AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH. Your ego is getting in the way of legibility.

Dutch Colleague: We need to talk about your copywriting.

Me: What's wrong with the copy?

Dutch Colleague: This word is wrong... and this one... and this one.

Me: There's nothing wrong with it. (reading) It was written by an agency in the UK, I checked and corrected it, and had this checked by our boss... you know, the American one. He's approved this.

Dutch colleague: But shouldn't this word be in the past tense? I don't think it makes sense.

Me: Are you honestly asking me to correct my writing?

Dutch colleague: Well, I just want to know why you used this word instead of another one? It doesn't sound right.

Me: Is english your first language? Have you spoken it for the last 26 years and written it and earnt a business degree in it in the last, say 5 years?

Dutch colleague: umm...

Me: Right. I'll be at the coffee machine.

Gogh Crazy

sneaky picture taken by me inside the Van Gogh museum

After two years in Amsterdam, I finally made it to the Van Gogh Museum last Friday.

Initially I wanted to go because I had heard they have this special Friday night programme where bands and DJs play in the foyer.

I went with BFF Laura who who is an aspiring photographer and another friend, M, who is an animator. M has lived here all his life, and never been.

When I turned up a bit later than the others, I noticed the line was much shorter than I thought, but I got to skip it anyway because I have a Museum card (which gets me free entrance for any museum worth going to in the country for a one off purchase.)

We met inside at a one off exhibition they had created which was about Van Gogh's time in Antwerp and Paris. Then we went to get a drink, see the band, and then we went to the first floor where the normal gallery starts.

And we parted ways to explore...

An hour or so later, we met each other again downstairs and we were all visibly excited.

Each of us had never been because we all thought it was this over rated space that only tourists go to, but we all had the same eye-opening experience, on the same heightened level.

It was unanimous between us that Vincent Van Gogh was a genius.

We all had our favourite pieces, and favourite eras, but I was surprised to see that we all enjoyed it, and had the same sense of... enlightenment!

I only got to see the first floor and the basement, but I really need to go back and make an effort to see more of it next time.

Just do your job.

Forget the fact she wrote a hugely idealistic, overly commercial memoir that ends with finding her prince.... then sold the rights to the movie which was the biggest load of horse shit I have ever seen in my life....

The woman has a sense of humour, and I like the way she writes.

A nice little speech she gave at TED.

Songbird, you got tales to tell...

Somewhat torn between whether or not I am a creative, a project manager, or a strategist (I'm not bad at all three things, but not particularly excellent in any...), you might have guessed that I love ads. And communications. But mostly ads.

Commercial Art.

"Advertising is art with a deadline." ( And a lot of money and a lot of round table discussions to please a billion scared stakeholders.)

I live in Ad City. There are a LOT of ad agencies here, a lot of creatives, a lot of big brands, a lot of talent in the pool, a lot of blood sweat and tears, and possibly, a lot of lonely overworked people.It's a shame the industry doesn't like me, but that's another blog post.

Of course, like all things that aren't facts (physics, for example) ads are subjective. But the components of all good ads are well written (and then well executed) stories.

Human beings love a story. Helps them make sense of life (The Bible), helps them get distracted from reality (Entourage), helps them educate their society (Neolithic cave drawings).

I love stories. I am a story teller.

Here is one of my favourite ads, made by the creme de la creme of agencies in the world, Wieden + Kennedy (Amsterdam office)

And there are more tales to tell - besides the tv ad, Heineken also have a channel where you can get to know some of the characters a little better. View it here.

Here we go again

I live for the nights that I can’t remember,

with the people I won’t forget

spending all the money I just work my ass off

for doing things that I won't regret

"Show me a good time" - Drake

(Don't like the song, but the sentiment is spot on.)

Dilemma

What do you do when your day job is getting in the way of your ambition?

I eat my words.

**** Post Script to the last post I just wrote. *****

Apparently the answer is in here to the question "How to tell if a "dutch guy is interested." "

If you google it, this blog is one of two things that comes up.

And it leads to this old post.

But the answer isn't very good.

And I have no further insights.

I'm sorry for letting the team* down.

*The team being women everywhere around the world that might ever like a dutch guy. There would be a few of us on that team, I think.

I'm VERY sorry, the answer's not here. I wish it WAS.

I just did a google analytics report on this blog, just out of curiousity, where people are coming from, etc etc.

Then, I ran a report to see how people found this blog.

Here are a few keywords some people have been using:



Pay attention to the last key word search results:

I think it's hilarious that someone found this blog by using those key words. I didn't realise I had any content on here relevant to that topic.

I really don't mean to make an example out of whoever found this website using the keywords "How to tell if a "dutch guy is interested" " however, I have a message for this person.

If you had gone through the archives of this blog a little more, and gone through the history, you may discover that the answer is definitely not here.

And not likely to ever be here.

I am hopeless at that thing called dating. And even more so when it comes to dating dutch guys.

And, call me cynical but I don't think the answer to that is ever likely to be on the internet.

You'll have to work that one out yourself, like the rest of us.

However, when you do, feel free to drop me a comment, and tell us how you did it, and I'll publish it on here.

