Eclectic Curiosity

Blog


In Rainbows (Literally)

Posted on August 7th, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments

I knew what I was getting myself into. While in London several weeks ago I caught one of the two big Radiohead concerts in Victoria Park. I think there were something like 60,000 people there on that beautiful summer’s night and the show was great but the crush of people and long lines to exit were not. Sometime during that evening I swore off attending anymore ultra big shows like that – except for the same one in Montreal yesterday for which I already had tickets.

Drizzly weather, muddy grounds, a different and closer vantage point, and a little more space.… more


U23D

Posted on July 30th, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments

There was an article in the National Post earlier this week describing how The Black Knight’s immense popularity is helping to lift the fortunes of beleaguered Canadian 3D theatre operator IMAX. Not only is the box office moola spilling over to IMAX’s screens, Batman seems to be reintroducing movie-goers to an experience they left years ago – not because it wasn’t impressive but because the films themselves (usually of the nature documentary variety) were stuck in a bit of a rut. But nothing quite beats a caped vigilante jumping off a Gotham skyscraper or a disheveled joker (masterfully!) robbing banks and blowing stuff up.… more


Scared Expertise

Posted on July 29th, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments

My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what’s really going on to be scared.P.J. Plaugermore


The Great Pirates

Posted on July 22nd, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments

R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was an inventor, architect, engineer, mathematician, poet, cosmologist one of the great American visionaries of the 20th century. Best-known as the inventor of the geodesic dome, Fuller devoted much of his life to resolving the gap between the sciences and the humanities, which he believed was preventing society from taking a comprehensive view of the world. His theories and innovations traversed the worlds of architecture, visual art, literature, mathematics, molecular biology, and environmental science and have had a deep impact on all of those fields. (Description via the Buckminster Fuller Institute)

In 1963, Fuller published a short book titled the Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth, in which he relates Earth to a spaceship flying through space.… more


LittleBigPlanet

Posted on July 12th, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments

Been wandering around curiously checking out the gaming and virtual world spaces lately. Lots of really cool and very exciting things happening. There’s the phenomenal (and in my opinion well-deserved and totally expected) pre-release buzz surrounding Spore and its great Creature Creator utility. But one other title, an upcoming PS3 game, is also demo-ing some very impressive graphics and functionality. Check out this playful GDC video of Media Molecule‘s LittleBigPlanet:


Way cool!

Oh, and if that doesn’t amaze you, just watch this vid through to the end. Within it could very well be the Holy Grail of gaming.… more


Become a Specialist at Being a Generalist

Posted on July 11th, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments

Pras Sarkar (of Yahoo! Research) delivers a must-read post full of superb advice for those seeking that sublime if elusive balance of employment and generalism. The title alone is worth the price of admission: Become a specialist at being a generalist.

Five key tips according to Pras:
–Stay up-to-date with your area of generalization
–Know what to explore and what to ignore
–Be critical of new technologies
–Visualize the results of all new pursuits and endeavors
–Don’t over-generalize… more


Little People

Posted on July 10th, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments


Don’t forget the Little People – a tiny street art project.… more


The Story of Stuff

Posted on July 9th, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments

Complex systems – hell, even simple systems – can often be difficult to describe; to make palatable and understandable without trivializing or oversimplifying. Two great ways to explain systems are to lay them out visually somehow and then guide an audience through it using story. Both techniques are employed in this 20-minute video: the Story of Stuff (a link that HaikuBoxer so eloquently pointed to). In it sustainability expert Annie Leonard explores the global materials economy and its impact on economy, environment and health. You get the idea.… more


JOVA

Posted on July 5th, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments

Here’s another good example of the Synthesize & Summarize service that Creative Generalists provide. JOVA is a creativity portal launched earlier this year by Sarah Boden-Dawans. She saw a gap to help businesses sift through the information overload required to stay in touch with global innovation and sought a way to collate it to inspire her southern African colleagues and peers. Many of its posts may also inspire communications and marketing professionals outside of Africa with a whole other perspective. Boden-Dawans describes JOVA’s founding purpose more in this Marketingweb interview.… more


Job Tags

Posted on June 30th, by Steve Hardy in Archives, Miscellany. No Comments

I like to see this sort of thing… a job posting specifically tagged for Creative Generalists.… more





Latest Posts

Interviews, perspectives, miscellany, and archival posts.

No Respect for Marketing

An excellent Ad Age article by Al Reis on the often misunderstood key difference...

Lookalikes

From the display tables to the “Guru Bar”, it’s hard not to page through the leaked...