What is this "shift" happening on our planet right now?

Allow me to clear up some of the confusion that set a tone for a few of my blog entries from the first semester. So, with my humblest apologies, I offer you, my thousands of followers across the globe my view of the world and the current paradigm shift that we are all participating in, whether you are aware of it or not. It’s a party and everyone is invited. Welcome to chapter one of many where I will be releasing an accumulation of observations I have made in my 27 years on this planet.  

 This is some deep shit, but someone’s gotta say it. It’s virtually impossible to put it in a nutshell as it takes into account a massive range of variables ranging from our evolution as a species, the media, government, advertising, ethics, law, pop culture, religion, fashion, technology and climate change - to name a few. My aim is to find the links in all these systems and discover the underlying patterns that run our world. There has never been a more exciting time to be alive.

 Change really is the only constant and there are clear periods in our more immediate history that stick out to me such as: Our entry into the industrial age in the 1700’s, the 1929 stock market crash, the start of the computer age in 1949, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of apartheid in 1994 which all affected the development of our economically driven society. I’ll go into depth at a later stage.

 It only gets deeper from here. Both the Hopis and the Mayans recognise that we are approaching the end of a world age. Every 26 000 our planet enters into a different era - in both cases, however, the Hopi and Mayan elders do not prophesise that everything will come to an end (as apposed to our Christian fanatics who keep scaring people into believing apocalyptic bullshit and causing mass hysteria). Rather, this is a time of transition from one World Age to another in which the due date is 21 December 2012. The word apocalypse does not mean the world is going to blow up. The definition is derived from Greek meaning “lifting of the veil” or “revelation”.

 Global Warming is another term that has been around the block lately and the debate of whether or not we are the cause of all the heat has finally been tied up, it’s official: The seasons are changing, the ice is melting and we’re entering into the opposite of the ice age: A global drought – this means no more water, which means no more you and I unless we create better ways of living.  If we don’t evolve and learn from nature we will dissolve as a species. The key word is: sustainability. As individuals we have the power to support companies which are supporting the planet.

We’re reaping the rewards of hard work by conservationists, lobbyists, documentary film makers, scientists and everyone involved in activism that have all helped raise our consciousness and this has been catapulted by a generation who are questioning the system they were born into.

 We declare war on anything we don’t like: We have a war on terror, a war on aids, a war on poverty, a war on cancer, a war on drugs, and if you’ll allow me to quote George Carlin, the all time comedian for one second: “We don’t have a war on homelessness because there’s no money in that.” You see, where there is war there is money to be made. One day we will all learn that what we focus our attention on is what we become conscious of and my god have we been made conscious of war through the media. I believe the Internet is going to be our saviour because finally WE can choose what we want to watch without it being shoved down our throats by corrupt media corporations.

I have some good news for you: We have left the “Power” era of our consciousness, there is still plenty of residue left over from this time, I mean America is still chasing “terrorists” and tainting our minds with all sorts of perceived enemies but the truth is that all the bad stuff we hear on the news accounts for about 0.00001% of everything that’s happening, we don’t hear about all the good stuff going on behind the scenes.

 We are currently in the “Ethics” era of our consciousness, this has never been clearer, we are finally looking at our society and asking questions: Is drilling for oil in the Amazon Jungle really a good idea? What happens when all the forests are cut down? Is our government honest? How can we reduce the gap between the rich and the poor? What will happen if Wal-Mart actually takes over the world? We are starting to realise that no matter how insignificant we may think we are, what we do as individuals makes a difference, barriers are being broken down and the global village is opening up.

We’ve been witnessing a slow collapse of the money system which has been designed to run people further and further into debt. This meltdown has forced us all to look closely at our values and people are waking up to the fact that our happiness depends more on an internal spiritual connection than the illusion of power gained from external wealth. Like a wise man once said: “If you can’t go within, you go without.”

To be continued…

Adaptation

I have never been into Africa, I live in South Africa but I’ve never been into Africa. I watched a show on BBC Knowledge tonight about Lagos, Nigeria and some of the people that live there. Lagos is suffering from growing pains just like many other African countries and we are all well aware of how people are forced to live in cruel conditions. There is a massive dump site on the outskirts of Lagos (as there are in all major cities) but what makes this one so unique is that there is an entire economy built around recycling. People support their families from what the rich discard. It struck me how intelligently they are adapting to their realities. People build their houses from items we wouldn’t think twice about throwing out on the street.

Nigeria is one the most “oil rich” countries on our continent which brings with it barrels of corruption. Foreign countries are in charge of the oil mining and distribution it is only natural that locals would also want a “piece of the pie” which makes the perfect recipe for crime and corruption. This makes me curious: Oil money is considered to be “above board” yet it is the number one cause of war. The government promotes war because it rakes in billions of dollars in profit from the supply of weapons. The black market racketeers that control the illegal passports, weapons and human slavery are the same people that control the illegal drug trade and are the same people that keep the oil industry alive; there is clearly no separation between what we consider the black market and the “white market”. Money is money.

We all sit high up on our thrones judging criminals, drug addicts and the corrupt government yet we all continue to fill our cars with petrol and buy products that use massive amounts of petroleum to produce so therefore we are direct supporters of the same industry that promotes human trafficking, weapons and drugs. This means there is nothing separating you and me from the black market.

The same argument comes up every time: “Well what am I supposed to do, run my car on fuckin grape juice?” Of course not, we are deemed powerless to a point when it comes to petrol, but the major shift that is happening in the world right now requires everyone to change their own perceptions from the inside out. We are all experiencing growing pains, just like Lagos, Nigeria. We have all been exposed to the same media and we know what is happening to our planet. This is not a rant to get you to recycle or ride a bicycle to work, but maybe we can learn from the scavengers living on the edge of the dump, maybe we can adapt to our surroundings in the same spirit and be a part of the revolution happening right now on planet earth. 

Maos Last Dancer - a book review

 

In a land where sons are considered the only real wealth, being born the sixth of seven brothers was a blessing, but in rural northern China such joy was tempered by constant hunger and enduring poverty and hunger were Li Cunxin's earliest memories. As his father and mother have tilled the reluctant soil, so will he spend his life wresting from it the meagerest of sustenance. Living in a tiny room, on a dingy commune street, a hole in the ground for a toilet, eating meal after meal of dried yams, Cunxin's six brothers and his parents have only one another. But the “one another” is what really nourishes them. There is no lack of love in this home that is lacks almost everything else.

In addition to their peasant poverty, they are oppressed by the politics of Chairman Mao, who governs their lives, insists on clamorous loyalty and undying faith. They live in a commune, subject to the vision of others who live far away and far above them. It is the only world these peasants know, all else is forbidden, their very thoughts are not considered their own. What could a young boy in such circumstances possibly know about the world of the ballet? What could he possibly have in common with it? It is as different a cosmos as another planet would be. I knew very little about Communist China before reading this book so it served as a thorough history lesson on a world that was so completely different to mine.

Madame Mao decided that she wanted China to excel in the ballet and to that end ordered recruitment from around the nation to fill the Academy of Dance in Beijing. Searchers went out to the provinces purposely looking among those, such as rural peasants, who had never been politically tainted in the eyes of the communist leaders. A group came to Cunxin’s school where he was chosen to audition through painful exercises to test the children’s flexibility.

 Cunxin enters his new world weighed down with his old. He must uphold the pride of his family's name, rural and unknown; he is their representative. His commune, his province, his school; he feels everyone is depending upon him. And now in this huge strange capital he feels all China is watching and weighing his ability to bring glory to his nation. It's a heavy burden for a young boy. Cunxin eventually moves to America where he becomes a star in the Houston Ballet Company and ultimately ends up on the Oprah Winfrey Show where he is revered by the American audience.  

Li Cunxin writes in a fluid, moving manner, I would never guess that English isn’t his native tongue. Despite this I found myself skipping through large chunks of the book to get to the end. This is the sort of book that is lapped up by the masses and intercepted by Hollywood and turned into a motion picture because it symbolises the height of the American Dream where anything is possible if you put your mind to it,  and even though it is a true story I was not entirely riveted. 

The Fighter - a film review

The Fighter – a film review

Cast: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo

(I would love to offer you a review of a film that I absolutely despised and one that I could tear to shreds with a crescendo of abusive and vile criticism but my brains’ memory compartment acts as a giant filter which catches all the garbage that I’m exposed to on a daily basis and is released in singular, torrential outbursts. In the mean time I offer this review of one of the finest boxing films I have ever seen.)

The Fighter is based on the true story of boxers 'Irish' Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, half-brothers from a large family from Lowell, Massachusetts. From childhood on up, Dicky was the older brother who taught his younger sibling how to handle himself in the ring. Micky's probably the more talented of the two, or at least the one who went on to have a solid career as a boxer. Their relationship as boxers and brothers is put under the microscope in this absorbing, heart-wrenching underdog tale from director David O Russell.

We catch up with Dicky Eklund years after he had his last real shot at success in the ring. An HBO crew is following him around to document his comeback attempt, though only a short time later it's evident to all any chance Dicky had for a comeback is long gone. Dicky's biggest claim to fame is once knocking Sugar Ray Leonard down and he's quick to point that out, bringing it up in nearly every conversation. It had earned him the title "The Pride of Lowell," but now it's Micky's turn. He's the man of the hour, the fighter the family's resting its hopes on.

Unlike his drug-abusing, screwed up half-brother, Micky's a quiet man who lets his fists do his talking. Dicky's taken to hanging out in a squalid flop house, smoking crack and missing appointments to train his brother for an upcoming match. Micky, meanwhile, concentrates on getting into top physical shape despite all the drama surrounding his older brother. While working out to get ready, Micky also has to deal with an overbearing mother (Melissa Leo) who manages his career and seven sisters from hell who form a harpy chorus echoing everything their mother says.

Micky ultimately has to escape the clutches of his dysfunctional family and take a plunge into the unknown when he finds a new trainer just as his crack head brother is released from jail. I could relate strongly to both Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale’s characters but the highlight for me was without doubt Christian Bales performance - he is a method actor of the highest order, I bet he must have come close to complete mental breakdown in preparation for this film. Christian Bale is a complete maniac and he is my saviour.

Do you remember the scandal about Christian Bale supposedly hitting his mother? I don’t think he actually did. I believe it was a PR campaign to make people despise him just in time for this role as a crack addicted welter weight. He is the perfect scapegoat for a malfunctioned society.

Word wakker en raak die koffie, moffie

Pop culture. Pop culture like a balloon. Pop culture before it exlodes all over your face. What used to be culture is not culture anymore. We are the culture for we buy into the race that has become our culture. We buy into it because it’s popular and God forbid - we don’t want to be unpopular. Even if you think you are alternative, you’re not. There are new branches of culture everywhere you look - the hipsters: (“Oh bow down for we are the chosen ones. Smell our breath; it’s a mixture of mint and Africano, a new iced coffee blend from a place you probably haven’t heard of.”) Fret not for also we offer greetings to the ambiguous astronauts, the transistor radio heads, the veggie slashers, the sideshow jugglers, the photoshopaholics, the discoteched malpip moegoes, the commercial hippies, the sleaze queens and the retro pioneers. Welcome to the future of liquidised fusion. Welcome to the melting pot that we all call the Mother City, step inside and smell the coffee, it’s confusing, but you can drink it.

The retrograde is morphing and becoming the future-istik. We are generation R, we are the remix generation. We live in a quantum soup where yesterday is colliding with tomorrow faster than the speed a single tweet.

The amount of technical information is doubling every two years. For students starting a 2 year diploma half of what they learn in the first year will be outdated by the second year of study. It’s estimated that 4 exabytes (one quintillion bytes, or 10 to the power of 18) of unique information will be generated this year. That’s more than the previous 5000 years. 43% of what I am saying now will be outdated by next week Wednesday. It feels fucking fantastic to be a part of a global ADHD village. If you haven’t lost the plot yet, don’t worry, you will. The plot is obsolete.

We are the script writers of the future, the directors of masses, the followers of the few, the hunters of scapegoats as we light the way into the perilous dusk. In the past, present and future we will remain the lead actors in our own screenplays. Somehow we need to weave our scripts together to create a future where egos play the supporting role. Popular culture needs to become inclusive rather than exclusive. Popular culture should be a party where everyone is invited. Rock on.

