Quotable Quote – Dan Hayes

Internals change externals.

- Dan Hayes

Marcel Marceau 1923-2007

The world of the performing arts has lost a major influence. On September 22, 2007 French mime, Marcel Marceau died at his home in Cahors.

Born Marcel Mangel in Strasbourg, France in 1923, he was inspired to become an actor after seeing a Charlie Chaplin film in 1946. After studying in Paris, Marcel joined Jean-Louis Barrault’s company where his fame spread.

In 1947 Marcel created the character, Bip the Clown, for which he is most famous. After winning the renowned Deburau Prize in 1949, Marcel formed his own troup, Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau. At the time, this was the only pantomime company in the world.

Through his numerous television appearances in the 1970’s and 80’s, Marcel brought the art of pantomime to the world stage. He was a favorite guest of Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, and Red Skelton.

Marcel also took part in movies. His most satirical was in the Mel Brooks film, Silent Movie, where Marcel had the only speaking part.

If you were privileged to see his 2000 tour in the U.S. or other parts around the globe, you saw a master at work. He was truly a genius and ahead of his time. He will be missed.

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The Buffy Sing-Along

Still missing the Joss Whedon television hit, Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Well, stop moping around and find a theatre near you where the Buffy Musical is playing.

Yes, the season 6 episode that had fans raving has been hitting the big screens around the U.S. Much like a certain participation movie of the 1970’s and 80’s, the Buffy Musical has the audience singing, blowing kazoos, and other fun, if not silly things (no toast throwing, please).

Visit the Buffy Musical site and be sure to call all your other geek friends for a festive night out.

Have fun!

Pixelmator 1.0 Rocks!

Sorry Windows users, no version available for you — yet. Pixelmator image editing software is out and it is hot! For a mere $59 you get a ton of stuff (beats the cost of PhotoShop).

Specs include:
- Compatibility with over 100 still image file formats
- Layers based image editing
- Over 20 tools for selection, crop, painting, retouching, type, etc.
- Over 15 color correcting tools
- Specify canvas size
- Rotate canvas
- Transform tools
- Stroke and fill tools
- Filters and more!

Download a trial version and check it out today!

Related Links
- Free PhotoShop “Splatter” Brushes
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Quotable Quote – Theodore Roosevelt

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

- Theodore Roosevelt

Boring Presentations Should Be A Sin

I recently saw an article on LifeHacker with tips on presenting. I added my 2 cents with the following:

A boring presentation should be a sin. It wastes everyones time. I have seen presentations and trainings that used decks of 50 to 80 slides…Ughh! If you choose to do that, either blaze through the slides (which could be fun, if done right) or give it up — you are hitting people in the face with a fire hydrant of too much information.

My tips:
- Above all, keep it FUN
- Keep it highly interactive
- Practice, practice, practice
- K.I.S.S. (not the band)
- Boil down what you want to say into key phrases
- Use handouts for the boring numbers and data

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Quotable Quote – Robert Motherwell

Nothing as drastic an innovation as abstract art could have come into existence without a most profound, relentless, unquenchable need…the need for felt experience — intense, immediate, direct, subtle, unified, warm, vivid, rhythmic.

- Robert Motherwell

Cartoon Brew – A Fun Place To Get Lost

Here’s a blog recommended by Jaggedsmile: Cartoon Brew. Jerry Beck, animation historian and cartoon producer started this blog and it is a blast.

Some of the memorabilia and trivia are worth their weight in…hmm, hand drawn cels(?). One such example is the image above of which Beck says:

I was at Midtown Comics in New York City yesterday, buying my weekly comics, and they had a countertop display of pop culture refrigerator magnets. I was shocked when I saw this one (below), with the classic Looney Tunes Henery Hawk character.

Am I right in being confused as to how this passed the licensing department?

If you like creativity and cartoons, and you need a little break, mouse over to Cartoon Brew. Don’t blame me if you wonder where the rest of your day went.

Have fun!

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- The Evolution of Pants
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Macmillan – Creative Fund Raising

Here’s a creative idea that is taking place today -

Cancer charity Macmillan will host an auction on Second Life as part of The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning, which takes place on Friday 28 September.

The auction, which will feature items donated by Second Life members, is part of a drive by Macmillan to raise real-world money in the popular virtual environment.

read more…

So, if you’re a member of Second Life and want to make an impact in the real world, take part incredible cause. Then be sure to visit the Macmillan info center.

Cheers!

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Blade Runner Gets It’s Remake

Blade Runner was one of my favorite films of the 1980’s. The depiction of the future with it’s blended technologies, cultures, and economies was ahead of it’s time. F/X-wise, it was a stepping stone from the ground breaking technology used in Star Wars. The story and characters were vivid and haunting.

It was a film that stuck with you.

Now, 25 years later, director Ridley Scott gets another chance with another audience to tell the story of Rick Deckard — android hunter and cop.

