The Career-O-Matic

I often find myself wondering why I bother with the 60 plus work weeks…afterall we’re not saving lives here. It has always cracked me up a bit how seriously advertising and marketing companies take themselves. In any event, this digital piece by Wunderman (themselves a marketing communications company) made me realize we’re all kind of in on the joke: Career-O-Matic 3000.

Quality and access

Bill Joy, the cofounder of Sun Microsystems, is quoted in Atlantic Monthly this month dismissing the idea that online communities could provide an educational boost for America’s young people. At the center of his argument is quality – a notion I touched upon in my 11 Sep blog.

[T]he real problem is, by democratizing speech and the ability to post, we’ve lost the gradation for quality. The gradation of quality was always based on the fact that words had weight—it cost money to move them around. So there was back pressure against … junk …

Yes. I have trouble wrapping my head around the idea that everyone gets to throw their two cents into the mix and some cents, for reasons beyond my comprehension, rise to the top. There isn’t a filter for quality. And it is troubling that much of what gets posted is taken as the truth without considerable discretion.

But who employs the filter? Who decides what is publishable and what is not? Yes, with so much out there it is easy to dilute information and art and ideas – but without an open forum for these notions, we’d be headed the way of media today – consolidated and controlled by a very few. Until we reconcile quality with access, there isn’t an answer to this that isn’t elitist.

Hungry for something

It's not entirely that I have been lazy - just nothing's come across my desk for me to sink my teeth into. Check this out though for a good laugh: Flash Beer . Carlton Draught's follow up to it's famed Big Ad.

Where is the truth and who has it?

I came across an article on the film “Loose Change” this weekend. Self-funded and produced by 22-year old Dylan Avery, the film began as a screenplay about the fictional account of he and a group of friends discovering that September 11^th was not a terrorist act of violence, but rather a US government-led attack.

As Avery explains on his site, upon researching for the movie it became apparent to him that the premise may not have been fiction. Thus, he creates the documentary – which gets picked up virally and is now one of the most watched videos on the Web. From his site:

"Loose Change 2nd Edition" is the follow-up to the most provocative 9-11 documentary on the market today. This film shows direct connection between the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the United States government. Evidence is derived from news footage, scientific fact, and most important, Americans who suffered through that tragic day. IT IS EVERYONE'S DUTY TO VIEW THIS FILM!

Truth be told, I have not seen the film. And I’m not sure I want to…I have a mental block on all films related to September 11^th. But the premise got me thinking about the power of the web to spread information – all information – correct and incorrect and how it frightens me that the line shifts so often and so easily.

I don’t claim that Avery’s film is a lie. But it is disturbing me that with the vast amount of information that is disseminated each day, it is becoming harder and harder to ascertain what the truth is.

In my mind, if there was an inch of truth the film, wouldn’t major newspapers such as The New York Times be picking it up and running with it? Or would they be too scared to act on anything given the chill the FCC has spread across our media?

The Internet is a glorious thing – and content generated by ordinary people is a phenomenal infoscape of experiences. (It is also one of the first things a good marketing agency leads with on a pitch – which really needs to give you pause). What is troubling to me is that ordinary people don’t subscribe to the same code of ethics as a journalist. It’s like when a cop becomes a private eye and doesn’t have to follow the law anymore…sometimes a good thing, sometimes scary.

That’s not to say that the state of journalism is polished and pretty. It’s actually quite disappointing. Still…I keep coming back to the idea that it is a profession for a reason.

So, Mr. Avery – he may have all the good intentions in the world…at the end of the day, I cannot wrap my head around his inspiration for the movie coming from a conversation with James Gandolfini. I pretty much stop considering him a viable resource after that.

As you can tell by the tangential narration of this article – I’m still trying to figure this out.

You cannot make a case for five

Over drinks the other night, Katie shared with me her lesson to her 9^th graders – Humanities v. Science. She explained to her class that the humanities were subjects related to ideas and culture – more of the gray matter. Whereas the sciences dealt with fact and trying to get to the truth of the matter. This was her example:

If you’re in math class and your teacher asks you to add 4+2 – and you don’t get six. Then you know that you are wrong. You cannot make a case for five.

You cannot make a case for five.

Maybe it was the cadence with which she spoke, or maybe the very beautiful simplicity with which she explained – but that phrase hit me. It started to transcend so much more than what she was relaying. It began to permeate into my recent thinking on reality v. virtual life. The virtual life, for all its magnificent imagination and creativity – it does not equal six. It will always be five just by its nature of being virtual.

It feels like it measures up and on every level that feeling begins to convince you that it is indeed real…only it’s not six.

Madden NFL 2007 recently came out – with a whole lotta hoopla in the gaming world. Jeff MacGregor, wrote a fantastic column on this in SI 21 August 2006:

“Take the violence out of football, erase the pain given and taken, reduce the grunt and the struggle to the push of a button, eliminate the magnificent inconsistencies of the human heart and it’s capacity for courage or cowardice, and the game, the war, is no more than fast-twitch exercise – a battle fought without personal cost. It is cause without effect, a victory only for technology and opposable thumbs.”

You can win at Madden 2007 – but you’ll never feel the beating, you’ll never taste the blood and you’ll never sweat the win.

That’s a whole lot less than six.

This translates on a personal level with me. I seem to continually be in a pattern of making a case for five. I can whip you up a fantastic story of love and romance – I can write words that will make you quiver and blush – but my words do not make a relationship come alive.

Still, truth be told, I am the Atticus Finch of number 5.

August's [ LI ] My montly list of best ofs and eceteras


Best site: If I was a thoughtful woman I'd say it was We are the Web...but I can't always keep up the charade that I am smart...this month - it's going to Snakes On A Plane.

(Pause, as I go to verify the link)

huh? wha?

They've taken the customizable Samuel L. Jackson message...the one that Mas and Bread played with over and over again last week (my department is really a glorified Kindergarten). In all fairness, having Samuel say your name is pretty fantastic. Although how would I know since why on earth would a marketing company add "Elisa" to their list. Adam, Chris, Timothy, Anna...I hope you know how lucky you are.

Drama, Turtle, E: I have a couple to hand out this month:
Turtle - goes to Abby Lou for always being gracious at the sign of adversity.

E - goes to Ev, for always managing to keep me upright and moving forward. plus it's an E and we're in a battle over the nickname.

Drama - another shout out to DMHj, for worrying that he wouldn't be fast enough and then coming out with the best time in his race. Knucklehead.

and finally a coveted Vince to Katie Crosby for the line "you cannot make a case for five."

Best iPod Morning Shuffle: Has to be The Chemical Brothers. Entering work to a beat and "Here we go!" - nice.

Jayner’s LOL: House of Marbles

"Yo, MARBLE GAMES COMPENDIUM author: Uh, um, Sir Isaac Newton called;
He fucking HATES you, man."

Fran of the month: Spending time with her on her birthday meant hanging out with her gang of ladies...I kicked some butt at dominoes during their golden girls gone wild weekend. Plus, seeing all of them trying to figure out how to use their cell phones...really, are you kidding me? You can't make this stuff up.