"How to apply decals [on your U-Haul], for Burning Man" video

Yeah...this is a real U-Haul video, on their YouTube Channel, a "How To" to apply decals to their vehicles for Burning Man​.

Honestly, though, good for them. I mean, ultimately it does come down to money. But if that's the case, they've probably received more in fees from damage done by folks covering their logos by any means necessary.

It's probably not only good business for them, but a cheaper alternative than any clean-up fees to fix the damage duct tape can do when removed, after baking on a vehicle in the desert for over a week.

My favorite, though, from the Burning Man section on their website:

"We get it. Your equipment will likely get very dirty throughout the event."

Haha. Phrasing. (And yes, that was an Archer reference).

Anyway, what do you think?

Facebook doesn't like Think With Google Content

So there's this article I think is pretty cool and informative, "Cooking Trends Among Millennials: Welcome to the Digital Kitchen".

I go to share it among my various social profiles, G+, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Except when I get to Facebook, an error message warning appears:

Just in case you can't read that:

But it's the internet, and why such things happen are a mystery to me. So I see if it's an issue with the sharing mechanism on the site, and go to Facebook to paste the link natively.

Surprise, surprise, what do you think happens next?

So, yes, apparently this piece about millennials and the digital kitchen is abusive content for some on Facebook.

I guess my question is why? Have you experienced this with any other content or sites, on Facebook?

Share your own thoughts in the comments,

JR

P.S. If you'd like to read the piece on millennial and the digital kitchen, you can view it here.

Obama, Facebook, and Nicki

Good morning,

No those three don't really have much to do with each other...except that I found them to be the subject of several pieces I read this morning.

Thought I would share here.

Presidents often turn more moderate to make gains in their final years. Think of Bill Clinton's 1997 budget deal, or George W. Bush's 2007 (failed) immigration reform effort, or Ronald Reagan's 1986 tax reforms. Second terms can feel like new presidencies. 

President Obama's increasingly successful second term has been the exception to that rule. It's been a concentrated, and arguably jaded, version of his first term. The candidate who was elected to bring the country together has found he can get more done if he acts alone — and if he lets Congress do the same. 

The unexpected and ingenious strategy of Obama's second term, Ezra Klein, 7/21/15, Vox

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

What do you call a multimillion-dollar, for-profit company that’s run in large part by unpaid or underpaid grunt laborers? A century ago, you might’ve dubbed it robber-barony or sharecropping — if not, you know, outright slavery. 

In 2015, though, we call it the social Web: a glorious dystopia where everybody works for likes — as in, “for free” — while a handful of tech tycoons profit. 

You don’t know it, but you’re working for Facebook. For free., Caitlin Dewey, 7/22/15, Washington Post

Rex/Shutterstock/Guardian montage

“If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year”. And there, in a single tweet on Tuesday, rapper Nicki Minaj kicked off a conversation about race, feminism, and the music industry that might have been ignored had it not been derailed by the planet’s biggest pop star, Taylor Swift. 

The Nicki Minaj debate is bigger than Taylor Swift's ego, Nosheen Iqbal, 7/22/15, The Guardian

Anyway, that's it for this morning. Curious what you might think about any of these. Share your thoughts in the comments,

JR aka Nexus

James Bovard Versus Synetic Theater

Updated July 31, 2015

So this has been an interesting exchange. I am still processing it myself, so I thought I would just put the relevant articles/links here.

A disclaimer: I have performed with Synetic Theater in a couple of shows and have been a company member.

That being said, I'm curious what others think. And here we go with the opinion piece that started it:

In Act 5 of “Love’s Labor Lost,” one character scoffs at pedants: “They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps.” The latest Shakespeare fashion, at least in the Washington area, is to invite people to a feast of language and serve nothing but grunts, grimaces and grins—with a few gyrations thrown in for dessert. 

A Silenced Shakespeare in Washington [Opinion] - Wall Street Journal, July 13, 2015

To which Synetic Theater replied:

To begin, it is unclear to us from The Wall Street Journal’s latest opinion piece whether or not the writer James Bovard has seen a Synetic production, or whether his opinion has been formed from YouTube videos and editorial content from other publications. 

