Nothing else necessary.
Feb 13, 2009
Featured Album Fridays / The Lonely Island – Incredibad (2009)
Very excited for this week’s Featured Album Fridays, because I haven’t been able to stop listening to this album since its release on Tuesday, February 10, 2009! The Lonely Island’s Incredibad consists of a bunch of songs they did for SNL, as well as a bunch of originals. Rather embarrassing to be that guy on the bus laughing at what seems to be nothing. But whatever!
From their Last.FM:
The Lonely Island is a group of filmmakers founded in 2001 by Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg (aka The Dudes). The group was originally from Los Angeles, California but now resides in New York. The Lonely Island has created numerous comedic films, shorts, parody songs, and music videos. They have written shorts for the popular television show Saturday Night Live, most notably “Lazy Sunday,” “Dick in a Box,” and “Jizz In My Pants.” They have made three full-length television pilots, all of which were rejected. The group operates a web site under the same name that showcases their collaborations. The site also includes a blog from second-tier member Chester Tam, often referred to as Chez (pronounced CHAY). The blog, titled Chez Chat, gives humorous summaries of the site’s updates.
The three core members currently work together as writers on Saturday Night Live. Recently, principal photography has wrapped on the Lonely Island’s first feature film, Hot Rod.
Such a great album, give it a listen.
WARNING: Explicit lyrical content.
Feb 13, 2009
Online Surveys – Now in Google Docs!
Not sure how old this really is, but this is going to save me so much time and trouble, online surveys can now be created and distributed via Google Docs!
I had previously used Survey Monkey but it seems that Google Docs doesn’t have a 100-response limitation (As far as I know) so my new platform for online surveys. Here is what a portion of the creation page looks like:
Very simple, very robust. Here’s a sample survey:
Results to come soon.
Feb 13, 2009
MarketResearchbook
I guess since Facebook is winning the social networking wars (Sorry MySpace) they are continuing to find ways to find out more about me, so they can continue to tell me some douchbag makes $75 an hour.
WARNING: Picture may not be accurate. Only douchebaggery remains true.
So I guess they’re trying to expand their advertising game and I’ve recently started noticing they put up polls regarding different things. Here’s one I got today:
Sweet, I'm in the majority.
Come on Facebook, if you’re going to use my profile to harvest information about me, and then perform market research on my habits and behaviours, at least PAY me for it.
It’s the least you could do in this tough economy.
Feb 12, 2009
When Logic is Left Out
Meet Hydra Vodka Water.
Hydra Vodka Water was a product created by Vincor, a company that owns many well-respected wines in Canada. It was created as an entry into the alcoholic cooler market, that is extremely fickle, is made up of fad drinks, and has several heavy hitters in the industry.
Vincor had five choices for their new cooler:
1. Fresh Fruit Juice
2. Gin-based
3. Spring Water-based
4. Tequila-based
5. Energy Drink-based
To make a long story short, Vincor decided to go with the Spring Water-based alcoholic cooler, due to the rising popularity of Spring Water, apparently very much so in the target market. The cooler was priced at a premium, priced similarly to Smirnoff Ice.
Apparently, the cooler did fantastically well in its first year, and then promptly fell off. Which leads me to this question:
Who in their right mind thought that diluting vodka with “spring water” and selling it $9.45 for a 4-pack was a good idea? Why wouldn’t you try drinking vodka and water before you sell it? It tastes like water that’s been tainted.
Hydra Vodka Water serves as a good example of coming up with an idea, going through all the market research motions and thinking it will be popular, and selling it without stopping to think:
Why would anyone pay a premium for diluted vodka?
Feb 11, 2009
Blocking my path
I came out of the gym to discover somebody sitting on one of the two sets of stairs that I need to descend to get to my class. On the other side, someone was coming up, and they are too narrow for two people to ascend/descend simultaneously.
What did I do? I waited for an opportunity to go down.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I thought to myself, when people are acting as obstacles to your progress, are you going to sit idly by and wait for an opportunity, or will you be proactive and be vocal enough to move those people?
Feb 6, 2009
Featured Album Fridays / Faded Paper Figures – Dynamo (2008)
This week on Featured Album Fridays, is Faded Paper Figures’ 2008 debut album – Dynamo. They are classified under “Indietronica” and their music has an interesting sound to it.
Here is the band’s description from Last.FM:
Faded Paper Figures began, like all great endeavors, as a side-project. Writing songs between dissertation chapters and frenetic bouts of southern California traffic, John (vocals/guitars) and Kael (guitars/keys/machines) were simply looking for an aesthetic and rigorous diversion. Two or three songs into the process, however, things started sounding incredible—much too good to have come from Kael’s apartment bedroom. Eventually Heather (additional vocals/keys) began adding some beautiful harmonies, and FPF became the brilliant blend of indie-tronic chamber pop that dazzles and sizzles on every track in their debut album, “Dynamo.”
And of course, you can listen to Dynamo below! Enjoy.
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