Gobama!

"This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you".

This is one of my favorite parts of Obama's victory speech last night. After a long time the word democracy is starting to make sense again.

compete with this

Being an inherit part of human nature, competition naturally finds an outlet through gaming. Video games easily bring us the excitement and thrill that we search for in our lives. Many argue that video game competition makes us aggressive and frustrated. Gamers, on the other hand, describe the experience as "enjoyable" and in any case "intimidating".

Interestingly video game competition taps into traditional aspects of competition, such as traditional sports, and take a social form, through multiplayers and online networks. These social interactions can be viewed as collaborative efforts that ultimately help us thrive and enrich our lives.

It comes as no surprise that the Major League Gaming (the only professional gaming league in North America) has recently added ESPN to it's impressive partner line up. ESPN will be the main news outlet for MLG and ESPN.com will stream competitions and add a section devote to Competitive Gaming.

The video below is a newscast for a Halo 3 competition, with exciting live-like commentary of the play. Regardless of the discussion of whether or not gaming can be considered a sport, I can say that this video frightens me in many different levels.

Creative photographs by Chema Madoz
My mind is naturally gravitating towards creative media placement... Gajes del oficio!

crossing borders: major league gaming ESPN video

Being an inherit part of human nature, competition naturally finds an outlet through gaming. Video games easily bring us the excitement and thrill that we search for in our lives. Many argue that video game competition makes us aggressive and frustrated. Gamers, on the other hand, describe the experience as "enjoyable" and in any case "intimidating".

Interestingly video game competition taps into traditional aspects of competition, such as traditional sports, and take a social form, through multiplayers and online networks. These social interactions can be viewed as collaborative efforts that ultimately help us thrive and enrich our lives.

It comes as no surprise that the Major League Gaming (the only professional gaming league in North America) has recently added ESPN to it's impressive partner line up. ESPN will be the main news outlet for MLG and ESPN.com will stream competitions and add a section devoted to Competitive Gaming.

The video is a newscast for a Halo 3 competition, with exciting live-like commentary of the play. Regardless of the discussion of whether or not gaming can be considered a sport, this video frightens me. In so many different levels .

solar recording... what can you do?

another reason to love Jack Johnson

Saggin'

-Newsweek, July 28 2008 issue


In Flint, Michigan, fashion choice is an indicator of criminal intent. The Police Chief there considers low pants as "immoral self expression" and has ordered his officers to start arresting anyone who lets his pants sag to reveal his underwear. Or more... *See above chart for clarifying inch to inch breakdown

The movement to ban saggy pants has caused many jokes, with plumbers being the butt of many. However I bet this subject won't be as funny if charged with disorderly conduct and/or indecent exposure, both misdemeanors, punishable by 93 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.

And I thought we had bigger problems. Go figure...

your own personal Otaku

Here is something I heard at a Barbecue party this weekend "There were more units sold solely in Japan than in the rest of the world combined". This was said referring to thousand dollar snowboarding boards but it could be easily applied to a number of things.

Japanese are known because of their fanatic obsessions anywhere from Anime, Hello Kitty's,high tech cell phones to the 6 million Nintendo Wii units sold in less than 2 years. (yes, someone is been doing some video game research). Otaku is a term used to refer to people's obsessive interests and it is used at times with a pejorative connotation ("geek"). Particularly it is often used referring to anima and manga but it can be applied to anything: music otaku, martial arts otaku, cooking otaku, you-name-it otaku.

The truth is that we all are otakus and have our own obsessive little things. Here in the U.S it might be Hollywood celebrities. Sports. Fuel prices. How is this obsessive behavior different in the Americas or Asia? What are the different codes that these cultures undermine? On this note I am currently reading The Culture Code which explores root cultural differences and how these affect the way we perceive brands and consume. Truly fascinating.

My own personal Otaku lately is MUJI無印良品 (having recently received 2 shirts as an early Birthday present)



MUJI translates as No brand quality goods. Ignore those who compare the brand to Ikea, this company is an excellent showcase of Japanese minimalist high quality design, and continues to feed my love for this culture. I have resolved that I must visit this country next year at the latest.

F+Q+C

The Zune Arts website features animation art, motion graphics and music from artists colorblok, gary panter, morning breath, steve niles and other emerging artists. The website offers many downloads and is osofun and truly addicting!

Why is an MP3 player getting involved in arts? What does the explosion of free content mean? For brands it represents an opportunity to connect with audiences. However... beware of crappy generic content, engagement will only be achieved through quality genuine content. The era of free crappy content is over... welcome to the Free+Quality+Content era

on blogs, blogging and... egos?

