gabor szabo – jazz raga (impulse 1966) album

Bijna twee jaar geleden besteedde ik aandacht aan het beste album van Gabor Szabo. Vandaag de plaat met zijn beste nummer. “Jazz Raga” heet zo omdat Szabo zowel op gitaar als op sitar te horen is; dit laatste instrument was natuurlijk het toppunt van hipheid in 1966. Gelukkig dient de sitar he hoofddoel: een vurige plaat maken. De spookachtige opener “walking on nails” is bij mijn weten het beste dat Szabo gemaakt heeft. De rest van het album is prettig kaal en intens, en bevat onder andere een stuwende cover van “paint it black“. Ik blijf echter maar teruggaan naar het eerste nummer!

The latest podcast is a selection of psych rock and not so psych rock spanning across two decades (60s & 70s). These are musically my favorite decades, and I wanted to make a selection that focuses on this. Enjoy!

MP3 Richard Danger – Danger Comes Alive (Oh Heavenly Dog Radio pt.

Tracks
Dwight D. Eisenhower Intro
Deep Purple – Help
McDonald & Giles – Tomorrow´s People – Children Of Today
Paris – Big Town 2061
Billy Joe Royal – Hush
Deep Purple – Hush
The Freak Scene – A Million Grains of Sand
Focus – Hocus Pocus
Kiss – Kissin´ Time
Los Hombres – Let It Out (Let It All Hang out)
Os Incriveis – You Keep Me Hanging On
Neil Youg & The Crazy Horse – Cinnamon Girl
Link Wray – God Out West
The Beatles – Hey Bulldog!
Free – Sweet Tooth
The Rationals – I Need You
Peter Frampton – Baby, I Love Your Way

After The West Wing ended, we followed actor Dulé Hill over to a show called Psych. It’s a comedy about a guy named Shawn who was trained by his father from birth to notice tiny clues and solve crimes. (Dulé Hill plays the sidekick, Gus) Because he’s so good at noticing things that other people don’t notice, people mistake him for a psychic. Shawn capitalizes on this by pretending to actually be psychic and to help the police department solve crimes.

It’s a good show. I mean, it is what it is, a sort of witty, pop-culture referencing, slacker comedy entirely based on the joke that Shawn must play-act and pretend to be psychic to keep the charade going. It’s sort of like Monk, or any number of humorous, throw away episode mystery shows, where you don’t need to turn your brain on too much and you don’t need to see every episode to know what’s going on.

After the show had been on for a few years over on the USA network, a new show, The Mentalist, premiered on CBS. The premise of the show seems to be more or less identical to psych, other than the fact that it is a drama instead of a comedy, and that the main character is smarmy and annoying and British, and everybody calls him by his last name, “Jane”, which is girly. The two shows seemed so similar that I thought perhaps the people responsible for Psych had decided to repackage the idea a little bit for a much wider audience on a much bigger network. It seemed to work too, since the Mentalist apparently has a huge audience and has won some awards. However, lately Psych has been taking some digs at the Mentalist, leading me to believe they were not part of the deal. Here is a transcript from a recent promo:

Shawn: “You’ve seen the mentalist, right?”
Dude: “Yes.”
Shawn: “It’s like that.”
Gus: “Except that guy is a fake.”
Shawn: “Right, if I was a fake psychic, it would be eerily similar.”
Gus: “Exactly the same.”
Shawn: “A virtual carbon copy.”

So obviously, they’re not too thrilled. But The Mentalist can’t have just stolen the idea, right? Everybody would notice that. Or is CBS just big enough to bully USA around when they like? Has that ever happened before, that another network just blatantly steals an idea from another? I mean, if the Mentalist really is better than Psych (it’s not), then what can USA say? Waaa, you took our idea and made it better!

So I guess the only thing that can be done, is that I can get the word out there. So don’t watch The Mentalist, watch Psych instead.

