Categories
Other People's Lives

My Friend Made It to Workers’ Party’s CEC (And Another Friend Made Partner)

What a bizarre week!  First my sister got hitched.  Then my old friend of more than a decade whom I have worked with officially made it to the partner’s rank in a major accounting firm just yesterday.  On the same day, I saw another old friend of mine whom I have also worked with featured in our afternoon newspaper Today.  I guess my “Wanted” movie review ready to be published has to wait, same for a new book review.  As for that not-too-successful v-blog mini-series, that will have to be postponed for another week.

I won’t dwell too much onto my sister’s engagement.  You just need to scroll down to read the previous post.  Except, I finally managed to talk to my ma in Hong Kong on the phone and spent 18 minutes trying to explain what my future brother-in-law does in real life (to my parents, it is important to articulate that to the people around them).  I mean, look, my Cantonese really sucks after decades of neglect and attempt to explain what Portfolio Management means to my ma is really hard.  Try explaining risk hedging, diversification, quarterly results, exchange announcement, technical analysis, financial instruments, equity investment and etc. is close to impossible.  I hope I got the message and reassurance across that my future brother-in-law kicks ass (Benny, you owe me 18 sure work buy tips for that 18 minutes of hard work and I am putting my life savings onto that).

Back to my friend who has made partner.  Well, I always tell people that if you don’t see yourself becoming a partner one day, leave the consulting business once you’ve learned all that you can and want (like me).  This is how the business works: the partners milk their people dry, milk their clients dry, and they become very rich.  As simple as that and I gather one day I can write a book on my old trade skill.  In case if you wonder, the word “milk” actually comes up during account planning in the both the consulting firms I’ve worked at.

But of course, within this business, there are always carrots at the end of the sticks.  If not, why would anyone want to sell their souls to the business putting work as the first priority in life?

My old friend and I have gone a long way.  Back to the days when I was literally living off a suitcase.  In the beginning of my career, my overseas assignments were long and in between, I got nowhere to live.  And he didn’t mind me occupying half of his storeroom when I was out-of-town, staying at his place temporary when I was in town.

OK, I must say he is (or perhaps was?) not that popular at work and that seems to bug him.  I always tried to tell him that even an US President only needs and perhaps only has 51% of the people’s vote.  And I did learn a few things from him.  The word ‘politics’ at work seems to have a negative connotation.  Then again, it is whether you are benefiting from it or not that ultimately makes you a hero or a villain in the organization you are in.  Learn the rule of the game and, oh well, bosses always take priority.  As for my friend, he does it well and I am truly happy for him.

Now, let’s talk about my friend Choong Yong.  The moment I saw his picture on the paper when I was inside HMV, I couldn’t contain my excitement and messaged some of our mutual friends immediately (good things must share, that’s my philosophy in life).  Choong Yong runs his own IT consulting business for years and recently, he is appointed as Workers’ Party’s new Central Executive Committee member!  Part of the ‘renewal process’ so as to speak.  And he looks so young inside the news clipping (far right in the picture above).  One unnamed mutual friend of us does admire Choong Yong’s ‘walk the talk’ attitude and I agree.  I couldn’t help but to crack some jokes of course (about this young pretty girl he was photographed with) and nothing beats Mark’s funny response: Is it the one with the headline titled “Convicted, but now blaming his ex-lawyer”?  I laughed so hard inside HMV.  That headline was right next to Choong Yong’s piece.

When I congratulated him via sms, we exchanged a few words.  “We are still friends right?” he asked.  Of course!  My vote to PAP (the governing party) is purely because of my admiration to our Prime Minister.  And our PM happens to be in my GRC.  Hence, I wouldn’t need to scratch my head to choose between voting for the opposition or that who-is-his-name?  The one who is probably responsible in letting the terrorist in captive walked away from a detention camp, and the recent lapse at the Customs got me bang my head onto the desk.  I also did learn something from that minister though.  Whenever I screw up at home, I always say to Cynthia, “Look baby, that was an Honest Mistake.”

Anyways, I am so proud of the people around me.  I wonder what shocking news I may hear tomorrow.  A friend of mine is landing on the moon?

