What's It Worth To You?

Where do you save?

How much is it worth to you, to save a little extra time working now to be able to play later? Or more importantly, how many times do you put off doing something now, figuring that the value of immediate time indulged will outweigh the subsequent time you'll spend fulfilling your responsibilities later? My projects don't finish themselves. Your house isn't self-cleaning. One of the most valuable piece of advice that I got from my parents was, "Discipline isn't so much about obeying rules as it's doing what you don't want to do, because it has to get done". I'm still tweaking this one out.

Dan Gilbert talks about the human mind's inability to tally up value or calculate for the future. We'd like to imagine that thinking ahead is a safe bet, and that we do it accurately. But we (as humans) fail all the time. He talks about purchase behavior as an example. He cites that we compare options to past experiences rather than logic, when evaluating value. We turn down enlightening experiences or opt for more self-defeating behavior by following the advice of the skeletons in our closet. He goes on to point out that by comparing things to the possible instead of the past, we're able to make better use of our decision making. If you have 30 minutes, check out his TED Talk (at the top of the page), and start reevaluating how you budget your life, and if you're truly "seizing the day" as much as you could.

An interesting counterpoint I'm currently thinking about, is how the actual value of value is always in flux. The kids of the 50's and 60's, rushing outside after school every day with baseball gloves in hand might have a hard time "having fun" with today's kids who rush inside after school every day to sit down again, plug into a screen, and escape reality in a screen. Both groups have "fun" so do both pastimes have equal value? Depends on who's keeping score. In our classes, we're talking about how TIME= THE NEW CURRENCY, and how our constant rushing between appointments and deadlines is redefining value and culture in America.

I take comfort in how trends move in cycles, and perhaps people will soon remember how to stop and smell the proverbial flowers.


Here's some good life advice on living in the present, written by Jamie Cullum and sung by yours truly.

I Just Did It

Definition (n): the degree of distinctness in the outline of an object, image, sound, or person in a given society.

I just finished watching the new documentary "Art & Copy" at the San Francisco Film Festival. Profiling the ad industry as a key media and culture purveyor in the United States, the movie profiled a few of the "greats" in the industry that I'm fueling up to launch into. By delving into the lives and motivations of Lee Clout, Dan Weiden, and Rich Silverstein among others, it gave some insight into how great ideas are created and where creativity comes from. To see how the famous Creatives see themselves, I could define myself as an original thinker and see my commonalities with my fellow ad students/ creative cronies, who are all fairly intent on both making a living and making the world a better place. Sometimes, those life goals seem fairly exclusive to each other.

I feel like those of us studying the business are constantly on our toes, defending our career choices to friends and family. More often, I tell them stories about inspiration and society; like the effect on culture that Nike had with the first "Just Do It" campaign. Not only motivating people to get out and buy athletic shoes, Dan Weiden from Weiden+Kennedy told the audience about the torrents of mail he's received over the years from people across the country about "Just Do It". Stories about how the campaign was the activation energy needed to finally leave an abusive spouse, to go back to school to get a more fulfilling career, or generally start living again. Inspiring peoples lives like this makes the pill easier to swallow. In Advertising, my overarching goal is to learn how to give people ideas to better express themselves and distinguish their unique place in life. How to make their individual life experience better.

Some could say object, "But look at how Nike conducts its business in other countries, making shoes from sweat shop labor. What about the lives of the workers who make the shoes?" and that's a huge thing to think about. The film (and some of our classes) went on to make the point that in the coming years, Creative thinkers will be the ones who set the course for successful businesses; perhaps set the course for the development of new cultures and ways of valuing life. Businesses are listening to creative shops more than ever and they have a unique opportunity to change business practices for the better. Advertisers now have to be thinkers, product designers, foreign relations specialists, anthropological humanitarians, gurus in traditions. Now, Advertising is less about spin and more about augmentation. In our economy of over-choice in time-deficits, those who take an alternative course to life/ business might be the ones who get noticed more often.

