Clipmarks | communicatrix's clips

It's the authors, stupid

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:54:42 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: FriendFeed is a game-changer. Here's why.

I believe that FriendFeed is directly contributing to this idea that it is not the publication, the article, nor the site we should be focused on, but instead, it is all about the creator. It encourages conversation on a personal level, and it really gets you in tune with the author.

Nowadays, if I want to learn about Windows, I go to Paul Thurrott. If I’m feeling the Apple, I’ll visit John Gruber. If I want tech journalism, I’ll read some Saul Hansell. If I want to get my game on, I’ll talk to Chris Kohler. If I want to learn photography techniques, I’ll admire Thomas Hawk. And, finally, if blogging has been complicated, Darren Rowse has my cure. The list just goes on and on.

Tags: social media, internet

McCain's Green-Eyed Monster

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:50:12 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: Not generally a big Maureen Dowd fan, but man, when she nails it, she NAILS it. To the wall.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Around the McCain campaign, they grouse that Obama “hasn’t bled.” He hasn’t bled literally, in military service, just like W., the last holder of an E-ZPass who sped past McCain. And he hasn’t paid his dues in the Senate, since he basically just stopped by for directions to the Oval Office.

McCain could dismiss W. as a lightweight, but he knows Obama’s smart. Obama wrote his own books, while McCain’s were written by Salter. McCain knows he’s the affirmative action scion of admirals who might not have gotten through Annapolis without being a legacy. Obama didn’t even tell Harvard Law School that he was black on his application.

Tags: politics

Twitter: clique-y or fluid?

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:28:17 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: Just from my own anecdotal evidence, I'd wager Dave Pollard's proposition about the male/female split on Twitter friend diversity.

Clip Source: blogs.salon.com

Valdis Krebs has mapped his twitter network, in the graphic above. Mine would be more complex, I think, and would have to capture my f2f, IM/VoIP, blog and Second Life networks.

My Blogroll has several hundred people in some 30 networks, with even more connections. It would be interesting to see the whole map. I suspect it would show that most of my networks are well connected internally with each other (cliquish?) and that, while men on the whole have more connections, women have more diverse connections. It's been interesting to see my twitter readers 'talking' to each other across my networks, making new and unexpected connections.

Tags: social networking, social media, twitter

White people love David Sedaris

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:42:14 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: From a rilly, rilly fexcellent interview with the Stuff White People Like dude.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Can you talk about the deep love of David Sedaris?

It's hard to talk about it. It's like talking about a love of oxygen. It's just there.

Why David Sedaris?

They love him, because he's funny, and he lives in France, and he's gay. He's like everything you could possibly want in the ideal friend. Oh, he also writes for the New Yorker. He hits so many things on the list it's unbelievable.

Tags: humor

Margaret Cho's madeleine: balls in pantyhose

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:17:13 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: And while we're on the subject, why have none of you told me about this Violet Blue person? Huh? HUH!? Jeez. I have to do *everything* myself.

Clip Source: www.sfgate.com

Margaret said how grateful she was to be a guest and thanked Divas for having us, continuing, "You know, I grew up here. And you know how like when you have smells from childhood? Those smells that remind you of growing up. You know, for some people it's wood, like a forest smell. For me? Balls in pantyhose. You know that smell!"

Tags: humor

Puttin' the kinky in (Thomas) Kinkade

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:04:04 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: Simon Doonan. Sigh...

Clip Source: www.simondoonan.net

As far as I’m concerned, inside every Kinkade cottage is a veritable bloodbath, a Pasolini-esque hellhole where—at the very least—children are cannibalized, and Granny Kinkade is fed dead rats by Satan and forced to admit to terrible crimes she never committed. Come back to the five and dime, David Lynch, David Lynch.

Tags: humor, wit, painting

Roll over, Steve Ballmer

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:50:05 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: Best summary yet of why Microsoft's model is f*cked.

Clip Source: www.cultureby.com

This much is clear. Microsoft helped create an industry that is creating a culture that is creating an economy in which Microsoft can sustain itself only with an installed base and bully boy bluster. In sum, Microsoft helped start a party to which it is no longer invited. Apple gets it. Google gets it. Firefox gets it. (Each of them in a different way, interestingly.) Microsoft, not so much. Microsoft, not at all. How can something as smart as a corporation sometimes act as dumb as a corporation?

Tags: microsoft, business, internet, software

Are you worthy of what came before you?

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:39:50 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: It's a one-two punch: the questioning and the striving. Like the man said, the point is not to be perfect; the point is never to take things for granted.

Clip Source: sethgodin.typepad.com

We live in a stable democracy, a place where people have lived and died to give us the freedom to speak out... is that talking head or this spinning pundit the best we can do? Or is he just trying to make a profit and air another commercial?

I take so much for granted. Perhaps you do as well. To be here, in this moment, with these resources. To have not just our health but the knowledge and the tools and the infrastructure. What a waste.

What if this were my last post? Would this post be worthy?

The object isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all.

Tags: work, philosophy, seth godin, creativity

Men on top

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:36:02 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: Tell me something I *didn't* know.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

In your book, you mention the idea that everybody -- including animals -- wants to be the male when it comes to sex. Why is that?

It has to do with a couple of common male traits that run through the whole biological world. One of them is that the sperm are smaller than the egg and for most male animals that translates into not having to invest as much energy or work into the babies. Everybody wants to do less work. It's a universal laziness.

Tags: sex

ScarJo + Barry 4evr

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:47:04 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: Oh, god. Delicious. (via @jdickerson)

Clip Source: dyn.politico.com

Sen. Barack Obama’s go-to Hollywood hottie is Scarlett Johansson, a starlet who trades frequent e-mails with the presumptive Democratic nominee, campaigns tirelessly on his behalf, hosts lucrative fundraisers and even appeared in that “Yes We Can” viral video that got 10 million views in its first week online.

“I am engaged to Barack Obama,” she said back in January, joking with reporters after returning from a USO tour to the Persian Gulf. “My heart belongs to Barack.”

She e-mailed him after some of the Democratic debates, offering her thoughts on his messages and performance. “After the silliness of the last ABC debate,” she says of the highly criticized event co-hosted by Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, she wrote to congratulate him on “holding his ground.”

His replies have been thoughtful, she says, more than a brief line or two; on the ABC debate, he responded that the questioning was “difficult” and he was being pounded on “one silly question after another.”

Tags: obama, elections

The Strangers: Good sight-unseen

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:20:45 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: I love these reviews of movies Dave Greten hasn't seen.

Clip Source: davegreten.typepad.com

Movie Reviews of Movies I Haven't Seen - The Strangers

But to give you an idea of my amazing movie review capabilities, I could tell The Strangers was outstanding from a few still images. That's right, I'm that good. I may see this movie when it comes out on video. That way I can watch it with the sound turned off while hiding behind the couch.

Tags: movies

Best. Post. Ever. (Email etiquette)

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:20:50 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: Holy crap moly. I wish everyone in the world who sends email ever could read this. Had a tough time keeping this one under the clipping limit.

Clip Source: sethgodin.typepad.com

Is it in black type at a normal size?

Is there anyone copied on this email who could be left off the list?

Are there any :-) or other emoticons involved? (If so, reconsider).

Am I forwarding something about religion (mine or someone else's)? (If so, delete).

Am I forwarding something about a virus or worldwide charity effort or other potential hoax? (If so, visit snopes and check to see if it's 'actually true).

Did I hit 'reply all'? If so, am I glad I did? Does every person on the list need to see it?

Am I quoting back the original text in a helpful way? (Sending an email that says, in its entirety, "yes," is not helpful).

If this email is to someone like Seth, did I check to make sure I know the difference between its and it's? Just wondering.

Are there any little animated creatures in the footer of this email? Adorable kittens? Endangered species of any kind?

If I had to pay 42 cents to send this email, would I?

Tags: email, sethgodin

A Canadian nails it: we're doomed

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:00:04 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: I also really want to add "Deer Hunting with Jesus" to my reading list. For the title alone.

Clip Source: blogs.salon.com

So despite the fact that McCain is following the dismal Bush, in an economy that's in a shambles thanks to Republican mismanagement, he would probably win the election over Obama today, and the muckraking, xenophobia-stirring and fear-mongering the Republicans do so well has barely begun. Why is this Republican core vote so solid? Joe explained it simply: White, uneducated working class Americans don't believe politicians can or will do anything to improve the economy, health care, education, or the environment. The only area of difference they can perceive is the war against Iraq, which they have now been brainwashed to believe is synonymous with the war against global terrorists. And, here's the kicker:

They are mad at Bush not because he entered a brutal, expensive and devastating war under false pretenses, at a cost of at least a trillion dollars, bankrupting the nation in the process. They are mad at Bush because he didn't win the war.

Tags: 2008, elections, conservatives

Rural, racist America

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:44:18 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: B*lls-out discussion about racism's contribution to the Democratic primary, and how things may play out. God, I'm naive...and I fear for us all...

Clip Source: letters.salon.com

Now I know it's not fair to extrapolate that to a huge degree and presume that some massive portion of the HRC camp supports her because she's white and Obama is black. But it's also false to pretend that there isn't a small but significant number of people who think that way.

I didn't want to admit that. I had previously defended rural America to a lot of urban types. I had gotten tired of the usual sterotypes about West Virginia. But I do think that this primary has illustrated more starkly that the new divide in America is not North vs. South but urban vs. rural.

At any rate, what matters now is that we go out there and beat the man who is soon to be the most dangerous Angry White Man (well, at least in the top five)--John McCain.

Tags: election, racism

Not the cover of the Rolling Stone

Wed, 21 May 2008 15:48:11 GMT

clipped by: communicatrix
clipper's remarks: Comprehensive-but-brief (and well-written, laws-a mercy!) sketch of the huge shift in the music industry and what "making it" means today. 100% applicable to any pursuit once requiring mass exposure/consumption: just shift the particulars.

Clip Source: lefsetz.com

The big breaks today?

1. Being able to give up your day job. Used to be, you got signed, you thought you’d made it, you were just a year or so from going back to McDonald’s, behind the counter. Today, since you’ve invested in yourself, built everything yourself, if you can shitcan your day job and make it playing music, kick back and have a drink, congratulate yourself, you’ve truly made it. Carly Smithson had a record deal and national TV exposure and she’s still pulling drinks in a bar in San Diego, or will be again soon. That’s the first hurdle, earning your freedom from the everyday grind.

Tags: change, microcelebrity, music