Categories
Memorable Events

So My Buddy Popped the Question … to My Sister

What an eventful week.  Just when I thought I could sit back and relax because I have written a whole week worth of blog entries, my best buddy in Singapore popped the question … to my little sister.  So time to dig up one of the old photos that my pa has recently digitalized and start writing.

I began today like every other day, happy and energized, and then my phone beeped.  I have one new message, from my sister.  That’s odd.  We are in excellent term, of course.  But we seldom communicate.  I opened up the message and she said Benny has proposed!

Wow!  I must have felt like I have won a million dollar lottery at that moment.

Flash back to my previous short visits to home in Hong Kong over many years, inside a low lit living room my ma and I sat opposite each other.  My pa was asleep in the bedroom with the door ajar.  Our dog rested comfortably on his bed looking curiously at us.  And I would start the conversation, like I always did, with “So, has sis hinted anything yet?”  My ma’s response varied but both of us would end up sighing, staring at space, and I would say, “Look ma, all in good time.”

Now, at least we don’t need to think of when my sister will be getting married.  Yay?

So I met up with Lora for dinner and I couldn’t wait to hear about our parents’ responses.  “I called this morning waking ma up from her dreamland,” she said.  “You did?” I asked.  “Yes, and she was initially happy, then she paused,” my sister paused.  “And?” I asked eagerly.  “Ma asked if I have said yes,” she continued.

Did my sister say yes?!

I laughed so hard.  OK.  I personally don’t think any response other than a yes would be possible.  And my sister would have had a lot of explanations to me had she even said maybe.  Seriously … ha ha ha.

Anyway, knowing how dramatic my family is, I was eager to hear my pa’s response.  “He was excited of course,” my sister said.  “Of course,” I replied.  “And he asked if the proposal was sincere,” she smiled.  “What is a sincere proposal?” I asked in puzzlement.

It is good that both of our parents are so supportive.  Being a big brother, my response was totally business-like.  After a business-like congratulations as though Lora has just won a million dollar deal, my action oriented nature kicked in.  So I advised, “You have to perform a stakeholder analysis, sis.”  “A stakeholder analysis?” my sister was awed.  Yes, we have to figure out what Benny’s parents’ expectations are like, what about our parents, what is the time line like, and budget, and have you started to think of the brothers and sisters team, who are the event organizers, are there going to be two wedding dinners in two different locations, formal versus informal, who will be there, Church wedding, which country will go first, outsource versus insource …

I bet Lora was amazed at what went inside my head.  But seriously, there is nothing to be amazed about.  Success is when preparation meets opportunity.  I have been dreaming of today for a long, long time.

Back to my pa’s response that got me puzzled, I called home after we reached home.  5 minutes had passed and he was just asking about me.  OK, did pa get it from my sister at all?  I didn’t want to be the first to break the news.  “So pa, Lora is getting married, are you happy?” I casually asked.  He replied, “She is not getting married.”  I paused, panicked, and continued, “Yes she is.  Hasn’t she told you this morning?”  “She is getting engaged,” my pa said it as-a-matter-of-fact.  “Pa?!” I screamed, “It’s the same!”  “Did she say yes?” he asked.  “Pa?!  Of course she said yes,” I laughed.  “Was the proposal sincere?” he queried.

Uh-huh?

“How would I know, pa?!” I genuinely didn’t know.  “Did he get on his knee when he proposed?” he asked.  “How would I know, pa?!” I genuinely didn’t know that either.  “What century are we in now?  People don’t do that anymore in real life,” I added.

Do we?  Maybe people do.  Maybe Benny did.

And as of this very moment, my ma is still outside partying and celebrating so I have yet to speak with her on the phone.  Anyways, many congratulations to my beloved little sister and my best buddy Benny.  Stay tuned.

Categories
I See I Write

So Cynthia’s Going to Learn Spanish (Working Title: So Spain Has Won the EURO 2008 Eh?)

My [male] bimboic approach to football tournament – no offence to the fans out there – is more like watching the American Idol.  And hence, my only contribution to the blogosphere (if you can call it one) is my quick drawing of one fine Spanish player who scored the golden goal.  Spain has won the UEFA Cup first time in 44 years, so I read.  44 years is a long time.  I for sure am much younger than that.  Ha!

