Brain Blenders

I need an intern

There are at least 40 magazines, 6 books, and a couple of thousand unread posts staring me in the face. I have been slightly preoccupied at the j-o-b lately, and this has led to my shortfall of input the last two weeks. Not to bitch and whine about anything...but the load is heavy - which brings me to the point. I NEED AN INTERN.

This intern, let's call him or her Kitt, no wait, Bear, Mr. Miyagi (RIP - told you I'd get a mention in),or B.A. Baracus would need to be someone with an EXTREMELY STRONG PROCLIVITY towards recognizing and identifying emerging trends, and have the ability to put those learning's into digestible words.  Someone who can go long periods of time without actually seeing me!! But, can take phone calls at 7AM or 2AM depending on when I want my coffee. They need to be shorter and less attractive than me if a male, and possibly a centaur if a female.

I am open to all races, genders, creeds, and species...as long as it's not a primate. I know that seems like I am discriminating but a man has to have a standard for his blogs. I am prepared to open my world to some unsuspecting, uh I mean promising young (or old) person who would like to learn to (among many things) manage content for multiple websites that range in hits from a couple of thousand to over a million a week. That's right...I said MILLION. Think of the power!!! The unbelievable might that comes with that much pub...well, it's not THAT great. But, still - you'd get some cool gear from me and a righteous rep.

The job would actually be very involved and detailed to the point of I can't even bring myself to write about it here...but if you know someone, who you think would be awesome...holla at ya boy!

wiki love...almost

Well, I had posted an article about a wiki that a regular reader had done on brainblenders for wikipedia.org last night. But, when I came in this morning and read my post and checked the link, the page had been deleted by someone. So I promptly deleted my article thanking "PSP" for posting an article about brainblenders. However, I was lucky enough to copy the article in it's entirety and have posted it here for your reading pleasure. Would love to have brainblenders in wikipedia...due to the fact that I love the site! But, if it doesn't happen, it's cool just to have been mentioned...sorta. By the way, if you want to get wikipedia on your WAP enabled phone, check this out. And if you want to download a widget for your desktop, look here. Thanks anyway PSP.

BrainBlenders.com, http://brainblenders.blogs.com/ ,is a blog started in the Fall of 2003 by one “a.brain” of parts unknown. The site specializes in documenting “what's next” in four distinct categories; Design, Technology, Entertainment, and Well Being. When asked about why he just had four categories a.brain commented,

“These four categories cover life. You can take any subject in wikipedia and place it under one of these four headings. Wikipedia is itself under Technology. The wiki about red-butted monkeys could be placed under Well-Being, unless they start flinging fecal matter, then I’d definitely place it under entertainment…but, that’s just me.”

The site boasts several thousand unique visitors each week with a regular opt-in email going out to several hundred readers. The irreverent attitude with which a.brain and the commentors contribute combined with the ahead of the curve trend introductions and analysis makes this site a must read on your daily RSS. As a.brain’s email signature closes, “Come get some.”

Bring 'em Young Daycare, Call R. Kelly for Details

Boredom, a high-speed connection, and a loose knowledge of the how TV stations work led to this HILARIOUS piece. Couple of college kids from NC State hacked a local news organization by utilizing their "snow-closing" report system to close fictitious companies. The caption in the picture says "Bring 'em Young Daycare" Contact R. Kelly for details., which is really funny, and will segway into my next thought (Link to story and more)

R. Kelly has lost his damn mind. If you read my post some time ago about the Urban Opera that Mr. Kelly is doing called Trapped in the Closet, then you would know that I am intrigued by this concept and actually dropped some kudos on R. for his willingness to approach the format. Actually, I have to admit that I am FASCINATED with this modern day opera...but that was chapter 1 - 5. Chapters 6 through 12 have me on the floor.

Here's the problem...it was already a sordid mess of who's cheating on who - which I have to admit didn't really pull me in to the story but I was listening for the same reason you can't look away from a wreck - just to see what happens next. Then he did the ultimate, and now I have no choice but to listen to every one of the chapters from here on out...he brought a midget into the story. Not a little person, oh no - he did the complete non-politically correct thing and said midget, and not once or twice, but like 20 times. The story is too good for me to even know where to begin...but let me suffice it to say, a cop beats the midget because the policemans wife is sleeping with him (his name happens to be "Big Man"), and she happens to be pregnant with his child, oh, oh - and the little person is a stripper. That's right...I said stripper.

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The whole thing is so absurd I fully expect the next chapters to incorporate a unicorn, drive-bys involving the GOP, Martha Stewart as a gang leader, and hopefully the Scientologists.

Dave Chappelle, where are you when I need you most?

Genre Splitting

Imagine "The Shining" as a happy family movie, and "West Side Story" as a horror flick. Some agency redid the trailers for these features and has done a good job of genre splitting. Reminds me of some sports highlight reels I watched as a younger man which made our season look a lot better.

Sidebar: I remember a girl walking up to me after a football banquet one year in college and saying, you actually looked like you could play in that film. Kinda harsh, but I still miss Grandma.

Not as cool as the Ode to a Redneck flick I featured a while back, but the Shining trailer actually makes me want to see the movie. Have to be honest here but ever since my little brother started calling everybody "Ponyboy" I've never wanted to see West Side Story (ed note - turns out that Ponyboy is a character in The Outsiders, but aren't they pretty much the same?). Still, I have to agree with him, other than Goat-boy, Ponyboy is the worst nickname one could acquire.

But alas, here they are. The Shining and West Side Story

*Thanks Pope for the links

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Shadow

My boy just had a baby girl this week...and the whole family is pleased as punch to have the little wonder home healthy and bright-eyed. Shadow is a regular commentator here and quite the busy man making the world a more crowded place with his blue-eyed, blond-haired offspring. All of 'em are precious and my condolences to Z for not getting another "brudder".

No Meeting Wednesday

I had a discussion with a "CPA-type" today and he was lamenting the number of meetings he attended every week, detailing how hard it was to get his business done because of the number of hours he spent sitting in groups of people talking about "business".

Which made me think, How much time do you waste in meetings? Think about the place you work...how much of the culture thrives around running from one meeting to another? I mean, how often do they even start on time? Do your employees, coworkers, upper management complain about the amount of time they spend meeting with each other?

Then it's time we do something about it. Time has come that we institute "No Meeting Wednesday". The one day a week in which NO MEETINGS ARE TO BE HELD. Think about that for a minute...does it sound impossible?  Then you are probably wasting your life, and a lot of time if you can't take one day a week and, oh I don't know...WORK. When do you plan for the future? Or really get still and be creative, introspective, contemplative, or just effective with what needs to be dealt with at the time? There is a difference between working, and meeting don't you think?

And if I live in a culture that can't hold a meeting without me...then I am too valuable to the cause and need to find someone to take on more responsibility, just in case I get struck by lightning. What this will force us to do is be more effective with the meetings we do hold. You only have four days a week to get that VITAL input you need. Make it count. "Enough is enough and too much is nasty" as an old friend used to say. I'm ready for the change...who's with me?