clock … watching time, the only true currency

A journal from John B. Roberts

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Entries from August 2005

Movie: Super Size Me

August 8th, 2005 · 1 Comment

I can’t get the picture of the unchanged McDonald’s french fries in a glass jar out of my head. Unchanged… after weeks. That — and a renewed commitment to eating fresh, even when eating unhealthy — is the lasting legacy of watching Super Size Me last week. Every American should see this film. Be afraid, [...]

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Tags: Movies

Movie: Fantastic Four

August 8th, 2005 · Comments Off

It’s all about the comic book heroes come to life, isn’t it? Sony wishes they had a Spiderman movie every summer, and Marvel and Stan Lee are opening their archives as fast as they can. So I went with a brother-in-law to see Fantastic Four. Metacritic did not give the movie a great score. I’ve [...]

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Tags: Movies

Movie: Cool Hand Luke

August 8th, 2005 · Comments Off

While commuting on Metro North last month, I watched Cool Hand Luke on DVD. I’d had it out from Netflix for, oh, three months, so about time. I’ve heard some of the famous lines, so figured I had to see it for myself. I don’t know. I never was a rebel, so they aren’t heroes [...]

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Tags: Movies

Culture, from Shakespeare to Monty Python

August 7th, 2005 · Comments Off

Last month I enjoyed two different types of live theater in the space of three evenings. That’s approximately two-thirds of my annual live performances, squeezed into about 50 hours. First, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival presented The Two Gentlemen of Verona. The classic tale is told with modern attire, and modern musical interludes amused me. [...]

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Tags: Everything

Readers want to find good writers, whereever they are

August 5th, 2005 · Comments Off

Steve Rubel checks the current tumult in the media environment, and suggested yesterday “Big Media, It’s Time to Go All Blog.” As a result, it is my belief that media companies that are heavily invested online need to consider going to an all-blog format. Social media is not an add-on. It’s not a feature. It’s [...]

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Tags: Everything

What’s a domain worth?

August 5th, 2005 · Comments Off

What’s a domain worth? A lot and a little, and never as much as you imagine. Yesterday, at work, I received an offer to buy a domain. (As a courtesy, I’m not going to mention the actual domain.) The suggested amount was extraordinary, especially for a domain which is too specific, and therefore limiting, in [...]

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Tags: Everything

If you love your customers, set them free

August 3rd, 2005 · 2 Comments

If a company is really going to gain the trust of customers, it must be prepared to offer the products and services of other companies, even of competitors. – John Hagel, Restoring the Power of Brands, July 12, 2005 Worth remembering, though especially difficult for original content/product companies to trust and enact. Of course, he [...]

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Tags: Everything

Movie: Batman Begins

August 1st, 2005 · Comments Off

I was looking forward to seeing Batman Begins. So was my wife, so during our recent vacation, we left the kids with family for an evening and caught this most recent tale of Gotham’s defender. None of the movies has really captured the aura of The Dark Knight, the graphic novel by Frank Miller. Still, [...]

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Tags: Movies