Monday, July 23, 2007

Montague Friedman

He sent me an email. Unfortunately it's just spam.

But wouldn't it be cool to know someone named Montague Friedman?

He either looks like this:



or this:



or perhaps this:



I'm not sure.

THIRD ARMPIT RAINY DAY PROJECT: Take the first spam name you see in your Inbox and pair it with a photo. Post in the Comments section, eat a peanut butter sandwich, then GO FUCK AN ASTRONAUT.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

The halo effect has nothing to do with the game on Xbox.

Three times in the past two weeks people have brought up Apple's iPod/iPhone campaigns and asked me to write copy in that style. I don't think they realize that 99% of iPod advertising doesn't employ words, just money shots of fresh-faced silhouettes fondling the product.

The web site doesn't have any fabulous turns of phrase. The copy ranges from huh? ("gapless playback") to zzzzz ("Now starting at $249.") to vaguely idiotic ("iPod makes an ideal companion.").

Don't get me wrong, a lot of it's good. Very good. I'm just saying I think this fixation has less to do with the writing and more to do with the product. iPods and iPhones are awesome. You could write anything and that shit will still sell.

Watch:





I just sold 1,000 iPods. What's up, Jobs? Where's my cut?