This profusion of blogs has got me thinking. WHY? WHY?! What exactly is so hot about it? Is this a crazy fad that only supports our ego-centrical BLAH needs?? Below a chart with identified pros and cons and it's implications. Feel free to jump in the conversation and assess some more.



Also check out State of the Blogosphere, a report by Technorati.

como educar a las nuevas generaciones en un mundo lleno de posibilidades?

Imagine Learning from Julia Lee on Vimeo.

My first film.
An introductory documentary by Julia Lee =)

Please contact me with feedback, or if you would be interested in participating in this project.

fantabulous

The heat wave brought something nice,
a spectacular sunset against the beautiful skyline
a glimpse of a glow from my window, a quick shot...
this burning red might just be the end of the world as we know it

how do you educate young people to thrive in a world of possibility?

My first film.
An introductory documentary by Julia Lee =)

Please contact me with feedback, or if you would be interested in participating in this project.

visualizing concepts

Explore and discover new music with this cool graphic by musicovery, a free radio application. The clickable menu classifies the music by Genre (colors), while the X Y coordinate sorts the music by "mood", Dark vs. Positive and Energetic Vs. Calm.

Another example of the visual exploration trend for organizing the flow of large amounts of data and/or complicated networks.

More cool graphs at visualcomplexity.com

creative outlet

Check out this unusual media idea for NH Hotels in Spain. Creative, spontaneous, and oh so cheap, it looks like a drawing a passenger himself could have done in a sleepless flight. Wouldn't it be fun to encourage people to doodle, to express what's in their mind? Oh what an entertaining flight!




MCSaatchi Spain "Where would you like to be?"

power to the people

It still amazes how the source of power has radically shifted from corporations to consumers. More and more companies are becoming increasingly consumer centric. Again this does not seem to have been possible without the Internet. Starbucks recently launched the microsite"My Starbucks Idea", where people submit their ideas for the chain and vote for other people's ideas. Some of the most interesting ones include:

1. Free Coffee on your Birthday
2. Free Wireless Internet
3. Bite size pastries
4. Coffee ice cubes
5. Shelves in the restrooms
etc. etc. etc.

Starbucks is sure to meet customer satisfaction, product development and PR efforts (along with the adoption of the new-old logo to improve their image) in a terribly simple way.

This comes to show that Advertising must embrace this consumer oriented tendency, just as corporations have done, moving past a "push strategy" to a "pull strategy", sparking people's interest, and only then offering enterntainment and information for those who are truly interested.

back to roots

The more I thought about it the less sense it made that we use toxic and harmful chemicals to "clean" our homes. These cleaning products are toxic enough for us to use rubber gloves and avoid contact. However we are unconsciously "rubbing" it everywhere in our house.

The "green" trend is catching on hard and now that Clorox has joined, it seems to be here to stay. Greenworks is a line of cleaning products made with natural (biodegradable, non-harmful, not tested on animals) ingredients... finally! The people has spoken and Clorox has listened.

new days

It seems like such a long time ago that I was reading Oliviero Toscani's book, that it feels almost surreal to be nominated by the Academy for a scholarship at Fabrica (the Benetton research center on communication). Today, after a crazy weekend racing to put together a portfolio, I have officially submitted my application to their recruiters from Italy.

Fabrica (Factory) is a space where people from around the globe come together to collaborate on different projects (design, photography, writing, to film, music etc.) Although it can not be strictly categorized as an Art school there is no doubt of the creative instruction that I would get. Their most famous output is COLORS magazine. Every issue of the magazine focuses on one theme that is covered Internationally, from a "multi-colored" perspective. In this sense I feel like I could contribute, given my background, and I could really develop research and analytical, as well as art direction-design, skills.






Now, it's time to wait. Their screening process is tough, and I won't keep my hopes up. I am just happy that someone thought of me for this exciting opportunity... Did I mention that is fully paid? In Italy?...

the only_________ that ____________

Last Thursday I was invited to Neutron's Brand Workshop. This session "Radical Differentiation" consisted in a (powerpoint) presentation of Marty Neumeier's brilliant book "ZAG" and a number of exercises in which different concept was applied to "troubled" brands (Home Depot, CNN, Delta and Radioshack).

My favorite exercise was the orbituary writing:

"The shack has closed. Radioshack was not about selling electronics but about educating people on integrating technology in their lives. Empowering creativity through educational programs, promoting efficiency and sustainability with refurbishing solutions, they raised the quality of life for all. Leveling the technology learning curve their legacy has revolutionized the way we live together. For all that we say Thank you and may they rest in peace."

