Lumosity – Something to Play With

Posted by Andy Boyer in Entrepreneurism, Marketing, Media, Personal

I will take the leap and say that a small company called Lumosity falls into the world of Marketing.  For, positioned one way, Lumosity would simply be entry #3.2 billion in the category of "Ways to kill time online when you should be productive."

But instead, starting with the tagline of "Reclaim Your Brain" and extending through the core messaging, Lumosity is much more than a nice looking version of any casual games portal.  According to their literature, I will actually get SMARTER by spending time on their site. The multi-layered exercises and puzzles are designed to actively stimulate regions of my brain that have gone neglected, enriching my overall intellectual capabilities. 

So far, I don’t feel smarter, but it has kicked my paranoia level to an all-time high, as I wonder if I am simply a pawn in someone’s giant marketing copywriting experiment.  But, I have succumbed to sucker status, and the exercises are fun, so we’ll see where this gets me. 

When You Start to Believe We Are Not Surrounded By Lunatics, Please Refer Back Here

Posted by Andy Boyer in Media, Politics

I’ve been doing some political research for a little project that I hope will launch very soon.

But it’s given be the opportuity to read blogs written by supporters of particular candidates.  And every once in a while, I run across someone so out of touch with reality, you have to think they could bring down an entire campaign just by being a loud, lunatic supporter.  If you were a Brownback campiagn strategist, how do you approach this nut job and say, "Look, we appreciate the support, but Shut the Hell up!  You’re killing us!"

Here’s the loony in question.  Never have a I seen such a well thought-out and researched blog post that contains such ridiculous conclusions from the data in question.

News from Prison – no not that prison

Posted by Andy Boyer in Media

I have no interest in adding any comment on the Paris Hilton fiasco.  I feel bad for anyone that is that scared and upset.

So instead of talking about a celebrity that wants to avoid her sentence, I want to introduce you to an imate that wants to use his sentence to become a celebrity.

Meet Patrick Knight, a death row inmate in Texas who is quickly giving those who favor capital punishment a poster child to point to.  Knight is taking his punishment with such contempt, that his friend has set up a web site asking people to email him jokes.  The friend will bring him all the jokes, and then Knight will use his last breath to "leave them laughing" as KLTV puts it.

None of this is illegal.  But what a statement about how easy it is to become a celebrity these days, if only for a minute.  Had Knight put togther a tearful, remorseful apology to the family, no one would know.  But instead he decides that his last act will be one which gets him a little national attention.  It’s a final selfish act for someone who has already taken a loved one away from someone else.  Some things just amaze me.

Sonics Fans Regain Hope – Here Comes the Calvary, er….Indians

Posted by Andy Boyer in Uncategorized

It’s a story that begs for mixed metaphors, and simply reeks with irony.

The 50+ White Men who owned the Seattle Sonics, millionaires and billionaires from all industries, could not come up with the money to build a new arena for their basketball team.  Nor could they convince the government that the taxpayers should foot the bill.  An so with no solution in sight, they threw up their hands and dumped the team on some Oklahoma businessmen.

More white men.  Even richer and more powerful than the Seattle group.  They came up on private jets and dined in 5 star restaurants, convinced they could not fund their own stadium.  And so, when their negotiations with the same government representatives yielded the same outcome, they threw their hands in the air and said, "We’re going to have to move."

And just when Sonics fans thought it was hopeless, who comes riding in on White Horses, but the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.  And they said, "You see, well, we got a couple hundred acres of land just sitting around doing nothing, and we have all this cash sitting in the bank, and one day Johnny was driving down the road and said, ‘We should build a basketball arena there.’"

And now the most illogical, unbelievable scenario makes perfect sense.  If a stadium works in Renton, why not Kent?  Why not have an arena next to a casino?  Why not build a rock arena / hoops court that leverages the already existing White River Amphitheatre?

And better yet, why didn’t any of the MBA’s working on this project for the last few years think of it themselves?

Now I’m not totally wild about driving 40 minutes for a basketball game.  And you probably completely lose anyone that lives above Edmonds.  But given all the scenarios, this seems to make pretty good sense, and beats having to start rooting for Portland. 

Who would have thought – the Muckleshoots delivering a solution that neither Seattle or Oklahoma’s business elite could come up with.