This is the audio for a 9'40" video-version of a presentation I gave to my AACA group. 'AACA' stands for Al-Anon Adult Children of Alcoholics.

The video is available on my YouTube page: http://youtube.com/watch?v=cKeel484IMk

My mom was an alcoholic from when I was born, and my dad was a wife-beater and a weekend-drunk.

I made the video to share the four roles adult children of abuse tend to take on, and to publicise the 13 characteristics that most of us tend to have.

It's released under a Creative Commons 'Non-Commercial, Attribution, Share-Alike' license. So please feel free to download it and hand it on to people who might need to know they're not alone.

Here are the details of the musicians whose work I've been privileged to include on the video. It's all licensed under the same Creative Commons license I use, and I'm deeply grateful for that...

o 'Schyzophrénie extatique de l'autochtone' by arnoldsrecords.
Download from http://www.jamendo.com/

o 'Lazy Sunday Morning', 'The Lonesome Death of Jonas Grumby', 'Shunned', 'Timestream Station' by Derek R Audette.
Download from http://DerekAudette.OttawaArts.Com

o 'Punk-o-Tronika' by MAIS.
Download from http://www.jamendo.com/

o 'Trip I - c'est l'heure' by Miscere.
Download from http://www.jamendo.com/

Most of the photos that didn't come out of the family album are from stock.xchng at http://www.sxc.hu

(I'm afraid I don't recall the photographers. None of them require attribution in their Creative Commons licensing, so I simply saved them. I regret that. I'd prefer to acknowledge them. If you recognise any of the pics, please lemme know, and I'll pop the names in here.)

I apologise in advance for the poor microphone quality. I've done my best to clean up the audio, and the music certainly does aid in that process. But the mic problems were entirely my own... I had the input volume up way too high, so I was unaware that I was saturating the mic. Dammit.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Garr Reynolds for his site on effective presenting -- PRESENTATION ZEN. http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/

I can only hope that this presentation of mine reflects some of the insights I've learned from Garr.

Please let me know what you feel about this viddie.

Blue skies
love
Roy

This is one of my favourite performance poems.

I wrote it many years ago as part of the libretto for a Flamenco ballet that a work colleague of mine composed and choreographed. He asked me to put a story together. So I wrote a bunch of poems for it.

The musical backing here has absolutely nothing to do with the original Flamenco backing. This one is a mashup of a piece of Creative Commons licensed free music that I found on the web. I've been reluctant to put the piece online cos I lost the original music file, and I simply cannot recall who composed it, nor where I downloaded it from.

If you recognise the backing track, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know, so I can credit the muso.

All of the voice-work in this performance is by me. I laid a basic track down, then sliced and diced the music around that. Then I did several more vocal takes, which I assembled around those elements.

For some bizarre reason, I imported the music file in mono (it was my first project in Logic HitKit, so I guess I didn't really know what I was doing). Which has led me to keeping the entire mix mono. But it still works for me.

This piece is released under a Creative Commons 'Share-Alike, Attribution, Non-Commercial' license. This means you're free to download it, give it to your buddies, mix and match it, as long as you're not making money from it, and you attach my name to it as the originator. Enjoy!

I built the track in Logic HitKit, on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc, using the microphone supplied with the HitKit (it was one of those Dorling Kindersley educational packs -- book, microphone, software; a very cheap way to get a professional piece of music creation software!). Disclosure: I do not get ANYTHING from Toshiba or Logic for mentioning their products. I mention them cos I like to let people know how things are made. I'm an open source kinda guy.

Friday, 5 January 2007

A bunch of tools to help you with your multinational time-management.

Firstly, there's the freeware/shareware application, Qlock. It sits on your desktop, and is hugely configurable. So you can see what time it is anywhere in the world. You can set alarms for any of those cities. And you can hide or show the clocks with a click of your mouse.

Next in the list is a site for people who don't have a need for a clock on their desktops 24/7. If you have an occasional need to check times, this is the place to go... WorldTimeServer.com. This site also offers you a free widget to add to your blog... you can pop an analog or digital clock to your site.

