The teaser trailer for The Disaster Artist, James Franco’s movie about the making of The Room takes one of the most iconic scenes from that terrible movie, and turns it into pure cinematic gold. Let’s hope the rest of the film is as good.
If you’ve never seen The Room, here’s the “Oh hi, Mark!” scene referenced in the trailer:
I’m laughing and groaning at the same time.
In case you don’t get the joke:
Thanks to Douglas King for the find!
It’s a plot by the Pentavirate: there’s suddenly a lot of KFC-branded merchandise on the market. I’m seriously considering getting the “FRIED CHICKEN USA” shirt so I can wear it to the gym.
It’s not just clothing and jewelry. In China, KFC partnered with Huawei (the largest smartphone manufacturer you’ve never heard of) to release a KFC-branded phone to commemorate the restaurant chain’s 30th anniversary in the country:
In case you don’t get the “Pentavirate” reference, here’s the relevant scene from So I Married an Axe Murderer…
Café con Tampa is a weekly gathering where people interested in the issues that affect Tampa Bay and the world beyond meet to learn and share ideas with interesting, entertaining (and sometimes infuriating) guest speakers. It takes place every Friday between 8 and 9 a.m. in the wonderful setting of Oxford Exchange, a combination of restaurant, book store, gift shop, co-working space, design studio, event venue, and one of the best “third places” I’ve ever set foot in. It’s attended by an interesting audience that’s often a mix of movers and shakers from the worlds of arts, business, academia, and government. If you want to have interesting conversations with some of the area’s movers, shakers, and idea-makers (and enjoy Oxford Exchange’s delicious breakfast spread), you should attend!
Today’s speaker at Café con Tampa was Michelle Royal, CEO and founder of RIDG, which is pronounced “ridge” and short for Royal Innovation Design Group. A consultant, entrepreneur, and speaker based in St. Petersburg, she helps people and organizations create breakthroughs in the way they think and act, which are very necessary in this day and age. She gave an interesting talk and started some lively discussions today. Here are my annotated notes…
For a little more context, here’s RIDG’s video (it’s 6:35 long) about what it means to be “disruption ready”:
How would you suggest we re-orient Trump past his “prom fixation” — the need to be the most popular, the most talked-about person — in order to get him to make positive changes?
With all the current forces and factors affecting work, jobs are under threat. How do we have a society without jobs?
What about blue-collar work? Why is it being ignored or given less stature when there are many blue-collar jobs that pay as well as many white-collar ones?
I’m fascinated by the use of the word “disruption”. How do you distinguish between disruption and just plain old evolution?
A note from Joey: Moore’s Law is named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, who observed in 1965 that the number of transistors you could pack onto a chip doubled every two years. It’s since been diluted into the more layperson-friendly summary that computer power doubles every 18 months.
I’m in the restaurant business, where the predominant narrative is that there aren’t enough people to do the work. How do we attract people to do the work, which requires standing for a long time in “fire and ice”?
What do you think about things like the Blue Ocean Strategy or Lean Startup?
In a world with increasing automation and an Orwellian corporate presence, with everything monitored and measured, how do we maintain a good quality of life and disrupt disruption?
Can or will government play a role in disruption or mitigating its effects, especially with Millennials not having had an impact on government yet?
Bill Carlson: I’m concerned about the messages we’re getting out to young people. I was recently at a meeting with local leaders, and one of them suggested taking all university funding, focusing it on solely STEM, and getting rid of “stupid [non-STEM] degrees”. What do we do about this, especially since in 10 years, it’s the white collar jobs that will get wiped out?
We talk about disruption like hurricanes — why don’t we talk them more as things we can use in our favor?
I didn’t know they even made this stuff anymore!
If you’re under 30, chances are you’ve never heard of Vitalis. It’s an old-school hair product called hair tonic, and it provides a little hold, a lot of shine, and a scent that you’ll either love or hate (it’s a sort of antiseptic, aftershave-y smell). If you’re cosplaying as Archer or Don Draper, you’ll want to get some of this in your hair.
As for Aqua Velva, I think of it more as something that desperate winos drink rather than aftershave.
Recommended reading:
On Monday, July 24th, I will assume my new role as Lead Product Manager at Tampa-based software development company Sourcetoad.
