Joshcast Vol 01

By JoshPetersel in Josh does Music 5 Comments

My car was recently broken into, and my iPod was lifted. I say: Good. I think the whole ordeal’s kind of funny. I mean, what kind of America do we live in, where a guy can’t cause a thousand dollars in damage so that he can turn like $50 or $80 at a nearby pawn shop? Further: I’m pretty sure, after sifting through the aftermath, that the guy who broke in totally left me a can of Sprite.  As a token of my enthusiasm, here’s a giant can of Sprite:

The Uncola!

On the upshot: Plenty of opportunity now to flex my mixtape-making muscles.  I thought maybe you’d enjoy that, too.  Here’s eleven (naturally) songs that are now spinning in the car CD player.

Joshcast Vol 01:

  1. Bullets // Tunng
  2. Hustle // Tunng
  3. Animal // Miike Snow
  4. Party with Children // Ratatat
  5. What You Know // Two Door Cinema Club
  6. A Fairytale Ending // The Boy Least Likely To
  7. When My Time Comes // Dawes
  8. I Can Change // LCD Soundsystem
  9. Radar Detector // Darwin Deez
  10. Cold War // Janelle Monae
  11. Magic (feat. Rivers Cuomo) // B.o.B

Some liner notes: Tunng is great. I love their two most recent albums, Good Arrows and …And then We Saw Land, which respectively feature songs 1 and 2. I must have seen Miike Snow a half dozen times at music festivals across the country this year. “Party with Children” feels like it belongs in an old school Sonic.  Maybe a water level.  I’ve loved The Boy Least Likely To for the last three years, I get the feeling I’ll love Dawes for the next three. “Radar Detector” and “Magic” are catchy as the cold that seems to have swept the city this weekend.

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Download the mix as one long playable thing here: http://drop.io/joshcast01

2Bar

By JoshPetersel in Words 0 Comment

Here’s something I learned this week: The US $2 bill is actually currently still in production. I thought I’d heard some time ago that the government stopped printing them. I think I’ve still got a few $2 bills in some piggy bank in my room at home that grandma gave me some dozen years ago—collectors items!

It appears as though my beliefs were misguided. At least, so says the 2003 $2 bill currently in my wallet. And the Wikipedia page. I was elated to receive the bill in change from a beer. Not only because I got a beer, but because $2 bills are awesome.

Then I learned that you can actually go to a bank and request stacks of $2 bills. Whoa.

That all got me thinking. There’s an opportunity here. The $2 bill has a number of really valuable characteristics. They’re scarce—you can’t get one just about anywhere. They’re novel—it’s fun to have! They’re accepted everywhere (well, for the most part).

So here’s an idea: 2Bar. A bar concept based entirely around the $2 bill. A totally unique, remarkable, fun, and buzzable theme (see: St. Louis’ latest cool bar that everyone gushes about, the Silver Ballroom). A bar that has its own (awesome!) currency—and not the frustrating kind like Disney Dollars that you get stuck with and can’t use anywhere else.

The gambit:

  1. Load the register with $2 bills to give out in change. Encourage cash transactions. Maybe even eschew credit card processing entirely.
  2. Every time someone buys a drink, they get a few $2 bills in change. They paid $10 for a $3 PBR? Give three $2’s and one $1 back. They paid $20 for a $4 Schlafly? Give a $10 and three $2’s back. Now, both patrons have three of your calling cards with them at all times in their wallet. They’re going to stare at them the very next time they make a purchase. And because $2 bills are goofy-awesome, they’re going to share ’em with friends.
  3. Now, the totally beautiful part: drink specials for anyone paying with $2 bills. Stuff that other bars couldn’t afford to offer—but you can, because you’re rewarding your loyal customers. A $2 Bud Light, or a $4 Founders Centennial IPA looks like a steal. But the only people with access to that menu are your loyal customers.

Still plenty of room to get creative from there. Someone wants giftcards? Just give out $2 bills. Host events with a $2 cover. Make sure you pick a location on Jefferson Avenue. Money themed cocktail and menu items. Do you even need to buy business cards? Let your money work for you.