I now feel a little more at ease when thinking about this in relation to how long it's taking me to get through college. Four years in a standard education system probably would've constrained me more than given me the keys to the future and I'm excited to be strapped in for the long haul. Living in a unique city, learning in unique classes, and breeding unique thoughts and ideas is invariably going to make my life experience better. Meanwhile, I'm out getting other experiences far removed from creating culture or selling ideas. I'll always be exploring.

Yesterday, I fulfilled a childhood dream by trekking over to the Oakland ice rink and meeting some members of the NorCal Speed Skating Association. Apolo Ohno made it look so easy and while there's lots of crossover to cycling in the muscle groups used, I'm not used to crossing my feet over one another at 15mph on slick ice. After warming up and getting some technical advice from some skin-suit clad ice racers, I found myself barreling down the straightaways of the rink.

Problems arose when I'd come to the end and have to turn left for when turning and maintaining speed as I don't have much blade control and my skate would loose traction. Things came to a sliding stop when I lost my balance on an inside turn, went down, and smashed my chin on the ice, transforming the Oakland Ice Rink into what looked like a murder scene (The average human has about 5 quarts of blood, so I didn't have a huge problem with parting with a few drops). Apparently, ice is as hard as concrete and it's times like this that I'm thankful for being such a helmet zealot. I'm now hobbling around on a sprained ankle and smirking when explaining my 5 new stitches to curious friends.

In America, the culture code for scars is WAR STORIES and for the sake of storytelling, I may embellish a bit when showing this one off for a good while.


My new stripes

Hornets on thin blades streaking over cold, hard ice.

Map Out Someone's Reality

I'm working on researching ways to enrich the lives of people living with disabilities for my Advertising Research class.


As I was struck with a combination of some late-night ideas/ enthusiasm, and only a few short hours before turning it in, I've traded some sleep for some good, quiet thinking time- a rarity at my apartment (being 2 blocks from Union Square is a great location, however I came to the conclusion that the morning sounds that wake me up wouldn't be too different from living beside a highway).

Whew.



Click to enlarge.

YouTube :: OurWorld

As a student who studies trends, it feels awesome to research and make forecasts, and then see those predictions come true.

For the trend of people using the Internet to make music together and called "Open Sound", YouTube is now calling it "The Internet Symphony". People reaching through their screens while squeezing sound into their computers is a powerful thing and has the transformative power to bring together the networked world. Working with Chinese composer Tan Dun, YouTube hosted the first ever global orchestral audition for musicians around the world to tryout for the first Online Collaborative Orchestra. Google (who owns YouTube) had this to say:

"Together, these professional and amateur musicians play 26 different instruments and come from 30+ countries and territories on six continents. The selected musicians will travel from around the world to New York City to participate in a collaborative summit for classical music on April 12-15, 2009, concluding with a concert at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony Music Director, New World Symphony Founder and Artistic Director, and London Symphony Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor."

As the Internet and open collaborative sites like YouTube begin to take hold in people's lives, I think that communication, collaboration, and originality will take on completely new meanings. Perhaps human negotiation will be transformed as messages, motivations, and meanings can be distorted when we can't see who we're interacting with. Do you think you're more predisposed to getting into an argument on the phone or face-to-face?

I wonder if YouTube could become a more powerful negotiation tool, hosting participatory UN Summits to talk out differences between nations or perhaps instigate inclusive town-hall meetings for municipal legislature? Imagine being able to grow your worldview by listening (and seeing) what other people of differing opinions have to say? Is the Internet and it's core value of participation a unique construction of a new-age democracy?

How's that sound?

Imagine bridging cultural gaps and settling dispute Check out the YouTube Symphony Orchestra's video below or click here to check out their homepage.

Let's Talk It Out

If we're all swimming in the ocean of technology, I've just surfaced for a much needed breath.