What to do when your satellite dish stops working

Sometimes when we’re trying to write an ad we might find that there is interference with the receiver. Now most of us were born with a satellite dish installed or else we would be at Vega or the AAA, in which case you’d only pick up a few local channels.

Our satellites are programmed to pick up ideas from the Idea Factory which is constantly churning out ideas and they just land at our feet and soak into the ground if our satellite isn’t aligned. Some days you’ll only pick up SABC 1 clearly and its days like this when there is no point in trying to make sense of the world, it’s better to just turn it off. You know the other channels are there but they’re all static, the Discovery channel seems like it’s beamed to a distant galaxy.

 Check to see that your decoder is plugged into both of the major outlets. The first outlet is yourself, if you have become unstuck then find a set of earphones and insert them into your ears to channel music; this needs to be above 145 bpm, now dance with your eyes closed for 23 minutes no matter where you are and knock over any unnecessary clutter that surrounds you. The aim of this manoeuvre is to surge the power and fuse all internal connectors.

The second outlet is your art director; they can become loose and blow around easily, especially in harsh winter conditions. If they have not completed step one then direct them through the procedure. Their plug point is normally found between the eyebrows but in some cases there won’t be one, this is when you’ll have to call the electrician to install one. Once installed you will be ready to lock horns in a rap session where you fire ideas at each other in gibberish and agree with everything each other says and draw pictures as you rap. Eventually you will find other channels start to appear from across the ethereal belt and into your receptors between your eyebrows which are played vocally through your loud-speaker. No editing takes place during this stage - the same way your radio speakers play whatever the radio feeds it whether it likes it or not. Eventually you will find a fusion between two satellite dishes that form a vortex and plugs directly into the Idea Factory. There are often power cuts during this period as the decoder may become overloaded with data but carry on until you find the Discovery Channel, once you do you can sit back and melt into the slipstream of creative genius.

Onlookers may start to talk among themselves about the massive growth spurt in your head region, they may even say: “His head is getting so big ever since he won that Loerie, it’s gonna pop and then we’ll have to clean up messy brains again.” But don’t fret, in order to get ahead in advertising you need to grow a massive head. The head swelling serves as a far better conductor and also knocks over any unnecessary clutter that surrounds you.

Black Swan - a film review

Black Swan

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Cast: Barbara Hershey, Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder

Wonderfully twisted at all times, provoking the deepest, darkest corners of the dancer’s mind, Darren Aronofsky’s psychological escapade uses a scalpel and slices you from the inside out.

Since Requiem for a Dream I have been curious about Aronofsky’s direction, Requiem single handedly made me want to become a feature film director, since then he has yet penetrate my soul and leave my sweat dripping from the cinema armrest. A film about ballet serves a perfect contrast to The Wrestler which also follows an entertainer who is drawn to the spotlight. Black Swan reminded me why Aronofsky is the bravest of all directors – he delves into regions of the psyche that many fear to tread.

At its centre is young ballerina Nina Sayers, played by Natalie Portman. She is beautiful, vulnerable, sexually naive and susceptible to mental illness. To play the role of a lifetime, Nina must delve deep into her own dark side. As her hallucinations and anxiety attacks escalate in tandem with her progress in rehearsal, artistic breakthrough fuses with nervous breakdown. The underlying driving force for her obsession to achieve is her deep hatred towards her mother who has pushed her into a box which she is striving to escape from. Barbara Hershey plays a satisfyingly sadistic role of a controlling mother.


We join the story as the New York City ballet company is looking to replace its fading star Beth Macintyre (the casting of Winona Ryder is sheer perfection) for their rendition of Swan Lake. There is strong competition from the sensual minx Lily (played by Mila Kunis) who has a naturally provocative and effortless style. Lily serves as the ideal competition yet ultimately teaches Nina to free herself and plunge into the devilishly seductive black swan.


Black Swan is grandiosely over the top with the cinematography offering a fireworks display of imagery together with Tchaikovsky’s theme soundtrack that result in a climax of gut wrenching, theatrical brilliance that haunts you for hours after the curtains are drawn. 

Shantaram - a book review

Shantaram.

“It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming of my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it’s all you’ve got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make between hating and forgiving can become the story of your life.”

When the first page stares at you with these words, it becomes hard to put down that book. Add to that an Australian author who has lived in the slums of Bombay, and you almost expect to be taken on a ride into a spiritual dimension. The story of Shantaram is a story of adventure and courage, a fictionalized account of the life of author Gregory David Roberts who escaped an Australian prison and moved to Bombay to spend almost a decade of his life in the slums and underworld of this city.

The narrator is a man called Lindsay, who escapes an Australian jail and arrives in Bombay on a fake passport. Here he befriends taxi driver Prabakar, who finds him a place to live in a slum away from the eyes of the law. This slum is to be the home of Linbaba, as Lindsay is called, for the next few years. While he runs a makeshift first-aid centre in the slum, he also engages in criminal activities like smuggling and counterfeiting, and eventually starts gun-running to Afghanistan. For those of us who are ignorant to the underworld this book serves as text book in crime.  Lin’s experiences in Bombay range from falling in love with the beautiful Karla, who introduces him to the world of prostitutes, to meeting the motherly Rukhmabai of Sundargaon, who christens him “Shantaram”, or man of peace. Interspersed amid the numerous characters like Rukhmabai, Prabakar, Karla, and Kader is the blood, sweat and tears that go with a life of extreme poverty - all narrated with genuine affection, passion and generosity. This love and generosity towards the characters and circumstances is what sets Robert’s work apart. What could have been a mere narrative of poor people’s lives is transformed into an extraordinary piece of fiction.

I was initially daunted by the shear size of the book, weighing in at 936 pages it is comfortably wider than the width of my forearm and my forearms may not be as wide as Gregory David Roberts’ but they are pretty wide. At a time where stories have never seemed more disposable it is a relief to find one that merits all that time and paper. I recently found out that this is the first volume of a projected four based on his own life. Johnny Depp has agreed to play the lead role in the screen adaptation of Shantaram.

