January 2005 Archives
My story of the terrible way in which Crunch handled a customer service issue.
Prepare to be amazed by the shortsightedness of
Crunch customer service.
Yesterday I walked into Crunch at Kips Bay, gave them my card and was
informed that my membership had been canceled. Turns out my old
corporate membership had finally been canceled. Not a big deal. So I
tell them I'd like to renew and I walk over to membership desk to get
all the info. I sat down and the membership director, Luis O. Monteagudo (his name
is on the Crunch website) led me through my options. Basically I could
go with a one year or a two year plan, not much different than any
other gym around. I told him I was very interested and just wanted to
think it over for an evening. I said I would go work out today and
come in tomorrow and renew. It seemed like a completely reasonable
idea to me. Luis, however, didn't agree.
He told me that I really couldn't work out today without renewing.
Basically I had to throw down $799 (the price for a year membership),
if I wanted to work out for the day. Before I continue, let me give a
little background. I've been a member of Crunch Fitness at Kips Bay since June
or July. I go to the gym roughly two or three days a week, give or
take.
Anyhow, I kind of did a double take and asked him if he was for
real. Turns out he was. At that point I asked him if he would really
let me join another club over one day. Luis was nice enough to offer
to let me pay for the day (I would guess that's $25 or so). I politely
refused and asked if I could speak to a manager. He told me he was the
manager of membership, so I asked to speak to his manager. Luis called
over the general manager, Joe
Pena. Joe was unwilling to budge, telling me that Luis was in
charge of these decisions.
I reminded the two of them again that they would be losing a member
(a minimum of $799 up front), over a dispute over one day. They told
me there was nothing they could do. So I asked for the address of the
corporate office and told them I was leaving to go join New York
Sports Club. Joe gave me the address and let me leave. That address
is:
Crunch Fitness
11 East 26th Street
New York, NY 10010
212-993-0300
Anyway, I walked down to 31st street and walked into New York Sports Club
on 31st between Lex and Park. I told them I'd like to join, but
unfortunately the membership guy was out for lunch. I asked if I could
work out for the day and it was no problem at all. I just needed to
fill out a guest pass and leave my ID at the desk. Not a big deal at
all. The person at the desk told me that the membership guy would be
back by the time I was done with my workout.
About 45 minutes later I finished my workout (which was quite nice
I might add). Turns out that NYSC on 31st has little TVs at every
cardio machine. I got to watch some winter X-Games as I ellipticized
away. On my way out I was told that the membership guy still hadn't
gotten back, but I could just come back tomorrow and talk to him.
About 30 minutes later, he called me up and apologized and asked me to
come in and talk to him tomorrow, which I'll be happy to do.
So here's my question to Crunch: was it worth the day's workout to
lose a member? It's not like I was Joe Schmo coming in off the street and
wanted a free workout. I had been going there for six months and
enjoyed being a member. I had no desire to change gyms. I really would
have come in the next day and signed up, which I told Luis and Joe.
But they chose to let me walk and I want to make them pay.
I'm going to post this link as far as wide as I can. I am going to
send it to everyone I can think of and I'm going to ask anyone
reading this to link to it to help it get exposure. When are companies
going to figure out how to treat customers?
Just to finish the story, today I walked into New York Sports Club and signed up for a year-long membership. After I told the membership representative, Levi, my story, he was happy to throw in some guest passes for anyone I knew to try out New York Sports Club
for a week on them. It was a pleasure to work with someone so professional and with a clear understanding of what customer service meant. I'm now a happy member of New York Sports Club and I will tell my story to anyone who
wants to listen.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, since Crunch Fitness already owns the domain www.CrunchSucks.com (in preparation for bad customer service?), I decided to purchase the domain www.CrunchReallySucks.com. I'm sure I can find something fun to do with it.
If anyone has any questions I can be reached at nb@noahbrier.com
Here's a list of people who have been CC'ed on this:
Luis O. Monteagudo (Membership Director - Kips Bay)
Joe Pena (General Manager - Kips Bay)
Susan Gerson (Media Contact - Town Sports International)
John Harris (Media Contact - Bally Fitness)
Jim Solomon (President and CEO - Crunch Fitness)
Roger Harvey (COO - Crunch Fitness)
Simon Wood (CFO - Crunch Fitness)
Paul Toback (Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer - Bally Fitness)
William Fanelli (Acting Chief Financial Officer - Bally Fitness)
John Wildman (Chief Operating Officer - Bally Fitness)
Harold Morgan (Sr. VP, Chief Admin. Officer - Bally Fitness)
Marc Bassewitz (Sr. VP, General Counsel - Bally Fitness)
Careen Winters (PR - MWW)
Epinions: Crunch
Citysearch:
Crunch Fitness - Kips Bay
Dina Gomez (General Manager - New York Sports Club 31st Street)
Levi (Membership Representative - New York Sports Club 31st Street)
Update (9/21/05): On February 2, 2005 I posted my response and on September 21, 2005 I posted an update, including information about how two of the commenters below (Bob Highlander and Michael) are actually Bally's employees.
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Just a quick update on the
mention of A9.com on the OC.
