Grab a Coffee...we'll wait.

Happy Sunday to you and welcome to the new and tricked out Five Cool Things newsletter. First up in this week’s issue: A very nicely done online journal, Oh Life. Next, the Paris Review has a John Waters interview in which we learn about tree forts, his reading list and his archaic writing process. Christoph Niemann has a very funny series of drawings about air travel at a NY Times blog, we tip our cap to a great Alice Waters cookbook and we wrap up with a file sharing service, drop.io. Anton Chekhov writes, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

Dear Diary | Oh, Life Online Journal

"dear diary..."

I’m surprised by how cool this application is. Oh Life is a private online journal with a simple and handsome interface. Once you register, (free and easy) each night at 8pm you get an email that prompts you to write an entry. Just hit reply and write whatever strikes your fancy. Your words automatically land in your Oh Life online journal. It’s that easy. I registered and was quite taken with the simplicity and attractivenss of it all. So I think I now have a diary. A nice touch: the folks at San Francisco based Oh Life are very responsive to inquiries and suggestions. An even nicer touch: they subscribe to Five Cool Things.   Have a look >>

John Waters | The Paris Review

would you pick up john waters if he was hitchhiking?

The legendary Paris Review was founded in 1953 by Peter Mathiessen, George Plimpton and Harold L. Humes. It may be that you haven’t perused the Paris Review lately, but you should because it is simply amazing – just have a look at the Paris Review blog, for instance.  There’s more of course, such as an interview with Mr. John Waters. Who knew that John Waters writes in longhand on a legal pad and cuts and pastes with scissors and scotch tape? And why am I not surprised by this? The John Waters Paris Review interview is here>>

Delete Neighbor | Abstract City Blog

delete thy neighbor!

Goofy airline hijinks are all the rage these days so this is timed quite nicely. Christoph Niemann is an illustrator with a long list of impressive credits: New Yorker covers, Newsweek, the New York Times Magazine, Wired, etc. In a recent blog entry at the Times, our man pens an annotated cartoon of his flight from New York to Berlin with a layover in London. Hilarious. Check it out here>>

Alice Waters certainly needs no introduction from me. Known throughout the land as the heart, soul and chef of

this is one great cookbook

Chez Panisse in Berkeley, she is a shape shifter in our attitudes to food. I thought I would share her cookbook – The Art of Simple Food – with you. It’s been a rock solid ally in our home kitchen for several years running. It will make you a better home cook and you’ll impress your friends even more than you do now. Her Salsa Verde sauce is perfect for summer. Here’s a link to The Art of Simple Food at Amazon>>

make your life easier, use drop.io

Drop.io is a file sharing service. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how useful such a service is. I’m talking to you, SJ. You never have to use You Send It again. You don’t have to mail files to your client. You create a folder that you and your client “share”. Incredibly easy. In a previous issue, I talked about Dropbox, another file sharing service doing much the same thing. Both of these are great applications and well worth the modest cost.

Grab a Coffee...we'll wait.

Greetings! On this day in 1965, 60,000 screaming fans jammed Shea Stadium in New York to watch and hear the Beatles perform. And isn’t it amazing? All these many years later, we still love that music. In this week’s issue of Five Cool Things – the wonders of the Berklee School of Music, a trove of Internet marketing resources, office design inspiration, a link to a nicely done cocktail and writing essay, and, my favorite writing tool at Acrobat.com. Speaking of writing and drinking: Here’s Dorothy Parker on friendship – “Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship.” Wonder if she was sober when she wrote that? Here’s to the glories of the summer cocktail and friendship. Cheers!

