THE Macarthur area community has continued to delve deep into its pocket to provide support for Camden’s Mater Dei.
More than 600 peopel attended the school’s annual black tie dinner event at The Cube, Campbelltown, earlier this month, raising $250,000.
The total amount raised at the annual dinners has passed $ million.
The school’s development manager Debbie Gates said the community came through for Mater Dei once again. “The Macarthur community is known for its extraordinary generosity and they have stepped up yet again,” she said.
“Their support makes our jobs so much easier and the parents are overwhelmed to know the community cares so much about their children.”
Students showed their appreciation by providing endless entertainment for the crowd. They also joined their teachers to hip hop, waltz and rumba for the audience.
In keeping with the old-style glamour theme of the evening, Tom Burlison performed a few Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole hits before league legend Steve Edge solicitor Jim Marsden opened the up the night’s auction.
Part of the money raised will be used to buy creative arts and physical education resources and the rest will be used in the school’s life skills programs that aims to help students become confident, contributing members of the community.
2011年9月29日星期四
2011年9月28日星期三
Happy Magic Waterpark – Klaustrophobie im größten Wasserpark der Welt
Das in China neue Freizeitparks im Wochentakt angekündigt werden ist beileibe nichts Neues, aber nun will die Volksrepublik der westlichen Welt anscheinend auch noch in Sachen Wasserrutschen zeigen wo der Hammer hängt. Im Pekinger Stadtbezirk Fengtai, wo bis Mitte der 1980er Jahre nur Schweine und Ziegen die ländliche Landschaft prägten, ragen seit wenigen Wochen sieben Türme mit insgesamt 35 Wasserrutschen in den Himmel. Der Beijing Happy Magic Waterpark gilt seit seiner Eröffnung als der größte Wasserpark der Welt und bietet Platz für bis zu 35.000 Besucher. Ob das baden in diesem Gewusel noch Spaß macht, sei einmal dahin gestellt – Wir tippen eher auf Panikattacken, in Folge einer spontan auftretenden Klaustrophobie.
Aber auch wenn uns China in Superlativen um Lichtjahre voraus ist, scheint es im Land des Lächelns noch am benötigten Know-How für einen Weltklasse Wasserpark zu fehlen. Und so verwundert es kaum, dass alle Attraktionen des Beijing Happy Magic Waterpark von dem renommierten kanadischen Unternehmen Pro Slide Technology stammen. Kein anderer Hersteller von Wasserrutschen konnte in den letzten Jahren mit mehr Innovationen und Weltrekorden aufwarten. Eine Erfolgswelle, die sich in Peking fortsetzt: Bei der weltweit ersten Auslieferung des TornadoWAVE stürzen bis zu vier Personen durch eine dunkle Röhre in die Tiefe, nur um im Anschluss eine fast senkrechte Wand zu erklimmen und einen Moment der Schwerelosigkeit zu genießen.
Auch ProSlides kultigste und 2003 mit dem Golden Ticket Award ausgezeichnete Wasserrutsche, der Tornado, wird in Peking noch eine wenig extremer. Mit einer Höhe von über 20 Metern stellt er nicht nur die restlichen Attraktionen des Happy Magic Waterpark in den Schatten, sondern auch alle bisher ausgelieferten Modelle. Und während Eltern ihren Adrenalin-Kick auf den gigantischen Wasserrutschen bekommen, vergnügt sich deren Nachwuchs im größtem RideHouse der Welt, einem Wasserspielplatz mit 12 Rutschen, duzenden von Wasser-Kanonen und einem gigantischen Eimer, der in kurzen Abständen 1.800 Liter Wasser auf die spielenden Kinder herab regnen lässt.
Alles in allem ist der riesige Beijing Happy Magic Waterpark, mit seinen 35 Wasserrutschen und einem der weltweit größten Wellenbecken, einer der beeindruckendsten Wasserparks der Welt. Nur wer auf eine exzessive Thematisierung besteht, ist in den Wasserparks der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate weiterhin besser aufgehoben. Denn zumindest in diesem Bereich benötigt China noch einiges an Nachhilfe.
Aber auch wenn uns China in Superlativen um Lichtjahre voraus ist, scheint es im Land des Lächelns noch am benötigten Know-How für einen Weltklasse Wasserpark zu fehlen. Und so verwundert es kaum, dass alle Attraktionen des Beijing Happy Magic Waterpark von dem renommierten kanadischen Unternehmen Pro Slide Technology stammen. Kein anderer Hersteller von Wasserrutschen konnte in den letzten Jahren mit mehr Innovationen und Weltrekorden aufwarten. Eine Erfolgswelle, die sich in Peking fortsetzt: Bei der weltweit ersten Auslieferung des TornadoWAVE stürzen bis zu vier Personen durch eine dunkle Röhre in die Tiefe, nur um im Anschluss eine fast senkrechte Wand zu erklimmen und einen Moment der Schwerelosigkeit zu genießen.
Auch ProSlides kultigste und 2003 mit dem Golden Ticket Award ausgezeichnete Wasserrutsche, der Tornado, wird in Peking noch eine wenig extremer. Mit einer Höhe von über 20 Metern stellt er nicht nur die restlichen Attraktionen des Happy Magic Waterpark in den Schatten, sondern auch alle bisher ausgelieferten Modelle. Und während Eltern ihren Adrenalin-Kick auf den gigantischen Wasserrutschen bekommen, vergnügt sich deren Nachwuchs im größtem RideHouse der Welt, einem Wasserspielplatz mit 12 Rutschen, duzenden von Wasser-Kanonen und einem gigantischen Eimer, der in kurzen Abständen 1.800 Liter Wasser auf die spielenden Kinder herab regnen lässt.
Alles in allem ist der riesige Beijing Happy Magic Waterpark, mit seinen 35 Wasserrutschen und einem der weltweit größten Wellenbecken, einer der beeindruckendsten Wasserparks der Welt. Nur wer auf eine exzessive Thematisierung besteht, ist in den Wasserparks der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate weiterhin besser aufgehoben. Denn zumindest in diesem Bereich benötigt China noch einiges an Nachhilfe.
2011年9月27日星期二
Pupils set Rubik’s cube record
The pupils at Sutherland High School in Pretoria believe all that stands between them and the Guinness World Record for the most people solving a Rubik’s cube at once is paperwork.
This is after they more than doubled the existing record of 300 in an hour, held by a team in India.
The record attempt was the highlight of Friday’s family fun day, said the schools public relations officer Carol Riddick.
Of the 715 pupils and staff who participated in the event, 711 completed the challenge.
The brain behind the attempt was maths teacher Lisa Marie Harrison who was taught the secret of the cube two years ago by ex-pupils.
Harrison was hooked and could not leave the cube alone. Some of her students started calling her a freak, said Riddick.
It was Harrison who found out about the record and suggested the school participate.
About 50 staff members – excluding Harrison who was busy with arrangements – joined the pupils in the record attempt.
“It was all done strictly to the rules, as soon as a cube was complete the person had to leave the demarcated area,” said Riddick.
Team members had to buy their own cubes and had practised at home. “Some pupils are so good now they can complete the cube in a minute,” said Riddick.
It would take about three months for all the paperwork and to have their name on the record, she said.
According to Wikipedia, the Rubik’s Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno Rubik. Originally called the “Magic Cube”, by January 2009 more than 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide.
In a classic Rubik’s cube, each of the six faces is made up of nine colours – traditionally white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be a solid colour.
This is after they more than doubled the existing record of 300 in an hour, held by a team in India.
The record attempt was the highlight of Friday’s family fun day, said the schools public relations officer Carol Riddick.
Of the 715 pupils and staff who participated in the event, 711 completed the challenge.
The brain behind the attempt was maths teacher Lisa Marie Harrison who was taught the secret of the cube two years ago by ex-pupils.
Harrison was hooked and could not leave the cube alone. Some of her students started calling her a freak, said Riddick.
It was Harrison who found out about the record and suggested the school participate.
About 50 staff members – excluding Harrison who was busy with arrangements – joined the pupils in the record attempt.
“It was all done strictly to the rules, as soon as a cube was complete the person had to leave the demarcated area,” said Riddick.
Team members had to buy their own cubes and had practised at home. “Some pupils are so good now they can complete the cube in a minute,” said Riddick.
It would take about three months for all the paperwork and to have their name on the record, she said.
According to Wikipedia, the Rubik’s Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno Rubik. Originally called the “Magic Cube”, by January 2009 more than 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide.
In a classic Rubik’s cube, each of the six faces is made up of nine colours – traditionally white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be a solid colour.
2011年9月26日星期一
Circus set to music still a thrill
It doesn’t matter how many times you may have seen a certain type of circus act, be it someone juggling on the ground or soaring through the air. These feats can still bring a smile to one’s face, even a thrill down the spine.
Cirque de la Symphonie is a company specializing in presenting cirque-style acts of strength, balance, agility, flexibility and a general disregard for the laws of gravity and physics in conjunction with symphony orchestras.
Four of its performers were the guests of the Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College for the orchestra’s first concerts of its 33rd season. And before the show was over Friday night, artistic director Barry Epperley promised the capacity crowd at the VanTrease PACE that Cirque de la Symphonie would be back.
Epperley said that even when Vladimir Tsarkov, a mime, juggler, clown and magician, apparently made off with Epperley’s wallet in the course of a magic trick. Tsarkov did the most in the evening, beginning with demonstrating a number of innovative ways of keeping first three, then four, then five, then six hoops in the air. He then assisted Elena Tsarkova in her series of quick-changes — gloves, then dresses that got increasingly lighter in color and longer in length.
Then came the magic act, where Epperley was coaxed into a large sack with a ropebound Tsarkova. After a few seconds, the sack was dropped — and Epperley’s tuxedo coat was under all those ropes around Tsarkova.
Tsarkova on her own performed a series of acrobatic moves and contortionist poses on a pair of tall stools.
Alexander Streltsov performed a kind of juggling act, spinning a large cube made of metal bars around the stage. He and fellow aerialist, Christine Van Loo, were featured in the show’s finale, weaving themselves in two long red silks high about the stage.
Everything was done with understated grace, precision, even humor — as when one of Tsarkov’s hoops got away from him, and he was able to make it a part of the act. And no matter how familiar the various acts were, they were still remarkable displays of human ability.
The soundtrack to all these goings-on was a good deal of Tchaikovsky, a bunch of Bizet and a sampling of Saint-Saens and Rossini.
In order to accommodate the cirque acts, the Signature Symphony was moved to the very back of the stage. Epperley and guest conductor Pete Peterson, who divided the conducting duties for the night, had all the strings to one side, all the winds and brass to the other.
It might have been because of this physical arrangement, but the orchestra’s sound was wildly unbalanced — the opening piece, Dvorak’s “Carnival Overture,” sounds like a carnival that had been touring too long through some pretty rough towns.
It wasn’t until the final piece of the first half, the Bacchanale from “Samson et Delilah,” that the orchestra’s sound really came together. The medley from “Scheherazade” was maybe the best performance of the evening, with fine solo work by concertmaster Maureen O’Boyle, principal oboist Lisa Wagner and principal bassoonist Jim Fellows.
Cirque de la Symphonie is a company specializing in presenting cirque-style acts of strength, balance, agility, flexibility and a general disregard for the laws of gravity and physics in conjunction with symphony orchestras.
Four of its performers were the guests of the Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College for the orchestra’s first concerts of its 33rd season. And before the show was over Friday night, artistic director Barry Epperley promised the capacity crowd at the VanTrease PACE that Cirque de la Symphonie would be back.
Epperley said that even when Vladimir Tsarkov, a mime, juggler, clown and magician, apparently made off with Epperley’s wallet in the course of a magic trick. Tsarkov did the most in the evening, beginning with demonstrating a number of innovative ways of keeping first three, then four, then five, then six hoops in the air. He then assisted Elena Tsarkova in her series of quick-changes — gloves, then dresses that got increasingly lighter in color and longer in length.
Then came the magic act, where Epperley was coaxed into a large sack with a ropebound Tsarkova. After a few seconds, the sack was dropped — and Epperley’s tuxedo coat was under all those ropes around Tsarkova.
Tsarkova on her own performed a series of acrobatic moves and contortionist poses on a pair of tall stools.
Alexander Streltsov performed a kind of juggling act, spinning a large cube made of metal bars around the stage. He and fellow aerialist, Christine Van Loo, were featured in the show’s finale, weaving themselves in two long red silks high about the stage.
Everything was done with understated grace, precision, even humor — as when one of Tsarkov’s hoops got away from him, and he was able to make it a part of the act. And no matter how familiar the various acts were, they were still remarkable displays of human ability.
