Archive for 2010
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »7 People Who Still Haven’t Joined Facebook
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 4, 2010 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Monday, October 4th, 2010It’s hard to believe that with Facebook’s incredible market penetration, there are still a handful of people who haven’t joined. Do you know of any?
 Although Jesus is more of a Twitter kind of guy, he may have been the original inspiration for the “Like” button “Thumbs Up” |
If you’re reading this, that means you’re on the Internet. And since you’re on the Internet, you probably have a Facebook account. And if you don’t, well, don’t bother. Although the party will probably never stop now that Facebook has over 500 million users, the party you’ll be joining isn’t the same party that was going on a year or two ago when Facebook enjoyed its early explosive success. Everyone finds their own special relationship with a social networking site like Facebook, so maybe you’re still quite delighted to have a bunch of people you would never have lunch with as friends, because it gives you someone to play Mafia Wars with. Or maybe you derive genuine gratification from “Liking” things or joining political causes, so you can incessantly share your liberal, conservative, or wingnut point of view (not that those are mutually exclusive terms) without actually having the skills or focus to engage in real activism. But if you happen to have joined around the time I did in 2008, you may have found the witty repartee has fizzled, the great friend reconnects have taken place, and you may have come to know all too well the banal existences of both yourself and your “friends”. If that’s the place you’re in, you may have also noticed a couple of interesting waves of new users over the past year or two. First, the ones who joined around that same time as you and I did in 2008 and just didn’t get it, treating the site like the next MySpace. Then, the wave of over-40′s who read about the site in Time Magazine, also didn’t get it, popped in and made goofs of themselves, and then got quiet abruptly, having no idea how to de-activate their account. Then everybody’s mom and grandma joined a few months later, and more recently, it seems that the kind of people who are still on AOL joined, and everything went to hell. What may surprise you though, is the fact that there are still people who haven’t joined. Below are just a few. Do you know anyone who hasn’t joined? Let us know. Read the rest of this entry »
Breast Cancer Awareness Month: I Pink Therefore I Scam?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 3, 2010 by admin in Health & Wellness
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010Is it time to rethink the pink ribbon and early detection approach and focus on direct funding and a CURE for breast cancer?
 The “think pink” theme definitely moves a lot of product. In fact, I’ll gladly sell you this forklift for $100,000 and donate 50% of my profit to charity. |
I’m always happy to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month, partly because, well… as a man I like breasts. But more importantly because of the fact that most of my closest friends are women, and as someone who does work with fashion and beauty (I do work with Dior), I’m acutely aware of how breast cancer is likely to cause a woman much more personal anguish and worry than other serious illnesses, simply because of how our culture places so much emphasis on a woman’s physical appearance, especially her breasts. Which is why I sometimes also ponder whether it’s time we rethink the pink approach. The “awareness month” campaign was founded in 1985 by AstraZeneca, which manufactures breast cancer drugs Arimidex and Tamoxifen. It got some extra oomph in 1993 when Estée Lauder founded The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and established the Pink Ribbon as its symbol. So for over two decades, it has been a powerful tool for keeping breast cancer on the map as a health concern, but to what end? It has been pointed out that the campaign was originally “conceived and paid for by a British chemical company that both profits from this epidemic and may be contributing to its cause“. And if you do a little poking around, you’ll find a lot of articles like this LA Times piece that points out that in spite of all the PR, fundraising, and research, deaths from breast cancer have only declined by about 2% per year since 1990, and the emphasis remains on early detection, not a cure. The major campaigns are still backed by AstraZeneca, which clearly profits much more from this strategy than finding a cure. Draw your own conclusion. Another obvious backfire effect is the fact that so many companies jump on the bandwagon more as a marketing strategy than as genuine fund-raising, siphoning dollars into potentially ineffectual channels. This Daily Finance article gets specific, but you only have to do a quick web search to find all sorts of opportunistic campaigns like the Minneapolis bar Bootleggers’ Twin Titties Series, or the Save The Tatas campaign that centers on products like “Boob Lube, The Original Breast Check Soap” and cheesy soft-porn-themed videos like this (also below) to promote them. And Estée Lauder is trying to “get social” this year with a campaign centered on bloggers posing for fashion photographer John Midgley. They have a Facebook page, but probably don’t realize that this idea has been around with a more user-centric approach for almost ten years with sites like the annual Blogger BoobieThon. So, there are plenty of ways to keep abreast of things, like wearing your I Love Boobies Bracelets 
15 Most Offensive Halloween Costumes For 2010
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on October 2, 2010 by admin in Holidays
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010Stuck for a costume idea this year? Let Amazon help with a bunch of tasteless costumes mostly based on sexual organs. Maybe do a “His & Hers” thing. But if you’re already a dickhead, this list won’t help much.
