Right-Half Chow

Iceland rules

A while go I wrote about the Reactable sound system, it turns out Björk is using it in a set she played at Coachella. Marvelous, apart from the fact that we're not there, obviously... If there's one festival in the US that should make us jealous, it's this one.

Presentaphobia

Some really clever advice by Rob Campbell on overcoming confidence problems in meetings and presentations. Not the usual 'imagine your audience in their underwear' tips but genuine advice on phrasing comments, questions and reacting in public (yes, I know the 'naked on a toilet' schtick is in there but he went straight to the good stuff: 'be yourself').

Well worth the read, even if you think you're a loudmouth (like myself). And even in that last case, it might help you to be a bit more empathic towards your meeting companions. The advice below might be a starting point:

However one word of advice, when you ask a question … especially if it is a counter-point of view to what else has been said … make sure you phrase it in a non-aggressive way.

No one likes to be told they are wrong or stupid or less informed … so pre-phrase your question with things like, “That’s really interesting, I must admit I have a slightly different experience/viewpoint/opinion … ” it’ll make things calmer, cooler and more free-flowing.

Branson turns off the light

I'd wager he's the kind of guy that likes the potential misinterpretation... Anyway, it's actually a program for energy conservation, more via Reuters.Funny how industry figureheads are replacing popstars as icons when it comes to more serious issues. The vague pop glitter probably became too light.  

Found in De Morgen

Battle of Surfaces

I'm not what you would call a tennis fan, never played it either (apart from on the street when I was young, and a 60 meter field was far more appealing), but this looks like being something really cool. Being the traditional sport it is, it's nice to see some new initiatives that are taken to make it more interesting again.

Which made me think of this post from last year and led me to a more 'urbanised' version of tennis, without the classic codes:

AdSchool via brainwaves...

I've seen a similar thing from the same guy I believe, but I can't seem to be able to find it. Anyone have a clue?

Random stuff

The garden's taking up a lot of our time again, so here's a selection of ideas I encountered during the last few weeks which I found interesting:

GoRunEasy, which I think is 'correct', but lacks the aspirational values Nike is exploiting so well. I'm sure a lot of people recognise the feeling that sport should also just be fun, but I don't know many among them who don't really have a higher goal in doing so (getting better, losing weight, learning new stuff,...).

This Play-Doh work immediately grabbed my attention, nice art direction too:

I'm a bit jealous of Star Wars fans, they really built a whole culture around their favourite films and go seem entirely devoid of cynicism and nitpicking. That's why stuff like this works so well:

We've been thinking 'eco' quite a lot lately, and not just for eco-clients, it's harder to get a positive story going though. And negatives are often a lot more fun in exaggeration:

All I really need to know

I learned in kindergarten (it shouldn't always be Star Trek)...

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Via Adverlab.

The more things change...

It's an often heard complaint by videogame afficionados that most large companies (genre Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, UbiSoft,...) don't do a lot to further the development of electronic entertainment in new and different directions.

More power mostly means the same games and mechanisms with better graphics, and this video really proves the point:

Now obviously these are not the only developments but you could say that they represent the bulk of the genres that are high on the sales lists these days... There are notable exceptions, but as was stated on the Fallon Planning blog (where I found the video), the biggest evolutions will probably come from users who develop their own content.

And while SecondLife may be one of the triggers (bringing a bigger audience, even though World of Warcraft is already working wonders), I believe that the way people develop their own content for commercial games like Half Life and others will probably work sooner. Counterstrike is a good example, being a big commercial success but not what you'd call radically different from traditional shooter set-ups.

There are more interesting things at the moment, like a certain mod where you can use the game's physics engine to experiment with all kinds of stuff, like building flying machines and all different kinds of contraptions. Not everyone will understand the following paragraph, but it does sound more interesting than 'search for enemy, kill with available guns,...':

In this multiplayer session of Garry's Mod, several players have been turned into physically simulated watermelons and are roped to a scanner NPC (also physically simulated). By rolling themselves around, the players are, with a coordinated effort, able to drag the NPC around the area.

Garden time and lapses

I've been posting kind of irregularly for the past few weeks, and I don't know if it'll change in the near future.  That shouldn't mean I'll be posting less, it might just become more concentrated (weekends were never my forte).

The garden has been taking up some of our time lately, and I must say I'm kind of enjoying it, especially with bbq weather this early in the year...  But just watching the garden change week after week is kind of special.

The high temperatures don't really allow for much pacing though, all pruning and stuff needs to be over in a few weeks, and we've still got a lot stuff to cut though.

Anyway, I'd suspect that there might be more interference in the near future, but as stated, that should influence the quality positively...

Writing = Charming

The multi-talented Miranda July is promoting her new book 'No one belongs here more than you do' on this fantastic website.

It made me think of people who are really good at building presentations on a flip-chart, just writing down keywords as they go along and draw people in. I have really terrible writing and I'm bloody jealous, maybe a calligraphy course might build some confidence here. Via influx.