Five things on Friday #98

Things of note for the week ending Friday November 14th, 2014.

Things of note for the week ending Friday November 14th, 2014.

Five things 98

1. The Hidden Tactics of WW1
The 11th of November is behind us. On the day itself, I read this: ‘Why Blackadder Goes Forth could have been a lot funnier‘. A title that I immediately took a dislike to / disagreed with. However, I clicked through and read on.

Here’s an excerpt.

Mass refusals, disobedience, mutinies, strikes and out-right rebellion were all part of the British armed forces experience in WW1. These were all fairly explicit events and to a certain extent these hidden narratives are becoming part of the historical record despite the attempts of contemporary military censors and government ‘D’ notices on the press as well as the 100 year rule in suppressing military documents. Subsequent post-war collective memory loss related to dominant patriotic ideologies served to smother these events even further, but in the 1960s/70s a critical historical reappraisal of WW1 began, marked in the cultural sphere by the biting satire of the musical ‘Oh What a Lovely War’. This reassessment of WW1 led to a series of historical and sociological examinations of the ‘life in the trenches’ in the succeeding decade. Some of these works provide a new and interesting angle on the subterranean (but at the same time mass) collective tactics British (and German) soldiers used for avoiding combat.

Insightful, amusing, and informative – about one of the most horrendous periods of history – it’s one of the best things I’ve read in a long time.

You should read it too.

(and then watch the Sainsbury’s ad again)

2. The 2014 Vanity Fair Hollywood Portfolio

Hey Brad

Photographer, Chuck Close, shows some of the most famous faces in the world in their most natural way.

This is a wonderful collection.

3. Some Twitter Things (three, to be precise)

Twitter Thing Un

The new mission strategy statement is a thing of… beauty?

[thanks to Mark Jennings for the correction]

BN-FN221_TWITST_G_20141112162444

This is interesting for many reasons. Not because it uses the word ‘world’ three times in a really horrible and clunky way but mainly because it refers to ‘information sharing and distribution platform products’. Twitter + Vine = plural. But I think this means there’s more down the road.

We’ll see.

Twitter Thing Deux

Inline with the web interface, you can now ‘dismiss’ promoted tweets in the official Twitter app.

 

Screenshot_2014-11-12-08-05-48

The reasons you have to give are all the reasons why I’ve dismissed stuff in the pas

Twitter Thing Trois

Targeting. It matters.

Screenshot_2014-11-09-17-56-13

 

4. Shia Lebouf
This is one of the most bizarre things you’ll see this week/ever .

5. Alex from Target: the other side of [internet] fame

Hey Alex

Two weeks ago, Alex Lee was just a regular teen working his job. At said job, a girl thought he looked quite hot and shared a sneaky snap to Twitter. After that? Well, he kinda went viral.

If you know who #AlexfromTarget is. You’ll love this New York Times article covering the price of internet fame. If you don’t know who #AlexfromTarget is, then read it anyway.

That’s it from me this week.

Y’all have a great weekend.

 

Whatley out.

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Author: James Whatley

Chief Strategy Officer in adland. I got ❤️ for writing, gaming, and figuring stuff out. I'm @whatleydude pretty much everywhere that matters. Nice to meet you x