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Links to my top reads for today October 29, 2008

Posted by moonstarlady in American politics, Digital Media, Lifestyle observations, Politics, Technology.
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My fav link of the day came from my twitter feed of BBC. It reported a football match that didn’t go quite as planned when the two teams, consisting of a group of journalists and another group of politicians, didn’t quite make it a friendly match.

View that news here: MSP match abandoned after clash

Another one I enjoyed catching a glimpse on is the percentage & analysis of moms online. The highest percentage shows that most mothers spend time on emails and a considerable amount do online travel bookings. Sounds accurate enough as this is similiar to what my own mom is doing online.

Thanks to Travel Trends for this: Bloggers, Moms

Watched a video by Richard Edelman of Edelman PR, who comments on what executives and businesses need to do to communicate effectively during this economical crisis. My first time seeing him in action, and not just via his writings. He also comments on the involvement of Meg Whitman in the elections and other changes needed to improve the situation.

Interesting….Video video here: Edelman on the Bailout Plan (search for “Edelman”)

Commentary on twitter in comparison to blogs, with the central question of “Is twitter going to eclipse online blogging in the future?” I’ll agree with the author of this piece that I personally prefer blogging a lot more cause I have more room to express my opinions. Twitter is a nice reporting tool that I personally use a lot (perhaps too much). My small way of reporting. :)

Read the article here: Twitter killing blogs?

Loving the polls displayed here. It seems Obama is leading in terms of online content sharing.

Read Mashable’s article: Obama Dominates Content Sharing as Election Approaches

I have to say, even I was impressed by this CV. Part of CN review’s online competition called VisualC for a blogger tour to China. Dang, I was really blown away by this entry.

Check out the stunning visuals and creative interface for this blogger: China Blogger Tour Update: Melissa Sconyers wins VisualCV contest!

Entertainment Focus: Yuichi Kodama October 28, 2008

Posted by moonstarlady in Lifestyle observations, entertainment.
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Today, I mourn the loss and annihilation of my HSBC credit card. I decided that it wasn’t worthwhile for me to maintain it anymore, so I paid off the balance today and went straight to the bank this afternoon to kill it. Needless to say I was heart-breaking when the banker took the liberty to cut it up in front of me. Three cuts-snip snip snip-my heart died three times. Dammit why couldn’t he cut it another time?!!

Anyways-before I go ranting on about the emotional attachments that women build with their credit cards, let me go straight to the main topic of this blog post.

I came across the work of Yuichi Kodama, a brilliant videographer and director of music videos. It was pure accident as I am a long-standing fan of the entertainment scene of Japan and one of the bands I follow closely is Tokyo Jihen, lead by Shiina Ringo. Kodama had directed one of TJ’s music videos and I found his style being completely different from the other music videos that the band showcased. So with a little bit of investigation, to my surprise, I found that this is the same director that produced the award-winning UNIQLO advertising campaign last year.

His work consists of:

  • Dance moves by a group of women
  • He works across different music genres such as jazz, pop and rock
  • Almost all his work contains a bit of a techno beat and rhythm
  • Colors colors colors-Very technicolor
  • Lots of choreography, much like a musical and retro

For a taste of his work, please view the videos I have linked here below for your viewing pleasure:

Other works by Kodama: http://www.shotsringout.com/2007/10/polysics-videography-yuichi-kodama/

Insomnia Issues October 24, 2008

Posted by moonstarlady in Lifestyle observations.
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For those who know me well, you would understand that I have been suffering from the worse bout of insomnia due to inner stress and a constant twirl of thoughts going round-and-round in my head. It’s horrid to say the least cause sleeping is my closest sense of comfort at the end of a whole day in the office.

I didn’t sleep well for three weeks, and then I struggled to recover what I lost over the weekends, often shutting myself out on saturday just to dedicate to sleeping. That led to many different conversations with people who advised me on different remedies to handle the situation, from prayers to the Man Upstairs to taking sleeping pills.

