Agent: Yes, that’s correct, we promise we can find you a job, no matter what. Applicant: That’s great! You can help me? Agent: Of course. Now, let’s look at your academic transcript. The Agent studiously examines the transcript. Agent: Oh, dear, this isn’t very good. Applicant: Um … Agent: It says you have a very poor average, that you scored 16 […]
Tag: 2017
Trading identities in the 2010s: when corporate branding and personal branding adopt each other’s methods
Above: Brand Kate Moss was probably seen by more people when the model collaborated with Topshop. In 1999, the late Wally Olins sent me his book, Trading Identities: Why Countries and Companies are Taking on Each Other’s Roles, a fine read published by the Foreign Policy Centre that argued that countries were trying to look […]
When someone you know got ‘Harveyed’
‘Repugnant’ is a very good word, used by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences to describe producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment and assaults. It’s a small world when someone you know was ‘Harveyed’, and it all follows a very familiar script. My op–ed’s in Lucire today. You may also like It can’t be that […]
Secret “Asian” man (with apologies to Tak Toyoshima)
Matt Clark Above: Driving a silver Aston Martin. I’m citing the Official Secrets Act when I say I may or may not be on the tail of Auric Goldfinger. Oh dear, I’ve been outed. I’m a spy. Actually, Walter Matthau and I prefer ‘agent’. You can read between the lines in this New […]
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The hunt for reliable news is harder today
Above: A reputable Las Vegas newspaper, the Las Vegas Review–Journal. I’m not going to weigh in on the debate surrounding the US Second Amendment today, but what I will say is whether we like their politicians or not, the victims in Las Vegas didn’t deserve their fates. My thoughts and prayers go to them and […]
Too many white cars make fake news
A photo taken in Wellington with a test car I had for Lucire. White cars aren’t the over-represented colour in New Zealand: guess from this photo what is. A friend of mine put me on to this Fairfax Press Stuff article, entitled ‘Silly Car Question #16: Why are there so many white cars?’. It’s a […]
Welcome to Vivaldi
Earlier this week, I installed Vivaldi browser, and decided to make it my default after reading CEO Jon von Tetzchner’s blog post about the potentially corrupt practice of Google suspending his company’s Adwords campaign after he was critical of them. I have resisted browsers made from Chromium because I was never sure how much […]
After years, the tech press catches on about Facebook’s inflated user numbers
In 2014, I began warning that Facebook’s user numbers were false, and I also began saying that at some point, the site would boast more people than there were online users on Earth. (In fact, I said this very thing again earlier this week, ironically on a friend’s Facebook, above.) I couldn’t see how […]
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Google collects more enemies—we haven’t been critical enough of it
My complaints about Google over the years—and the battles I’ve had with them between 2009 and 2014—are a matter of record on this blog. It appears that Google has been making enemies who are much more important than me, and in this blog post I don’t mean the European Union, who found that the big […]
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All I really know is who I won’t vote for
One thing I love about New Zealand is that we’re not mired in an election cycle years before the event. We’re three weeks or so out from our General Election, and only now am I feeling things are heating up. It’s not that we haven’t had drama. Weeks ago, Metiria Turei was co-leader of […]