[the following is a response to Volvo’s corporate statement regarding customer concerns about the Geely sale. VCNA’s Stephen Odell basically said that business will be as usual, and that if a dealer is doing well they have “nothing to worry about”, presumably allaying fears of dealers having to close]

I think Stephen Odell’s words about the dealers having nothing to worry about are central to my problems with Volvo’ pre- and post- sale experience.

I believe they have plenty to worry about.

My local dealership, Hughes Volvo in Santa Barbara, CA, is so cataclysmically unprofessional and ineffectual that I can’t even set foot there for parts anymore. The location is dirty and ramshackle, salespeople intimidating and clueless about the cars themselves, and the parts guy is about as helpful as a barnacle. To say nothing of the fact that every Volvo I’ve ever seen go there for service emerges worse than ever, owner unhappy about being essentially raped for overpriced parts and shoddy service.

After searching for a rare black P2 V70R for three years, literally traveling around the US, I recently drove 120 miles north to purchase it from Smith Volvo in San Luis Obispo. I was attracted to this dealer because they also sold Porsches, Lotuses and other marques where buyers expect a quality experience from presale to ownership. The staff seemed more knowledgeable than the salespeople at other dealers I visited— most of whom had not even heard of the V70R! I still had the feeling, as I sat on a 1970s cafeteria chair, writing a five-figure check on a Bakelite tabletop to a gentleman without all his teeth, that it would never be this distasteful to purchase an Audi, BMW, even a VW.

I believe that is because those companies, including their semi-independent dealers, take pride in the fact that owners are loyal for a reason, and do not take it for granted. They know what it takes to earn our loyalty (heck I’m easy… An inviting office and knowledgeable staff is not asking much).

Volvo, I believe you’ve needed a reality check for a while. This S60 launch and its market positioning shows that you acknowledge the “image” aspect of building brand loyalty. Now show us loyal buyers, especially those skeptical of the Geely deal, that you mean to tackle the serious problem of your dealers.

The internet is for porn. I learned this, and other such wicked revelations at last night’s opening of the Broadway musical Avenue Q. With a masterful young people-and-puppets cast, undeniably infectious music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, and a cantankerous collection of doesn’t-life-suck-sometimes skits, this production is an adorably dirty bomb of wit aimed directly at the post-college creative underclass. Channeling such disparate influences as “Will and Grace” and Milton, the show opens like “R.E.N.T.” but takes a sharp left turn onto a very dirty “Sesame Street”. As an homage to the latter, video screens come down at intervals for humorous, mixed-media-savvy visualization of a concept. Hilarious and obnoxious social commentary, often directed at the audience directly, recalls the verve of Punch and Judy shows. Watching the cast deftly play off each other with irreverent motifs of racism and lasting friendship, of jealous passion and utter apathy, of life’s purpose and existential masturbation — it becomes clear that there is real poignancy to be found here.

Avenue Q is the fictional borough of New York City where Princeton, our puppet protagonist, moves to begin his adult life. As the newcomer to this decidedly lower-rent suburb, he enlists the help of his new neighbors in finding his “purpose” in life. After a few flameouts in his love life and career, he begins to understand, quite existentially, that he alone is the architect of his path in life. He finds that helping his girlfriend Kate Monster open a school makes him feel good, teaching Princeton that good deeds need not be selfless — a sentiment echoed by that old windbag Rand.

Other denizens of Avenue Q step forward by turns to add their voice to the show’s thematic crescendo, which struck me as unusually brave for the writers of a musical. Unable to arrive at a concrete resolution for the characters’ existential quandary, the writers instead leave us with an unexpectedly Zen ending number. “It’s Only For Now” is, true to it’s title, an extremely alacritous summary of the lessons our friends on the Avenue have learned. Not a very uplifting (or darkly dramatic) message to leave us with. No, the rousing enthusiasm perceived by (and lauded by) the audience here is due to an unrelenting lack of irony in the cast’s performance. These actors, many of whom have experience in children’s television, know that integral to the show’s message is their emotively earnest delivery. Their candor — coupled with the undeniably slick writing, Broadway-perfect sets and technical direction — make Avenue Q an undeniably meaningful, yet uproariously entertaining musical masterpiece.

Hi. Hi there. Yeah, this is going to be one of those posts. But the last!