Shantaram is not just a book; it is a sojourn, a spiritual journey into life that shows that even the most complex and powerful systems have at their core a simple and beautiful pattern.

Social Intelligence

Since being at Red and Yellow I have been analysing different aspects of myself in relation to others and it has become obvious that social intelligence is just as important as IQ, emotional intelligence and even spiritual intelligence. We are all innate social beings and raising our social intelligence is essential to living a healthy, happy life.

I used to think social intelligence was simply the ability to thrive in social situations but it clearly runs a lot deeper than that and relates to every aspect of college life, social life and work life as all these different areas ultimately become one single web of social interaction.

In order to simplify my life I like to categorise people into two compartments: Those that are real and those that are fake! Some people seem to be permanently putting on an act and this obviously comes as a result of needing the constant attention of others but there are some people who seem to do this while still coming across as being genuine while others are clearly hiding something. A great way to simplify this phenomenon is the Johari Window which shows that there is the part of ourselves which we know ourselves and show others and the part of ourselves which we keep hidden from others. Then there are parts we don’t even know about ourselves but which others can see and I believe it is all of these aspects combined that keeps the web of social interaction ticking. (see attached image)

One of the key aspects of Social Intelligence is the ability to instantly recognise people’s inner emotional state; this is widely known as empathy and is the one of the keys to excelling in the social arena. This can be taken a step further by how well we are able to offer a person our full attention and seek to understand them rather than simply trying to make our own point. Since being at Red and Yellow I have noticed how some people seem to have an ability to synchronise with those around them and are generally “well liked” as they give the people they are with their full attention. Then there are the people that struggle as they are so self engrossed that they seem to operate within a vacuum.

There is an actual condition called Dyssemia in which people are completely inept at reading social non-verbal cues such as facial expressions and body language, they will generally be perceived as being insensitive towards others and generally just have a tough time forming relationships. Then on the other hand we have the “social butterfly” that always seems to be in synch with everyone around them. Wherever we fall on the scale there is one thing I can tell you that is an absolute, undeniable fact which is: Social awareness stretches into how the social world actually works and is the difference between success in life and utter failure because decoding social patterns is how we build alliances without alliances we are alone. 

So then, what about social networks, in other words Facebook and why has it become so integrated with our physical interactions?

Clearly one of the most influential people in our generation is Mark Zuckerberg – in order to make Facebook the success that it is he needed to have a finely tuned radar when it came to understanding human behaviour. He obviously knew we all genuinely like to be connected to our friends and that it’s a practical way to communicate, but going back to the Johari Window I believe that what has made Facebook such a success is that gives people a much larger platform to show parts of themselves which they haven’t shown before. Let me give you an example: Most of us share pictures and photo albums on Facebook, now this was originally meant to be so that our friends could see what we’ve been up to but now unless you block “non-friends” everyone can see what you’ve been up to and since Facebook I have noticed that everyone is now a photographer and life has become a stage, but without the lighting.

A major reason for me being drawn to advertising is my obsession with human behaviour and the psychology behind why we are the way we are. In order to be successful in advertising we have to be able to gauge social trends and this means being plugged into the people around us. So then, Red and Yellow is the ultimate playground and also the ultimate classroom when it comes to social behaviour.

Limitless - a film review

Limitless:

Relativity Media

Directed by: Neil Burger

Screenwriter: Leslie Dixon

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Johnny Whitworth, Andrew Howard

Bradley Cooper headlines a down and out New York writer (Eddie Morra) who is suffering from monumental writers’ block – he hasn’t written a single word of his long overdue novel and bumps into his ex-brother-in-law (Johnny Whitworth) who gives him a sample of a new drug called NZT that fires up the synapses and makes his brain work at 100% capacity.

Immediately after taking the first pill Eddie winds up cracking out his novel in a matter of days and this gives him an intro to the limitless possibilities of NZT. He learns to play the piano in a matter of hours, he can recall anything he has ever seen or heard which gives him the ability to fight like Bruce Lee and speak any language he wants to. Eddie quickly realises that his genius intellect is wasted on writing books alone so he enters the investment game and accumulates millions of dollars in a few days, this attracts a lot of attention from some of the major players and this is where he meets financial mogul Carl Van Loon (Robert Deniro). Carl uses Eddie’s vision to predict stock prices and strategizes a deal for a merger in a Fortune 500 company. There is a catch however: Once the pill wears off Eddie crashes back into his former self.

Limitless is driven by the typical Hollywood scenario of the villain trying to bring the hero down and yes there are holes in the plot however it gets away with it because of the sheer brilliance of Cooper’s performance. It was fascinating to watch Cooper’s transition from complete train wreck to unstoppable bullet train; he has incredible sensitivity as an actor that allows him to merge completely with every archetypal shift.  

Limitless poses the question: What would you do when every single block you have ever perceived to be preventing you from achieving your dreams is gone and you are able to unleash everything simultaneously? It reminds me of something someone said recently: “Things are only impossible until they are not.” Films like this give us a glimpse into aspects of ourselves we have not even contemplated yet.

Whenever I walk out of a cinema I like to look back at the expressions of everyone so I can gauge the whether my perception mirrors theirs. After this we were all in the same energetically charged state and I thought to myself: “This is what filmmaking is all about.”  You could argue this film could have answered more questions as to what we would do when we access all of our brains but sometimes we just want to be ripped out of our reality and be taken for a joy ride.

Royale Eatery – A Dining Experience

Tuesday 26 April 2011

It was a cold and stormy night with torrents of rain gushing down Long Street so it was a relief to find myself inside a cozy, warm environment that is the Royale Eatery. I was immediately struck by how comfortable the patrons looked as they were hugged by American-Diner style sofas and how the décor was strung together so tastefully under beautiful dimmed lighting.

