1. Don’t freak out
THE WORLD IS NOT ENDING. It’s just rain. It happens pretty much everywhere. You’ve seen it before. Still freaking out? Pretend you’re just in a giant shower. Better? Um…please put your clothes back on.

2. Don’t drive like an idiot
While rain is largely safe, it does change the roads and driving at your traditional 80 MPH will not benefit you. Slow down a little bit. Because otherwise you’ll have to…

3. Prepare for bad traffic
The rest of the people in San Francisco who haven’t read this guide are still driving like idiots. They’re going to get in crashes and slow you down. Does it normally take an hour to get to work? Plan for two hours.

4. If you have an umbrella, don’t walk on the side of the sidewalk with an awning
That’s for people without umbrellas. Duh.

5. If you have an umbrella, don’t walk in the middle of the damn sidewalk
People. Your umbrella makes you about 4 feet wide. If you walk in the middle of the sidewalk, nobody can get by you.

6. Don’t splash bicylists
C’mon man. We’re already wet. If there’s a big puddle and a bicyclist, go around it or wait for them to pass it. Seriously.

7. Once more, DON’T FREAK OUT
Remember that scene in Jurassic Park where they don’t move so the T-rex can’t see them? Think of it like that. If you don’t freak out, the rain can’t hurt you. Just calm down, and everything will be ok.

Have your own recommendations? Post them in the comments!

Photo courtesy of Mohan Kaimal.

A disclaimer: I don’t listen to a lot of new popular music because I’m weird and picky.  I’m sure there’s stuff that is better that I haven’t heard (or at least you think it’s better). These are my top songs, so take that as you will.

Them Crooked Vultures – No One Loves Me & Neither Do I

Choosing the best track off of Them Crooked Vultures was difficult.  If I were going for best groove I’d call out Gunman.  Most intruiging might be Bandoliers.  But No One Loves Me & Neither Do I is such a brilliant combination of pop, rock, and HEAVY that you can’t help but rock the hell out to it.  Just try.

Golden Shoulders – Little Nixon

Fantastic band from my hometown of Grass Valley.  Every song this guy writes is great, but this one stands out as one of the best on “Get Reasonable.”  Great digs at George Bush without being heavyhanded (like 95% of Bush songs).  Fantastic music that is hard to define from one moment to the next.  Makes me want to flail about.  Win, all the way.

(track can be heard at http://goldenshoulders.com/music.php)

Heartless Bastards – Could Be So Happy

There’s something so happy and beautiful about this song. It’s got a dark side, but the acceptance of one’s own issues is an important part of getting past them. Erika Wennerstrom’s vocals are not the most beautiful, but they strike me as completely honest and I can groove to that.  The Mountain was possibly the best surprise of the year.

Wilco – Wilco (the song)

Deny it all you want, but this song is great.  Wilco (The Album) is certainly not my favorite Wilco album, but “Wilco (the song)” is great.  For anyone who’s ever hid from the world in their headphones, this song proclaims “tired of being exposed to the cold/the stare of your stereo/put on your headphones/before you explode/Wilco’ll love you, baby”.  Amen.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Soft Shock (acoustic)

I was not a fan of the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album.  I love the YYYs intensely, but I wasn’t a fan of their transition from raw and original to a ripoff of every hipster electronica band. However, the acoustic bonus tracks on the special edition of It’s Blitz! are strikingly beautiful in comparison to the fuzzy robotic tunes on the record proper.  “Soft Shock” has an incredibly unique set of instrumentation that suggests folks but then goes somewhere completely different with the melody.  I could listen to this song for a long time.

(acoustic version not available for streaming)

Monters are not Myths Song I’m Most Proud Of – Netcat

It’s impossible for me to objectively rate my own songs, but I’m extremely proud of how “Netcat” turned out on our new album, Corporate Grown.  Most of this is thanks to the brilliant band behind me, including the awesome banjo of Clide Lynne of The Paper Crocodiles.  Call me a shameless promoter, but I want everyone to hear it.

Hope you all a happy new year with lots of great music!

I’ll skip what would be about four paragraphs here and just say: Dollhouse has captured my heart. Like all Whedon shows it snuck up on me. When the inevitable and depressing debate over a second season began, I was not hopeful. Thankfully, Fox apparently wised up somewhat and paid attention to the number of Dollhouse viewers on Hulu (which is where I watched the entirety of the season, save the first episode). The show was renewed, and all of us Whedonites breathed a sigh of relief.

Except we all know that the fight isn’t over.

