If you have either a lot of bandwidth or a lot of time, there is a nice amusing feature on cultural demographics called Psycho-Graphics at the CBC’s 120seconds.com (see my earlier comments about the site).

However, as is the evil nature of Flash websites, I can’t provide you a simple link to it! ARGH!* You’ll have to go to the front of the site and look for the feature called “Psycho-Graphics” yourself.

Jeffrey Zeldman, for those who don’t know, is the poster boy of independent content development on the web. His site, Zeldman.com, is fine example of an intelligent person writing interesting things. It’s not a navel-gazing blog site (although there are some great ones out there).

Read this great account of a web awards gala where Zeldman’s site is recognized along with a load of dot-com companies (this was a few years back, dot-commies were like Jean Cabot, telling the king that the waters off Newfoundland have so much fish you can almost walk on the water).

The best part is a conversation Zeldman has with a woman:

“What is your company?” says the bolder of the two. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s a personal site,“ I say.

She brightens. “Oh, you mean like dating services?”

“No, I mean there’s no company, it’s just me. It’s entertainment for the Web.”

“Ah. Who supplies your entertainment content?”

“I do. I supply the entertainment content.”

She says, “What is your revenue model?”

I say, “I don’t have one.”

Where are they now? Zeldman is about to publish his book and his website is still a staple of independent content development.

It is nearly 4:00am and the snowplough (isn’t it snowplow? it’s late and I’m going to go with the spellchecker on this one) is burying my car. Something or someone is always burying my car. I would call them names, but Jenn thinks I have developed a potty-mouth (my words, not hers) so I will refrain. For now.

Also. Does anyone have pictures of Yan from the TV show Wok with Yan, or know where such pictures might be found? Let me know.

Am listening to a bunch of Tahiti 80 songs. Am undecided as to whether I like them, or whether they are too sugary, too poppy and too boring. I’ll let you know.

Six hours until I get to wake up again! Yee haw!

It occurs to me that while reviews are all well and good, that perhaps I should be telling you about some events before they happen.*

Thursday go to Fishbones cafe (on Richmond St.) and see Windom Earle along with Port Citizen, The Guthries and Eyes for Telescopes, who will likely have their new album on sale.** Starts at 8:00pm.

Friday go to the alter-cases at The Barn. Starts at 7:00pm.

Saturday go to the alter-cases at Brennan’s which starts at 11:00am. Then go to Baba’s at 9:00pm and see Mike O’Neil, Joel Plaskett, Slocoaster and others.
Or, if you happen to be in Wolfville and not on PEI, wake up at some ungodly hour of the morning and go to Acadia University (it’s in Wolfville, right?). At 9:00am, somewhere on campus, I’ll be reading a series of poems cleverly titled Instructions on Living With Bears and Other More Familiar Animals. Those of you who are currently thinking disparaging thoughts about poems and the people who write them, why don’t you go play hockey, or whatever it is that you neanderthal-motherfuckers generally do.

Sunday go back to Baba’s to see some excellent hip hop featuring Buck 65, Sixtoo, Fermented Reptile and The Goods. This happens sometime in the afternoon.

Following that you should go back to Fishbone’s for a jam session hosted by the aformentioned Eyes for Telescopes and featuring some of the other bands mentioned above.

If you do any of these things, tell me about it.
Cheers.

* I have no idea whether tickets should be bought in advance of any of these events.
** Once I get my paws on one I will offer a review.

Rehashing a few old posts, I will remind you of some great things.

First of all, go visit explodingdog.com. If you haven’t been there before, I assure you that it has nothing to do with exploding dogs. Rather it is a site of fantastic illustrations that will make you laugh and cry (the happy kind). If you have been there before, go again.

Then, if you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list. We’ll only send you brilliant emails.

Finally, email us. Tell us how much you love/hate us (be specific). Suggestions, submissions, compliments, and insults are welcome: thegeniuses@actsofvolition.com

Some things unrelated:

Read this article on Salon concerning one of the greatest actors of all time. And while we’re talking about Bill Murray, it should be mentioned that he will be playing a lounge singer (!) in Steven Soderburgh’s remake of Ocean’s 11, which might also be starring Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Warren Beatty, Micheal Douglas, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Alan Arkin and Matt Damon, among others. I swear, I’m not making this up. Did I mention Bill Murray plays a lounge singer?

Next time school closes, will someone tell me about it? Ignorant bastards.

On a somber note, WWF legend Yoko Zuna is dead. Full story here. Rest in peace big guy.

It has to be at least a dollar actually. But is that too much to ask for our sharp humour and cunning witticisms? No, it is not.

Amazon.com has set up a new system called the Amazon Honor System which is the electronic equivalent of throwing money in to our hat as we amuse you on the sidewalk of [lame cyber-analogy censored].

The system allows an independent website (like our humble aov) to put a cute little (actually quite large) graphic on their page that when clicked will allow viewers to pay the site authors for their brilliance. Transactions are a minimum of $1 and maximum of $50. Amazon takes a 15% cut in exchange for handling the transaction.

Stay calm though! Keep your plastic in your pockets! You can’t give us money yet. You need a U.S. Checkings Account for Amazon to pay you (and U.S. bank accounts are hard to come by on Prince Edward Island).

Those wacky folks at Amazon (or at least the wacky remaining 85%) are always cooking up cool new schemes. The Amazon Purchase Circles are another cool one (especially for you privacy buffs). You can view popular products by employer (Microsoft seems to be quite self-interested). The Amazonians must be trying to keep busy to avoid killing Jeff Bezos for his incredibly annoying laugh.