bits&thoughts

Boog

2006-12-10T20:46:00.000+02:00

some time ago, i got tagged by Bogdana - i'm supposed to recommend a book and explain my choice in one paragraph. Well, if i were to pick a book, i'd pick Paul Auster's "The Book of Illusions". Mostly because this book lit up both my passion for (older) movies, and my interest in movie therapy. And because i think it's true that "Man has not one and the same life. He has many lives, placed end to end, and that is the cause of his misery."

Rules of the tag here. Further tags: Alex, Razvan, Ago.

experimental travel

2006-12-10T22:44:00.000+02:00

Speaking of books, I've just bought an absolutely lovely travel book. It's called "The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel" and it invites you to forget about package holidays and classic travel routes and predictable journeys and the clutches of tourist traps, in order to follow a potentially more challenging and interesting approach - "a novel approach to travel that starts with a quirky concept and can lead anywhere from Bora Bora to a bus stop". In other words, the book invites to a playful way of travelling, establishing a clear methodology (you're given hypothesis, apparatus, method), but never a clear destination.

The great exercises include and analyse tasks such as "explore the city through the eyes of a chess piece", "discover a city while looking for love", "let Ariadne lead you through the labyrinth of a new city", "explore a city via the lyrics of a famous song that pays tribute to it, using the words as both itinerary and travel guide", "use the number 12 to compose a travel itinerary" and many, many other obstructions, all showing just how wonderful experimental travel can be. All you need is a camera, and the willingness to stay open to interestingness.

brand new podcast

2006-12-11T00:33:00.000+02:00

As we have been threatening everybody for some time now, Alex and I have finally started our podcast thing. It's called DoerCast and will hopefully contain various bits and pieces from people we admire, learn from, and, most important, can actually talk to and record. The first episode features Sofa Surfers, and we hope we can update it as often as possible. Enjoy !

to make things even clearer

2006-12-11T11:52:00.000+02:00

wonderful to hang out with wonderful people

2006-12-11T16:21:00.000+02:00

Iain is right: "It’s nice when people you know start good blogs." Razvan has a brand new blog about which i found out yesterday. He's part of Oricum, a really amazing guy, and a sheer delight to hang out with. And while we were having coffee yesterday, i remembered a little nice quote from addicted to the hustle:

"I don't bother "networking" anymore, instead, I try to build relationships with people I find interesting, and who I think are doing interesting things. And I make it my mission to help them in any way I can to achieve their mission. I find this much more satisfying, much more honorable, and much more fun. And this is the cool thing about people....When you help them out in this way, they help you out. Not because it's a tit for tat deal, but because both parties are engaged in a mutually beneficial relationship that extends beyond the next favor."

life in colours

2006-12-11T21:39:00.000+02:00

change the world, 500 words at a time

2006-12-13T15:01:00.000+02:00

Probably everybody knows this by now, but i still feel like posting about it. Hugh Macleod had yet another brilliant initiative: he asked people to change the world, 500 words at a time. The collection of mini-manifestos which resulted (and which is far from being completed, hopefully) is a very good, insightful, fresh and inspiring resource, which tackles all sorts of issues, not all connected to marketing, brands, communication and related.

However, one of the nicest examples is Rodrigo Dauster's Elusive Consumer Manifesto.

1. Listen, don't ask
Don't ask me what I want. To ask is to admit you don't know. If you don't know, it means you haven't been listening. If you haven't been listening it means that you don't care about me. So why should I care about you? Every day I express what I want and what is wrong with what I have. If you care about me, observe the joy I get from company; how hard I laugh at your jokes; how happy I am to by the time I get to the front of the queue to pay; the pleasure I take from drinking that coffee; how often I return.

2. Be honest
Yes, I am a fool some of the time. I don't have the time to be smart about everything; to always make the most informed decisions. That means others can profit from me in these moments of weakness, busy-ness or fatigue. But I don't forget. So if you rip me off; I won't trust you again.

3. Help me want less
Stop telling me what else I need to be happy. We all know that more this and more that will only lead me into a down-ward spiraling, unfulfilling consumption binge. If you really want to add value -- to be different -- show me how I can get more with less: simplify, defeature, unbundle, open up.

strategic objective

2006-12-13T22:23:00.000+02:00

podcasts

2006-12-14T14:33:00.000+02:00

i've been a fan of podcasts ever since i learnt about them, because i walk a lot, and it's great to listen to loads of ideas coming from smart people while walking on lonely dark streets. But i must admit i've always kinda took them for granted. Things have changed now that we're trying to get our own toy going. The more people agree to talk to us, the more concerned i am about getting the interview fairly ok. Do i worry too much, i wonder ?

