Branding BS branding BS branding BS branding BS branding BS branding BS. Same old story. Get 'em while they're young. Branding BS branding BS branding BS branding BS branding BS branding BS.

Frontline is airing a report on PBS about the business of marketing to American teens called "The Merchants of Cool." If you missed it last week (like I did) you can catch it tomorrow, Feb. 27th. They have transcripts and RealPlayer footage up online, and you can also listen to a Fresh Air interview with the reporter, Douglas Rushkoff. Interestingly, Rushkoff expresses dismay about his findings that what is "cool" to the marjority of today's teens is to be used by a company for viral marketing and product placement, not to rebel against what corporations are pushing at them. He also discusses a marketing feedback loop wherein MTV goes to a teenager's home to find out what he thinks is cool, while the teenager is surrounding himself with stuff he sees on MTV. Douglas Rushkoff's work is worth keeping an eye on.

Opensewer 8 dates announced for Cleveland, OH and Ithaca, NY. Go>>

I can't help but link to this.

Aaarrrgh! Derf's vision is coming true!

Ah! While it seems mother nature helped lessen the immediate impact of our horrible crime, should we really insult her by leaving the weapon at the scene?

So we sit here in America, watching Temptation Island, while Iraq gets bombed again. It’s amazing. I mean, could we be more removed? How many of us even understand what’s going on over there—maybe ten percent? The roots of the instability and conflict go back so far they’re almost impossible to comprehend, but here is a good place to start, if you’re interested. (Make sure you get to the end. That's where current events start to make more sense.)

Today, the headlines just couldn't be more interesting: Anna Nicole Smith, Alan Greenspan, Salmon Rushdie and a topless British soldier. Now, if that line-up isn't enough to get you interested in world events, I don't know what will.

The United States is a great country, but some people in this world think it’s a big bully. Among the many reasons for this is the fact that the English language now dominates the world, especially when it comes to financial and academic environments. (And no, we can’t blame the U.K. for this…) Well, according to this article in Utne, English-language domination may not last forever. But, in true American style, as our language is usurped by others I’m sure we’ll find a way to make some money from the situation.

Ann Mitchell's gallery has been updated with price information for all photographs.

Salon just makes my job so easy sometimes. I love 'em. Today, on the cover, a great interview with Eric Schlosser, author of the book, "Fast Food Nation." My kind of guy.

It's good to know that the Human Genome Project is providing us with valuable research like this...

What-EVER! As a nation we have the intellectual curiosity of a 12-year old. No, wait, that's actually optimistic...

As the dot-com shakeout continues, almost everyone is reeling from the shockwave – from MBA’s with sensible business models and venture capital, to indy startups that rely on fierce customer (and employee) loyalty and good ideas to survive. One of the most visible shocks to the weblogging community recently is Evan Williams’ announcement about the troubled state of his company, Pyra. (Opensewer uses Blogger, which is a product of Pyra.) Pyra is one of the little guys – one of the underdogs that we all really wanted to “win.”

There seems to be a great collective sense of anxiety and disappointment that “our world” – the world of the web – hasn’t turned out the way we wanted it to. It was going to be our generation’s thing, and we were going to show all those boomers that you could succeed simply by having great ideas, giving them away for free, being fearless, and not selling out.

All of this is now tainted by the “real” world – the recognition of the (unfortunate) fact that good ideas cannot survive by their brilliance alone. They must sustain themselves economically. So many great concepts fail because their creators weren’t able to properly position them in the market. Perhaps it’s a fault of the paradigm under which most of us are compelled to operate (which includes the “live a creative life OR put food on the table” paradox), perhaps it’s the fault of people who are afraid … perhaps it’s no one’s fault at all. Maybe it’s survival of the fittest, or capitalism at its finest. Whatever.

As hard as things are right now for many people in the industry, we must realize that the dream is not dead. The web is the greatest tool for free expression to come along ever – and that must never change. We, the independent, powerful voices of the web must make sure of that. We must never quit doing what we love just because we’re not making any money doing it.

The WAIS is thinning, and it's probably being caused by the PIG. Dr. Andrew Shepherd, a member of the team of scientists making this report, says that this event could have "profound effects." But what, exactly, would those effects be?