Before I met Cynthia, who is one football fanatic, I seldom watch football matches on TV.  I can’t remember the name of this dude whom I’ve met in an International school back in the UK, when I was 17.  I think he is an Malaysian and on his wall, he had this huge tournament chart that tracked the World Cup progress.  What a hardcore fanatics he was.  Not only that, he had a large collection of magazines and I remember there was a ring binder – from a magazine publisher I suppose – that contained some of the finest moments in the soccer history in forms of illustration and writing.  I guess that was what people did prior to the advent of Internet, filing contents month after month.  My friend would show me all the wonderful passes from the world famous sorcerers using the materials inside this ring binder of his.  Pele, he pointed out, is a legend and here is why.  I have not met anyone that passionate about football until I met Cynthia.

She is really one of the kind.  And because of her, I found that watching football matches can be entertaining.  For the past couple of world tournaments, I have religiously watched every single match live, even more so than Cynthia.

This year, because no one talks about football in my work place, I can afford to watch some of the recorded matches during the sane hours.  Still, we took leave and watched the final match live.  Cynthia joked that she would pick up either Spanish or German as a new language depending on the outcome of the UEFA Cup final.  I guess it is going to be Spanish then.  And ya, we love the music played whenever there was a goal.  Both of us would jump out of the sofa, hands waving in the air – that is if the goal is not against the team we support.

PS. Interestingly, I have also equated watching the football tournaments to the American Idol back in the Word Cup 2006.

Categories
For the Geeks

It is Diablo III – So the Wait is Over?

I seldom blog about video gaming but this one is big.  The Diablo franchise has a new installment, and from one video I have watched, it’s a quantum leap.  The graphic is jaw dropping and we can now realistically interact with the environment such as the collapse of the structures as we battle.  The control for the battle seems engaging.  Check out one boss fight and I bet you have not quit seen something of that scale before.

I always try to seek a balance when I blog, a little something for everybody.  From the business point of view, Blizzard Entertainment – a division of French Vivendi Games – is one gaming company that I admire deeply.  Why?  They don’t have many games and they only have three major franchises – Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo.  They are not inventive but they enhance and implement the genre so well that all that they create are legendary, a huge gap for the rest of the companies to close.  Starcraft is a 10 years old game and it is still played today.  Recently, it is announced that Starcraft II is on its way.  Warcraft has gone through a cycle of 3 installments and the MMORPG spin off (massively multi-player online role playing game) is a worldwide success taking the genre to a height that never has seen before.  10 million worldwide subscribers (Cynthia and I included) and it is a four years old game still going strong.

Another great thing I admire about Blizzard Entertainment is that unlike other gaming companies that are pressurized to release games even when the games are not ready for the shelves, Blizzard has the reputation of non-committing release dates.  They will only release the games when they are ready.  On top of that, they are not hesitate to can a project (like the venturing into the console gaming platform) if it doesn’t turn out right.

There is a pending merge of Vivendi Games (1 billion in revenue) with yet another giant Activision (3 billion in revenue) and the new entity is going to be called Activision Blizzard Inc.  Now, I do want to own some of their shares.

Below is the cinematic teaser and if you like what you see, don’t miss the video that demonstrates the actual game play (click here and then click onto “Play Gameplay Vidoe” on the right).

Categories
I See I Write

Gecko in the Sky: One Man’s Pest is Another Man’s Pet

O lovely creatures that roam my home and keep the bad insects in check.  I can’t comprehend why some would smash your species into blood and gore, spilling guts on the walls and on the floors.  I would never do that.  Uh-ah, never crossed my mind.

At times I see some of you in my kitchen, on my bathroom floor.  It is good to have good living creatures in my home because I don’t even keep plants.  I can’t recognize your faces, of course, but I can recognize who are the babies, who are the well fed grown ups that have double, quadruple your infant size.  Because of that translucent skin of yours, it often amuses me to see your dark bulging stomachs, full of flies and ants, spiders and other bad, bad insects perhaps?

From time to time, my shower area is infested by fat and tiny, slow flying creatures.  I would have to smash four or eight of them flat prior to my shower.  What an annoyance!  And they fly onto my face!  Then one of you would arrive, clean the area up.  Now I don’t even see flies in my bathroom no more.

You don’t make me jump.  Except that one time when one of you fell onto my shoulder while I was showering.  I laughed away and really, no harm done.

PS. Picture taken by Cynthia on March 24, 2008.

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

10 Promises to My Dog – A Sweet Japanese Movie That Has Mass Appeal

Ask ten people who have or had dogs as their companions and you may hear ten unique, at times breathtaking stories.  Without giving out any spoilers, “10 Promises to My Dog” is not one of those typical Hollywood films that involve a dog that saves the world.  There is no adventure of that sort.  Instead, it’s a story of a young 14 years old girl Akari, her parents, her childhood friend, and a dog named Socks.  A simple story that emphasizes on the little events in life that bond companions, difficult choices and sacrifices people make in the name of ”˜family’ (and in this case, Socks included of course).  The story is then being fast forwarded to 10 years later when Akari grows older, reunited with her childhood friend, and something in life do change, some don’t.

Within this rather depressing storyline, the magic of the casting (again, Socks included) turns the entire mood of the movie around, like a fireplace in a cold winter night.  The 14 years old young and sweet actress Mayuko Fukuda (福田麻由子) is certainly one of my favorites.  Such a sweet personality and smile she has that matches so well with the puppy (a Golden Retriever?).  It is such a joy to watch the younger version of Akari.  The amazing thing is that the actress who plays the older Akari, Lena Tanaka (田中麗奈), is just as sweet.  If I am to pick one tiny detail to critic, I would say that while the casting of the 28 years old Lena Tanaka is still believable, having the 34 years old actor Ryo Kase to play the supposed to be 24 years old childhood friend of Akari is a bit far off.  My friend TK and I thought that Ryo Kase is selected because he is a professional guitar player in real life as demanded by the plot.  After some research at home, he is actually one of the actors who played in Clint Eastwood’s “Letter from Iwo Jima”.

Anyway, details.

Besides the dog and the girl (or girls counting the young and older ones), I also enjoy watching the acting of Akari’s father – so loving, so sincere.  I would suppose the ten promises Akari has made to the puppy are a good reminder to those who already have pets as their companions as well as those who consider keeping one.  There have been rather sad stories of owners abandoning their pets after realizing that there is a certain responsibility in keeping a companion.  And I personally think that some of these promises are good reminders on how we shall treat our own family and friends too.  If I could take home one theme, that would be the so-called obligations or sacrifices made however restrictive and confining at times don’t necessary make my world smaller but instead, make me a real person (as in not living in my own world I guess).

In the end of the movie when the theme song sang by BoA was played, Cynthia’s eyes were swollen with tears.  I asked when she has started crying and she told me that since the puppy appeared on the screen.  Oh dear, how can one cry for more than an hour in this 117 minutes movie?

Categories
Whacky Thoughts

Of Dr. Nanorobot, Human Power Plant, Chip Implant, Eyeset, and More – My First V-blog (Prelude) Episode 4

I can be a futurist.  I see a future that our bodies will be repaired by robots of nano-scale in the comfort of our home, bulky televisions are things of the past and instead, we will have our own Eyeset (think headset).  Walking through the building entrances, office doors, and immigration checkpoints without the need of any physical identities because we will have a chip implanted inside our bodies.  Not a passive chip that tells the whole world who and where you are, but one that you can voluntarily set the privacy level.  Imagine no more forms filling in front of a counter and the customer service officer will be able to address you by name – because your name as broadcasted by your chip implant with your consent is shown up in the Eyeset she’s wearing. 

And I have more of such vision to share.  Just bear with me for a moment.

This was meant to be a nostalgic post, dedicated to the early Xers with a working title as “Of Chamber Music, 80s Computer Magazines, App on Tape, and Flash Today”.  But blogging is like a show biz.  Some titles may work, others may not.  And before I continue with my bizarre vision of the future, I wish to share with you where the idea of this post comes from and how it relates to my upcoming v-blog (that is if I’ve decided to continue writing this mini-series).

