Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

A guillotine, a Sister of Battle, and a scrapbook picture from the 2001 National Poetry Slam.

Yahoo Bets Big on GIFs, Porn, and Fickle Teens…

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 20, 2013
Post category:Media
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When Google acquired Blogger in 2003, it was a smart move that tied directly to their core ad business, with the visionary bonus of foreseeing the value of user-generated content when it was still scoffed at. Yahoo acquiring Tumblr 10 years later (after badly fumbling GeoCities, del.icio.us, and Flickr, among others) is like the drunk uncle showing up late to a baby shower with a stripper and a trained monkey. Even the "announcement" via GIF feels forced and desperate.

You Can Go Home Again

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 13, 2013
Post category:Personal
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I've noted often in the past that most of what I preach and practice when it comes to marketing and community-building, I learned during those four years of Mondays, and by the end of the night last Monday, I realized how big a hole I'd created when I walked away from that part of my life. So, I'm back.

The REAL Tools of Change? People

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 3, 2013
Post category:Media Personal
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Yesterday's announcement that O'Reilly is retiring TOC came as a bit of a surprise at first, but in retrospect, it makes sense. Its focus on tools was a strength in the early days of the digital transition, but as the new shiny wore off, self-proclaimed "disruptors" faded away quietly, and viable business models came to light, it became clear that the tools of change that counted most were the people in the trenches, not the provocative pundits with plenty of ideas and little or no skin in the game.

Story Chairs, Pocket Poems, and the Fickle Flame of Inspiration

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 20, 2013
Post category:Personal
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Perhaps it's just the drama this week offered -- from the tragic and inspiring events in Boston, to some big things starting to shake loose at the day job -- combining with the unexpected introduction to some good poems, but I'm getting that feeling again, a tentative spark that danced unusually bright in my brain throughout my run this morning. It wasn't a full-fledged poem, just the beginnings of one, words and ideas tap-dancing to a vaguely familiar rhythm, a lucid dream that lasted for a couple of miles before threatening to fade if I didn't write them down. So I did, cheating my cooldown and stretching to get to the computer as fast as I could.

Don’t Stop Running

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 16, 2013
Post category:Personal
Post comments:4 Comments

The feeling of running across the finish line, whether it's a one-mile walk for charity or a local 10k, an Olympic sprint or the Boston Marathon, is supposed to be a special one. It's personal accomplishment mixed with exuberant community connection; an emotional high laced with varying degrees of physical exhaustion. It's not ever supposed to be a moment where death might lash out randomly. Where cowards make political statements. Where fear and suspicion take root.

BioShock Infinite’s Ambitiously Flawed Perfection

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 14, 2013
Post category:Media Pop Culture
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"Wow..." That was my whispered, slack-jawed reaction to the final 30 minutes of BioShock Infinite, arguably the most compelling video game experience I've ever had. It's not a perfect game by any stretch of the definition, and since completing the game, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading some of the more measured reviews that haven't been afraid to point out its flaws, but to borrow a phrase from Grace Jones, it might not be perfect, but it's perfect for me.

Discovery is Publishers’ Problem; Readers are Doing Just Fine

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:February 11, 2013
Post category:Media
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Never mind the folly of dismissing Goodreads, a social network dedicated to books with 13m+ members and is steadily growing, or even Pinterest, where Random House has inexplicably attracted 1.5m followers, but the very idea that "something is really, chronically missing in online retail discovery" is arguably contradicted by Amazon's 2012 results, suggesting that "online retail discovery" isn't really a problem for readers. It's a problem for publishers.