Back From Melbourne

Mel. bou. rne. What a freak city...

St. Kilda apparently it is where all the rainbows come out and live, a point in the 'Pink Triangle'...should migrate here.

@ Docklands: Jelly fishes in the sea. Lots of AFL fans. Fat kids with ice cream. Buildings that is the brand = IMC anyone?

Camouflage for a Restaurant?... I wonder if they'd ever get sick of people taking photos of their front door but not actually walk in and dine. That'd suck. *Hopes up... down again, false alarm! just a couple of artsy-fartsies.*

A couple of business guys standing in a back alley way, smoking, I promised them this won't be published, but look at it! ... They're so out of place right? The suit, smoking, graffiti and ethnic diversity, way too eclectic, they could be the pin-up boys of Melbourne's next tourism ad campaign - 'We are the U.N of everything. Everything? Everything.'

(North Melbourne+ playing with camera + that's Andy, who had to put up with me. ha! )

Yes, this crazy city is all it's cracked up to be. I loved it. I took lots of picture of street corners, for some reason I found them to be fascinating. In the period just short of a week, I've developed a habit of a Cappuccino by mid-morning, beer in the afternoon and another at dinner.

I'm sure many of you know Melbourne's tourism campaign slogan - 'Loose Yourself', all I can say is..you can TRY, because it is perfectly laid out. Unless you're map-illiterate then maybe the campaign will work on you. Who ever the city planner is, must had O.C.D with an obvious fascination with rectangles, you'd think a triangle may tip him over the edge.

May do a post about some art stuff next...

Human. Language.

I was searching for something meaningful today, and I found two people. Two very different lives, so brave and honest.

Please have patience with this one, I promise you will be rewarded.



I loved how she wondered and interacted with her environment, it is so simple and so pure. Of course, we are ignorant. It got me wondering about my own language... what is it? I remember what it felt like the first time rain slapped-landed on my skin as tyres flicked and rustled against the wet road and the smell of a fresh-lit cigarette, its smoke so new. All I wanted was to inhale more, to figure it out, carve it into my memories, even though it was suffocating. To this day, these are the only reminance of a dear father to me. They are not words, not pictures but something entirely in a dimension of its own.

Recently, I have been paying alot of attention on how people learn, think and make sense of the world around them. I found thinking is never a stream of consciousness but leaps and exchanges between senses and fleeting images captured in our everyday. I also found that too often people seek salvation in established 'norms' and 'common sense' to avoid the strange looks of examination and criticism.We are ignoring the possibilities by accepting what is, as is. Without giving our own curiosities a chance, we extinguished it immediately. It seems so contridictory. In marketing and branding, all anyone ever wanted was 'individuality', 'uniqueness' and 'originality', when really they're terrified of its true experience. These words have been abused.

Click 'Play' please. I tried deciphering the hidden message, what I discovered was art beyond question of purpose. Enjoy.



...Human is not a condition but people are.

Looking for Geeky-Coolness in a Corporate World

ok. So I have not had the time nor ideas to to continue my posts in the last 2 months. I admit that, and I apologize. The thing is I was failing to recognize what I wanted to cover most. It seems my life and the copious amount of media and information which I consume on a daily basis is a great starting point.

So... I will be reporting on that and also my strange life.

Today, I've been trolling through a few I.T blogs and websites such as TechCrunch, Filtered Media, AustralianIT and etc. in search of service- based organizations that have successfully used I.T to deliver their core and value-adding services. It's for a presentation and I am super curious anyway, so it's fun for me. (not many people can say that about their assignments)

I know there are numerous businesses out there where I.T is an integral part of their operation structure, but how many of them really and completely emerse themselves in it? Most it's just the usual - as long as files can be shared on FTP and emails can be sent, it's all good. But I'm on a mission to find the geeky service company that not only has their internal systems figured out, but also their ways of interaction and communication with customers and staff.

