| August 19, 2001 | The Price of Sitting on Aeron |
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When we were all congregated at Camille's wedding this weekend in Seattle, Steve told us that he actually *attended* the Scour auction last week where all the office furniture and equipment we had used while working there was sold off. I always knew that Steve had an odd fixation with the morbid and bizarre... Among the items to be auctioned off he noticed Selena's monitor -- still covered in Power Puff Girls stickers. Sounded kinda sad. Of course, there were at least fifty Aeron chairs being auctioned off. When we worked at Scour I never realized my ass was sitting on a $700 chair. I actually find them to be less comfortable than regular old Office Max chairs, but then again -- I probably had mine all adjusted wrong. (A few months back the ergonomics lady at Microsoft told me that my desk was 12 inches too high for me...) posted by Jess Barron @ 11:22 PM 
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| September 13, 2000 | Dour Day for Scour |
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The evening I returned from Burning Man (I arrived in Los Angeles at 11:30 PM after unpacking my campmates' trucks in Sacramento and then driving for 7 or so hours), I had a full tape of messages on my answering machine. Among them was a message from my boss, Lawrence. He said, "Jess, it's really important that you call me. I have some news, and it isn't good. You can call me at any time." Well, I thought to myself, they obviously layed off the web production department, and my friends Selena, John, Steve, Lawrence, Arlene, Tim, and Michele and I no longer have jobs. Before I allowed myself to get too upset, I decided to call Lawrence. It was around midnight, but he said it was all right to call, so I did. As it turned out, Scour had not only layed off the production department, they had layed off *everyone*. Engineering team, business development, ad sales, everyone. Only the 12 founders will be staying onboard to try to keep the company afloat through the lawsuit over peer-to-peer file-sharing. Apparently, some big investors they were expecting to receive funding from, pulled out due to the lawsuit. (I guess they didn't want to invest millions of their dollars in a company that might be shut down in the near future due to a federal ruling. Go figure.) So, on the Friday before Labor Day weekend, Scour's founders realized that they had completely run out of money and needed to let everyone go. I had missed the emotional "suprise" company meeting on Friday afternoon where everyone learned that they were being let go with only one week's severance pay because I was out braving the dust storms at Burning Man. The weird thing is, I didn't freak out too much about hearing this. I suppose I'm getting used to my start-up jobs just disappearing overnight without much warning. CollegeBeat went under in the fall of 1998. WildWeb went under in the fall of 1999. So, I guess I'm just embracing the fly-by-night "anything can happen" mentality. Labels: scour, selena, startup, web, wildweb posted by Jess Barron @ 10:23 PM
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| March 29, 2000 | The Queen of Whale Cay, and Other Office Oddities |
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I almost forgot to tell you about this really weird book that Camille and Tim were talking about the other day while we were hanging out in the Scour office. It's called The Queen of Whale Cay, and you had better click on the link and read the description, because I cannot possibly describe it. I'll give you the first sentence of their description to titilate you in case you're feeling too lazy to click: "British eccentric Marion "Joe" Carstairs (1900-1993) was a world-class speedboat racer, heiress to the Standard Oil fortune, ruler of her own Caribbean Island ... and a cross-dressing lesbian." And be sure to take a look at the cover up close. Did you notice the little doll on her shoulder? Why that's her inseperable companion -- Lord Tod Wadley. I'm not kidding. Of course, I think she sounds like a really interesting woman. She had an affair with Marlene Dietrich, after all. I added the book to my Amazon.com wish list, in case anyone out there is feeling benevolent... Wow, I learn so many unexpected things at my office... For instance, did you know that Moffit the Daggit from Battlestar Gallactica was played by a chimp named Evie? See this other post for more details. posted by Jess Barron @ 6:01 PM
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| Scour=Seinfeld 90210 |
