Shatterbox

Just recently, my friends sister Amanda launched a website called Shatterbox. Like many recent college grads, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her future. After trying several different jobs, she realized she wanted to inspire people. She decided to get inside the minds of people who loved their jobs, and were happy to go to work each day, and wanted to find people who creatively found their passions. Enter Shatterbox- an online video based community of people sharing stories of inspiration and innovation. In times like these, it’s difficult to lose sight of your passions and settle for something you don’t really want to do. I believe that when people lose sight of their dreams, they lose themselves. With Shatterbox, people can create online profiles and network with other users about how they found themselves and their careers.

I spent well over an hour watching all of the videos on the site, and I truly felt inspired. It made me stop and think how I want to leave my mark. Do I want to work in advertising? And if so, what field? What if when I graduate, I don’t want to work in advertising, will it be hard to find something else? While the website doesn’t answer these questions, it makes you stop and think about your own state of happiness. I think that this website is a great stepping-stone to thinking outside of the box, and finding your inner passion. How will you make your mark?

I’ve decided to post a few of the videos that inspired me below.

Viktoria Harrison from shatterbox on Vimeo.

Jason Rueger from shatterbox on Vimeo.

Intrinsic Motivation At Its Finest

Marathon runners are one of a kind. Their athletic ability blows my mind, and their motivation is beyond me. A few months ago, my two best friends said they were going to run a half marathon. I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t believe them, and at times they didn’t even believe themselves. But, they surprised me. They planned out their training schedule impeccably, and stuck to it. After months of training, sprained hips and exhaustion, they both finished the Dallas Half Marathon under two hours and thirty minutes! I was so proud of them. At the end of it, I thought about what kind of motivation they had. I asked them both why they were doing it, and they said, “I want to do it for myself, to prove that I can run that long.” If this isn’t intrinsic motivation, I don’t know what is. I think that all actions should be done with intrinsic motivation, and as little extrinsic motivation as possible. Now I’m not saying I’m going to run a half marathon, but I’m definitely thinking about planning some goals that are solely done for me.

Civil Duty?

Just this past week, someone hit my friend's car and didn’t leave a note. Now, this wasn’t just a little scratch from parallel parking or something, but rather an enormous dent with chipped paint everywhere. This caused me to think about people’s civil duty, or lack there of. I could never hit someone’s car and not leave a note. I would have the worst conscious over the situation, and wouldn’t be able to live with myself. My friend now has to pay tons of money, for someone else’s mistake. The bigger picture here is that, if humans do what there supposed to do, the world will continue to go round. Its when people, like Mr./Ms. Hit and Run, don’t live up to their civil duty that the system gets thrown out of whack.

Schadenfreude

scha·den·freu·de   [shahd-n-froi-duh] –noun: satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

This word, of German descent, is basically why people watch YouTube videos- well certain videos involving EPIC falls, “eating shit”, or dressing like a clown and banging your head on a TV while rocking out to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”. We all love a good laugh at someone elses misfortune. Why else would videos like “Scarlet Takes a Tumble” have close to 12 million views?! It’s just too funny not to watch.




Just a few days ago my friend sent me this video. (click the word video to watch...wasn't able to embed). Needless to say, I was laughing so hard I thought my stomach was going to break. I couldn’t contain my laughter and kept watching it on repeat, over and over and over and over. And, it NEVER got old. Why on earth do people post these videos? They must know people just mock them endlessly. I then sent the video to my friends, who also couldn’t contain their laughter. It’s only 38 seconds, but 38 seconds of pure anticipation and laughter.

Twitter: Branding or Vanity?

When Twitter was first introduced, I was very confused. What’s the point of constant status updates? I understood the idea because Facebook has status updates, but a website completely devoted to status updates just didn’t make sense. I’ve always been an early adopter, and love trying new technology. However, I was very hesitant about Twitter.

Then one day last spring, I decided to give it a try. I made my account, and started to, um, “tweet"? Well, it’s been almost a year, and I have less than 30 tweets. I just don’t see the point to have people constantly know what I’m doing.

On the other hand, I think it’s a great way for brands and companies to reach their customers. For example, my friend last summer worked with a local pizza company to promote their products on twitter. He was their social media intern, and would make customers aware of discounts and different promotions. Another example of great twitter branding would be Sprinkles Cupcakes. A few times a week they post a secret tweet that gives you a secret phrase to whisper at any store for a free cupcake. Now who doesn’t love free cupcakes?! These two companies are utilizing Twitter in great ways and expanding their brands, and it makes sense. However, people who constantly tweet about their lives seems a little vain…if I’m interested in something about you, I’ll let you know.

Superbowl + Intertextuality

This past superbowl had OK ads, but there was one that stood out to me…not because I thought it was particularly good, but because it was laced with intertextuality.

Every year, Wieden+Kennedy out of Portland, OR, puts out an ad for Coca-Cola. The past few years they’ve done a great job with ads like “It’s Mine”, and “Happiness Factory”. With these ads generating great buzz in previous years, the bar was set pretty high for this year’s game.

Well, W+K definitely dropped the ball. They produced several ads for this year’s game, but the one that involved vertical intertextuality or, how connections between old and new cultural texts across multiple genres create meaning. W+K’s coke ad this year was directly modeled after “The Simpsons”. Had you not known who The Simpson’s are, you wouldn’t quite understand the ad. With that being said, to me, The Simpson’s are a completely tired concept and show. It’s been around for at least one hundred years- well okay that’s a little exaggerative, but still, way tooooo long.

I’m ashamed of you Wieden + Kennedy, you’ve done such great things in the past and your ad completely blew this year. Oh well, maybe next year.

Is Romance Dead?

Just the other day my roommate received a Facebook message from a guy she had met once or twice. He started the message off pretty standard, “hi, how are you?” etc. Then, he proceeded to ask her on a date. While this kind of thing isn’t at all shocking these days…it got me to thinking about romance- or lack there of in our digital world. Not only are majority of guys/girls asked out via texting, facebook etc, but also, people are increasingly ending relationships through a digital medium. Not okay.

Back in the day- well before computers and cell phones, so not too far back…people had to actually call someone to make a date. And if you go even further back, you would have to write letters, or happen to bump into them. Don’t get me wrong, technology is great, but I would have loved to live in the days where you wouldn’t receive a digital invitation for a date. Nowadays we seem to text more than we call people, and are constantly glued to our phones. And the worst part is, it’s almost awkward when someone you went on a date with actually does call you because we almost never talk on the phone these days.

Guys who might be reading this, girls love technology just as much as you do, but it might be nice to actually pick up a phone and ask a girl out instead of texting or Facebooking her…just a thought. Oh, and roses and chocolates are always welcome.