The truth is, the markets are only going to get more competitive, fragemented and well-informed. Relationships are going to matter than ever. I want wikis, Facebook, forums and Twitter- savvy, geeky coolness that is not the typical google, yahoo etc. I'm thinking something along the lines of a KFC store somewhere in a city, twittering customers about the freshly fried chicken wings that just came out of the deep frier two minutes ago, so come get it... You know what I mean? I can only dream...

I found this:

As an 'ad-nut', I was amused. It's another implication brought on by information technology and how it empowers consumers. Consumers today are ever-changing, in opinion, buying behaviour, information search and totally relentless in unleashing their disatisfaction on every channel they could possibly find to ensure the business is punished. Danger I say.. danger for all.

Stimulate This!

I spent the entire day with my ears tuned to the radio frequency broadcasting the live Senate hearing. At the centre of heated debates is the Rudd government’s $42 billion stimulus package (SP). The entire Labour party sang in tune, supporting the PM’s latest economic-crisis antidote and repeated their slogan of the week: ‘support jobs’ relentlessly. On the hand, the Coalition had a field day, deeming today as a perfect opportunity to show-off their sentence re-arrangement skills and threw tantrums like a bunch of five year-old kids during Question Time. One things for sure, what an eye-opener to Australian politics!

Despite the drama and metronome-like boom of ‘Order! Order! *insert name* please remain seated’, the two sides did have valid points. I’m here to summarise what one was able to retain and of course poke fun at the a few comments that were made.

Main Points

1. High emphasis on debt that will eventuate from the SP and repeatedly played the ‘think of the children’ card by Coalition.

Umm.. hello?! Would you rather [option A]: job losses, malnourished industry sectors and record-breaking cues at Centre Link claiming unemployment support. Thus putting enormous pressure on Government social security spending leading to low budget deficit in short term and no swinging punch when the crisis blows over. Then we can all dive into a deep, deep deficit. OR [option B] sustained employment and possibly job-creation, upgrade of education and nation infrastructure and risk running a deficit for the next two to five years and come out of crisis with at least an engine running?

2. A valid point was made (surprised? So was I!) — SP needs to consider injection into Health System and Government agencies in order to keep alive small business, which rely upon them. The late payments have resulted in lack of cash-flow, rendering whatever supporting Government incentive useless because zero dollars could be committed to take advantage of it.

3. Accusation filled with weak shots such as ‘Labour’s budget deficit’ were repeated constantly. The economic crisis was not a result of irresponsible Government behaviour but rather consequences of naughty finance and banking cowboys, majority in the US, EU and UK and domino collapses of once-solid institutions. The nation is taking hits from all over. The projected surplus evolving into a deficit should not be a surprise to the well-educated Senators that fill those big chairs because we are part of a connected global, free trade economy. If they are down then so are we!

Coalition need to accept they have run out crowd-pleasers and have sank to the level of pure politics and debating for the sake of showing Australia they have a fully-functioning mouth and voice box. I understand propositions need to be scrutinised but unless they have a better idea then we should just all get on with it.

Biff of the Day: was no doubt with Senator Coonan (Liberal, NSW). It was her mission to be as ‘wordy’ as she possibly could and just a pain. She has an impressive C.V. though. I was all :O

Links:
For a peak at the SP
A Fair Comment
Add K.Rudd on Twitter

Waking Up to Obama

I was awake this morning at 3am listening to ABC Radio, to bare 'listener' to quite possibly the most important and monumental historical event of this century. The inauguration speech delivered by President Obama was nothing short of inspirational. Yes indeed, change has finally arrived. This day has definitely put all the other 'new' days to shame for me. Already, I feel the dramatic difference.

These are as follows:

- A sweet cocktail of hope, pride and excitement for the possibilities replaced the distasteful health-kick, veg & fruit, 'vomit-juice' I chug down every morning.

- The decision to stay angry at a certain someone, now seems childish and immature.

- New year resolution of being more adventurous is answered by a message sent by a fellow couchsurfer asking to crash on my couch for a few days.

AND...

- My obsession with American politics, culture and info-tainment has just exploded to new heights.

On a serious note though, I love Obama! Even though the road ahead makes Mt Everest look like a walk in the park, the installment of a new world leader with such brilliant caliber, gives me faith.