The soundtrack to all these goings-on was a good deal of Tchaikovsky, a bunch of Bizet and a sampling of Saint-Saens and Rossini.
In order to accommodate the cirque acts, the Signature Symphony was moved to the very back of the stage. Epperley and guest conductor Pete Peterson, who divided the conducting duties for the night, had all the strings to one side, all the winds and brass to the other.
It might have been because of this physical arrangement, but the orchestra’s sound was wildly unbalanced — the opening piece, Dvorak’s “Carnival Overture,” sounds like a carnival that had been touring too long through some pretty rough towns.
It wasn’t until the final piece of the first half, the Bacchanale from “Samson et Delilah,” that the orchestra’s sound really came together. The medley from “Scheherazade” was maybe the best performance of the evening, with fine solo work by concertmaster Maureen O’Boyle, principal oboist Lisa Wagner and principal bassoonist Jim Fellows.
2011年9月25日星期日
Make the most of the last of your basil
When my basil plants start to flower and look spindly, it's a sign that I had better get cracking on pesto.
This year was a good basil year. I planted two varieties from seed -- large and small leaf -- and both grew well. Basil made its way into salads, onto grilled pizza, and was chopped and mixed with softened butter to slather on corn on the cob.
But now it's time for pesto.
Over the years I've collected lots of tips and techniques. One, from Cook's Illustrated magazine, advised toasting the garlic used to make pesto for a few minutes to take the bite out of it, which works well.
Basil tends to darken when cut and frozen, so some recipes call for adding a little bit of parsley or spinach to give the pesto a vibrant green color.
Another tip is to toast the nuts. This intensifies their flavor so you can use fewer of them. In most recipes, you can cut the amount in half by toasting first. Pine nuts are generally used to make pesto, but they are pretty pricey right now, about $25 a pound, because of a shortage. You can use walnuts or almonds in place of pine nuts.
The pesto in today's recipe makes a little more than 3/4 cup. Use about half a cup in this simple pasta dish and freeze the remainder. (You can use it all if you want.)
To freeze pesto, spoon it into icecube trays and freeze solid. Pop out the frozen cubes and place in freezer bags.
If you want to use the pesto within a few days, you can put it in a container in the refrigerator. Drizzle a thin layer of olive oil over the top, and cover with plastic wrap and the lid.
If you're not making pesto and want to save some of that basil for later use, you can freeze it (as well as most herbs) by itself. To freeze herbs, rinse the leaves or wipe them with a damp paper towel. Chop or tear them and put them in icecube trays. Cover them with water and freeze. You can add the frozen cubes to soups, stews or sauces.
Another method for freezing herbs is to coarsely chop them, drizzle them with olive oil and freeze them in mounds on a tray. Once frozen, place the mounds in freezer bags.
This year was a good basil year. I planted two varieties from seed -- large and small leaf -- and both grew well. Basil made its way into salads, onto grilled pizza, and was chopped and mixed with softened butter to slather on corn on the cob.
But now it's time for pesto.
Over the years I've collected lots of tips and techniques. One, from Cook's Illustrated magazine, advised toasting the garlic used to make pesto for a few minutes to take the bite out of it, which works well.
Basil tends to darken when cut and frozen, so some recipes call for adding a little bit of parsley or spinach to give the pesto a vibrant green color.
Another tip is to toast the nuts. This intensifies their flavor so you can use fewer of them. In most recipes, you can cut the amount in half by toasting first. Pine nuts are generally used to make pesto, but they are pretty pricey right now, about $25 a pound, because of a shortage. You can use walnuts or almonds in place of pine nuts.
The pesto in today's recipe makes a little more than 3/4 cup. Use about half a cup in this simple pasta dish and freeze the remainder. (You can use it all if you want.)
To freeze pesto, spoon it into ice
If you want to use the pesto within a few days, you can put it in a container in the refrigerator. Drizzle a thin layer of olive oil over the top, and cover with plastic wrap and the lid.
If you're not making pesto and want to save some of that basil for later use, you can freeze it (as well as most herbs) by itself. To freeze herbs, rinse the leaves or wipe them with a damp paper towel. Chop or tear them and put them in ice
Another method for freezing herbs is to coarsely chop them, drizzle them with olive oil and freeze them in mounds on a tray. Once frozen, place the mounds in freezer bags.
2011年9月22日星期四
Diablo III Beta Impressions
On the flip side however, your choice and customisation levels are somewhat reduced from before: the new skill system no longer allows you to spec into whatever you want, but gives you a new skill at every level and instead forces you to choose between which ones you wield at any given time. It’s too early to tell how this will pan out over the course of the entire game, but from the beta levels at least there’s certainly considerable differences in playstyle depending on what skills you are equipping, and I often found myself longing for a quick-swap button along the lines of Diablo II’s ‘W’ key so I could bring up a different set of skills.
In a nod to Torchlight, the Cauldron of Jordan appears quite early in your inventory to allow you to sell items without having to return to town, and there’s also the addition of a new Nephalem Cube that allows you to break down your unwanted items into crafting ingredients. Town portal scrolls have been canned in favour of a Stone of Recall which can bring you back to town at any time, but it seems that the combination of the Cube and the Cauldron means you’ll very rarely (if ever) have to return to town except perhaps to use the shared Stash (having found a Bo Staff for my Monk while playing as my Witch Doctor, I can confirm that the shared Stash is awesome).
The crafting ingredients are quite neat: in town you can use them at, say, the Blacksmith’s to craft new magic items for yourself, but you can also collect pages of a Training Tome and give it to the Blacksmith, to unlock new crafting recipes at his forge. The same process can be repeated at other vendors as well.
There is of course no mention of Diablo III without a discussion of its always-online play, and there’s no denying that Diablo III is an MMO in almost every sense of the word. Every game is potentially a multiplayer game - although you have to explicitly flag it as open and public, as it’s invite-only by default - and even if you’re playing on your own you cannot pause the game, so if you want a break you’d better go find a quiet place to rest or just log out (waiting the obligatory ten seconds of course). I encountered one net connection bug while playing, which saw all my pets stop moving, chests become unopenable, and terrain failing to load ahead of me as I reached the limit of my locally cached area. During this time I was also unable to exit the game, and had to wait a minute or two before the client realised it couldn’t find the server and forced me out.
It is thanks to this I can tell you that the game uses a checkpoint system in each quest, which is where you restart from if you are booted. When creating a game you can actually choose which quest you want to start of out of any you have completed, which is neat for multiplayer where people might be on different quests. I managed to grab a few hours of multiplayer, and it works almost seamlessly (as you’d expect for an MMO), although the increased difficulty of another player on the server was never really felt. This is of course just the first part of the first Act (on normal mode, as Hardcore and Inferno aren't available yet), but it felt distressingly easy at times as a solo melee Monk, and another playing jumping in with their Demon Hunter to add ranged DPS to the equation just made it even more of a walkover: poor King Leoric never stood a chance. One of the best features of the Diablo III multi is that items now only drop for you, so if you can see something on the ground then it’s yours, and you never have to fight over who gets it.
In a nod to Torchlight, the Cauldron of Jordan appears quite early in your inventory to allow you to sell items without having to return to town, and there’s also the addition of a new Nephalem Cube that allows you to break down your unwanted items into crafting ingredients. Town portal scrolls have been canned in favour of a Stone of Recall which can bring you back to town at any time, but it seems that the combination of the Cube and the Cauldron means you’ll very rarely (if ever) have to return to town except perhaps to use the shared Stash (having found a Bo Staff for my Monk while playing as my Witch Doctor, I can confirm that the shared Stash is awesome).
The crafting ingredients are quite neat: in town you can use them at, say, the Blacksmith’s to craft new magic items for yourself, but you can also collect pages of a Training Tome and give it to the Blacksmith, to unlock new crafting recipes at his forge. The same process can be repeated at other vendors as well.
There is of course no mention of Diablo III without a discussion of its always-online play, and there’s no denying that Diablo III is an MMO in almost every sense of the word. Every game is potentially a multiplayer game - although you have to explicitly flag it as open and public, as it’s invite-only by default - and even if you’re playing on your own you cannot pause the game, so if you want a break you’d better go find a quiet place to rest or just log out (waiting the obligatory ten seconds of course). I encountered one net connection bug while playing, which saw all my pets stop moving, chests become unopenable, and terrain failing to load ahead of me as I reached the limit of my locally cached area. During this time I was also unable to exit the game, and had to wait a minute or two before the client realised it couldn’t find the server and forced me out.
It is thanks to this I can tell you that the game uses a checkpoint system in each quest, which is where you restart from if you are booted. When creating a game you can actually choose which quest you want to start of out of any you have completed, which is neat for multiplayer where people might be on different quests. I managed to grab a few hours of multiplayer, and it works almost seamlessly (as you’d expect for an MMO), although the increased difficulty of another player on the server was never really felt. This is of course just the first part of the first Act (on normal mode, as Hardcore and Inferno aren't available yet), but it felt distressingly easy at times as a solo melee Monk, and another playing jumping in with their Demon Hunter to add ranged DPS to the equation just made it even more of a walkover: poor King Leoric never stood a chance. One of the best features of the Diablo III multi is that items now only drop for you, so if you can see something on the ground then it’s yours, and you never have to fight over who gets it.
2011年9月21日星期三
College Theme Party Ideas
1. Decades
Do you have a particular affinity for a time period in history? If so, throw a themed party celebrating the retro styles of decades past.
Break out the leggings and terrycloth hair bands to rock an ‘80s look. Take a hint from the stars of the decade and emulate their iconic fashion statements, such as Madonna's sexy "Material Girl" look or Cyndi Lauper's bold, colorful ensembles and voluminous hair. Boys can take on an edgier style by dressing like famous hair metal rockers of the decade. The ‘60s hippie style is always easy to adopt. Simply throw on a fringed vest, some bell-bottom jeans and colorful, round sunglasses. The ‘50s is a fun stylistic decade. Watch "Grease" for some ideas, such as motorcycle jackets or poodle skirts. Love disco? Pull on some pieces influenced by the ‘70s, such as sequined long sleeve shirts, go-go boots or patterned jumpsuits.
Decorate the room with retro vibes that commemorate these significant eras. Mix up a playlist of music spanning each of the decades. It'll be like partying in a time machine!
2. Magic and Myths
If you love Harry Potter, you'll want to break out the robes, wands and wizards' hats for a magical themed party. You could come to the party dressed as witches or wizards or be a little creative and dress as a mythical creature, such as a vampire, werewolf or mermaid.
Add some entertainment to the party by getting guests to participate in magic tricks or games. Serve mysterious dishes and drinks. Decorate the room in black, white and red-- traditional colors relating to magicians. Make sure to have some spare decks of cards, wands and rabbits around; you never know what magical qualities your guests may possess.
3. Hollywood
Throw a Hollywood themed party and ask guests to dress as their favorite celebrity or iconic star, like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis or Michael Jackson. You'll have a fun time trying to guess who's trying to impersonate whom.
Make sure to roll out a red carpet and take plenty of paparazzi pictures. Decorate the room with film rolls, stars, the Hollywood sign and cameras. Post movie posters around the room. Have guests sign his or her "autograph" on a giant board and save it as a memento. Play entertainment trivia and find out what interesting facts people know about the famous celebrities.
4. Sports Night
Sports are extremely popular among students on campus. If you throw a sports themed party, you'll be sure to have guests lining up outside to join in on the festivities. Ask partygoers to represent their favorite sports teams and players by wearing jerseys. Girls can take it up a notch by dressing in cheerleader uniforms. Add a little face paint to any ensemble to really capture that team spirit. Be sure to serve finger foods, like pizza, wings and popcorn, while you screen sports games for guests to enjoy.
5. Rubik's Cube
Here's a good idea for anyone who loves an interactive party. For this theme, everyone must show up to the party wearing one article of clothing that is a color featured on a Rubik's cube: red, white, blue, orange, green and yellow. Once guests arrive at the party, have people swap pieces of clothes, so that each person can eventually have an entire outfit that is one color. This twist to the theme can liven up any common college party.
Do you have a particular affinity for a time period in history? If so, throw a themed party celebrating the retro styles of decades past.
Break out the leggings and terrycloth hair bands to rock an ‘80s look. Take a hint from the stars of the decade and emulate their iconic fashion statements, such as Madonna's sexy "Material Girl" look or Cyndi Lauper's bold, colorful ensembles and voluminous hair. Boys can take on an edgier style by dressing like famous hair metal rockers of the decade. The ‘60s hippie style is always easy to adopt. Simply throw on a fringed vest, some bell-bottom jeans and colorful, round sunglasses. The ‘50s is a fun stylistic decade. Watch "Grease" for some ideas, such as motorcycle jackets or poodle skirts. Love disco? Pull on some pieces influenced by the ‘70s, such as sequined long sleeve shirts, go-go boots or patterned jumpsuits.
