jectaspecta

where did all the steering wheel locks go?

2011-11-12T11:34:00.005+11:00

my first (and only) car

Probably a meaningless ponder but walking through Redfern, where I’ve been living these last 6 weeks, I couldn’t help but notice that I only saw one car featuring a steering wheel lock. As someone who hasn’t owned a car since she wrote off her Citroën AX a month after passing her driving test 8 years ago, I suppose I haven’t had the opportunity to deliberate the investment. But for that short spell of driving my papier-mâché on wheels (named 'Scum' after its registration plate SCM), whose boot wouldn’t lock and brakes didn't work, I would always ensure that the wheel was locked with a big red birthday present lock. Especially given I had a younger brother with a tendency to get up to mischief and who, after a couple of weeks of mysteriously having to push my seat forwards whenever I entered the car, I discovered was slowly filling my ashtray after sneaking through the boot and making the Citroën the exclusive after party venue on our drive.

Nevertheless I’ve been in many cars and journeys and gone are the days where the driver reaches under the backseat to whip out a long solid weapon to attach to the wheel. Why is this? Who won? Are people content with taking the risk? Has mandatory car insurance spared the car lock polava. What do these businesses do now?

Ahh and so a quick search on Wikipedia explains all:

Modern vehicles are fitted with a steering lock which is an anti-theft device. It is fitted to the steering column usually below the steering wheel. The lock is combined with the ignition switch and engaged and disengaged either by a mechanical ignition key or electronically from the vehicles electronic control unit.

Alas I realise I have become one of those luddites who is behind the automotive industries technological progression, but, after experiencing two blessed weeks without seeing a single vehicle, I can’t say I’m too disappointed. I am delighted to reminisce about Scum though and true to his name was he when he collided with a BMW 7 series. I had one very sore and broken boyfriend in the passenger seat who, bless his heart, after two operations, a few screws and a plate, forgave me and I’ve learned has since been duly compensated and now is the one driving the BMW.

3 years & still not offended anyone.

2011-11-09T12:39:00.000+11:00

Blimey. That went by fast. I fell asleep on the train and awoke a few stops further than I expected. It's been three years since the launch of jectaspecta. I feel on such an auspicious day perhaps something digitally celebratory should take place like, for example, writing a blog post...

Firstly, my purpose of blogging is really self-serving. I have an appetite for understanding new things, and as someone who learns through experience, have found that writing these learnings down not only serves my memory but also might be of some (if any) value to others. Of course, I'm sure its mostly not, but people seem to visit anyway lost in a back alley of the interwebs stumbling in to my random mumblings and tangents. And yet while that remains the case, there are some things I have learned about blogging which might be of interest. Doubtful. But may be.

The 'proverbial list' of three things I've learned about blogging:

1. Don't expect the posts you spend the most time on to garner the most attention.
That doesn't mean its not worth investing your time in writing about things you love or are genuinely interested in as I mentioned above.

For example a couple of writings I deliberated on for days are certainly not my big winners according to Mr. Google Analytics, but I enjoyed learning about them:
food for thought
philosophical about the interwebs

Sometimes however you can strike bloggerland gold; I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that "changing the perceptions of giving" had had over 1500 views and this post was actually one that I was keen to share with others.

2. Be yourself.
Some blog as a way to bring to life a professional persona. Others to keep a virtual diary of their latest escapades. I think one needs to be true to themselves and their interests while being authentic. This is my personal point of view. I don't just write for an audience; I write for myself because I'm actually interested in articulating ideas, stories or random thoughts.

If you have a point of view, don't be afraid to express it whether political (who will occupy wall street?) or even a personal tale (my festival story).

3. Edit, edit and re-edit
I have a terrible habit of editing posts once they're published. I'd like to blame perfectionism but perhaps in one's haste to 'go live' a comma goes amiss or worse still, what should be a pointy sentence becomes an overstatement with too many words to even breathe through. Knowing people have shorter attention spans with content online, keep it direct, use videos and images.

One of my most popular posts has lots of pictures of Hunter S. Thompson and two sentences. And lets be honest, people visiting this post aren't interested in what I have to say, hell no, they want some entertaining shots that Google Images has thankfully ranked highly in their search page.

Nevertheless the point remains. Keep it pointy, yes I know I don't do that particularly well but, it seems to work.

And with that I am going to tuck in to a cuppa earl grey for a sense of nostalgia and amuse myself with my rather lame first posts written three years ago whinging to myself about the prospect of turning 24 while looking down the barrel of (gasp!) 25, as I am now, looking down the barrel of 30. A charming quote I wrote, very apt given I am now leaving Sydney:

"I say be inquisitive, relentlessly raise the bar, be charismatic, chat to strangers, pick minds and don't be afraid of change."

Doesn't time move fast?

strength in adversity

2011-11-02T02:35:00.006+11:00

I remember being in a brand workshop a few years ago and we were asked to reflect upon ourselves when we were kids at school and come up with a proposition.

There was the quirky "back row geek" and the delightful "ray of sunshine" which made me realise my prop was seemingly self-indulgent; what kept appearing in my mind was "strength in adversity" - which isn't the typical proposition for a reflection on your childhood. Bold and rather self-righteous, one might think, but I can't help feel the statement was true for those years growing up and not because I am either of those things.

I was the girl at school who was often absent either on extended trips to Venezuela - where half my family is from - or because I was sick or had managed to find myself hospitalised again (I had a bizarre spell of various hospital visits; suspected lymphoma, right knee surgery, dislocated right ankle, stitches in my left shin, ripped off toe nail(!), acute glandular fever... etc). I changed schools a few times because of my family relocating, then separating, then relocating while I refused to attend a girls boarding school for that very reason; it was only for girls. And yet amongst this instability I not only managed to find a solid group of smart and supportive friends who still feature in my life today via the virtues of Facebook; but I also remarkably achieved the highest grades in my year... even after I was told by more than one of my teachers not to get my hopes up at even passing. Huh-um... Thank you Mrs Joyce and Mrs Findley.

And so now, ten years on, I have a new found appreciation for that young girl because when adversity comes to revisit and prompts changes unplanned, a small part of my "grown up self" still knows that this is the chance to be strong and perhaps even do something surprising (yes the inverted commas are intentional).

These are my last two weeks in Sydney. After an incredible four years it is now time to move on to another chapter; the unknown. Like two weights on a set of scales one feels equally liberated and frightful at the prospect of venturing in to the unknown without a conventional game plan. My objectives are very simple: Family, travel, photography and writing... until money runs out.

My next stop? Japan. I can't think of a better place to be thrown out of my comfort zone and potentially reunite with my lovely Nitro snowboard as I spend my 27th birthday riding solo off-piste with monkeys. Besides India of course. That place sounds pretty intense. Which is where I'll be going after Japan.

I promise to do a full appraisal of Sydney soon, given my "Sydney vs London" continues to get more hits a day than any of my posts combined. Alas; at least I know I am not alone in my ventures in to the unknown.

I hope to continue sharing my stories, learnings and inspirations. Please feel free to join me on the ride. Seriously. Otherwise you can follow my hopefully-less-sentimental-and-reflective-on-my-adolescence updates here.

Jess.

who will occupy wall street?

2011-10-06T11:11:00.033+11:00

With over 700 arrested over the weekend and hardly a peep from the nations mainstream media, the US Occupy Wall Street protest against the nations state of economic affairs and policy has been an interesting one to witness from the other side of the globe.

And of course, without being there how do you know what to believe? How can you make a fair assessment when your perception might be at the mercy of the voice of those who may not have your best interests at heart? Perhaps that's when the power of social media really does come in to play, because these people don't profit by sharing their story, they're giving you insight in to their world in order to empower and protect their community without the bias or perversion of a middle-body's agenda.

A perfect, somewhat disturbing, example of this can be seen below where the New York Times changed the first line of a story about the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. The change subtly shifted the blame for the mass arrest on the Brooklyn Bridge from the police to the protesters. In the first version of the story, police allowed them onto the bridge and then “cut off and arrested” them. In the second, there was a “showdown” in which demonstrators “marched onto the bridge.” Adding interest, the author of the piece was changed from “Colin Moynihan” to “Al Baker and Colin Moynihan.” Who is Al Baker? He is the guy in charge of the police bureau at the Times.

via Society Page

So once again the internet has been a key enabler for organising the masses and while news portals such as CNN have kept shtum about the reality of what’s going on, people have taken the lead in becoming content producers, citizen journalists, the voices from the ground sharing livestreams, twitter updates, videos and blogs to let the rest of the country and the world know what is really going on and continue to organise further protests (there are over 60 locations around the country right now).

Some of the most upsetting footage has uploaded on to YouTube (for example, this one showing innocent female demonstrators being maced in the face by a police officer).

But there are suspicions that even the diplomacy of Twitter has been compromised (with over 1 billion tweets, how was #occupywallstreet not a trending topic?) and knowing governments are getting in to bed with social networks and mobile phone providers, one might question what side of the fence these conversation platforms are on... But people continue to be the propagators of a message they feel needs to be heard nevertheless and that message is platform agnostic so long as there's the infrastructure in place and people willing and able to listen to it.

via Laurel Papworth

And what are these people so upset about? Is there any wonder? Was it only a matter of time?

More charts on Mother Jones

A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of the US? $31,244. The economic downturn shook the many and yet benefited significantly the few.

And what will happen? In a representational democracy the government must respond to the wishes of its people. Otherwise it becomes a dictatorship. And that doesn’t sound like the ‘land of the free’ to me.

falling down stairs

2011-09-04T13:43:00.002+10:00

I fell down a wooden staircase today. I had an iPhone in one hand and a laptop in the other. I'm pretty amazed that I got away with a few grazes because at one point my mind told me something was broken. The only other time I've seriously fallen down stairs was once when I was 3, my oldest memory (converged with imagination I'm sure) and again when I was 7, got concussion and had a day off school.
Anyway, shortly after, I read this post from Faris about beliefs and the idea that "surfacing the serediptious is as valuable, or more valuable in some senses, then simply creating more content, it could be argued..." as he reruns some of his previous ideas... I'm looking forward to seeing whether any of his views have changed and what they may have been. The beauty of the tangibility of stories on the interweb - so easily resurfaced and reflected upon. And equally dangerous.
Personally, while a tad sore and bruised, I'm pretty relieved that I didn't break my back this morning. Perhaps I'll think twice in future when walking with my appended devices down wooden stairs in a pair of sandals. A pretty painful and quick lesson to learn.

healing your body with your mind

2011-09-01T18:21:00.000+10:00

So basically, if you believe in something that gives your life meaning, you have a better life. Why?

the power of algorithms

2011-07-27T10:10:00.003+10:00

I recommend watching this. Twice. It's a fascinating observation on the power of algorithms and how these complex computer programs can determine espionage tactics, stock prices, movie scripts and architecture. Most fascinating the algorithms applied to culture such as the success and value of a movie before its even released enabled by an algorithm.

"We're writing things that we can no longer read and we've rendered something illegible and lost the sense of what's actually happening in this world we've made..."

This raises the question; is maths an art? One thing that has always fascinated me is the relationship between maths and art whether historically, culturally or cognitively.

Some of the greatest artists and architects in history certainly found their own algorithms to determine perfection (the Egyptian pyramids a fine example).

Now however these algorithms are increasingly complicated and applied to the intangible world of technological communication.

Facebook-algorithms change the way we organise our social life. Amazon-algorithms influence the way we spend our money. Google's search-algorithm decides, which content we view first (or at all) and Twitter's algorithms change the way we are informed about news. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Algorithms in hospitals change the way people are treated, path-finding algorithms change the way we plan our cities and organise traffic. Scheduling algorithms influence which subjects your child will hear when it can concentrate the best, and which it will hear, when it can concentrate the worst (I'm guessing art ironically).

The opportunities are endless which is why to understand culture, we should try to understand the algorithmic confines in which they might be influenced.

learning from the masters

2011-07-21T12:46:00.000+10:00

One day I hope all my dabbles will converge or at least make a little more sense to me. I doubt I'll have a Bill Gates moment where my calligraphy course will lead to creating differentiation in a market leading product that will subsequently make me billions (but here's to hoping). Anyway, amongst screen writing courses, mountain climbing, documentary making, visiting Shamans, a law degree, resin jewellery course and a black belt Vipassana meditation retreat; I've always maintained and pursued an interest in photography. I think this is mainly due to my being a closet creative without a canvas or perhaps looking for a story to tell... with limited barriers to entry.

Following my second photography course last night I have delved further in to the theory and practice of good photo composition and understanding the symbiotic relationship between aperture, shutter speed and depth of field (the 'Exposure Triangle'). I'll spare the details.

What I love about photography is the planned spontaneity involved and the longevity of a beautiful moment captured. It can tell so many stories and hold meaning in so many different ways. A person who did this very well was Henri Cartier-Bresson. Here is some of his inspiring work (to classical music no less).

make a bad situation less volatile

2011-07-21T10:15:00.001+10:00

There are a lot of things to be unhappy about in London right now, amongst a backdrop of media drownings, a struggling economy and police saying to their bellies "you're under a vest" (that was a bad joke wasn't it?) there are people who are losing their jobs, their homes and change is one thing they can be certain of.

One individual in particular is willing to look on the brighter side of a bad situation. @fern_tastic from W+K London lost her job. Rather than hiding in a cupboard and smudging mascara down her face, she decided to share a rap about redundancy to encourage her co-workers to be optimistic too.

How refreshing. Although little did she know that one of the meanies from Campaign Mag would try to rain on her parade (its one thing to pass judgement on a shit campaign and another to do so to an individual who has just lost her job and is trying to keep a smile on her face and those around her).

Their comments that it was "possibly the worst white, middle-class... embarrassingly girly rap"clearly missing the point (a concern in itself) did more to embarrass themselves than Miss Fernie T as she promptly responded inviting the challenge and remaining positively optimistic.

Go Fern! I think we all could learn from Miss Trelfa.

Full disclosure: Fern is one of my favourite people in this world.

evoking an emotional response

2011-07-16T20:52:00.000+10:00

Alfred Hitchcock explains how to inject emotional tension into a scene. A great way of explaining how to bring a story to life by bringing your audience on the journey i.e. story-telling is more than providing the knowledge, its about creating emotion...

greenpeace's rebellion

2011-07-01T18:08:00.000+10:00

It's fascinating, and well worth taking a look at the breadth of this as a campaign Greenpeace campaign. It much more than just a couple of very nicely done videos:

The integrated campaign includes a Poster Takeover and street stunt in London City.
Poster takeover + street stunt in Old Street, London.

Users are rewarded for signing up and passing on the campaign on their website . In their VW Report reveals that while VW claim to be Green and efficient, they have failed to deliver on their promises, even with the technical capabilities to do so and the bulk of the VW fleet continue to be amongst the most polluting in Europe.

"Despite the green image it likes to portray, VW is at the heart of a group of companies lobbying against new laws which we need to cut CO2 emissions, reduce our oil use and protect places like the Arctic from climate change." Greenpeace explain, "Only a rebellion can stop them – a mass of people from all across the globe –demanding that they change. We need you to be part of that rebellion."

Politicians across Europe are currently debating whether to raise our target for CO2 cuts from 20 to 30% (based on 1990 levels) by 2020. It’s such a necessary increase that many people and organisations - from the UK government to Google, from Ikea to Unilever - agree that we should do it.

But not Volkswagen. Along with spending millions on groups lobbying against the 30 per cent target, VW is also opposing new fuel efficiency targets. These would cut CO2 emissions, save drivers money and reduce our dependence on oil...

Hence, Greenpeace are stepping in with their latest campaign.

who's the ultimate victim of hacking?

2011-06-21T12:14:00.001+10:00

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

Food for thought. As our lives are getting more dependant on ubiquitous technology, it would be remiss to not consider what the dangers these dependencies may create.

Computer hacking has been very much on the agenda recently. In simple terms, there are three kinds of hacking taking place. "Hacktivism" is the most prominent: raids by amateur groups such as Lulz (who took down sites belonging to the CIA, the Senate, and the Spanish police) or Anonymous (PayPal, PlayStation, MasterCard, and Visa), either for fun, "for the lulz" - or, increasingly, as an act of political protest. Then there's the criminal kind - professionals hunting for credit card details, or email address directories, with the aim of selling them on for profit. While the PlayStation systems were first hacked by hactivists, a second breach was made by cyber criminals who had more commercial ends. And finally, there's state-sponsored espionage, or even cyber-warfare...

via Patrick Clair

a journey to the mountains

2011-06-09T12:43:00.003+10:00

Recently I decided to go to Nepal and trek the Himalayas to raise funds and awareness for WWF's Tiger Conservation. Why? It was on the bucket list. Along with seeing polar bears in the wild, running a marathon and writing a children's book, trekking the Himalayas was a wish I have wanted to fulfil for a big part of my life and I was fortunate enough to recently do so.

