Transforming business (NST Appointments, 23/04/2005)

Title: Purple Cow - Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Authors: Seth Godin
Publisher: Penguin Books
Availability: Major bookstores
Price: RM38.50

MARKETERS for years have used the five Ps (or more) of marketing -product, pricing, promotion, positioning, publicity - as guidelines forselling their products and achieving their company's goals. Most of them may also experience the reality that making the right marketing moves - with all these elements in place - doesn't guarantee success.
The dynamic of marketing is changing. It became clear that following the Ps is just not enough. This is why, according to marketing guru Seth Godin, an exceptionally important "P" has to be added to the list, and it is Purple Cow.
Cows, after you've seen one, five, or 10, are boring. A Purple Cow, though, would be something! Purple Cow refers to a product orservice that is different from the rest and somehow remarkable. Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting. Boring stuff is invisible. It's a brown cow.
In Purple Cow, Godin urges readers to put a Purple Cow into everything they build, and everything they do, to create something truly remarkable and noticeable. It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place.
As consumers nowadays are too busy to pay attention to advertising, marketers and business owners are advised to stop advertising and start innovating. If a product's future is unlikely to be remarkable, it's time to change the game. Instead of investing in a dying product, take profits and reinvest them in building something new. Also, intimately knowing your customers (especially your potential customers) will tell you how to reach them.
Purple Cow is a thought-provoking book that will have you thinking and rethink your business plan, and products or services. Each chapter ends with a key takeaway point that will leave you thinking hard about how you can implement the ideas into your own business or life.
The book is an easy read. Marketers, business owners and individuals will surely benefit from the remarkable coverage.

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Visual treat Lemony Snicket fans (CompuTimes, 07/03/2005)

BASED on the best-selling children's book by author Lemony Snicket, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is set to be a big-screen blockbuster to top our cinemas' playlist for the next few weeks.
Nominated at the recent Oscar for visual effects and a winner in the Best Makeup category, the movie promises audiences spectacular and picturesque sets, unique costumes and make-up, as well as stunning visual and special effects.
The character of Sunny, an 18-month-old baby alone was developed withlots of visual effects.
For shots of having her dangling from a table by her teeth and catchinga wooden spindle in her mouth like a dog snagging a Frisbee, Industrial Light & Magic was drafted to work wonders with computers what Kara and Shelby Hoffman (who played Sunny) couldn't pull off on camera.
The visual effects team used a computer-generated imagery (CGI) double, where little motion-capture suits for the cameras were used to choreograph Sunny's intricate performances, and finally made "digital" Sunny blend seamlessly with the shots of the Hoffman twins.
CGI can also be seen in most shots in Uncle Monty's (Bill Connolly) reptile room and Aunt Josephine's (Meryl Streep) cliff house.
At the reptile room, both animatronic and CGI were used for scenes where a deadly viper escaped from the cage and petrified Monty and the Baudelaire orphans, and where Sunny played with the viper.
Watch out for the eye-popping sequence of how, with the help of visual effects, a huge hurricane destroyed Aunt Josephine's house. It looks real and convincing.
Interestingly, the film was shot entirely indoors. There are some amazing panoramic views in the movie such as a huge cornfield with endless train tracks, the Britney Beach and Lachrymose cave.
The filmmakers incorporated innovative combinations of painted backdropsand forced perspective, creating the illusion of more space.
The opening sequence featuring the Little Elf is hilarious. The cuteclaymation segment sets the mood for audiences to embark on a fast-paced yet exciting plot in discovering one unfortunate event after another.
The movie is now showing in cinemas.

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Electrifying visual effects in comic book adaptation (CompuTimes, 27/01/2005)