Here's the actual quote from the scene according to Google Video:
Lindsay: Uh, you were right. Caleb Nichol is not a good Guy.
Ryan: Why, why happened? Did he call you?
Lindsay: No, but I a9.Com'd him last night, and according to the O.C. Weekly, he's pretty much everything that's wrong with Western civilization, all wrapped up in one Guy. (Phone ringing) so, even If he did call me...
In further news, Amazon is swearing they didn't pay for the mention. According to a
BetaNews article titled
"A9.com Finds Promotion in the OC, "Amazon says it did not pay for the television placement, and was pleasantly surprised by the exposure." The article goes on to quote the CEO of
A9:
"This placement was not paid for by A9.com or Amazon.com. We didn't even know it was going to air," A9.com CEO Udi Manber told BetaNews. "We do think it's great to see this happening though, because it shows people like the experience A9.com offers and that they are telling their friends and family about it."
So there it is, everything you wanted to know about three letters and a number.
Update: Waxy.org has a new entry talking about this mystery and has posted a video of the scene.
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I was reading
AM New York today and ran across this article on the front page:
Oklahoma state Sen. Frank Shurden, a longtime defender of cock-fighting, is suggesting that roosters be given little boxing gloves so they can fight without bloodshed. Shurden wants to save Oklahoma's gamefowl industry now that cock-fighters are legally prohibited from pitting birds fitted with razor-like spurs. "Who's going to object to chickens fighting like humans do? Everybody wins," Shurden said.
Wow. Not quite sure what else to say.
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First, let me start off with a quote from a friend of mine after I told him I was writing this.
Jeff: You realize you're saying that your worlds are search engines and The OC.
Maybe in Geekland everyone lost their homes because your world's collided.
So here's the story. I was planning on writing a bit about
Amazon's new features for it's
A9 search engine yesterday but I didn't get around to it. Then this morning I was doing my regular RSS reading and ran across this entry from
Capn Design titled
"So, I A9.com'ed Him Last Night". It turns out that last night on The OC, a show for which I am quite fond, Lindsay was quoted saying "so, I A9.com'ed him last night," about Kaleb (or is it Caleb? Anyway, for those of you that don't watch, is her father as well as her boyfriend's grandfather via adoption).
Yesterday, A9 introduced a new Yellow Pages that has a ton of cool features, the coolest of which lets you see the business you're searching for. For example, if you search for Spring Lounge in New York City (which happens to be one of my favorite bars), you see this picture:
You can then move up and down the street with the pictures. It just adds a new level of local knowledge to local search. I'm not exactly sure how useful it is, but there's no denying it's very cool. Here's A9's explanation of how it was done:
The most powerful technology A9.com invented for Yellow Pages is “Block View,� which brings the Yellow Pages to life by showing a street view of millions of businesses and their surroundings. Using trucks equipped with digital cameras, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, and proprietary software and hardware, A9.com drove tens of thousands of miles capturing images and matching them with businesses and the way they look from the street.
The whole process (except for the driving!) is completely automatic, making it fast and efficient. Block View allows users to see storefronts and virtually walk up and down the streets of currently more than 10 U.S. cities using over 20 million photographs. We are driving and at some point hope to cover the whole country.
This, however, is not the only cool feature. Along with the photos is a "Click to Call Business" button. All you do is click it, put in your phone number and it rings your real phone and connects you. Once again, not sure how useful it is, since you could easily dial the number, but it's definitely a cool feature.
In the end, I'm very impressed with the stuff A9 is doing. Though I don't think they have taken ideas as far as they need to go (as I wrote about in this entry), they are definitely bringing some much needed innovations to search. For that they should be commended. Big ups to A9.
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Here's the story. There was this Google employee, Mark Jen,
who was blogging about Google. He said some things that were on the less than favorable side about his employer. His site was discovered and linked to. Then it was gone. And the speculation began. Everyone got into the speculation action from
John Battelle to
Google Blogoscoped (check out the
Technorati cosmos search).
Anyhow, it just turns out that Mark had just screwed up and posted some financial information he shouldn't have. He explains in his latest post:
i goofed and put some stuff up on my blog that's not supposed to be there. nothing serious and they didn't ask me to take anything down (even the stuff where i'm critical about the company). i'm learning that google is understandably careful about disclosing sensitive information, even vague financial-related things.
I found this interesting and I'm not completely sure why. I think it's about the speed that speculation travels within this network. I also wonder what the negative effects of this kind of speculation could be. In this case everything looks like it turned out alright, but I imagine this kind of frenzy could cause some serious problems for someone in the not too distant future.
Unfortunately I don't really have the brain power at the moment to explore exactly how. I'll leave that up to anyone interested. Just thought I'd pass along the info.
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Lot's of interesting stuff to talk about today (an incredible amount of which was in the
New York times -- check my
del.icio.us links). Let me start off with William Safire's last column titled
"Never Retire." Safire sums up his reason for leaving to two bits of advice he's received. As he explains, "combine those two bits of counsel - never retire, but plan to change your career to keep your synapses snapping - and you can see the path I'm now taking." The first piece, never retire, is a little too far away for me to really think about, but I believe the second piece is incredibly important. My biggest worry leaving college was stagnant thinking. After spending four years being constantly fed new and (mostly) interesting information, how was I going to keep those "synapses snapping" after I was left to fend for myself?
What I found was that writing and reading blogs were a great way to keep things working. All those millions of people writing have given my brain plenty of fodder. This space has replaced the essay writing I once did for a grade, and I think it's done a damn good job. I have found new joy in committing my ideas to paper and to discovering new thinking and connections that I may have overlooked.
One of those connections, which I just discovered, is from something I wrote on a precursor to this blog. In an entry about the static nature of education I wrote:
I think the problem with teachers and teaching in general is that the information they're teaching is so static. For whatever reason, it has been determined that history will only exist as some kind of dead entity rather than something which is ever evolving. History is important because it effects the decisions we make today, that is why people should learn it. However, there is too often no mention of the fact that history is a monologue rather than a dialogue (which connects us back to Plato). It is written by those who are victorious and accounts can often be incredibly different. If history teachers refuse to accept that the world is an evolving place and their style and technique must change, then how could they ever hope to communicate the fact that history is not a static entity?
This immediately made me think about an entry I read this morning from
Aaron Swartz, titled
Stanford: Day 63. In the entry Swartz talks about a professor who made an example of him in a humanities by asking the class, "Why is Aaron wrong?" He writes about their confrontation after class:
I corner her afterwards to ask what’s up. She says that she talks over me because I’m the only one who talks over her, which is only somewhat convincing. She says that I purposely exaggerate things, which I deny (although I admit that language is imprecise). She explains that the goal of the course is to look at ideas, not at facts. I wonder how one can possibly have useful ideas if you ignore the facts. I could hypothesize all sort of absurd things and come to all sorts of absurd conclusions, but the clear implication of philosophy is that the hypotheticals and the conclusions are applicable to our world.
So many academics have trouble finding the line between facts and ideas. To avoid static thinking requires understanding both. Otherwise, you get caught going in circles. This can happen two ways. One possibility is that there are so many disconnected ideas that there's nothing to tether the big idea to the real world and make people believe it's possible. Otherwise, an idea can be so heavily weighted with facts that there's nothing to lift it off the ground, nothing to excite people.
The best way to make people see something is to show them the connections. That's how we think. Making connections is not a new way of thinking, however, it's more evident than ever before thanks to the giant network most of use every day. Educators need to understand and embrace this idea generally and the internet specifically. Although it often seems hopeless, there are those who get it.
I recently read an entry on Smart Mobs titled "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age", which talks about a theory of learning that George Siemens advances in an article in the International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning. Siemens writes:
We can no longer personally experience and acquire learning that we need to act. We derive our competence from forming connections. A network can simply be defined as connections between entities. Computer networks, power grids, and social networks all function on the simple principle that people, groups, systems, nodes, entities can be connected to create an integrated whole. Alterations within the network have ripple effects on the whole.
That is an illustration of how we think that would have never existed before the internet. In fact, the internet is encouraging people to try and better understand how the brain functions. Which gets me right back to Safire. I got an email from my mother this morning telling me to read the Safire op-ed. Here's an excerpt:
Also, he's going to a foundation that focuses on
brain science. As we discussed the other day, and as David Brooks
wrote in his review on BLINK, I think that in the next 25 years, brain
science will have more of an influence on how we view the world -- and
hopefully, on how we educate -- than anything since the industrial
revolution. (Remember I said that!)
I can't disagree with her (for one because she's my mom and second because she knows much more about the topic than I), but I would say that a major reason for the revolution she sees are the breakthroughs in technology and networking brought forth by the net.
Remember I said that!
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Well, here it is. So what do you think? Please be as praising or critical as you feel necessary, I want to make this site as easy as possible to use. If you don't feel comfortable leaving the comments in the comment section, feel free to
email me.
Thanks, and hope you enjoy.
Oh, and if you're reading this through RSS, please take a few minutes to click through and take a look, I put a fair amount of time into the new design.
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I just feel like writing. I don't really have any idea where it will end up but I feel as though I've been cheating everyone who reads this site over the last week or so. It's amazing how much responsibility I feel to write here. It's not a bad responsibility, but I feel like I've started something and owe everyone who's jumped on board to continue it. This is not to say that I don't enjoy it, because I most certainly do. Just commenting on how this little page has changed the way I think about things. I know I've talked about this before, but it's amazing how I read things differently now. Anything I read, or see, can be fodder and must be analyzed as such. It's most certainly made me a more observant person, which is an interesting side effect that I didn't see coming. I also think it's made me a better writer, though I may not be the best person to judge that.
Anyway, I've been thinking about this because I haven't had much to say over the last few days. Not that it's a big deal, but I kind of feel some pressure to be "insightful." (Whether I'm ever actually insightful is up to you, not me.) But what do you do when there's nothing to be insightful about. I mean, sure, there's lots of stuff out there to talk about, but I just don't know what to say. (Take Google's announcement of a nofollow tag, for example, which I find incredibly interesting, but John Battelle says lots of what I was thinking.) This is not a big problem, but as a public voice, I'm almost left feeling naked without something to say. I'm sure most of you who actually read this haven't thought twice about the lack of updates (maybe you have?), but it's kind of bothered me. This site doesn't exist for me to be insightful, it exists as a place to keep track of thoughts and should they be insights, all the better.
