Waiting in Transit…

The Judge walks in and everybody instinctively rises. I suddenly feel like I’m back in primary school and you had to stand every time a teacher or the principal came into the class and greet them loudly, unquestioningly. I know it’s a matter of respect and it does have its place but I have this innate problem with authority, especially authority which enforces rituals instituted by archaic social conventions.

So I grudgingly stand as the judge, a very chubby man of about 50 years old, walks to his seat. His impossible to hide double-chin depresses as he lifts his head from his notes and calls the first divorce case for the day, “Case two-oh-three-four, two thousand and seven, Mr James and Ms Jackson.”

The lawyers constantly refer to the Judge as “Your worship…” which irritates me again but I’m just an observer here. They bow as they leave the room, the judge doesn’t notice this at all and this indicates to me how ingrained the behaviour is amongst lawyers and people in general. Is this part of the curriculum at law school? “Etiquette and behaviour in court” or something similar? I wonder…

No doubt, social convention has its place. The masses are fucking idiots… just look at the lyrical content of the top 40 hit countdown and suddenly social conventions to keep people in line and instil some sort of structure makes sense. But then again, it’s the same system purveying the culture of self-gratification and delusion anyway. Which is why, from an overall perspective, the whole thing grates against my being.

Yes we need some form of authority and structure, but I reserve my right to question it and wholeheartedly disagree with it.

written by Muhammad \\ tags: Authority, delusion, Disagree, Question, Social Convention, Structure

He’s healthy. His mother loves him.  He came into this world wet, beautiful and loud. Like most babies are. He glows in his tired mother’s arms… smiles and kisses everywhere. Love fills the room.  He looks around his new world, he lives here now. This is life and his begins in noise, love and heat. 

I wish I could tell him not to be afraid of anything. That everything will be okay. I want to tell him that he needs to pay attention, though.  That sometimes he’ll feel just like the first time he came into this world. Change is scary. Change is life.  He’ll scream again. Out of desperation, frustration, anger. He’ll also scream out of joy. Emotions run high and rampant and he will ride them, everywhere.

<this is just the beginning>

written by Muhammad \\ tags: Life, Writing

The Placebo soundtrack on the trailer really drew me in.  That and the tag line "The Matrix meets 28 Days Later." Overall, it was following the recent trend i.e. normal vampire movie with a twist.  Not very engaging. The only link to the Matrix was tehir se of humans to survive… for blood this time, obviously.. not being used as batteries.  The Matrix had it done better though… they had a plan in place to replace dead humans… here the dead humans just die… leaving a blood shortage.

Anyway… it was a filler movie. something you can waste your time with and would be just as good if you got it on DVD or waited for it come on TV.

What was great about it was the colouring and the cinematography. It was noir in a  modern way and the soundtrack fit the movie really well.  Also, Ethan Hawke makes a really good vampire. On the plot… I like how they put in all the normal stuff that happens after being a vampire becomes normalised.  Things like the economy, class systems, food shortages, etc. start to take over the agenda.

I’d give the movie a 6/10 :) Enjoy.

written by Muhammad \\ tags: Daybreakers, Movie, Review

Best Agency Christmas Present I ever received… so far.

"So what the hell does that mean?" is probably going through your head. Well here’s the rub… the Poster design for Inglourious Basterds was akin to having a great shot of a fishfinger on a pack of… well.. fishfingers.  No differentiation, nothing to build the brand. Bland. Blends into the background. Status quo. Following Market conventions… Don’t agree? Let me prove it.

Exhibit A: The Inglourious Basterds Poster (Mainstream)

Exhibit B: The Valkyrie Poster

Spot the difference. None… design-wise anyway. Now you can see Brad Pitt in typical fish-finger style… blending into the background of mediocre poster history.  Why would Tarantino bow down to corporate pressure like this and risk his almost instantaneously recognised style and colouring for mass-produced crap like this?

To be fair… there were incredibly great-looking posters made alongside this one… the issue I have is that the mass-produced poster was the most ubiquitous. Which was a shit move, marketing-wise. I’d fire whoever approved it, and am highly disappointed with Tarantino for condoning it.

