Who said Powerpoint was useless? This is quite possibly one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen — hip-hop and rap tracks represented in the form of Powerpoint charts and graphs. (Note: Each slide is a link to the YouTube video of the song referenced.)

After the debacle surrounding the London 2012 logo, it was refreshing to see what a great job Vancouver seems to be doing with its Winter 2010 identity. I’m in “Canada’s San Franciso” this week on a little ethnography project, and there’s Vancouver 2010 merch everywhere. T-shirts, mugs, hats, even little wooden figurines, all featuring the logo. There’s even a countdown clock in Robson Square, where I took the photo you see above.

The beauty of the logo is that it speaks to several things at once. The figure in the logo recalls the style of the native inukshuk rock art and colors hint at the multicultural nature of the city itself. I overheard someone refer to it as “the goalie,” reaffirming the extent to which Canadians are hockey-mad.

Despite its obvious problems (herion and homelessness), Vancouver is just one of those cities that really has its shit together. They’re going to do a wonderful job with the 2010 games.

I’ve been in sunny Calgary for the last week on business. (That actually isn’t sarcasm, it has been sunny and nice.) Anyway, I’ve had some free time to check out Canadian TV, and I have to say, it’s generallly nothing to blog home about. The sports stations cover a lot of Canadian football, the weather is in celsius, and they tend to show only the crappiest American shows (So You Think You Can Dance?).

Thankfully, thedre has been one very pleasant surprise, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos. The best way I can describe the program, and its host, is to say that is is a sort of hipster version of Fresh Air. The host is a young, seemingly-cool, definitely smart, Canadian lad. On consecutive nights, I saw him interview Gore Vidal and the Barenaked Ladies with equal verve. Given any guest, theme or topic, Stroumboulopoulos is always looking for the insightful point of view.

The show’s site seems to have a comprehensive archive of past shows. It’s also available as audio podcast and a video podcast, via iTunes.

Check it out. George Stroumboulopoulos is definitely smarter and more interesting than Anderson Cooper.

I would rather watch his Amex commercial on a continuous loop for two hours than have to sit through Pirates of the Carribean 3 again.

If nothing else, I’m sure the soudtrack will be awesome.

So, it’s been about a month since I last posted to this blog. The hiatus is mainly due to the fact that I have a new job. About a month back, I started working at a marketing research consultancy called W5. The firm is small, only twelve people. (Fortunately, they seem to be twelve of the smartest people I have ever worked with.) W5 does both qualitative and quantitative work, with a certain knack for in-depth ethnography. Our clients include ad agencies and corporations of all shapes and sizes.

Things are going well – interesting clients, good work, and plenty of travel. I’m on a two ethnographic excursion to Calgary and Vancouver as we speak. Hello, frequent flyer miles.

So, if you’re in the market for the services of a marketing research consultancy, feel free to contact me at my business email. For those of you who may be at the AAAA Account Planning Conference in San Diego, W5 is a sponsor. We will have a table in the registration area. Stop by and say hello.

I can’t say I understand the motivation to get a corporate logo tattooed on your body, especially that of the Microsoft Zune. I’ve watched enough Miami Ink to know that the only worthwhile tattoo is one that tells a story about who you are, where you come from, or what you aspire to be.

I have to wonder – What association is this fellow trying to make between himself and the #4 mp3 player on the market? It is a product that can best be described by comparing it to another product, the iPod. It has no defining quality that makes it iconic, in the marktplace or on your arm. Quite simply, it has no soul.

That said, it is a nice tattoo. If it didn’t have such bland connnotations, it might be really interesting.

Thanks to my favorite music blog, Stereogum, for bringing this to my attention.

This is an amazing little book about the beauty and complexity of the ordinary world. Early in the book, Stilgoe describes himself as an explorer. Not an explorer of faraway places, but of the ones we see every day. His mode of exploration isn’t characterized by focusing on the rarely-seen, but on the oft-overlooked. He takes us through urban neighborhoods, suburban strip-malls and country roads with the intent of instilling within the reader a renewed curiosity about the world around them. The book meanders, but in the best possible way. It reads like a travelogue written by someone so curious and observant that they never felt the need to leave their hometown. You ultimately find that there is tremendous detail and history behind the ordinary environments we float through every day.

Another major theme is un-learning what we assume we know about the world. Stilgoe isn’t trying to educate you concerning matters of history and fact about landscape of the built environment. He is attempting to invigorate your sense of perception and curiosity that has been flattened by television, computer and the automobile.

Discovering bits and pieces of peculiar, idiosyncratic importance in ordinary metropolitan landscape scrapes away the deep veneer of programmed learning that overlies and smothers the self-directed learning of childhood and adolescence.

Anyone whose work involves intellectual curiosity or observation of the human condition (basically, everyone) can benefit from reading this book. At just under two-hundred pages it is a quick read. Thankfully, Outside Lies Magic provides a framework for looking at the world that resonates well beyond its pages.