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I really *am* living inside a cartoon, or perhaps some twisted-micro-topic-dissecting Seinfeldian sitcom. Yesterday at the office (i.e. Scour.com in the 90210), Camille was telling me about her bizarre mayonnaise phobias (brought on by working at a sandwhich shop with a woman who licked the spoon while transferring a large vat of said oily-eggy substance into smaller containers) while we were snacking in our office's kitchen (which like kitchens at most decent start-up companies is always well-stocked with Pop Tarts, Red Vines, Kit Kats -- I couldn't find a website for Kit Kats, but I did find The Kit Kat Ranch, a bordello in Nevada, Corn Nuts, M&Ms, Pretzels, assorted sodas, and Perrier), when Kris wandered in. Overhearing our conversation, she said, "You think that's gross? You wanna her something really gross?" and then proceeded to tell us about the "universal sponge." According to Kris, one of her girlfriends is married to a guy who used to do something very dubious in his bachelor days. When this friend of Kris's was first dating this guy, she discovered that he would use a sponge to clean his toilet, and then use that very same sponge to wash dishes. It was his "universal sponge." Camille and I were shocked and repulsed. Caroline (who was photocopying in the vicinity) could not believe it either. The way we see it, sponges can make a progressive one-way transition through household tasks (for instance, you can use a sponge to wash dishes for a week or so and then when it gets older it can be used for cleaning counter tops or the sink and then when its even older, it can be used to clean in the bathroom), BUT once a sponge is used for something other than dishwashing, it CANNOT make the move back to being a dishwashing sponge. There need to be some lines drawn. You should not have a "universal sponge." Apparently, this guy has learned the error of his ways and now subscribes to the separatist transitional theory of sponge usage. In any case, I'm just glad I never ate dinner at his house. Later in the evening, I was eating take out vegetarian in the conference room with the rest of the web development team, when it came up that I had gone to school at Vassar (that kind of stuff always comes up -- that's precisely why people go to sorta pretentious-y schools like Vassar in the first place) and Ilya, one of our site's founding engineers, said, "Oh. You went to Vassar? I know some people who went to Vassar." "Were they guys or girls?" I asked. (A fairly reasonable question.) "I'm not sure," he responded. "You don't know your friends' genders?!?" I started cracking up. He explained that he couldn't remember which of his friends went to Vassar, and therefore since he didn't know which friends were the ones, he wasn't sure of the genders. I guess it makes sense. Sort of. From there, we heartily launched into the topic of whether robots had genders. We all agreed that we naturally assumed that R2-D2 and C-3PO (sci-fi savants the web engineers immediately announced they were played by Kenny Baker and Anthony Daniels) were male, although R2's gender is left somewhat ambiguous. Out of nowhere, John insisted that Moffit the Daggit from BattleStar Galactica was played by a monkey. Nobody else believed him. "That's an urban legend. Moffit was just a puppet," Shac said. So, we pulled up the Internet Movie Database on the overhead projector, and did a search for Battlestar Galactica, and found that Moffit wasn't listed. That didn't solve any of our problems. "Does the IMDB not list animal actors?" I wondered, appalled at this unfair treatment. Sure enough, we looked up Lassie, and there wasn't even a mention of the series' star. Then we returned to our Daggit debate, and after some dedicated searching on John's part, we found The Battlestar Galactica episode guide which tells that Moffit the Daggit is played by "Evie the chimp." Score one for John. Labels: camille, la, losangeles, scour, vassar, web posted by Jess Barron @ 4:55 PM
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| March 27, 2000 | Living in LA Is Like Living Inside a Cartoon |
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I've said it once, and I'll say it again: living in L.A. is like living inside a cartoon. It is everything that spending my formative years within inches of a television screen prepared me for. Sometimes when I'm walking through my well-manicured West L.A. neighborhood under palm trees and sunny skies, I expect a team of key grips to come through and slide away the lush back-drop. It's as if everything around you has been digitally enhanced. Flowers are blooming year-round; you can always smell Eucalyptus trees and honeysuckle. And my neighbors even talk to me when I pass them on the street! But, get this: I work for a start-up Web company (Scour.com), and our office is on Maple Drive in Beverly Hills. How many start-up companies have offices in the 90210 zip code?! If I didn't know any better, I'd swear I was on television. Labels: la, losangeles, scour, tv posted by Jess Barron @ 9:54 PM
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| March 26, 2000 | The Perils of Web Production |
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On Friday Allyson sent me Project Zapster, the Sucksters' silly scheme for ending Napster's reign. (Speaking of Napster, did you hear about Wrapster?) Then today she sent me Carl Steadman's latest -- Let's Do Launch, which is hysterical and 100% accurate. If you read that and Can We Go Live With This?, you'll know everything you need to know about a day-job in Web Production. But don't tell anyone at Scour that you heard about that here. I don't wanna end up like these peeps. posted by Jess Barron @ 6:04 PM
