Jeff Cutler™ – columns, essays and opinions

It’s not a surprise to anyone that social media professionals are supportive, intelligent and fun people. What might cause you pause is the secret bromances that flourish in this space on a regular basis.

What’s a bromance? It’s the unabashed admiration one man has for another. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve harbored one or two or five bromantic dalliances over the course of my social media career. Here’s a quick look at the who and why of my particular bromances. I’m sure you have your own – please share in the comments.

Oh. If you find yourself on my list don’t be alarmed. My bromances are purely platonic and intellectual. But I wouldn’t mind if you listed me on your broamance list if you felt so inclined.

Chris Brogan – On my list because he’s genuine in his dealings with every human. He’s intuitive and quick-thinking. He also has talent and charm. He also inspires me to write more. Thanks Chris.

Gradon Tripp – While he might be considered by some to be a design geek who should have won the recent makeover contest on Newbury Street, he’s actually a bleeding-heart liberal who does so much for social causes regionally it makes me a little sick. But he’s also a smart, fun and dependable friend. (BTW – Tweetsgiving is coming up – SIGN UP NOW!)

Aaron Strout – He wins on so many counts as a top bromance of mine. He’s a Boston transplant to Austin, TX who still remembers his friends back home. Beyond that, he remembers and even honors those of us who were just peripheral friends a year or so ago. Aaron has always been welcoming and entertaining. He’s a fabulous host who treats everyone as a friend. What a great way to be. I admire and commend that attitude.

CC Chapman – Smart, driven, compassionate and insightful. I was listening to one of his podcasts before I met him and was thrilled at the way in which he connected with listeners and shared his life with us. He’s honest in his opinions and dealings and empathetic to an extreme. He’s also a Miami Dolphins fan which probably would have put him on the bromance list even if he were a complete dink.

General Etiquette:
How To Give A Great Man To Man Hug

Mike Schneider – Who is this guy? He’s someone I met within the last year. He’s a freakish human who would give the shirt off his back to ANYONE who needed it. He’s compassionate to a fault, a hard-working beer genius who also knows a bit about human nature and marketing. He’s currently spearheading our Movember efforts and rallying people to come together to fight cancer. He’s just a great guy who was unlucky enough to make my bromance list.

Mike Langford – Founder of Tweetworks, the lesser-known co-host of NomX3 and a sarcastic, fun and brilliant friend. I tease him about how his two boys will grow up to have more hair and probably get more points on Foursquare. But this coffee fiend is dependable, well-spoken, generally cheerful and a pretty good drunken roommate. I’m glad I met him and that we have become friends.

What’s funny to me is that none of these relationships were based on IRL experiences. They were founded and then fostered using tools like Twitter and Plurk and Seesmic and podcasting and unconferences and even an occasional tweetup and lunch. I’ve grinned the whole time while writing this because I really like the people I’m writing about and I love that there will be people who read this that are uncomfortable that a man can genuinely like another man.

Grow up people. I’m not stalking these guys. I just think they epitomize what’s right with our tiny little fishbowl. Real people who offer real opinions and real support to others. If you have people like this in any part of your life, hang onto them. They’re more valuable than a simple blog post can illustrate.

In this season of giving thanks, I give thanks for bromances. What about you?

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Tags: Austin, author, Boston, bromance, fashion, life, men, movember, podcast, social media

This weekend marked the fourth time in four years that I gathered together with geeks and marketing professionals (more marketing professionals this year than ever before) in a conference setting to aimlessly float through the madness that is Podcamp.

Well, aimless isn’t really correct. When I arrive at Podcamp – be it at Bunker Hill Community College (2006) or UMASS Boston (2009) – I am looking to meet new people, learn at least one thing that changes my life, and laugh a little.

Podcast Boston 4 (tagged #pcb4 in Twitter and elsewhere) went far beyond my expectations.

As I sit at Barnes & Noble bogarting the Wifi and ogling the books, I’m staring at a stack of business cards taller than a croissant wondering how I missed connecting with so many great people before.