I have been hearing enticing stories about Royale since it opened years ago and so had rather high expectations to begin with. Since turning vegetarian a little over 9 months ago I have been receiving endless feedback on their hamburgers and the word on the street is that they are some of the finest hamburgers on the planet. If only I wasn’t such an animal saviour, however a good friend of mine who is vegan told me about Royale’s Chickpea burger and guaranteed that it would blow me away. By the time we ordered our food it was already 10:35 and I had eaten rather handsomely earlier so I opted for a dessert instead and considering I don’t drink alcohol anymore I needed a sugar rush to blast me through the rest of the night, and thus my sugar dose was delivered in the form of a Malva pudding and ice cream with honey and crunchy caramel something that literally shot me to the moon and back. It was sensational. It felt as if the universe had conspired to place me in that precise spot surrounded by those beautiful people and delivered a Malva pudding of such magnitude that it changed my outlook on life and I briefly saw rays of sunshine coming from the moon.

It is not always easy to give a completely objective view on a restaurant as the overall experience can be drastically altered simply by one’s mood entering the restaurant. On entering my socks were literally soaked from the long walk down Long Street however my spirits were lifted by the people I was with. There is only one thing that can ruin a perfectly fantastic mood and that is:  bad service. Perhaps it was due to the fact that we were all so beautifully in synch but when I ordered my dessert it was as if the waitress literally took the words out of my mouth, she knew I wanted that Malva Pudding and she knew I wanted another cappuccino too. Infact all I had to was look up and make eye contact and without even having to open my mouth I got exactly what I wanted and so did everyone else.

 

The attention to detail at Royale is superb: I loved the fact that the menus are made to look like old fashioned, worn hard cover books and the overall branding is a lesson to be learnt for all restaurants. The theme felt coherent and I got the sense that the eyes behind the overall design were playful and yet restrained in all the right areas; the layout and design of the furniture was thoughtful and even the wall covered in hats which borders lightly on the “kitsch” side of the fence seemed to tell a story.

 I will be returning to the Royale Eatery very soon and I’ll tell all my friends about it. They struck a chord with me as they seem to do with everyone else, so at least they have their advertising taken care of and in the restaurant business word of mouth is the literally the word of God.

A film review - Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road – Film Review

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet

I have been a Leonardo DiCaprio ever since I can remember and somehow this film has eluded me until now. They say you must never judge a book by it’s cover – this is so true as I saw this as a desperate attempt for DiCaprio to prove that he is not only a badass and can actually play a sentimental romantic.  My perceptions were completely blown out of the water and this proves that a good solution before doing ANYTHING is to have no expectations.

As the film began I started to feel like I was in some strange reunion between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet from Titanic. This film is a parody of what many couples feel in a relationship – imprisonment. Frank and April in are crippled by their own acute self-consciousness and their sense that they are superior to the excruciating banality they have fallen into. April is driven by the fantasy that she will somehow make her husbands’ dreams come true when she proposes that they leave their ordinary life in suburban America in search of adventure by moving to Paris. This was prompted by Frank saying that he wasn’t interested in living a life of external achievement but rather he wanted to feel life, to really feel things. He teaches us a lesson in that we should always be careful what we wish for because we just might get it. He forgot to edit out the pain of unfulfilled dreams and the loss of his wife and child simultaneously.

Revolutionary Road is an excellently crafted film: The script is intricate, the performances real and the direction is great. This is the type of film that makes you very conscious that you are watching a film. It was engrossing but I always felt like an observer looking in – sort of like watching two people in a social experiment; but the performances were riveting enough to keep me involved.  

I found DiCaprios’ role extremely courageous due to the fact that his character Frank was riddled with such self doubt and lacked all courage to go after his dreams. It was refreshing to see him move away from his latest trend of being a tough outlaw. His character reflects the truth about so many people who are so content in being discontent that they seem to remain in the adolescent stage of talking a big game without actually getting into the ring.

Being an advertising man, I believe we should watch movies like this every now and then to understand the human condition a little bit more. I also think I will remain unmarried for the rest of my life.

Blind Eagle

(The headline reads: age weakens even the sharpest vision)

If you have a sneaky suspicion that I love eagles then you are correct. I do. I love this Ad almost as much as I love bald eagles and that means it’s right up there with the best I’ve seen. This charms the socks right off me. It allowed me to have a little inner revelation, a sort of epiphany about what a print Ad should be.

This works so well because it shows what is happening after the event and also because we know that he is in for a shocking surprise when he sinks his teeth into a fur hat while he is oblivious to the fact. Another thing that makes this work is that the eagle looks so content in his old age, his expression is saying: “I’ve done this so many times before, and besides I’m only going to find out when I get into my cave!”

What makes it even better is that I DON”T necessarily have to use my imagination, and anyway it needs a break! The only thing I could imagine is a little bald patch on his head or the poor mans below holding onto his ice cold head but that would just be going too far.

Why do Other men watch sport?

When I was in school I played every sport under the sun and can remember idolising the Springbok Cricket Team. I begged my grandfather to take me to cricket games at Newlands and when we went I ran around the edge of the field collecting autographs of my heroes. When I couldn’t get to the stadium I was glued to the TV, I cried when we lost and celebrated when we won.

I remember the Christmas of 1994 so clearly: It was the year I was given my first golf club, I remember looking at it mysteriously wrapped up under the tree and could not be contained when I discovered it was for me. I became obsessed. I practiced every single day and watched every major tournament on TV. I watched because I wanted to be like them.

So why do other men watch sport? What makes men who have never even stepped onto a rugby field go ballistic in a bar with Blue Bulls sticking out of their head?

We have been wired from the days of battle to cheer for the winning team.  Long ago, battles were a matter of life and death, with "our guys" having a serious interest in winning. If "our guys" lost, generally the men were killed and the town looted. If "our guys" were the winners, they got to do the looting and killing. Back then it was all participation sports. Everybody played, and everybody had a serious interest in the outcome. Nowadays we have focused this primal urge into team sports.

We have a nonstop supply of sport beamed across the world and if we feel the need we can watch sport 24 hours a day, it’s kind of like being plugged into a sports drip that feeds us with a drug that allows us to live our lives through others, (unless we are winning at our own lives of course.) We all know the sports fanatics in the office, they are the ones who come in grinning and throwing around comments and collecting cash from their colleagues or swearing non stop depending on which way the game went in which case it was always the referees fault!

