No Copy

Bicycle race

July? For me that's a synonym for watching the Tour de France. Doping, you say? Let's not go into that. After all, I am still in holiday mode, so lengthy discussions are too straining for me. Let's just watch this silly video, which, apparently, is a big hit on Dailymotion.com:

EPO TE QUIERO - LAPLAGE
Uploaded by laplagerecords

Born to be wild

I could tell you about the great bands I saw at Rock Werchter last week, or at Cactusfestival this weekend. But I'm in holiday mode. Which means I am not in the mood for a lot of writing.

Let's stick to a (unfortunately) recognisable situation for anybody riding a motorbike and what the county of Devon in the UK is advising bikers to do about it (via):

Tenjewberrymuds

OK, at the risk of you all thinking I'm reaaaally sloooow (what you are going to read below was, after all, nominated for the best e-mail of 2005), but 1] I hadn't read it before last week (thank you Danielle), 2] I have no inspiration for another post at the moment (too busy cycling and gardening) and 3] I like it that much I can't withstand sharing it with you. So if you've read it before, go back to doing something else. Cycling, or gardening for example. If not: read the text below out loud. By the end of the conversation, you should be able to understand what 'tenjewberrymuds' means...

The  following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service, at  a hotel in Asia,  which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic  Review:

Room Service (RS):  "Morrin.  Roon sirbees."
Guest (G): "Sorry, I  thought I dialed room-service."
RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin!  Jewish to  oddor sunteen?"
G: "Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and  eggs."
RS: "Ow July den?"
G: "What??"
RS: "Ow July den?...Pryed, boyud, poochd?"
G: "Oh, the  eggs!  How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled  please."
RS: "Ow July dee baykem?  Crease?"
G: "Crisp will be  fine."
RS: "Hokay.  An sahn toes?"
G: "What?"
RS: "An  toes.  July sahn toes?"
G: "I don't think  so."
RS: "No? Judo wan  sahn toes??"
G: "I feel really  bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo wan sahn toes' means."
RS: "Toes! toes!...Why jew don juan toes?  Ow bow Anglish moppin we bodder?"
G: "English  muffin!!  I've got it!  You were saying 'Toast.'  Fine. Yes, an English muffin will be fine."
RS: "We bodder?"
G: "No...just put the bodder on the  side."
RS: "Wad?"
G: "I mean  butter... just put it on the side."
RS: "Copy?"
G: "Excuse  me?"
RS: "Copy...tea...meel?"
G: "Yes. Coffee,  please, and that's all."
RS: "One  Minnie.  Scramah egg, crease baykem, Anglish moppin we bodder on sigh and copy....rye??"
G: "Whatever you  say."
RS: "Tenjewberrymuds."
G: "You're very  welcome."

Back to life

Finally life is beginning to get back to normal after a hectic couple of weeks. The Chair Jos Willems last week was a success, as well as the CONGA Award. I'll be devoting one or more posts to the Chair Jos Willems later - right now I'm still putting the presentations online. 

The missing link between the CONGA Award and the Chair Jos Willems, by the way, was the omnipresent Tom De Bruyne from i-merge. I-merge did not only win this year's CONGA Award, Tom also presented one of the keynotes of the Chair. So in honour of Tom, this photograph that he was so glad to see appear on Digimedia :-) :

Nothing beats RL

How do you get the cream of the Belgian online community* together in one room nowadays? Exactly: you pick up on the Second Life hype and organise an SL demo. That's exactly what Pascal Vanhecke did last night - thanks to Pascal for the initiative (and for setting up the online Belgian SL forum) and to One Agency for letting us use their office space.

Was it interesting? It sure was. Even with a lot of divided opinions - Miel is really digging it and gave an interesting presentation on how brands can/don't yet/should use SL, whereas Bart sees no merit in SL and is convinced it is doomed to remain a niche product (Dutch only) - it was a great initiative, if only to meet with people you usually only know or meet through the internet. **

Still, my conclusion? Nothing beats Real Life so far.

UPDATE: if you want to know what that cream looks like, you can see some photos on MarketingBlog.eu.

* Not counting in myself here of course, and still omitting a great many others.

** Some of them (like Clo) really are internet addicts; me, I am still eligible for salvation:

You Are 55% Addicted to the Internet

You're somewhat addicted to the internet - but who isn't? You can keep it under check, and you're by no means a hermit.

Are You Addicted to the Internet?

Blue Blood

I used to be called Master Asim Dominic Snr, but from now on you can address me in the following way:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Venerable Lord Serge the Implacable of Withering Glance Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

In case you're curious: I discovered I had blue blood via Clo Willaerts' blog. I met Clo just a few days back (the same night she appeared on Koppen), at least in real life. We had a great get-together, also including Tom De Bruyne from i-merge and Luc Van Braeckel, better known as lvb.

The aim of our meeting was to do some brainstorming regarding the keynote sessions at the Chair Jos Willems, which is to be organised in March by the Communications Management department of Artevelde College. I must say: I'm looking forward to it. And so should you: 15, 16 and 17 March should already be marked in your (probably still brand new) agenda.

More details coming soon!

Later!

Since I have been elected man of the year 2006, I guess I can rest on my laurels for a while now. That's why I'll be taking some time off - at least where this blog is concerned - and (more or less putting Tom Murphy's advice to my and my family's benefit) focus my attention on the really important things in life for the last ten days of the year. And you know what: I suggest you all do the same.  :-)

In the meantime: enjoy the YouTube revelation of the year as far as I'm concerned: Olga Janssens a.k.a. Ronita Yori a.k.a. The Singing Toilet Lady. She is 69 years old and finally got picked up this year by national radio. She has already written six novels and numerous songs, and is currently hoping her hobbies will lead to a breakthrough. Rumour has it that in the meantime her internet presence has led to a record company wanting to sign her...

Time magazine is right: "In 2006, the World Wide Web became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter." See you in 2007 - hope you have a great Christmas and a wonderful new year!

Rule Flandria

[photo]

Can you believe that? I leave the country for just one day (not even an entire day) and when I get back, I have to hear that Belgium no longer exists and the Flemish parliament has declared independence. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure you'll find plenty of info and comments here.

I'm not going to add to the discussion too much, apart from this: if anything, the RTBF have not brought about a discussion on the defederalisation of the Belgian state, but on the boundaries of serious journalism today. And as far as I am concerned: they crossed it big time.

To think or not to think (2)

When I talk to students about creativity in writing or in general, I often talk about the (cliché I know, but nevertheless still useful) concept of thinking outside the box. I had, however, never thought of the limitations of that exercise:

[via i-wisdom]

Personal note: I doubt there will be a lot of thinking on my behalf the next few days; my head and limbs feel like I'm coming down with a bit of a flu.

Guess who?

Next time you see me and wonder: 'Hey, isn't that Mickey Rourke?', don't be surprised: that's a very normal reaction. At least, according to the celebrity look-alike program on the MyHeritage site. I just hope you don't see too much of Kim Jung Il in me. Although I have always suspected some dictatorial traits deep down inside...

[via Philip Young]