Things That Make Us Go "Hmm"

“Please consider safety advice on the inside.”

Simon Kurt — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:18:20 +0000

Seen on the back of an anti-bug spray: “Please consider safety advice on the inside.” Maybe the company should look after a new guy for the package design departement.

~ Simon

DVDs, Guns, and a gay Austrian Fashion Journalist.

Simon Kurt — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:44:11 +0000

I like action movies. I really do. But when I stood in front of a discount DVD shelf recently I suddenly felt kind of strange realizing that you can see a gun on actually nine out of ten cover artworks:

Since I’m studying media and communication and therefore read a few studies on this topic I don’t think that violence in movies is causing violent behavior in real life. Nonetheless the obviousness felt awkward.

The only exception in this line which showed no gun up front was BRÜNO. But those who have checked out the movie might know that Sacha Baron Cohen is a weapon, anyway.

~ Simon

What’s wrong with YouTube?

Simon Kurt — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:23:16 +0000

Seen 8 minutes ago on YouTube’s twitter channel. This in addition to yesterday’s post (read it here).

~ Simon

How Warner screwed it up.

Simon Kurt — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:02:28 +0000

Folks, I know: It’s quite been a while. But keeping in mind the huge amount of other interesting blogs out there I’m pretty sure that you didn’t get bored in the meanwhile. So let’s get back to business and continue where we stopped last time!

On January 21st, Warner Music became first in place in our Hmm-ranking: They suspended the YouTube Channel of my co-author, co-musician and friend Sebastian Mereu, known and popular there for his creative Ukulele covers.

To Sebi, the suspendition equals a huge loss. With 100 videos online, he generated more than 500’000 views and had more than 1000 subscribers. Three hours after his channel got locked up (without any notification), he annotated on his Facebook profile: “But I claim they’re wrong. It’s free promotion for them. I don’t make money with it. Au contraire, I invest time and effort to make their music more popular. And that is how they thank me? Crazy world we’re living in.” (See the whole feed here.)

Crazy world, indeed. Seems like Warner Music didn’t make it out the fog yet. A single step outside their grey, malodorous cloud would let them realize that things have hanged, which is what Sebi pointed out so well in the quote above. But the case of Sebi aka monsterbazz doesn’t seem to be an isolated one: There are plenty of articles and forum threads on this topic. (Find an interesting cnet article on the YouTube/Warner issue here).

What will be next? I don’t even wanna guess. But one thing is for sure: We need to stand together and become part of the discussion! The first thing you should do right now is to post/share Sebi’s Warner Music Love Song #2: ‘YouTubers Unite!!’, which is of course 100% genuine. Spread the word! It might be one small step for you, but one giant leap for all of us.

And always keep in mind: Sharing means caring.

~Simon

Camel Balls

Simon Kurt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:45:08 +0000

Uuuh. Hiding from the rain I spent a few minutes in a kiosk where I stumbled upon a bubble gum with a really special name: Camel Balls. Extra sour. With liquid filling. Even though it’s just a bubble gum I somehow just can’t get it out of my head. Remarkable naming or just indecent goofing off? Frankly speaking I’m not sure yet. Would you buy Camel Balls?

~ Simon

Knock yourself out

sebi — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:16:31 +0000

We all know that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and that other fruits and vegetables are good for our health. This ad by Knorr wants to make it more than clear.

Posted via email from (MSc) Sebinomics

Maybe Baby?

Simon Kurt — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:07:08 +0000

Everything changes, sure. But even the availability of pregancy testers? “The world would be a better place if you could buy a pregnancy test while waiting for your train connection!” This might have been the idea behind the desicion to sell ‘Maybe Baby’ out of usual food and drink dispensers like the ones from Selecta Switzerland which you find at every trainstation. Pregnency testers to the masses… Really a good thing?

~ Simon

Ouch! Watch your fingers.

sebi — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:20:10 +0000

Japan, the land of the rising sun and the land of the cute. Everywhere you go, everywhere you look, basically everything is advertised and signalized with a cute character. Also the doors in elevators.

I took this picture in the elevator of a department store in Osaka. It says to watch out, because if your fingers get caught between doors, it will hurt, a lot! As if it wasn’t obvious. But hey, the character on the sign is rather cute, even though it’s crying. ~ Sebi

The Typical Spam Email: Do people reply to spammers?

sebi — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:41:02 +0000

I’m sure all of you have received at least one spam email ever since you first signed up for an email address. My wife raised the question, Do people actually reply to these spammers? Good question. I remember that when I was working for a trade company some years back, a young colleague from sales department, replied to a spammer in Africa. Most probably that spammer was rather surprised to receive a reply from Switzerland. I then told her to block that email address.

Today, a typical spam email came into my inbox and I thought, why not to publish it here. So, here you are: The typical spam email.

click on picture to read the spam email

~ Sebi

Don’t waste your time on Twitter!

sebi — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:23:28 +0000

That’s what they say, and with they I mean corporate IT administrators. I think Twitter and all other social media platforms are essential tools for companies to succeed in the new economy, and every employee should have access to them and be trained on how to use social media effectively, or at all.

We have all heard those anecdotes of companies blocking social media sites, because they don’t want their employees to waste time on stupid things, i.e. communicating with friends on the company’s expenses. I mean, no one has ever made a private phone call from their company phone, right? And what about the smokers leaving their desks once an hour to calm down their nicotine addiction? By the way, Susanne Franke wrote a great article about this on the Namics blog.

Well, I have many friends working in banks and almost all of them told me the same thing. Facebook is blocked, facebook is blocked, and facebook is blocked. I thought, since Twitter is not mainstream yet, it will take IT administrators some time until they block Twitter. But as the picture above shows, the madness has reached SMEs. PS: The picture is form a friend of mine, who wants to stay anonymous.

~ Sebi