Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall!

Hello Readers!

Lest this blog is squandered into literary oblivion, I commit to resuscitating it. However, it may be ornate and flowery in its new incarnation. Rest assured, it will be environmentally friendly; I am not too sure if it will be politically-correct. Spare me some artistic licence, please! In November, I hacked (no, whacked) out 50,000 words in 30 days (actually less, since I was on a self-imposed vacation) for a literary challenge. Plus, I have been devouring another Tom Robbins's novel...I won't know how this blog will end...

This is my mirror blog for 'Leadership Lessons From Triathlons'. It will be an ancillary and auxiliary blog; an eager appendage to an already complex hand.

I decided to put in my more creative writing, including Film/DVD Reviews, Book Reviews, Quotations, Tweets, and Humorous Writing.

I will also, on occasions, as my whim and fancies dictate, write on controversial topics. This is not meant to be malicious in intent, but rather to provoke more open-minded, divergent and progressive thinking. If we do not think differently at times, we may not be capable of innovation and tangential thinking.

My friend, Reeves expands and expounds on diversity of ideas in his blog. I will, deliberately, connect the dots, however will not promise compliance (not all the time, that is). We may need to seriously rethink the way we do things if we are to enhance our potential in our products, services, brands and corporate culture.

Have a bountiful splendid and memorable 2010! Happy New year!

Art Driven by Passion

This story comes from D. Varella who with his trusty lens and eye for the extraordinary delivered this piece. Enjoy!

There are quite a number of buskers in Orchard Road, but the more popular act is the Woodballs Hula. The busker, Mr. Oh, is a rather elderly man but seems to be in the trim of health. Some say that this hula is a form of exercise - not surprising! I caught him performing his hula enthusiastically on a hot afternoon, without a break, for more than an hour - what stamina!

He was especially keen, upon seeing a person with a camera, ever willing to increase his pace with a mischievous grin and bright sparkle in his eyes. He was looking for good publicity.

I dropped a few dollars in appreciation for the photo taking, and glanced at his money tray. I was surprised - in it was quite a tidy sum. Yes! With some relevant skills and lots of 'balls', one can actually make a decent living.

Photo credits: D. Varella

Sight Unseen

Have you been accused before with 'You look, but you do not see.'?

The Chinese saying by Mencius was: 'I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.'

There are many ways to see. We can see externally, and internally. External seeing is about using your eyes to scan for information about our surroundings. We see to identify, reference, locate, recognise, and recall. Internal sight can be described as insight, hindsight and foresight. In fact, our six-sense or intuition can has been described as 'second sight'.

When you watch a magic performance, have you guessed the method behind it? If we do not see the method, how do we know it is clever? Some have argued that the exposures behind 'The Masked Magician Reveals the Secrets of Magic' has been detrimental and harmful to the Art. Others defend the revulsive and repulsive revelations as another way of appreciating how clever magicians and magical inventors are. I am reviled by such thinking as it is like telling audiences the ending of a film after they have just purchased cinema tickets! As a practitioner of magic, I continue to fool with magic, and be fooled by magic. However, I explicitly state that the inherently deceptive nature of magic is not meant to make fools of our audiences. Most magicians love to be fooled. It is the only art, next to digital animation technology, that allows us to suspend our judgement and create the illusion of impossibilities. Illusions are but man's attempts to explore his imagination. Einstein did say that imagination was more powerful than science.

What we do not realise as audiences, and that is the irony of Art, is that we do see the years of training that goes into making the skill look easy and flawless. Sometimes, the real ability of the talented genius is to conceal the skill. The best performers make it look easy and natural, although it is far from the truth.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, and practice.

In one classic anecdote, Sir Lawrence Olivier once said to Dustin Hoffman in 'Marathon Man', 'Why don't you just act?' Hoffman, the consummate Method Actor was rigorously exercise and sleep-deprived to get in character.

One performer I know replied to a potential customer who questioned his higher fees: 'What you are paying for is 10 years of dedicated preparation and practice!' In my interviews of performers over the years, I have found out that a 10-minute theatrical act can take 10 years to devise and deliver. That is the average of one year's work for every minute on-stage.

Just because you do not see the effort behind the results, does not make it superficial. There is more than meets the eye with talent and capability. Capability unrealised is potential unfulfilled. The next time a juggler drops a ball, or a singer sings slightly off-key, or a speaker fluffs the punch-line of a joke, do consider the level of difficulty to just appear before a discerning audience. It is easier to criticise, however much harder to receive it.

Do you see my point of view?

(Photo-credits: Thong Chow Ngian)

Now U See It, Now U Don't!

I will be in Beijing for the world magic Olympics called FISM from 26-31 July 2009.

Magic is, essentially, the performance of illusions. These illusions range from Close-up Magic to Grand Illusions to Mind Magic. The magician is an actor playing the part of a person with extraordinary powers.

There is a belief that magic is about 'the hand is quicker than the eye'. It is not necessarily true; that is an illusion. The blink of an eye is, very fast; about a fraction of a second. By using scientific and psychological principles, the magician attracts and distracts the senses of the audience. This influence over the audience is called misdirection, which is not an accurate description of the psychological ploys utilised. Timing and misdirection are the common principles that magicians use, to create the illusion of miracles.

Sleight of hand employs 'invisible moves' which are methods for creating these miracles. Thus, what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) - hopefully.

3 Boxes of Vision-Care

With much anticipation, they have arrived!