Rumor has it that Whedon has been asked to cut costs on the second season of Dollhouse, and I’m sure that Fox will be less forgiving in regards to the total number of TV viewers this season.  Perhaps, then, this is why they have rushed the Dollhouse: Season One DVD set out the door.

Fox may be still wising up to the fact that online TV programming is going to be the next big thing, as evidenced by The Simpsons making more money per thousand viewers on Hulu than on TV. But they have for some time paid attention to DVD sales, resurrecting Family Guy and even Firefly (in the form of Serenity) based on successful DVD sales.

So the path is clear: those of us who want to see Dollhouse continue and grow into the brilliant series it is promising to become need to buy the Dollhouse: Season One DVD. Consider it an investment – by buying this DVD you get at least one more season of Whedon-brilliance, with fewer commercials and available anytime you want via Hulu.

Let’s prove to them that we don’t need a TV to watch, love, and save a good show.

I think it’s clear why the author is anonymous – because he doesn’t want to be laughed out of his CEO role.

He’s proposing that Google is “unfair” and “mysterious” in what it puts on it’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Newsflash: Google can be as unfair as it wants

…as long as it doesn’t break any of the agreements it’s made in it’s legal agreements.

The author, from up on his high horse, compares this to a Country or a City:

Suppose the paradigm is the streets of Los Angeles. Let’s imagine that in order to enter the city you had to pass through a single gate. And once you entered that gate, the streets you were or were not allowed to go down — and thus the businesses you were or were not allowed to visit — could be randomly blocked from your access.

Sigh. Google is NOT A COUNTRY

They’re not a city.  They’re not a government.  They are a business.

Let’s look at a REAL example, shall we?  Let’s compare Google to a supermarket.  My local supermarket blocks off aisles all the time.  Maybe it’s restocking, maybe it’s got a spill.  I don’t necessarily get to know, and I certainly don’t get to say “THIS IS UNFAIR.  I DEMAND ALL PATHS THROUGH YOUR STORE BE OPENED TO MYSELF.”

The second factor is that the search engine can, at any time, determine that either company A or company B may or may not buy traffic within its index.

Oh really?  Let’s go back to the supermarket, shall we?  Should we prevent them from ditching your company’s brand of cornflakes because they think they’re not selling well?  Or because they don’t like how you do business?  Do they even have to tell you why?  No.  That’s courtesy – not law.  To suggest that a business can’t decide who it does business with is just obnoxiously short-sighted.

Yes, he may have some points about arbitrariness of paid search account administration.  I have heard stories of accounts being unceremoniously shut down without explanation, and that’s something of concern that is completely separate from this concept of private companies having to reveal how they do business and change to be “more fair”.

Let’s keep in mind that I’m a liberal, here.  I’m all for more restrictions on giant financial institutions – in fact, I think we should prevent them from ever getting so giant that they “can’t fail”.  But that’s because those institutions affect, as we’ve seen so clearly, the stability of our country.  Google ain’t that.

Lastly, to say that “search engine optimization is more voodoo than science” is just asinine.

Do you also think that airplanes are magic?  Just because you haven’t taken the time to learn from the best and keep yourself educated doesn’t mean something is voodoo.

There are plenty of intelligent folks out there devoting their days to understanding search engine optimization.  None of them will tell you it’s easy.  But none of them will tell you it’s voodoo – it’s a science that involves a lot of knowledge, research and hard work.  Don’t diminish their work just because you don’t have the patience to do it yourself.

I have a few concerns for Microsoft, however.  The first is simply the same challenge that the Wii faces – how many developers are going to want to go to the effort to create games that really take advantage of this technology?  Sure, a few will be inspired and create some amazing games, but will the rest largely ignore it or feature it as an afterthought during special sections of their games?

There’s also the issue of laziness – I’m all for America becoming more active and love moving around while playing Wii Sports, but I also use my gaming system for relaxation. I don’t want to move around after a long day of work, I want to sit on the couch with a beer and press buttons.  The Wii allows both, generally – will Natal?

The biggest issue, in my opinion, is simply that Microsoft has miscalculated what “could-be gamers” will engage with.

Mario Kart Wii shipped with a wheel that has no electronic functions.  It is simply a piece of plastic to put your Wii controller in.  Why?  Because it’s more compelling to grip a wheel while you’re driving something. Isn’t it going to be weird to pretend to hold a car wheel with Natal?

Nintendo understands that what intimidates “could-be gamers” is not holding something, but rather pressing buttons and moving joysticks.  Yes, movement is more natural.  But movement without anything to hold onto seems like it could backfire.

