CultureJunkie

The SCORPIONS: Read. Bleed.

They operate in the shadows: in dive bars, back alleys, dog tracks, firing ranges, and the occasional all-you-can-eat buffet. 

Their mission is to motivate, educate, elucidate, and intimidate. They live amongst us, and yet they are a total mystery.

I'm talking, of course, about the SCORPIONS, the toughest book club around. 

Haven't heard of them? Don't worry, you will.

You see, this "hard guy" book club is taking the country - the world, even - by storm. First came coverage in the New Yorker. Then a post on Gawker. Now, Playboy.

Yes, the granddaddy of lad mags actually cited the SCORPS in a short article about the "best hard-guy books of all time" (see page 19 in the Marge Simpson collector's issue). Next up: Cafe, the highest-selling men's magazine in Sweden (watch for the November issue).

The invite-only club is comprised of eight members who meet on a regular basis to discuss "tough guy" books...things like Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridien and Steve Alten's MEG. But like most book clubs, the reading is only part of the fun: each meeting of the SCORPIONS incorporates discussion of selected reading material as well as competition, gambling, tests of strength (mental and/or physical) and trivia. And in some way, the losers always pay. Or as the SCORPS would say, "We read. We bleed. We kick ass."

So who exactly are these mysterious book lovers and what makes them so tough? The CultureJunkie took it to the streets (and pool halls and back alleys) to find out.

CJ: Why all the interest in the SCORPIONS?

SCORP #8:  As in the insect?  Next question.

CJ: Has the attention distracted from your mission?

Tanaka: No. We still kick a lot of ass and are comfortable with how awesome we are.

CJ: What makes you so tough?

Shakelton: What makes water wet?  What makes birds fly (besides their wings)?  What makes a guy struggle when he is in a choke hold?

CJ: Which is more fun: the books or the physical challenges?

Judge: None of it is fun – it’s a way of life.

CJ: Tell me something we don't already know about your membership.

MC Trouble: We’ve applied to have SCORPIONS headquarters recognized as a sovereign nation.  Status is still pending.

CJ: If you could have any super hero be an honorary member, who would it be?

Scorp #8:  MC Trouble’s Mom.  [members nod their heads in unison]

CJ: What song/artist would be on the SCORPION soundtrack?

Undead:  Scorpions – Winds of change

CJ: If I wanted to take a SCORP-themed vacation, what would you recommend?

The Spaniard:  Travel light and bring fist packs.

CJ: How about best spot for dining out?

Slayer: Medieval Manor.  Ask for Waffles, he knows us and will take care of you.

CJ: Favorite shopping destination?

Undead:  Bangkok Red Light District [I contemplate asking what MC Trouble's honorary-member Mom would say to that, but then fear the answer]

Shakelton:  Hip Zepi in Downtown Crossing

CJ: What's next for the SCORPIONS? Are you hoping for an invitation to the Playboy Mansion?

Tanaka: If invited, Hef should hope we accept.

And Then There's This

Continuing with the social media overload theme from my last post, I went ahead and read Bill Wasek's book, And Then There's This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture.

The book examines the ever-shortening life span of stories in our culture - whether it's news, gossip, or the latest best-seller - among the onslaught of email, RSS feeds, blog posts (sorry, I'm adding to that), and Tweets. He describes a world in which we have become so accustomed to a constant stream of new information, and so wary of always-encroaching boredom, that we tell stories about our society and ourselves, even when there is nothing new to say.

Besides the information glut, shortening attention spans, and overall exhaustion this creates, the really good content gets lost after its fleeting 15 minutes of fame (if that). And despite the broader array of news and opinion available to us, we have not necessarily broadened our horizons, but rather self-segregate ourselves into smaller & smaller niches of like-minded individuals.

Some of my favorite excerpts:

"Breaking news, fresh gossip, tiny scandals, trumped-up crises - every day we are distracted by a culture that rings our doorbell and runs away. Stories spread wildly and die out in mere days, to be replaced by still more stories with ever shorter life spans.

The rapid appearance and disappearance of young writers is a byproduct of niche sensationalism...the young writer comes into the public consciousness like this: he or she becomes the one must read just then, not because his or her work is good, but because it represents something about the moment, or about the youthful cohort from which the writer has sprung.

We like to fill our minds with information that confirms what we already believe; this information in turn doubles down our already existing support of what we think or dismissal of what we disbelieve. It is in this regard that the Internet and confirmation bias are conspiring to erode what remains of reasonable political discourse in this country. The Internet allows the like-minded to find one another so quickly, and with so little exposure to other points of view. Indeed, in this regard, the forward march of search technology threatens to balkanize our politics even further: the ability to ever more agilely find what we are looking for, while excluding the rest, is exactly what a citizen does not need in making his or her political choices.

This is a common meme-maker's lament: viral projects spread through decontextualized blog links and email forwards, and so viewers tend to pay no attention whatsoever to the domains that actually host the material - they never learn anything about the creators who entertain them.

