I am Jamaica's husband, Foursquare's comm director, Personality's founder, and a catalyst for CFCC.
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Stuff I Like Archives
October 16, 2008
Failure Magazine
Filed under: Stuff I Like
I was reading the latest issue of Ode magazine earlier this week and really appreciated their feature and focus on failure. The whole issue was about the "upside of down." I just recently blogged about failing faster so this was a nice supplement to my recent pondering.
I was especially intrigued to stumble upon Ode's mention of the online Failure Magazine.
Jason Zasky learned firsthand the potential of tinkering with an offbeat idea. As a writer for the now-defunct Musician Magazine, he and the the staff were laid off in 1999 when the magazine folded. He found himself walking the streets of New York City with his cousin, who suggested he start a magazine about failure. Now co-founder and editor of the online Failure Magazine, which just celebrated its eighth anniversary, Zasky jokes, “As soon as I heard those two words together, I like to tell people now, I saw failure as my future.”
And naturally [Jason Zasky] has a lot of perspective on the topic after eight years writing about it. Mainly, he feels, failure is in the eye of the beholder. “Success is kind of boring,” Zasky says. “Failure is much more interesting to read about, and to study, and certainly to work on. It’s a universal experience we can all relate to.” Often, he says, success is completely accidental, and is built on something that is viewed initially as failure.
Having failed way more times than I have succeeded, I am always encouraged by failure's many advantages. Did you know Viagra started out as a mistake? Ode's Marisa Taylor says that in 1992, "Pfizer was testing the drug sildenafil for the alleviation of angina, chest pains caused by heart disease. The men involved in the clinical trials for the medication found that, while it didn’t affect their chest pain very much, it did have a marked effect on their libidos. Pfizer’s blunder launched a multibillion-dollar industry."
Talk about an upside (no pun intended) to failure!
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August 23, 2008
Ode To Silence
Filed under: Stuff I Like
I don't remember how or when I became a subscriber to Ode magazine, but it's been coming to me for the past year or so. Although it's not my favorite magazine—I notice myself skimming it more than reading it—the July 2008 issue really grabbed my attention. The whole issue was built around the theme of silence. The first two spreads were all white pages with a minimal amount of gorgeous copy that set the tone for the rest of the issue. The last page was a reprint of the musical score by John Cage titled 4'33".
On August 29, 1952, at a concert hall in Woodstock, New York, pianist David Tudor sat down to play avant-garde American composer John Cage's creation, 4'33". The piece requires the performer to sit at the piano for four minutes and 33 seconds without touching a key. "Played" in three movements, 4'33" is considered one of the most revolutionary compositions of modern times. What audiences hear may be the pianist turning pages of sheet music, someone succumbing to a coughing fit, or—in the case of the 1952 debut—the shuffling sounds of people walking out in disgust. Nonetheless, 4'33" lives on: in a silent song by John Lennon and Yoko Ono and the lyrics of rapper MC Paul Barman, who brags in Excuse Me that he "can rock the mic to 'Silence' by John Cage." In case you want to play it at home, here's the sheet music. Tacet is Latin for "silence." —Josey DuncanI
Tacet
II
Tacet
III
Tacet
My love for magazines began a few years before starting my own magazine 12 years ago. I've been a student of the industry ever since. I love to see how they evolve and innovate (or not). This might explain why I have so many subscriptions coming every month!
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April 17, 2008
Mary Poppins on Broadway
Filed under: Stuff I Like
This past weekend in New York I got to hang out with my brother Craig for a couple days. He just moved to Manhattan a month ago and is loving it. On Saturday night we went to the Broadway performance of May Poppins and it was amazing. It's been awhile since I've watched the movie--the story is powerful. Seeing it on stage was really moving--props to the producers for the production values. The effects and stunts were incredible. Great show!
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November 26, 2007
My New Kindle
Filed under: Stuff I Like
Just got my new Kindle today from Amazon. I have been wanting something like this for quite sometime so when I heard the announcement last week I jumped on it right away. I know I'm a sucker for the early adopter thing (yes, I got an iPhone on day one), but it's easy for me to justify when the world I live and breath is communications and marketing. So there.
