Television

I've been enjoying living in a home with no TV for eight years now. Started as an experiment, evolved into a lifestyle I love. I'm not sure I've missed a lot. So much of what's broadcast is going online, DVD, mobile - more and more every single day. I've managed to find what I want without a TV and zapper.

Yet, the power of TV is phenomenal and I don't deny that. When traveling, one of the first things I do when I walk into my hotel room is turn on the TV! I hardly ever watch anything, but still feel the urge to zap around some. Crazy.

What do you look for?
What do you expect?
What do you need?
When do you watch?
How do you watch?
What do you like?
What do you find?
How do you feel?

And why behind hollow books?

The Yellow Balloon in NYC

This morning's facebooked story from NY made me smile.

Summer was going out with a guy a couple years ago.I called him then and pretended to have the wrong number, looking for a bar next to his house, he helped me find one.
Two weeks ago, I'm drunk with Summer and we decide to text him from my phone. Texting and teasing and he has no idea who I am - never met.
Yesterday I was working a 14-hour day and feeling shitty, he texts, asking if I want to meet him for a drink in the West Village. He doesn't even know my name.
We meet for the first time. Our drink turns into a bottle of wine and the conversation spins in all directions. Lots of passion and not a second of boredom. It's a beautiful spring night and we're sitting outside unaware that people have come and left.
We have to move inside as the terrace is closing. At around 2am, we look around us and there's no one except the bartender. We take a yellow balloon with us as we leave, let it loose and watch it disappear into space.
He lives a couple of blocks away. I'm walking with him to his place. We're making out on street corners as he explains the graffiti to me.
I remember that I have to work the next day. He says that we should go to his place and talk till morning. I decided against it and stopped a cab.
It's a beautiful spring day in New York city. I called Summer and told her what happened.

What Did You Google Today?

I woke up today to a few emails from friends and friends of friends on the memory of the Armenian genocide April 24, 1915, which included a couple quotes, links, not a single picture though. I don't know when the last time I thought of this was. Perhaps the year Atom Egoyan released Ararat, end '02. Years ago! I felt ignorant. Deficient. That was too long in this information saturated explicit world and peer-to-peer matrix of knowledge. So I googled Armenia, Armenian genocide....

What did you google today?

Get Ur Monster Out of My Bread Aisle!

How stupid communications chokes your communication - part 1: Tasteless

So I dashed into Cozmo the other day towards one of my favorite quickie lunch fixes - the Fakhreldin corner with delicious, fresh, healthy choices. I ran down the escalator, iPod blasting in my ears and not really paying much attention to my surroundings. I knew the route blind folded and had one objective: pick up yummy lunch and leave - in five minutes flat! I turned at the end of the escalator and towards the bread aisle. Usually my step slows down here just to take a deep whiff of the baked goods. I looked up, and this is what I found:

An imposing car promo parked by the fresh bread aisle and before the Fakhreldin counter. My repulsion towards cars stems from the obsessiveness my fellow country wo/men have for them (in a country of under 6million, we have some 1 million cars - or close to that). Crazy. And you can imagine how pedestrian unfriendly this city of Amman is!

So....
1. The ad/PR/communications agency who sold this stupid idea to their client are shameless!!
2. In your most insightful predictions, do people really, really make car decisions this way?
3. Don't you think it's absolutely tasteless and just invasive to have a car promo in your fresh food section?
4. Have agencies lost all possible creative abilities to come up with promo ideas, and is this really the one that is so impactful?
5. Has this car client lost his mind completely? Money cannot reliably buy attention!
6. Is this some kind of new exotic appetizer and are you expecting people to take a lick of metal and chew on some rubber while food shopping?
7. No seconds, thank you very much!

Communication vs communications?
Think about it.

Like Abstract & Random?

I got a link to this what kind of thinker quiz which I felt compelled to do for whatever reason we do!

Your Thinking is Abstract & Random

You are flexible, adaptable, and creative.
There's many ways that you can learn - and you're up for any of them.

