Establishment Lapdog Media vs. Edward Snowden

No comment... 

I've written about this sort of thing for more than a decade....

Musicians! No Long Intros and Titles on Your Promotional Videos

"Brevity is the soul of wit" - William Shakespeare (From "Hamlet")

Just a short message for my musician friends: Please! Do not put long intros and text at the start of your videos on Youtube!

Why?

Think about it:

1) People clicked your video because they either searched for you or saw a short description and thumbnail image... They want to see your image and music immediately. They don't want to sit through introductions that are longer than a few seconds.

2) Youtube already makes people sit through a 5 to 20 second commercial as it is. Just that causes people to click off your video. Don't make us wait even longer.

3) This is the deal-breaker. Even if someone likes your video, do you think that viewers want to sit through another long introduction on their second, and subsequent views? No. They don't.

Think about it. Do you like long text intros on anything? If people want text intros, they'll read a book... 

So keep this in mind: "Brevity is the soul of wit." People do not need intros longer than 3 ~ 6 seconds on Youtube. For the reasons stated above AND it already says your band name under your video on the page!

You want lots of views? Cut those intros out!

Ahem... 

To give you guys and marketeers a good example, I recently found a band from Germany that I love and think might be going places. Their name is The Merrybeats. They only have a couple of videos so I want to use theirs as an example (and a good way to promote them at the same time).

I wrote to Don Cire, the vocalist of the band and told him the above. I expect he will take it to heart and make the intros shorter (3 seconds? None?) for the next videos! This band deserves lots of plays!

Here is one of their videos. This is a delightful song that, once you get to it, I'm sure you'll enjoy... The only problem is that the text credits at the start are 22 seconds long! Yikes!

Pandora's Promise! Huge Buzz about New Film Concerning Nuclear Power!

This film was chosen for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Festival is, as you may know, famous for premiering films that have had a decidedly anti-establishment and left-leaning attitude so for this movie to be chosen is a real jaw-dropper.

Here's some quotes of reviews:

"When was the last time you saw a documentary that fundamentally changed the way you think?"

"The most important movie about the environment since 'An Inconvenient Truth'" 

There's a very interesting premise in this movie. I want to see it when it comes out and hope it is released on Youtube quickly...

The only thing I do want to say is that, I don't believe in the theory of AGW, and so, if that's the premise of needed nuclear power, then I think it might be wrong... I do, though, believe that we have a lot of people on this earth who need to eat, live and have security. Wars over oil and resources are occurring more and more often. I do believe that we need to think about finding a way to safely use nuclear power. Thorium perhaps? Please refer to: Japan (and America's) Nuclear Future in Thorium 

(If that link doesn't work, try this: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/2012/05/japan-and-americas-nuclear-future-in.html)

Skepticism and an open mind are very good and healthy things! 

Vegetable Stands - A Microcosm of Why Japan is Such a Great Place to Live

I'd like to show you a little something about Japan that is just a little slice of the entire picture of why Japan and Japanese society are much better off than the USA and other western nations.

This one little episode speaks volumes about the people in Japan. Of course, people in serious denial will take this as an attack on the USA. But no. I won't say anything about that. I will merely link to an article that was written by an American and posted at Zerohedge. Read this photo blog and then go read the Zerohedge article. Draw your own conclusions.

But first, some details. 

There is a small farm near my house in Setagaya. Setagaya is a ward of Tokyo. This particular farm isn't 15 minutes away from the world famous Shibuya station in Tokyo. Shibuya is the city that is famous for fashions, things to do and places to eat. It is also the home of the awesome Shibuya crossing that everyone who comes to Japan visits at least once.

More details and a little reference; Tokyo is the biggest city in the world. There are over 35 million people living in the Greater Tokyo Area. This is even more mind blowing when you realize that, according to Wikipedia: 

By the "One Metropolis 3 Prefectures" definition, Tokyo is smaller than Los Angeles County (pop 3.8 million), and almost a third smaller at 13,555.65 km² than the Combined Statistical Area of New York, at 30,671 km². and 21.9 million people.

OK. So this is a vegetable stand on the east end of Tokyo; the most densely populated and crowded city in the world.

The local farm is run by a kindly old woman (She wouldn't allow me to take her picture) who told me that her husband died ten years ago so she comes out everyday and tends the farm. She said she's up before 4 am and out on the farm by 5 am. 

By 8:30 am or so, she goes back home. Before she goes, she puts out some fresh vegetables on her stand by the street for the locals to buy.

I always buy this woman's produce. It is delicious and fresh and cheaper than the local supermarket. The quality is much better than the local supermarket too as the old woman told me she doesn't use any sorts of chemicals or insecticides.

Wait a minute!? Think about this: She goes home at about 8:30 but she puts the veggies out for people to buy before she leaves? Who runs the vegetable stand? 

...No one. She uses a honor system... People are to take the veggies they want and put the money in the box before they leave... 

There are these sorts of vegetable stands all over Japan. Oh, yes, I do know that they have these sorts of things still to this day in some places far out in the country in the United States (though few and far between)... But, this isn't somewhere out in the country. It's inside of the world's most crowded city.

I know exactly what would happen to a fruit or vegetable stand like this if it were in a suburb of Los Angeles or New York; not only would people be stealing the vegetables, they'd, of course, steal the cash box too.

This set up wouldn't last 10 minutes in Los Angeles. This woman says her family has had this for over 75 years.

That things like this are commonplace in Japan speaks volumes about the people and the country.

The sign says, "Please don't 'take' the vegetables. God is watching you. Please put the correct amount into the box."

What is her security system? Japanese people still have mutual respect for people and random crime is still not a constant and serious consideration in daily life in Japan like it is in the USA.

