and more worried about the fact that you can make film of this quality for $500. See more of The Purchase Bros work here.

This video raises so many questions - the first one being is it really user generated? Trader Joe’s is certainly the kind of brand that could inspire such a high form of praise from its customers - their products, the in-store experience, as a regular there I’ve always found everything about the place to be exceptional. But this is still really slick. The whole trying-to-make-it-look-like-it-was-filmed-on-a-Treo-even-though-it-clearly-wasn’t-filmed-on-a-Treo thing could be a giveaway, or not.

The real questions start when you assume it is genuine. What then? This is a clear departure from viral marketing instigated by the company that stands to benefit from it, and the rules are very different. Trader Joe’s, or anyone else for that matter, wouldn’t produce an ad where the narrative was quite so focused on the honestly come-by experience of a single fan. But that is it’s genius. Is there a point in the future when non-user generated ads will no longer be credible? If this catches on, shouting too much about your own company might become socially unacceptable, like creating your own glowing reference on Wikipedia.

We are already at the point where companies are under more pressure than ever to be transparent, create real meaning rather than empty slogans, and genuinely add value to the customers lives with their ad campaigns. Is the next logical step, or perhaps the step after that, the death of the company-generated advert? It sounds ridiculous now of course, but then again so did user generated music distribution.

No one in the newspaper industry can argue they didn’t see the internet coming. According to this newscast they have been working on online distribution for nearly three decades. Most papers still haven’t worked out a sustainable business model - I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that the $5-an-hour idea in this report probably won’t catch on. My guess is the papers that survive 2009 will be operating online more like the WSJ than the NYT.

via Futurethink

Image by Duncan Robson

I feel like Clay Davis is secretly in charge of the entire bailout fiasco. You too can stimulate the economy by grabbing the t-shirt here.

I know I’m a little old for My Little Ponies, but these mods are great. View the whole collection here.

When I wrote about hip hop as a global force for social change in Pirate’s, I knew many people, hip hop fans included, didn’t take that idea seriously, even though there are a lot of smart people writing about this constantly. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the next President would be saying similar things. Let’s hope something comes of this sentiment.