I mean, seriously – or SRSLY! – I’ve been hanging around the digital and social media space for the better part of half a decade and people like Kara Brickman, Tim Stansky, Ron Ploof, Michelle Riggen-Ransom, Leah Busque and about thirteen gazillion other folks have never brightened my doorway.

Well, now they have and I’m smiling. Even as I struggle through getting my NeatReceipts scanner to figure out how to read the massive pile of creatively designed and colored business cards that have arrived in my life.

Were you at Podcamp? Please share your thoughts about conference take-aways and what you get out of being nose-to-nose, elbow-to-elbow and smile-to-smile with 300 other people for 10 hours a day.

Oh, even the people who weren’t there affected the conversations we enjoyed.

Finally, the two-feet thing in the title…that refers to the greatest invention before or since the Apple iPhone. It’s a photo of Christopher S. Penn’s feet during the opening-day welcome message. The significance is that learning is up to you and if you don’t use your own two feet to propel you toward education, you are the only person to blame.

Use your two feet. Go to events where you get smarter and more connected. Do it. Do it now!

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Tags: #pcb4, @cspenn, Boston, conference, Jeff Cutler, podcast, podcasting

Here’s the transcript to Bowl of Cheese Podcast #45. Maybe we’ll make it to 50 before the summer’s over. And here’s

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.

Enjoy! And remember, if you have an idea for a Bowl of Cheese podcast, call the talk like at 206-888-2715 or leave a comment on this post. I’d be glad to have another guest host read their submission for the audience. I require you to be clean, well-spoken, fun and relevant. Podcasts are between three and five minutes long. Rants are always welcome.

Enough of that, here’s the transcript..

The rain’s coming down in droplets as large as jelly-beans and the wind’s got my curtains sticking into the room at right angles to the wall.

I can feel the temperature of the air drop by many degrees. Where it was 80 earlier it’s now about 65. It’s a welcome respite from the humidity and baking temps of the past few days.

As the thunder alerts me to more unsettled weather, I wonder what’s behind our aversion to the elements.

Certainly, being struck by lightning, washed away in a flood or a tornado, and smashed to bits by tsunamis and hurricanes isn’t anyone’s idea of a great adventure. But more often than not, we huddle inside when faced with a deluge, blistering heat or high winds.

Is this a condition of our evolution? Did we evolve just to run away from the challenges of our environment?

We can’t control the weather yet. So maybe it’s a flight reaction similar to when a Hippo charges us or when we see a gun. Regardless of the reason – genetic coding or learned response – people return to their homes, cars, offices or other sanctuaries for safety when the weather goes bad.

In some ways people remind me of ants. Fill up a watering can and pour it on an anthill and those creatures respond in the same way they would if the skies opened up and water fell from above. They don’t know any better and maybe they don’t care.

But we have the knowledge that storms move over us. That rain makes us wet and that lightning, while deadly, probably isn’t going to strike us when we’re in the city or while walking down the street. So what makes us fearful?

Human skin hasn’t been found to melt. Standing in the rain won’t give you pneumonia. Tousled hair is about the worst you’re going to suffer from a summer breeze. What’s our problem?

A Livescience.com story published in 2006 told of a study by psychologist John Westefeld at the University of Iowa. He surveyed 130 people about their reaction to weather and a large number of them were affected significantly by storms, wind, rain and other phenomena.

“Of 139 people surveyed, 89 said a good storm sometimes or occasionally gets their heart pounding, and 65 said they panic now and then,” said the Livescience article.

The article’s author – Robert Roy Britt – wrapped up the article with this…

“Overall, the researchers said 73 percent of the survey participants had “a little bit” or “moderate” fear of weather, while 24 percent had none. Just 3 percent were labeled as fearing Mother Nature “quite a bit.”

The results are detailed in the June (2006) issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.”

In many cases, unless you believe in Noah and feel that we’re back on a path that will feature storms lasting a month and a half, the events only last a little while. They might cause some immediate damage to physical structures and to people’s psyches, but they’re over fairly quickly.