I guess there's no real point to any of this, just felt like writing something. I've also been under the weather all week, which has put me in an odd mood. What can I say?
Well . . . this gave me a good laugh this morning. Animated penguins are funny.
There's my insight.
PS - For those who care, should have the redeesign done by this weekend. If you want to help me out with a critique or just want a sneak peek, drop me an email.
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Alright, I don't really have anything coherent to say at the moment (do I ever?), so I'm just going to splice together a couple things I've been thinking about/meaning to write.
1. Does this bizarre weather have something to do with the Tsunami? It snowed in Texas on Christmas. It's 60 degrees in New York in January. What's going on here? I'm sure someone's written about this, but I want to know.
2. I've been sick. I don't like being sick. Luckily, I'm feeling better. Although according to others I look pale. I kind of think I always look a bit pale, but who am I to judge?
3. Happy day after your birthday Leah.
4. Don't know if anyone noticed the link, but Jeremy Hiebert took my Top 50 Albums and made a Webjay playlist out of it. How cool is that?
5. While I'm on a bit of an ego trip, here's an entire blog post talking about my "Coming of Age" article from American Demographics about mobile technology and its effects on youth culture.
6. I'm rethinking my plan to definitely buy the new Mac mini (from the post "Barebones Mac on Its Way?"). While I love the idea, once I price it out with everything I want it's around $800 and wouldn't that be money better spent going towards a Powerbook. I'm not really the target on the Mac mini (as shown perfectly by this chart). According to the chart (and I agree), that target wants:
Low price, even at the expense of performance and features. Basic utility outweighs performance. Cool design can inspire impulse buy if the price is right.
I'm much more of the Powerbook target:
Design, features and performance regardless of price. Most storage space. Best features. Best performance.
Yup, that's me.
Gotta give this thing some thought.
UPDATE: PowerBook G5 is on it's way [via Engadget]. It's coming the 2nd Quarter of 2005 and I can officially announced that the $800-some-odd that I would have spent on a Mac mini is going into the PowerBook G5 fund.
ANOTHER UPDATE: After doing some more reading it appears I may have bought into some less-than-true information. Not too sure about this Powerbook G5 thing. But I can dream, can't I?
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Yesterday I got into a heated debate about the importance of incoming links and mentions when comparing bloggers (specifically Robert Scoble) to PR agencies. It was based on a
post by Steve Broback on
Blog Business Summit. His point, which he later backpedaled on, was:
Despite issuing tens of thousands of lengthy press releases containing marketing copy, it would appear that Google has deemed Scoble’s short, conversational postings as more relevant.
Notice that the only PR firm on the list with an RSS feed/blog is Edelman, and in site traffic they came in second place. More evidence that the “blog advantage� is real.
My argument, along with others', was that he was using flawed logic in comparing Scoble's mentions to PR agencies because PR agencies promote a company/product and, more often than not, attempt to pull their names out of the picture completely to add credibility.
What is more, a PR company's website exists as a B-to-B vehicle. That is, the reason they have a website is primarily to attract new clients by talking about their successes. (Of course there are other uses, such as recruitment, however, that is not the main objective.) To compare the incoming links of a PR site, with a goal like it has, to the Scobleizer, is just plain wrong. (A fact that Broback acknowledged with a later comment explaining: "I agree that this comparison is apples and oranges to a significant extent, and that while the numbers are interesting, any assertion of Scoble having more general media reach or influence would be specious.")
Scoble's site is a blog written by a Microsoft employee that encompasses all parts of his digital existence. The site is a B/C-to-B/C's (B/C = business/consumer, that is Scoble speaks from his post as product evangelist and regular-old-Joe). In other words, his site's potential audience is far larger than that of a traditional PR agency's website. This explains why he has so many more incoming links and mentions than the agencies do. It all seems simple.
It would have been fair to compare PR agencies to each other and to then say that blogs would help agencies generate more buzz against each other. In a comment Broback said this:
That being said, the fact is undeniable that all of those PR firms wish they had the kind of Google and Alexa numbers Scoble does, and they have expended significantly more resources and money to get a lesser presence.
I think all can agree to the inescapable conclusion from these numbers (and recent history) that at the very least PR firms need to work with bloggers and that’s a session at the event…
While I agree that PR agencies certainly can get better Google and Alexa numbers with the help of blogs and bloggers, is this the point of blogs? Call me a purist, but I think Scoble would agree that corporate blogs exist to help connect customers with business. Broback is talking about using blogs primarily for search engine optimization (SEO), a completely different beast. I know that we're already reaching the point where blogs are being used by corporations in a less than savory way (see MarketingVox's "Mazda's Blog+Viral Campaign Falls Flat"), but come on. I understand that the conference is about "how businesses can leverage current real-world blogging techniques, tools and platforms to promote and enhance their ventures." While using blogs for SEO is certainly one way to leverage blogs, hopefully there are more honest (and true) ways to use the tools that blogs offer to help your business, just as Scoble has done (or, if you want a PR example, Steve Rubel).