And those advice eventually lead me to an excellent research article published in the NYT, shared by my friend Allie. It was very well written and outlined very specific activities and changes people can make to their sleeping habits to improve sleep. I highly recommend it for anyone else out there who might need a reference or two, to sleep well.

I’m definitely sleeping better now but I still sleep with my laptop and books! Hmm…obviously some habits die hard.

An Open Letter from HRH The Queen to the citizens of America October 21, 2008

Posted by moonstarlady in American politics, Lifestyle observations, Politics.
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Thanks to SY for sending this piece of humour to brighten my day.

Please note that I did not pen this and it is in no way belongs to me. Thanks to JS for referring me to this Facebook group that might’ve had a hand in creating this letter. Enjoy!

MESSAGE FROM, HRH THE QUEEN

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth  II
In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately(You should look up ‘revocation’ in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).
Your new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.  A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour,’ ‘favour,’ ‘labour’ and ‘neighbour.’  Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters,  and the suffix ‘-ize’ will be replaced by the suffix ‘-ise.’ Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels (look up ‘vocabulary’).
 
2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ”like’ and ‘you know’ is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English.. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter ‘u” and the elimination of  ‘-ize.’

3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can’t sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist,then you’re not ready to shoot grouse..

5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler.  Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect.  At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables.  Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.

8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with ketchup but with vinegar.

9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all.  Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of  known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager.  Australian beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth – see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one’s ears removed  with a cheese grater.

11. You will cease playing American football.  There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies)..

12. Further, you will stop playing baseball.  It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America.  Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the Australians first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.

14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream)  when in season.

God Save the Queen!

Two favourite online articles for the day October 20, 2008

Posted by moonstarlady in Digital Media, Lifestyle observations, Technology.
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I had the good fortune tonight to read two brilliant articles online, from my subscriptions via Bloglines. I am happy to share them with all of you:

  • Social Media Marketing and Malaysia’s Biggest Brands, by Grey Review: A list of Malaysia’s top 30 brands that embrace social media, with Maybank ranked as No.1; Public Bank as No. 2; Maxis as No. 3 respectively. It also provides key summaries from their independent study, with the stats that 60 percent of Malaysia’s most valuable brands are leveraging social utilities like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. And it seems that Tony Fernandes of Air Asia is once again breaking the mold and taking great strides in this area.
  • 10 Reasons Your Company (Destination) Shouldn’t Blog, by Travel 2.0: A great top 10 list of why it is important once again for PR professionals to advise clients very carefully on establishing an online blog for their companies. It cannot simply be maintained by a clerk or a junior staff-definitely a process that demands for patience, a lot of investment and most of all, dedication in part of the CEO.

In fact the second article I listed here reminded me of many such occasions when I have heard and experienced myself, of the kind of requests that clients make to their PR agency-

“I want a quick fix now, what do you have for me?”

Or

“This web 2.0 thing-how can we make use of it for our brand? I want in and I want results now!”

And unfortunately, there is never going to be a quick fix in communications. The art of a well-communicated message takes a lot of time. It requires (in my definition):

  1. The research and groundwork
  2. The build-up
  3. Plan of action and finally;
  4. Execute execute execute!

Of course this is pretty much standard stuff for most plans, but in terms of social media & Web 2.0-I would coin a term that I am so endeared to since hearing it the first time from my client: Disruptive technology-It’s unpredictable, fast-paced and changing all the time. Sometimes I think it is even hard to gauge the success rate of online social media but with enough investment to this grey area, we’re going to see a lot of regulation in place for measurements & analysis.

However in the meantime, I am loving the uncertainty! Happy reading!

Which laptop should I purchase for 2009? October 19, 2008

Posted by moonstarlady in Lifestyle observations.
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Decisions decisions. A week ago, I sent out a short tweet on what laptop I should consider purchasing. I need a new one, or rather, I want a new one. Nothing gets me more pumped up than a new toy to play with and of course nothing pleases me more than a brand new fully-powered laptop.

