VOICE ONE Creativity blog

Antifolk

2011-07-17T01:48:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I've been trolling the youtubes and discovered something awesome. For the first time in a long time, I discovered music that is exciting. It is raw, full of energy, emotion and humor. The best equivalence I can make is it reminds of early punk. Lo-fi. Gritty. Accessible to anyone with a guitar and a desire to share their words with the world.

It's called Antifolk.

Here's a sampling. It includes two documentaries.

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Get an EDGE

2011-03-29T04:52:00.000-07:00

Hello,

It's not often that I think David Brooks of the New York Times has something worth discussing. However, I will give the man considerable credit for his insightful opinion piece about the recent EDGE symposium.

The concept of the EDGE symposium is simple.
1. Provide a compelling question.
2. Draw on as many different thinkers as possible.

This year's question was proposed by Stephen Pinker: "What scientific concept would improve our cognitive tools?"

The results were fabulous. Here are a few results:

Evgeny Morozov, the author of “The Net Delusion,” nominated the Einstellung Effect, the idea that we often try to solve problems by using solutions that worked in the past instead of looking at each situation on its own terms. This effect is especially powerful in foreign affairs, where each new conflict is viewed through the prism of Vietnam or Munich or the cold war or Iraq.

Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University writes about the Focusing Illusion, which holds that “nothing in life is as important as you think it is while you are thinking about it.” He continues: “Education is an important determinant of income — one of the most important — but it is less important than most people think. If everyone had the same education, the inequality of income would be reduced by less than 10 percent. When you focus on education you neglect the myriad of other factors that determine income. The differences of income among people who have the same education are huge.

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Comedian/Musician of the week: Reggie Watts

2011-02-06T06:39:00.000-08:00

Howdy,

Thought I'd share a comedian/musician I just came across. Fantastic. He's a one man show -- vocals over beat box with sort of stream of consciousness comedy. A bit hard to classify this one.

I'd recommend checking out his other videos, but warning: NSFW.

Stay inspired!

Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Creative writing -- new venues

2010-11-28T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Science fiction writing in the comments to a $6,800 speaker cable. Bravo!

Find it here.

We live underground. We speak with our hands. We wear the earplugs all our lives.

PLEASE! You must listen! We cannot maintain the link for long... I will type as fast as I can.

DO NOT USE THE CABLES!

We were fools, fools to develop such a thing! Sound was never meant to be this clear, this pure, this... accurate. For a few short days, we marveled. Then the... whispers... began.

Were they Aramaic? Hyperborean? Some even more ancient tongue, first spoken by elder races under the red light of dying suns far from here? We do not know, but somehow, slowly... we began to UNDERSTAND.

Stay inspired!

Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Fake Science

2010-11-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

Hello,

I'm always amazed when someone hits upon a great new idea. "Wish I had thought of that!"

The folks at Fake Science have done just that. Provided you learned something in science class at school and do not disavow evolution, you will catch the comedy gold here: http://fakescience.tumblr.com/

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Comedy: Patton Oswalt and Dave Burbank

2010-10-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hello,

To celebrate Halloween, I'm posting a choice clip from one of my favorite comedians--Patton Oswalt. He's fairly well-known for his supporting role on the King of Queens and as the voice of the rat in Ratatouille. However, he's also known for his biting, sarcastic, and darkly funny stand-up comedy. Here is a bit about Dave Burbank and living in the suburbs for Halloween.

Warning: NSFW!!

Jokes.com

Patton Oswalt - Dave Burbank

comedians.comedycentral.com

Read Patton Oswalt's biography

Watch Patton Live at the New York Comedy Festival

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice

Voice One
www.voiceone.fi

Music of the Week: The Bad Shepherds

2010-10-07T01:07:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I've got a wicked treat for you this week.

Everybody knows Adrian Edmondson, one half of the comedy violence duo that was Bottom, the Young Ones, the Dangerous Brothers. (The other half being of course, Rick Mayall (genius!)) Never satisfied with leaving a legacy of comedy gold -- Eddie has embarked on new endeavor that left me with a grin from ear to ear.

Having bought a mandolin on a lark, he started learning to play songs he liked. What songs came first -- punk! He calls a mate they work out a few more. Thus, the Bad Shepherds were born. Punk classics played on traditional folk instruments. Again, creativity -- finding something completely new by melding two seemingly different things.

Here they are doing the Clash's 'London Calling'. Enjoy!

