An amazing touching clever video

Christoph Rehage spent a year walking across China.

He grew a beard and lived to the full… and made one of the best video ever. Enjoy!

Wired Meets Spiegel

Well, Wired is one on my favourite readings and in the blog roll, here is a good example why.

It’s well-known that magazines and newspapers are not going well…  Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of  Wired discusses the Internet’s challenge to the traditional press in the Spiegel.

Best bits:

More and more people are choosing social filters for their news rather than professional filters. We’re tuning out television news, we’re tuning out newspapers. And we still hear about the important stuff, it’s just that it’s not like this drumbeat of bad news. It’s news that matters.

Attention and reputation are two non-monetary economies. The vast majority of people online write for free. We’ve tried paying some of our bloggers and they thought it was insulting. They’re not doing it for the money, they’re doing it for attention and reputation, or just for fun.

(yes Adam Smith, yes some people do things for free, amazing…)

Funny to see the difference of core culture between The Spiegel and Anderson, two worlds colliding.

Brave new world…

The new socialism, global collectivist society…

Stimulating. Clever. A must read. (more comments later, it’s WE time!

IN English here

In French here.

97 seconds….

You can spend your life listening to electronic music on the web. No, you just can’t.

So here is a solution to discover something every day, after 97 minutes each new day, you can hear 97 seconds of music found somewhere on Myspace or a podcast or wherever… if you like it, then you can start searching.

It’s weird, it’s here.

Facebook page here.

Have fun!

The strange disappearance of exhaust pipes…

A few things strike me about cars these days. One is the head lights anthropomorphism but this sounds quite obvious… Here is a funny game one can play while driving: when you see a car, try to imagine its scream… all the possible moans and grumbles will come to your mind. Try that one:

The second one may be more interesting: exhaust pipes have disappeared.

Have a look in the street: all the modern cars (ie. which have been designed less than a few years ago) show no exhaust pipe anymore while older models (designed more than 5-7 years ago) still show one.

Basically it seems the pattern goes as follows: before any ecological mainstream conscience, the exhaust pipe is no issue and hangs out like a more or less designed appendix, then it tends to hide then it disappears.

Example:
The good old 205…

…and the 406 coupé 93 (right, a cutie).

- Then, as a shy move, the exhaust pipe partially disappears… it becomes a humble look-at-his-feet character on the 407…

(did you see it? corner left)

- At last, and recently, the exhaust pipe vanishes… here is one of our national prides (the world will be jealous once more), the glorious Peugeot 207 “version confort”. Abracadabrah:

No more exhaust pipe. Kaputt.

***Obviously the same pattern does not apply to sport cars which still exhibit strong signs of… of what…? Well we’ll ask as specialist soon after…

Here is the unequalled 207 Sport, with a not over-dimensioned EP though, achieving a delicate balance between modesty and meaningful meaning…

Of course, less understated sports car like that Porsche do show more than a lot…

So…?

I once asked Alex Gordon from Sign Salad (always ask as a semiotician, just in case) “hey, BTW, Alex, have you noticed that cars etc… ?” And he answered:

The key challenge for the  development of the electric car is the sonic semiotics  – the car  still has to sound like a car (e.g. engine power) to signal its value, purpose and essentially its masculinity (given the key link between male ego, sexuality and the car)!!

The withdrawal/disappearance of the exhaust pipe is a signifier of the emasculation of the male ego in the face of ecological disaster…??

Yes I agree. All that and more.

I bet that consciously or not car makers, for mainstream models at least, want to obliterate the fact that cars do pollute. Making the exhaust pipe disappear is the easiest way to convince everyone. Is there any car research specialist who could tell us if it is conscious or not? I bet it is.

(winks)

PS. Yes, I used Peugeot models and had a bit of fun with them but no hard feeling, dear lawyers, it was only for rhetorical needs and noone can blame me for using such an fun example…

Stay Hungry, Stay foolish…

I am one of Steve Job’s big fans.

I don’t think I would have enjoyed working for him, considering his reputation – and working for Apple (although indirectly) was a weird experience even if fun somehow.

But his speech in Stanford in 2005 is one of the best testimony I ever heard from anyone.

The text is here, if you want to read it when you have a moment.