3D

By JoshPetersel in Josh for Business 2 Comments

Some ideas on 3D:

If James Cameron was really a genius (and frankly, thank goodness he isn’t), and he knew he was sitting on a multi-billion dollar blockbuster that would change movies and TV and media forever (much to my own chagrin), then why wouldn’t he make the (assuredly meager by comparison) investment in an ownership interest in a 3D-glasses manufacturing company? Consider how many theaters (and soon, home theaters) are now employing 3D glasses regularly (Here’s Wikipedia’s list).

Too bad, really, because he probably could have used more money.

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Here’s commercials for ESPN 3D. This doesn’t seem like a horrible idea to anyone else? Don’t you have a hard enough time keeping track of where you left the remote? Weren’t we all laughing about the humorous prospect of folks wearing glasses to watch TV like a decade ago? Or do we think this looks cool now?

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Why 3D flops, summed up in one poorly-shopp’d image:

Note: this image also viewable in 3D

“This 3D is pretty great. Wonder what this part looks like in 2D, though?”

This is what happens to you every 30 minutes of every 3D movie you’ve ever seen. Doesn’t happen to you when you’re watching HDTV. And I’d imagine it didn’t happen to anyone back when the first wave of color TVs were making rounds. Either 3D augments your total immersion in entertainment, or it’s a gimmick that’ll get boring before you know it.

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Here’s a bonus business idea: Lasik Surgery. The committee in charge of the doctors trained to perform Lasik should be having a field day with this 3D glasses stuff. Aren’t people spending thousands of dollars on surgery just so that they don’t have to wear glasses in order to do basic, normal stuff?

If you ask me, there should be parody commercials going off after every 3DTV commercial about how Lasik surgery lets you see in 3D without glasses. That’d be hilarious. The cost comparison is probably pretty close (think, “You could spend $2,000 to wear more glasses, or $2,000 to wear less glasses”). It’d go viral. And most importantly, we’d help put a halt to this whole 3D trainwreck that prompted the commercials in the first place.

Band Names

By JoshPetersel in Josh does Music 0 Comment

“Playing tonight at Off Broadway: FREE BEER, w/ No Cover”

If my friends and I ever started a pair of bands, that’s what I’d demand we call ourselves.  How does that set not play to a packed house every night?

Any takers? I used to play a wicked Recorder back in elementary.

Alumni Participation Matters

By JoshPetersel in Josh surfs the Internet 0 Comment

From an email I received today from my old college Dean:

“I am concerned about a giving trend I have been witnessing in recent years, and I hope you can help. The percentage of alumni supporting Olin has been falling. In the year 2000, 31% of our alumni supported Olin. This fiscal year, only about 17% of our alumni have made a gift, and the downward trajectory has been consistent in the intervening years. This is not just an Olin trend, it is an industry-wide one, and I’d like to turn this statistic around. I want Olin to be an exception to this trend. Alumni participation in giving matters to our rankings. It matters to our students. It matters to me.”

Should read:

“I am concerned about a giving trend I have been witnessing in recent years, and I hope you can help. The percentage of alumni hired for jobs that utilize skills learned at school and pay adequately has been falling. In the year 2000, 31% of our alumni supported Olin. This fiscal year, only about 17% of our alumni have made a gift, and the downward trajectory has been consistent in the intervening years. This is not just an Olin trend, it is an industry-wide one, and I’d like to turn this statistic around. I want Olin to be an exception to this trend. Alumni participation in giving matters to our rankings. It matters to our students. It matters to me.”

The title of this particular message was “Alumni Participation Matters.”  You’d hope that “Alumni Success Matters” would be a far more pressing and salient issue.

Re: T-Shirts at Foam

By JoshPetersel in Josh for Business 0 Comment

I wrote two months ago about selling special T-shirts at Foam as a means of establishing a company culture, a bit more revenue, and allowing hipsters to get that $1 PBR if they really, really wanted it without compromising the price structure set up for the rest of normal human society.