A response to “The Wall Street Journal” and James Bovard - July 14, 2015

The Washingtonian picked up this exchange:

Wall Street Journal contributor James Bovard has a message for Arlington’s Synetic Theater and its wordless productions of William Shakespeare plays: Recite the script, or get off the stage. 

Bovard, a libertarian policy analyst by day, writes in an op-ed in Tuesday’s Journal that Synetic’s silent, sultry, and often fleshy productions are turning traditionally high-fiber theater into empty calories. 

Wall Street Journal to Synetic Theater: Do Shakespeare With Words! - July 14, 2015

James attempted to reply on his blog:

My Wall Street Journal piece on Washington’s Silent Shakespeare Oxymoron outraged Synetic Theater and its devoted fans.  Synetic posted a long response on Tumbler and hit the alarms. The Washingtonian did an informative article this evening on the controversy – “Wall Street Journal to Synetic Theater: Do Shakespeare With Words!” 

Shakespeare Backlash and Brawl - July 14, 2015

Howard Sherman, Arts Management Guru (yes, I've got a bit of a professional crush on him), joined the conversation with this:

Seemingly out of nowhere, The Wall Street Journal published a column yesterday, “A Silenced Shakespeare in Washington: Shakespeare without puns is like French cooking without butter,” which slams the work of Washington D.C.’s Synetic Theater for their movement-based productions of Shakespeare, productions which have garnered critical and popular acclaim for more than a decade. What’s curious about this op-ed cum review, written by a contributor who is not a member of the paper’s arts staff, and certainly not their widely-traveled critic Terry Teachout, is that not only does it seek to demolish Synetic’s work, but to trash anyone who might enjoy or support that work. 

Verbally Attacking ‘Shakespeare Without Words’ - July 15, 2015

The Washington City Paper also jumped into the fray, with this blog post:

Taking as his inspiration the upcoming Synetic Theater revival of its movement-driven Midsummer Night’s Dream, noted twat troll theater expert James Bovard decries the use of NEA grants to fund the “grunts, grimaces, and grins” produced by a pair of husband-and-wife nepotists—“raised in Soviet Georgia,” which should have given us a clue—who’ve made a career of wresting the spoken word from the cold dead hands of the Swan of Avon.

 A Response to the WSJ‘s Defense of Traditional Shakespeare - July 16, 2015

And now, a tweet from Fox News:

The Feds spent $95,700 to adapt Shakespeare without words. http://t.co/tfW2XoYdtx

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 20, 2015

Then this DCist piece in response to a Fox news program called Outnumbered, which did a segment about the controversy.

The drama surrounding the Synetic Theater's series of wordless Shakespeare productions continues, with Fox News (who else were you expecting?) weighing in. 

In a rather misleading (what else were you expecting?) report, the hosts of Outnumbered—the show whose premise is four women to one man discuss current events—give their opinions on the production. The conversation was based almost entirely on the Wall Street Journal opinion piece that sparked this whole thing. None of them, it seems, had seen their shows. 

Fox News Piles On The Criticism Of Synetic's Silent Shakespeare - July 24, 2015

Blair Ruble, former Board Member of Synetic Theater, shared this on HowlRound:

In mid-July, The Wall Street Journal published a criticism of Arlington’s Synetic Theater by Libertarian commentator James Bovard, the author of the fittingly titled book Public Policy Hooligan. Bovard’s critique focuses as much on the fact that Synetic has received funding from public coffers as anything having to do with what Synetic has put on stage. It’s not made clear whether Bovard has ever attended a Synetic performance. Bovard’s concerns were picked up by Fox News where a posting by Elizabeth Harrington a week later shouted scandal with a headline that read “Feds spent $95,700 to adapt Shakespeare without words.” 

Physical Theatre and Public Policy Hooliganism - July 31, 2015

Anyway, that's it. So far. What do you think of any and/or all of this? Leave a comment.

- JR aka Nexus