So we meet again, after several years. Of separation.
Good to have them back.
And you simply must watch this interview in Norwegian. Never enough of Scandinavian popstars speaking their own languages. And I am still on a mission to learn whether Ms. Neneh Cherry speaks Swedish.
30/09/2009
Tyler Brule and Twitter, take three.
Mr. Bruce Nussbaum from Business Week responded to Mr. Brule’s recent comments about Twitter (please see my post below). He wrote:
A good Twitter posse is better than a Google algorithm in ferreting out important and useful insights.
I do agree - it is quite great to ask/see what people are thinking/reading/tweeting about.
Mr. Brule’s created a mini Twitter-storm with his column. I typed his name into Twitter’s search engine and there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of messages about it. Unsurprisingly the reaction has not been positive. One user, going by the name ‘absolutrufus’ wrote:
I thought Tyler Brule’s column hating on Twitter started out great, but flamed out. I stopped reading after the first 140 characters.
I still think there is a lot of noise on social networking web sites and the real skill for the future would be to edit it and make it useful.
Jugs, Jars & Pitchers
Jugs, Jars & Pitchers is the title of an exhibition curated by Mr. Jasper Morrison currently on display in Mr. Morrison’s shop in London.
The subtitle for the show could be Quiet is the New Loud (and Kings of Convenience are back too). Mr. Morrison collected and decided to show more than objects designed to carry liquids. There are simple brushes, spatulas, pots. No names, no stories, just form and function. Some of it is from well-known designers, some from junk shops and flea markets.
The exhibition runs until Wednesday, September 30th.
For more info, send an e-mail to: shop@jaspermorrison.com or read more here.
I like the concept of basic clothes in a democratic world.
Jil Sander on her collaboration with Uniqlo (via The Daily Telegraph).
Jil Sander on her collaboration with Uniqlo (via The Daily Telegraph).
Another take on Twitter
Tyler Brúlé doesn’t like Twitter, but Leo Babauta (of the inspiring zenhabits.net) does. In an interview with Karen Leland he recognises Tyler’s point about noise and says:
“There is a lot of noise out there about social media right now and while social media is useful, it can also be a time suck. You have to integrate marketing time into the rest of your life.”
And then he adds:
“I’ve been experimenting with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others. Twitter is the one I really enjoy the most. I think you have to understand that each one you use on a regular basis requires a time commitment. So I set time limits. I don’t leave my Twitter open all the time. I check it twice a day and even then I skim the messages. I also split my Twittering time into 20 minute sessions - a morning session, one after lunch and one towards the end of the day.”
Cubicle is the new loft?
Cubicle is the new loft? I would not mind living in my office (but it would have to be refurbished back to its original design). NYMag asked five design offices for their ideas.
Tyler Brûlé doesn't like Twitter and is not afraid to say it.
It doesn’t come as a big surprise that Monocle’s Editor-in-Chief Tyler Brûlé is not a fan of Twitter (read his latest column for FT here).
As a vocal advocate of old-school/old-world/old-fashioned approach to media (foreign bureaux, analogue photography, craftsmanship, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, etc.) he never seemed like a person who was going to send us a tweet from his favourite rokku kissain Shibuya-ku. I must say that I would be the first to follow his Twitter updates, though, as it would be fascinating to try to keep up with his schedule.
I liked this particular sentence:
On second thought, perhaps you should have been arrested for invading the privacy of others, for making your “tweets” all over the place and fouling up an already overburdened media and social networking landscape.
Although it has to be said that one can choose whether to follow Twitter/Facebook et al. or not, there is a lot to be said for polluting the media/social networking landscape. it isn’t a new argument that it is getting harder and harder to even attempt to digest the amount of information (trivial, essential, serious and superficial) available to us. One should carefully consider adding one’s voice to the Internet chatter (and this leads to a natural question to the author of these words - why are you writing this blog, then? Ah yes… perhaps we’ll come to this in the coming days. Perhaps not.)
So don’t expect a Twitter account for Monocle then, but that’s not to say that Tyler Brûlé’s media brand is stuck in the past. They have built an interesting and solid on-line presence, marrying traditional approach (it takes time, effort and money to write and produce something of value and substance) with new technology (podcasts, short videos, slideshows). Recently they’ve also introduced a Monocolumn - I would risk calling it their take on a blog, but with a distinct Monocle flavour (it’s called A daily bulletin of news and opinion).
Weekly and growing
Magazines are having a tough time. Some are folding (Arena), others are thinking about staff cuts (20 per cent at Business Week). Things are not looking good.
But there are exceptions, one of them being Italian Vanity Fair. With circulation up by more than 8 per cent year-on-year, it apparently has a problem with an abundance of adverts. Its secret? It's a weekly. In the editorial mix: fashion, politics and celebrity gossip. Glossy photos and articles shorter than in its American counterpart (estimated reading time between 6 to 14 minutes). It's not the only weekly that is going strong, as the success story of Grazia magazine in the UK is well-documented. But going weekly is not always the answer. German edition of Vanity Fair went weekly in 2007 and folded in February 2009.
The link in the title takes you to an in-depth article by J.J. Martin for the New York Times.
Postcards
Nice postcards with some iconic images of communist popular culture (Fiat 126p, bottle of milk, Moscow Olympics mascot, Druh camera) from PanTuNieStał blog.
They've just opened a shop in Łódź, but you can buy them on-line too.
The truly fantastic Fantastic Man magazine has launched their new web site a couple of days ago.
So far their web site usually just had a couple of images from the magazine. After the redesign it's evolved into kind of tightly edited blog with only one post per day (The Daily Recommendation) and just a few sections (The Forum, The Look, etc.).
I am happy that there will be a daily on-line presence for the Fantastic Man brand, though it seems a bit at odds with their philosophy. I thought it was all about old-world values re-interpreted for now, handwriting, letters and fountain pens. And there was something reassuring in the fact that there was no proper web site. That the physical magazine was all there was.
I am not sure about putting Mr. Ewan McGregor on the cover. He seems like an odd/popular/populist choice after Helmut Lang or Bret Easton Ellis.
From this month's The Look:
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