and communication than it is about business.

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the “Possibilities” commercial

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Have you seen the “Possibilities” commercial for Colorado Tourism? They play it alot on BBC America, and it’s annoying. It’s scary to discover that the online version is extended and even more doofy than the one they play on TV.

The dialogue is really silly and on top of that, the actors are really bad. The kid/cowboy is a mumbler, and once they get to the woman claiming “I was a mud-encrusted, cucumber-eyed goddess in Colorado” you find yourself never wanting to see the commercial ever again, let alone go to the stupid state.

The spokesperson that takes the cake, though is the incredibly funny-looking guy who says “I was incognito in Colorado.” And he enunciates every syllable of the word incognito so that he sounds ridiculous. Seriously, watch it and you’ll see what I mean. And why on earth would you need to be incognito in Colorado? Are they trying to encourage fugitives to come to Colorado and hide from the law?

This online version has even more stupidity, though: “I was Tundar, overlord of great high pointy mountains in Colorado!” What?

A little girl saying “I was visiting my weird Uncle Ted in Colorado” — um, you want to advertise Colorado as the residence of people’s weird uncles? I thought that some things were better not talked about. The Print ad with this same text is even scarier.

“I was unafraid to wear a plaid hat with earflaps in Colorado.” — Someone send the guy a memo letting him know that plaid hats with earflaps have been cool for several years now.

You can tell they didn’t spend a lot of $ on this commercial. At least not enough to hire real actors. The also didn’t spend much on their website, either, because their home page takes 5 minutes to load on a T1 connection.

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Weekend Update 2002-07-22

This weekend I finished painting the foyer and entryway, which now looks great. I also bought a round table for the foyer ($20) and a hat rack ($12) both of which I need to refinish. I got started on both yesterday afternoon. The table isn’t perfect, but it’s the right size. I’m thinking of painting a giant yin/yang symbol on top.

It is hot as hell here in Indiana. Thanks for the global warming, Bush. Wanker.

Here’s what I’ve been watching on TV:
Ground Force (BBC America)
Changing Rooms (BBC America)
Trading Spaces (TLC)
Big Brother 3 (CBS)

Oh, yeah, and the new season of Sex and the City. Of course, this might have something to do with the fact that there’s nothing on the freakin’ TV. Summer is boring, damn it. And no, don’t e-mail me and tell me to read a book. I already do plenty of that.

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1000 Blank White Cards

1000 Blank White Cards, a game that’s making the rounds of weblogs lately. Basically, you use blank index cards and draw the rules of the game as you go along, awarding points for certain things.

1000 Blank White Cards Example

1000 Blank White Cards Example 2

Here’sanother explanation of the games rules (or lack thereof).

Also, a slide-deck from the creator of the game on Philosophy of Creativity: Finite and Infinite Games.

Remember Calvinball, from Calvin and Hobbes, where the game could never be played the same way twice? That’s the idea here… creative, fun anarchy.

(2014 update: I never managed to get a game together. I still would like to. Also: the Wikipedia page on the game.)

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Leather Tuscadero

Suzy Quatro
Suzy Quatro
Strange things that come up in conversations at work: Leather Tuscadero from Happy Days (Suzi Quatro). Until I saw the pictures, I really didn’t remember her, and now I’m wondering why I didn’t, because I have a vague memory of Mom hating that character and saying she wasn’t very feminine. You’d think I would have glommed onto that. Funny… just noticed that she had an album titled: “Your Mama Won’t Like Me.” That’s true, Suzi, she didn’t.

And an interesting analysis of her on this fan site: “In addition to her (for the times) pretty outragous stage persona, she also frequently choose to cover songs from male artists without changing the lyrics, thus giving lesbian overtones to the performance.” No wonder mom didn’t like her. Yet another “gay” thing that my mother tried to shelter me from (also, Three’s Company, Soap, etc.). Didn’t work, mom.

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Crop Circles

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Just in time for the new M. Night Shyamalan movie “Signs” to come out, there’s a fantastic new crop circle near Stonehenge. Who want’s to bet this is a massive marketing stunt? Here are some other great links to crop circle sites that will explain that the phenomenon is not as unusual or as uncommon as one might think. Even though crop circles are not extra-terrestrial in nature, they are a fantastic example of public installation art.

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