What does your brand say??
Hugh MacLeod, Gaping Void, puts forth what Stormhoek thinks their brand represents. Most of the points would be coherent for any start up company which believes in itself. Here are some points which I felt are very interesting.
3. We believe that even a small company like ours can change the world, even in a small way. Why shouldn’t a small wine company in South Africa see large international companies like Google and Microsoft as their competition? Why should the battle only be confined to other small South African vineyards? It makes no sense.
8. It’s just wine, People. Sure, we make excellent product. But let’s not get too carried away. At the end of the day, even the best Bordeaux is just fermented grape juice. What’s more interesting to us is the conversations people have over a bottle of wine. There’s a human element to all this we find utterly mysterious and fascinating.
9. You only live once, and not for very long. Try to make a difference while you’re here. It isn’t just about the money, and it sure as heck isn’t about making “a good product at a good price”. It’s about doing something that matters. It’s about doing something that resonates with both yourself and the people you care about.
10. We humans are incredible beings. Doing something that continually reminds us of this simple, basic truth is where the real fun is.
To all dog lovers!
A friend of mine is a dog person and not a cat lover. Here is a quote I came across this morning. Dedicated to my friend.
Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.
Also reminds me of Babel-fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Some lines
Was just reading a few blogs and came across a few lines that I liked or had some connection.
Dextrous Doings - Comment by Sunrise:
Haven’t we all been there… the only thing good about life is that there is a new day waiting for you at the end of each terrible one… and that is why, I guess, I have a thing for sunrises…
The intimate ramblings of a lost hearty soul:
I still love him. I am still angry with him but I still love him.
I remember having said the first line, or something very close, to a friend once. And have watched a sunrise whenever I have felt down.
Return of the Prince
The Nagpur ODI signalled the return of our very own Dada to international cricket and a return that was not supposed to be. Go and read GreatBong’s thoughts on it.
True. However, this fairy tale has come true.
And really, how could it not?
It had a prince in it.
Awesome!!
Oscar Predictions
The Oscar nominations are out and I am sticking my neck out to guess who would win.
- Best Actor - Leonardo DiCaprio
- Best Supporting Actor - Mark Whalberg
- Best Supporting Actress - Adriana Barazza
- Best Animated Film - Cars
- Best Direction - United 93
- Film Editing - Babel
- Best Picture - The Departed
Other categories, I have no idea. Now wait and watch to see how many come true.
AJAXified Timelines
I was trying to look up some way to present some data to a client when I stumbled upon this AJAX widget by SIMILE project run by a group at MIT. The group works on semantic web technologies and besides Timeline, has tools like Babel, to convert data, and Exhibit, which is a publishing framework.
Timeline allows you to create simple scrollable timelines using an XML or JSON data source using their javascript and some very simple and highly customisable options. Do check out their websitewhich has some pretty cool stuff using their tools.
It Ain’t Over
Just watched Rocky Balboa. And he quips,
It ain’t over ’till it’s over.
Watch the movie if you have loved Rocky. Slightly different. Not the usual Rocky stuff but good nonetheless. The story has been well developed and Rocky gears up for one last fight. To fight off the history and move forward. To accept Adrian’s death. And he does that.
You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward.
That is so true. One of my new year resolutions was to be happy this year. Well, the last year wasn’t so great for my personal life, even though I have lots to be thankful for. I guess I hadn’t moved on since. But I am truly trying to and I do hope I meet my resolution this year.
Corporate Blogging
I once had a discussion with a friend about the use of corporate blogging. I said it was a good for PR and feedback, he did not agree much. Well, whatever be the use, I am a great fan of the style of Jonathan Schwartz.
He admits in this post how his admin screwed up and apologises to Matt Mullenweg (the brilliant guy who brings us Wordpress). Now I am sure that no PR department wrote or edited it but makes you feel that they listen. Meanwhile you can also watch his interesting interview with Scoble.
Little Boxes
Babel: Don’t just listen
Just yesterday a colleague at work asked me to explain the significance of the movie title Babel. She had not liked the movie, me immensely. Anyways, that is not the point here.
I was checking out the Cisco official blog, a pretty nice one they have going there, and I came across these lines.
Cisco - We’ve been following our iPhone trademark issue in the blogosphere closely and it’s been interesting to see the commentary from some posters suggesting that somehow Cisco either in the US or Europe didn’t meet the requirements to maintain the iPhone trademark.
Jonathan - You might be listening, but you’re not understanding. (Babel)
Brought a nice little smile to my face. Also shows how seriously big companies take the blogosphere in todays world.