Today, I reached the age of thirty-eight. “The number 38 was especially prominent in Norse mythology. The number was said to represent unnatural bravery, characteristic of the legendary heroes of Norse sagas. Most legendary sagas were divided into 38 chapters, and the number often recurred throughout stories, with the heroes combating giants or other beasts in groups of 38. The number came to be adopted by the Hardrada clan, and was displayed on their crest in the form of 38 ravens set around 38 outward-facing arrows. The number was also significant in Egyptian mythology, as it was the characteristic number of Anubis, the jackal-headed god of death and mummification. Egyptian pharaohs were often buried with 38 statues of cat guardians, and their sarcophagi were adorned with 38 ankhs.” (Wikipedia)
“Blogs Are Dead.”Google it and you find it, lots of times. The world of digital media is constantly changing, so blogs are changing too. Every once in a while, some expert tries to be cool by writing an In Memoriam for blogging. Let’s put the critique into perspective. Not all blogs claiming the death of blogs have the same authority. Take for instance this blog post Ganesh Swami wrote in 2005: “Blogs aren’t cool anymore, since every kid happens to have his own.” Besides coolness Swami mentions some more arguments why blogs are dead: linearity, lack of time, non-conformance to standards, immaturity of blogging software, and stagnancy. However, Swami himself is still blogging. Just like all other critics. Wired is still blogging, and so are Robert Scoble, Hugh MacLeod, Andrew Keen, Steve Rubel and any other blog critic. Blogging is dead, long live blogging!
We all know Andrew Keen as the Anti-Christ of Silicon Valley. Like a fanatic Don Quixote, he fought the windmills of Web 2.0 with his controversial book The Cult Of The Amateur. But now, Keen is back. A new book is coming up and, guess what, Keen is promoting it on Twitter. He explained himself tonight at The Next Web Salon, a dinner session from the organizers of The Next Web Conference. Keen is one of their keynotes. Whoever thinks Keen totally hates Twitter, is wrong. Actually, he is pretty positive about it. Not completely, but hey, it’s Andrew Keen!
Last week, I was in Brussels for three days. A great city to wine and dine, a great city to buy records. I tried to grasp the special atmosphere by taking some pictures. Hope you like them.
My birthday party in De Nieuwe Anita was a blow. Me and my friends joined the French music party Winter in Saint-Tropez, hosted by DJ Natasha (Radio Oh La La) with DJ Guuzbourg (Filles Sourires). It is always great to celebrate your birthday with hundreds of people, even if you don’t know most of them. During the night I photographed my friends wearing the same winter hat – a gimmick of DJ Natashka. Let’s party!
Dunglish.nl made my day with this (old) Unox commercial about a Dutch manager using too much English words to sound more interesting than he really is. Or is it just a business habit? Anyway, this ad is a perfect example for those who love to play Bullshit Bingo during corporate meetings.
Barack Obama is the new president of the United States of America. He just finiished his acceptance speech in Chicago. “Yes, we can!” Let me illustrate my congratulations for this fascinating man with the cover of Emerce we made five months ago.
Even though blogging has been around for quite some time, it was the first time that Amsterdam played host to a conference dedicated to blogging, Blog08. An initiative of two enthusiastic Dutch youngsters, it was mainly an inspirational event, disguised as a kind of rock show. Although there was a live band, the ultimate rock star was “bad mother vlogger” GabeMac who closed the conference with a rocking vlog performance. The audience joined him in singing “we will, we will vlog you!” But the major theme of this conference was being passionate about blogging, which also applies to people who are in it for the money.
Many bloggers will write about poverty on today’s Blog Action Day 2008. Most of their visions, however, will be quite similar to all that has been said before. Therefore I’d like to cite one of the great writers of all time: Oscar Wilde. Although a symbol of decadence, Wilde is also known for his social views. “I think I am rather more than a Socialist. I am something of an Anarchist, I believe.” At the height of his success, he wrote a very moralistic essay, ‘The Soul of Man Under Socialism’. Quoting Wilde is always a feast, but this time it is for the good cause: fighting poverty.
