Author: Stilgherrian

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Some videos what you can enjoy, y’hear?

Westpac logo

Here’s some moving images on the Internet for your enjoyment.

  1. You know how Westpac bank ATMs have that woman who gestures at you through the transaction? Does she annoy you? I especially hate how she asks whether you want a receipt, and then says you can’t have a receipt. Ignorant bitch. What about this version?
  2. Check out the most in-demand video editing crew in the entire Sunnyvale trailer park.
  3. A currently-running TV advert with a nice beaver. I encourage you to join the conversation there about the use of the word. Has the advertiser got it right for the Australian audience?

Now this is nothing more than links to things I found interesting. Should this be a full post like this, with a headline? A “Note” which, on the website home page at least, is shown without a headline but with a red line in the margin? Or should I just Twitter them as I find them?

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Quotes of the Day, 11 March 2008

Eavesdropping highlights from the last 24 hours:

  1. “Somehow I suspect book lovers feel the same way about Harry Potter as music lovers feel about Jeff Buckley.” (Alastair Rankine)
  2. Overheard while walking past a house where young boys were playing noisily: “I’m the birthday boy so I have to be team leader.”
  3. “Someone in my office just said ‘cyberspace’. I hope I’m not paying them.” (abacab)
  4. In response to my comment, “Stilgherrian is thinking about things that geeks think about”, someone who should probably remain nameless said: “Most geeks I know think about banging Natalie Portman in a blow-up-pool filled with custard…”
  5. “Stilgherrian, one day in the future, your life will confuse historians.” (Nick Hodge)
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Howard vs Rudd: a tag cloud

I’ve already mentioned the two very contrasting speeches given by John Howard and Kevin Rudd last week. Those differences are well highlighted in these tag clouds.

Thumbnail image of tag clouds

On the left, Howard’s speech emphasises “government”, “economic”, “values”, “continue“… “years“. Years… eleven long years. On the right, Rudd’s speech emphasises “development”, “cooperation”, “partnership”, “relationship”, “build”, “future“… “change“.

Have a look at the full images, each showing the top 120 words in each speech (minus common English stop words) and tell me what you can see.

Continue reading “Howard vs Rudd: a tag cloud”

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Garfield minus Garfield

As an antidote to the intense conversations across the weekend, try Garfield minus Garfield. “Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?” (Thanks, Garth.)

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Jason Calacanis and the Evil Cult of the Internet Start-up

[Note: This article is a follow-up to How do you treat your staff? Like 37signals, or like this prick?, written after that piece received a lot of attention. But my views are more complex than simple Good vs Evil, as a look through all Calacanis-related posts will show.]

I’m still chuckling at the seriousness with which some people treat getting onto Techmeme. It’s true, I keep stopping typing to giggle. It’s embarrassing.

I’d never visited Techmeme until this weekend. Even then it was only because someone told me I’d blipped up there. It’s just another feed of what someone thinks is “important” in infotech, yeah? Who cares. It’s not as if it’s Reuters or BBC News.

It’s just more geeks telling geeks what geeks think other geeks should think about stuff that geeks think about.

Photograph of Jason Calacanis

But Jason Calacanis cares.

Jason Calacanis must care very deeply because he “joked” about it on this website, and over at TechCrunch he “joked” about getting pageviews. His fan club speculates that Duncan Riley and me and others are only attacking him to generate our own web traffic. Well, I can’t speak for Duncan, but no, I couldn’t care less about website traffic — especially the low-grade drive-by flamers that usually wash up here after being mentioned on high-traffic fan sites. That’s not why I’m here.

I’m attacking Calacanis because I reckon the business style he describes, the one championed by his defenders, is rotten to the very core.

But first, let’s talk about religion…

Continue reading “Jason Calacanis and the Evil Cult of the Internet Start-up”

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Seriously Funny

One of the best compliments I ever received came from Andrew Roffe, an opera singer friend who, sadly, is no longer with us. “I love going to concerts with you,” he said. “You laugh at the funny bits in the Mozart.” As one should: Mozart was such a trickster!

If you’ve known me for a while, or if you’ve been reading my ’umble offerings here, I hope you’ve noticed that I treat serious matters with humour, and take my humour seriously. My approach to the world is curiosity-fuelled, playful. But like a cat with a mouse, it’s play with serious intent.