Interesting

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My brother, a languaphile, just brought to my attention something very interesting.  He was curious how up-to-date the newest (print) edition of the OED was, and so he looked up the word “blog,”  It of course redirected him to “weblog” but the definition was the following:

“…. run by 20-something Americans with at least an unhealthy interest in computers”

WOW.  And of course I tried to go to the online version to see if that’s been changed… but you can’t search the online OED without a subscription.  Someday they’ll learn I guess.

         

I was reading Chris Brogan’s blog post that identified 5 things about himself that we might not know about…. It came from this Dominick Evans blog post. I wasn’t actually tagged by Chris, but it looks fun, so I figured I might as well start the process yet again (thanks for the motivation guys!).  On Chris’s example, I’ll also pass on the love to Dominick (and a few people that might find this fun).

So, here are 5 things about myself you might not know.

1) My parents bought the place that I grew up in for the view….. which means that I spent 6 months of my childhood living in a tent in the barn in the backyard while the decrepit “house” was being torn down.  I was young enough that it was all fun, although if you ask my parents, I’d say they have different opinions. This barn also came complete with cats and horses, the latter of which were heavily used…the former caught mice. [Location: Oran NY, east of Syracuse NY.  See to the left the barn and the view]

2) If I could do anything for the rest of my life it would be to play music.  I’m sort of in a band now, but if I had to choose, I would be part of a symphony orchestra that played a lot of Tchaikovsky at every concert (especially the 1812 on the 4th), Gershwin at least once (Rhapsody in Blue), not a lot of modern pieces (I’m not a huge fan) unless it included a Bond-like electric rendition of some classics, and one concert of opera greats like O’ Fortuna by Orff.  Ideally, I would be first cellist.

3) Speaking of the 1812, it’s actually the reason I’m in Boston.  My parents met in Marblehead (at Maddie’s, which has since tragically closed but was known for their pint-sized Long Island Iced Teas that were 11/12 liquor and a splash of iced tea…that’s my dad several years ago outside, reminiscing), and they spent several years in the Boston area.  I grew up hearing about the 1812 on the 4th, and with Tchaikovsky being one of my favorite composers, I decided one summer in college that I was going to go and watch it that year in Boston.  Then I decided I might as well spend the summer there, so I up and left, found an apartment and a hostessing job in the span of a day and a half, and promptly fell in love with the city.

4)  Most people think that I’m an extrovert, when in fact I’m about a 19/20 introvert.  I explain it this way: extroverts are like Energizer bunnies, they keep going, and going, and going….  Introverts need to go home and recharge.  I’m truly interested in people and learning from them, and get a great deal out of my interactions with them, but I can’t do it for hours, or days in a row and I get tired and I need to go home and not be with anyone but myself and/or my other half.

Image via Wikipedia

5) I’m a trash talker.  I can’t help it.  If you aren’t a fan of the Boston Red Sox, the NY Giants, or whatever, I’m probably going to trash talk you.  I also trash talk in things like cooking, Sunday afternoon tennis, Pumpkin carving, Pick ‘Em league….. really, anything that I can trashtalk about.  I’m never ever mean about it, or angry.  It’s complete fun for me.  I don’t think less of anyone who roots for the other team (unless you’re a Yankees fan maybe…. actually, I don’t think less of you, I’ll probably just trash talk a little more).  Oh, and I fully admit when I lose too and will always take the trash talking back.

         

We use Google for almost everything here at Other Side.  So I was pleased when Joel from PAN sent us a post about Google’s new line of defense against emailing when you’re less than mindful.

It forces you to think, literally, before an email goes out.  You can set it to activate on any day, so if you’re inclined to drink on a Monday or Tuesday, so be it.

One thing I might suggest, for those of us who are math inclined, or whose math skills increase directly with an increase in alcohol consumption, there should be a variety of tests.  For instance, I think etymology would be good for me.  Or South American history.  Or US history for that matter.

Thanks google!

         

I was going to post a piece on… well, I’ll wait on that until Monday, since it’s too late on Friday afternoon for anyone to actually read it. In the meantime, graphic designer Deb Gordon, who did our company website, passed on a great little piece to me that’s sure to put a quick smile on your face as you get through the last few hours of the work week.

This is from Matt Harding, who travelled to 42 countries in 14 months and put this together. If you’re interested as well, the music is by Garry Schyman and is based on Tagore lyrics.

         

This is fantastic.  If there were no such thing as the stop sign, and it needed to be invented, and someone decided to hire a marketing/advertising agency to get the job done.

         

For those who don’t know, one of my foci at Fletcher is Southwest Asia and Islamic Civilization.  Here is my Islam and Politics professor, Vali Nasr, on the Colbert Report.  He’s a lot funnier in class…. which is weird.

Link here

This is him in 2006 on the Daily Show

Link here

         

Incredibly cool:

         

I’m a bit biased on this commercial because I play music, but this is very cool:

         

Firstly, my apologies for the hiatus. I was travelling, at a wedding, driving to Atlanta and starting school this week, all of which required a large amount of my brain power.

This commercial, literally, rocks. Before you even see anything, you hear the unmistakable entrance of Phil Collins In the Air Tonight in the background, a puff of hair, and then the face of a gorilla. You’re not sure what the connection between the gorilla and the song is, but it sure looks a lot like Phil’s music video itself…. eyes closed, pondering life and breathing in the air. Then the drum set appears, and you anxiously ponder yourself, “Is he going to start playing? Please tell me he’s going to start playing.” Sure enough, he rocks out on the drums.

What does this have to do with candy? Cadbury’s tagline, “A glass and a half full of joy” may have been purposely left vague for exactly this reason. They were able to create an ad here that’s seemingly unconnected to chocolate, and tie it in wonderfully with the joy of life. Not only does that gorilla demonstrate his own joy during the song, but the audience definitely gets some joy out of it. Is there anyone that actually doesn’t like that song?

Kudos to Cadbury (and Fallon, their agency).