Enjoy…

Karnivool – All I Know

The Hipstamatic Camera app is just totally awesome! What was instantly apparent was the 4.5 star rating. Never really seen an App so highly rated so therefore, must be good. And it is!

I do love photography very much and being able to capture a specific moment in time. What is most satisfying though, is being able to capture the right effect with the camera. I’m not a fan of post-production and the Photoshop effects of digital photography. The image is much more powerful if you can capture it with the right equipment, and most of all, the good eye for the perfect shot.

Playing around with the Hipstamatic camera is really good fun. Especially with the different lenses available to give that extra effect. I haven’t really played around with the flash as again, I’m not a fan of the flash either. My favourite lens so far has to be the John S with the Blanko film. This takes an awesome ‘film noir’ image that is very dark and rough around the edges. I also love it as it makes everything look in the 1960s. So far I’ve taken mostly shots from the train in the morning but I’m going to the Leeds Carnival tomorrow so I’ll go snap happy there to get some more. Can’t wait!

I couldn’t resist the odd self portrait, so here is one that stands out:

My all time favourite is Panang Curry. Its a red curry, quite spicy if you do it correctly, and extremely tasty. What I love about it the most is the rich curry sauce, quite thick and full of flavour.

To start with I always make my own Curry Paste. For some reason it takes me ages. I think because I make sure everything is perfect and chop everything so finely. Or come to think of it, perhaps its because I like to have a few beers whilst doing it. I’m a bit of a Keith Floyd when it comes to cooking.

The recipe is so easy as all you need to do is pretty much throw everything in when its ready. I always like to slice my own chicken breast as the pre-prepared Chicken is never as good. Thai Basil is also a necessity so be sure to have a good look around for some as its not always easy to find. Another must is Chilli Oil to finish. Good luck finding that one as I had to go to a market stall in Leeds to find that! Most important is the Panang Curry Paste:

Curry paste ingredients:

• Fresh Galangal (2cm)
• Ground Cumin (1 tsp)
• Ground Coriander (1tsp)
• 25 long red chillies
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• Peanut Oil (2 tbsp)
• 8 green onions
• 2 sticks of fresh lemon grass
• shrimp paste (2 tsp)
• 75g of roasted peanuts

Contrary to popular belief, Thai cooking does not require a scolding hot wok so use gentle heat. I was a bit shocked by this too but straight from the horses mouth of a Thai cook, don’t use lots of heat. This is to blend the flavours with all the ingredients. Cook for about 20 minutes on low heat and serve with Thai Jasmine Rice cooked in fresh coriander. Et voilà! Awesome Chicken Panang Curry.

]]> http://www.thetaipan.co.uk/i-will-make-a-good-husband-one-day/feed/ 0 http://www.thetaipan.co.uk/holding-out-for-strangers-who-i-can-dream-with/ http://www.thetaipan.co.uk/holding-out-for-strangers-who-i-can-dream-with/#comments Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:07:20 +0000 TaiPan http://www.thetaipan.co.uk/?p=468 Just a note (or two) of some music that’s been the soundtrack to my life over the past couple of months.

Sitting on the train every morning is actually quite relaxing and can empty your mind of everything about your life. I can dream for hours on trains, just staring out of the window and getting lost in my thoughts. I love to do this to music most of all, as it helps me to think and to dream. I see familiar strangers every day…sometimes I think about who they are and what they are doing, sometimes just listen to things they say. Its amazing how we all live in such close proximity to one another but do we actually notice anything about other people? I quite often spend most of my time avoiding eye contact with some people. Maybe other people are wondering why or perhaps even thinking about me as a person. Probably.

Staring out into the scenery rushing past the window is like bedtime for me. I love going to bed sometimes as I look forward to dreaming. Wondering what amazing thing I can get up to or amazing place I can visit. I quite often look forward to time when I can dream. If a nice thought enters my mind I get all excited as I can save it for later and dream about on the way home.

Some choice music that’s been helping me on the way to work everyday:

• ‘Departure Lounge’ – Amplifier
• ‘Protection’ – Massive Attack
• ‘Birds’ – Emilina Torrini
• ‘Heart Skipped a beat’ – The XX
• ‘New Day’ – Karnivool
• ‘Sonnet’ – The Verve
• ‘Broken’ – Seether
• ‘Hummer’ – Smashing Pumpkins
• ‘Three Days’ – Jane’s Addiction
• ‘Seasons’ – Chris Cornell
• ‘R U Still in 2 it?’ – Mogwai

…thanks for the inspiration…and the daydreaming (when I’m most happy)

Daydreaming helps the world to become an even more beautiful place.