In the end, I agree that blogs are effective SEO tools, but I think they're so much more than that. I hope I'm not being too much of an optimist, but I really believe in this stuff.
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I've gotten myself into quite a debate over at
Blog Business Summit. Steve Broback started out by comparing mentions of
Robert Scoble across the web compared to PR firms and found that Scoble had more mentions than nearly any.
I don't believe this is a fair measure of the effectiveness of PR because firms are not promoting themselves, but instead their clients. Anyhow, it has turned into quite a back and forth between Steve and I and it's worth taking a look.
Go read the entry, "How Robert Scoble Compares to the Top PR Firms" and make sure to check out the comments.
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We've all seen the obnoxious
Blockbuster ads celebrating the end of late fees by now. Obviously this is all part of an elaborate plan by Blockbuster to contend with
Netflix, who has clearly taken away enough business to make Blockbuster rethink its strategies. (They even have added a suspiciously Netflixian DVD-by-mail service.)
Anyhow, my point in all this is that essentially what Blockbuster is trying to do is combat the long tail. How does a video store with physical space constraints fight against a digital service like Netflix that doesn't have to worry about the costs associated with owning property across the nation? I expect that what Blockbuster is going to find out is that this "no late fees" thing is going to annoy people more than anything else.
In the last year or so Blockbuster has started an in-store game service called "Game Pass." It allows customers to pay $19.99 a month and rent as many games a month as they'd like (either one or two at a time), with no due dates. However, a friend of mine who is a fairly serious gamer, has told me how much he hates the service. As a non-member it seems that because people can keep games as long as they'd like he can never get anything he wants. So what has he done? He's given up trying to rent from Blockbuster.
I imagine we may see something very similar happen with this new Blockbuster plan. What happens if everyone just keeps everything for the seven days (after that you have to pay for the movie)? Blockbuster will have very little in stock and I imagine people will get quite aggravated with the lack of stock. Blockbuster actually put forward a (half-hearted) answer to this question in their no late fee FAQ:
11. Aren't you worried that you won't have enough movies and games if everyone keeps their rentals longer?
A: We will be carefully monitoring the movie and game selection to make sure we maintain our current levels of product availability for you. However, it's in everyone's best interest to return their rentals by the due date, even with the end of late fees, to ensure that we have the movies and games you want to rent, available when you want to rent them.
Blockbuster is putting their trust in people acting in their "best interests," when they're in fact referring to everyone else's best interests. Honestly, it's in my best interests to get the maximum value out of my rental, thereby holding it for the maximum amount of time, is it not?
The reason Netflix works is because they've got such an exhaustive stock that they don't have to worry about human nature. Customers can hold things as long as they want, but that means they can't have another movie in its place. Basically everyone has three movies and they can do whatever they want with them, decide what your "best interests" are and follow them.
If Blockbuster really thinks that people won't take advantage of this system they've got another thing coming. Most people will take all seven days if you give that to them. I know I will (not that I rent movies from Blockbuster, but you get my point).
In the end, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Blockbuster either sink or pull back a great many of their stores and focus on their mail service in the coming years. While I don't doubt there will always be some place video stores to give you what you want when you want it, I don't imagine that a behemoth like Blockbuster will be able to survive. Is it possible that the long tail will help to bring back the Mom-and-Pop shops that have been destroyed by the franchising of America? Because they don't have to worry about the same overhead as these conglomerates they may find they are better suited to survive the long tail explosion and provide the immediate satisfaction that people will always desire. I know when I'm given the choice I always go to the local store instead of Blockbuster.
At the very least, it's a fun idea. Right?
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I've finally decided to make the move to
FeedBurner (the new feed address is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Noahbriercom). I can't stand not knowing my RSS stats. Since I use a Windows server I won't be able to move everything over, so if you're using an old feed it would be great if you wouldn't mind switching over to the new one (though it isn't required, I'll still be publishing in the old formats). Anyhow, here's some quick subscribe links for the new feed. (For anyone who cares, I've also gotten rid of the quicksub menu on the feeds on the main page.)
XML
Also, for anyone interested, you can get an RSS feed for my bookmarks (the things you see on the right side of the screen). Here are some links for that:
Bookmarks XML
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In his newest post,
Chris Anderson tries to come up with a "pithy definition" for The Long Tail. Here are his attempts:
A) The Long Tail is the infinite shelf-space effect--the new mass market of niches that rises when the existing bottlenecks in distribution that favor hits are removed.
B) The Long Tail is the myriad of niche products whose collective market share can rival the blockbusters.
C) New efficiencies in distribution, manufacturing and marketing are resetting the definition of what’s commercially viable across the board, turning sub-economic customers, products and markets into economic ones and creating a Long Tail of demand.
D) The Long Tail is about the economics of abundanceâ€â€what happens when the bottlenecks that stand between supply and demand in our culture start to disappear and everything becomes available to everyone.
E) The Long Tail is the story of how formerly sub-economic products and customers are suddenly becoming the biggest market of all.
F) None of the above. Please try harder.
Anderson asks for input, and he has gotten plenty (26 comments as of writing this post). I, of course, added my two cents and gave this as a definition (or part of a definition):
The Long Tail is the other 80 percent of information/data/goods/the world, which before digital technology was near-impossible to archive/store/sell/distribute effectively.
