The River

The personal professional blog of Pamela Parker -- musings on marketing, advertising, media and technology.

Pamela Parker

Farecast Beta

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I’ve been checking out a couple new travel search engines that add the element of time to the equation. First is FareCast, which John Battelle blogged about recently. Second is FareCompare.com, which was written up in the WSJ yesterday (free link for 7 days).

To be honest, until I have a real trip to plan, and until these sites get a little further developed, it’s hard for me to offer an opinion. But I wanted to highlight them here in case you’re interested in taking a look yourself. I’ve got 23 invitations for the FareCast beta left, so e-mail me at theriver *at* mcnigel.com if you want one.

UPDATE: Gary Price shares why FareCast was formerly called Hamlet. In keeping with the idea that a fare forecast can tell you whether to purchase now or wait for a better deal, their motto was “to buy, or not to buy….”

The Success of the Da Vinci Code

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I’m breaking my self-imposed (or busy-schedule-imposed) blog silence to link to an insightful post on the Da Vinci Code by David Galbraith. I totally agree when he says “The success of the Da Vinci Code has nothing to do with the writing, but the fact that it is a mutation of a very successful and ancient meme.” Indeed. There’s a reason why this book has managed to become such a blockbuster (and why the movie will also be huge if it lives up to the material’s potential). It’s because it’s tapping into an ancient, mysterious meme. It takes that idea and wraps it up in the trappings of a thriller, so discovering each new element of the meme is exciting. And who doesn’t want to know about an idea the Catholic church has been trying to suppress for centuries? Promise I’ll actually blog on interactive ad/marketing topics before too long.

Poi Dog Days

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Many thanks to Fred for the link and for the memories of a band that was a big part of my life back in my immediate post-college years. I think I must have discovered them via an NPR interview or via KTRU, Rice University’s radio station.

I pulled out my Poi Dog collection upon arriving home this evening, and find the tunes are perfect for a sunny (after so much rain!) California holiday-weekend Friday. The lyrics are happy, idealistic, sensuous and earthy. The music features varied instrumentation, with a generally acoustic-sounding vibe. Fred says he’s got two albums and a commenter on Fred’s blog mentions “U – Li – La – Lu” — definitely a fave of mine. To my surprise, I own five Poi Dog Pondering CDs. It’s honestly been a really long time since I’ve pulled them out, but I recall the eponymous debut and “Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea” got many rotations in the CD player. Later records were good, but not quite to the same standards.

Again, thanks Fred, for reminding me of the band. Gotta burn the five albums and get them on the iPod for beautiful walks home like the one today.

Connected = More Involved

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Nice post from Gary Stein at the ISOBAR client summit. He quotes data from a Yahoo!/Isobar study called “Fluid Lives” that found that putting wireless/broadband technology in people’s homes made them:

More involved politically: 26%
More involved with my community: 29%
More involved with organizations related to my interests: 55%

Gary mentions his ability to “drop in” to his neighborhood Yahoo! Group. I feel the same. It’s only via the Internet that I’ve been able to keep up with a huge debate racking our little East Bay city.

Unfortunately, technology doesn’t create hours in the day, or enable less sleep at night (which, as a mom of a 9-month-old, I’d welcome heartily), but perhaps it lets us dip our toes into many more waters, so we can determine where to dive in.