Those Heineken Beer Songs

Those Heineken beer folks have a great way of picking out the odd tune, one that makes you look up from ignoring the ads and just grabs you.

Recently they resurrected a BollyWood extravaganza song from a 1965 movie, Jaan Pehechaan Ho. While not an unknown quantity (the YouTube video has more than 1,700,000 view) it was probably new to most Heineken imbibers and to many other Western audiences as well.

In their most recent ad the music is Love Letter by Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes
A rockin,  bruising deepthroated Clairy belts out “I’m gonna write what I want you to do to me in a letter”  The group got together in 2009. So this has to be a huge bump for them. In fact, under the video one fan comments:
Heineken is horrible beer but their commercial did lead to me buying this album :) So it's not a total loss.

And they are good.

Looking forward to the next Heineken discovery.

The Eternal in the Specific

film by Temujin Doran via Brain Pickings http://bit.ly/Hec8XR

The Joy of Books

Definitely  watch this in full screen mode.
Bookstore owner's notes:
After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago (http://youtu.be/zhRT-PM7vpA), my wife and I (Sean Ohlenkamp) decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto (883 Queen Street West, (416) 366-8973). 
Everything you see here can be purchased at Type Books.
Grayson Matthews (http://www.graysonmatthews.com/) generously composed the beautiful, custom music. You can download it here: http://itunes.apple.com/album/awakenings-single/id496796623
But none of it could have been done without all the volunteer hands who shelved and reshelved books all night, every night.

Underground NY Public Library

Underground NY Public Library, a gallery on Flickr.
The Photographer SheSaidUnPrintableThings takes these wonderful pictures of readers on the subway. And because it matters she carefully notes what book each person is reading. Her blog is at http://undergroundnewyorkpubliclibrary.com/
A wonderful read on Reading is at Someone Reading A Book is a Sign of Order in the World  I believe that.

Love Book Covers?

If you love book covers, here is a Pinterest board that will delight you. http://pinterest.com/bookishhq/covetous-covers/

My Digital Free Day

It was Friday night when I saw the tweet: Join the Digital Free Day tomorrow.  I decided to take up the challenge.  How hard could this be? No, seriously. I wanted an answer. How hard would it be to have no internet access for a whole day? Here's my answer:

Product of my Digital Free Day

7am – Early rise. What’s the weather going to be today? Can’t look it up and don’t want to listen the radio so I’ll have to take a guess and just change my clothes if they aren’t right. Hm-m-m. Right off things don’t seem to be under my control as they “usually” are.

What to read with my coffee instead of email and tweets? Nothing. I take the coffee outside and listen to the (real) birds.

Planning my day: Can’t work on the church newsletter that I edit. All the pieces are online.  I could do some writing for my blog I’ve been meaning to do, except the quotes that are integral to the article are online.

Did Indiana U win the game last night? Don’t know. Can’t find out.

8am - Hungry for breakfast now and the phantom thought in the back of my mind is “I can’t eat. I’m on a diet.” Strange. I CAN eat. I’m not on a nutritional diet, only a digital one but the feeling of being denied something lingers. 

There’s some personal research I’ve been meaning to do on a health issue… have to wait.

9am-  I start a written list of things I am going to send or tell people when my Digital Free day is up.

Taking the compost out I notice my spring flowers blooming and think about getting my Ipad and taking a picture to share with family. Nope. Can’t. I could use my digital camera (can I use a digital camera on a digital free day?) but that would involve finding a cable and downloading the picture (tomorrow).

Noon: I need to create some menus for next week, but I can’t go online to check for recipes. Pull out the old recipe box.

Are the Sox on TV today? Don’t know and I don’t have a printed schedule yet.

I need to pay some bills. Woops. Can’t. Well, I could write a check and find a stamp, but I think I’ll just wait till tomorrow and do it in 30 seconds.

I need to check my work schedule online and update the family wall calendar.  The paper – digital chasm yawns.

We are thinking about buying a new kayak rack for the car. OMG! Shopping. I never do store to store shopping. I find exactly what I want online and either order it online or find a local store that carries it.

3pm -Time for a break. How about a round of scrabble with friends and family? Not available. Luckily my current book is paper so I can read.

I need to plan a trip to Indianapolis in July but avoid the weekend of a big race there. Where would I find what that date is without the internet? And I can’t make flight reservations without the internet anyway. 

So what can I do?

• Projects using my own hands (I actually follow through on an idea I had to make an earring holder from a cookie rack-pictured above)
• Yard work, gardening
• Walks, hikes, outdoor activities

This list makes me think that a smart phone is NOT a way for me to go.

8pm – My husband downloads a new app for his Ipad and wants some advice. I tell him I can help him tomorrow and realize that troubleshooting computers is one of the ways we connect.

So what did I learn from this short experiment? 

• Many of the quick reference things that  I use the internet for I could get other ways, if I stocked reference materials in the house the way I used to—schedules, magazines with recipes, newspapers with weather etc. But those ways often involve more “work”, more looking, more finding and more calling.

• I definitely feel less connected with my extended family when I can’t send them an email at the drop of a hat.
  
• My real world is so integrated with the digital that it’s hard to know where one stops and the other begins.  I hardly know when I think of something I want to do whether it will lead to the internet or not.
  
• The good news: My secret fear that I waste hours surfing the net is unrealized. I do turn to the internet for lots of functions, but I don’t just surf.   That said, I make a note to myself:  Stay conscious of exactly what job I am doing and  when done, stop. Close the lid.

This was an experiment worth doing.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to check my email.

Things You Shouldn’t Do with an IPad

There are many things you can do with an ipad. There are also many things that you shouldn’t do with an Ipad. 

An IPad is not a full service computer. Trying to make it one will be a frustrating, labor intensive waste of time. It will probably also make it an immobile mobile device.
Here’s a few things you should not do with your IPad.

• Don’t try to fully format a document up to and including footnotes. (Even if you have an app that will do that, getting it out of the IPad will probably destroy part of the formatting.)

• Don’t try to do track changes in a word document. (If you need this much of the functionality of Word, use a laptop or desktop computer.)
  
  
• Don’t lug a keyboard twice the size and weight of the Ipad unless you know you will be
  a) typing a lotb) in a space where you’ll have a table to set up on. (It’s supposed to be mobile device.)

• Don’t expect to find one app that will handle all your writing requirements - ability to take both stylus and typing input, lots of formatting ability, multiple options for importing and exporting documents. Different apps excel at different parts of the writing process. No app does it all.
  
  
• Don’t try to use Numbers to create Excel spreadsheets. Don’t go from one spreadsheet to another. Pick one and stay with it.

The right tool for the right job, I always say. An IPad is not a computer.

Previous rant on the same topic is here.