The Friday Thing #534

The Friday Thing #534 is a time capsule that I worry is either going to freak you out, or you’re going to think is black magic. Today I was sat having breakfast and heard a great Depeche Mode song that brought me back to my teenage years. And then at lunch I heard Suicide Blonde by INXS. I swear the world has a microphone in my brain (as does Hugh MacLeod, but that’s another story….). Anyhow, as if by magic, I then stumbled across Spotify’s Time Capsule. I’m guessing you all know about this already but if you don’t, wow, you’re in for a shock. This is marketing genius in my mind- literally. It requires you to have a Spotify account, obviously….so if you don’t, just imagine that someone had been listening to the music of your youth and had kept a record of it, just for you. Mine is spookily if somewhat embarrassingly accurate. How is yours?

 

Mesmerizing, Unknown Pleasures. I defy you not to listen over and over again this weekend.
And thus, have a great weekend.

Oh and here’smy playlist, just for kicks….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Steve

ps - if you'd like to sign up to this weekly note, please then Sign me up for the Friday Thing

Friday Thing #494 - The Top 10 of 2016

The last Friday Thing of 2016 looks back at a year of Friday Things with a top #10. Somewhat voted by readers and somewhat by me.

Thanks to you all for your ongoing readership. As I head in to 2017, I often remove myself from a bunch of lists I have joined over the year, and join some new ones to get new insights and inspiration. On that note, if you’d like to add anyone, please feel free to forward this edition as a sampler and ask friends to email me direct if they’d like to be added. Similarly, if you’d like to be removed, feel free to email. I totally understand if you no longer want to receive the emails!

Wishing you all a wonderful 2017….and with that, here’s the Top 10

Cheers

Steve

(ps: if you're not on my weekly Friday Thing email and would like to be, please email me to be added stevecla AT live.com) 

 

#446 – Adele carpool karaoke – turns out my favorite of the year was the earliest in the year form this top 10

James Corden had Bieber, Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart singalong with him, but this episode with Adele is truly a piece of work. It’s funny as hell and wow, Adele…what an incredible voice, even from the passenger seat. And downing a cup of tea in one go. Props.
And then she raps Nicki Minaj’s part in Kanye West’s "Monster". Amazing.
Check out Adele Carpool Karaoke.

#457 – Next Rembrandt – I had the chance to see this amazing piece of art in person a few months ago and it’s as remarkable as it sounds.

Almost 400 years ago, Rembrandt passed away, yet in 2016, a new ‘Rembrandt’ appeared. A project by JWT, sponsored by ING Netherlands with tech support from Microsoft produced this new work. The portrait was created by art historians and technicians using data and facial recognition techniques from 346 of Rembrandt’s paintings. The piece took almost 18 months to complete and contains a whopping 148 billion pixels. Oh and it was printed in 3D. No ordinary 3D printer of course, but an advanced 3D printer that is designed to make high end reproductions of existing artwork. The resulting print had 13 layers of UV-ink resulting in a realistic painting texture. The whole thing is amazing and of course opens a ton of questions around what this means for art. Or maybe even, the arts.
Check out www.nextrembrandt.com

466 – The DNA journey – one of the most creative videos you will see. This year or next.

This videos was been suggested to me by many people as a Friday Thing – so who I am to deny the crowd an audience? It’s a video by momondo that invites you to question who you really are.
And I really can’t give away more than that….so check out The DNA Journey.

  #469 – Blackbird – my movie production friends, and many others, loved this one.

It turns our making videos with cars is actually quite hard – especially when the car you want in the video is rare, or doesn’t even exist. Enter, Blackbird, from The Mill. It’s a car rig that can be shot at any time, in any location, without the need to rely on a physical car.

Blackbird is able to quickly transform its chassis to match the exact length and width of almost any car – can be programmed to imitate acceleration curves and gearing shifts and the adjustable suspension alters ride height, rigidity and dampening to replicate typical driving characteristics.
Why it is called Blackbird? Because it’s hand built in the very same hanger that the Blackbird SR-71 was once manufactured. This thing is amazing.

Check out Blackbird.

#465 – Star Wars Episode IV infographic – it was one of those things that was so good, I wanted to send it pre-Friday.

Some will love this, many will not. It’s an adaptation of Star Wars Episode IV in a style that was inspired by infographics. One story in one piece of 123 meters length. I’d sorta love to print this out. It’s 1000 hrs worth of work by Martin Panchaudand it’s truly epic.
Even if you don’t love Star Wars, I hope you love the craft of this.

Check out Swahn.net

#472 – Michelle Obama – not quite my favorite (Adele, above is), but still, pretty damn good.Corden nailed it. Again. This barely needs an intro and I’m sure most of you have already seen it – but watch again, or watch it fresh.
Michelle Obama does carpool karaoke.

 #475 – IKEA, Lets Relax – as the title says, it’s a meal, not a competition. So put the camera down and enjoy your food!

And as much as I love Instagram, I’ve resisted the urge to fall prey to the subject of this video.
Sit back, and enjoy. Let's Relax

#486 – UNSATISFYING – as Friday Thing’s go, this was an unexpected smash hit. y year has been anything but unsatisfying, but this video made me smile, and I think it’ll make you smile too.Check out UNSATISFYING

#489 – 13 Job Interviews We’d Love to Attend – keeping with the IKEA theme which was my favorite from this hilarious set of interviews

A bit of humour from the Thanksgiving weekend. Needless to say, my interview technique will be more sophisticated – a little.
13 Job Interviews We’d Love to Attend from Brightside. Below gives you a flavour.

