I was on Facebook a couple of days ago when I saw a hilarious profile pic. It looked just like my friend, but he wasn’t alive in the sixties but it appeared as though he had gone to high school in 1963. Upon closer inspection, I saw that he had created it on a website called Yearbook Yourself. I went there, and let me tell you it is the AWESOME.

It is dead simple. First you have to take a picture of yourself or find a good picture of yourself. I suggest you take a new one making a stupid face. You know, there was always that dolt who didn’t take advantage of the retake day and the horrible pic made it all the way to the yearbook. Imitate that dude.

Next, go to Yearbook Yourself and upload it into there web interface. Use the lines to resize the image and then find a picture to place it in. Yearbook Yourself has found some awesome yearbook pics and have expertly erased the face allowing your mug to shine through.

I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. I got phlegmy. Drop whatever you are doing and go play with that site right now. I defy you to make a picture funnier than mine. I bet you can’t

This news came out earlier this month, but I needed to blog it so that I would be able to remember how long the Motorola RAZR was the top selling cell phone in the United States. According to The NPD Group, the RAZR was the top-dog in sales for 12 quarters. That is THREE years to you and me. That is no small feat.

On the one hand, Motorola had a winner for that long, but apparently they knew it. Because, on the other hand they seemed to either have rested on their laurels or accidentally backed into its success in the first place. They have not been able to design the next revolution in mobile phones.

To be fair, the entire mobile phone market had lulled itself into doldrums by shifting from an industry driven by innovation to one that was on the defense… defending its market share until Apple seized an opportunity to turn the entire mobile phone industry on its ear. Running out the clock and playing the prevent defense doesn’t work in sports, and Motorola has proven that it doesn’t work in business either.

To be successful, you must ask the hard questions. You must be willing to look past your current golden child product to what will take its place. Sitting back and guarding your stack of money is a sure way to lose it, and thank you Motorola for proving it once again. Cash out when you get out of the game, until then the only safe thing to do in business is invest in what’s next.

Here is my latest movie. I made it with a friend of mine named Imraan Ismail. He directed it and we worked as a team to create the script and get this thing edited. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Our vision was to show a guy who was being pressed on all sides by noises and things clamoring for his attention until he hits his boiling point. Then it is on…he has to get OUT!

During the busiest of weeks I should still find the time to write something to the Internets, but I don’t. There is a direct inverse relationship between the amount of disposable time I have and how much I blog. In other words, when I am busy, I don’t find the time to write.

I guess that is pretty logical, but the busy times are probably the most interesting. This week has flown by because I can’t find the time to get everything done. I have a huge backlog of videos to edit, and we are beginning to work with some new clients whom we have to build new products from scratch. The creativity is fun, but I am pretty thin right now (time-wise not waist-band).

I have found that creativity can be very frustrating when you have to have it. It is delightful when you are blessed with a great idea before you need it. More and more, I need creativity before it happens naturally. Forcing creativity gives me a headache. I am getting over a headache tonight.

You Look Nice Today

Originally uploaded by rcarver

There is a podcast called You Look Nice Today. It is one of my favorites. It is put out by three guys who found each other through Twitter. Each found the others tweets interesting and more importantly, funny. They got in contact and decided, why not spread our mirth to a wider audience, a listening audience. The world would be a better place after all. Hey, and we all wear glasses, and we could always talk about that, though they never have.

The podcast normally consists of three lads: Merlin Mann, Scott Simpson, and Adam Lisagor. Also pictured here is Jonathan Coulton, you ought to Google him now…his music delights, and a man who we all know and have grown to love, sitting down in front is John Hodgman, but you may know him better as ‘PC’.

Apparently there is a brand-new You Look Nice Today podcast out or coming out soon that features all these fine fellows. I may not be able to sleep.

If you are of the Podcast persuasion, then get on over to iTunes and subscribe to You Look Nice Today…today. You will not be disappointed.

I know these blog entries are exceedingly boring to you, but these are always a chance for me to test out the new software from Wordpress to see if there are any noticeable changes.  So far I don’t see any changes.