In previous blog-entries of mine, I mentioned the forum PsychForums and their Asperger's board. This time, I decided to dedicate an entire blog-post to the site and say that it's a phenomenal forum to use if you have any type of psychological problem – check PsychForums out if you haven't yet.

PS. I'm not affiliated in any way with PsychForums; I just enjoy promoting things I deem worthy.

Posted via email from HikiCulture – A Forum For Reclusive People (and Hikikomori) {HikiCulture.Com Site Blog}

Se ha confirmado que la comedia policial de USA, Psych, regresará para una quinta temporada de 16 episodios.

Protagonizado por James Roday y Dulee Hill, el show se centra en Shawn Spencer (Roday), un consultor para el departamento de policía de Santa Barbara, quien gracias a sus enormes habilidades detectivescas y de observación es capaz de convencer a sus superiores de que posee poderes psíquicos los cuales usa para resolver crímenes.

No soy seguidor del show, pero lo considero una de las producciones más originales y entretenidas de los últimos años por lo que me alegra mucho que regrese a seguir entreteniendo a su público un año más. Fanáticos de Pysch, Felicitaciones

La quinta temporada de Psych comenzará a emitirse en algún momento del 2010.

The last few days have been a mixed bag. Late afternoon or early evening i have had quite dramatic shifts to very low mood. This shift has been preceded by dizzy spells and buzzing in my head,  feeling a bit spaced out, not quite in touch with reality and then it’s as if a switch has been flicked and my mood drops to the floor. 

I had an appointment with my psych today and explained what had been happening. He thinks what i am getting is withdrawal symptons from Ago and has suggested i bring forward the time that i take it. I’m not too sure that this is going to make a difference to it happening just what time it will happen.

I presently take Ago about 30 mins before i go to bed so most nights around midnight, it gives me a rushing feeling and makes me quite dizzy, like being a little tipsey. Now if it’s pooping out around 5/6 o’clock surely if i take it earlier then it will poop out at 3/4 o’clock. I am going to try and i will have to see.

He didn’t want to increase the dose as it’s a bit early and probably will in 2 weeks time if all goes well (can’t say i’m over the moon to know that i will be taking more shortly, particularly as i had such an initial reaction to the stuff) 

This also brings the question of what happens when you stop taking the Ago. Research says no notable side effects from stopping Ago but i think, just from my experience so far, that that may not be true at least from me.

I have to admit that when i’m not having withdrawal symptons that my mood is probably slightly up (which makes the lows more significant) and i am quite energised, i walked to my appointment today, which is unusual for me i drive everywhere and the weather is not exactly inviting at the moment either. My appetite is fluctuating but quite poor so when i do feel like eating i am trying to make sure that i do. I have a dry mouth, i do not seem to have any gastro intestinal problems which is listed as a common side effect, but that could be due to the lack of food intake. I do feel anxious at times and also quite aggitated. I am finding though that i am generally feeling ok most of the time but i am very aware of how i am feeling and suspect this has quite a lot to do with the fact that i am seeing a physchologist at the moment and  have just started DBT group.

Currently my two favorite shows on television (or Hulu as I don’t have cable) are Psych and Burn Notice. I’ve watched all but the last 2 seasons of Monk and am now into White Collar. Dating back to my childhood USA Sunday morning had Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Late night TV was Duckman and Weird Science. USA is always putting together some of the best television imaginable. For wrestling fans they have Monday Night Raw. I have to say that USA puts together my favorite shows and has for many years.

Trying to find motivation for writing this. Right now, oddly enough, it is pain distraction. I’m having some bad renal-related pain on the right side. (It was on the left side in back this morning, but not nearly as bad.) Finally just popped a good, strong pain pill and logged on to WordPress.

I think that pain is what motivates me to writing in my blog the most–whether it be physical pain or emotional pain. There are a lot of times when I would do it more often, in immediate reaction to something, but I don’t have a laptop or netbook computer to capture those moments. So then I text a tweet to my Twitter account from my cell phone instead. Sometimes if I am in a place where I can write privately and have abundant paper with me I will write my thoughts to transcribe later.

