this blog is no more

i have moved operations to http://litford.wordpress.com

now with more...

redeployment and reinforcements

i'm currently working on a migration over to litford.wordpress.com simply because i think it's time for a change.

there's a certain excitement in the air as i embark on quite possibly one of the biggest blogging overhauls in my six year stint as a blogger. it's gonna be bigger, it's going to cover a range of themes that have been swirling in my head, and i hope to bring them to fruition.

it's how i envision the future of establishing a presence on the web, and brings together the footprints we leave behind on the web.

ahahaha, but i shoot myself in the foot by building up these expectations, so i'll just leave it as "when i make the port, you'll know."

what has love become?

it was Mother's Day today, and i love my mom. i love my family, and i'm incredibly blessed to have them around me.

in some sense, i grew up without the dysfunction, or the abuse.. and while i might think these are the ideals, there are plenty of people who don't grow up with that sort of nurturing.

and call me idealistic, but to me, all it takes is just one story of un-love, and the reality of this crazy mixed up world hits me like a tonne of bricks, that no matter how safe we are, we live in a fallen world.

now i understand that not everyone feels this way, but i do.. and it grieves me, and yet i know i'm hypocritical when i bury my head in the sand and pretend that it isn't there.

i guess i'm rambling and i'm not trying to change the world or anything. but i am trying to change my world, and my sphere of influence.

curse this rain, it blinds my eyes

as i was driving home in the rain just now, it felt very unfamiliar. not because we haven't had any rain in Singapore for awhile, but i think it was because of the modern convenience of always being under shelter when it rained.

sure it was an unearthly hour of two-thirty in the morning, when usually i'm nestled in the warmth of my bed, but this 'being in the rain' episode left an impression on me.

how we manage to carve our space in this modern life apart from the natural elements of this atmosphere. rain isn't a bad thing, plants and animals thrive on it. but we've somehow seen it as an inconvenience and hide ourselves from it.

yet we know that rain is a valuable contribution to our ecosystem, yet we put a distance between us and it. as long as we harness the might of torrential downpour and don't have to deal with the perceived 'ill' side effects, we're happy campers.

and i suppose the modern condition is one where instead of going with the flow, it's ingrained that we can shape this world to our specifications. we can shape this world into our own image. but what happens when six billion people believe in the same thing?

six billion self worshiping gods on one tiny planet that is covered by seventy percent water that we have yet to inhabit.

there is so much we still don't know.

the ebb and the flow

So while i haven't been updating much these days, mainly because i don't see a need for this blog to be a diary of sorts anymore. i suppose my blogging habits have changed, as perhaps my lifestyle and thinking has shifted too.

i've been noticing a similar trend with my friends as well, and maybe with the entire ecosystem.

i think there will always be bloggers, but one thing i've notice is the rise of blogging networks that behave more like online publications (Mashable, Techcrunch, Readwriteweb), and really have achieved a sort of critical mass for influence and timely news.

i find personal blogging to be mainly more of a niche now, and yet they will maintain their audiences because of the opinions they have and share.

the entire ecosystem is so vibrant and fragmented at the same time, that i wonder if it's near humanly possible to ever join those dots.

maybe those dots will never all really be joined, as much as we as people will never all really meet every single person in the world.

yet we all add to this ecosystem we call The Net. we all leave our footprints in this virtual world, we breathe its same air of ones and zeros, and exist as people or ghosts. interacting or watching, this is a medium that increasingly doesn't act as any physical comprehension, but virtual opportunities abound.



the question is, if you die in The Net, do you die in the real world?

satalite transmission

Just pinging the blog just to let it know i'm still alive.

Busy juggling work, life and blogging. i think i've been failing miserably. Still trying to get my other blog up to speed too, but that's failing miserably as well.

Ah well, such a miserable existence. my bit of pessimism to the Net.

so i'll grow up, just to have you here with me

Everybody has a price. Today i found out what mine was. It's called the negative value..

You can't buy me if you haven't appeased my soul, but you can definitely make me feel like wanting to put myself up for sale.

i dipped into my savings to pay off some of my bills. i was supposed to have savings this month, but now i don't. it's not a good place.. i know the next few months of my salary's going to go back into my savings.

it also means taking stock of where that money goes. all those little things i overlook when we pay bills together, that little extra i cover when someone's short, those lunches i help pay.. they all add up.

and now that i need to be accountable to my own accounts, i'll need to grow up and do what i need to do, for those days when i have no one else to rely on but myself.

i give a lot, it's just part of my nature.. it's how i value the fleeting tangible in sacrifice for the eternal intangible. but even that has taken its toll on my maturity, and i'm stunted to being who i think i should be.

grow up i must, value my own value more i shall.

slow media to be enjoyed by the wayside

The world spins on its axis in twenty four hours.

We expect our news much faster than that these days. While i'm on Twitter, i get real time updates from my fellow human beings halfway across the world. I am twelve hours ahead of them. Not counting the things I get to read of blogs, news sites, video sites and pictures.

I guess it can be perceived that the world is getting smaller, or as Thomas Friedman says, The World Is Flat.

I say, learn to slow down every now and then. While the earth keeps spinning, perhaps twice as fast these days in the social media universe, there is a whole other world that still sticks to the same 24 hours we've always had.

You want to achieve work life balance, unplug yourself and start appreciating the world as you know it, not just through the social media's lenses.

Social media is best utilised to achieve a pulse on trends, communities, ideas, connections. but it backfires when you face an information overload. I think our brains can take it, but..

you also have to train your brain to not just consume information, but actually derive some value from it.

It's not just about how much you consume, it's how you interpret data, apply it, make it work for you, your counterparts, your businesses.

And that's why i still value "slow media". when you sacrifice speed for a great media product. a craft, where time and energy has been invested to make something easily understood so that MORE may understand and enjoy.

So what is slow media?


Image credit: Crackskullbob

For now, I'll define it as media that has large investments in time, energies, manpower, conceptualisation, production and even channel planning to maximise exposure to said media product.

Slow media can be social media. Slow media is purposeful, intricate cuisine, as opposed to fast food.

Fast food's a quick fix, fills your stomach, perhaps rough around the edges, not made from the best ingredients, perhaps even for mass consumption but with little value.

You just feel satisfied, and better about yourself and your surroundings when you consume slow media without rushing through it. when you come out of it, knowing more, eager to tell your peers just where you had this gastronomical epiphany.

And that my friends, is how i see "slow media". I guess the fact that i'm about to start looking for lunch had something to do with this post.

no pictures in the cloud

surreal. how i haven't typed in here for so long. it's so easy to just shrug it off really. after a hard day's work, or just the whizz bang of too many rehearsals going on, or the day to day meeting ups with friends.. and the ever pertinent question "what do you read this blog for?"

this blog doesn't really have a niche, so in that sense there really isn't a target audience. and in that sense, i guess you don't really grow an audience when your content isn't constant either.

i'm sorry if you've been visiting regularly the past six years and all of a sudden, i just make the excuse of being too busy to blog.

but 'tis the truth, it's hard to maintain a blog when you're spread thin. there are ways to discipline yourself to blog regularly, but i guess i'm not that disciplined. though i ought to be.

and i never thought it'd be this way, but typing in your has sorta become unfamiliar.

updating twitter on the other hand is super simple, and i think i've been maintaining my online presence through the use of facebook and twitter more than this blog.

but i suppose there's a lesson in all this, and that is.. there are pros and cons in whatever channel you choose to engage with your audience in, but if you want to be a good social media practitioner, you have to keep engaging in some form or another.

point form #2

Argh.. somehow i can't think of any better way to send life updates to the web except through point form. Too much Twitter? Anyway, i hope to be disciplined again and come back to long form posts. but here are some highlights from the past two weeks

1. Hosting another Open Room, this time more as our way of giving back to the community. Really glad people enjoyed it

2. Attended Blogout 2009 and met Joel Postman and Yongfook IRL! (in case you don't know, Yongfook was one of two original inspirations to start blogging.) Kudos to The Digital Movement for organising a great conference for social media practitioners and bloggers alike -)

3. Leeson appeared on Live n Loaded, Season 1 Episode 8. Great catching up with The Fire Fight

4. Leeson have also started sharing our music online, you can stream or download the Speed Dating EP tracks for free at our Bandcamp page. The banner was designed by Patlaw, so thanks and hearts for that!

5. I started working with a great team for publicity for my church's Easter celebration. We've put out two pieces of guerrilla content and one video. Also trying stuff online with our blog: 3 Days

6. Also trying to get church project management with the use of a wiki. Seems to be working out.

7. 23 Ogilvy-ians in Singapore we selected for Masterclass. It's a 360 Brand Stewardship training programme meant for juniors. We just went through week 1, so that's about six more weeks to go. I like it, and my group mates, so just hoping to have fun, learn lots and do our best.

