Monthly Archives: June 2009

Buzzy chocolate

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I am a member of BzzAgent, a recommendation-driven marketing agency. The deal is that BzzAgents (like me) get samples of products, which, if they like, they refer to their friends.

The first campaign I have been assigned was for Seeds of Change chocolate, to my wife’s delight. I was sent samples of Orange and Fig (odd but lovely) and Apricot and Cashew (less strange, more tasty) and some discount vouchers. It’s a great promotional idea, and great chocolate. I have passed on some vouchers to friends and family, who are suitably grateful. You can check out the Seeds of Change range here, but for some reason, they don’t mention the chocolate. Surely it can’t be a secret?

The serial comma

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Jacqueline is “an evangelist for the serial comma”. Her article linked me to the following, from Wikipedia:

The Times once published an unintentionally humorous description of a Peter Ustinov documentary, noting that “highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector.”

I think this is an area where intelligence and discretion use beats slavish convention.

Emerging jargon

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I read an interesting piece in yesterday’s Sunday Times on government use of jargon. So I was amused to come back to work today and find the emergence of a new term in my burgeoning, post-holiday inbox:

phoenixed (verb): the process of having gone into bankruptcy to emerge stronger and more streamlined, e.g. General Motors, Chrysler

Objectivism in popular culture

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‘A Liberal Christian’ writes about Bioshock, The Incredibles and Ayn Rand:

“Bioshock” and “The Incredibles” show two visions of objectivism. “Bioshock” glorifies this vision before burning it to the ground, and quite rapidly at that. “The Incredibles,” on the other hand,” simply glorifies it. Yet regardless of what these works have to say, they remain some of my favorites of all time, and I hope they will be for you too.

More here.