JW5150

As I start my “Year in Review” process, there are some things that I wanted to take note of things I’ve found this year that I’m thankful for. I give you: The Ronis!

Best Blog – Curt Schilling’s 38 Pitches is the coolest thing in baseball. Real-time in-depth commentary from a guy in the game. Check out this post on the Mitchell Report over 3,500 words of insider stuff! Uhh – Sports Illustrated? Hello? McFly? Bueller? Anyone? My only complaint is that load times are sometimes a problem with over 750 comments on some posts (does number 643 really feel they are being heard?).

Best Podcast – None. Podcasting is languishing in the “Trough of Disillusionment“, all of the established casts are doing what they do, and doing it well. I’d say Marketing Over Coffee but that would be really lame to nominate my own stuff. The only other good news I have is that hopefully with the Harry Potter series closed maybe some of those casts will go away. Don’t believe the (lack of) hype, there’s still nothing cooler than getting niche stuff like TWiT, Manager Tools or Tips from the Top Floor, or Rumor Girls Uncut delivered to your iPod on a regular basis.

Best Movie – 10 Items or Less, actually not a 2007 movie, but that’s when it showed up in the Netflix cue and it’s the best thing I saw this year. With sequels being all the rage this summer, it was a sorry year for movies. Honorable mention for IMAX again this year.

Best TV Show – Heroes was interesting and entertaining, and I love the message about the human spirit. The fact that I cannot get it commercial free on iTunes really bothers me. I’m willing to pay cash, and if I didn’t have strong opinions about content producers getting paid it would be far easier for me to steal it off BitTorrent than get it anywhere else. Again – Helloooo? McFly? Anyone?

Best Book – Much like the Oscar’s I’m swayed by things that I’ve read late in the year. I’ve been very impressed with Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid. If you are a one-person business and are trying to figure out how to grow and land more business, this book gives you step-by-step instructions and activites, it’s not fluff, it’s a real map. There are some other great books that I’d nominate but again it would be kind of manipulative to promote books that I’m mentioned in such as The New Rules of Marketing and PR, Email Marketing by the Numbers, and Join the Conversation.

Best Music – 2007 belonged to Matthew Ebel. In an industry that either sticks to an established (and rapidly dying) model, or just complains, he’s trying new stuff. For him it’s just a matter of time, not if, but when.

Best Email Provider – I’m using ConstantContact so they win.

Best SEO Firm – See above, for MoreVisibility

Best Web App, CRM Solution, and a bunch of other stuff – Salesforce.com continues to blow me away. The most powerful piece of business IT out there just keeps getting stronger.

Best Country – China, thank you for saving my portfolio as the dollar continues to fall.

Best Owner of the Planet Earth – Google. Few people realize the extent to which they know all.

Best Comic – Sinestro Corps by DC beats out World War Hulk with its lame ending.

Best Video Game – Bioshock for the Xbox 360. Although this is a good year for game systems with the Wii doing an unprecedented shortage for a second year, I didn’t hear much chatter about great games besides this one. I’ll also give a shoutout to Gamespot, I’ve been a subscriber for years.

Please feel free to nominate others or tell me why my choices stink. Or better yet, make your own awards and give them a cool name. I would really like to see awards from Chicago Mike, Bryan Person, Ron, Christopher S. Penn, Jenny and Sarah.

Looking back on 2007 I think the best person I met was Chip Griffin. He’s doing some cool stuff and is a real entrepreneur.

He just posted talking about Snack Media and I think he’s being far too polite. I think there’s been way too much hype over the past 5 years about the acceleration of media and how the next generation is so great at multitasking. Studies I have seen show that this type of partial attention causes significant fatigue and inability to concentrate. Couple this with the huge shortfall in engineering and sciences and we’re stuck with a dearth of texting, IM, ipod listening, all while driving, Comp.Lit. majors with no money earning or tax paying skills. Show me one job besides stock trader where being able to gather information simultaneously from multiple sources does you any good.

Surgeon? Sorry, I think there’s some books and med school behind that one. Professional video game player? You’ve got better odds trying to get into the NBA. I’m not saying anything new when I say that the successful go deep, not thin and wide.

To further illustrate that blogs are crap I have no references or links to these “Studies” that I have seen that are done by “some people”.

I was just talking with Ron this morning about how happy I am that twitter continues to grow so that all of the chatter that has no value can be flushed out of the blogs and flow down there. Twitter is great for “I’m here right now” stuff, such as having a chance to meet up with Jose when I was in San Francisco, but at best it’s either a shout-out tool or a pointer to more substantial stuff.

I’ll fully admit that my blog is often half thought out, undercooked chicken. But if you are somebody out there who’s asking the same kinds of questions and facing the same problems this is our chance to figure it out together and hopefully have some fun in the process. By no means would I ever say that this is ready to publish.

Please do yourself a favor and add at least one book to your holiday break and go deep, get the information and develop a thought process that is stronger than the average ADD crack addict.

And I will brush away anyone who raises a Scrooge defense by saying that: I don’t consider you, dear reader, among the great unwashed masses that I complain about, and I truly appreciate you subscribing to the copy I write and the audio I record. May you have a happy holiday season, and a bright, fun and successful 2008.