MeyerBros

Since Eric kicked things off here nearly a year ago by pointing out some creative differences with a web deign firm, I thought it might be time to point out another example of web designer’s web sites gone badly wrong:

aPe Computers

I really don’t feel the need to say much. Just watch their space-elevator-world-shattering-apocalypse banner for a while and “Feel the Quality” while enjoying those fantastic rounded corners.

This video from an Anthropology professor in Kansas takes a breathtakingly quick sweep over the new world of Web 2.0 in a video that BoingBoing describes as “deeply moving and incredibly smart.” I’m not sure if I was moved or not, but watching the video left me with a sense of being part of something new and bigger than myself. Maybe sitting in front a computer 8 hours a day and fiddling with code is worth something after all.

Its enough to make me want to pull out my old Anthropology text book!

This afternoon, instead of vegging out in front of the television, I decided to catch up on the latest trailers on Apple. Here are my top four:

1. Ground Truth This movie looks like the true sequel to Farenheit 9/11. It tells the stories of young men and women in the armed forces from enlistment through deployment and death, injury or homecoming. You may think you’ve heard these stories before, but the professionalism and polish of the trailer suggest a movie uniquely powerful and moving. The release date of September 15th is timed for maximum impact. Spread the word.

2. Fast Food Nation You’ve heard of the book, now watch the movie. The fictional premise of the film allows us an insider’s view of the fast food industry that Michael Moore could never give us. It looks funny, disturbing, insightful and incriminating. Just what McDonalds needs. Move over Supersize Me.

3. Science of Sleep I loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and this film, by the same director, looks even more creative, playful, surreal and wacky. The trailer combines stop animation and live action to capture a world where dreams and reality merge. Looks like one of those visually compelling enough I might even want to watch it in the theatre.

4. Accepted At first glance this looks like just another teen movie. Highly improbably story, but with a moral that looks straight out of The Teenage Liberation Handbook: middle class suburban kids teach themselves. Oh and it has Lewis Black from the Daily Show. Of course, it could be a complete flop as well.

Oh and Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny looks like another hilarious Jack Black movie. But once you’ve watched the trailer you’ve probably already seen all the funniest moments.

Adbusters has a provocative article entitled: The Secret to Being as Radical as We Want to Be is to Finance the Revolution Ourselves. It got me to thinking. What if the hypothetical Meyerbros design firm found a radical organisation committed to avoiding the grant-making cycle and offered ourselves as a subsidiary. Just a random idea…

The other evening I was on the way home on the London Underground, waiting for the Northern line train. I walked onto the platform and sat down on one of the benches beside a middle aged man. At first I didn’t notice anything unusual about him; he had tight cropped hair, calloused hands and his skin looked like a man who had spent much of his life in the outdoors. But some of the details were slightly off, like the bottom of his trousers which were tightly cuffed in a way not usually fashionable among men of his age.

A minute or two after I sat down, a train pulled into the station. As it blew by us and then pulled to a stop, he frantically scrawled six five digit number in red ink across a single page of his notebook. 57801, 57301… Though he had been staring straight ahead the entire time, he had somehow managed to read the numbers of each of the six carriages in front of us as they had whizzed by. I realized I was in the presence of a tube spotter and a very good one at that.

As the tube train pulled away from the platform, the man leaned back in visible satisfaction and took a swig from his soda. He was having a great time. As we sat waiting for the next train he began quietly, gruffly humming to himself in an unself-concious. It wasn’t an unpleasant sound, but enough to clearly signal that he was not aware of the social conventions or norms of the space. He vaguely flipped through his notebook and I saw six carriage numbers scrawed broadly across each page. There must have been at least 40 full pages. As he absent mindedly caressed the pages, I began to recognise patterns that were familiar to me from working with autistic clients.

Soon the next train could be heard, roaring down the tunnel. I watched my new friend lean forward in anticipation, his pen poised above his notebook as the air rushed out of the tunnel ahead of the train. And then it was upon us and past us. Again as it went passed he fixed his stare straight ahead for one second before his hand jumped across the page scrawling six more long red numbers. It was my train, so I got on and left him there, sitting happily on the bench by the platform.

Today Charletta and I followed in Hannah and Jonny’s footsteps and went to check out Hadrian’s wall. Turns out its pretty much like Jonny described it, complete with latrines, infloor heating and gorgeous scenery. Since he’s pretty much described the construction and posted photos, I thought I’d digress along some related bunny trails.

Our guide for our trip today was Colin, Charletta’s colleague at Bridge Builders. He’s a local and enjoyed tearing along the local roads which he was quick to point out are distinctively Roman with their determination to go straight over any obstacle rather than around them as most other local roads do. We mused about the way this fit with the Roman ethos in general. I pointed out that roads in the American midwest also have this tendancy.

Along the same lines we speculated a bit about the impetous for building the wall. As Jonny explained, Hadrian claimed that the wall was to keep out Scottish barbarians. But that might not have been its only purpose. Colin pointed out that the wall was also probably a handy way to keep farmers from heading north to escape Roman taxation. Furthermore, upon reading many of the helpful plaques installed by English Heritage sites, we discovered that everyone passing through the gates in the wall were required to pay a poll or tax.

Does this sound familiar? Powerful imperial leader uses fear of violent attacks against citizens to justify clampdown on local citizens and building a really long wall?

I’ve been waiting to write my first post on the meyerbros blog about something new and inspiring and all around fabulous. But eventually I realised that my expectations were too high and I’d never get around to doing anything if I didn’t just crank something out. So here’s a tried and true feature that I do semi-regularly over at shoup: mennonot’s news digest. It take’s advantage of one of the things I’ll miss most about London, The Guardian with Breakfast.

From logistics to turning a blind eye: Europe’s role in terror abductions

The big front story today was a very disturbing report from the Council of Europe, laying bare the U.S. use of torture through CIA led extraordinary rendition scheme in Europe, which has apparently been carried out with “the intentional or grossly negligent collusion of the European partners”.
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