10 Ruble Russian Coin featuring cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (Photo by Mike)

Today is “Day of the Soviet Space Program (Cosmonautics)” for Russians – a day to remember the cosmonaut and national hero Yuri Gagarin, who on April 12, fifty years ago, was blasted into orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

His famous quote, and [...]]]>

10 Ruble Russian Coin featuring cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (Photo by Mike)

Today is “Day of the Soviet Space Program (Cosmonautics)” for Russians – a day to remember the cosmonaut and national hero Yuri Gagarin, who on April 12, fifty years ago, was blasted into orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

His famous quote, and a good one to say when you are toasting your Russian friends over some vodkas is “Поехали!” (Paya hellei – Let’s go!).

I would encourage you to check out some video and articles that explore the first orbit by Gagarin and the Soviet/Russian space program – some recommendations follow.

Watch:

“First Orbit” real-time video recreation (uses HD international space station footage and original audio)

http://youtu.be/RKs6ikmrLgg

Read:

Article on Star City (Soviet / Russian Space Program Headquarters) at Russia! Magazine. First link is to web site, second is to actual magazine spreads using the Issue viewer (worthwhile to see some Laika – the space dog – cartoons).

http://readrussia.com/magazine/winter-2008/00044/
http://issuu.com/russiamagazine/docs/russia__magazine

Article on Star City at Wired Magazine

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-09/ff_starcity

I just saw the singer [...]]]> The opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup is taking place right now, and it’s reminiscent of the large-scale ceremonies I remember from the Vancouver and Beijing games. The stadium is ginormous and hundreds of Africans, primarily women, are performing synchronized dancing as performers do songs blended together in medleys.

I just saw the singer of a classic Ghanaian group called Osibisa perform “Sunshine Day.” I still remember this first time I heard that incredible positive funky rock song. It reminded me of the anthem quality in the positive rock/reggae crossover songs by Bob Marley. One of the astonishing images from the first part of the ceremony was the giant patchwork quilt that spread out on the floor of the stadium – in the shape of the African continent. And then slowly the other continents slowly formed around Africa as the participants roamed the floor. The quilt was a beautiful metaphor and a stunning visual. Watch for it in highlights on TV and video.

One of the amazing things that I just discovered is that K’Naan’s “Wavin’ Flag” is apparently NOT an official song for the World Cup. I think the Canadian media and World Cup sponsor Coca Cola have slid this in by the backdoor. In fact, if you look at the Wikipedia page and read some news stories on World Cup music, you’ll discover that the official song is called “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” and it will be performed by Colombia’s Shakira, with a South African group called Freshlyground at the closing ceremony. Even the official “anthem” is by R. Kelly.

Interesting. Seems somehow the hype machine of both Coca-Cola and the music business have blended fact and fiction, and as is very common these days —  often a commercial branding initiative with TV commercials and catchy music will blend the line between culture and commerce. Have we been duped? Or are we just dumb consumers? Many reputable publications, including Exclaim Magazine, and the NME from Britain, misreported this story.

I really like K’Naan’s “Wavin’ Flag,” and I had the pleasure of teaching it to a group of LINC ESL students a week ago. It really is an amazing song – capturing a certain momentum that K’Naan has been building for the last few years. I downloaded “Soapbox” and a half dozen other songs from eMusic about 3 years ago. The kid from the rugged Somalian capital Mogadishu whose family now calls Toronto home, has crafted a truly epic, anthemic song. the song however is Coke’s official song, and I’ve just witnessed it in the background of commercial spot on the CBC broadcast.

I have to admit I’m mildly disappointed. YouTube has a video labelled “Official World Cup theme song” and the buzz has all been building toward K’Naan = World Cup 2010. I thought it was a great fit. Apparently, Coca Cola did too but even asked K’Naan to modify his lyrics, which they found to be dark and dour (and which I celebrated as an echo of the beautiful but plain-spoken lyrics of Bob Marley, see “Buffalo Soldier” which K’Naan references in his song).

This is the latest from Exclaim‘s website (other sites including Dose are reporting this too so hopefully it’s factual):

In a recent interview with Billboard, it was revealed that before the song could be used by the soft drink giant, Coke asked K’naan to rewrite the lyrics, which called Somalia “a violent prone, poor people zone,” referring to its people “struggling, fighting to eat.” K’naan complied, and in the interview, defended his choice before anyone could cry “sellout.”

“I saw it as an opportunity to reach more people,” he said. “I don’t work for Coke or anything; what I do is my music. This was a really great opportunity for them to use my song, without compromising my integrity as a musician. This is what I write, these are the songs I make. I’m happy about it.”

What about the games and the sport you ask?

Well, as you may know this blog is about people, culture, language and arts. So, in short, I am not a huge soccer fan, but I will tune in to a few World Cup games. Like most things in my life these days, I’d rather play and participate than watch. As a spectator I hope to catch some of the magic of South Africa, from the people to the music to the other aspects of African culture which hopefully will shine and benefit from this spectacle.I with the people of South Africa well and hope this World Cup is truly on the positive side of the boon/bust ledger. I also hope the platinum selling “Wavin’ Flag” will be a boon to K’Naan and remain an inspiration and beacon of hope, and not just a mass-marketed jingle for a soft drink multinational.

Recommended Viewing:

Look up the CBC “Q” video on YouTube for an excellent acoustic “unplugged” style rendition of K’naan performing “Wavin’ Flag.”

The Contact Photography Festival just passed and my blog’s Google rank was higher than EYE weekly magazine and both the Facebook page for the fest and a page in Yahoo Business. [...]]]> Can my site rank higher than Facebook and Yahoo? Yes, in the right circumstances, and with a terrifically crafted post on a specific subject.

The Contact Photography Festival just passed and my blog’s Google rank was higher than EYE weekly magazine and both the Facebook page for the fest and a page in Yahoo Business. The Google result for “Contact Photography Festival” placed me on the third page of results (out of millions) and confirmed to me that my online marketing strategies are paying off.

People do come to my site, read my articles and check out my videos. The question is: “How to convert that into something tangible”? You’ll also note that my blog contains no advertising of any sort, so some might ask the more elementary question “Why blog?”

It’s interesting to mull the answers and talk about what motivates me and how I’m marketing myself on the WWW.

Motivations to Blog

First of all I am an expressive person and I’ve always liked writing. Designing a blog was fun and graphic design is my main focus, but I’m interesting in reaching a wide audience and exposing people to interesting people, places, and events, and engaging people in issues I care about. If you check out my site, you’ll see I have postings on a variety of topics but they fall mainly under these 10 categories: art, design, Toronto, film, books, blogging, WordPress, education, school, workshops etc. I write about what I know and what I’m interested in.

Recently I had an interesting experience while taking an informational interview with a design industry person many years my junior. After I introduced myself and my wide background of work, the designer took a deep breath and offered up this comment: “I think you have to ask yourself, ‘Do you want to express yourself or do you want to communicate?’” Later I had a chance to mull it over. I realized that I was doing both. I understand how communication works in the digital age and I’ve capitalized on it — and I express myself through my art and my blog (and other sites).

Represent Yourself – Online Identity and Branding

“Whether you realize it or not, you have an online “brand,” too. Do you have a Facebook or MySpace account? Do you comment on blogs? Have you tried out Twitter? When you post content, engage others or share information about yourself on the Web, you are creating a unique identity—branding yourself, in a sense.”

- Patti Church / Whyhire.me

In an article in Career Options magazine, which is targeted toward Canadian college students, Ms. Church describes trends in branding and marketing and puts forth the argument that we all need to fine tune our online brands, because if we don’t, others will do it for us. She quotes the amazing statistic that a giant majority of employers will google a job seeker, and often they find publicly accessible web pages, such as Facebook, Google or blogs and forums. Read Patti’s terrific article at: http://careeroptionsmagazine.com/creating-your-online-brand/

In “The Long Tail,” one of the more interesting business books of the last decade, Chris Anderson of Wired Magazine analyzes trends related to business and the rise of the collaborative community-based Internet. There are two things he writes about which I find relevant and interesting. One, products are increasingly being made and distributed by prosumers (yes – it implies a combination of professional /producer and consumer) — regular folks who take it upon themselves to avail themselves of some semi-professional gear and produce hi-quality art, music, books and utilize the digital tools of our age to get their message out. An important chapter takes a look at the “Democratization of the tools of Production.” Anyone today can develop their own product and marketing materials – and online aggregators like Amazon and  iTunes allow us to pitch our product to the whole world. Two, a smart person can develop what might be called “traction” or “cachet” – a certain respect and professional prestige which, if it doesn’t directly earn money (and it can if you publish a book for instance), can indirectly boost your career by opening up opportunities to you in your industry. Some speaking engagements might be non-paying but that presentation, like the blog entry, impresses upon your peers that you have a valuable contribution to make. Convert your reputation, in other words, into professionally-related reward.

You are a product, a brand. What are you doing to promote yourself? Are you pro-actively managing your online identity? If you build a website or blog, Google will find it and rush your personal page to the top of the results page. this ensures you present the most professional side of yourself when the world comes calling through digital age channels.

Build it and They Will Come

If you put a modicum of time and energy into a blog you shall reap some reward. If you pay attention to certain practises and principles then it should bring you traffic and reach a lot of people. I have some basic recommendations and they can all easily fit into a summary I could just describe as “Google-ize” yourself. Are your meta tags tweaked? Do you even know what I’m talking about? Here are some tips to help you get going.

Google / Search Engines – Make sure you update your site frequently, use relevant keywords in your headings and page titles, and always be sure to add media to your posts and pages. I am convinced that much of my success has come from exploiting tools like Google Maps, YouTube, social media websites etc – in part to diversify the kinds of content on my site, and also to simply provide links back to my content. Your site probably has the ability to put “meta tags” into the source code – meta tags includes areas like “description” and “keywords” – this helps search engines understand your site and what it’s all about.

Overall there is probably no substitute for good craft – take some time for design and write well. Or hire someone like me to get the job done.

Thanks for reading!

Mike

mike | strongandfree.ca

Michael Redhill is a Toronto-based author and publisher. He has taught at the University of Toronto, where he is also presently the “Writer in Residence.” A few years ago, I was fortunate to have him as my instructor for a Creative Writing (Poetry) course. He has written a [...]]]>

Toronto author and publisher Michael Redhill

Michael Redhill is a Toronto-based author and publisher. He has taught at the University of Toronto, where he is also presently the “Writer in Residence.” A few years ago, I was fortunate to have him as my instructor for a Creative Writing (Poetry) course. He has written a number of award-winning poetry collections, plays and novels. His most recent novel is called “Consolation.” He publishes “Brick,” a literary journal.

We discussed his work and the work of other writers, artist and musicians, the CN Tower, Ottawa, culture, identity and nationality, and his time spent living in Paris. I talked to Michael at the Only Cafe over a latte in late February 2010.

Michael will be reading on Tuesday, March 30, 2010, from 4:15 PM to 6:00 PM at Massey College, U of T.

Thanks for meeting and chatting Michael!

Enjoy the interview.

Links:

University of Toronto – Biography

Brick Literary Journal

Quill and Quire article (circa 2001, when his acclaimed first novel “Martin Sloane” was published)

I’ve been involved with publishing and DIY enterprise for a long time— almost two decades! A colleague recently scanned some negatives and I thought I’d share a cool photo with you.

This was my first apartment in Toronto, circa 1990, and [...]]]>

Mike and "Driver 8" magazine - Hot off the Press! Photo by Ian Robertson

I’ve been involved with publishing and DIY enterprise for a long time— almost two decades! A colleague recently scanned some negatives and I thought I’d share a cool photo with you.

This was my first apartment in Toronto, circa 1990, and a group of Ajax friends had convened a weekly artists group that discussed art and politics, and one of the products of our meetings was the idea to create a magazine.

“Driver 8″ was photocopied at Kinko’s and mostly distributed via friends and contributors. It was my first effort at a literary zine, after spending my teenage years doing punk-oriented zines (and interviewing legends like Henry Rollins, Ian Mackaye / Fugazi / All / Dougboys and many more).

Many thanks to main collaborator and photographer Ian Robertson!

Today I fired up Google Chrome and saw the Olympic graphic (or “doodle”) Google created for their homepage. (It’s pictured at the end of this article). The image is subtle and appealing. It doesn’t even [...]]]> The branding and identity work for the Olympics features some stunning illustration. Kudos to the Vancouver Olympic committee!

Today I fired up Google Chrome and saw the Olympic graphic (or “doodle”) Google created for their homepage. (It’s pictured at the end of this article). The image is subtle and appealing. It doesn’t even use the color scheme that the Vancouver Games have been using – relying instead on a range of subtle blues punctuated by a dull orange flame. On the other hand, I’m fed up already with the punishing barrage of TV commercials from CTV, McDonalds, HBC, and the dozens of other companies that have jumped on the back of the Olympics in an effort to increase their brand appeal.

Perhaps you have seen the amazing illustrations that were created for the games. I didn’t know much about who created these icons and images until I picked up a couple of magazines recently – Applied Arts, and How Magazine – both of which feature articles on the talented people behind the look of the 2010 Olympic graphics. A Vancouver company called Karacters Design Group consulted on the project but the work was done in-house by the Vancouver Olympic Committee. The key designer on the VOC project, Leo Obstbaum, apparently passed away in the summer of 2009.

Google Doodle for Vancouver 2010 by artist Dennis Hwang

Links:

How Magazine article on Olympic Design Process

http://www.howdesign.com/article/winterolympics/

Yesterday, the Metro newspaper ran a column by Julie Dimon, the resident ‘Travel Junkie,’ about the infamous Chernobyl nuclear site in Ukraine. It’s a pretty odd place to travel and reading the article reminded me about my first exposure to Chernobyl (forgive the pun) about a year ago, [...]]]>

Ferris wheel in Chernobyl amusement park

Yesterday, the Metro newspaper ran a column by Julie Dimon, the resident ‘Travel Junkie,’ about the infamous Chernobyl nuclear site in Ukraine. It’s a pretty odd place to travel and reading the article reminded me about my first exposure to Chernobyl (forgive the pun) about a year ago, via the magic of moving pictures.

I was on a mad documentaries kick and my local video store, Big Daddy’s, has a killer supply. One that caught my eye was the “Vice Guide to Travel.” It’s a simple DVD with a relatively short running time, but man, is it ever INSANE. In the Metro column, Julie is pictured holding a Geiger counter, a device to measure radioactivity. In the Vice video, the editor Shane Smith walks about and shows how extreme the counts are: held aloft the counts are dangerous, but when the meter is placed at ground level, even with snow cover, the numbers go ballistic! — thousands of times the recommended ‘safe’ or ‘acceptable’ level of exposure. Shane and company protect themselves with a heavy dose of vodka and later get outfitted with AK-47s to ‘hunt’ the wild mutated boars that roam the abandoned town.

The DVD follows the editors, and ‘special guests’ such as video jock Spike Jonze and ”Jackass” actor Johnny Knoxville, as they venture to exotic-extreme places most of us will never visit, nor have any desire to get anywhere near, including: Chernobyl, Pakistan’s Khyber Pass, Bulgaria, Palestine, Paraguay, and the Congo.
 
The subject matter of the Ukraine chapter is timely and relevant, since we live in a day and age where Germany, a leading industrial nation is moving toward a completely nuclear power-free society, and the age of ‘peak oil’ is approaching, which will push us toward increased debate about nuclear energy and the alternatives. If you are familiar with Vice magazine then I do not need to caution that the content can at times be a little juvenile and offensive. The DVD is highly worthy of a download or rental.

Vice Chernobyl video
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1gin2_vice-travel-chernobyl-ukraine_shortfilms

Julia Dimon’s Metro article
www.metronews.ca/halifax/comment/article/163236

Photo slideshow of Chernobyl aftermath 
http://todayspictures.slate.com/inmotion/essay_chernobyl/

I have been a freak for magazines for a long, long time. My love for mags is varied: I’ve been a subscriber to high-brow magazines like Walrus and when I was in my twenties I couldn’t get enough of Big Brother (the skateboard magazine that also birthed [...]]]>

Martin Wong and Eric Nakamura of Giant Robot magazine

I have been a freak for magazines for a long, long time. My love for mags is varied: I’ve been a subscriber to high-brow magazines like Walrus and when I was in my twenties I couldn’t get enough of Big Brother (the skateboard magazine that also birthed crazy ‘reality TV’ like Jackass). These days I’ve sought out some unusual or lesser-known items on the newstand: Toronto’s Spacing magazine, a seemingly defunct mag called ‘Russia!’ and this amazing ‘zine’ called “Giant Robot,” which has really captured my imagination. It’s done that rare thing – which is engage me and stoke my imagination about things I really don’t care about. Yes, you heard me right. It’s like what I used to tell people about reading GQ or Esquire. The writing was so great that you can read about people or topics which are novel or normally not of interest, and be totally into it.

So it’s a compliment to the founders, Martin Wong and Eric Nakamura, two Asian-American guys with business savvy and a love for quirky pop-culture, that they have created something that appeals to me so much. The recent issue had, for example, articles about homelessness in Japan, grind-core metal bands, and the varied uses of bamboo in art and fashion. The ads are for plastic toys like the ‘Ugly Dolls’ and video games that I’ve never heard of and I’m likely never to play – but it’s all so cool and FRESH.

Funky fanzine fun. Check out the magazine and this interview with Eric and Martin in the NY Times:

http://www.giantrobot.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/05/arts/design/05GIAN.html?8hpib