Bubble-gum pop.

“Double your pleasure, double your fun.”

Some of us may know that as the words from the old Doublemint ads from a few years ago. Others might know it as a lyric from Chris Brown’s hit single Forever.

Coincidence? Nope.

Turns out Wrigley commissioned Chris Brown and producer Polow da Don to create a new take on the famous gum jingle to be released as part of a new marketing campaign to be launched this week. Brown just took it one step further and added his own lyrics to make the song a viable pop single.

Needless to say, some people are upset.

I think it’s a brilliant business move.

Let’s face it: Chris Brown’s track was never supposed to be anything but bubble-gum pop (yeah, totally nailed that metaphor there). The lyrics — even apart from the Doublemint nod — were weak at best, and it wasn’t as if Brown was trying to create a song that would change the world. Instead, it’s a track that gets your feet moving and makes you want to dance — nothing more.

Why the uproar with the fact that it was originally a Wrigley ad then? It’s not as if Brown released the actual Wrigley ad on his album; he re-wrote the majority of the lyrics and used a beat that is undoubtedly extremely catchy. He’s not pretending otherwise.

Some music is created not to have a message, not to be provocative, and not to make you think. Some music was made just to make you dance.

Chris Brown’s Forever does just that. Why hold it to some standard of moral quality it doesn’t aspire to?

Luxury type.

I’ve wanted to rave about the Apple keyboard before, but I was afraid of being branded an Apple fanboy. Not that I’m not already branded that way, of course, but I like to keep some kind of semblance of impartiality.

But now that people like Jason Kottke, Tim Bray, and Rafe Colburn are all chiming in on how much they love this device, I think it’s only fair that I add my voice to the choir.

The Apple keyboard is actually the best product — apart from my Macbook Pro, of course — I’ve bought from Apple. Ever. Even better than the Macbook I bought my brother, better than my iPod Touch, better than my (gasp!) cinema display.

This is especially significant when considering that the other major Apple peripheral, the Mighty Mouse, is an excellent example of how good ideas go bad. The Mighty Mouse packs a lot of features and interesting design decisions into its small package, but what it fails to do is fit seamlessly into the way people use their computer mouse.

With the Apple Keyboard, however, the experience is remarkable. Not only is the keyboard perfectly sensitive, but the tactile response is exactly what you’d expect from a high-quality peripheral. Best of all, the buttons are all in the right place. As Tim Bray explains:

The larger [keyboard] includes the useful cluster with arrow keys, page up/down, home/end, “fn”, and the real “delete” key. The “control” key is large, at the lower left, and by some physical-mechanical equivalent of Fitt’s Law, is real easy to get to.

In addition to the detail around key placement and tactile response, Apple has also made the keyboard really easy to clean. (In fact, its construction makes it even harder to get crumbs and debris stuck between and underneath keys.) While this might seem insignificant to many keyboard manufacturers, it is certainly significant to consumers.

Now let’s see if Steve Jobs can get the keyboard guys to help out the Mighty Mouse designers. I’m in the market for a new mouse, after all.

Cleaning house

For the few of you that may be wondering why I’ve been relatively quiet everywhere on the web over the past few weeks, the answer is simple: I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with my offline life. That, and I need some change in my online environment to stimulate my thought and interaction again.

Changes are afoot.

In order to break my blogging slump, I’m re-evaluating the platforms that I’m using to communicate. I’m also working with Long Nguyen to re-jig some of these platforms and make them work for me instead of me adapting to use them.

The changes are not going to be immediate, so you won’t see anything drastically new around here (or anywhere else in my life) for the next few weeks. Just keep in mind that I’m still plugging away here in the background. A mid-summer house-cleaning, let’s say.

I’ll be around, but probably won’t be entertaining until the house is in order. Thanks for your patience.

Casting a spell.

Three separate times on the tube today, somebody asked me what I was listening to on my iPod (probably because I tend to laugh out loud).

When I explained to them that I only used my iPod to listen to podcasts, they were perplexed: who doesn’t have music on their iPod?

I don’t.

I do have a lot of podcasts, however, and because they asked me to share my playlist, here’s a quick list of what’s playing in my headphones today:

Tech: CBC Search Engine, CBC Spark, This Week in Tech, net@nite, Macbreak Weekly, commandN.

Sports: Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, Best of Mike and Mike, Football Today, Tirico and Van Pelt.

Film: mamo! *, The /Filmcast, Cinemaslave.

Culture: Do Right!, Indiefeed Performance Poetry, Mahalo Daily, NPR Pop Culture, This American Life.

Humor: Ask a Ninja, Russell Brand, You Look Nice Today.

* mamo! is my favorite podcast of all time. Seriously. If you’re just starting out with it, go back a few episodes and learn more about the dynamic between Matt and Matt — they’re great.

Do you have any favorite podcasts I’m not listening to? Let me know!

Live with your parents. Seriously.

An internet-friend (I can call you a friend, right Jessica?) is turning 22 years old in a month, and she’s asking for some advice.

What advice would you give your 22-year-old self?

I’m going to take this opportunity to share some advice I’ve been giving all my friends for years: live with your parents and pay off your debt.

It doesn’t sound all too glamorous (after all, only losers live with their parents at the age of 22, right?) but it’s one of the smartest things you can do. Allow me to share with you a quick story.