How time has changed, how time hasn’t.  Here are four random observations.

  1. Closed to a century ago, the first radio show was aired.  People started to listen to music played on air.  Half a century prior to that, gramophone was made common to play recorded sound.  So what happened before 1870 in the era of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven?  If one wished to listen to the chamber music back then, I guess the only way is to listen to a live performance.  And if you were to come up to Beethoven, hand him a hearing aid, and tell him that you have a recorded copy of his Ninth Symphony with you, how would he have reacted?
  2. Prior to the advent of Internet, no one would have thought that he or she could download a piece of information, rampantly copying and pasting to different places with a few clicks of a button.  Why do I say that?  As briefly mentioned in my upcoming v-blog, one memorable childhood moment that my dad and I did was to type in the programs or codes as printed on a computer magazine into our computer, line by line, character by character.  If we were careful enough with those incomprehensible codes, our computer screen would turn into some pretty evolving symmetric patterns in green pixels.
  3. One decade is really not a long time, in a larger scheme of work.  But it is hard to imagine that DVD was not common back in the nineties, isn’t it?  I was an eager graduate ready to face the corporate world and in my hand, I had this installation tape.  A tape, you may ask?  That’s right.  It was a bulky one indeed.  One time, our clients flew in from France to view a demonstration of our back then state-of-art technology.  Their server in Paris dialed into our Singapore server for a connection and the sound of the dialing tone was so surreal, singing the tune of “From Paris with Love”.  Dial-up connection seems so ancient, looking back.  Anyway, our demo didn’t work initially.  We had to call our French clients back from the taxi stand after one magic touch of mine that made it worked, much like a football goal in the 93rd minute.  What did I do?  Don’t ask.  It’s technology.  When all fails, wash your hand and repeat the exact same step again.  It may work.  And I am not joking.
  4. If you are curious, my upcoming v-blog is created using Flash.  It is a wonderful application that enables me to manipulate my video in a frame-by-frame, layer-by-layer manner.  Except, how time hasn’t changed.  As I spent the entire Sunday morning redoing, recreating an entirely same video from the old one that failed to be published, I felt as though I was transported back in my childhood moment with my dad and our 80s computer magazine, back in my early career days of application on tape.  Things just don’t work, for no apparent reason.  And after a few rounds of doing the same thing again and again, an unexplainable solution would emerge.  That’s technology for you; a bloody time sink; productive tools with unproductive results almost guaranteed.

How these random observations lead to my vision of the future, I shall leave it to you to connect the dots.  I love the Eyeset idea.  Think about a world with no more road signs, road advertisements, but instead, information is streamed onto your Eyeset in your native language real time, as you drive and as you walk.  Upon exercising your brain muscles – literally – detail information is shown.  Yes, turn left to the main street that leads to your destination.  But it will take you 10 minutes.  Alternative routes are shown with estimated time of arrival.  Special advertisements are lit up according to where you go and your profile.  Before you spit on the idea of advertisement, guess what?  They are the ones who are funding this entire world of virtual reality.

You don’t expect time changes everything, do you?

You think, characters will appear on the screen.  Say goodbye to computer keyboards.  And one last wild idea of mine to share with you.  I was used to walk pass a gym every working day when I headed home.  I saw athletes exercising on treadmills, on cycling machines.  Maybe like that famous sci-fi movie, humans are like batteries.  Gyms in the future will connect all these sport equipments into a power generator.  I mean, why waste the energy away?

PS. I change the timetable because the original plan was a bit too ambition.  Also, I have no sensing what the reception of this mini-series is so far.  Perhaps the theme is a bit too heaving for a twice a week rhythm.