The problem comes in that there will probably never be a full, real motion controller.  Natal is a hugely impressive innovation, but it’s not full movement.  To move forward I’m not going to run towards my TV…I’ll probably walk in place, or maybe use my hand to do this somehow.  The illusion is broken.

Until Natal is actually full movement, there is going to be a disconnect for older generations.  Watching even a tech-savvy 40-year-old use a computer, it’s clear to me that they don’t fully follow the spatial dynamics of a computer.  I, meanwhile, alt-tab my way back and fourth throughout my computer like it’s a physical object.  Even more impressive, my little brother skips through Xbox screens that I find confusing at light speed.

The Wii didn’t aim to change this…folks who didn’t grow up with 3d interfaces still take some time to adjust.  What the Wii did was to (potentially – not all games have done this) simplify the control scheme so these adults can concentrate on grasping the spatial dynamics – not on what combo of buttons to press.

I don’t mean to rip on Natal.  I’m extremely excited to try it and I give Microsoft significant kudos for truly innovating, instead of just playing catch-up (*cough*sony*cough*).  I’m simply unconvinced that this will inspire the “could-be gamers” the same way the Wii did.  And I can’t wait to see how this plays out.

Then I got an email from him.

It’s from his campaign, of course, but it hit home.

———————————————————————————————————

Evan —

I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don’t want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing…

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

———————————————————————————————————

Because of me.  Because of you.  Because of US, most importantly.  How does Barack Obama (or his campaign, if you want to split hairs) choose to tell me this?  Through an email, even before he gives his acceptance speech.  Signed with his first name.  Without any sort of crazy HTML formatting, logos, or signatures.  Promising to be in touch about the next steps.  Simple, straightforward, truthful.

This appeals to me on many levels, one of which is my work as Community Ambassador at Flock. I have a job at Flock because of the passion, energy and action of people who love our product.  My job is to make sure that they get what they need to keep loving the product and spreading the word.  Everyday I feel the kind of appreciation that Obama mentions in this email.  And it’s INCREDIBLY important to thank these people and to make sure that they understand that this company (or in Obama’s case, this country) would not survive or thrive without them.  As I said back in my post about why the Community Manager is important: “If you don’t listen to your community, you are either going to fail or you will have to get very lucky.” Barack Obama knows this well.

Barack has been preaching the politics of hope, of opportunity, and of togetherness.  I won’t claim he’s had an entirely angelic campaign…I think it would be impossible for anyone to have done so.  But instead of creating a mob, an angry group that boos at a concession speech…Barack Obama has created an enthusiastic, excited, hopeful group of Americans who are ready to make this country shine again.  I am filled with exhilaration and hope, and I am excited to serve my country like I have never been.

Barack Obama is a true Community Ambassador/Manager/Evangelist/Organizer, and that’s exactly what we need right now.  One man isn’t going to save this country, the masses must.  And Barack Obama, President-Elect, is the person we need to motivate the masses.

I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at these impressive, homegrown Main Streets. I was certain I’d find folks with rolled-up sleeves, small incomes, and folks who aren’t swayed by the fancy fatcats in Washington.

Alameda, CA

View Larger Map

Ok, a little empty, but what about the big city?

San Francisco, CA

View Larger Map

Ok, not so much the lower class…let’s look up north.

Porland, OR

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Not a lot of people on Main Street in Portland.  But I’m sure they’re off lamenting the economy.  Surely, those throwing around “Main Street” are not talking about the LIBERAL West Coast. What does Main St look like in Kansas City?

Kansas City, KS

View Larger Map

Ok, those windows are a little bit larger than the “average American” can afford, but howabout Oklahoma City?

Oklahoma City, OK

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Uh…um…oh. Wow. Yeah, lots of voters on that street.

Listen…I am a liberal, but this example goes beyond party lines. Constantly referring to “Main Street” is not only annoying, it’s just inaccurate. If I had to choose a street I’d personally go for “Laurel Street”…that always seems consistently middle-class.

At the end of the day, the bottom line is that you shouldn’t use stupid buzzwords over and over, because it only makes you look totally out-of-tune. The middle and lower classes are not listening closely to hear “Main Street” in your stump speech…they’re listening to hear how you’re going to fix this financial crisis!

I’ve spent the last few weeks (and will spend the next few) thinking up nice, original presents for friends and family. A silly DVD set for one friend, a mini-keg of Root Beer for my brother (don’t read this, Curran). Although it is work, I enjoy it because it’s worth them getting something they they truly like.

I appreciate this treatment as well…I’d much rather be surprised than get something that is “exactly” what I want…most of the time “exactly” is actually “approximately” and requires numerous trips to the store to return and exchange stuff.