I left all those possible words because I'm not quite sure which is appropriate (or if limiting to one word is appropriate). I really feel as though the long tail is about more than just goods. I think it can extend to information (on blogs) or pictures (via a digital camera) and a myriad of other places. Really, what the long tail is all about is flipping traditional economics on it's head. In fact, the first definition I wrote up was this:
The Long Tail is the story of how unlimited digital space has flipped traditional rules of hit-driven economies on its head.
I don't know if that's a better definition, though. Is it? Does it make more sense? Now that I'm reading through it again it really seems to communicate the main points very effectively. In essence it's about taking that other 80 percent that isn't available in hit-driven economies and getting them to the masses. Because of the massive numbers online, aggregating the sales of non-hits becomes more than a viable business plan, it becomes a great way to make a whole lot of money. Make sense?
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Yesterday I
whined that
Fox's new Family Guy blog was hardly a blog at all. Without RSS or permalinks one hardly deserves the esteemed title of blog. Well folks, it appears that someone out in the ether is listening. Check out this
latest post from the Family Guy site (now a blog):
Apparently some of the top bloggers on this information super highway have found our little House-O-Guy and pointed out that we’re slightly behind the curve in this digital age of time efficiency. So The Baron has done what any good blogmaster does and kissed their @$$*$ by adding a RSS Feed and permanent links at the bottom of each post for quick reference. Because, really, who would want to actually visit and read through sites? May your worn hands be set free from the unwarranted tyranny of repeated clicking...
There you have it. A bunch of people complain and things get done. It's amazing how this stuff works. And congratulations Fox, you're not as dumb as you look and you just earned yourself a lot of readers whom also happen to write.
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Fox has started a
blog for the return of Family Guy [link via
Kottke Remaindered Links]. I would be in love with this idea if it weren't for one thing: it's not a blog! Without permalinks, RSS or comments you can hardly call this thing Fox has created a blog. While they don't call it one, you can't deny the connection by the look of it and the description certainly sounds like a blog:
This website is the only place that you'll be able to see the return of FAMILY GUY every step of the way along the production process.
Remember to check back often for exclusive looks at script pages, guest stars, interviews, table reads, story boards, and much more!
So basically they've created a frequently updated site, with timestamps and signatures but have left out all the parts that make blogs unique. Way to go guys, that's good. Nice job doing your research. I know RSS is pretty scary, but if
The New York Times can embrace RSS, why can't you? I would have immediately subscribed to that feed, it's a great show and it would be fun to get the inside scoop.
I know that there are still very few people using RSS. But the point is who, not how many. It's a fairly simple equation: bloggers use RSS, people read bloggers, therefore if you want people to read about you use RSS. I think they call that the transitive property and I learned it when I was 11. (It's also completely possible that's called something completely different and I have no idea what I'm talking about . . . math is not really my thing.)
My message to companies? Understand the technology before you decide to jump in because it's cool.
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365 Days. 1 Great Movie.
By Jeff Hughes
I’m really tired of modern movie critics. When do they hold that meeting in some abandoned warehouse, when Roger Ebert stands in the shadows puffing a cigarette and A.O. Scott knocks on the front door, armed with the password – “Self-Important.� When do these middle-aged white people (mostly men) decide to proclaim some new Hollywood mediocrity a masterpiece? And why – OH GOD WHY – is this year’s choice Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby? Not just one – but two overblown, overwrought dishonest movies in one.
I’m trying to stay positive.
Trying.
The top ten films of 2004, according to me: (note: I don’t write much about them. If you’re really interested, watch them. If you hate them, tell me.)
10. The Five Obstructions
Director Lars von Trier challenges avant-garde filmmaker Jorgen Leth to remake his classic, The Perfect Human. It’s cinema as psycho-therapy.
09. Vera Drake
Mike Leigh is the closest thing the cinema has to a brilliant dramatist. Vera is a politically fervent film without the imbalance of politically subjectivity.
08. The Manchurian Candidate
Fully expecting (and frankly hoping) to despise this remake by the overrated Jonathan Demme, I was shocked to find it not only the most entertaining Hollywood film of the year, but also the most interesting remake we’re ever likely to have. (That doesn’t mean we need any more people to try.)
07. Before Sunset
They talk and they talk and they talk…then they talk more. Then it ends. And it’s all lovely. Richard Linklater may not be the most visually interesting around but he has the best ear for dialogue since Woody Allen was at his peak.
06. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Here’s a conversation had after a mid-film brawl between rivaling news teams:
Ron: Boy that escalated quickly... I mean, that really got out of hand fast!
Champ: It jumped up a notch!
Ron: It did, didn't it?
Brick: Yeah, I stabbed a man in the heart!
Ron: I saw that! Brick killed a guy! Did you throw a trident?
Brick: Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident!
Ron: Brick, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. You should find yourself a safe house or a relative close by. Lay low for a while, because you're probably wanted for murder.