Myself and best friend (and musician) Stephanie Reynard embarked on this adventure together. We collectively raised over $3000 as we set to embark on a journey to Everest Basecamp (which we funded ourselves of course). Now having returned I can tell you that we actually didn't make it to Basecamp. Not because we weren't fit enough, neither because we were lazy, in fact practically it would've been achievable - albeit challenging no doubt - however our venture was side tracked along the way. The story is a long one but I can give you some highlights and share some videos of the incredible journey we went on nevertheless.

Kathmandu. Its crazy. Like many Asian capital's the relentless traffic, people and movement create chaos amongst its streets. That said the place had charm. Arriving there reaffirmed to us that we were a long way from home and offered us some beautiful opportunities to immerse ourselves in the Buddhist temple rituals such as pilgrimages, purchase some souvenirs and get tattoos (shhh don't tell mum).
The mountains. Sure that's a given but what is so incredible about the mountains is the scale. One leaves ego at the airport upon arriving at this vast expansive place. There's no way you can feel big in this remote area. Its amazing how flat Sydney feels now. Every corner we turned was met with a "Wow". Nature rules.
Mountaineering. Walking is under-rated. I used to think it a tad dull. Witnessing a culture that's primary mode of transport is merely a couple limbs to scale heights and travel distance, brings an appreciation for the innate ability to get by without any need for a vehicle. We trekked up to 7 hours a day at pretty steep climbs and it was pretty damn invigorating.
For the first time in my life I didn't see a single car for 2 weeks. Imagine!
Sustainability. The Sherpa's live a life reliant on the elements. The winters are fierce. Access to water is challenging and energy is all dependant on renewable energy such as solar panels and hydro. Yak dung is dried and re-used to burn fires and human waste is used as manure (urm... that sounds horrid but it's actually very clever).
Buddhist Philosophy. The Buddhist way of life is remnant in the practices of the people of these mountains. The Sherpa's come from the oldest sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Seeing how connected they are with the land and one another is humbling and equally grounding.
We were fortunate to make really good friends with a kind monk from the Tengboche monastery and learn more about his life, beliefs and the world he is a part of. Sitting in an old monastery, meditating to the sound of monks chanting Sanskrit mantras is one of the most beautiful experiences I've ever had.
Children. The Nepalese children are a far cry from those I am so familiar with at home. While of course the cheekiness and playfulness is seen in most children, the respect for elders and their generosity was really surprising. Staying at a family lodge we saw 14 year old Sinam help his mother in the kitchen cooking, making tea and kindly showing us how to eat Nepali style (with our hands no less!). He was so happy and considerate. It was so moving to see a child with few needs and demands demonstrating such kindness.
We were frequently given sweets by the children on the mountain and sometimes accompanied on the walk with kids working as porters along the trail.
Running at altitude. Instead of meeting Everest Basecamp, we chose to exert ourselves in a 9km Trail Run at 4000 metres at a local school's Jubilee. It took us over 3 hours to complete. We were the only foreign contestants. We pushed our bodies, heart rates and lungs to new found limits as we appreciated the challenge of minimal oxygen. We got handshakes and high fives for the remainder of the trip so I imagine there was a degree of risk with the endeavour. It was a great accomplishment and certainly one I'll not forget.
Dancing in the rain with a couple of monks. I don't think I can explain this. It was incredible to party outside, listening to Shakira (Nepal loves Shakira!?), high on altitude and learning to Sherpa dance with a couple of kind monks from the Tengboche temple, Pasang and Mingma. With a grand stupa in the background, the rains of the imminent monsoon season and our big grins keeping our feet moving and hearts warm.
Sir Edmund Hillary & all he inspires. Rather than Basecamp we went to Khumjung School and hospital set up by Hillary 50 years ago for their Jubilee. There we met many inspiring people, those who had committed their lives to creating positive change and shared their stories with us, such as the founders of the Dream Flag Project, wife of Mingma Norbu Sherpa (a famous conservationist sponsored by Hillary) Phurba who now runs The Greater Himalayas Foundation in his memory, writer Frances Klatzel who helped to create a museum of Sherpa culture and has written many books on their beautiful culture, Dawa Steven Sherpa who is a WWF Climate Ambassador and many others involved with the Himalayan Trust that Hillary originally founded. The list is long but they all are worthy of a mention as they certainly brought a deeper layer to our experience.

Being back is very strange. Two weeks passed like a whirlwind and suddenly I am plunged back in to the life I left with a little more wisdom perhaps.

There's no doubt we both learned a lot from the experience. Mindfulness. Respect for nature. Appreciation for the fortunate world we are a part of. Along with the practicalities of combatting blisters, altitude sickness and facing challenging climbs. I cannot recommend it enough.

Please feel free to enjoy some of videos of our escapade, I don't think they'll do it justice but they may provide some amusement. Flickr piccys are here.

Jess & Stephs' tips for trekkers

Kathmandu

Dramas at the airport

Insight in to our terrible sense of humour

High altitude running

where do you think most of google's searches come from?

2011-05-06T17:18:00.000+10:00

Every day, people come to Google Search to ask questions. Through Google, questions become answers, and answers lead to the next set of questions. These people come from around the world and all walks of life, speaking hundreds of different languages, typing in search queries every single day. Today Google share the Search Globe, a new visual display representing one day of Google searches around the world—visualizing the curiosity of people around the globe.

The Search Globe visualizes searches from one day, and shows the language of the majority of queries in an area in different colors. You’ll see a bright landscape of queries across Europe, and parts of Asia for instance, but unfortunately we see many fewer searches from parts of the world lacking Internet access—and often electricity as well—like Africa.

why would we think social media is revolutionary?

2011-05-03T18:22:00.000+10:00

Check out this podcast feature from Clay Shirky's on "Why Would We Think Social Media Is Revolutionary?"

In this podcast, Shirky discusses the most recent examples of effective use of the Internet and social media to effect political change in authoritarian countries from the Green Wave protests during the 2009 Iranian presidential election to Tunisian insurgents' recent ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Learn how revolutionaries and reformers have always used the most effective communication tools to distribute their message to the masses, going as far back as the printing press. For example looking at how the equilibrium state moved to freedom of expression when the printing press evolved and the first Bibles were created and how the printing press acted as a political medium.

Shirky talks about what we can do to help promote worthy causes by paying attention to and volunteering remotely for the regions of the world you care about most. Social media is another distributer of messages and information. It's almost global and has the power to create accountability.

In the same breath it worth watching Wadah Khanfar, the head of Al Jazeera, who shares a profoundly optimistic view of what's happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond - at this powerful moment when people realised they could step out of their houses and ask for change and the impact his reporters had on being present and distributing their news story to the rest of the world.

advertising buzzword bingo

2011-04-15T16:16:00.001+10:00

Because saying them isn't fun enough.

storytelling at the heart of what we do

2011-04-07T22:23:00.000+10:00

The Stories We Construct

View more presentations from Stephen Anderson

Great presentation. A nice reminder of the power of storytelling and understanding how these stories are translated and the value they bring when experienced.

going to nepal

2011-03-26T16:45:00.002+11:00

My new gym membership - Tokyo

I've been rather productive recently. Finally bought a bike. Got a decent coffee machine and took a photography course. More importantly I signed myself up for a half marathon and bought my flights to Nepal.

That's right. I'm going to trek Everest. Alone...

UPDATE: My best friend from Uni, Steph Reynard decided to come on this journey with me.

No, of course, I will not summit, aside from only recently pealing myself out of a perpetual state of sofa comatose through yoga revival and "yogging with a silent g" - I am also fearful that my distinct lack of climbing experience will cause hazard to my health and those who have to put up with me.

Nike Frees make your feet feel lighter!

Still, I have 8 weeks to get damn fit. My commute to work is now a ride on a sexy Tokyo bicycle. Do you know that big hill getting out of Bondi? That's where my quads cry.

I've kitted myself out with my favourite client's gear and joined Nike + to track my rather amateur runs along the coastline. I've even shared these on my Facebook page so that I can publicly humiliate myself in to motivation.

My diet is still missing meat but I have also cast out the desserts and chocolates that have frequented my plates. Time for project health kick. I need all the nutritional help I can get.

Very importantly I am reading, thanks to the advice of my favourite friend Fern, "Born to Run" By Christopher McDougall.

So far an addictive and incredible read. It makes me want to run and love it at the same time. Did you know that humans can outrun almost every other animal on the planet? Neither did I. Apparently its what humans do best. Which is reassuring, as at the moment, I totally suck at it.

Anyway. I'll share my latest feats and escapades as I head towards my next adventure... Everest... Wish me luck!

my shamanic encounter

2011-03-26T15:47:00.001+11:00

In January this year I went to a Thai yoga retreat where essentially you fast, do yoga and meditate for 10 days. Now I do have my 'alternative' tendencies, and while ever keen to keep feet securely on the ground, I also recognise the amazing rewards you can get out of a bit of health, exercise and peace of mind. Namely, in my case 6 kilos, toe-touching and the ability to be surprisingly zen in the company of mi Venezuelan madre (who came with me) for a whole month.

While I was there I met some pretty interesting folk. Documentary producers, chefs, teachers, events folk, advertising peeps and peace-n-loving hippies. It was such a mix bag. One minute you're talking about the weather in the UK, the next you're taking a deep dive in to the world of Quantum Physics.

On day 7 of my fast, some 4 kilos down and reaching that point where the head rushes were intensifying and my yoga was at a stage where I could nearly kiss my knee without bending it - I decided to investigate some of the other abstract "healings" that were taking place at The Sanctuary.

That is when I met Vinod, a Shaman from the UK, who owned a gorgeous wooden hut in the mountains overlooking the ocean. My consultation was to begin with a conversation about me. Why am I hear? Well I guess I'm just curious. What are you looking to achieve? Insight perhaps (although secretly I may have wanted to experience one of those far-out Shamanic rituals which included vomiting and hallucinations that Bruce Parry had in his BBC series, Tribes). What do you know about Shamans? They worship the earth. And so on... Until it was my turn...

What do Shaman's believe? There's no such thing as right or wrong. No polarised opposites like heaven and hell. What rules do they follow? The "natural laws" of the universe. That there are "layers" of other-worlds that they can connect with in their minds, like new dimensions... This is interesting I thought, so what can I do? You can find you're power animal, he said. Cool...

And so Vinod proceeded to begin the ritual. My job was easy. Lie down, breathe, relax and follow his lead while he played drums, chanted, burnt woody incense and asked me to "let go". The process was simple, in a state of relaxation I would go in to "other dimension" by visualising a beautiful place, falling down a hole and then coming out the other end where, potentially, I'd hang out with some animals until I found my "power" one... OK I'm losing you aren't I?

While ceremonious (and arguably sacred), the experience was more an exercise in imagination. Which is precisely the point. Vinod later explained that the Shamans believe you connect using the right-side of your brains to these "other dimensions". That these imaginings and visualisations are where you can attain insight. And he's right. Like how, apparently, Nobel prize winner Francis Crick discovered the structure for DNA while high on LSD. Not that I would advocate trying it yourself. I never have. But then again I've never discovered double helix molecular structures either...

Now I'm ever skeptical although equally open to new experiences and ancient rituals, they fascinate me, but regardless of whether Shamanism is a farce or not - the creative exercise is what keeps human-beings alive and progressing; finding solutions to problems and propelling us forwards through the manifestation of ideas.

And as for my Shamanic ritual, perhaps I did attain a bit of insight, I discovered that you should not have one in the jungle without wearing insect repellent and that my Shamanic Power animal is an Elephant...

and a Monkey....

Hey, no one said you can't have more than one ;)

what's your totem?

2011-03-23T09:45:00.004+11:00

Knut at Berlin Zoo January 2011

It might seem rather childish this bizarre infatuation I have with Polar Bears. Perhaps it is. I wrote stories about them from the age of 4 or 5 and collected them until I was a teenager (and it quickly became uncool).

This year it was a dream come true for me to see a Polar Bear up close at Berlin Zoo. I must've taken 50 photographs and stood there staring in the freezing cold, shaking off a flu, admiring the magnificent beasts. I think they're awesome, although I cannot deny, there was a part of me that felt a little sad to see these Polar Bears in the desperate place they were in. At a zoo. Another attraction to entertain us and give us insight in to the lives of beasts that in the wild would walk over 5 miles per day. Of course in Knut's case he was saved and the reality is that human intervention is needed to help prevent animal species that are depleting.

Knut, whether he liked it or not, did a great job of bringing attention to a rapidly dwindling species. The hype perhaps didn't do him many favours but may be he helped raise awareness not just for Polar Bears but animals even closer to extinction.

Knut bottom right

He looks pretty sad doesn't he? When we observed Knut and the bears it appeared that he was being bullied in to hiding behind rocks out of their sight. I've since learned there was a mauling and little love from his mother who had rejected him at birth. It certainly wasn't the romantic picture I had in mind.

Sadly, this week Knut died unexpectedly at the age of four (19 March 2011). It appeared he had a fit of some sort before falling in the pool around his enclosure. A sad tale but a reminder of the precious lives these bears lead. There are only 20-25,000 polar bears living in the wild, while the species is not currently endangered, its future is far from certain and if current warming trends continue unabated, scientists believe that polar bears will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century.

Somehow this latest news gave me the boost I needed to get off my ass and do something, hence I've signed myself up for the Sydney half marathon to raise funds for WWF. Given I have cartilage missing from my right knee (and other ailments such as a curved spine, fused vertebrae and a twice fractured coccyx) this is a brave task for me and more specifically my body. And by publicly announcing it - there's no pulling out now... I'm also toying with an idea to trek Everest in Nepal...

WWF are a leader in Polar Bear (and animal) conservation, and unlike me they don't have favourites, why not check out their site to learn more?

social media me

2011-03-21T17:50:00.002+11:00

Another one to throw in the mix (there are plenty better one's out there but I'm all for sharing). Somewhat simplified.

Bigger version there.

UNICEF: Scan & Help

2011-03-09T15:58:00.001+11:00

If a person in a developing country could reach out to you directly and ask for your help, wouldn’t you give it to them? That’s the premise behind SCAN AND HELP, a display advertising campaign that uses Mobile Tags to connect people in the first world with people in developing countries.

Scanning the tag will launch an augmented reality application that will let users explore the environment of the person on the poster (who may be a relief worker or aid recipient).
via: PSFK

Unicef went a step further by also integrating deals with sponsors/partner discounts offering discounts at retailers in catalogues (using mobile tagging) and as part of the checkout process, users would be able to donate the money they saved to a campaign or in store where they would have the option to donate then or at checkout. Tags would be integrated in to the retailer’s POS system so the cashier could scan the Mobile Tag and log the donation as easily as scanning a traditional barcode.

I've often thought this a sweet spot for charity organisations, we know people spend to feel good, we also know that altruism makes you feel good too, lets connect those experiences.

holy crap we're creating a democracy

2011-03-07T11:53:00.002+11:00

Social media. Naughty countries get exposed. Naughty brands do too. Nothing new except its going to get bigger, increasingly adopted and with larger reach and more technology - people increasingly will own your brand.

UPDATE: Interesting article on the correlation of internet access and democracy

great digital goodness

2011-02-28T15:14:00.000+11:00

Everyday we continually witness the evolution of awesome technology enabled communication. Sometimes I struggle to keep up. Which is why I've been lazy and given you a brief installment :)

Google’s Christchurch Person Finder
Technology is coming to the aid of those affected by last night's earthquake in Christchurch. Within hours of the devastating 6.3-magnitude quake, Google's "emergency response team" had set up a simple web tool to help people request and post information about missing friends and relatives. The person finder, embedded below, already has 4300 records of both missing people and those who are letting their terrified relatives know that they're safe.

Set up by New Zealand's Earthquake Commission, the simple website lets users tweet to #christchurch, or #eqnz or #ChristchurchQuake to give information about people who are trapped or where damaged buildings and even payphones are located. The site also lists reports as they come in from residents including live pictures and where working ATMs can still be found.

Oscars streamed live, for a small fee of course.
Just thought it topical to share the latest innovation from the Oscars (award show starting in one hour) check out the latest socialisation of traditional media via their live streaming of the awards ceremony, behind the scenes, twitter feeds and other bells and whistles.

HOME a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand: Something for you to watch tonight

HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being. When it comes to environmental policies such as climate change legislation, land conservation, or bans on oil drilling, a grasp of the science and economics behind the issues might seem essential. But polls show that people tend to base their views on ‘gut’ feelings and personal philosophies. As we know in advertising, targeting the heart, therefore, might sway minds when numbers can't.

HOME is a carbon offset movie streaming free on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

Kinect childrens imagination (like what I did there?)
Chris O’Shea is a Kinect Hack. He’s brought the imagination of children to life through storytelling, performance and technology in a bid to encourage children to get excited about storytelling.

Little Magic Stories from Chris O'Shea on Vimeo.

