there is something magical about park benches. as soon as your body touches it, reminiscence, innovations, epiphanies begin to pour.
perhaps it is the traditionalism of it, compared to today's digital age. perhaps it is the legacy of many stories told upon a park bench. but whatever it is, please feel free to take a seat.
Things Happen – a brilliant Venn diagram of life from the brilliant Wendy MacNaughton
My Novel. Page 12.
Jane used to visit Chicago at least twice a year, but ten years ago, realized it had become an emotional crutch – a way for her to escape the routine loneliness of New York City and sink back into her flirtatiously adventurous early years.
The early years: Back when Jane and her girlfriends were all hot and single… and knew they were. A smile combined with a soft playful squeeze of the bouncer’s arm granted them instant VIP status. Sitting at the bar, just a slight inward arching of the back called over three handsomely suited men. The confident synced strides of their freshly exfoliated legs made girls cling tighter to their boyfriends. And, they won all this without ever having to say a single word. In fact, it was the lack of words that made them all the more attractive. It was a silent, poised, universal agreement that they were all damn hot.
And so Jane banned herself from visiting.
Facebook F8 Conference
The 2011 F8 Conference is all about content. It’s relevance, engagement, and personalization level.
For work, I put together a very robust POV on what the Facebook changes are and what they mean for marketers. The conclusion was that exact same thing. Content and relevance will reign.
What’s interesting though, is we all know content is king. We’ve heard it since SXSW 2011. But what we have yet to figure out is what “good” content means.
So, it got me thinking about the power of content, and how marketers (in my opinion) are approaching it the wrong way on Facebook.
We ask people to Like our brand page. We beg them to Like us. When we should be winning over their Likes.
We say things, on our own brand page, to try to get a reaction. We are trying to basically entertain a tough crowd. And, any performer who is entertaining a tough crowd realizes, that the crowd loosens up when the performer begins to interact with the audience — where instead of standing on stage, begging for applause, walks into the audience, to specific individuals, engages them and wins applause.
So, what if instead of trying to get users / fans to write on brand page walls, a brand wrote on its users’ walls?
What if: Instead of trying to get users to write “I love Sprite!” on the brand page wall, Sprite created a Facebook app that (with permission) pulled user birthdays, current city, or even keywords.
Let’s say a user has allowed the Sprite app permission to access his information.
The user is a 27 year-old male, who lives in Austin, TX.
On the user’s birthday, Sprite would post on his wall:
- “Cheers to you. Have an Arizona Sunset today: 3 shots vodka, 3 shots lemonade, 3 shots Sprite, 1 handful ice. Happy birthday!”
In August, because the app knows the user is in Austin, it also knows that there is a severe heat wave and drought. Sprite would post on his wall:
- “We want to make sure you stay cool in the heat. Here’s a $1 coupon for a 2 liter.”
And, imagine if the Sprite app could even read for keywords, such as “basketball.” If the user posts a status update or photo album containing “basketball.” Sprite would comment:
- “Take me with you next time!”
Brands have to begin acting the way two human BFFs act towards each other on Facebook, and stop acting like elite brands who never leave their page. Have a brand personality. And, humanize it.
Loving every bit of contrast of this outfit.
(Source: streetstyled, via vogueinsteadofdinner)
My Novel. Page 13.
“The aircraft has now been cleared for departure.”
The plane began to gently rumble and back up. Light streams of rainwater shuffled across the window, hanging on for a few seconds at the edges then flying off into the chilly air.
The plane lifted off, and the streams multiplied in number and speed, sprinting across the hypotenuse of the rounded rectangular window.
And then the plane entered the fog, a blur so constant that only the trembling water across the window suggested that they were making any way.
Chicago held Jane’s past life, her past memories, her past joys. This was exactly why she had prohibited herself from visiting; because leaving the city always did this to her – always left her sickeningly nostalgic and sad.
Instant regret. Had she not visited the city, she wouldn’t be feeling all this, but ten years had passed. Ten years. Who would have thought it would all still feel the same?
Pulling her fashionably over-sized Vince sweater up over her head, Jane caught a waft of the four miles she aimlessly walked down on State Street, the three hours she spent at Macy’s Seventh Café watching the ballerinas in the next building over practice, the rain and wind that sprayed and tousled her hair, and the compliments four sincere men stopped to give her.
For a few brief seconds, Jane envisioned an evening aerial shot of the city and it all reminded her of what it was like to be in love.
But, Jane she preferred not to be reminded.
The plane exited the fog, and the window turned into a deep, hollow navy blue.
“You may now turn on your electronic devices and move about the cabin.”
What is culture?
I was recently asked, “What defines culture?”
And, I recently ran across a few short films that explore the definition of “home.”
With this, I came to the realization that what defines culture and home is the individual himself:
He chooses to be inspired (or not) by things.
He decides how to treat his surroundings.
Individual culture is just one stroke of cornflower blue acrylic, a single, thin ridge in clay, a lonely fraying piece of twine, a loose-hanging bit of yellow-green thread.
Each of them unique in color, stroke and weight.
This is individual culture.
But, each individual holds a different physical, emotional and spiritual relationship with his surroundings.
From individual culture comes individual beauty, but even greater beauty lies in bringing them together…in bringing the dense green speckles over the striated brown strokes to create a tree of life. In adorning a simple band of silver with a humbly glimmering crystal to create a symbol of love.
When one steps back and looks at what the combination of individual cultures creates, it is easy to see and appreciate how each independent color, stroke and weight complements one another and contributes to creating an incredible piece of art.
This is culture.
Films on home: http://thismustbetheplace.tv/index.html