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| March 20, 2000 | My In-box's Loss Will Be Your Gain |
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On the orders of the IS guy at my work (Scour.com), I'm cleaning out my Microsoft Outlook in-box, because apparently I'm taking up way too much space on the company mail server. I hate to delete stuff; I save everything. It's a disease. I'm an electronic pack-rat. I guess I'm just afraid that for some reason I'm going to need that e-mail from December 16, 1999 telling me about cool myCaster online radio stations or the one from December 14, 1999 sending me to Chickenhead's Geriatric Erotica site. My In-Box's loss will be your gain. I will now post some of the zany URLs that my friends and co-workers have sent me over the past 4 months: posted by Jess Barron @ 5:55 PM
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| March 15, 2000 | Ray Santamaria's "Starwhore" Email About our Scour Lunch |
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An email my friend Ray sent out after our starstudded Scour lunch today at The Newsroom: -----Original Message----- From: "Ray" Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 5:09 PM To: the Scour peeps Subject: Starwhore Newsletter #2 Circulation, 11 Dear Reader, I hope you enjoyed the first edition of the Star Sighting Newsletter, now titled, Starwhore Newsletter. In addition, please be aware that I spoke out of turn by providing the URL of Starwhore.com. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, it's taken. While I'm negotiating the purchase of Starwhore.com (I don't usually have $15 mil in my bank) you can reach us at Starwhore.org. Anyway, we have a fun filled Newsletter for you that I'd like to call "Five Finger Discount." Read on and enjoy! Ray Santamaria Editor In Chief, Starwhore.org Five Finger Discount It was all about five today. I checked my horror scope, but no numbers. What is the meaning of five today? My soul was searching for the truth as I hopped into the car with my four friends for our secret rendezvous at the inconspicuous Newsroom Cafe. As the five of us (hmmm, five...) walked in, my heart, among other things, began to pound as the first female I noticed in the place was none other than Superman's girlfriend herself, Lois Lane. No, not crazy Margot Kidder. She's off in an alley somewhere bumming Prozac. I'm talking about sexy, anorexic Terri Hatcher. I had no idea who the dweeb was, but who's looking? For a split second we looked at each other. There was something in our gaze. Something unsaid passing between us. I don't think she really knew it was me who farted. In my starstruck haze I realized I left my wallet back at HQ. Drats! A starwhore's worst nightmare! One of my cohorts said he would cover me. No problem. We went to sit down. But wait! Was this the day of Super Heroes? Wonder twin powers, activate! Make me into the shape of...Batman! Against the back wall of the cafe was none other than Batman himself, Michael Keaton! Wait a second! Michael...Terri. Does Superman know about this? Sure, they were at different tables, but c'mon! Coincidence? At the table, another peep of mine mentioned the Jack Frost movie that Michael Keaton did. I punched him and threw ice down his shirt for even bringing that up. I told him he should go apologize to Michael for even seeing the movie. Whatever. But, Jesus, he is losing his hair isn't he? Blah, Blah, Blah. Yeah, I forgot, that punk rock kid from Son of Sam was waiting next to us for a table. Adrian Brody. What's he done lately? He was waiting for a table just like us. Puleeeeeze. So, my secret agent team and I enjoy our meal and try to hide our identities by not looking around the room too much. The key to being incognito is to avoid eye contact. It was working till I noticed a young man in dark sun glasses and a tacky suit. He looked like he was in the mob, or even in the CIA pretending to be in the mob. My crew and I pondered the possibilities only to realize its Michael Imperioli (loose cannon "Christopher" on the Sopranos). Wow. He really gets into character, doesn't he? Didn't he have something to do with Son of Sam? Another colleague says he was a writer.Hmmm. Coincidence? We also saw Michael on the way out of the garage. He got into the back of a Nissan Altima. Hmmm. His character recently got shot. Coincidence? Just when you think it's over, it's not. We're eating. Having a good conversation. There's this woman at the table across from us. She's facing me. Why won't she look at me?Ê I'm wearing Maharishi! I put product in my hair this morning! What gives? Probably a dyke! Whoa! It is! It's Sandra Bernhart! I won't hold it against her. As you can see, it was a very exhausting lunch. Five secret agents who had their privacy invaded by five stars (and two Internet geeks).What can you do? I'll tell you. Get your lunch for free, beeeee-aaaaaahtch! Labels: famous, la, losangeles, scour posted by Jess Barron @ 6:00 PM
