DrHGuy Cyber-Bookmarks: October 20, 2006
Cyber-Bookmarks From DrHGuy are annotated links to arguably worthwhile, recently published online reading, new or revised websites of potential utility or ostensible interest, and other internet-accessible experiences that, were it not for the casually collected, cavalierly collated, & capriciously collocated components comprising these posts, could easily be overlooked – which would be, in some cases, a shame,
Readings
Good Girls Go Bad, For A Day by Stephanie Rosenbloom. New York Times 19 Oct 2006. This article expands on the observation that significant numbers of girls and women who otherwise clothe themselves with conventional modesty choose decidedly sexy, often salacious costumes for Halloween (AKA, according to Carlos Mencia, “Dress-Like-A-Whore-Day”), but, inexplicably, does not address the tragic failure of this phenomenon to expand beyond this one-day Halloween celebration each year
History of Single Life by Ken Mondschein. Nerve 19 Oct 2006. Remember learning about bundling in 8th grade social studies class? This is a more detailed refresher that debunks the notion of premarital celibacy prevailing throughout America in its early years.
Perfect Fit: Test-driving the cheapest cars we could find. Seth Stevenson. Slate 17 Oct 2006. A review of new cars in which the winning model’s starting price is $13,850? Gratify your inner tightwad.
Troubadork, Twenty-Five Years Of “Weird Al” Yankovic. By Sam Anderson. Slate 19 Oct 2006. This is an insightful look at Weird Al, but if one isn’t familiar with his work, it may useful to check out a couple of his hits (e.g., “Eat It,” “Like a Surgeon,” “Addicted to Spuds,” “Fat,” “I Think I’m A Clone Now,” “Smells Like Nirvana”) at Youtube before reading the article
Web Sites
Ms. Dewey is described as “a search engine with attitude.”
I personally think of Ms. Dewey as a member of the Quasi Tribe. It’s a quasi-clever, quasi-edgy, quasi-search site that [you have to promise to keep this quiet; it was supposed to be a secret] Microsoft sponsors. While Microsoft denies it (see below) it sure looks to me like it’s one of them there viral marketing campaigns (e.g., Burger King’s Subservient Chicken site) them big city boys put together to impress us yokels that a web thingie (that would be Ms. Dewey) is not only something neato but also something homegrown and definitely something which has no connection with any corporate colossus like Microsoft.
Whatever.
In any case, Ms. Dewey is an attractive, somewhat stern and snarky female avatar, powered by Flash animation and loaded with wisecracks and insults.
While I was admittedly excited about the prospect of a strict and snide search-madam reprimanding and correcting my efforts, I found that her interventions did little for me other than slow down my actual searches.1
On the other hand, lots of folks seem to agree with David Ewalt, the “Digital Download” writer at Forbes who describes the Ms. Dewey site as “… surprisingly hip, edgy and well executed.” And Mr. Ewalt, who seems to have a crush on this animation, did manage to garner this statement from Microsoft:
Who says search can’t be fun? At Windows Live we are constantly exploring new and creative ways to promote our search offering and deliver relevant information in an interesting and engaging way. The Ms. Dewey website is just one example of these efforts. This is not an advertising campaign. This really just an experiment for exploring different ways to introduce people to search and Live Search specifically. We are not promoting the site but simply putting it out on the Web for discovery.
So, the Ms. Dewey site, which is or isn’t an advertising campaign, is either “edgy,” “hip,” “fun,” and “engaging” (Forbes, Microsoft, et al) or a waste of bandwidth (DrHGuy). In any case, it’s worth checking out for yourself at Ms. Dewey
Updated: Giving Orders To Ms. Dewey; Behind The Scenes At Microsoft
_____________________- I am inspired, however, to develop the Mistress Hoagle’s Search Discipline & Submission site. [↩]
While i agree that XP is shite, I kind of like the little tailwagging dog who “does” the file searches.
Maybe the next platform’ll have a changeable avatar. (Maybe they already do, I’m not deeply enough into Windows XP preferences to check.)