[rant] Who is the loose cannon in product development at Jelly Belly?

Maybe you can remember when Jelly Belly started releasing the more eclectic jelly bean flavors? I'd like to say it's astonishing that after the Buttered Popcorn flavored jelly bean failed so miserably they decided that pudding was a good idea? First of all pudding is dead to kids these days. They eat all kinds of cleverly packaged yogurt based products instead. Did the executives at Jelly Belly look at an inventory report one day and see 100 million gallons of Buttered Popcorn flavoring lying around and say, "Let's get into the pudding business"?
So now it sits on the clearance shelf.
$0.50 for a four pack. Which is insulting to everyone except the idiot that buys it. The supermarkets are to blame as well. Which one of the fucking buyers thought it would actually sell? They probably got a free 60" Plasma TV for buying 5 pallets of this goo. And the savings get passed on to us. Yeah right.
What a massive fail.

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I really miss the liner notes y'all

A few days ago I switched to the iTunes cover art screensaver on the MBP. Wow. I've been transported to the times in my life when album cover art had a major influence on my taste in fashion, art, food, design, sense of humor, and popular culture in general.
 
Some of the albums I buy these days... I tell ya I wouldn't even know them by their album artwork! It's killing me, seriously. Where would I be... what would I be worth had I never seen and worshipped those three guys in b&w, sitting on the curb on the "Check Your Head" album cover? I can't even list the number of album covers burned into my memories. What worries me is a growing number of album covers & liner notes that I'll never see. It's partially my own fault. I submit. I could buy CDs of every album it I want cover art & liner notes, but I won't.
 
I miss it. The Cover Art. The smell of a CD booklet fresh from shrink wrap. I can remember the 1st CD booklet I received that was primarily made from recycled paper & soy based inks. Kenny Garrett: Pursuance. It had a different smell, matte finish, no staples.
 
Something else that's missing in this age of digitally distributed music is the liner note album credits. I used to looks to see who produced the album, took the photos, designed the album artwork.

Who did the artist(s) thank?
Where was it recorded?
Are there any candid photos could act as a window into the musicians soul?
All of this information was part of the experience of obtaining new music and I've taken it for granted.
Alot of passionate people work really hard to produce that album you purchase, shouldn't we be able to read some of their names in the "package"?
I know on some iTunes album downloads a PDF booklet is included at the record label / artists discretion.
Maybe the content distributors should step up and include an XML file that can be read by music players that contains the album credits... at the very least. Perhaps Myspace, Facebook, Last.fm, etc... have in a way replaced the album liner notes. Want candid photos, look online. Want to know who the lap steel player was on that track, check Last.fm.
 
Imagine if downloadable movies were stripped of their ending credits... If they only appeared online and on the DVD case. That would never fly.
 
I feel less informed about my music collection. 10 years ago I began ripping my CD collection to MP3 unaware that I'd soon banish those jewel cases and the fantastic booklets of information the protected to the attic, instead leaving the accompanying CD to the mercy of some 250 compartment folio. When did convenience become such an important factor in owning a large music collection?
 
Now having said all that I do believe that curtailing the needless use of plastics in the packaging, promotion, and distribution of music is a great thing. And there are still some albums that I will buy the old fashioned way. Here's what I'd like to see at some point.

  1. 1. When purchasing and downloading an album I'd like it to include at least a high quality PDF of the CD booklet as well as a computer / portable media player readable version of the textual content. Some kind of open format would be best.
  2. The opportunity to pay more for the download and be albe to "purchase media". Much like the software industry has done. For a $8.99 download I'd pay an extra $5 if they'd ship me the actual CD.

Any thoughts, insights? I'm sure this topic has been discussed / debated at great lengths many times over. I just felt compelled to honor my own inner discomfort with this post.  So chime in all you listeners, musicians... What do you think?

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The Garden: The Rain King

The garden is in full swing! Lettuce, Spinach, Carrots, Onions, Tomatoes, Peppers, Basil, Oregano, Mint, Beans, Watermelon, Strawberries, and Sunflowers.

 I finished up the semi-automated, mechanically timer driven sprinkler system today. The actual sprinkler is a 50+ year old solid brass unit I found in our attic, with the words "The Rain King" embossed on it.

 You can follow our gardening progress here: http://mandle.posterous.com/tag/garden

 Hope you are having a great summer :)

 Love,

 Jeremy, Mary, and Amelia

(download)

My Sunday project this week: Found objects Garden Sprinkler System.

-Garden hose left by previous homeowners.
-Old rotating sprinkler I found in the garage attic. Probably 50+ years old.
The method for adjusting spin rate and coverage is ingenious on these old models. Solid brass too.
-Piece of bamboo found in the garage.
-Lamp shaft from broken IKEA floor lamp.
-Heavy duty zip ties.
-Tons of PATIENCE.
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Total Cost = $0.00

 Works great!
Need to pickup an analog sprinkler timer & a few other items, but this will ensure that we water evenly.

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[video] The Vendor Client relationship - in real world situations. #fb

This has been circulating for a bit but I finally watched it.

 Regarding Spec design:
Waiter: "You ordered three entrées sir."
Patron: "I know. But we only ate 1."
-from the video

 Regarding the esteem (or lack there of) client's sometimes place on a firm's "it" factor. It's the old "Well we wouldn't need you if we knew how to do it.":
"We're going to need you to show us how you made this so we can do it in-house next time." -from the video

 Well I'm all aflutter now. Think I'll just go mow the lawn.

 Check out the video on YouTube: