John Morrison - Product Strategy and Brand Identity
Of all the places I’ve spent my time. No place has as many fond memories for me as Yankee Stadium.
I shot this image almost exactly two years ago at the 2008 MLB All Star Home Run Derby. This would be the second to last game I would spend with her.
I only just now finally getting the chance to assemble it in Photoshop and Aperture. This is my tribute to the most important stadium in all of baseball and my one true home.
May she rest in piece.
Yesterday we arrived in Ayutthaya and set up camp in a hostel called Tony’s Place. While there are some minor flaws (zero water pressure in the shower), this is hands down the coolest place I have ever stayed at while abroad. The whole front of the building is a giant deck/restaurant that is swarming with a mix of traveling folk, and it’s directly across the street from Christine’s favorite bar, Chang House.
There is WiFi and decent food on the terrace, as well as a tourist information desk. It very much blurs the line between hotel and hostel. Everyone here is super friendly, and I’m typing this while eating a delicious BLT breakfast (I got a little tired of chicken and rice.)
Our room has cable TV, so we settled in and relaxed for a bit and flipped through stations before settling on MTV Africa (an odd thing to broadcast since Thailand is not in Africa). I haven’t watched MTV in years. In fact, I’ve been pretty actively boycotting it since around 1997, so whenever I do catch it for a while, I’m always blown away by what I see. 8 videos in a row and 7 of them (including Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus) clearly used and overused auto-tune. I’m sickened, is there any musical talent required anymore? Geez. Anyway, this frightened me worse when I realized I was watching MTV Africa, not MTV US, these pop stars and the ads for Jersey Shore represent America to many people, and they look up to it. That is frightening.
After that, we went to Chang House and hung out with Christine’s friend Earth. Awesome guy, we split a bottle of “Blend” whiskey (Distilled by Red Bull, cheap and not half bad, considering) and attempted to overcome language barriers and had a good laugh doing so. From there, we went to another bar where Earth’s band was playing and found some French guys and Christine’s coworker, Dan, from the UK. We had a great time talking about cultural differences, and I wound up telling the one gentleman from Paris my trick to getting a Parisian to speak English. He had a hearty laugh and admitted he had no doubt it would work.
From there we went to a nightclub where there was a Thai rock band playing. I was exhausted, but it was a lot of fun. It seems a lot of Thai rock is set on a reggae beat, so it’s very, very similar to the ska-punk I grew up with on Long Island, which is very strange but very comforting. Eventually, the band busted into a Thai Punk cover of Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance,’ which was surprisingly good.
Thai covers of American music are actually really huge over here in the touristy areas. Still, they are quite amusing to those who natively speak English. I’ve been told that most (but not all) of the singers don’t understand the words to what they’re singing. It strikes me as believable as if you listen closely, many of the singers will butcher the lyrics but hit the notes, tones, and timing near perfectly. It’s an amazing phenomenon and very entertaining nonetheless. From there, it was time for bed. As a whole, the day turned out to be really enlightening and fun.
Today we’re catching a boat tour around the city and checking outcome old ruins. I can’t wait to take pictures and share them with y’all. Cheers!
My friends, submitted for your approval on this fine New Years Day, is a pamphlet found in the attic of my parent’s house.
What you see is just part of a piece of 1950’s Cold War propaganda in the vein of such nonsense as “Duck and Cover.” This particular piece was produced by New York state in association with Time Inc.’s Life Magazine as a civil service and is bound by no copyright. A pamphlet like this one would have been distributed to help individuals prepare for “The Bomb,” which at that point many felt was inevitable. Nevermind the fact that in an actual atomic blast, these methods would do very little, if anything, to save one’s life. They both created and eased fear among the populous while fostering dependency and loyalty to the government.
To me, it’s an amazing piece of American history both from a psychological and a design standpoint. My grandfather was a chemist and member of the Nassau Country Civil Defense Commission, and near as I can tell this was his, there may be more. If I come across anything else, I’ll post it as well.
Some of the band-wagon fans will look at Torre and point the blame for the Yankees’ failures in recent years. But what they fail to remember is that in 12 years, Joe brought us to the postseason 12 times.
Before Joe, the Yankees hadn’t won the series since 1978 or even been there since 1982. The problem is in perception. Joe is the best manager in the game today; I firmly believe this.
Joe Torre is not the problem with the Yankees. The Yankees organization is the problem with the Yankees.
