The Last Of The Light Brigade

By Rudyard Kipling There were thirty million English who talked of England’s might, There were twenty broken troopers who lacked a bed for the night. They had neither food nor money, they had neither service nor trade; They were only shiftless soldiers, the last of the Light Brigade. They felt that life was fleeting; they [...]

Where only the bravest marketers dare to tread

As loyal readers know I take a rather dim view of marketing and I take it very loudly. This is why when a marketer approaches me via CollateralDamage I take notice. It has happened exactly twice. The second time was today. The first time was when a nice man named Tim Sussman, who was then [...]

From my diary: How I survived the iPad launch

Friday, April 2 6:30 AM Wake up and realize that in addition to not being one of the industry/media insiders who got an early iPad, now I am also not one of the great masses who have an iPad. Consider suicide. Opt for brushing teeth. 7:00 Think that if I had an iPad I would [...]

Not a good sign when a candidate has to say he supports the Civil Rights Act

There is a story that Lyndon Johnson, during one of his early campaigns, wanted to start a rumor that his opponent sleeps with pigs. (Lyndon being Lyndon most definitely did NOT say “sleeps with.”) When an aide objected that they couldn’t prove it the future president is reputed to have said, “I don’t need to [...]

Be afraid: Rep. starts congressional ‘Media Fairness Caucus’

From my blog at EmediaVitals: Congressman Lamar Smith (R-Idiocy) believes the press is biased and doesn’t represent the values of most Americans. Reasonable people could disagree on this but it’s certainly not an unusual or insane point of view. What is insane is Smith’s solution. The Media Fairness Circus, er, Caucus: “will encourage fairness and [...]

A character based on a pastry is killing Hello Kitty

I just don’t want to live in a world without a nation as weird as Japan – and thankfully I don’t have to. Where else but Japan would you encounter Anpanman, which the NYT says is “a character that is based on a Japanese jam-filled pastry and is produced by Nippon Television”? (Dear NYT: An [...]

WSJ photo flap is the Official Stupid Non-Controversy of 2010

A spokeswoman for the Wall Street Journal said today its cover art was not intended as innuendo about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s sexual orientation after the paper’s front-page use of an image of Kagan playing softball provoked a mixture of irritation and amusement from gay and lesbian advocates. Y’know I always try to read [...]

May seems a little early to declare worst Toy of the Year

Less than half-way into the year and The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (aka Don Quixote Inc.) has called it. They gave the award to Nickelodeon’s AddictingGames.com. Nick won because “voters were aghast that Nick allows children such easy access to the horrific content on AddictingGames.com, including the Perry the Sneak series, where gamers take [...]