Early this afternoon, I collected three boxes of sunglasses and spectacle frames. I may have missed the solar eclipse, however I did not miss this focused opportunity. The sunglasses gave me a sense of nostalgia, reminding me of Tom Cruise in Top Gun, wearing his Ray-Bans. Today's celebrities have also promoted and promulgated retro-fashion, continuing to usher in the rites of passage of fashion. Fish-eye glasses are already making a comeback.

Old may be new. Remember how loyal consumers preferred Classic Coke to New Coke. In marketing, what goes around comes around - as retro-fashion. Certainly, creative marketing and innovative applications account for why some things stay the way they should.

According to Dr Lau Kong Cheen of Temporal Branding, 'That is why we settle comfortably at coffee shops - Ya Kun, or Killiney Road kopi tiams. Nostalgia is in!'

We are deeply grateful for the spirit of generosity of Agnes Kam for these gifts. I strongly believe that it will benefit many people. Do involve yourself by sharing with us, whom would benefit from these eye-care products.

Let us know how you, too, may like to help. Come on board!

Framing the Picture

Spectacles not only provide vision, but also frame the face making it more attractive.

In some ways, this cosmetic is merely an illusion, but a useful one, nonetheless. If you have dark, thick frames, it may give the wearer the illusion of thicker eye-brows. Spectacle frames can also enhance or reduce the size of one's eyes. They can make you look more studious, or more studied. You can appear innocent, learned or serious.

Reframing, in the language of psycholinguistics, is about changing the perception of things by altering the language structure. Whoever said that 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me' never had a performance appraisal in his/her life. The printed word can hurt; so do grades and rankings. In journalism, 'the pen IS mightier than the sword'.

By reframing, we can transform our language patterns to fit our needs. For example, we can reframe the word 'manager' into the following: guide, mentor, supervisor, colleague, process expert, and mature worker.

What do you do from Mondays to Fridays? Are you: in a job, at work, in your profession, or in a career?

Those who see into the future may be described as long-sighted, visionary, predictive, systems thinkers, or possessing foresight.

In these examples, we can appreciate to some extent, that language frames our experience. How we describe our experiences can either excite us to do more of it, or less of it. If we learn from each experience, we may then review our failures and shortcomings as results, outcomes and points of reference. Rest assured, it is not about lying to oneself but exploring alternative meanings to what may be mundane and unexciting.

Get a frame on your life!

What Do You See?

Do you see the world as half-full, or half-empty?

The world may be, simply, be divided into two main groups of personalities: optimists, and pessimists. Which are you? Although, quantitatively, the volume of fluid in a drinking-glass is the same how did we arrive at that 'measure'? Is the glass full, and filled? Or, is it short of content? Interestingly, beverages can be contained in tall- or short-glasses.

Do you view the world as having abundant opportunities, or scarcity? Do you think you have enough, or are you continually pursuing richness? When does the pursuing stop?

What do you thirst for? What drives your passion? What are you most motivated about?

Do you see the world in black and white? Do you constantly manage the various shades of grey? Is your world bright, illuminated and colourful?

The Lens Men and The Eye Site Care-a-Van

It was sheer coincidence when I found out this evening that my optician’s company practises corporate social responsibility of a relevant kind. The Lens Men and The Eye Site launched in late-2008 Singapore's first and only mobile eye screening clinic. Called Eye Care-a-Van, the vehicle is innovatively fitted with an auto-refractor, lens-meter, eye chart projector, ophthalmological equipment and other tools. These tools facilitate the comprehensive examination of ocular health, refraction, V/A reading and chart reading anywhere on the island in a professional and comfortable setting. Their first foray served 157 elderly and needy residents on October 5, 2008.

Founded on a philosophy of "Not just eye care - we care" The Lens Men has a long tradition of giving back to the community since it opened for business in 1983. Conducting free eye screenings for about 1,000 underprivileged Singaporeans a year, the group of optical service companies donates more than 500 prescription spectacles annually to those who need vision correction but cannot afford it on their own. With the Eye Care-a-Van, they hope to increase the number of Singaporeans we help by at least 30 percent, especially those who are immobile and have difficulty commuting.

The Lens Men and Eye Site can be contacted if you would like to schedule an eye screening for a needy patient or for your community service organisation, nursing home, hospital, school or other charity.

The 80SPF Initiative

A few weeks ago, one of my students offered me about 80 out-dated (in the fashion sense) spectacle frames to start a charity fund. The cache of eye ornaments came from her brother who used to own an optical shop. I am thankful for their gesture.

Having been inspired by Kyle Macdonald's one-year challenge/adventure of trading up a single, red paperclip into a whole house after 14 trades, I was keen to explore my creativity and active networking skills.

This blog, called 80SPF is a play on acronyms. SPF refers to Sun Protection Factor, and this number measures the relative exposure time to sunlight before your skin burns under ultraviolet radiation. It normally takes 20 minutes before your skin begins the BBQ process without protection. 2 SPF means you can last about 20X2, or 40 minutes before you burn. 80SPF also means '80 SPectacle Frames'.

To start the (eye)ball rolling, and stir initial interests here's my proposition: What can we do to raise funds to support a cause of our choice? It can be a national cause or charity, or even an international/global initiative. As long as we focus our vision of being charitable to a Cause, we can collaborate and cooperate our efforts into fruition. We will consolidate our efforts through this blog.

Pictures of the frames will follow soon.

What shall we do with a box of 80 spectacle frames?