I think many people can relate this speech to their own lives. It does not matter if most of us haven’t been as successful as Jobs: we all have been to some extent, whatever our achievements can be. Being out of the scheme, out of traditional paths, I agree with most of his statements:

- connecting the dots: oh yes, when you think about the past and all you’ve experienced,  it definitely makes sense.

- love and loss makes perfect sense. Loosing is only one facet of love, you can’t know one without experiencing its opposite at some point

- death, nothing much to add to what he said.

Moderating trick.

I use Apple for packaging research. It takes five minutes and it makes the group understand everything.

1. I write “Apple” on flip chart and draw a circle around. “Ok, how does an Apple packaging look like?” – group answers.

2. “Ok now what does that packaging say about the product inside? what kind of product can we expect?” – group answers….

3. ” So… who is going to buy that product?” group answers

4. ” All right… So… what kind of brand is it? what’s their philosophy, their view on life?” – groups answers.

5. So there you are: we started with a few words on the packaging and arrived to the brand’s deep values, its core. Of course there are other means of communication that helped build that logical chain but the brand is consistent from A to Z and that’s what makes it a great brand.

This is what we are going to do tonight for that other brand (X,Y,Z). We need to dig in our rational thinking and also in our emotions, OK? OK? Cool, let’s start.

And just before starting I add: “oh by the way, do you know what Apple’s boss studied?” Silence. “Calligraphy…!” Round eyes in the group… and most of the time it will be a good group.

Stay hungry, stay foolish…!

First On Google

Yesterday, I googled Blue Monkey.

There are quite a few out there, restaurants, rock bands, actual monkeys, IT hard ware, etc (there should definitely be a Blue Monkey portal, could be fun…), so I never hoped to be visible even, (the website was more a detailed business card in my mind…).

There you go, Blue Monkey is #1…!

This is no exploit since a few companies (incl. MR) have managed to get the first rank, but still… that will make my day 

… and 5th of MNS’s Bing… (but does that really matters?)

Service? what do you mean, service?

What is it with this idea of “service” in France? Tripadvisor’s users rated France as the most unfriendly country in the Universe, world. It seems that all stereotypes prove eventually true: foreigners tend to consider it is hard to get a good service in France (let’s call this a polite euphemism).

Be reassured: we French face the same problem – we only forget how bad it is when we haven’t recently traveled. I often say that, in France, one must gently asks for the service he has just bought. It’s half a joke but half only. We French also struggle to get a service and we all have our tricks, our approach to that issue. I tend to use psychological manipulation, some prefer raw power and registered letters,  some use seduction, and often a mix of all this…

Just two examples.

Internet
In Singapore, we once had an internet connection issue, I phoned the IP and pop ! a guy came the following day. He cracked a smile, stayed 30 mns despite the fact I had solved the problem and someone later in the day gave a call to check if everything was fine.

Back in France, I tried to get a broadband connection. I tried one internet provider. Did not work. Gave four (expensive) calls. In vain. No one seems to give a toss (the technical advisors even hung the phone when they felt they had done what they were paid for). I changed provider. Did not work. Gave four calls. In vain. By then the whole story had already lasted for a month and a half.

I screamed and threatened to nuke Paris. (I must thank here my good fairy here, Aline, the woman from the store).
Then the Connection Man came, half happy, fixed the issue in 5 minutes, grumbled,  made me sign for another 50 euros and disappeared without a good bye.

Moving.
In Singapore,  6 guys came one morning while the family was by the pool of a hotel (the lovely Shangri La), worked quietly without a moan and two days later everything was neatly wrapped in a container, ready to sail to France. I tipped them like hell, gave phones, furniture and paid them lunch. That was so cool.

In France, three guys arrived two hours late, one was drunk and slept in the truck. Of course two guys weren’t enough for our 20 cubic meters… so I gave them a help. Although the contract specified that everything should be unwrapped, at the end of the day our flat was a bomb site but we had beds and a table… (I had worked 10 hours in a row full speed).  Allelujah .

The cardboard boxes were piled in a mess in the street (although the contract specified blah blah). When I called the manager to get some explanations, he answered (shouting) that we didn’t live in the 14th century, that he wouldn’t kneel before me, that he was a man after all, etc (I’m kidding you not).

Understand me well. I don’t want to be the nasty customer, the kind who believes he is King, treats suppliers badly and generally speaking compensates ego issues with money and ill manners. I’m not fond of obsequious service either and high end hotels seem a bit ridiculous to me. You know what? Honestly I haven’t been the best service provider at some dark periods of my life when I look back in the  mirror. OK (and sorry folks).

