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The Devil You Know

Archive for the ‘PopCult’ Category

Improv resources

In Bidness, PopCult, me, Me, ME! on March 3, 2010
Mike Orren Ignite Dallas Improv “Yes And” Preso

The notes, which are an approximation of what I said, are here.

For those who saw my talk at Ignite Dallas, here are the resource links I promised:

I took my Level 1 Improv class at Dallas Comedy House and am now in their Level 2 class. I wrote about my experience on Pegasus News. The story also includes a listing of other good improv programs around town. There is also a nascent community site: DFW Improv Forum.

For more on using improv in business, see The Applied Improvisation Network or Second City Communications. There was a recent article about the rise of improv in the workplace on CareerBuilder.

Info on London’s Yes And Club, which would be a cool idea in Dallas too.

Improv books:

The Second City book is better than Truth in Comedy, despite the latter’s pedigree. The Improv Handbook is next on my reading list.

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How I manage information overload

In Bidness, Gadgets, Media, PopCult on December 6, 2009

If I’ve had a little extra bliss in recent weeks, it’s because I finally feel like I’ve mastered control of the ridiculous amounts of information I choose to and not to ingest on a daily basis. I Tweeted about it a while back and instantly got numerous responses from folks wanting to know the secret. I said:

16 yr working, 15 yr InterWebs/email, 7 yr smartphone, 5 yr RSS, 3 yr social networks – finally have info mgmt system that works for me.

First, some context. On average, I:

  • Read and react to more than a thousand emails a week
  • Send more than 300 emails a week
  • Subscribe to a couple hundred RSS feeds, for around 400 posts per day
  • Follow 700 Twitter users
  • Manage four Twitter accounts
  • Keep up with 350 Facebook friends
  • Manage a Facebook page
  • Have 15 meetings a week that have to be coordinated with other people
  • Take 20 phone calls per week
  • Have about a dozen topics that I feel like I have to be expert on at all times
  • And run a large local website

And somehow, I finally feel like I have control of it all. I trust my system and nothing seems to slip through the cracks.

Read the rest of this entry »

 

A Dyna Moe model of media

In Media, PopCult on July 28, 2009
My Mad Men totem, cruising through the offices of Sterling Cooper

My Mad Men totem, cruising through the offices of Sterling Cooper

One of the first posts ever on this blog was a recognition of work by a New York artist and actress who was making weekly stylized desktop images based on episodes of Mad Men.

The artist, Dyna Moe, started doing the illustrations after doing a Christmas card for a friend in the cast of the show. I discovered her illustrations via a fansite towards the end of Season 1. We started looking forward to them every Monday during season two; quietly thrilled for her as she met the show creators when star Jon Hamm was on SNL ; and are now ecstatic to see her creations turned into the instantly-popular Mad Men Yourself” tool on the show’s official website.

I see this as a textbook example of how the new New Media should work: A fan / friend starts creating an homage to a brand. That brand does not sue or discourage the fan doing unofficial work, even though she might be making a few paltry bucks. Nor does it jump in and try to co-opt, compete or take over. It lets the homage play out. Once it becomes clear that the homage is successful and additive to the brand, it embraces that homage. It then hires the fan / friend to extend that homage in an official way that is true to the brand and the artist.

Everybody wins. Imagine that.

 

Top 10 shocking moments on Mad Men

In PopCult on July 17, 2009

Our favorite show returns next month. Here’s a nice refresher video series:

16 Emmy noms too.

 

Teenage brits will save us all

In Media, PopCult on July 13, 2009
Save us, young Britons!

Save us, young Britons!

It appears that when you climb to the top of the mountain of media enlightenment, you’re likely to find a teenage boy from England. Whether you find nirvana or fools gold depends on which young man you find.

Last week, the world was aTwitter about young Scott Campbell giving up his iPod for an original-model Sony Walkman. He wrote an article that was, well, articulate, funny and nostalgic all at once. Read the rest of this entry »

 

Hidden truth in Star Trek: Sarek and Pike are the same dude. And he’s a Nazi.

In Media, PopCult on May 10, 2009
Live long and prosper by pretending not to be Bruce Greenwood?

Live long and prosper by pretending not to be Bruce Greenwood?

I dragged my sainted wife to the new Star Trek flick on Friday and as usual, she found the secret hidden gem that no one else ever would.

In the morass of explosions and makeup, she was initially confused over the actor-character match-ups between Sarek (Ben Cross) and Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood). Now neither looks much like the other, but that’s precisely what lays at the root of the strange (dis)connection. Read the rest of this entry »

 

Guilty pleasure: Allman and Woman

In Music, PopCult on March 17, 2009
Candid, unposed photography generally makes for the best covers.

