July 31, 2007
July 30, 2007
July 27, 2007
We do not meet on Monday mornings because - III
Oh! Here's a masthead, or so it seems, for the new Monday Morning Meeting newsletter. [Would it have said more if the second line were a payoff in smaller font, closer to the first line? What? Shhh? Ok. Shhh. We'll put off the debate for later and not spoil the moment... or you'll shoot us.]
Two more below.
Two more below.
We do not meet on Monday mornings because - II
Perhaps this one is trying to tell us that it's hard to tell, or not just right to talk about, or "I won't tell you". What do you think?
We do not meet on Monday mornings because - I
Today, everybody got mail asking them to list out the reasons why the Monday Morning Meeting has not been held in a long while. They were told they could be as witty as they want to be. Here's the first salvo.
1. We are too lazy to walk up to the conference room... which is a tiring 20 steps away.
2. We usually sleep walk into the office. By the time we wake up fully, it's Tuesday!
3. We are flogged to work the moment we step in by They Who Must Not Be Named.
4. We are so drunk on Sunday that by the time, the hangover goes... it's time to get drunk again.
5. We are bunch of workaholics and don't let unproductive things like a Monday Morning Meeting to get in our way.
6. We get a nervous breakdown, just thinking about who'd win the sword this week.
7. The computer gets a virus every Monday... because we leave it outside every Sunday.
8. The smell from the toilet knocks out cold anyone venturing near the conference room.
9. The meeting was called off permanently after the organizers of the meeting started getting life threatening calls from other creative people on not winning the Sword.
10. The room has been banned by the upper authority. Apparently, the room had to be quarantined after all the creative people got together last.
11. There’s a secret camera inside the room (which we are yet to locate).
12. We are a bunch of innocent people who don't want to handle dangerous things like swords... lest we end up murdering someone...
13. It is a conspiracy by our seniors, to make us write this awful list.
More as they come in.
1. We are too lazy to walk up to the conference room... which is a tiring 20 steps away.
2. We usually sleep walk into the office. By the time we wake up fully, it's Tuesday!
3. We are flogged to work the moment we step in by They Who Must Not Be Named.
4. We are so drunk on Sunday that by the time, the hangover goes... it's time to get drunk again.
5. We are bunch of workaholics and don't let unproductive things like a Monday Morning Meeting to get in our way.
6. We get a nervous breakdown, just thinking about who'd win the sword this week.
7. The computer gets a virus every Monday... because we leave it outside every Sunday.
8. The smell from the toilet knocks out cold anyone venturing near the conference room.
9. The meeting was called off permanently after the organizers of the meeting started getting life threatening calls from other creative people on not winning the Sword.
10. The room has been banned by the upper authority. Apparently, the room had to be quarantined after all the creative people got together last.
11. There’s a secret camera inside the room (which we are yet to locate).
12. We are a bunch of innocent people who don't want to handle dangerous things like swords... lest we end up murdering someone...
13. It is a conspiracy by our seniors, to make us write this awful list.
More as they come in.
Budweiser, I Swear!
Swearing is bad taste. But after watching this Budweiser commercial you might disagree.
F***!
F***!
July 26, 2007
July 18, 2007
Turning One!
Yuvaraj's baby turned one last Sunday. And he threw a party at SSE Mahal. That's Taranraj in his suit. Only Jaideep and Ramya could attend the function among the Mo crowd.
A belated Happy Birthday Taran!
July 16, 2007
Blue and Glue
Blue: “Boy! Cannes comes to Chennai again. Grey worldwide won silver in the press category.”
Glue: “Ah, but awards don’t matter, do they? They’re such a bother.”
Blue is stumped. But plays up.
Blue: “Couldn’t agree more. They just bring you a lot of publicity… and new business and queues outside your door of those poor hopefuls who want to join you. What a bother… who’d want that?”
Blue feigns horror and eyes Glue on whom the irony is lost.
Glue: “Whew! Who’d want that?”
Blue: (Playing up again) “Right! Who’d want any of that?”
Glue: “And the ad that won… No logo, no copy, no nothing. Just a pair of hands with that goop on them. And they call it an ad! What are we coming to Blue!”
Blue rolls his eyes. And again the irony is lost on Glue.
Blue: (Playing up for the last time) “Doom! You need a lead-in, a headline, a sub-head, a visual, body copy, an address, phone number, a URL and of course a logo on the top right corner… That’s an ad. Not this one!”
The one above is the press ad that won at Cannes - promoting Travel Corporation India's Honeymoon Packages.
July 06, 2007
Scott Adams – How To Be Creative
People often ask me how I come up with ideas. The fast answer is I’m just wired that way. But there’s also a large element of technique that I can teach you.
Once I have a topic that makes me feel something, I imagine myself as the reader and ask what my thought pattern would be on this topic. I start my writing process by acknowledging the most common view on the topic. And then I violate it. It’s the violating that makes it fun. The pattern looks like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, taupe.
I’ll give you an example from today. I saw an article in Time magazine about General Petraeus, the top military guy in Iraq. I skimmed the article, but a basic assumption was that he knows more about what’s happening in Iraq than you do. That seems obvious enough. And it made me think of all the comments on this blog from people who said our soldiers in Iraq know than anyone else more about how the war is going.
That’s the 1,2,3,4 part: Soldiers in Iraq know the most about the war effort in Iraq. It seems obvious. Okay, so that’s my topic. Here comes the creative part. I ask myself this question:
What if it’s the opposite?
That’s the universal creative question. It works on any topic. What if your doctor tried to kill you instead of heal you? What if your obedient dog considered you his slave? What if your H.R. director stopped pretending the company policies were designed with the greater good in mind?
Once I figure out the opposite position from the normal, I concoct an argument to defend it. You can make a case for just about any point of view. When that opposite argument turns out to be about 50% sensible, it’s often funny. When it is 90% sensible, it’s thought provoking.
Let’s try the “opposite method” on this Iraq topic. What if the troops fighting in Iraq are the ones who know the LEAST about whether or not we’re winning the war? Could I make that case? Tada!
You can read the complete post here.
Once I have a topic that makes me feel something, I imagine myself as the reader and ask what my thought pattern would be on this topic. I start my writing process by acknowledging the most common view on the topic. And then I violate it. It’s the violating that makes it fun. The pattern looks like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, taupe.
I’ll give you an example from today. I saw an article in Time magazine about General Petraeus, the top military guy in Iraq. I skimmed the article, but a basic assumption was that he knows more about what’s happening in Iraq than you do. That seems obvious enough. And it made me think of all the comments on this blog from people who said our soldiers in Iraq know than anyone else more about how the war is going.
That’s the 1,2,3,4 part: Soldiers in Iraq know the most about the war effort in Iraq. It seems obvious. Okay, so that’s my topic. Here comes the creative part. I ask myself this question:
What if it’s the opposite?
That’s the universal creative question. It works on any topic. What if your doctor tried to kill you instead of heal you? What if your obedient dog considered you his slave? What if your H.R. director stopped pretending the company policies were designed with the greater good in mind?
Once I figure out the opposite position from the normal, I concoct an argument to defend it. You can make a case for just about any point of view. When that opposite argument turns out to be about 50% sensible, it’s often funny. When it is 90% sensible, it’s thought provoking.
Let’s try the “opposite method” on this Iraq topic. What if the troops fighting in Iraq are the ones who know the LEAST about whether or not we’re winning the war? Could I make that case? Tada!
You can read the complete post here.
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