Musician and actor Jerry Reed died yesterday in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 71 from complications relating to emphysema. Although my musical tastes and horizons have long since expanded, I remember listening to Jerry Reed when I was young and enjoying his music, because he was not only a talented songwriter, but an accomplished musician, performing with the likes of Elvis Presley and Chet Atkins. I remember seeing him on the Smokey and the Bandit movies, and after hearing his voice, knowing that he was the man I’d been listening to on the old four-track. His song “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” was a genre-busting moment in the early seventies, and his early work in that movement helped spawn, in my opinion, many of the cross-genre groups and artists today. Jerry, thank you for your contributions to pop culture. We’re better for it. You’ll be missed.

Saw Tropic Thunder this weekend. Seriously - why is everyone so uptight about this movie? As long as there has been comedy, there has probably been comedy that involved mocking stereotypes. The point - IT’S COMEDY. We watch to laugh, not to be reminded of the depressing reality that is existence in the 21st century. There’s nothing funny about the suffering of blacks (and other minorities) or the plight of those with disabilities. The humor, in this instance, came in the character’s reactions to these stereotypes. That was it. It was the characters’ (in)sensitivities to these issues that generated the humor surrounding this controversy.

So, they threw the “n” word around a couple of times (deliberately exaggerating, might I add, in an attempt to further illustrate the character’s obvious lack of understanding) and the “r” word (since when did that deserve its own one-letter reference - look out Jesse Jackson) a bunch of times. Did any of those instances invoke a string of hate crimes against blacks or those with disabilities? I doubt it. In the movie, they also focused their sights on those with serious addictions to drugs, those who live their lives in work camps, those that are overweight, and those with uncontrollable flatulence. Did you know that Adolf Hitler was a victim of uncontrollable flatulence? Did you also know that some Type 2 Diabetics, such as myself, can suffer from it due to medication regimens? Fortunately, I don’t, but I feel badly for the other diabetics that do. Where are the champions for these groups that were relentlessly exploited for a laugh?

Read the rest of this entry »

In creating some new Web presences, I’m questioning the effectiveness of case studies as a tool to manage B2B relationships - specifically, vendor relationships. Do vendors view these documents as inspiration or propaganda? Sound off by leaving a comment - I’ll write a follow-up based upon the results.

You know, I’ve been quiet through this election season as to avoid offending anyone’s political sensitivities. But now, I only have one thing to say: WTF?

Apparently, John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, has decided that it’s a good idea to paint Barack Obama as “The One”, referring of course to Jesus Christ. Now, knowing that a large part of the Republican base is the fundamental, fire-and-brimstone Christian right and that the United States is still largely self-identified as a Christian nation, this seems as if they’re saying, “A vote for Obama is a vote for the Antichrist.”

C’mon. Seriously. Is the GOP that dry on ideas this early in the game? They *claim* they did it in humor. How is that humorous? How is claiming that a man embodies the qualities of one whom Christians consider the most reviled man in history humorous in any way? Short answer: it’s not. The McCain campaign just couldn’t come up with anything better. Meanwhile, Obama’s campaign is sticking to well-produced, concise advertisements. I’m the first to say that cutting people with the edge is a great way to get your brand noticed, but this goes too far, by invoking hate-based ideals in the Christian right.

Check out CNN’s story here.

Come up with something better, GOP. Wow me.

It’s official - the crew of the USS Gloria indeed returned home in December 2005. For three years, the details of the mission have been shrouded in mystery. Now, the story of these brave men is being told. For more details, visit the crew’s website and the mission debriefing site.

In recent years, phone numbers have been undergoing a formatting change in terms of presentation. In the olden days (as my grandmother called it), phone numbers were in the format (123) 456-7890. That worked. So, why change a good thing, you ask? Simple. It’s fugly.

Designers and developers took a tip from the IT community in its formatting of IPv4 addresses and began to format their numbers with dots replacing the traditional parentheses and hyphens, thus creating the new, sleek and sexy 123.456.7890. Now, some call me a minimalist, and I would agree in some respects, this being one of them. I think the usage of parentheses and dashes in phone numbers is archaic and not as intuitive as it might initially appear. Read the rest of this entry »

Can you believe it? It’s already time for another reboot of sethlilly.com. Seems like this version hasn’t been up very long at all, but my needs are changing and along with them the site’s design and functionality. Additionally, look for the next version of myPinkPortfolio (Stephanie’s site) soon and a couple of brand-new projects I can’t talk about just yet. Exciting times!

I’m not locked into a time frame, and with the move coming soon, I may not finish these projects for a while, but they’re on the way. Keep watching here for updates.

So - I’m totally hooked on the new EP from Family Force 5, Dance or Die. It’s only three tracks, but it’s three tracks of AWESOME. The title track has got a great lift beneath it and is laced with late-80s synth work. Very cool. I’ve listened to it like 30 times in the past day.

Track 2, Fever, is a good dance tune. I can see clubs playing it this summer with appropriate marketing. It has some tight harmonies in the breakdown, which always sounds sweet against deep synths.

Wake the Dead, the final track, sounds more like a B-side from Business Up Front. It still rocks like only FF5 can, but it’s not the same caliber as the first two tracks. Hopefully, those are indicative of what we can expect on the next record.

You can get the album on iTunes. You should check it out. Really. Go. Right now.

Keep dancing, kids - or die! ;)

Today, my baby girl, Adyson, turns three! We had a party for her yesterday with our combined families, and she had a great time! Aunt Sara bought her a beautiful pink dress, and mommy french-braided her hair wet so it would come out all curly and kinky for the party. She was gorgeous! She made out like a bandit, of course. It was a nice day, and we had ice cream cake from DQ - I ate more of it than I should have. Also, Jacob and Caleb got to attend, so it was an extra great day - all of the kids were together, and they played hard all afternoon. I’ll update this post with a pic once Stephanie gets them downloaded. Thanks to everyone that was able to make it, and for those of you that couldn’t, hopefully we’ll see you in June for Caleb’s birthday!

Exceptional Innovation! Located in Westerville, Ohio, they are the makers of the Life|ware™ family of products, a suite of devices and software designed to take home automation and digital entertainment to the next level. I’ve joined the Communication team and I’m very excited to become part of this rapidly-paced company. At EI, I’m Web Developer and webmaster of www.life-ware.com and www.lifewareuniversity.com. I’ll be bringing my talents in PHP, WordPress and Flash/ActionScript/AIR to the table, along with some design work and other specialties as needed. Watch this blog and our blog at www.exceptionalinnovation.com/blog to find out what’s happening next!