Life of db
The little quips and musings that occur in the Life of Dylan Blanchard.
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When it comes to advertising, Volkswagen really has it figured out.
This is a ode to their 2011 superbowl commercial / one of the best of last year. -
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On the surface, they couldn’t be more miles (eh oh! pun!) but in reality, they are more equal than one would expect.
The fact that I love cycling isn’t something that I hide. Give me an open afternoon, a blistering hot sun and some well-laid pavement and I’ll be happily occupied for hours. Money, on the other hand, isn’t regarded with the same level of admiration. That isn’t to say that I don’t accept money as a necessary evil. I’m a commerce student after all, and I’m able to recognize that money sometimes even acts as a barrier between me and the road. However begrudgingly.
With the new semester upon us, I’ve been able to settle down and put in some time on my bike, spinning away an hour or so (read: a hunk of festive turkey, or so). Spinning alone in my apartment doesn’t have the same allure that open roads have. Mother nature doesn’t whisper the same sweet nothings into my ear as I watch re-runs on the tv as she didwhen my forearms are rested on the handlebars, barreling down the same mountainside in 10 minutes it took me 45 to get up just prior.
But just like an well cared-for bank account, I’m slowly making regular deposits. And when the sun is upon us for more than 3.5 hours a day, and the snow has melted, that investment is going to pay dividends. And those dividends are going to allow me to ride those roads for hours. Blissful moment after blissful moment.
Those lonely, sweat-ridden afternoons aren’t looking so bad after all.
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You get to make a choice. You can remake that choice every day, in fact. It’s never too late to choose optimism, to choose action, to choose excellence. The best thing is that it only takes a moment — just one second — to decide.
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Well the picture doesn’t lie. We can point fingers and call each other names, but at its core, I’ve simply read a shit ton over the course of the last three years.
And I like it.
I’m not much for the latest and greatest in pop culture, and you won’t find that I’ve subscribed to any gossip blogs (beyond Macrumors), but what you will find is a mix of personal blogs, corporate blogs and editorials centered around different business ideas and various areas of technology. As I sit and wonder how I’ve amassed such a large amount of read articles, and intuitively, invested so much time in such an undertaking, I can point to one reason:
My core belief that formal education is not enough, and does not prepare you to meet the needs of employers, the world, and more importantly, your own needs.
Your informal education deserves as much of an investment as your ‘formal’ education does (at least in the time department), and by zeroing in on a basketful of great websites and blogs that turn out content, that in return will expand your perspective is critical, and I’d argue is likely directly related to your success in whatever your ventures are.School sucks, knowledge doesn’t.
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Video reblogged from Mitchell McKenna
Tim Chaisson performs “Real” in the lobby of Main Building at UPEI. Check out Tim Chaisson and Morning Fold’s latest album on iTunes.
You know what’s cool? This.
Why, you ask? Because for one, it’s an island musician - a damn good one, who deserves all the attention he gets. And two, they’ve got a blog with a ton of these talented musicians that happen to be on the UPEI campus (pretty sure that they don’t all attend, given that the list has Fred Penner on it, too… the guy can’t not be a teacher. Brilliant.).Is this a great and authentic way to market the culture of PEI, the campus life and its music department? You’re damn right it is. (Thanks for posting this, Mitch)
(Source: campussessions)
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Self-Portrait
A macaque monkey in Indonesia took a camera from a wildlife photographer before snapping himself in a variety of poses.
Photo via Telegraph, shot by macaque monkey
Man, he really nailed the lighting on this one.
Monkey got game. -
Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived.
Replied the Dali Lama when asked what surprises him most. (via Jordash)
Legit though. This is fucking brilliant.
How have we jam-packed our schedules so tight, scheduled so much of “our time”, invested so much outside ourselves, and left nothing for us? How naive we are! to never schedule time for ourselves, or to prioritize the truly important things.Everyone has heard of “you can’t love someone else until you love yourself”. Well, you can’t do shit if you don’t look after yourself and haven’t actively made health your number one priority.