In the mean time, i thought i'd ask people reading this (in case anybody is) which are the podcasts they listen to or prefer.

As far as i am concerned, I sometimes visit The Podcast Directory in order to find new inspiring podcasts. I was very happy when Podio was launched as the first Romanian podcast and wait anxiously for their every new episode. I am a great fan of American Copywriter, Paul Coleman podcasts, Russell Davies podcasts, 15 minutes of fame, Science on Guardian Unlimited, The Web 2.0 Show, Ted Talks, Digital Photography Tips From The Top Floor, BBC podcasts such as File on 4, From Our Own Correspondent, Front Row Interview, In Our Time, Radio 4 Choice, Woman's Hour Choice. I also love podcasts such as Woolster Collective podcasts and The Illustrative Desginer podcast. And the list could go on and on. Anybody else ?

false-memory effects of advertising

2006-12-18T14:12:00.000+02:00

Collision Detection is a very interesting blog written by Clive Thompson, who collects weird and interesting pieces of research of all sorts. Such a research was developed by Ann Schlosser, a business professor at the University of Washington, and will be published in the Journal of Consumer Research. The study proves that interactive websites can produce false memories, the result being people who think that a certain product has features/can do things which are actually "false". These results came out of a simple experiment: Schlosser had two groups of people check out two websites devoted to the same digital camera, one static, the other interactive; and then, she further tested their ability to recall details about the camera. It turned out that people in the group who had played with the interactive site were far more likely to "remember" certain details which were false, but plausible enough to have been true.

The reason why Schlosser believes this happens is partly because interactivity encourages more "certainty" in our memories, and thus increases the likelihood that we'll believe suggestively false details to be true. The conclusion is that "These findings suggest that marketing managers should test their campaigns for both true and false memories. Although it may seem advantageous for consumers to believe that a product has features that it actually does not have (e.g., by increasing store visits and purchases), it may ultimately lead to customer dissatisfaction. Because false memories reflect source-monitoring errors—or believing that absent attributes were actually presented in the marketing campaign—consumers who discover that the product does not have these attributes will likely feel misled by the company."

the unseen video

2006-12-21T11:17:00.000+02:00

Found the unseen video on Fallon’s Blog some time ago, and considered it to be a brilliant idea, and today i was also reading Leland's post The Rise of Branded Software? over at Whistle Through Your Comb starting from the site's idea.

"The Unseen Video is much more than a normal, static music video. It is a video that is affected by the weather and local time from the position of the viewer.
We want to create new synergies between the music, the video and the surroundings of the viewer. Every little change in your environment ensures that you will never see the same video twice. The look of the video might slightly change within an hour, but will have a whole new character in a few months."

have yourself a merry little Christmas

2006-12-25T20:49:00.000+02:00

to-be-ignored ego moment

2006-12-28T10:49:00.000+02:00

today's my birthday. and that's the first card i received.

hard times

2007-01-03T11:10:00.000+02:00

i have been away for a little while and apparently missed some very important moments. Gavin Heaton, of Servant of Chaos, one of the greatest and most supportive bloggers, has been going through a very tough time, since his father in law was involved in a serious accident. He could use all the support and good thinking that we all can provide. And, furthermore, Cam Beck has gone a step further setting up a special page for donations and support. Take care, Gavin !

building a bright green future

2007-01-05T12:44:00.000+02:00

this must be one of those things that everybody knows about and checks out frequently and i'm the only one who doesn't know about it, but i have just come across it and fell in love with it.

Listening to photographer Ed Burtynsky's Ted speech revealed a fantastic blog called World Changing, which is an amazing collection of articles, tools, models and ideas for building a better future, all coming from contributors all around the world: "WorldChanging.com works from a simple premise: that the tools, models and ideas for building a better future lie all around us. That plenty of people are working on tools for change, but the fields in which they work remain unconnected. That the motive, means and opportunity for profound positive change are already present. That another world is not just possible, it's here. We only need to put the pieces together."

if you can dream it, you can do it.