:)

Mystic Medusa

WEEKLY HOROSCOPES FROM JULY 2

GEMINI

Your ruling planet into Leo means snazz up, engage full powers of eloquence and hire a publicist/self-promo. Yes, it’s time. No more expecting not-exactly-quick-processing-peeps to gauge your brilliance unassisted. This applies to biz and romantic realms. Mars in your sign is also trining Saturn so your strategic brain is superb this week. Midweek serendipity enables you to solve an old mystery or turn angst to wisdom.



Thursday 7 July 2011
Eros, god of love, moves into Taurus today, soothing the rough edges, easing stress and techy vibes so that all is well. More than well. All is a sensual delight. Immerse yourself in your favourite form of bliss and remember to appreciate the heck out of it.
GEMINI: Sudden $$$ genius or even an offer hits by the weekend. This could be like a micro-idea of a bargain or saving OR something major. Whatever, be on high alert for it. Friday and Saturday are super-sensual but it’s a wild energy, channel it with Gemini verve and dexterity. Even cunning.


Wednesday 6 July 2011
Mars trine Saturn supports solid, steady and well planned action. It stabilizes the erratic path of Mars in Gemini and allows you to make progress that doesn’t need too much revision. The key is to know where you really want to go. Point your feet in the direction of your smile.
GEMINI: Advance warning now that you’ve got a three week Mercury Retrograde in your Comms Sector from July 15. Get your vital signatures done before then or leave till August. You are, however, about to get a really good $$$ breakthrough bit of luck or inspiration.





By Mystic Medusa

Bring it. Just bring it.

I wrote a short piece on one of my friends who is an artist, with his permission, and submitted it to a great arts and trends blog that has decent exposure in NYC and in Austalia.

I love his stuff and think he is exceptionally talented. And a super nice guy.

The blog, Lost in E Minor, picked up my piece and published it late on Sunday night (my time) about 8 hours after I wrote it. (Australian morning.)

Then they tweeted it. To over 10,000 followers.

I tweeted it. To about 150 followers.

Then I told my friend and he put it on his facebook page. ( His art page and his personal page, and he credited me in his foreword, which also drove traffic to my newly updated blog project.)

Then he tweeted it, and then the blog retweeted his tweet to the same 10,000 followers.

Then I put it on my facebook page.

Then his/our friends started to spread the link on facebook.

The friends of our friends picked it up on facebook and share it and one of them works for the Amsterdam city council marketing department, I amsterdam, who are by the way, a phenomenal brand in their own right, especially in the field of social media.

(As a marketer and a consumer and someone who lives in the city, I enjoy their campaigns, and reading their website for what's on (it's also very user friendly) and enjoy interacting with them on facebook and twitter and the like.)

I amsterdam put it on their facebook wall infront of their 25,000 fans.

Call it serendipity, call it synchronicity, call it the power of social media. Whatever you want to call it, I don't care.

The Universe is providing.

The Lost in E Minor blog then agreed to let me write for them regularly for the love, glory and exposure.

Then my phone rang. It was a creative production house called Yellow Submarine, in Amsterdam. They heard about me through someone and they asked me if I would be interested in freelance writing for their regular company newsletters, FOR MONEY.

Of course I am interested!!

Then I got an email saying that a short piece I wrote and submitted for Lomography Magazine is going to be published on July 24th.

O-M-G: It’s all happening.

I just got back from Australia about 2 weeks ago.

Before I left, I told my friend Amber that I was on the brink of something, something that felt good, something that felt real and something that felt right.

I think this is the something.

I am, in a word, floating.

Village to village

I think the Universe is trying to tell me something. I think it's trying to tell me that I belong in a Village.

Villages that start with the letter "A".

How is it I can move to the other side of the world, pretty much unassisted and have no qualms about it, but the thought of moving to Sydney freaks me out because of it's apparent pace, price and pretention?

Meanwhile, you can't swing a bike light in this town without seeing someone who looks kind of interesting ONCE and then running into them online or in person and then figuring out where they fit into the fold.

Careful what you wish for...

For Dennis

"The Trumpet" by Dennis Dietrich - Oil on Canvas (2011),

owned by me

Dennis, I know you may read this one day since you discovered my blog today after searching for about 2.5 seconds on the internet.

I am really proud to own one of your paintings and actually, so happy to have the chance to see all of your (ground breaking, amazing) work, and love that I can call you a friend.

Proost! xo

Little document, massive importance

Aaaaaah, the passport.

I keep mine in the same place in my apartment, regardless of how disorganised I may be with the rest of my life.

Last night I went to dinner at my friend Adam's place, and after about five minutes of sitting at his dining room table I noticed his passport on the ground. When I handed it to him he kind of casually tossed it aside somewhere.

I alway remember when I lived in Australia, I always booked travel and thought of my passport as an after thought. Usually it was expired, and I had to pay the exorbitant rush fee to have to reinstated within the time frame of which I needed it to go travel. I could probably name about 3 people I know that have had to do the same thing.

Day to day life just didn't require having to know where it is, how old it is, and how full it is.

Here, in Europe, I am always reaching for the thing to prove my identity - in fact, I know the number off by heart and all the issuing details.

It's much for the same for everyone I know here. I am pretty sure everyone I know would know exactly where theirs was if I rang them right now.

It's just another way life differs here - with intercountry travel being so easy and at for some people, a daily thing (my old boss commutes from Amsterdam to Brussels 2-3 times a week), toting that little booklet is just like carrying a bank card or packet of cigarettes.

I could probably safely say I could let mine gather dust as soon as I went back home.