I rarely get passionate about books, but seriously, this is the best book I’ve ever read. I bought it in Singapore back in 2008 not really knowing what it was about, only that I’d read Friedman’s columns in the New York Times and enjoyed his punchy style. Stupidly I let it sit on my shelf for almost two years – wish I hadn’t.

It’s incredible.

If you’ve ever been curious about how the world works, you’ll enjoy this. He uses globalization and the technology revolution (computing, the internet, web 2.0) as a springboard to weave together, politics, economics, business, the environment, religion, cultures, societies and people. Sure, most of, if not all these things you might be familiar with, but it’s the way he pulls them all together into focus and connects the dots which is amazing. With these dots connected – an overview at the state of the world today – he then dives into highlighting the trends that are paving way for our future. There’s no sugar coating here either, if you want some happy bed-time reading, this isn’t the book for you.

This book’s energy will force sceptics to recognize that a world in which the cost of communications is falling towards zero and billions of people are trying to participate in the market economy is unprecedented.

Martin Wolf, Financial Times

Friedman has unequalled access to the people and situations that currently drive history.. he brings home the speed, closeness, complexity and deep mutual engagement of the world economy by relating in detail a plethora of truly amazing facts about how it works… riveting.

A. C. Grayling, Independent on Sunday

In short, billions of people are joining the middle class (China, India, Russia). Energy demands will keep going up exacerbating geo-politics. Competition for jobs will keep going up. Outsourcing and hence the commoditization of jobs and skills will continue. Job stability will decrease. Everything will be more expensive. Everything will be harder, less secure, less certain. Basically, this book is screaming out to all of us to compete, work harder, innovate, imagine. We’ve got to ‘dig inside ourselves’.

The ideal country in a flat world is the one with no natural resources, because countries with no natural resources tend to dig inside themselves. They try to tap the energy, entrepreneurship, creativity and intelligence of their own people – men and women – rather than drill in an oil well.

And if you think you work hard because you stayed back last week an hour or two at work without overtime, then think again. There are billions from India and China that are willing to do ten times more than us for the opportunities and lifestyle we have.

This quote really sums it up:

Remember in China when you are one in a million – there are thirteen hundred other people just like you.

Read it, it’ll make you see things in a new way.

A great post on the value of design. This quote in particular stood out to me:

“When your product is commoditized, you have to change the rules of the game. Unless you can really compete on price you better find another way to differentiate yourself. That other way is design.”

Their tips, summarised:

1. Don’t start with a blank page – Use templates instead.
2. Be Dynamic – Add video, interactivity and other flashy things.
3. Search engine optimisation – Pepper your site with keywords.

Viola! A very awesome crap site.

jasonn.

Simple huh?

The flipside of having such a generic username is the copious amounts of spam I get and misdirected emails. I once even got access to someone’s myspace page (I assume they mistyped their email address when registering).

Usually I find myself registered with strange newsletters, sent emails about group outings or even sent receipts from purchases I never made. I try to discern between the ones truly misdirected and those that are spammers trying to covertly get me to reply. I have to admit, they’re getting pretty creative with their hooks.

Then I got this:

Spam or real? I don’t think I’ll be inviting her to chat.

Chuck! My new favourite show. It’s lighthearted (and farfetched) fun. Complete escapism for a Thursday night on foxtel.

Of course, HIMYM. The greatest show ever! It’s into season 5 and has only gotten better and better.

Or one.

I saw Up tonight. One of Pixar’s best films so far.

There was a surreal silence during certain moments. It was almost profound, as if you could sense the film speaking to every single heart sitting there.

Up is a film about innocence, youth, our dreams, goals and aspirations. The obstacles life throws in the way of those dreams and how our lives skew unexpectedly off course.

It touched on the idea that sometimes our greatest adventures aren’t the grand gestures we imagine would radically change our lives, but rather take a more subtle form. Emerging slowly, through an almost unnoticeable culmination of average days – Seemingly invisible on a micro level, only apparent in retrospect.

The moments where the main character Carl reflects on his life – what he wanted to do with it compared to what he actually did do are the real heart of the film. That’s where those profound, resonating moments with the audience really stood out.

Definitely worth seeing.

Recently I’ve been checking out photography. If there’s a couple of things I’ve learnt it’d be this (in order of significance):

1. Focus on the artform – shooting, composition, developing an ‘eye’.




2. Lenses – When buying a camera it’s all about the lens system. Decide which brand lenses you like and design an upgrade path that suits your finances/creative needs.




3. Body – For a beginner that just wants to take good photos, any DSLR is a big step up from a point and shoot. Advanced features like HD video, 11 point AF and ISO 12800 are moot.

Despite knowing this, before I splash out the cash I continually ask myself if I’m seeing the big picture (pun intended) – lest be doomed to buying a highly advanced paperweight.

Randomly saw this yesterday and went in not expecting much. It wasn’t a typical, pee your pants kind of funny movie. There was something refreshing about the way it played out and I appreciated the sobered, subtle, ‘real’ feeling. I can totally relate to a person like Ira, a very believable rendition of an average guy trying to make something of himself. I enjoyed the relationship between Ira and his idol, George – contrasting in many ways, balancing each other out.

Oh and there’s some pretty funny jokes too.

Go see it.

Sketchbook - A collection of scans from my sketchbook.
How To - An ongoing series on how to draw and paint.
Random - For everything else.