From WIRED Online | By Ted Greenwald

At age 69, Ridley Scott is finally satisfied with his most challenging film. He’s still turning out movies at a furious pace — American Gangster, with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, is due in November — building on an extraordinary oeuvre that includes Alien, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down. But he seems ready to accept Blade Runner as his crowning achievement. In his northern English accent, he describes its genesis and lasting influence. And, inevitably, he returns to the darkness that pervades his view of the future — the shadows that shield Deckard from a reality that may be too disturbing to face.

read more…

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Need To Focus On The Good Stuff

By E. Brown

After hearing an interview with author, Mike Robbins, I agree — we need to focus more on the good stuff. Life is too short.

It is funny, I was talking about this very same thing last night with a group of friends. We are trained from a young age to find the things that are wrong…

“You mispelled that one word” (forget the fact that the 14 others words were spelled correctly)

“You burned the biscuits” (this was the first time they had made biscuits)

“You always leave the toilet seat up” (when you’ve lived on your own for 10+ years, some habits are hard to break)

And, the list goes on. Sound familiar? It is easier to find fault than to find appreciation.

Another by-product of this is that most people do not know how to accept praise and appreciation. You have seen it before, or maybe experienced it first-hand.

Someone tells you, “You did a good job!” Since we are programmed to find fault and strive for perfection (because of our fear of failure) we often respond, “Thanks, but it could have been better.”

We would have done good to stop at, “Thanks.”

Have you ever noticed that about yourself or others? I sure did. Several years ago, I came to the realization that I had a hard time accepting praise. We often opt for the false humility angle.

Mike’s book, Focus On The Good Stuff, is a call to gratitude. “The average person processes over 50,000 thoughts a day and 80% of them are negative,” Mike says. Many people are driven and competitive because of fear — fear of failing or being perceived as a failure.

This book is filled with action items, ideas, and suggested practices. It is easy to take what you learn and apply it to your life right away. Here are three ideas Mike suggests you try today:

1. Find a “trigger object” like a small stone or coin and keep it in your pocket or on your desk. Every time you touch it or see it, think of something you are grateful for
2. Every day find 3 new things you can tell your spouse, child, or significant friend you appreciate about them
3. Start an Appreciation Journal where you write what you like about yourself and what you are grateful for

You will be amazed at the impact this attitude can and will have on your life. Start focusing on the good stuff today.

Have fun!

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Share This With Others

Quotable Quote – G. K. Chesterton

There are two kinds of revolutionists — as of most things, a good kind and a bad. The bad revolutionists destroy conventions by appealing to fads — fashions that are newer than conventions. The good do it by appealing to facts that are older than conventions.

- G. K. Chesterton

New Apple PDA?

Did you ever have a Apple Newton? I did. When I had it I loved it. Yeah it was a monster in size compared to the Palm Pilot, but you didn’t have to learn Graffiti amongst other things.

Not only was the handwriting recognition software cool, but the “Ink text” and Sketch features were ahead of their time. You could quickly scribble down notes and drawings on the same screen and then come back later to convert your hand written words into clean text for exporting. I never saw a Palm Pilot do that?

Then Apple killed the Newton. A sad day for many.

Now, it seems, Apple is developing again a potential PDA built upon OSX and the success of the iPhone and iPod-Touch. Using the multi-touch technology this could be the bridge between slate-computers and PDA’s.

Sweet!

Next thing you know, there will be the merger between all these gadgets. What will it be?

Stay tuned…

Related Links
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*Artwork by Audiopollution

Halo 3 – The First 24 Hours

Following the release of Halo 3, the first 8 hours showed sales of 1.8 million units. The breakdown: 1.5 million presales and 300,000 off the shelves.

Clint Farrell stayed up until 4:30 a.m. Tuesday playing Halo 3.

He wore headphones so his parents wouldn’t that know he was awake. Then Farrell, a 15-year-old sophomore at Central High School, went to school, worked out during first-period athletics class and promptly fell asleep afterward in the locker room.

Whoops.

From over the U.S. were reports of employees coming to work slack-jawed and distracted. Some didn’t even bother to come in at all.

Microsoft is to report later this morning the sales totals from yesterday. It is believed that this one day will break many records long held by major entertainment mediums.

Looks like a new day for geeks and games.

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Quotable Quote – Martin Luther King Jr.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

- Martin Luther King Jr. 

Business Wisdom vs. Dakota Tribal Wisdom

I recently got a copy of this from an acquaintance. It was so good I had to share it. This can apply to projects, people, or strategies.

Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.

However, in business, we often try other strategies with dead horses, including the following:

• Changing riders
• Increasing the standards to ride dead horses
• Creating a training session to increase our riding ability
• Hiring contractors to ride the dead horse
• Harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed
• Forming a quality circle to find uses for dead horses
• Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position

Notice, this is for a DEAD horse, not a “new” horse, not an “untried” horse, not a “sick” horse, and not a “dying” horse — you can work with any of those. This is a “dead horse”.