Very cute demonstration of creative utility.

being awol

2011-01-25T14:01:00.000+11:00

Its been a while since I've updated my blog. A part of me feels it warrants explanation. I'm on holiday. A long one. Its involved lots of family, old friends and some new adventures to places such as Berlin and Bangkok. There have been yoga postures, herbal teas, mulled wine and real ale. Three novels - so far. One full note book. Over 500 photographs. Lousy internet access and zero TV. Putting on a Christmas kilo. Losing 5. A dry January. Seeing real life Polar Bears (!!!). Playing in snow. Walks in Croyde and parties in London and Berlin. So a welcome break one would argue (which I am very unashamed of). My mind talks in coherant sentences - for a change - sometimes even in Thai and I am looking forward to getting myself back and sharing some of my learnings along the way.

Meanwhile... time for a swim.

actions speak louder than words

2010-12-03T13:11:00.003+11:00

I have always strived to live by this adage. Its one thing to say something and its quite another thing to live your life by it. I could tell you what I’m good at but if nothing in my life demonstrates it – I’d be tripping on empty words. And so philosophically speaking, while we’re ever keen (especially it seems in the world of advertising) to blow our trumpets and shout the loudest, know that people will expect the same promises reflected in your behaviour.

via Edward Boches Presentation on Making Digital Work

I read an article recently which asked the question of whether the way we tackle a brand’s position should evolve in the same way that the landscape has. Taking in to account the notion of the purchase funnel turning upside down, with loyal customers being more important than prospects and the affects of social media where a brand talking about itself won’t be able to have a credible engagement with a community because essentially its consumers who own the media.

via Edward Boches Presentation on Making Digital Work

What does this mean for positioning? David A. Aaker defines Positioning as “…part of the brand identity and value proposition that is to be actively communicated to the target audience and that demonstrates an advantage over competing brands.”

Building strong brands is hard these days; price competition (directly affecting the motivation to build brands), proliferation of competitors reducing specifically the positioning options available, media fragmentation plus internal pressures such as organisational bias against innovation and pressures to invest elsewhere mean that there are growing challenges in ensuring your brand is preferred.

Well with new, vigorous competition coming from various sources and even those entering different categories through brand extension strategies (such as Weight Watchers food or Dove Shampoo), new product development (think Coke providing alternatives to carbonated drinks such as bottled water and juice) and innovation, there are fewer holes in the market to exploit. These competitors not only contribute to price pressures and brand complexity, but also make it harder for brands to hold their position.

Some interesting points are made about the idea of key benefit “As products become less distinctive, benefits are more likely to reside in the brand experience than in product performance or image characteristics. Differentiation now is as likely to lie in ‘our customer service rocks’, ‘we have great apps’ or ‘we support the same causes you do’ as in better, faster or cheaper.” While I doubt product differentiation is going to lose importance and by virtue of Moore’s Law statistically impossible as we continue to innovate and I like to think, co-create culture (doesn’t that sound wanky?!) – the brand needs to behave in a way that articulates what it stands for. As Carol argues; "new strategic tools are needed to helping a brand understand how to connect with customers at an individual, human level."

To me this is the brands vision/ambition, the brands “why” we connect with our customers, its noble purpose. Behaviourally this goes beyond a one-way message, it is the expectation that brands ‘walk the talk' and position themsleves in a place that connects with the customers not just by what they say, but also what they do.

via Edward Boches Presentation on Making Digital Work

One of the first vital lessons I learned in advertising is that everything communicates and as we all know, what we say is only 10% of what we communicate. Hence, actions do speak louder than words.

a photographer's life

2010-11-24T11:52:00.007+11:00

I spent an hour or so wondering around an exhibition at the MCA Sydney the other day. While I'm a fan of photography, I must admit I was pretty surprised by how moving Annie Leibovitz's work is.

Annie doesn't make a distinction between her work and her life. Her photography is her life and while she's created many a famous creations featuring famous celebrities on front pages (such as Demi Moore on Vanity Fair), politicians and royalty; she also captured some of the most celebrated and devastating moments in life; life and death.

Famously on December 8, 1980, Leibovitz had a photo shoot with John Lennon for Rolling Stone, promising him he would make the cover. After she had initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone, which is what Rolling Stone wanted, Lennon insisted that both he and Yoko Ono be on the cover. Leibovitz re-created something like the kissing scene from the Double Fantasy album cover, a picture that she loved. John removed his clothes and curled up next to Yoko.

Leibovitz recalls, "What is interesting is she said she'd take her top off and I said, 'Leave everything on' — not really preconceiving the picture at all. Then he curled up next to her and it was very, very strong. You couldn't help but feel that she was cold and he looked like he was clinging on to her. I think it was amazing to look at the first Polaroid and they were both very excited. John said, 'You've captured our relationship exactly. Promise me it'll be on the cover.' I looked him in the eye and we shook on it."

Leibovitz was the last person to professionally photograph Lennon - he was shot and killed five hours later.

This exhibition really takes you on the fabulous photographic journey that Annie has had - which knows no barriers - naked so to speak. You meet her professional work, her family and her best friend 'companion' Susan Suntag (below) and learn that her work means much more than what meets the eye.

'twiggy' - when dreams & art combine.

2010-11-18T11:21:00.007+11:00

Some things and people blow my mind in this world and I feel blessed to have the pleasure in meeting them, their work and inspiration. Whether they create, write, talk or think - I have such admiration for those who can articulate an idea and see it through to fruition no matter how bold or controversial with the adage 'If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it' (Einstein).

Meghan Byrne, known as Twiggy is one of those people. She's a Sydney based artist who creates a breadth of wonderful dreamlike images, using old traditional oil/acrylic painting techniques to create interesting colourful canvases. She doesn't conform and yet has such attention to detail and quality (I know for a fact that she makes her own canvases and sources the best and most premium quality oil paints for example) that shows how much respect she has for art and her work. The effect is one that reminds you to dream. To question. To open up somehow.

So I invested in a piece I couldn't resist.

Here are some other beauties.

bloom's taxonomy

2010-11-10T15:10:00.003+11:00

Bloom's Taxonomy is a classification of learning objectives within education. The theory is based on the following "levels". Its an interesting concept if you consider how you may wish to communicate something based on what the expectation of response is.

Remember - Recalling the information

Understand - Explain the ideas and/or concepts

Apply - Using the newly acquired knowledge in another familiar situation

Analyse - Comparing and differentiating between constituent parts.

Evaluate - Justifying a decision or course of action

Create - Generating new new ways of creating products, ideas or ways of viewing things

Or better yet, here it is according to Pirates of the Caribbean:

being a princess

2010-11-09T16:48:00.005+11:00

"Such a princess" - a term we throw around in admiration and abhorrence - but what does it actually mean?

Well, I thought I'd take the liberty to define, in my mind, what equates to "princess-ness". A concept sometimes easily misconstrued to having associations with regal and blue blood qualities. I can understand the confusion and hence, why I've broken the term "Such a princess" in to 3 distinct pillars.

1. Spoiled & over indulged.

I'm talking ponies, cake, fairies, shopping chauffeurs and champaign. This goes well beyond wanting nice things. This is expecting that if I don't get a Tiffany bracelet/Gucci dress/a puppy for my birthday - I will not forgive you. Ever. Basically the provision of excessive material gifts.

Some great examples (thanks to tips from fellow co-workers): Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Mariah Carey.

2. Self-righteous indignation.

Essentially being filled with or showing conviction of being morally superior, or more righteous than others, smugly virtuous. "Everyone listen to me" syndrome.

Perhaps in line with: Bono, Naomi Campbell or Madonna (for the record I have nothing against these talented celebrities, except perhaps that they're talented).

3. Over obsession with beauty & general vanity.

This is where it goes as far as plastic surgery. Or bags of make up, nail varnish, pamper kits. Mirrors everywhere even transported with you in your designer handbag. Fake tan. Air brushed photographs. Looking exceptional - all of the time. Imagine going for runs with make up on.

Of all the elements that create your princess, this is the hardest to maintain, I mean who can look really, really, really good looking all of the time?! Not to mention expense. Its not cheap to look so hot... without aging, putting on weight, bags under the eyes, frizzy hair... etc. Phew!

And so here you have the facets to your oh so typical modern day princess. If you meet someone, who ticks all the boxes, call them "such a princess" before giving them a great big hug.

That concludes my very intellectually stimulating cultural assessment. With that I will leave you with my favourite epitome of your perfect princess.

Next up: being a hipster.

IKEA's charming cook book

2010-11-04T12:30:00.006+11:00

Very cool idea. Owning the media that demonstrates the message. In a very stunning act of brand communication Swedish furniture giant created a very slick cook book called 'Hembakat Ar Bast' - translating to 'Homemade is Best'.

A gorgeous collaboration which has taken a step away from the heavily styled food shots (you know the one's that your food never ends up looking like) to a design approach, featuring stunning, minimalistic photography where the ingredients and finished products become art pieces themselves. It gives you an appreciation of process. Here are the pieces, bring them together, there is the remarkable result. Much like building a chest of drawers.

Pretty original. Making me hungry.

Mandelmusslor (almond shells) - Ingredients

Mandelmusslor (almond shells)

Fina Kanelbullar (cinnamon buns) - ingredients

Fina Kanelbullar (cinnamon buns)

Schwarzaldtarta (black forest cake) - ingredients

Schwarzaldtarta (black forest cake)

being a misfit

2010-11-01T09:43:00.005+11:00

I have just finished reading a great book called "Thinque Funky" by a funkadelic Swede named Anders Sorman-Nilsson, a futurist, a trend spotter and inspiring speaker. His book asks us to look and prepare for the future, with an understanding of what is needed to progress to the next chapter. The world of web 3.0, digilogue technology, androgynous culture and creative commons.

At the TEDx talk on Friday, Anders presented his perspective on the minds we need to evangelise this movement; the misfits. The misfits who are willing to push new thinking, who drive positive change, forward-looking innovation, and solve problems creatively, and that without them your organisation really cannot compete.

Obviously as a misfit myself, I am 100% on board, but despite my bias I welcome you to take a look for yourself at his blog and appreciate the below ;)

brand insights: just an idea

2010-10-31T21:27:00.004+11:00

What happens when you overlay SWOT analysis with an insights chart (for want of a better name)? Something I was doodling at the cafe as I tucked in to my brunch on a lazy Sunday morning. Probably not what you should be considering over a sunny weekend, but I felt the theory warranted articulation and sharing.

Insights are obviously beyond facts or info, they are the "Sparks in the dark", "Eureka's" or "Flashes of genius" and the beauty is that when applied correctly, creating alliances across Company, Consumer, Culture and Category, you get a big fat bottom line to thank you for it.

One of the things I like about this approach is the opportunity to treat your company and your consumers as an Internal influence. Increasingly we are appreciating that consumers are your brand stakeholders as essentially a brand exists in the mind of its audience - a brand is the views, attitudes and opinions that individuals have about a company or product - so it important to recognise how a company and its customers converge. Never before has the relationship between customers and brands been so tangible.

Culture gives way for so many fabulous opportunities. We live in such a fragmented time amongst niche micro cultures, fads, fascinations, multi-cultures, technologies, movements in all directions. There's ample opportunity to pinpoint inspiring and emerging expressions and values that could be leveraged far enough to redefine a brands category (great example is the recent Tontine pillows campaign)

Lastly but not least there's Category. Perhaps wrongly or rightly associated with "Threats". You could argue that Category segmentation provides more positive opportunity but I quite like looking out for "threats". It find the opposites. And while we can better understand the 'why' behind a divers set of brands/products existing in a category, looking out for "threats" broadens the scope beyond what's on your doorstep to what may be round the corner on the other street. Its a great way of looking out for substitutes and gaps in the market while ever aware of the competition to work on ensuring your market difference and advantage.

Oh dear, I feel like a royal nerd. I should probably get out more... while I work on that, I hope the above was useful ;)

why we choose?

2010-10-06T17:07:00.007+11:00

Dan Ariely the author of Predictably Irrational uses interesting optical illusions to demonstrate our thought process (and decision making). Our intuition fools us in to thinking things in a certain way. Like an optical illusion even when we know what the right answer is we still don’t see it.

Which is longer?
(They're both the same)

The idea of illusions is that our senses feed us information however it is not a true reflection of reality. Information is provided to us courtesy of our brain, which has a set of rules for dealing with situations so that what we see is actually very different from reality in specific, repeatable, predictable ways.

The same thing applies to consumer behavior. For example, when something costs more and people expect it to be better, they actually end up seeing and experiencing it as being better. One of my favourite (and equally frustrating) product examples of this is Tiffany. Oh the weakness. But why? Well a brand is considered premium when we believe it is worth the price. And to feel that good with a shining Tiffany bracelet on is oh so worth it. Remember 'perceived quality' is one of the key brand associations that has proven to drive financial performance.

It’s like an illusion, the way that we process the information is not a function of what is out there, it’s a function of what is happening in our brain. Most of our understanding of the world comes from our brain not from our senses. We think we see with our eyes but much of what we see is happening within our brain even the way we feel about it.

Ariely uses a great example; when you lie on your back and look at the sky, you believe you’re seeing blue however the reality is that only a small part of your eye can detect that colour. If you extend your arm out in front of your face and hold your hand in a fist, that’s the only portion of your eye that can detect blue. The rest of your eye isn’t supposed to see blue. We don’t see blue because of our eyes, we see it in spite of our eyes. It’s our brain that is doing all the work to help us detect blue. The same thing happens when we process other information: Price, quality, etc. In all those cases, it is our brain that drives our expectations and determines much of our final experience.

Ariely believe that we have two types of rules for our behavior. One type concerns market norms which involve how much you pay for things, how much people charge you and so on (a banking rate for example). The other type is social exchanges that have to do with fairness and warm fuzzy feelings (the 'why', the connectiveness we feel, the empowerment etc). Both of these relationships are perfectly reasonable and have advantages and disadvantages. Marketers need to understand the particular advantages and disadvantages that come with both of these relationships and perhaps more importantly the failure that can occur when the relationship is in the middle and not compelling enough in either direction.

happiness shouldn't cost the earth

2010-09-19T10:39:00.008+10:00

I really like this TED talk.

There are many methods that exist today whereby we rely on the old systems which served a great purpose back in the day, but transposed in to the world we live in right now, may not be the most efficient way about it.

Nic Marks asks us to question a country's measure of success, the definition we rely on is a financial one, the GDP. But production doesn't relate to happiness and that is what really matters to people, in fact, as Simon Kuznets said in the 1930's "a nations welfare can scarcely be inferred from their national income" and so based on the scarced resource, the planet, what system is an effective one for measuring people's well-being whilst also considering that production isn't necessarily sustainable?

He believes the Happiness Index.

Asked in order of preference what was most important to a survey of people (importance ratings worldwide):

Happiness
Love
Health
Wealth

As you can see the first three are very close to one another, wealth on the other hand important, but not ranking so highly. So why is it we hear daily media updates on the stock exchange, the exchange rates, the performance of gold and yet we don't learn of a country's energy use? How close we are to achieving our carbon emission targets? As Marks puts it - our "collective goals"?

Marks also eludes to some truths in terms of what does make people happy:

Connections - social relationships are the most important cornerstones of your life. Connectivity will also allow us to work together to achieve something good and if something does go wrong (peak oil for example), its these communities that will really make a difference to how we adjust and survive it.
Be active - do things, go outside, listen to music. Being stagnant doesn't make us happy.
Take notice - mindfulness is very strong for our well-being, cognitive therapy talks to how being in the moment and aware of your surroundings will help you feel good.
Keep learning - being ever curious, always learning throughout your lifetime will keep you happier longer.
Give - altruism and compassion are all hardwired to the reward mechanism in our brains, this something I am very much interested in (Changing the perceptions of giving)

And so bringing this to a grassroots level, whilst here we can question a country's measurement of its success (set in a time when production was paramount to the country's development), I feel there is another big question to ask - what is the correct measurement of the success of ourselves?

What does The Wire have in common with advertising?

2010-09-13T14:30:00.009+10:00

I was watching The Wire (Season 3) last night when an interesting point was flagged. Season 3 is all about change, it deals with how the drug game has to evolve as distribution channels ("The Projects") are demolished, the importance of product and efficient policing to keep to a commitment on crime numbers. Its all very political and man do I love it.

The brutality at Police Headquarters continues as Rawls and Commissioner Burrell terrorise Department Commanders over their failure to reign in the city's crime stats. In one scene in particular, one of the Baltimore's Police Sergeants gets verbally torn apart by Major Rawls after allowing his department to treat a number of thefts in a small locale with separate teams, shifting responsibility by fragmented cases, because apparently some thefts were corporate premises rather than retail outlets and individual homes albeit all on the same street resulting in poor efficiency and one really narked Commissioner.

