Creative Advertising is Awesome

November 19th, 2009 § 0

Coming from a small town I never really got to see a whole lot of this awesome advertising that I’d see and read about via Twitter and other social media outlets. When I moved to Boston for school I knew that’d change, after all this is the city that’s famous for (justifiably) panicking over Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s prank. Today I finally got my first taste of some truly awesome advertising. As I walked into the George Sherman Union here at BU there was an odd bald man standing and staring out the door, strange but I continued to Starbucks. On my way I noticed about half a dozen other bald men standing just staring straight ahead. As I walked towards Starbucks one leapt forward, handed me a small bottle of Tabasco Sauce and told me that Fox’s Fringe was on tonight at 9pm. I certainly wish I were going to be around to see how Tabasco Sauce and lots of bald men have anything to do with the show.

All in all I was just excited to see some sort of fun advertising, and at least for me it was certainly an effective tactic.

Facebook is Pathetic

October 26th, 2009 § 0

I’ve been on Facebook since it was first opened to high school students, when it was still very basic. It was great, it was fast and much easier on the eyes than it’s dreaded counterpart Myspace. Then it became insanely popular and started to slow down, I understand that happening but it’s been in the news and publicized insane amounts over the past couple of years and it’s number of users has jumped through the roof. Granted I do not fully understand backend development on a site the size of Facebook but regardless, I find it a little pathetic that after all this publicity, money, and users that they still can’t manage to have uptime more than 1/4 (if even) of the time that I try to log on. For any other company on the net this would be inexcusable (look at Gmail’s recent outage and the ensuing outrage) but for Facebook it’s ok? Why?

Facebook’s development is great but to me it seems as though they’re moving too fast for their servers (or even users sometimes) to handle. They open the site to developers, great, but now it’s even slower and more annoying with all these applications. They open up their login to developers, great, but now if you try to use it you just have to pray that at that particular moment the site is responding and you don’t get stuck half logged in with a fancy little lightbox that you can’t get out of stuck over the site.

Today I pose one question and a possibly simpler answer. Why is Facebook able to get away with their terrible uptime/availability? My solution: Slow down. Stop trying to do everything at once, make sure the backend can support these ridiculous things.

I keep thinking that they might get on top of things and every time I do they swamp themselves with another release of the news feed or something of the like. I feel as though this is just irresponsible development and quite frankly, pathetic. I’m just waiting to pounce on the next big social network to get away from this horrid thing.

Sound Sculpture

October 20th, 2009 § 0

This is a pretty awesome video that I just came across thanks to GOOD. I had never actually heard of a sound sculpture before seeing this but it’s a pretty cool concept and the video is absolutely amazing, I’ve got a deep respect for Daniel Franke, the creator and his efforts. Take a look:

One Minute Soundsculpture from Daniel Franke on Vimeo.

Notice the detail in this, the reflection on the floor, the lack of movement as the camera moves around and shakes. I’m simply in awe and would love to know a little more about this.

New Portfolio Live!

October 1st, 2009 § 0

Screen shot 2009-10-01 at 9.30.32 PM

I’ve been trying to get around to creating a new portfolio for a long time now and I’ve just launched my new portfolio at http://portfolio.jamisonkissh.com. I attempted to keep the minimalist look of my blog that I adore but I’m not sure if I succeeded, please let me know what you think!

Holy Swine Flu!

October 1st, 2009 § 1

Today I was taking a look at the Republican American and local news to see what was going on back in my home state and I was simply amazed by the number of H1N1 stories in the news section. Take a look at the screen shot below for today…

Screen shot 2009-10-01 at 10.06.05 AM

Twitter Returns a 403

September 14th, 2009 § 0

So where else am I supposed to turn when Twitter is returning a 403 error? My blog of course. Just tried to go to the actual Twitter website and was presented with this screen

Screen shot 2009-09-14 at 8.02.18 PMI just found is strange that they let the server return it’s own error message than one of their usual fail whale messages.

Theater Supporters: We Need Help

September 10th, 2009 § 1

UPDATE: Hello and thank you for finding my post however we’ve migrated this information and updates on our efforts to a new website, http://www.savethetoh.com

Today my hometown, Thomaston, CT laid off the executive director of the Thomaston Opera House, Jeff Dunn and the funds development director, Kera Jewett. These are two of the four full time people that run Thomaston Opera House that were laid off. This comes after an announcement that the town would no longer support the theater in the coming years and the board of directors would need to lease the space from the Town of Thomaston. These measures remove extremely critical links in the financial handlings of the Thomaston Opera House. This opera house is one of the few, if not only extremely recognizable landmarks in the town. The town does not realize that by removing these links they are essentailly destroying theater and one of the last remaining forms of art that are publicly support (our public schools severely lack in the arts). This change has a huge impact on the town and the arts community that has grown and has been fostered by the Thomaston Opera House.

In an effort to help save our theater we are asking that supports of the arts (especially theater) contact the first selectman of Thomaston by the following means:

First Selectman
Maura E. Martin
158 Main Street, Level 4
Phone: 860-283-4421
Fax: 860-283-1378
Email: mmartin@thomastonct.org

In addition to contacting the first selectman I ask that you please share this via Twitter, Facebook, and any other means you feel necessary.

Please help us! We anticipate a website to support the theater to come soon as well as a flurry of updates that I’ll post here and on Twitter.

Update (9/10 11:11pm): At the moment the direct number is redirecting to the call board, enter extension 504 when the menu starts.

Update (9/10 11:14pm): Here is a wonderful note written by a member of the Thomaston Opera House’s community:

Staff Members Cut from Opera House

Thursday morning the Selectman of the Town of Thomaston made the rash decision to cut both the Executive Director and the Funds Development Director of the Thomaston Opera House, cutting staffing in half. This begs the following question:

What will happen to the Thomaston Opera House?