I’ve never been good at art, drawing, painting, sculpting etc and I’ve always envied those who have the gift. But when the gift of creation manifest itself as something that merely any mortal messy handwriting human being can create then I’m sorry but that’s just bollocks.

Bringing me to the point of the ranting exercise was a recent excursion to Boughton House in Northamptonshire. Not all of this was bad. In fact I really enjoyed walking around the grounds and going through gates where I was probably not supposed to go. The house was enormous, un-inhabited for most of the year and quite amazingly only opened to the general public for 2 months of the year…or was it 1? Anyway, this was supposedly only due to getting the National Heritage grant from the Government to contribute towards the up-keep of the estate. Err, when you’re that wealthy and own half of Northamptonshire why would you need a grant to keep your house clean and gardens mowed?

Anyway, walking around the grounds I can across this:

On the surface it looked quite spectacular but then when I read about what it actually is and signifies I couldn’t help but shout out that this is bollocks! Set in the grounds of a 16th Century family estate, with a reflecting pool, rose garden, winter garden, fountains and luscious  scenery, the last thing you would expect to see is a giant modern art mess. A huge mound of earth removed to create this sort of inverse Pyramid that had a sloping path to the bottom and the tip filled in with water. What’s more amazing was that it was supposed to represent the family history…somehow. Hmm, he could have paid me hundreds of thousands of pounds to come up with that idea and then get a large excavator to create it. I mean come on!

Modern Art….FAIL. There, I’ve said it and enough said.

Returning home from my first travel adventure all those years ago

This post is not to moan or complain but to kind of celebrate my own sense of adventure. I’ve recently left the city of Nottingham…for the fourth time! After University, the first time was a bit sad as it felt like the end of an era. The second time was the beginning of adventure and travelling the world. The third time was a significant and most awesome life experience of living abroad. Now the fourth time. This time really means something though, it was made after months of planning, preparation, introspection and (dare I say it) necessity. The best thing is that I can take these things in my stride these days. One thing I have learned about getting older is that you definitely become more resilient in dealing with things.

So a definite career move was in order and this was what it was all about. I’d spent a long time planning this move to coincide with opportunity and being ready for the change. When I told people what I was planning to do they were and were not shocked. The shock was from me actually calling it quits and saying I’m moving to a new location. Then again, people who knew me well then realised that this was me and I can easily do this sort of thing.

I like Nottingham and I guess I always will. There are a lot of things wrong with the place but I’m not intending to go there right now. Suffice to say that I had a good time there and I got the necessary experience I needed to be where I am today. It also served as a good reason to motivate me to do the things I did. Am I making sense? No? Jolly good I will miss the place but I knew that it was not providing me with what I wanted and needed. Funny thing is I didn’t actually think I would stay there long term. There was always a better opportunity looming that I was preparing for.

So here I am in a big move again. This is a good one and with stacks of opportunity and absolutely the best decision I’ve made. Right now I’m feeling pretty proud of myself that I can take on this challenge and also be not afraid of it. Change can be a difficult thing for the ego but it can do wonders for the soul. New job, new city, new challenge and new environment. It helps me to see things from a new perspective, enrich my experiences and allows me to grow as a person. It can be very difficult to make a new life somewhere new but I know that it will be ok. Nothing can be as hard as living in Taiwan for the first year, not knowing anyone or not being able to speak the language. That was life being hard and I like to remind myself that I got through that so this is nothing!

A new challenge awaits in Leeds and I’m ready!

Some things I’ve been thinking about this week:

• Am I ready for this? HELL YES!
• Experience counts for a lot
• I’ve always loved Leeds
• First impressions count
• The right environment can really make you bloom
• Sometimes its good to feel just a little bit scared…always makes you realise that it really means a lot to you!

I recently went to Bangkok in the middle of all the trouble. I had been following the events as they unfolded with great interest as its somewhere that I travel to a lot. The best thing was getting advice from people who are there, both friends and ex-pats based in Bangkok. My good friend told me that after the first ‘riot’ everything had calmed down and things were ok again. It didn’t appear so rosy when my travel agent called me on no less than 5 occasions to ask if I was still planning to go. Hmm, this is a dilemma indeedy. I didn’t really fancy the straight flight to Sydney as I’ve done it a few times and it kills me. Then the message that the FCO had issued a travel warning for the whole of Thailand. The whole of Thailand? Maybe a bit overboard I think.