Despite what women think we men are a lot more sophisticated than simply barbarians wired from the days of gladiator warfare. There is a part of us who aspires to be in “the zone.” The majority of us are hopeless at sport and we admire the way an athlete can pull off astonishing physical achievements while under incredible pressure. I will take golf for example: For anyone who has stepped onto the first tee knows how his palms become sweaty and his back seizes up. Now imagine playing the same shot with 15 million people watching and $ 3 million in the balance. It is no wander sportsmen are paid such ludicrous amounts of cash – they do what we only dream about. They inspire us to reach our potential. Tiger Woods represents a part of all of us because he has such complete control over his mind, body and emotions (when he is on the golf course) and he wouldn’t have achieved what he has without an audience. It is because of the audience that he is paid billions of dollars, so it is a two way street.

When I watch rugby I don’t actually watch – I spend most of the time pretending to know what is going on and most importantly – pretending to care! I scream like a madman and always root for the wrong team and I ask myself why? Why bother? It is because it makes men feel a part of men, we like to scream at the TV and pretend that we know more than the referee because it offers us an escape. It is the ultimate escape because we didn’t have to do it on our own, we are all escaping together and it feels good. It releases dopamine in our sophisticated brains while we drink sophisticated beers out of green bottles.

A Party in my Head

I was in another serious mood until I saw this mans hair. Just when you thought the afro couldn’t be pushed any further they had to go and do this. When you only have an A4 page at your disposal you may as well use it properly. You don’t get better than filling the entire page with the benefit!

This guy better be rich because when he looks for an apartment he is going to have to buy the entire block and knock out the upper stories to accommodate his afro, this is assuming that he would live in flat. Maybe he is more of a house kind of a guy; even so he would need atleast 3 stories.

There are prbably several permanent hair assistants that live in his afro spraying Schwarzkopf get2b from the inside out. He wouldn’t have time for a girlfriend and besides they would clash in the bathroom.

This Ad works because we have no idea how big his afro actually is, so, you guessed it: I can use my imagination! It makes a party in my brain and invites the whole neighbourhood.

The Migration of Egyptian Geese

Egyptian geese are criminals, they steal from the pump and ultimately from your wallet. Nobody has ever suspected them because everyone is too busy reading the newspaper trying to find the answers there, well I’m sorry but you’ve been fooled since day one.

Egyptian geese have been using petrol since unleaded hit the market in 1996. They were never able to run on high octave leaded because their digestive system rejected the lead and many died horrible deaths in the late 1980’s. The spokesperson for the Egyptian Geese family in the Western Cape failed to release the news at the time due to certain language barriers.

The annual migration from Cape Town to Egypt used to take them two to three months on their regular diet of seeds and grass; it now takes them two weeks on 95 unleaded. They target certain petrol stations in the middle of the night using sophisticated flying sequences that simultaneously distract the petrol attendant and siphon petrol out of the pumps.

Now a rational argument against such a statement could be the mere size of an Egyptian goose: I mean, how can they be responsible for oil shortages and massive petrol price increases? Their bodies are tiny in comparison to your 50 litre tank. When they fill up for their migration they can only hold 1, 24 litres per goose on average.

Their secret lies in the shear number of them. We all believe the latest survey by National Geographic which states that the Egyptian goose population is 567 000 and counting when in actual fact the official record has been kept a secret from us. The number of geese populating this earth right now is over 98 billion and is expected to reach the 101 billion mark by the end of their festive mating season in the northern hemisphere.

So we’re looking at over 100 trillion Egyptian Geese by September 2011. How have they managed to fly in such large numbers unnoticed since unleaded petrol hit the market in 1996? Their secret lies in their stealthy flying methods. They fly at night except for the few who are used as decoys in the early morning.

A chemical reaction has been taking place over the past two decades since they began using petrol: Their feather coating now blends into the surrounding sky; they have developed a chameleon-like effect that camouflages them so they can discreetly take over the world one petrol station at a time.

Don't be caught dead on a BMW Motorcycle

This Ad works because it cuts into the heart of what it is to be a Hells Angel. They are notorious for causing mayhem. Their famous motto is: “When we do right nobody remembers, when we do wrong nobody forgets.” Nowadays they have been known to do quite a lot of good but their reputation definitely precedes them. To see a Hells Angel Motorcyclist sitting in a confession chamber pondering over his confession is such a powerful image.

BMW Motorcycles lack one thing: Street cred. The majority of bike fanatics wouldn’t be caught dead on a BMW Motorcycle, and the ones that are definitely don’t belong to any bike gangs.

I really love this photograph. I saw the expression in his eyes way before I saw anything else, so it leaves the rest of the image and the headline to drive the point home even further.

Imagine him saying to the priest: “Forgive me father, I am considering buying a BMW Motorcycle. I have been having sleepless nights, it is not the sin that frightens me, it is my brothers. They will slaughter me if they see me on the streets. I’m thinking of riding to Mexico.”

I used to own a Suzuki Bandit 400 and for the brief time I felt like I was part of a brotherhood, I met other motorcyclists wherever I went. There is a bond that ties all motorcyclists together unless you own a BMW Motorbike, in which case you don’t even receive a nod from passing bikers.

Harley Davidson - Sprit of the West

Anyone can be a bad-ass, even an old granny when it’s done right and this one looks like she could have been part of a biker gang in the 80’s but had to give it up due to her crumbling spine and aching knees, yet the spirit of Harley Davidson is still with her.

This Ad is for the opening of a new dealership in Antwerp, Belgium so the meaning of the Eagle has more than one symbolic meaning: Besides the obvious, it also seems to say that the spirit of Harley Davidson will always be with you no matter what.

This lady looks like she has formed a strong bond with eagles over the years and now they never leave her side. The eagles have remained loyal to her over the years and maybe used to follow her around when she rode her Harley. These may all be assumptions but at least the Ad is allowing me to make them. This Ad pays tribute to the Harley Davidson Brand in such a memorable way and uses the symbol of the Bald Eagle in a hauntingly beautiful way.

Bald eagles are the most powerful hunters of all birds so to see them feeding on Grandmas’ bread is very unlikely which makes the image even more powerful.  

They could very easily have gone down the slippery, clichéd  road of “The Eagle Has Landed”, but knowing the incredible work that has come out of Harley I wouldn’t have expected anything less than this.

