A non sequitur is a conversational and literary device, often used for comical purposes. It is a comment which, due to its lack of meaning relative to the comment it follows, is absurd to the point of being humorous or confusing. Its use can be deliberate or unintentional. Literally, it is Latin for “it does not follow”. In other literature, a non sequitur can denote an abrupt, illogical, unexpected or absurd turn of plot or dialogue not normally associated with or appropriate to that preceding it.
In other words. Things that Alexander wants to talk to you about that may not necessarily relate to neither theater nor advertising.
Tomorrow is 9/11/11. The 10th anniversary of 9|11. And most of you know that. I’ve met people that can’t point out foreign nations on maps and sometimes even status in our country but not someone yet who does not know about 9|11.
I just received this letter from Scott Heiferman, the Co-Founder and CEO of Meetup. At last look it was not available on their homepage. It was a good old-fashioned email sent to Meetup account holders (Meetuppers). I never knew the history of Meetup. It’s just one of those startup darlings that just seems to have always just been there. But if it was not for 9|11 it may never have. Continue reading ›
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 | Posted In Non Sequiturs
Great podcast from Moth. Richard Garriott, space privateer. Most importantly however, the inventor of the Ultima computer game series. Many an hour of my childhood was spent playing Ultima.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010 | Posted In Non Sequiturs
Can you believe it? You create a PDF with potentially life-threatening information in it and you don’t wipe out the personal information? Maybe Adobe needs to add a warning flag about that somewhere? Or maybe it’s a government conspiracy with Adobe. <insert dramatic music here>
One of the more cringe-worthy stories to come out of the Wikileaks-Anonymous-DDOS plotline in the last few weeks is the lack of security practiced by just about everyone involved. Authorities found the name of a designer named Alex Tapanaris embedded in a PDF press release purporting to come from the hacker group Anonymous. His site was later inaccessible and he was said to have been arrested.
I’ve been a fan of Apple’s homepages and short one-liners since the beggining. It all started really with an ad that was not even for Apple Computer (or at least not directly). Some of you might remember the Mac clones in the mid-90′s by UMAX and Power Computing. This was before Job’s chose Ive to launch his creations that would shape the current look and feel of Apple with their Dieter Rams, Braun’s home electronics influenced design. You remember, those candy colored, translucent iMacs.
Power Computing launched an incredibly popular advertising campaign promoting its new computers. Unlike Apple’s ads, which were fairly non-confrontational, Power Computing’s ads were very aggressive. The most famous (and controversial) ad featured the comic strip character, Sluggo, punching an effigy of Bill Gates with the caption “Let’s kick Wintel’s Ass!”The company would land in hot water for the ad, eventually being sued by the comic strip’s owner for copyright violation (Power Computing had failed to secure permission to run the ad).
At the time I was cutting my teeth on Photoshop 4.0 for a copy shop that did photo retouch. I don’t remember if I saw the ad first “online” via CompuServe or if it was in print. Either way, it was memorable. Ironic is the idea that Intel was the bad guy. How well did that work out? Apple switched to Intel starting in early 2006 and has never looked back.
Jump to 2003. I remember seeing this by accident because I stumbled to Apple’s website to look something up. I remember it like it was yesterday. Realizing what I was seeing. iTunes had been ported over to Windows. Hell had frozen over.
Fast forwad to today. November 15th, 2010. I have no idea what they are talking about. Hopefully it’s the iPad 4.2 update that I have been waiting for. According to the rumor (that could be me problem), Friday was the release date. Or maybe Jobs is going to introduce us to aliens.
November 15th, 2010
Even as this day closes, the zeitgeist is buzzing about tomorrow. The odds-on-favorite is that it has to do with the Beatles. That Apple has finally reached an agreement with The Beatles to carry the catalog. If it is in fact about The Beatles I’d rather have my 4.2 upgrade. I already have most of the catalog. Most of it vinyl.
When I did a quick search for Apple homepages I found this great set on Flickr by Innocente-Hayart. Every Apple homepage since 1996′s “Apple Cafe”. Flickr slideshow below.Update, November 15th, 2010 at 10:10AM
After all that it IS about The Beatles. The iPad 4.2 update is still not available. Nice photo though. They look like they walked right off of Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg Brooklyn on any Saturday night.
Seriously New York Times, do you need the ad revenue so bad that you’ll run the hearts-and-minds BP full-page on the back of Section A while on the front you run the photo of the CEO, Tony Hawyard, getting grilled by the congressional comittee the day before? Some of us know how much those cost and would much rather see that money go to a Gulf Coast business owner.
I thought last week was rough when you ran the same full-page ad in the middle of Section A. That was before yesterday’s committee. Before BP met with Obama and walked out $20billion lighter. Before BP announced they would withhold dividend distribution for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarter of 2010. Can’t you just run another auto or luxury goods brand’s ad instead?
Don’t get me wrong. You are The Gray Lady and command respect. As much as I am a proponent of digital I obviously read the paper. In fact we have the weekender subscription at home. If not so much to read it but rather to support the business.
Some context in case you are too cool to care about the news:
