Author Archive
Getting your brand into your customers eyes?
One of the books I read which changed the way I looked at the world was Vance Packard’s late 1950s The Hidden Persuaders — an account of how psychology entered the advertising industry. I recommend it. Funnily enough Bob Dylan recounted one of his NYC hosts telling him in the 1960s that the ‘high priests’ […]
Keeping the ‘network’ in its place
Jason Kottke put me on to this wry and wise observation from Scott Simpson… … And I thoroughly agree. ‘Love the one you’re with’ seems like a good goal. ‘Split attention’ is rampant. Nothing says ‘you are not interesting enough’ than setting the phone on the table at coffee/lunch/dinner … and waiting for someone more […]
I think I would die …
I think I would probably die of embarrassment if ‘property guru’, ‘internet marketing expert’ and spruiker Dean Letfus endorsed me as a ‘kindred spirit’ like this: Leave aside the Freudian slip of ‘In a pool of sharks I found Steve to be the “real deal” ‘ … (erm, you mean a REAL SHARK?) Dean’s humble […]
An insane order of priorities …
Once again, Jon Stewart uses his platform — on Comedy Central (!!) — to sound a call for reason and justice and fair treatment. Watch as he castigates the Republican senators (and their mealy-mouthed supporters) for filibustering on the 9/11 First Responders’ medical benefits bill while whistling ‘tax cuts for the rich’ through an easy […]
Does ANYONE doubt that this guy’s rights have been infringed?
From the BBC today: Julian Assange has told reporters that the US investigation into his Wikileaks organisation was “aggressive” and “illegal”. He went on to say that over 85% of his organisation’s economic resources are spent fighting “technical, legal and political attacks”. Mr Assange was speaking to reporters outside the Suffolk mansion of supporter Vaughan […]
RIP Tom Newnham
This hero of the anti-racist protest movement (and so much more) has died. Farewell indeed to Tom Newnham whose book By Batons and Barbed Wire, about the 1981 Springbok Tour and the popular social uprising that disrupted it — found its way into many homes, including mine. He was an activist in more ways than […]
Internet ninja cowboys … spoofing revisited
UPDATED: Check out the comments on this post for ‘interesting developments…’. Some readers might remember an episode that occurred earlier this year: Internet ninja cowboys … or schoolboys? Hilarious! A few hours after I set up ThePaepae.com’s new Facebook page yesterday, overnight we had a sudden surge of email… with a lot of ‘Please confirm […]
Yeah, why not have a sense of humour?
I just signed in (and out) of my vodafone account. Here’s the ‘thanks for calling’ screen… It’s all marketing. (How you feel.)
The Ridiculist – catchy title, nice approach
In a case of ‘sometimes if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’, from The Spruiker’s Lament … Peter Aranyi makes fun of spruikers and travelling salesmen as if they were actually ridiculous… At the time I hadn’t seen Anderson Cooper’s The Ridiculist (“a new hypocrisy-exposing segment on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360“) … but I like it. […]
What a great title! How to Smell a Rat
What a terrific title for a book on keeping yourself safe financially. Naturally, the Madoff and the Stanford scandals feature as sobering lessons… The Five Signs of Financial Fraud are: Sign #1 Your advisor also has custody of your assets Sign #2 Quoted returns are consistently great! Almost too good to be true Sign # […]
The Spruikers’ Lament
Q: Why is that guy Peter picking on us? A: There can be only one reason: He must be in ‘direct competition’ with us! Yeah! Oh yes. Actually, maybe there’s another reason: He’s a hypocrite. That’s it. A nasty hypocrite. Because (how does it go again? Oh yes, I remember…) He’s in the exactly the […]
Bailing for Julian (Assange)
December 14th, 2010 2:58 AM WITNESS STATEMENT OF MICHAEL MOORE WITNESS STATEMENT (CJ Act 1967, s.9 MC Act 1980, ss.5A(3)(a) and 5B; Criminal Procedure Rules 2010, Rule 27) ____________________________________________________________ STATEMENT OF MICHAEL MOORE Aged: Over 18 Occupation: FILM MAKER AND AUTHOR ____________________________________________________________ This statement (consisting of 2 pages each signed by me) is true to […]
Safe investing means doing your homework
My earlier post ‘Good advice: Google the salesmen and their get-rich-quick scheme‘, included the suggestion that a bit of research and homework could save a lot of pain and regret: look at the track records of these guys and their previous ‘enterprises’? Do some due diligence and don’t believe the hype. I’ve been struck by […]
