Funny product = funny
Foreign accent = funny (admit it)
Horrible video production = funny
This is a triple threat.
Just the ever-repeating synthetic music and space craft sound effects accompanying the text graphics is enough to groan. But seriously, this is a perfect package of awesome.
I would never subject annie to this humiliation. But you should subject yourself to this whole video, just for kicks and giggles.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Prove yourself wrong. Again.
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face… do the thing you think you cannot do.
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Lately I've been thinking a lot about this proven cycle: Accomplishing something I thought I couldn't do, or doing things I didn't necessarily want to do if left to my own selfish desires, can be incredibly revelatory. To the extent that I feel stupid for thinking I couldn't accomplish it before. Or lazy and selfish for not initially wanting to take the effort to do it. But any of these negative feelings are dwarfed in comparisons to the abolition of doubt, fear, and carnal selfishness such accomplishments provoke. How many times do I have to prove myself wrong to grasp the possibilities?
I can climb friggin mountains, write songs, excel at work and build things with my own two hands if I want to. Guess what? You can too.
If that's too much to swallow, start with my day-to-day philosophy: "Reach for the stars, and you won't come up with a handful of mud." (Leo Burnett)
That's safe enough, right?
Lately I've been thinking a lot about this proven cycle: Accomplishing something I thought I couldn't do, or doing things I didn't necessarily want to do if left to my own selfish desires, can be incredibly revelatory. To the extent that I feel stupid for thinking I couldn't accomplish it before. Or lazy and selfish for not initially wanting to take the effort to do it. But any of these negative feelings are dwarfed in comparisons to the abolition of doubt, fear, and carnal selfishness such accomplishments provoke. How many times do I have to prove myself wrong to grasp the possibilities?
I can climb friggin mountains, write songs, excel at work and build things with my own two hands if I want to. Guess what? You can too.
If that's too much to swallow, start with my day-to-day philosophy: "Reach for the stars, and you won't come up with a handful of mud." (Leo Burnett)
That's safe enough, right?
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Seriously, put down the duckie if you wanna play the saxophone.
There’s a saying in German: “Man kann nicht auf allen Hochzeiten tanzen.” It means “You can’t dance at all the weddings.” As much as you want to, and you may have even been invited, you can’t do it all. You’re going to have to make some sacrifices and prioritize what’s most important.
Those of you who have trouble with this principle are encouraged to watch this very important self-improvement video, produced by the fine people at Sesame Street. One of the greatest Sesame St. segments ever, i dare say.
For an extended cut with celebrities like Wynton Marsalis, Danny DeVito and Pee-wee Herman, click here.
Those of you who have trouble with this principle are encouraged to watch this very important self-improvement video, produced by the fine people at Sesame Street. One of the greatest Sesame St. segments ever, i dare say.
For an extended cut with celebrities like Wynton Marsalis, Danny DeVito and Pee-wee Herman, click here.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Albert Einstein
I stumbled across some Albert Einstein quotes today that I thought were worth posting. I've included my initial, random thoughts after each quote. Not until compiling them all did I realize I did a crappy job of skeptically checking all the sources to make sure they were credible, so I default to assume these are all fake and take it with a grain of salt. I’m too busy to go back and confirm each source. That said, enjoy:
"God did not create evil. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of God."
Pretty obvious statement for anyone but an atheist, but stated well nonetheless.
"I'd rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right."
I like how Walter Mathau said this as a fictitious Einstein in the oh-so-silly 90’s romantic comedy, IQ.
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
I hate cats.
"Any fool can know. The point is to understand. "
This quote could be used well in a conversation about living by principles, rather than rules without understanding the principles behind them.
"Never memorize what you can look up"
All of a sudden I feel better about using my GPS to find a house around the corner.
"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."
I can do that.
"Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
As a songwriter, I reluctantly admit this is 100% true. I once new a girl that was so infatuated with the band Radiohead that she claimed they were they only band that made truly original songs, having no influence from any previous music. Which is just stupid.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
No, I am not a Scientologist. Yes, I have jumped up and down on Oprah’s couch.
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself."
True from music to theology to why the sky is blue (because it reflects the ocean, stop asking questions).
"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
This quote would not be so golden if it wasn’t from a man who understood crazy difficult things.
"God did not create evil. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of God."
Pretty obvious statement for anyone but an atheist, but stated well nonetheless.
"I'd rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right."
I like how Walter Mathau said this as a fictitious Einstein in the oh-so-silly 90’s romantic comedy, IQ.
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
I hate cats.
"Any fool can know. The point is to understand. "
This quote could be used well in a conversation about living by principles, rather than rules without understanding the principles behind them.