And if you want to customise a countdown, and see the time displayed as days, hours, or seconds, head for TimeAndDate.com. As of this very second, I'll turn 50 years old in exactly... 382 363 170 seconds! Send me a birthday present. You've got time!

*Said the Leaning Tower of Piza to the Big Ben.

Links:

• Qlock: http://www.qlock.com/
• World Time Server: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/
• Time and Date: http://www.timeanddate.com/

Tuesday, 2 January 2007

The second day of 2007, and you've probably got some New Year's resolutions that you're still committed to. Here's a free online tool to help you do the things you want to do. Joe's Goals is a website that let's you define your positive and negative goals, and then track your progress. When you do something towards a goal, you click on the goal. And the online software keeps count.

There's also a Joe's Logbook option, which is really a goal-tracking tool for a particular project.

For me, one of the best things about the site is that you can set it up to email you a reminder if you haven't updated your goals for a while. It really helps you to be mindful.


Links:

• Joe's Goals: http://www.joesgoals.com/
  
• Joe's Logbook: http://www.joeslogbook.com/
  
• Joe's Blog: http://blog.joesgoals.com/
  

Friday, 29 December 2006

Written by Anthony Lappé, drawn by Dan Goldman, SHOOTING WAR is a tangy, vicious, sexy, gritty, frighteningly-realistic depiction of a near future.

In this gripping graphic novel, the main character is a guy who, using the video camera on his phone, accidentally vid-blogs a bombing. He's then catapulted to fame by a tv network who gets hold of his footage. They make him an offer he can't refuse... to go to the Middle East and vid-blog the ongoing war there.

Beware... if you START reading this, you WILL spend several wonderful hours absorbed in the story!

Links:

• Shooting War: http://shootingwar.com/
• The First Chapter: http://shootingwar.com/chapters/chapter-1/
• Anthony Lappé's blog, 'The Bunker': http://anthony.gnn.tv/
• Dan Goldman's site: http://www.dangoldman.net/

Thursday, 28 December 2006

In the interests of transparency, I have to state up-front that I'm a leftie. So I'm biased in favour of leftie things. That said, I'm also very much a 'devil's advocate'. I'm MUCH more interested in a balanced, well-argued opinion than I am in a one-sided opinion. So... to today's Virtual Surf Report.

We're looking at two news sources covering politics in America.

I'm a fan of The Huffington Post, a left-wing journal that takes an in-depth look at many of the issues facing Americans today. I find their opinion pieces to be very cleanly written, well-researched, witty, and clever. When I finish reading one of their articles, I come away from it with the feeling that I'm not being fed some kind of propaganda angle.

I'm NOT a fan of Right Wing News, which is an online journal dedicated to 'Conservative News and Views'. I'm n ot a fan because I really just wish they would ARGUE their points sanely and rationally. I don't really get any sense of balance from their articles. I'm left with a feeling that I've been smacked over the head with a hunting rifle. They sneer at the left, instead of answering their concerns. However, it's deeply important to get acquainted with 'the other side'. Their fears are real. Their concerns are real. Just because they don't argue them well doesn't mean they should be dismissed.

Two fascinating reads. Enjoy being caught in the middle! And make up your own mind.

(And for some help in being able to make up your own mind, you might want to read an article from one of my favourite books on thought hygiene. The book is called STRAIGHT AND CROOKED THINKING by Robert H Thouless. It appears to be out of print, but the article on the web is the core of it. It's titled 'Thirty-eight Dishonest Tricks Which Are Commonly Used in Argument, With the Methods of Overcoming Them'. A must-read.)

Links:

• The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
• Right Wing News: http://www.rightwingnews.com/
• 38 Dishonest Tricks: http://www.246.dk/38tricks.html

Wednesday, 27 December 2006
The quirky humour (and marketing savvy) of GapingVoid

Hugh MacLeod's GapingVoid blog is one of those must-reads. His quirky business card cartoons are a treat, and you can insert a widget onto your website to feed them to your own viewers.

Read Hugh's blog if you want to:

• Be more creative.
• Become a better marketer.
• Have wine and suits shoved down your throat via the eyeballs.
  
• Laugh.
• Groan.
• Nod your head in agreement.
• Change your mind.

Links:

• GapingVoid: http://www.gapingvoid.com/
• Hugh MacLeod's marketing manifesto, The Hughtrain: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000823.html
• Hugh's inspiring manifesto on 'How To Be Creative': http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html
• Get the cartoon widget for your site: http://www.gapingvoid.com/widget/

Tuesday, 26 December 2006
Print a better present for yourself with Flickr and Creative Commons

Someone gave you a present you don't really WANT? Replace it with something that works for you!

Enter Flickr, the photo sharing site, in collaboration with Creative Commons. You can browse through around 26 million photos that are licensed under one of the Creative Commons variations that allows any user to download the photo, take it to their favourite photo printing outlet (where you would take your digital pics to be printed), and make an art print to adorn your walls (or even a t-shirt, if you're adventurous).

Links:

• Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/
• Flickr's Creative Commons search section: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
• My own Flickr gallery of digital artworks that you're welcome to download and print: http://www.flickr.com/photos/royblumenthal/
• Flickr photo finder: http://www.wynia.org/experiments/phpflickr/interesting.php?

 

Monday, 2 January 2006

Virtual Surf Report: Charles Kessler's Tricks and Trinkets

It's the last of the Virtual Surf Reports for now, so I thought I'd end off with a delicious treat for you.

Charles Kessler has been putting together a weekly roundup of the most fascinating websites in the world for 383 weeks, and he sends it out free to anyone who wants it.

The website is at www.tricksandtrinkets.com. And to subscribe for free, all you need to do is send a blank email to cooltricks-join- request@list.adventure.com.

I've been on the list for years now, and I've never once received spam as a result of subscribing, and Charles has an iron-rule not to sell users' details to anyone for any reason. (He has 190 000 subscribers, and counting.)

Let's get to some of the nuggets in the latest issue, number 383. These were chosen by his team of staff as their pick of favourite sites of 2005. They write:

Their Circular Life

You will definitely want to visit this website, which is a conceptual mixture of mindful meditation and Flash design. "Their Circular Life: An Exploration About Human Behavior" is an extremely cool project that aims to remind us to slow down our harried lives, to stop, listen, and observe the daily circle of life.

Cows With Guns

Cows give us their milk and their meat, but what do they get in return? Watch this hilarious animated music video that tells the story of revenge during a "Bovine Revolution".

The 48 Laws of Power

It is a cutthroat world out there, whether in the arena of Business, Politics or Romance. Learn valuable if not ruthless tactics from The 48 Laws of Power such as 'Win Through your Actions, Never Through Argument' and 'Crush Your Enemy Totally'.

Yoga With Cats

Kitty seeming a bit stressed lately? Spare your furniture and bliss out together at Yoga Kitty, a "practical guide" for people and pusses who seek to achieve physical, mental and spiritual ecstasy, without drugs or catnip. In free instructional videos for clearing past karma, tapping electromagnetism and meditating, Yogi Karl and partner Yogi Ovaria -- the original Yogakitty -- show viewers how to adjust their shakras in seriocomic scenes that will have you cracking up even while the cat shreds another pillow. "Purr-fect Yoga" items are available in the online shop, like tee-shirts with the site's slogan: "Higher Consciousness, It's Not Just for Humans Anymore."

Visit Cool Tricks & Trinkets and browse through the archives for 383 weeks worth of amusing, amazing, delicious tidbits. It should keep you occupied for at least a year.

Listen to a full podcast of this report. Or listen to all of the Virtual Surf Reports.

 

Monday, 2 January 2006

Virtual Surf Report: Bonus Link -- Aryan Kaganof's new film, SMS SUGARMAN, the world's first feature film shot exclusively using a cellphone

Here's an exciting piece of breaking news. SMS SUGARMAN, written by, directed by, edited by, starring, cult film phenomenon Aryan Kaganof, has finished shooting, and is in post-production.