Life is like what seems to attract me to blogging: no pain, no gain. It takes some level of effort to succeed and reach goals. When I blog, I gain from readers, and from within my self. In life, I gain by doing things that will lead to taking me out of homelessness. I am trying. And I am doing. I am taking steps to helping myself accomplish that goal. I am trying to make more notes to help me remember things. I am getting mental health care, including counseling and psych medication. I am working with my caseworker regarding psych issues and future housing possibilities. I know that everything is working out. Finally. I am on the right track.

2562 – like a dream (van “unbalance“, 2009)
husnu ozkartal orkestrasi – su derenin sulari (van “psych funk 101“, 2009)
musique pour le khène – pao sat (van “laos – musique pour le khène“, 1978)
james brown – just enough room for storage (van “sho is funky down here“, 1970)

Ok dan! De laatste keer dat ik “de lijstjes” deed is meer dan een jaar geleden; volgensmij is het tijd voor een nieuwe ronde.

Het idee: ik maak een lijstje met wat me bezighoud, en jij doet hetzelfde.

Muziek, boeken, films, recepten… anything goes. Hierbij negen dingen die mij bezig houden met tekst en uitleg. Ik ben benieuwd waar jullie hart sneller van gaat kloppen!

2562 – unbalance (tectonic 2009)
Ik kondigde het tweede album van Dave Huismans in oktober al aan. Inmiddels is het verschenen en boy-oh-boy does it deliver! “Unbalance” is dieper en meer gevarieerd dan voorganger “Aerial“. Luister naar “like a dream” en oordeel zelf.

Scott’s expeditie naar de Zuidpool in 1910
Laatst heb ik “The worst journey in the world” gelezen. In dit boek uit 1922 beschrijft expeditielid Apsley Cherry-Garrard zijn drie jaar(!) op de Zuidpool. Niet het spectaculaire verhaal wat je verwacht, maar een prachtig geschreven observatie van vriendschap, de menselijke aard en de natuur van Antarctica. Het feit dat dit 86 jaar na verschijnen nog niet aan relevantie heeft ingeboet zegt mijns inziens genoeg – een Tip dus. Hier een mooi verzameling foto’s van de expeditie.

va – psych funk 101 (world psychedelic classics 2009)
Opvolger van het geweldige “love’s a real thing” uit 2005. “Psych Funk 101” is opgezet als een introductie in de wereld van internationale heavy-heid, en slaagt daar behoorlijk goed in. Ik kende maar een paar van de veertien nummers op het album – altijd een goed teken. Een goed voorbeeld kiezen is lastig, want de nummers zijn redelijk verschillende. Luister hierboven daarom naar het eerste nummer van kant A: “su derenin sulari” van het Husnu Ozkartal Orkestrasi. Reeds!

kabouter wesley
Omdat de combinatie werkt: slecht getekende kabouter is altijd boos in filmpjes van negentig seconden die qua inhoud balanceren tussen zwakzinnig en geniaal. Turbo Turbo.

marijata – st (lp) album
Heavy afro-funk. Diep, vloeibaar en hypnotiserend.

untold – gonna work out fine ep (hessle audio 2009)
Jack Dunning alias Untold is één van de producers van 2009. Ja, dat durf ik zo stellig te zeggen. Er is bij mijn weten niemand die de Britse dance-geschiedenis (rave, drum ‘n bass, london garage, dubstep, etc) zowel respectvol als achteloos terug laat komen in zijn nummers. Zijn nieuwe EP “gonna work out fine” is geen uitzondering: zes blinkende nummers die voer zijn voor dansvloer en hersenen.

blind gary davis – harlem street singer (bluesville 1960) album
Doorleefde en bluesy plaat met geweldig gitaarwerk van de man die voluit reverend blind gary davis heet. Behoorlijk zeldzaam, maar met dank aan een digitale kennis in zijn volle glorie te horen.

