Cool article from Time Asia about Doraemon.

Japan Pop Music: I saw a video from a band called “Sweet Robots Against The Machine.” Or, maybe that’s the name of the album. Anyway, their unhelpful official site is here down. Check here.

In Japan, I noticed the following Baskin-Robbins flavors of ice cream:
Poprock in the Millenium
Daingon Azuki
Musk Melon
Matcha

Should be a little quiet around chittah-chattah for a while as I’m doing some travellin’.

A racial discrimination lawsuit, plaintiffs include the NAACP. Defendant? Cracker Barrel. Ummm…hello?!!!!!!!! Story here.

How to use a Japanese-style toilet. Watch for the amusing typo.

I’ve put up a bit of a reading list…Check it out…

Somewhere in the world they have Caramel M&Ms. Yum!

Update: perhaps no longer

========================================================
FreshMeat #14 from Steve Portigal

               (__)
               (oo) Fresh
                \\/  Meat

FreshMeat – It’ll heat you up and it’ll cool you down…
=========================================================

Here’s an assemblage of books that have caught my eye.
I own most of them (at least one was a library book),
I’ve started to read most of them, and I’ve even
finished a quite a few. Some of them I’ve probably
had for a few years, even.

Note that the year listed may be inaccurate - between
different editions, paperback, reprints, or releases in
various countries, it was difficult to be completely
accurate (well, it didn't seem like it would be of any
benefit to formulate a consistent date system).

+++++++++++++++++++++

Litter Only
Alexandra Martini
2001

Neat little photo essay of public garbage receptacles
from around the world. Too tightly bound to really get
a good look at a lot of the pictures, however. The kind of
book that makes many of us think "hey, I could have done
that..."

+++++++++++++++++++++

Walker Evans: Signs
Walker Evans, Andrei Codrescu
1998

A personal fetish of mine is photographing signs,
especially old ones. This is a book of wonderful
(and old) pictures of wonderful (and even older)
signs.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Open Here: The Art of Instructional Design
Paul Mijksenaar, Piet Westendorp
1999

This is a beautiful collection of illustrations that
explain how to use products. How, where, and when to
pull, push, insert, twist, spin, shake, connect,
remove, and so on. A celebration of the ephemeral.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Understanding Comics
Scott McCloud
1994

Presented as a comic novel, an exploration of the
"user interface" of comics - how a page of framed
illustrations with captions and balloons works as
a narrative form. The author places himself as a
character in the book, explaining his theories with
plenty of examples. A very non-threatening format for
dealing with some complex stuff. Something about his
visual style is kind of annoying to me, too much
"Sunday Funnies," with the veneer of underground
comix.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Reinventing Comics
Scott McCloud
2000

Again, a comic novel format, some furthering of the
same theories, taking into account new methods of creating
and consuming comics (i.e.,the Internet).

+++++++++++++++++++++

Art & Fear
David Bayles, Ted Orland
2001

An earnest if repetitive piece of encouragement - Art is
work, allow yourself to fail, "practice, man, practice..."
and beyond.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress
Debra Ginsberg
2001

An enjoyable memoir about a woman who spends many years
as a waitress. She interrupts her narrative to offer up
interesting mini-lectures on the world of food service
the kitchen romances, the politics of tipping, etc. The
narrative was more engaging than the information, however.
I was hoping for some proto-anthropological insight, but
I didn't find it.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Big Hair: A Journey into the Transformation of Self
Grant McCracken
1996

A very readable and provocative book that documents the
cultural bringing you along for quite the ride, provoking you with experiences and opinions regularly. I was sad when it was over.

+++++++++++++++++++++

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Malcolm Gladwell
2000

Required reading. You can even just pick a chapter and
cruise through it. Seems to be written at a slightly lower
level than his New Yorker articles (some of which are
integrated into the text of this book).

+++++++++++++++++++++

Uncommon Wisdom
Fritjof Capra
1989

A big thinker documents his intellectual explorations with
other big thinkers.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambition
Harriet Rubin
1999

More than a guide to freelancing, the attempt here is to
pave a pathway to self-discovery, illumination, and of
course, self-actualization. All while pulling down some
pretty mean coin.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Leading at the Speed of Growth: Journey from Entrepreneur
to CEO
Katherine Catlin, Jana Matthews
2001

Based on a study of 500 business leaders who made it,
looking at how to lead, and how to grow.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Work Hard & You Shall Be Rewarded: Urban Folklore from the
Paperwork Empire
Alan Dundes, Carl R. Pagter
1992

Ever see an office with a "you don't have to be crazy to
work here (but it helps)" sign? Or a round TUIT? This book
is one in a series that assembles this widespread yet
hard-to-trace form of urban folklore.

+++++++++++++++++++++

The Experience Economy
B. Joseph Pine, James H. Gilmore, B. Joseph Pine II
1999

"Goods and services are no longer enough," and "work is a
theater & every business a stage."