But still the difference is so massive between Asia and Europe (I exclude North America for I don’t know it well enough). Europe and not only France because quite often this seems like a European pattern. I hear my wife moan about UK sometimes (although frankly, UK is not so bad). As a matter of fact very often, the only way to get a decent service is to go for premium services or products / brands.

In Asia – once again on an average – the quality of service is amazing. Whoever has lived in Asia knows it and this is true nearly everywhere. And what seduces me more than anything, politeness is normal. I said Singapore but Japan, Thailand aren’t bad either.

Why?
In Asia, an individual is used to pay his respects and serve many figures and persons: the ancestors, the gods, the (grand)parents, the teacher, the army’s officer, the boss, etc (yes I mean that: no capital letters). In return, that individual is quite assured to given an equal respect back. Everyone has a place, a rank often – but most importantly if everyone is not equal, everybody has the right to be here and be respected (I may kill you but respectfully, if you like). Sure enough that isn’t true everywhere in Asia (esp if you put India in Asia) but globally it is.

The West lives according a different cultural background. Everybody is equal although we know that’s not true (and we tend to claim our rights loud in front of anyone who seem to deny them). We lost the habit of serving: our ancestors used to serve the King, the Nation and felt that was normal (after WW1 that duty kinda diluted: a whole generation had been sacrificed to fulfill a duty… no more duty, the hell with duty). 60 years ago, Ian Fleming could write On Her Majesty’s secret service in 1963.  would give a novel such a title nowadays?

Actually, as soon as the financial, economic pressure disappear, you often can’t get a service. You don’t believe me? I tried to get ten (10 !) different quotes to renovate our bathroom: three came and only one (1! ) answered. Not big enough, not enough money, I’m busy, I can’t be asked to write and send the bloody quote, bye bye.

I’m kidding you not.

Deeply (and unfortunately), providing a service somehow means putting oneself in a position of inferiority. I guess that some Asian guys when they travel to Europe must have the shock of their lives. Service? What service?

I don’t expect things to change massively in the coming years, habits and cultural traits tend to outlive us. But needless to say I deeply like that Asian way (along with food for sure)…

The last one came today. A good one…

I closed Blue Monkey’s former bank account (no name here I don’t want to get sued but I have names…) more than a year ago. One silly (and unpleasant I must say) respondent tried to cash in a 50 euros check from this account… Guess what? the bank forbid Blue Monkey to issue a check for the next FIVE YEARS…

But they did a big mistake: they refused a check which wasn’t good in first place. A check is valid one year and 8 days. That check was one year and 3 months old ! So they banned me without checking the limit date !

I phoned three times but no one can give an answer or a phone number and no one is calling back…

Oh stupid me !  we’re on Friday, it is 2 pm, forget it.

They don’t give a damn if I have three major studies beginning on Wednesday, highly political and strategic as usual: the week end is sacred…

Service? what do you mean, service…?

Ok it’s solved. I went into ” rage mode” (+shame on you, letter to the CEO). Sometimes it works. A dangerous tactics though, to be used only when you feel strong...

Agnès Giard – Le Dictionnaire de l’amour et du plaisir au Japon

Hi Guys, here is a little wonder!

Sorry it’s in French only but I’ll try to translate it because it’s really worth it. An interview with a French writer and blogger (excellent blog, once again in French only, sorry) who recently published the Dictionnary of Love and Pleasure in Japan. One of the most interesting thing I’ve read in a long time!

The web link for that paper is: here from the excellent La Spirale. I hope they keep on-line long enough.

Enjoy!

Great quotes – Florilège

What can they do to you after you get into your seventies? Client Eastwood
My definition of courage is never letting anyone define you. Jenna Jameson

We all have more abilities and internal resources than we know. My advice is that you don’t need to break your neck to find out about them. Christopher Reeve

Wisdom and love have nothing to do with each other. Wisdom is staying alive, survival. You’re wise if you don’t stick your finger in the light plug. Love — you’ll stick your finger in anything.  Robert Altman

Normal is a cycle on a washing machine.  Emmylou Harris

My parents wanted to light my artistic candle. But over time, the definition of “the arts” began to stretch. And as I got older, they suddenly realized, Oh, my God, we’re the parents of Iggy Pop.