Perhaps it’s the spectacular nature of a sudden rainstorm that gets our attention. The sudden onset of black clouds and the chilly wind.

Except for the extraordinary storm, most events just last a little while and soon the status-quo returns. People emerge from their modern caves and go on with their lives.

In fact, the birds have started singing again and the last drops of rain are falling off the leaves. I started this column as the skies began to darken about 22 minutes ago. Now the sky is getting lighter and I guess I’ll leave my cave too.

See you inside the next time we have a storm. I’m not afraid.

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Tags: bowl of cheese, caves, Jeff Cutler, livescience.com, phobia, podcast, storms, tornado, weather

Part of my writing experience includes writing reviews of gadgets, events and products. Most recently, I found myself doing some reviews for Macnn.com and here’s a link to this writing.

Keep reading…I have some updates to come and some exciting info for those of you who are fans of Randy Cohen and The Ethicist

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Tags: gadgets, Macnn.com, podcast, Randy Cohen, reviews, The Ethicist

For today’s episode of New Media Friday I’m writing a column on hair cuts. I just got mine trimmed and have a new perspective on the process and on how we each approach this sometimes expensive and interesting task.

I’m going to try and post this as a Bowl of Cheese podcast today. Here’s the link…

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Enjoy and have a great weekend.

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Tags: bowl of cheese, communication, haircut, podcast, service, task, weekend

I was plundering some older writing pieces when I came upon this little gem. I wrote it in a rant about something and have now decided it merits an appearance here on Jeff Cutler dot com.

It might even be worthy of a Bowl of Cheese podcast episode, but we’ll see if you guys like it first.

Enjoy…

I didn’t look at the date on the milk. In my hand it felt normal. A pint per pound…not heavy, not light.

I brought it to my tea and dumped in enough to stain the fluid, to make it cloudy, to add taste.

The sugar was already in the cup. Poised to attack my teeth and satisfy my tongue.

Unfortunately I hadn’t followed the proper procedure.

Proper tea, the tea of kings and queens, is a tea taken of a cup that is adorned with sugar lumps and a splash of milk.

The condiments come first…in a proper tea.

Mine wasn’t even from a pot. I had fired up the water and poured it over a tea bag.

Blasphemy. Not as horrible as the chicken soup you buy from a roach coach. You know the kind. A chicken ran through it.

But tasteless enough that I’d be ashamed to serve it to royalty.

Would they be ashamed to taste it or would they keep up appearances not to embarrass me?

What? Am I worried now about a pop-in from dukes and earls and princes?

Who am I…Jimmy Carter?

I have never swung a hammer at a Habitat House, so I can’t be Carter.

Maybe I’m a musician. That’s not possible. I’ve heard myself sing. I’m ungood. Even my happy birthday is abysmal. I’d probably be fired from Friday’s or Chili’s or Bennigan’s or any restaurant where the waitstaff has to stomp their feet and clap and sing.

Who ever thought diners would enjoy that? It’s akin to letting people use their cell phones on planes. It’s not about the people using the phones, it’s about the poor fools who have to listen to self-important idiots conducting ‘business’ at 30,000 feet.

It’s like tea drinkers who put out their pinky when they slurp. Pretentious donkeys.

I’m better than them. And smarter. I know how I should drink my tea and how I should pour it. But I’m not drinking tea to show anyone up. I’m drinking it because I like it.

Even if the milk might be past its time.

Even if the sugar attacks my teeth.

Even if it came from a bag and not a pot.

And even if royalty isn’t stopping by…today.

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Tags: gem, jimmy carter, life, milk, podcast, rant, royalty, tea, writing

I’ve written and submitted my first column for SavvyAuntie.com.

Waiting to hear edits. It’s a relatively new enterprise, so I went ahead and shared my column earlier than I usually would because I want to see if it’s complete, on track and needs edits, or totally out in the ether and in need of a rewrite.

Other work today will include putting together my book proposal for a local Boston publishing house. And finally putting together another column for the podcast.

Keep reading.

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Tags: book publisher, Jeff Cutler, new media, online magazine, podcast, Savvy Auntie