va – laos – musique pour le khène (ocora 1978)
Tsja. Hoe beschrijf je dit? Veldopnamen uit Laos waarop de khène het enige instrument is. Je hebt waarschijnlijk wel een idee bij “muziek uit Laos op een houten blaasinstrument”. Dat klopt niet. Luister naar het nummer hierboven en prepare to be surprised.

james brown – sho is funky down here (king 1970)
Een rariteit in JB’s discografie – een instrumentaal album waarop hij zelf én zijn band niet te horen zijn. Brown was zo onder de indruk van een optreden van The Grodeck Whipperjenny dat hij de band gelijk inlijfde in zijn muzikale entourage. Het eerste resultaat is deze plaat… die James Brown vrolijk verpakte alsof het zijn nieuwe album was. Dat was niet waar, en dat is ook goed te horen: “sho is funky down here” is een erg witte plaat vol met psychedelische instrumentale grooves. Wel tof, geen James Brown. Luister hierboven naar “just enough room for storage“

…en dat is het einde van dit lijstje voor mij, maar hopelijk het begin van jullie bijdragen!

Just a quick update today on some anticipated release and return dates. Over the past month or so, I’ve mentioned that I was looking forward to the return of four of my favorite shows and I speculated on whether or not Scarecrow & Mrs. King would finally be released on DVD.

Well, I am excited to announce that earlier this week, the first season of Scarecrow & Mrs. King did become available for pre-order on Amazon. It will be released in March and I will definitely be splurging on that!

Other good news this week is the report that Burn Notice will return on January 28 and Psych will return on January 29. As a side note, White Collar will move to Thursdays after Burn Notice for the second half of its season. [Oh my gosh, that means I will have six (6) shows on Thursday nights.] It should be noted that USA has yet to make an official announcement about these return dates, but they do seem likely.

Finally, two exciting return dates were announced yesterday. First, Lost will return on Tuesday, February 2. I am very pleased that it will be on Tuesdays. I had heard rumors that it might go to Thursday, which, if you just read the above paragraph, you realize would have been disastrous for me. However, Tuesday is terrific because it will come on right after NCIS.

The second announcement from yesterday is probably the one I am most excited about: Chuck will be returning January 10 with a two hour season premiere. So glad I don’t have to wait until March!

I leave you with a sneak peek at Season 3 of Chuck:

Today I had a appointment with an intake counselor here in Durham. When she started talking about Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder, I had to stop her before she got to far ahead of me. You see my memory fucking sucks and if I’m getting a lot of technical information, I won’t retain it. So I had to slow her down, tell her I needed the information in child language, and take notes. 

When I asked her about the difference in the two, she informed me there were only three real differences.

1) Bipolar is a chemical in-balance of the brain, Borderline Personality Disorder is something you learn as you grow up, basically a life’s lesson taught by your family, friends, and yourself as you grow up.

2)  Borderline Personality Disorder is primarily about relationships and how you perceive them, including how you feel about yourself. One minute your hot or on, the next minute your cold or off. 

3) There is no medical treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder as their is with Bipolar, just learning to relive your life.

So according to the Licensed Clinical Counselor I spoke with today, those are the only 3 real differences between the 2. Well thank you very much for someone finally explaining it to me. My next step is an intensive 90 days of therapy. First 30 days I will go to 3 different counseling sessions a week, the next 30 days I will go to 2, then the last 30 days I will go once a week. Each week will be a mix of group therapy and individual therapy. Should I decide I want to go to just one or the other therapy I will be dropped from the program as both therapies are connected with the other. The therapy sessions are called, Triumph. What the hell it stands for, I have no clue. LOL. 

I concerned about this, because the Counselor didn’t talk about sending me to Psych Counseling. She thinks the Triumph program will help me with my Bipolar in it’s own way. My concern is that the Borderline Personality Disorder will take over, leaving the Bipolar mistreated besides by the medications they will be putting me on December 10th. So I’m at a confusion point with my disease and my lifestyle traits. LOL. I think that is how I will refer to Borderline Personality Disorder from here on out, lifestyle traits, since thats all it really is.

