We are constantly being followed. And the sad matter is it’s not an overstatement.
One of the latest things marketing buzz has grown around is any brand’s possibility to research for campaigns and products by taking the pulse of online conversations. It’s like having access to an international focus group that isn’t affected by such things as your expectations. To marketers this information is priceless. This is why they should be the first to encourage people to tweet and blog about every single insignificant detail of their daily lives. Because it allows them to form a clearer picture of who we are, what we want and how much we would be willing to pay to get it.
So surprisingly New Year’s Eve went great. Never been a big fan of it since after I was 12. Seemed like too much of a hassle. And like any normal person I could never understand why questions about spending it arose in early October when I at least only figure out what’s going to happen every year usually a couple of days before. And I know the people asking and they’re never the type to make reservations.
So anyway… Went to Goblin. Brand new club, opened in Lipscani Area, Str. Smardan, Nr. 30 to be more precise. It’s warm and with the best vibe I’ve encountered in a Bucharest party spot in a while. The air there just… has a nice ring to it. I thought it was just me until New Year’s but then everything seemed to fit too well in place to be just coincidental.
Next Thursday, on the 8th I’ll be there attending a… reggae party. Which I’ve been doing a lot lately because I dig the content manager of Jah Army too much to say no. The cool thing is that it comes from a series of parties that took place early in 2009 and pretty much the best I’ve seen around here in terms of theme parties. The crowd made you feel right at home and the club, then Suburbia with it’s former darker appearance, was always lit up and turned red, gold and green. I know it sounds like a clichee, but the atmosphere was so different then than usual that I’m really looking forward to this one. With Goblin having enter the picture, that’s two good vibes at work.
So anyway… my advice would be to check it out. It’ll get you through the first work/school week faster and better then you’d imagine. And we all could use some color right now.
So… see ya there! Oh, and you can get more info about it here.
Faptul ca “Inima tare” a aparut cu rolul de ‘album de debut’ a ridicat cateva sprancene. Parea ca a trecut destul timp de la “Cum am crescut” si ca Dagga nu mai are nevoie de nici o introducere. Publicul bucurestean ii cunoaste si clubul a fost plin. “Deci… cum se face ca totusi scot primul album?”
Evenimentul a fost organizat de Hades Records si deschis de KST. Organizatoric totul a decurs fara probleme, dar piesele Dagga au fost the highlight of the evening. Au fost interpretate toate cele 17 piese de pe album:
Well it’s early Christmas day and having woke up in a writing mood, I thought I’d invite you all to let us know… which are the brands that made it to your sack of presents this year… in no particular order. I know Christmas presents aren’t about the label and I’m not trying to suggest otherwise, but this is probably that time of the year when we go the extra mile to actually offer the best things to others as well as to ourselves.
Well, here are mine in alphabetical order.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Well… these would be it, alongside a pile of bought hand-made stuff and non-brand-name items. So… how about you?
I discover all sorts of things in my RSS reader and this particular article attracted my attention due to the shocking title: “Poor Children’s Brain Activity Resembles That Of Stroke Victims, EEG Shows”.
Makes you go ‘Oh my God, save them, I’ll donate, I promise!”. But anyway, I looked into more than just the title and this is what I found:
“The researchers discovered a dramatic difference in the response of the prefrontal cortex not only when an unexpected image flashed on the screen, but also when children were merely watching the upright triangles waiting for a skewed triangle to appear. Those from low socioeconomic environments showed a lower response to the unexpected novel stimuli in the prefrontal cortex that was similar, Kishiyama said, to the response of people who have had a portion of their frontal lobe destroyed by a stroke.”
Now… this may just be me, but this how I see it: a bunch of scientist flashed moving pictures at a small horde of 9-10 year-olds and the one from the poorer families didn’t exactly hurry to react to them. Which should apparently mean they have lower brain activity. Um… wrong! How about kids from underprivileged families just… don’t care about your moving triangles?! How about you show them a giant Mars bar? See if their brain activity improves there?
I do know that these people supposedly know what they’re doing. But it just seems reasonable to assume that… sometimes lack of creativity and early response to stimuli can come from lack of motivation. Extended to a general lack of hope, even in the case of children that we’ve gotten used to see as the great optimists of the universe. Maybe they’re not doing well in school and being poor has something to do with it, but before thinking that it’s damaged their brains isn’t it in plain sight that they’ve simply been raised with and under a different perspective? One that may very well limit not speed but the will to respond to whatever people unable to really help you may ask.
And for things that seem to not be affecting us personally, here’s what’s been going on:
That it’s simpler, better for everyone’s mental and bodily health or just closer to common sense than anything else?
Cause that’s it really. Remember how you used to be embarrassed at that old, wrinkly, worn out cotton bag your grandma used to send you out to get bread with when you were little?
Sure, now there’s Carrefour, Real, Cora, and a dozen other crap places (that i also go to), where you’re offered the newly traditional plastic baggie we couldn’t get enough of when it all started. Well, it still feels like it’s time to grow the hell up.
I know this doesn’t seem like a big deal. But think about it. You alone probably use up 20 of those plastic things per month. That makes over 100 in a year. That makes, for Bucharest’s population over 200 million plastic bags. And where do you think all that goes? You know very well no one recycles in this country. It’s more difficult to get something recycled than it is to get an asian toothless prostitute if you really want one.
And that’s really the problem, ain’t it. We, don’t really WANT to recycle. We just want to be left alone and let whoever’s been dealing with the garbage so far keep doing it. It will, however, not work that way and the thing is it SHOULDN’T. No-one should be responsible for disposing of our leftovers. We should damn well start taking responsibilities for all the products of our lifestyle.
We’re so busy criticizing the emo trend as a product of society that we’re forgetting that there are other actual PRODUCTS of society that DO do more harm and that we’re not taking a glimpse at. Because we’ve got too much of an ego, because we’re far too ignorant. Because we’re desperately trying to get away from the slum we pretend someone else put us in.
I wanted to show you this because they’re about the most interesting 3 pages I’ve read lately.
I don’t have too much insight on it, hell, what could I say about it. But there’s something that feels amazing about the fact that 21st century or not, art is still happening, the struggle to stand out (which has in fact also caused much pain throughout the years) is present as ever and maybe, just maybe we’re not dying out spiritually.
In between flicker, jaiku, twitter, linkedin, facebook and whatnot, people are still getting up from their chairs and doing… something. And it’s not short movies, it’s not anime or techno music.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a thing for giant buildings in particular. Or for anything giant and artificial as a matter of fact. It’s just nice to know that apart from well lit office buildings we’re also capable of producing other architecture. And I do believe that collective internal architecture stands out in what’s being erected from the surface of the ground.
On the other hand, i really have no clue what I’m really talking about. But come on… just take a look at this:
There’s something that I want to share because, on the bright side, I’m damn proud of it.
The highlight of they day job: after months of work I get not only to be a part, but basically to cause this:
I had a dreadful cold that day and am ashamed to say that it made me erratic and I shouted at a few volunteers. It was day 5 of getting up at 5 am, dragging around event logistics and getting everybody in place for every moment of the event. (sometimes there was no alternative except the shouting, btw)
Still, every day of it was worth it and I would do it again.
For more information about the event, read this. I have to go home now.
Highway 61 Re-Revisited 