Colorful characters?

I've heard that three occurrences make a trend, so here's the latest trend I've observed. A number of colorful, creative types who have started or manage top-notch design firms are losing their vibrancy. Well, not them -- it's their photos. A quick glance at my "Network Updates" homepage on LinkedIn shows more than a few are now using black & white portraits.

I know B&W can be more dramatic, with rich tones across the gray scale, but consider the medium: The Internet, with a photo smaller than a postage stamp. Just how much detail is possible?

Actually, I'm a fan of B&W photos, having grown up souping negatives from film cameras and watching images emerge in darkroom developer trays. An Ansel Adams exhibition can still bring me to tears. The use of B&W to stand out from the clutter of color can be quite effective -- until everyone starts doing it.

Maybe a postage stamp isn't such a bad model for the kind of photo to use on a social networking site. Consider the Simpsons postage stamps unveiled in May. Simple. Colorful. Memorable. Almost makes you want to pay bills the old-fashioned way: by mail.

Simpsonize me

It seems everyone I know loves the The Simpsons for one reason or other. While I find myself fidgeting whenever I watch the show, I have my own reasons for being a fan.

• Not one, but two ways to "Simpsonize" yourself. At the Web site for the Simpsons movie, you can create an avatar (like mine here) and play a game. Or, you can upload your own photo at the SimpsonizeMe site and be automotically transformed.
  
  
• Recently, I found one more reason to be a fan. Stormy weather and Delta airlines had joined forces to delay my trip to Ireland for a night. Instead of being airborn, I was housebound. I turned on The Simpsons in time to see, "In the Name of the Grandfather," in which the family flies to Ireland (on Derry Air) so Grampa can revisit a pub where he had the best night of his life. They also visit several places I've been to and some on the itinerary of my delayed trip. Many thanks to Homor and Marge and the rest for letting me see a wee bit of Ireland in advance.