My 1st v-Blog Mini-Series:

Categories
Classical Music Reviews

Hilary Hahn and Natalie Zhu – Mozart Violin Sonatas

It is of great pleasure that I finally get down to writing a blog entry on classical music.  When there is something that timeless, it’s easy to put the idea off to another day, and another day.  Most of you may not know that deep inside of this metal head, rocker wannabe of mine is a passionate lover for the classical genre.  I used to play clarinet for the Hong Kong Youth Orchestra, saxophone for my school band, and I used to be able to hum the melody of famous classical pieces from beginning to end, with my favorite being the five Mozart’s violin concertos.  While boys were used to play games during school recess, my best friend and I would race to the piano and I got to hear him playing his grade 8 and subsequently diploma pieces, day after day, month after month, year after year.  Before finally yielded to the temptation of pop music – thanks to Madonna’s album “Like a Virgin” – I listened to nothing but classical for all my life up to late teens.

Classical players interpret classical music.  Of those whom I am familiar with, I enjoy listening to Hilary Hahn’s recording the most.  One day, I may complete collecting all her albums.  To be honest, if you were to line up two world class violinists side by side and ask me to opine on which one is better, I probably wouldn’t be able to do that.  Having said that, I do believe that Hilary Hahn has great technique and such a versatile violinist she is, she has recorded the works of Bach, Beethoven, Barber, Meyer, Brahms, Stravinsky, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Elgar, Paganini, and Schoenberg since 1997.  It is because each album comes with a personal note from Hilary Hahn herself, as well as a commendatory write-up on the history and the technique involved in the recorded piece of work, it is much easier to appreciate what goes into each album.

And I immensely enjoy reading Hilary Hahn’s journal at her website as well.  If you are not into classical music or do not have the time and patience, you may not enjoy reading her rather long entries.  It’s not all about rehearsals, live performances, and technical details.  You get to read the different cultures she encountered during her International touring, the bizarre things that the crowd did, the dress that shrank after sent for dry cleanning right before the performance, and her thoughts on a huge crowd versus a small crowd that passionately loves her music.  I used to think it is OK to film live performances using my own phone or camcorder.  One time, Hilary Hahn actually stopped the performance halfway and gently requested one audience to switch off the recording device.  To her, performing live is to be able to be librated from the recording environment and be spontaneous.  In that sense, the artist doesn’t have to be conscious over recording and instead, plays for the moment.  Now I understood.

“Mozart: Violin Sonatas” was released in 2005, coincided with the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth.  Hilary Hahn plays the violin while Natalie Zhu plays the piano.  There are many good things to go for in this album.  I love Mozart’s work, and I love hearing the sound of the violin and piano.

Mozart’s violin sonatas flavor melody over counterpoint giving each instrument an equal role.  “Sonata in G major K. 301” was composed when Mozart was 22, full of joy he was, and it could well be inspired by his growing relationship with the Weber’s family’s daughter Aloysia whom he fell madly in love with.  In the same year, his mother died in Paris with him by her side.  An extremely painful period of his life and it shows in “Sonata in E minor K. 304” – the only violin sonata that is composed in a minor key.  The second movement “Tempo di Menuetto” is my favorite Mozart violin sonata composition.  It starts with a memorable melancholic melody by the piano, and then the violin takes over the lead role with piano as the accompaniment.  The roles then reverse and two melodies emerge from each instrument as the movement continues.  Familiar melancholic melody appears from time to time till the movement comes to an abrupt ending.

While both the K. 301 and K. 304 only has two movements, “Sonata in F minor K. 376” composed at the age of 25 comes with three.  This sonata is a dedication to his pupil Josepha Auernhammer whom Mozart deeply admired as a pianist.  Because of its graciously beautiful theme, I guess that is the reason why K. 376 has become the opening sonata for this album.

The last sonata of the album, “Sonata in A major K. 526”, signified the time when his father, his only teacher, died when Mozart was 31 years old, married with one child.  It was not as sad as K.304 – the one that was composed when his mother passed away.  Some say that it is a libration from paternal authority.  I personally feel that it is an emotional piece that honors his father in one glorious gesture.

“Mozart: Violin Sonatas” is a collection of five violin sonatas composed in key moments of Mozart’s life.  It is certainly one worth examining if you are into Mozart.

