i was listening to marketplace the other day and there was this piece about these new apple ads starring “mac guy” and “pc guy”. story goes that they make mac users out to be all slick and savvy while showing pc users as geeky and frustrated. i don’t have a tv, so i haven’t actually seen these ads, and i should probably go watch one on youtube or something before writing this post, but whatever, because i’m not actually responding to the ads, i’m responding to the way they were covered on the radio.

the piece talked about how apple might be biting itself in the ass with the ad campaign because “mac guy” is so self-confident as to be annoying, and current mac users might not enjoy the association. marketplace quotes marissa gluck, a marketing analyst, as saying:

The character of the Mac guy is almost too perfectly cast. He is smug. He is condescending. He’s just that uber-hipster you love to hate. It just makes you want to slap him.

fair enough. condescension not always the best marketing strategy. noted.

but the piece goes on from there. after assessing “mac guy” in this manner and questioning apple’s wisdom in promoting itself through him, it cites a study by a media research group that surveyed 7,500 different computer users with regard to their lifestyle habits as well as their computer usage. the direct quote from a representative of the research group was:

This is a group that is not afraid to shout its accomplishments from the mountaintops. They’re happy and proud to talk about their successes and their accomplishments, and that can come across as possibly a bit conceited.

can and possibly being rather major keywords in that summary, imh?o…

but the Marketplace correspondent summarized this information thusly:

They found that Mac owners pretty much personify the Mac guy from the commercials. Among other things, they think they’re more extraordinary than the average Joe.

and at that point, i’m scratching me head a bit, guvna, because i thought we were talking about how this stereotype might not be the best to use for the PR division, but now we’re using our own NPR-special heads to decide that mac users have superiority complexes because –

The survey revealed that Mac users often describe themselves as perfectionists. They’re also more likely than PC users to whiten their teeth, drive hybrids, drink Starbucks coffee and eat organic food.

–?

i think that what i actually said aloud after the “they think they’re more extraordinary than the average Joe” nod was something like “or, um… their computers actually let them do stuff and then they are happy…”

now again, for clarity, i’m not talking about “mac guy” here at all, because i still haven’t seen the commercials, and i’m definitely not saying that there aren’t some annoying, conceited mac users out there, with myself on the ballot like everyone else.

i just found it striking that being “happy and proud to talk about their successes and their accomplishments” is apparently so closely synonymous with “being an arrogant arsehole” in our cultural vernacular that the two can be used interchangeably on a major evening radio program, not just without the commentator batting an eye, but with her apologizing for her own audacity in sometimes engaging in similar behaviors herself.

um… yah.

sent from my iBook, sure, but…

[begin sarcastic grunting voice]

me think things.
me say some things out loud.
me change mind sometimes.
you do whatever.
we grow.

[raised-eyebrow smile at world and self as transition from grunting voice]

onward with the week.

go read rice boy now.
so simple, so nuanced, so gorgeous.
i’m hooked.

i mean, how much sake does it take to be this holy freakin hilarious?

because that’s how much i want.
and a spicy tuna roll.
and some tea.

who’s in?

i know i make a lot of references to stuff i want to post about but don’t, and you may or may not know that i think and scribble about many things that i don’t even manage to refer to obliquely in what survives the grueling gauntlet of distraction to make it into post form, but, fwiw, if you want a fun introduction to one of the concepts (arguably The concept) that drives the distribution of my interests across the worlds of design, the internet, cognitive science, developmental psychology, consciousness, mysticism, drugs, public health, and politics, have a listen to this radiolab episode on emergence.

it’s an hour long, but do what i do: listen while you wash the dishes. or eat. or put together a jigsaw puzzle of warholesque popart lips. ok maybe that last one’s not on your list, but tif and i had fun at the toy store the other day, so the gauntlet lengthens. :)

and sign up for their podcast while you’re at it, eh? folks do a damn fine bit of radio programming. even if the ideas aren’t new to you, i bet it’ll make you smile, and think a bit, and maybe ask me a question. and thus the march of progress continues. ;)

i’m purging my old drafts and i found this, which isn’t really a draft, and to which i really don’t need to add much.
it was copied from post secret.

—–Email Message—–
Subject: It’s not a secret any more

Dear Frank,

I recently sent you a postcard with one of my secrets on it, and having told the whole internet it didn’t seem like such a big deal any more. Last week I told one of my friends and I feel so much better. I think from now on I might send all my postcards to my friends rather than you.