I thought this a great metaphor for how advertising is often treated. A lot of agencies will separate by media such as TV, OOH/Print and Digital etc. which makes a lot of sense from a media booking standpoint but the irony being that at least from a strategic messaging standpoint, they all play a role in interweaving the overall campaign objective i.e. we're all working the same street.

Now I’m no expert in this, but a part of me feels that given the proliferation of media which moves away from static to interactive, we should all understand how each channel can be optimised and manage it collectively rather than in silo sharing learnings along the way. That means everything, from media, creative and production etc. or risk getting our asses whipped by the likes of Major Rawls in the not so distant future.

digital: collective surplus for good?

2010-07-29T16:03:00.005+10:00

Having a conversation with an old colleague of mine Zoe Scaman about the idea of digital changing our cognitive process (for the worst) she introduced me to a recent article where suggested that "the case that technology increases our intelligence is at least as plausible as the gloomy idea that it is changing our brains for the worse, there are real downsides to the instant availability of torrents of information. The danger comes not from the information itself, or from how it could rewire our brains, but from the way we think about our own knowledge and abilities".

Social Media Theorist, Clay Shirky interestingly points out that new technologies enable a loose collaboration which takes advantage of “spare” brainpower enabled by the internet, which can change the way society works. In fact he believes for every way the Internet gives us to waste time, there is a way to increase the scope and diversity of our knowledge and to work collectively on problems not just on your doorstep or in your country but across the world - he uses the Ushahidi information collecting open source platform as an example of this.

And so why would someone want to share their surplus brain power? What are our intrinsic motivations? Clay explains that social constraints can create a culture that is more generous than a contractual one. Economic motivations may not align with our intrinsic motivations. The internet gives us the freedom to experiment which means the freedom to experiment with anything. It enables us to continue to consume, because that's what humans like doing and have been doing for a while but what it also allows us to do is create and share - two intrinsic motivations that are now not only enabled, but also, empowered in terms of breadth, scope and arguably time. So perhaps the interwebs are not bad after all.

philosophical about the interwebs

2010-07-16T22:24:00.010+10:00

I realised today that I have been blogging in some shape or form for 12 years now (obviously not always under jectaspecta) and whilst time has passed me by, dial up has evolved to broadband, delayed to instant and private to public - I have grown up, to some extent and now in retrospect query my relationship with what has almost converged to become my virtual butler.

Nicholas Carr is a writer who commentates on how Information Technology is integrated in to our lives as a standardised practice. More recently he has been examining the cognitive and cultural consequences the internet has been having on our minds.

"I'm not thinking the way I used to think," Carr tells us. "I feel it most strongly when I'm reading." He relates how he gets fidgety with a long text. Like others, he suspects that the Internet has destroyed his ability to read deeply. "My brain," he writes, "wasn't just drifting. It was hungry. It was demanding to be fed the way the Net fed it."

The history of reading is an interesting one. Words were once written without spaces and punctuation, they required a lot of attention to understand. Books were read aloud and shared with those who could not read (to their amazement). Readers slowly evolved to become accustomed to ignoring the sounds around them (going against our nature of alertness) and thus the deep thinker was born with cognitive ability to concentrate on the written word. Following the advent of the printing press, in a virtuous feedback loop, the public became more literate as more books circulated. How our minds adapt. Note: I bet you won't read all of this.

Carr believes that encouraged by the frenetic, fragmented, hyperlinked web, our skills in deep thought are now diminishing. We are becoming easily distracted, pay less attention to books or articles for sustained length and our minds have become data processing machines.

Carr's assertions have increasingly become a fact of accepted knowledge: that our addiction to the web and computers is affecting the way we think. That is, our capability for "deep thinking", is limited without the time to process information and draw our own conclusions.

Scarily, this concept has been shown to have significant foundations amongst academic performance in schools, studies reveal that home computers have "modest but statistically significant negative impacts" on academic performance as measured by math and reading test scores. In addition: "The introduction of high-speed internet service is similarly associated with significantly lower math and reading test scores in the middle grades." Worse yet, "the introduction of broadband internet is associated with widening racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps." Attempts to close the "digital divide" by, for example, subsidizing PC purchases may actually end up widening the divide between rich and poor in academic performance. And we thought computers promoted development.

Few concepts have spread as rapidly as the ‘digital divide’ and with it, the hope of using modern IT to promote development. Groups from the United Nations to local governments, and private companies have seized upon the hope that the use of IT could enable even the poorest of developing nations to “leapfrog” their problems of development such as poverty, illiteracy, disease, unemployment, hunger, corruption, and social inequalities so as to move rapidly into the modern Information Age.

We know little about the factors that make for effectiveness or ineffectiveness of grassroots IT projects in developing nations. Thus, critics can point out that the cost of creating a working Internet connection in a developing nation is the same as that of providing immunization against six fatal childhood diseases to thousands of children. Others have argued that the introduction of ICT’s into communities otherwise unchanged will merely heighten existing inequalities. Do we really know?

Is knowledge and wisdom based on things like reason, experience, perception? Or is it now a commodity, or data, that can be applied for a given situation. Has it become devoid of humanity? Of deeper processing? Have we become lazy because there is a machine that can offer an answer quicker than we can ask it? Does that knowledge become less significant because of its accessibility and transparency?

Not only is it just the way that we garner information that has changed but also what we do with it. Increasingly we syndicate this data via social networks: "web-driven speaking tools that reduce our own communication to data piles, stacked with quick, surface-level proclamations".

And while we may be sociable online, the social aspect of those networks is only distinguishable by the ability to connect people to one another in the strictest internet sense - not physically scarcely audibly, but almost in abstract. In the end, as we place our focus in to the screen, we are facing only what we've directed these machines to do - that is, so to speak, we are facing ourselves.

Forgive what may come across as a geek staring at the stars but it is, essentially, the virtual manifestation of our intentions. Its a perpetual narcissistic feedback loop of enclosed interactivity. Its the social network of our online persona, controlled by our offline selves communicated via a small piece of equipment shining a rectangle of ironic interaction. Confused? I think I am too. This requires deep thought.

Simply, we are drawn to an interface by its proximity and emptiness that it begs us to fill. Its the blank canvas that allows for an aggregation of content which gives us a unique opportunity to make it our own, our individualistic way. Our fingers encounter something tactile (sometimes greasy) but in reality the image is always light years away at a unique distance that can only be described as unbridgeable by the body.

What we are communicating is a mirror of ourselves in a highly pix-elated form, existing only as far away as the fingertip to keypad and yet equally, not anywhere at all.

Perhaps we are in danger of becoming simply the same surface-level information that we have become slowly programmed to gather.

Has IT made us smarter and less wiser? Should we change the way we gather information or the way we communicate it?

Is it time to get an iPad?

australian digital landscape

2010-05-21T05:27:00.004+10:00

Recently on my visit to meet the remainder of my team in San Fransisco, I presented an update on the digital landscape in Australia. It was a brilliant exercise and a great opportunity for everyone to share their thoughts, qualms and questions on the subject.

I've boiled it down a little for the purposes of my blog.

Australian Digital Landscape

View more presentations from Jessica Brookes.

You have a voice here - feel free to use it. Even if you just want to tell me it sucks and digital smells.

Exit Through the Gift Shop & Mr Brainwash (MBW)

2010-05-15T01:26:00.011+10:00

I love the MBW concept which Banksy brings to life in his documentary "Exit Through The Gift Shop". A movie about street art... or is it? This movie makes you think a lot and without giving too much away (go watch it). We see a character, Mr. Brainwash, whose real name is Thierry Guetta, an eccentric French-born ex-pat living in L.A. become a famous artist over night.

Guetta had been attempting to make a documentary about street art when he met Banksy. The outrageous plot of the film is that Banksy was so horrified by Guetta's potential movie - there's even an over-edited, shamelessly shocking "first cut" of the movie shown - and so fascinated with Guetta, that he turned the cameras on him, only to be completely blindsided when Guetta rips off his style launching a huge exhibition in L.A via a factory style, churn and burn rips offs none of which is are created by himself. That's what the movie says anyway.

But what really happened when Banksy encountered the filmmaker? Did he convince Guetta to pose as a budding graffiti artist wannabe so he and Fairey (Obey) could "direct" him in real life - manufacturing a brand new persona that both celebrates and criticizes the over-commercialisation of street art (and gives them a persona to sell their own art under in the process?)

The movie brings to life all the flaws in modern society beyond what's articulated on a canvas through the intangible demonstration.

Branding can influence what we think and also what we believe is the experience. We know that people are so influenced by hype that they'll believe food tastes better, cigarettes smoke better and art IS better (worth hundreds and thousands in fact).

So are we merely sheep? Who's the biggest joke here? Is it art? Is it society? Is it Banksy/Obey? Is it MBW? If art is a visual representation of where we are today - what does this say about the world we live in? I think Mr. Brainwash nails it sadly... and I hope Banksy and Fairey do something damn good with the money.

Poor rich people

2010-04-26T03:43:00.025+10:00

This is a "communications idea" that came about recently which I felt compelled to research a little further.

I look to address the different perceptions and behaviour associated with giving and spending. It interests me because both consequentially have a similar emotional response and yet are communicated and perceived so differently.

I think its important to exercise a fresh perspective, to have a lateral approach and so whilst a part of me thinks this may just be one of those exercises to help me hone this - quite selfishly - it'd be great if it could spark some inspiration elsewhere.

I’m hoping an awesome agency/charity will be interested in bringing it to life, but I could be dreaming. I would obviously be happy for someone to take it and make it their own so long as it were true to the objective (actually, I'd be incredibly flattered!)

I'm not precious about it whatsoever; so please look for holes in it and bring it to my attention - its all part of the process.

I recommend looking at it big screen.

Poor Rich People - Changing the perceptions of giving

View more presentations from jectaspecta.

Augmented Flashmob in Amsterdam

2010-04-25T22:25:00.004+10:00

Amsterdam residents got together at Dam Square yesterday for the first ever augmented reality flashmob. Darth Vader, The Beatles, Superman and various other awesome characters were in attendance.

Love the concept but its just so bizarre to see it in practice. There's no real interaction between the attendees as they're all engrossed with the interfaces of their mobiles.

This dude summed it up nicely ;)

How to start a movement

2010-04-24T11:21:00.005+10:00

Here are some learnings from Derek Silvers TED Talk:

A leader needs the guts to stand out and be ridiculed
If you’re the lone nut who starts a movement, who goes out there alone, nurture your first few followers as equals – its about the movement not about you
The first follower is an underestimated form of leadership in itself - he shows the others how to follow
A movement must be public, new followers emulate the followers not the leader
Leadership is over glorified; the first follower transforms the lone nut in to a leader (if we’re all trying to be leaders it’d be ineffective)
As more people join in, its less risky, so those who were spectators now have no reason not to get involved - they won't stand out, they won't be ridiculed, they may be part of the in crowd if they hurry (Tipping point)

So, find your followers, embrace them as equals and have the courage to follow and show others. how to follow

The Future of Publishing

2010-04-18T16:31:00.004+10:00

A very clever way to demonstrate the change publishing is undergoing at the moment. It says embrace your customer as partners in the process, let them inspire creative ideas to guide and validate the content you produce, regardless of the packaging.

And seriously, lets all get over Gaga.

The Internet of Things

2010-04-13T21:45:00.006+10:00

"The Internet of Things" talks to how the internet has become a nervous system to our planet which can transform data and glean wisdom to create efficiencies in our every day lives.

I wonder what this means? Will humankind become lazy? Will this give us an opportunity to focus on different things such as innovation and creation?

(Thanks Conrad)

Demented Augmented

2010-04-12T19:10:00.004+10:00

"The latter half of the 20th century saw the built environment merged with media space, and architecture taking on new roles related to branding, image and consumerism. Augmented reality may recontextualise the functions of consumerism and architecture, and change in the way in which we operate within it.

A film produced for my final year Masters in Architecture, part of a larger project about the social and architectural consequences of new media and augmented reality."

- Keiichi Matsuda

IBM Colour Sensitive Interactive Billboard

2010-04-11T19:26:00.003+10:00

Color Sensitive Interactive Billboard from milton cj on Vimeo.
Interesting use of digital signage. One might even call it 'smart'...

(via Fubiz)

Look at the monkey

2010-04-05T10:51:00.003+10:00

This student film I stumbled upon on YouTube quite simply makes me happy. Cool track, funky animations and strangely addictive!

Props to:
Animation - Thomas Hicks
Music - Aaron Lampert

Wireless communications

2010-04-04T10:58:00.012+10:00

Its insane how rapid mobile is evolving. Mobile phones have fast become a phenomenon. They're no longer a medium for making voice calls but a platform to communicate in a ubiquitous world.

They're a tool that keeps you constantly in the present. They wake you up in the morning, facilitate gaming, stream movies, music, connect you to your proverbial social sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. Furthermore, mobile commerce is evolving from early innovation to mainstream adoption.

Current mobile trends:

- Mobile will soon be able to stream movie content (via iPhone)

- iPhone and Android are becoming a platform of choice for developers

- iPad follows closely behind (iPad is mostly attractive to iPhone users)

- 73% of Android users are guys

- 78% of iPod touch users are younger than 25

- iPod touch users love apps and download an average of 12 a month, spending 100 minutes a day using them (37% more apps than iPhone and Android users)

- When it comes to solely paid apps, iPhone users lead the pack (half of them buy at least one app a month)

MOCOM2020 is an open think tank about mobile media worldwide. Their goal is "to develop a visualized vision of the future of mobile media in the year 2020". They also track the latest buzz on mobile communications.

AdMob serve ads for more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications around the world (and stores and analyses the data from every ad request, impression, and click) and offer a snapshot of its data to provide insight into trends in the mobile ecosystem.

Recently they ran a survey to AdMob publishers to understand how they are thinking about cross-platform development. The key takeaway from the survey is that 47% of publishers said they plan on developing on more than one platform in the next 6 months. Among those who plan on developing for another platform, Android was the top choice (caveat Blackberry is not included in the survey).

'In the same vein' they published results of a survey from Appcelerator which measured mobile developer interest on different platforms and found a similar strong interest in Android:

I predict in terms of the breadth of offering and functionality, mobile phone users are going to see their pocket device become increasingly dynamic and depended on in the years to come.

The challenge for brands is how they will facilitate this, using relevant content to work within a world where the primacy of once-virtual communication is transforming as, increasingly, the virtual and the real combine.

What Is Missing? By Silvie Bolcher

2010-03-29T21:36:00.007+11:00

Sylvie Blocher is a famous French video artist. I went to her exhibition today at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art and I was totally blown away by the stunning visuals, insights and stories she presented. Her work What Is Missing? features people from Penrith unveiling their unspoken needs, hopes, dreams and desires, and was created while Sylvie Blocher was in residence in Penrith as part of the C3West Project. It talks to identity, culture, meaning in life and what people feel is missing in Australia.

Is the digital revolution sustainable?

2010-03-28T16:42:00.016+11:00

“There are potentially large and early gains from better utilization of known technologies, goods and services…” Ross Garnaut, The Garnaut Climate Change Review, Final Report.

So in my previous post, I made some predictions about the media landscape of the future, of how the convergence between the 'traditional' and the 'new' will progress through the proliferation of media (from an advertisers perspective).

As someone who cares about the environment, its important to realise what this 'digital revolution' will translate to if information and communication technology (ICT) doesn't evolve quick enough and companies continue to have an incumbent approach to sustainability. Hence this post, from a Greenie's perspective.

There's no denying that digital presents great opportunity to limit footprint but its important to remember that whilst there's an element of intangibility, digital data needs to be stored somewhere in the real world (aka 'Cloud').

Presuming the over reliance on non-renewable energy continues, what will be the impact within ICT?

Well at present only 25% of the world is connected to the internet. This is due to change, Africa is one of the latest continents to become 'connected' and adoption is going to continue to grow exponentially in the coming years.

There are more than one billion PCs and laptops currently in use, and that number is expected to grow to four billion by 2020 - that's an increase of 400% in ten years. A lot of people perceive the internet as a given or a right, but we must remind ourselves in the Western world- we still represent a minority.

ICT emissions are the same as the Aviation industry and yet for some reason ICT is largely ignored in the debate on emissions (even though its predicted to increase to 6% by 2020 - equal to the output of the Steal Industry). Is it because we can't see it? We certainly think about it when printing on paper or catching a plane. In one year it is estimated that an average server produces as much CO2 emissions as a family car... To put this in to perspective; Google is said to have somewhere between 700,000 to 1 million servers.

Lets look at 'emerging media' Google Search in more detail...

“The global search market continues to grow at an extraordinary rate, with both highly developed and emerging markets contributing to the strong growth worldwide,” said Jack Flanagan, comScore executive vice president. “Search is clearly becoming a more ubiquitous behavior among Internet users that drives navigation not only directly from search engines but also within sites and across networks. If you equate the advancement of search with the ability of humans to cultivate information, then the world is rapidly becoming a more knowledgeable ecosystem.”

What does that mean in terms of emissions? Well according to Google, one Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2. In 2009 there were 2.9 million searches conducted per minute by internet users over 15 according to commScore (an annual growth of over 40%) and Google accounted for 66.8% of these. Using my incredible mental arithmetic here: that's 1,937,200 Google searches per minute which according to them; equates to nearly three weeks worth of the average US households electricity consumption. That - all in one minute!

Source: Google blog

Within the advertising industry we've seen more content rich websites, 3D gaming, the advent of augmented realities and witnessed the progression of the ubur connected individual through social networks. This (much to my excitement) a demonstration of the breadth and evolution of digital communication and yet, often overlooked, consequently puts greater demands on data storage and energy use.

“Data centres are among the most energy-intensive facilities imaginable,” says Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Banks of servers storing billions of web pages require power and lots of it! This is obviously not limited to search but across the internet infrastructure, its massive, behemoth and growing really really really fast.

Needless to say digital technologies do much to also limit carbon output, digital content and tools enable us to do many things quicker, with better quality, using fewer resources. But we must also consider the increase in e-waste and electricity consumption created as a consequence to the digital revolution. The challenge is to improve the environmental sustainability of the digital technologies we use and to use technology effectively to reduce resource consumption at the same time.

I’ve sent the future and its… Digital?

2010-03-07T13:08:00.008+11:00

Increasingly we’re seeing communication channels expand and evolve in to more dynamic, interactive spaces. There’s been a gradual convergence between tradition and new media.

There are two fundamental changes I see:

People are increasingly less responsive to traditional broadcast advertising
Communication technology is developing at a very very fast rate

1. If an ad falls in the forest and no one notices, there is no ad.

In a traditional sense, you can define advertising as the science of creating and placing media that interrupts the consumer and prompts an action. Once upon a time this model was incredibly affective, ‘consumers’ had more time, less choice and so whoever shouted the loudest would win the argument. Not so anymore. Now we have less time and more choice, everyone is shouting at us at the top of their lungs why they’re the best and quite frankly it’s exasperating. I’m confused. I’m over-communicated. I’m cynical and having been exposed to traditional advertising all my life, I'm pretty savvy at avoiding it.

Seth agrees; "The interruption model is extremely effective when there's not an overflow of interruptions," Godin says. "But there's too much going on in our lives for us to enjoy being interrupted anymore."

That’s not to say that a new, innovative and incredible advert won’t grab attention but I think the challenge we have today is knowing how to shine amongst the clutter and appreciating that interruption is less exciting than interaction.

Its not a case of video killed the radio star; I don’t think it’s a matter of new media vs traditional media – it’s an evolution of our approach, the channels we use and an appreciation that the proliferation of media has changed the way in which people engage with content (remember that now consumer media consumption across channels leads to virtual days exceeding 24 hours)!

I’ve worked in agencies where this shift is emphasised to clients and yet in many cases, traditional media forms such as television remain the biggest investment, even if it’s not the best choice. One obstacle is lack of understanding of new media, followed by company inertia, another big obstacle is finding reliable metric models of these new tools and how a lot of marketers are still trying to retrofit those applied to traditional media.

Of course, the fact that people are less responsive to being shouted at also provides a great argument for a popular space at the moment, social media, where brands and people can have a dialogue. Personally whilst I think social media is a fantastic opportunity for marketers, brands and consumers alike, I also believe the facets of this space are really the beginning of things to come.

Our challenge as marketers is to find what might surprise, cut through, engage, entertain, add value and start conversations whilst using the right media to facilitate it in an increasingly fragmented landscape where ultimately the consumer's in control.

2. Communication technology is developing at a very very fast rate

If we look over the last century and examine the rate of technological growth its incredible to review the rate at which it has developed. We can fly, travel underwater, go to space, access the world wide web, we can see and talk to people on the other side of the world instantaneously, share still images by the click of a button, we can even carry our wallet, bank account, a GPS map, social network, search facility, computer game and telephone in our back pocket. Change will never be this slow again.

What I find very exciting is how traditional communication platforms are also progressing and moving in to the digital realm through these advances in technology and the internet. Some examples below:

TV channels are streaming catch-up TV online, TV channels are launching solely online, they’re integrating with social media (great post on this here), TV has got smarter, more relevant and started to allow for interaction at the push of a button. This I see only progressing.

Print: Newspapers and Magazines have been quite challenged lately and whilst there is seemingly a decline in the medium, the product remains strong. It is the means through which stories are distributed that are undergoing a rapid development. We’re already seeing print complemented with online articles/blogs/Twitter accounts. But this is just a glimpse of what we have to come, see the e-paper business and the likes of Amazon Kindles and Apple’s iPad to get an idea of what we might be reading stories from in the future.

And of course, not to mention, Outdoor Display which now commonly features interactive digital billboards, QR codes (personally not as exciting, but clever nonetheless), can create augmented realities, interactive window displays and not to mention feature hologram technology.

So to conclude, new technology allows for a much needed change of approach and engagement between brands and people. There’s more breadth, room for innovation and opportunities to do something amazing and interactive with people rather than just broadcasting a one-way message.

Forrester unsurprisingly has predicted a growth in interactive advertising and among the interactive channels, Forrester sees social media and mobile marketing spending expanding significantly between 2009 and 2014, with social media jumping by 34% on a compounded annual basis and mobile marketing increasing by 27%.

But these are young channels, at least as compared with relatively mature interactive mediums such as e-mail, display advertising and search which are also seeing a change.

I think it naïve to presume that interactive advertising solely rests within what some perceive as “Online / Digital”, we need to remember that traditional channels are becoming increasingly digitalised, technology is changing and whilst interaction is important and digital may facilitate it - you still need to be a brand that people want to interact with.

the silent retreatment

2010-03-03T16:46:00.014+11:00

Image courtesy of Vermont Ferret

Recently I decided it was time to invest in a form of mediation known as Vipassana (which is essentially a 10 day silent retreat). I have dabbled in meditation before and found it to be a great form of relaxation, however, sticking to it given the life I lead has been a challenge. There's no denying that I broach the subject reluctantly with people as frankly it doesn't necessarily align with social norms of Western society, people give you that look which says "You're... interesting..."

I suppose if I am honest this was a curious enterprise for me, I've never remained quiet for such a long period of time, am married to my iPhone, wifi flows through my body everyday and I have succumbed to a restless addiction to coffee - so a prolonged abstinence was an unnerving endurance test.

And so, how was it? What happened?

The meditation retreat was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I wanted to leave a lot. I was somewhat misled by the term "retreat" given that the whole process was personally nothing but. I craved meat. I found myself singing Cher and I got angry at people leaving doors open.

However. Even though I can say it was difficult, in the same breath, I will also admit it was quite possibly one of the best things I have done in my life. And get this: Being silent for 10 days solid was the easy part (albeit impractical).

Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation, the technique is a very practical one progressively taught day by day and what I found essentially interesting was the psychological implications of the practice. Contrary to meditative tradition, I have sought to intellectualise it.

Neuroscientists have found that meditators shift brain activity to different areas of the cortex - brain waves in the stress-prone right frontal cortex move to the calmer left frontal cortex. This mental shift decreases the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. There is also less activity in the amygdala, where the brain processes fear and so it was no surprised that I consequently felt pretty relaxed following 10 days of intense meditation (timetable), no surprise at all.

What was amazing was the cognitive impact during the practice which went beyond alleviating stress. Apparently the brain is organised into a hierarchy of specialised modules, at the top of which are three mega modules which represent information according to their specialism. Roughly they relate to:

Knowledge/Thoughts
Emotion
Action

During the laborious meditation stints, after dragging my sorry self from bed to meditation hall before the sun had risen and my eyes had blinked out the blindness, I would actively train myself to view objectively (Knowledge) the physical sensations (Action) and my feelings (Emotion) for aprox 12 hours a day. No easy feat believe me. What happened? Well, I became hyper-sensitive in these three areas (but please note - this is very subjective).

Knowledge/Thoughts
I didn't get smarter, but I got wiser. Something that resonated was the idea that "Wisdom is knowledge transformed" and that's how it felt. What was also incredible was my memory recall. I remembered moments of my past, people, incidents, details that I hadn't even thought about since they occurred. One in particular which had me giggling relentlessly.

Emotion
Emotionally I became incredibly aware of my response mechanism, the tangibility of emotions and the choice one has to react to an emotion or not.

Action
And finally, whilst clearly my action was limited to a bare minimum, physically during practice, I had some very surreal "sensations" apparently akin to the effects of horse tranquilizer (according to someone I spoke to afterward who had a similar experience) and by being impartial to these totally bizarre sensations experienced the innate link between behaviour, thoughts and emotion by observing them.

So, in conclusion, for fear of sounding like a crazy new age hippie who may have had John Lennon on repeat in her mind, got far too excited about porridge and had mild obsessive compulsive tendencies around light switches and herbal tea, the Vipassana had a tremendously good impact on me. I was sharper, confident, creative and according to my bf, one very cool cucumber as a consequence. I fully recommend it.

Reggie Watts

2010-02-19T10:06:00.002+11:00

I first heard of Reggie Watts a couple of years ago when he played at the Sydney Festival. He's absolutely brilliant. He looks and sounds original and has great talent and charisma on stage. His style? Well according to Wikipedia he's a 'multidisciplinary comedic performer' he sings, raps, samples, beat-boxes and makes you laugh. His big personality oozes through his songs and he puts on a great show. What makes him so remarkable? He is remarkable. Never heard anything quite like it.

He's playing at the Metro in Sydney next month if anyone's interested. I say go and enjoy.

Documentary Film Making

2010-02-11T15:59:00.008+11:00

I decided last month that I would learn something new and with a passion for making things and having ideas I thought I'd explore film as a new medium for storytelling (having previously fondled with photography, art, drama, film editing and radio once upon a time, I thought this could tie these together nicely).

Documentary filmmakers, no less than dramatic screenwriters, strive to tell strong, often character-driven stories that have a beginning, middle and end, with something at risk, rising tension, and a narrative arc that keeps viewers actively engaged. In fact, my lecturer said he could tell from the first frame whether a film maker has got it right or whether he's going to bore the audience to tears over the course of the film.

So what I learned yesterday was actually quite fascinating albeit simple.

What makes an amazing documentary idea?

1.Strong Idea / Subject
The subject is not the idea. The idea is broader akin to a theme rather than a subject. This is a hard concept to abide too when creating ideas but here's an example for my project:
Idea: Survival
Subject: Living on the streets of Surry Hills

2. Tell a story
This apparently helps a lot. Have a story in mind that can be broken in to 3 sentences. The first; how the story starts, the second; what happens in the middle, the third; how it ends/what the event is. Unlike dramatists, documentary filmmakers can’t create characters, plots and story lines, but must instead find them in the raw material of real life. Hence, a story which doesn't culminate to anything, isn't much of a story.

A good way to look at the parts to the story is:

The Tease
The Body
The Conclusion

3. Ensure its meant for this medium
A good story needn't be told via a documentary film. Ensure that there's something unique about the piece that merits film. Ensure there's visual insight which can be accompanied by music. Otherwise you might be better off writing an article or a book.

4. Remember the artists voice
You're the artist. What is your opinion? What is your aim? Why are you best equipped to create this documentary? What makes you an expert? This is where research comes in to play about why this documentary is being made.

Something I also learned, is that without the passion for the subject, you will struggle. This passion and drive will keep you focused in the small hours and keep you committed to finishing the piece whether it takes months or years to complete.

5. Illuminate
What story needs to be told? A documentary serves to inform and illuminate, quite simply to illustrate an element of life that has not been shown before.

And so there's the starting point. Its a little harder than it looks and there's a lot more to come but I think this a great approach to have when creating something in order to tell a story.

My next lesson? Treatments...

A helpful presentation on documentary storytelling below.

The Mechanics of Documentary Storytelling

View more presentations from acarvin.

My Holga and I.

2010-02-09T19:15:00.006+11:00

The Holga.

Hong Kong 1982. The manufacturing and production hub of the world is burning at a full flame. As with their neighbors in Japan and China, photography is an intense national hobby and obsession. New camera designs and productions are churned out daily, feeding the huge domestic and import markets. From within this world of manic creation and innovation comes the Holga, a distinctly un-modern and somewhat prehistoric throwback to the early days of camera mechanics.

The concept is simple - a minimal and inexpensive camera using medium format 120 film. It would contain only the bare necessities for photo mechanisms, and provide a cheap and accessible alternative for students and enthusiasts to dip their toes into the otherwise very expensive world of medium format photography. Reflecting the shining landscape around them, this new camera is named after the term "ho gwong," meaning "very bright." After throwing a European spin onto this phrase, the moniker "HOLGA" is minted. This dead simple camera is met with a warm welcome, establishing a strong yet small base of Holga aficionados. Birth, death, celebration, ritual, and everything in-between is caught on lo-fi medium-format emulsions - amplified and focused through the plastic lens of this bare bones, oversized camera.

The Holga Cult Following.

Over the next 10 years, Holga enjoys a popularity explosion. A global community of photographers, students, creative types, and generally fabulous individuals see the simplicity and ability of Holga, and fully embrace it. This cult following organises around the Holga, praising its insane characteristics, unpredictable effects, and stunning results. Teachers and professors actively employ the Holga as a training tool - simultaneously teaching their students the fundamentals of photography while opening their minds to new and unexpected techniques. The very features that many would consider to be fatal defects in a "normal" camera have become the most treasured assets of the Holga new school.

Today, the Holga movement is expanding every single minute, with new devotees, organisations, and online sites spreading like wildfire. Photographic exhibitions are held in some of the most prestigious galleries on the planet; showcasing the work of one of the most unlikely artistic tools ever employed. Competitions, interactions, and communication are tossed around the online & offline communities, encouraging and amplifying the excellent work of the Holga obsessed. Ironically, as camera design becomes more technical, automatic, and sophisticated, Holga's low-tech appeal grows stronger and stronger for us; those who relish its quirky and unpredictable nature. While designers around the world are racking their brains to create increasingly more advanced and complex cameras; the Holga will continue to grow as a steadfast counterculture item, taking away the complications of technology and simplifying the equation to four critical elements - your eye, the lens, the film, and your subject.

And so, here I am, riding around Sydney on my push bike taking random snapshots of the city whilst fulfilling a few things I enjoy in life; exercise, creation and a dabble in to counterculture.

Today I picked up my photo's from my first batch.

(Note: My first! This means that things can only get better.)

Enjoy.

James Jean

2010-02-04T11:57:00.004+11:00

Here are some of my favourite pieces from James Jean's 'Kindling' collection. James Jean is a Taiwanese-American award winning artist and illustrator living in LA. He's been working in comics since 2001, but over that time he has certainly made his mark on the industry.

His clients include Time Magazine, The new York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, Target, Prada and more. He has also illustrated covers for the comic book series Fables and The Umbrella Academy, for which he has won six Eisner Awards for "Best Cover Artist"

If you're in Sydney, you can find some of his magnificent prints at Disrupt store in Surry Hills.

Success & Music & Life

2010-01-21T18:45:00.005+11:00

An Alan Watts animation from the guys who brought you South Park.

Inspiring stuff and a good reminder. I remember when I was at school my Dad tried to persuade me to go to an all girls private school. Aside from being a bit of a tomboy at the age of 12 thus being immediately reluctant, I also recall persuading my Pops against the idea with something like: "I don't want to go to private school, here (the local comprehensive) I am the best, top of my class (which I was, little nerd me) and at a private school I'll be more in the middle... "

In hindsight, the idea that my success depended on being better than other people seems childish now, however, there are still an awful lot of people who live their lives relying on the downfall of others. We constantly compare ourselves consciously and subconsciously against other people be it salary, fame, style, looks, weight etc. as an indication of our success, when quite frankly to love what your doing, to be present at every moment and making whatever action you are doing into your very life purpose is really what success should translate to.

Wealth, fame, happiness are all by products of putting your heart in to everything you do.

Hence my mantra: The journey is the destination.

Not an easy one to live by... but remember if you constantly chase a concept of being more successful than others, you may well never get there.

Don't worry. You're safe now.

2010-01-18T15:50:00.001+11:00

Why green is the new black.

2010-01-11T21:14:00.003+11:00

I put together this document with an aim to instill an environmentally friendly attitude within the workplace to encourage conscious consumption.
Feel free to use/share/etc.

Being green in the workplace

View more presentations from jectaspecta.

Would love to hear your feedback.

Climate Change.

2009-12-11T21:14:00.001+11:00

Having a boyfriend who works in sustainability and a close friend who is an incredible skeptic of the Climate Change proposal; this rap reminded me of some of the debates I sit through on our little social 'put the world to right' occasions.

The cost of experimentation is approaching zero

2009-12-02T11:43:00.001+11:00

And we've only just started...

Home.

