I enjoy good conversation and a good beer or two... "Beer is far more than a drink, it is a token that a man can move his limbs and stretch in safety."
- Erich Remarque
Marvin Minsky, a researcher in artificial intelligence, has an interesting theory on love. He says that love is a reaction that convinces you to do something that is not in your best interest. It taxes your resources and ties you down, possibly for years at a time. It is for the good of the [...]
After reading an article in Wired (U.S. Policies Under the Spotlight) about the ever-increasing amount of classified information held by the U.S. government, I realized that this is the ultimate form of downplaying. If your critics, your customers, your constituents don’t know what you’re really doing, it’s simple to downplay. Even hiding partial [...]
Ever notice that things don’t last as long as they used to? It’s a concept called “Planned Obsolescence” which was promoted in the 1950’s by Brooks Stevens. Where does our stuff come from? Where does it go?
Check out this awesome video; it’s only 20 minutes long. There is some great info [...]
I just finished watching The Night They Raided Minsky’s. As the film toggled between B&W and color at the beginning, I realized that black and white film introduces a clarity that is not there with color. Each object, each person is distinct. Color muddies the images and makes the objects and people run together. With [...]
Interesting article at www.performingsongwriter.com/vault/special_89.pdf
The gist is that payola was not just an isolated problem in the 50s & 60s.
You may have some luck finding some older recordings (public domain) at archive.org. You can usually download an MP3 or stream the selections. I found Mamie Smith’s Crazy Blues there.
Another way to expand your learning experience is to create a custom radio station on Pandora. It’s free. I just ’seeded’ a [...]
From the Old-But-Interesting News Department:
The WSJ has an interesting article on market research. Essentially, researchers use blog “chatter” to determine product interest and opinion. They can monitor searches and keyword use and compare with ad campaigns. The technique is referred to as “online anthropology,” and it kinda reminds me of a Sim [...]
As I’m reading through the first few chapters of Amusing Ourselves to Death, I’m reminded of similar concepts regarding advertising and media motivation. Essentially, an ad isn’t supposed to inform the consumer about what a product is or does; the ad tells the consumer how the product will make them feel, thereby relieving the [...]
Whenever I saw these ads, I wondered, “what the hell are they thinking?” Are you an army of one because all your comrades were killed? Did they desert? Did they hold a war and no one else came? I’m not sure the Army even knew what message they were sending.
Apparently they [...]
I thought this was timely and apropos; the RIAA released this holiday “news clip” for use by local news channels too lazy to do their own research. To my mind, this is a classic example of propaganda. Interestingly and ironically, their bullet points mock their own amateurish production (maybe they want to make it seem [...]