Mens Rea

Period Music

Like a period piece movie, there is music that seems to remain trapped in a given era and with the exception of some subtle nostalgia and some (re)discovery by the youth, the music hangs there. A lot of music I listened to, unfortunately, falls into this category. I think because I have always listened to 'alternative' or 'indie' music that some of it quickly relegated to the time; however it is that gem that survives that makes it all worth it. For example, the old saying goes "the Velvet Underground did not sell a lot of albums, but everyone who bought one quickly founded a group." In the early 1970's it was Big Star, mid 70's were the Sex Pistols and the late 70's were Joy Division. In the 80's we see a lot of revisionist history with respect to 'defining groups.' The Smiths, for example, never sold LPs in appreciable numbers for most of their career other than in the U.K. Today, we hail them as the epitome of the progressive British scene. Do the Smiths stand up today? Yes, I would say so, but not as much as I would have thought during those days. U2, of course, had the most success and their music has stood the test of time. Depeche Mode, one of my staples for nearly a decade, is difficult to listen to now. It just seems so over-produced and the wallowing in self-pity seems overwrought with cliche-ridden shallowness. The Cure? The Cure stands up very well, but their earlier, darker and more obscure stuff really shine in my opinion, such as Pornography. How I wish I had Last.Fm and go back in time and see my yearly statistics. Memories fade and the groups that made such an impression on you overtake others that seemed so important yet have had no lasting impact.

It is interesting to note that the reason we call Classic Rock, Classic, is because it was a brief period of time when our society's artistry were running on full cylinders, probably not to be repeated in my lifetime. Like the impressionist period in bohemian France, like the Italian Renaissance, there exist a period of intense creativity that seems to come out of no-where. Oh sure, there have been many stellar artists subsequent to the Golden Age of rock (1964-1974) but you do not see the concentration of artists that hold up so well. If you had asked me this during the 80's I would have said the opposite. I was a New Waver. I loved it! OMD, New Order, Joy Division, Howard Jones, Yaz, The Spoons, et a. I thought they were the 60's of my generation. But in hindsight, there is no wonder that they have not lasted. They were self-indulgent and dealt with a materialism that only the 80's could conjure. There were not many voices of the generation. Not much in the way of political or social commentary. There was not much fun. The fun songs were just garbage spoon-fed to us through MTV: Katrina and the Waves, The Bangles, Rick Astly, Madonna to a certain extent. Bands that spoke of politics were usually so morose that it is difficult to listen to now (Ultravox comes to mind). This is why U2 burned so bright and continues to. They were intently socially conscious during a time when people felt that it was a quaint anachronism from a bygone era. But their music had a message, but also hope, something that they learned from their heros such as Lennon/McCartney. They were no so cynical of the world like A Flock of Seagulls were. Now lest this be considered a rant on 80's music, it isn't. I still listen to plenty of 80's music, but it is perhaps different than I would have thought.

This is not much of a post as it a rambling post on music. As you know, I do that from time to time.

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:
Whole Lotta Love from the album "Box Set (Disc 1)" by Led Zeppelin

Technorati Tags: Bangles, Big Star, Depeche Mode, Howard Jones, Joy Division, Katrina and the Waves, Madonna, New Order, Rick Astly, puppy, The Cure, Yaz

Quarterly Review

Now that the first quarter of '07 is about to end, I will list my favorite albums to date:

1. The Shins- Wincing the Night Away

2. The Arcade Fire- Neon Bible

3. Apples in Stereo- New Magnetic Wonder

4. Kaiser Chiefs- Yours Truly Angry Mob

5. Deerwolf- Friend Opportunity

6. Modest Mouse- We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank-

7. Of Montreal- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Some disappointments so far (admittedly, I probably have to listen to them on my iPod to concentrate on it, but just casual listening these albums did not do anything for me, despite the fact that their previous albums were terrific.).

a) Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah- Some Loud Thunder

b) Bloc Party- A Weekend in the City

The Shins is the standout from the crowd. I've was introduced to the Shins in '04 and liked them, but they did not become a part of me. This album takes everything good about this fantastic ethereal, psychedelic melancholy and gives it a slight bubblegum dose of looking at the bright side.

The two new finds so far are Deerwolf. Very eclectic. Quite psychedelic in parts. Highly recommended.

Neon Bible, I suspect, will grow on me to become one of the best of the year. I already love it, but it has yet to become part of my psyche as the Shins have.