Angel’s Thai Cuisine

Angel’s Thai restaurant in Olympia, Washington leaves much to be desired. While the menu certainly has a wide variety, the prices are consistently steep for what you get. $10 for a salad! $12 for the average entrée! Surprisingly, the items that were not overpriced were the drinks.

I had green tea to drink. The tea came quickly. When the waitress brought it she set the cup and pot down without filling the cup. She simply left. Not to wait on another table — it was not a particularly busy night — but to go back to the open kitchen to talk to another waitress.

No extra-mile service here.

I let it sit a moment while I added a few notes to my Blackberry. By the time I tried my tea, it was lukewarm — not hot.

Blehk.

The menu had pictures of most entrées. It was difficult to tell the size of the decorative dish, but for $12 it should have been a larger portion.

The food came out quickly. It should have, with only 3 of the 22 tables in the establishment occupied. I had the spicy Pad Kee Mow. The food was hot and had a good blend of spices with beef, vegetables, and flavorful noodles. Unfortunately, the taste was tainted by the prices, cold green tea, and poor service.

Only once did the waitress come by to ask how my meal was. When it was obvious I was done, there was no offer for dessert, coffee, or refill on tea. As for the tea, it could have been because I had left so much of it untouched — perhaps the waitress didn’t think I wanted more.

It is unlikely I will visit here again. I will be surprised if this establishment survives another year without making some significant changes to customer service.

Recommendations
Attention to detail – make sure food is right before bringing it out to the customer and make sure that what is advertised is what is delivered.

Wait staff training – be professional and attentive, take the initiative and up-sell and suggest menu items.

Lower prices – knocking off $3 alone would be huge.

Rethink the kitchen – with the kitchen being open it can be frustrating for a customer to see their waitress goofing off in back when they need water refilled — put up a partition.

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Spark Your Creativity In A Week

By Katie Weeks

Maintaining your creative drive is hard work. So what happens when you run out of inspirational fuel? Whether you’ve hit a creative roadblock or simply want to drag your brain out of a rut, give us a week and we’ll get your creative gears turning.

Day 1
Create a smile file. Collect things that make you laugh or think harder. Clip magazine articles, cartoons or cool announcements and keep them together for instant inspiration.

Day 2
Play “What If.” The goal of this game is to think of the most outlandish situations possible. What if paper were outlawed? The more outlandish the scenario, the better.

Day 3
Buy three magazines you normally wouldn’t give a second glance. Consider the following questions: How does each magazine visually tackle its subject matter? How do they aesthetically connect with their audiences? What does each do differently?

Day 4
“Designers should do whatever they need to do to clear themselves-whatever they can do to be able to listen-to hear their own intuition. The creative process always works; in our lives, it gets over-ridden by other stuff.”
-Petrula Vrontikis, Vrontikis Design Office, LA

Day 5
Get out. Drive, walk, run, bike. Do anything that takes you somewhere new and then explore your surroundings.

Day 6
Take a long shower or bath. You’ll be surprised at what comes to mind when you’re too soapy to write it down.

Day 7
“Stay up late. Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.”
-Bruce Mau, Bruce Mau Design, Toronto

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Plug The Hole In The Knowledge Dam

By E. Brown

I have been reading a lot about knowledge management and knowledge wealth lately. A favorite quote of mine regarding this topic is:

A burden shared is a burden halved; an intellectual asset shared is one doubled.

I love that! Talk about a return on investment. Who doesn’t want that kind of action?

Yet, it never ceases to amaze me how companies allow their knowledge assets to slip away. That is like throwing money out the window.

How many times have you heard (or experienced) this story:

An employee, called “Alice”, works for an organization for 3 years, 5 years, 10 years or more. Finally, it is time for Alice to move on. Maybe it is her choice, maybe it is not. After Alice is gone it takes 2-3 people to do her job. Not only that, but it takes the 2-3 people 3-6 months to come up to speed.

Why?
Sometimes this is done in the name of a reorganization. Sometimes it is due to a cut in the budget, personality conflict, or change of management. In today’s market of the “Knowledge Worker”, it may be due to the lack of challenge or responsibility for the employee. However, it almost always boils down to these two reasons:

1) Lack of foresight

2) Poor knowledge management

Knowledge is leaking from companies left and right. Some of it an organization may never be able to recover from.

Is the leader willing to put his or her finger in the dam?

Kudos
I recently learned of a major government organization that peered into the future and realized that they would be losing a large part of their intellectual capital in the next three years.

Kudos to the group for having the foresight to see the potential disaster coming and for having the guts to be willing to do something about it.

Over the next three years they are going to put together a knowledge repository so that none of the current intellectual assets are lost. New employees can quickly learn what was known by their previous peers and build upon it for the continued success of the organization. They are going to double, and in some cases triple, their knowledge wealth.

What about you in your company? Is your knowledge pool leaking or overflowing? What are you doing to stem the tide? How are you teaching, training, and equipping next generation workers to build on the capital of those who came before?

Here’s your chance to double your investment and secure success for the future.

Don’t waste it.

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Quotable Quote – Michel de Montaigne

We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.

- Michel de Montaigne