are you human (too)?

No bots.  Inspired by digital artist Aram Bartholl, perhaps my quarters’ entrances should be donned with CAPTCHA.  If a computer can demand I prove I’m human, I can demand the same of guests, mailman confusion notwithstanding.  Are you human?

 

 

 

a one-click clinic in branding

This is a tall glass of water in a tumbleweed and cracked dry land: James Hugh Potts II, LLC.

And how bad does it have to be for a law firm and centuries old category of service provider, to differentiate by branding itself as being customer focused and human.  Amazing.  This practitioner brand is, sadly and to my great relief, a shattering exception to the rule.

differentiation—from a legendary brand

Among the most differentiated vocal brands, Billie Holiday was one of the most valued and highest paid jazz artists, and by 1945 became the highest paid jazz performer on New York’s 52nd street.

Horseraces: Not about the horses.

Calvin “Bo-rail” Borel is a creative spatial and strategic genius, and that’s why he’s in this blog 3 times. No other jockey has won as many Kentucky Derbys, nevermind on 3 different horses and within 4 years.

Betters think races are about horses. They’re not. If they were, we could run horses on treadmills and clock which was the fastest. Or jockeys wouldn’t ride any but the last one that won.

That’s what’s great. A team shows up at Churchill Downs. A team is in the gate. Parimutuelly, you bet on a horse. But you’re not. You’re betting on relationships. And when stars line up—between a challenged student and finally the right teacher, between a noncommercialized talent and an underground audience, and between a less remarkable racehorse and an adroit jockey—it’s breakthrough. And where Borel is involved, a thrill.

Kentucky Derby 2010—ever bittersweet

I enjoy the strategy, teamwork and real poetry of a horserace like today’s imminent Kentucky Derby on which I’ve indirectly blogged previously. Jockey Calvin Borel has won me over. This aerial view of his 2007 victory is spectacular and a personal thrill, as is his 2009 victory. I could never tire of watching either. I see great instruction in these races about life, perseverance, odds, and strategy in general. But not without real personal conflict. I do think horses necessarily undergo excessive stresses and abuse. Distanced patrons see nothing of the business or of that leading to the 2 “glorious” minutes of the ultimate race for which the horses’ very conception plus their entire lives have been managed.  Absent humans’ aim at sheer entertainment—as distinguished from fundamental livelihood—they surely wouldn’t be groomed for or in these races and put at the inherent risk.

UPDATE (the sweet): CALVIN BOREL DID IT AGAIN! HE DID IT AGAIN! OH MY!