2007-01-06T13:15:00.000+02:00

One of the greatest things in blogging is that whenever you feel a bit down, or a bit confused, or a bit insecure, it's nearly impossible not to find some clever thinking or some great support coming from your fellow bloggers.

photo by Don Farrall

For example, i am very excited and frightened these days, because i'm embarking on a whole new project, which tackles some of the things i've learnt and applied during the years, and which is very much related to my planning job, but also quite different from it. All this feels extremely engaging, due to the passion and the enthusiasm and the challenge and the willingness to do something meaningful. But i'm also scared to death cause i realise that, after all, it means walking on some very new ground. However, reading this adorable post from Sharon reminded me that it's not that difficult to become an expert at something you know nothing about, as long as your interest in that thing overcomes any other potential obstacles, such as fear and the thought of quitting. Inspired by Steve Pavlina's post, "What are the odds of becoming a black belt?", Sharon quotes the following tips:

Have a committment to mastery.
Stay with it for the long haul.
Don't let it bother you that you suck at first.
Don't be discouraged that most people fail.
Focus on learning rather than winning at first.

And in the end, as Vince Lombardi said, “I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious”. I'll post more about my little adventure very soon.

5 things you may not have known about me

2007-01-08T20:40:00.001+02:00

i kinda got tagged by Bogdana. And now i have to comply and reveal my darkest secrets.

1. i have studied logics&philosophy very intensely and i was sure i'd become a philosophy teacher or something of the kind. i even graduated the Center of Excellence in Philosophy (where i also started studying old greek) and was accepted by The Philosophy Faculty, University of Bucharest, which i dropped after only a few months, out of extreme disappointment. My parents would have liked me to study physics.

2. i used to be absolutely fascinated by egiptology and i learnt a lot about hieroglyphs.

3. i was part of a theater group called "Personae" and we played lots of Beckett. God, i miss those times !

4. i absolutely, completely, totally hate being photographed.

5. i am a vegetarian.

Further tags (i hope you guys haven't already answered this): Cosmin, Razvan, Stefan.

publishing science, accelerating research

2007-01-09T17:23:00.000+02:00

I have always been fascinated by reading pieces of research in different areas, and trying to understand them, or at least make something out of them. I think this might be a reminiscence of highschool times when i used to have endless discussions with my Philosophy teacher (who's a brilliant guy), my Maths teacher (who is in fact a proffesor teaching in the University of Bucharest) and my Physics teacher (who trained the Romanian team taking part in international olympiads). It was absolutely fantastic to tackle such issues with them, and i felt really lucky i was challenged to understand and reflect upon really complicated things.

However, with entering advertising and not actually having any such pro around to provoke me and so on, i didn't exactly stay focused enough on such matters. Until this winter break, when i talked to Space a lot about neuroscience, and with some other friend (PhD in Physics, in Romania for holidays only) about, well, physics, and with another bunch of smart people about science in general and astronomy...And i got the old flame back. Which is why it was a thrill for me to discover PLoS One: Publishing Science, Accelerating Research. The site, in beta, is "a new way of communicating peer-reviewed science and medicine" - basically, an open source of research in various domains. As prof. Lon Cardon, of University of Oxford, says: "PLoS meets a crucial need. By providing scientists from different disciplines with easy and free access to high quality research papers PLoS should actually enhance scientific progress itself."

the blogosphere just got richer

2007-01-16T11:41:00.000+02:00

I've spent a lot of time talking to various people about the wonderful events organized by the Czech Centre Bucharest. And each time i was sorry i couldn't indicate a site or a blog which was less formal than the official site and provided much more information (and pictures, and movies and all that) both about the Czech Centre projects, and about the discussions that followed most of these projects. Which is why we kept on nagging Monika about starting a blog, and she eventually decided to do so :). Czech-it is a must-read for anybody who wants to stay in touch with some great people doing great things.

Keep up the good work !

doercast episode 2: mihai mitrica

2007-01-16T12:11:00.000+02:00

with a nasty delay caused by holidays, the second episode of Doercast is now up and about. It features Mihai Mitrica, of Este'N'Est, "the man behind Anim'Est", who talks about animations and how he ended up organizing an animation festival here in Bucharest, as well as future projects, such as Fest'Asia (an Asian film festival) and Sibiu Film Fest (which will bring together silent movies and a live orchestra). The recording is in Romanian.

My voice is obviously horrid, and we still know very little about doing such interviews, but it's really exciting, so i'm sure we'll learn in time :).

youth summit

2007-01-18T22:18:00.000+02:00

"Youth Summit aims at being the most important meeting dedicated to young Romanian individuals.

Youth Summit is the space in which decision-makers (state authorities, companies, civil society and media) and young people meet in order to freely discuss the actual state of the young Romanian individual. Youth Summit is a combined effort from all parts involved to identify and solve the most important problems faced by young Romanians".

I have very high hopes as far as this summit is concerned, and, most important, as far as what follows is concerned. And i can't wait to post about my related future plans :).

the world is thinking

2007-02-02T12:40:00.000+02:00

i have been awfully busy lately, so my time for watching movies was highly diminished. So i got addicted to other stuff instead. And besides Captain Planet, my latest addiction has become Fora TV. I like its concept very much, and i have learnt a lot from watching the interesting stuff posted so far (they even feature Neil Gaiman, yeey). It kind of reminds me of the Ted conferences, and it makes me want to help it grow somehow, especially since it gives quite many opportunities for people to get involved.

There are brilliant ideas, expressed everyday in public
discussions and events, all over the world.
Don't miss them.
FORA
delivers discourse, discussions and debates on the world's most interesting
political, social and cultural issues, and enables viewers to join the
conversation. It provides deep, unfiltered content, tools for self-expression
and a place for the interactive community to gather online.
FORA is
presenting or producing content from the world's leading public forums. The
esteemed organizations that are working with us to build the FORA vision include
C-SPAN, the World Affairs Councils of Northern California, Dallas, Oregon,
Philadelphia and Connecticut, the Commonwealth Club, Books, Inc., the Hoover
Institution, Cody's Books, the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Asia Society,
the New School, the Truman National Security Project, the New America
Foundation, Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., Tattered Cover
in Denver, the Heritage Foundation, the Magnes Museum, the Cato Institute, Link
TV, Chatham House in London, Cambridge University, the Transatlantic Institute
in Brussels, Egmont: the Royal Institute for International Relations, Book
Passage, the Long Now Foundation, Americans for Informed Democracy and the
Global Philanthropy Forum, among many others.
FORA.tv will provide engaging
on demand viewing experiences for the media active world citizen.

filter design competition

2007-02-18T20:55:00.000+02:00

Filter Design Competition is the first independent design competition in Romania. I am very excited about it and i can hardly wait both for the entries, and for the series of workshops and conferences that will accompany the competition.

Special extra thanks to Ben, to Grapefruit and to The Czech Center, who have been kind enough to show their support and accept our invitations.

what to do ?

2007-02-26T16:07:00.000+02:00

i have loads of drafts, but i simply cannot decide to publish them, and i think more and more about shutting this blog down.

photo by lasvegashardcore

not everything that's called "therapy" is actual therapy

2007-02-26T17:23:00.000+02:00

One of my best friends has been going through hell lately, and part of his recovery involves some group therapy. His sharing his experience made me think about various forms of therapy (especially since i'm becoming so interested in film therapy) and i ended up thinking about the concept of "retail therapy". Even though people sometimes do this because they perceive it as a form of dealing with depression, as well as a helping hand towards feeling better, "shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer's mood or disposition" or "retail therapy" might not actually be "a cure for the modern blues", but rather one of its causes, according to a 2001 study quoted in "The Guardian".

The short-term satisfaction that shopping gives one doesn't apparently compensate for the degree of regret and even remourse aroused when the person realises having spent money unnecessarily. Lucy Purdy, one of the research who carried out the study, said that "for significant numbers, dissatisfaction is now part of the shopping process; it's adding into the dissatisfaction that causes many people to go shopping in the first place. Shopping is offering a short-term buzz, but as a society we now recognise that and we're getting fed up with short-term emotions." And she also said that "unhappy people are most likely to be trying to change their lives through purchasing. They will be changing their diet, or their appearance, or their homes. And it does appear to be younger, more affluent people who are doing the most dysfunctional shopping for things they don't really want or need."

Moreover, a continent-wide survey into addictive spending carried out in Europe and published by The European Union found that 33% of consumers displayed a "high level of addiction to rash or unnecessary consumption", a tendency which often led to indebtedness. The funny thing is that this retail therapy might actually be just the starting point for a far more severe form of psychological disorder, which has been receiving a lot of media attention lately.

As an editorial in "The Age" states: "Just because you may not have heard of the term does not mean you are not suffering from oniomania (compulsive shopping syndrome). It is not yet clear, however, if a definitional upgrade of retail addiction will in any way help those shoppers who slip out with the credit card as a way of dealing with depression, who buy objects they don't need and cannot afford, and who hide their debts and purchases from loved ones. And other questions trouble us: is oniomania a medical condition or a symptom of a society that places an undue emphasis on shopping as entertainment, and on consumer choices as a form of self-definition? Is it a sickness or an unavoidable consequence when advertising everywhere urges us to shop till we drop - in the same way that anorexia and bulimia sufferers are influenced by the rake-thin images of models draped on billboards and magazines."