In the Internet circus, a seemingly infinite cast of clowns, daredevils, and freaks each step into the spotlight, enthrall the crowd for thirty seconds or so, and then exit back into the dark with barely a bow.

We love our nanostories, their birth and death thrill us, and yet we know that they are devouring us."

The same themes were picked up in a Financial Times article last week, which noted that for many, social media has become "a more personal filter to the infinite world of the Internet." Where people use to turn to traditional portals like Yahoo! or AOL as their entry point, they are now turning to Facebook or their preferred feed aggregator, reading just the news & information that comes in from friends or other trusted sources. Ray Valdes, a media analyst from Gartner is quoted: “We are moving toward a world of ‘snackable’ news that can be shared like pieces of candy or a pack of gum...Unfortunately, we run the risk of losing substance and nutritive value.” 

Wasik closes his book with a brief look at some of the "solutions" to Internet fatigue. Among them:

• Writer & editor Jake Silverstein's proposed Internet Ramadan, where people go offline for a month
• NYTimes writer Mark Bittman's Secular Sabbath, an experiment in going offline for a mere 24 hours
• Chip maker Intel's Quiet Time, where employees are encouraged to go offline each Tuesday morning in order to think (and work) more deeply

There are countless articles with similar themes:

• Do you consume information or does it consume you? (The Big Picture, September 2009)
• Serendipity, Lost in the Digital Deluge (NYTimes, August 2009)
• But Does Anyone Really Care? (Noah Briar, April 2009)
• Status: Dad Wonders if He Can Last all of Lent without Facebook (WSJ, February 2009)
• The End of Alone (Boston Globe, February 2009)
• Social Websites Harm Children's Brains (AP, February 2009)
• Sweet Nothingness (CultureJunkie, July 2008)

Should we be concerned? Or is our fast-paced lifestyle just the new norm, and the attention-getting books & headlines just another example of the trumped-up crises we crave?

Queen Rania

How cool is Jordan's Queen Rania?

Earlier this year she started a Youtube channel in order to publish a daily video web cast and blog, challenging stereotypes of the Arab and Muslim world and encouraging dialogue across cultures.

Now, she has received YouTube's first Visionary Award in recognition of her efforts and has posted a hilarious "why I created this Youtube Channel" video that's reminiscent of David Letterman's Top 10 Lists.

It's good to see another Royal video blogging; and kudos to social media for making this world a smaller place.

In Remembrance

Beam Camp Wedding

We're back from Emily and Corey's wedding at Beam Camp on Parker Mountain in Strafford, NH.

Photos:

PARTNERS+simons Summer Outing

Yesterday, the whole gang from PARTNERS+simons (well, almost the whole gang - some poor folks couldn't make it) spent the day aboard a paddle boat in the Boston Harbor.

We lucked out in getting the one hot & sunny day out of the whole week, and enjoyed a scenic tour of the harbor islands and coast, from our home base in South Boston over to Charlestown.

The islands have really prospered over the years, and several of them - Thompson, Spectacle, Georges - were hopping with activity. It reminds me that I need to read my friend Chris Klein's new book, Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands, and schedule one or more day trips out there.

Pictures from the cruise:

Dancing with Matt

Podcamp news is coming...in the meantime, enjoy this feel-good video from Matt (which was ever-so-subtlety sponsored by Stride gum).

LOVE IT.

Update: Matt has decided to use his fame to raise money for charity: he met United Nations officials this month and talked to the sponsor of his video, Stride, about raising money to buy and donate laptops to the poor in Rwanda where he danced with locals and plans to go to teach them himself.

Breakfast for Champions

Recognize the woman on the left?

It's the one-and-only journalist, entrepreneur, and feminist icon, Gloria Steinem.

I had the chance to meet her yesterday, and hear her speak in front of about 1200 other women, at the The Commonwealth Institute's 9th Annual Breakfast for Champions.

And it wasn't entirely as I'd expected.

Tastybytes

Thanks to the folks at Compete and Chitika who co-hosted another great Tastybytes event yesterday, with a private luncheon for Agency professionals at Radius.

This was the third such gathering of local-area marketing and technology professionals, in a bid to rival the regular Lunch 2.0 luncheons on the West Coast. While the Valley is known for its innovation, movers and shakers, Compete (a fantastic analytics shop with a great blog, recently acquired by TNS) and Chitika (a blog advertising network with some sharp display technology) are doing their part to raise awareness of the rich and varied technology community in our own backyard.

Tastybytes, together with other local happenings from MITX, Webbinno, and others, are increasingly drawing more frequent (and larger) crowds for networking and educational opportunities typically associated with New York or San Fran. Chitika founder Venkat Kolluri had a great conversation about this with Efrain Viscarolasaga in a recent issue of Mass High Tech.

Check out photos from the event on Chitika's blog.

Tina Turner at the Grammys

I hope I can still shake it like that at her age (sans the silver body suit):

Unreal!