2009-12-01T14:40:00.009+11:00

Having lived in Sydney for 2 years now, I must admit, its easy to begin to detach yourself from the motherland. However, there are charms of English life that I appreciate more than ever.

So I'm dedicating this post to Englaland showing my appreciation and pride in my heritage (albeit with little inclination to go back - just yet).

One can't deny, the curse of the stiff upper lip has quite a role in the English culture. All this suppression of human emotion and we wonder why we have an alcohol problem!?
The proverbial corner store. Don't live anywhere without one. Note: they sell alcohol too. Sigh...[Australia has special bottle shops, candidly places out of strolls reach at 9pm on a Friday night]
England has the best festivals. Well perhaps. May be its the sheer determination to make good out of a bad situation that ensures there's an atmosphere to feed on. You share tea and biscuits with strangers, camp in horrific conditions and witness some of the best live acts in the world under English sky. Of course, there is the rain which tries relentlessly to put a dampener on things - we need something to complain about!
Cows. Oh how I love cows. They are cute, aren't they?! When I was younger my back garden was in fact next to a massive field so I got familiar with these animals, admittedly at times after a bottle of cheap cider, a stolen packet of mother's menthols and an ambition to tip a sleeping one over...Ridiculously good comedy. The Mighty Boosh, Shameless, Skins, Black Adder, Red Dwarf, The Office, Young Ones, Only Fools and Horses, Peep Show, Morcambe and Wise. Love.
Weather in England sucks big time. There's no denying it. You'll depend on an umbrella and will come to accept the fact that the weather lady lies to you. There are times though, when you can love English weather, especially when it snows (and you don't have to catch the tube). I remember the South African guy in my class nearly crying and sighing "fluuuff" in disbelief as he looked out the window and expressed sheer delight at the white stuff falling from the sky.
When I lived in London, Hoxton was the place to be. I loved living in East London where people wore ridiculous hair and would sing aloud to their ipods. Its got a charm about it that I can't put words to. Like when you walk down a cobbled street or look at an old building and realise that you're merely a speck in its life's story.Squirrels are awesome. I love them. In Hyde Park you can hand feed these little cute furry rats. I don't care what you say, they are not pests.I suppose this reminds me of where England is now. Corrupt banking system. Money troubles...

Well its been a while, might have to prepare for a 2010 visit next year for a proper cold and log fire Christmas.

Falling Polar Bears

2009-12-01T11:18:00.004+11:00

Well as someone who loves loves loves Polar Bears - some girls collected Barbie Dolls, I collected Polar Bears - I must admit this new cinema ad from Plane Stupid (written and commissioned by creative agency Mother and made by production company Rattling Stick. Director Daniel Kleinman) made me shudder.

However, I understand 1. It sends a valuable message and 2. The bears aren't real. So with those two facts in mind, I must admit I admire the guys at Mother UK for their audacity and the message is very clear: Your flight has an impact.

Plane Stupid explain on their site: "Like you, we're worried about climate change. Like you, we don't think the Government can be trusted to do what needs to be done".

They're a network of grassroots groups that take non violent direct action against aviation expansion. Their three demands:

End to short haul flights and airport expansion
Stop aviation advertising
A just transition to sustainable jobs and transport

Interesting. Whilst I know aviation isn't the sole cause of greenhouse gas emissions, I'd be interested to learn more about the impact. As you know, after watching The Final Choice documentary I certainly reevaluated my eating habits.

Clean water initiative on Mt Kilimanjaro

2009-11-24T11:46:00.007+11:00

I love this idea. Props to Goodby Silverstein & Partners & Unit 6 who have built a website proportionately the size of Mt Kilimanjaro.
The sites in support of a charity-infused campaign that HP have brought to life by inviting celebrities and musicians to climb the mountain and in doing so post blogs, tweets, images and videos of their climb from their HP notepads - the contents tagged along the pix-elated climb of the website (at 16,709,709 pixels).

In addition to hearing the stories of the brave mountaineers, visitors can also 'sponsor a foot' of the journey by donating some dinero via UNHCR's clean water program. Every dollar donated provides 100 litres of safe clean water to people without.

I suppose what I like about this is its pushing the boundaries on and offline by thinking BIG - literally. It brings to life a cause through the adventures/stories shared online. No doubt some of these mountaineers having celebrity status will help push things on the PR front. I wonder what the impact would have been if the opportunity to climb Mt Kilimanjaro was open to everyone initially? Akin to what Coca Cola did recently through Expedition 206.

People can connect to the program and unlike a reality tv show where one can watch idiots rolling over one another saying controversial things and playing spin the bottle (Which reminds me, has anyone watched Dead Set - Absolutely hilarious, in a sick and twisted Zombie way, anyway I digress); here there's an opportunity to respect mountaineers and go on the journey with them virtually.

Its socially led integrating offline and online in a pretty slick way even down to the detail of pixel proportionality! Obviously a smart move for HP who get to facilitate the program, demonstrate their product whilst align themselves with a positive cause without overtly branding anything. I'd like to see how interaction between site visitors and the climb team works out which would be the natural expectation for conversation, whether we'll be able to have a webchat to a makeup-less Jessica Biel at 17,000 ft is questionable.

Still there's some amusing webisodes to keep people entertained which is meant to be behind the scenes footage of the mountaineers training footage.

Well, launch is January 7 2010 and includes the tallest banner ever created, a TV spot and web films. Watch this space or their space even.

Facebook Aps for charities

2009-11-09T16:02:00.005+11:00

I thought I’d share with you a couple of interesting aps that charities are using on Facebook to amplify word of mouth harnessing peer to peer communications by pin-pointing, recruiting and rewarding an army of dedicated fans who openly represent their causes within their social network.

Causes Ap

Check out this interesting ap used to promote and recruit friends to join not-for-profits online via “Causes” http://apps.facebook.com/causes/ or www.causes.com

Its very clever.

First step, click on link, see the campaign’s progress and invite your friends.

Next, give them your email address to stay up to date. If you want.
Then check out their page, browse other members and see what impact they’re having.

The Hall of Fame shows profiles of those making the biggest impact (i.e. Spreading the word) and you can send them props/note/thank you etc.

You can also pledge your support whereby you commit to inviting 300 friends to the cause (not 100% sure of this commitment considering I don’t have that many friends!) and you can also donate.

Finally, show your friends what a good Samaritan you are by having your cause feature on your FB profile page and track your progress.

I’d say the one limitation to this is it acts independently from a fanpage/group so users need to accept the ap and go through the above process as opposed to a one-click conversion to becoming a fan. That said however, its still a fantastic integration with the platform.

Super Badger

Another innovative ap is the Super Badger
With Super Badger you can send prewritten emails straight from your profile to the people making the decisions - whether it is badgering politicians about climate change or badgering supermarkets to stock more Fairtrade products.

Here you are rewarded points for “Badgering”

You choose what you wish to “Badger” and you can send a prewritten email to politicians/decision makers, donate your status and sign up to receive Global Action emails.

Once the email gets sent, you get your points and your profile is updated for all your FB friends to see. Once again there’s an element of social kudos, especially when you start ranking up the leader board.

So what do you think?

Today. I like.

2009-09-14T13:42:00.004+10:00

Harma Heikens makes disturbing, perverted mash-ups of children’s toys, dolls, and figurines — all life-sized for extra creepiness.

"The Bouquet" by Linn Olofsdotter. Stunning illustration.

Grzegorz Domaradzki aka Gabz

In the life of... a Community Manager

2009-08-27T15:29:00.010+10:00

I don't usually discuss my real life "work" in my blog, however, seeing as I am getting consistently inconsistent in terms of my blogging genre... I figured; why change now? Besides, I realised there are some key learnings that I've found as a Campaign/Community Manager that are probably worth sharing...

Content is king.
I probably don't need to dwell on this however, I think its important to appreciate that content leads when it comes to nourishing a community. Its easy to digest, offers entertainment and provides the audience with a piece of social currency for them to share to their friends. My colleague Zoe Scamen has written a great post on this here. So do develop a content schedule and maximise it!
Timing is everything.
OK, I know that's not necessarily true but I think its easy to rush something to get a box ticked without putting timing in to consideration. I like to think upon it as "Contextual Marketing" i.e. think about what people are doing at that moment in time when your message is read and try to make it as relevant as possible. So for example; its lunchtime - don't start talking about night caps. Its obvious really. Also be opportunistic with the time of day; Tuesday and Wednesday circa 11am is the optimum time to email folks for example. I'm sure there are better insights out there but I think its always important to consider time as it won't always be on your side.
Use http://bit.ly/ to death.
It provides great insights. So for example any media that I seed a community can be “bit.ly’d” before distributed. That way with anything shared is tracked: simple really but easily overlooked.
Analysis
If you can, set up Google Analytics on any pages you create or sites you are sending people to. How are you going to measure engagement unless you track and measure the stats? There is a science to it, but at the end of the day, there's a big risk in running around blind - even if it is in the right general direction.
Video hosting - help spread
In terms of video content suppliers, I feel if you want to spread a message: think Youtube. There's an audience that already exists, its aligned with google search (another audience to tap in to) and its the most popular platform for users to search for videos on. Plus it offers great insights as part of the package. Oh and I forgot to mention, its free! But don't forget your video channel may become a community in itself so its imperative that you manage this and respond to commentary on this forum also.
Video hosting - VIPs only
There is an awful lot of benefit in giving a community exclusivity and an element of that might be first opportunities to view video content. In these instance, I feel Vimeo offers great affordable hosting software, I really recommend getting a Pro account for aprox $55 a year. You can manage it to a point where Vimeo branding is removed, its better quality, there's control as to which sites its viewed on, one can limit its shareability (even on Vimeo itself) and has all the nice to have’s like bespoke sizing/colours etc. Bonus: this will save a fortune in hosting.
Bloggers?
Why not team up with bloggers as an outreach program? Invite relevant influential bloggers in to the community so they too have access to exclusive content and brand insights plus use it as an opportunity to share relevant content to that category by sharing blog posts via "status updates" for example. Its a win (the blogger) win (the community) win (you) situation.
Get stuck in
Get stuck in to the forum/message board and ask people to use it. I've worked on a project where people were invited to post their thoughts on the community page, guess what?! It worked!
Remember that members of your community may be active on other social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube... etc. Set up Google Alerts, search on your Tweetdeck and just keep your ears to the ground and eyes pealed for any commentary outside of the community. Social media is a fantastic opportunities for brands to gain insights as to consumer sentiment and also an opportunity for these brands to respond to these individuals.
Make them feel special
This community is special, its a collective of individuals who deserve your love. They've invested their time, make sure its worth it for them. Be responsive. Listen to feedback whether its good or bad and make them feel an integral part of the community, because at the heart of it, they are.

Well that's me. Hope somebody finds this useful while I continue to learn more and more about the world of community managing :)

PS. Lastly, don't forget to consider an Exit Strategy...

Connected By the Pocket

2009-08-23T18:05:00.002+10:00

Connected By the Pocket from sam reynard on Vimeo.

I like the sentiment of this short, its easy to find ourselves too caught in the present moment that we don't think of the journey a dollar, an opshop purchase, even a brand new pair of trainers has gone on before it arrives in to your possession. I used to wonder in London, where the "chip on the shoulder came" from. I remember a half empty bus driving straight pass me on a cold winters night leaving me to wait another 20 minutes in the chill, I was so annoyed that I got on the next bus and took out my frustration on another stranger on the bus, who I am sure; would've passed it on to another.

Anyway, the guy who directed this Sam Reynard is my best friend's brother and so I guess I can't help but support it but I'm genuine when I say, this guy is one to watch; I can see him doing more cool things in the future.

Quite simply - things I like

2009-08-22T21:38:00.003+10:00

Found on Third Draw Down, go have a wonder.

Wiring a web for global good

2009-08-08T01:02:00.003+10:00

Its amazing the opportunities we have right now, we really are in the day and age of true interconnectedness. Where we can instantly inform and amplify, share and respond to digital content.

I think this is something we're going to see more of. In countries where oppression is rife, where media is biased and where access is limited we're going to see more harnessing of social media as a tool to create awareness. Action Aid Australia have made a very forward thinking move with Project TOTO in recruiting a blogger to teach people from developing countries how to use these tools so that people can have insight into the realities they face day to day.

Gorgon Brown talks to this very enthusiastically at his talk at TED last month.

The Final Choice

2009-08-06T11:35:00.005+10:00

Everyone should watch this documentary. It provides valuable insight on the state of our planet that we can all learn from. Sit down, crack open a bottle of red and get your noggin stuck in to this.

After watching this, I very much reconsidered a lot of decisions I've made about my lifestyle and what I consume. It also makes you realise what a small cog you really are, I'd be interested to hear how you found it.

How to find out the truth...

2009-07-24T11:52:00.003+10:00

Baloney Detection from Richard Dawkins, writer of The God Delusion.

Its so difficult to know what piece of information is true or false. I find myself instilling so much faith in to the ideas of my friends and family because I trust them, but its always important to remember that not everyone finds the "truth" through science and we all know what happens when you play Chinese whispers.

I like this idea, I don't apply this massively to some of my ideas, admittedly, sometimes I feel driven by instinct. But I think that's a fundamental characteristic of human beings and I like learning from my own experience too.

The new short film by Blu

2009-07-18T22:26:00.003+10:00

I love this.
The new short film by Blu; an ambiguous animation painted on public walls.

Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden (fantoche)
www.blublu.org

Music by Andrea Martignoni
Produced by Mercurio Film
Assistant: Sibe

Swine Flu - What about the poor?

2009-07-16T18:18:00.009+10:00

The first question I asked when Swine Flu came on to the agenda was: I wonder what support the developing world is going to get? This was my status on Facebook for a short while but no one had any answers. Not that I expected them.

I mean if its killing people; unhealthy and healthy people, then who are going to be in the most vulnerable position one wonders? Well those without access to medication obviously aren't in a good place, what about people who are malnourished, who are born with diseases such as tuberculosis or HIV and suffer from malaria and pneumonia? And those in densely populated areas, especially slums, where disease could spread quickly? Yup. Not looking great for those in developing countries right now. Especially those in the Southern Hemisphere.

According to the latest totals by the WHO; over 4oo people have died of swine flu and over 100,000 have been infected. Experts fear this figure is higher, the U.S believe many flu victims have gone unaccounted for due to mild symptoms.

Poor motherland (UK) has been flu ridden big time. To be honest, London is a hive for viruses, I was sick constantly when I lived there and seriously couldn't understand why there weren't dry soup dispensers at every tube station.

(Status 1 July) Image source: http://blogs.nature.com
For a better interactive map of the spread go to BBC website

Anyway it was announced earlier this week that The United Nations will need more than $1 billion this year to help poor countries fight the global swine flu epidemic, according to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (earlier on Monday).

"The funding has not been flowing as we have been expecting," Ban told reporters. "We are now mobilizing all resources possible."

Apparently countries within the developing world have enough vaccine to cover the whole population, yet WHO have a small stockpile of Tamiflu donated by Roche (the company who create the anti-vaccine) for developing countries.

Is it me? Or does it seem once again these poor countries are desperate for our help, and although our governments are happy to take their oil, for them to make our clothes, consume their natural resources; they're less willing to donate a medicine that if not received the consequences are fatal? I guess the irony being that the disease is being spread by the movement of people in developed countries. As Indian health secretary Naresh Dayal explained last month "We have so far 30 cases which have been laboratory confirmed. Out of these, 28 are those who came from infected countries in the West. I would like to say that the developed countries would do a great service to the developing countries if they could contain and check the spread of infection in their own countries. I would, therefore, urge them to take action to stop the spread of the infection."
In May, the U.N. asked vaccine producers to reserve a portion of their pandemic vaccine production for poor countries. Some companies have agreed to help. GlaxoSmithKline PLC offered to donate 50 million doses of pandemic vaccine to WHO for distribution to developing countries.

"We hope to mobilize some funds to procure commodities, including antibiotics, antivirals and vaccines to countries," WHO chief Margaret Chan said at a donor's conference in Geneva earlier this week.

"Many developing countries actually go into this pandemic what I call empty- handed," Chan said "They don't have antivirals. They don't have vaccines. They don't have antibiotics."

As much as I like to have faith in the W.H.O, when I went to see Dr Beat Richne r (right) who is the founder of KANTHA BOPHA Children's Hospital in Cambodia (an absolute legend for the record) he explained that W.H.O apply the levels of standards in the context of the country: “The belief that poor medicine is good enough for poor people in poor countries is still alive and kicking, “ says Dr Richner.

Lets hope this isn't the case this time round.

By the way, I promise to lighten up soon. Two consecutive non-entertaining posts is always a worry. I think its because I have a bad cold - lets hope its not the flu.

Please forgive (and wash your hands after reading this)

Food for thought...

2009-07-10T12:25:00.000+10:00

Every now and then I need to remind myself that my hunger, isn’t really hunger. In fact I’m starting to think that eating food in the western world is more a form of addiction.

