September 25, 2007

Carb counting in the Blogsphere

When I think of the original user blogspace I think of classic Livejournal. When it was you and a computer with a very primitive website interface. When it meant knowing the html code to change the font or post a picture. When it meant referring to the FAQ section of Livejournal to remember how to put an LJ cut in your post. It is interesting the first part of the blogsphere was positioned as nothing more than a personal journal. The origin of blogging simply started with a more organized medium than Doug Funny's midnight journaling. There was a time Doug Funnie made writing in a journal cool for little kids. It was no longer only your sister writing in her Diary.

That is what the blog has become. We are slowly making pen and paper obsolete. Think about how many people turn to their computer to vent, or communicate in their own webspace. Eight years ago their mood would have been decoded in their handwriting and not a smiley face next to the exact time they posted. We are impersonalizing our society. It only gets worse from here with iPhones and the iPod touch. It only gets worse when we don't make ads anymore and it becomes superficial branded conversations with a jaded public.

Is what BBH doing with the World's Dirtiest Film for Axe Body Gel promoting creativity or frat boy pornography? Is branded content going to become another impersonal venue for communication? Is social networking the next step after text messaging in making us even more socially awkward? It is true our parents did grow up in more simpler times?

None the less, the story of the blog is an interesting one. A culture that simply has a voice. 50 different random current voices on a page at a time. This is the greatest thing since live feeds on facebook.
The Latest 50 Images posted to Live Journal compliments of my friend Zach.

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September 14, 2007

CHILDREN TELEVISION: rock on

I was getting worried. I thought Steve Burns was a one album kind of guy. In case you don't remember him, Steve Burns is this the guy in the dorky sweater. That's right, he was the original host in the beloved Nick Jr show called Blues Clues. Rumor had it he died of a drug overdose and his cousin took over the show, but that is completely wrong.

The real story is Steve Burns left the glamorous life of being a childrens television star to hang out with the members from the flaming lips and rock out. His first album, Song's for Dust Mites, came out in August of 2003. It was focused around the idea of space lobsters coming down from outerspace. Now when you go to Steve's Web Page he has an extensive research report on children listening to his last album.

His wit and crazy sci-fi logic continues to astound me. His new topics of interest include:

Learn the awful truth about steve burns and the imminent attack by naked hot-headed arctic ice borers

Find out how to plan for the revenge of the mean-spirited monkeys

See how steve single-handedly replaces the president of the galactic confederacy with a log of thinking cheese

Learn about how television will be watched in pill form



This album is no doubt going to be imaginative, weird, and influenced greatly by the great Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips.
I already like what I hear: Steve Burns is back

It makes me wonder what the life inside the children show industry is like. No one imagined Blues Clues was connected to the Flaming Lips when it began. Now the Aquabats have left their traditional pop punk roots and landed a Nick Jr show that premiered this month called YO GABBA GABBA! I can only explain this new show as Sesame Street on organic hallucigenics created for the ex-punks and current hipsters embracing the strollers with their preschool children. This show must be the hottest topic in Park Slope right now.

Matt Prior, originally the singer from the Get Up Kids is now singing to children with his act, The Terrible Twos.
And They Might Be Giants did an album in the past to entertain children.

Basically these talented musicians start a family and when their children become their life they change their style so it is part of them.

I ENCOURAGE YOU TO WATCH ALL OF THESE ON YO GABBA GABBA: Elijah Woods, Tony Hawk, The Aqua Bats



behind the scenes










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