Sterling Newberry believes “blogging is the rock and roll of this decade: the place of energy and expression.”
Hugh MacLeod on being creative
Mr. MacLeaod offers thirty tips on how to be creative. My two favorites are:
3. Put the hours in. Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. 90% of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort and stamina.
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props. Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece on the back of a deli menu would not surprise me. Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece with a silver Cartier fountain pen on an antique writing table in an airy SoHo loft would SERIOUSLY surprise me.
Nikol Lohr on pregnancy
“I don’t want kids. Sometimes I like kids okay, sometimes they’re funny or smart, but I don’t want one growing inside me like a tape worm. They grow in there and press down all your organs and give you incessant heartburn and make you have to pee all the time and make your ankles swell so the only shoes you can wear are flip-flops. And then when they’re finished leeching off you, they slide out like greasy little piglets all mucousy and pink.”
“Then afterwards, you have twenty years of no life of your own. If you do it right, anyway. And then a whole lifetime of worry. Like having a dog that outlives you and runs away all the time and chews up all your furniture and pees everywhere and hates you at least for a while no matter what. A dog that no matter how good you try to be is slightly embarrassed of you and will definitely lie and deceive you. A dog that won’t let you pet it and that talks back.”
Destin after the storm
“I think it’s safe to say the tourist season is over in Destin. I doubt many condos can be rented, especially since even if they’re safe to enter, the only way to get to the beach requires a 20 foot jump. The good news is the seaweed will wash away in a week, the nails and other metal debris will rust away in a month, and the wood will rot in four. But, if your still thinking of braving a trip down to Destin within the next month or so, skip the flip flops, and bring your hiking boots. You’ll need them.”
The photo to the right is what’s left of a swimming pool that was part of the deck of a house right on the beach. Before Dennis ate it up, there was a wooden walk-over just to the left of that deck that we used to access the beach from Amberjack Landing.
Dylan Sisson
Dylan Sisson resides in Seattle, where he draws and paints wall-eyed curiosities with big teeth. I fell in love with one of his images and reached out to see if he had plans to make it available as a poster.
He was kind enough to add the image and I purchased immediately. Don’t know if it’s still available but I like having it on my wall.
Photo Story 3.0
Photo Story is a nifty little program that turns images and sound into wonderful little videos. It used to be part of Microsoft Plus! and cost $20 but is now free. I’ve posted a couple of Photo Story files here at smays.com but this new version is the best yet. I grabbed some pix form KBOA830.com (the first website I did, back in the day) and tossed ’em in with some jingles that Jeff Wheeler saved. The 5 min video (3 meg .mov download) could have been better if I had taken the time to try to match images to audio but I didn’t (keep your Media Player at 320×240). It’s still a nice look/listen back to the golden days of KBOA. If you don’t have a copy of Photo Story 3.0… download it today.
Google Earth
Just when I think the Web and computers can’t get any cooler, something like Google Earth comes along. WSJ’s Walt Mossberg wonders if it has any practical benefits but admits it’s damned cool.
“The program lets you view satellite and aerial photos of pretty much any spot on the planet. In big metropolitan areas in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe, you can locate, and zoom in on, individual buildings and houses, and see cars and trees. … The program rapidly fetches the images from the Internet and visually “flies” you from place to place around the globe. The process is so fluid it feels like a Hollywood stunt.”
The image above shows where I’m sitting.
Steve Jobs on podcasting
“One thing Steve Jobs said to me that didn’t make it into my [June 28] story was that he’s getting interest from corporations about creating podcasts to reach customers and others directly without going through [traditional media], offers Markoff. An example might include something like Adobe wanting a podcast for Photoshop users.
His point: All of this breaks down old traditions everybody is getting dis-aggregated by new technologies, Markoff says. The lesson for PR practitioners, according to Markoff, is to recognize that things are changing in the media. More people are trying to reach [audiences directly].”
— From a story by NY Times’ John Markoff who recently interviewed Steve Jobs when Apple added podcasts to iTunes
HBO’s Entourage
Excellent piece at nytimes.com by Virginia Heffernan on Jeremy Piven who plays Ari Gold on HBO’s “Entourage.” Love the show. Love the writing. You gotta believe every agent in Hollywood is watching.
To the assistant of an elusive executive, he (Ari Gold) offers dictation: “I want you to pass this message along to Dana. Tell her that I still have the pictures from Cancun. Tell her that I’m going to start a Web site. I’m going to take a full-page ad out in The L.A. Times advertising it. Tell her it will be called I’mahollywoodexecutivewhore.com and that no password or fee will be required. Tell her I want a call back.”
PS: Piven had a small but wonderful part in Grosse Pointe Blank. When I clicked over to IMDB, I was reminded of the great cast of that movie: John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Hank Azaria.
Mark Cuban on podcasting
“Podcasting is hot. Podcasting is cheap and easy. Podcasting can be fun. Creating your own podcast and trying to make a business out of it is a mistake. Unless you are repurposing content from another medium, it will be rare to find anyone making money from originating podcasts.”
— Mark Cuban