Why Kids can be much more evolved than us?

I have heard people say kids can do stuff. A friend of mine (Appu – Apurva – ex Chutney) once actually showed me why kids can be a “major trip”. I have stopped ignoring kids since and try get their game.

• Stop ignoring kids and the things they do. There is no “kiddie stuff”
• So sad if you have grown up. You are missing all the fun
• The energy levels of kids are unbeatable. Can you be on the run for 2 hours non stop with just a plastic junk
• Ask a kid to frame a story. Can you make such a trip?
• Ask a kid about crows, pigeons, lizards, dogs and such urban / suburban forms of fauna. You might figure out why these things are not extinct yet. Probably you might just land up with some “anti-extinction” plan for yourself
• Kids have more developed right brains and less developed left brains. How much I wish for the same. Well we got computers and calculators for the intricate calculations.
• If you can make a kid understand what you mean by Web Develpment, you probably know it well. And how do you know if the kid understood it? If you can understand what the kid means by web development and if that understanding is correct. Mere usage of words may not be helpful here. Try pictures, stories and such. Web Development can’t be more interesting than a Tom and Jerry show. Can it be?
• If you think kids are innocent, you are dumb. Kids have no mercy and no limitations. They live constantly on the edge.
• Try answering a kid when watching a movie. That can be more interesting than the movie itself.
• Cartoons made for kids are much more engaging than the soap operas made for adults

If you have plans to make something more creative and stuff, listen to kids. Plus, if whatever you make is not creative (that includes Dal rice, a website, a piece of music, a presentation, a document, a spread sheet, a sexual act) its not worth it!

Sharing the love of comics

I have been tripping on quite a few comics for the last six to seven months and my love for them have been on the rise. Sharing the love

My pitch: I have a short attention span. Can’t sit through a movie, Can’t sit through a book – Love music though and can sit through it for a long time. Comics gets you, takes 10 – 15 seconds, tell a story, laugh, frown, cry etc. and moves on the next. Saves time, saves energy and stimulates grey cells. FULL ON!

1. Ctrl + Alt + Delete

This is the ultimate Gamer Geek comic with a great touch of humour to it. A must read for gamers and people who enjoy games “over shoulders”. This comic used to be kick ass some days back since the lead character got married, started looking at finance and stuff.

Do watch out for stuff called “sillies” in CAD. This can bowl you over on a daily basis.

2. Gaping Void: Cartoons drawn on the back of business cards

Web 2.0, marketing, culture, silicon valley – all on the back of business cards. Run by a dude called Hugh McLeod at Texas. Highly thought provoking and heavily borrowed by bloggers, tweeters and so. Good cool quotient.

3. Overcompensating

Jesus Christ on beer, Office guy on weed, Osama on cocaine and your pet cat on a full bottle of vodka plus the latest news presented in true urban fashion. Do check out for the footnotes on the comics too.

4. Softer World

Comic runs entirely on real life photographs and small captions around it. Has the capacity of going extremely dark especially with romance (gone bad), work (gone bad) etc. The creator should be going through a bad patch and this is helping his creativity in a major way.

5. Unofficial Calvin and Hobbes

calvin, hobbes, dad, mom, baby sitter, susie, teacher, captain, t-rexes, whales, snow – Calvin and Hobbes!

6. Dinosaur Comics

One set of pictures (panels), thousands of cool ideas. Told through a T-Rex wrecking some cars and speaking on everything under the sun. Sells well with techies, engineers, computer enthusiates – hell, that could be you, me or our friends.

7. Cyanide and Happiness

Adult rated comics – got sex, lots of drugs, lots of violence and hell lots of humour. Safe for work too. Pictures are not that “usafe” – what can you do with stick figures with a t-shirt on anyways?

8. Garfield minus Garfield

Remove the cat. The comic seizes to be funny. It becomes DARK! A must read.

9. Indexed

Ideas through Set Theory and Venn Diagrams. Truly awesome. Any idea across the planet and outside could be represented mathematically. You could have flunked math in school and still enjoy this one!

10. Wulffmorgenthaler

Remember the danish cartoonist who got bashed in the middle east??? Do you?? Well, these guys are KINGS man! Go with an unbiased mind though. Don’t get hurt unnecessarily. World unfurls in a different way.

11. XKCD

If you have ever enjoyed Physics or Math this is a sure kill!

12. Wondermark Lite

19th century pictures, 21st century ideas. Imagine a guy sitting in a steam engine and talking about Google!