8. Also accompanied Unfluff to SMU on Thursday who presented on research tools for social media students and had a fruitful QnA session that tackled what we do on a daily basis.

9. Getting up to speed with season 2 of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Started loving a Shirley Manson song and have an uber crush on Summer Glau.

Things to love - let's start a movement!

so i tweeted just now, and i realised that my hashtag #thingstolove is pretty unique. No one's used it yet (me first!).. and i thought maybe i could start something with my online peers.

instead of complaining, let's create a Twitter repository of the things we love and hashtag them!



So here's the deal, every time you tweet about something you love, remember to add a #thingstolove behind it!

i think it'll be a rather healthy way to spread joy on teh internetz

point form.

1. attended Blogout 2009 on Friday. learned a lot.

2. coffee and shopping on Saturday. bought two new Muji shirts.

3. big family lunch and jamming with Leeson on Sunday.

the last place in the universe.

y'know what? i love my blog. it's not the best designed, nor does it come as the authority on any given situation. it's nothing like the blogs i recommend to clients that perhaps have a specific communications goal in mind, but at the end of the day, it's mine.

even if this blog does not take part in discussions that shake our industries, or enlighten readers with recommendations, this blog first and foremost, is me exercising my voice.

i don't expect you, the reader, if you happen to be passing by, to be influenced by my writing. there are other blogs for that, but this might not be the one. some days, it is, when i discuss pertinent issues, but on other days, this is my black text on white. it's me creating meaning from nothing but my personal take. my experiences that have shaped the day, week, month or years. this is simply me, attaching meaning to a portion of the internet, this is me renting a room from google. if google grants my existence, then i simply exist as a reflection of my physical self.

leaving footprints in this virtual world, finding a way home, leaving a mark, signs of life that i do exist, even if it's an avatar.

and that my friends, is what no one can take away from you. whether you have an audience of 6 billion, or just yourself, if you blog true to yourself, you'll always have something to blog about.

human beings make meaning, it's how we exist, for if the mind is naught, then save us for empty husks.

it's a mixed up journal

my light is still blown. i actually replaced the bulb, but it still won't light up. my guess is something to do with the circuits. probably ask my dad, he's the engineer in the house.

learned a bit about life while climbing the ladder fixing my light bulb. i actually have a fear of heights, and between the last rung and the final flat portion of the ladder, there was a psychological barrier preventing me from stepping on the top of the ladder. however, pragmatism forced me to step onto the last step, and.. while at the same time breaking past my fear, i also found that the highest point of the ladder had the largest base area to rest my body weight.

i guess some things in life, you just don't get a sense of. there's fear in the shaking, in the unknown, but only when you put yourself into that experience, in some cases, there was nothing to be fearful of in the first place.

my little vampiric crush (Review of "Let The Right One In")

few films leave a lasting impression on me. i love film and movies.. and by an impression, i mean i start to remember quotes, watch it multiple times and study a scene's lighting, mis-en-scene the film's post production quirks rather carefully that might boarder on maniacal.

Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In dir. Alfredson, T, 2008) was one such film.

Overall the film was just what my heart needed, about a somewhat morbid, yet pure and fatalistic love between a 12 year old boy, Oskar, and a 12 year old looking girl, Eli, who's actually a 200 year old vampire.

innocent proposals by Oskar asking Eli to be his girlfriend, unknowing of the painful baggage carried by a being such as Eli. Eli, a creature fraught with a secret so terrifying that it's a miracle that she allows herself to actually love him too, despite the consequences of such selfishness.

in the end, what really stood out for me, is how vulnerable the two lead characters are. in a gripping scene where Oskar mocks Eli's vampiric limitations as a means of coping with the betrayal of not being told her dark heritage earlier, Eli demonstrates her own determination to make them work out, and quite literally exposes herself in such a vulnerable and imperfect manner, following their reconciliation.. only a master film maker like Alfredson could evoke this much emotion in the span of a three minute scene.



little nuances like playing on the vampire lore that these creatures are unable to enter a person's home uninvited, Alfredson uses such common knowledge to poetic effect by demonstrating the precarious glass wall that separates the two young lovers, only to tear it down and leave you gasping at the frail beauty that ultimately weaves this entire piece of filmic art together.

in a brief image of Eli, bleeding from her eyes and ears, a creature so powerful yet surrendered to the idea of loving a mortal boy, it was a moment when i fell in love with a character so fatally wounded by previous hurt and injustice and yet strong enough to try again. to me, this is what the film is ultimately about, not happily ever afters, not about having the right recipe for love to work. this film takes the worst of the human heart and what it's capable of, puts a frame around it and let's you find beauty in the brushstrokes.

