shey.net's been around as a blog since 1998. It's currently powered by Tumblr, which facilitates a shorter, easier kind of blogging.

I started a company called Next New Networks, and we also have a company blog.

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February 15
I just finished reading — well, listening to, which is more like being read to — Steve Martin’s memoir, Born Standing Up, which covers his early life as a performer, from childhood magic tricks to his last days of standup and transition to movies, which began with one of my favorites, The Jerk. It was the first audiobook or book on tape I’ve ever listened to (I’m an old-fashioned, eyeballs-on-paper kind of guy), and in this case it added a lot, as Steve Martin did the reading. When referencing an old comedy routine or song, which would have been simply printed as lyrics in the book, you get to hear him do it again. It was fun, for instance, to hear the 30 years’ older Martin sing his Grandmother’s Song, which I know by heart from listening to his comedy album Let’s Get Small over and over again as a kid. But also amazing is the story of how long he struggled as a performer, finding his voice throughout the 60s and 70s, during amazing upheaval in the world, until the moment when his comedic point of view was exactly what the world was looking for.  This was an incredibly smart guy working very seriously and intensely to create some of the silliest performances of all time, and it’s fascinating to hear how he arrived there. Also, as someone who’s new to it — the whole experience purchasing, downloading, and listening to audiobooks on an iPhone/iTunes is great (here’s the link to Born Standing Up). I’ve been sleeping better at night since I started doing it. I hope they add them (and podcasts) to the iTunes Wifi store soon; I can’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be there.

I just finished reading — well, listening to, which is more like being read to — Steve Martin’s memoir, Born Standing Up, which covers his early life as a performer, from childhood magic tricks to his last days of standup and transition to movies, which began with one of my favorites, The Jerk. It was the first audiobook or book on tape I’ve ever listened to (I’m an old-fashioned, eyeballs-on-paper kind of guy), and in this case it added a lot, as Steve Martin did the reading. When referencing an old comedy routine or song, which would have been simply printed as lyrics in the book, you get to hear him do it again. It was fun, for instance, to hear the 30 years’ older Martin sing his Grandmother’s Song, which I know by heart from listening to his comedy album Let’s Get Small over and over again as a kid. But also amazing is the story of how long he struggled as a performer, finding his voice throughout the 60s and 70s, during amazing upheaval in the world, until the moment when his comedic point of view was exactly what the world was looking for.  This was an incredibly smart guy working very seriously and intensely to create some of the silliest performances of all time, and it’s fascinating to hear how he arrived there.

Also, as someone who’s new to it — the whole experience purchasing, downloading, and listening to audiobooks on an iPhone/iTunes is great (here’s the link to Born Standing Up). I’ve been sleeping better at night since I started doing it. I hope they add them (and podcasts) to the iTunes Wifi store soon; I can’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be there.