A lot lot more actually. Do leave your comment if you come across some.

Skill set dilemma

I was in this dilemma right from my college days as to what exactly is my skill-set and how to project it to probable employers. Try the operations route or the marketing route. At times, I have even had a few bosses to help me out with this dilemma. Looked like this dilemma would last for some more time. Now, I kinda like this whole blogging thing.

On that note, do take a look at this neat comic from Ink Tank.

Now the question is “do you have a skill set dilemma or are you just purely multi talented or are you what they call Jack of all trades?”

Is personal branding such a big issue anyways?

Outsourcing blues

In line with the previous post, I stumbled on this comic below. Too neat, couldn’t help share it. Here goes-

And Christmas seems to be catching up. Choir and all were happening in the neighborhood yesterday

One good banner ad.

I always used to think banner ads were a complete lame idea. 

However, I stumbled on a neat example of how banner ad could be used

Cyanide and happiness  is a really cool comics site with focus on being as “gross” as possible. Possible violence, sex and drug abuse in the comics.

Right place to advertise for TOEFL. People fresh out of under graduate college, looking for a post graduate cours, 21 – 25 years of age etc..

Meaningful creative too

On non monetary blogging.

1. It sucks to be on the negative end of a bad appraisal or one that never happens
2. It sucks to be on the listening side of the table – even if you are the smarter one
3. It sucks to have a blog that does not earn you money

However, there could be better things one could do like blog without looking at the monetary benefits. Try one for publishing your ideas. Speaking them out can become a rather difficult proposal. Idea once out can never be replayed. Also, you would come ‘down’ in some time

Looking around at things with economics in mind does not always pay. Common mistake seen around everywhere.

“Lets get a few posts in, get some eyeballs and start monetizing on them,”

The above statement involves –

1. Getting the eye balls. These balls have too many things to bother about. Its the Internet Bob.
2. Get a few posts in. Its quite an effort. Actually!
3. Monetizing them. Its recession time. YEAH!!!

Maybe its time we take to blogging in the old fashioned way again. Yes, Twitter, no personal blog in top 10, The long tail is getting longer, Blah, Blah Blah!

Stumbled on this rather interesting “comic” by Jessica Hagy.

Would blogging come back? Is 140 characters enough?

Social Media Analysis

I have spent a good one year on the online front – read a lot of gyan, heard a lot of gyan and now started giving a little gyan. Liking the deal a lot.

Figured out what different jobs in this sector means – the usual – the front end developer, the back end developer, the 2D guy, the 3D guy, the Search Engine Optimizer, the Search Engine Marketer, the founder (no offence – some guys are just this), the worker (the rest).

However, the biggest “buzz” (the word used in purpose) is over Social Media. What do they do actually?

Hugh Mcleod seems to be making another Social Object using the Social Media monster. Like the entire feel to it

Money or Pride

I stumbled upon this cartoon on Dinosaur comic – actually this one is a little old – nearly two weeks STILL!

Money or Pride

In these times – recession vs. depression, would you still hold on to your pride or take that money? The situation may not be that bad now or it may not reach those levels of “badness”. Still, is pride big enough to kick money in the butt?

Election blues – (post election blues)

Found this cartoon from Gaping void. Damn cool stuff!

When will such things happen in India? People with degrees waiting to vote?

Social Objects

Hugh Mac Leod – www.gapingvoid.com. This man is a genius and comes up with marketing ideas in the form of cartoons on the rear side of visiting cards.

Markets are conversations

Try this post by Hugh. It introduces a killer concept called “Social Object”. This is pretty much similar to Social Media and the whole Cluetrain Manifesto. However, he took quite some time to come to the bull’s eye!

1. The whole human world is about being social. We talk to people and generally socialize with them however antisocial we think we are.

2. Word of Mouth is not a conscious effort. It just happens! (Just like in Dil Chahta Hain – “Pyar ho jata hain” – fuckin it never happens with me though – Women…)

3. You bump on this character who is listening to his i-pod and sending the psy trance vibes – he has a lit joint with him too. Half an hour later, you find yourself licking on a smoking paper. The ipod, psy trance and the joint are social objects. Meanwhile, this dude happens to tell you – “Check out the Woodlands store. They happen to have some new shoes for dead cheap like the ones I am wearing.” Message sold – WOM happened and there was not really the internet medium in between!!!

4. If only you could expand this whole idea to net – Wolala!