Related website: Hilary Hahn’s Official Site

Categories
Diary

Gearing Up for Sunday Jamming Session

I don’t do any team sport.  I wonder what players would do one day before, say, a football practice.  My guitarist Jason wants to check out my new toy.  Not just any guitar amp and effect processor but one that comes with a – hold your breath – VOX Valve Reactor.  So he suggested a Sunday jamming session at my humble home studio.  I brainstormed with my bassist Cynthia as we both want to do something different.  And we suggested a retro theme.  Not the eighties retro but rather dig up some of the old materials we were used to play back in 2004.

So one day before the jamming session, I started the day asking my band mates what their personal favorites are.  Interestingly, none of us picks up the same song.  Jason picks “Broken” and “A Little Bit of Love”.  Good choices they are.  “Broken” is a ballad with lots of space for Jason’s guitar solo to shine and “A Little of Love” has some nice tune.  Cynthia picks “Dark Cloud”.  I know she likes the song’s dark theme.  It’s about humanity in desperation.  I wrote that song during the Iraq War.  As for me, it has to be “The Sweetest Thing” – a song written after my dinner trip to the red light district feeling melancholy that girls so pretty have to go down that path – and “Not Today”, a favorite pick from Jeremy – one of our ex-founding band member.

This new toy of mine – VOX ToneLab LE – comes with so much functionality.  I spent the entire morning attempting to narrow down a set of preset programs that suit my song style.  I could of course spend another 1,400 words just to describe the physics behind that sturdy processor.  But I’d rather not.

The rest of the day, I spent much time finding the right key, rewriting the songs into radio edit version.  Radio edit?  You may ask.  Well, you know how it’s like.  Think Pink Floyd back in 1975.  The song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” has a total duration of 26 minutes.  It’s a whole world of difference between then and their last studio album “The Division Bell” (1994).  When our band first recording our signature song “Jealousy” at my home back in 2005, the song was close to 17 minutes.  Subsequently, we progressively trim it down and today, we have a radio edit version that is kept below 4 minutes.  Personally, I still prefer the 17 minutes version.

And perhaps I shall apply the same philosophy to my own blog entries.

By the time I normalized the volume of the different preset programs from my VOX ToneLab LE, it was close to midnight (without normalization would mean a tougher time during the recording session).  What a way to spend Saturday.  Now, I have a football match to watch.  Or rather, Cynthia has a football match to watch while I accompany her.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Marketing Metaphoria by Gerald Zaltman and Linsay Zaltman – A Book for the Marketers and More

I beat the book by arriving at the conclusion that “Marketing Metaphoria” has a much wider application way before I’ve reached the final chapter.  Marketers who wish to reveal the minds of the consumers will certainly find this book useful (Which marketer doesn’t wish that?).  Even if you don’t work directly in the line of marketing, you may benefit from being aware of the key deep metaphors that exist in almost every aspect of our lives.  The book quotes a few case studies in the final chapter to illustrate just that.  I will add one potential application out of my own experience later in this review.

In your line of work, you may at some point in time need to solicit opinions like some of my previous projects – be it as a survey that your team has developed for a market research project or a set of probing questions prepared for a focus group discussion.  The question remains: How do you know if the responses to these questions reveal what the sample audience really think and not what you deem important?  To add an extra level of challenge, your sample audience may not really mean what they say.  How can then you go beyond the metaphors appear at the surface (from what they say) and reveal something deep from within (of what they think)?

This book “Marketing Metaphoria” is a crystallization of hundreds of market research projects across more than thirty countries and it has a simple structure.  The first two chapters build a business case on why recognizing deep metaphors is important.  The subsequent seven chapters are dedicated to the seven key deep metaphors that are common to us.  And the final chapter puts all these metaphors at work through real life examples that go beyond marketing.  Due to the difference in the authors’ background, each chapter has a good mix of academic theories as well as real life case studies.  In a sense, the theories do not appear dry and they do reinforce and substantiate the examples quoted.

Before I get into the how, let’s take a quick look at what deep metaphors are.

Deep metaphors, simply put, are unconscious viewing lenses that structure what we think, hear, say, and do.  And the authors Gerald and Linsay Zaltman created the term Metaphoria that refers to ‘a place where our basic views of the world are formed’.  It is because metaphors transcend our nationality, ethnicity, language, and other differences we may have, understanding how to reveal individual deep metaphors can be a powerful tool.  Applying this skill to marketing, for instance, can help the managers in the areas of market segmentation, advertising, product design, new product ideas, and product positioning.

