New Idea: Huck comes back, 60 years old, from nobody knows where – and crazy. Thinks he is a boy again, and scans always every face for Tom and Becky, etc. Tom comes at last from wandering the world and tends Huck, and together they talk the old times, both are desolate, life has been a failure, all that was lovable, all that was beautiful is under the mold. They die together. – Mark Twain’s Notebooks and Journals, Vol. III 606
I came across that while doing some research on Mark Twain. I’m sure it would have been better than those sequels where Tom and Huck take a hot air balloon to the moon, or whatever those were.
My research also led me to The Official Web Site of Mark Twain, which you wouldn’t believe how crappy it is. There’s a quotes section, and on the first page the heading is “Quotes by Twain,” but by the second and third pages it’s just “Quotes by Client.” And here are two selections from the Information section:
The reason for the weirdness (and talk of “Client”) is that the site is run by CMG Worldwide, an intellectual property firm that has the rights to all sorts of famous dead peoples’ websites. Andy Kaufman’s, for instance. Here’s something on the homepage of the official Andy Kaufman website:
And here’s something from the Official Malcolm X homepage:
I found some reviews of this company on glassdoor.com. I will separate those reviews into two categories, see if you can guess what the distinction between them is. Pros and cons from the first category:
Pro: “some people that work there are nice and professional”
Con: “you may be asked to do some things to benefit the company that most people would find unethical”
Pro: “not much to do”
Con: “no future”
Pros and cons from the second category:
Pro: “The boss really goes out of his way to help his employees. Anything from writing them letters of recommendation for graduate school to driving them home when the roads are snowy. Other pros: beautiful office building, potluck pitch-in lunches and parties, office gym and ping-pong table.”
Con: “wide range of people at CMG. some very talented people and also some people who make you wonder how they got a job there at all. But I guess this is true of any office.”
Pro: “CMG is an incredibly reputable company.”
Con: “Parking was limited in the office building. Not a lot of storage space in the office, therefore the kitchen seemed slightly cluttered with boxes lying on the floor.”
Pro: “Mark is a great CEO. Really cares about his employees and very professional. Best in the world at what he does…you can learn a lot from him.”
Con: “No cons, except some of the employees are really lazy and inefficient when Mark is in LA at his other office.”
Advice to senior management: “fire some of the lazy inefficient employees.”
“Other pros” and “No cons” are features that should be automatically available for every review. And that “snowy roads” thing must mean that he also drove them there, right? “There’s too much snow for you to get to work today? Well, there’s not too much for ME to come PICK YOU UP!”
CMG and Mark:
