Archive for the 'Film on Fusion View' Category

Earlier this year, while we were in Amsterdam, we visited the Anne Frank House one grey, drizzly morning. It was a short walk from our B&B and after a lovely breakfast of fruit, scrambled eggs and croisssant,s we meandered there along the picturesque canals. Amsterdam is one of the loveliest cities in Europe because of the water and quaint arched bridges, the canal boats and tall narrow houses, the good food and delightful cafes. We were one of the early arrivals at the Anne Frank House so we could go straight in and the thin, tall house was not overly crowded with visitors. I suppose we were not expecting how strongly we would be effected by our visit.

We began in the basement where the goods from the Frank business were stored and level by level made our way up the steep staircase to each storey of the house, up the main office on the first floor and then up again to another level of public rooms. At Otto Frank’s request, the house is empty of furniture - that was the way the Nazi’s left it and that was the way Otto Frank wanted it to remain, as a stark, physical reminder of what happened at the house. There were photographs and video interviews at each stage along the way and across one set of the upper level windows was overlayed a photograph of a view taken of the street outside during the Nazi occupation - it was strangely creepy to stand there and see the view from the past, especially as the occupants at that time had also witnessed other families being taken away by the Nazis from that window.

The hidden rooms are accessed by a secret door behind a bookcase. We climbed up a set of steep stairs and were in the upstairs attic rooms where the Frank family hid. Everyone fell silent as we moved softly and uneasily around the rooms - it felt as if we treaded on graves. The room that Anne shared with her sister was the most upsetting - the photographs that she had cut out from film magazines were still stuck on the walls by where her bed would have been, preserved behind glass frames. I used to put posters of my favourite movie stars and singers cut out from magazines on the wall by my bed when I was a kid - how many of you have also done that? And, of course, like Anne Frank, I had always wanted to be a writer, even as a child.

After the visit, we went down to the cafe in the new annexe next to the original house. It’s a beautiful space, with plate glass windows on two sides so you can seem to float above the canal and next to to the Westerkerk. We had coffee, looking down at the cyclists and swans on the canal but it felt strangely disturbing. We loved sitting there sipping coffee and we were loving our holiday in Amsterdam. And yet, we felt uneasily guilty at that pleasure when we thought of the terrible events in that house and what happened to its occupants.

The thing is, if you think about these things too much, you realise you are surrounded by the history of terrible inhumanity wherever you are. It wasn’t just the Frank family that experienced the tragedy of the Holocaust - thousands of other families did so too in Amsterdam and millions across Europe. And of course, it’s not just in that period or in Europe that such horrors occurred - they are still going on in places all around the world now.

I suppose I take comfort in the stories of humanity and courage that come out of such times of which Anne Frank’s story is just one. The Anne Frank House, for me, reminds us that we can find joy, pleasure and hope even in the most horrible times. And that we should appreciate such moments whenever and wherever we can have them.

Enjoy this little video that the Anne Frank House put up on Youtube the other day - but do try to go to the house itself if you manage to get to Amsterdam.

You can find out more backgrond information about this film via the New York Times article, A Brief Glimpse of Anne Frank on Film

Photo: from Anne Frank House website

I’ve been doing some research on music and social media in preparation for a lecture that I’ll be giving to students on the Music and Media Management course at the London Metropolitan University Business School, along with my co-author Silvia Cambie. There’s a lot of interesting stuff out there and I have quite a stack of case studies and notes on the issues I’d like to discuss during the lecture in October.

And the great thing about the digital world of social media is that you come across a range of wonderfully, wacky items and fascinating people that are as wonderful and fascinating as the real world can ever be. This video is one of those items:

I’ve featured another air guitar video before which starred the winner of the Air Guitar championship in the documentary film Air Guitar Nation. The runner up in that film was Bjorn Turoque, the Bruce Springstein look-alike who stars in the video above. Bjorn - the alter ego of writer and musician Dan Crane - has clearly capitalised on the window of opportunity opened by the film and notwithstanding not winning that championship has gone on to air guitar stardom in his own right.

Marc Wright, Chief Executive of simply communicate and Chair of the simplygroup, did a video interview with us during our book launch. He has edited the interview down to this great 3 minute video that brings out the key points of the book.

I’ve always been a fan of The Sound of Music and Julie Andrews, so I loved this video when it was forwarded to me by a friend - especially the rap bit in the middle…

(It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of “The Sound of Music”.)

My good pal Susan Macaulay posted this video on Facebook, asking if it was real or fake.

Wouldn’t it be cool if it were real?

I’m afraid it’s not. It’s a clever viral add in the German market for Microsoft Office Project 2007 - see the Mach es Machbar (Make it Possible) site. The Google transalation of the German text is below:

Bruno Kammerl `s point landing:

Make it possible - with Microsoft Office Project 2007
The man without fear of big ideas - is it really?
Bruno Kammerl Even if an invention is. The time is ripe for new heroes.

Product Shoot Microsoft Office Project 2007 Make it as Bruno - realize your plans:
With Microsoft Office Project 2007.

Back in the old days of Hollywood, legend has it that Lana Turner was “discovered” in Schwab’s drugstore and went on to become a megastar in the movies of the 1940s and ’50s. More recently, South African born Charlize Theron was spotted by a talent scout in a bank queue in Los Angeles and has since been a Hollywood A-list female star. But these days, with online digital media, you don’t even have to leave home to be discovered to become a big star - as Malaysian singer-songwriter Zee Avi found out.

Zee posted videos of herself singing songs that she had written up on YouTube and became an overnight sensation, according to the official YouTube blog. She was then signed by US label Bushfire Records, according to her Wikipedia entry and is currently touring the US!

Her original video of her song No Christmas For Me is below:

Zee’s YouTube channel is at http://www.youtube.com/user/KokoKaina where you can checkout more of her music and videos.

You can also listen to her interview on the US public radio channel NPR.

It’s really exciting to see the power of social media in helping new artists make it into the big time - and especially exciting when this happens to a fellow Malaysian!

Often, when I talk with businesses or organisations about blogging and social media, whether in the formal context of a presentation, or informally at a drinks party or over dinner, a common reason why they have not engaged in social media - say they never will - is because it is an open and interactive space and people could leave negative comments about their company/ products/ services on their blog.

In response, I usually explain that the reason that people would usually leave negative feedback publicly is that there is no other recourse easily available to them to express their grievance to the business/ organisation in question. This is usually because access to that organisation’s customer services is non-existent or difficult to find or once it’s found, the layers of bureacracy or telephone press-button options are designed to deter access. In fury and frustration, that customer will want to express themselves in the strongest possible way as much to hurt the company as to obtain redress for their grievance because the inaccessibility has added to their unhappiness and most likely fueled it into rage.

All a customer wants is for your business to show that you care and a simple complaints procedure where you actively address their problem will do more for your company’s reputation in the long term than saving a bit of money on refusing a refund or some form of recompense. Handled right, an aggrieved customer could be transformed into an evangelist for your brand. Handled wrong and you’ve not only made an enemy for life - that enemy will also co-opt many more antogonists into their camp with stories about how badly you treated them.

The other point I usually make is that whether or not your organisation is engaging in social media, your customers will be talking about you online. They may be praising your produce or servicess or they may be badmouthing you to anyone and everyone.

United Airlines found out to their detriment the high cost of not addressing one customer’s problem. He was a musician whose costly, specialist guitar was apparently damaged on a flight he took with them. As his YouTube page explains, he tried to get recompense from them and was passed from pillar to post to no avail. In frustration, he finally wrote a song which he performed on a YouTube video about his bad experience with the airline.

The video became a viral sensation across the internet and has so far had over 4 million viewings. The press (including Chicago Tribune and The Guardian) picked up the story. According to The Guardian, “Days after United Breaks Guitars went viral on Youtube, United changed course and offered compensation, Carroll said. He declined and suggested they donate it to charity.”

How might United Airlines have avoided this PR fiasco? By ensuring that they have a proper and authentic process for dealing with genuine complaints in a timely way. It seems so simple and obvious, doesn’t it?

So for any business, whether or not you have a blog, in today’s connected world, your customers will find a way to badmouth you if they want to - they don’t need to wait for you to create a blog so they can leave negative comments. The answer to dealing with negative feedback online is not avoiding blogging and social media but putting in place an easily accessible and genuine complaints procedure to show your customers that you care. Who knows, if you address their grievance effectively, they might actually be singing your praises instead of singing about how rubbish you are…

~~~

Thanks to Moyra Weston and Michael Spencer for first telling me about this video.

This is a brilliant concept. You know, how on planes passengers hardly ever watch the safety demo? Well, Air New Zealand has found a compelling way to get you to watch their safety video - by having good looking naked staff do the demo, with their uniforms painted on!

Here’s another cheeky one:

I can’t decide if this Evian YouTube ad with skating babies is freaky or cute….

At any rate, it sucked me in enough to help advertise Evian by embedding the video on my blog… that’s the sneaky power of viral marketing for you!

Since I took up running a little while ago, I’ve been on the lookout for ways to improve my form and stamina as well as speed. I heard that strengthening your core can help as a lot of power comes from the mid-body rather than just letting your flailing limbs do the work. So I went on the prowl on the internet to find some core training exercises.

Wait, don’t switch off if you’re not a runner. There’s good stuff to come - especially if you like to oggle at beautifully honed and toned muscley six pack abs….

To my delight, Runners World does a series of videos to show you how to do core strengthening exercises. This is one of them with a rather gorgeous blond runner flexing those muscles and working up a lovely golden glow.

Go ahead, watch and learn. Or just watch and drool…