A friend of mine graduated with his accounting degree and got a job at one of the Big Four straight out of school. Needless to say, an accountant at a Big Four makes some good money. Instead of moving downtown and living the good life, he instead stayed with his parents in the suburbs until the age of 26 and commuted to work. In his four years living with his parents and not paying rent, he managed to not only pay off his student debt, but also to save enough money to buy a luxury condo by the lake — and pay off over 50% of the purchase price.

He’s now 26 years old and owns a lakefront condo with a mortgage that will be paid off in five years. In his early thirties, he’ll be mortgage-free with a six-figure disposable income and really living the life.

Now tell me, does that sound like a loser to you? Not quite.

Save your money. Pay off your debt. Living with your parents in your early 20s isn’t bad for your image: it’s a smart move.

That’s my advice Jessica. I know there may be other factors that will influence your residence options, but that’s just my two cents.

Do you have any advice to give your 22-year-old self?

Where’s Vasta?

Missed me?

There’s a reason I haven’t been blogging for over a week: I’m going through a slump.

Before you go out and tell me that slumps are reserved for professional sports players and bloggers are immune to the vagaries of hot and cool spells, let me assure you that blogging is, indeed, a very streaky endeavor.

I need to bust this slump. Other than sharing a golden thong or playing with blowup dolls, I’m not quite sure what people to do help them break out of slumps.

How do I get my blogging swing back? What do you do when you’re going through a bit of a slump, on your blog or elsewhere?

Any tips you may be able to provide will be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, I’m going to go down a can of SlumpBuster Energy Drink and then go and order me a case of BrainToniq.

(Aside: Why does nobody carry BrainToniq in Ontario? I’d be their best customer!)

Ad networks: the new cool kid clique?

I’ve played with advertising on Eloquation and Squandrous in the past. While all my advertising experiments have been a relative success when it comes to making money, I really didn’t feel as though the Google Ads (or even the few ads bought directly) did much to enhance the experience on my site.

My rationale to get rid of advertising was based on the fact that the money I gained from advertising wasn’t worth the time and energy I put in and impact they had on my sites.

The real reason I don’t have advertising on my site? I’m not cool enough.

Ad networks are becoming new status symbols on the web. All the cool kids are part of some network, and those sites wear their ads like badges of honor instead of an attempt to make some money.

Tight Network

I came to the realization that ad networks are the new cool kid cliques after reading a post on Jonathan Snook’s blog where he introduced SidebarAds. SidebarAds, like The Deck, is a closed, invite-only network of sites that provide advertisers a targeted and engaged audience.

The advantages to the publisher are obvious, and the monetary advantages to the publisher are clear as well. The hidden advantage, however, is the prestige that comes from being part of an elite club. Slapping an ad on your site that is “Via The Deck” or “by SidebarAds” means that your site holds a certain value, a cachet, that is not only prized by advertisers, but also fits in to the ethos of the network — a type of badge of honor, let’s say.

As much as I love the money I’ve made from them, Google Ads serve as the exact opposite indicator. While the elite ad networks serve as markers of distinction rather than cash-grabs, Google Ads seem to say, “I need to make a few quick bucks from this site. Please click on these ads as much as possible.”

Larger Reach

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying everyone needs to be part of a network and stop using Google Ads. Everyone should use the tool best suited for their needs.

I’m definitely not complaining about the existence of ad networks like The Deck or SidebarAds. I think they’re genius, actually.

What I would like to see is more of these niche advertising networks that are as well executed and tastefully implemented as The Deck and SidebarAds (and are invite-only), but reach different niches than the tech-savvy crowd. Bigger blog networks (where people can apply to become members) like BlogHer and Federated Media are great for making money and still holding some cultural cachet, but I feel that there’s more room in the market (but only a little, nobody wants market over-saturation) for the smaller, elite networks that are prestige badges as well as revenue streams.

After all, everyone likes being a part of the cool kid clique. Making some cash on the side is just a bonus.

Jez Burrows was robbed. Also, Penguin cover art rocks.

I’m not only saying that Jez Burrows was robbed because Bronwyn (my hero) said it first. (Or because everyone else on the web seems to think so.)

I’m saying that Jez Burrows was robbed because this is one of the sexiest book covers I’ve seen all year:

That being said, this post is not about Jez Burrows or the fact that he was robbed. (After all, Jenna Jones’ submission was also great, as were most of the submissions that made the shortlist.) Instead, I want to congratulate Penguin for continuously pushing the envelope when it comes to cover design.

In my previous ruminations on book cover design, I gushed about Penguin’s Great Ideas series and the remarkable work they have done in fostering excellent cover art. The Great Ideas series and the Penguin Design Award are just two manifestations of the importance the publisher places on the design of their work.

What Penguin seems to understand more than many other publishers is that stories are not just told in the text of their books; cover art, typography, and even the shape and size of the published work are integral to enhancing the overall story.

Storytelling through design

A good storyteller doesn’t just tell you a tale. Instead, he or she creates an environment where you can be immersed, enraptured, and enthralled by the contents of the story. For a good storyteller, it’s not enough that you hear the story: you have to believe it, feel it, and live it.

As a publisher, Penguin Books is a phenomenal storyteller. They know that the power of the story is not in its content, but in its experience, and subsequently make all the right design choices to make that experience come alive.

You know all those predictions that say that the “book” as a format for consuming text is going to disappear? What they forget is that the book is not just a format for consuming text; instead, it is a physical artifact that serves as a reminder of a personal experience, a story lived. The book isn’t going to die anytime soon.

And I thank Penguin and their design team for helping to ensure the medium’s longevity.

On a total side note, the website for the Penguin Design Awards is gorgeous. Yet another example of great Penguin design.