COMPOSE, IMPOSE

Waking up next to a golf course can be quite nice

2012-02-09T08:30:00.001-05:00

So much power in a genuine smile

2012-02-09T08:28:00.000-05:00

That's all I have to say about that.

A man after my own heart

2012-01-09T23:42:00.007-05:00

Rob Campbell just said some amazing shit that I'm pretty sure I coincidentally said too this morning at a meeting with Anomaly.

Primarily this:

"Maybe if we just got on with what brands and society actually wanted and needed from us, we’d end producing more great commercially creative ideas than proprietary bullshit."

and this:

"Too many companies care more about the process than what the process delivers."

and this:

"I’m not talking about creative awards or effectiveness papers that have made a ‘degree of change’ sound like the second coming of Jesus … I’m talking about doing stuff that fundamentally – and undeniably – shifts the needle."

Too much?

2011-12-27T19:43:00.016-05:00

I don't always invent new words, but when I do...

Scroll around the award winning Hot Acid Rhythm for all-new vibescaping.

Oh Hellz Yeah

2011-12-22T10:42:00.003-05:00

Ideas That Changed the World

2011-12-21T20:32:00.012-05:00

I was given this book many years back. The author, Felipe Fernandez Armesto, portrays human history in terms of a series of intellectual and conceptual discoveries, adopted and understood by civilizations over time. I think it almost works better than a regular history book in the sense that history as a discipline is too much of a backward narrative for me. One tends to think of history as event-facts. But events are almost entirely the result of ideas, or sub-ideas (like the idea that say, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand needs to die).

When I see the world in terms of ideas and ages, and ages made from ideas, then everything makes so much more sense. Something like the whole of religion looks like just another man made idea, like cooking one's food, or democratic rule.

As the book begins from prehistoric time, one already is given a sense of the whole of humanity and what it means to be a race that grows off/with/out of planet earth.

By understanding, in this way, the ages and every smaller increment of time possible, I believe one is in a far better position to make educated predictions about the cycles or ages of at least the relatively near future. At least that's how I see it.

Check it out on Goodreads

This is advertising

2011-12-19T14:04:00.003-05:00

Seriously great work by Glenn O'Brien.

Why? On brand, on brand, on brand.

Something something

2011-12-14T10:40:00.004-05:00

Marge: Sweetie, you could still go to McGill. The Harvard of Canada.

Lisa: Anything that's the something of something isn't really the anything of anything.

License to Kill

2011-12-13T22:11:00.018-05:00

If you enjoy a quality turn of phrase as much as the next guy, or as I do, look no further than one of my favourite angry old men, Christopher Hitchens.

His book God is not Great is quite addictive and conveniently available as an audiobook. I like it not so much because I'm interested in the debate or the history, which is obviously highly engaging, but more because the debate is long gone and it's just nice to hear the burn. Listening to him read his own words is a treat not to be missed.

You should probably be somewhat of a fan already, though, and as one reviewer puts it, "he often delivers his ideas like he's trying to splash his martini across your face at a party." He is by no means for everyone.

While you may be inclined to listen while multitasking(!) you will likely find yourself stopping whatever you're doing and rewinding(!) certain parts over and over, just to bathe in his sparkling correctness. If you're not convinced yet, maybe this Amazon review will tip the scales:

Listen here

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

2011-12-06T21:57:00.019-05:00

Now here is a chap that you should follow on facebook (at the very least) for his illuminating and thought provoking ideas. I first read Fooled by Randomness about two years ago and was mightily impressed. I have since been following him on facebook and on his website. This is a sample of his interesting (and topical) thinking:

For one of the smartest big-picture conversations out there, listen to this 45 min Interview. He talks mostly about the deleveraging of the banks, proper global finacial leadership, and risk in general, from the perspective of someone who truly has the survival of humanity at heart.

I like everywhere that this man's head is at. Nassim Taleb will make you smarter and more interesting.

Aristotle once said

2011-11-29T20:07:00.007-05:00

Or more accurately, "All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind."

This has to be the most relaxing house in the world

2011-10-26T18:23:00.009-04:00

or maybe this is

or this

Click to enlarge.

My music bits

2011-10-24T17:33:00.006-04:00

A couple of tracks have been on rotation on my ipod and in my head for quite some time now. I figured I ought to share some that I'm still not bored of, and that still represent my headspace, generally speaking. I think there is definitely a certain creative thread through all of these...

I saw Gorillaz at Madison Square Garden last year and it was easily one of my top five gigs of all time. Started out slow, but by the end it was like being inside a circus. Unbelievable.

Love the 80s-ness but not quite-ness.

Just plain fookin creative. The man is a genius.

Air France is the business as it is. The first time i heard this I was in an apartment 49 floors up, in the middle of a snow storm. One of those how-did-this-turn-into-a-party-oh-wait-now-I-remember nights...

