Finding the perfect gift…

My son Ellis turned 4 today. He’s not really into toys, so finding the perfect gifts is always challenging. He does like activities and he loves to read. So this year, I decided to write him a book for his birthday. Nothing too grand… just a short story about all the things he loves, and filled with pictures that both he and I drew and colored. This simple idea was only possible because I used Lulu, the online self-publishing site.

At first, Lulu was not the easiest site to navigate and the process wasn’t always clear, especially because instead of using the standard Word template (which is very limiting), I used Quark for the layout before creating a pdf for Lulu to review and publish. But now that I’ve done it once, I will certainly use Lulu again and again. It was most definitely worth it– a custom hard cover edition of my first book AND the perfect gift for my son, all for just $20! And you can make it available for purchase on the site, along with the option to make it available on Amazon.

My daughter Sienna is only 9 months, but I’m already thinking up story ideas for her…

Sneaker wars: Adidas and Puma

Yes, there really was a sneaker war. I’ve always found this story interesting — the feud between German brothers, Adi and Rudolf Dassler who dissolved their shoe-making business many years ago to set up rival sneaker businesses Adidas and Puma (I’m partial to the later). Both successful businesses and popular brands are now coming together, many years after the founders went to their graves mid-feud. Though the reason for their rivalry is still unknown, the book about their story, Sneaker Wars might be a good read. Here’s more on the story in the New York Times.

Profiting from our digital relationships

Mining our digital relationships for insights that could lead to lucrative revenue streams — MIT, IBM and every company rushing to find a successful social media business model is looking into this. BusinessWeek takes a look at how companies are Learning, and Profiting, from Online Friendships.

A festival of electronica: Short Circuit

I wish I was in London for this one … Short Circuit: A Festival of Electronica, held at the Roundhouse, May 14-17th. But fortunately, there’s a live broadcast of the whole thing, a chronology of noteworthy artists in electronica over the decades.

The impressive lineup features producers, labels, artists and influencers from Germany, Barcelona and the UK. Sounds like a great primer for those into elecronic music.

Does the economy need Ayn Rand?

I discovered Ayn Rand in an unexpected way on my first day of university in Toronto. Prominently painted on one of the arts buildings was the question “Who is John Galt?” It seemed like a challenge — one probably taken up by many, including myself. While I wouldn’t have called myself an Objectivist, I found the philosophy interesting and read everything Rand ever wrote.

If you’ve got an opinion, one way or the other, about Rand, you can join the debate right now on BusinessWeek, arguing whether The Economy Needs Any Rand. And even if you don’t buy into Objectivism, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are still books worth tackling at some point in your life.

The Blue Sweater may change you…

I just read a new book called The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz. For weeks I’d seen reviews of this woman’s account of her journey to fight poverty in Africa, including one review that began, “Be careful, this book will change you…”

Novogratz herself begins the book with Nelson Mandela’s words: “There is no passion to be found playing small in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

This book does a great job of combining a personal narrative of finding one’s true calling with concrete examples of what any of us could do to help fight global poverty. It tells Novogratz’s story from her childhood to working in the banking industry evaluating foreign investments to starting her own fund to invest in entrepreneurs in poverty-stricken countries. The journey that her old blue sweater takes from her hometown to a child in Rwanda is a great story in and of itself about how we are all interconnected.

Novogratz delves into practical steps each of us can take, including some that are written about really well in another book called The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer. Singer’s book asks you to take a look not so much at what you are doing — and whether that makes you a good person — but at what you are not doing. This is more philosophy than biography, if that’s your preference.

I make no claims of being a great humanitarian. I try to do my part each year by donating to UNICEF and volunteer now and again for organizations serving my local community, but these books really did inspire me. And truth be told, made me feel guilty about how little effort it would take on my part to make a bigger difference.

Even if you don’t have time to read the whole book (which I rarely seem to do anymore), next time you’re at Barnes & Noble, flip through a few chapters of The Blue Sweater. It’s well worth it.

100 meters of existence

This is very cool … my friend Marc told me about this photo by Simon Hogsberg called “We’re all gonna die … 100 meters of existence.” At 100 meters long, it’s a compilation of shots taken over the course of 20 days from the same spot on a bridge in Berlin. Based in Copenhagen, Hogsberg takes a lot of other great photos too.

I want Bourdain's job

Anthony Bourdain has one of the best jobs out there, anywhere.

I’ve long been a fan of his show, No Reservations, but his recent visit to Sri Lanka got my attention, and I tuned in eagerly to watch his experience of the place where I was born. For those who know Bourdain’s style, he doesn’t mince words and he doesn’t sugar coat things … a quality I appreciate. So, to have him not completely tear into a country, its people and its food is a small victory in itself. You either love or hate Bourdain for his brutal honesty. Sri Lanka made out fairly well considering, and though I might have done a few things differently, I enjoyed his romp through Colombo and neighboring towns testing out the hospitality and cuisine.

Romania on the other hand, which Bourdain also visited recently, didn’t fare so well. In his blog post, Romania: What the hell happened?, he recounts his experience (and his somewhat brutal review) but makes no apologies:

“To describe Romania as particularly friendly? Not really. I’ve been all over the world. Over 50 countries. On the friendly scale? Romania not exactly in the top 40. The food — on camera, off camera? Didn’t matter. It was mostly pretty primitive. Soups may taste good — but they don’t make interesting television. I could lie. But I ain’t gonna.”

That blog post alone received over 2000 comments from fans and outraged Romanians alike.

Considering the tact and diplomacy that most of us need to maintain in our day jobs, Bourdain’s got a pretty good gig. Travel and good food — yes, but most travel show hosts have that. License to be brutally honest and make no apologies for it? That’s rare in a job description.

Drink, Play, F@#k

Here’s a new book that’s got my attention — Drink, Play, F@#k: One Man’s Search for Anything Across Ireland, Las Vegas, and Thailand. Not that I have a particular interest in stories of people finding themselves (or getting lost in foreign places for that matter), but my absolute lack of interest in the book that inspired this one — Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, has piqued my curiosity in this semi-parodic, male take on things.

Many of my friends enjoyed Gilbert’s story of exploration and discovery, but I couldn’t make it past a third of the book. Andrew Gottlieb’s story on the other hand, is about a jilted husband who sets out to explore the world and fulfil fantasies that include beer, soccer and Asian prostitutes. It’s a fictional journey told by a comedic writer, but it might be just as revealing and insightful as Eat, Pray, Love was to many. I’ll give it at least a few chapters.

More electronica: Kyoto Jazz Massive

If you liked the electronic grooves of The Shanghai Restoration Project, you may also like one of my old favorites: Kyoto Jazz Massive, still going strong, with a new release in January 2009–very soulful and jazzy. You can preview some KJM tracks on MySpace.