Level 1 – After Dark – Parker White Triple

[Vimeo Link] <— 86,500

“Believe the hype! Triples are the new hot thing in skiing. Not wanting to be left out and to push himself to the max, P White went after it this past week and stomped a triple of his own. Check the full shot and TONS more in Level 1’s forthcoming flick, “After Dark,” dropping September 9th, 2011.”

Only one question coming from me. Where is the Volcano?

[ESPN Review]

Economies of Small

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Economies of scale are well understood. Bigger factories are more efficient, bigger distribution networks are more efficient, bigger ad campaigns can be more efficient. It’s often hard to defeat a major competitor, particularly if the market is looking for security and the status quo.

But what about the economies of small? Is being bigger an intrinsic benefit in and of itself?

If your goal is to make a profit, it’s entirely possible that less overhead and a more focused product line will increase it.

If your goal is to make more art, it’s entirely possible the ridding yourself of obligations and scale will help you do that.

If your goal is to have more fun, it’s certainly likely that avoiding the high stakes of more debt, more financing and more stuff will help with that.

I think we embraced scale as a goal when the economies of that scale were so obvious that we didn’t even need to mention them. Now that it’s so much easier to produce a product in the small and market a product in the small, and now that it’s so beneficial to offer a service to just a few, with focus and attention, perhaps we need to rethink the very goal of scale.

Don’t be small because you can’t figure out how to get big. Consider being small because it might be better.

The Four Horsemen of Media

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The first is when you talk about yourself. Directly to people who care to hear you out.

The second is when you pay someone to carry your message. Media for hire, we call it advertising.

The third is when you cajole the ‘editorial’ side to talk about you, with authority. Publicity is often worth more than advertising, but it’s pesky in that it doesn’t perform on demand.

The fourth, the fourth is all the rage right now. That’s when unanointed kings of tiny media, when bloggers and tweeters and others talk about you.

Why do we persist in believing that these four have much in common? They don’t. Being confused about how to classify them is expensive, or worse.

You know you’re in trouble if someone on your team says anything like, “But how do we do this quickly? And at scale? Is there a way interns can churn through names? We have money to spend, hurry!”

There are some that would be delighted if PR and social media would just own up and start playing by the rules of advertising. In other words, you ought to be able to buy this sort of buzz. It’s more efficient, more convenient and more predictable.

Of course, it doesn’t work that way. Buying your way into the fourth horseman doesn’t work. Professionalizing it doesn’t work so well either. What works is making something worth talking about.

As it should be.

If you’re hoping that this now important form of media is going to sit there and promote your average stuff for average people made in bulk but pretty cheap product merely because you’re used to paying media companies to run ads… I think you’re wasting a lot of time and money.

This goes deeper than that. You’ll need to take that money and change the product and the service instead.

The Franchise Episode 1

[iDevice Link] <— 56 views With 7 straight wins in a row... the Colorado Rockies are the best team in baseball right now. Last year the glory belonged to the San Francisco Giants. Kudos to Showtime for delivering a unique story in a creative way. Cheese factor on this reality show is low. Get excited for baseball. Genius. [Part 2] <— 26 views [Part 3] <— 24 views

David Fincher Tribute

[iDevice Link] <— 50,451 Super creative compilation of David Fincher's films.

The movies used in this video are:

Alien 3
Seven
The Game
Fight Club
Panic Room
The Zodiac
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Social Network

In search of a biz monkey (why bother?)

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Andrew Chen coins a great term. A biz monkey is a replaceable, Powerpoint toting, suit wearing, acronym-spewing middle manager business dude drone. They are quick to comment and sneer, slow to actually ship.

When something is scarce, it’s valuable. MBA’s with buzzwords and the ability to raise a million dollars around some web idea are not scarce. They are fungible.

People who understand technology and are willing to bend it to their will, on the other hand, are scarce. They can’t be found with a classified ad on Craigslist or in a blind project ad on eLance.

The job of the smart business person isn’t to fish in waters where coders are cheap. It’s to have enough initiative and vision that the best coders in the world will realize that they’ll do better with you than without you.

Business people add value when they make things happen, not when they seek to hire cheap.

BHTM 2011 at Red Rocks

Big Head Todd is coming back “as usual” for the first must attend summer concert at Red Rocks. This years show is on June 11th, 2011 with opening by Guster. Get your tickets.

Here is a walk down memory lane:

[iDevice Link] <— 194