So I took to the skies not knowing if things were going to escalate into a total mess whilst I was en route. There was a bit of fun in the fact that I was only one of 6 people who were planning on getting off at Bangkok. I felt quite excited to see what was going to happen. The best thing about being one of the few was that the airport was the emptiest I’ve ever seen it. I was off, cleared customs and out within 20 minutes. A new personal best and record for economy class flyer! The best sight awaited me at the taxi rank outside. Have a look at This Photo from Chris Osborne who also found no queue for a taxi as well.

So Bangkok. Sleepy. An uncomfortable quietness surrounded the drive in. I noticed that the Taxi driver had a photo of Taksin so I thought best to keep out of any conversation about the trouble. Yet again another record travel time through the city to the hotel and a few signs of burnt out cars on the streets. This is interesting. Seeing the army and police out in such force and visible on every street corner surrounding the backpacker area of Bangkok was a first. But also quite re-assuring. After meeting up with my friend, she tells me all about the trouble and that some of it happened just around the corner from where we were. At least she had a few days off work, she tells me. Then I found out that in the evening of the very same day, there was a national celebration outside the Grand Palace for the King’s 60th wedding anniversary. Would I like to go? Isn’t that a public gathering that all the travel warnings are talking about? Yes. But this will be different. Alright, let’s go!

Seeing such a huge gathering of people all wearing pink shirts to support the king was quite awe inspiring. There were illuminated streets, each serving traditional food and crafts from the numerous provinces. Its was a party atmosphere…with Elephants! We ate, we drank, we danced and we all had fun. At the end of the night we were all serenaded with four firework displays going off simultaneously and then a parade with Elephants. It was quite amazing and totally against the advice given to all foreigners. Because of that I only saw three foreigners there amount the thousands. I even lit candles and sent a Chinese lantern off into the sky with my own special message to someone. It was nice.

Had I listened to the travel advice and not gone anywhere in Bangkok I would have certainly missed a once in a lifetime event. It was special and I was lucky to have been there. Sometimes that little bit of excitement and danger just makes things so much better and more memorable.

Hmm, quite obvious what this year’s theme is about then? However, walking around for a bit longer it seems that I’ve got it all wrong. Hosting was not quite the theme of the show (in terms of the exhibitors) but Email Marketing most definitely was. At times it was hard to see how you could have so many companies competing for the same service in such a confined space. This also meant they were almost side by side in some cases! Wandering through the packed aisles in a quickened pace to get to the seminar theatres the last thing you want is people to block your way and ask, “Have you considered Email Marketing Sir?”

Is this the worst exhibitor stand you’ve ever seen? >>>

I’m not having a go at the Email Marketing industry at all as I’ve used it extensively in the past and find it very effective for CRM, lead generation and sales. What is less preferred is when it is taken in the context of saturated sales pitches. I found it hard at times to find stands I wanted to investigate as the word “Email Marketing” were being uttered at every corner. However, I do have a big gripe about one thing and that is the sales techniques. I’m the type of person who likes to feel in control of sales. I hate being sold to and I hate listening to sales pitches. The more aggressive sales people take the position of blocking you way. You have no choice but to engage in conversation (or listening) with the sales pitch and are not released until they have finished. Some are good and let you go when you say no…others want to know why you’re not interested. Bah, I can go on about this.

Lets not say that anyone is at fault here. The seminars were brilliant and very diverse for all areas on the internet world. In particular the E-Commerce theatre was very appealing and informative. In one seminar about the current Social Media Trends, even the speaker remarked about the theme of the stands…”So have everyone bought enough hosting and email marketing for you company so far today?” Spot on. Also spot on from this particular seminar was understanding you environment and what the appropriate action is to take within the current social media setting.

