ok, so I logged onto Amazon today for the first time in maybe two years and the following list of products was recommended for me to buy:
- Doom 3 for PC
- the soundtrack for “Garden State” CD
- Kill Bill vol. 2 DVD
- The Pianist (Wide screen edition) DVD
- Love Actually (Wide screen edition) DVD
- 20Gb Apple iPod
- The Revolution Starts Here, by Steve Earle
- A Vision of a Living World: The Nature of Order, vol. 3, by Christopher Alexander
- The Passion of the Christ (Wide screen edition) DVD
- Genius Loves Company (enhanced), Ray Charles
- Touching the Void DVD
- Angel, season 4 DVD set
- THX 1138 Directors cut special edition DVD
- and two pieces of jewelry from the Paris Hilton collection
Now, what is odd about this, aside from the Paris Hilton jewelry is this – Amazon made this recommendation based on my having purchased one item from them, creating a wish list two years ago of nine books, and ostensibly my browsing history, which is minimal since I prefer not to go to Amazon, yet they produced a list of 15 items; one of which I already own (the iPod) and, with the exception of the somewhat inexplicable jewelry, filled with almost sure hit things that I would buy. More amazing than that is that I was drawn to Amazon after reading a blog entry that referenced a Wired article about the Long Tail phenomenon – and the example that was used was “Touching the Void” by Joe Simpson, the very same book that is the basis for the DVD of the same name that is on my list of recommended items. And they wonder why I prefer not to use Amazon.
Upon further inquiry, it seems that some Paris Hilton jewelry buyers are also fans of South Central Los Angeles black radio political disestablishmentarian Larry Elder’s “The Ten Things You Can’t Say in America”. I’m speechless