R.I.P. George Carlin (1937-2008)

George Carlin passed away. My condolences to his family. It's amazing how certain celebrities and comedians have the talent to seem invincible or immortal while on screen or on stage. I think I'd relate this with expressing one's humanity publicly without hesitation or reservation. George Carlin is one of those people.


One of his most popular skits.



Pictured here as the host for Saturday Night Live in 1975.

He passed of a heart faliure. He was 71.

Real Life-Size Cylon Centurions -- for Hire

Hear ye', hear ye', to all the Battlestar Gallactica fans that have always wanted their own personal toaster, now you can own a full-sized hand-crafted replica of a Cylon centurion. Buy one , I dare you...

Ok, they're not for hire, but you can own one that frackin' freaks people out. It stands accurately at 7 feet tall, weighs 300 pounds, and has a red LED electric visor with the creepy hum. The body is made of 100% fiberglass with aluminum accents. Anyone would crap their pants if they ever saw this in your house for the first time. How much? $7,900 with a non-refundable deposit of $3,950. Delivery takes 8-12 weeks. How cool would you be though?

I've recently taken a fiendish addiction to this show. I'm on Season 3 Episode 4 as of this post. The season finale for Season 4 just happened last week. Please, no spoilers in any comments. If you haven't heard of Battlestar Galactica check it out here.

Spend an Evening With Saddle Creek

Checkout this great video where all the great bands from Saddle Creek show and tell us their story.

Spend An Evening With Saddle Creek from Plexifilm on Vimeo.

I think I've seen all of these bands live at one point or another. This reminds me of the late 90's/early 00's when music really started to change for me. Between sophomore year of college and while I was at UF and even sporadically since then. My favorite Saddle Creek band is still Cursive.

Wolfparade "At Mount Zoomer"

I feel the need to write something about music. It's been a while since I've reviewed any albums or offered a download.

Today I'm offering up Wolfparade's At Mount Zoomer. I've had the record for a few days and I'm not sure why I felt a need to download it or give it the many chances that I have to date.

Download via Rapidshare
Wolfparade - At Mount Zoomer

Wolfparade is a Canadian band, signed to the American label known as Sub Pop Records. Many bands come from Sub Pop Records. Some young. Some old. I mean, like them or not, you have bands like Nirvana, Afghan Wigs, Soundgarden, and L7. Then there's The Shins, David Cross, The Postal Service, The Rapture, Iron and Wine and so on...

So their is obviously something ticking there. Now the record feels young. Some tracks sound like what you would imagine is a scene where people dance zombified with what could be confused for a disregard for everything or a deep moment before the epiphany they have always been waiting for. Some songs that resemble an attempt to a drama, a far cry to something tragic, carry a tune where someone else could giggle to. It sounds sophomoric during some tracks. Musically, they don't try to be very technical. Their main concentration seems to be a responsibility to cater to a typical young emotion.

The music's color varies through the record. Theres a track called "Fine Young Cannibals" where the music and lyrics try to be something close to provocative. What I mean by that is that there's these catchy slow striking guitar chords and while the singer tells a story the listener is being taken for a ride. It's like watching a movie where you have a king chase queen clip. But done bad.

Kissing the Beehive is my favorite song on the record. If you're patient you may see something worthwhile about it too. It turns out I think the meat in this song happens towards the second half. I think what pulled me to the song was it's title, the fact that it's 10 minutes long, and the fact that it's the last song. There's nothing wrong with intentionally creating a final, epic, track. I enjoy the transitions and the acceleration of emotion they try to convey as the song develops. The title is great anyway. It's obviously a reference to an entity carrying the attributes of a beehive or maybe a beehive hairdo. The literal meaning is pretty fracked up.

Don't get me wrong I do enjoy the album but I can't talk about this particular record without being tough on it. There's something left to be desired of with grand ol' Wolfparade.

Anyway...

How different are the Leica C-Lux 2 vs. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX series cameras?

So I thought I'd do a little more research on the camera thing. It turns out Leica's C-Lux 2 compact camera is very similar to the Panasonic's Lumix FX series. I'd want to conclude that one of the two is a rebranding of the other camera with some minor cosmetic details. The fact that Leica decided to enable this platform and brand it as their own makes me more comfortable about getting the less pricey Panasonic. (The difference in price is around $100 and the feature set is less than) Check out the two cameras here:

They look the same!

I have no doubt they come from the same manufacturer both cameras leverages the same platform but are simply branded differently to make a few extra bucks off of the Leica fans.

Still the tolerance to quality on the lens should be the same since both are Leica made. I'm not mad at the Lumix design. If fact, how does the saying go? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The Leica was released way earlier than this particular Lumix. Maybe the save the newer designs for Leica cameras and then a few months the design is available for the Lumix series.

Should I buy the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX35A digital camera?

Ok, I have narrowed down my list of cameras to two Panasonic Lumix choices there's the DMC-FX33 and the DMC-FX35. I used to have the Panasonic Lumix FX9 until my car was broken into one night in my new and shady neighborhood. That was a few months ago and I haven't had a digital camera since. It's funny how digital cameras are typically things many people become anxious about when they don't have one. I need it most when it's not around. After they get one, it becomes a forgotten object unless they're working with photography or shoot pictures as a hobby.

I use cameras as a hobby. For blogging, personal record keeping, memorabilia, for storing good memories and having something to laugh at and even share once in a while.

