I recently rented the movie, “Margin Call.” The storyline, simply put, is about one investment firm’s decisions in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.
This is definitely one of those movies that kept me thinking long after it was over.
The how and why of what happened doesn’t seem to be as much about understanding the technical or financial details of the crisis as about understanding the motivations, circumstances, lifestyles, personalities, aspirations, and situations that the players found themselves in.
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It’s a New Year and it’s that time again to tackle the New Year’s Resolution question.
As is now becoming The Chris Brogan Tradition, it’s time to pick three words that will represent your goals in the New Year.
The three words that I have chosen are based on what I want to change from last year, and what I think will be needed to make sure I accomplish meaningful personal objectives in 2012, and that I no longer feel like I’m just waiting as days get checked off the calendar like a prison sentence being served. The (perhaps trite) spirit of my three words is this: No longer passive spectator for me; it is high time to be an active participant in living life.
My three words for 2012 are as follows: Read more »
When we express a thought/feeling/idea, we can express one that is originally our own or one that has already been recounted in some way by countless others before us.
As a “wanna-be” artist myself (and maybe I’m not alone in this), I often believe that I need to always come up with something clever or new to be appreciated as a true artist. But, I’m starting to realize that it isn’t the originality of the idea(s) alone that gets people to connect with artwork (in whichever form it manifests itself).
For example, when I first heard about the story-line behind the play and consequent movie, “War Horse“, I didn’t get it. Since I’m not a big horse lover, I simply thought this movie/play just wasn’t for me. Read more »
I remember times while growing up when I’d ask my Mom if I could get a certain hairstyle or buy a certain type of clothes so that I could be more like the other kids in my classes.
I also vividly remember my Mom’s response going something like this: “Why, do you want to look like everyone else?”
I also remember desperately wanting to reply, that: “Yes, I’d love to fit in and to look like everyone else.”
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I am not a social person, yet I love social media.
I prefer email correspondence over phone conversations any day.
At my day job, I work with numbers, yet I would actually prefer working with words.
I truly admire people who are humbly confident. I love Pink and Lady Gaga. I yearn to express the inner artsy side of myself, yet I never seem to be able to act on that. Read more »
At the recent Inbound Marketing Summit 2011 in Boston, I was impressed to hear the behind-the-scenes stories of author, Ben Mezrich, who is known for creating his own genre of nonfiction. (Sidebar: other highlights from #IMS2011 were recorded by the Pulse Network.)
As a quick background for anyone who may not know Ben Mezrich, he is known for writing the true-to-life stories behind the MIT blackjack team and the rise of Facebook, The Social Network, i.e., stories, which his website describes as “chronicling the amazing stories of young geniuses making tons of money on the edge of impossibility, ethics, and morality.” Read more »
The other day, 
I caught the end of a news report on Somalia, and then later in the day came across the same topic in an interview asking the following questions: “Will giving money to Somalia really help? Or, is that just the easy way for us to wash our hands of the situation?”
Since I regrettably hadn’t been following the issues of the Somali Crisis, I decided it was time to do some link jumping to see what I could find out about this Crisis.
As usual the first headline I came across was criticism about how the crisis was being addressed. The headline read: ”Aid Groups are misleading the public on Somalia” along with a later statement that “greater honesty about human blame is slowing the response“. Read more »
On this day of remembrance of the 9-11 attacks and the ensuring military actions that followed, I find myself reflecting on a number of other similarly tragic events (both man-made and naturally-occurring) that have also occurred in this last decade.
In my thoughts are the many people that continue to perish and suffer in the ongoing tragedies of life.
As I reflect, I think of the common criticism that often accompanies these sorts of events: that the hardest/largest hit area gets the most attention (e.g., be it aid, or media coverage, or whatever). Attention lasts until the event quickly gets overshadowed then forgotten as the next tragedy strikes and takes its place in the queue. It seems to be a never-ending line. Read more »
Self expression isn’t always easy. Maybe that’s why I admire those who openly exhibit an apparently unshakable confidence to be themselves.
It’s easy not to realize that behind outwardly confident people there are probably many encounters with ignorant people than most people are even aware.
It seems that in life, it’s almost impossible to escape criticism entirely. The schoolyard “Sticks and Stones” saying and the online advice of “Don’t feed the trolls” is only a small part of the story. Read more »
There is nothing new about the age-old debates around Free Speech and Free will.
Here is another example in the news recently:
Tobacco companies are challenging the federal government’s power (via the FDA) to regulate tobacco product advertising.
The tobacco companies claim this violates their right to free speech, that the government doesn’t have the right to force them to display imagery which persuades the public not to purchase their product, which they point out is a lawful product.
The Court’s reply was that the tobacco industry’s imagery “seeks to distract potential users from the fact that tobacco products are lethal and addictive.” Read more »