I recognize I am bitter right now about this, but I know in my gut this is the wrong move. Ultimately though, I’m glad it was Joe’s decision. My co-worker Frank said to me the other day that although he hates the Yankees, he loves Joe Torre. Joe is really the best, and he’s an all-around class act, Frank said it well: He deserves to work for an organization that appreciates him.
I will be a Yankee fan for life, but today is a sad day. And one where I am at odds with the team I love so much.
Good luck Joe. Go win another ring.
…figure out what’s important to you.”
Those words are from the chorus of a track entitled ‘Stop’ from Floridian rock group Against Me!’s latest release, ‘New Wave.’ The album and this line are significant because it’s not just the group’s newest; it’s their first on a “major label.” A big step for a band known for being outspoken against the government, big corporations, and the music industry. Although ‘New Wave’ has received praise from industry critics, the major label signing has caused Against Me! to be the target of an intense amount of scrutiny from the scene it arose from and its one-time “fans.”
Akiva Gottlieb of the Nation, in an excellently composed and structured piece, delves into the band’s recent struggles. However, the writer’s opinion of the group and its lead, Laura Jane Grace, shows through quite clearly. With lines like “If you can’t stop a war, you might as well make money, right?” peppered throughout, it steers far from objectivity. Even flirting with becoming an attack piece itself near the end, as if the writer herself were personally offended by the band’s actions. Although she took the time to interview Gabel himself and include quotes from him, they are not without snide remarks about his recent arrest or criticism. She reinforces her ideas with a quote from another critic of the band’s actions, Mike Conklin of The L Magazine:
“when you say the same things over and over again, as loudly as [Grace] did, into a microphone no less, to countless impressionable teenagers, you’ve effectively lost your right to just decide one day that you didn’t mean any of it.”
Against Me!’s position is that they are misunderstood, and the whole ‘sellout’ movement against them is a ridiculous waste of time and a case of hugely missing the point of their music. They push on, and ‘New Wave’ is as harsh as ever on the industry with songs like ‘Up the Cuts’ and its title track. However, many ex-fans critics feel differently. Some have even gone as far as to book protest shows against them, and others have published guides to subverting the band’s concerts. This justification, however, is often lacking. As it essentially just boils down to a whiney chorus of “They signed to a major label! How can they be critical! Hypocrites! Sellouts!” Ms. Gottlieb’s article, for instance, hinges on one sentence that the writer uses to justify much of her perspective on the band:
“Maybe the band’s subsequent jump to Sire Records–itself a subsidiary of Warner Bros., and thus a part of Time-Warner, the world’s largest media conglomerate–doesn’t pack the same epochal punch as Bob Dylan going electric, but the results again seem to justify the decision.”
However, it would seem this crucial line is horribly factually inaccurate.
Yes, Sire is, in fact, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group; however, despite the name, they are not a part of Time-Warner. WMG was sold off by Time-Warner in late 2003 to an independent group of investors and is now entirely independently owned and operated. These days, despite its ‘major label’ status, WMG targets its business much differently than it had in its past. In recent years WMG has focused on signing many prominent independent punk bands to get into more niche markets. Groups like Rancid and Less Than Jake have found homes where they previously wouldn’t have been considered “commercially viable.” Warner these days has become, apparently, a welcoming home to bands who want major label distribution and production without having to sacrifice their creative vision and values.
I think this often goes unknown or misunderstood by a lot of Against Me!’s fans, and I imagine it played a significant factor in many bands’ decisions to sign to WMG labels.
The whole thing goes back to the age-old ‘What makes someone a sellout?’ argument that any of us might have written about in our high school journalism classes. Unfortunately, as trivial as that argument is, it still doesn’t have a clear answer. Personally, I tend to believe that the claims against Against Me! remain mostly unfounded and short-sighted. I feel like it’s one more case of closed-minded people who claim to be open. An unfortunate side effect often bred in punk culture. People who claim a “counter-culture” but ultimately have a problem with anyone making a living selling their art or wanting to disrupt something other than a local basement show.
While I see some values in the criticism, I think it’s unwarranted in this case. Certainly, there is an ethical difference between signing to a huge independent label that only makes music vs. signing to a global media conglomerate.
So in Against Me!’s own words:
“All the punks still singing the same song.
Is there anyone thinking what I am?
Is there any other alternative?Are you restless like me?”
Sadly, I think “the punks” are missing the point.