The Marketing Evolution

Due to the upsurge of Social Media ‘word of mouth’ marketing is now “word of mouse”

Free Writing Challenge: Ifs and Ands and What ifs

Free Writing Challenge from Parasputins blog, but i didn’t choose a topic

i had 20 mins to bedtime this was orignally blogged HERE watching the curser blink on my other blog that houses my messy scribblings, and abstract thoughts, so i took up the Challenge, welll… kinda. I love the way the keys tickle my fingerprints andthere’s just an array of text appearing almost from invisible ink.  Anyways, here’s what was in my head… sometime the thoughts just need escapism. and i dont think that infantismal is actually a word

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Sometimes you’re my muse, and other times you’re my nemesis.

You make feel like I’ve used up every colour on the palette of life,
yet you inspire me to find more… as though i can mix up rainbows with sunlight, and some stardust for shimmer
like i can sip melted daydreams in a cup of hope,
and you tear down the the hope till it dehydrates and contracts under your scrutiny,
and you walk along the edges of my thoughts and peek into my dreams, leaving me wondering so often…
what did i think of before you.
And even that, takes me back to the first meeting,
the fleeting glimpse of you , in your suit, oozing magneticism and charm,
and my soul confessed, that’s the person I’m going to marry.
And we struggle and fight, and cry and hurt,
and crumble and stumble in the world with so many if’s and and’s and buts and what ifs..
and what if tomorrow came
and we were driving off into our new life together
and you turned to look back on the people we’re leaving,
and you ask me “did we really just do that?”
and my smiles always punctuate the silence,
and sometimes my tears dribble on the walls of this shield between us and reality ,
burning a hole into them,
infantismal attempt to redeem what i once believed
was reality dropping its guard and letting me peek into the future as if the doors were left wide open.
Its a funny way in which you find humor in my seriousness and ordinaryness,
and you cease to believe that the things i do are enough,
the constant pushing at the boundaries of my talent,
tickling new spots to discover sensations,
and ideas, and sparks of brilliance that seem to surprise myself.
And you never cease to be amazed at the big stuff,
its just the quirky everyday me that makes you laugh,
because you didn’t think to look at life upside down… and take in my view.
Again life serves up a platter of sanity, that you toss out,
only to try to reassemble puzzles that you’ve messed up yourself,
and i wonder… how many times must i stand on the edges of your whims,
reminding you that i’ll be here when you wake up.
And for the final time, you will awaken,
and i’ll be asleep like ‘Rip van Winkel’ under a tree
bare from leaves unscripted with fallen promises,

You Promised me tomorrow,
but you didn’t get passed yesterday.

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Book Launch – Memoirs for Kimya

Media is ever evolving bringing with it a new set of industry jargon, with the likes of blogs, blooks, podcasting and a host of others.
Memoirs for Kimya is a blook – Yes that’s an actual word

Blog (weblog) that has been turned into a book. Hence it is a blook.

Bo-kaap Kombuis – featured as a place with a view to make angels weep -was the best venue to launch this book.

The mountain stands tall in the background as day descends to dusk and night. The venue is framed by city lights and the shadows of nature.

Memoirs for Kimya is released to Cape Town on 18 October 2009, boasting an anthology with light reading pieces that are layered with depth and natural imagery.

The Contrast of venue elements weaves together a pleasant ambiance for the themes in the book. Add a few Proudly Cape Town writers and bloggers to the event; and it makes for a great meeting of literary minds.

Shafinaaz Hassim has her book signing. The table carries her latest book.

Socializing intermittently with the audience, schmoozing  punctuated with words like

blogs, poetry, writing.

Nazia Peer , author of House of Peace, reads an excerpt called ‘CUT’

Life can cut you. And like an open fruit, you will be at some point, left bare; revealing the glory of guts to the elements. But this gross cut is a blessing in disguise.

Why? Because it is at precisely this moment that it all starts to make sense.

For the first time, you are one with everything that ever was, everything that is, and everything that ever will be. Open to all that is, you will feel life flow through you. And you begin to get the idea that inspiration exists, because you do.

Read the original here

The book has a considerable amount of poetry, but also some short narratives. There’s something  in the book for everyone – thoughts, feelings, life, reality, humility, vices, and lots of natural soulful imagery.

Pictures are taken. Shabbir Banoobhai is present at the event. Nielfa, the book designer and typesetter, was also amidst the attendees. Undoubtedly seeing your work in its finished form holds the  joy of personal achievement.

Shafinaaz reveals tidbits about the behind the scenes of the book, its origins, the typesetter, the inspiration that has fueled it to fruition.

I particularly liked Shafinaaz’s speech on society and writing, that the readers should choose the type of stories they want to read, and this should not be dictated by publishers. “There’s a book in everyone” – however some people just don’t possess the adequate skills to present it in a literary form to an audience.