I respect that many people don’t have the time/interest/capability to come up with a unique and fulfilling present, especially family (after all, presents from family are required, whereas they’re opted into with friends). I usually try to come up with a short list of things I would like that I wouldn’t buy myself. This year, there’s just one thing on that list: A Nintendo Wii.

I used to be a big-time gamer (even developed levels for Myth II), but I have since run out of time and money to keep up with games. However, the Wii really eliminates the time factor. I’ve played it a few times and it’s easy to pick up, play with friends, and have a great short session (unlike the long shooters and strategy games I played back in the day). I’m not going to buy it for myself; I need to save money and any splurging goes towards instruments for Monsters are not Myths or brief vacations. Thus, it is a perfect gift.

I understand that the Wii is not cheap, but my birthday is right after Christmas and I figured all the family presents could combine into it. If not, that’s fine…find out where you can find a Wii and give some gift certificates.

However, this seems not to be the case and I’m now being hounded for more present ideas from my own family. As stated above, I ALREADY spent my creative juices figuring out presents for THEM.

In short, I don’t care anymore. What I want is to be left alone. I spend enough time working at work and on music that I should not need to spend time coming up with my own present. If they can’t, then my present should be not having to deal with the hassle of presents. Honestly, that would be fine with me. Let me enjoy the holidays and give presents without having to write even one more Christmas list or go to any stores to return lame presents. Give me the gift of not having to be stressed about a PRESENT for MYSELF.

Merry Christmas.

Update: My friend Victoria Potter just wrote a great post looking at the larger, less selfish picture of why Christmas/December is no longer cool. Scope it on her blog.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: EvanHamilton, Christmas, presents, Monsters are not Myths, MANM, Myth II, family, returns, curmudgeon, Victoria Potter

“It’s not a community if everyone doesn’t feel free to participate as an equal. As soon as you make this someone’s job you devalue the contributions of everyone.”

I think the heart of Kevin’s post is in the exact right place. However, I think it’s entirely incorrect to say that making community work someone’s job devalues it; it doesn’t change the value at all, it just focuses it in a more useful way for the company.  While Kevin’s “conversational” aspiration is fantastic (and I think can be part of the community job), I think it’s idealistic to think that almost any company can have their best possible relationship with their community without someone focusing on it, at least part time.

For the record, a few things: I work at Flock as a Community Ambassador.  I am certainly biased.  I will refer to the position that we’re discussing here as Community Ambassador, but it has also been called Community Advocate/Evangelist/Manager (I’ll state my take on the “Manager” title later in the post).  I think Kevin’s heart is in the right place, but I truly believe in this position.

Here’s why this job is important:

Community is important
I don’t think Kevin denies this, but I think it’s important to state: your community is what keeps your company afloat, and (hopefully) the goal of your company was and is to make the lives of your community better in some way.  If you don’t listen to your community, you are either going to fail or you will have to get very lucky.  Methods may differ, but for the most part you’ll find that successful companies listen to their community.

Companies are not inclined to state what they’re doing
Companies like to have big unveilings, to surprise their audience, and (frankly) to keep their ideas secret so they don’t get ripped off. Communication between releases is not in their nature. However, it is part of human nature to want to know what’s going on and part of human nature to talk about things they’re excited about.  I know people who are just short of physically upset when they don’t know what Flock is up to, even if it’s as simple as “planning our holiday party”. I mentioned our new Twitter account on our blog last week and within 5 hours more than 70 people had started following it. People want to know what’s going on, and employees want to talk about it…but companies are built by default not to do this. Unless you’re blessed with an executive staff that is open-minded AND takes the initiative to make the time to write and/or approve posts, this isn’t going to happen on it’s own.

Customer feedback is, by it’s nature, raw and biased
Of course my feedback about a product I use is going to be biased…I bought it for me, and it should work for me! But how is Apple supposed to treat my feedback that the new iPod Nano doesn’t fit in the mini-pocket of my jeans? Alongside (probably) millions of other pieces of feedback, where does this factor in? Again, time becomes an issue: does Jobs have time to read and absorb all this feedback and do his regular work?  Unlikely. While I’m fully in support of employees at all levels of a company reading community feedback (which we do at Flock, from QA to CEO), it’s unrealistic to count on this. Having a Community Ambassador to absorb, categorize, and interpret this feedback is key. Nobody at Flock would have guessed that Picasa was important to our community, but through gradual collection of votes (on our site, blogs, and via direct feedback) it became clear that Picasa integration is much more important to our existing community than any other service.

