Context & Continuity

Digital Makeovers.

Flannery O'Connor: On Mystery.

The New York Review of Books has the Obligatory Large Roundup Following a New Biography of an Author.  This issue, it's Flannery O'Connor's turn following the publication of the new biography by Brad Gooch, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor.  There are a couple of gems in the article by the inimitable Joyce Carol Oates.  (What a great pairing:  Oates and O'Connor.) 

Here's what I want to pass on to you:

First, Oates comments on the fact that of O'Connnor's milleiu, including Capote and McCullers, O'Connor seems to be the one that is surviving into another generation. 

Then, there's this from one of Ms. O'Connor's letters:

If the writer believes that our life is and will remain essentially mysterious, if he looks upon us as beings existing in a created order to whose laws we freely respond, then what he sees on the surface will be of interest to him only as he can go through it into an experience of mystery itself. His kind of fiction will always be pushing its own limits outward toward the limits of mystery....

Then, there's this:

Whenever I'm asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.

After reading Ms. Oate's piece, I was struck by how hard O'Connor struggled with a lifetime of illness, how devoted she was to her Catholicism and how solitary and isolated she was from the rest of the world.  It seems to me to be a life that was ripe with tragedy and yet, she created works of art that transcend time, space, background and so much more.  That's a life any one should be proud to live. 

McKinsey & Co.: Pages from Alessi’s Handbook.

I want to call your attention to two things at once.  First, I'm posting about another article from McKinsey's website.  This one is about Alessi, the Italian design / manufacturing company.  According to the article, Alessi has an "0pen" approach to design and works with several different artists / designers such as Michael Graves and Phillip Stark. 

In this interactive feature, a narrated slide show takes you through Alessi’s history of collaborating with designers and the creative approach behind its innovations. Next, a video interview with CEO Alberto Alessi brings you deeper into the development process; Alessi explains how working with constraints can help refine designs. Finally, an interactive graphic lets you navigate through his tool for assessing new designs. This formula, which Alessi developed himself to measure risk and success, is an interesting example of how one company is applying structured measurement to the creative process of innovation.

The article and multimedia presentation is very interesting and highly recommended.  [See it here.]

Here's the second thing I want to call your attention to:  It's my humble opinion that McKinsey could make it a smidgen easier for people to leverage their digital assets.  This article is a case in point.  Of course the reader can find the link nestled under Mr. Alessi's photo that launches the interactive presentation.  Perhaps that could be made more obvious and integral to the article? 

Well, that's what I would do.

It's Official. Mark the Time. Flacks Jump the Twitter Shark.

Hey, I've got an idea:  Let's come up with another way to annoy and p--- off reporters we are trying to woo. 

No, really.  This is the information you actually need:  Keep your eyes and ears open for the next communications channel.  Find it.  Plug into it with your reputations and brand, enjoy high bandwidth, trusted conversations  for a certain amount of time, then pack it up and move on when you see ____________ arrive at the party.  Please note:  I am sorely tempted, oh so s0rely tempted to fill in the blank above with several different names I know.  However, it simply isn't our style to inflect unnecessary tsuris.  Not good for the karma don't you know. 

Okay.  Everybody out of the pool.

WSJ, 4.4.9: 'The Truman Show' for Everyone

Growing up in NYC at the dawn of the internet age, it was impossible not to pass through Josh Harris' shadow.  He was one of the first people I knew who figure out how to make big money on the internet:  talk abou it.  Except Josh did a lot more than just talk about it.  He put his entire mixed-jup life on it.  Given an infinite amount of money and bandwidth, Josh flamed out in a supernova and, thereby, establishing another pattern for others to follow.  As if further documentation was needed, Ondi Timoner spent the past decade putting the flotsom and jetsom of Josh's life into a movie, "We Live in Public." 

Josh lives in Ethiopia now.  Ondi's movie is receiving a lot of attention, including raves at Sundance. 

From the WSJ article: 

Why did you decide to release it [the movie] now?

OT: Around 2006, I saw the first status update from someone on Facebook. It said they were driving down the freeway, heading west, and I thought, "That is an unbelievable thing to put out there, why does anyone care?" Then I realized that people do care. The bunker that Josh created in 1999 when he commissioned these artists to create an artificial community in Manhattan was very much a metaphor for the Internet and social networking and everything we're seeing happening.

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