Technorati Tags: Arcade Fire, Best of '07 , Bloc Party, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Deerwolf, Modest Mouse, Kaiser Chiefs, puppy, The Shins

Project Management Software

Software Development

There was actually a time when I started down the path to developing software. A recap:

When I ran my old company in the Philippines, we began to explore what kind of database needs we required. I remembered my partner, Marty, told me on a flight to Alaska, "stop your bitching and just write an outline wishlist." So, I did and it became, jokingly, our manifesto. This was in 1999. At the time I only knew about Outlook and ACT!, neither of them which were well suited for my tasks. In reviewing this so-called manifesto recently, I was shocked how prescient it is even today. It has now been 8 years and to date, we do not have a satisfactory off-the-shelf product that will do that. In a recent post, I wrote about wizards. I wrote in 1999 that any such program should be heavily 'wizardable' in order to lose the learning curve and start staff off right away OR be intuitive enough to learn without much effort. We still do not see this.

Somewhere along the line, Marty and I moved to Time Matters and we got an inkling of what a program could do, but then, like now, we were disappointed in its interface and lack of plug-and-play modules. So we thought we should use our contacts in India to see if we could build a better mousetrap. Our idea was to market it to the professional community or any user who utilized forms. Our concept was to have a basic shell like Outlook, but then use the forms to gather data as that was a natural method and reduced redundancy. In other words, integrate the requisite forms with the database. We then thought of a method of selling a tax module, Immigration module, state-specific law module, etc. All the modules would be comptetively priced so that it competes not with Time Matters but with ACT! ACT! was the gold standard at the time (and has now fallen by the wayside to a large degree). So we began to brainstorm with the IT developers and we honestly thought we could get it up and running. However, like so many other things, shit happened. Our main contact person up and disappeared (no we didn't lose any money) but the traction was gone. It is an idea that I wish we would have persevered on. However, in recollecting our decision process, I think in light of this obstacle and the strides that Time Matters was making, we determined that our concept had been rendered irrelevant. Looking back, I think this was incorrect (of course hindsight is always 20/20). From our vantage point today, I can safely say that if the product was delivered as we envisioned, it probably would have worked.

It is interesting to note, that we ended up duct-taping Time Matters to accomplish what we wanted. We used an ODBC driver to extract the Time Matters data. We built a FileMaker Pro database and put it online. We were able to let our clients see their forms, approval notices, correspondence in real time. It was drag and drop. It even looked good. We called it the Virtual Client Management System (VCMS for short). Of course, companies like INSzoom have gone far beyond our offering, but I always know that we were among the first to really push the envelope on this.

This meandering post is a reflection, but also seems to explain my attraction of reading venture capitalist blogs. Somehow I see what they are saying. I am not saying that I am some uber-genius, for I am not. But, I am fascinated how technology can be used to make our lives easier and more efficient. My problem with so many IT people is that they are IT driven. They look at the hardware, the software, but they fail to look, listen or address what people want. For example, at my old firm, the IT guy was brilliant. He was very smart and had developed major applications for the health care profession. But, besides maintaining the network, he did not attempt to see what could be done to increase our efficient work-flow. Mind you I suppose that is a top-level decision. However, the IT dept should be the one to advocate these things. They are the ones who should be current.

I absolutely experimenting with programs. One thing I know to be a maxim is there is no panacea. But there are rules that should be followed:

1. INTEGRATION- Any program should be tied in with mainstream programs such as Office, Outlook etc for the PC and iLife for the Mac. If not, you are just stupid. Proprietary is dead, open up.

2. SYNCHRONIZATION- Build your own PDA conduits. The native approaches are lacking and will not take advantage of your unique programs.

3. EASY ENTRY OF DATA- Have several different interfaces. I.e. advanced, quick-entry, intermediate. This is crucial. I've blogged about kGTD before. One of the things that is so wonderful with such is that it really fascilitates brain-storming. It's like it fosters you to vomit everything you have to say about it on paper and quickly. An outline is useless unless you can QUICKLY convert them into to-dos.

4. EMAIL/CONTACT/PROJECT LINKING- Do NOT build your own email program. Period. This means that you must stick with MS, Apple or Eudora. Trying to reinvent email is just plain idiocy at this point. No one will become more frustrated with your product if their email does not work. Also, you must be able to associate your email under the contact listing and a project. For example, your contractor may be building a garage and a deck, you should be able to separate the email out (manually of course) to correspond with a given project; this provides a comprehensive depository for any project.

5. TIDY GUI- Have a neat looking interface. Cluttering it up makes you not use it. It's that simple. It is an art form to make a GUI simple, yet pleasing to the eye. Apple is the master of that. While we take iTunes for granted now (and its getting old in the tooth) compared to the cumbersome interfaces that existed, it was a thing of majestic simplicity.