Here’s what Sourcetoad does:
Here’s who Sourcetoad are (minus me, naturally), You can learn all about them on our Team page:
Here’s a local TV news story featuring Sourcetoad:
Here’s another local news story profiling Sourcetoad: Talent, innovation, smarts, tenacity drive growth of tech company in Tampa.
I’ll be providing Sourcetoad with technical, strategic, and customer management leadership as we enter a growth phase. We’re currently in the process of expanding the business, the customer base, and the office — and yes, our headcount too — as we move into some interesting and promising markets. My job will be to shepherd all our products (which I’ll talk about a little later) through their development lifecycle, from the moment when we first sit down with the customer and find out what they need, all the way to the maintenance and upkeep of happy customers’ working software.
The sample size is small, but our Glassdoor rating’s quite good!
The desk at the home office.
In the meantime, I’ll have a little over a week to finish some freelance projects for friends and associates at the home office before I report for my first day at the office. It’s a short drive — in fact, a bikeable distance — from home, and it’s in a pretty nice spot, too! Here’s a view from Sourcetoad’s front door:
I’m quite pleased with the way things have worked out!
Photo by Luis Gomez. Click to see the source.
After dinner with our friends Bob and JR at KYU (see the previous post in this series), we followed their recommendation and walked around the corner to get a look at the Wynwood Walls, a gorgeous collection of murals created by graffiti and street artists.
Here’s what the official site has to say about the Wynwood Walls:
The Wynwood Walls was conceived by the renowned community revitalizer and placemaker, the late Tony Goldman in 2009. He was looking for something big to transform the warehouse district of Wynwood, and he arrived at a simple idea: “Wynwood’s large stock of warehouse buildings, all with no windows, would be my giant canvases to bring to them the greatest street art ever seen in one place.” Starting with the 25th–26th Street complex of six separate buildings, his goal was to create a center where people could gravitate to and explore, and to develop the area’s pedestrian potential.
The Wynwood Walls became a major art statement with Tony’s commitment to graffiti and street art, a genre that he believed was under appreciated and not respected historically. He wanted to give the movement more attention and more respect: “By presenting it in a way that has not been done before, I was able to expose the public to something they had only seen peripherally.” In 2010, building on the momentum of the year before, Goldman Properties added 10 more artists to their roster of Walls. They opened the Wynwood Doors, Tony Goldman’s nod to traditional portrait galleries and expanded the mural program outside the Walls.
The Wynwood Walls has brought the world’s greatest artists working in the graffiti and street art genre to Miami. Jeffrey Deitch co-curated the first successful year of the project in 2009, collaborating with Tony before his appointment as museum director of MOCA Los Angeles. “We have strived for a diverse representation of both American and international artists that encompasses everything from the old school graffiti artists to the newest work being created around the world. The project has truly evolved into what my friend Jeffrey Deitch calls a Museum of the Streets,” Tony had summarized.
This mural commemorates Tony and his work:
Photo from Midtown Miami Magazine. Click to see the source.
We wandered through the murals, taking in the art, as well as a lot of photos…
There are also a couple of indoor galleries, which we checked out:
Further reading:
After taking in the art, we made our way back to South Beach and headed straight for Mac’s Club Deuce, Miami’s oldest bar. Mac Klein, who was born in 1914, had owned the bar since 1964, and was running it even at the age of 101 (alas, he passed away last year). After seeing him and his bar featured in the Miami episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, we had to stop by for a drink.
What did I have, you ask? A basic boilermaker:
We took in the vibe, which was provided by a mixed crowd: a couple of people who were just getting off their shifts, some older locals nursing their cocktails, a handful of twentysomethings shooting pool and shotgunning Mich Ultras, and a few sports fans watching the Manny Pacquiao biography on TV before his July 2 match in Australia against Jeff Horn. Of course I watched my kababayan’s bio.
I’m imagining a conversation between two developers going something like this:
Developer 1: Ahhh, South Beach. What a treasure trove of art deco architecture!
Developer 2: Mmm-hmm. Y’know, we could do something really great with one of these buildings. Fix it up, bring it back to its jazz era grandeur, put our mark on South Beach and make something really…special!
Developer 1: Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Developers 1 and 2 in unison: Señor Frog’s!
We skipped Señor Frog’s and opted for Kill Your Idol instead. Here’s the view of the bar from their interior balcony…
…and I had to compliment the DJ on his excellent T-shirt, which references this scene from Snatch:
Further reading: