It’s Sunday but we have another day off tomorrow. A holiday.
Jenn and Rae are seeing Mamma Mia with Dottie.
Owen and I are at home with the animals:
Folding clothes
Going outside to see the fish and hear the waterfall
Watch some football
Do some light exercise - stairs for him, following around and sit-ups for me
Easy, breezy day (and I blogged from my phone).
As I’ve stated previously, I’m not a fan/viewer of Mad Men. Yet.
I have all the episodes (from both seasons) on the TiVo and it’s just a matter time before Jenn & I jump in. One of our main influences being her folks, who have become similarly addicted and can’t stop mentioning the show.
Last night alone it merited almost 10 minutes of discussion between my mother-in-law, myself and Jenn, so we’re likely in it, it’s just a matter of “when?”.
One disappointing development, as someone who works in the intersection of marketing and digital, is AMC’s takedown of twitter accounts based on “Mad Men” characters.
Here’s linkage to the coverage:
AMC Has Twitter Suspend Mad Men Accounts
Mad Men characters vanish from Twitter!
AMC Asks Twitter to Remove ‘Mad Men’ Accounts
AMC gets ‘Mad’ over Twitter accounts
I am @paul_kinsey
From certain perspectives this is certainly a wrong-headed and overly-offensive approach. In other ways, AMC is certainly churning up some buzz - albeit negative - about the show and no PR is bad PR.
But what about the current fans, especially those who are on Twitter or were following these “fake” characters? And what about me? Should I care to jump on in the middle if I know that AMC might not like the fact that I would potentially blog or tweet about their show, though not in any character-impersonation capacity?
Is this just a big echo chamber? Do I have the perspective to comment?
I’ll say this: every television show should feel honored to have fans so dedicated and tech-savvy that they’re helping market the show by embodying the characters, even if they don’t always follow your “rules”.
And I’m someone in a position to understand AMC’s plight, but I’ve got to think I would handle this situation differently but, again, maybe I’ve got rose-colored glasses.
In any event, I may be watching Mad Men tonight. This brouhaha, for better or for worse, might be better for AMC if they can gain me as a viewer.
That said, I’m glad they haven’t tuned in to tumblr yet. ;-)
Exhibits A & B: What Would Don Draper Do? and What Would Joan Holloway Do?
Until next time …
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
UPDATE: I need to make two crucial, additional points.
Easy to see why people are so captivated. We’ll be watching more (all) in the very near future.
Maybe I’m missing the point here, but I don’t see (yet, anyway) why you’d want to be “friends” on a 21st century technology with a character from the 50’s & 60’s. But that might just be me.
Which begs a follow-up question: as you as a viewer relate to the characters and shows you’re a fan of, how would you rather connect to them via the internet? As networks? As shows? As characters? As creators/actors?
Leave a comment.
My main question still stands: when and how do people expect to connect to social media, and Twitter specifically, in “new” ways.
Do you only “friend” or “follow” people you know or is there some kind of process you could articulate that informs your decision-making process?
Just curious.
Continuing my series on eggcorns and malapropisms in meetings (previous installment: “flushing out” versus “fleshing out”), I bring you the “down the pipe” versus “down the pike” debate.
I’m definitely in the “pike” camp, as I’d always heard of things “coming down the pike” even if I didn’t really internally the full meaning. I think I’d always assumed it meant turnpike and not the fish or the poleaxe, but who knows.
Maybe I’m just too trusting of institutionalized linguistics and didn’t question the knowledge. Either way I picked right correctly.
Here are my “sources”. See for yourself:
The Eggcorns Database
Absolute Write
Of course, even those sites still have discussion about “pipe” as not only being valid, but also a meaningful and equal modernization. Think of “close the vest” becoming “close to the chest”. Both convey the same meaning, one is just more “classic” and original.
Here are some other discussions on the topic.
Pike == Turnpike and/or 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair reference
Pipe == 20th century plumbing and/or the internet
Until next time, I’ll be working on more posts “coming down the pike”. Or is it “pipe”?
Before I ramble on with my rant, I’d like to announce that I’ve finally (after 15 months of effort) made the grade as a “Pledge” in Taco Mac’s passport club. Two points, to be fair:
Here’s a rundown of the beers that carried me over the threshold, newlywed-style:
I’d argue that I didn’t drink half of these beers, but Taco Mac’s database has always been a bit sketchy. I once ordered a Sweetwater 420 and the bill showed a Dogwood Pale Ale so draw your own conclusions about my memory and their bookkeeping.
Here’s what I drank tonight and how they were charged to the bill:
Billed as Flying Dog Special
Billed as Tommyknocker Imperial. Tommyknocker makes an Imperial Nut Brown Ale so who knows what I drank.
But I digress. The real reason I’m blogging tonight, save a slight buzz, are three pieces of bad beer news:
Pardon me if I just threw up a bit in my mouth.
See previous pithy commentary.
I supposed they’re waiting to roll out a Golden version (Molson for Canada, Coors/Banquet Beer [Golden, Colorado] for the U.S.) but I’m not buying it.
I want my free beer emulator for the iPhone! Who would pay for iBeer?
Here’s their email to me, complete with my message and the LENGTHY Molson Coors boilerplate masthead for shits and giggles.
Free the iPint!
Oh, and have a happy, safe and reproductive weekend (beer included).
Hello
Apologies for any disappointment, but Carling marketing is only intended for the UK and European markets.
The Carling Team
- Show quoted text -——– Original Message ——–
From: “Seth Miller”
Date: 19:45 Wed, 6th Aug 2008I don’t live in the UK but I do enjoy Carling.
Is there any way for me to get iPint on my iPhone?
Thx!
-Seth
Molson Coors is the fifth largest brewer in the world, formed by the merger of equals in 2005 of Molson and Coors. With executive offices in Denver and Montreal, its major markets are the UK, Canada and the USA. Coors Brewers Limited is the UK’s 2nd largest brewer with a 20%+ market share. Brands include Carling, the UK’s biggest selling lager, Grolsch one of the UK’s leading premium lagers and Coors, an American style premium lager.
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This e-mail is confidential and may be privileged.
This document is intended for, and should only be read by, those persons to whom it is addressed. Its contents are confidential and if you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by telephone and delete all records of the message from your computer.
Any form of reproduction, dissemination, copying, disclosure, modification, distribution and / or publication of this message without our prior written consent is strictly prohibited. Neither the author of this message nor their employers accept legal responsibility for the contents of the message. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author.**********************************************************************
We do not warrant that this email or any attachments are virus-free and do not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage resulting from any virus infection.Coors Brewers Limited, 137 High Street, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1JZ.
Registered in England Number 26018
Tel: +44 1283 511000
Copyright 2006 Coors Brewers Limited
So, to recap:
Blondes with big boobs, region encoding and big breweries taking microbrewery tactics are no ways to market beer.
Thank you!
Yesterday during a meeting a co-worker said they were going to “flush out” an idea and suddenly my inner twelve-year-old couldn’t stop snickering. I had to pretend I was suppressing a sneeze so as not to give myself away.
I’ve always been one to “flesh out” and idea, and I had the vague understanding that it came from Renaissance-era art, but it wasn’t an idiom I thought much about and even more rarely used.
Turns out I’m not the only person who’s had some trouble discerning the differentiation between “fleshing out” an idea and “flushing out” an idea. Paul Brians of the Department of English at Washington State University drops the knowledge:
To “flesh out” an idea is to give it substance, as a sculptor adds clay flesh to a skeletal armature. To “flush out” a criminal is to drive him or her out into the open. The latter term is derived from bird-hunting, in which one flushes out a covey of quail. If you are trying to develop something further, use “flesh”; but if you are trying to reveal something hitherto concealed, use “flush.”
The differences are slight, especially where one is talking about ideas or intellectual pursuits, so I can see why folks would get confused. But if you think back to the source and origin of the phrases, you won’t get things wrong.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to flush out an unwritten blog post and flesh out another half-written one.
Are you with me?
Thpppttt!!!!!!