Author: andrewcareaga

Former higher ed PR and marketing guy at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) now focused on freelance writing and editing and creative writing, fiction and non-fiction.

Panning press releases

Another sign that the press release as we know it may be an endangered species: tech blogger Stephen O’Grady (tecosystems) explains why he doesn’t like them:

Got a query about a week ago as to why I don’t link to press releases describing new news or announcements, and the reasoning is simple: I find them more or less unreadable. Between the stilted tone and the canned quotes, I find them of significantly less value than blog or news entries on the same subject. [Emphasis mine.]

I understand that not everyone feels that way, which is why we contribute to releases on behalf of customers, but I personally find them of little value. Apologies in advance, marketers and PR reps.

Apology accepted. But I have a feeling a lot of people feel the same way as you, Stephen.

Random 10 tunes

An idea stolen from Bob @ FlackLife, who posts his gems just about every Friday. My take is a bit different, because I’m playing mp3s on Winamp and using Predixis MusicMagic, which creates a playlist of tunes from your collection that are similar to a tune you pick. The song I selected was Wilco’s “War on War,” and here are the first 10 of the random 20 songs that MusicMagic’s formula somehow connected to that tune:

  1. “Take A Walk,” Spoon
  2. “Neighborhood 2 – Laika,” The Arcade Fire
  3. “Hotel California,” Less Than Jake (Eagles cover with a ska flavor)
  4. “I Will Follow,” U2
  5. “Take the Fifth,” Spoon
  6. “Go,” The Replacements
  7. “Sad Song,” Blue States
  8. “Just Desserts,” Chumbawumba
  9. “Plea from a Cat Named Virtue,” The Weakerthans
  10. “Cool’n’Out,” Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros

What’s in your playlist? Why not play along and share your own random 10 on your? If you do, please let me know and I’ll post a link from here.