Sunday Inspiration #14

Sunday morning once again – I’m waking up in sunny Lincolnshire, freezing cold but looking beautiful against a bright sky.  I woke up with this song in my head, and I think it’s a marvellous Sunday morning tune – Song to the Siren – this marvellous version is by The Czars – fire that up and then enjoy some Sunday morning inspiration…

• Greatest extended takes in movies – those wonderful moments when you realise you’ve been watching an unbroken camera shot for absolutely ages. This is some really inspirational work when directors push the limits of what they and their actors can do. My personal favourite is #4 from the Children of Men.
• 40 beautiful examples of black and white photography – some amazing photographs here, these are great inspiration to pick up the camera, switch to black and white mode and see what you can create.
• Seven ways to reinvent yourself – Seth Godin at his absolute best.

What is inspiring you today?

A Friday hero speaks #12 – Execution

“Why the hell don’tcha, instead of keep saying it?” -  JD Salinger, 1.1.1919 to 27.1.2010

And isn’t that exactly what we need, a few more people who just get on with stuff rather than writing down what they are going to do – you can invest all the time and money in the world in systems, processes, tools and fancy devices – but nothing works quite as well as writing a list on decent piece of paper, and then crossing the items through as you execute.

Brit 2010 Award Predictions

  
The Brits 2010 are on 16th Feb at Earls Court – after 30 years of ups and downs, the awards is generally quite good fun, some crazy performances – a little scandal and some funny acceptance speeches.

There is a great playlist of Brit Award nominees here.

My favourite game is try and predict the winners – sometimes I get quite a good hit rate, let’s see how I do this time round…here are the full nominations with my prediction in BOLD:

• British Female Solo Artiste : Bat for Lashes, Florence and the Machine, Leona Lewis, Lily Allen, Pixie Lott.
• British Male Solo Artiste : Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal, Mika, Paolo Nutini, Robbie Williams
• British Breakthrough Act : Florence and the Machine, Friendly Fires, JLS, La Roux, Pixie Lott
• British Group : Doves, Friendly Fires, JLS, Kasabian, Muse
• MasterCard British Album : Dizzee Rascal – Tongue ‘n’ Cheek, Florence and the Machine – Lungs, Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Lily Allen – Its not you its me, Paolo Nutini – Sunny Side Up
• British Single : Alesha Dixon – Breathe Slow, Alexandra Burke Ft Flo Rida – Bad Boys, Cheryl Cole – Fight For This Love , Joe McElderry – The Climb, JLS – Beat Again, La Roux – In For The Kill, Lily Allen – The Fear, Pixie Lott – Mama Do, Taio Cruz – Break Your Heart, Tinchy Stryder Ft N-Dubz – Number 1
• Critics Choice : Ellie Goulding, Delphic, Marina and the Diamonds
• Brits Album of 30 years : Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head, Dido – No Angel, Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms, Duffy – Rockferry, Keane – Hopes & Fears, Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, Phil Collins – No Jacket Required, Sade – Diamond Life, The Verve – Urban Hymns, Travis – The Man Who
• Brits Hits 30 : Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive/How Deep is Your Love, Bros. – I Owe you Nothing, Coldplay – Clocks, Eurythmics & Stevie Wonder – There must be an Angel, Girls Aloud – The Promise, Kanye West – Gold Digger, Kylie Minogue – Can’t Get You Out of my Head, Michael Jackson – Earth Song, Paul McCartney – Live & Let Die, Pet Shop Boys – Go West, Robbie Williams & Tom Jones – The Full Monty Medley, Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama,  Spice Girls – Wannabe/Who Do You Think You Are, Take That – Beatles Medley, The Who – Who Are You
• International Female : Lady Gaga, Ladyhawke, Norah Jones, Rihanna, Shakira
• International Male : Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Jay-Z, Michael Buble, Seasick Steve
• International Album : Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion, Black Eyed Peas – The End, Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream, Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3, Lady Gaga – The Fame
• International Breakthrough : Animal Collective, Daniel Merriweather, Empire of the Sun, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift

Who are you tipping for success at this years Brits?

Reasons to be Cheerful #3

Monday morning rolls round – the start of another week, the page is blank again so this is your chance to be awesome once more. Here are my top reasons to be cheerful this week…

• New Tindersticks album gets released today – looking forward to getting a listen to that…
• I’m organised, I have a good plan and some simple priorities this week.
• The Brits are coming – I’ll be blogging my predictions this week. I love the fun and games of the Brit Awards
• The guv’nor is tweeting – worth subscribing to this one. (I’m here…)
• I’m back at the gym and feeling the benefits of the endorphins already.

What has you feeling tip-top today?

Sunday Inspiration #13

Slightly later this week – I’ve had the perfect Sunday, getting some exercise and relaxation at the gym, followed by food and fun with family. Our music for the week is a little bit of fun as well – Por Una Cabeza is better known as ‘the Tango’ in Scent of a Woman, and is one of my favourite pieces of music – as well as a fantastic scene from this marvellous film.

• Inspirational young lady –some parochial inspiration, this girl from my local area is suffering, but still able to commit to raising money for others. See also this young fella who has raised thousands for Haiti – at just seven years old.
• Best sneakers of 2009 – this fantastic review of the 25 best trainers of 2009 is definitely worth a read, old school is new school is retro as you step through some fine crepes from last year. A fantastic website to watch.
• I have a dream, of social networks – what would Martin Luther King have made of Twitter?  I’d have followed that account – by the way, I’m here.  I cannot promise the wisdom of MLK.

What is your inspiration this week?

A Friday hero speaks #11 – attention

It’s hard to pay attention these days because of multiple affects of the information technology nowadays. You tend to develop a faster, speedier mind, but I don’t think it’s necessarily broader or smarter. Robert Redford

So, is he right? I find the more information I get, the more information I crave – and that leads to distraction and lack of attention on the really important things. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about the urgent and important matrix – not only am I using it on my tasks, but I’m using it on my information streams (RSS, Social Networks etc) and purging what its really distracting me.

What are you doing to stay focused?

Find a new car – using Bing…

A new feature surfaced in Bing recently – type in a marque and model of a car, and the search returns some essential data before the standard results. Very useful if you are comparing models of cars.

What new feature is your business adding to stay ahead?

Reasons to be Cheerful #2

Monday morning rolls around again – but I’m not phased – here’s why I am cheerful today…

• Snowmageddon is over- the big thaw is complete and days are getting longer…I’m already booked in for my summer hols and counting down the days.
• Still smirking at Ray Winstone on Jonathan Ross on Friday – funny man, looking dapper – a legend! His new movie is also amazing.
• I have 96 themes for Windows 7 and I fancy changing to look and feel a little bit this week.
• This great story of a Guantanamo Bay guard who made contact with ex-captives.
• I made great progress last week – this week is going to be even better!

…why are you so chipper this morning?

Sunday Inspiration #12

Sunday morning again – somewhat becalmed in the doldrums of January – time to settle back, grab some fresh juice, maybe a coffee and enjoy some Sunday inspiration. Firstly, our musical choice for the week – one of the all-time legendary voices – Dusty Springfield with You Don’t Have to say You Love Me. Fire that up in You Tube and then enjoy some inspirational links from around the web. If you need more great music – try my playlist over on Spotify.

• Haiti, 48 hours later – once again the incredible Big Picture has the most insightful pictures of the tragedy (still) unfolding in Haiti. The only inspiration you need to have here is to click on the Disaster Emergency Committee link and donate just a few quid to the coordinated relief efforts.  For the US – this link – has a vetted list of agencies accepting donations.  More Haiti pictures from the Big Picture. My thoughts and best wishes are with everyone there (suffering and helping). My company has committed cash and assistance as well – good work MSFT.
• Harry Truman, Leader of the Freeway – recently retired US president harry Truman decides to attempt an incognito roadtrip. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t entirely work. Great NYT op-ed piece.
• The Freesound Project – a wiki-like site that contains creative commons licensed sounds not music, a great resource for finding ambient, relaxing sounds to help you as you try and concentrate or sound effects for your presentations and applications.

What inspires you this week?

A Friday hero speaks #10 – Snow and Ice edition

“I’ve lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather than climate”, John Steinbeck.

Pretty relevant this week after the UK has been ‘paralysed’ by snow and ice. I’ve quite enjoyed it, the ‘extreme’ weather has reminded me that I’m alive, just like some sunshine does the same.

I just wish we had more exciting weather in the UK!