Life, for most of its urban, suburban and exurban denizens, is busy, full, crowded, and relentless. As a result, people search for meaning in gurus, yoga, self-help books, meditation.

These help if taught and practiced sincerely, but it's hard not to constantly be at the center of your own universe. Hard to step outside of yourself and find peaceful perspective.

So leave. Journey. Travel just a little bit. Not far; I promise. And find a bit of nature.

Whether a forest, teeming with wildlife, trees and plants, or out in the immense open desert that makes up a good bit of our world. Go. Be still. Recognize.

Step outside yourself and remember that it's a big world that keeps going on, with or without you. So, maybe, just maybe, being is enough.
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Not sure how long these buttons were hanging out on Pandora – I rarely find myself on the actual page while I listen, which makes the audio ads more effective – but sharing just got a lot easier and more intuitive.  While it's not as directed a sharing intent as blip.fm, where you choose a specific song to share with your network(s), Pandora allows for a lot more serendipity.

As long as its programming algorithms deliver a consistent stream of (unexpected) aural joy, clicking on the share buttons is a lower participatory hurdle then blipping a song.  The process was pretty simple (see graphics): click on the Twitter button, select to share the song, go through OAuth on Twitter (which is the way every service should work) and you're done.

Smart on Pandora for using bit.ly for the links (users can track reaction to songs) and auto-hashtagging the tweet #pandora.

Curious to see what the adoption of this feature becomes.  What do you think?

At the Beverly Hilton, just down the road from Rodeo Dr, and home of the generally raucous Golden Globes ceremony and after parties, setting the tone is job one. With a pristine white canvas around the pool area - chairs, walls, trim and towels - the hotel builds its environmental notes with the use of color filters and traditional stage lighting.

In LA, every detail in appearance matters. And is noted.
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And on our way we were presented with a choice. The way back home or the door through to paradise.
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The waiting line for checkout at my local CVS shuttles you through canyon walls of displays of sugar, candy, and fat. Is it any wonder that so many Americans are obese?
 
Just because we enjoy (can't avoid?) tasty sugary goodness does that make it okay for stores and companies to overwhelm us with products? Not sure how I come down on the "do corporations have a responsibility to society?" and "does freedom mean choice of unhealthy alternatives?" debates.
 
Where do you?
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Walking along and was puzzled by the front of this recently refurbished multi-unit building in Los Feliz. Updated, repainted and with an appealing group raised deck in the back, these doors to nowhere (anywhere?) demand a balcony. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

From the New Music Seminar NYC on July 21, 2009 (http://www.newmusicseminar.biz/nyc.php)

"There's a danger with artists spending too much time on things they don't love.  I think there will be a new class of entrepreneurs that will handle everything else."

- Tim Westergren, Pandora, predicting that new companies and entrepreneurs will start to fill the digital marketing and fan connection task that currently distract artists from creating great music.

via Digital Music News (http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/072109newmusic3)

At first glance it wasn't clear to me what business this was for. No product information, unclear business purpose, etc. Then my lazy brain picked up the green theme and the cloud on the left became recognizable.
 
Introduced to most of the country by Turtle on Entourage, it seems that the medical marijuana dispensaries are becoming a little more discreet and subtle (potentially in light of some of the backlash I've been reading about).
 
Best part is on the back of the card: "Call for the Doctors Referral" [sic].
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In search for a definition, I cruised over to Dictionary.com and was momentarily shocked into actually looking at the web page with a unique takeover approach.  Dictionary.com had stripped off all of the elements from its page, leaving just a text box for searching.

Performing a search brings you back to a normal page, with traditional sidebars and additional information (and a Prius ad unit above the fold).

It was definitely an eye-grabbing approach, and one that works well because the website has a very focused purpose (words and language search) and users are going to the home page to conduct a pre-identified limited scope transaction (look up a word).

What do you think about it?  Where else could this campaign be successful?

In response to a tweet (http://m.twitter.com/JasonCalacanis/status/1984521969) about investing in airline stocks that have wifi, I argued that it was the broad openness to innovation and trial and experimentation that makes a company better.
 
Virgin America clearly agrees with an ad campaign extolling a (hopefully true and ingrained) philosophy versus a shoutout to transcontinental connectedness.
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