How do I know? A cinematographer buddy of mine, Eran Tahor, is the Director of Photography on the film, and we've just had breakfast together. His New Year's party was the wrap event for the film.

He's not allowed to tell me anything at all about the film, apart from hinting that it's going to be somewhat controversial. And he's given me the web address for the film. Head to http://smssugarman.com for more info.

The film will release in May this year, and Eran says the story rocks, and the cinematography is revolutionary.

You saw it here first!

Listen to a full podcast of this Virtual Surf Report. Or listen to all of the shows.

Seeing as it's nearly New Year, and we could all use a refresher on how to really get to grips with our New Year's resolutions, I put together a little resource list on setting effective goals.

I'll be updating my Squidoo lens on the topic regularly, so bookmark Goal Setting With Roy Blumenthal, and make it a goal to check it out occasionally.

Here are some of the resources I've come across and find helpful:

How to Achieve Your New Years Resolutions - Facts and Figures

Want to keep your resolutions this year? Visit The GoalsGuy for a collection of helpful tips, strategies, inspiration, encouragement, motivation and information to help you reach your personal goals and have the best year of your life.

myGoals.com New Year's Resolution Tips

Tips for Making Good New Year's Resolutions There is a right way and a wrong way to make a New Year's resolution. Here are a few expert tips to see that your resolution actually makes sense.

How to Keep Your New Year's Resolutions - eHow.com

How to Keep Your New Year's ResolutionsThe new year has arrived, and you have already drawn up your resolutions. Now, how to stick to your plan?

Much more where these came from on my Goal Setting Squidoo.

My own goals for this coming year? I'll be getting into my Creativity Seminars in a big way. I'll be developing my practice as an Hawaiian ka huna masseur. I'll be doing more voice-over work. And I'll be looking at doing interesting corporate and industrial theatre using Augusto Boal's techniques.

Have a happy 2006. And may it be filled with learning, loving, and joy.

This post first appeared on Coffee-Shop Schmuck.

 

Thursday, 29 December 2005

Today we're looking at two resources for people thinking of embarking on a new career, or people about to start their journey into the job world.

Dick Richards is the author of a major new book called IS YOUR GENIUS AT WORK? 4 Key Questions To Ask Before Your Next Career Move. The core of his approach is that every individual has a particular, specific, unique purpose here on earth, and that once we've understood what this purpose is, we're free to flow through life more easily, and more productively. He calls this unique purpose our 'genius'.

This book takes you through a series of friendly exercises to help reveal your genius to you.

The name of my genius is 'Guiding the Flow'. It's something that accurately describes me. It encircles my good points AND my bad. For instance, when I find my own flow being blocked by someone, I get frustrated. On the plus side, when I enter a room, I immediately start working out ways to nudge things into a better flow.

Dick has two websites for you to visit to help you uncover the name of your own genius. His blog is called Come Gather Round, and it's a space where he updates his thinking on genius. He also runs a discussion forum aimed specifically at getting people to chat freely about their genius-discovery process. It's called the Genius Workshop Google Group, and it's well worth spending time there.

I recommend that you try an exercise to bring you some enlightenment.

The book is a must-have. It's not yet available on South African shelves, so you'll need to grab a copy from Amazon. I'm fortunate to know Dick via email, and he sent me an advance copy. (I created a weekend workshop based on an earlier book of his called Setting Your Genius Free.)

---

Richard Nelson Bolles changed my life. Twice. Each time, the change came about because of my working through his book, WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE? The book changed my life the first time while I was languishing away in an engineering degree at Wits, hating every second of engineering (while loving varsity life), and not knowing what to do about the situation. I came across the book, and worked out that I was a creative being, and that I needed to honour that. So I followed my love, and have been a fulltime creator ever since.

The book has two major sections. The first is a set of guided exercises that help you find out what kind of job you'd LIKE to do. You complete a 'flower diagram', which gives you an overview of your job skills, wants, likes, needs. Once you have a flower diagram, you pretty much know yourself better.