+++++++++++++++++++++

Star-Spangled Canadians
Jeffrey Simpson
2000

The Canadians in the U.S. - what brought them here, what
are they doing here, and what is their sense of national
identity? The author interviewed me (a Canadian) when he did
a pass through Silicon Valley in researching this book. And
no, I'm not in it. Damn!

+++++++++++++++++++++

Tropic of Hockey: My Search for the Game in Unlikely Places
Dave Bidini
2002

The author travels around the world to play hockey,
comparing his own imperative to learn and play the game
in 1970s Toronto with what he finds in Hong Kong, Dubai,
and Transylvania.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Inventing Desire: Inside Chiat/Day: The Hottest Shop, the
Coolest Players, the Big Business of Advertising
Karen Stabiner
1993

The author spent a year inside Chiat/Day (before they
were TBWA), studying the creative process, the egos,
the innovative office environments, the ad campaigns,
and the clients. Very engaging, but a little too
positive.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Truth, Lies and Advertising: The Art of Account Planning
Jon Steel
1998

Account Planning is the process of creating advertising
that connects with consumers. As opposed to? The writing
style makes Newsweek seem like Umberto Eco.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign
Randall Rothenberg
1995

An incredibly revealing document of how Subaru put their
account up for review, considered several agencies, and
selected one. And then how the agency (and their client,
Subaru) screwed it up.

+++++++++++++++++++++

My Life As a 10-Year-Old Boy
Nancy Cartwright
2001

The woman who does Bart Simpson's voice details her
career as an actor, a voice actor, and most interestingly,
as Bart. Good document of the process of making an episode.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Have Not Been the Same: The Canrock Renaissance 1985-1995
Michael Barclay, et al
2001

An extraordinarily detailed (and thick) document of the
radical in Canadian music (the bands, and the business),
in the post-Adams/Hart/BTO/Loverboy era.

+++++++++++++++++++++

PCAT: Preparation for the Pop-Culture Aptitude Test: Rad '80s Version
John Sellers
1998

I spent the 80s watching a great deal of TV, music videos,
and listening to the radio. And I am blessed/cursed to
remember most of it (not just the recycling-friendly bits
that VH1 has chosen to exhume). This book is a detailed
and challenging review of those (and other) elements of
80s pop culture.

--

What are YOU reading?

Tags: books, freshmeat, reading, reading list

Recently, I got a call from the billing person at my doctor’s office, having problems with my credit card. Later that day, I couldn’t complete a $15 purchase with my credit card. I called the wonderful folks at MBNA, but of course, before I could actually talk to someone, I had to verify a set of transactions, and then got to speak with someone. She informed me that my card was on “hold.” I still had tens of thousands of dollars in credit available, it had nothing to do with that.

In fact, they couldn’t really tell me why they had done this, but it was of course, for my own protection. And the message to the people running my card was that they should call in to verify the transaction. Right, because so many of the people operating cash registers are well trained, motivated, and interested in helping. As far as I knew, I had been declined. And MBNA could not explain why, but she pointed out that I had made a bunch of purchases.

Isn’t that what a credit card is for?

I should add that this dialog was further hampered by the fact that she kept telling me that now that I have validated the transactions at the beginning of the call, everything should be fine. I kept talking about what had JUST happened, like, ya know, in the PAST, and she told me I was all set now. Very frustrating.

One company thoughtfully charges you to exceed their credit limit (in an “emergency” so they say) while the other one stops you using it because they want to protect you from….you using it?

I was also told that if you travel, you should let them know when and where, so they don’t shut you off. Very nice.

Last week I got a call from AT&T, droning that my account was very overdue, and with that highly trained “When you will be able to make payment, Mr. Portigal?” – very confusing because of course I had been paying all my bills. Went and pulled the bill (yeah, I keep all that stuff) and it turns out I’m on automatic debit. So…I call them up and go through the usual voice mail hell and multiple people and eventually I am told “You were removed from automatic pay on /date/” – What?????????

I was a little uppity and demanded to know why they hadn’t let me know I was removed, so that I could make some other arrangement to pay my bill before it became overdue? They had no answer. They didn’t know why I had been removed, but they saw that it had not been paid for 2 months or more, despite being set to “automatic pay.” Did AT&T screw up? Or did Wells Fargo (imagine that?) cause the problem. I have no idea.

Now I’ve got to re-enroll (someday, when the damn form comes in the mail) in automatic pay.

After I hung up from the lousy support person, I went to the mailbox and there was yet another bill, telling me I was overdue, and had been removed from Automatic Pay. It then said “a letter explaining this will arrive shortly.”

No such letter has arrived.

What a broken system!

Tags: at&t, automatic pay, broken, customer service

Remember how I bitched about Wells Fargo charging me for going over my credit limit (which they permitted) – anyway, they tried to nail me a second month for that charge, despite the fact that I had already paid it off. Nuh-uh. Got that one cleared (a “courtesy” they said). Like I’m ever using that card again…

On a sign outside Mel’s Redwood Bowl (located here in Redwood City)
BOWLING
IT’S GOOD FOR AMERICA