Decorate the room with retro vibes that commemorate these significant eras. Mix up a playlist of music spanning each of the decades. It'll be like partying in a time machine!
2. Magic and Myths
If you love Harry Potter, you'll want to break out the robes, wands and wizards' hats for a magical themed party. You could come to the party dressed as witches or wizards or be a little creative and dress as a mythical creature, such as a vampire, werewolf or mermaid.
Add some entertainment to the party by getting guests to participate in magic tricks or games. Serve mysterious dishes and drinks. Decorate the room in black, white and red-- traditional colors relating to magicians. Make sure to have some spare decks of cards, wands and rabbits around; you never know what magical qualities your guests may possess.
3. Hollywood
Throw a Hollywood themed party and ask guests to dress as their favorite celebrity or iconic star, like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis or Michael Jackson. You'll have a fun time trying to guess who's trying to impersonate whom.
Make sure to roll out a red carpet and take plenty of paparazzi pictures. Decorate the room with film rolls, stars, the Hollywood sign and cameras. Post movie posters around the room. Have guests sign his or her "autograph" on a giant board and save it as a memento. Play entertainment trivia and find out what interesting facts people know about the famous celebrities.
4. Sports Night
Sports are extremely popular among students on campus. If you throw a sports themed party, you'll be sure to have guests lining up outside to join in on the festivities. Ask partygoers to represent their favorite sports teams and players by wearing jerseys. Girls can take it up a notch by dressing in cheerleader uniforms. Add a little face paint to any ensemble to really capture that team spirit. Be sure to serve finger foods, like pizza, wings and popcorn, while you screen sports games for guests to enjoy.
5. Rubik's Cube
Here's a good idea for anyone who loves an interactive party. For this theme, everyone must show up to the party wearing one article of clothing that is a color featured on a Rubik's cube: red, white, blue, orange, green and yellow. Once guests arrive at the party, have people swap pieces of clothes, so that each person can eventually have an entire outfit that is one color. This twist to the theme can liven up any common college party.
2011年9月20日星期二
Combat clueless college courtship
If you don't know if you're on a date, it's hard to tell the difference between blinks and eyelash batting, thumb wars and handholding.
Whether or not you're on a date can depend on how you're asked, where the date is, and how the person sitting across from you is acting.
Once a new couple finally acknowledges they're on a date, all sorts of unspoken questions hang in the air, like who should pay and how each person should act.
Each date is different, and there's no magic formula making one successful. That being said, here are a few short lessons, drawn from my own personal experience research and interviews, on how to decode the mystery of the Chico State date.
Being asked out to junior prom via text message didn't sit well with me.
Call me corny, but I prefer the classy fellas that don't hide behind technology because of their fears of being rejected.
I text my friends to hang out all of the time, but that doesn't make it a date.
It's difficult to read between the lines of texts and emails to figure out the difference between "hanging out" and being on a date.
Asking someone out through a text message or the Internet is detached and shows insecurity. The date doesn't count unless the invitation is a little dated. If it's not important enough to ask someone out face to face, the relationship will show it.
Online dating sites such as eHarmony and PlentyOfFish claim to help people find love.
I have had a number of friends that had success on such websites, so I decided to see what all the hype was about - bad idea.
As I was browsing, I found it hard to believe that an 18-year-old male I found was really 18.
He looked 18 in the picture, but the bottom of the photo showed that it was taken in October 1976.
There can be anyone behind your computer screen, from fellas with conviction to convicted felons. Online dating starts with courtship, but if you're not careful, it could end with a court order.
Figuring out who pays during the dating period can get pretty fuzzy.
Paying during a date depends not only on the people in the relationship, but the occasion, said Angela Harter, a graduate student studying nutrition who has been in a relationship for three years.
For the first few dates it's appropriate for the male to pay, but on casual occasions, like grabbing a bite before catching a movie, the cost should be divided.
There is no right or wrong answer, Harter said.
But not everyone agrees.
The male should pay throughout the entire relationship, said Thomas Robie, an undeclared freshman.
"The whole time I always paid, really," Robie said. "I guess you could split it. It just seems weird."
Rather than conform to the heterosexual tradition of male pay, Jessica Arriga, a junior multicultural and gender studies major, said she and her date would take turns paying the bill.
"Sometimes we would split it if we were low on cash," Arriga said.
Due to cultural influences such as TV, books and movies, people in our society have a tendency to assume that in same sex relationships, one person adopts the more masculine role and the other the feminine role, Arriga said.
"I think people need to realize that, and I'm only speaking for women, that not every lesbian couple gives into that dynamic," she said. "They might both want to be feminine or even the one that dresses more feminine might feel like the more dominant masculine person that day."
Over the course of the relationship, who pays depends on the people, their situation and what feels appropriate.
I'm not saying there are specific guidelines to when the other person should start chipping in, but ladies, use some common sense and don't take advantage.
Whether or not you're on a date can depend on how you're asked, where the date is, and how the person sitting across from you is acting.
Once a new couple finally acknowledges they're on a date, all sorts of unspoken questions hang in the air, like who should pay and how each person should act.
Each date is different, and there's no magic formula making one successful. That being said, here are a few short lessons, drawn from my own personal experience research and interviews, on how to decode the mystery of the Chico State date.
Being asked out to junior prom via text message didn't sit well with me.
Call me corny, but I prefer the classy fellas that don't hide behind technology because of their fears of being rejected.
I text my friends to hang out all of the time, but that doesn't make it a date.
It's difficult to read between the lines of texts and emails to figure out the difference between "hanging out" and being on a date.
Asking someone out through a text message or the Internet is detached and shows insecurity. The date doesn't count unless the invitation is a little dated. If it's not important enough to ask someone out face to face, the relationship will show it.
Online dating sites such as eHarmony and PlentyOfFish claim to help people find love.
I have had a number of friends that had success on such websites, so I decided to see what all the hype was about - bad idea.
As I was browsing, I found it hard to believe that an 18-year-old male I found was really 18.
He looked 18 in the picture, but the bottom of the photo showed that it was taken in October 1976.
There can be anyone behind your computer screen, from fellas with conviction to convicted felons. Online dating starts with courtship, but if you're not careful, it could end with a court order.
Figuring out who pays during the dating period can get pretty fuzzy.
Paying during a date depends not only on the people in the relationship, but the occasion, said Angela Harter, a graduate student studying nutrition who has been in a relationship for three years.
For the first few dates it's appropriate for the male to pay, but on casual occasions, like grabbing a bite before catching a movie, the cost should be divided.
There is no right or wrong answer, Harter said.
But not everyone agrees.
The male should pay throughout the entire relationship, said Thomas Robie, an undeclared freshman.
"The whole time I always paid, really," Robie said. "I guess you could split it. It just seems weird."
Rather than conform to the heterosexual tradition of male pay, Jessica Arriga, a junior multicultural and gender studies major, said she and her date would take turns paying the bill.
"Sometimes we would split it if we were low on cash," Arriga said.
Due to cultural influences such as TV, books and movies, people in our society have a tendency to assume that in same sex relationships, one person adopts the more masculine role and the other the feminine role, Arriga said.
"I think people need to realize that, and I'm only speaking for women, that not every lesbian couple gives into that dynamic," she said. "They might both want to be feminine or even the one that dresses more feminine might feel like the more dominant masculine person that day."
Over the course of the relationship, who pays depends on the people, their situation and what feels appropriate.
I'm not saying there are specific guidelines to when the other person should start chipping in, but ladies, use some common sense and don't take advantage.
2011年9月19日星期一
Unilever wants FG to review import duty
UNILEVER Nigeria Plc has called for downward review of tariffs charged on the importation of raw materials by the Federal Government to the country, just as the company held its first Abuja Rice Festival power by Knorr.
The Brand Manager, Knorr Cube Omiza Gyang and the Abuja field sales manager, Abiodun Saliu in a separate statement said only conducive environment will bring healthy competition among players in the private sector which will in turn boost the country’s economy.
Abiodun maintained that although the company is not afraid of any challenge to compete in the market, if the environment is make conducive by government with other infrastructure like power supply many moribund organisations will be resuscitated and it will culminate into reduction of socio-vices in the society.
The Brand Manager, Knorr Cube Omiza Gyang and the Abuja field sales manager, Abiodun Saliu in a separate statement said only conducive environment will bring healthy competition among players in the private sector which will in turn boost the country’s economy.
Abiodun maintained that although the company is not afraid of any challenge to compete in the market, if the environment is make conducive by government with other infrastructure like power supply many moribund organisations will be resuscitated and it will culminate into reduction of socio-vices in the society.
State Medicaid reform: 'Rubik's Cube'
State Sen. Roger Reitz squared off Monday with Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer about prospects for significantly curtailing the cost of Medicaid services without undercutting quality of patient care.
"I don't see how it can possibly work," said Reitz, a Manhattan physician. "You're going to have people marching on the Statehouse."
Colyer, a surgeon and chairman of Gov. Sam Brownback's task force on reform of Medicaid, said he couldn't concur with the senator's diagnosis.
"I respectfully disagree," Colyer said.
"I'm sure you do," Reitz replied. "You're never going to cut medical costs down. You know that."
So it went during a back-and-forth hearing conducted by the House-Senate Health Policy Oversight Committee into preliminary findings of the executive branch's research on overhaul of the health program for low-income Kansans. The objective is to guarantee a safety net for patients and diminish costs to taxpayers.
Colyer said rising expenditures — a projected 400 percent from 2000 to 2019 — placed an unsustainable burden on Kansas government. He stopped short of unveiling Brownback's preferences for reform, but summarized ideas likely to be in the mix during the 2012 legislative session.
It would be impossible to overstate the complexity of reshaping a program involving vulnerable patients and medical providers, as well as state and federal governments, he said.
"This is the ultimate Rubik'sCube
The lieutenant governor said there was no realistic way to avoid budget reductions in Medicaid, but he declined to comment on speculation by Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita, that the target ranged from $200 million to $400 million.
Colyer said the state likely would absorb hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid cuts during the next few years.
"We are going to have to make some cuts," Colyer said. "Everybody is going to end up sharing."
He said critics of Medicaid spending reductions should consider an alternative centering on deeper reductions to K-12 and university education.
The Brownback administration is committed to creation of a financially sustainable Medicaid program that involves "high-quality, holistic care and promotes personal responsibility," Colyer said.
Colyer said he would prefer to avoid cutting people out of Medicaid. Missouri, for example, trimmed 100,000 from its list.
Other options include reductions in medical provider rates and conversion to a managed-care model that assigns coordinators to care for patients with the most complicated medical conditions. Targeting the most complex medical cases makes sense, he said.
"Twenty percent of the Medicaid population consumes 80 percent of the resources," Colyer said.
Obtaining a policy waiver from the federal government, which jointly finances Medicaid, would allow Kansas to implement unorthodox reforms, Colyer said.
The Medicaid system is plagued by mountains of paperwork that would benefit from greater reliance on computerized health records, Colyer said. Strategies to delay or prevent people from entering nursing homes should be a priority, he said.
"Our goal," he said, "is to save money by getting better results and avoiding institutionalization."
He said patients should be offered incentives to stop smoking or diet effectively to counter obesity. At the same time, he said, the Kansas could leverage state programs to help people with disabilities obtain jobs and private health insurance.
"I don't see how it can possibly work," said Reitz, a Manhattan physician. "You're going to have people marching on the Statehouse."
Colyer, a surgeon and chairman of Gov. Sam Brownback's task force on reform of Medicaid, said he couldn't concur with the senator's diagnosis.
"I respectfully disagree," Colyer said.
"I'm sure you do," Reitz replied. "You're never going to cut medical costs down. You know that."
So it went during a back-and-forth hearing conducted by the House-Senate Health Policy Oversight Committee into preliminary findings of the executive branch's research on overhaul of the health program for low-income Kansans. The objective is to guarantee a safety net for patients and diminish costs to taxpayers.
Colyer said rising expenditures — a projected 400 percent from 2000 to 2019 — placed an unsustainable burden on Kansas government. He stopped short of unveiling Brownback's preferences for reform, but summarized ideas likely to be in the mix during the 2012 legislative session.
It would be impossible to overstate the complexity of reshaping a program involving vulnerable patients and medical providers, as well as state and federal governments, he said.
"This is the ultimate Rubik's
The lieutenant governor said there was no realistic way to avoid budget reductions in Medicaid, but he declined to comment on speculation by Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita, that the target ranged from $200 million to $400 million.