Anyway… here’s the great ones…

So there you have it.  On the mass poster, Brad Pitt is a fish-finger. That poster should not have been made, let alone be put up as the main attraction.  The movie was fucking awesome, regardless.

written by Muhammad \\ tags: Analysis, Branding, Cool, Design, Inglourious Basterds, Marketing, Movie, Tarantino

The below info is American-focused but you can get an idea of the benefits and pitfalls of each phone.  Also, as I have always maintained, go for the phone which would suit your particular needs. Not everyone needs an iPhone despite it’s Cool status, which seems to be slowly dying out now.  If you’re a business person, get a Blackberry.  If you’re an all media, social, business, game and traveller junkie… stick with the iPhone… It’s all about utility, yo.

All info was thanks to Billshrink

written by Muhammad \\ tags: Droid, Google, iPhone, Nexus, Nexus one, Palm Pre, Phones

Before the movie came out I didn’t know Mandela used it to inspire him when he was at Robben Island. For years now this has been one of the poems I’ve used when I was down and needed to get up and get going. And I still think it worth posting up on various forums again and again.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

written by Muhammad \\ tags: inspiration, Poetry, powerful

I hope these words spring worlds
For those who read them.

Break chains and change lanes
Amongst the current ideas which plague them.

I want to change systems
Overturn systems
Question the assumptions.

Break bread with uncertainty
And always strive for the epitome.

The poster of my life will show a huge boot
Stamping on the face of negativity, forever.
The imprint would show a path to a different future.

I’ll be standing with the strange,
Who were estranged for embracing change…
And now travel on new lanes, without chains
To different worlds
Sprung from words.

Tags: Poetry, Words, Change

written by Muhammad

You cannot outperform a marketplace if you adhere to it’s conventions. – Jean-Marie Dru, CEO TBWA\

Generally when you think disruption… you think destruction, a break that isn’t supposed to be there. I keep thinking of teacher reports saying that he/she’s ‘disruptive in class.’, etc.

So I’m at TBWA/LONDON.  For those who don’t know… they’re an advertising agency, and a pretty good one at that (They have the Apple account, so that says a lot already). Apple’s advertising is brilliant. Well these guys make it. Great, you get the picture.

 So how does Disruption tie into all this?

Disruption is TBWA’s raison d’être. A philosophy integrated into everything about them. So I learnt about this while I was there and I thought it was the best idea I’ve heard in ages.  It’s not a new idea, but I like the packaging, it makes it easier to understand and embrace… here we go…

The Model of Disruption

Disruption is the art of asking better questions, challenging conventional wisdom and overturning assumptions and prejudices that get in the way of imagining new possibilities and visionary ideas.

Disruption is a system for people who hate systems. Similar to the concept of open-source software development, Disruption has evolved and matured as communities around the network use, adapt and reinvent Disruption tools for specific market or client needs.

Thinking differently (There’s Apple again), outside-the-box (cliche), etc. Most of all I like that it’s a process… you have to understand what the prevailing conventions and status quo is before you can move BEYOND it, before you can CHALLENGE it, before you can CHANGE it.  Finding its borders and knocking down the walls. DISRUPTING the underlying patterns and CREATING something new.

So there we are…this is the idea I embraced as one which I will adhere to and act on in everything I do.

<To what end I will apply this process to is another question all together and another set of blog posts. We’ll get to that later.>

Tags: Disruption, TBWA, London, Great Idea, Change, Philosophy

written by Muhammad

The Twilight Series, Blade, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood and a whole host of other new-age vampire manifestations with varying theories on what vampires are, what they can do and what kills them.  But I don’t care about all that. Why do we find them so interesting that we give it all of our attention and warrant throwing all our money at Hollywood to go see them?

I think the main hook is their immortal nature.  We’re drawn to something that is, in effect, infinite.  Granted in our daily lives or even just by thinking we can not fully grasp the concept of infinity, or eternity.  By nature we are finite beings and hence vampires, by subverting this fundamental aspect of humanity, are made far more intriguing as beings we aspire to.  And we DO aspire to them, what after how glamorous they are made to look in modern literature and cinema.

