CrapHammer

The Mo'

Hopefully you donated to support the cause!

And here is the payoff.  Oy.  Click for full size, if you dare.  ;)

Sadly, this is all my light brown hair genes can produce in 2 weeks.  But I still find it horrifying.

Origins of Hip Hop

Thanks to the Frith'ster for this find.  The king of all things dosa or masala.

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What I love about this campaign is that this is an English dub (requested by fans) of an Asian campaign.  And it's getting notice and attention.

The world of campaigns being built in the Western World and then localized into countries is about to get a big kick upside its head.

And to think I'm still trying to learn French.  Dear lord.

(setup to post while I am hiding in Morocco)

Morocco

By the time you read this, I should have arrived in Morocco.  I am there for only a week with my partner Eli and some friends.  One who I am meeting for the first time.  And what a place to do it.

Photo Source:  lapidim

It's not your father's mustache

I've heard a lot of grumbling from the feminine side of the fence about this whole Mo'vember thing.  How it is a ripoff of the Pink thing.  Or that it robs a certain person of her birthday fame.  But ya gotta admit, it's the program with the payoff.

Movember

Where men all over the world come up with bizarre strategies to grow mustaches (so they don't look like morons while doing it.)  And then on November 30'th they unveil these mustaches publicly, all in the fight to raise money and awareness around prostate cancer.

I love that it's sponsored by Playboy.  It's not your father's magazine any more.  And neither is it his mustache. 

Sponsor Me!

So please donate to our Movember mustache growing blogger team.  And check back on November 30'th because I will be unveiling my horrible and patchy mustache attempt.

To sponsor my Mo (moustache) and fight against prostate cancer please go to http://www.movember.com/us/donate, enter my registration number which is 172521

Stab this in your eye and chew on it

Definitely worth a listen.  The kaiser strikes again.

The man who brought us Sacrum now brings us a monologue on a shit life.

"You are a bundle of light and energy.  And the sun gives you a glint of optimism.  The kind of optimism that would cheer up the most downhearted of procurement managers."

Charles has taken character creation into media creation and I found this not only funny but also an interesting experiment in new media art.  The idea of a persona having a crafted and celebrity take on life.  A life that is shit, but a life nevertheless.

This idea of characters that live and die in a world where we are all presenting crafted facebook, blog and other personas to the world almost makes me wonder if Max Headrom was actually hitting on something back in the 80s.  ;)

Not many bloggers left.

What do a 15 year old girl, a dentist, an engineering student and a blogger all have in common?

In this case, they are the last of the english-speaking blog owners inside Iraq, giving us a view of what life is like on a daily basis.  I found them through a referral from Remi to a wonderful, must-read article from the BBC.

"How could they give us this water? Why should I respect, obey or even recognise my government if they are not providing us with electricity, water, or even security?"

" Breathing slowly.  In and out. That's what I have to do to keep myself from crying, and stay alive."

"We're really strangers in our country... oh well, excuse me, I don't think "our" should be used anymore. I'm not sure whose country it is, but it's not mine for sure."

I spend a lot of time following interesting thinkers in my industry.  I've also been known to visit blogs or sites out of a drive to understand or gain insight into an ethnicity.  But sometimes blogging exposing me to a world I couldn't see any other way.  And these moments move me and cause me to pause.

This article was one of those.  Here is the link again.

Love and Lust

So.  You are riding a train and you see the "girl of your dreams."  She exits.  You tell yourself, "She's got a boyfriend," or "I'm not her type."  But a few hours later, you are running a fever, and all thoughts are still on her.  A day goes by and your friends refuse to hang out with you because you are beyond obsessing.  What do you do?

Well, this young man (if this is real) plays for keeps. Ya gotta check this out.

http://www.nygirlofmydreams.com/

Raises an interesting question of whether "love at first site" exists or if this is just lust in an obsessive/scary form.  There are so many things we lust after that once we get them we find we don't really want them anymore.  Whereas, once in a while, true love forms between two entities and a relationship is born.

I think that Love and Lust are important concepts when it comes to new media.  So many new tools are erupting onto the playing field every few minutes.  New social marketing sites.  New technology.  Who doesn't want an iPhone?  Or a Joost?  Or a Seesmic?

How much of this is Lust?  And how many of these companies are setting the stage for true love?  Or at least a relationship that goes past a one night stand?

Echo Generation: Are You Ready?

We've been talking a bit at my company about the Echo generation for a new project we're working on.  There appear to be strong shifts towards working together (interdependent), making things from scratch, and getting out and actively participating more.  All of this together with an increase in virtual activities makes for a very interesting stew.

In one of our recent internal discussions, Eli brought up the potential correlation to the growth of Parkour.  And so when I saw this video, I felt it both fascinating and also pertinent to understanding this emerging generation.  Not to mention that what this kid can do with a skateboard defies all odds.

WARNING:  Severe language in this video.  Paul level or higher.

Thanks to Mike Arauz for this video.

Rules to live by in advertising

I would only add one "ism" to this presentation from Richard.  And that would be from Gavin and Leigh.

"Digital is a metaphor, not a channel."

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Eat. Sleep. Blog. Episode 6 with Katie Chatield

Paul McEnany, Gavin Heaton and I are back with another episode.  This time we invited Katie Chatfield to talk about her viral Mountain Dew brand campaign in New Zealand.  You can see part of the campaign that has accounted for over 25% growth of the brand this year alone.

Here are the highlights from Gavin:

• Sean leads us out and straight into trouble -- man-style trouble. Well, you will see what I mean. (0:00)
• The Grim Reaper's ugly assistant drops by (2:55) to introduce our special guest star, Katie Chatfield (3:45), talking about some of her great recent work for Mountain Dew
• Paul unpacks his thinking around extreme sports, brand association and niche marketing without swearing once. True (7:02)! But then, he was the one who brought up paedophiles in the first place.
• Sean gets the chance to imagine himself in Captain Kirk's tight fitting velour sweater and showcase the great William Shattner's efforts at hawking Commodore 64s way back when home computers were a revolution (8:43).

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