Colyer said the state likely would absorb hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid cuts during the next few years.
"We are going to have to make some cuts," Colyer said. "Everybody is going to end up sharing."
He said critics of Medicaid spending reductions should consider an alternative centering on deeper reductions to K-12 and university education.
The Brownback administration is committed to creation of a financially sustainable Medicaid program that involves "high-quality, holistic care and promotes personal responsibility," Colyer said.
Colyer said he would prefer to avoid cutting people out of Medicaid. Missouri, for example, trimmed 100,000 from its list.
Other options include reductions in medical provider rates and conversion to a managed-care model that assigns coordinators to care for patients with the most complicated medical conditions. Targeting the most complex medical cases makes sense, he said.
"Twenty percent of the Medicaid population consumes 80 percent of the resources," Colyer said.
Obtaining a policy waiver from the federal government, which jointly finances Medicaid, would allow Kansas to implement unorthodox reforms, Colyer said.
The Medicaid system is plagued by mountains of paperwork that would benefit from greater reliance on computerized health records, Colyer said. Strategies to delay or prevent people from entering nursing homes should be a priority, he said.
"Our goal," he said, "is to save money by getting better results and avoiding institutionalization."
He said patients should be offered incentives to stop smoking or diet effectively to counter obesity. At the same time, he said, the Kansas could leverage state programs to help people with disabilities obtain jobs and private health insurance.
2011年9月18日星期日
Solar-powered processor and the memory cube
INTEL has unveiled a Near Threshold Voltage Processor which is said to be able to run off a solar cell the size of a postage stamp.
The technology was just one of many others Intel introduced at the Intel Developer Foru,
The Near-Threshold Voltage Processor uses ultra-low voltage circuits which reduce energy consumption by operating close to the turn-on voltage of the transistors. While still a concept CPU, the unit can run fast when needed, but will drop power to below 10 milliwatts when the workload is light.
Intel says the research chip will not become a product itself, although it could lead to the integration of scalable scalable near-threshold voltage circuits across a wide range of future products, reducing power consumption by 5-fold or more and extending always-on capability to a wider range of computing devices.
Another technology seen at the event was the Hybrid Memory Cube, a concept DRAM developed by Micron in collaboration with Intel. According to the company, the Memory Cube demonstrates a new approach to memory design delivering a 7-fold improvement in energy-efficiency over today's DDR3.
Hybrid Memory Cube uses a stacked memory chip configuration, forming a compact "cube," and uses a new, highly efficient memory interface which sets the bar for energy consumed per bit transferred while supporting data rates of one trillion bits per second. This research could lead to dramatic improvements in servers optimized for cloud computing as well as ultrabooks, televisions, tablets and smartphones.
The technology was just one of many others Intel introduced at the Intel Developer Foru,
The Near-Threshold Voltage Processor uses ultra-low voltage circuits which reduce energy consumption by operating close to the turn-on voltage of the transistors. While still a concept CPU, the unit can run fast when needed, but will drop power to below 10 milliwatts when the workload is light.
Intel says the research chip will not become a product itself, although it could lead to the integration of scalable scalable near-threshold voltage circuits across a wide range of future products, reducing power consumption by 5-fold or more and extending always-on capability to a wider range of computing devices.
Another technology seen at the event was the Hybrid Memory Cube, a concept DRAM developed by Micron in collaboration with Intel. According to the company, the Memory Cube demonstrates a new approach to memory design delivering a 7-fold improvement in energy-efficiency over today's DDR3.
Hybrid Memory Cube uses a stacked memory chip configuration, forming a compact "cube," and uses a new, highly efficient memory interface which sets the bar for energy consumed per bit transferred while supporting data rates of one trillion bits per second. This research could lead to dramatic improvements in servers optimized for cloud computing as well as ultrabooks, televisions, tablets and smartphones.
2011年9月15日星期四
Koffee kommissar
Scores of new eateries have opened over the last couple of years on the east side of the Mile End, and many of them are oriented towards the lunch crowd. That crowd originates in the small but dense industrial district that stretches between St-Laurent and St-Denis, above Maguire. Whereas most of these new establishments are along St-Laurent, Café Falco is within the garment district itself, at the base of a 12-story, Borg cube-like industrial building on de Gaspé.
True to the first half of its name, Café Falco is foremost a coffeehouse. But it is no ordinary coffeehouse; it uses the eccentric (read: fad du jour) siphon process to brew the brown waters. It also has a fairly unusual setup. There are just a couple of two- or three-person tables in this bright, amply fenestrated and artfully decorated space; most patrons have to enjoy (or contend with) sitting on high stools at a large communal table, with carefully selected art and design books piled in the centre.
The siphon coffee-making equipment is fascinating to look at—like something out of a 19th-century chemistry lab. It’s like a huge hourglass: two bulbous glass vessels, one on top of the other, connected via a narrow glass tube. The water is poured into the lower glass vessel and the coffee grounds are put into the one on top.
Initially, the siphon coffee process is functionally similar to a stovetop coffeemaker. You heat the lower vessel (with something like a Bunsen burner), and the resulting steam pushes the remaining water up to the top vessel, where it encounters the coffee grounds. When the bottom vessel is empty, or nearly so, the heat is turned off. As the lower vessel cools down, the pressure inside it drops, creating a vacuum. It sucks the coffee in the upper vessel down through a filter in the interconnecting glass tube, which captures the grounds. So, the water ends up where it started, in the lower vessel, albeit now infused with that brown magic.
Is it worth all the fuss? I’m not sure. The resulting brew is undeniably velvety smooth, certainly much better than your typical drip coffee. It doesn’t hurt that Falco uses beans from award winning Wisconsin-based roaster Kickapoo. Personally, however, I think I might’ve preferred that those excellent beans be extracted into an espresso.
Coffee isn’t the only thing on offer at Falco. There are other beverages, caffeinated and otherwise, plus various light snacks and complete weekday lunches and Saturday brunches, both of a Japanese nature.
The miso was the only element of our meal that was served hot. It was light beige and quite cloudy, thicker and more substantial than the rather broth-like miso afterthoughts you might encounter at some nominally Japanese places. Taste-wise, it was well balanced: slightly sour, not too salty and rich in umami, as miso should be.
The cool cucumber salad made for a nice, refreshing contrast. It was flavoured with a light, ginger-accented rice vinegar dressing and had a pleasant crunch to it.
True to the first half of its name, Café Falco is foremost a coffeehouse. But it is no ordinary coffeehouse; it uses the eccentric (read: fad du jour) siphon process to brew the brown waters. It also has a fairly unusual setup. There are just a couple of two- or three-person tables in this bright, amply fenestrated and artfully decorated space; most patrons have to enjoy (or contend with) sitting on high stools at a large communal table, with carefully selected art and design books piled in the centre.
The siphon coffee-making equipment is fascinating to look at—like something out of a 19th-century chemistry lab. It’s like a huge hourglass: two bulbous glass vessels, one on top of the other, connected via a narrow glass tube. The water is poured into the lower glass vessel and the coffee grounds are put into the one on top.
Initially, the siphon coffee process is functionally similar to a stovetop coffeemaker. You heat the lower vessel (with something like a Bunsen burner), and the resulting steam pushes the remaining water up to the top vessel, where it encounters the coffee grounds. When the bottom vessel is empty, or nearly so, the heat is turned off. As the lower vessel cools down, the pressure inside it drops, creating a vacuum. It sucks the coffee in the upper vessel down through a filter in the interconnecting glass tube, which captures the grounds. So, the water ends up where it started, in the lower vessel, albeit now infused with that brown magic.
Is it worth all the fuss? I’m not sure. The resulting brew is undeniably velvety smooth, certainly much better than your typical drip coffee. It doesn’t hurt that Falco uses beans from award winning Wisconsin-based roaster Kickapoo. Personally, however, I think I might’ve preferred that those excellent beans be extracted into an espresso.
Coffee isn’t the only thing on offer at Falco. There are other beverages, caffeinated and otherwise, plus various light snacks and complete weekday lunches and Saturday brunches, both of a Japanese nature.
The miso was the only element of our meal that was served hot. It was light beige and quite cloudy, thicker and more substantial than the rather broth-like miso afterthoughts you might encounter at some nominally Japanese places. Taste-wise, it was well balanced: slightly sour, not too salty and rich in umami, as miso should be.
The cool cucumber salad made for a nice, refreshing contrast. It was flavoured with a light, ginger-accented rice vinegar dressing and had a pleasant crunch to it.
2011年9月14日星期三
Cube Litening Super HPC Pro review
The Super HPC Pro has more modest components than the 2010 Shimano Di2-equipped Super HPC, but Cube isn’t cutting corners with its Ultegra and FSA gearing, Syntace stem, bar and seatpost, Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels and Schwalbe tyres. And this model is also more practical for most riders. The separate seatpost may add a few grams compared with the all-in-one seatmast of the Di2-equipped model, but it’s a boon if you ever have to box it for flying or stick it in the back of your car. It has the same tapered Easton EC90SL fork though. Made of unidirectional carbon, it’s light and stiff and contributes to the Cube’s lightning-quick direction changes. Its Litening name may be misspelt – Germans, eh? – but it’s not a misnomer.
This super-quick handling comes courtesy of a monocoque frame with the usual modern attributes: tapered head-tube, oversized bottom bracket shell with press-fit bottom bracket, and oversized carbon bar and seatpost. It all feels suitably stiff and Teutonically efficient, but slim seatstays, the oversize carbon Syntace bar and Fizik’s manganese-railed Arione saddle keep any discomfort at bay even during long, hard rides.
Ultegra does its usual excellent job, aided by FSA’s high quality and well finished SL-K Light chainset with its hollow carbon fibre arms. This shifted perfectly, and proved both flex and creakfree. Ours came with a standard 53/39 chainset, which made some of our local climbs hard going, but the Super HPC Pro is also available at the same price with a lower geared 50/34 compact option for those who prefer to spin rather than crank their way up the hills. There’s also a second colour option available, Cube’s much more muted ‘Blackline’ which lives up to its name.
Wheels and tyres match up to Cube’s high standards. The Fulcrum Racing 5s come in at a decent weight, are stiff and, in our experience, should prove durable too. Schwalbe’s excellent Ultremo ZX tyres complement these superbly, combining good rolling resistance and excellent grip with a layer of Kevlar for puncture protection. Performance from wheels and tyres was faultless.
Geometry is the same as all Cube road bikes, our 56cm test bike having a 54.5cm effective top-tube, which is about 15-20mm shorter than typical for a 56cm frame. This contributes to the rapid and direct handling of the Cube, but does mean you have to take care with sizing, particularly if you’re long in the upper body or arms. Overall, though, this is about as good as it gets at this price for a high performance mile-eating machine that balances comfort and performance so well.
This super-quick handling comes courtesy of a monocoque frame with the usual modern attributes: tapered head-tube, oversized bottom bracket shell with press-fit bottom bracket, and oversized carbon bar and seatpost. It all feels suitably stiff and Teutonically efficient, but slim seatstays, the oversize carbon Syntace bar and Fizik’s manganese-railed Arione saddle keep any discomfort at bay even during long, hard rides.
Ultegra does its usual excellent job, aided by FSA’s high quality and well finished SL-K Light chainset with its hollow carbon fibre arms. This shifted perfectly, and proved both flex and creakfree. Ours came with a standard 53/39 chainset, which made some of our local climbs hard going, but the Super HPC Pro is also available at the same price with a lower geared 50/34 compact option for those who prefer to spin rather than crank their way up the hills. There’s also a second colour option available, Cube’s much more muted ‘Blackline’ which lives up to its name.
Wheels and tyres match up to Cube’s high standards. The Fulcrum Racing 5s come in at a decent weight, are stiff and, in our experience, should prove durable too. Schwalbe’s excellent Ultremo ZX tyres complement these superbly, combining good rolling resistance and excellent grip with a layer of Kevlar for puncture protection. Performance from wheels and tyres was faultless.
Geometry is the same as all Cube road bikes, our 56cm test bike having a 54.5cm effective top-tube, which is about 15-20mm shorter than typical for a 56cm frame. This contributes to the rapid and direct handling of the Cube, but does mean you have to take care with sizing, particularly if you’re long in the upper body or arms. Overall, though, this is about as good as it gets at this price for a high performance mile-eating machine that balances comfort and performance so well.
2011年9月13日星期二
Marc by Marc Jacobs weaves retail magic as Betsey Johnson throws out the rule book
Like many a show at New York Fashion Week, inspiration for Marc by Marc Jacobs' S/S 2012 line seems to be firmly rooted in the past.
