Football and rock'n'roll - culturally connected since forever.
'An experiment to create a giant (three stories high!) guitar game controlled with footballs. Football Hero is played by a team of insanely gifted young freestyle footballers. The game is programmed with the Kasabian track Underdog'
Finders fee to Andy Whitlock.
The tech skinny is at engadget.
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.
I'm getting impatient for the new football season, so had to dig out this clip again.
Classic nugget 'Tottenham Hotspur postponed-uh, West Ham United 1H - uh'
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.
As the new season is upon us...
'The fans make their views clear after yet another goalkeeping error.'
thanks to Al for this.
Little Bayern Munich, from the tiny principality of Germany, defied the odds last night by holding the mighty Aberdeen to a 2-2 draw at Pittodrie in the UEFA Cup. Bayern, currently stuggling at the top of the Bundesliga, who have narrowly managed to scrape into the top 5 of the richest football clubs in the world, were only able to field 11 full internationals for the fixture, while only a fraction of the squad have tasted success as World Cup winners or semi-finalists . The plucky Germans, who have a mere 4 Champions League wins in their history grabbed a fortunate draw as a result of a highly debatable 2nd half penalty.
The Dons will look to finish the job properly at the tiny 69,000 capacity Allianz Arena in Munich in the second leg, despite the lack of atmosphere. Come on you reds!
I commented on a recent post by Mitch Joel - from the fantastic 'Six Pixels..' marketing podcast - on the evolution and widespread adoption of the tools of 'user generated content'. At one of the recent concerts by the re-formed lightwieght phoneys of 70s new wave The Police - despite the insights within his post I'm still not sure Mitch really gave a good enough reason as to why he was actually there in the first place ;) - he noted the mass of mobile devices capturing either audio or video at the concert and the subsequent upload to the various channels within hours of the event. Mitch observes 'So, why is there so much User Generated Content? The answer is simple: because they can. Content creation from the User’s perspective is no longer an option. It’s a right… '
Anyway it got me thinking about the same thing that has started happening at the football. Here's a bit of my comment (i've only reproduced it here because i wanted it captured in my own space for posterity)
'...the winger goes on a mazy run, beats 3 or 4 defenders, delivers and inch perfect cross to the big striker who powers a thunderous right foot strike into the back of the net past the flailing goalkeeper. as the camera pans to the striker running towards the delirious fans behind the goal...where once there were wild eyed faces of ecstacy with outstreched arms theres a metallic cyborg army of clicking one eyed monsters.'
At the end of the day (gratuitous football cliche) the clamour to create content can sometimes get in the way of simply enjoying and consuming. With music and football surely its about immersing yourself in the experience and simply getting off on what it is? Dunno.
Had an interesting conversation today around Nike and adidas, both brands trying to 'own' football (soccerball, for my US chums). With Euro 2008 fast approaching the battle will become even more fierce.
Nike's Shooting Gallery ups the ante although some of the invitation clips smell a bit phony to me...;)
At the end of the day (gratuitous football cliche ole) I'm on the adidas side, if only because the badge adorned the shirts of Willie Miller and co on the greatest night in the history of football - May 11th 1983
Nike just havent earned it yet.
Another gem from the excellent trendwatching.com. true and correct.
sample: "Old economy fog is clearing: no longer can incompetence, below-par performance, ignored global standards, anti-social & anti-eco behavior, or opaque pricing be obscured. In its place has come a transparent, fully informed marketplace, where producers have no excuse left to underperform. TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY for some, TRANSPARENCY TRIUMPH for others."
full thing here
Loving David Peace's 'The Damned United'. Unputdownable is the phrase I believe.
Essentially a biog of the late great Brian Clough, famously the gratest manager England never had, in the form of a stream of conciousness from the mind of Cloughie
during his ill-fated 44 day stint as Leeds boss in the early 70s and reflections on his rise to the top in the decade that preceded. Dark and menacing in tone
it's is like a 'Heart of Darkness' in the world of football.
bonus: its on the 3 for 2 table, too.