It still amazes me the contrast between the developing and non-developing world when it comes to food. Here we are spoilt for choice, yet we waste and consume a huge amount annually; surely something’s not right? The UK throws away an estimated 6.7 million tonnes of food away annually and Australians are throwing out three million tonnes of food every year. Most of the food could have been eaten. Not only does throwing away food waste resource, contributes to greenhouse gas emissions but the food waste equates to annual cost of £10.2 billion in UK / $6 billion in Australia. Imagine what could be done with that money?

So we accept there’s a problem here. I mean, even if we’re talking exclusively about developed countries – this is not right. Further to this, look at the problems we face with obesity and diabetes. The World Health Organization predicts there will be 2.3 billion overweight adults in the world by 2015 and more than 700 million of them will be obese. So not only do we have a problem with wasting food, we are also overindulging, eating the wrong foods and I’m sure this is something preventable with an educated mindset.

Now forgive me for pointing out the obvious. But how is it we are all being so spoilt for choice, that we waste over 10% of food we PAY for; burdening precious resources, increasing demand, bad health and furthermore wasting money, yet there are people in the world who are literally starving? Where clean water is a commodity and where people don’t know where their next meal will come from. There are a billion people who live with chronic hunger everyday. This is well beyond a mere lunch craving after skipping breakfast. Furthermore, a new rapid response assessment report released by UNEP warns that up to 25% of the world’s food production may become lost due to environmental breakdown by 2050 unless action is taken and it won’t be you or me who suffers the brunt of this. "Land degradation, urban expansion and conversion of crops and cropland for non-food production, such as biofuels, may reduce the required cropland by 8–20% by 2050, if not compensated for in other ways" and we haven't even talked about the impact of climate change yet (watch this space)!

Arguably the G8 needs to recognise the impact rising prices and a growing population has on hunger. For example higher oil prices bring more crops like corn into biofuel production, putting fuel in cars rather than food in tummy's. These are governments making these decisions and seemingly treating their people as collateral damage. Lets see what the G8 concludes tomorrow at the summit, when the G8 will talk about food security, the premise that every person in the world should have access to affordable food (there is enough food in the world for everyone to be fed), there should be support for farmers and trade could be built from the ground up.

I still feel that there is a massive gap in terms of grassroots education though. There are things we, mere people, can do to help. I’m sure if we were aware of the facts, understood what it meant to go hungry and were taught meaningful nutrition facts about food – there would be a different attitude towards it. Revoking this silo attitude of “us” and “them” so we can perhaps make a tiny life adjustment that reflects a huge one for somebody else in the world. I remember when I was a child my mother would say "You're not going to eat that? Think about the children starving in Ethiopia" - now seriously, why don't we?

I suppose the next question is – what are we going to do about it?

For more stats see Leila's post: Open Your Eyes

This is great

2009-07-09T10:44:00.000+10:00

I don't know about you but this little girl just made my day. Trust me, it gets better. A very innovative way to make music with true visuals. Nice work. It reminds me a bit of Aphex Twins' work.

Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment

2009-07-02T01:30:00.000+10:00

An interesting and strangely addictive read…

Deepak Chopra has done a marvelous job at portraying the life of Buddha in his latest book.
Its an interesting, educating and actually quite easy read which reminds me much of The Alchemist in its descriptions, use of symbolism and confrontations with morality and humility throughout. There’s also the element of mystique about it that really sucked me in.

Did you know that Buddha was actually a mortal? A prince no less. I don't know about you, but to me, Buddha represented a fat laughing man in the lotus position so this book has certainly opened up my very narrow interpretations of the man.

Whether you believe in Buddhism or not, I would recommend the book as a great read. Having found myself in a few too many faux-pas discussions about religion and being that there are and have been plenty of wars founded upon the subject, I have decided to learn more about the teachings of various religions.

Next up, The Koran. Urm… wish me luck.

Oh and if you wish to know more, forgive me if this is a bit too "deep" but here is Deepak Chopra's take on Buddhism.

Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity...

2009-06-18T20:51:00.000+10:00

I've been reading a beautiful book called Eat. Love. Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert (courtesy of @nikkistammers)

Sometimes I read it and aside from the writers slight neurotic episodes, I feel like its my own thoughts I am reading. May be this is why its a best seller (no I didn't mean my thoughts are best sellers more the writers ability to engage deeply with readers). Either way, I love the fact that I am taking something back from it. More than entertaining my moments.

Unlike me however, Elizabeth Gilbert manages to put many of my random thoughts in to a coherent sentence, chapter and novel which is an incredible skill. Props to her.

Talking about inspiration, creativity and the genius, she spoke at TED. Just like her novel, she articulates such a sensitive and fascinating subject so well, that I cannot deny, has very much inspired me to approach creativity from a different stand point and I hope it does you too.

Sydney vs London

2009-06-12T17:20:00.001+10:00

Is there a comparison? Should there be one made? Probably not. But I can't sit on the fence with this one. People need to know, know the truth about why I am still here when all my beautiful family and friends sit on the other side of the globe.

How do I keep this brief?

Lets go back to basics.

London is BIG, Sydney is small.
Whats does this mean? In London, it means that travel can be a real mission. Although I have/had plenty of friends who lived in London, it still meant that I had to spend an hour on the tube getting to them (and obviously an hour back) hence never on a school night. It also makes work travel a bit of a ball ache which I'll explain in more detail later. What I love about Sydney is you can navigate yourself around on foot if need be and you learn fast, the city is tiny in comparison and if you get lost, you can hail a cab and pay a fraction of the price it would cost in London. The downside of this though is its easy to bump in to people, I don't know about you, but there's something romantic about an anonymous make-upless daggy stroll in the city and when the likelihood of seeing someone you know bumps, so does the effort in your outfit. In fact classic example, I just had a phone call from a work associate saying he spotted me in the gym the other day and saw my trainer pound the life out of my at 7.30am. Not a good look especially given the compromising positions she puts me in!

London is expensive
This is true, but not massively in comparison. Much to my disappointment upon arrival here.
Things that are significantly cheaper in Sydney:

Rent
Restaurants
Taxis
Transport

Things that are about the same:

Groceries. The market in Sydney is completely bossed by two pretty lame supermarkets; Woolworths and Coles. Both can dictate prices. You don't find the 241 deals that you see gracing the Tesco shelves and nor can you buy alcohol in these stores. Personally I prefer to pay more and get organic, local store food than fund these market bullies.

More expensive in Sydney?

Alcohol - You'd think that being next to Hunter Valley you would be able to grab those bargain wines (akin to the road trip you'd do to France) but no, you'll find a good five pound bottle of Aussie wine in the UK but over here, you pay twice the amount for the same decent bottle (unless you purchase a wine box aka 'goon' - a major social no-no in Sydney)

Clothing. Retail is very different here. I miss and long for a good Topshop for the basics. Here it seems there's no middle ground, you either buy cheap mass-produced poor quality pieces or you buy boutique/upmarket and pay for it through your teeth. Production for boutique fashion houses is expensive. I love the fact that highfashion is more accessible here though and you can get designer pieces on sale for reasonable prices but don't expect to be able to get a decent dress for less that $150. Unless you do what I do and get the never aging vintage classics from the op shops!

The weather is better in Sydney.
This is a big win for Sydney over London. Massive. Huge. Its not just the fact that the city livens up, you can dress appropriately and don't need to hide under an umbrella to avoid the elements, it is also a lifestyle perk.

London is admittedly built for its climates; lovely old wood fire pubs, fancy bars, restaurants, museums, theatre etc. Sydney however, when the sun shines, all you need is a beach and that is exactly what you have on your doorstep. Not only does this mean you save on money it also means that you can get a healthy glow for 9 months of the year and experience the outdoors much more than you would when rained in in England. My waistline will back me on this one.

What about culture?!
My Dad, being the Englishman he is, claims that Australia has no culture. Heaven forbid any Australians read this but I can see where he's coming from. I feel like Australia isn't exclusively one culture, yes there's sport, beer and surfing but there is also a massive mix pot of cultures. Although known for their strict immigration policy there are still generations who can claim their heritage here from around the globe. And I like this. There is also a sad past that doesn't get spoken about in Sydney which is starting to get addressed but Australia is still young and to be honest, when it comes to culture, London wins hands down. It has the best arts, theatre, fashion, museums from across the globe and history and architecture to back it. Culture is breathed in the city and is the epicenter of British culture in my opinion.

Transport
When I was in London, I felt like writing a guide to "Living in London for graduates". One of the items I remarked on as I would draft these guidelines in my mind was transport. There is no worse way to start your day than spending 1.5hours stood up in somebody else's armpit and being pushed around relentlessly during the city rush. It breeds bad moods and germs. That's before we get on to discussing Tube strikes, delays and inability to function at the slight extreme of cold weather. One of my guidelines was to learn how to run in heals. London is always on the go and you have a natural growing resentment towards tourists who dawdle on the wrong side of the escalator. You're always running to get that next connection and hence running in heals was a skill yet to be honed. Sydney however? Massively laid back in comparison. You don't get the herds of black suits storming through the major train stations. Although the transport and stations are more modern in London (which is strange considering they are dated back from the time when they ran on steam), cost wise, Sydney is cheaper. Systems in London are much more modern (think: Oyster Cards) and complex in London. Given the car parking, taxis and transport passes are much cheaper in Sydney and you can travel across the harbour via ferry so that's my winner.

Crime
This is a no-brainer, I see pregnant women daily in Sydney but not as often as I'd hear police sirens in London. I know where I feel safer walking home at night.

Nightlife
How do I put this? London gets the best DJ's and musicians from around the world. It also has the best clubs. Sydney - not so much, if at all. Also gigs over here are much more expensive, think 70pounds ($140) to go to a Coldplay concert. Ah I miss dancing to good music in a club where you befriend like minded people and an atmosphere which takes the roof off.

My experience of nightlife in Sydney has been either: Surrounded by children (16 - 21yo), prententious people and this kind of same same atmosphere where you look around and everyone has the same hair, style and attitude (yawn). That said, the best party I had over here was at a beach - now you don't get that at home. Good nights are much rarer but compensated with house parties, dinner gatherings and a not-so-bad-after-a-beer bar scene.

In summary.
So many more things need to be considered if you're going to compare these beautiful cities against each other but here are my main considerations.

I love Sydney, it may be slightly behind, smaller, have a terrible internet connection and lack in comparison when it comes to culture, but it has beaches, beautiful weather and a much more wallet friendly cost of lifestyle not to mention being safer.

I cannot deny a part of me misses London massively, the pace, the arts, the decent music and the classic English buildings, countryside which ensures that one day I will be going home to enjoy it again (albeit in the rain).

Update: I cannot believe I forgot to mention the relentless paper pushing in LDN, The Metro, The London Lite, The London Paper, City AM...etc Now that is absolutely ridiculous. Aside from the constant face thrust of papers while you navigate your way between tubes and busy streets; the litter caused by these free papers is an absolute disgrace.

The worst monsters you know are often yourself.

2009-06-09T11:19:00.001+10:00

This video is just like the recurring dream I would have as a child which often prompted me to run down the corridor and jump in to my parents bed. Ahhh. Anyway the video is great, I love it and the song is equally brilliant.

MGMT Remarked on this video (Myspace)
"MGMT is pleased to announce (finally), from an undisclosed tropical paradise, the bona fide release of the O-fficial video for the authoritative song known succinctly as: "Kids."

This is the first song we ever wrote, on a cold day in February way back in 2003. Yes, "Kids" is an Aquarius, but shows many traits of an Aries. The idea for the video was born about a year ago, at a mock-Italian cafe on Ninth Avenue in bustling Manhattan. We are both animated and stoked to reveal at this time that we once again worked with director Ray Tintori, someone who's known this song since it's inception.

"Kids" has proven to be some kind of monster with a life of its own, both an albatross and a plate of mac and cheese with fake bacon (Annie's), and the process of creating this video was nearly as convoluted and veiny as the general style of this here letter of introduction. As Jerry Garcia once rudely remarked about the eventual and unavoidable filling in (with sand) of the historic United States Grand Canyon, "What a long strange rip it's been."

* Thanks to Thesaurus.com for words of alikeness and interchangeability.
† yes, we are aware that Mark Twain was a satirist
ƒ yes, that is Joanna Newsom
√ no children were harmed in the making of this video"

Client: MGMT
Director: Ray Tintori
Lead Animator: Christy Karacas
Animator: Lizzi Akana, Henry Thurlow

Enjoy

Creative Sydney - Finding Your Followers

2009-06-04T11:09:00.001+10:00

Here are some take outs from last nights panel discussion at Creative Sydney “Finding your Followers”...

"There’s a world of fans waiting to discover you – so how do you reach them? Discover global and local marketing, publicity and distribution strategies for artists and makers. Presented in association with Pages Digital."

- Creative Sydney

Virginia Hyam (The Studio), Sydney Opera House

Digitally enabled word of mouth (WOM) is seen as a move from the traditional WOM to new media – the fundamentals don’t change.
Massive support from press helped change perceptions of expense, exclusive to Opera performances and open up opportunities in the music industry eight years ago.

Jean-Claude Abouchar (The Grand Social)

In order to keep their Twitter account exciting, they invite friends/colleagues going on Fashionistic trips abroad etc. to have account access and report on their experiences on Twitter. I think this would be a great idea for film companies i.e “Guest tweets” from actors, producers, directors etc.
They create parallels online and offline, e.g. For launch they had a “pop up” store in Paddington and created the same online to increase WOM, accessibility and distribution which got a lot of press coverage too.
Initially they targeted their communication to designers and encouraged networking between them by hosting events and with that grew a larger market place online as more and more designers got on board via WOM.
A strong selling point for The Grand Social is that it encourages consumers to discover other similar brands, hence a good opportunity for designers and consumers.

Adam Ferrier (Naked Communications)
Four rules to a successful product:

Be different, what’s your point of difference? Create your own sector. Get it right!
Have purpose – what’s the consumer need / motivation?
Be believable – prove your credibility.
Visionary – think big, think forwards, think differently

Another point touched upon was distribution... No point having a great product if you can’t distribute it.

Almira Pizovic (Picaholic)
Some rules for a good website:

Be compelling
Be easy to use and navigate
Search engine friendly
Browser / screen compatible
Mobile enabled
Live feeds / social media integration

Innovative new art sites and products which I really like that were presented by the following:

Tim Brady (Freshly Baked Gallery)
A virtual art gallery where geography isn’t an issue for accessing art. You can purchase art online and envisage this art on your own wall... Original idea, another winner in my books and I like Tim’s story that he went from being a construction manager making the pay check but not feeling satisfied with his life decided to take the risk, quit his job and start up Freshly Baked (example art below).

Madeleine Boyd (Stupid Krap)
This site is dedicated to the community of artists, underground and street creating an artist-run portal and on-line store, featuring limited-edition high-quality art prints and collectibles. I can see myself making a few purchases on here.

All in all, it was a good night I enjoyed the discussion although the crying baby started to tickle my clearly un-maternal nerves somewhat. I recommend anyone interested in learning more as a creative, marketeer or curios to attend some of these free seminars at Creative Sydney at the MCA... besides its a great opportunity to see the beautifully lit up MCA and Opera House.

Let The Right One In

2009-05-26T15:50:00.002+10:00

I watched this movie a few weeks ago. It just blew my mind away. If you get chance to see this at the movies, I really recommend it. It is a vampire movie but it is a massive leap away from the typical action packed vampire movies that we see these days.

The director Tomas Alfredson filmed it beautifully so that each delicate moment is captured and felt. I think what I love most about it is the way it uses special effects in a dated looking movie. It's actually quite refreshing and makes the movie all the more realistic and dependable.

Be prepared for a scare (but a big romantic sigh at the same time)

Meditation

2009-05-22T19:34:00.001+10:00

Now before thoughts of tree hugging, smelly dreads and any general hippie stereotype come to mind, I would like to assure you, I am not a hippie. Or may be I am. Like a modern day urban hippie who enjoys living in the chaos, the city rush, coffees and cocktails, fashion and good food.

I suppose the fact that I have to defend myself in my first sentence addresses the premise that meditating isn't seen as a mainstream past time or at least one spoken of (in Sydney at least). It brings about thoughts of Buddhism and well, the relinquishment of worldly pursuits for the sake of spiritual/psychological gain is alien to the prevailing values of capitalism today, I mean, you can't make money with your eyes closed and legs crossed all day!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, on a wee whim, I escaped the city and spent the weekend at a meditation retreat in order to learn techniques and practice a touch of yoga.

Since my dabble in the "quieting of the mind" I have tried to keep up my practice by having some down time at the end of each day. Trust me, its a difficult thing to start. Be it intimidation, boredom, restlessness or just lack of time. For me the concept of staying still is incredibly alien to me. Hell I even fidget in my sleep. Still I have noticed quite a remarkable change and empowerment following these "sessions" each night.