Stand-out points from Internet World:

• Content is still king
• Content is in multiple forms and is closely connected with data analysis
• Tradition bread-and-butter SEO is slowly being replaced with social media for success.
• Planning your marketing mix should include the channels where you will have the MOST success
• Understanding and knowing how to respond in your environment is key for success

Things I have been thinking about recently:

• Australia: I just realised I haven’t been there for 5 years. Doesn’t seem like long ago but I guess time flies when you’re busy. Sydney or Melbourne?
• Trouble in Bangkok…again! I’ve been following This Development for weeks. I’m just hoping the airport is going to remain open. But then again, I can think of worse places to be stranded than Bangkok.
• 3.5 weeks to go.
• Optimism  – well I have to be!
• My first Easter Egg in about 3 years. And it tasted good.
• Clash of the Titans was an utter travesty of a movie. Every time I see a movie like that I just think of what the money could have been used for instead. Cancer research? Charity donation? Ease Third World debt? School or Hospital in Africa? I think so.
• 31 years old and The Muppets still make me laugh. No, I’m not ashamed.
• Think I shall go to Download Festival.

…”and our lives are forever changed. You can never feel the same. The more you change the less you feel.” – Billy Corgan.

Not sure if i agree with the latter as I’m still feeling…very much so. There are some things that you’ll never forget.

Should I be on Twitter?

Hmm, the point of this…yes Twitter. I’ve been kept busy recently with the amount of meet and greets I’ve been doing with new and potential clients. People really want to be found on the web right now and are really desperate to find the right people to help them. Online marketing is now becoming such an integral part of business, large or small, as having a website is. Perfect! One topic of conversation that keeps coming up is Twitter and more specifically, “Should we be on Twitter and how do we do it?”

Well yes…and no. In fact, this question has led me to think about this in greater detail. Are you a person that likes social networking and finding stuff on the web? The answer is defo yes. However, what about being a business? Hmm, I’m starting to say “That depends”.

Twitter Overload!

This is starting to become one of my pet hates. I can remember a time when Twitter was all for and populated by online marketing people (or mostly). There wasn’t much of the hoo-harr or newsreaders say “Follow Me on Twitter” and it was an exchange of information for Online Marketing professionals. Now, everyone is there to tell people what they think about the colour pink, the overuse of hash# tags – #don’tyouhateitwhen – or my own personal hate, people who tweet 50 times per day.

There is a most certainly a finite number of people that you can follow on Twitter. You can see some people that claim they follow a few hundred, possibly thousands, of other people. How do you keep up with that many tweets per day? I did a quick calculation based on some averages on people I follow…and I don’t follow that many people.

Say you followed around 150 people. Each of the 150 people did on average 4 tweets per day. This equates to having 600 tweets to check out each day.

Lets say half of those posted links to other sites/photos/articles. This takes on average 5 minutes to read each. This is (providing my maths is correct) 25 hours worth of reading time. That is a lot of time to spend on Twitter!

Of course I was generalising but check how many you’re following and see how many you are actually ‘following’. I would say mine is about 10-15 lucky people

Is Twitter good for Business?

I get asked this question a lot and my answer is always ‘that depends’. Twitter is becoming a bit of a fad at the moment and just like my trend post, most people follow trends. Here’s some important points that businesses should think about before they should consider it:

What are you going to say? – Do you actually have anything worth saying or telling your audience? Commercial B2C companies have more direct contact and interest on Twitter than B2B companies as they can directly offer discounts and sales messages. Do you have anything that people will be interested in reading?

How are you going to get people following you? Is there already an interest or competitors using Twitter from your market? If there isn’t then it will be hard to be part of a community of updates or people wanting to read your information. You may then find it hard to get people interested in you – cue the ‘auto follow’. If you have a blog, this is the best place to start as you can entice people to read your Twitter for further updates and to become the all important authority on the subject.

Who will administer your Twitter? Quite a forgotten part this one as it may become difficult to get the right person to take ownership of the project from the start. ” We’ll nominate Marjorie, she like to gossip”. I’ve heard that before and Marjorie’s response was, “What is Twitter…I don’t even have a Facebook!” Not a good place to start. Finding someone who will interact with Twitter and be able to use it effectively by promoting the brand and also being part of the target market community is vital to success. Also, you don’t really want someone who will post photos of the drunken Christmas party on Twitpic or post 300 updates per day about rubbish. That will certainly do more harm than good.

So is it useful? Yes, I love Twitter but I love to be in control of who I follow and how much time I spend on it per day. There could potentially be a lot of wasted time telling people what you had for breakfast and how that compares to Opera Winfrey’s.

BTW: Follow The Tai Pan on Twitter