Adventures in Candyland

Life’s pretty funny. One day you write about feeling thankful every day and a few day’s later, the concept really comes into play (sorry about the rhyme). I was staying in Malibu this past holiday weekend. Friday was amazing glorious day at the beach - warm and clear. Winter? Not here. I kept thinking that this is why people live in Southern California.

But, this is why people don’t, want to live in SoCal that is. I was awoken out of a dead stupor at 5:30am to the smell of what I thought was the BBQ and the doorbell ringing. I opened the door to a wall of thick, black smoke and the neighbor telling us to gather our things and get out. Shocking to say the least. Another disasterous fire - second time in a month. Here is the view from Kanan as I evacuated.

Sun rising amid the growing plume

Pretty dramatic difference from day to day. Guess there’s a price to pay for beauty. What do you think?

I know Danielle has already offered her thoughts on Thanksgiving and how we should never take the freedoms we have for granted, but of course, I needed to add my two cents on all the other things that shouldn’t be taken for granted as well (shocking, I know).

One of the brands we represent, Soul’s Calling, is all about transferring positive energy from one person to another. The big idea is that we are all connected and whatever we are feeling or whatever is happening to us, we pass that emotion/energy to everyone we come in contact. Not surprisingly, Gina, president of Soul’s Calling, creates aesthetically-pleasing products that literally feature fun, affirming messages directed at its owner and whomever the product and it’s person come in contact with. To create this kind of line, you definitely have to be an eternal optimist, and she truly is. Recently we had her create a list of her: Top Five Easy Ways To Make Yourself Happy. I liked all the ideas, but I was particularly drawn to the idea of the gratitude list.

A gratitude list isn’t a new, unique or innovative idea, in fact, it’s quite simple and basic which is probably why I was so attracted to it. It’s so easy to take life for granted. When something traumatic or painful happens to you, you definitely feel the need to be reflective and thankful for everything you have. But so often, as soon as life resolves itself and moves back into the daily grind, you forget about all that stuff and just live life - not that there is anything wrong with that either - it’s just the way it is.

As a very busy person, with a lot on my plate, I’ve realized I need a method of reconnecting to myself and the others around me that’s simple and doesn’t take a lot of time or effort. Yes, I would love to do an hour of yoga everyday and I wish I could meditate for 20 minutes each morning, but sometimes its just not possible to fit it in. So, I have made this gratitude list a part of my everyday. I usually write it out right before I go to bed and it calms me down and offers good thoughts as I fall asleep. Then a few days ago, Danielle sent me this link from Tim Ferris’ blog, “Experiments in Lifestyle Design.” In the post, he features a study which likens the kind of gratitude list I’ve been completing each night to a form of meditation resulting in things like increased alterness, enthusiasm, determination, energy, optimism and a whole litney of other great things that typically result from more traditional forms of meditation. Who knew I was helping myself even more than I thought I was!

Obviously, this is quite apropos considering tomorrow’s Thanksgiving, but it’s probably even more apropos every other day of the year when we really do forget to be thankful for all we have, because baby, ain’t those the days when we need to remember it most. Particularly in the ultra fast paced, multi-media, always on, information overloaded world. For five minutes, just forget about all that other stuff and remember what makes this thing we call life so worth it. And believe, me I’m not one of those, “golly gee, isn’t life grand!” types, but when I do this, I realize my cup overfloweth in so many ways.

So c’mon have an attitude towards gratitude. All us busy professionals need to keep things in perspective and it seems to me, this might be one good way to do it.

Happy Turkey Day!

Yesterday we toured a very cool house in Brentwood. Wired Home by Living Homes (obviously, Chris Anderson didn’t completely turn me off). The house used state-of-the-art technology and environmentally conscious steel, glass and reclaimed redwood-encased Prefab for Living Homes by celebrated architect, Ray Kappe. The home is completely wrapped in windows - allowing the outside to be brought it - a concept that is throughly appealing to me. It was 4,000 sq. feet of design and technology exquisitness and absolutely the kind of house I see in my future. There was so much coolness in this house (forget the house keys, how about an iris reader instead) and we’re real suckers for it. Here are a few shots(sorry about the crappy camera phone) that really don’t do it justice.

The interior was also pretty spot on - modern yet not cold. The art was interesting, particularly from this artist -Andy Diaz Hope. Here’s something kinda trippy that I took - reminded Danielle of the show, “Flight of the Concords”. This was the mirror in the upstair bathroom.

But, there was only one issue - the price tag. The house is on the market for 4.3 mill. I don’t know if I will be able to afford this in the near future. And that begs the question, how many people really can? I understand that this home was for touring and sets the standard, but when will the masses, or even the upper middle class, be able to afford a sustainable PREFAB home. The definition of Prefab has definitely changed and so has the price. I don’t know the exact price of putting one of these homes up, but I’m assuming it’s quite costly even when they aren’t customized.

For me, the home symbolizes the green movement. Lots of new ways to be environmentally conscious, yet ironically, the majority of products are typically more expensive than their non-green counterparts. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule so you don’t need to list off all the ways or products I’m wrong about, but if we are to move in this direction, I hope that this kind of lifestyle can become more cost-effective and easily accessible for more people in the near future. I, for one, am waiting for the day.

Innovation never stops and never ceases to amaze. Last Sunday, Danielle and I ventured downtown to the LA Convention Center to experience Wired Nextfest, one of the coolest “tradeshows” I’ve ever attended. As we browsed the booths, we were continously awed by the creativity and cool factor of the products and technologies shaping the future of our world. We were reminded that we’re living during an amazing period of time, where interactivity is the sign of the times as well as the proliferation of communities continually being by reshaped by the technology and inspiration featured at this show. The shape of things to come is about customization, collaboration and innovation tied into entertainment and culture tied into creating a more sustainable and empathetic world.

Honestly, I could write chapters on the innovations we saw Sunday, but instead, I’ll just hightlight a few of of my favorites.

Light Harp
This is the first interactive art you experience upon entering the show. The sound coming from this thing was really beautiful.

Brainball
Are you calm enough to win a game of brain ball. I know I’m not, but it might be a good challenge for me. Brainball is a game where you compete by relaxing your brain and move a little ball across a table into a little circle using your brainwaves. The person who is calmer will get the ball in first. Seriously, who needs mediation when you can just play this game. Everyone was circled around these two players sitting their with their eyes closed while their brain waves were being charted on screen behing them. It was fascinating!

Desktop Factory 3D Printer
This is so cool and so inexpensive when you compare it to the past cost of creating some kind of prototype. The machine looks like a microwave oven and basically layers what sort of looks like sand to create a 3D model of the digital data you feed it and only for $4995.

Jukebots
People DJs may soon be extinct with the introduction of Jukebots, industrial robots who scratch, spin and mix records. They kind of dance as the decise which record they’re going to pick. Ridiculously cool!

LifeStraw
It’s difficult to imagine living somewhere without access to a clean water source. It’s painful to realize children still die from contaminated water — soooo these LifeStraws, which are shockingly inexpensive and simple( $3 )will save many, many lives.

Obviously I could chronicle every experience that seemed significant or fabulous, but I don’t want to bore you. So I’m going end this entry by illustrating the use of technology and art.

Today, text messaging is taking the place of calling, emailing and yes, talking. So I think we can all expect to see many iterations of this technology in the future. Here are two we learned about and took advantage of many times that day. So many times in fact, the guy from Nanikawa who was running the Wind and Swimming Messagesystem was either thinking we were really crazy or really annoying. The other is TXTual Healing, SMS Enabled Interactive Street Performance. Both very cool and the wave of the future. Below are a few samples of what I’m talking about, but please don’t judge me for my camera work, which is absolutely painful and pretty much unbearable - I truly apologize, but I want to illustrate what I’m talking about. Today, we actually bought a really cool handheld video camera by PURE DIGITAL, that we learned about at a PSFK conference. We’ll blog on how that benefits my awful filming ability later.

Both of the below technologies allow you to call a number they provide, enter your message which is immediately rendered into these two artistic forms.

TXTual Healing - Text Message Customizable Graffiti Art

Wind and Swimming MessageSystem - The wind blows your text from screen to screen in front of a beautiful background

Which unique technologies and products do you think will make an impact in the future?

The article and picture featured on the front page of yesterday’s NY Times begged for some form of commentary. 

“Yes, They Deep-Fry Oreos, but Not in Trans Fat.” This is now the case at the Great Indiana State Fair where everyone should feel much more healthful while indulging in a Combo Plate,  which is composed of one battered Snickers bar, two battered Oreos and a battered Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.  Thank goodness is all I have to say – I would be truly hesitant to purchase the plate while it was fried in the trans fat oil, but now I will fill my tummy full an assortment of these fried goods knowing I have much less chance of having a heart attack.      

Sarcasm aside, this article harkens back to Morgan Spurlock’s documentary, “Super Size Me,” which shockingly informed me that people actually believe eating McDonalds everyday, and even multiple times a day, is good for them. 

Sadly, both these examples prove the power of marketing over people.  Often, it is used for bad, but being the saint I am, I prefer to use it only for good.

I have really fair skin.  No, I mean REALLY fair…you know, like that glow-in-the-dark, kind of see-through fair skin.  So when I went to the dermatologist yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised when she told me my skin was in pretty good shape as far as sun-damage is concerned.  She wanted to know if I grew up in SoCal…apparently people who grow up in SoCal have lots of skin damage.  So I must have been lucky that after one or two sunburns in high school, my parents started grounding me if I got too much sun.  Actually, they pretty much put the fear of god into me, and now I’m one of those people who enjoy tropical vacations from under an umbrella, where I’m still slathered in sunscreen and wearing a hat.  But back to my dermatologist…

So then she asked me if I wear sunscreen.  I told her I wear daily moisturizer with SPF 15.  And here’s the news I want to share…she told me that in her opinion, that’s pretty much like not wearing any sunscreen.  Huh?  Here I thought I was being so good, protecting my face every day from that evil, blazing sun.  Turns out that this type of sunscreen is a chemical sunscreen, which means it absorbs the UVB rays and kind of disperses them throughout your skin.  What more, she said those SPF numbers don’t really mean all that much because they’re derived from a lab.  Basically, in a controlled environment where some guys in white coats apply exactly the right amount several times a day, I’d be 15 times less likely to be burned than if I was standing in the sun with no sunscreen on.  But do I apply the right amount?  Do I apply it evenly?  Do I reapply? 

So what’s a fair-skinned maiden like me to do in Southern California?  Well, the dermatologist recommended using a sunscreen with a physical blocker, like zinc or titanium (think lifeguards with white noses).  She says the minerals in physical sunscreen actually reflect all the UV rays away from the skin.  Lucky for me, she says they make these sunscreens now so that they absorb better than they used to.  That’s good ‘cause I just can’t imagine being any whiter than I already am.