Aaaaah!

And finally, this reminds me of closing time at the coolest hole-in-the-wall restaurant in NYC. Good times...

You've gotta love Applespeak

2011-10-17T12:11:00.008-04:00

Seriously, get a load. Click to enlarge.

What's up with rugby fashion?

2011-09-27T14:23:00.018-04:00

As a former/part-time colony dweller, I've never been that impressed by the British. Except that one time when my mate Paul did a stand-up comedy set back in the Obz days and cracked some wicked-funny AIDS jokes. But that was then. So I'm a little curious as to the British shop aura about the intersection of Bleecker and Charles Streets in NYC. An intersection-aura, if you will.

Within about a 25m radius of one another there is a Ralph Lauren Rugby store, a Gant Rugger store (amusing) and a Burberry Brit store (in case Burberry wasn't British enough for you already it's now more British) . These are not seasonal clothing collections, they are fully fledged sub-brands. Actually Gant Rugger looks more like American-preppy-plaid-tending-toward-baseball but I nevertheless sense that there is some unspoken and rather permanent equity to being British right now, at least in the US.

I won't say it's a trend because I haven't really seen people adopting the look quite as much as I have seen stores popping up, so I can only describe this as a rather insistent aesthetic.

Try not to laugh... I mean, cool logo bro.

Nobody's laughing now

"Mine's just a few blocks from here - what do you say? Did I mention I'm British?"

Roach

2011-07-19T16:09:00.005-04:00

click to enlarge

Meh

2011-07-11T19:34:00.002-04:00

Actually kinda depressed for not having claimed the name way back - could have made a fortune. How obvious was that... Jeez.

Ben Kingsley for Santam insurance

2011-06-20T07:40:00.005-04:00

click for video here

This ad (I swear) actually caught my attention because of the terrible copy alone. It's some of the most contrived and tired writing I've come across in a long time. I reckon if I had heard only muffled tones coming from a TV in the next room I'd still be able to say how try-hard it is.

This is insurance. It's like toilet paper.

"It may look real, sound real, say all the right things. But how do you know you're getting the real mccoy?"

I don't know, Santam/KingJames, how does one know? How do we know your insurance will live up to our expectation? There isn't even any logic for all the toney-tone we have to endure.

As for the concept, which as far as I can tell is: Other people claim to be better but... [no, that's it] - this needs a bit of work, no?

And don't get me started on the ice-cold, oversimplified blue/gray grade that South African directors can't get enough of.

The sciences ask, why.

2011-04-19T11:04:00.001-04:00

The arts ask, why not.

Has someone said that already? I dig it.

FYI

2011-04-15T10:12:00.000-04:00

Tagline:

2011-04-15T09:59:00.001-04:00

SunTrust Bank - Live Solid. Bank Solid.

Where do I begin? Do I begin?

Absolut bottle tops and Illy tin lids. Wait, what?

2011-04-06T10:18:00.003-04:00

Go find an Absolut bottle and twist the lid on and off a few times. Now go and do the same with a tin of Illy coffee. Sick!

Is this a kinetic aesthetic? Whatever it is, more of this vibe is needed everywah.

New vibe: Toning

2011-03-14T08:02:00.001-04:00

Reduce to the core, see detail - efficient, healthy, pure.

Oh it's new...

To be a rockstar

2011-03-14T07:42:00.001-04:00

You've got to have pain. And more importantly, you can't kid yourself about how in touch with your emotions you are. I'm not going to mention exactly which recent documentary I saw on a "multicultural contemporary South African band" that made me think of this.

You can't sell your political ideologies (as they are probably less than informed) and you can't keep thinking about what your audience wants to hear (they are hardly a yardstick). You have to sell your feelings and your honesty - sell your pain. Even if all you have is happy pain.

Right, anti-virus software... where to begin

2011-02-28T07:27:00.002-05:00

I've been without anti-virus software for around five years. The day I removed it from my work computer, my productivity went up at least 20 percent, due mostly to the poor thing not choking itself to death with constant and untimely scans and update procedures (updates at least a weekly occurrence requiring something like a 50meg download each time).

Most of these scans also happen (unavoidably) on startup - which is kind of an inappropriate time, considering I shut it down the night before. I promise nothing has happened in this time, dear programmers, and when I get to work I expect to be able to work and use programs, not be faced with a little twirly icon in the corner as the only evidence of life for the next half hour.

In fact, on occasion, mister anti-virus was scanning and updating so hard he couldn't even twirl his own icon. After the fourth or fifth time that happened, and a few therapy sessions later, I realised I was in fact on candid camera. Off with his head.

I also have not had this software on my personal laptop since I bought it new two years ago and have never been happier. I just don't do anything too stupid. Now I'm not saying that anti-virus companies are the ones inventing viruses, or at the very least inducing some sort of low-level panic - I'm not saying that. I mean I'm just saying...