What William Faulkner can teach you about blogging, writing, and being human

The Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech of William Faulkner

by Stan Faryna

…

William Faulkner

American writer and Nobel Prize laureate  William Faulkner received the Nobel Prize in Literature (1950). It was awarded to Faulkner “for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.” Among Faulkner’s books, The Sound and Fury (1929) should be known to you. The book tells the tumultuous and tragic story of the once privileged, Mississippi Compson family. At the center of the story is Caddy – the obsession of her brothers. Among the devices William Faulkner uses to tell this story is the technique known as stream of consciousness where ideas and images flow and swirl, interrupt each other, consume us, and – if we are lucky – reveal the conflicts that weigh upon the human heart.

…

Metric, Help I’m Alive

…

Must the best laid plans of Hobbits and Gondor go awry?

Must the best laid plans of Hobbits and Gondor go awry?

by Stan Faryna

…

An Unexpected Journey

An unexpected journey must begin like all great adventures begin – just like in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book of the epic novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings. It begins in the commonwealth of small pleasantries, tamer hopes and dreams, and gentle ambitions. Among little people – people of lesser imagination and destiny. But ahead, there is great adventure, greater perils, and unimaginable reward.

…

JRR Tolkien Reads The One Ring Poem

…

Brands are like Tinkerbell: Stop believing in them and they die.

Brands are like Tinkerbell: Stop believing in them and they die.

by Stan Faryna

…

Never Never Land

Mark Pesce, an Australian entrpreneur, recently tweeted:

Brands are like Tinkerbell: If you stop believing in them, they die.

Pesce’s tweet reminds me of the ancient proverb about the things that we believe:

Seeing is believing.

That’s what comScore and Pretarget are suggesting. That a parlay on online display ads pays handsomely. Because brands get seen online. Clicks, They are also suggesting, are not the last word in conversion: transaction, interaction, conversation, and/or community. In other words, online measurement and metrics are suspect. Say What?

Who’s calling shenanigans on who!?

…

Saint Germain, Sure Thing

…

Harvard Biz Professor Michael Norton Says Money Makes Us Happy

Harvard Biz Professor Michael Norton Says Money Makes Us Happy 

by Stan Faryna

…

Can money buy you happiness? At TEDX Cambridge, Michael Norton argued that money can buy you happiness – when you spend it on other people.

…

Enrique Iglesias, I Just Wanna Be With You

…

… 

The Devil Is In The Details. Is Google’s Drive just another Faustian app?

The Devil Is In The Details. Is Google’s Drive just another Faustian app?

by Stan Faryna

…

Google Drive

Google’s new cloud-based online storage service, Google Drive, is yet another Faustian app by any other name. By uploading content to Google Drive, you grant Google a irrevocable license to use your stuff – even after you stop using Drive.

…

Robert Johnson, Crossroads

…

Bummed out because I missed the triberr webinar by @RachelintheOC

Bummed out because I missed the triberr webinar by @RachelintheOC

by Stan Faryna

…

Turn Your Old Content Into A New Book.

That’s what you see when you log into Triberr – a very cool blogger app that lets you build tribes. The tribes enable you to curate others through Twitter (mostly) and extend your own reach through your tribemates’ followings. Triber co-founders Dino Dogan and Dan Cristo are the bad-asses that helped preserve some of the fading relevance of blogging.

…

Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang performing Gerschwin’s Rhapsody in Blue

…

WTD: someone very special for my online stalker

by Stan Faryna

…

“Why won’t you reply to my emails?”

Fuck Off!

“Don’t use that language with me.”

Oh – Grow up! What else can I say to you to make you stop? If I say, fuck, a million times, maybe you’ll stop.

Maybe, you’ll finally get it. You’re raping me emotionally. Stop means STOP! Stop sending me fucking emails!

…

Bette Midler, The Wind Beneath My Wings

…

How to make friends and influence people in social media

by Stan Faryna

…

If you follow Gini Dietrich, Bill Dorman or Bruce Sallan, you’ll understand everything that I have to say here. Because there’s no better lesson than the lesson you’ve seen lived out by the people you know. IRL or social.

Like IRL, social is something you have to live – automation, enthusiasm, and/or drama does not deliver consistent and sustainable results. Nor value.

It should go without saying. That there is no difference between IRL or social when it comes to making friends and becoming influential. It just is. Until we are replaced by robots. That’s why Klout, Kred, and Empire Avenue can’t help you.

…

Queen, We Are The Champions

…

The Watchmen: Hot Trending Topic on Google

by Stan Faryna

…

While I do pay attention to trending topics on Google, I never intentionally write to them. Not until today. Among the hot trending topics today is colorectal cancer (bowel cancer), think like a man, justin beiber, watchmen, and mother’s day. None of today’s hot trending topics were immediately interesting to me as a subject to write about. Ok, I’ll admit that the watchmen did pique my curiosity. [grin]

The word invokes change, unrest, danger, fear, and hope. Perhaps, also, community, responsibility, and service. The word, watchmen, seems as old as literature itself.

…

I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerulsalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. Isaiah 67:6-7

…

Trailer for the the 2009 movie, The Watchmen.

…

The Greatest Show on Earth is on Andaman road

by Stan Faryna

…

“I think I see something moving in the trees!” Dana gasped and pointed to a group of nearby trees as the tour bus inched down Andaman road.

George threw a bunch of bananas through his open window. Two young Jarawa scampered from behind bushes to the bananas laying at the side of road. Their eyes looked so full of joy. Dana snapped pictures with her iPhone.

The Jarawa young clicked and chanted. They stretched out their little hands and moved their fingers as if squeezing fruit.