And that's just a fact.

Oh, and, call it what you want, "America Bashing," "Anti-Americanism?" whatever... here's what anotherAmerican wrote. Here's the article from Zerohedge. I highly recommend clicking all the links and watching the videos...

10 Disturbing Tales From The Side Streets And Dark Alleys Of America  (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-19/10-disturbing-tales-side-streets-and-dark-alleys-america)

Oh, and to see that these aren't unusual cases, ever been to a Chuck E. Cheese? 

Chuck E. Cheese: Hotspot of Fights? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9IIWDCQ_S8)

- OK. I can't resist....I will comment... I showed the videos from the above 2 articles to my Japanese wife (who has been to the USA many times). Her comment? "American people? Are they all on drugs? Or do they eat too much salt so their blood pressure is way to high?" I think it's both and more.... Much more! Folks, this sort of thing NEVER happens in Japan.

- For some reason, this article was written for my good friends, James, Mayumi and Enrico.

L-R: Enrico, Mayumi, James (of Jimbo's Japan)

Cool Time Lapse Video of Osaka

This is excellent! Time Lapse Video of Osaka by Paul Hillier.

For more wild stuff from Osaka, please see: "Osaka Fruits! Wild Osaka Japanese Fashions!" http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.jp/2012/07/osaka-fruits-wild-osaka-japanese.html

Thanks for the tip to my friend in Osaka, Kevin Riley!

Folks! Your precious photos on Facebook are not safe! Social Media is a Loser for Storing Online Photos. Can't Beat Grandma's old-fashioned Photo Album.

Yep. Social Media platforms such as Myspace, Facebook, etc. are losers for storing your photos and precious memories. If you think those precious photos of your child's graduation or your vacation, or the party or the wedding are safe on a Social Media platform's photo album space are safe, well then, guess again!

Thank god I did move many photos to "Photo Dump of Rock Stars I've Met"... But still, there are a hundred more (at least) gone forever.... I'm kicking myself. Folks! Your precious photos on Facebook are not safe! (If the link above doesn't work: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.jp/2012/04/photo-dump-of-rock-stars-ive-met-in.html)

I produced a very popular FM radio show in Tokyo called "Good Morning Garage" on 76.1 InterFM and we had many famous guests on the show over the years. The list is quite long. I had put p the photos of us and those guests on Myspace so that the fans could enjoy them too. Guess what? They're gone!

Myspace went and deleted all the photos we had on our Myspace Good Morning Garage Fanpage (photos since 2006).... Hundreds of photos of us and artists and fans etc.... All gone. They didn't even send us a notice warning us they were going to do that. 

I hate Myspace.

Check it out. Poof! And like the South Park episode at the bank, "...and it's gone!" 

Don't believe me. Check it yourself: https://myspace.com/goodmorninggarage/photos... 

We had hundreds of photos there. Many, now, are lost forever. 

The photo with Jean Jacques of the Stranglers (by the way), Jimmy Page, Joey Ramone are some of the many that are lost forever.... Seriously, hundreds of photos.... 

It's my fault though, I guess it'll be the same on Facebook later on when that crappy service goes bankrupt too. 

We need a better way to take care of our old photos. 

In a way, this kind of reminds me of owning paper gold versus physical gold; if it's not in your hands, then you don't own it....

I guess it's pretty darn hard to beat the old fashioned photo album (that grandma likes so much) for not losing photos. 

The Emotional Employee - Good and Bad

In today's work environment when so many people are just doing the minimum, it's refreshing to find people who are so involved that they get emotional about their work. Far too often people merely go through the motions. People who get emotional can be a treasure...

Lots of people need to read, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff"...

But I think there are a good type of emotions and a bad type of emotions.

It is a curse of the corporate environment that involves far too much politicizing in the work place that often causes relations between co-workers to take priority and precedent over the success of the project. This is a bad situation that leads to the bad type of emotions at the work place.

While having dedicated people who do get emotionally attached to their work is great, it can also be a double edged sword when those emotions actually are obstructive and cause people to miss seeing the forest for the trees.

In my experience, actually and unfortunately, twice in the last year, I've seen grown Japanese men sob at business meetings when things didn't go the way they wanted. These were guys in their forties! 

First they folded their arms in front of their bodies. Then they pouted. Then they actually cried! 

I am a cold-hearted person and watched for a moment and allowed them to stop sobbing. I then remarked as if nothing unusual had occurred, "Are you finished?... Anyway..." And I continued with the business at hand. It would not be good to dwell on emotional outbursts or respond as that may lead to a sort of ping-pong effect and escalation which won't help anyone.

Being emotional about the job and the dedication to the success of the project is a wonderfully appreciated and oft rewarded trait... Becoming emotional about the people you work with is not.

The good type of emotions is a strong will towards the success of the project and doing whatever it takes to get the project done and successful for the company, no matter what. That's dedication. Those are good emotions. You don't need to like the people you work with to do great work. You just need to keep a professional attitude. 

I read where the world famous New York Yankees baseball team have often had teams whereby the members don't get along with each other. In fact, there are famous incidents where the team members have brawled with each other in the dugout! Nevertheless, the team that has won 27 of 40 World Series Championships.

Universities need to start courses that give MBAs in staying calm and cool....

The purpose of the exercise called "work" is to win, not make friends.

Emotional maturity is greatly under-rated in the corporate work environment. 

Keep focused on what your goals are, stay professional and remember what an advantage that can be. You are there to win and make money for your company and for yourself... Not make friends. If you do make friends, then that's icing on the cake.

Working with people you may not like yet still creating and doing great work is the height of professionalism and performance. It is the holy grail that all of us should strive for.

...Oh, and don't forget to smile!