6. CROSS PLATFORM- Make it cross-platform. Now that Mac is on Intel, how damn difficult is it to do that? Why? Because this will ease non-Mac users to the Mac. If you have a cross platform product, it makes migration that much easier.

7. PROJECTS- Most professionals deal in terms of projects, cases, matters or whatever you wish to call them. You have all the data you need. It is not that difficult to take the existing information and merely organize it. It is not rocket science.

8. NETWORKABLE- Make it net-workable- a given. Also, you should be able to do this remotely.

9. DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT-Have document management built in... do not merely rely on Google Desktop or Spotlight to accomplish this.

10. SIMPLE EXPORT- have an easy method of exporting data.

11. PRE-STOCKED MODULES- Have pre-stocked modules for different usages. Hell, Quickbooks realized this and can now charge two times what their normal product is for such customization. Yes, if you build it (and build it well), they WILL come.

12. COMMUNICATION TRANSPARENCY- Be open with your communications. Do not get defensive. Someone is ALWAYS going to hate your product. Get over yourself. Look at iTunes Music Store, tell me how many 5 star records you see? I haven't seen one for a LONG time. Why, because people have different tastes. But to not be open with your target audience will engender irritation and will cause mass defection or discontent. You don't want to rely on people being used to your product or being afraid to migrate to something else. This model is so 1980's. Learn the lesson of Lotus. Lotus had it all until a little program called Excel kicked the shit out of it. Lotus also had notes (which people still use) but it was proprietary in large part and did not work well with others. NO one is invincible. Look at Word Perfect. Taking your customer base for granted will kill you. Acknowledge short-comings. If it is deliberate, explain your reasoning. Surprisingly people will usually understand. Unless things get out of hand, do not use a moderated forum. A company that is not afraid of criticism and leaves it in, gets high marks in my book. Marketcircle gets kudos on this issue (hmmm... holy shit, it just sounded like the Blue Angels flew on top of my house... I wonder what is going on- post 9/11 it always makes you think)

So there is my diatribe on project/case management software.

Technorati Tags: Computers, Daylite, Entourage, Exchange, Mac, MS Exchange, Simplicity, Technology, Web 2.0

George Clooney and Ariana Huffington

C'mon you two, you are on the same side. Both of you have a point. Ariana, you should have had a disclosure indicating that George's comments were spliced together, but George, c'mon, this is Ariana, this is not Dick Cheney- she is on our team. Thus stop thinking the worst of her intentions and desires. She was trying to show the power of blogging and seeing all the controversy that ensued, I think that she exceeded. Just let go of your pride both of you and come together as you are both a very powerful voice.

After seeing Good Night and Good Luck tonight, I can say that Clooney is a masterful director and writer. Brilliant. Provocative. Intelligent and well-acted. Adjectives that are too seldom used to describe modern cinema.

Huffington Post sets the standard of progressive blogs to me. it is a news aggregator and highlights both the shocking political stories but also tempers this with more lighthearted fare.

Technorati Tags: Blogs

The Arts are the first to go

I have blogged about this before, but I find it astonishing that in the United States when times get tough, the very first thing to go is funding for the arts. This has always been the case, but came into the forefront of Republicans and Libertarians in the Reagan years. I find it fascinating that in most of Europe it is the very last to be cut. Why? Art is more than a pretty picture on the wall. It is more than a compelling aria, it is more than a provocative play- it is a symbol of our humanity. It is a symbol of our rational mind and it is also, for the same reason, a symbol of hope. Hollywood has long served to fill in the void here, but Hollywood today plays everything safe today and moreover, that is but one part of the arts. We don't appreciate art in our puritanical society, especially in the Midwest where I live. People see no benefit of the fact that we have one of the most beautiful frescos in the world in the Detroit Institute of Arts (by Diego Rivera), yet the funding for the DIA is a constant struggle. When the economy is flourishing, people around here use the high arts to show off their sophistication. Art is not about class, it is about beauty and that is something that distinguishes the US from say, for example, Italy.

Technorati Tags: Music

Manchurian Candidate 2004

I just finished the remake of the classic, the Manchurian Candidate. Having seen the original recently, I felt I was in a good position to compare the two. One of the first things that struck me is that the original one was far more surreal, hallucinatory and just plain weird than the update. This is strange as the original was before the so-called "art" film school of Altman, et al. The update, although keeping some of the original elements, was essentially political commentary for the last election. To be quite frank, I don't think it was much of a stretch. While I don't believe that Bush has an electrode in him, the forces that control him are just as insipid and intertwined with his brain chemistry to reach the same net result.

The acting was good, however, both Streep and Washington seemed to be performing, rather than acting. It was a bit melodramatic to say the least.

I'll write more on this later.

Watching Raging Bull now.