Wednesday, May 29
Tuesday, May 28
Why not start out this week with a link to one of our favorites, Alternet? Jay Walljasper’s recent article, Am I a Food Snob?, is comfortingly reminiscent of one of our past rants.
Friday, May 24
Now that the hype has died down a bit, I want to say a few words about the launch of Vanilla Coke on May 8.
First…It’s a new product, fine, no problem, you like it or don’t like it—you buy it or don’t buy it—end of story.
Second…However, I want to point out the excellent satirical piece that Comedy Central’s The Daily Show produced on May 13 (unfortunately there’s no link to the broadcast). In it, Jon Stewart and the show’s writers point out the fact that the beverage received extensive coverage on all three of the major networks’ morning shows. Wonder how much Coke paid for that little bit of untainted journalism? On one show—I think it was The Today Show—a senior brand manager from Coke was present representin’ the product. She said—this kills me, I mean she actually said this—that “Americans have spoken, and they have told us that they are looking for new, exciting ways to be refreshed.” You know, just the other day I was telling my wife that I needed to be refreshed. She told me to go refresh myself. I can’t believe we accept this kind of mindless crap! I can’t believe that hearing a corporate robot like that talk doesn’t make America want to throw its collective TV set out the window!
Third…On Metafilter (I check the site every once in a while just to make sure it still sucks as much as I think it does), there’s a thread about Vanilla Coke that begins “What's the verdict (besides anti-corporation rants)?” The person who posted this really wanted to make sure that nobody wasted bandwidth bashing the almighty Coke (please…no societal critique here…we all just want to be happy and enjoy our consumer products)! Following this intro are about 70 comments discussing the positives and negatives of the new sugar-water variation—everybody was very obedient. Is this representative of the average American’s frightening state of mental atrophy? I mean, my goodness, 70 comments of ass-licking, subservient discussion about a new Coke product! I’m going to be sick!
Thank you, I feel much better now.
Wednesday, May 22
Tuesday, May 21
Monday, May 20
Sunday, May 19
Friday, May 17
Thursday, May 16
Wednesday, May 15
Tuesday, May 14
Monday, May 13
Sunday, May 12
Thursday, May 9
... They are only concerned with their well-being, and at the same time they remain alien to the cause of that well-being. As they do not see, behind the benefits of civilization, marvels of invention and construction which can only be maintained by great effort and foresight, they imagine that their role is limited to demanding these benefits peremptorily, as if they were natural rights. ...
... The type of man dominant today is a primitive one... he does not see the civilization of the world around him, but he uses it as if it were a natural force. The new man wants his motor-car, and enjoys it, but he believes that it is the spontaneous fruit of an Edenic tree. In the depths of his soul he is unaware of the artificial, almost incredible, character of civilization, and does not extend his enthusiasm for the instruments to the principles which make them possible. ...
--Adam Curry, in his very powerful article about media and the truth, The Big Lie.
Wednesday, May 8
solatium (so-LAY-shee-um) noun
Compensation for emotional suffering, injured feeling, inconvenience, grief, etc. (as opposed to physical injury, financial loss, for example).
"We deserve solatium for the wrongful acts of corporations, government and the media."
Tuesday, May 7
Monday, May 6
Saturday, May 4
Friday, May 3
Thursday, May 2
Wednesday, May 1
"We are taking a school trip to D.C. next week and have arrangments to go on a tour of the White House. Jim, our assistant principal, sent me this questionaire to fill out before we go. You guys should check it out."