But still, glamour aside, we subconsciously want the infinite and with most people writing off conventional religion and embracing the religion of atheism, vampires are the only somewhat-infinite idols they can turn their attention to.  For the general religious populace, those who believe in God and the hereafter, vampires give us a glimpse of what we want to be… happy in eternity (without all the bloodsucking and free of any need, ofcourse).

I have written before of how vampires also represent our dark side, but I find the philosophy of the creation of these beings in literature intriguing in itself and required another post with anotehr point of view.

All in all, I find the whole business terribly fascinating.  Maybe there’ll be another post soon form another angle.

written by Muhammad

Amazing article I found from Ego Development…

If you desire to stay positive in your life, try to avoid these bad human habits. When you make these changes, you will feel it will make great changes in the way you see things and will help you live a happier life.

1. Fear
“Fear” is one of the harmful negative or depressing emotions. Fear, like all other depressing emotions, poisons the body. This is not said in a figurative sense. It is an actual scientific fact; it has been demonstrated chemically. Were it not for the fact that the lungs, skin, kidneys and the bowels are constantly removing poisons from the body, an acute attack of fear would prove fatal.

2. Worry
Worrying is perhaps the most common and the worst of our mental sins. Worry is like a cancer: It eats in and in. It is destructive of both body and mind. It is due largely to lack of self-control and is a symptom of cowardice. Much worry is also indicative of great selfishness, which most of those afflicted will deny. Those who worry much are always in poor health, which grows progressively worse. The form of indigestion accompanied by great acidity and gas formation is a prolific source of worry, as well as of other mental and physical troubles. The acidity irritates the nervous system and the irritation in time causes mental depression.

3. Guiltiness/Regret.
For one thing, we are all guilty. We live not knowing as much as we need to know about the problems that we have, and so we make mistakes, all of us. It is Nature itself that is imperfect, and we are all the heirs of this imperfection. Knowing that you are totally created makes it possible to rise above personal injuries and move beyond guiltiness and regret. In the words of Lao-Tse, “When I let go of who I am, I become who I might be.”

4. Depression-despair.
Depression affects more than just an individual’s mood and general overall sense of well being. Depression surfaces in a number of other ways, including the form of eating disorders. To be a whole person again, you can move away from ignoring or repudiating your bad feelings and move into a position of being receptive to change. From this position you are compassionate – you recognize that you are more than your bad feelings. Implicit in this attitude lie the words, “I am with you. I do not turn away from you. I acknowledge you. I recognize your bad feelings. My compassion recognizes that you are more than you think you are. Who you are and who you have been have been produced by the processes of Nature/life. I do not repudiate or desert any of you. I do not turn my back on you. I do not try to will you out of existence. I acknowledge your existence, each part of your body and each part of your mind. A person is going to feel the full range of human feelings, including fear, shame, hostility, and guiltiness.

5. Anger.
Anger is a normal human emotion. However, when it’s unresolved or unchecked, it can lead to devastating consequences for the person holding onto the anger and those around him or her. The major reason that anger is so difficult to manage for most people is that it has become a habitual response to certain people, places and situations. Most habits tend to operate below our awareness—meaning we react without considering our choices

6. Self-blame
If you are down on yourself, practicing a lot of self-blame, please remember that it is very difficult to get by in this complicated world as it is without any disorders. Blaming yourself for all kinds of stuff such as whether other people are happy, whether other people work hard, whether your relationship fails to thrive, whether a social event is going well – is so much work! People who blame themselves for too much mistake influence for control. A mother may be able to influence her child when it comes to academic study but she can’t completely control the child’s motivation (or lack of). You may be able to influence whether your partner or friend has a good time but you certainly can’t be totally responsible.

7. Indifference 
An absence of compulsion to or toward one thing or another. To be indifferent is to realize that I have no interest — not now, not yet or maybe ever — in something I have become aware of and spent some time prioritizing. To not know is to realize how futile self-importance is. Ignorance however represents a procrastinization of thought. Ignorance is the substitution of belief for knowledge. Where continuing ignorance would curtain with darkness, realization provides the ubiquity of sun light. The bliss of ignorance is ironic — I’m giving away my bliss to the rapturous.

written by Muhammad