COMICS-TO-FILM adaptations are not new in the movie industry. We've seen anumber of famed comic characters, especially those from comics powerhouse Marvel Comics, being brought to life on the big screen over the past fewyears - X-Men, The Hulk, Spider-Man, Daredevil, to name a few. Now Marvel Studios is adding another to its stable with the introduction of the movie Elektra.
Jennifer Garner is Elektra, a highly paid assassin who recovered fromher mortal wounds (in Daredevil) with the help of her blind martial artsmaster Stick (played by Terence Stamp).
Elektra's assignment is to kill Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic) and Abby Miller (Kirsten Prout), a father-and-daughter team on the run from The Hand, a powerful syndicate whose members practise dark magic.
When Elektra changes her mind and decides to rescue Mark and Abby from The Hand, she ends up in a confrontation with the evil swordsman Kirigi (Will Yun Lee) and his team.
Kirigi's sidekicks comprises Tattoo (Chris Ackerman), who derives his magical powers from the animals engraved on his skin; Typhoid (Natissia Malthe), whose femme-fatale breath is so frigid it can slay; Stone (Bob Sapp), a 374-pound man with rock-hard body; and Kinkou (Edson T. Ribeiro), a man who can't be knocked down. From here, Elektra must tip the balance between good and evil.
For a movie with a kick-butt heroine, visual effects is bound to come inserious play. The effects for Tattoo were absolutely amazing - see howeagles, wolves and snakes materialise out of his tattoos and attack people.
The computer-generated imagery blended the images so well and theoutcome seem real and convincing. The behind-the-scenes tattoo process,which involved transfers, ink drawing and airbrushed colouration, took the special make-up effects team about six hours to apply.
Visual effects was also applied to other members of The Hand - Typhoid's fatal kiss and deadly touches, and the members vanishing into green smoke.
The fight sequences, especially the climatic battle between Elektra and Kirigi, were spectacularly choreographed with the aid of visual effects.
Director Bob Bowman applied a similar technique used by Hong Kong's Zhang YiMou in his highly acclaimed movie Hero and The House of Flying Daggers - an elegant dancing white sheet sequence in slow-mo style. The result is beautiful cinematography and lively and vibrant colours.
The movie opens today.

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On personal accountability (NST Appointments, 08/01/2005)

Title: QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life
Author: John G. Miller
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Availability: MPH bookstores
Price: RM54.95

WE all experience this sick culture: There's too much finger-pointing, blaming and procrastination going on in our daily lives, be it inorganisations or society. The lack of personal accountability, accordingto the author, is a problem that has resulted from such culture. Therefore, we all need positive change, and it begins with individualschanging themselves by asking better questions when a problem exists.
"The Question Behind the Question (QBQ) is built on the observation thatour first reactions are often negative, bringing to mind incorrectquestions. But if in each moment of decision we can instead discipline our thoughts to look behind those initial questions and ask better ones (QBQs), the questions themselves will lead us to better results," explains Miller. In other words, "The answers are in the questions".
There are three simple guidelines for creating a QBQ:
1. Begin with "What" or "How" (not "Why", "When", or "Who").
2. Contain an "I" (not "they", "them", "we", or "you").
3. Focus on action.
For example, replace "Who dropped the ball?" to "What can I do todevelop myself?" or "How can I contribute?".
This book tells readers that blame and "whodunit" questions solvenothing. They create fear, destroy creativity, and build walls. Don't complain about things beyond your control.
Personal accountability is not about changing others. It's about makinga difference by changing ourselves. Remember, "I can only change me!".
We need the QBQ so our organisations can be places where, instead offinger-pointing and procrastinating, we bring out the best in each other, work together the way teams are supposed to and make great things happen.
This book shows us how to become more effective and successful. Using succinct, light-hearted stories and easy-to-read chapters, Miller gives usa practical method for putting personal accountability into daily action which can bring astonishing results: problems get solved, internal barriers come down, service improves, teamwork thrives, and people adapt to change more quickly.

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How to set up seminars (NST Appointments, 27/11/2004)

Title: How to Set Up and Run Seminars and Workshops - Get It Right FirstTime

Authors: Tow Khee Kin

Publisher: Leeds Publications

Availability: Major bookstores

Price: RM28.90

SEMINARS and workshops play important roles in today's businesses. Companies send their employees to attend seminars or workshops to developtheir skills so that they will be efficient in doing their jobs.

Individual learners, meanwhile, attend seminars or workshops either toextend their existing knowledge and skills to obtain information and learnmore about the subject they are interested in, or simply to network withother participants.

Regardless of whatever the reasons are, it is vital for organisers toensure that their participants achieve the expected outcome from attendingsuch events.

"Seminars and workshops can be the most effective and efficient way of putting a message over, often to a very large number of people, in a veryshort period of time. However, if badly organised, they can be disastrous. Staged for the wrong reason, at the wrong time, with wrong content, to the wrong people, they will result in wasted effort and resources, and have adetrimental effect on the company image and staff morale," says the writer.

And that's why this book comes in handy as it summarises different approaches needed to conduct a seminar or workshop based on the author'smore than 20 years of hands-on experience.

This highly practical book provides readers with useful advice on how toset up and run seminars and workshops successfully.

It also provides practical pointers, examples and models on how toconduct high-impact presentations and demos, how to work with adultlearners, how to set the objectives and draw budget, and how tocommunicate effictively with the target audience.

The author also includes an evaluation form and sample format of theparticipant's report, thus offering readers an insight into organising andrunning seminars and workshops.

Written in simple, easy-to-understand English, this book is targeted atorganisations, managers and human resource executives who want to refinetheir skills in making their seminars and/or workshops a great success.

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Planning for success (NST Appointments, 25/09/2004)

Title: The Highly Effective Marketing Plan: A Proven, Practical, PlanningProcess for Companies of All Sizes

Author: Peter Knight

Publisher: Pearson Business

Price: RM61

Availability: Major bookstores

YOU'VE got a product or service that you want to sell or tell peopleabout, in the most effective way, at the lowest cost. As customers becomeincreasingly sophisticated in their expectations, the diversity and rangeof products and services on offer get even wider. So how can companiesensure that their products or services are customers' preferred choice andmore importantly, that they continue to be? The key is to develop a highlyeffective marketing plan (HEMP).

HEMP is a process that should dramatically improve your chances ofprofitability by selling more of your products and services. It is astraightforward 15-step plan which you can use to address problems andopportunities. Each step is detailed in this book, with explanations as towhy each step is necessary.

Also, as HEMP is a sequential process, you should read this book inorder if you're creating your HEMP as you go.

The writer has combined all you need to know for a HEMP in thispractical and easy-to-read book. And at the end of the book, there aretips for a successful implementation of HEMP based on hundreds of realcase studies, complete with great pictures, graphs and evidence of peoplemaking lots of money.

All in all, this is the book that will help you to:

* create a highly effective marketing plan that works - in just onehour;

* really understand your business and what it is that makes people buyfrom you;

* learn from the relevant case studies and examples (the successes ofothers), and apply these insights to your business;

* identify the real obstacles to your plan - and how to overcome them; and

* gain tips on how to make sure your plan is successfully implemented.

As what the writer says: "The key to HEMP is to keep it simple, relevantand above all bullshit free!"

The book can be used by small start-ups and multinationals alike. It isalso suitable for general reading.

If you would like to put the practices into action, visitwww.phoenixplc.com/hemp/ to down-load a HEMP template of your choice, free of charge!

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Action-thriller through digital takes (CompuTimes, 30/08/2004)

ONE night. It all happened in one night, from sunset to dawn in the city of Los Angeles.
Collateral opens with Vincent (played by Tom Cruise) exchanging a briefcase with a stranger at an airport. No one knows that Vincent is actually a contract killer. His mission: To kill five personalities involved in a lucrative court case in one night.
He gets into Max (Jamie Foxx)'s cab and hires him for the night when he discovers that Max is savvy about the streets. And this is where the story unfolds.
Touted as an action-thriller, director/producer Michael Mann (The Insider) has a nose for technology. Knowing that the standard 35-millimetre film will never be able to capture Los Angeles at night the way he wanted the audience to experience it, he became the first director to shoot a major motion picture almost entirely on digital with a modified
Thomson Grass Valley Viper FilmStream camera.
Mann explains that the primary benefit of the Viper FilmStream is the way it records the distinct colour palette that defines the city at night.
"The Viper records colours in a whole different way, particularly orange, yellow and red."
Collateral actually turned out to be a multimedia film project.
Approximately 80 per cent of the film shot digitally with high-definition video cameras, including the Viper FilmStream and Sony CineAlta, and the results (with help from cinematographers Paul Cameron and Dion Beebe) are
impressive. The film really captures the look of downtown Los Angeles at night.
Another highlight is Cruise's new look in the movie. At the beginning of the movie, you'll notice a dress-to-kill "silver fox" coming to town.
Well, Cruise's appearance - steel-grey hair and stubble - is more than just a look. Mann actually came up with the whole visual design of Cruise's character - the hair, the beard and the suit - on the computer first.
Though most of the conversations between Vincent and Max take place in the cab, moviegoers will still enjoy the movie, thanks to the good performance of the two leading actors.
Collateral is now showing in cinemas.
(END)

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