"Never memorize what you can look up"
All of a sudden I feel better about using my GPS to find a house around the corner.
"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."
I can do that.
"Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
As a songwriter, I reluctantly admit this is 100% true. I once new a girl that was so infatuated with the band Radiohead that she claimed they were they only band that made truly original songs, having no influence from any previous music. Which is just stupid.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
No, I am not a Scientologist. Yes, I have jumped up and down on Oprah’s couch.
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself."
True from music to theology to why the sky is blue (because it reflects the ocean, stop asking questions).
"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
This quote would not be so golden if it wasn’t from a man who understood crazy difficult things.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Dear Louisville, CO
Dear L-ville,
Thank you for being pronounced 'Lewis-ville.' And thank you for having Davidson Mesa, multiple dog parks, colorful old mining history and an old town center that makes me grateful for those that came before me. It's awfully good of you to have single track trails a block from my front door, even if I don't use them nearly as much as I should. And wild open space walks with great views of the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park and beyond, even though I put in no more effort than taking Annie for a 15 minute walk. Thank you for having sunny snow-capped mountain views on a 90 degree day in July. And although it's sometimes annoying, I am grateful that you continually make me wish I brought my camera almost every time I drive home from work before dark. Oh, and thanks for the surprisingly good Mexican mole and friendly people. I'll have seconds of both, please.
I'm not one of those Louisville stubbornites that tries to hide the fact that you're conveniently close to Boulder and even Denver. Thanks for that too. Let's not pretend you'd be this awesome if you were an island. C'mon, don't gimme that - I say it out of love. Really, thanks a bunch for being 25 minutes away from checking in at an international airport and 5 minutes away from checking out of reality on back beat trails where all I can see is the disappearing slope giving way to a horizon revealing 14,000 foot peaks, while make-believing there's nothing in between.
Oh, and thanks for collecting all these things while still sporting a Super Target, Costco, Whole Foods, a never crowded movie theater and a hundred places to eat. 'Cause we wouldn't want to get stir crazy or depressed thinking about how we have to go to Boulder just for a good time or a good grocer. Such thoughts may lead to us wishing we lived down the road in the People's Republic of Boulder, and we'd rather not need a zip code to support how tragically hip and aware we are. We're hip enough here without the inflated costs, but don't tell 80301 - She just gets weird and defensive about that stuff.
And last of all, thanks for waiting to drop this whole CNN Money #1 place to live bomb until a month after we purchased our first home here. Good timing, friend. Congrats. It's been a good two years getting to know you. Sorry my dog is always treating you like her toilet. You know how it is.
Keep it up.
love,
eric
Thank you for being pronounced 'Lewis-ville.' And thank you for having Davidson Mesa, multiple dog parks, colorful old mining history and an old town center that makes me grateful for those that came before me. It's awfully good of you to have single track trails a block from my front door, even if I don't use them nearly as much as I should. And wild open space walks with great views of the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park and beyond, even though I put in no more effort than taking Annie for a 15 minute walk. Thank you for having sunny snow-capped mountain views on a 90 degree day in July. And although it's sometimes annoying, I am grateful that you continually make me wish I brought my camera almost every time I drive home from work before dark. Oh, and thanks for the surprisingly good Mexican mole and friendly people. I'll have seconds of both, please.
I'm not one of those Louisville stubbornites that tries to hide the fact that you're conveniently close to Boulder and even Denver. Thanks for that too. Let's not pretend you'd be this awesome if you were an island. C'mon, don't gimme that - I say it out of love. Really, thanks a bunch for being 25 minutes away from checking in at an international airport and 5 minutes away from checking out of reality on back beat trails where all I can see is the disappearing slope giving way to a horizon revealing 14,000 foot peaks, while make-believing there's nothing in between.
Oh, and thanks for collecting all these things while still sporting a Super Target, Costco, Whole Foods, a never crowded movie theater and a hundred places to eat. 'Cause we wouldn't want to get stir crazy or depressed thinking about how we have to go to Boulder just for a good time or a good grocer. Such thoughts may lead to us wishing we lived down the road in the People's Republic of Boulder, and we'd rather not need a zip code to support how tragically hip and aware we are. We're hip enough here without the inflated costs, but don't tell 80301 - She just gets weird and defensive about that stuff.
And last of all, thanks for waiting to drop this whole CNN Money #1 place to live bomb until a month after we purchased our first home here. Good timing, friend. Congrats. It's been a good two years getting to know you. Sorry my dog is always treating you like her toilet. You know how it is.
Keep it up.
love,
eric
Friday, July 10, 2009
There are no third chances.