I've chosen to go with the Panasonic Lumix series because of their Leica wide angle lens among other features. This series also has a fast shutter speed and a greater than 3x optical zoom which many cameras don't or just make the cut. It is also light and easy to use. The interface is actually easy to work with and there are some lite manual options available. I had considered the Canon Powershot SD1100 but the specifications of this camera imply that a better photograph will be captured with the Lumix...and here it is:

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX35A - Panasonic's Site.
Compared to the FX33A, it's the "New!" model and has the advantage of 10MP vs 8MP, a 230K vs 205K: brighter screen, is capable of 720p HD videos, has a 4x optical zoom (compared to 3.6x), has a wider 25mm lens (v.s. 28mm), and is slightly smaller/lighter. It's actually $85 more expensive. Do these improvements merit the $85 upsell?

As a marketing person I cant' believe how susceptible I am being to this upsell. It's a difference of 85 bucks ($204 vs $289). I have actually been monitoring these prices and the DMC-FX35A has had a steady price for months. On the other hand the FX-33A is being discontinued and the pricing has been getting better. Which has more value? Maybe next paycheck I will test the waters and make a decision.

Help Save the Everglades Today!

Imagine that. Signing a quick petition online to reduce the urban sprawl that is hurting the Everglades.

The Everglades is a 5,000 year old geologic and ecological formation that is the home of most of South Florida's wildlife. It also functions as a gigantic filter that cleans up our lakes, rivers, and provides clean water. Have you ever heard of Zephyrhills? Now you know where the water comes from. The Everglades is part of the water system that includes the Okeechobee river where most of the water we drink comes from in South Floria.

You can Sign This Petition and make a statement. You can do something important today.

I need a new digital camera.

I think people's lives can be improved provided they have a camera from which to capture things in time and space. After my car was vandalized and violated, my old Lumix is now in the hands of a street walking degenerate.

I now have put together a small list form which I must choose. If anyone has any opinions please share.

Help Me Choose a Camera

Change is good.

At this rate things will never be the same. I'll be turning 29 in September. The end of my twenties. Sure lots of people say that the 30s are really cool. But who are those people? Don't get me wrong I appreciate change. My head nods when people say "change is good" or "embrace change." I don't have a problem.

The funny thing is that change can occur for several reasons. Humor me while I create this subset of reasons:

• time
• A decision is made
• chance

We're all way too familiar with time so I won't spend any time on that one - with time your fountain soda will get full and your crows feet will get large. There's also chance, which is what happens when it starts raining, you get a flat tire, and whatever you were going to do next is now in the hands of time or an outside force. What I find most interesting is change by making a decision. Here time and chance are completely uninvolved. Like if I quit my job and went on a 6 week walkabout with some friends in South America. That would make for change by decision and would specifically address a behavior not likely once into the 30s or so I'm lead to believe.

So I have no choice but to train myself to welcome the upcoming time frame, it's implications, joys and consequences.

How Bread was made in the 80s.

This video is hilarious. It's amazing to see how people did things in the 80s. I hope you enjoy the laugh.

$100 Kobe Beef Cheesesteak

I'm really not sure if this is delicious, gross, or just wrong. I'm not even sure how I found this video but I couldn't resist sharing it. They've taken super rare and expensive kobe beef, maine lobster, and truffle shavings to make what they call the perfect cheese steak sandwich and it goes for $100.





Would you eat this? It sounds interesting but nevermind what it's made out of. What about paying $100 for a cheese steak?

Landing Page Optimization

Wow, so it's lunch time, I'm at work, and I wondering about the fact that there are a gazillion web sites out there and they all want you to do something. Sign up here, click here, buy this, join today, etc.

Still not all landing pages are created equal. There are three main goals to every online activity.

• Acquisition
• Conversion
• Retention

So every online marketeer has three task they need to do well on. The first one, acquisition, is the ability to get people to come to your event. It's getting them in the door. It's showing them your campaign for the first time. Your best shot is at launch or during a time frame that is specific to the campaign. You create a plan and hope to get the highest yield out of your acquisition strategy. In other words you want to get the greatest number of impressions possible.

The next challenge is called conversion. It's a percentage. It's a division problem it's the number of people who took the desired action / the total number of impressions. Imagine, you have a safillion amount of users coming to your site. Some close the page right away. Some read a little and close. Others click one level deep and occasionally you get people to do what you wanted. The challenge here is getting the right words, images, and layout to match the type of user you have attracted from your previous acquisition strategy.

The last of the three is called retention. You, as a monetary entity want to retain as many users as possible to keep your campaign going and achieving more conversion. Your ability to retain also shows how much your users trust your campaign, product, or brand. This is a key item in what will propagate your campaign, product, or brand to the next level. It prepares you for your next campaign, product or brand.

So those things said. We have three key goals. What boggles us must be the fact that there is no example of a perfect landing page. If there is, I would like to see it. Proof or no proof. I would be thoroughly impressed if someone could show me a landing page I would have otherwise never had heard of and become converted. Is there a recipe for this type of success?

Bill O'Reily is a jerk - hilarious!

I can't believe what a jerk this guy is... I think it's hilarious to see people turn into complete assholes.

Here's a direct link to this video.

Amazing video piece by artist Blu

Everyone, take a look at this insane video of series of pieces created by the artist known as Blu. I can't begin to understand how long something like this would take... I'm jealous of people with this level of passion and commitment.



Check out his site for even more cool stuff at:
http://www.blublu.org/

Today's Not-So-Top 10

Here we have it folks. Just a quick ten piece for our amusement.

Today's list:

1. How to get sex.
2. Buy me one of these. Still I'd be happy with one of these.
3. Dogs can be better athletes than you.
4. I would like to make hash browns today.
5. Ever wondered what a baby hare looks like?
6. I've always tried to get a good escalator subway shot. This one's pretty good.
7. We need more glove molds.
8. Fun list of post secrets.
9. Can someone give me the price of this item?
10. The state of the housing market. Lord of the Rings or SanFran?