Starting today, I will be posting a series of Proust-style interviews with various Barbarians. The interview, 20 questions plus a bonus question, takes place over IM at work and may be edited for extreme vulgarity and boring content.It’s my hope that we all learn a little bit more about the people that make The Barbarian Group so awesome. For clarification: my responses/ notes are in bold italics.

For the first ever installment of the Questionnaire Extraordinaire we interview Barbarian developer, Alex Bisceglie, and learn many new and obscure things. Let’s begin!

Hey there.

So, yeah, I know. I know.

I’ve been so bad at posting lately. A lot of it could be attributed to all the time I’m spending on Twitter (where it’s nice not to have to format every word), but a lot of it is also because I’ve just been flat-out busy. Like, real busy. Pre-recession busy.

And no one is going to complain about that.

But I’m going to try to be better. Seriously.

This weekend, I made the trek from my Boston hovel to glamorous, glittery New York City to attend Titans of Small Town, a ROFLCon webcomics gallery event sponsored by TBG and held at Street Attack’s 303Grand space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This event had a real A-Team of webcomics in attendance:

The event began with…

You’re now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: hi
You: Hi
Stranger: if you talk to anyone from NY tell them to contact me myspace.com/removed for safety
You: I am from NY
Stranger: ur in danger
You: Oh no
Stranger: an earthquake may be coming soon
You: Are you Nicolas Cage?
Stranger: idk when or how strong but it is coming
Stranger: and NO thats the second time someone has asked that
Stranger: good movie btw
You: Oh you get that a lot?
You: I think its your hairline
Stranger: no no i honestly
Stranger: u need to trust me
You: About the movie being good?
Stranger: no about u being in danger
You: Oh right, I forgot about that
Stranger: ok can u trust me
You: Hey, are you gonna make a Natty Tres 3 ?
Stranger: what? no
You: It could be something with pirates, they are so hot right now
You: digital pirates though
Stranger: hahahahaha ok
You: Natty Tres 3: The Torrent Conspiracy
Stranger: oh my gosh
You: Come on, that is liquid gold
You: digital, liquid, gold
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

SXSW Interactive. Whew. It’s been… 2 weeks? 3 weeks? I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to recap the whole thing. The short story is that SXSWi was AWESOME. It’s my fourth year going, and I think it’s one of the most important interactive events out there. It’s been pivotal in repositioning our company in the minds of the technology crowd – letting them realize and see that we’re more than just another “ad agency.”

But more than that, it’s the people. It’s absolutely insane the sorts of people you can randomly meet, and it’s an invaluable week for reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, especially if you don’t live in New York or the Bay Area.

As I get to know more people, though, I find it to be a bit overwhelming. When I first went, I only knew a few people, and it was easy to get QT in. Now there are just so many people to see, it’s really hard to get some quality sober time with people. Still, though, if you work at it, it can be done. I had good dinners and lunches with people I don’t get to see often, and met some great new people.

I made a point – despite what it reads like below – to be more work-focused this year, down economy and all that. For us, though, who work with large brands, there really are only four or five brands here that could be potential clients. But there’s a myriad of opportunities to position ourselves, and do things like recruit. I can’t say enough good things about it.

Anyway, off on my personal blog I do long recaps of every day of my life. I’ve been doing it for… god, four years? But since the conference was so work related, I’m posting the recap of these five days here.

Awesome article in AdAge from Freddie Laker about the recent Microsoft ads and the internet population’s rapid takedown of the inauthentic premise

Authenticity is an interesting thing. I think the challenge for most brands is that it forces them to take a stand, with the good and the bad. That you have to say “this is what’s good about us, this is what’s bad, it’s a balance, but we think, on the whole, we offer something useful and good.” That’s scary for a lot of people. It puts the end judgement in the consumer’s hands. Which seems scary, except, of course, that it’s already the case. So perhaps it’s best to be more honest about it.

What’s weird to me is that Microsoft has yet to be all like “look. It’s a good OS. Almost everyone uses it. Is it perfect? No. Is it the cheapest? No. But it’s not the most expensive either. It’s workaday. It’s mainstream. It’s a good choice.”

You’re now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: hi
You: Hey
You: Shall we?
Stranger: of course
You: okay
You: on the count of 3
You: 1…
You: 2…
You: 3…
You: GO
Stranger: WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
You: AAAAAAAHA H AH L AAHHLAHA HLAHAHAHALFDGDKSGSLDFLSDKFASFSFASDFS DFL SDF
Stranger: that was fun :D
You: I think I pulled something
Stranger: oh dear. im a nurse
Stranger: ill help you
Stranger: WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
You: that isn’t helping right now
Stranger: sorry too much fun
You: unhelpfulnurse.com
Stranger: blush
You: she just keeps poking at your veins
Stranger: I’m mental health
Stranger: where r u frm?
You: THE WORLD OF PAIN
You have disconnected.

Gmail never ceases to make me smile on the first day of April every year. This year Google is introducing “Gmail Autopilot™, which features CADIE, an auto-pilot technology that scans your emails and answers them for you (perfectly of course).

The learn more page displays some excellent examples of this new feature, and if you click around enough, you may just stumble on some other excellent sources, including CADIE’s personal homepage/blog and youtube channel.

Good fun.