We all make conscious decisions in our lives and hopefully grow from the experiences we endure. Today marks the day that I'm voluntarily closing my gonzo-like social experimentation and investigation with Twitter. I've since proved some preconceptions about the instantaneous social medium, and had some disproved. Below are my findings in "Twitter: A Retrospective".

First off, upon entering the Twitter galaxy, a friend reached out a 150-character long hand and directed me to some websites to learn about the social rules and etiquette of using the service. Every means of exchange has it's scripts and practices and Twitter is no different.

Note: While writing this, I found it interesting how the phrase "What's up?" is normally bankrupted when exchanged in the beginning of a conversation. As "What's Up" is now equal to "Hello" in our culture, unless accompanied by a concerned tone of voice, it's rarely a real question of what's going on in your life.

Whereas you can use your Twitter page as a mini-media station, broadcasting declarations, links, and photos, it becomes social when you post replies to other "Tweets" or users of the Twitter universe. By posting an @ in front of their name, thus "Tweeting" at them, people know that your thoughts are aimed their way. This idea of being able to listen into others conversations (not unlike reading people's Walls on Facebook) could possibly deepen the conundrum of digital eavesdropping. 

I observed that when I "followed" (subscribed to the updates of) some news networks like Newsweek and CNN, they then in turn, "followed" me. After some careful thinking, I guessed that Major Media uses services like Twitter either as market research tools to hear about the lifes/news of their clientele or possibly as a way to keep a more global finger on the world news pulse. For example, in San Francisco if there were to be an earthquake today, anyone and everyone could become citizen journalists and give lots of short, stilted updates to the Twitter universe about what was going on. Though Major Media has journalists and reporters all over the world, Twitter turns everyone into a contributer whom potentially pitch story ideas every time they post. Andy Worhol couldn't have guessed that everyone's 15-minutes of fame would turn into months of personal publishing.

Another thing that I delved into touched on the blossoming practice of personal branding. If I've written about how the clothes you wear and way you physically present yourself has a lasting impression on those you meet, the digital realm is starting to creep into relevance when making judgements and opinions about others. Think of how often you've "Googled" someone or checked out their profile on Facebook or MySpace. Celebrities are starting to use Twitter as an anti-tabloid, hyper-PR channel, to maintain some personal control over their public image. However, most likely when you meet a new friend, it's not someone whom you're read about in the news or seen on TV and Twitter gives users the chance to create their own "buzz" around themselves.

If you're reading this and are in college, chances are you've met a new friend on campus and rushed back to pull up their Facebook profile and gleamed as many insights as possible. We are a society of information addicts, constantly craving to know as much as possible. While this social media and instant access to internet is a huge and powerful tool, when does it become a hinderance? When does a bulldozer operator spend so much time pushing dirt around with buttons and controls that he forgets how to pick up a shovel and start digging for himself? I wonder if most of the younger generation has any amiable social skills and could handle themselves at a dinner party or one-to-one interview.

And lastly, it just boils down to where I choose to invest my social hedge fund. Of my 800+ friends on Facebook, it may be more enriching (in depth) to have a smaller handful whom I could have regular, real, deep conversations with. Of the thousands of Twitter updates I've sifted through over the past few weeks, I'd trade all of them for a few good dinner-time conversations. It's time to quit and I couldn't be more relived. I'll say @HowDoesItSoundReaders: If you wanna grab coffee and talk about what's on your mind, I'd love to listen.

How does that sound?

Multisensory concert

Ratatat took hold of a thousand or so people last night and took control of their inhibitions.


Ratatat is a duo from New York, making as much music as is humanly possible from a sythesizer and a guitar. It's an incredible show (last night being my 3rd time seeing them) not only because of the music but because of the presentation. In addition to standard fog machines, lasers, and crazy LED light displays, Evan Mast and Mike Stroud have a giant screen behind them that sometimes plays cleverly edited video clips, and sometimes amorphous colored designs.

Check them out on iTunes or MySpace and see how your ear drums and brain work together when confronted with shrill beeps, and face numbing guitar riffs.