This time, it's back to the heady streets of Eighties New York - basketball boots, sun visors, jumpsuits and anoraks - via the 1950s for a splash of bathing suit creativity.
Retro T-shirts with a bubble-like font firmly stated the current era - though Grandpa-esque vinyl visors, in transparent green, red and blue did a good job of confusing the issue.
Continuing a theme that has been running throughout 2011, Mr Jacobs' more affordable label was chock-full of colour-blocking. Solid bursts of bright hues contrasted with a black detail or an off-set accessory.
Hi-top baseball boots in bright red and cartoon-like cube handbags contrasted with more feminine features such as the peplum-like flurry of detail on a black and coral pink strapless cocktail dress with a sweetheart neckline.
A range of swimsuits looked stunning without being overtly sexy - mini peplum wings on the hips lending a touch of shape to the halter neck designs, while one striped number looked as it if may have been inspired by Victorian English beach life.
Simple, bold fabric designs - red, blue and white stripes and a neon tropical bird on a black background - broke up some simple blocks of colour.
Animal patterns have also been spotted at Carolina Herrera and Victoria Beckham's shows, cementing their place in many a wardrobe next spring and summer.
Mr Jacobs, 48, is currently amid the centre of a storm of speculation over his potential new job at Christian Dior. He reportedly demanded a $10million salary from the French design house which has been left without a creative figurehead since John Galliano's shock departure in February.
Dior or not, if there's one thing we - and Mr Jacobs - can be certain of, it is that the accessible, non-intimidating, youthful designs of his Marc line will fly off the shelves come next year.
From one New York fashion demi-god to another, last night also saw Betsey Johnson's runway show.
Pink hair extensions aside, the eccentric and consistently colourful designer, 69, lived up to her signature design style of playful non-conformity.
A diverse mixture of models and mismatching ensembles saw riotous patterns of red roses with leopard print and skin tight dresses that left nothing of the female form to the imagination.
Where Marc by Marc Jacobs trod safely, Ms Johnson threw out the rulebook, her new collection mixing metallic shining blue and pink Eighties-style puff mini-dresses with black leather hot pants, loud floral prints with chunky silver jewellery and chunky hot pink boots with lace-up sky-high heels.
There were floaty floral dresses - some going for the mullet-look, that is, mini skirts in front and long skirts at the back - and ruffled gold underwear on show.
It was fun, loud and not one for the faint-hearted - and we can see why the increasingly sartorially unpredictable pop star Nicki Minaj is a firm favourite.
This time, it's back to the heady streets of Eighties New York - basketball boots, sun visors, jumpsuits and anoraks - via the 1950s for a splash of bathing suit creativity.
Retro T-shirts with a bubble-like font firmly stated the current era - though Grandpa-esque vinyl visors, in transparent green, red and blue did a good job of confusing the issue.
Continuing a theme that has been running throughout 2011, Mr Jacobs' more affordable label was chock-full of colour-blocking. Solid bursts of bright hues contrasted with a black detail or an off-set accessory.
Hi-top baseball boots in bright red and cartoon-like cube handbags contrasted with more feminine features such as the peplum-like flurry of detail on a black and coral pink strapless cocktail dress with a sweetheart neckline.
A range of swimsuits looked stunning without being overtly sexy - mini peplum wings on the hips lending a touch of shape to the halter neck designs, while one striped number looked as it if may have been inspired by Victorian English beach life.
Simple, bold fabric designs - red, blue and white stripes and a neon tropical bird on a black background - broke up some simple blocks of colour.
Animal patterns have also been spotted at Carolina Herrera and Victoria Beckham's shows, cementing their place in many a wardrobe next spring and summer.
Mr Jacobs, 48, is currently amid the centre of a storm of speculation over his potential new job at Christian Dior. He reportedly demanded a $10million salary from the French design house which has been left without a creative figurehead since John Galliano's shock departure in February.
Dior or not, if there's one thing we - and Mr Jacobs - can be certain of, it is that the accessible, non-intimidating, youthful designs of his Marc line will fly off the shelves come next year.
From one New York fashion demi-god to another, last night also saw Betsey Johnson's runway show.
Pink hair extensions aside, the eccentric and consistently colourful designer, 69, lived up to her signature design style of playful non-conformity.
A diverse mixture of models and mismatching ensembles saw riotous patterns of red roses with leopard print and skin tight dresses that left nothing of the female form to the imagination.
Where Marc by Marc Jacobs trod safely, Ms Johnson threw out the rulebook, her new collection mixing metallic shining blue and pink Eighties-style puff mini-dresses with black leather hot pants, loud floral prints with chunky silver jewellery and chunky hot pink boots with lace-up sky-high heels.
There were floaty floral dresses - some going for the mullet-look, that is, mini skirts in front and long skirts at the back - and ruffled gold underwear on show.
It was fun, loud and not one for the faint-hearted - and we can see why the increasingly sartorially unpredictable pop star Nicki Minaj is a firm favourite.
2011年9月12日星期一
Should Retro Studios Make A Zelda Game?
In the short space of no time at all, Retro Studios, Inc. had risen from a small, aspiring second-party game development company in Austin, Texas to the world-renowned studio that had brought one of the strongest games to the Nintendo GameCube platform, Metroid Prime. It was this technical marvel which had garnered Retro Studios with the commendable praise they deserve, and as a result of this success, the studio wasadopted directly by Nintendo as a first-party developer. From then on out, it was a sure thing that the company had become one of Nintendo's most valuable assets - a development team comprised mostly of Americans, Nintendo had left it to Retro to cater for the Western audiences with the rest of the Prime trilogy.
The studio had done just that, and before long the first Prime game and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes werepioneering the 'Cube for hardcore gamers - some would argue they even put up a worthy fight against Master Chief's UNSC fleet on the Xbox, at least for a time. Retro had worked on the Metroid series for so long that they eventually became directly associated with it, taking it all the way to the Wii with Prime 3: Corruption. Wishing to pursue other interests, the company came out with a revamp of the Donkey Kong franchise with Country Returns on the Wii in 2010, and had in turn successfully reinstated Nintendo fans' faith in the true King of the Jungle. Currently, they're co-developing Mario Kart 7, to be released for the Nintendo 3DS later this year.
There's no denying it, Retro Studios make some great games. But could they handle a franchise as huge, expansive and utterly precious as The Legend of Zelda? It's a big question. In the series' twenty-five-year life-span, there have been so very few developers of whom Nintendo has actually trusted with the intellectual property rights of the franchise, to develop a fully-fledged entry in the legendary series. Philips was the first company to obtain these rights, to which they assigned two (too-often-considered) incompetent software companies, Animation Magic and Viridis, to develop three entries in the Hyrule fantasy: Wand of Gamelon,Faces of Evil and Zelda's Adventure. And, well, you know how the story goes, they just couldn't wait to bomb some Dodongos, and they ended up dropping an oversized turd on the franchise, which Nintendo had to ultimately clean up, by giving Philips and the CD-i console, the boot. We in the Zelda fan community make every attempt not to recall these absolutely horrid and embarrassing games.
Undoubtedly, the most notable software developer to make a contribution to the Zelda frachise would be Capcom - specifically, a division within the company, known as Flagship. To further expand the series in the handheld market, Nintendo had assigned Flagship to develop a series of immense, linked Game Boy Colour games not unlike Game Freak's Pokémon games, to which they came out with the fan-favourites, Oracle of Ages andSeasons. Continuing with the "linking" mechanic known to handheld games in those days, Flagship went on to produce the multi-player experience Four Swords (which is to be re-released as a 3DS download this year) and an A Link to the Past remake on the Game Boy Advance, and later, the brilliant Minish Cap, a 2D adventure that mimicked the 3D games in terms of scale, plot, cinematics and design (and contrary to popular belief, Flagship did not develop Four Swords Adventures). The Flagship company eventually closed in 2007, never to produce another Zelda title, an outcome many dedicated Zelda fans deem as highly unfortunate.
The studio had done just that, and before long the first Prime game and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes werepioneering the 'Cube for hardcore gamers - some would argue they even put up a worthy fight against Master Chief's UNSC fleet on the Xbox, at least for a time. Retro had worked on the Metroid series for so long that they eventually became directly associated with it, taking it all the way to the Wii with Prime 3: Corruption. Wishing to pursue other interests, the company came out with a revamp of the Donkey Kong franchise with Country Returns on the Wii in 2010, and had in turn successfully reinstated Nintendo fans' faith in the true King of the Jungle. Currently, they're co-developing Mario Kart 7, to be released for the Nintendo 3DS later this year.
There's no denying it, Retro Studios make some great games. But could they handle a franchise as huge, expansive and utterly precious as The Legend of Zelda? It's a big question. In the series' twenty-five-year life-span, there have been so very few developers of whom Nintendo has actually trusted with the intellectual property rights of the franchise, to develop a fully-fledged entry in the legendary series. Philips was the first company to obtain these rights, to which they assigned two (too-often-considered) incompetent software companies, Animation Magic and Viridis, to develop three entries in the Hyrule fantasy: Wand of Gamelon,Faces of Evil and Zelda's Adventure. And, well, you know how the story goes, they just couldn't wait to bomb some Dodongos, and they ended up dropping an oversized turd on the franchise, which Nintendo had to ultimately clean up, by giving Philips and the CD-i console, the boot. We in the Zelda fan community make every attempt not to recall these absolutely horrid and embarrassing games.
Undoubtedly, the most notable software developer to make a contribution to the Zelda frachise would be Capcom - specifically, a division within the company, known as Flagship. To further expand the series in the handheld market, Nintendo had assigned Flagship to develop a series of immense, linked Game Boy Colour games not unlike Game Freak's Pokémon games, to which they came out with the fan-favourites, Oracle of Ages andSeasons. Continuing with the "linking" mechanic known to handheld games in those days, Flagship went on to produce the multi-player experience Four Swords (which is to be re-released as a 3DS download this year) and an A Link to the Past remake on the Game Boy Advance, and later, the brilliant Minish Cap, a 2D adventure that mimicked the 3D games in terms of scale, plot, cinematics and design (and contrary to popular belief, Flagship did not develop Four Swords Adventures). The Flagship company eventually closed in 2007, never to produce another Zelda title, an outcome many dedicated Zelda fans deem as highly unfortunate.
2011年9月8日星期四
Cosentino finds his great escape
IT'S no exaggeration to say magic changed Paul Cosentino's life. As a young child, he was shy, not very popular and educationally a slow developer. "I didn't read my first word until I was in grade three," says the magician/escape artist/illusionist and runner-up in this year's Aus-tralia's Got Talent. "I cannot explain how terrible it was to be asked to read out loud. It was shocking. It really crushes you."
His mother, a school principal, took him to all kinds of experts, but nothing helped until, aged 12, he learnt his first coin trick. Suddenly, he wanted to know more.
There was a book in the house, an encyclopaedia of magic, but Cosentino wasn't quite up to reading it, even at 12, so his mother read it to him and as he became more and more entranced by the world of possibility it opened up, he realised he was going to have to start reading himself. "And from being this kid who couldn't speak or talk, I became by 16 somebody who was standing in front of people performing, and it was all because of magic," he says.
IT'S no exaggeration to say magic changed Paul Cosentino's life. As a young child, he was shy, not very popular and educationally a slow developer. "I didn't read my first word until I was in grade three," says the magician/escape artist/illusionist and runner-up in this year's Aus-tralia's Got Talent. "I cannot explain how terrible it was to be asked to read out loud. It was shocking. It really crushes you."
His mother, a school principal, took him to all kinds of experts, but nothing helped until, aged 12, he learnt his first coin trick. Suddenly, he wanted to know more.
There was a book in the house, an encyclopaedia of magic, but Cosentino wasn't quite up to reading it, even at 12, so his mother read it to him and as he became more and more entranced by the world of possibility it opened up, he realised he was going to have to start reading himself. "And from being this kid who couldn't speak or talk, I became by 16 somebody who was standing in front of people performing, and it was all because of magic," he says.
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The bookshelves in Cosentino's workshop in a wing of his parents' house in Lysterfield are crammed with tomes on magic, illusions and escape artistry, as well as DVDs and videos, all of which he's devoured over the years. There are signed posters and photos on the walls from the likes of Penn and Teller, David Blaine and David Copperfield, all of whom he has met (mostly in Las Vegas). "When I first met them they were my heroes," he says. "It's weird to think there are kids now who might look at me in the same way."
If there are, he readily acknowledges it's all down to the Channel Seven talent show. He didn't win, but an estimated 4 million people (including regional and time-shifted audiences) saw his high-energy mix of Michael Jackson-style dance moves and magic.