So here’s a short poll just for kicks, adding onto last week’s short tweet for ppl to vote on. Happy to hear your additional thoughts/comments as well:

Recommended readings for the week October 19, 2008

Posted by moonstarlady in Digital Media, Lifestyle observations, Technology.
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Usually over the weekends, I take the time to catch up on my readings online and today after a long day at church, i sat down in front of my handy laptop with a cappucino in hand-to read the New York Times delivered direct to my inbox.

Key articles that stood out to me are:

  • The Great Iceland Meltdown, an Op-ed by Thomas L. Friedman: A brief analysis on how globalization has changed the world we live in, with deep effects on the world economy. I particularly liked how I now understand why Iceland went bankrupt and why all of Britain (and Europe) is freaking out!

 

  • Drunk & Dangerous, at the Keyboard, by Alex Williams: I actually learned about this unique feature created by our friends at Google from my colleague and friend at work. To be honest, this is a brilliant bit of innovation-basically Google created a feature called Mail-Goggles that you can install on your gmail that prevents you from sending our emails when you’re intoxicated. Love it love it love it. Now when can we have this installed on our outlook and in our blackberrys? Best quote from this story is from Mr. Dodge who sends super formal emails to ppl when drunk, and sent one to a girl he was flirting with: “Good evening. The number I have listed for you doesn’t seem to respond. Quite curious. I would be most grateful to receive your updated number. … Seasons greetings.” HAHA!

 

  • Why This Storm May Stay Away From Apple, by Randall Stross: An interesting short look on why Apple is still releasing their new macbooks with the same market prices despite the economic downturn, and why Apple may fare better than their competitors in the market. Love the comment at the end bit, on the possibility of Apple releasing an iPhone NANO in 2009. So looking forward to that.

In the meantime, I’m still debating on which laptop to get.

Happy reading!

Music List & Jazz observations October 17, 2008

Posted by moonstarlady in Art Review, Lifestyle observations, Music review.
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For the past two days, apart from long political and economics discussions with my younger brother, I have also been given a long list of jazz music to review.

My brother is currently enrolled at the University of Indiana, studying business as well as jazz studies. He has a passion for economics but at the same time enjoys music, especially jazz. So during one of our recent conversations, he passed to be a long list of tracks for me to give feedback on. He personally hand-picked the music according to his understanding of my taste. I believe he did a pretty good job.

Haha, I believe he is trying to stretch my musical taste this way. So I wanted to share these with my readers: http://moonstarlady.multiply.com/music/item/76

Side note: It looks like there are indeed benefits to keeping my Multiply site, as it has some features I can tap and link back to my WordPress.

Political Eye: Sharing an Op-chart from NY Times October 15, 2008

Posted by moonstarlady in American politics, Lifestyle observations, Politics.
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Thanks to @webwednesday & @ThomasCrampton for the tweet updates that highlighted these very interesting charts shared by Tommy McCall, who contributed an Op-Ed to the New York Times yesterday.

It displayed in so few words but with bright graphics on the comparison between democrats and republicans through the years, who have managed the United States economy.

I believe regardless of your political leanings, it is good to have an idea on these numbers. While I would like to see the full report of this data, this overall summary gives a good idea on how administrations differ and what huge differences in finances America has faced through the decades.

View the article here-

Recommended Site: The Brick Testament October 14, 2008

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This is a whole new way of reading the bible. If you’re like me and you struggle to read the often heavy texts of this massive piece of work, I would highly recommend this extremely intelligent and humourous way of interpreting the Bible. I included in this post some of my favourite scenes from this site that struck me as original, odd and downright funny.

However I would be careful to suggest to children only because while it is seemingly innocent with the Lego usage and art, some of the scenes shown are quite explicit in terms of murder, death, plagues, sex and violence.

It will be recommended for teenagers and adults in general.

Curious? Please visit The Brick Testament and enjoy reading!

Credits to SY for forwarding this to me in the first place.

 

Numbers 25:2

Luke 4: 40-41