Anyway, please indulge your author this bit of an overshare, I believe everyone’s allowed a few. I’m the author of everything on this blog. Up until now it has been a distraction at best, a personal sanctioning of dubious memes at worst. Displeased with the amount of organic content this blog’s attitude limits me to, I’ve made a momentous decision to turn over the reins of the blog to my esteemed editor and business advisor alter-ego, Keith. Some of the readers may know him, he’s the kid who dressed up as an Apple CEO for Halloween ‘91. As in, not Steve Jobs. More recently his profile has been somewhat lower, preferring to set his sights on establishing a solid foundation of technical knowledge and silently amassing cohorts in the great heist of entrepreneurship (I wrote that, not he).

From this paragraph on, the posts found on this blog will be authored by Keith or one of the editing partners.

Let me first express my thanks, and frankly bemusement, at the fact that you, my dear acolyte [He’s kidding -ed] are still reading. We have not had many quality posts on the blog in recent days, as the process of re-establishing our interests and motivations has been consumptive. Having said that, I can promise many more relevant and engaging posts to come. I will be focusing on the things that I enjoy pursuing in the public space, and in my head-space.  Hopefully there will be an intersection of my ability and your curiosity thereabout. Some things I will be covering are my recent web and media projects - solo, with Scripps, and with my cohort Spencer of Citrus Media…

Over the past ten months, and especially since I left my discouraging full-time job, Spencer has been a positive influence on my learning process. Most recently he got me up to speed with the web development platform Ruby on Rails, RoR to the coderati. As most people do, I learn about technology best when I am working in tandem with someone or some people. It speaks to my curiously masculine-competitive nature, which if you’ve met me in person, is rather a laugh.

Another facet of ongoing coverage on the blog will be the art and culture scene in Santa Barbara, specifically with an eye to clever marketing (I know it when I see it) and successful design/creative haberdashery. Another cohort of mine you may know is the arresting force known as Kate, or Face, or Facé. Working with and continually being arrested by this creative organ sac has been an eye-opening, not to mention claw-sharpening experience for me. What I lack in creative intuit and edge Kate has more than apprised me of. Where she’s thirsty for technical know how or NSFM, I have shared a tipple from my skills-font. [He’s had too much coffee -ed] I am sure you will see a cross-post from her occasionally and experience her raper wit. [typo, keeping it -ed]

Perhaps most importantly, I intend to take on a great many peers in the blogosphere who take it upon themselves to make the written-media revolution known by the most heinous syntactical, grammatical, and colloquialism-laden dreck-text since, uh, engrish anime cartoons? I have a diverse biblio-background, having only read literature as a child and teen, yet simultaneously engaging my hobbies in cars and gadgets by reading pop rags like MacAddict and Car and Driver. And of course, I began weaning to the Internet and an indy-film, alt-music addiction at an early age. So I have a decidedly wide frame of reference regarding the style and semantics of prose.

What I cannot promise is that I won’t still occasionally use this blog (and my numerous other Internet outlets) for the kind of eye-roll-inducing navel-gazing that makes a great many otherwise merited blogs nearly unreadable. I’m only human, and an imperfect, overly-introspective one at that. I might even stoop to such nauseatingly bougie levels as writing about bike riding or hiking or other lifestyle-y crap. But hey! That’s why there is an Unfollow button. Thaaanks, Peter!

Keeping it nerdy,

Keith

I get really tired of listening to otherwise clear-headed people defend the Drudge Report as an “unbiased” source of news. Honestly, he’s only slightly more subtle with his agenda than, say, Fox & Friends. But fine, everyone in his field has their political agenda.

Which brings us to what actually bothers me about him, the gently obfuscated homophobia. So gently obfuscated that even his denials to media inquiries about his own alleged homosexuality come off totally warped and clearly indicative of an alarming level of self-loathing.

I came across a post about his medusal mind-demons, and found this hilarious summation by BookishLookish in the comments:

What a mess.

He has a sort of Victorian prudishness that, if he were honest about his sexuality, would be kinda charming. Since he cannot get out there and be a big old fag and be happy and proud in the company of other righteous gay men, that 1940s thing he is working is more a sad prison than a swingin’ style. He is trapped in another, pre-Stonewall era. And not living in your own time always winds up reading as kind of pathetic.

Brilliantly put.