Wisdumb: Smart and Not-So-Smart

Ok, it’s a few seconds after the BS performance featuring a guy named Jim Callahan who claims to talk to the dead. He does this ridiculous over-the-top routine where he ends up spirit writing information given to him from a connection he has to some dead guy — which reveals what random item was picked by a celebrity. Apparently, dead people know random crap like that.

Anyway, the routine wasn’t interesting. What was interesting was Chris Angel’s review after the performance. He basically called the performance a joke and then called Jim Callahan out and offered him a million dollars if he could use his spirit connection to identify what was in an envelope he held up. Jim then immediately gets pissed off and acts like he wants to throw down and calls Chris a religious bigot.

I begrudgingly gives Chris some props for this, even though I just recently called him the biggest douche bag in the world. However, I also suggest Chris was waiting for this opportunity and is greatly anticipating all the publicity he will get from this stunt. Of course, I now have to nominate myself for a douche bag title for knowingly supporting his goal by giving him the publicity he desires. All I can hope is that he reads his Google Alerts on his name in the order they happen and mine appears first and he has to read that he is the biggest douche bag in the world.

BTW, if you are reading this Chris Angel, my guess for what was int he envelope is: Chris Angel Has Herpes.

Do I win a million dollars?

I only give the execution a 7, but the idea is a solid 10.

Personally, I think they could have even upped the sarcasm and cut the time in half, but even despite these minor shortcomings, Agency Fusion’s site is definitely worth checking out.

Also, shouldn’t they have made this video available for embedding?

MySyndicaat is a service that creates a river of news from a group of news/RSS feeds. It basically combines these feeds into one giant feed so all you have to do is scroll down though one long set instead of a series of smaller blogs. I find this service useful, and I thought I would share it. I have a feed dedicated to Marketing/PR/Ad blogs. I compiled this list of blogs from the top portion of the Power150 list created by Todd Andrlik and now owned by AdAge. My 20 blogs aren’t the top 20 from the Power150, but they are all in the top 50, at least as of today’s date. I skipped the SEO blogs and some others that I either don’t like or am already checking regularly as part of my normal Bloglines activity. BTW, I added my own MySyndicaat feed to my Bloglines account as just another RSS subscription - that way I get all of my news and blog information from one source. You could do the same thing, or just bookmark or del.icio.us it.

If you aren’t familiar with any of the above hyperlinked services, I recommend you check them out. And please, feel free to share what you use by commenting on this post.

Here is another one of those marketing sites with interactive video in it. Like Shaveanywhere and Cleanishappy (click for my posts on these), I-NeedToGo is fairly crass compared to most advertising (excluding typical beer commercials). However, unlike “Shave ” and “Clean” which actually hit you with product details and have designed the site to engage the viewer with the product they are selling by detailing user benefits or demonstrating product features, “Go” doesn’t use the video to demo a product. The site just become a lead-in to an ad for a product.

As such, I think “Go” is ultimately a failure [though the logo makes me laugh] . I am sure it will generate some buzz and it will make the rounds as the newest viral thing, but I doubt this will in turn generate business. I didn’t try all the possibilities, but when I chose to urinate as a man, I was essentially taunted for having a small package. Then an old lady talked to me for way too long and in an almost condescending way, telling me she wasn’t really talking to me live and that it was pre-recorded. No shit? I could have sworn her eyes followed me. Anyway, after mocking my manhood and treating me like I’m stupid, I guess I am supposed to want use their sponsors financial services.

A site that does demo the product well is WillItBlend. I didn’t include this site with my prior examples as it isn’t really interactive (though they do request ideas for new things to blend - but this isn’t done via interacting with the video). Anyway, I met the creator of “Blend”, and he claims they have moved almost 500% more product as a result of these videos.

Do you think “Go” will deliver anything close to that?

In one of the oddest showings of protest, a group of South Korean activists are building a giant house shaped like a toilet. The toilet house was built by Sim Jae-duck, chairman of the organizing committee of the Inaugural General Assembly of the World Toilet Association to mark the association’s first general assembly in November. The house is named Haewoojae, which signifies in Korean as “a place of sanctuary where one can solve one’s worries”.

That’s very classy. I might have named it Dumpatoria, which signifies in English as “a place to drop a deuce”. Anyway, I heard that Sim Jae-duck is the number one or number two guy in the committee. He originally planned on building this house in Japan, but he was afraid the house would get used by Godzilla.