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice

Voice One
www.voiceone.fi

Giant Gorilla made of recycled tires

2010-08-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

GIANT RUBBER GORILLA

In Viikki (suburb of Helsinki, Finland), we now have a 5-metre high Gorilla made out of recycled tires. I love this beastie. Villu Jaanisoo created this work entitled "Everything is Possible" for a Finnish invitational art competition and won. Brilliant! There is something wonderful about reusing waste for public space art.

You can read more about it here:
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Rubber+gorilla+finds+good+home+in+Helsinki+/1135256267714

500 Biggest Brands in the World

2010-03-08T22:10:00.000-08:00

As a copywriter who has worked with many different ad agencies, I have to concede that sometimes a picture is worth a thousands words...okay...maybe a thousand characters (without spaces).

Here is a perfect example. Compare BusinessWeek's useful and interesting Top 100 Global Brands versus this new graphic by Business Management magazine...

http://www.busmanagement.com/news/newsbuilding-a-successful-brand/

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Revolving door energy

2010-02-28T03:02:00.000-08:00

This was a cool simple idea. Using revolving doors to generate electricity. I think it's very much like the creator suggests: "it's a duh idea". Meaning: Why didn't we think of this already! Good stuff!

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Best Ads of the Week

2010-02-18T22:49:00.000-08:00

The first ad for this week is by San Fran outfit, Venables Bell and Partners for Intel. I'm always amazed at what you can squeeze into a 30 second narrative. This ad is aptly called generations as it showcases significant steps in Personal Computing and wraps up with Intel's latest chip. I'm not sure I'm sold, but I am definitely curious.

The next one is for the Canadian company, Bombardier, by TAXI, Toronto. It is to celebrate their work with the Olympic torch. (Go Canada!) I must admit I was initially thrown by the curious placement of the narrative in the Andes (I think). But it does give the ad a warm international feel which is exactly what the Olympics is about. So generally, I think it's well executed.

The last one comes from Wieden + Kennedy for Coca-Cola. It's a Nascar themed ad. That's a bit off-putting, but it really makes you smile when they break into the classic Harmony song. Good stuff!

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Music of the Week: Cookie Mongoloid

2010-02-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

OMG, these guys are so funny! A Cookie Monster metal tribute band. Absolutely brilliant!

COOKIE ROCKS! Something about the gutteral growl of cookie monster makes it perfect for thrash metal.

Me Lost Me Cookie in the Mosh Pit

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One
www.voiceone.fi

Creativity Technique: Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

2010-02-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Edward de Bono is the creativity guru. If you can get past his arrogance, you'll discover he has some great things to offer. However, it takes a strong stomach to get past the opening line to his book, Six Thinking Hats:

The Six Thinking Hats method may well be the most important change in human thinking for the past twenty-three hundred years.

Essentially, Six Thinking Hats is a useful method for groups to coordinate and focus their thinking in one direction at a time. Useful, yes. Earth-shattering revelation, no.

In short--

White Hat: give Information or Facts.

Red Hat: give your Emotion or Feeling on the matter.

Yellow Hat: point out the positives. Think Optimism

Black Hat: point out the negatives. Think Pessimism.

Green Hat: Creativity! Brainstorm!

Blue Hat: guides the meeting. Chairperson.

Concept: The chairperson (Blue Hat) guides the meeting firmly. And participants focus their thinking strictly according to the Hat they should be (figuratively) wearing. Ie. The chairperson tells the participants: "Put on your White Hat. Give me all the information on our problem." He/She writes that down.

The most important aspect of this method is that it stops the negativism from creeping in. Everyone's seen it. Someone gives an idea. Good or bad. Immediately, someone will jump in to say why it's not good. The idea is killed without exploring its potential. Secondly, it seriously speeds up meetings. People don't comment on ideas until they are asked to wear the Yellow, Black, White or Red Hats.

According to de Bono, IBM saw meeting times reduce to 25% of previous. ABB cut their multinational project meetings from 30 days to 2.

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

TED lecture of the Week: Derek Sivers

2010-02-04T10:19:00.000-08:00

I wanted a short TED talk this week. Naturally, even the short ones are interesting.

Here Derek Sivers discusses how there is a different way of looking at even the simplest of things.

Stay Inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Comedian of the Week: Sarah Silverman

2010-02-04T04:27:00.000-08:00

I really like Sarah Silverman. She has a very warped sense of humor. She's always pushing the edge of good taste. I think the only comedian with a remotely similar style might be Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G, Borat, Bruno) albeit she says the unnerving things, he acts them out.

Story behind the clips for non-US readers: Jimmy Kimmel has a US talk show with a running gag that he is going to have Matt Damon on every show, but there's never enough time.

Sarah Silverman, Kimmel's girlfriend at the time, made this song and video with Matt Damon called "I'm f**king Matt Damon". Pure Classic comedy.