Here’s hoping you never get another postcard from me.

i started a little side project this month called “The One Hour Essay Project.”

it’s goal is to provide a structured space wherein people can spend one hour a month writing their response to a shared prompt, and then benefit from the feedback and discussion that is generated by others’ essays and comments. the essays are posted anonymously, and the short time limit is intended to both keep people from worrying about getting things perfect and make it easy to scrounge up time to participate.

i thought of the idea because i had too many things on my list of stuff i wanted to blog about, and never enough time to tackle the ones that i thought deserved the most attention. because you notice that most of the posts that get through are about food or random activities, right? ;)

anyway, it’s just getting started, and there’s a lot i want to to with the site, but the first batch of essays is up at: http://www.onehouressayproject.com if you want to drop by and check ‘em out. i won’t tell you which one i am. :)

i’m not sure yet how i’m going to handle recruitment and registration. it seems like there is an upper limit to how many essays are absorbable, but we might be able to break it into clusters or something… the response this month was already more overwhelming than i had anticipated, and only half of the people who replied ended up submitting, so i’m blessed with a healthy batch of guinea pigs, and i’m excited to see where it leads. drop a comment if you’re burning to play along and i’ll see what i can do. :)

during the era of the pictures from my last post about morgan? i looked like this:

crazy, huh?

if you haven’t seen me since then, well… i have longer hair now.
and better taste in clothing.
that smile still makes it out every once in a while, though. :)

the building behind me is rawles hall, home of the IU math department.
hi IU math department!

the person who took the picture is jeff, whose brain looks like this:

hi jeff’s brain!

if i had a picture of my brain, i would show it to you, but i don’t, and with that, i think this post has enough information to earn its title.

the folks at brand autopsy, a marketing blog i enjoy, have a post today with a link to a great short talk by bryant simon, professor of history and director of the american studies program at temple university.

the talk is about the cultural ethos of starbucks, which is a favorite topic at brand autopsy because john moore, the force behind the blog, used to be a bigwig marketing guy there and wrote a book about the experience.

anyway, it’s a very good little talk, and a good topic to think about for one who has recently moved to the pacific northwest (where coffee is holy), has begun to engage in more business travel, and is currently considering a dramatic reduction in caffeine intake.

in other words, it’s interesting to me! :)

here’s the talk:

and as a bonus link, professor simon mentions a little site called delocator.net, which is apparently quite popular but is new to me. it lets you type in a zipcode and then spits out local coffeeshops, bookstores, or movie theaters in the area. neat trick, eh?

enjoy them both, as well as the holiday weekend (if you’re in the USA, that is. otherwise you probably have to work on monday. ha ha! :)

since many of you probably didn’t get to the bottom of my rambly year in music post, today i am going to relink to one of the songs, because i clicked on it in my itunes this morning because of the name, and then i remembered how happy it makes me, and now i want everyone to run around the house making trumpet noises with their mouths and half-whispering “he gets a little jumpy when the PHONE rings!”

because if that doesn’t make your day, then i’ve got nothin else to offer.

Hey Momma - Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground

Go a little crazy and love both your momma and yourself.

long ago, kevin posted a link to a site that has lots of silly quizzes that generate little boxes for the sole purpose of announcing your personality as filtered through the lenses of things like your favorite lunchmeat or the color of your underwear.

like this:

You Are Elektra

There’s really no superhero with more style than you. Because who could beat being sexy assasin ninja?

today i was cleaning out my drafts folder and found that i had saved this information with the apparent intention of elaborating upon it, but why i thought that the proclamation of my status as a sexy assassin ninja needed any elaboration is beyond me.

sometimes i am mysterious.

not today, however.

today i tell you not only that i am elektra, but also that

• my aura is violet
• if i’m going to be a writer, i should be a poet
• i am pumpkin pie
• of all the shades of blue, i am indigo (the most funky, unique and independent)
• my inner new yorker lives in brooklyn
• i should try street luge

what a nice way to do some spring cleaning while the post-CHI stupor still interferes with my ability to write anything completely from scratch.
:)

in that spirit (ahem):

You Are Absinthe

You are a sloppy drunk, purposely so If drinking doesn’t make you feel crazy, it’s not any fun Truth be told, you tend to prefer drugs to drinking But you’d never pass up any absinthe that came your way!

cheers to springtime, california, and the green fairy in us all.