Still makes me laugh…
05. The Assassination of Richard Nixon
I think I’m going to be in the minority on this one but Sean Penn gives one of the greatest performances I have ever seen. Penn’s Sam Bicke is the incarnation of American self-doubt in the immediate post-Watergate era, an analysis of what happens when the American Dream seems unattainable.
04. Friday Night Lights
Man, director Peter Berg really blew this one out of the park (sorry for the sports allusion). It’s the story of one season in the life of a high school football team and it’s wonderfully character-driven. Best scene: showboat tailback, now humbled by an injury to his knee, breaks down with his uncle in the car, “All I know is football.� Earlier in the film, he turns to a reporter who asks how his grades are and says, “The only subject is football.� The film is full of beautiful touches like that.
03. Sideways
The backlash is underway but I’m sticking by Sideways, Alexander Payne’s subtle, funny and touching film about middle-aged drunks discovering themselves in the Napa Valley.
02. Maria Full of Grace
A young, pregnant Columbian girl becomes a drug mule to provide for her unborn child. At times both beautiful and horrifying, the biggest surprise comes in its Emma Lazarus ending.
#1 DOGVILLE
I saw Dogville in the spring. I’m still not sure how to write about it. Lars von Trier’s masterpiece is pointedly anti-American but it’s just as interesting when situated among the other films in his canon. In some ways, it’s a response to his feminist critics of the past decade. Its aesthetic is original and ideology is audacious. A friend asked me, “Isn’t this what all movies should be?� Damn, if only they were.
Films Worth Seeing: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Sea Inside, The Woodsman, Spiderman 2, Mean Girls, Control Room, The Door in the Floor
BUT WAIT! HOPE IS ON THE WAY!
This month, 2005 will save the day. There’s a film about a really fast zebra.
Jeff Hughes is better known as 'the drunk guy' or 'that guy with tasteless humor' in most circles. In this one, he's simply known as the guy who slept on my couch for a month and a half.
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I was just on Chris Anderson's new blog,
The Long Tail and noticed an interesting link. On the left side Anderson has a section called "Long Tail comment elsewhere:" and as I was perusing through the links I happened to noticed one I recognized:
Noah Brier
A sidenote on embracing 'waste': "Just think of digital cameras, for example. While you once might not have taken a picture of that sign you thought was funny on the street because you didn't want to waste your film, it's no longer something you worry about. With space no longer an issue you're capturing more of your life."
That's me! I'm incredibly excited about this link. Beyond just being the editor of my favorite magazined,
Wired, Anderson's original
long tail article really blew up the way I think about the world. It was one of those "wow" moments, where my whole frame of mind changed. To know that he read something I wrote and liked it enough to link to it is incredibly exciting for me.
I guess you could call me a dork, but at least I'm proud of it.
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This is the moment everyone's been waiting for, the proof that I really have no life. These are my 10 favorite albums of 2004, in order (roughly), with five word descriptions (or less) and an MP3 (mostly legal and only when I could find a link). (Also, for the MP3s, many are links to InSound and betterPropaganda.) I'm going to keep editing this list, and some rankings may change. Hope you enjoy it, I worked very hard. Any comments, questions, suggestions, let me know.
1 - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Shake the Streets
http://www.tedleo.com/ Rockin' punk originally from Jersey
MP3: "MeAndMia"
2 - Moonbabies - Orange Billboard
http://www.moonbabies.nu/ Swedish, LIYL My Bloody Valentine
MP3: "Sun A.M."
3 - Saturday Looks Good to Me - Every Night
http://www.saturdaylooksgoodtome.com/ 50's sounding rock from Detroit
MP3: "The Girl's Distracted"
4 - The Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed
http://www.themountaingoats.net/ One guy whining with guitar
MP3: "Palmcorder Yanja"
5 - Annie - Anniemal
http://www.anniemusic.co.uk/ Very poppy electro with vocals
6 - Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street
http://www.kingsofconvenience.com/ Erlend Oye's better known project
MP3: "I'd Rather Dance With You" Live at Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, October 31, 2004
7 - Erlend Oye - DJ Kicks
http://www.erlendoye.com An indie DJs DJ mix
8 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
http://www.franzferdinand.co.uk/ Scottish rock that everyone's heard
9 - Joanna Newsome - The Milk-Eyed Mender
http://www.walnutwhales.com/ More quirky than Bjork?
MP3: "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie"
10 - The Arcade Fire - Funeral
http://www.arcadefire.com/ Canadian band hard to describe
MP3: "Wake Up"
11 - Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
http://www.rilokiley.com/ This band does no wrong
MP3: "Portions for Foxes" Live at Good Records, Dallas, TX, October 23, 2004
12 - The Killers - Hot Fuss
http://www.thekillers.co.uk More poppy than The Strokes?
