John Cleese argues that taking your time and tolerating the anxiety of not having a solution are crucial to exceptional creativity.

I was always intrigued that one of my Monty Python colleagues, who seemed to be more talented than I was, never produced scripts as original as mine. And I watched for some time and then I began to see why. If he was faced with a problem and fairly soon saw a solution, he was inclined to take it. Even though I think he knew the solution was not very original. (more…)

Memphis-based Ardent Recording Studios takes a unique approach to blogging. Instead of playing the role of pundit or tastemaker, Ardent Studios play themselves: an active studio in downtown Memphis, where the musicians are the stars. Featuring the Instagram Photography of editor Rachel Hurley, and original content from guest musicians, reading the Ardent Music Blog feels like spending an evening hanging out in the studio.

(more…)

Smile! There’s always time for another cup. Grab a refill and check out these fresh stories:

•  Adverve: Twitter stream, animated.
  smart Argentina uses Twitter as a sketchbook with “flipbook” tweets. smart? Brilliant.
• Serious Eats: It’s Time to Make Cold Brewed Coffee!
  That’s right. It’s a little too hot for that 3pm grande Blonde roast.
• Give Me My Remote: Tonight’s TV Spotlight
  Can’t decide between Betty White’s prank show and American Idol Finals? GMMR will help you prioritize your viewing schedule.
• Seth Godin’s Blog: Don’t give up (you’re on the right track)
  Because it’s easier to achieve the impossible once you see someone else do it first.
• Perez Hilton: Comedy Central Develops Series Based On Blog
  Here’s hoping Bad Advice From My Brother isn’t the next $#*! My Dad Says.

photo by flickr user qole

Internet Week New York is just over a month away and we’ve submitted three panels that feature a healthy mix of bloggers, designers, social entrepreneurs and Blogads own innovators.

Anyone with an email address can vote for the IWNY panels they’d like to see at next month’s event, and there are only two days left to do so. Whether or not you plan on attending the festival, we would love to get your vote on the following panels:

(more…)

From Portland to London, mayoral races seem to bring out some of the best in understated video giggles.

As we’ve observed time and again (for ten years now!) people prefer real stuff created by humans versus over-engineered “products” manufactured by droid-workers. This preference for authenticity holds for content — blogs, youtube videos, Instagrams — and also for advertising. Why should there be any difference, right?

Here’s yet another wonderful example of this reality principle at work. Dude posted two ads, one highly engineered, the other a VERY sketchy Microsoft paint experiment. Which one do you think outperformed by 2.8X?

Some morning headlines to go with those last few sips of coffee:

•  Baseball Musings: Game of the Day
  Just in case you’re not American and didn’t realize that spring means baseball.

• Twitchy: Seacrest appears on TODAY, making special announcement
  Maybe the 2012 Olympics will have a new “whitest teeth” event.

image by flickr user beppezizzi

Recently we’ve noticed that sites load really slowly in our office at the center of Durham, NC.

Looking at the Google Analytics account for one of the sites we host, we discovered that the site takes 25.49 seconds to load in Durham, versus just 4.81 in Raleigh and 4.37 in Charlotte.

How can Durham claim to be a haven for start-ups and tech companies with download speeds this horrific? Screenshots from Google Analytics below.

Maybe Durham needs to learn from places like Chattanooga TN and Cleveland OH that now have municipally hosted 1GB Internet service.

Site load-times in North Carolina.

Map of North Carolina. The bigger the circle, the slower the site loading time.