Another Day, Another Links Roundup

Del.icio.us goes down and nobody knows what to do with themselves anymore. I'm stuck here with about 15 open windows just waiting to be bookmarked. So, as 90% Crud put it, I'm just going to have to go with the old-fashioned way: link-blogging.

Design

• Speak Up on what can be learned about branding from the icon that is Santa.
• PVRblog interviews Michael Cronan the man behind the Tivo name and icon. He explains the because Tivo was such a revolutionary product he felt the need to keep the name and logo familiary and friendly.

Just noticed del.icio.us is back up, yet I will go on anyway.

Marketing

• Cultural theorist Grant McCracken considers the reasons why small agencies are flourishing.
• A note from a buzz marketer: I'd love this product even if I weren't a stealth marketer.

The Rest

• Mike Wallace on the question he'd ask George W.: "What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn't want to travel. You knew very little about the military. . . . The governor of Texas doesn't have the kind of power that some governors have. . . . Why do you think they nominated you? . . . Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the country is so [expletive] up?"
• Mona Lisa is officially smiling, according to some crazy software.

That ends today's links. Come back tomorrow for your regularly scheduled blogging. I hopefully have an entry on tap this week about the sorry state of blog information architecture as well as my top 50 albums of 2005. Wooohooo.