Being radically different is essential in standing out (duh). If you can't say "I am the only _____ that _____" move elsewhere, reposition, watch the others, and when they Zig, you should Zag. Being radically different however is not easy. The best radical differentiation is not the one we fabricate for ourselves, but the one that comes from our roots, the one we were born with.

corporate lobbying + online technology + consumer participation= Proposition 3-17 and 272,000 signatures



Guiness, the Irish Brewer, has done a remarkable job on their microsite (www.proposition317.com), that includes a mission statement, a historical overview, and videos of supporters and their reasons to join this cause.

Although some might think this proposition is not very serious, the PR reach that this campaign is having IS.

"check out this news alert"

A few weeks ago I received this news alert in my e-mail.
The video that appeared to be a newscast from a Miami News Station claimed that a serial killer had strike again and had left a message written in BLOOD for it's next victim, me! This prank, from the TV series "Dexter", also allowed a personalized message that would appear written in sharpie in a piece of "evidence". Of course, this freaked me out... And of course I had to send it to a couple friends. Isn't new media unexpected and hilarious??

my fling with media

Jane Groft and Ellen Kiyomizu, from Scorch LLC (sub. of Carat Fusion) met me last week to set up my one on one directed studies for this semester. I must point out how this media experts are also fantasticly kind women.

We, our generation, the whole industry, are witnessing the rise of media as a creative discipline, capable of standing on its own. Technological changes and the ability to precise targeting are being key.

David Verklin, CEO Carat Americas talks about this rise and the importance of narrocasting in Cannes.

I am ready to immerse myself in this enigmatic world, were media is just as diverse, singular and exciting as every individual.

on education

Last Friday we had the first Imagine Learning meeting of the year. During the meeting we reviewed the progress up to date, discussed the operability of gaiaspace as the main platform for Imagine Learning and set objectives and goals for the project. The following TED video captures the spirit of the Imagine Learning project, our reason for being.

POV on Sir Ken Robinson's Talk: Do Schools kills Creativity

In his talk, Sir, discusses the appropriateness and survival of current education systems. He argues that current systems are killing creativity in favor of literacy.

Ken Robinson cites Picasso: “All children are born artists. The problem is to remain artist as we grow up. ”

It is in children’s nature to be creative, imaginative, to come up with the most innovative and crazy ideas, and this is because they are not afraid of speaking up their minds, of dreaming, and more importantly, of being wrong.
And if we are not prepared to be wrong we will never come up with nothing original.

Ken Robinson argues that our system fails because it stigmatize mistakes. Repressing originality the system grows children out of creativity.

Another interesting thought brought up is the overrating of the brain. He states “people live in their heads, dis-embodied, using their bodies as means of transportations from meeting to meeting”. Are we forgetting that all the information that our brain processes comes through our other five senses? Sight, smell, sensory… Shouldn’t we be coming up with new ways to stimulate these?

Our current education systems were born meeting the needs of Industrialization, as a means to fit that particular chain system, just like today’s high school is a means of getting into University: we go to high school so we can go to university so we can get our Masters and then our PHDs. It’s a vicious circle. Because everyone is fitting in the same system and our system mass produces graduates, today degrees aren’t worth “anything” (frightening thought given that I am in school…)

The destructive nature of humans, is leaving it’s mark not only on the surface of the earth but in the human spirit. We must find a way to overcome this, we must treasure the gift of the human imagination before it’s too late.

on creative work

I want to point out my favorite Super Bowl commercial this year: Tide-to-go's "Talking Stain".
Remarkable execution to a great insight, our mental exaggerations and freak outs to a simply stain.



On the same note I also want to point out the remarkable job Tide is doing developing a line of products to "not wash" your clothes (the instant stain remover and Febreze being the stars). This is a great strategic take on college kids, busy yuppies, new parents and such.

the final and greatest adventure

Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped. Thou shalt not return. And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild. — Alexander Supertramp





Into the Wild, Sean Penn, tells the story of a young man fleeing civilization, repudiating society and escaping past, in pursue of the ultimate and purest truth, NATURE. However he neglects one fact... nature created man, and thus man IS nature. Bitter-sweet ending shines a light upon us, he will ultimately discover that happiness is only real when shared.


Fantastic ode to a brave adventurer, and most importantly, a truth seeker.

on the perfect pitch

Passion. It seems that lately I keep running into this concept. To believe in what you do and to love what you do is the best bet for success. Like the London Call girl in Steel's book. Another important key to a successful presentation is practice, not necessarily repetition but rather mastering, owning. And these concepts, passion and mastery, are important because if you boil them down, they represent the essence of truth.