"It's made a huge difference," says the 28-year-old on the eve of his first Melbourne theatre show, at the Athenaeum. "I'm not doing anything different to what I've been doing for the last 10 years, but suddenly people know I exist."
Grateful as he is for the exposure, he bemoans the fact that there's no infrastructure he can tap into to take his act to the next level. In fact, the only support network is the one he and his family have made. One brother, Adam, is his manager, another brother, John, is his trainer, and his father, a structural engineer, helps design the elaborate props, including the rig from which a heavily manacled Cosentino was dropped into five metres of water at the Melbourne Aquarium last February.
That stunt — in which he spent three minutes and 39 seconds under water — was a year in the planning, cost $25,000 of Cosentino's money and brought not a cent of direct income. "It was all about raising my profile," he says.
It did, however, bring him plenty of offers to repeat the stunt. He declined them all. "Just the natural high — you haven't had air for four minutes, then all this air goes rushing in — it's just exhilarating. I can never recapture that moment now. It's a one-off. For me it's lost its interest. You're not going to get on a motorbike to set the world record for a jump then say, 'I guess I'll do it again'. You've done it. I want to do a new stunt."
In his studio-workshop — the space in fact houses an indoor swimming pool, its surface long since boarded over — there's a metal cage about the size of a small car. Inside it is a grid of 25-centimetre-long metal spikes, suspended upside down, attached to a rope that is itself attached to a winch. At the Athenaeum shows, Cosentino will be inside the box with the spikes suspended above his head. He'll be in a straitjacket, he'll be chained and the door to the cage will be locked. And then the rope will be set on fire. He will have three minutes to escape.
While Cosentino is confident he can stay on just the right side of danger, he says the risk is real. "There is an element of danger, and that's the whole reason you're doing it. If it's too safe, if it's 100 per cent sure, what's the point?"
Impressive as it sounds, the stunt he will perform at the Athenaeum will be the light version. What he's working up to in the full version is a Blaine-like public endurance test with a Houdini-style death-defying finale. He plans to spend 48 hours locked inside the cube, without food or toilet breaks, suspended in a public place. At the end of it, the rope will be set alight.
"I really don't know what that will do to me, whether the body will be cramped up, what effect the wind might have on burning rates. There's a lot we don't know yet."
Some people have asked him if he has a death wish, but he's adamant they're missing the point. "It's about pushing it to the limit where you know it's safe but you're walking that line," he says. "Doing legitimately dangerous escapes, that's when I feel most alive."
His mother, a school principal, took him to all kinds of experts, but nothing helped until, aged 12, he learnt his first coin trick. Suddenly, he wanted to know more.
There was a book in the house, an encyclopaedia of magic, but Cosentino wasn't quite up to reading it, even at 12, so his mother read it to him and as he became more and more entranced by the world of possibility it opened up, he realised he was going to have to start reading himself. "And from being this kid who couldn't speak or talk, I became by 16 somebody who was standing in front of people performing, and it was all because of magic," he says.
IT'S no exaggeration to say magic changed Paul Cosentino's life. As a young child, he was shy, not very popular and educationally a slow developer. "I didn't read my first word until I was in grade three," says the magician/escape artist/illusionist and runner-up in this year's Aus-tralia's Got Talent. "I cannot explain how terrible it was to be asked to read out loud. It was shocking. It really crushes you."
His mother, a school principal, took him to all kinds of experts, but nothing helped until, aged 12, he learnt his first coin trick. Suddenly, he wanted to know more.
There was a book in the house, an encyclopaedia of magic, but Cosentino wasn't quite up to reading it, even at 12, so his mother read it to him and as he became more and more entranced by the world of possibility it opened up, he realised he was going to have to start reading himself. "And from being this kid who couldn't speak or talk, I became by 16 somebody who was standing in front of people performing, and it was all because of magic," he says.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The bookshelves in Cosentino's workshop in a wing of his parents' house in Lysterfield are crammed with tomes on magic, illusions and escape artistry, as well as DVDs and videos, all of which he's devoured over the years. There are signed posters and photos on the walls from the likes of Penn and Teller, David Blaine and David Copperfield, all of whom he has met (mostly in Las Vegas). "When I first met them they were my heroes," he says. "It's weird to think there are kids now who might look at me in the same way."
If there are, he readily acknowledges it's all down to the Channel Seven talent show. He didn't win, but an estimated 4 million people (including regional and time-shifted audiences) saw his high-energy mix of Michael Jackson-style dance moves and magic.
"It's made a huge difference," says the 28-year-old on the eve of his first Melbourne theatre show, at the Athenaeum. "I'm not doing anything different to what I've been doing for the last 10 years, but suddenly people know I exist."
Grateful as he is for the exposure, he bemoans the fact that there's no infrastructure he can tap into to take his act to the next level. In fact, the only support network is the one he and his family have made. One brother, Adam, is his manager, another brother, John, is his trainer, and his father, a structural engineer, helps design the elaborate props, including the rig from which a heavily manacled Cosentino was dropped into five metres of water at the Melbourne Aquarium last February.
That stunt — in which he spent three minutes and 39 seconds under water — was a year in the planning, cost $25,000 of Cosentino's money and brought not a cent of direct income. "It was all about raising my profile," he says.
It did, however, bring him plenty of offers to repeat the stunt. He declined them all. "Just the natural high — you haven't had air for four minutes, then all this air goes rushing in — it's just exhilarating. I can never recapture that moment now. It's a one-off. For me it's lost its interest. You're not going to get on a motorbike to set the world record for a jump then say, 'I guess I'll do it again'. You've done it. I want to do a new stunt."
In his studio-workshop — the space in fact houses an indoor swimming pool, its surface long since boarded over — there's a metal cage about the size of a small car. Inside it is a grid of 25-centimetre-long metal spikes, suspended upside down, attached to a rope that is itself attached to a winch. At the Athenaeum shows, Cosentino will be inside the box with the spikes suspended above his head. He'll be in a straitjacket, he'll be chained and the door to the cage will be locked. And then the rope will be set on fire. He will have three minutes to escape.
While Cosentino is confident he can stay on just the right side of danger, he says the risk is real. "There is an element of danger, and that's the whole reason you're doing it. If it's too safe, if it's 100 per cent sure, what's the point?"
Impressive as it sounds, the stunt he will perform at the Athenaeum will be the light version. What he's working up to in the full version is a Blaine-like public endurance test with a Houdini-style death-defying finale. He plans to spend 48 hours locked inside the cube, without food or toilet breaks, suspended in a public place. At the end of it, the rope will be set alight.
"I really don't know what that will do to me, whether the body will be cramped up, what effect the wind might have on burning rates. There's a lot we don't know yet."
Some people have asked him if he has a death wish, but he's adamant they're missing the point. "It's about pushing it to the limit where you know it's safe but you're walking that line," he says. "Doing legitimately dangerous escapes, that's when I feel most alive."
2011年9月7日星期三
Illusionist finds his great escape
IT'S no exaggeration to say magic changed Paul Cosentino's life. As a young child, he was shy, not very popular and educationally a slow developer. "I didn't read my first word until I was in grade three," says the magician/escape artist/illusionist and runner-up in this year's Aus-tralia's Got Talent. "I cannot explain how terrible it was to be asked to read out loud. It was shocking. It really crushes you."
His mother, a school principal, took him to all kinds of experts, but nothing helped until, aged 12, he learnt his first coin trick. Suddenly, he wanted to know more.
There was a book in the house, an encyclopaedia of magic, but Cosentino wasn't quite up to reading it, even at 12, so his mother read it to him and as he became more and more entranced by the world of possibility it opened up, he realised he was going to have to start reading himself. "And from being this kid who couldn't speak or talk, I became by 16 somebody who was standing in front of people performing, and it was all because of magic," he says.
The bookshelves in Cosentino's workshop in a wing of his parents' house in Lysterfield are crammed with tomes on magic, illusions and escape artistry, as well as DVDs and videos, all of which he's devoured over the years. There are signed posters and photos on the walls from the likes of Penn and Teller, David Blaine and David Copperfield, all of whom he has met (mostly in Las Vegas). "When I first met them they were my heroes," he says. "It's weird to think there are kids now who might look at me in the same way."
If there are, he readily acknowledges it's all down to the Channel Seven talent show. He didn't win, but an estimated 4 million people (including regional and time-shifted audiences) saw his high-energy mix of Michael Jackson-style dance moves and magic.
"It's made a huge difference," says the 28-year-old on the eve of his first Melbourne theatre show, at the Athenaeum. "I'm not doing anything different to what I've been doing for the last 10 years, but suddenly people know I exist."
Grateful as he is for the exposure, he bemoans the fact that there's no infrastructure he can tap into to take his act to the next level. In fact, the only support network is the one he and his family have made. One brother, Adam, is his manager, another brother, John, is his trainer, and his father, a structural engineer, helps design the elaborate props, including the rig from which a heavily manacled Cosentino was dropped into five metres of water at the Melbourne Aquarium last February.
That stunt — in which he spent three minutes and 39 seconds under water — was a year in the planning, cost $25,000 of Cosentino's money and brought not a cent of direct income. "It was all about raising my profile," he says.
It did, however, bring him plenty of offers to repeat the stunt. He declined them all. "Just the natural high — you haven't had air for four minutes, then all this air goes rushing in — it's just exhilarating. I can never recapture that moment now. It's a one-off. For me it's lost its interest. You're not going to get on a motorbike to set the world record for a jump then say, 'I guess I'll do it again'. You've done it. I want to do a new stunt."
He does have another eye-catching stunt in mind, though.
In his studio-workshop — the space in fact houses an indoor swimming pool, its surface long since boarded over — there's a metal cage about the size of a small car. Inside it is a grid of 25-centimetre-long metal spikes, suspended upside down, attached to a rope that is itself attached to a winch. At the Athenaeum shows, Cosentino will be inside the box with the spikes suspended above his head. He'll be in a straitjacket, he'll be chained and the door to the cage will be locked. And then the rope will be set on fire. He will have three minutes to escape.
While Cosentino is confident he can stay on just the right side of danger, he says the risk is real. "There is an element of danger, and that's the whole reason you're doing it. If it's too safe, if it's 100 per cent sure, what's the point?"
Impressive as it sounds, the stunt he will perform at the Athenaeum will be the light version. What he's working up to in the full version is a Blaine-like public endurance test with a Houdini-style death-defying finale. He plans to spend 48 hours locked inside the cube, without food or toilet breaks, suspended in a public place. At the end of it, the rope will be set alight.
"I really don't know what that will do to me, whether the body will be cramped up, what effect the wind might have on burning rates. There's a lot we don't know yet."
Some people have asked him if he has a death wish, but he's adamant they're missing the point. "It's about pushing it to the limit where you know it's safe but you're walking that line," he says. "Doing legitimately dangerous escapes, that's when I feel most alive."
His mother, a school principal, took him to all kinds of experts, but nothing helped until, aged 12, he learnt his first coin trick. Suddenly, he wanted to know more.
There was a book in the house, an encyclopaedia of magic, but Cosentino wasn't quite up to reading it, even at 12, so his mother read it to him and as he became more and more entranced by the world of possibility it opened up, he realised he was going to have to start reading himself. "And from being this kid who couldn't speak or talk, I became by 16 somebody who was standing in front of people performing, and it was all because of magic," he says.
The bookshelves in Cosentino's workshop in a wing of his parents' house in Lysterfield are crammed with tomes on magic, illusions and escape artistry, as well as DVDs and videos, all of which he's devoured over the years. There are signed posters and photos on the walls from the likes of Penn and Teller, David Blaine and David Copperfield, all of whom he has met (mostly in Las Vegas). "When I first met them they were my heroes," he says. "It's weird to think there are kids now who might look at me in the same way."
If there are, he readily acknowledges it's all down to the Channel Seven talent show. He didn't win, but an estimated 4 million people (including regional and time-shifted audiences) saw his high-energy mix of Michael Jackson-style dance moves and magic.
"It's made a huge difference," says the 28-year-old on the eve of his first Melbourne theatre show, at the Athenaeum. "I'm not doing anything different to what I've been doing for the last 10 years, but suddenly people know I exist."
Grateful as he is for the exposure, he bemoans the fact that there's no infrastructure he can tap into to take his act to the next level. In fact, the only support network is the one he and his family have made. One brother, Adam, is his manager, another brother, John, is his trainer, and his father, a structural engineer, helps design the elaborate props, including the rig from which a heavily manacled Cosentino was dropped into five metres of water at the Melbourne Aquarium last February.