That said, I totally agree that the Community Ambassador should not be the single point of failure. Going back to the point about feedback being biased….even if 20 angry people like me write to Apple asking for iPod Nanos that fit our mini-pockets, that’s ignoring the millions of people who don’t care or even like the size. Both the Community Ambassador and the company they work for must take this all into consideration. User testing should be done, and ideas from directly within the company shouldn’t take backseat to community feedback…they should ride together, as equally viable ideas.

People like to get pumped
I understand where the inclination to stay “hands off” of evangelism comes from. Nothing is grosser than an employee (especially an executive!) putting on a big fake smile and blabbing on about how great the latest product is. However, I think that if you accomplish what Jeremiah suggests in his post on the topic, you are part of your community as much as your company. Once you are a legitimate part of your community, you are taken seriously by them (though you can easily compromise this by not being honest). If you truly are excited about your product (which you should be, or you should get a new job), you should express this to the people whom you know are excited about your product. If I care about, say, the band Queens of the Stone Age, I might join their Street Team or mailing list. If their Community Ambassador then contacts me telling me about how awesome the new album is (especially if it’s “insider” news), I’m going to be stoked! If he tells me they’re going on a new tour that is going to be wild and crazy and gives me the link to buy tickets, I’m not going to feel advertised to…I’m going to click that link and look at the tour dates! It’s all about being honest and genuine and only evangelizing to those who opt-in in some way.

Everybody should be part-time Community Ambassador
I agree with Kevin…the position of Community Ambassador absolutely does not absolve anyone in the organization of interaction with the community. As we do at Flock, the executives should blog, read feedback, respond to customers, and meet the community. This is essential to your organization, and the position of Community Ambassador should not affect this one way or another.

In the end, I understand where these anti-Community Ambassador posts come from. The position is often called Community Manager, which is a gross mischaracterization and invokes scary undertones. Many people claim to be interested in “community”, but describe it as a sort of asset (“Oh yeah, we got one of them community things. I hear they’re good for business.”) And the intrusive, look-we’re-cool-too style of advertising is so pervasive that it makes me physically angry when I hear a 40-year-old on the radio talk about how “sweet” and “stylin’” you’ll be with some “urban groove” on your “sweet mp3 player”. That is not community work…that is lame, dishonest advertising. The Community Ambassador is not an advertiser…he/she is simultaneously a member of the company and the community, and the guide for communication between them. He/she is not the be-all, end-all. He/she is not the single point of communication. He/she is not always right. He/she is just helping the flow of communication between those who make and those who use a product.  And if that’s not an important role, I don’t know what is.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: CommunityAmbassador, community, “Community Manager, Flock, “Jeremiah Owyang, “Kevin Gamble, customer, “customer feedback

At the start of this song you can hear what was likely the folky riff that the song originated from. In true form, Wilco has taken this to a totally different place, using rhythmic breaks to make this intro as poppy as it is folky. It’s totally familiar and different at the same time.

Instead of committing to one of these styles, the verse launches with bass as the primary instrument. Acoustic guitar strumming and riffs compliment this bassline, but float between styles successfully, making the focus of the verse the vocals. Which is appropriate, considering the ugly, lustful lyrics that somehow also border on beautiful with Tweedy’s soft, unconcerned voice.

I attack with you, pure bug beauty
I curl my lips and crawl up to you
And your afternoon
And I’ve been puking

The chorus, rather than continuing to be subversively vague, hits full force with a confident drumbeat and the revelatory (but not really) lyric of “Holy shit there’s a company in my back”. We barely get a sense of the fantastic chorus melody before we’re dropped back into the verse, this time with a more solid rhythm and some sustained chords on the piano. The melody varies a bit here, which keeps us from getting bored.

The second chorus hits with even more force, and the full beauty of the melody becomes more apparent, backed by an orchestra of what I think are mandolins. The beauty of the melody should clash with the dark wording of the chorus, but it doesn’t. Instead, I hear the beauty of how screwed up life can be.

The third verse continues to play with our perceptions of what this song is, throwing in a synth riff that could just as well be in a Madonna song.

The final chorus leaves us with one last taste of that brilliant chorus melody and then dissolves into genre-crossing instrumentation that ends with that incredibly unique and compelling intro riff. I’m happy at the end of this song, but not satisfied. I want that chorus melody to go on and on, backed by a million clinking mandolins. And in a way, it does…you walk through the rest of your day with that orchestra right behind you, making the sorry state of the world something to appreciate just as much as the good things in life.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: Wilco, Company In My Back, A Ghost is Born, Evan Hamilton, review, music, folk, pop