MP3:
13 - Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
http://www.ironandwine.com/ Guy and his guitar folk
MP3: "Naked As We Came"
14 - Annimal Collective- Sung Tongs
http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/ . . . Beats the hell outta me
MP3: "Leaf House"
15 - Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
http://www.sufjan.com/ Snowy folk with Christian overtones
MP3: "Sister"
16 - A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
http://www.acnewman.net/ Lead singer of New Pornographers
MP3: "Miracle Drug"
17 - Of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic
http://www.ofmontreal.net Acid was involved in recording
MP3: "Lysergic Bliss"
18 - The Streets - A Grand Don’t Come for Free
http://www.the-streets.co.uk/ New breed of British hip-hop
MP3:
19 - Interpol - Antics
http://www.interpolny.com/ Just like their last album
MP3: "Slow Hands"
20 - Feist - Let it Die
http://www.listentofeist.com/ Every song is completely different
MP3: "Mushaboom"
21 - Phoenix - Alphabetical
http://www.wearephoenix.com/ French electro-pop band
MP3: "Everything is Everything"
22 - Joy Zipper - American Whip
http://www.joyzipper.tv I really like electro-pop
23 - The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
http://www.thegoteam.co.uk/ Left this description to last
MP3: "Power is On"
24 - Walkmen - Bows and Arrows
http://www.thewalkmen.com/ They appeared on The O.C.
MP3: "Little House Of Savages"
25 - Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
http://www.scissorsisters.com/ Somewhere between Elton and Prince
26 - Maritime - Glass Floor
http://www.maritimesongs.com Poppy guitar music nothing more
MP3: "Sleep Around"
27 - Ratatat - Ratatat
http://www.ratatatmusic.com/ Two guitars and a computer
MP3: "Seventeen Years"
28 - Madvillain - Madvillainy
http://www.stonesthrow.com/madvillain/ Madlib and MF Doom hip-hop
MP3: "Accordion"
29 - Mirah - C'mon Miracle
http://www.krecs.com/mirah/ Often beautiful female vocals
MP3: "Jerusalem"
29 - The Cardigans - Long Gone Before Midnight
http://cardigans.com/ I like female lead singers
30 - John Vanderslice - Cellar Door
http://www.johnvanderslice.com/ Intelligent rock with electronic hints
MP3: "Pale Horse"
31 - The Roots - The Tipping Point
http://www.theroots.com/ Another solid album
32 - Kanye West - The College Dropout
http://www.kanyewest.com/ Should this be ranked higher?
33 - Murs - Murs 316 The 9th Edition
http://www.definitivejux.net/jukies/murs/ Murs and 9th Wonder hip-hop
MP3: "3:16"
34 - Wagon Christ - Sorry I Make You Lush
http://www.ninjatune.net/ninja/artist.php?id=35 Electronic music with some umph???
35 - Air - Talkie Walkie
http://www.intairnet.org/ Air make sweeping electronic music
36 - Wilco - A Ghost is Born
http://www.wilcoweb.com How do you explain Wilco?
37 - The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
http://www.thefieryfurnaces.com/ Not sure I get it
MP3: "Chris Michaels"
38 - Modest Mouse - Good News for People who Love Bad News
http://www.modestmousemusic.com/ They make poppy indie rock
39 - Magnetic Fields - I
http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/tmf.php All songs start with "I"
40 - Prince - Musicology
http://www.npgonlineltd.com/ Prince does Prince again
41 - Death from Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine
http://www.deathfromabove1979.com/ These guys rock hard
MP3: "Romantic Rights"
41 - The Fever - Red Bedroom
http://www.thefeveronline.com/ Same realm as The Strokes
MP3: "Gray Ghost"
42 - The Bad Plus - Give
http://www.thebadplus.com/ Exciting jazz trio
43 - cLOUDEAD - Ten
http://www.dirtyloop.com/cLOUDDEAD.html Hip-hop like you've never heard
MP3: "Rifle Eyes"
44 - Lambchop - Aw C’Mon/No, You C’mon
http://www.lambchop.net/ Two albums of southern goodness
MP3: "Something's Going On"
45 - TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
http://www.tvontheradio.com/ Brooklynites experiment with sound
MP3: "Dreams"
46 - Zero 7 - When It Falls
http://www.zero7.co.uk/ More female vocals than Air
47 - Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
http://www.sonicyouth.com/ Grunge grandfathers make fuzzy music
48 - Mellow - Perfect Colors
http://www.mellow-workshop.com The band's name says it
49 - Lali Puna - Faking the Books
http://www.lalipuna.de German glitch-pop
50 - Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands
http://www.younggodrecords.com/Artists/DevendraBanhart/ Mostly indescribable quirky folk music
MP3: "The Body Breaks"
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Sorry for the lack of entries over the last few days, it's been due to a combination of things. First off, New Years meant that the rest of the weekend was basically a lost cause. I'm happy to report I had a good New Years Eve and a lazy Saturday as I tried to recover from the Friday night fun. I did manage to work on my list of
top 50 albums of 2004 over the weekend, however, which gets me to my second problem. I've been trying to post
my top 50 for the last two days to no avail. For some reason (maybe the list is too long?), every time I press save it takes forever and eventually times out with the error "document contains no data." (If anyone has any recommendations on this problem, please let me know.) I have found, though, that short entries seem to go through fine, so I guess I'll just keep it short for now. Because of my problems, I have decided to post
my entire top 50 in the
music section of the site. Go check it out, I worked hard on the list and it includes an MP3 link for nearly all the albums in
the top 50. Hope you enjoy that, and in the meantime I'll keep working on getting Movable Type working better. Thanks for your patience.
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Hi, I'm 