Now, as a publicity stunt, this was pure marketing gold. It became an internet phenomena making Sarah a household name.

Kimmel extended the punchline by creating a spoof counterattack song and video called: "I'm f**king Ben Affleck".

Stay Inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Off the Wire: Spidey skills

2010-02-03T23:25:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be posting comments about a Wired article every week.

This week's article details how DARPA is funding research into Spiderman skills. Apparently, they'd like soldiers to be able to climb walls like Spidey. While I have to admit this sounds really cool, I can't help feeling these tech guys are serious uber-geeks. I'm a mild tech geek, but I hate to think what some hard-core geeks with a billion dollar budget can do. How long until we have light sabres? Terminator robots? Bionic soldiers?

A team of chemical engineers at Cornell have created a palm-sized device that could one day turn troops into human wall crawlers, using an adhesive bond inspired by beetles.

No surprise that Darpa, the Pentagon agency often inspired by sci-fi, is behind this one. They’ve been funding superhero efforts for years, from Superman X-Ray vision to human flight via cannonball (well, sorta). Spider-Man capabilities have been a top priority too, in hopes that troops might one day scale verticals “without the need for rope or ladder.”

You can get the full scoop here:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/pentagon-researchers-create-spider-man-gadgetry-for-real-life-wall-crawlers/

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One Oy
www.voiceone.fi

Fora Clip of the Week: John Yoo and Torture

2010-01-29T11:05:00.001-08:00

Alright, your first thought might be how is John Yoo related to Creativity.

Creative Legal Defense.

When I studied History, I took a course in my final year on American Constitutional History. Sorry, I find it interesting. And this particular interview is rather compelling if you can stomach the fact that he speaks rather abstractly about the expansion of presidential power and torture.

You will note that this is an interview at the Hoover Institute, a conservative / libertarian think tank. I can not imagine him having the wherewithal to give a lecture in front of a live audience. Now, if you don't know John Yoo, he is the infamous administration lawyer under George W. Bush who crafted two legal arguments that are extremely creative in their interpretation of the constitution. First, he asserted that terrorists could be held as enemy combatants to avoid the prisoner of war status under the Geneva Convention. And he crafted the now infamous "Torture Memo" which suggested that the executive had the authority to use "enhanced interrogation techniques" (torture).

I'll let you lay judgement on him.

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One
www.voiceone.fi

Book of the week: Terry Pratchett's Discworld series

2010-01-29T02:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I'll take a hit here and admit I like comedy fantasy books. I think this solidifies my reputation as a geek. On the other hand, I strongly believe the two most creative forms of writing are comedy and sci-fi/fantasy. (I'm sure to get a nasty note from someone about that.)

My favorites include Robert Rankin, Tom Holt and Terry Pratchett. While I had read Pratchett's "Johnny and the Bomb" series, the hilarious armageddon book "Good Omens" with Neil Gaiman, and one aptly titled children's book "The Amazing Maurice", I had failed to read any Discworld books until last Father's day (November in Finland) when my wife bought me "The Folklore of Discworld". I had of course heard of the Discworld series, it tends to take up a lot of shelfspace in the Sci-Fi / Fantasy section of any bookstore. However, I thought I would need to start reading him from the beginning. Not so.

Since reading that first one, I have read about 10 more, most over the Christmas holidays. I must say that I found only one so-so one in the bunch. It's hard enough creating characters, let alone an entire world to put them in. Pratchett seems to do it effortlessly.

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One
www.voiceone.fi

Newish Music of the Week: King Missile

2010-01-29T02:01:00.000-08:00

I got into King Missile when I was a DJ at the University of Lethbridge radio station. They've been described as Avante-garde rock. I like them because they are funny in a very unorthodox way.

Note: In case, you don't get it. This particular song is a comedic diatribe on the violence in Scorcese films.

(If you are a bit more daring, check out their hit Detachable Penis song. Very funny. NSFW!)

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
Voice One
www.voiceone.fi

The Puffin - NASA's Personal Aviation Vehicle

2010-01-21T23:53:00.000-08:00

Way Cool! NASA has conceptualized a personal aircraft that flies like the V-22 Osprey. Vertical take-off transitioning into a horizontal flight. It reaches a speed of 140 mph with a range of 50 miles with its electric battery. Yes, it has an electric motor.

Forget a jetpack, I want one of these! NASA has yet to test-fly one. Let's hope it works.

