the right way to do video: nothing about google, mahalo, search, or scoble

just stuff about mice.

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U-Haul, It Ain't the Company It Used to Be

Besty Devine describes a U-Hell of a U-Haul Rental, featuring a load of corporate cluelessness that boggles the mind. When the cops tell you to stay away from a business, I'd imagine that's one outfit to steer clear of (no pun intended, betsy!)

It totally quit when I got just 4 miles from the place where I rented it, blocking a lane of traffic on Revere’s busy VFW Parkway. I was able to pull about 6 inches of the truck’s nose into a store’s driveway before it stopped moving entirely. I will leave you to imagine the comments of other drivers, having to maneuver around my dead truck in traffic already bumper-to-bumper on a 94 degree hot and humid Saturday.

That just ain't right.

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What a comment stream would look like as a business meeting... (Hint: Not Work Safe)

saw it on crunchnotes.

{tried to leave a comment here, but it kept thinking I was spam. i tried to add 5 + 8. I really did.}

Notice how in this re-enactment of the typical, there was one important result that is also typical of these types common-if-exaggerated online non-exchanges: nothing was accomplished.

As for whether or not the women should 'stand up' and say something in this video, they could have at least landed a Shelley Powers wallop.

I thought it was funny. Plain and simple. Everyone looked like an ass neighing into an empty well, and that's pretty much what we look like these days.

j.

I feel your pain

(even though i am not teething)...

5. Charlie and Tori's health insurance premium is going up $150/month. Bringing our household total premium to over $1,100. A MONTH. But there's no health care crisis in this country! Everything's fine! Nothing to see here! We have the best health care in the world! Yadda yadda yadda ug.

Yep. I hear that. WTF are we going to do?

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Don't Go Rockin' My Boat...

What seemed like a PR coup has turned into a PR mess in a triangle of money-grubbing that stands to make Verizon and Universal (as. if. they. could. look. any. worse) look like goobers at the expense of Bob Marley's estate.

Verizon announced an exclusive deal with the Universal Music Group to sell ring tones from Bob Marley's catalog, but the Marley family says no way and is threatening to sue. The family is unhappy because the way the Verizon-Universal deal stands now, it is a music licensing deal BUT is not behaving like a licensing deal. Because Verizon is using Bob Marley's image in their marketing efforts, the family views this arrangement as an endorsement deal (under which the family would have a say in how Bob Marley's image and music are used).

The family's spokesperson Chris Blackwell had met with Verizon previously. Obviously something didn't go right from the Marely family perspective, because Verizon did an end around and struck a licensing deal with Universal and is also proposing to use Marley's picture in their ring tone marketing efforts. This (I'm sure among other things) is pissing the family off.

I cannot accept the way Universal is treating the estate,” Mr. Blackwell said. “We don’t want this deal done. We want to sustain Bob Marley’s reputation, and they’ve done this without any permission from us, and we feel they’re absolutely not entitled to do so.”

From a PR perspective, Verizon needs to get its shit together and do some damage control. Because the customers who download ringtones of songs by artists are generally FANS OF THE ARTIST, and if the estate of the artist is pissed, well then you can bet that the FANS OF THE ARTIST (formerly known as your customers) will be pissed too.

Back to the drawing board, Verizon.

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Thank you all and good night!

After another exciting hospital adventure, I'm pleased to report that George's cardiac cath at St. Joseph's today went great. No significant blockage that asprin and lifestyle changes can't take care of. w00t! let's hear it for lifestyle changes and asprin!!!! So we are home now. Thank you, once again, for all of your good thoughts and wishes.

They say that St. Josephs is the best in Atlanta for cardiac care. The doctor and nurses were just great. Processes and procedures, flawless. Not a thing to bitch about, and you know me--I'm on steroids and so not shy.

Wshew. Long day. Time to rest.

Thanks again.

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Now you see it...

In an attempt to distract Georgians from the horror show that is our public school system, having just earned our rightful place of 46th in the nation on SAT scores, the "baggy pants" debate rages on.

However, they did agree to continue to debate whether the city should regulate whether folks can walk around Atlanta with saggy pants and exposed undies. Council members expect to create a 10- to 12-member task force soon to further the debate and decide whether Atlanta should —- or can —- pass a law to control fashion.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, SAT scores dropped, but by god, we held onto our slot in 46th with all our might.

We're just not gonna last in this town.

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More steroids...

the last thing i need. the most thing i need. a few more days have been added on for good measure. off to the open house at jenna's school. c-you!

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a blogger in our midst?

--- Another View ----



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Check out the dude's post what added the subtitles south africa the iraq such as to Miss South Carolina's "answer". Good post on anti-art.

