this is the best bad idea we have

Whether or not you subscribe to the notion that movies such as Argo are a propaganda trojan horse - the irony of the line at the start of this clip will not be lost if you are among those who do (You're telling me there is a movie company in Hollywood right now that is funded by the CIA?) there are a couple of splendid bits of dialogue.

This particular scene came to mind while in an agency discussion about how to evaluate creative work.

Tony Mendez: "And we think everyone knows Hollywood people. And everybody knows they'd shoot in Stalingrad with Pol Pot directing if it would sell tickets. There are only bad options. It's about finding the best one."

Official: "You don't have a better bad idea than this?"

Jack O'Donnell: "This is the best bad idea we have, sir, by far."

Official: "The United States Government has just sanctioned your science-fiction movie."

Tony Mendez: "Thank you, sir"



Puzzling over why a particular piece of work was deeply unsatisfying, yet unable to pinpoint exactly what it was at the root, it became clear that the piece actually contained no 'idea' as such.

There was merely a fact disguised as a 'line'.

Our conclusion was that a bad idea is at least an idea and can therefore recieve criticism.

No idea is far harder to evaluate, as time is wasted trying to work out if it's an idea or not.

Let's also be mindful that no idea is very adept at appearing to be an idea.

Good idea is best. But a bad idea is still an idea and so is at all times preferrable to no idea.

To paraphrase the Dhammapada...

The bad idea that knows it's a bad idea, in this much at least is an idea.
But the no idea that thinks it's an idea - that's the real bad idea.

Argo f*ck yourself.

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before and after science

'I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time. I always knew it would run out sooner or later. It couldn't last, and now it's running out. I don't particularly care that it is and like the way things are going. The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you'd be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate - history's moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it.'
Brian Eno - HT and finders fee to Lefsetz

Only Eno could make the connection between whale blubber and the floundering music business and make it sound scientific. The same analogy works for the advertising business too.

The question isn't whether we like what's happening or not, it's how are we going to deal with it and work with it.

Shit happens - roll with it.

Be ready for change - it never stops.

The more you want to hold on to the past the harder it will be when it inevitably changes.

The quicker you let go the better

If you're not ready and able to change, you'll become extinct.

Trust your gut, you'll know when a change is coming,
keep your eyes peeled too, you'll see it.

BE the change - that way you are ahead of the rest

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...and the hound dogs get way back

‘Group’ loyalty is almost always associated with disparagement with other groups (football being case in point – most religion another, of course).

I mentioned this earlier today in a comment on Simon's blog in relation to his points on the online 'echo chamber'

He noted:
'I’m more interested in is an unwillingness to engage with alternative viewpoints. Through our emails, RSS feeds, Twitter streams and selections of articles to click through, we are self-selecting the news and views we read. We lack balance and nuance in our understanding of issues. This can in turn lead to close mindedness.'

One thing leads to another and I stumbled upon the above clip from Fox News on the Tiger Woods kerfuffle.

'Buddhism is inferior to Christianity when it comes to forgiveness of sins'

So says Fox News pundit Brit Hume.

His 'advice' for Tiger Woods is that he should turn his back on Buddhism and become a Christian to be forgiven for cheating on his wife.

Interestingly enough the Sanskrit (classic language of Indian Buddhist texts) word for tiger is in fact Vyaghra, ie Viagra.

'...the tiger is believed to have multiple powers that range from producing rain to fighting dragons, healing the sick and banishing children’s nightmares.'

These are the value adds of course.

erm....

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authenticity

'In learning this path, it is only important to walk on the real ground, to act on the basis of reality. The slightest phoniness, and you fall into the realm of demons.'

from The Pocket Zen Reader

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social

Four bases of social harmony (sangahavatthu)

1. Generosity
2. Kindly speech
3. Service
4. Participation

Buddhist Economics: P. A. Payutto

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dinnertime in heaven and hell

Wednesday morning storytime...

'It's dinnertime in heaven and hell.

In both places, meals are served at a huge round table with lots of delicious food in the center. The food is out of reach, however everyone's got really long forks.

