They were only together for 26 months

If you haven't yet seen The filth and the fury I urge you to take the time out to see what is arguably the best video documentary of the single most important contribution from the English in the 20th century. From Beijing to Tokyo to Washington D.C. the only British legacy I've ever consistently seen as somewhat alive is punk. We stopped making things years ago and no cultural movement is still as visible to this day. One of the myths of the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten is how the vulgarity was worshiped for itself, when if you take time out to study the lyrics or listen to John Lydon it's self evident that he is an intellectual who bought a dose of realism to a fetid and decaying society that lined itself with the hallucinatory fur of glam rock and the hologram of let's pretend we feel good. Shang a lang indeed. Thanks to Neil for consistently reminding me that I'm not alone in believing we are on the cusp of potentially meaningful change.

Spot On

Ah Hah! I coincidentally and conveniently stumbled across the drawing on the back of a business card that Hugh did for me in June 2007, and which I mentioned back here.

Anyone who knows me can vouch for my endless opinions. I'm obsessed with economics at the moment and really hope I'm approaching the light at the end of the tunnel, because I've now reached the miserable point that I think Adam bookmarked, and which I've just dug out from the New Yorker which is diagnosed as 'pessimism porn'.

It's mainly about only finding the evidence which suports my analysis of the economic state of affairs. Taleb might diagnose this as narrative fallacy behaviour but I'd have to throw in that I'm interacting with what appears to me, to be my entire social group hooked on Platonic fallacy. They're printing money folks, and that means everyone will want a mini Heidleberg too.

I've also begun thinking about Johnnie Moore's 'notice more, change less' mantra. If only because it's a very good reason to be more polite and listen to people rather than the compelling interruptions I excel at. See, I've gone on again. I do like the way Hugh doesn't leave a question mark though. More generous I think.

Any of you freelancers out there recognise the business card? Oh and one last question. Does anyone know how to format draft blogger properly so the paragraph spacing doesn't disappear when I press Publish Post?

That would be a small mercy.

Just checking :)

Hokusai

Hokusai did this print of The Great Wave and captured the imagination of the Japanese people in much the same way that Shepherd Fairey's Obamicon hit an emotive nerve in the run up to the U.S. election. Both in their own way represent something that is outside the commitment to try one's best. To go a little further.

Sean Howard invited a bunch of us to write a piece that was inspired by Saul Kaplin about The Passion Economy.

One of the terrific things about Sean is that he has a hardcore intellectual streak that sometimes leaves me bewildered realising there's whole topics I've never heard of let alone grasped and which you can discover here on his blog.

However, Sean balances that deep thinking drive with what I see as a big ol' generous heart and very kind words of infectious happiness. When he asked me to contribute, I was really flattered and said yes.

I am in with some toptastic people on this one, including Scott Suthren, Ellen Di Resta, Gavin Heaton, Mike Wagner, Mack Collier, Mike Arauz, Katie Chatfield, Alan Wolk, Peter Flaschner and Matthew Milan all contributing to this piece which I hope will persuade some, that we are indeed living in profound times.

Something's happening indeed.

The Passion Economy eBook

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Business eBooks passion brands

Why not download the ebook from Sean's site if you're a little short on time?

Rule Breaking Sloppy Blogging

Tim has warned us all of the perils from lazy blogging but I watched this lastest TED video last night and thought it chimed nicely with the the sentiment around the thinking man's blogosphere where the top down hierarchical nature of 20th century business and it's marketing machine are responsible for the dehumanization of our species. I think once again this is about not just learning to talk human, but learning to act human. I urge you to watch this fine talk by Barry Schwartz because it's important and valuable to those who try to over plan, in the belief that it will produce better and more effective outputs. It's a new rules social contract we need and paradoxically its about less rules and more...well I'll leave that to you.

This is so right

Props to Eaon who rightly reminds us that this links directly to learning to speak human where I had a lot to say.

Tweet Readings

If you haven't been following Marcus' official Tweet Readings on Vimeo you're missing out some of the sharpest lampooning of social media on the net. Marcus has consistently squeezed out top notch engaging content on the net and has chosen blogger, entrepreneur and cartoonist Hugh Macleod for this official Tweet Reading, the sixth in a series that has been going on for the last two weeks. The official Tweet Reading channel is over here.


Official Tweet Reading VIII: Hugh MacLeod from Marcus Brown on Vimeo.

I did get to meet Hugh over here along with Faris, George (who has a new advertising book out) and Ruby Pseudo. Hugh kindly drew me one of his famous cartoon cards, which I will blog shortly because even though we had both washed down a few cleansing ales after PSFK he summed me up rather splendidly.

Those of you who might have seen me present last week at the marketing to low income customers conference will recognise at least one of Hugh's often profound cartoons below.

Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be