I have not used my Kindle enough to give any sort of review, but I'm anxious to play with it this week. The packaging is pretty cool--definitely Apple-esque in Amazon's approach. And while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ain't no Steve Jobs, I am curious to see if Kindle does to the book industry what the iPod did to the music industry. The disruption may be a little more far-fetched, but in the brief moments I've spent with Kindle so far, this thing is pretty amazing. It seems to be the perfect companion for reading nuts like myself.
I love that the screen doesn't look or feel like a laptop. It's a whole new technology that uses digital ink to create pages on the fly. It is really comfortable to read.
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October 3, 2007
Promo Video for a Book
Filed under: Stuff I Like
I really like it when books have promo videos that communicate the big idea. It seems like a contradiction to have a video promote a book (different audiences, less room for imagination, etc.), but a 1-3 minute teaser for a book is brilliant.
I saw a book promo video today for Shalom Auslander's new book, Foreskin's Lament.
As if the title of the book alone wouldn't pique your interest--the video certainly does. Love it!
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May 22, 2007
Letter to Iraq
Filed under: Stuff I Like
After the Cause Marketing Forum and before I took off for Israel, I spent some time in New York this past weekend with my friend Nathan. Jamaica met Jennifer (Nathan's wife) back in grad school and the four of us have been friends ever since. When we heard they were moving to New York last year we were sadulous (sad+jealous=sadulous). Sad to lose local friends to a city we'd love to live in someday.
Nathan (rock star, new daddy and political savant), and Jennifer (a talented painter, new mommy and package designer) recently bought an apartment just around the corner from Central Park and the Lincoln Center. Unbelievable!
As I said, Nathan is a rock star. He just finished cutting an album with some of the most talented musicians in the business and is closer than he's ever been to having a record deal and forthcoming tour. I applaud his passion and perseverance.
In addition, Nathan has put together a project called Letter to Iraq that is a collection of signatures (names) from America to the people of Iraq. Nathan wrote a very moving song to go along with the project that is also the tune for a short video. You can see and hear it on YouTube.
I love hanging around people that are big dreamers who don't stop there.
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February 22, 2007
Jotting Notes, Hands Free
Filed under: Stuff I Like
Just started playing around with Jott today. Jott is a cool little tool that allows me to call a number from my cell phone, leave a message (up to 15 seconds), and it will automatically transcribe it, then e-mail me the text. It also sends me a link to listen to the actual recording of my voice in case there are words that got mixed up in transcription, or if I just want to hear my original message. There is also the option of distributing jotts to others.
The verdict is out to see if this will prove helpful to me. I can already see some possibilities emerging, like when I am in the car and can't write something down. I can call my jott number and have my note e-mailed to me.
Thanks to Jay Kelly for spreading the love.
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February 14, 2007
Sounds of Babel
Filed under: Stuff I Like
Jamaica and I went to see the movie Babel this past weekend. The movie was reminiscent of the the 2004 film Crash. What Crash is to the U.S. (Los Angeles), Babel is to the world (Africa, Japan, Mexico and the United States).
I was especially drawn to the soundtrack for the movie. So drawn that I bought the CD and received it today. The double disc set (36 tracks!) is marvelous and full of variety.
It's also interesting to think of Babel the movie in light of Babel the biblical story. The Genesis story is about people scattering as a result of unity. The story in the movie is about people coming together as a result of humanity's similarities.
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January 9, 2007
Apple TV, iPhone
Filed under: Stuff I Like
Apple does it again with Steve Jobs' announcment today of the all new--much hyped--Apple TV and the amazing iPhone. I shared a few glee-filled moments with the Personality creative team as we all discovered the new products together. As each page loaded, we were shouting and drooling and checking credit lines. How can Apple continue to do this? Wow.
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Backpack from 37signals
Filed under: Stuff I Like
I am really liking this Backpack from the geniuses over at 37signals. I started off with the free version which worked nice for a few weeks, but I upgraded so I could have a little more functionality. I use Backpack mostly for a handful of different to-do lists I have that don't fit nicely into a calendar (they have no due dates, but I want to get to them). I also keep track of my reading lists, strengths fodder, airline frequent flyer accounts and more. The reminder thing is pretty cool too, again, for stuff that doesn't fit into my normal calendar system.
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November 26, 2004
Google Scholar Search
Filed under: Stuff I Like
Check out the new Google Scholar search tool (in beta). Like Apple, Google just keeps getting better.
Thanks to Chris Busch for the link and to Robin Good for a great summary.
Jamaica is really going to like this.
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