The second section is how to find an ACTUAL JOB that fulfills your requirements. His idea is that you CAN find a job tailor-made for you.

Visit his website -- The Job Hunter's Bible -- to find a wealth of resources on job hunting, as well as a few exercises to get you started.

Both of these books are must-haves. And both authors sites are must-visits.

Good luck with your search for a new you!

This post first appeared on Coffee-Shop Schmuck.

 

Wednesday, 28 December 2005

So you've been on holiday, and you want to come home safely. Or you haven't been on holiday and you want to find a different route to work.

In comes a journey planning tool courtesy of Shell that'll help keep peace in the car: ShellGeostar.co.za.

There are several sections to the tool, but the three most important ones are:

• The route planner
• Where to stay
• Where to eat

I'm particularly interested in the route planner. So I typed in two suburbs I know, one in Cape Town, one in Auckland Park. And the system spat out wonderfully detailed directions, which are explicit and easy to follow.

Better still is the mapping system. It breaks each section of the route into bite-sized pieces, leaving nothing up to chance. I'm pretty certain that only the MOST geographically challenged people MIGHT get confused. Here's a tip: on a map, the top of the picture is north.

It's as simple as that.

The 'Where to Eat' and 'Where to Stay' sections are almost as useful as the route planner. I know Rosebank quite well, and found several good recommendations. But I also found an Indian restaurant I didn't even know existed.

Drive home safely, and print out your maps, and eliminate end-of-holiday-in-the-car-rage.

This post originally appeared on Coffee-Shop Schmuck

 

Tuesday, 27 December 2005

Seth Godin, marketing genius deluxe, has, along with his team, created a new brainchild. It's a website called Squidoo, and its mission in life is to share knowledge and expertise.

At its most basic level, Squidoo offers surfers 'lenses' into various areas of expertise.

For instance, I'm an expert on creativity, and have been delivering creativity seminars for almost a decade now. So I've created my own Squidoo lens on the topic: Creativity According to Roy Blumenthal.

People go to the site, search for lenses using tag words, and up comes a list of relevant items. People are able to vote on the lenses they find, and these votes push particularly good lenses closer to the top of the list.

The more a 'lensmaster' updates his or her lens, and the more relevant and interesting those updates are, the more likely that lens is to get a better lens ranking.

The best thing about the site is that it's REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY EASY to make your own lens. It's crammed with tools, and an amazing help forum to get you started.

Here's where it gets interesting though. When the site launches officially in the near future, all lensmasters will earn revenue from the site. They're currently working out a decent 'share and share alike' algorithm. When that's done, I'll start making money off my knowledge base. The more knowledge I share, the more money I'll earn.

But it doesn't end there. Squidoo has dedicated 5% of its revenues to charity. And I get to choose where my share of that goes to. More than that, I can also choose to give a percentage of MY earnings to charity. So I've opted to give 10% of my earnings away to worthy causes selected by the Squidoo team.

This is a site that you simply MUST get involved in. YOU have some expertise. Share it! It's really easy, and all you need to do is know something.

(posted by Roy Blumenthal, the Coffee-Shop Schmuck)

Monday, 26 December 2005

Virtual Surf Report: How to Be a Blogger

If you're reading this blog, chances are you know what a blog IS. And if you don't already HAVE your own blog, you might want to get one, but you might feel a little inhibited.

The easiest thing for you to do is head for one of the three free blogging websites below, and open a free account.

* Blogger (or Blogspot)
* Xanga
* LiveJournal

Now that you've gotten yourself a blog, you're ready to start expressing yourself.

The best thing about these three free services is that you only need occasional access to the internet to be a blogger. You literally don't need anything else.

You don't need a dial-up account. You don't need any special software to format html. You don't even need to know what html IS.

You can do everything from within the browser.

Both Blogger and Xanga give you free photo storage. While LiveJournal doesn't let you save your photos, you can easily use the free Flickr or Yahoo! Photos servers to do the same thing.

