Hard-Fi - Hard to beat



Umm... guess what I found on the net this evening... blogging via YouTube.


Anyhow, this my tune & band of the summer. Rocks.

Un-pimp Your Ride...

Check it out... winner at Cannes Lions. Hillarious. Vive le Deutschland!

A bit of inspiration on a Sunday

After my race on Sunday (see earlier post), I popped into the local for what has now become a customary bottle of Duval. And I met Kobe and Lea... wow. What a couple. Here they are:



Kobe has 2 weeks to go before finishing his psychology degree (I think it was psychology) and Lea is qualified teaching kids with special needs. They have both previously volunteered in Lange, a township just outside of Cape Town, South Africa. And in September this year they're about to do it again, but this time in Uganda. In fact, you can read all about it on their website - or even join them on the journey.

What really struck me was something that Lea had said in conversation. I asked if it was physically and mentally draining working with children with special needs - of course, she said that it was. So I asked how she got her energy back.

"By dreaming" she said.

How so profound. Well, it was for me anyway.

What a couple. And so young. How'd they do it?! Best wishes to Kobe & Lea on their journey - both on the road and off it :-)

A beautiful day!

Sunday - the sun in shining in Antwerp, it's late afternoon. It's an absolutely beautiful day!

I spent most of it cycling in a family race - 25kms thru' the city. It was fantastic and really chilled. What I've kind of found as typically Antwerpian.... chilled. No rush... just chilled... cool.

Here's my new bike. She's got a name - Thunderbolt-Lightening-And Very Very Frightening. It's brand new - and a lost a pedal during the race. It just fell off. In a kind of suave Antwerpian kind of way. Plonk. On the floor. Well, that's no good. There was still half a ride to go.



So, very thankfully there was patient Mr Policeman on a mountainbike who cautioned the offending pedal, put it back where it belonged, and I finished the race. Only to (once again, thankfully), have it fall off again as I crossed the finish line. Never mind. The friendly man I bought it from (Rent A Bike) replaced it no worries. And gave me a free pedal just in case it happened again. Fantastic.

Now, be nice now.

I came across Banksy's website last night. Have a look. Every now and again, it's so cool to come across fresh thinking. Something new. Something that sparks some creative flair or gets you thinking... or questioning the way things are.

Even though Banksy has been on the scene for some time - his (or her) identity never revealed - I can still look at the work and feel inspired. Check it out.....

Wall in the West Bank....


Pull the plug...


And then there was this film - a silent (or maybe not so silent) reminder to stop shouting at our customers in our advertising and marketing. Let's be nice to people.

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words... what is it saying, then?

One of my favourite blogs of the moment is Creating Passionate Users. A recent post is all about what (meaningful) graphics can tell you. Paint-a-picture kind of stuff.

This one really stood out for me (click on it to see the full size):


Inspiring? Or scary?

Imagine if your life represented graphically as a series of dots (on a PowerPoint slide, of all things!).

Where would you be up to on a page?

And how many dots (do you think) you have left to go? Kind of makes you want to go out and make so sure that the dots you have left really count, yeah?

Anyhow. It inspired me.

How to start a revolution

Last week I went to Gamezone at deSingel and heard something facinating. Most of it was in Dutch, so I may have got it completely wrong...

I went to a talk by Ivan Marovic, one of the people behind a game called A Force More Powerful. Wow. Here's how they describe it...

Can a computer game teach how to fight real-world dictators, military occupiers and corrupt rulers, using methods that have succeeded in actual conflicts—not with laser rays or AK47s, but with non-military strategies and nonviolent weapons?

A Force More Powerful (AFMP), is now available. A unique collaboration of experts on nonviolent conflict working with veteran game designers has developed a simulation game that teaches the strategy of nonviolent conflict. A dozen scenarios, inspired by recent history, include conflicts against dictators, occupiers, colonizers and corrupt regimes, as well as struggles to secure the political and human rights of ethnic and racial minorities and women.

So, Ivan actually lived it - being involved in the real-life protests that brought Milosevic down.

Check out their site - and learn how to start a revolution from scratch. Revolutionising the revolution...

What I learned in Kindergarten...

A few posts ago, I mentioned a guy who said that he learnt all he needed to know in kindergarten.

His name is Robert Fulghum, and he wrote "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" (check out the entry on Wikipedia), which explains exactly that...

So, some things that we all learnt when we were tiny, which we can still apply on our lives today include:

• share everything,
  
• play fair,
  
• don't hit people,
  
• don't take things that aren't yours,
  
• warm cookies and milk are good for your,
  
• take a nap every afternoon, and
  
• when you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

Anyhow, I found out about him in this book I'm reading at the moment by Phil Dusenberry, called "Then We Set His Hair on Fire".

A legend in advertising and the man behind the famous Michael Jackson Pepsi ad where... they set his hair on fire. Enjoying it so far - all about gaining insight as opposed to getting an idea...

Social / Community eMarketing is where it's at

On Scoble's blog last night, he mentions that Microsoft Word will have the ability to post blogs built in!

And in the Guardian, there's a good story about how Yahoo is strengthening it's social strand with a new homepage - focussed on community / the individual.

Most folks are talking about consumer-generated content... ain't it exciting?! It's so important that we as marketers evolve and recognise how our consumers are behaving... and how they want us to help them on their way.

I do like MS, but what if...

What if Microsoft designed the iPod packaging?

A reminder to keep things simple. I read something last night about a guy (forget his name) who believed that all the wisdom he needed in life was learnt during his kindergarten years. Always share. Don't hit other people. Drink milk and cookies. Take an afternoon nap. Simple stuff sometimes works best.

* I'll post the author's name tomorrow...

The first day of the rest of my e-life...

Here it is! My blog....

I've met a few very inspirational people over the past few days. They've immersed themselves in everything "E". Podcasts, blogging, Second Life and more... They are walking the walk.

I've just started a new role as web editor at Pioneer. Recently we had the privilege of listening to Jim Sterne and Joseph Jaffe (top 13 marketing blog in the US).

So... monkey see, monkey do!

In the meantime, for more about me, take a look at my Flickr pages.