On the Fine Edge of Music | Berklee Internet Radio Network

1. Let us now praise the Berklee School of Music. One of the world’s most prestigious music schools was founded in 1945 by Mr. Lawrence Berk, who favored a faculty made of practitioners (read: artists) not academics. The alumni is legend: Al Di Meola, Toshiko Aikyoshi, John Scofield, the deeply groovy Ernie Watts among many, many others. Berklee contiues to produce generation after generation of artists and performers who break new ground. One way to sample the vibrancy of Berklee – visit the website and have a look aroud. While you’re there, click on the link for the Berklee Internet Radio Network. Or, just go directly to the station by going to birn.com. Of special note: listen to 21 year old Berklee student Roy Guzman. The guitarist/composer performs at Newport here>> You won’t be disappointed. Get the Berklee iPhone App here>>

I Found You Through Google | Ginormous Internet Marketing Resource

2. This might be the best list of Internet Marketing Resources I’ve ever seen. Over one hundred tools and sites are listed. If you work in Internet marketing, or you know someone who does, you need to have a look at this list, provided by the always superb SEOmoz. Almost everything listed is free. Find it all right here>>

Your Office Needs an Upgrade | Dwell Magazine Delivers Inspiration

3. Not too long ago, on the advice of a business coach, I gave myself a major office upgrade. Let’s just say the space I was working in was not terribly practical, nor was it inspiring. Those of us who work from home can all too easily get stuck in a rut, trying to do good work in a space that is disorganized, cluttered, even dreadful. So here’s a gentle reminder. Take a look at that space you’re spending all your time in. Can it be more beautiful? Inspiring? Evocative? I’m guessing the answer is yes. Here are ten home offices, courtesy of Dwell Magazine that might provide some much needed inspiration.

Beverage Tales | Drink What You Know

4. Geoff Nicholson is in today’s New York Times with a great essay on writers and drinking. Here’s a clip: “Of course, you could argue that if the lives of Parker, Chandler and Thompson prove anything, it’s that writers might be better off not drinking at all, but that’s one piece of advice that’s never going to fly. In some cases it would leave them with nothing to write about.” Well worth reading in its entirety>>

The Wonders of Cloud Computing | Acrobat.com

5. There are not enough words in the English language to describe how much I do not love Microsoft Word. I’ll spare you the geezer rant. Here is what I do love. I love to write in Acrobat.com. Gorgeous interface, it automatically saves every single version of whatever it is you’re working on, and if you need to collaborate, you can via the “shared workspace” function. If you want to download your work into a Word document (perish the thought!) you can do that too. Need a pdf? No problem, it can do that in a snap.

grab a coffee...we'll wait.

Good Sunday morning friends and neighbors. Do you remember where you were and what you were doing 36 years ago today? Richard M. Nixon announced his resignation from the presidency on August 8, 1974, proving once again, the most amazing things happen in August. In this week’s issue of Five Cool Things, 10 cool writing tips, a trip to Coney Island, top ten resources to help the designer in you, the government takes to the Interwebs to talk healthcare, and finally, some tasty art collides with a wedding cake/cupcake shop in Portland. Love this: “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” – Emily Dickinson. As always, if you dig Five Cool Things, forward it on. Be happy out there, okay?

Writers are Made | Ten Writing Tips To Help Almost Anyone

Ten Writing Tips

1. The information age has made writers of us all. Whether it’s a course description for a workshop, a newsletter like this one, content for our website and blog, that grant application — you see where I’m going. These ten writing tips by noted author Janet Fitch, (White Oleander) are mostly geared to writers of fiction. Before you decide, “not for me”, take a look. These are thoughtful tips that can, as the title implies, help almost anyone. There’s a bonus here for readers. Learn the specifics of why some writers and some books really sing where others don’t. Tip No.1 Write the sentence, not just the story.

the many uses of the seashell

Double Your Pleasure | Coney Island Diptychs

2. I love it when two seemingly disparate photographic personalities get hitched. A whole new landscape of meaning emerges. Photographers Johnny Miller and Baptiste Lignel have put together a book of paired photographs from Coney Island. Miller sought out found objects – detritus and trash – and photographed it all against a stark white background. Baptiste Lignel photographed the found “human” subject matter of Coney Island and together they’ve created something very fresh and lively: Coney Island, Trans Photographic Press, 2009, which won a prize at the New York Photo Festival.

Seek Inspiration Daily | Top Ten Resources for Design Inspiration

inspiration: seek it daily

3. Last week’s mention of Before & After Magazine was a big hit. So, in my tireless efforts to further please my subscribers who love and live for design ideas, here’s a list of the top ten resources for design inspiration. Brought to you by Mashable Magazine. All you non-designers out there –this is a very interesting list. Here’s a taste of the first three: 1. FFFFound! (Find, share and bookmark your favorite images.) 2. Behance Network (Powerful online creative professional platform. WORTH LOOKING AT SERIOUSLY FOR ARTISTS AND CREATIVES) 3. Smashing Magazine (Premier site for web design and development.)