I did shock the counselor as I recounted my life. She told me she has been bad, but never that much bad shit happening in one persons live and that person still being alive. She then said the one thing that drives me fucking nuts “you seem like a very strong girl”. Do they not see it’s all a big fake piece of existence? The hiding in a corner from the world? Help me damn it! I’m a little girl stuck inside a big girl’s body! 

Some new developments in myself that I’m coming across. 1) I’m seeing hallucinations, 2) The self mutilating has increased 3) I’m hearing voices and things that aren’t there. Woo Hoo someone call me a funny farm wagon. LOL. Thats actually what I almost told the counselor today. 

Lord help me, surely I’m not getting that bad after being so long without my medication or counseling.

A-HA!!!
===============================================================

Back on my Sun City Girls trip.  Here are 2 bootleg recordings from the Charles Gocher memorial tour.
Alan and Rick went round the States following Charlies demise and played a bunch of acoustic Girls songs and during each show the scattered a little bit of Charlies ashes into the audience.  It seems sort of fitting in a way that a man so in tune with collective consciousness should eventually be returned to the masses.

Anyways, 2 boots here:
The first one was recorded in New York and is of much better quality.  They do a couple of Charlies “poems” (AKA texts from the Gocher Grimoir) and have quite a lot of banter with the audience as well which I really enjoy, I also particularly enjoyed Alans sly dig at the noise scene. 
The second one is from their New Orleans show and while it is great for any Girls fan its not as immediately arresting as the NYC recording, having said that the NYC recording is probably my favorite boot of all time from any band so its not really a fair comparison I guess!  Nonetheless it provides good listening and is definitely worth having.

And just a reminder there was whole bunch of other SCG records posted ages ago on here if you missed that. Scroll down/back for the goodies I guess…

OK I’m done, have a nice day/month/year/life (delete as applicable.)  linx are belowwwww……

http://www.mediafire.com/?uh5nzgtthzt  — Knitting Factory, NYC.

http://www.mediafire.com/?4yzxcm0nomz – New Orleans, Louisiana.

I have decided to start my own website since I have vast experiences with my Bipolar and helping my family deal with it. The website will include my blogs, information and sources for friends and family of those dealing with Bipolar, methods of coping for people with Bipolar, as well as a discussion board for people with Bipolar and our loved ones. I will also be starting a hotline for people to call when they feel they need someone to talk to. 

www.awanderersmind.com

The site isn’t even close to being completed, but its a start and it has a few ways to reach me in the mean-time if you need someone to talk to. So far it’s just a landing page, so bare with me as I struggle to finish it. LOL

www.awanderersmind.com

Now keep in mind, I’m only one person so if my phone line is busy, leave me a message or call back when its convient for you. More then likely the best way to reach me will be on one of the 2 messengers I use. All your information will be kept private and just between us. Trust me when I say you will help me as much as I want to help you!

I start seeing a Psych Doctor again in 2 days. Am petrified of the idea of going back to a Doctor for my Bipolar and my Borderline Personality Disorder. It just felt like every time I have to go see a Psych Doctor I get nervous of how they might react and I quit going. Mental Health issues suck. I don’t know about most of you but my mind is so clouded and foggy that I can’t think straight half the time. LOL. And here I want to start a Bipolar helpline. LOL. Nah, that I can do. I’m very good at helping people, I’m just not good at taking my own advice, like most of us. 

So wish me luck!, I know I’ll make it through the Psych Doctor intake, go home and work on my wonderful new websitea dn make someone happy that day. LOL.

www.awanderersmind.com

Have a great day everyone, I’m sure I’ll be back to write later. My mom has me making Buckeyes for her friends at work, so it might be a late night writing. LOL

Psych: Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Wrestles for the Troops

Top Chef: Las Vegas: Strip around the World

pisces – dear one (van “a lovely sight“, numero group 1969/2009)
pisces – mary (van “a lovely sight“, numero group 1969/2009)

De Numero Group -al jaren één van mijn favoriete labels- is in 20o9 niet bij te houden: acht albums, een prachtig boek en hun eigen Eccentric Soul Revue. Phew! Als ik labelbaas Rob Sevier moet geloven wordt 2010 nog drukker. Daar gaat mijn salaris.