That stunt — in which he spent three minutes and 39 seconds under water — was a year in the planning, cost $25,000 of Cosentino's money and brought not a cent of direct income. "It was all about raising my profile," he says.
It did, however, bring him plenty of offers to repeat the stunt. He declined them all. "Just the natural high — you haven't had air for four minutes, then all this air goes rushing in — it's just exhilarating. I can never recapture that moment now. It's a one-off. For me it's lost its interest. You're not going to get on a motorbike to set the world record for a jump then say, 'I guess I'll do it again'. You've done it. I want to do a new stunt."
He does have another eye-catching stunt in mind, though.
In his studio-workshop — the space in fact houses an indoor swimming pool, its surface long since boarded over — there's a metal cage about the size of a small car. Inside it is a grid of 25-centimetre-long metal spikes, suspended upside down, attached to a rope that is itself attached to a winch. At the Athenaeum shows, Cosentino will be inside the box with the spikes suspended above his head. He'll be in a straitjacket, he'll be chained and the door to the cage will be locked. And then the rope will be set on fire. He will have three minutes to escape.
While Cosentino is confident he can stay on just the right side of danger, he says the risk is real. "There is an element of danger, and that's the whole reason you're doing it. If it's too safe, if it's 100 per cent sure, what's the point?"
Impressive as it sounds, the stunt he will perform at the Athenaeum will be the light version. What he's working up to in the full version is a Blaine-like public endurance test with a Houdini-style death-defying finale. He plans to spend 48 hours locked inside the cube, without food or toilet breaks, suspended in a public place. At the end of it, the rope will be set alight.
"I really don't know what that will do to me, whether the body will be cramped up, what effect the wind might have on burning rates. There's a lot we don't know yet."
Some people have asked him if he has a death wish, but he's adamant they're missing the point. "It's about pushing it to the limit where you know it's safe but you're walking that line," he says. "Doing legitimately dangerous escapes, that's when I feel most alive."
2011年9月6日星期二
2012 Nissan Versa Sedan SL
Most, if not all, of the new subcompact offerings we've seen in the last few years - the Fiat 500, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent, Mazda 2, and Nissan's own Cube - have played to an upmarket strategy. The hope and expectation is that wealthier buyers downsizing from other segments will pay extra for small cars that cater to all the right-brain pleasures of a larger car - style, performance, trendiness, comfort, etc. The new Nissan Versa, however, remains a steadfast adherent to the notion that subcompact buyers consider price, practicality, reliability, and not much else. No surprise, therefore, it's not as nice as the competitors I just mentioned. It takes about a second's glance around the cabin to notice the lower-grade plastics and the completely unadorned dash. The Versa doesn't hit the segment's 40-mpg benchmark, doesn't stand out as a performer, and, even with a well-executed new exterior design, won't win any fashion contest. And don't expect lots of standard tech goodies. And by "tech goodies" I mean intermittent windshield wipers.
So, bad car and shame on Nissan, right? Wrong. Bravo, Nissan. In case you haven't noticed, the economy still stinks, especially for those at the bottom. Unemployment for teenagers is above twenty percent. Retirees are getting reamed by the stock market even as the federal government considers cuts to Medicare. For those groups and others, an $11,750 new car - about fifteen percent cheaper than the lowest-priced Fiesta -- is a very good thing. And the Versa is a fine $11,750 car. Comfy seats, good air-conditioning, antilock brakes, and venerable Japanese quality, not to mention a full warranty. And the Versa doesn't drive badly, either. I drove it on a racetrack, surely the last thing any real owner would do, and found it offers accurate steering, a compliant yet composed suspension, and resilient brakes (at least resilient enough for the 109-hp engine and 2360-pound curb weight).
There is one caveat here. The test model I drove does not cost $11,750, but rather, $16,320. That extra $4600 buys power locks and windows, an automatic transmission, and remote keyless entry as well as a few goodies like Bluetooth and fifteen-inch aluminum wheels. However, it does not buy you the vastly more upscale interior materials of a Ford Fiesta, the superior reflexes of a Mazda 2, or the style of a Fiat 500. In other words, it's a nonstarter. The Versa is a very good "supercheap" car but not a very good "kind of cheap" car.
There is one caveat here. The test model I drove does not cost $11,750, but rather, $16,320. That extra $4600 buys power locks and windows, an automatic transmission, and remote keyless entry as well as a few goodies like Bluetooth and fifteen-inch aluminum wheels. However, it does not buy you the vastly more upscale interior materials of a Ford Fiesta, the superior reflexes of a Mazda 2, or the style of a Fiat 500. In other words, it's a nonstarter. The Versa is a very good "supercheap" car but not a very good "kind of cheap" car.
Anyone worried about missing the magic 40-mpg mark in a Versa should do the math on how much money it costs to purchase a car with a 40-mpg highway rating. Then look at how long it would take to make up that sticker-price difference in terms of gas savings given that the cheaper Versa manages 38 mpg on the highway. Unless you're driving hundreds of thousands of miles in your subcompact in the next couple years, the fuel economy issue is a nonstarter.
My coworkers have pointed out the difference in pricing strategy between Nissan and virtually everyone else selling a subcompact car in America. I think it was very wise to hold the line on pricing and not try to force all subcompact buyers to move upmarket. As David Zenlea says, a fifteen percent price difference is huge in this class, and shoppers looking for a less Spartan experience would be better served buying a lightly used compact than optioning out a new subcompact.
I was pleasantly surprised after my weekend in the Versa. With the trend to move all cars upmarket and physically larger, the Versa is a breath of fresh air. Basic transportation, sure, but it's reliable, safe, and affordable. There are hundreds of thousands of car shoppers who care only about those three points. I didn't miss soft-touch plastics, infotainment, or anything else while I was driving the Versa. My only complaint is that the FM radio has pretty weak reception in comparison to pretty much every other car I've driven this year. If you desire a basic new car, the Versa is certainly worth a test drive. Just ask yourself how much upgrades and luxuries really matter when you're looking at the ballooning monthly payment at the Fiat or Ford dealer.
So, bad car and shame on Nissan, right? Wrong. Bravo, Nissan. In case you haven't noticed, the economy still stinks, especially for those at the bottom. Unemployment for teenagers is above twenty percent. Retirees are getting reamed by the stock market even as the federal government considers cuts to Medicare. For those groups and others, an $11,750 new car - about fifteen percent cheaper than the lowest-priced Fiesta -- is a very good thing. And the Versa is a fine $11,750 car. Comfy seats, good air-conditioning, antilock brakes, and venerable Japanese quality, not to mention a full warranty. And the Versa doesn't drive badly, either. I drove it on a racetrack, surely the last thing any real owner would do, and found it offers accurate steering, a compliant yet composed suspension, and resilient brakes (at least resilient enough for the 109-hp engine and 2360-pound curb weight).
There is one caveat here. The test model I drove does not cost $11,750, but rather, $16,320. That extra $4600 buys power locks and windows, an automatic transmission, and remote keyless entry as well as a few goodies like Bluetooth and fifteen-inch aluminum wheels. However, it does not buy you the vastly more upscale interior materials of a Ford Fiesta, the superior reflexes of a Mazda 2, or the style of a Fiat 500. In other words, it's a nonstarter. The Versa is a very good "supercheap" car but not a very good "kind of cheap" car.
There is one caveat here. The test model I drove does not cost $11,750, but rather, $16,320. That extra $4600 buys power locks and windows, an automatic transmission, and remote keyless entry as well as a few goodies like Bluetooth and fifteen-inch aluminum wheels. However, it does not buy you the vastly more upscale interior materials of a Ford Fiesta, the superior reflexes of a Mazda 2, or the style of a Fiat 500. In other words, it's a nonstarter. The Versa is a very good "supercheap" car but not a very good "kind of cheap" car.
Anyone worried about missing the magic 40-mpg mark in a Versa should do the math on how much money it costs to purchase a car with a 40-mpg highway rating. Then look at how long it would take to make up that sticker-price difference in terms of gas savings given that the cheaper Versa manages 38 mpg on the highway. Unless you're driving hundreds of thousands of miles in your subcompact in the next couple years, the fuel economy issue is a nonstarter.
My coworkers have pointed out the difference in pricing strategy between Nissan and virtually everyone else selling a subcompact car in America. I think it was very wise to hold the line on pricing and not try to force all subcompact buyers to move upmarket. As David Zenlea says, a fifteen percent price difference is huge in this class, and shoppers looking for a less Spartan experience would be better served buying a lightly used compact than optioning out a new subcompact.
I was pleasantly surprised after my weekend in the Versa. With the trend to move all cars upmarket and physically larger, the Versa is a breath of fresh air. Basic transportation, sure, but it's reliable, safe, and affordable. There are hundreds of thousands of car shoppers who care only about those three points. I didn't miss soft-touch plastics, infotainment, or anything else while I was driving the Versa. My only complaint is that the FM radio has pretty weak reception in comparison to pretty much every other car I've driven this year. If you desire a basic new car, the Versa is certainly worth a test drive. Just ask yourself how much upgrades and luxuries really matter when you're looking at the ballooning monthly payment at the Fiat or Ford dealer.
2011年9月5日星期一
Rubik's Cube Champion "Unblocks" Secrets
Ethan Crislip, 14, has a special talent. The high school freshman has been an expert "cuber" for the last two years. It has taken him around the country and soon the world.
"I went on YouTube and looked it up and it was pretty addicting. So I just stuck with it," Ethan said.
Solving a Rubik's cube is more systematic than you might think. Ethan follows a pattern; always the same colors on the same sides. And it takes him longer to explain it than it does to solve it.
"First I build a cross of four edges. Then I build two edges and corners together and you build the first two layers like that. The last layer is just two algorithms," he said.
So I sat down with Ethan to watch him work his magic. I scrambled a Rubik's Cube and then handed it off to Ethan. He always gets 15 seconds to look it over and then we watched him solve it.
In our time with him he got it down to under 9 seconds. He thought that was still too high, compared to his record 5 seconds. And even though he makes it look so easy, I learned it's really not.
But more than the prizes, Ethan most values his chances to travel and make friends.
"What a chance to do something so great, you know to travel like that," his mother, Annette Crislip, said.
"I've met foreign people already that have traveled to the U.S. for competitions and for the world championships. I'm really looking forward to meeting other cubers I've heard of but they're thousands of miles away," Ethan said.
He'll head to Bangkok, Thailand in October for the world championships.
"I went on YouTube and looked it up and it was pretty addicting. So I just stuck with it," Ethan said.
Solving a Rubik's cube is more systematic than you might think. Ethan follows a pattern; always the same colors on the same sides. And it takes him longer to explain it than it does to solve it.
"First I build a cross of four edges. Then I build two edges and corners together and you build the first two layers like that. The last layer is just two algorithms," he said.
So I sat down with Ethan to watch him work his magic. I scrambled a Rubik's Cube and then handed it off to Ethan. He always gets 15 seconds to look it over and then we watched him solve it.
In our time with him he got it down to under 9 seconds. He thought that was still too high, compared to his record 5 seconds. And even though he makes it look so easy, I learned it's really not.
But more than the prizes, Ethan most values his chances to travel and make friends.
"What a chance to do something so great, you know to travel like that," his mother, Annette Crislip, said.
"I've met foreign people already that have traveled to the U.S. for competitions and for the world championships. I'm really looking forward to meeting other cubers I've heard of but they're thousands of miles away," Ethan said.
He'll head to Bangkok, Thailand in October for the world championships.
2011年9月4日星期日
World Chef: A Getting Started Guide
World Chef, developed by CyberAgent and played at Facebook, is an adorable and enticing game that allows you to develop a restaurant with international cuisine. You start with a small restaurant, but you'll be able to decorate it, develop your menu, and use your expertise to open branches all over the world.
* Expanding up/building with cubes or blocks - World Chef is unique in that not only can you expand out, you can also expand up by building more floors on your cafe using cubes found in the shop. The cubes can be stacked strategically and walls and decor placed around them. Your staff and customers will be able to move onto these additional levels once you add stairs for them to climb up also using cubes.
* Have fun with the magic cube method to build an amazing cafe.
* Magic cubes (Special building tip) - If you want to make the cubes stand up in the air alone and build exciting walls and special designs follow these steps.
* 1. Purchase cube and place it on top of a table.
* 2. Remove the table under it and the cube will stay in place.
* You can put decorative items on the cube such as flowers or you can add even more cubes and use your imagination to make it interesting.
* Expanding up obviously takes time, money, and patience but it is well worth it if you want to try as you will see in the image above you can make a really beautiful cafe and it will send your style ratings through the roof which means very happy customers and much bigger profits for you.