At first glance, it may appear that all I did was rip someone else's video off and add sub-titles. But as I see it, I saw a lack in the "original" and took the initiative to fix its shortcomings and in the process created a more valuable video. At least now, you can understand what she says. I guess instead of being a producer on this one, I was a re-producer. I'm sure there's a real discussion on art history's evolution in there somewhere. Could we say the mash-up is the new Dada? They do seem to be founded on the same principles. Rejecting the prevailing standards, enhancing the mundane and effectively creating "anti-art".

good blog reads

Kent has some great lists he's gathering in what he calls swivel feeds. I missed the bus on giving him five recommendations, so i did it in his comments. Picked the top five the wind blew through my skull. And it's 90 degrees and there's no wind, so I guess those are pretty much stuck.

and so i said:

Tony Pierce - http://www.tonypierce.com/blog/bloggy.htm

Daughter of Opinion - http://daughterofopinion.blogspot.com/

Brian Moffatt - http://www.brian-moffatt.com/repurpussing/

George Kelly - http://www.allaboutgeorge.com/

Madame Levy - http://lavachequilit.typepad.com/il

#posted by Jeneane Sessum : 8/27/2007 10:50 PM

oops you already have Madame Levy, so I'll say Badhostess - http://badhostess.com/

thx!

#posted by Jeneane Sessum : 8/27/2007 10:52 PM

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mmm mmm good

Yeah, at a quick glance, I could see myself doing that.

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not future trash after all

I knew my 500+ record albums would come in handy. I just knew it.

A lot of people (example) are starting to realize that stuff is not all that important. As we get better at mass producing cheap food and consumer products, stuff will cease to be important at all. The only stuff that will be valuable is stuff that can no longer be made due to lack of sufficient demand or stuff that is too difficult or time consuming to make cheaply. Artifacts and original artwork will grow more valuable, but everything else will just be future trash someone will have to get rid of when you die.

from LNS.

corner turn?

I am getting so good at sinus infections that I think I can nail the precise moment when I turn the corner toward health. Thank you, Lord, I believe the corner hath been turned. Just now. Yes, like this very moment.

In other news, there isn't much new, and everything old is so overwhelming it seems not worth the stress of revisiting.

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best get well video EVar!

You'll have to go here to watch it, since Google seems to have added its own video uploading functionality to Blogger with the direct result of screwing up embedding of YouTube videos. Or maybe I'm just sensitive.

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the social networkizing of mechandising (or the webkinizing of retail)

"Did you HEAR??" Jenna gets excited about 24 times each day, but this was one of those 'urgent news' type of yelps that made me ask, "About what?"

She proceeded to tell me that she needed a pound puppy, not a real one (this week), but one of the stuffed kind from the toy store. I told her I thought they had pound puppies back when her cousin Nick (now 25) was young. She told me they're new now--they come with a code you can enter to play with them online, just like Webkinz. Investigating, the only functionality I could see on the pound puppies site was an input form that lets you generate an adoption certificate. But I smell a social network in the winds. The landing page for pound puppies looks like the future entryway to pound puppyville, another virtual pet-owning experience coming soon to a parent's credit card near you.

We owe the resurreciton of the stuffed animal to social computing. If not for social networks, Webkinz would be another cute fad with a $12 price tag and a place on your child's bed. But nooo. Thanks to social spaces vying for our kids' attention, that same stuffed animal can live on ad infinitum, with complementary purchases like webkinz trading cards, waiting for your john hancock too.

Some tween-based social networks skip the merchandising part and go right to the trading cards. Case in point Bella Sara. Right now, it's a virtual world, using packs of trading cards as the merchandising element. I can only figure that Bella Sara is doing a "reverse webkinz," putting the trading cards (which have codes to purchase online clothing and tack for your online horse) out first with the stuffed rendition to follow. I'm sure a stuffed bella sara stallion is coming soon. I think I hear his hoofbeats. More ways to my wallet. Thank you internets!

Watching tweens on Webkinz and Bella Sara, I started wondering how smart companies will find that same sweet spot with adult consumers--a place where real-world point-of-sale drives the online experience.

What would the characteristics of that experience have to be:

1) something we are compelled to purchase.
2) something we enjoy playing with or using in the real world.
3) a replica of something real that can also be experienced virtually.

Perhaps the condoms of the future will come with a special code you can enter to frolic in an online adult world. In turn, the sites could offer special features and access to those with codes, driving future brand preference in condoms.

Same with clothing. Your jeans should come with your DenimWorld code emblazened on your back pocket. You use the code to dress your virtual self and hope that some hottie has been looking at your ass long enough to look you up in Denim City. In Denim City you participate in activities that generate points toward special features or future purchases. Maybe movie tickets for your real-world date from your virtual connection based on your realworld jeans.

I'm thinking out loud here.

Blame the steroids.

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