Thou Shalt Not Be Boxed: May 2007 Archives

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May 30, 2007

You go BOY!!

My boy, Jeremy is on the COVER of Downbeat Magazine. Because he's seriously, a rockstar.

Posted by nikl at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)

Showtune Tuesday

It's too late to go into it now, but Happy Birthday Gary!

Pics >

Posted by nikl at 01:03 AM | Comments (0)

May 29, 2007

Farewell, Ryan

Last Friday was the last day of work for one Ryan Wiggins, co-author of Eagles Fly. It's a sad day, but those in the know know that we'll still regularly enjoy his Ryan-ness. That's what myspace and Facebook are for. Long like the aughts.

Below is the farewell video made by Omar and Gary.

Posted by nikl at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2007

When funny dies in the process

I just caught the new Alfac commercial with the goat. Some of you knowing how I feel about goats, this commercial was funny to me from get. But then then, as it played out and over-explained and over-joked itself, it became lame. I bet the original pitch was beyond hilarious and that the initial script had half the dialog and no goat head shaking. Or maybe I'm giving the writers too much credit.

Um, and why did I just notice that the black guy in the last frame is in multiple commercials? THAT is hilarious.

Posted by nikl at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)

Road Trip Complete

I'm back. In one piece. And we're all still speaking, even though I'm apparently mean and Tim never really spoke to any of us in the first place.

Here are some random photos.

And Dave Spindler is my Guitar Hero. And yes, the song he goes into at the very end is indeed the song you think it is.

Posted by nikl at 04:18 PM | Comments (1)

May 27, 2007

Fast Company, still got it

"When people with different opinions compromise, they meet in the middle, not at the edge."

- Chip and Dan Heath, best-selling authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

While I love that quote, I'm not sure I completely agree with the article - that products that spark conversation are more viable. Well, maybe I'm not being fair. Maybe they were just asked to write about talkability in concept and I'm just in such backlash-mode on the subject these days. Good products are good products. I refuse to believe that the amount of effort currently being put forth on crating buzz and being generally wacky has an equal measureable long term impact on the competitive landscape. Dammit.

Here's another quote from the article. In reference to building word of mouth after a product launch:

"That's a tough assignment, akin from hiring a PR agent to generate street buzz about your office's 'white elephant' Christmas party. I f you wanted buzz, wouldn't it have been a better investment to throw a cooler party?"

Welcome to my world.

Posted by nikl at 05:08 PM | Comments (0)

May 26, 2007

2008 Altimas

Just saw some 2008 Altimas on 40 here as we cross into AR. 2 doors!

Posted by nikl at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2007

Blankety Blank

Apparently when I don't write for over a week, the default page is just blank. Can't have that. So here you have it.

Tomorrow morning I leave on a Downtime road trip. E'ville to Little Rock, Little Rock to Lawrence, KS. Lawrence, KS to E'ville. My camera is ready.

In other news, I consumed so many margaritas on the rocks with salt this week that I'm retaining about 5 lbs of water. Nice.

My cousin Arnell was in town this week from Berkeley, and I was so busy I didn't get to see her :(.

There are so many things I wish I had the time to do...

Posted by nikl at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2007

POV

Carlton forwarded me this video which lead me to the one below.

The point about statistics is a good one. This is a pet peeve of mine and why I try to avoid using them (research is a beyatch) as well as rarely believe the ones I hear bandied about. But what struck me the most about it (beyond the Heather Headley soundtrack) is about 40 seconds in. That something so many people, so much media, so much passion and energy is focused on for people in my consciousness, is literally a joke for a very real group - I want to say majority - of people. I'm probably not right specifically, but I would venture to guess that if you added up all the people for whom global warming is the farthest thing from their mind, it would outweigh the politicians and the movies stars with the most $$ and the largest platform.

I'm not saying what's right or wrong, just making an observation.

I'm babbling now. I need to watch the Kosbees again.

Posted by nikl at 09:22 PM | Comments (1)

May 15, 2007

The brilliance of How I Met Your Mother

For those who don't watch, I was just reminded about this story line which killed me a few weeks ago.

The set-up is in the first minute of this clip (but feel free to watch the whole thing):

This clip is the payoff, and why I love this show:

Posted by nikl at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2007

omg

I need to know how this ends...

Posted by nikl at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)

Selective Commentary

I just posted the following on my friend Perry's wall:

OMG. Praise be to bougie black folks everywhere, a new hero has emerged. Earl Cole, originally from Kansas City, KS, University of Washington MBA frickin' brand manager at an ad agency in LA who plays chess and 5 instruments and composes not only WON, but was the first EVER to get ALL the votes from his teammates, NEVER won immunity (an easy way to not get voted out) and THEN GAVE HALF OF HIS MILLION TO HIS MOTHER. It was a sight to behold indeed. Long live Earl Cole.

Ok, let me back up.

SURVIVOR
For those who aren't familiar with Survivor, in short, a group of complete strangers are left in some remote place with limiter to no food or amenities for 40 days (I think). They start out split up into two teams who compete against each other for rewards and the right not to go to "tribal council" where the losing team votes someone off. At some point in the game they merge into one team, compete for individual rewards and immunity and vote off people within their own single tribe. When it gets down to a predetermined number, so far somewhere around 11 or 12, as people get voted off they become the jury. In the end, there are 2 (or in this case 3) people left, who have to convince the jury why they deserve 1 million dollars. The jury votes, a winner, or "Survivor" is chosen.

There's a lot of starving, dehydration, lack of sleep, weight loss and all the other things that go with being in a remote location left on your own for lodging, food, and drinkable water - not to mention entertainment. So it's basically a prime-time social petri dish, with a lot of artificial stimulants and, let us never forget, EDITING.

