My instant message conversation (got the idea from Phil):
me: bon jour!is that spelled right?Heather: close enough for meme:maybe it’s Bon JoviHeather:you give French a bad name, man
Filed under: Frivolity | Leave a comment »
Friday Frivolity
Posted on October 13, 2006 by Luke Armour
Thanks to Lee for pointing out some hilarious auto-reply messages for your email that a friend of his collected over the years. Enjoy.
1. I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Be prepared for my mood.
2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.
3. I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from holiday on 4th April. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.
4. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $4.00 for the first ten words and $1.95 for each additional word in your message.
5. The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending again. (The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many in-duh-viduals did this over and over).
6. Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system… You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.
7. I’ve run away to join a different circus.
and finally, the one that just cracks me up:
8. I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons… When I return, please refer to me as ‘Alice’ instead of ‘Allan’.
Filed under: Frivolity | Leave a comment »
Friday Frivolity
Posted on September 22, 2006 by Luke Armour
The art of email is not dead. And, well, I never have this problem, of course. But Ze Frank gives us a great way to feel better about writing emails to clients, superiors, and colleagues that you should be writing rather than ones you wanted to be writing. It’s a secret punctuation code. Shhh, it’s a secret.
Filed under: Frivolity, Public Relations | Leave a comment »
Forward Frivolity
Posted on September 15, 2006 by Luke Armour
It’s a little twist on the ever-popular Friday Frivolity we’ve all come to know and love. Well, know, anyway. I’d like to take this time to plug my Forward family and some of the excellent work that they do.
Forward is an online springboard for young and up and coming PR pros. Although, I think it’s great for pros of all ages. Humbly, I admit that I am a contributor, but my thoughts pale in comparison to some of the excellent seasoned pros and educators who donate time and energy to the site. I do what I do amongst them, as a jester to a court, as Laverne to Shirley, as “that oddly hairy 40-something former-frat boy who never grew up” at his annual company party.
A few things happened recently that I want to drive attention to. First of all the Forward Podcast is really growing into its own. With Master Paull Young in control, the podcast has really gotten interesting and matured. Something young Paull has altogether failed to do (even though he’ll be the ripe old age of 23 this Monday – a pup, I tell you).
I thoroughly enjoyed the last podcast, Forward Podcast #9 with Matthew Stibb from the Bad Language Blog. A new favorite of mine, I’m subscribed. Matthew’s no-nonsense attitude and dry humor make the podcast worth a listen. His writing vocation and open frustration with PR people makes his blog worth the read. Good lessons for PR folk, there. Besides, in that podcast he used such great words that I think have really fallen by the wayside in the English language; words like “dismal,” “lexicon,” and “turgid.” Real ear candy.
I’m also excited about Forward Podcast #10 which should be out soon. The interviewee on that podcast will be Ohio’s own Kevin Dugan of Strategic Public Relations and the Bad Pitch Blog. Both excellent reads. He was also recently featured in a suprisingly not-overly-sensationalistic article on blogs in PRSA’s The PR Strategist magazine. I’m looking forward to that immensely as well.
In other news, Aussie blogger Paull Young (didn’t I just mention him above?), after months of lonely blogging in Australia is headed on a World Blog Tour. To honor his courage and daring bravado, I have taken it upon myself to ridicule his dream in public on the Forward site. I think you should check it out, it could be some of my finest heckling. Hey, what are friends for?
So check out Forward, smarter people than I write some great stuff on it. But when you’re ready for some less mature reading, come back to me. I’ll be here, keeping the whoopie cushion warm.
Filed under: Admin Notes, Frivolity, podcasting, Public Relations | Tagged: Forward | Leave a comment »
Friday Frivolity
Posted on September 1, 2006 by Luke Armour
This is a great work safe diversion. It took the artist (Alan Becker) three months to complete, but both he and I think it was worth it. One of the greatest uses of Flash I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen a lot, but rarely find it worthy of the work. This has a very similar point (as in, maybe no point), but it’s entertaining and it’s Flash worth seeing…unlike many websites these days.
Worth a look. Make sure your sound is turned on as it really completes the animation. From the website:
“An animator faces his own animation in deadly combat. The battlefield? The Flash interface itself.