Oskar and Eli are just two young lovers trying to figure it out for themselves. as their relationship grows through the film, you grow with them, laugh with them, cry with them.. and feel afraid with them. i cannot think of anything bad to say about this film. the gorgeous swedish winters, a soundtrack that is another piece of art by itself.. it's so profoundly beautiful that you get beautiful fan-made trailers like this:


3:16 - 3:22 was the moment i fell in love with Lina Leandersson, the eleven year old actress who played Eli.

five outta five.

things that have been keeping me busy

1. i changed the width of my blog, sidebar and header wrappings. now my youtube videos do not get cut at the edges, and i learned that the body wrapping of my blog is 500pts, my sidebar is 230pts and the buffer is 10pts. my header also has a width of 740pts so it's flushed. Read This to do the same.

2. i changed my blog header, and i edited the image using Picnik. the image i used was an old photo i took when i was in Melbourne in 2005. it looked like this:



to this.



i think it gives the blog a bit more character, soul and creative direction about what it's all about.

3. Busy uploading Leeson tracks to a secret project

4. Watching 1938media. visionary who sees past the "social media" echo chamber.

5. Jamming with Suchness re-incarnation tentatively called "Shelves". Training the ability to play bass and sing backup at the same time.

6. observing a Twitter revival in Singapore. Possibly due to the prediction i made in May 2008 about the iPhone.

7. discovered "Technoviking" and youshouldhaveseenthis

The New Public Relations Agency

originally posted on The Open Room

Here's an interesting report done up by ZDNet, a news site / blog that covers the beat in the Technology industry. It's called "Is Social PR For Real? Which Agencies Get It?"

A timely article, with some great research insights from internal PR directors / managers followed by chief marketing officers / vice presidents of marketing and small business owners as some of the world's major economies start slowing down and anybody in a decision making position is held even more accountable on the budgets that they spend.

More than ever, Return On Investment (ROI) will be a deal breaker and a key tenet to effect real change to any business or organisation.

Do good communications practices ultimately affect your bottom line? You bet it does! In today's increasingly mass commodified and audience fragmented world, reaching your audience and having a relationship that transcends transactions builds customer loyalty, advocacy for them to tell others about you. You want to be that 'go-to' resource when a customer has a need, and you want to sell them the best possible product that you have to better their lives.

But this isn't really about that.. we're going to talk more about some of the insights found in the ZDNet article.

These were some of the key points i picked out from the report:

1. Agencies do not fully follow through with what was promised during a new business pitch.
Only 20% strongly agreed and 18% agreed that their agencies achieved this. A vast majority 30% somewhat agreed and a good 26% agreed with the claim.



Credit: www.zdnet.com

I suspect this also comes from the 'fluid' nature of social media, or perhaps a lot of it comes from over-promising and making unrealistic strategies and tactics. While everyone is hungry for new business in these times, more should be done to keep both clients and agencies accountable on deliverables with accountable measurement.

2. Agencies do not necessarily understand how their communications work past getting news coverage and actually affecting a client's business
Yes, something we can all be guilty about. Good public relations is more than just generating news coverage (quantitative), but it is about projecting a positive image of the clients you represent (qualitative)



Credit: www.zdnet.com

In our line of work, both qualitative and quantitative share equal importance. But as audiences become extremely fragmented, it's harder to see media as mass communications anymore. I think a smart move any of us can do, is to think very strategically and produce quality content to the publics that matter first and foremost, before trying to reach the world. Pool your resources together to communicate the things that matter, to the people that matter.

3. Clients really expect agencies to know social media

This is great! 78.8% of clients understand the importance of having a social media campaign and expect their agencies to know it as well! While I hesitate to say that agencies should know more about social media than their clients, I'd like to think that it's not the knowledge gap in a new medium that allows an agency to work with its clients, but MORE about how the agency is a valued partner and comes up with workable social media campaigns that understands the industry their client is in, what drives their clients business and then HOW social media can work for them and their customers.



Credit: www.zdnet.com

4. Clients know enough about social media to get by
This is another good sign. About two years ago, clients and agencies were starting to experiment with social media. Today, a good 39.8% know enough to get by, and 37% have a good grasp about how social media will contribute to their business. Nothing gets me more excited when I speak to clients who do not just name drop social media buzzwords, but are actually talking about strategy, credibility, transparency and forming relationships with their people that matter.