The trick with blogging is simply to do it. If you can find the motivation to create one entry per week, you'll soon find yourself sharing your insights with the world, and creating a community around you.

Happy blogging!

(posted by Roy Blumenthal, the Coffee-Shop Schmuck)

Friday, 23 December 2005

Ever wondered about exercising your doodling skills? Here are some sites where you can be an artist without any fear of embarassment.

First take a look at some of the efforts of professional and amateur artists taking a stab at self-portraiture. Artists are invited to take a photo of themselves, and then make an artwork based on that photo. The resulting artworks are on Flickr, and the collection is called, 'Eye:Hand'. (If you dig through the pictures, you'll find a self portrait by me.)

Now that you're inspired, do some doodling of your own at Kaleidoscope Painter. This is a site that allows you to occupy yourself making animated kaleidoscope pictures. Unfortunately, the site doesn't allow you to save your artworks. It's more of a zen, 'live in the moment' kinda tool.

Which leads us to a potent online sketchpad called Websketch. This is the kind of interactivity I like. You have a blank canvas and a whole bunch of different painting and drawing tools. You start your sketch, choose different colours, erase things, do whatever you like. At a certain point, your muddle of nonsense might start to look like something. At that point, hit 'save', and you've got a permanet record of your artwork. But there's more... press the 'replay' button, and the site recreates your masterpiece stroke by stroke, as you did it!

Now that you've tasted blood, and liberated your inner artist, you might want to try your hand at making some money from your artistry. Head straight to Cafe Press, where you can use your artworks to create t-shirts, mugs, cards, clocks, and even fridge magnets. It costs you nothing to setup the items. Instead, you open yourself an online store where you can sell the fruits of your labour! Get all you friends, family, and fans to go and buy your stuff!

Go get 'em, Leonardo!

(posted by Roy Blumenthal, the Coffee-Shop Schmuck)

Thursday, 22 December 2005

It's time to let serendipity guide the way you surf the web. Visit Stumble-Upon, and expand your horizons.

It's a social search engine plugin that lets you find interesting websites according to categories that you set up. Each time you get to a site, you give it a thumbs up, or a thumbs down. If you don't like a site, it'll remember this, and will stop sending you sites of a similar kind.

The more sites you vote for, the more likely it is that you'll receive sites you'll enjoy.

The great thing is that you can vote for ANY site, not just the ones it serves up for you.

And it keeps a complete history of all of your stumbles, allowing you to find that site you loved but can't recall properly.

You can also tag sites and search for specific tags.

Very powerful. Very joyous. And totally free. A huge thumbs up to Stumble-Upon from me.

(posted by Roy Blumenthal, the Coffee-Shop Schmuck)

Lunchtime show on South African national radio, SAfm, hosted by Jon Gericke. I deliver the 'Virtual Surf Report', offering interesting websites for people to visit to make their holidays more fun.

www.hoogerbrugge.com

Wednesday, 21 December 2005

We're visiting the insanely compelling, disturbing, delicious, interactive art world of animation genius Han Hoogerbrugge today. His site is www.hoogerbrugge.com, and you really need to budget several hours and multiple visits to this wonderland. In particular, head for his NEUROTICA series, and spend a vast amount of time delighting yourself with it.

The pieces are essentially self-portraits in which the viewer manipulates the artist.

He's made all of the music and all of the art. And you've GOT to visit this site.

(posted by Roy Blumenthal, the Coffee-Shop Schmuck)

Lunchtime show on South African national radio, SAfm, hosted by Jon Gericke. I deliver the 'Virtual Surf Report', offering interesting websites for people to visit to make their holidays more fun.

www.overheardinnewyork.com

Tuesday, 20 December 2005

Today's site is "Overheard In New York", dedicated to reporting overheard snippets of conversations from the great city. There are some absolute lulus on this site, but it's not to be missed. Here's an example of two people on one of New York's trains.

GIRL: We aren't underground, are we?

GUY: Look over there; there's the sun.

(posted by Roy Blumenthal, the Coffee-Shop Schmuck)