In season 13 (the most recently wrapped up was 14), reportedly in response to criticism that the castaways weren't diverse enough, they initially divided the teams into 4 teams by race. It created a lot of pre-premiere hubbub, but was ultimately lame. In season 14, there was no separating by race, but it was an equally as diverse group. (I'm almost convinced that they cast two sets that could go that way and ditched 14 after 13 fell flat - I'm pretty sure their filming schedules overlap.)

BOUGIE BLACK FOLKS
Do a google blog-search of the phrase and you'll find plenty of discussion on the topic. Here's the Urdan Dictionary definition. I personally think definition 4 is the most clear, and definition 1 is how it's mostly used. In this case, I mean that Earl was extremely well spoken, had a job in a mostly white industry, got his MBA in Seattle and lists "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as one of his favorite TV shows - see his full profile here. I've been called bougie for much less. But that's a whole other post.

MY POINT
So, Earl's win was exceptional on a number of levels.
1. All 9 of the jury members voted for him - never happened before
2. He ended up in the final three without ever winning ONE individual immunity challenge
3. He friggin' gave half of his money to his mother, on the spot
4. First black man, second black person to win

Additionally
1. His best friend and tightest alliance on the show was a much older 1st generation asian man
2. All of the final three were black
3. the other black male in the final three (Dreamz) pulled perhaps the biggest backstab in all of Survivor history
4. The other black guy's name was Dreamz
5. When asked by a jury member if Dreamz deserved the million more because Dreamz is formerly homeless, Earl replied that he too had a rough family background, and he worked hard to bring himself out of it to where he is today and that he didn't think he deserved it any less than Dreamz did because he happened to have achieved success (GO EARL)
6. He hadn't watched the show since like, season 1 and accepted the invite to participate on 2 days notice - so, he played it, literally, by ear and kicked that much ass.

So, all the beyatching about race that supposedly resulted in season 13's race tribes, all the Imus malarkey and Bobby Brown once again acting a fool, why has there been no chatter about any or all of the above (besides Dreamz' renig)? Have I missed it? I keep google-news and google-blog searching and I'm coming up with nothing. Someone, please point me to it.

I mean, I guess on one hand, what we're striving towards is for it not to be a big deal when a black person achieves something. But given all the ultimatums and demands for national conversations and complete insanity going on of late, doesn't it deserve a blip? I may be taking it personally, but it all seems to play into the hands of "well, it's not such a big deal b/c obviously, he manages new media strategy for major brands, he's not _really_ black."

i dunno. I just think that somewhere in it, there's a discussion that deserves just as much play as all the negative crap - if we're playing that game, which it has seemed lately we are.

Regardless, Earl Cole, may I say, on behalf of the accused bougie black folks everywhere: YOU GO BOY!

Posted by nikl at 10:06 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Go Jasmine, get busy...

My cousin, Jasmine, graduated from grad school last weekend. YAY!

Photos here

Posted by nikl at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2007

Me and Aves

Posted by nikl at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2007

If you like hip-hop, DJ-type rock stuff

I don't really know what genre it truly is, but the best I can do is DJ style hip-hop electronica rap like stuff.

Specific, right?

Anyway, if you like that sort of thing, you should know about Mark Ronson. I though that Gabriel had turned me on to him, but when Gabriel was like "what?" I realized that I found Mark Ronson via Anthony Hamilton - which is a whole other story :).

ANYWAY, Mark Ronson has a radio show in the UK, and he podcasts it on his myspace blog and it is mad cool.

Posted by nikl at 04:39 PM | Comments (1)

Be damned

Expanding flash ads are the tool of the devil.

Note to advertisers: THEY ARE NOT EFFECTIVE. ANY METRICS YOU GET ARE FROM PEOPLE ACCIDENTALLY CLICKING ON THEM, OR PEOPLE WHO KNOW BETTER CLICKING JUST TO THROW OFF YOUR METRICS AND LAUGH AT YOU LATER.

Ok. I might be exaggerating a bit, but still. Come on. Make your agencies work a little harder.

Posted by nikl at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)

Speechless

Um, I'm not even sure where to start here.

"At last, my arm is complete" comes to mind, and while it's wholly inappropriate for this discovery, it's somehow perfect in it's rightness.

I had a favorite Ethiopian place in NYC called Meskerem. It was the best best thing ever. Back in the Rosie Too days, I would get takeout from Meskerem and bring it to Rosie's - while everyone else ordered pizza :). Matt Conroy and I would go there every time we managed to get our schedules in order. And sometimes I would just crave it and travel from wherever I happened to be to get it - no matter the distance. SO. GOOD.

A couple weeks ago I saw that an Ethipian place had opened up on South Grand. I was on my way somewhere else, relying on the GPS to get there, so I barely paid attention. I made a mental note to try to figure out what it was a try it.

This morning I found out that it's a ST. LOUIS LOCATION OF MESKEREM.

They have two NYC locations, one in Charlotte, and now, ONE IN ST. LOUIS.

I am in shock, and cannot wait to partake.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by nikl at 10:11 AM | Comments (1)

May 06, 2007

I'm still sayin'...

Like Smokey says... only YOU dammit, only you.

Posted by nikl at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)

All of the people, around us they say...

Now that I was a mini-diva and asked to re-record my tunes on the demo, I am perfectly willing to point folks towards the website for the band I sing with. I just realized that we have a wedding (if not two) EVERY WEEKEND all summer.

Don't be dissuaded by the 1 minute intro on We Are Family. The 2nd verse is so worth the wait...

Downtime

Posted by nikl at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

Mini-him

Those who know Aaron don't need this example, but here, I present to you proof that he and my sister have spawned mini-Aaron. This isn't the best example, but the best I could find...