If you find something interesting, that you didn’t know about before, well there’s perfect inspiration to blog about it!
For example, I recently saw a tweet by Jorgen Sundberg about the Wilhelm Scream which lead me to a video of a compilation of this often used screaming sound effect which was originally recorded in 1951.
I didn’t know about it but it is a very popular sound within many Hollywood films – including Star Wars films, Indiana Jones movies, Gremlins 2, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek the Third, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and several Pixar films.
I recently read an article about the dangers of a society which spends its time communicating digitally. The author in grave and sonorous tones indicated that eventually our brains are going to become rewired in a way which will make communication in person unmanageable. He mentioned facial expressions would soon be lost and tone of voice would become redundant. Computers have had some success in installing emoticons in a lot of chat forums. Personally they just don’t quite do the job. In the realm of real life contact, I hope that hugging survives.
There are many different hugs. Each one telling a tale about the huggers.
5 types of hugging you’re likely to have encountered:
“Hey I haven’t seen you in ages-two arm hug”
This is mainly done with the arms long and shoulders. The connection is all in the upper chest and lasts around two seconds. The arms are thrown around loosely and the hug usually ends with a little embarrassment and very little eye contact. Both huggers generally laugh a little till one of them breaks the ice with a “how the hell are you?” or something to that effect.
“You’ll get them next time hug”
This one involves one arm over the top of the shoulder and a double forearm shake. It says I still support you no matter what and even though you weren’t good enough this time keep working at it. It usually follows with an ego nursing breakdown about how the other person cheated.
“Heart hug”
This one is a little more intimate. Both huggers are opening themselves up to the other by connecting from the heart upwards. Proximity is tight and the arms wrap inwards and around the other person. The hug is slow and gentle and is held for about five seconds. Both huggers feel warm and connected afterwards and it is often followed by comfortable silence.
“Don’t let go hug”
This one is usually initiated by one of the huggers hugging the other with ferocious intent. The arms constrict the huggers and the hug is held much longer. Usually only one of the two huggers hugs this way, the stronger hugger bringing the other deep into them. Sometimes it is reciprocated by the second hugger at the end of the contact with a confirming “I’ll never let go re-squeeze”, or occasionaly the arms of the second hugger go limp and the back bends with submission as every last drop of air is squeezed out. The answers are different in each case- either the huggee holds fast and says “don’t worry I won’t” or “you are literally suffocating me-let go”. This can depend on the strength of the initiator.
“Whole body hug”
My own personal favourite. This one starts up high and travels down the body as the chest, abdomen, pelvis and legs connect. It usually involves one of the two huggers staggering and sliding in the hips so there is a little more connection down under. It is a sneaky hug because from the outset it looks like the “heart hug” however there is a lot more going on in other areas- “if ya know wot I mean”
I am hoping that as we delve deeper into our digital communication habits, with the need for face to face contact becoming less of a priority- that we don’t forget the things which truly connect us. Personally I plan to practice hugging a little more regularly. It’s an art that is well worth developing.
I am always a fan of finding the more AMAZING things on the internet – and I mean REALLY amazing – and blogging about them – in the hope that even more poeple on the internet discovering the amazingnesss. Because if they don’t find it through a link from Twitter and they dont see it shared by email or on Facebook and they don’t find it on You Tube – then perhaps they will come here! You can also see more on Mike’s website http://www.mike-tompkins.com - he is incredibly talented Acapella aartist and singer.
He was also recently on the Today Show and he got all the hosts of the today show to try his acapella – see the video below for the story!
I saw this tweet via Tamsin Fox Davies on Twitter – the original tweet was by Dave Goreman and I loved it so much I thought we had to include it as a mini blog post. Enjoy!
To become a successful blogger, you must keep up to date with what your fellow bloggers are up to!
That’s why below, we have linked to 2 fantastic blogs, which should hopefully inspire you into becoming a better and more active blogger yourself!
Copyblogger was founded in January of 2006 by Brian Clark. Brian is CEO of Copyblogger Media, a serial entrepreneur, and a recovering attorney.
The website focuses on creating compelling content as a way to drive traffic to your website. Making content that people want to read is an art in itself, and one of the most fundamental parts of being a successful blogger! If you don’t create interesting content, nobody will want to read it, or share it!
Problogger is dedicated to helping other bloggers learn the skills of blogging, share their own experiences and promote the blogging medium.
Darren Rowse started the site in September 2004 mainly because he wanted to keep a record of what he was learning about blogging for money. Since then he has added well over 3500 articles, tips, tutorials and case studies to the website archives.
(and the blogging tip? Find things to do with current events, and comment on them on your own blog! Current event topics are always going to get a lot of interest!)
This is a brilliant video and a great way to look back at 2010 – enjoy! And it was super quick and easy for us to post as we just went onto YouTube and got the embed code.
Websites built with WordPress or other blogging platforms like Posterous or Tumblr can be a great replacement for a full website. Well written and relevant news articles and posts are brilliant way to market your business. If you are a single person running a small business it’s an ideal replacement for a full website. If you are running a larger company then there are ways a blog can be used for marketing certain parts of your business.
It’s less expensive to design and build, and you can manage it yourself.
Some reasons we love blogs:
They are fully customisable so the design can vary radically!
You can showcase pictures from and tell stories about the projects you have worked on
You can promote the work of your favourite clients and suppliers.
A blog site is easy to update and most people can learn the basic skills within a 40 minute training session
They easily integrate with social media such as Twitter and Flickr and Facebook
You can write articles about the different services you provide
You can easily include video embedded from Vimeo or YouTube.
A blog which is regularly updated means there is fresh content all the time which means it’s a more interesting site to go and visit.
Having a regularly updated blog on the site is also great for search engines. Each time you add a page to your blog, you create another page on the internet, and this means search engines are more likely to find your site when people search for you.
You can pre-set when you would like your blog posts to go “live” and go back and change them whenever you like.
Blog posts can be easily shared on the internet through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
If you would like more information on the different options for setting up a blog, please email us and we will be happy to help!
A good blogger will be regularly reading blogs and will need a way to organise these. By reading other blog posts regularly you get a good feel about the different types of blog posts out there, how to structure them, how the best blog posts are broken up and what blogs are possible.
If you really are stuck for a new blog post, one little “cheat” you can do is called a “reblog”. This is where you have found some FANTASTIC post on another blog. Then you just write a couple of lines above about how FANTASTIC this blog post is.
Blogs can be used as online diaries, a place to share ideas and advice, or even instead of a website to promote a business or organisation. We like to make specially customised ones and want to make more for our clients!
We have created this to give extra help and advice where needed. Just get in touch if you would like to talk more about it - email info[at]topleftdesign.com and just tell us you saw this message! We will know what to say after that.
