// lodog:blog

I heart romantic sentimentalism in film

Last night, I rented Submarine on iTunes. I enjoyed the film, but I really fell in love with the mix tape/"Two Weeks of Lovemaking" sequence, with Alex Turner's folksy, dreamy song "Hiding Tonight". Turner is best known as the lead guitarist and songwriter for Arctic Monkeys. Six really good solo tracks of his are included in the film, all quite removed from his work with the Arctic Monkeys, and they contribute to the thick layer of romantic sentimentalism that the film elicits.

Here is the sequence:

I'm the first to admit that I'm a huge sucker for sentamentalism in the movies, as long as it's not the goal in and of itself (i.e. Cinema Paradiso). All this got me thinking about other film sequences that have stuck with me over the years. Here are a couple more clips...

First, from Paris, Texas, just because it's my favorite film of all time (I keep waiting for something to bump it off the pedistal, but when you add redemption to the thematic mix it's hard to beat), here's one of the most romantic, sentimental scenes in cinema history:

And another clip, a little less romantic and sentimental, but immensely powerful and memorable. The 8:50 opening sequence to Michael Mann's Ali:

And just because I'm on this kick, here's another minute dripping with romantic sentimentalism. Volkswagon's award-winning 1999 commercial, Milky Way, featuring Nick Drake's "Pink Moon":

The world is a little less insanely great today.

This un-aired version of the beautiful 1997 Apple Computer commercial "Here's to the Crazy Ones" is narrated by Steve Jobs himself. (The final public version was narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.)

Rest in peace.

Birds & Flags

I made this little video in San Francisco during the week following 9/11, when the whole country was still basically shut down. This was actually the first video I ever created, and I love it. With Zero7's "Red Dust" as the soundtrack, I think it really captures the eerie mood of the moment. I'm happy to republish it here after 10 years. 

The new Zenlist intro video

I was inspired by the RSA Animate video I previously blogged. We came up with this.

The surprising truth about what motivates us

Anyone who has experienced a progressive workplace environment -- the kind that technology companies are famous for -- can attest to the facts portrayed in this video. And the whiteboard animation is fabulously entertaining and engaging.

A new book by an old friend.

I'm looking forward to reading it!

You can get your copy on Caitlin's website.

Cool art app for iPad.

Get it here.

Nice poems.

Two of my favorite poems. 

"Ode" (Arthur O'Shaughnessy)

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

"Dover Beach" (Matthew Arnold) excerpt

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Bonus points if you know (without Google) what movies they were quoted in.

"Makes the Stones look like Choirboys"

A trip down market street, just before the 1906 quake

Pretty cool footage.

The Rise of Angels

Naval Ravikant, one of Silicon Valley's leading "super angel" and co-founder of Venture Hacks, gives an excellent presentation on the transformation of consumer internet early-stage fundraising. 

Here is the video:

And the slides:

Game-changing innovation

The winner of this year's TechCrunch Disrupt startup competition was a service called Qwiki that automatically creates visual, interactive information experiences. They haven't launched to the public yet, but the video of their first public demo at last week's conference in San Francisco is easily worth 6m42s of your time. Impressive.

Orange France #fail (again)

Transcribed from memory and translated from French.

Them: What can I do for you?

Me: I have a couple questions about my most recent mobile telephone bill. First, about 6 weeks ago, I upgraded my equipment via your re-engagement offer and agreed to commit to an additional 12 month contract. But my bill specifies that you have re-engaged me for 24 months. I never agreed to this.

Them: Do you agree to pay an additional €30 for your telephone?

Me: Yes. I agreed to this price when I agreed to re-engage, and I still agree now.

Them: OK, please hold while I see if this is possible.

Me: On hold for 3 minutes.  

Them: The service responsible for this is not answering. I will send them a message and they will get back to you early next week. 

Me: OK, next issue. When I re-engaged for an additional 12 months, you also offered me a coupon for a €100 discount off the cost of the new equipment. I have just paid my bill, but I have never received any coupon. 

Them: OK, please hold while I see if this is possible.

Me: On hold for 3 minutes.  

Them: Do you have an email address?

Me: Yes.

Them: OK, we will send you the coupon via the post. You will need to return it to us along with a copy of your last bill as well as the barcode from the packaging of your new equipment. Is your mailing address still ... ?

Me: Yes, but wait... I don't have the packaging from my new equipment anymore.

Them: Well, I'll send you the coupon and you can see if it says if you need the barcode or not. 

Me: But you just said I needed this barcode that I don't have. So you didn't just make that up, did you?

Them: You don't have the packaging?

Me: No, I took the phone out of the packaging and threw away the box. No one told me I needed to keep the packaging. 

Them: Well, you will have to send in the coupon and then send a letter to the claims service to see if you can qualify for the discount or not. Is there anything else I can do for you today?

Me: No, thank you.

Tom Lehrer's "Elements Song," with Google Instant

I love Tom Lehrer.

Facebook Places not available in Paris, evidently.

The Patelli SuperCorsa

I bought a SuperCorsa frame from Mr. Patelli himself, in Bologna, in 1985. Very cool bike to ride around Northern California in the late 80s and early 90s. Unfortunately I sold it several years ago. Just found this photo, from the catalogue... not sure what happened to Patelli bicycles.

"Hosting in India at US prices"

And what is the benefit, exactly?

More startup goodness from Dave McClure

In 10 minutes, Dave discusses his new fund and his investing philosophy.

via GigaOm.

Great article on the future of startup funding

In The Future of Startup Funding, Paul Graham (a Y-combinator co-founder) predicts:

• The past year has seen a dramatic increase in a new type of investor: the super-angel, who operates like an angel, but using other people's money, like a VC;
• In the big angel rounds that increasingly compete with series A rounds, the investors won't take as much equity as VCs do now;
  
• Angel rounds will less often be for specific amounts or have a lead investor;
  
• The power in startup funding is shifting from investors to founders;
•  Investors will increasingly be unable to wait for startups to have "traction" before they put in significant money;
• If investors want to get the best deals, the way to do it will be to close faster;
  
• The future is simple deals with standard terms, done quickly;
  
• Investors may actually make more money as a result of these trends;
  
• Investors may end up with less stock per startup, but startups will probably do better with founders more in control, and there will almost certainly be more of them.
  

Read the full article here.

Last.fm's robots.txt file includes the 3 laws of robotics