Hoo-Hoo-HA & A Hoka-Hoka HEY! We Got BOINGED!

Yep....it's true. The Beanworld (and me too) got a rollicking good write up on Boing Boing today!

This is a site I've long admired, and honestly, never thought I'd have an opportuntity to get noticed by. The piece itself was written by Douglas Ruskoff, a great observer of trends in technology, media, and popular culture.

His book, Get Back In The Box, had a profound effect on me last year. He clearly articulated the disturbing trends in business that I'd been struggling to describe for the last decade. His observation, "When things are down, CEO’s look to consultants and marketers to rethink, re-brand or repackage whatever it is they are selling, when they should be getting back on the factory floor, into the stores, or out to the research labs where their product is actually made, sold, or conceived.... Having for too long replaced innovation with acquisitions, tactics, efficiencies, and ad campaigns, many businesses have dangerously lost touch with the process – and fun - of discovery."

The fun of discovery.

That has always been my philosophy.

If you aren't laughing and free associating in a meeting, chances are the meeting isn't a meeting at all--it is an executive briefing.

Almost all of the good ideas I helped foster or broker in my tenures at Image Comics and McFarlane Toys came out left field, ideas that materialized when we were in search of something else. I can not imagine doing business in any other fashion.

All I can say is, thanks for the kind words Mr Rushkoff. Even though we don't know each other personally, I think it's fair to say, we share a deep appreciation of each other's work!

Beanworld Buzz:

I haven't actually seen it myself yet, but Greg Burgas on CBR reports that in the new Diamond Previews "pages 26 and 27 bring us a Beanworld collection (4 Feb.) and a new Christmas Special (17 Dec.)."