I am a pretty chilled bean anyway but there is no denying, the noise, the chaotic rush of peoples, the relentless propagation and information that we absorb in to our everyday lives is arguably unnatural. For ants perhaps not but definitely for people. So I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that switching off for a while was like pouring water on to parched land, I felt refreshed. The things that annoyed me to a point where self expression had elevated to foot stomping and huffing became seemingly minor. I know I am a long way off from tapping in to the serious benefits of meditation, what I've managed to get from these few invested hours, Buddha gets in a sneeze. So I've only had a taster, but I'll still advocate that its very good exercise, even if you do run the risk of social ridicule amongst friends... (you'll be too chilled to care anyway)

So whether it be a little 'out there' to admit this, I am going to try to keep it up... or at least for those moments of foot stomping and recommend any curios to do the same.

Peace & ommmms
Jecta x

Surrealist Naoto Hattori

2009-05-16T19:03:00.001+10:00

I stumbled across this beautiful print by Naoto Hattori Japanese surrealist at my friend's store, DISRUPT in Surry Hills today. The image blew me away. Something about it, enchanting, beautiful yet horrific at the same time which stirred up weird emotions prompting a series of impulse purchases...

Hattori was born in Japan and moved to NY to study Illustration. His style can be quite dark and mystical and yet each piece has a sense of realism with the degree of accuracy he paints which makes me feel like he's seen these images before, just on another universe. He captures skin tone perfectly.

I found this quote from him (Portsort.com) which I really like:

"Why was the surreal painter so important back in his day? Why did the royal residence hire those artists? Not because of their love for surreal paintings, just because the camera had not been invented yet. Now we have a computer, a video.. and numerous other things, so that contemporary art became abstract and people rely on a computer and tend to forget to about the traditional art. I'm young but I just want to show them that surreal style of painting is still not dead. I keep making fresh pieces and amaze people through my vision," says Naoto.

See why I like this guy? Hence I bought all these prints ;)
Check out his website here

How hard it is being good...

2009-05-05T16:39:00.001+10:00

I tell you what, cutting out certain food groups (albeit unhealthy) along with alcohol and caffeine does suddenly dawn upon the realisation that without them you are practically a social outcast.

Obviously this statement is exaggerated, however let me put this in to perspective.

Every morning quite ceremoniously, my colleague and I would head out to our local favourite cafe where the baristas know our names and always make us smile (Single Origin) to get our super strong coffees to wake our minds and start our day. This is no more.

Friday night, a friends birthday. I paid a visit, stayed sober although surrounded by chocolate cake and cheese plates the experience was incredibly tortuous. That said, I still enjoyed the company and being the only sober person there - had the privilege of driving my friends new BMW home at the end of the night.

Saturday night. This was harder, much harder. A group of us, mostly from the UK (which tends to = Trouble) went for dinner at Dragons Den in Darlinghurst for a delectable meal, well at least it would've been delectable if I didn't have to resist certain elements of the banquet i.e. red meat. Then comes tip toeing the alcohol issue when the bottles get passed round and I have to hide my wine glass. As a consequence, I had numerous people coming up to me saying "So you're not drinking" which translates to "What the hell is wrong with you?" and "Well done" which translates to "Ha, you're missing out!" Not that anyone had issues with me not drinking but it certainly did mean that nearly every conversation I had with people circled around that decision and although I was happy, I did start to realise that my state of mind was getting further and further away from everybody else's.

Anyway, so far physical changes I've noticed following the first week:

I no longer crave caffeine: my addiction may have been curbed(!)
Using the bathroom more regularly
More spots: apparently this is the toxins leaving the body
More energy: this could be part of the lifestyle
Slimmer around the hips!

I guess as a distraction for me, I am managing to focus my energies in an old rekindled hobby, painting. I'm currently working on my first conceptual piece using acrylics on canvas. Its quite exciting for me and I am enjoying it much more than I expected.

Anyway, watch this space. More more exciting news to follow.

Time to be good...

2009-04-27T14:18:00.001+10:00

Whilst I like to think myself as a balance person. I tend not to drink too much, eat healthily, adhere to a routine which incorporates fitness and fun, there's little doubt that the last three years have probably had an affect on body and mind.

According to Diana Ketchen Natural Health Consultant, 'modern day life has resulted in an exponential increase in our exposure to chemicals, drugs and pollutants. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics, over dependence on alcohol and a fast lifestyle have all contributed to making out bodies unhealthy. The modern generation seems to have forgotten that to get to the top of the rat race we need a healthy mind coupled with a healthy body.

Our body’s detoxification system comprises of the digestive and urinary systems, skin, lungs and liver. It is a perfect system in which the organs supplement and complement each other. There is, however, a limit to how much it can be stretched.

What happens is this. The frontline defense of the intestines is broken due to the large quantities of toxins that enter our body. This intake can happen through food, exposure to the environment, drinking water and other points of contact. The breakdown of the function of the intestines leads to a condition where the liver needs to work more than its capacity.

Over time, if we have not had a natural body detox, the toxins start to leak out of the intestinal walls into the blood stream. And a situation like this causes diseases like bowel toxaemia (blood poisoning caused by bacterial toxic substances in the blood) and candidiasis (an infection caused by fungi). These diseases are characterized by symptoms like diabetes, chronic constipation, vaginal thrush, loss of libido and increase in blood cholesterol'.

In my final year of University I quit alcohol for 3 months, walked everywhere, did yoga and cut down on my carbs. The results were incredible, I lost weight, I felt great and my mind was tuned in. I was also very happy and more confident than I'd felt in a long time.

Then, well I fell in love, moved to the big smoke, got a full-time job in the city and commuted a good hour or so a day in London.

This was the start of my naughty period. Oblivious at the time (until obviously too late!) I indulged in mars bars from the work vending machine, drank half a bottle of wine a night and always ended up eating late after work which usually contained man portions of potatoes! That along with being unhappy in my job and taking up voluntary work for Oxfam coordinating events in whatever spare time I had certainly added to the stress.

So the waistline broadened and brain cells depleted... The thing is although I will openly admit to being somewhat lazy in London along with eating irresponsibly, it is a lifestyle suited to the big smoke. Time is tight - it is the London mentality, people moving in and out of the city tend to commute long distances (house prices, family etc.) and the weather is predominantly terrible, or at least it was for the duration I was there. Which if you're anything like me, means one will scoff on comfort food further escalating the unhealthy lifestyle already accustomed to.

Now I am in no way slating London. I love that place. But I can't deny it triggered a downward spiral in terms of my health. I was constantly ill, managed my time badly and ate/drank as much as my boyfriend (who is much bigger than I am)!

So now I have decided it is time to face the music and work off that too easily accrued load. It is time for the D.E.T.O.X.

My aim is to get healthy and feel firstly and foremost confident in my skin.

So the plan?

Gym at least twice a week (cardio & weights)
No meat aside from fish & chicken
No alcohol
No caffeine
No wheat
No dairy
Only organic/gluten free food where possible

In addition to doing the bod some good, I am also going to attend meditation and yoga classes to get some peace and loving in to my mind. That and some clarity.

I'm going to stick to this for 3 weeks, starting from today. Time to lose the London load, time to be good...

Will keep you updated. Wish me luck!

P.S. Don't expect too much - I'm already bored.

P.P.S. Typical, my work mate's announced she's bringing in chocolate cake tomorrow.

My favourite song...

2009-03-28T01:33:00.000+11:00

I love this song. Peter Doherty, sure he's had issues. Its not good. But his writing is poetry and I like this one especially.

Tofulicious

2009-03-19T15:54:00.000+11:00

I wish I could eat tofu, all the time. Ok it’s a weird texture, makes your teeth furry and looks like an alien creature that’s shriveled up in to an ice cube mold, but its good for you. And not only is the tofu little creature good for you but its good for the planet…ahh…

As a child I refused to eat my veggies (except for broccoli because it reminded me of trees and made me feel like a giant), fussy eater me, now however I am advocating for more consumption of a food made by curdling fresh hot soymilk with a coagulant… if you told seven year old Jess that she would find herself eating such a disgusting thing in the future, she would have sworn on her little pony “NEVER!” before spiking her brother’s milk with strawberry Nesquik.

Still I am a little wiser and understand that farming uses up much larger landmass than vegetables and tofu. Hence reducing the destruction of rain forests, wildlife and also produces less pollution. Yes indeed, more vegetables and tofu are a great alternative.

All they need to do is make tofu taste like chicken… or steak… or salmon…

Coldplay Rocked My World Lastnight...

2009-03-13T23:03:00.001+11:00

Coldplay and I, well we've had our moments. I listened to their first album relentlessly until I found out my Dad was. Then I subscribed to the common thought that they were relentlessly depressing.

This has changed, along with new albums, their evolving sound and my own musical maturity. I saw them last night performing at the Acer Arena, what a show. Highlights included:

Finding out our seats were wrong and we were actually meant to be at the front!
Befriending the stage crew who gave us beer and the set list at the end of the show
Dancing to Yellow
Singing to Green Eyes
Relentlessly smiling
Confetti butterflies falling from the high ceiling glowing in the UV lights
The realisation that Chris Martin albeit hyperactive, is a humble and incredibly talented musician

Their songs are gorgeous. Sighs...

Playground Weekender

2009-02-16T11:28:00.001+11:00

Its been a week since I returned to the real world following a hot weekend at Wiseman’s Ferry for Playground Weekender music festival.

How was it? Well first and foremost I can describe the experience in one word: HOT. Seriously hot. That kind of heat where you feel somewhat paralysed and the most energy you can muster is to head to the store and buy a bag of ice or jump in to the river. We struggled to move and talk for a period in the early hours of Saturday.
Enough about the heat though, that message was drilled in I am sure.
Pros & Cons?
Pros:
1. Beautiful setting. I was blown away by the gorgeous layout of this festival. The organisers ensured there was a quirky hippie slant on the deco and sitting along the riverside was a welcome break.
2. Not too crowded. I hate festivals that get too crowded. Being a little lady myself I can’t stand the prospect of having my head up someone’s baby wiped armpit and having my feet trodden on. Playground was roomy enough to dance but not to the point where it lack in atmosphere.
3. Leading me to the next point, atmosphere. Atmosphere was great, upbeat, and friendly at Playground. I met and chatted to so many randoms and there was this sharing caring vibe that can be hard to find at some festivals.
4. Great acts. I was very excited to see Jose Gonzalez, sadly his act was really short and a little uninspiring but the sound was great and I think it was quite a relief to have an act less high energy. My favourite acts included: Crazy P, Lyrics Born and The Streets.
5. Laissez-faire attitude, trusting patrons to look after themselves and one another. Nothing worse than being hounded by sniffer dogs and the intimate searches to welcome you at some of Australia’s festivals.
6. Fancy Dress, need I say more (see images = lots of fun)?!
Cons:
1. Cuing for the ferry. That was a joke. Aside from sweltering in the heat carrying bags we had to wait a good 3 hours to get on to the ferry. Of course one fills the time with a beer or two but it did feel very frustrating after rushing tirelessly to get there and make the last act to then be waiting with a strip of water between you and the fun.
2. Water cost $7 a bottle. A painful joke. Being that tap water came out an off brown colour which was far from refreshing looking, I did thinking it was a bit mean charging so much for bottles of water especially in the 47 degree heat conditions.
3. Norman Jay was a no show. We were really disappointed after trundling from The Streets at the main stage to catch a bit of Norman Joay to no avail. I suppose this does happen at concerts so I shouldn’t sulk too much (but will anyway).
4. Last bus back was at 10pm! We would’ve much preferred to get a coach to and from the festival but departing at 10pm from the other side of the ferry would’ve been far too much of a stressful hike.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Playground and will be sure to revisit it next year.

Another old skool post

2009-02-12T09:47:00.000+11:00

There was a time when everyone at uni seemed to be perfecting "the pout" - it was seriously vain and relentless. The ingenuous attempt to look sexy just lost its sex appeal completely. So I wrote a blog about it...

The Pout

Time for a change I feel people. In case those of you who didn't notice, the pout, is soooo last season. Crew pics are getting repetitive and the pout's not selling us like it used to. I am afraid its time to move on and bury the pout. For a while it was a unique sexy gesture with a bit of tude, now it has become common as mud finding itself on nearly every persons face in pictures. The unique person is seemingly the random who jumped in to the photo or is perched on the bar in the back ground.
Back to the drawing board guys.... until then lets admire the pics we have from previous nights...

"here's the crew pouting at oceana.... here's the crew pouting in the lizard lounge...oh thats a new top....here's the crew pouting at Jess' house party... this is us pouting on pub golf night...urm...here's the crew pouting...not sure where that one is...hmm...notice anything similar??!"

Hunter S. Thompson

2009-01-08T14:20:00.000+11:00

Oh Hunter S Thompson, what a legend you are... I remember reading about his funeral years back, the man had his ashes blown out of a canon. Nothing but admiration for the king of gonzo.

Respect

Holiday Begins!

2008-12-24T19:16:00.000+11:00

Well its Christmas eve, work is over, hugs and cuddles all round and after a wonderful get together with friends last night (and far too much champers), I feel really happy.

Its a time of year when you can't help but realise how far from home you are and how far from friends and family.

Tomorrow Chris and I embark on a week long adventure with a camper van, map and torch around Tasmania. We are traveling all over before arriving at Marion Bay to sport my new wig and dance under the stars at Falls Festival. I can't wait...

I thought it quite fitting to put the video that my friends sent me saying goodbye when I left the UK. I watched it moments ago and I was filled with nostalgia. There's no denying I miss them a lot. If only they'd smell some decent coffee (namely from Single Origin cafe) and get their sexy backsides to the warmer climates of Oz.

Anyway, I'll be away for a while. Happy Christmas to everyone, I hope its a wonderful day and you appreciate having your loved ones near (as annoying as they might be at times).

Ho ho ho...

nb. All images/video content has been sourced from student days, thus I am in no way responsible for my actions. Obviously.

The Mountain Goats

2008-12-10T09:13:00.000+11:00

Friday night I saw this band called The Mountain Goats, I've listened to quite a bit of their music in the past and was a bit curious as to what they would be like live.

I was pleasantly surprised - these guys absolutely rocked it and they also had a huge following here in Sydney. Clearly this was a show dominated by fans, and the energy of the room really demonstrated this, with most (though, sadly, not all), hanging intently on every word.

I can't work out what makes them so good - the lead singer is a little gawky and whiny, the lyrics are somewhat narrative and songs - very wordy, but yet it has to be that little bit of quirky cult lyrical genius which makes them win the crowd over. The lead singer was an absolute diamond when it came to making everyone laugh and truly entertaining us through his jet lag and random rants. I remember at one point he said: “Australia responded to this song more than anywhere else, so feel free to sing along, I’m not gonna stand in your way... well because obviously I can't, I'm on the stage and you're down there and I have a job to do."

Anyway, overall a good show and Manning Bar (the student union bar) even caters for small people - so I got a view!!! Spoilt!

Birthday Spaghetti

2008-12-09T21:01:00.002+11:00

I made spaghetti on my birthday. I know its not the coolest of feats but I have to admit there was an overwhelming sense of accomplishment in doing so and its another thing I can tick off my list. It also tasted delicious.

We used the Jamie Oliver recipe and all that was required was

600g of Tipo ‘00’ flour (a really fine flour made specifically for pasta).
6 large free-range organic eggs.

I think the best things in life are often the simplest.

Its my birthday.

2008-12-05T10:17:00.001+11:00

I love having a birthday in Summer, bearing in mind this is all very novel to me. Gone are the days where we'd all huddle ourselves in to a warm pub watching out for ice on the footpath as we stumbled home. Oh yes. Now, I have sunshine, daylight, beaches and BBQ's. I thought I was over getting excited about birthdays - prospect of aging has starting to sink in - but this is quite a treat and I have reverted to a child getting really enthusiastic about my birthday.

Tomorrow, there'll be a BBQ at a lovely little beach in Sydney called Red Leaf with proverbially pommy pimms and lemonade and am looking forward to the prospect of just chilling out in the sun OUTDOORS!

On Sunday, my real birthday, I'm going to Palm Beach to stay at my friends beautiful holiday home. I do feel spoilt. I can't deny that I will be missing my gorgeous friends in the UK, if only they could be here too...

Adam Hill's Art

2008-11-30T13:58:00.001+11:00

I love this artist Adam Hill, he's an Australian Aboriginal artist who has created some very moving pieces. He feels compelled to take a step away from traditional Aboriginal art and instead take on an art form which represents the thoughts of his people.

Adam has a family history of artisans and grew surrounded and nurtured in art practices. He draws inspiration from many contemporary Australian artists both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous. Mostly influenced by landscapes, Adam is also a keen advocate of social justice. The two are often combined in his works as you can see.

I watched an interesting documentary on him recently and am now on a mission to find some of his artwork too.