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| February 23, 2000 | The "C" Word |
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Yesterday evening when I returned home from my start-up job (I'm a Product Manager for Scour) at (the not unusual time of) 10pm, Jeff began lamenting the changes he has seen in the web over the past few years. He ranted and raved against consumerism and e-commerce and talked about how the Web has moved away from what it was initially all about -- a community of diverse personal expression, with all of its clumsiness, wackiness and arcane beauty. Strangely, despite the fact that I have had a personal website since 1995, when I was a senior at Vassar and built a \personal site called "The Dungeon" with my close friend Mindy who shared and encouraged my technological obsessions, I played devil's advocate with Jeff and argued for at least an hour with him -- asking why e-commerce was *so* bad. After all, e-commerce (and the future promise of e-commerce) is what allowed and continues to allow me and him to fall into lucrative and somewhat creative web jobs. We argued passionately for at least an hour about whether content and commerce can mix without corrupting the content. And both of our arguments contained numerous contradictions. He raged against consumerism ("Fight Club" style), but admitted that he loves IKEA. I allowed that there are some huge media conglomerates controlling what gets said/written about movies, books, and politics, but then added my purposely inflammatory closing remark, "We were born to sell out." Sure, I get pissed that I never have time to update my personal website because I'm burnt out on the web after enduring 50-plus hours of eyestrain per week at my day job. There are only so many hours per day a person can spend in front of a computer monitor with hands and fingers making tiny movements on mouses and keyboards without suffering from eyestrain or repetitive stress injury as longtime web diarist Justin Hall does. And I have bills to pay. A whole lotta bills. Ever since my first job working as a copywriter at Monster.com I have always heard managers and higher-ups proclaiming that "Content is king" while asking their creative teams to come up with some infotainment and advertorials. So, as my annoyance with my own laziness (or exhaustion?) and apathy (or web burn-out?) was reaching a melt-down point --(would I ever give my personal website a much-needed overhaul -- fix links, change outdated information, etc?), I noticed an article this morning on Wired, called "The Web The Way It Was" which talked about something which I had noticed for the first time last summer when I noticed that someone with a blog had linked to my website. Perhaps Blogger or one of these easily-updated sprawling blogging tools was just the solution I needed to get myself writing in my web journal on a regular basis. Labels: jeff, scour, startup, web posted by Jess Barron @ 2:18 PM
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| October 15, 1999 | What I'm Listening To |
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I work at MP3 search engine Scour, so I listen to a lot of music. Here are some MP3s in heavy rotation right now on my Mac: Supreme Beings of Leisure's "Last Girl on Earth." Supreme Beings of Leisure are a trip-hop act from L.A. Their singer (who's absolutely gorgeous and has a beautiful, haunting voice) is Lawrence's friend Miles' wife. If you like Portishead and Lamb, you will probably also like SBL. I need to buy their CD. Eminem's "Stan" (featuring Dido). I heard this song on the radio yesterday while JP and I were driving in his car on the way home from In-n-Out Burger. "You have to listen to this," he said, turning the radio up. It begins with this beautiful part where Dido sings, and then Eminem comes in rapping but he's reading these letters from an obsessed, troubled fan. You need to listen to it. This song gives me goosebumps. Billy Bragg's "Help Save the Youth of America" and "California Stars" (with Wilco). Jeff got me into Billy Bragg when we were in high school. I used to be obsessed with "Help Save the Youth of America," but I lost my 'Talking With the Taxman' CD before I even got to college. I just downloaded it on Macster, and I'm loving it. Billy Bragg really *gets* it. Check it out: "Help save the youth of America/Help save the youth of the world/Help save the suntanned surfer boys and the California girls/ When the lights go out in the rest of the world/What do our cousins say?/They're playing in the sun and havin' fun, fun, fun until daddy takes the gun away. I hadn't heard "California Stars" before, but I found it when doing an artist search for Billy Bragg on Macster. It's another gorgeous. simple romanticization of the promise rapped up in California: "I'd like to dream my troubles all away on a bed of California stars...They hang like grace...I'd give my life just to dream with you on a bed of California stars." Labels: california, music, scour posted by Jess Barron @ 10:40 AM
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