There is one change I hope they have made.  I hope they have fixed the bug with the softare that doesn’t allow you to insert an image into the blog post and have the text wrap around the image.  You can move it to the left or the right, but the text insists on lining up at the bottom of the image.  Now, before you cry NOOB, I have been doing web stuff since 1998.  I have wrapped plenty of text in my time, and I am sure without much searching you can see that I have successfully wrapped some text in previous posts from the past.

I only complain because it would be so much simpler on me if I could just insert the image, have the text automatically wrap, and not have to monkey with the code.

It is patently obvious to you that there is an image at the beginning of this blog post.  As I am writing this entry, I haven’t actually added the image, but since you are in the future, and I am stuck here in the past, I can’t see its outcome.  If the text is wrapped, then my problems have been addressed. If however, the text begins at the bottom of the image, then well, my woes continue.

The problem may exist in how my template handles images.  I haven’t checked that, and honestly, I don’t know if I will be able to muster the energy to do that.  I may just change the look and feel.  I will have to check and see how long I have had this template up.  Is it getting tired?

I loved these guys back when I was in high school. It has been years since I listened to them, and last night, I did some searching on the internets on Grooveshark and found these guys again. I hadn’t forgotten them, but I just hadn’t listened in a while.

I just went to MTVMUSIC.com, another really cool site that allows you to search and FIND videos to almost any song…heaven. I found a video for Blister in the Sun and thought I would share it here. It has some clips from Gross Pointe Blank which is a bonus. It also has the lead singer taking a shot at a presidential cat, that was weird, but I still loves the song, and the Femmes. I am old.

Well, it is done. Now we can get back to the real news like which rehab Britney is in and up to the minute news on the last strikingly beautiful white girl who recently disappeared. (Can you tell that I am not enamored with our news situation here in the US?)

But a few of thoughts have come to mind now that the dust is starting to settle.

Thought #1

What would our world look like if McCain had gotten the nod back in 2000 rather than George W. Bush? I don’t have an answer to that question right off the bat, but it is indeed interesting to think about. What do you bet we wouldn’t have invaded Iraq? I am sure we would still be having troubles in the economy due to normal undulations and cycles in the market but would it be this dire? I don’t know. One thing I am pretty sure of is I bet our standing in the world community would be better than it is right now.

Thought #2

A lot is on the shoulders of Barack Obama right now. The hopes and dreams, fairly or unfairly, rest squarely on his shoulders. He did ask for it after all.

There are many who have pointed out his relative lack of experience. Two years from now we will have a much clearer understanding on how that plays out, but that is something to keep an eye on.

Thought #3

I am growing exceedingly tired of the media’s portrayal of the South as being exclusively racist. I take extreme exception with that. Yes, there are racists in the south, but the fact that black men and women find it hard to hail a taxi in New York City proves that we haven’t cornered the market in that area. I think the bigger reason that McCain won the day in the South was the evangelical vote. Church is big in the South. I would bet there are way more conservative Christians than there are out and out racists in the South, and it seems to me that that is the real reason for the vote count down here.

My biggest outrage of the coverage on CNN last night was when one of the pundits called the south “The Confederate States”. Rarely does something make my blood boil, but that was an unfair stereotype and seemed driven by ignorance. We, as a country, have made great strides in righting the atrocities of our past, and name-calling and finger-pointing needs to stop, and stop now. We have a long way to go, but man have we come a long way, and rhetoric like what I saw on CNN last night only slows the progress. CNN don’t bring that lady back!

I will be watching with great interest at Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office. It will be very interesting to see what he does to set the tone for his first term in office. Has he learned from Clinton’s mistake in going to far, to fast? We will see.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t remark on John McCain’s speech. It was one of the most gracious and hopeful concession speeches I have ever heard. My opinion of John McCain has only grown. He is an exceptional man, and too bad we didn’t have him as president these last eight years. Unfortunately for him, it was simply time for us as a country to have change. Timing is everything, and he got swept under that bus.

I don’t blog politics much, and I don’t think I will much in the future, but last night’s election was historic and a giant step forward in moving our country forward in the area of race. Hard work lies ahead for Barack Obama, Godspeed and good luck. If nothing else, it is good to let the other side see if they can do any better.