Een paar maanden geleden bracht de Numero group (40 jaar na dato) het debuutalbum van Pisces uit. In een relatief isolement sleutelden Jim Krein, Paul DiVenti en Linda Bruner in een kelder aan eigen nummers, maar door een klassieke samenloop van omstandigheden lukte het nooit deze uit te brengen. Het waarom laat zich het beste samenvatten met deze quote van John Lennon: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans“

Numero to the rescue: in 2007 vertelde een bevriende verzamelaar dat daar-en-daar een verzameling tapes lag die misschien wel iets voor hun waren. Dat klopte, en een kleine twee jaar later ligt “A lovely sight” wereldwijd in de winkels. I love it when that happens. De muziek is namelijk niet interessant omdat hij obscuur is, maar omdat de nummers prachtige psychedelische pop zijn. Gefilterde drums ontmoeten zachte ballades, tape-collages botsen met gitaren… alles erop en eraan. Luister naar de twee nummers hierboven en koop dat album als het je wat lijkt!

I sent in my first internship application today.

I went to Urban Empowerment this morning, a black-style non-denominational church. I went for a project for my cross-cultural psych class. We’re supposed to immerse ourselves in a culture different than any of ours. So, we each find a group that we don’t fall into.

I am not black, but this was not the first time I was the only, or one of the only, white people in the midst of black people. Living with Erica has exposed me to a lot of such functions. However, I also have been the only American around all Japanese people. I’ve been hetero amidst LGBTQ. I’ve been the youngster at nursing homes. Or the Christian talking with Buddhists.

As I encourage everyone to do. I learned more about who I am, what I believe and why I believe it in these situations than I ever would otherwise. It’s so easy for white people to always be comfortable. White people can always find people who look and believe like them. In America, even when surrounded by different groups, white people maintain white privilege. That feeling that I never have to feel out-of-place.

So, anyway, I enjoy breaking out of that. I like feeling like maybe I don’t belong somewhere. Because, for me, that’s a few hours out of my life, whereas for so many groups in our society, it’s constant. Or at least once a day. Or at least once a week. Which is way more than I.

Also, I enjoyed going today because it’s nice to worship unrestrained sometimes. I like going to a church where they expect you to clap and dance and verbally affirm. And they clap on beat for the most part. It was fun. I’m not a huge fan of “faith-healing,” since I believe we should pray for wisdom, strength, guidance and peace for people going through sickness rather than praying for it to go away.

“You are now healed from your head to your toes,” doesn’t comfort those who go back to the doctor, only to find out their son is still going deaf. God hasn’t abandoned them, and she does answer prayer. However, God doesn’t answer to us, nor does she exist to take away every obstacle. Instead, God leads us and carries us over the obstacles.

Anyway, all that is not what made my day, though it was nice. What made my day was taking a nap with Adam lying on my belly. He’s actually still sleeping. Unfortunately for Erica, he is not sleeping tonight.

Have you ever just googled two random words? I put in serendipity and discovery, not so random if you sit down and think about it. The Curies made many discoveries through (basically) one serendipitous event, louis pasteur, i think the DNA guys too had a revelation of sorts. Serendipity brings up images of mystical revelations, chance occurrences and blind luck. So why would i google that with discovery?

The word discovery is like a vector, it’s got direction and magnitude, it implies focus and accuracy seemingly the opposite of the serendip. In college i took a Class called Leadership and Innovation where we studied serendipitous discoveries, ground breaking companies and the contexts which made these great occurrences possible, but all had a mix of blind luck, tremendous skill and intelligence as well as a vision.