Credit: www.zdnet.com

5. Clients would like free social media training
A good 46.5% said they would attend if they didn't have to pay for it, and a good 35.4% said they would attend regardless.



Credit: www.zdnet.com

While ZDNet recommends it would be in our best interest to not charge for training sessions, from an agency point of view, media training for clients usually comes at a cost. I believe social media training is equally important. Public image isn't nurtured overnight, same thing as a social presence. Your avatar can be considered your public image on the social net, and such training is a worthwhile investment and accelerator if you don't have time to pore through all the myriad of "How-To" posts from blogs.

But, i'm willing to see the flipside to this. It's just one more thing to pay for isn't it? Perhaps possible ways forward is to package this as part of a programme, keeping costs lower. In business, I guess most things are negotiable.

(And who says we don't give away anything for free? Check out Ogilvy On Recession, a free resource of insights and thought igniters on how to work smart in the downtime.)

6. Most agencies recommend the tools to drive social media
Worrying. 29% of clients agree somewhat that agencies make the tools the centerstage when it comes to social media / PR campaigns. Add 14% that agree and 8% that strongly agree, that's almost a total of 51% of agencies who are trying to pull a fast one with shiny, free applications created by other people to get new business.



Credit: www.zdnet.com

Once again, it's not the tools that drive social media, they are the means to an end. What ultimately makes a campaign successful is the strategy and content that netizens get, and perhaps a close second, the relationships that at least get you into the door to pitch a story or idea.

Summary
In closing, it's great to see more clients stepping up and understanding social media. Having that knowledge allows you to see through an agency's smokescreen of buzzwords, fancy charts and overwhelming statistics.

Then it's the agency's turn to show clients just why we're so great to work with. Whether it's through strategic acumen, industry knowledge, media relations, creative ideas, professionalism and accountability. A working relationship doesn't have to be purely transactional, but a valued relationship that sees both parties growing as our audiences continue to grow as well. Y'see PR2.0 isn't about the social media, it's about the culture adopted by both clients and agencies responding to a changing audience.

time, all the long red lines

So my bass playing duties have seen me going back in time. one playing with the ever excellent kevin mathews whose past work included the watchmen and popland. now if you didn't know, Kevin's an accomplished songwriter who was at the forefront of Singapore's english music scene in the nineties, and the best thing is that he still pursues it after all these years.

he currently plays with his band "The Groovy People", of which i share bass duties.. and i think it's a great privilege and honour to be a part of this group, where we get to listen to Kevin's stories about the scene before, and his extensive knowledge of pop culture.

donald so kindly took pictures of the gig we played last saturday, and more can be found at his multiply site.







And since we're on the subject of Singapore music from the nineties. i recently started jamming with a guy called Noel who used to be in a band called Suchness.



We're forming a sort of re-incarnation of that band, and are currently rehearsing a bunch of songs that have not been recorded for more than ten years. it doesn't sound like any of today's music, but probably closer to the alternative music scene of the nineties. it's nice, i grew up listening to such music, and.. i feel like i'm a teenager again, helping to write and arrange songs that are representative of that era.

and so.. some people wonder why i busy myself with playing in so many different projects? do i get paid? where's the reward in pouring yourself into projects like these?

the reward my friends, is meeting and befriending you wouldn't otherwise meet.. speaking a certain musical language and ultimately contributing just a little bit more to history and writing some bits of it.

slow down idiot, slow down

the weekend's finally here! i'm so happy.. perhaps it's got something to do with playing a gig with kevin mathews tomorrow at the Esplanade Outdoor Theater. and although i've played a fair amount of shows and this one should be no more different or special (because they all are), i'm looking forward to it for the simple reason that we've been practicing as a band for about six weeks now, and playing a show is almost like giving birth (or so i imagine).

the birth of ideas, the fruition of your labour.. in a simple life these things do give me some element of joy, and i want to look forward to things like that.

Who: Kevin Mathews and the Groovy People
Where: Esplanade Outdoor Theater
Date: 21 Feb'09
When: 8:45PM

Listen, Listen, Listen

And even if the words don't sound right,
I will love you till the day my heart dies,
till the day my heart dies.

And even if this ain't the right light,
you're prettier than anything,
you're prettier than anything that I'd
prettier than anything that I'd write.

There's something in the way our lips touch,
there's something in the way we're stuck together
and they don't build love like that no more.

You said you'd like it when the thunderstorms came,
said you'd like if the thunderstorm just
pulled you piece by piece away.

- wintersleep


Video: Thesis by gotfuji
Music: Listen Listen Listen by wintersleep