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EGR: St. Anthony's Fire
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Christopher Locke
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Nov 03, 2001 18:15 PST
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Gonzo Marketing: Winning through Worst Practices
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738204080/entropygradientr
be the first kid on your block!
http://www.gonzomarkets.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
please visit our sponsor
The American Chemical Society
http://pubs.acs.org/hotartcl/mdd/99/marapr/forged.html
Drugs for Migraine
Mark Twain and I are in the same position. We have to
put things in such a way as to make people who would
otherwise hang us believe that we are joking.
George Bernard Shaw
don'cha think there's a place for us
right across the street?
stones
Valued Readers:
You know how sometimes you turn on your car radio and it's right in
the middle of some song you know but you don't know what it is yet or
what key it's in exactly and it just sounds like a bunch of noise?
These days are like that. We're all trying to get back to normal after
being plunged straight into a Hieronymous Bosch painting. And old
Hieronymous is going like, "Normal? Hey, pass the ergot. *I'll* give
you fucking NORMAL!"
The Temptations of St. Anthony
http://cgi.di.uoa.gr/~grad0146/English/tempt_c.html
[note GWB with owl on head]
Well, we all need someone... Stones doing alright over here. Bleeding
on me from the JVC RV-DP100 Ka-Boom box. It's not natural. Speaking of
which, I was unable to avoid buying this last night.
Nature and Psyche: Radical Environmentalism and the Politics of
Subjectivity
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0791447529/entropygradientr
Later, I went out on the web to see if I could figure out if it was
any good or whether I got gypped. You can't always get what you want.
But if you try sometime, you just might find... this:
"The Titanic is sinking and Kidner rightly shows that it is no
longer enough simply to slow the rate of sinking. We need a new
boat, and his book provides the first in-depth plans for its
construction, a vessel -- human consciousness -- which does not
start in hubris and the boast of being un-sinkable because we have
so distanced ourselves from the natural world. Kidner's book
rightly invites participation founded on our resonance with nature.
At bottom psyche does sink its roots deep within the earth. This
book is destined to become a landmark." -- Robert Romanyshyn,
author of Technology as Symptom and Dream
I liked the sound of that last book too. I been having symptoms and
dreams myself. It's out of print... but shit whaddya know, no it's
not! Amazon, as is happening more often lately, calls it a "hard-to-
find title," but you can get it here, no prob:
Dream On...
http://www.gonzomarkets.com/guess.html
Then I found an interview (on Don Williams' Jung site no less) with
the guy who wrote it.
Robert Romanyshyn on Technology as Symptom & Dream
http://www.cgjungpage.org/psychtech/romanyshyn1.html
See? It *is* all connected. I don't know about politics, but me, I'm
totally into subjectivity. Really. It's great! And then there was this
thing by James Hillman:
Healing Fiction
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0882143638/entropygradientr
Psychoanalysis is a work of imaginative tellings in the realm of
*poiesis*, which means simply "making," and which I take to mean
making by imagination into words. Our work more particularly
belongs to the *rhetoric* of poiesis, by which I mean the
persuasive power of imagining in words, an artfulness in speaking
and hearing, writing and reading.
Artfulness, yes! God, isn't that just fucking beautiful? And by that
time I'm snorting and rooting around in the lower reaches of my local
Barnes & Noble, fueled by way too many double cappuccinos, so I had to
get this one too:
The Voice of the Past: Oral History
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0192893173/entropygradientr
This got me thinking. Like if it's some old codger in his 90s sitting
on some brokendown back porch in Leeds or Birmingham or Detroit, then
it's *oral history,* right? But just try it on your blog. Then it's
just a load of wank. This view continues to be propagated by what my
sister Liz refers to as the Dancing Peasants school of folklore.
Terrible, terrible. But understandable too, because if you search for
"oral history" on Google, you get the weblogs of every porn site on
the Internet.
...egads, just as I was typing that last bit I got mail from the UK
that says:
Hey Mike I just got in I will give you a buzz in an hour or so
OK sure. I could use a buzz. (Whatthefuck???) I'm beginning to think
I've got ADD or something. Last week I saw this terrific movie.
Uh...
It's been going on like this for some time, actually. Yesterday was
particularly strange over here. First, I found out my subscription to
the following full-text book had mysteriously "taken" -- it's not like
they told me or anything, which I thought was pretty flaky. So I went
there and downloaded the entire site. Hey, hey, I'm a monkey!
The Johns Hopkins Guide To Literary Theory & Criticism
http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/guide/
If you're not quite ready to fork out to get the in-depth scoop on
say, Nineteenth Century Hermeneutics, you can still check out some of
the free topics.
http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/guide/free/g-index.html
For example, try the Australian entry at the bottom of that page:
Dunno why yer grinning like a shot fox, cobber, that was a right
bodgy bit o' swill ya wrote there. A regular brown-eyed mullet.
Yeah? Well suck me billabong, mate!
Literary criticism. Ask yourself: What can YOU do to end it? Even
seasoned netheads, who you'd think would know better, are jumping the
lit-crit bandwagon. Lady of the house wonderin when it's gonna stop...
NETSURFER DIGEST
Volume 07, Issue 37
Thursday, November 01, 2001
http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/nsd.07.37.html
Gonzo Marketing: Winning Through Worst Practices
Christopher Locke
Perseus Books; ISBN: 0738204080
Chris Locke, one of the co-authors of the best-selling "The
Cluetrain Manifesto," in this book takes on the art and science of
marketing in the post-Internet era. Locke is always an entertaining
read, no less so in this fun rant against the traditional models of
mass marketing. The book basically makes the case that modern
marketing must adapt to the reality of a huge variety of niche
specific micromarkets in which participants actively communicate,
and in which information - both good and bad - flows at the speed
of light. Even if you're not in the marketing industry - which you
are whether you like it or not because the marketers keep sucking
you in - you'll enjoy the ride.
Hey, you shoulda seen me just around midnight! Nonetheless, thanks to
Netsurfer Digest publisher Arthur Bebak and editor Lawrence Nyveen for
this marvelous notice, which places Gonzo in the company of Black
Adder, The Monkees, and Toto -- the dog, not the group. And while I'm
at it, may I suck you in with this? EGR is Seeking Your Permission to
share with you the latest Exciting Developments in Mass Media! Hear me
pontificate on topics I don't halfway understand myself:
Tess Vigeland Interviews Chris Locke About SPAM [RealAudio]
http://www.marketplace.org/morning_report/interviews.html
And now... the part you've all been waiting for so patiently. That's
right: it's our All-New Shitty Reviews Section!
Gonzo Marketing: Winning Through Worst Practices
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738204080/entropygradientr
[1-star] I don't get it, October 30, 2001
Reviewer: A reader from Tuscon, AZ
There may be wisdom here, smart words to actually take action upon
and even live by. If so, I can't find them. The book is baroque,
convoluted and difficult to plow through. A few folks will enjoy
the ride, but most of us have something better to do.
Baroque? Hey, *I'll* give you fucking BAROQUE! On the other hand, of
course. To each his own. De gustibus... And I'm sure that after
getting this off his chest, our reader from Tuscon, AZ, did have
something better to do: actually take action upon his own rococo,
convoluted dick! But gals, please, don't YOU try this. As Betty Lehan
Harragan (1921-1998), U.S. management consultant, lecturer, and author
tells us [thanks to The Encarta Book of Quotations, Copyright 2000
Microsoft Corporation, all rights reserved, hotels on boardwalk]:
No woman with any self-respect wants to walk around advertising
"I'm pretending I have a penis."
Well, certainly not! Microsoft is to be commended for passing along
this rare gem of (truly) actionable wisdom. Gimme, gimme, gimme the
honky-tonk girl.
Donald Wayne Mitchell, however, does have a penis -- and presumably
not a pretend one. This presumption notwithstanding, he is also, like
Ms. Harragan, a management consultant. Moreover, Donald Wayne Mitchell
is the #2 reader/reviewer on Amazon, having to-date contributed his
personal assessments of 1,733 books. Wow. How does he read so much?
"My speed is around 2000 words per minute," he tells us on his About
Me page. At that rate, it would take you only 64.3 seconds to read
this entire issue of EGR. Time yourself. Imagine how much Extra Wisdom
you could suck outta your email if you read as fast as Donald Wayne
Mitchell! He also says, "Wanting to help is the primary reason I write
book reviews on Amazon.com." Well guess what, Don. Your review didn't
help ONE FUCKING BIT! Mr. Helpful gave Gonzo a 2-star rating in a
review, which began...
Caution: This book contains many vulgar words that would probably
earn its content an R rating if it were a motion picture.
I found it curious that, on the same day, Donald Wayne Mitchell also
wrote up The Crossword Obsession: The History and Lore of the World's
Most Popular Pastime. His review of that book begins...
Caution: This book contains coarse words that would never appear in
The New York Times crossword puzzle.
To be fair, Donald Wayne Mitchell is not this hard on everyone. He
gives 5 stars to Tiger Woods' new book, How I Play Golf.
Tiger Watching: Lessons in Patience and Perseverance!
If you are like me, your golf swing will never be confused with Mr.
Tiger Woods’s magnificent arcs.
[745 words of rich smarmy marmalade deleted]
No matter what happens to you on the course, or in life . . . keep
your chin up and relax!
Not being fair at all, I visited the pages of Donald Wayne Mitchell's
two books and dropped off a little payback. Hope he can keep his chin
up and relax when he reads these...
The 2,000 Percent Solution: Free Your Organization from 'Stalled'
Thinking to Achieve Exponential Success
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814404766/entropygradientr
by Donald Wayne Mitchell, et al
[1-star] Exponential Malarkey
The book promises to identify habitual patterns of thinking that
undermine insight and direct action. Too bad the author didn't
follow his own advice and get beyond the pedestrian vignettes that
litter this book. Yet another collection of down-home business
nostrums aimed at readers even more predictable than the guy who
wrote this. Here's the opening of one of his heart-warming
examples.
"A bridegroom sits down to enjoy his first Sunday dinner with
his new wife. He notices that she has cut off the ends of the
roast beef, his favorite part. When he asks why, she replies
defensively, 'That's how you cook a roast...'"
Well, so much for the marriage. And so much for this boring
collection of empty feel-good bromides.
---
The Irresistible Growth Enterprise: Breakthrough Gains from
Unstoppable Change
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1579220266/entropygradientr
by Donald Wayne Mitchell, et al
[1-star] The Irresistible Force of... Curry?
Why do business authors feel that overwrought superlatives and
intensifiers will spice up their leftover ideas? At every turn,
this book invokes "irresistible forces" that are reshaping the
business world. Sounds heavy... until you realize the utter
banality of what's being invoked. From the book:
"...even McDonald's has had to learn to adapt to the
irresistible force of consumer food preferences as it moved
beyond North America. The familiar hamburger, fries and soft
drink menu has had to be expanded to offer curry in England and
a glass of wine in Paris."
Other "irresistible forces" include "the weather" and "economic
conditions." Such penetrating insight, sacre bleu! You'll be an
Irresistible GooRoo on the Global Economy in no time. btw, would
you like a nice Bordeaux with that?
No, I know. It wasn't nice. But what can I say? We're living in
difficult times. Sometimes I think it's just me, but then I pick up
The New York Times yesterday, and right on page one, column one, above
the fold, I read:
"Reject this intrusion of federal government mandates," Mr. Armey
said. "Put your confidence in the president."
Do I need to explain to this group why -- despite the fact that The
Times obviously didn't think so -- there's something a little odd
about that paragraph? Like that the fucking president is the fucking
COMMANDER-IN-FUCKING-CHIEF of the federal fucking government? No, I
didn't think so. You know, I put the following page together for all
the terrific Gonzo and Bombast reviewers out there, but I guess it'd
make a perfect closing grace note right here:
http://www.gonzomarkets.com/thanks.html
Now where was I? Oh yeah, will give you a buzz in an hour or so...
The Management
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