Wednesday, 24 April 2013

The Right to be Lazy

Paul Lafargue in The Right to be Lazy argued that laziness, combined with human creativity, was an important source of human progress.
He was a Cuban-born French revolutionary Marxist, which sounds quite busy.

Robert Louis Stevenson in An Apology for Idlers wrote, 'There is a sort of dead-alive, hackneyed people about, who are scarcely conscious of living except in the exercise of some conventional occupation. (…) It is no good speaking to such folk: they cannot be idle, their nature is not generous enough; and they pass those hours in a sort of coma, which are not dedicated to furious moiling in the gold-mill. When they do not require to go to the office, when they are not hungry and have no mind to drink, the whole breathing world is a blank to them.


I need time to think about it. 
Oh, I don't have any...

Sunday, 14 April 2013

Tastefully Bland

'Capitalism has made modern life ugly,' said the first.
'The relentless focus on maximising profits has left no room for true aesthetics,' said the second.
'Beauty is now nothing but a marketing differentiator,' said the third.
'And art has become a conspicuous consumption for social status,' said the fourth.
We all nodded.
'What do you think?' said the first, turning to me.
'Well,' I started, 'I... uh... well, beauty should be above utility, but isn't that the utility of beauty?'
They stared at me
'That's funny,' said the second.
I laughed. More out of relief.
'Yes, but what do you really think?' asked the first.

Sunday, 7 April 2013

On-line But Off-course

'Hey Max.'
'Hey Max, what’s up?'
'I’m worried that my on-line personal branding campaign isn’t compelling.'
'Oh no, that means that you are decreasing your sphere of influence and diminishing your value.'
'Cripes. What should I do?'
'You need to decide on your core message and the right channels through which to communicate your brand.'
'You mean I need to create engagement around my strategic priorities?'
'Yes, but don’t spread yourself too thinly across irrelevant communities.'
'Thanks. Uh, or…'
'Or what?'
'We could go outside and kick a ball?'
'Great idea, let’s go!'