A stick figure is created by an animator with the intent to torture. The stick figure drawn by the animator will be using everything he can find – the brush tool, the eraser tool – to get back at his tormentor. It’s resourcefulness versus power. Who will win? You can find out yourself.”
I’m reminded of a rather unfortunate PR analogy. Agency vs Client or PR Dept vs C-Suite. At times, whether you’re in-house or an agency, PR is selected and then promptly ignored. I understand that PR offers advice and counsel and it’s the client or CEO’s decision whether to act on it. But so many times we take the brunt for bad decisions.
Case in point, my last post demonstrates a horrible management decision that will ultimately look like a bad PR move. But was it a PR decision? No. Who takes the hit? The company, sure, but the PR department specifically, no doubt. In fact, here’s a blog post that actually refers to it as a PR fiasco. This will result in bad publicity, yes, it will result in bad press, yes, it will look like a foolish maneuver, yes, but it is not PR’s fault.
Sorry for the rant.
UPDATE: Author John Booth of the previously aforementioned blog post wrote back and said:
We’re in agreement. I probably could have phrased it better. I didn’t
mean “PR fiasco” as in “this is a mess the PR department/agency
created,” but rather “what a fiasco for Radio Shack’s PR to have to deal
with.”
Thanks, John, for clarifying.
Filed under: Frivolity | Leave a comment »
Friday Frivolity
Posted on August 4, 2006 by Luke Armour
Oh, the laughter one can find on the web. Today’s frivolity comes from the across the pond in Ireland with Tom Raftery. I love Tom’s Podleaders – Thought Leaders podcast for so many reasons. He interviews some of social media’s brightest bulbs as well as the web’s newest stars. Plus, he’s got that wicked cool accent.
Tom’s recent unfortunate interview no-show left him on hold for 17 minutes listening to hold music. Well, he did what any geek tech interviewer/blogger would do: He asked his carefully prepared interview questions anyway. Visit Tom’s site and download the five-minute podcast or stream it right from the site. Incredibly funny. Be sure to read the comments on Tom’s blog post about it, too, they add so much to the hilarity.
Thanks again, Tom, you’ve inspired me to turn every possible negative situation into a potential frivilous moment.
Filed under: Frivolity, Public Relations | Tagged: Podleaders | 1 Comment »
Friday Frivolity
Posted on July 7, 2006 by Luke Armour
Oh, the silly web.
Just recently I stumbled upon this website which exclaims itself as “Blaugh: the Un-official comic of the blogosphere.” Created by artist Brad Fitzpatrick and writer Chris Pirillo, this site is meaningful for anyone who spends any time following memes in the way-too-serious-for-its-own-good ‘sphere. It’s funny. I’m watching. Check it out.
Filed under: Frivolity | 2 Comments »
Friday Frivolity
Posted on June 23, 2006 by Luke Armour
Sound smarter: Stop saying "like"
For PR pros, that's a quick and easy way not to sound like an idiot. From Boing Boing:
This billboard advises you to stop using the word "like" as punctuation, on behalf of something called the Academy of Linguistic Awareness.
You can view another billboard of the Academy of Linguistic Awareness here.
As a former college instructor I can't tell you how true it is that using "like" is the equivalent of saying "never take me seriously and have a terribly difficult time following my ragged train of thought" or, simply, "I'm, like, an idiot."
Filed under: Frivolity, Public Relations | 4 Comments »
Friday Frivolity
Posted on June 2, 2006 by Luke Armour
You know what really bothers me? When a major decision needs to be made and logic is just getting in the way. Introducing a new generation of the classic Rock/Paper/Scissors game.
No longer are you stuck with just rock, paper, or scissors, now there are 25 hand gestures to choose from to prove that your idea is the greatest. For instance, lightning melts scissors, devil inspires dynamite, and nuke incinerates monkey – fascinating. Click the link above to see how they all interact. Good luck figuring it out, I can't make dynamite or snakes out of it.
So there you have it. The next time you're unsure how to proceed with the strategic development of your client's or organization's communication tactics, here is a surefire way to make great decisions. It's time to show your boss that you, too, are management material.
(Thanks, Boing Boing)
Filed under: Frivolity, Public Relations | 4 Comments »
Blog Catalogue
Forward Blog
LinkedIn
Power150
Luke Armour - Digital Marketing and Public Relations Observations, Commentary, Frivolity 