Maybe i will tell you about my time as the manager of a ground breaking and visionary group of people, but i’m more interested in serendipity and it’s relationship to learning. Humans in our earliest incarnations were hunter-gatherers; that right there implies we have two means of acquisition, hunting, planning, strategising executing and gathering, loading up out baskets with possibilities that are relatively immediate. This is not to say that one activity does not involve elements of the other, bear with my generalization.

The way we hunt and gather information is not SO different. We either get online and search for what we want, we use addresses and key words to take us to where we want to go. Online we are generally vectors of what we want to find, we have a speed and direction and a goal in mind, when our need for information will be fulfilled.

Watching tv on the other hand is a gathering experience, you sit infront of the tv and flip through channels relatively random items of interest pop up on the screen and we choose to stay here or keep it moving towards greener pastures. Relatively recently in the history of tv we have “On Demand” which is usually a 1)secondary choice 2) limited in the scope of what is available and thus provides more of a gathering experience than a hunting one. But the ever increasing popularity of online properties, app stores and programs that will be able to run directly off of your TV or Cable/satellite/ip connection plugged into your tv.

I hope it will be soon that TV makers have a market for multimedia offerings and apps and make the major production houses compete on a much more even playing field with independent content producers for what goes on our TV’s at home. When that day comes i will buy a big ass LED TV and load my choice content onto my tv. It’s going to be profitable for TV manufacturers to turn watching TV into a hunting experience.

How would i differentiate an information hunting experience versus an information gathering experience?

Hunting implies a goal, at the very least a preference. You go to your friends house and ask him have you seen United By Fate 4? no? so you search for it, get these results and watch it. A hunting experience has a specific goal in mind, if you searched for United By Fate, a skateboarding video and there was no actual video, that would have turned into a gathering experience. Related information-finding about the video, videos and sites related to it and so on, not necessarily the video ITSELF would describe a modern hunting experience.

I think this is an important distinction to make. Microsites are critical to the gathering of information and tied to their respective campaigns are very effective at providing enough information or entertainment to make us feel as if we have actually hunted a piece of information to the point where purchasing the product could be considered secondary. and that is why microsites are SO effective because people that visit them rarely go on accident, they are searching for more interaction, information, video, snippets, product shots, colorways etc that weren’t in their first exposure. Microsites are for brand hunters, without a doubt. hardly a new concept.

Conversely Viral Videos are generally a gathering experience, something you find when searching for keyword related but not necessarily content related videos. For example, while i was looking for reviews on the MSI Wind i ran across three guys catching computers with their asses (no link…)

Newspapers are a gathering source of information, you pick it up and serendipitously run into all kinds of information you were AND were not searching for. Print media does serendipity very vell, they cater to gatherers because with each turn of the page there is another tidbit for you sitting there, passively. Which is why tv and newspaper producers are fretting the most for their jobs over the next 5 years.Two German guys (?) are experimenting with on demand newspapers which could work, but just seems TOO analog for anyone but my own grandmother. There are a handful of resources i read regularly, only one of them being a daily news print publication]

And this is why major advertisers are so scared, because they won’t be able to inject themselves into your daily life any more. They’re not a key-word, in your daily life. Charmin is scared you won’t watch tv, never search for their site, walk into the grocery store and pick another toilet paper brand sight unseen. Big generic brands that don’t fit into the trendy keyword hunting; green, organic, clean, bio, macro, sustainable etc.

I think progressively we are evolving into information carnivores hunting more and more for content that is compelling and not ALWAYS necessarily so new. I actively seek out more movies and music from the 70’s 80’s and 90’s than from the past 10 years. There are few instances in my personal life where i am subject to information gathering, most exceptions involve roadside signs. You can count magazines but i read relatively niche magazines with AdBusters being the most general readership rag i read and i definitely don’t watch tv on my own time.

I know i’m an information carnivore
How about you?

You might not guess it on the first listen, but swedish progressive/psychadelic rock group Dungen (pronounced doon-yen) formed as recently as 1999.  This is the first track on their most recent (and certainly best titled) album “4.”

- kevin