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

Best Ads of the Week

2010-01-21T02:33:00.000-08:00

This first one took place in my native Canada. I assume in Toronto. Puma is trying to push the love of football through an interesting guerilla marketing street event. Real Live Foosball. Although football (soccer) is not played as much in Canada, foosball is. Just the pure fun and interaction makes this one a winner. A good effort by Zulu Alpha Kilo Toronto.

This next one is for MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers). At first, I thought it was a bit cheesy, but the message at the end definitely drives home the point. My only question: Isn't this a bit beyond their remit? Does this mean they are against alcohol consumption too now? By Esparza Advertising.

This last one comes from South Africa for the African Diamond Council. Very powerful narrative by Y&R Cape Town.

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

Comedian of the Week: Stephen Lynch and Larry the Cable Guy

2010-01-04T00:43:00.000-08:00

For the holidays, I am adding two Christmas themed comedy videos. Both are seriously politically incorrect. But creativity is about thinking differently, sometimes even if it means against any sense of good taste.

Stephen Lynch makes me laugh a lot. Not sure what that says about me. He sings seriously warped comedy songs. This is one of his most famous. It even inspired the Family Guy to copy it on one episode. Anyways, someone liked it enough to create Youtube video. Warning: Extreme bad taste!

After watching Cars again with my kids, I thought to add Larry the Cable Guy who voices Mater in the movie. He's a serious redneck(!), but if you take it a bit tongue-in-cheek he's very funny. Warning: NSFW!

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

Ted lecture of the Week: Seth Godin

2009-12-10T04:04:00.000-08:00

I think it might be a bit unnecessary to introduce the marketing guru, Seth Godin. In my opinion, he doesn't need an introduction. If you don't know him, well, head to your favorite bookstore and buy one of his books. Some are better than others, but they will all make you think. Personally, I'm a fan, and have read many of his books. I've also tried to keep up with his blog, but I've been getting busier so it's been harder.

At any rate, he gives a great lecture here about how to stand out.

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

Crowdsourcing - Pros and Cons

2009-12-07T03:25:00.000-08:00

If you haven't heard of crowdsourcing before, it is, in short, harnessing the power of crowds to generate ideas. That's how proponents would categorize it. Critics, on the other hand, suggest that it is little more than exploitive contests. I have mixed opinions on the idea. Whatever the case, it is fairly innovative as a concept.

Crowdsourcing as a concept has existed for a while. Whether you talk about Wikipedia, open source software or futures market theory projects like DARPA's much-maligned Policy Analysis Market, crowds of people are able to create more, generate better solutions or forecast better than any one individual or company. Crowdsourcing as discussed so often in media today refers to the many different companies who have sprung up to connect companies with large groups of people such as Innocentive, Atizo, Idea Bounty to name just a few.

This latest varient uses a contest format with large cash prizes to tempt individuals to submit ideas. I must admit I came across this rather late. I first heard about it in through the Idea Bounty Peparami brief which garnered a lot of headlines. It sounded like fun to pit your wits against other creative writers (presumably other ad agency copywriters) with a potential payout of $10,000. I spent about 3 hours in total writing up one TV commercial and two print ads proposals and I was in the top 100 out of 1000+ entrants. Apparently, I'll get some kind of prize for doing that well.

It's hard to tell whether this is a fad or a real future trend. Having surfed the idea a bit, I can tell you a LOT of ad agency people are utterly disgusted by this concept -- a cheap outsourcing of creative work. To some degree, I agree with this. An agency would be paid several hundred thousand for a similar campaign. Shouldn't the winner have received something similar?

On the other hand, this money would be split into salary and production costs. And the copywriter, AD or CD who originated the idea is not likely to get that much in compensation for their idea. I think it is worth mentioning that $10,000 is no small chunk of change even for ad execs making $60 000 - 100 000 per year. As far as I know, unless you are a partner in an ad agency, you are not likely to make anything near $10,000 (presuming hours worked) for generating a single nationwide marketing campaign idea.

I also agree with the argument made by some ad execs that ad agency people spend too much time inside advertising world without looking out. Diversity is maybe the biggest plus for crowdsourcing --ie outside-the-box thinking garnered by non-industry insiders. (That has worked for many solutions at Innocentive.) On the other hand, both winners of the brief were former long time industry pros.

Will I continue to submitting crowdsourcing ideas? Maybe, I don't see spending 30-60 minutes for the chance at a large payout to be time poorly spent. I might spend that time just surfing the web for news articles.

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi

Magical Digital Video Brush

2009-12-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

One colleague sent me this link. So freaking cool...

"Magic" Digital Video Brush - For more amazing video clips, click here

Stay inspired!

Cheers,
Maurice
www.voiceone.fi