We’re From the Government and Here to Help | HealthCare.Gov

4. Somebody pinch me. Beautifully designed, highly functional, well organized, government website explains health care. The look, feel, attitude and approach are inspired by Silicon Valley. The geeks in the White House are calling it Expedia for healthcare. Healthcare.gov has everything you want and need to know about the Affordable Care Act and more. Brought to you by your government. They’ve had well north of 1 million visitors at the time of this writing. Was unable to locate Death Panel section.

Artist Meets Baker | The Art of the Cupcake at Pastry Girl

art of the cake

5. Such a sweet pastry shop kind of story. Cool Portland pastry shop, Pastry Girl, (specializing in distinctive cakes and pastries) suggests to local artist James Hager, “Hey, James, maybe we could do a show of your work in our pastry shop? That would be cool, yes? What do you think?” Great idea thinks James, only my art is kind of dark, and there’s just two weeks to do it! So rather than making you know, ART, James makes cake and cupcake art – art fit for a pastry shop. See the wedding cake image to the left. There are four pieces on the wall, each about 48 inches high by 24 inches wide. James used only the materials he had on hand. DO go to Pastry Girl. It’s fabulous!

Content Critical July 27, 2010

It’s a pretty safe bet that by now you have heard of Twitter. You may be using it avidly, or you may be trying to avoid it. Maybe you’re intrigued and need a bit more frosting on the cake before you bite. Well good news, this column is for you.

First, Let’s Dispel The Myth
Twitter is not about what someone had for lunch. Or breakfast. Do some people use it that way? Yes. Just like some people talk only about themselves at the dinner party. Here’s what you do. Ignore. Do not follow. It’s that simple.

A Whole New Way of Communicating
On the face of it, a “tweet” (the message that you send out via Twitter) with its 140-character limit, seems an awfully limited way to engage with other people. After all, what can you say in 140 characters? As it turns out, you can say a heck of a lot.

Here’s a recent tweet from the Wall Street Journal’s Small Business Section:

The Wall Street Journal Tweets About Small Business

Here’s a brief announcement pointing to something of value. The link takes you to a Wall Street Journal article that helps small business owners manage mountains of resumes. In less than 140 characters, at least two important business objectives were reached: 1) WSJ promoted published content and 2) WSJ informed the business community about something helpful to them. If that were all there was to Twitter, it would nice. Cool, even. But we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Customer Service Has Been Twitterized
There are some big, big names on Twitter. Dell. Comcast. JetBlue. Southwest Airlines. Whole Foods. Zappos. The list goes on forever. Here’s one simple reason why those companies are on Twitter. Their customers are on Twitter.

If your customers are on Twitter, and your marketing is sufficiently energized and resourced, then your organization should be there. Plus, the Twitter platform and even its limitations, make it ideal for quick and direct communications between individuals.

And don’t discount the power of negative or positive publicity. If someone on Twitter finds themselves very unhappy with Dell, or JetBlue, or Whole Foods, (or just about anyone) and decides to Tweet about it, lots and lots of people are going to hear about that, very, very quickly. And if you’re being taken to task, you can quickly address the problem. If you are present. Conversely, positive news can be “re-tweeted” and can also spread like wildfire.

Comcast in particular, in the person of ComCast employee, Frank Eliason, has earned a well-deserved customer service reputation by using Twitter (@comcastcares) to serve their customers in a very direct, very efficient way. Here’s an example below.

In this tweet, Mr. Eliason is asking a customer to send him a Direct Message (meaning not viewable by anyone other than the two people communicating) so he can help this customer.

The ways in which you or your organization can benefit from Twitter is simply too big for this space. But I hope I’ve given you a couple of things to think about. If you would like to learn more, here are two very well crafted articles on the business of Twitter.

TwitterforBusiness-1 by small business marketing guru John Jantsch
Twitter 101 for Business – A Special Guide by the folks at Twitter

Enjoy! Next week: The home page of your website is all wrong. Discuss. Follow me on Twitter – @lucidcontent