#492 – Radio Garden – last but not least, many loved this unique way to explore the world’s music.
Radio Garden is an online art installation that lets you tune into radio stations from multiple countries from your computer or phone. Hailing from Amsterdam, Radio Garden has some pretty cool features, not least of which are the almost 8000 radio stations you can tune in to.
The idea behind Radio Garden is a way to give you the experience of travelling across the globe to experience different types of radio – hence no city or country names.
It’s a serendipitous musical journey

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Thing #477

The Friday Thing had a little rest in its gin and tonic chair last week....normal service is now resumed. Sort of.

The Friday Thing #477 is a multi-edition version. Tempted as I am to step outside my house and make a video of the two squirrels that I am watching outside, the Seattle weather has turned and frankly it's too early and too cold. It would appear the local squirrels have dropped some acid as they're sort of leaping at trees and then rolling around on the grass when they don't make a leap. Interesting. Which reminded me of Hua Rong, The Amazing Rolling Panda. Moving on to Reddit lectures. Good timing as kids go back to school - a crowdsourced collection of top lectures from professionals, academia, governments, and leaders. Upvoted or downvoted by users. And finally, in the spirit of giving a good talk, allow me to introduce you to speaking.io a website designed to help you be a better speaker. It's pretty funny and also incredibly useful. I agree with Zach that "imagine everyone's naked" is terrible advice. Focus on your content with his easy to follow guide on everything from planning to delivery

 

Oh and a bonus link. Ten tips for a great demo is a post I wrote a few years back. I really ought to update it.

That's all this week - a focus on Learning over Knowing. And a rolling panda. I hope you enjoy it!

Have a great weekend

Cheers

Steve

Friday Thing #472

Well that was a looooooooong week....and a looooooooooooong Friday.

The Friday Thing #472 was gonna be a time-lapse but that'll have to wait til next week now as Corden has nailed it. Again. This barely needs an intro and I'm sure most of you have already seen it - but watch again, or watch it fresh. Michelle Obama does carpool karaoke

Epic. And with time to spare, Frank :) Have a great weekend.

Cheers

Steve

The Friday Thing: 378

Back from the high seas of last week….

The Friday Thing #378 is musical – courtesy of Spotify’s Serendipity website. It turns out that every second around the world a few people hit play on the same track at the same time. So Kyle McDonald at Spotify built a site to showcase this. I joined Hesperia and San Salvador in playing Coldplay’s Sky Full of Stars (don’t judge). It’s an interesting way to see what the world is listening to and even more fun to see the places that come up in the list. Runcorn anyone? Check out Serendipity. 

This version is a cached 1 hour view recorded on August 20th at 1pm – I wish they’d release the live streaming version that plays at Spotify HQ. Oh well, back to Thievery Corporation on Pandora :)

 Have a great weekend

 /out

 Steve

 

The Friday Thing: 377

Thanks to those who emailed me back last week after enjoying some symbol enlightenment. Also, thanks to everyone who didn't noticed the subject line of #376 didn’t match the line below which read #377. This week is definitely #377 :)

 The Friday Thing #377 is a return to YouTube for A Gentleman’s Wager – a short movie by Johnnie Walker to celebrate Blue Label. Now, some of my friends will tell you this isn’t real whisky as it’s blended but trust me, it’s wonderful stuff. Wonderful. And this wee movie with Jude Law and Giancarlo Giannini is wonderful too. I dance just like that after a dram of Blue Label. Enjoy, responsibly :)

Cheers and have a great weekend!

 Steve

The Friday Thing: 376

Back again....well, it is Friday.

The Friday Thing #377 is all about symbols - they're everywhere in our world, especially my world. But have you ever stopped to think where they came from and why? No, me either (well, maybe a little). I did know the @ sign was popularized by the guys at Bolt, Beranek & Newman as they built the early underpinning of the Internet...but FireWire, Pause, Play, Ethernet. Never had a clue. But now I do thanks to Origins of Common UI Symbols

Okay, time to power off for the weekend. It's been a loooooooong week and a very long Friday.

/out

Cheers and have a great weekend!

Steve

The Friday Thing: 375

The Friday Thing... back after a brief hiatus traveling across the US....and back

The Friday Thing #375 is from one of my favorite places on the interwebs - Medium.com - it's home to great stories and this a piece titled Advice from 30 year old me to 20 year old me

 worked for me. It contains 11 things Nic Haralambous has learned in his short time on the planet. He's on the money for me with advice to travel, stop watching television, read, value time and fail. It's a great, and quick read. Enjoy!

As Nic says, Plan in decades. Think in years. Work in months. Live in days.

Cheers and have a great weekend!

Steve

The Friday Thing: 374

Aha...here we are, Friday and the 4th of July no less!

The Friday Thing #374 is the real World Cup...I mean most members of this DL stopped watching days ago as our respective teams departed the scene to leave it to Germany or Brazil to win. The real World Cup though is the epic sport of arm-folding while turning left. Who knew such a mundane activity could prove so tricky and nation defining. Joe Hart does so much better at this sport than he does tending goal. Head over to Slate to check out Who Won the World Cup of Arm-Folding?

...and a bonus FT this week. Check out 30 Minimalist Soccer Prints

That's all for this week. Happy 4th as they say around here.

Steve

The Friday Thing: 373

Superman. Last week's poster that is....

The Friday Thing #373 is a reminder that you're getting old...well, most of us on this list are. Me? I have had 861 candles on my birthday cakes so far. And when I was born there were 3,906,154,740 other people alive on Earth. Now there are 7.2bn. How do I know all this useless trivia? I checked out You're getting old and you should too. It's depressing and fun at the same time. Enjoy!

...I'm thinking I may launch a site called "You're getting wise"

Time for wine.

Steve