* Move - Click on "Move" and the item will stick to your mouse allowing you to move it to a new location.
* Rotate - "Rotate" will change the direction 90 degrees for each click.
* Pick up - "Pick Up" will place the item back in the decor inventory box.
* Important - You can also place items on top of each other. You must be careful as sometimes you can stack chairs on top of tables and it looks like they are on the floor but they are not. If you place anything on a table a customer will not be served on that table. This is not as much of a problem once you start expanding and have more room but in the early levels things will be tight as shown in image above.
* Tip - It can be very tricky to move items around especially when you have several items in your cafe already. You may want to empty all the items using the "Pick Up" feature and then carefully place them back in starting with the items that are furthest away and work toward you. Once you expand a few times this will get easier.
* Cubes - Cubes are another category in the shop, which you can build additional floors and stairways with. When you are ready to start expanding up you can place walls and cubes on top of each other to form new floors to your cafe. You will also need to build a stairway for your staff to walk to the upper floors. Be sure to always leave a path for your wait staff and chef to move or they won't be able to work. (See the magic cube method for building.)
* Tip - If you ever see one of your employees crying this means something has blocked their path and they can not do their job. Be sure to check that everything is placed correctly and nothing is on a table or blocking a path to stove and serving counters as well as front door.
* Selling items - You can sell items back to the store for one third of the purchase price. Open the decor menu and look for the icon at the very bottom of the menu. Click on this then the item you wish to sell and then on confirm. You can only sell for silver coins. You can not sell back items purchased with Facebook credits.
* Expanding up/building with cubes or blocks - World Chef is unique in that not only can you expand out, you can also expand up by building more floors on your cafe using cubes found in the shop. The cubes can be stacked strategically and walls and decor placed around them. Your staff and customers will be able to move onto these additional levels once you add stairs for them to climb up also using cubes.
* Have fun with the magic cube method to build an amazing cafe.
* Magic cubes (Special building tip) - If you want to make the cubes stand up in the air alone and build exciting walls and special designs follow these steps.
* 1. Purchase cube and place it on top of a table.
* 2. Remove the table under it and the cube will stay in place.
* You can put decorative items on the cube such as flowers or you can add even more cubes and use your imagination to make it interesting.
* Expanding up obviously takes time, money, and patience but it is well worth it if you want to try as you will see in the image above you can make a really beautiful cafe and it will send your style ratings through the roof which means very happy customers and much bigger profits for you.
* Move - Click on "Move" and the item will stick to your mouse allowing you to move it to a new location.
* Rotate - "Rotate" will change the direction 90 degrees for each click.
* Pick up - "Pick Up" will place the item back in the decor inventory box.
* Important - You can also place items on top of each other. You must be careful as sometimes you can stack chairs on top of tables and it looks like they are on the floor but they are not. If you place anything on a table a customer will not be served on that table. This is not as much of a problem once you start expanding and have more room but in the early levels things will be tight as shown in image above.
* Tip - It can be very tricky to move items around especially when you have several items in your cafe already. You may want to empty all the items using the "Pick Up" feature and then carefully place them back in starting with the items that are furthest away and work toward you. Once you expand a few times this will get easier.
* Cubes - Cubes are another category in the shop, which you can build additional floors and stairways with. When you are ready to start expanding up you can place walls and cubes on top of each other to form new floors to your cafe. You will also need to build a stairway for your staff to walk to the upper floors. Be sure to always leave a path for your wait staff and chef to move or they won't be able to work. (See the magic cube method for building.)
* Tip - If you ever see one of your employees crying this means something has blocked their path and they can not do their job. Be sure to check that everything is placed correctly and nothing is on a table or blocking a path to stove and serving counters as well as front door.
* Selling items - You can sell items back to the store for one third of the purchase price. Open the decor menu and look for the icon at the very bottom of the menu. Click on this then the item you wish to sell and then on confirm. You can only sell for silver coins. You can not sell back items purchased with Facebook credits.
2011年9月1日星期四
The gospel, according to Steve Jobs
If there has ever been a Zen Master of marketing in our times, it is undoubtedly Steve Jobs, who stepped down last week as CEO of Apple. (He will remain Chairman on the company's Board.) In virtually every discussion or seminar centred on new product innovation, brand building, shaping consumer lifestyles or marketing strategy, Jobs and the brand he has created, Apple, repeatedly emerge as constant benchmarks to be studied, admired and emulated. A living saint who is worshipped by legions of believers, he has unveiled amazing new frontiers which have virtually defined a new gospel for students of marketing. Here is our version of the marketing gospel according to Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs has taught us that to win big time, an unbeatable formula is the creation of dazzling new products and services which capture the imagination of consumers and transform their markets. In 1998, he launched Apple's iMac, which brought vivid colours and a remarkably simple graphic user interface into the boring grey-and-black world of personal computers. The iBook followed in 1999, setting the pace for a new generation of notebook computers. Then, he launched the iPod in 2001 and iTunes in 2003, transforming the music industry forever. He didn't stop there. A few years later, the iPhone stormed mobile telephony. In 2010, the iPad made its appearance, and is perhaps the most sought after popular technology device in the world today. Steve Jobs dedicated most of his time at the helm of Apple thinking about and leading the creation of these dazzling products. A simple but powerful lesson for all marketers who aspire to stardom and success.
Jobs did not create hundreds of new products or designs at Apple, he focused on a few big bets. In the past decade, Apple launched just five new products: the iPod, the iTunes phone, the iPhone, Apple TV and the iPad. Each of these products also flaunted essentially the same minimalist design. On an average, therefore, he launched a new product only once in two years. By focusing his team's ample resources on just a few big projects, he ensured brilliant products with highly appealing features, thereby maximising their probability of success. Charles Golvin of Forrester, a global research firm, is quoted in The Economist as saying that one of Jobs' greatest skills has been to decide which projects Apple should not undertake. He made these choices very well, and this is clearly a discipline and a well honed art of great marketers.
Take risks, be open to failures
We are in awe of hugely successful Apple products such as the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. In the same breath, we should also reflect on the fact that, over 20 years, Steve Jobs also launched seven products which failed completely, either commercially or functionally. They include the Apple III computer, a computer called Lisa, the NeXT computer, the Puck Mouse used on the iMac, the Cube, the iTunes phone and, most recently, Apple TV. He took risks and went ahead with these products, primarily because his conviction in them was strong. Even as he did so, he remained equally open to failure, and not once did he permit these damp squibs to disrupt his vision for shaping new markets of the future.
If Apple is such a cool brand today, it is because its products combine the best of design and technology. Steve Jobs once explained that great products are a triumph of taste, and in the product categories he addressed, taste was always a delightful combination of art and functionality. Look at any of the products he developed and marketed — the iPod or iPhone, for instance — and you will always admire the sleek Zen-like designs as much as you will enjoy using their mind-blowing features. In the apt words of Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google: “Steve Jobs uniquely combined an artist's touch and an engineer's vision.” This combination of right and left brains, of art and science, is an essential quality that all marketers should attempt to develop.
A key consumer insight that Jobs used in developing his offerings was that people seek rich and full experiences, not products alone. He therefore carefully integrated his products with a diverse range of software and value-added services, and these ecosystems engaged consumers superbly, offering them a delectable range of wares. The iTunes online content store, combined with the iPod, is one such ecosystem which I have used extensively, and it has enriched my experience of music most wonderfully. The iPod without the iTunes, or vice versa, would have been a good but somewhat dreary product; together, they create magic, and they also provide excellent continuing business to Apple. As good marketers, we should search hard for relevant and involving ecosystems we can build in our respective product categories.
When a journalist once asked Steve Jobs what market research went into the iPad, Jobs famously replied - “None. It's not the consumers' job to know what they want.” On the other hand, his own decisions, whether they concerned product features or design, were shaped by his own deep study and understanding of two very different worlds: popular culture and technology. Popular culture gave him hints and glimpses of unmet consumer needs which he could possibly fulfil, and his grasp over existing and unfolding technology told him what solutions were on offer to meet these needs. These, then, were the strong foundations on which his marketers' intuition was perched. His lesson to marketers: don't use market research as a crutch, because it primarily reveals what is already in consumers' minds. If you wish to shape markets of the future, study consumers' lives and societies for insights, and then try to imagine what they may actually want.
Finally, Jobs has taught us that good marketing is the victory of passion, focus, persistence and intellect coming together in a beautiful waltz. Like he has always done over the past three decades, a marketer has to radiate conviction about his offerings, champion them, and evangelise them. He has to follow his heart and instinct, “stay hungry and stay foolish”. Thus spoke Steve Jobs. Amen.
Steve Jobs has taught us that to win big time, an unbeatable formula is the creation of dazzling new products and services which capture the imagination of consumers and transform their markets. In 1998, he launched Apple's iMac, which brought vivid colours and a remarkably simple graphic user interface into the boring grey-and-black world of personal computers. The iBook followed in 1999, setting the pace for a new generation of notebook computers. Then, he launched the iPod in 2001 and iTunes in 2003, transforming the music industry forever. He didn't stop there. A few years later, the iPhone stormed mobile telephony. In 2010, the iPad made its appearance, and is perhaps the most sought after popular technology device in the world today. Steve Jobs dedicated most of his time at the helm of Apple thinking about and leading the creation of these dazzling products. A simple but powerful lesson for all marketers who aspire to stardom and success.
Jobs did not create hundreds of new products or designs at Apple, he focused on a few big bets. In the past decade, Apple launched just five new products: the iPod, the iTunes phone, the iPhone, Apple TV and the iPad. Each of these products also flaunted essentially the same minimalist design. On an average, therefore, he launched a new product only once in two years. By focusing his team's ample resources on just a few big projects, he ensured brilliant products with highly appealing features, thereby maximising their probability of success. Charles Golvin of Forrester, a global research firm, is quoted in The Economist as saying that one of Jobs' greatest skills has been to decide which projects Apple should not undertake. He made these choices very well, and this is clearly a discipline and a well honed art of great marketers.
Take risks, be open to failures
We are in awe of hugely successful Apple products such as the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. In the same breath, we should also reflect on the fact that, over 20 years, Steve Jobs also launched seven products which failed completely, either commercially or functionally. They include the Apple III computer, a computer called Lisa, the NeXT computer, the Puck Mouse used on the iMac, the Cube, the iTunes phone and, most recently, Apple TV. He took risks and went ahead with these products, primarily because his conviction in them was strong. Even as he did so, he remained equally open to failure, and not once did he permit these damp squibs to disrupt his vision for shaping new markets of the future.
If Apple is such a cool brand today, it is because its products combine the best of design and technology. Steve Jobs once explained that great products are a triumph of taste, and in the product categories he addressed, taste was always a delightful combination of art and functionality. Look at any of the products he developed and marketed — the iPod or iPhone, for instance — and you will always admire the sleek Zen-like designs as much as you will enjoy using their mind-blowing features. In the apt words of Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google: “Steve Jobs uniquely combined an artist's touch and an engineer's vision.” This combination of right and left brains, of art and science, is an essential quality that all marketers should attempt to develop.
A key consumer insight that Jobs used in developing his offerings was that people seek rich and full experiences, not products alone. He therefore carefully integrated his products with a diverse range of software and value-added services, and these ecosystems engaged consumers superbly, offering them a delectable range of wares. The iTunes online content store, combined with the iPod, is one such ecosystem which I have used extensively, and it has enriched my experience of music most wonderfully. The iPod without the iTunes, or vice versa, would have been a good but somewhat dreary product; together, they create magic, and they also provide excellent continuing business to Apple. As good marketers, we should search hard for relevant and involving ecosystems we can build in our respective product categories.
When a journalist once asked Steve Jobs what market research went into the iPad, Jobs famously replied - “None. It's not the consumers' job to know what they want.” On the other hand, his own decisions, whether they concerned product features or design, were shaped by his own deep study and understanding of two very different worlds: popular culture and technology. Popular culture gave him hints and glimpses of unmet consumer needs which he could possibly fulfil, and his grasp over existing and unfolding technology told him what solutions were on offer to meet these needs. These, then, were the strong foundations on which his marketers' intuition was perched. His lesson to marketers: don't use market research as a crutch, because it primarily reveals what is already in consumers' minds. If you wish to shape markets of the future, study consumers' lives and societies for insights, and then try to imagine what they may actually want.
Finally, Jobs has taught us that good marketing is the victory of passion, focus, persistence and intellect coming together in a beautiful waltz. Like he has always done over the past three decades, a marketer has to radiate conviction about his offerings, champion them, and evangelise them. He has to follow his heart and instinct, “stay hungry and stay foolish”. Thus spoke Steve Jobs. Amen.
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