In the book, the authors present seven deep metaphors that account for about 70% of the cases they have encountered.  These metaphors are: balance, transformation, journey, container, connection, resource, and control.  I won’t describe these metaphors in details.  Instead, I have placed a link at the end of this review for further reading.  What I’ll do here is to give you an illustration on, say, the container deep metaphor.

When we think of containers, we may think of two functions: keeping things in and keeping things out, and they are pervasive.  Believe it or not, this metaphor is deeply rooted in us.  Think ‘from womb to tomb’, we travel from one container to another.  I wonder if anyone can remember one of the old advertisements from Coke (here is the YouTube video).  The theme was “have a Coke and a smile”.  Back then, Coke was described as ‘a container of positive emotions that flow into yet another container’.

How about freedom from a repressive container?  If you take a look at the image on the right taken from the Harley-Davidson website, a lone motorcyclist on an open road invokes the unique American symbol for freedom.  The motorcycle dissolves restrictive containers in life granting its rider the ability to express freely.

“Marketing Metaphoria” addresses each key deep metaphor in a similar fashion: highlighting the various facets on both the application of the positive and the negative sides of the deep metaphor supported by theories, illustrated by examples.

I must admit that this book does not elaborate too much on how to reveal the deep metaphors from the sample audience.  It does mention one technique of asking the participants of the market research to bring along eight images that they think are relevant to the topic.  The interviewer will on the spot scan in the images and create a single picture using an image editing software as the participants talk through it.  Deep metaphors are identified this way.  Perhaps it is the same technique that they have been doing for these hundreds of market research projects.  “Marketing Metaphoria” does not necessarily replace the existing methodology you have already been practicing, in my opinion; it does equipe you with the essential tools to formulate the questions and interpret the responses from the sample audience.

This book, though is an easy read on its own, may require much effort to internalize and apply to your line of work.  Those who are already in the fields of marketing or cognitive science may find it a breeze to read.  In a mere 256 pages (hardcover), it is packed with lots of valuable ideas covering a wide spectrum of industries.  These ideas, I can imagine, are good for those who have a passion to understand what the consumers or sample audience want in a deeper level rather than asking the questions that they deem important.

The last bit of this review is really what I can personally apply based on the new ideas I have acquired from this book.  From my more than a decade of experience in both external and internal consulting work, I often am involved in projects that bring forth change to the organization.  The context is not important here – be it as technology, process, strategy, or others – what is important is: I am here to change the way you work whether you like it or not.

The reality is, seldom people like change.  So project usually puts in a change management piece of work that includes a communication plan amongst others to help transitioning the affected parties into the new way of working.  The number one question from the potentially unhappy crowd would be: How does this going to benefit me?

That’s where internal (or external if you are the hired consultant) project branding and marketing comes into the picture.  Some organizations create project logos, posters, and so on to communicate the change.  The challenge is usually what kind of common message would resonance with the people on the ground who will be affected.

The best time to answer this question is in fact going back to the beginning of the project when the people on the ground are interviewed during the requirement or information gathering activity.  Reveal their pain points using deep metaphors and when the time comes (usually at the middle or towards the end of the project depending on the scale of the project), create a common message that the people on the ground can relate.  In fact, by understanding what their pain points are in the forms of deep metaphors at the early stage of the project may even steer the project in a positive way.

In the closing chapter of “Market Metaphoria”, the authors highlight other applications such as resolving political and personal conflicts amongst others using deep metaphors.  Marketers would treasure this book.  I believe the rest would too and be able to relate.  After all, who is not a consumer in our modern world?

Gerald Zaltman is an emeritus professor at the Harvard Business School, and has served on the Advisory Board of Harvard’s “Mind, Brain and Behavior Initiative.” Lindsay Zaltman is managing director at Olson Zaltman Associates. They are the authors of Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers (Harvard Business Press; May 2008).

ISBN: 978-1-4221-2115-3

Related Link: Seven Giants – Deep Metaphors