askamanager.org – an incredible website with an ever-growing collection of cautionary tales, stinging questions and questionable co-workers. Take a coffee break and browse the archives. Especially this post about a horrible boss causing a mouse problem because of hoarding tendencies.
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Stunning weather system over Texas kicking up dust
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How to Write according to David Ogilvy
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In September of 1982, David Ogilvy shared the following:
- Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing.* Read it three times.
- Write the way you talk. Naturally.
- Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
- Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.
- Never write more than two pages on any subject.
- Check your quotations.
- Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning —and then edit it.
- If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.
- Before you send your letter or memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.
- If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.
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“The Real Toy Story” photo series by Michael Wolf
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In 2004, photographer Michael Wolf traveled to Southern China to document the lives of the toy factory workers that live there: their days consisted of sewing, painting, and other repetitive tasks. He documented how they slept, ate, and live under the often brutal conditions and demands of global consumerism and capitalism. (h/t gessato.com)
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Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
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School’s out. It’s the summer of 2000. As you boot up your Sega Dreamcast, you wonder if anyone else is awake in the house. As you reach to close the lid of the console, you tremble with anticipation. You glance one last time, you read the words Jet Set Radio on the disc. Excitement and sleepiness washes over as you finally close the lid. You barely slept last night. The Dreamcast squeaks and squawks as the game disc is spun and read by the laser. You make sure the volume of the tv isn’t too loud. You squint your eyes as the tv dims to black.
You hold your breath and close your eyes. Static begins to drip through the speakers. Not a second later, a loud blaring funky dance-y tune cuts across the tv to your ears. It’s here. It’s loaded and your mind’s eye knows the next button to press to start the game. You move your thumbs over ever so slightly.
You open your eyes. It’s 2024. What is going on here? The electro funk music fills the room. Bomb Rush Cyclone flashes on the screen in front of you.
It’s been 24 years since Jet Set Radio. The spiritual successor, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is here.
This game was built by an indie game developer studio called Team Reptile and my understanding (h/t DreamcastGuy on YouTube) the title was essentially made out of a labor of love for the original Sega game. What’s not to love about it? The soundtrack is mature and thrilling. Fighting cops. Solid. Graffiti tagging and shredding sick cyberpunk locales? Sign me up.
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Celebrating George Nelson, Lead Designer for Herman Miller
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I came across some lovely photos of some vintage Herman Miller pieces today (h/t @architeckure on Threads). This lead me down a rabbit hole of the designer at Herman Miller who created these workstations.
The man behind the desk (so to speak), is George Nelson. He was a lead industrial designer at Herman Miller from 1945 to 1954. Sometime before that, he was an avid design writer. He contributed to magazines like Architectural Forum and in later years, published several books on architecture and design thinking.
In 1959, Nelson and others designed and built the “Comprehensive Shelving System,” the CSS as it were — this pre-dates the Dieter Rams Vitsoe Shelving System by a few years
Nelson’s contributions to mid-century decor and Herman Miller’s aesthetic remain steadfast and important. His workstations and office furniture are astounding.
His sofa designs, home decor and other furnishing are still being sold to this day. Here’s a few items from Herman Miller’s online catalog dedicated to Nelson:
Timeless design, exceptional dedication to craft and details. Here’s to you George ❤️
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50 Years of Text Games
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From Kevin Purdy writing for Ars Technica:
Reed, a writer and game designer himself, picks one game for every year from 1971 through 2020. He adds an involving dive into the pre-1970s history of experiments, games, and brutally unforgiving code. Each decade also gets its own introduction, and there are summaries of 500 other text games included. Each of the game picks started out as a post on his Substack, though they have been revised and more deeply integrated with their historical context in the book.
There are classics you might expect, like Adventure, MUD, Hitchhiker’s Guide, and Trade Wars. There are definition-stretching inclusions, like the original Choose Your Own Adventure book, The Cave of Time, and Dwarf Fortress. And there are probably at least 20 games most of us have never encountered.
All modern games owe their successes to some of earliest text games. Classics have laid the foundations for concepts like world-building, multi-dimensional narratives that bend the mind and even multiplayer. Before that, table-top adventure games informed some of the concepts and ideas text games explored and evolved. Before that, well, let’s just say the ancient battle of light versus dark rages on still to this day.
Check out Aaron Reed’s book, 50 Years of Text Games here at Kickstarter
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The Best Toonami Promos, Voiced by Peter Cullen
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Peter Cullen is a legendary voice actor. Notably, he’s voiced Optimus Prime of The Transformers since 1986. Some of his other voice acting credits include Gremlins, Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, Winnie the Pooh and literally hundreds of others. My personal favorite are his epic narrations from the fabled Toonami Promos of the early 2000s. These promos would be used as bumpers between regular programming and often would promote special films to be featured during the Toonami programming block on Cartoon Network.
The Big O promo easily sits at the top of my list. Not only is Big O one of the best animated series ever created, but this Toonami Promo is slammin’. The duet of Peter Cullen’s deep but stoic concentrated voiceover and the electronic flat beat-esque house background track gets me amped every time. These kinds of bumpers just don’t get cut like they used to. It’s an absolute banger of a promo:
I would never advocate for piracy but if you’re curious what Toonami programming was like back then, visit here to get a sense for the nostalgic vibe of Toonami.
I’m fairly sure Peter Cullen even voiced other Adult Swim promos as well. Surely there’s some Cullen VO just sitting in the Williams Street video archives. If you have access to these or know someone who does, please email me. Until then, here’s some other Cullen Toonami Promo gems I have saved:
Gundam 0080 Toonami Promo
Gundam Wing Endless Waltz Toonami Promo
Outlaw Star Toonami Promo
Rurouni Kenshin Toonami Promo
Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone Toonami Promo
Gundam Wing Epic Promo (Long Version) Toonami Promo
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How 5 Bridges Transformed New York City
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The first inmates to graduate from Yale
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History was made this past summer. The first inmates to graduate from Yale x University of New Haven have earned their degrees while incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution. Yale partnered with UNH in 2021 to give these inmates a path to two and four year degrees. It’s a transformative idea, and this program extends to the men’s and women’s federal prison in Danbury Connecticut.