The event draws to a close, with yummy delights. Fruit juices, light savouries and deserts.

Congrats Shafinaaz,

Yet another rung on the ladder of success.
May you be balancing on a pile of books in years to come.

Love,
Hasina

Slice of Life

We each were given a life, a soul, a body… with the fee of accountability attached to it.

What you feel about life, may differ from every other individual on the planet…. we console our griefs worries and miseries by discussing life.

We try to make sense of it, yet often we don’t realise how tiny and negligable we actually are.

We go on in our hive-likeness, justifying our thoughts and
and perceptions… like we’re going to live forever.

Smile shutter – i (sonysymbol) it

I love it . I (sonysymbol) it.

The substitution of the sony symbol for love – BRILLIANT!

“Mobile phone brands all talk about technology, backed up by fashion imagery that usually shows unattainable lifestyles. We helped Sony Ericsson to be different, and to talk to customers not about handsets or fashion, but about the things they love doing. Not MP4 but music, not megapixels but taking photos.We developed a vibrant range of colours which stand out and allow the brand to constantly refresh itself.”
-Wolff Olins -

Image plays a HUGE factor in mobile brand innovation, gone are the days where individuals merely settle for functionality. The mobile phone has further evolved from necessity to being a fashion accessory with the likes of a handbag, or branded watch and is now a identified as a lifestyle accessory.  It has become an item to enhance the life that is so fleeting. The new Sony posters at V&A waterfront emphasize this transience by saying

“i love sonysymbol catching smiles”

The standard thought of image stabilization and red-eye reduction is now replaced by the ideal a ’smile shutter’. Who doesn’t want to preserve the smiles happiness.
I CAN BUY HAPPINESS!!!

Pictures taken at V&A Waterfront, in Cape Town, October 2009

(in hindsight downsizing my image optimization was a bad idea)

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi

Today marks  the Birthday of  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi better known as Mahatma Gandhi is recognised worldwide for his stance of non-violent political resistance. He believed in simple living, negotiation, and eventually helped head India to independence from the British Empire.

Happy Birthday Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948)

His birthday is now noted worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence

Yet another brilliant logo from Google

Some Gandhi Quotes,

- words that have lived on long after his assassination -

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Fear is not a disease of the body; fear kills the soul.

The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.

We must become the change we want to see.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall — think of it, ALWAYS.

Facebook Funnies: Contraceptive Fail

Facebook mirrors twitter abit too much, yet its easier to track status conversations on Facebook. Recent hilarity on my stream was this update… Gets a huge guffaw of shocked laughter…

Contraceptive FAIL! Gender FAIL!!

One would expect people post 12 years old should have knowledge of the birds and the bees.

Eid Mubarak 2009

Eid Mubarak to all My Muslim readers.

Nokia’s Ramadan Campaign

This post is a little late,

Great advertising campaign for Nokia middle east being very society focused with the buzz of cultural and religious awareness.

Loved this pic, very apt for the fasting month.

Nokia users are spoilt for choice variety of religious focused applications,  all available in one place.

Ramadan Surfing: Awesome Islamic Sites

We live in a world that’s abuzz with the pulse of the www feeding our interests and giving us a stepping stone to acquiring knowledge, at our fingertips…. Ramadan has us surfing more religious content. Here are a few gems to keep your eyes busy. Click on the links to view.

1. Hijab Style

We live in a world where Muslimah are fashion conscious, but competing with day to day trends which leave us compromising our fashion sense due to the westernity of mini skirts and sleeveless garments.
Hijab style is a stylish blog that features garments, wardrobe suggestions, and scarf styles that will allow the fashion conscious Muslimah to be presentable as well as adequately attired.

2. Online Quraan with Translation

Easy to access site, containing the textual Quraan (arabic) with transliteration and translation. Easy to navigate to the various surahs.

3.Muslimah Media Watch

A site that looks at muslim women in media and pop-culture.

4. Islamic wallpapers

Everyone likes something new to dress up their desktop with. Choose from a variety of wallpapers… FREEE!!!!!

5. Islamic Videos : Islamic Tube

its the halaal version of youtube. Lots of interesting resources to peruse through. Find your favourite reciters

6. Islamic Radio Stations

Trackback to a post I did last Ramadan.

A list of islamic radio stations for you to access online via audio streaming

7. Qiraah Downloads

If you’re a fan of Sheikh Mishary Al Afasy  visit his website for a complete download of his quraanic recitation . File sizes are large, so watch your bandwith

8. Poetry :  IslamicPoetry.org

First site to showcase the best of both aspiring poets and professional Islamic poetry written in the English language.