Author Archives: John

want fries with that?

cover your eyes and don’t read the rest

Harley’s Hog Club notwithstanding, snorting pig brains might cause, among other things, numbness and weakness in the extremities.

According to a story in the Washington Post, some of the folks working at Quality Pork Processor’s “head table” reported the symptoms after, um, using compressed air to remove the deceased porker’s former thought processor, a process referred to as “blowing brains” which researchers now think may have atomized some of the material that was subsequently inhaled.

Everything but the oink? You betcha. The product is shipped to, among other recipients, Korea and China.

a really super bowl

one take and we’re done

I’m still enjoying the aftermath of LSU’s whuppin’ of Ohio State so the lure of the Giants finishing a come from behind season to topple the Pats wasn’t that much on my radar. Until I heard who the halftime entertainment was.

Over 20 years ago I got a gig shooting Tom Petty in the most unlikely setting; a penthouse balcony overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. You can read about it over on the web.

yeah – what about jobs?

Timing’s everything. The Michigan primary has the current crop of politicians stating the obvious: the state’s in trouble, and promising the banal: the plan out of unemployment is retraining. Okay so far, we don’t disagree.

But. In case you didn’t know, and I sure didn’t, the leading black hole darlings for investor capital continue to be dot coms, like, well, YouTube. Purchased by Google in 2006 for $One-with-a-B billion. Spread out over about 60 employees. No, I can’t do the math.
Continue reading →

pri’s speed shop – a performance triple-decker

performance racing industry’s 3-day portable speed shop

Tag along as we travel to Orlando for the Performance Racing Industry’s annual trade show, held last December under Chamber of Commerce skies and a little north of 40,000 dealers. You won’t find stereos or flat screens, spinner rims or rhinestones. Just aisle after aisle of speed and performance. So jump on the bus and take a look at Performance Racing Industry 2007.

xerox’s newest logo generates half-buzz

xerox launches contemporary new looknew look replaces this old look

News this week that Xerox picked Omnicom group Interbrand to develop a fresh interpretation (left) of their somewhat stodgy all caps rendering that’s been in use since, well, since ’04. Nuts and bolts include the following: cost unknown, but they didn’t use a part-time freelancer who moonlights at the community college; rollout to take 18 months; applications range from biz cards to equipment badging. Stated goal is a rebranding (here’s my take on the process) from a copier company to communications omnipotence – or something close. Oooo-kay.
Continue reading →

’08 forecast – more biz-based social networks

reading the tea leaves becomes more challenging

British-based vnunet.com thinks 2008 will mark several milestones as social networking becomes increasingly integrated into the consumer business model, a shift predicted for ’07 that wasn’t as widespread as imagined.

Feedback and influence from social networks will ultimately become more significant factors in the purchasing decision cycle.

Our view is that print will remain the media of record even as consumers make the wholesale move to web-driven info for purchase-related decisions.

Social nets – for better or worse – will get more and more use as endorsement gateways offering peer-to-peer near-realtime dialogues. In practical terms, if as seems likely, I’ll now have to replace a perfectly decent HD DVD player with a Blu-ray DVD player to go with all my other DVD dammit players that have become useful as kickstand supports. Sorting out the pluses and minuses will take place on a social net somewhere, as opposed to waiting for the latest “Electronics Monthly” to show up on Border’s magazine rack.

Conclusion? If you’re not blogging your product, and/or watching what’s being blogged about your product, your competitor is. Which means their widget will come up, and your widget won’t.

hot rods in hi def – oh wow!

a little good, honest photography never hurt

Got hi-def? Discovery Channel’s new ‘Rides’ series is a good reason to run right out and cable yourself into 1080 bliss if you haven’t done so already. Specifically, the segment titled ‘Rat Rods’, in rotation and airing next on January 7th.

Ever wonder what life would be like without reality show buffoonery and billet ad nauseum? Then you’ve found a new home. The almost hour-long episode focuses on the chopping of “bad news”, a resurrected T-model by a bunch of cats, the Burbank Choppers Car Club to be specific, whose idea of rods and customs doesn’t depend on a Black AmEx, just desire, imagination, skill – and a healthy respect for tradition.

Their site’s a piece of work to be admired for form and function as much as content. The same goes for snap-shooter Laurent Bagnard whose coffee table book about the club “The Electroline Diaries” sold out within weeks of publication.

Tag along on this respectful look at car culture the way it’s meant to be – without anybody ever mentioning “old skool” once.