Social Hallucinations

Inglourious Basterds

I've just stumbled across the trailer for the new Tarantino movie - Inglorious Basterds. II WW and squad of Jewish soldiers equipped with big guns and clear mission - kill Nazis.
I like the trailer and look forward to seeing what vision on II WW Tarantino has come up with. I am pretty sure it is absurd, but ain't wars and violence absurd at their core...
Besides it's good to have a good laugh at Hitler - irony is the best way to describe the tragic reality.

The Economic Current Study

Nielsen released the Economic Current study that tracks key consumer and retailing trends on a global, regional and country-wide basis. Interesting report covering such areas as:

• Market Index volume, in terms of unit and country currency change
• Retail channel shifting
• Shopping frequency and spending trends
• Overall consumer confidence

You can download the report here, on Nielsen's site.

Sheep or Wolf?

The Art of Real Connections

Image via Wikipedia

We are living in the age of conversations. We define social media as conversations between people. But how are we really good at having meaningful conversations. Conversations are much more than just talking to people. This is something more than words and gestures. What do we talk about? What's the value and meaning of the words we exchange? Small talks are conversations for their own sake. What about real conversations that aren't superficial and which create the real human connections? I've found out that there is a place that "develops less superficial conversations between individuals, families, work colleagues and communities" (Muse Conversations) . The project is called Oxford Muse. I find it really fascinating as their program seems to aim at improving the value of human relations that will in the end lead to improvements within society. Apart from conversations they enable via individuals to be better understood and respected, and discover with whom they can fruitfully collaborate with Muse Self-Portraits , as well as encourage new ways of working and acquiring skills to help make people better human beings, through Muse Courses and Projects.

Fascinating and definitely worth looking into.

Hat tip to Adliterate

Computer Tan

I work myself for skin cancer campaign and I like the idea created by McCann London for Skcin. There is the huge problem, at leat in Denmark where lots of young people go to solarium and are ignorant to risk it brings. I've heard a lot of sad stories about young people whose lives are threathened. We need more campaigns that will not only create awareness but influence behavior and save lives.

Computer Tan is a fakevertising for a tan-tastic technological breakthrough, styled as informercial, you know TV shop. The site promotes the new and revolutionary way of getting tan right at your desk.
When you decide to try the product, your computer skin will be transformed into a tanning lights. After a minute in front of the full-screen tanning lights, images of blistering lesions appear and the skin cancer prevention message shines through.

I hope it will show to be effective way of making people more aware, more clever and creates a responsible "tanning behavior"

10 rules for surviving an unpredictable world

Cover via Amazon

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan, gives his 10 rules for surviving an unpredictable world with dignity:

1 Skepticism is effortful and costly. It is better to be skeptical about matters of large consequences, and be imperfect, foolish and human in the small and the aesthetic.

2 Go to parties. You can’t even start to know what you may find on the envelope of serendipity. If you suffer from agoraphobia, send colleagues.

3 It’s not a good idea to take a forecast from someone wearing a tie. If possible, tease people who take themselves and their knowledge too seriously.

4 Wear your best for your execution and stand dignified. Your last recourse against randomness is how you act — if you can’t control outcomes, you can control the elegance of your behavior. You will always have the last word.

5 Don’t disturb complicated systems that have been around for a very long time. We don’t understand their logic. Don’t pollute the planet. Leave it the way we found it, regardless of scientific ‘evidence’.

6 Learn to fail with pride — and do so fast and cleanly. Maximize trial and error — by mastering the error part.

7 Avoid losers. If you hear someone use the words ‘impossible’, ‘never’, ‘too difficult’ too often, drop him or her from your social network. Never take ‘no’ for an answer (conversely, take most ‘yeses’ as ‘most probably’).

8 Don’t read newspapers for the news (just for the gossip and, of course, profiles of authors). The best filter to know if the news matters is if you hear it in cafes, restaurants... or (again) parties.

9 Hard work will get you a professorship or a BMW. You need both work and luck for a Booker, a Nobel or a private jet.

10 Answer e-mails from junior people before more senior ones. Junior people have further to go and tend to remember who slighted them.

You can find the whole article here timesonline site.

It's good add on to my previous post on life being a succession of moments.

The Shift

A movie being made by a movement.We don't have time to wait for another generation.

Life is the succession of the moments

Image by zebra.paperclip via Flickr

I never believed you can be really good at something and make a difference if you are not passionate about what you do. I never believed in polished professionalism as this is the way to being boring. I was never interested in doing things 50%. Boredom is the one of the biggest dangers for our species.

I believe in being true to yourself and if you are not able to put your hear into doing something, just leave it. It is hard to achieve or create something valuable without passion. I struggled a lot last week with heartless professionals and so it happened with some serious family issues.
I've noticed it creates a lot of frustration and friction when engagement hits routines calculated to glide through the days, weeks, all the way to payment check.
I was angry and sad at the same time feeling I hit the wall on all fronts. But giving it a thought, looking into myself, I mobilized myself to find the new ways of infecting people with joy of creation and doing things together, infecting people with engagement. Not judging but trying to create something new.
Working 8-12 hours a day is a waste of your precious life if you spend those hours on just earning money and climbing for titles. Life is the succession of the moments, use them and squeeze them so you can feel it.  Hurry to love, hurry to experience and enjoy, people and moments vanish so sudden...