Candid, unposed photography generally makes for the best covers.

Time prohibits this being as fleshed out as my last Guilty Pleasures post, but a Twitter debate with my pal Houston last night compels me to make a brief case for this album as a horrible, wonderful gem.

The album, actually called Two the Hard Way, is billed to “Allman and Woman,” ie: Greg Allman and Cher, during their brief marriage. It was a critical and commercial flop.

But it had an wonderfully terrible airbrushed cover. Allman looks like a intellectually challenged dog who caught a car and doesn’t know what to do with it. Cher looks like, well, Cher. Read the rest of this entry »

 

Social media in-justice

In Media, Politickin', PopCult on January 14, 2009

From one of my attorney friends, posted from Facebook with the name changed to protect the honest:

“Chelsea” offers a secret to my FB friends. We look up your FB pages during jury selection. Just sayin… 2:58pmComment

Like all things, can be used for good or evil. I like.
 

Holidays of future past

In Media, PopCult on January 1, 2009

News came this week that the National Archive added its first ever home movie: A film made in 1956 and edited in 1995 by a family that won a Scotch Tape contest with a prize of a trip to the newly-opened Disneyland.

It’s an engaging half-hour work and it strikes me how it presages the reality TV / YouTube era. Read the rest of this entry »

 

Trailer: A Face in the Crowd

In Media, PopCult on December 17, 2008

For those who’ve asked about my Facebook icon:

 

Was Simpsons’ genius skewering of Apple an advertising D’oh?

In Media, PopCult on December 1, 2008
"Look! It's so sterile!"

"Look! It's so sterile!"

Whether you’re an Apple fanboy (like me) or a hater, you had to enjoy the skewering delivered by The Simpsons last night. It was some of the sharper satire we’ve seen out of the show in a while. (See video clips after the jump).

But for all the merriment rampant in Apple’s Mac/PC ad campaigns, Steve Jobs isn’t known for his sense of humor on such matters. Especially when the first ad of the first commercial break was for the MacbookRead the rest of this entry »

 

Preview: Elvis Costello’s Spectacle

In Music, PopCult on November 18, 2008

I do loves me some Elvis Costello, particularly when he stretches himself by mixing genres, going symphonic or starting a talk show that looks to be much more in-depth and interesting than your average gabfest. I may have to bump the DirecTV subscription a level on the basis of this show alone. And the upcoming episode with Lou Reed may well make my head explode with fanboy glee.

Preview videos of episode 1 with Sir Reginald:

Read the rest of this entry »

 

“I pray to God and Chevy, lighten up the load that’s heavy”

In Music, PopCult on November 14, 2008
Max Stalling

Max Stalling

Max Stalling’s “Dime Box, Texas” is the most uplifting sad song ever.

That is all. Read the rest of this entry »

 

Song of the moment: “Ain’t gonna suck itself”

In Music, PopCult on November 14, 2008
Countrysides

Countrysides

To be clear, I’ve never worked for Virgin Records. Nor have I ever stolen a master tape of Sticky Fingers. But somehow this Cracker tune summed up my mood on the drive home tonight:

 

Current unhealthy obsession: Fallout 3

In Gadgets, PopCult on November 7, 2008

If you're happy and you're stylized, put your hands on your hips...

I recently bought Fallout 3 for the Xbox 360 on the strength of its reviews. It may have been a mistake, as I haven’t been this addicted to a video game since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. (I know that GTA 4 was empirically better, but I just never found it as engaging.) Read the rest of this entry »

 

The fake economy really sucks too

In Media, PopCult on October 31, 2008

As a new media guy, I suppose it’s heresy to say that I find some of the en vogue (or at least formerly en vogue) services to be utterly ridiculous. Twitter’s one example (but that’s another post).

I tried really hard to see Second Life as something more than a timesuck for gullible ex-dungeonmasters and marketing consultants with enough disposable time and income that they don’t mind slow, jerky, crashing animations of their alter-fauxegos. But I’ve come up empty. I mean at least WOW gives you the entertaiment value of killing stuff.

So I find news of a real estate crisis in SL beyond ridiculous. Read the rest of this entry »

 

Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…

In Music, PopCult on August 26, 2008

Coming to Sundance Channel. Almost enough to make me re-upgrade the DirecTV subscription. Thank gawd for bittorrent.

(And yes, I am padding to test out the new blog / theme / etc.)

 

Mod Mad Men wallpapers

In PopCult on August 26, 2008

There’s an illustrator who is doing sweet, stylized wallpapers themed around each episode of Mad Men.

Here’s a slideshow: