Category: Culture

  • UP, UP and away… How a wearable computer changed my brain

    Old dogs can learn new tricks.  So can people young and old.  Behavior is metamorphic, although we seldom recognize that plasticity in the moment.  Instead, we think the world changes while we stay the same, that our children are less responsible than we were at their age but that we threw crazier parties.  We think…

  • On Medium: Season 2 of “The Newsroom”

    Just published a short piece on Season 2 of HBO’s “The Newsroom” over on Medium.com –“’Newsroom’ Season 2 Delivers: The problems of S1 turn into triumphs in S2.” Here are the first few paragraphs: I was crankily devoted to the first season on HBO of Aaron Sorkin’s latest intense one-hour drama featuring geniuses who have memorized…

  • Two new posts on Medium.com, plus thoughts on platform proliferation

    The past week or so I’ve enjoyed writing on Medium.com. I mentioned a post about Tina Fey’s “Bossypants as Startup Bible” here before, and since then I’ve written two more: eBay’s Sublime Terror: Staring down the precipice while hunting Babylon 5 DVDs and Barnes & Noble’s real problem: In praise of chunky scale Medium.com is…

  • A Modest Proposal: just do away with “marriage” as a legal concept altogether

    I support gay marriage unequivocally.  There is no however.  Gay and lesbian couples should have all the same rights as my wife and I do, and it’s a shame on the United States that this still hasn’t happened. Right now, the Supreme Court is dancing on the head of a needle with two different cases…

  • Everybody’s a Muggle in Rowling’s “A Casual Vacancy”

    As I type these words I have reached page 160 of J. K. Rowling’s new novel, “A Casual Vacancy,” so I’m about one third done and have made enough progress to know that I’ll finish the book and that I can draw early conclusions. Note: there are no plot spoilers here past the first five…

  • “Don’t cold call me, Bro” now live on iMedia Connection

    Quick cross-post: I’m pleased to report that my latest post — “Don’t cold call me, Bro” –just went live on iMedia Connection.  Hope it sparks some comment!

  • Short Post: “Newsroom” Annoyances

    Compulsively watchable?  Check. Smug as hell?  Check. Probably not able to hold up in the long run?  Check. But here are things about the new HBO Aaron Sorkin drama “The Newsroom” that are annoying me today: Why are Jim & Maggie the junior varsity version of Will and MacKenzie?  What is that parallel buying the…

  • Why Avengers ROCKS + Top 5 Superhero Movies

    Yesterday my almost-seven-year-old son and I took in a 3D matinee of “The Avengers” and had a blast. We loved it so much that we plan to see it again in iMax. The movie has everything—Joss Whedon directing off a terrific screenplay he co-authored, a huge budget with huge stars, and, startlingly for a popcorn…

  • Mom for a Day. Oy Vey!

    My wife Kathi left to teach in L.A. this morning and so I became the POD (Parent on Duty), also known as “Substitute Mom.” That was less than 12 hours ago & I’m totally frazzled. Unlike most of my posts, this has nothing to do with media– think of it as highly individualized anthropology.  Cue…

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Portland Startups to work with Target, Coca-Cola, Nike, Google, Wieden + Kennedy

    Our industry has relapsed into a high digital startup fever, but this time with a new twist— brands working directly with entrepreneurs in order to find the next hot digital companies at the earliest possible stage and to stay at the sharpest edge of marketing innovation. We’ve seen this elsewhere with the PepsiCo10 in New…