I expect Flushing, NY to start building one any day now.

Good thing this house isn’t anywhere near where I live, or the day after it opens, the headline in the local paper would read, “New Toilet House Gets T.P.’d”

Ok, I’ll stop now.

[nod to my wife for cluing me into this story]

What does it say about me that I had enough time to create this video? The fact that I was able to recall all these cinematic moments without having to think about it very much, the fact that I knowingly accepted the effort to track all these moments down, capture them, edit them together and struggle over the flow of how one clip led to the next? How about the fact that I used over $1000 worth of high-tech software and even more on hardware to bring it to life? Does the fact that I am only a few months away from being 40 make this even more immature?

What does it say? I don’t know. What I do know, though, is that a well executed fart joke is funny…

[it seems odd to put a disclaimer on a video that is based on this content, but just in case, warning - there is some mature language scattered throughout]

Download

Note: the video looks pretty good at full screen

In case you are wondering, why did I create this? Originally, it was a birthday present for my father’s 65th birthday. Don’t ask.

UPDATE 10/19/07: I made a shortened version for YouTube.
UPDATE 10/31/08: I just discovered the YouTube version was removed due to a copyright infringement claim by NBC. It had over 14,000 viewslast time I checked.

As promised in a previous post, here is some information about an interesting construction project in Chicago:

In conjunction with each of its annual conferences, the USGBC completes a legacy project to support a local non-profit organization that is successfully implementing green building practices and using the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system, the national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. With the 2007 Greenbuild Expo being held in Chicago, this year’s Legacy Project is the renovation and expansion of the Chicago Center for Green Technology (CCGT), a nationally-recognized green building with a Platinum LEED certification. The center helps professionals and property owners learn how green technology is cost-effective and good for people and the environment. The LEED-Commercial Interiors project is seeking a Platinum certification, the highest award possible.  The interior renovation includes an expansion of the existing Green Building Resource Center to incorporate an additional 2,450 square feet.

To learn more about GreenBuild and the Legacy Project, click here. 

I have a sneak peek for you good readers. The photo below is of space inside the CCGT that will become the new resource center. This photo is before any renovation has begun.

This next photo is the space as of from a few days ago. It is hard to tell from the image, but you can see the beginnings of one of the coolest features for the Resource Center. The floor will utilize many different green flooring technologies. The materials will be laid out in a sunburst pattern with one technology sitting next to another. Visitors will be able to experience all of the materials in a side-by-side comparison. Also, if you look at the ceiling, you will see holes cut into the ceiling tiles. These are for new green lighting fixtures. Please note that the carpet squares (already a green solution for flooring) will be re-used in other parts of the CCGT or at an other location.

Anyway, I expect to post on this topic again when construction is completed. I also encourage anyone who plans to attend Greenbuild to make some time to visit the CCGT. Please note that a lot of good people and companies have donated their time, materials and expertise to the Legacy project and when something more official comes out regarding those detials, I will be sure to pass this information along.

10/16/07 UPDATE: BD&C has some nice coverage on this project and the parties invovled.

In what is likely to be a never ending series, here is something I wish I thought of first.

Every once in awhile you come across something that is so amazing, so astounding, so singular in its execution and perfection, you just feel compelled to pass it along:

You can thank me for this at your earliest convenience.

I find it so very sad that such a show as lisa williams: life among the dead could even get on the air, let alone get picked up for a second season. I would use the term from the title of my post two days ago to describe her, but I dislike using such a word to describe a woman (though considering the nature of the term, I suppose it really is more appropriate).

If you don’t know who Lisa is, she is yet another BS medium/clairvoyant who claims to speak to the dead. Like others before her - such as John Edwards or James Van Praagh - she preys on people who are hurting and desperate. She is however more tacky than most and even does “readings” over the phone. Maybe subconsciously she is so disappointed with herself that she won’t even use capital letters for her own name in the title of the show?

The fact that this show is on a crappy cable station doesn’t make it any less appalling that a network would choose to profit off the deliberate lying and intentional deceit of innocent people in a non-comical way. Any company that knowingly advertises on this show is equally guilty.

Anyway, I bet my readers can be just as psychic as this hustler… guess which finger I am holding up when I think of her.