Jeffrey Dunn has been involved at the Thomaston Opera House since 1991. His success is obvious. After floundering for 24 years and enduring 3 closures, the Commission hired Mr. Dunn and a counterpart. From 1991 to 1999 they tripled the budget for the Opera House using the model of community theater. Mr. Dunn became the executive director in 1999 and to date had again doubled the budget of the Opera House, quadrupled attendance and turned it into what could be referred to as a “regional theater.” His standing in the local community and the region has had long standing effects on the Opera House and the Town at large. He is a member of Rotary, Economic Development and Arts and Culture Collaborative of Waterbury. He has helped the Town of Thomaston transition from a dying manufacturing center to a Main street centered around the arts. The Opera House was key in moving in the Black Rock Tavern to town and indeed many organizations in Town have stated they could not exist in Thomaston without the presence of the Opera House.

Jeffrey Dunn hired Kera Jewett the Funds Development Director in 2008. Ms. Jewett holds her Masters in Arts Administration from Drexel University and is a member of the Americans for the Arts. In her short time at the Thomaston Opera House, she was key in quadrupling the donor list, securing funding from new corporations and foundations, and doubling the subscribers that attended. Ms. Jewett is responsible for funding Phase II of the restoration effort at the Opera House, totaling in $150,000.

In addition to the development of the organization, Mr. Dunn and Ms. Jewett have secured $850,000.00 in capital funding since 1991 to a building the Town of Thomaston owns. While the organization does have a $100,000 deficit, it could be said that this is minimal in comparison to the capital improvements made on a facility otherwise neglected. The Opera House survives on a $500,000 and independently staffs itself and its operations, despite the connection with the Town of Thomaston.

Which begs the questions above. It is certain that without an executive director, without a fundraising department, and without leadership, the Thomaston Opera House is sure to fail. What will become of the Thomaston Opera House? Who will restore the building ready to fall? Who will grace to her stage when everyone else is gone?
If you love the THOMASTON OPERA HOUSE and seek its survival, please contact the Town of Thomaston [(860) 283-4421] in support of these positions and in favor of the success of the Thomaston Opera House.

Come show your support at the FINANCE MEETING TONIGHT AT TOWN HALL 7:00pm.

Go to the First Selectmen’s brown bag lunch every Wednesday from 12-2pm and tell her how you feel.

Go to the Selectmen Board meetings every Tuesday at 7:00pm.

Please continue to make the Thomaston Opera House a place where the community can come to laugh, cry, and play..

This note can be found in it’s original form from Jimmy Donohue on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=146679470488

Update (9/11/09 7:45am): The story has appeared in the local papers. The Republican American article does a very good job at highlighting the importance of the Thomaston Opera House and it’s ramifications.

Update (9/11/09 6:20pm): The story has appeared in more of the local papers. The Register Citizen, a Torrington based paper also highlights the importance of these two people. The comments on this post are also very interesting to say the least.

@boston_police is a Good Idea

August 30th, 2009 § 0

I live in a very small town in Connecticut where everyone knows exactly what is going on in town however things can get misreported. This got me thinking as to how things could be better handled in our town and even within the county. A great example can be found with the Boston Police Department. In an effort to spread news of an emergency they turned to the ever popular Twitter to share incidents with the general public and give warnings.

Since moving to Boston in late August I’ve found this service pretty useful although it rarely affects me directly however it certainly has given me a heads up to what’s going on around me. For example, earlier in the week I saw this tweet after I got the alert that the T had struck a car on the BU bridge and knew that traffic was probably going to be even worse and that I should walk down past the incident to pick up the bus or the T to avoid getting delayed and be late to class.

I have a feeling that between the Boston Police feed and the Boston Fire feed any true emergency situation that would affect me directly would be easily conveyed and help keep me and others safe.

Bottom line, Twitter + emergency services = great idea.

HP Customer Support Follow pt. 1

August 20th, 2009 § 0

Well as I mentioned about two weeks ago I  had plans to call HP’s “Executive Care Office.” Turns out that is possibly the greatest idea that any has given me in a very long time. In 7 minutes I had accomplished more than I had in an hour on my first tech support phone call. Within those 7 minutes, the woman I was talking to had decided it’d be best to have my case escalated to a case manager. The woman in customer relations with whom I was speaking then tried to get a case manager on the line with me however she kept having her calls dropped. She finally took my phone number and agreed to call me back if she managed to get another case manager in the next 5-10 minutes. A few minutes after hanging up customer relations called me back and she let me know that she had finally managed to get a case manager on the line.

I was put through to this case manager who just asked me a few basic questions and to confirm my information. She then created a case ID for me and offered me two options. 1.) She ships me the parts in 3-5 and I do it or 2.) HP picks up the bill (they even send you packaging) to mail the computer to them and they replace it for me. Needless to say I went with the lazy method, having them change it out for me. This was by far the most pleasing experience I had with HP and I’m glad that not all their departments are lazy and incompetent (low level tech support). I’ll post again with how this whole ordeal ended for me.

Is Social Media a Fad?

August 15th, 2009 § 0

I’ve always said and thought that social media is here to stay granted I may not like few of the things in it but as someone who consumes vast amounts on information daily via a vast number of sources I know social media and social networking is going nowhere. I feel as though social media is certainly going to play a huge role in the future and I’m even seeing that with the company for which I work. Social media is slowly becoming part of our business model and is slowly driving more traffic and that traffic is converting better and sharing our site at alarm (yet awesome) rates. I came across a video that Mashable had shared and it’s quite impressive and worth the watch.

Some of the numbers presented in this I’ve seen before and it’s done in a form that’s sort of getting old but it’s the numbers that are still the impressive part.

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