Four (or Five!) Reasons Why

…This Blog Isn’t Written On Weekends

1. We all need a break from technology. Snip the umbilical cord! Remind yourself of days long gone when we weren’t connected 24-7-365. Freedom!

2. Blogs are work and weekends were invented so we didn’t have to work. Weekends are for playing with your kids, watching sports, going to movies, sleeping in, eating out, socializing and, maybe, nursing a hangover.

3. The weekend is a chance to do all the stuff that gets left behind during the other five days of the week. Ok, maybe some work has to be done. Who has time for chores and errands during the work week?

4. Based on a very unscientific study, most blogs are read Monday through Friday, between 10am and 2pm. You do the math.

5. There’s so much to do, no matter where you are. Get out and do it! Walk. Run. Bike. Swim. Socialize with your friends - in person! (”Socializing” through Facebook doesn’t count - in fact, I think you score negative points for even thinking of it.)

Have fun, everyone! The weekend is almost here!

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….Why Ketchup is Better Than Mustard

1. Ketchup’s ingredients include vegetables - tomatoes. (Technically, the tomato is a fruit but you get the drift of my argument, right?). Mustard contains no vegetables (or, for that matter, fruits). Instead, the ingredients include vinegar, water and spices such as turmeric and paprika.

2. Ketchup is far more versatile. You can use it during breakfast to eat with eggs, hash browns, etc. You can put it on hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries and steak. You can even use it to clean jewelry and pots.

3. Ketchup is sweet so it’s sort of like eating candy or having dessert, which is a good thing even it’s not particularly healthy.

4. Ketchup is simple. Practically speaking, there are few varieties of ketchup even though the ketchup industry has tried to do brand extensions. Does anyone remember purple ketchup? Talk about a product no one wanted! Meanwhile, buying mustard can be daunting. There’s your standard prepared mustard. Then, you’ve got honey mustard, Dijon, Bavarian sweet mustard, Meaux mustard, English mustard, etc. It’s downright confusing, which is why buying ketchup is much less stressful.

5. Ketchup is the regular guy’s condiment; mustard is for snobs. Evidence: Those Grey Poupon commercials (here’s another one) featuring people in limousines looking for a condiment hit. The tag line is “Grey Poupon: One of Life’s Finer Pleasures”. Ha!

Extra: For the history of ketchup and mustard, go here and here. For an interesting take on why mustard is available in so many varieties while ketchup has pretty much stayed the same, check out Malcolm Gladwell’s feature story in the New Yorker.

More: An indication of ketchup’s popularity was a contest done by Heinz recently that invited people to submit home-made commercials on YouTube. More than, 8,000 people created videos. Here’s the winning video called “Heinz: The Kissable Ketchup”.

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…The Major Music Labels Don’t Have A Clue

1. The Ringle. Seriously?! Does Sony and Universal really think that this going to revive the music industry? For those not in the know, a Ringle is a CD with three songs (one popular track, a remix and an older track from the same artist) and a ringtone. A ringtone? Seriously?! Techcrunch puts it beautifully: “Warning: this is so stupid you might want to be sitting down.” Screw the Ringle - got to Lifehacker to learn how to create you own ringtones for free.

2. Britney Spears. She represents everything that is wrong about the industry. Listless. Disengaged. Washed-up. Check out her embarrassing performance on the MTV music video awards. Is this what major labels are banking on?

3. The RIAA. What used to be the industry’s watchdog has turned into a pit bull. What use does it serve to terrorize students? The labels should really rethink the RIAA’s role in the future of music.

4. The uproar against Prince. The launch of his latest album, Planet Earth, as a free CD insert in United Kingdom’s The Mail put everyone’s panties in a bunch. Apparently the UK arm of Sony BMG withdrew from Prince’s global deal and decided not distribute the album to UK stores. Considering that Prince has sold millions upon millions of albums, this reeks of another case of the major labels losing sight of the big picture. Mmm…if you’re like Matthew Good, maybe you take after Prince’s lead and jump straight into distribution with iTunes.

5. Their approach to new technology. By trying to maintain their grasp on a dying business model, they didn’t see emergence of a new wave of innovation. They missed the concept of the long tail in music. They shut down Napster, which only spawned the birth of a series of copycats. They came to the show late with MySpace. They resisted iTunes and Steve Jobs’ 99 cent pricing structure. Stupid, stupid and more stupid. Bands like Freeflow need to get heard and now they have a way.

For more, check out Steve Jobs’ Thoughts on Music and PBS’s The Future of Music.

Update: As of 3:30pm on Monday (the day after the televised event), MTV.com had streamed over 7 million viewings of the Britney Spears debacle. Now that’s a spectacular failure!

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….Radio is So Uninspiring

1. It’s become a science rather than an art. Radio station conglomerates such as Clear Channel now create one-size-fits-all programming for stations across the U.S. - making a radio station in Seattle sound much the same as one in New York, Miami or Dallas.

2. The focus is on attracting as large an audience as possible as opposed to a loyal audience engaged and enthusiastic about what they hear. As a result, there are few risks taken for fear of alienating listeners. Even satellite radio with more than 150 channels can’t micro-program because each slot is so valuable, which means they play it safe as well - albeit with more variety than commercial radio.

3. Many DJs are programming creations rather than real personalities. Does anyone believe there are DJs called Freeway Frank or Mad Dog? Do any them get to play what they want from time to time. When was the last time a DJ said “Hey, I was at a great concert by unknown band last weekend, and you’ve got to hear this song”? Never.

4. Special Canadian reason: In the Great White North, local content rules mean there’s a regular - and annoying - rotation of Neil Young, Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, Max Webster, Avril Lavigne and Bryan Adams.

For other thoughts, check out Media Chatter who suggests he would have multiple formats if he owned a commercial radio station.

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…Pro Athletes Should Be Held To The Same Standards

1. At the end of the day, sport is entertainment. A diversion. People spend their hard earned, disposable income to watch professional athletes play. While everyone likes charisma and personality, fans shouldn’t have to tolerate athletes being given exceptions to societal norms just because they are famous. Dan Heatley and Steve Howe - you got lucky.

2. Heckling is, and always will be, part of professional sports. When you get paid millions to put yourself on public display, you have to gracefully accept the consequences. Nobody should be allowed to react like Ron Artest or Frank Francisco.

3. Whether they like it or not, professional athletes are role models. People look to them with admiration, fascination and desire. It leaves a poor mark on society when they misbehave. Michael Vick and Todd Bertuzzi - bad role models. Tiger Woods and Bo Jackson - good role models.

4. Most workplaces have a written Code of Conduct. For most of us, breaking it usually leads to getting fired. For athletes, the same should hold true. Unfortunately, it is rarely the case and a slap on the wrist is all they get. Latrell Sprewell attacked his coach, got fired, but was successfully defended by the union because the termination apparently violated the terms of his contract.

5. Society doesn’t owe athletes anything. Athletes owe society a great deal. Without fans, there wouldn’t be professional athletes. Fans pay the bills. Fans are the customers and the owners of the game. Athletes should act accordingly.

For more on this debate, see comments from Pilgrim and Mark Cuban.

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