GM CEO Fritz Henderson left some solid quotes in the abc news article about GM emerging from bankruptcy today:
"We have a second chance. Second chances in life are precious … there are no third chances."
"The company wants to return to designing, building and selling great cars."
My question: if there are no third chances, and GM is "returning" to designing, building and selling "great cars," isn't Fritzty going to be begging for a third chance?
"We have a second chance. Second chances in life are precious … there are no third chances."
"The company wants to return to designing, building and selling great cars."
My question: if there are no third chances, and GM is "returning" to designing, building and selling "great cars," isn't Fritzty going to be begging for a third chance?
The new level of effort behind buzz
In the last 20 hours, I've come across two campaigns that really impressed me. Not so much because of the creativity behind the idea, but the effort and money put into non-traditional ways of building Word-of-Mouth currency for their product. Really got me thinking about the value of WOM, and what tools are worth the effort to produce. Or rather what tools and strategies haven't even been thought of yet. That's exciting to me.
1) District-9: Sony Pictures created an 800 number, and multiple "fake" websites based on the premise of this forthcoming movie. I was pulled in when I watched the trailer on the YouTube's homepage. It's not there anymore, but you can see it here. I hope you have 45 minutes because this is gonna be fun.
Watch the Trailer. Then, call Call MNU to report non-humans at 866-666-6001.
Visit the URL you're led to on the phone call. That's how I was led down this path.
If you can't find a phone, you can open a new tab / window in your browser and google "Multi-National United" or "MNU"
Visit D-9.com.
If you haven't already, visit MNUspreadslies.com. check out the blog postings from the beginning.
There are tons of random videos, blog postings, comments on each blog posting, maps, and all kinds of content on the MNU website that was built just for the movie. There are MNU and "Christopher" twitter accounts, facebook pages, anti-MNU human rights protest videos on YouTube, etc. It goes on and on.
There's no such thing as MNU. No such thing as Disctrict 9. But Sony Pictures has raised this campaign to a new level of pseudo-reality, putting the time and money into creating all this "fake" content, adding a little more reality to the movie hype. I'm looking forward to seeing it in theaters. Leave it up to Peter Jackson to do things bigger than ever before.
[On a side note, I wonder if the movie is supposed to be blatantly symbolic of South Africa's former apartheid government. The film takes place there.]
2) Shark Week! Who doesn't love shark week? Even some of the most girly girls I know look forward to it. Aside from the Discovery Channel promoting Shark Week to TV viewers and consumers, it's normal for them to get journalists excited about it in a separate PR press kit campaign. This year's promotional effort to reporters is awesome. They are sending reporters...well, I'll just let you read about first hand accounts here....or here.
How would you like to get a newspaper clipping of your own well-research obituary in the mail? Along with the battered pair of the shark chewed swim trunks you died in.
1) District-9: Sony Pictures created an 800 number, and multiple "fake" websites based on the premise of this forthcoming movie. I was pulled in when I watched the trailer on the YouTube's homepage. It's not there anymore, but you can see it here. I hope you have 45 minutes because this is gonna be fun.
Watch the Trailer. Then, call Call MNU to report non-humans at 866-666-6001.
Visit the URL you're led to on the phone call. That's how I was led down this path.
If you can't find a phone, you can open a new tab / window in your browser and google "Multi-National United" or "MNU"
Visit D-9.com.
If you haven't already, visit MNUspreadslies.com. check out the blog postings from the beginning.
There are tons of random videos, blog postings, comments on each blog posting, maps, and all kinds of content on the MNU website that was built just for the movie. There are MNU and "Christopher" twitter accounts, facebook pages, anti-MNU human rights protest videos on YouTube, etc. It goes on and on.
There's no such thing as MNU. No such thing as Disctrict 9. But Sony Pictures has raised this campaign to a new level of pseudo-reality, putting the time and money into creating all this "fake" content, adding a little more reality to the movie hype. I'm looking forward to seeing it in theaters. Leave it up to Peter Jackson to do things bigger than ever before.
[On a side note, I wonder if the movie is supposed to be blatantly symbolic of South Africa's former apartheid government. The film takes place there.]
2) Shark Week! Who doesn't love shark week? Even some of the most girly girls I know look forward to it. Aside from the Discovery Channel promoting Shark Week to TV viewers and consumers, it's normal for them to get journalists excited about it in a separate PR press kit campaign. This year's promotional effort to reporters is awesome. They are sending reporters...well, I'll just let you read about first hand accounts here....or here.
How would you like to get a newspaper clipping of your own well-research obituary in the mail? Along with the battered pair of the shark chewed swim trunks you died in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)