{{myquote|You can help someone to their feet, but it takes longer to help them find their balance.}}
Archives for August 2007
Communications Blogger to Host 2008 Emmys
Posted on August 21, 2007 Written by
It’s official. Television has sunk to a new low.
On the heels of landing a Technorati “authority” ranking now in the dozens, one of the hardest working men in communications has also been tapped to emcee the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, it was announced Monday.
“Ike Pigott appeals to important niche audiences, including the highly desirable ‘Social Media Marketers‘, ‘Disaster Junkies‘, and ‘People Ike Goes to Church With‘ demographics, so he should serve as a magnet for attracting a diverse array of viewers to our Emmy telecast,” said Dick Askin, chairman and chief executive officer of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Pigott also works for the American Red Cross, which in addition to putting up with his geeky-tech projects also manages to help people prepare for, prevent, and respond to emergencies.
Pigott – a past Emmy-winner himself – also blogs at Occam’s RazR (the former #1 blog on Technorati), and writes pithy parody pieces where he wonders why anyone cares about Ryan Seacrest.
Update: Who would you choose to be the lamest possible host?
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, Emmy Awards, Ryan Seacrest, parody[/tags]
Every picture tells a story
Posted on August 20, 2007 Written by
I remember the old Spider-Man bits from the Electric Company. Which means there are three kinds of people reading this now:
- Those who are roughly my age, and remember.
- Those who are older than I, and vaguely remember.
- Those who are younger than I, and must go to YouTube to find them.
The idea was to bring in a comic book hero, and force the kids to read the word balloons to follow the story. It was a great exercise for its time, but the expectations have changed for graphic media in the last 35 years or so. Pictures are indeed supposed to tell their own stories, and some of the “highest art” in graphic novels comes where there is no narration or dialogue to further the story.
Still, as communicators, we need to be mindful of the stories our pictures tell. Particularly on the web, where too many websites and blogs rely on “art” to break up a page, rather than as a tool to tie concepts back to a central theme. And remember – if you don’t provide captions for your pictures, you’d better make sure they are crystal clear in meaning. Or else someone will beat you to the punch with a different interpretation:
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, Spider-Man, comics, The Electric Company, Communication, Websites, Images, Graphics, storytelling[/tags]
Baby Benadryl
Posted on August 16, 2007 Written by
This news item caught my fancy today:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will discuss the safety and effectiveness of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for children at a meeting in October, the FDA said on Wednesday.
“Questions have been raised about the safety of these products and whether the benefits justify any potential risks from the use of these products in children, especially in children under 2 years of age,” the Food and Drug Administration said in an advisory posted on its Web site.
That would be a shame. It’s hard to calm a sick toddler. Maybe we’ll still be able to procure black-market Baby Benadryl on Continental Express flights.
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, FDA, medicine[/tags]
Blockbuster, the clock is ticking
Posted on August 14, 2007 Written by
It has been since my post about my wonderful experience at Blockbuster video.
I’ll update when I hear something back from them. (If you don’t see any numbers, then your Java is disabled.)
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, Blockbuster Video, customer service, blog monitoring[/tags]
Live Nude Girls
Posted on August 14, 2007 Written by
There’s something powerful about the number “3”. As writers, we are drawn to threes because they give us a sense of completeness. Past-Present-Future. Hook-Line-Sinker. Beginning-Middle-End.
Sometimes we choose to go the route of dualities. Good-Evil. Light-Dark. But they don’t feel the same.
Simple writing is best, but there are times when you can simplify too far. Someone once said (and my Googling fails me, for reasons you’ll understand) that it takes three words at minimum to describe something. Anything less, and you’re falling short, or leaving ambiguity. The example given was a neon sign at Times Square years ago, promising Live Nude Girls.
Somehow, altering any one of those three words changes the complexion of the situation, in a decidedly more comical, more dark, or less sexist way. One word can change quite a bit.
Now, there is a picture of that classic sign somewhere on the internet. iStockphoto has it, and I’ll just link to it here. I won’t post it, because, well… I’m cheap. And I can’t find an alternative, because as you can imagine, “Live Nude Girls Sign” generates 127,000 hits on Google Images. “Live Nude Girls Neon” fetches 26,500 candidates, and the combination of “Live Nude Girls Neon Sign” only shaves it down to 21,400. And let me tell you, I just can’t bring myself to wade through that many pictures. I pondered the sacrifice, but alas…
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, writing, rule of threes, communication, venn[/tags]
Getting There
Posted on August 13, 2007 Written by
{{myquote|Destinations give journeys purpose. Journeys give destinations meaning.}}