  Admittedly, in some parts of America this one wouldn’t be offensive, it would be a typical way to spend Saturday night. |
I like to think of Halloween as a fairly light-hearted affair; a time to either just get silly, or for the more repressed amongst us, to live out our secret selves. The latter probably being a good explanation for why so many supposedly straight men seem to get so enthused about dressing up in drag. My tradition tends to be to think up all sorts of great costumes well ahead of time, forget to create them, and then improvise at the last minute. One year this resulted in my putting on a black turtleneck, black pants, and attaching socks and underwear all over to go as “Static Cling”. If you’re ever in a last minute jam, remember – you can always grab some ping pong balls, shave your head, and go as Homer Simpson. But unfortunately, in these tense, post-politically correct times, some people have to take everything seriously. Last year’s controversy about this offensive “illegal alien” costume
If You Loved Nirvana the Band You’ll Hate Nirvana The Band The Show
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 1, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Friday, October 1st, 2010It’s sort of like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” for hipsters.
Given my love of short film, I have no idea how I missed this one. Back in 2008, two guys in Toronto – Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol – created a short lived web series called “Nirvana The Band The Show”. If you like dry verite style of Curb Your Enthusiasm
Facebook & Skype. Two Great Tastes That Don’t Taste Great Together
[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 29, 2010 by admin in Technology
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010I’m not so sure I want audio/video in my Facebook account, but I do have suggestions for some Like Button-like audio widgets I’d like to see.
 Great. Now the Numa Numa Guy can video chat me whenever he feels like it. |
I really love sushi. I also really love chocolate. However, I suspect I wouldn’t much enjoy chocolate-dipped sushi. Which was the first feeble analogy that sprang to mind when I learned today that Skype and Facebook have formed a partnership . One that we imagine would inevitably lead to being able to video Skype on Facebook. Call me a stick-in-the-mud, a Luddite, call me whatever you like, but when I want to talk to someone, I call them. And if I need to call someone overseas, or have a conference with or without video, Skype rocks. And if I want to peruse what my friends are up to or engage in some low-key attention whoring or silly banter, Facebook is just the ticket. But something that I really don’t think I need is video calls on Facebook. Or a more Facebook aware Skype. C’mon. One of the first things a Facebook noob learns to do is to set their status to offline so that they don’t get random late night chat box popups from opposite-sex stalker friends of their friends that are barely their friends in the first place. Facebook has reached an almost “MySpace before the fall” feeling anyway; between the privacy changes and the late joiners, most people who are even moderately perceptive are starting to feel a little Facebookworn. Sure, it’s a great way to avoid buying birthday cards, and share pictures of the kids, but we’ve all learned that it doesn’t make more people come see your band, and once you’ve gotten a sense of the banal existence everyone is leading, you’re probably happy to go back to not knowing. Besides, linking the two services will just make it that much easier for the government to spy on you. There is however one improvement I think they could make. Since the “Like” button has removed the burden of ever actually having to make intelligent comments, we already suggested a bunch of “Like” button alternatives. But I think it would be even cooler if they added a little audio widget that would let you add simple comments like a rimshot or a trombone “wah wah wah wah” . Or crickets for when someone obviously agonized over what they thought was an especially clever status post but no-one commented. What do you think? Do you want Skype in your Facebook?