Sunday Morning Shards #21

On my mind and in the reading queue this week. The “In The Evening” edition.

*I’ve been reading Soul City, a neat little fable by Toure’ about a fictional municipality where the streets (Cornbread Boulevard, Satchmo Stret), buildings (Negritude Univeristy, Cool Street Library) and districts (Honeypot Hill) are all named after famous African-American icons. In Soul City, the mayor is a DJ whose mix pipes through speakers embedded under the sidewalks and the citizens dance and strut as they walk. I’m lovin’ it.

*In honor of the 21st birthday of the Apple Macintosh, a video of the original mac’s announcement and debut (January 24, 1984) at Apple’s Cupertino HQ, has been circulating around. Steve Jobs is dressed like a member of the Billionaire Boys Club and the computer today looks laughably squat and boxy. Nonetheless, when the theme from Chariots of Fire begins and the crowd erupts into a standing ovation, I had tears in my eyes. Over a friggin’ computer announcement. Damn that Jobs guy knows how to put on a show.

*Salon has a related article called “Hallelujah, the Mac is Back.”

*The 2005 Bloggies have been written up in the Washington Post (via Large Hearted Boy).

*I get asked all the time by my clients how to appropriate pitch their books to bloggers. Now I’ve got somewhere to point them.

*The New PR is a resource for public relations professionals to discuss the changes blogs and nanomarkets are briging to their business. There’s also talk of creating a wiki of editors, columnists and media contacts, which would remove such information from the proprietary clutches of companys like Bacon’s and make it freely available on the web ala Wikipedia. Exciting stuff.

*Sogudi is a tiny add-on to the Safari Browser which allows you to abreviate searches on your favorite web sites. Sounds minor but has saved me a bundle of time. Or at least it feels that way (via 43 Folders).

*I spent the afternoon today purging my office and processing outstanding things to do according to the principles of David Allen’s Getting Things Done. Though I only got part way done and there’s a huge pile of files and action items on my floor, I feel oddly clensed. Must. Press. On.

*Coachella’s lineup is announced tomorrow. I’m going to try to go this year. Wahoo!

• Category: Odds & Endz