Black & White

God reminds us in so many ways not to judge – indeed not even ascribe meaning to – a person’s skin color or race.

CNN reported this week on Fox anchor Lee Thomas’ experience with vitiligo, a pigmentation disease that causes a failure to produce melanin.  Lee Thomas is black, but in his words is “…turning white on television and people can see it.”  The report describes, in only glancing detail, Thomas’ experience with the revulsion and judgment of others as his disease has become more apparent.  (Read the original story at:  http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/12/18/turning.white.ap/index.html)

In the 80’s, Eddie Murphy mused in an SNL skit that the world of white people is so radically different from the world of black people that it can only be found out through artful infiltration.  (video embedded below)  Are the negative reactions Thomas and others afflicted with vitiligo receive indicative of xenophobic fear, or a kind of racism?  How far in the US have we come, regarding matters of race and racism, since Michael Jackson was taunted as “not even black” when his vitiligo became apparent?  Since Eddie Murphy satirized the racial divide on NBC?  We’ve come a long way since slavery, but prejudice remains – its eczema coats our consciousness.

Mobile pownce pounces twitter turf

The showdown has been brewing for months.  And ladies and germs, it’s finally upon us.With the release of its mobile version, Pownce smacks down its Davidian challenge to Twitter’s Goliath.

vs.

There has been debating, hemming, even – I imagine – silent hawing. Pownce has more features, more control. Twitter loves mobile. Pownce has better personal network definition. Twitter has a massive user base. Pownce has themes, file sharing, more than 140 characters. Twitter has Biz Stone. Pownce has Leah, Kevin, and Daniel! Twitter has 40404. End of debate.

Enter m.pownce.com. It’s not quite an SMS gateway, but then again it allows file sharing. It works great on iPhones and the 4-y.o. RAZR alike. It’s fast and, even though it’s still an alpha, quite solid.  Usable.  In fact, for anyone inclined to interact with such a service in a manner other than SMS, it’s downright killer.  Ratings, reply tracking, links, files, and calendar events.  What it doesn’t have (and twitter does) is profile management.  But that’s a minor and temporary annoyance.  The only marked shortfall against its more established competitor is lack of SMS gateway.  Having followed the development of Pownce since its inception, I’ll make a gentleman’s bet that SMS or MMS is in the offing.

Check it out, use it, weigh in. If you are not already on Pownce, you might need an invitation to get started. I have a good chunk I can give out right now, so if you need one let me know.

Consumer spending up, ad creativity down

Gone are the days of unexpected ads, you say?  I’d tend to agree – for the most part.  But vanquish the thought that there are no new ideas yet to be had.  Ideas are contextual.  New ideas will continue to blossom as culture changes around us.  That said, cultural change of the sort that opens the door to genuinely new thought is slow and often imperceptible.  So for now, it’s safe to say we’re stuck with idiomatic recycling as our primary source of “new” ideas.

It is in that context that I approached this recent ad from John Lewis department stores in the United Kingdom.  I won’t deconstruct its use of consumer goods to create an assemblage object which casts the shadow of an idyllic scene on an empty wall – wayyyyy too much to sort through in that tangled mess of meaning(lessness).  For now, I’ll just enjoy its surprising sensory delights.  And I hope you do too.

Are you smarter than an American?

They should rename the game show. The humiliation this woman should feel is beyond words. Here’s wishing that American men and women everywhere will let their vision wander beyond the dashboards of their worthless Escalades and Hummers, and take it upon themselves to become meaningfully aware of the world around us.

How many five-year-olds can I take?

Special thanks to Chris Baskind from Snarfd for sharing this utterly bizarre quiz from the internets with me earlier today. If it is to be trusted, I can take on a whole horde of 5-year-olds. Go ahead. Test your morals capacity.

Beyond the shadow, doubt

Well, it’s official: The US economy has the whole world worried. This week, the fed not only lowered interest rates, but also spearheaded a bold new inflationary initiative by which 40 billion dollars per month will be dumped into the global economy for months. It’s all about fluidity. But what about the value of what the US actually produces and contributes to the world? Doesn’t it freak people out that 70% of our well-being is dependent on consumer spending (how many big-screen televisions we buy, how much we waste eating out, etc)?? It freaks me out.

Do we see the shadow of doubt before we see doubt? We can’t spend our way out of decline, people. We’ve got to work our way out of this spiral, or surrender to it.

(pic courtesy of a friend of a stranger connected to a friend.  click it to enlarge.) 

You can’t keep Jack Bauer in lockdown.

CNN.com reported today that 24-star and producer Kiefer Sutherland was sentenced to 48 days in prison for drunk driving.  It is said he will begin serving the sentence in January.   …yeah right.  You can’t keep Jack Bauer in lockdown.

Let’s consider all the facts:

1. Jack Bauer has broken out of far more serious situations than the minimum security Glendale prison.
2. Jack Bauer got addicted to, and broke free from, heroin – all in order to fight terrorists.  He can surely break free from a country club like Glendale.
3. Jack Bauer drives better drunk than most of us do sober.  He’s a dark warrior, for crying out loud.  How you think you gonna keep a dark warrior down?
4. Even when he’s off duty, you don’t want to mess with Jack Bauer.

With this data in mind, consider this unprovoked attack below.  Now ask yourself again:  You really think you can hold the Bauer?

Here comes another bubble

Having recently declared to a few colleagues that we may well be already in the midst of a recession, how can I resist posting this video discovered today?