Month: September 2007

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Oops, I missed the Lolcats!

The original Lolcat image: I can has Cheezburger?

OK, I’m obviously so over-committed that I’m now officially Out Of Touch. I didn’t know what a “lolcat” was until I stumbled across this article.

At the risk of completely ruining my credibility as someone who’s supposed to Know Stuff About Teh Intertubes by summarising something that’s already been reported in the mainstream media — which means the Sydney Morning Herald‘s “Stay In Touch” column will run it next week — here’s the skinny…

Eric Nakagawa was “between jobs” in January when he found the picture at right. On a whim he and a mate created a website around it, I Can Has Cheezburger. Six month later, they’re getting 500 new submissions and 200,000 unique visitors every day.

Mr Nakagawa doesn’t need that day job any more.

Read the Wall Street Journal article explaining the history of the lolcat, and Anil Dash’s fantastic essay on the linguistic aspects, Cats Can Has Grammar.

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Word of the Moment: Greenwashing

I’ll just quote the source:

The term greenwashing applies when companies (or governments) spend more money or time advertising being green, than on investing in environmentally sound practices.

In business, greenwashing often means changing the name and/or label. Early warning signs that a product is probably toxic include images of trees, birds, or dew drops. If all three are on the box, the product will probably make your skin peel off in seconds…

Thanks to John Thackara at Doors of Perception, and to One Plus One Equals Three for the pointer.

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Australia’s Top 100 Companies (Asia)

Red Herring magazine published a list of companies worth investing in. Laurel Papworth has extracted the Australians in the Top 100.

She notes that most of them are selling un-sexy products and services — but in a comment I point to the very un-sexy example of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, and that company ended up generating huge successes.

I guess that helps make up for the silliness I’ve published here over the last week. A shame I have to do other things today, I’d much rather be writing.

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Death to the Noddies!

News from the UK that two TV news channels will stop bothering with the “noddies”:

You do a little news interview and, when it’s over, you then do a ‘two-shot’. The interviewee mouths a few silent nothings. The interviewer nods in mock interest (and total boredom). The camera rolls for a couple of minutes in case slivers of this weary mime are visually needed to leaven the chat.

Fakery? Channel Five News has announced it is ditching the device, with Sky only a second behind. It’s either a stirring victory for truth and honesty — or (nod-nod-wink-wink) a splendidly cynical chance to get rid of a television reporter’s most demeaning, least favourite chores.

That story says noddies are to “leaven” the chat — implying they’re to provide variety. However the real reason is to hide the edits. Editing video means there’s a “jump” as the person’s head suddenly changes position, and supposedly that’s distracting as well as revealing.

I read this change in two ways, both based on the fact that 21st Century viewers have a greater understanding of the newsmaking process.

  1. In news, it’s more honest to reveal that edits have been made — and that’s how Channel Five is spinning it.
  2. We’re used to seeing “jump cuts” in movies and music videos, so they’re not as “distracting” as they used to be.

Still, whichever is true, TV news suddenly becomes cheaper to make. I wonder who’ll be the first to follow in Australia. My bet is Sky News Australia.