In hell, everyone starves because, while they can reach the food with their forks, the forks are much longer than their arms, so nobody can turn a fork around and eat what's on the end of it.

In heaven, faced with the same problem, people eat well. How?

By feeding each other.'

From 'All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy' Jared Bernstein.

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frankly mr shankly

Quoting Bill Shankly in the previous post led me to this further nugget of wisdom from the great man.

"A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe that you are the best and then make sure that you are. In my time at Liverpool we always said we had the best two teams in Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool reserves."

Shankly also had some insight into the nature of karma, or co-dependent origination if you prefer.

[To Tommy Lawrence after the ball went between his legs and into the goal]

Lawrence: 'Sorry boss I should have kept my legs closed'

Shankly: 'Don't worry son its not your fault, it was your Mother who should have kept her legs closed'

thanks to anfield online.

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normal service resumed

Following yesterdays blip into hippiedom with the chillis ramble, normal service is resumed with this zenpunksocialist nugget from Joe Strummer.



'It's all of us or none..'

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Buddhism, football, art-pop, science and marketing

One of the key pillars in all schools of Buddhism is the doctrine of impermanence, otherwise known as the theory of instantaneous being.

Buddhist thought says that ‘since the body's energy changes in every consecutive instance of its motion, at every instance the body becomes a different thing’.

In business terms it can be seen in any thinking that involves life cycles.
Product, and brands, are all subject to this law of impermanence and pass through stages of life; birth, growth, maturity and death, just as all living things do.

Now the science bit: If we agree with Einstein - all things in the physical world can be construed as energies (E=MC2 etc) – then the logical upshot of this notion of reality is that ultimately reality is subject to the law of instantaneous being because the energy of a body/thing changes all the time.

So Buddhism and science agree, existence actually means ‘efficiency’ or the ability to ‘cause a change or be changed’.

So here’s the thing.
Something that is static, or does not change is unable to perform work - and therefore does not exist.
In simple terms; the only existence is ‘that of change, or impermanence in nature’.

Sir Alex Ferguson knows this.
Man United may be English, European and, now, World Champions but at the start of the next season this means diddly squat. They have to do it all over again.
Nothing stays the same. Who could have predicted Aston Villa challenging for a Champions League spot. Or Hull City for that matter…

Bill Drummond has built this into his own creation ethos, with his ‘choir’ project ‘The 17’.
These were ‘time-, site- and occasion-specific’ performances, where the music was never recorded.
Bill says; ‘The meaning any work of art holds – be it music, visual or literary – is always in flux depending on when it is being listened to’



What does this mean for marketing?
We need to recognise that even the greatest marketing plan is as impermanent as a performance by the 17. When it’s been done, it’s time to destroy it and start again.
The same situations (causes) for success are not going to align again.
Everything changes.
The market changes, technology changes, our business changes our customers change
We may have experience fantastic success yesterday, but that won’t necessarily rock today. And tomorrow we’ll need another plan. It’s about being present in the here and now.

Impermanence - instantaneous being - is a fundamental law of our impermanent world. We must constantly adapt in order to, not only survive, but to exist.

In 2009 more than ever - quite literally, you snooze and you lose.

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there may be trouble ahead....

Excellent thoughts around the current financial meltdown and ting this week by Charles and Neil.

What are things going to look like when we come out of the other side?

I've been checking out E.F. Schumacher's classic essay on buddhist economics. More and more it's starting to resonate - not as a dusty piece of history, but as a way ahead.

quote:
'For the modern economist this is very difficult to understand. He is used to measuring the 'standard of living' by the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who consumes more is 'better off' than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption.'

Charles says:
'One thing is for sure I'm sick to death of the word growth being used as if it's a sign of success.'

Marketing and economics are subject the law of impermanence - ie they pass through the following stages: birth, growth, maturity and death - just as humans are.

If we agree that innovation is often the outcome of 'conflicts' - the bigger the conflict ergo the bigger the innovation.

Like the fella once said 'if you don't like change you'll like irrelevence even less'

No-one's gonna argue we're not in the midst of a pretty major conflict at the moment so I'm looking forward to what's round the corner...

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