You relate well to other people, and you do well working in groups.
You can help people communicate together and work with each other's strengths.

You don't work well with people who are competitive or adversarial.
You prefer to work toward a common goal... not toward conflicting goals.

In life right now, I'm working on something new and exciting and useful and transformational, and in addition to my know-how/insight/hunger to take this risk, I've decided to bring total disruption to the table as well. I'm driving everyone up the wall it seems.... some are doing acrobatics laptop in hand and Xanax in tow. I do have a couple of conspirators on this experiment, so it's kind of part of some plan somewhere down the line, and for most it's just abstract and random I'm told.

That's not my confession though.
My confession is that I'm enjoying it.
No, I'm thriving on it.
No, I'm feeding off it. (insert evil laugh here)

I love abstract and random!

What kind of thinker are you?

Stories & Their Teller - part 1

I've been on a Counting Crows binge for weeks. Just can't get enough of their tunes and Adam Duritz's incredibly passionate voice - reviving a crush since 1996, and simply appreciating a really talented group of musicians and their creations. Searching broad and low for anything I can find!

And there's a lot out there!

But the stories behind the songs, WOW, that's a whole other magnificent experience. Here are a couple of many, and the generous dominik has more on his channel.

Listen to Adam's story behind Rain King and this soulful performance live at VH1 Storytellers:


and this Ghost Train story:


Isn't he beautiful?!

There's always a story.... have you told yours for today?

Fear is Bad for Business

Today The Black Iris posted probing into why Jordanian bloggers are not more compelled to blog about issues that matter. And recent posts on What's Up in Jordan look at missing the point in education, a Salti code of socioeconomic ethics, an ad tax to pay for culture, Sha3teely is all taxed out, AmmanVoice casts a ray of common sense on a confused capital as it grows, and Bashir's battered citizen is so not up to another round.

A few days ago blogger X asked:

did u participate in this Conference at the Dead Sea last month? - an event that sought to investigate the new media environment and find paths to understanding.

blogger Y:

nope. i think they invited the radio albalad director and he invited a few bloggers the day before it was hosted to come to radio albalad so they could pretty much tell him what to say. lol. i think. (blogger Z, were you one of those people or am i talking about something completely different). but it's pretty interesting that they host something like this (although judging by the picture it looks far from informal) without inviting young people who are part of new media movements here. ah well.

blogger Z:

Yup... I didn't go to the event itself at the Dead Sea, but I attended the meeting arranged with bloggers... he basically wanted to get some thoughts from bloggers so that he can "transfer their opinions" to the people at the conference. The meeting was good and he had some pretty interesting idea, but it was one day before the dead sea event, and personally I was surprised and bummed that none of the local bloggers were involved.

blogger X:

Were you guys absent when the manual came out???!!!
1. Bloggers are a species
2. There is now a Bloggers Union Rep At Large
3. New media is abstract
4. Welcome to fearful Jordan
Happy day!

Meanwhile, 70% of Jordanians are under 30 years, internet penetration is not even at 15% with sluggish activity as 360east posts. Facebook ranks as the 3rd most visited site in Jordan, after Yahoo! & Google, and Jordan Watch looks at how our education system is a frustrating set up for failure, while Iman reminds you to treat your mind.

What do you want to care about today?

Mull that over while you watch Paranoland:

Angel in the Rock

Passing thru the land of Edom, south of Jordan.

Four Related Things & Culture Matters

Dancing Ink gives the February US-Islamic World Forum in Doha a Second Life:


This year's ArabianBusiness list of 100 most influential Arabs includes less politics and more culture. Yes, lists and rankings are biased and skewed and weird, but I found the high rankings of a filmmaker, a cartoonist, a fashion designer, a poet and an animated series creator to be very interesting this time round.

The passionate Black-Iris asks: Where is the Great Exchange? While a very healthy exchange is happening on his very own e-turf.

And Jackie Salloum rocks your world with the voice of The Palestinian Lyrical Front - in her film SlingShot Hip Hop:


What do you want to create today?