Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

Well, I certainly can't fault him for preparing this in the first place. Leaving it where someone can use it to ridicule and generally add insult to injury - now that's a different matter. I am, of course, referring to the premature (by several lifetimes) launch of Team Romney's Transition Website, screen-captured in all its glory by Taegan Goddard and shared on his Political Wire website. See more pages on Political Wire , including a jobs page (you too can join Team Romney!), and Mitt's plans for his inauguration. Taegan Goddard says, "The site was quickly taken down but I saved screenshots ."   I can't thank Taegan enough, no to mention the low level web tech who forgot to take down the site right after Mitt conceded. As a web pro, I don't fault him for creating a site - things like this don't happen overnight. What I do object to is the pompous, arrogant tone, which screams, "You people have had your fun - the grownups are here...

Two weeks ago I started a poll to let my readers (you know who you are) decide on which of my on-line representations to use: the Classic (old) Dr Ralph, or the New and not so improved Dr Ralph. Assuming you care, you can read about it elsewhere ; I see no point in boring people again. The voting is over, and the Classic Dr Ralph is the winner by a 7 to 1 margin. Which is to say there were 8 votes: 7 for Classic Ralph, 1 for New Ralph. I have to say, I'm glad we had one contrarian who went for New Ralph. As someone who spent the first third of his professional life in advertising, I'm not all that surprised. Anyone remember New Coke and the subsequent  resurrection of Old Coke (which was quickly dubbed "Coke Classic") in the wake of public outcry? It happened over 25 years ago but is still an instructive object lesson to any one involved in marketing. There are many this primary season who would have benefited from reviewing this case study. I  part...

Now's your chance to vote on which profile picture I should use. Classic (old) Dr Ralph New Dr Ralph A little background, for those of you who actually give a shit about any of this. I switched out my old profile picture for the new one, as part of a little experiment a little while back. I occasionally comment on the blog of my good friend, the Whited Sepulchre, and his Libertarian co-religionists usually point to my profile picture as proof of my supposed Socialist leanings. I'm actually the embodiment of moderation, at least in my mind. So, whose visage would most appeal to those of the Libertarian persuasion? Why, George Mason economics professor and paid Koch brothers shill Don Bourdreaux! I performed my Photoshop magic and - no more Commie Ralph! Now I was part of the tribe. I was amazed at how the WS's commentators now found me (occasionally) a reasonable person.  Others who remembered the old picture found the new one just...creepy. A little back...

Far be it from me to deny someone the joy of seeing a bad movie. There are plenty of films that I've gone out of my way to see that a mainstream audience would find utterly boring. That said, it is telling (in my mind) that my Libertarian friend, The Whited Sepulchre, starts out his " review " of Atlas Shrugged by exclaiming, "they didn't screw it up!" but by the end of it says, "they didn't totally screw it up." In some circles this is known as damning with faint praise. I respect his honesty. Other online reviews pretty much panned it. What was amusing was the comments by the True Believers, who were convinced in every case the reviewer was some liberal scoundrel for failing to see the film's elusive virtues. It never occurred to them that, politics aside, the film...just...sucked. Even my friend, the WS, admitted the screenplay, acting, directing, and effects were not particularly good. So what's left? Ayn Rand's philos...

Okay -- this is a bit of an experiment, and it may not be a long lived one. I've set up a Twitter account: PostRalphaelite . To see posts, go to http://www.twitter.com/PostRalphaelite or subscribe. You can see my last 6 tweets on the right sidebar, below my profile. Now, in addition to the embarrassingly small number of people who read this blog, I can add even fewer who follow my tweets. Twitter, as you may know, is a "micro-blogger," allowing you 160 characters per post. Think of it as blogger lite. Twitter, thy name is self-importance .