Want to make change?
As with anything, start slow. Don’t treat your health as if its a diet. Better yet, don’t diet. The diet methodology sets you up for failure because it’s not sustainable. Better yet, make lifestyle decisions, keeping your head pointed in one direction and allowing every obstacle to have a natural selection. Better yet, when it comes to health, ask yourself which is better for you. Because what’s better for you will be better for whoever is asking you of your time. In the end. Because you won’t die. Get it? -
Ladies and Gents,
Take a moment to look around at a few more lips than usual today.
You’re looking at a trophy.
A trophy that represents solidarity against a hellish disease, of over $33M raised in Canada, and a global movement that will bring in nearly $100 million by days end.
Dreamers can dream of a disease free world today, but until it becomes reality and we have eradicated all forms of cancer, there is still much to do.
We’ve taken a step in the right direction.
Lips up. There’s pride to be had. -
Video reblogged from Fuck yeah, Advertising!
For all of the times that I’ve spent in high school locker rooms being choked by way of the 21st century mustard gas of the lowly and the testosteroned, this advertisement by Axe actually makes up for most of their wrongs (besides the permanently burnt nostrils).
The simplicity with a twist (So sorry destiny!) is what makes this a killer marketing effort.
(video via fuckyeahads)
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Hey!
You guys remember Lemonade: The movie?
We all watched it a year and a half ago or so…
you know.. all the ad-execs got fired.. figured out other shit to do that made them 10x happier?Yeah, well.. Detroit is back in town. Check out the short. Be inspired.
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don’t forget to…
I’ve applied to be a Livestrong Mentor for next year. I’ll have a handful of individuals who are running grassroot fundraising campaigns. If I can land it, I’ll be the happiest camper in the world, and on good footing to land an internship next year. Let’s make it happen, ok?
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Your standing desk has nothing on this riding desk.
So. Fly.
Mind you, I think I’m going to take up mastering NHL when I set up my trainer.. -
Quote reblogged from My Life in Short PantsOne of the great forgotten facts about the United States is that not very long ago the wealthy weren’t all that wealthy. Up until the 1960s, the gap between rich and poor in the United States was relatively narrow. In fact, in that era marginal tax rates in the highest income bracket were in excess of 90 percent. For every dollar you made above $250,000, you gave the government 90 cents. Today — with good reason — we regard tax rates that high as punitive and economically self-defeating. It is worth noting, though, that in the social and political commentary of the 1950s and 1960s there is scant evidence of wealthy people complaining about their situation. They paid their taxes and went about their business. Perhaps they saw the logic of the government’s policy: There was a huge debt from World War II to be paid off, and interstates, public universities, and other public infrastructure projects to be built for the children of the baby boom. Or perhaps they were simply bashful. Wealth, after all, is as often the gift of good fortune as it is of design. For whatever reason, the wealthy of that era could have pushed for a world that more closely conformed to their self-interest and they chose not to. Today the wealthy have no such qualms. We have moved from a country of relative economic equality to a place where the gap between rich and poor is exceeded by only Singapore and Hong Kong. The rich have gone from being grateful for what they have to pushing for everything they can get. They have mastered the arts of whining and predation, without regard to logic or shame.
Malcolm Gladwell, The Nets and NBA Economics (via sweatshorts)
Yep, this is our world, isn’t it.
In light of all the #Occupy protests around the world, many of which are in the backyards (figurative - ie Ottawa, Halifax) of my closest friends, a few debates have been held. Regardless of whether or not you can figure out what their aims are, regardless of whether you’re the 1%, or the 99%, with the state of the economy now a days, we all have to pitch in, don’t we? And sure, we’ll point fingers at the rich if we have to, but while we may not be able to act like Robin Hood and give to the poor what we take from the rich, we can do our best to not to put it into their pockets in the first place. Hey, we are the invisible hand, after all.. or at the very least we are a large part of the consumption market.
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… Here is the non-participants of 2010’s Movember.
Don’t want it to end like this?
Stay in the good books, and grow a feather duster.