The Internet and the Mind

The Internet and the Mind.     

Sit comfortably. Take a moment to relax.

 Now look at your computer screen. Look at what is behind the screen and how the internet has beamed this through your browser via Satellites in space. Now, we know the effect the internet has had in making the world smaller, connecting us into one global village. The recent Tsunami in Japan triggered emotional responses around the world literally as it happened thanks to the rapid spread of information through Twitter and other News Channels. As soon as any major event happens it spreads through our collective mind.   

 So consider this:

Considering our mind and body are conditioned by experience from when we’re born, and a lot of it is recorded in our minds unconsciously, then imagine the unconscious effect the Internet has had on our mind. I’m sure you’ve heard the term “Media Controls the Mind”, which is true to a point, the reason being is that the power of the Media has to do with the unconscious way that we take part in it.

So, let’s take the internet and call it consciousness instead, just to remove any mental construct you may have of the internet. They also call consciousness the World Wide Web, so let’s just call it that then.  

I will take a slice out of my own conditioning, for example: When I was born I was conditioned to believe that I was separate from the world around me. It could have started immediately as I popped out, but more likely is when I stopped relying on my mothers’ breasts for milk. Toys and bears arrived and eventually little gadgets. These were my gadgets. If you took them away I cried because I felt separated from my stuff. This was the beginning of my ego. I went to school and started to notice all the things that were different from me and the other kids. It’s happened to all of us, and we unconsciously judge each other because we still believe we are separate. The only way to change this is to become conscious of our thoughts, so let us say consciousness is the act of becoming conscious. We still need to rely on our ego to make our way in the world until we know ourselves well enough to let go completely.

Do you remember when you first got your hands on a gadget? Unless you born in the era of the Sony Playstation it was most likely a remote control. Ding Dong, and along came the big bad wolf – Television. This was followed by cartoons, movies, and heaven forbid – The News. Let’s forget about advertising for now, we’ll go into that another day. So at this point we’re all thinking we’re separate while we are unconsciously exposed to random images shot from all around the world. We watch Rambo fighting in a jungle in Vietnam, (we may have made a conscious decision to watch it but if we’re watching it on TV it’s most likely we watched the majority of it unconsciously.) Before we know it we believe we’re separate from that Jungle. One day we get on a plane to go see that jungle, and when we get there we still think we’re separate from it, by now we completely feel separate from it. We go through life experiencing the world as though everything is projected onto a screen in front of us.

 We all went knocking around through life until the date 16 February 1989, ka-ching: The internet came to town. The World Wide Web. Now we felt a little more connected. We could travel anywhere in the world, the village opened up. But still, we felt a little separate from each other, until instant messaging allowed us to chat to anyone, anywhere, anytime. We could chat to a complete stranger in Greece or some guy in Beijing. (This is old news, I know), but, a couple of smart guys were observing this from behind the scenes and developed software that would allow us to upload our profiles and search for anyone in the world. We obviously made a conscious decision to do this, but remember, we’ve already been programmed to believe we’re separate. Before we knew it we had hundreds of friends, maybe even thousands. The more the merrier.

While we’re on Facebook we are conscious to a degree, mostly we are emotionally involved with connecting and sharing with the people in our lives. So what’s happening unconsciously? What’s happening in the background of our minds? Could it just be that our minds are being unconsciously programmed to believe that we are all connected?

Could it just be that the Internet, especially Facebook is programming our minds to some day access the World Wide Web WITHOUT the internet? Is technology leading the way, or is it consciousness? There is no separation between the two. Technology is a reflection of our consciousness and visa versa. They say if we close our eyes and imagine we can travel anywhere in the world. The only thing restricting us is the belief we hold in our mind. If we are only using a fraction of our minds what will happen if the rest of it opens up?

         Imagine.    

                                                

                                                                                   

Yes, I do want to see more.

This is an ad for Lexum Laser Eye Surgery, a Swiss company.

 The headline is: Who wouldn’t like to see more? This ties up the image beautifully. The headline is relevant even to me who enjoys 20/20 vision. This resonates with me and my own journey in learning to understand the world within and around me. The key to seeing past what we already know is our infinite imagination.  If I am living in Switzerland in the future and my eyes start failing me I will always remember Lexum.

I also want to know more. I want to know what is behind those massive white sheets. I can see the giant octopus but I have no idea what is in the background, it could be anything. Is that a castle in the far distance or a mountain range? The fact that I can’t tell what it is shows how brilliant the execution is. They have really tapped into the realm of the imagination with this one. This Ad inspires me to someday create Ads that open peoples minds, unlocking the child like curiosity within. This is what advertising should be. It makes me want to begin writing an Ad with the end in mind, the feeling that will linger on when they carry on paging through the magazine.

The core human quality that is evoked in this Ad is curiosity. We are all curious as children, so why do we become less curious as we get older? The reason is bad advertising! Being exposed to mind numbingly boring advertising for years at a time will damage brain cells severely and cause long term apathy.

Considering that the mind and emotions are infect one energy working together then an Ad that fails to invoke a positive emotional response will be lost within seconds afterwards. I felt the effects of this Ad lingering in my body chemistry long after I saw the Ad.

Chewing gum is a full time sport

Well done Ogilvy Cape Town, you make me feel good about being a non-gum-chewer. My jaw is defined enough as it is, thank you. Now this guy on the other hand has been doing the chin super circuit at Virgin Active for the past year.  

This is a beautifully executed Ad. The benefit is communicated with such class. I can imagine how long this guy must have been chewing that gum for, and maybe he is thinking to himself as he looks up: “I must stop chewing this gum, I don’t think Nicole even recognises me anymore…but no! I won’t, I can’t, I will not stop chewing this gum, I’m going to chew it till the bitter end…which is…never! I don’t care if nobody recognises me anymore, me and this gum are going down together!”

I would love to know how long the creatives were bouncing ideas around until they arrived at this one. It seems so obvious, almost too obvious. I feel like I should have come up with this, but I didn’t and that pisses me off. I want a real campaign and a real brief and I want it now!

The headline works well with the image and ties the benefit together really well. I love where this guy is placed with the dull face-brick apartment block in the background and the cheesy looking hedge. It must be somewhere on the outskirts of Joburg.

