ThoughtSpurs

It seems once a year popular psychology magazines devote a cover story to the science of happiness. I know a person who is a joyologist; a term she has coined and uses without irony. Pat Armistead has devoted her working life to helping organisations make the profitable connection between happy employees and productivity. She discussed her ideas on the Radio New Zealand National this afternoon . And it all makes perfectly good sense and you should listen to it. As with everything there are counterpoints and context needs to be considered. I was born in Scotland, so I'm not given to wanton happiness. Or, perhaps it is important to separate the two pieces of data. It may not be because I am Scottish that I can appear blank - or even glum to the untrained eye. It may simply be that I am simply 'being'. That's right; Scottish buddhism. I don't require it of myself or others to seek rapture. I can be mindful of suffering equally as I can of beauty. It's not so hard...

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." Hunter S. Thompson I was asked last night by a friend "Why do you blog", then I came across this clip of Hunter S. Thompson about his letter writing and it seems to corelate.

I have been reading more and more about the very contemporary concept of always being in beta. I like this idea. When we launched Idealog magazine my mantra was that each issue was a prototype for the next. Since I have given up the mantle of creative director I have noticed that there is less risk taking with the articles and their presentation in favour of a more homegenised and general approach. I think this is a shame because it suggests that a formula has been found that 'works' and invention/innovation becomes subserviant to reiterating the familiar. I am still an advocate for the concept in communications that one must make the familiar strange and the strange familiar - a ditty I picked up from Creative Director Marco Marinkovich when I worked with him at the meteorically successful Hutcheson Knowles Marinkovich agency in the late 80s and early 90s. Having said that, Idealog remains the most interesting business title in New Zealand - if only because we annexed the mos...

At the risk of becoming in-bred, here is a commercial I found on Stan Lee's blog Brand DNA . It resonates with me. The people who are willing to take the shot have a far higher rate of succeess that those who don't for fear of failing or looking silly. I look silly all the time. You get used to it. The big difference is that, at one time Michael Jordan's earnings from playing and sponsorship deals were greater than the that of the Kingdom of Jordan (though that may be apocryphal) and mine are not.

Ze Frank appeared on my radar when I saw his presentation among the excellent TED Talks videos . This morning I was reading Russell Davies planning blog in which he referred to a clip by Ze Frank - Where do ideas come from. Here's the transcript: "...Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima [sic] writes, "Are you ever gonna break into song again? Are you running out of ideas?" Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima, that's a good question. I run out of ideas every day! Each day I live in mortal fear that I've used up the last idea that'll ever come to me. If you don't wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them. You can tell yourself that you don't have the time or resources to do 'em right. Then they stay around in your head like brain crack. No matter how bad things get, at least you have those good ideas that you'll get to later. Some people get addicted to that brain crack. And the longer they wait, the more they convince themse...

This is terrific. The web brought me down. The web cheered me up. Here's how I found this. A reader left a comment. I visited his blog ; and enjoyed it. Then I read a comment on one of the posts. And arrived here. There are some who think things are getting worse in the world. I'm not one of them.

Anna Nicole Smith has died. And I feel curiously sad. Read the story in the Chicago Tribune