Shanti’s Dispatches

Doc reports on Hugh saying that Branding is Dead.

That’s one thing I love about bloggers. It’s not necessarily whether branding really is or isn’t dead, or whatever they’re saying will necessarily come true or not.

It’s just so great how they throw out such sweeping statements as fact, and expect people to fall in line as if, “yep, branding is dead. hugh said it on his weblog.”

Let’s just get it clear right now. I’ll say it first.

Everything Is Dead.

Everything. Is. Dead.

Blogging killed it all. Blogging is the mass murderer of branding, advertising, corporate image, corporate communication, corporate ideology, mission statements, public relations, press releases, marketing, blah blah etc etc.

Yeah, you heard it here first. This is Shanti so you know who said it. Everything. Is. Dead.

Just wanted to let all the comment spammers know that they should add this blog back into their indexes.

I’ve removed the requirement that you register with TypeKey first, because, apparently, it doesn’t work.

Thanks David for pointing this out.

…in unrelated news, if you’re in the market for penis enlargement pills and disturbing anime porn - you’ll know where to find it, in the unmoderated comment section of this blog!

Update (10/24/2004): Nevermind. Turned ‘em back on and had about 40 comment spams within 2 days. Screw that. You’ll have to register with TypeKey if you’d like to comment here.

I hadn’t seen blogsnow until I launched WhoLinksToMe and it started showing up in my referrer logs.

Well, looks like WhoLinksToMe is ranked #4 at the moment on blogsnow. Rock on.

For those of you newly subscribing or arriving at this blog from there, here are a few quick links:

Entrepre-hackers, check out:
Menlo Park 2.0

Music lovers, check out:
Shanti’s pirate radio (while my bandwidth lasts)

Mark Cuban talks about building a next-generation entertainment company here.

Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner have acquired Rysher Entertainment, Landmark Theaters and Magnolia Pictures. They have also created companies like HDNet and HDNet Movies, HDNet Films and 2929 Entertainment, with more to come.

He mentions a movie that I haven’t heard much about yet, Voices of Iraq. Cuban says: “It’s the one film that EVERYONE should be required to see before they vote.“

Cuban on first watching “Voices of Iraq”:

Honestly, when they sent the first cut of the movie to me, I sat down to watch it merely out of curiousity. Once it started, it was immediately obvious that this wasn’t a documentary about Iraqis. It was “the real story” behind all the rhetoric we are receiving from the media and our candidates. As I watched, with each scene and interview, it was if I was on a political rollercoaster. Jumping back and forth between “Bush was right for invading”, to “no he wasn’t. It was a mistake” I won’t tell you how I came out, but in watching this movie I felt far more informed and ready to vote. You will too. The movie opens in 10 cities October 29th. We are also working to get it out on DVD for those who can’t make it to theaters before election day. Watch the blog for more details.

I’m not a huge politics guy, but I would like to see this movie. Fahrenheit 9/11 made me sick to my stomach at times w/ Moore’s blatant propaganda & left-wing agenda. Watching it with a few fairly uninformed democrats who took everything he said at face value was pretty disgusting as well.

It’s unfortunate that a movie like “Voices of Iraq,” which depicts the real, true life events and perspectives of Iraqis on the ground, won’t get more media attention and will be lucky to receive 1/10th of the viewership of Fahrenheit.

Oh wait, I forgot, under Saddam, Iraq was a “peaceful and sovereign nation.”

…is so much more than 10mb, as reported. Just a tip.

BitTorrent download of Jon Stewart on CNN’s Crossfire - where he proceeds to rip Tucker Carlson a new one.

At present, the video has been downloaded over 50,000 times.

Is this new media, or what?

…are the best.

Really. I have proof.

Just a few of the things people are shopping for on Froogle:
- samurai sword
- pumps
- quesadilla maker
- mini skirt

that sounds like one helluva fun night to me.

Chris Pirillo on Simply Smarter Broadcasting:

Podcasting - it’s not just for iPod users, but too many non-iPodders have already dismissed the concept as something NOT important. That, to me, is a major problem. It’s nothing more than Internet radio at its core, folks. It’s audio, on-demand, that’s easily synchronized with your computer system / portable media device… in theory. Yes, there are a few fantastic programmers who are making it easier to “do,” but if we can’t get people over the initial branding hump, I just can’t see it as succeeding in the mainstream. You could easily argue that I buy tissue paper, not Kleenex… but when someone wants to pause live television, they walk into a store and ask for… a TiVo, not a PVR.

Read the rest here.

Jonathan’s take on MP2.0:

Menlo Park 2.0’s point, I think, is not innovation. It’s customers point is innovation.
MP2 is more about a supporting structure, human capital, experience, and refinement - all of the things a good idea needs in order to come into its own. How do you feed that into an identity? It makes me want to re-project that old communist adage into a western, ego-centric, capitalist context - something trite like “the entrepreneurs control the means of innovation”. We invest HC because the idea needs built, whereas we invest VC because the business model produces a cash-out.

You can read more on his blog.

If you are not familiar with MP2, you can learn more here.