I love the headline. The art direction is flawless. If I stare at this Ad any longer I may be tempted to walk to the petrol station to buy a pack of this Infinity and try it for myself. Allow me the pleasure of making dinner instead.

Thank you and good night.

Down the rabbit hole deep inside False Bay Hospital

It was a beautiful, windless Saturday morning with cyclists and runners in full force, full of families and friends enjoying the crisp ocean air. If I didn’t need to have my eyes on the road I might have seen dolphins diving through rainbows, it was that perfect for all involved, except me: I was on my way to the Tokai Medi-Clinic to have my balls inspected.

While inside the waiting room I imagined what it must be like inside a government hospital. I looked up at the clock and considered my next move.

I’ve heard some stories of False Bay Hospital that made my stomache turn, and have avoided it like a plague since. This was an opportunity to find out for myself, so off I went, straight down the rabbit hole.

As I pulled into the parking lot I was pleasantly surprised by how few cars there were and my initial excitement was overhauled by the realisation that people who come here do not own cars. As I entered through the sliding doors my mind was overflowing with disturbing images of warzone emergency wards with screams echoing down the corridors. Naturally, it was not what I expected. I greeted the receptionist and he pointed me in the direction of the waiting area.

I took my place on the cold wooden bench among some very weak, sick looking people. I felt privileged as I opened the first page of a new novel while everyone else had their eyes glued to a game show on SABC 1. The character in my book was at a point in his life where despite having everything he ever wanted felt bored, and so became known as the Dice Man. He was even more self-indulgent than me and it felt better projecting this into the novel than into the people around me.

At the far end of the room a coloured mom had completely lost control of her son who was about 5 and running up and down spilling Simba Chips and hanging of strangers’ legs. I made eye contact with the mother and tried to hide my expression of severe judgement with a weak smile. I immersed myself back into my world of fiction.

If was going to sit here there was no point in being an observer, I would have to talk to people to have a full experience. I needed to find out who they were and why they were here.

A man wheeled himself in on a wheel chair with a wooden a cast on his right leg exposing his swollen foot. Hi name was Henry. I asked him what happened. He had slipped and fallen of the pier at Kalk Bay Harbour. I asked him what he was going to do and he said that he thought it was a sign that maybe he needed to change his direction in life. He felt like things weren’t going anywhere and actually felt quite positive as he could now stop to reflect and consider. I admired his attitude. He moved in closer and we exchanged our own “war stories”. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was studying copywriting. His eyes lit up and he launched into the workings of the human mind and how advertising triggers certain chemicals in the brain and that people are manipulated into buying things they don’t need. Of course I defended this.

Henry turned out to a remarkably intelligent man and told me about how Germany is fast becoming the world superpower, the future of space travel and the fate of the Vatican Church. From there we entered into a two and a half hour conversation about reality, the mind, back to advertising and media and into technology and into the meaning of life and fiction.  

There was a time of about what seemed like 15 minutes where past, present and future all seemed to converge as all barriers between us had broken down. The room around us seemed to shine as before it appeared dull. People who before were hanging onto their stomaches or crouching over in pain were all sitting upright and talking to one another. The energy in the room had completely shifted; it felt as if we could be anywhere.

It was now three hours later and I had completely forgotten why I was there. Henry’s cell phone went off so I stood up and walked to the nurse to ask her why they hadn’t called me yet. She said they called me two and a half hours ago, I replied that that was impossible as I had been sitting there the entire time.  Eventually the Doctor let me in, I dropped my pants and he said: “I’m sorry, I can’t help you with that, Saturday mornings are for emergencies only.”

So, with my pants down I burst into laughter at the insanity of my situation. To this day no doctor has been able to pin down the strange rash and I felt like I was part of a larger science experiment for the entertainment of mankind.

Perhaps the reason for me being there was to meet Henry and connect with someone that I would normally just form opinions about. It taught me that everyone has a story to tell if we only just take the time to listen. We are all similar in more ways than we are different. If we overcome our separation through shared experience we will all see that there is nothing separating us from the man passing us on the street except a mentally constructed barrier.

 

Finally, a great print Ad

One thing I would never expect is for a traffic officer to be leaning inside my car with an expression of calm satisfaction all over his face. He is clearly savouring the aroma of the new Glade Sport; it’s as if he pulled over especially to get himself a hit of some sweet smelling perfume.

This Ad is so effective because it is the last thing you would ever expect a traffic cop to do and it allows me to use my imagination so beautifully. I can imaging the scene of events leading up to him being completely mesmerized by the aroma, perhaps he was about to actually write out a ticket and interrogate the driver, or maybe he pulled the driver over because he saw the Glade Air Freshener hanging in the car. The art direction is brilliant, I love the fact that he is wearing his aviator sunglasses which hide the expression in his eyes, if we saw that it would make it too obvious. We are also not sure if he is looking at the driver or to the side of him.

The message is so clear in this Ad: Glade Sport smells so good that you will want to linger around longer than necessary.

There is also a good insight into the life of a traffic cop: He spends a lot of time in his car and could do with some sweet smelling air freshener.  In films, traffic cops have always been depicted as having piles of half eaten donunts and old soggy MacDonald’s cartons and generally a whole lot of filth piled up on the dashboard.

One possible scenario that I find most amusing is that he was about to write out a ticket and stopped it in mid-sentence when the Glade Sport gently tickled his nostrils. This Ad takes an actual event and freezes it in time with a multitude of possble beginnings and endings, it makes me want to know what the traffic cop is going to say to the driver as he leaves.

The one sense that is the hardest to ignite in advertising must be smell. This Ad temporarily made me smell something, it might have been the diminished smell of my cologne, as I write this I feel myself accutely aware of the smells around me, some are not too good and as much as I hate air freshners some Glade Sport might actually be quite good right now.

I can imagine anyone who sees this Ad having a slightly different initial reaction. This Ad sparks the imagination. This Ad is refreshing, pun intended.

It is written and aimed at the Italian consumer, but it shows that when the insight is great it breaks through all cultural barriers and hits home with anybody. It definatley hit home with me.