Europa, Village Walk: Enough with the tears!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Service: * * *
Food: * * * 1/2
Ambience: * *
Babe Count: * * 1/2

I'm sitting in Europa, Village Walk, sipping decaff cappuccino, munching on a wholewheat bagel with turkey breast on it. (Have I mentioned that since I've largely cut out high GI food around four months ago I've shed 9 kilograms?)

I've had to stop reading the book I'm currently engrossed in. It's called ACID ALEX, by Al Lovejoy, and it's his autobiography. One of my closest friends gave me a copy. He's been buying them wherever he sees them, and is handing them to his friends. It's a must-read. (Go to Al Lovejoy's site to buy a copy. He's at http://www.acidalex.com.)

The reason I've had to stop reading is simple and complex. The simple reason is that I can't see through the tears. The complex reason is that it's not terribly suave of me to have heaving shoulders and spraying tears at Europa in Village Walk.

So I'll just eat my bagel now.

A full list of all of the Virtual Surf Reports I did for SAfm

If you listened to any of the Virtual Surf Reports I did for Jon Gericke on SAfm's 'Summer' programme over the festive season, you might want a handy list of all of the blog articles I wrote, along with the podcasts of the radio footage.

To listen to all of the podcasts, go to http://schmucknews.libsyn.com. Otherwise click on the 'podcast' link for entries you're particularly interested in.

Enjoy.

Virtual Surf Report: Bonus Link -- Aryan Kaganof's new film, SMS SUGARMAN, the world's first feature film shot exclusively using a cellphone

• My blog entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: Charles Kessler's Cool Tricks & Trinkets Newsletter -- a start of the year treat

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: Setting Achievable Goals

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: Career Change for Beginners and Experts

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: Shell Geostar -- Plan Your Route Home

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: Everyone's an Expert on SOMETHING... Squidoo

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: How To Be a Blogger

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: How To Be a Virtual Artist

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: Serendipitous Surfing with Stumble-Upon

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: The Animated Genius of Han Hoogerbrugge at hoogerbrugge.com

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: Overheard in New York

• My Blog Entry
• The podcast

Virtual Surf Report: Magnatune.com and Google Maps

• My Blog Entry
• No Podcast Available

Guy Kawasaki answers this question: “What are the characteristics of a great product?”

This is taken verbatim from Guy Kawasaki's blog. It's a good component of the 'AIM' portion of my creativity model. When you're finished first-phase creating, you need to evaluate your ideas. Use Guy's thinking to see if you've got some more creating you still need to do...

“What are the characteristics of a great product?” Here is the answer.

Think: DICEE

* Deep. A great product is deep. It doesn’t run out of features and functionality after a few weeks of use. Its creators have anticipated what you’ll need once you come up to speed. As your demands get more sophisticated, you discover that you don’t need a different product.

* Indulgent. A great product is a luxury. It makes you feel special when you buy it. It’s not the least common denominator, cheapest solution in sight. It’s not necessarily flashy in a Ferrari kind of way, but deep down inside you know you’ve rewarded yourself when you buy a great product.

* Complete. A great product is more than a physical thing. Documentation counts. Customer service counts. Tech support counts. Consultants, OEMS, third-party developers, and VARS count. Blogs about it counts. A great product has a great total user experience—sometimes despite the company that produces it.

* Elegant. A great product has an elegant user interface. Things work the way you’d think they would. A great product doesn’t fight you—it enhances you. (For all of Microsoft’s great success this is why it’s hard to name a Microsoft product that you’d call “great.”) I could make the point that if you want to see if a company’s products are elegant, you need only look at its chairman’s presentations.

* Emotive. A great product incites you to action. It is so deep, indulgent, complete, and elegant that it compels you to tell other people about it. You’re not necessarily an employee or shareholder of the company that produces it. You’re bringing the good news to help others, not yourself.

Virtual Surf Report: Bonus Link -- Aryan Kaganof's new film, SMS SUGARMAN, the world's first feature film shot exclusively using a cellphone

Here's an exciting piece of breaking news. SMS SUGARMAN, written by, directed by, edited by, starring, cult film phenomenon Aryan Kaganof, has finished shooting, and is in post-production.

How do I know? A cinematographer buddy of mine, Eran Tahor, is the Director of Photography on the film, and we've just had breakfast together. His New Year's party was the wrap event for the film.

He's not allowed to tell me anything at all about the film, apart from hinting that it's going to be somewhat controversial. And he's given me the web address for the film. Head to http://smssugarman.com for more info.

The film will release in May this year, and Eran says the story rocks, and the cinematography is revolutionary.

You saw it here first!

Listen to a full podcast of this Virtual Surf Report. Or listen to all of the shows.

Virtual Surf Report: Charles Kessler's Cool Tricks & Trinkets Newsletter -- a start of the year treat

It's the last of the Virtual Surf Reports for now, so I thought I'd end off with a delicious treat for you.

Charles Kessler has been putting together a weekly roundup of the most fascinating websites in the world for 383 weeks, and he sends it out free to anyone who wants it.

The website is at www.tricksandtrinkets.com. And to subscribe for free, all you need to do is send a blank email to cooltricks-join-request@list.adventure.com.

I've been on the list for years now, and I've never once received spam as a result of subscribing, and Charles has an iron-rule not to sell users' details to anyone for any reason. (He has 190 000 subscribers, and counting.)

Let's get to some of the nuggets in the latest issue, number 383. These were chosen by his team of staff as their pick of favourite sites of 2005. They write:

Their Circular Life
You will definitely want to visit this website, which is a conceptual mixture of mindful meditation and Flash design. "Their Circular Life: An Exploration About Human Behavior" is an extremely cool project that aims to remind us to slow down our harried lives, to stop, listen, and observe the daily circle of life.

Cows With Guns
Cows give us their milk and their meat, but what do they get in return? Watch this hilarious animated music video that tells the story of revenge during a "Bovine Revolution".

The 48 Laws of Power
It is a cutthroat world out there, whether in the arena of Business, Politics or Romance. Learn valuable if not ruthless tactics from The 48 Laws of Power such as 'Win Through your Actions, Never Through Argument' and 'Crush Your Enemy Totally'.

Yoga With Cats
Kitty seeming a bit stressed lately? Spare your furniture and bliss out together at Yoga Kitty, a "practical guide" for people and pusses who seek to achieve physical, mental and spiritual ecstasy, without drugs or catnip.
In free instructional videos for clearing past karma, tapping electromagnetism and meditating, Yogi Karl and partner Yogi Ovaria -- the original Yogakitty -- show viewers how to adjust their shakras in seriocomic scenes that will have you cracking up even while the cat shreds another pillow. "Purr-fect Yoga" items are available in the online shop, like tee-shirts with the site's slogan: "Higher Consciousness, It's Not Just for Humans Anymore."

Visit Cool Tricks & Trinkets and browse through the archives for 383 weeks worth of amusing, amazing, delicious tidbits. It should keep you occupied for at least a year.

Listen to a full podcast of this report. Or listen to all of the Virtual Surf Reports.

New Year: self-portrait, with hair

2006-01-01 Roy with hair, colour pic
Originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

It's the 1st of January 2006, and this year's looking grand already. Loads of things I'm going to be actualising in the coming 12 months.

Voice-over work. Ka huna massage. Industrial theatre production.
Creativity workshops (and my Creativity Squidoo lens).
Life-coaching (and my Goal Setting Squidoo lens.

I wish you a successful year, filled with loving, learning, joy, and abundance.

Blue skies
love
Roy