I found this today:

I bet you they read my alt text and listened

I bet you they read my blog and listened

Now, it’s a little bit pricier than I’d want, and I’m not enough of a soccer nut to go in every game, but that’s okay.  The Scottish Arms is an upscale pub (not an Irish pub…but you know) in the Central West End.  It’s a totally cool place, but it’s not my home base.  This particular program isn’t for me, and in fact, it’s better that the club is a little exclusive.  No way to show your true Scottish Arms colors if there isn’t a little bit of a hurdle for entry.

I bet the regulars love it, and I bet that the bar’s seeing returns on the program as well.  I’ll find out for sure when I talk to the owner in the immediate future, and I’ll let you guys know.

More Movies

By JoshPetersel in Josh and the Arts 1 Comment
About a year ago, I graduated college.  I went home, considered the utter lack of other important things to do in Huntington, New York, and made the decision to make an exerted effort to catch up on the ridiculous number of important (or, uh, relevant) movies that I hadn’t seen.  Now, 380-something days later, I present the fruits of Netflix’s labor and the laundry list of movies I’ve now seen for the first time.  With, of course, a few of my own notes sprinkled here and there.
  • Edward Scissorhands
  • The Natural
  • Swingers – Terrific.  This could be me were the movie, say, 15 years newer.
  • Dr. Strangelove – I mean, the guy’s name is Peter Sellers.  I should totally be a buff.  Ah, well.
  • Bull Durham
  • Hoosiers – Overrated?  Maybe.  The whole thing felt overdone, but then again, this was among the first classic sports movies, and I’d already seen all these tricks played out a hundred times before.  Probably just a case of me getting to it in the wrong order, sort of like how I don’t enjoy playing Mario 64.
  • Hancock – I heard this was really, really bad, and it managed to exceed expectations.  That was impressive.
  • Se7en
  • Being John Malkovich
  • Rudy – Also terrific.  Running theme for young Vince Vaughn movies?  Maybe.
  • Young Frankenstein
  • 12 Monkeys
  • Seven Pounds
  • Earth Girls are Easy
  • The Wrestler
  • Kill Bill Vol. 1
  • Snatch
  • Groundhog Day – Now that I’ve seen it, shows up on TV all the time.  Not that I’m complaining.
  • Big Fish and What Dreams May Come – I’ve seen a few times before, but I showed it to Alyssa for the first time.  I don’t know that either movie is really that technically proficient, but I really like both of them.
  • Life of Brian
  • The Warriors – Awesome.  This would have been great to watch with Eric and Brian.
  • Almost Famous
  • A Boy and his Dog – Just go read the description on Netflix.  It’s not good, but once you’ve read that far, you’re kind of obligated to see it out.
  • The Butterfly Effect – I like the concept, was told this was really bad, went in with low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised.
  • Godfather II
  • Godfather III – what a disaster.  I hate that they’re going to do the same thing to Wall Street with Wall Street 2.
  • Raging Bull
  • The Departed
  • Dazed and Confused
  • The Usual Suspects – For all the Bill Simmons I read, I’m shocked that this one wasn’t somehow spoiled for me.
  • Army of Darkness
  • The Iron Giant
  • Motorcycle Diaries – Full Disclosure: I’ve technically seen this before in high school Spanish class…but then again, by senior year, I got into the habit of sleeping through a lot of that.
  • The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
  • Rain Man
  • Into the Wild – If you take anything from this list, make it this one.  Go see it.
  • Schindler’s List
  • Citizen Kane
  • American History X
  • Synechdoche, NY
  • Inglourious Basterds – has everything.  Great.
  • Spirited Away – I don’t remember how I found this.  Some website recommended it maybe.  Fair warning, it’s animated (Japan style, not Disney style).
  • Gangs of New York
  • Scarface
  • Primer
  • Where the Wild Things Are
  • V for Vendetta
  • Benjamin Button – Tried to be Forrest Gump, and failed pretty bad.
  • There’s Something About Mary
  • Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
  • The Scout
  • Youth in Revolt
  • Revenge of the Nerds
  • Cube 2: Hypercube
  • MallRats

Phew.  55 movies.  I feel a lot more cultured.  What’d you do, watch the entire series of Lost?

Anything else come to mind that I’m probably-to-definitely missing out on?