Marzo e pazzo. March is crazy in Italy — spectacular days followed by bluster winds. Misty mornings that stay hazy all day with sun sliding through slivers of cracked gray cloud cover. A sunrise that paints everything yellow from the sea to the cliff hanging old city of Pizzo. It’s about unbridled change and the mystery the moves the cosmos.
In March we leap ahead one hour — now that’s progressive. And March is the birth month some of the craziest, other worldly, creative, spirited, intelligent people I know: my wife, dad, father-in-law…
Then March closes with an uplifting sent of spring, mustard and fruit tree blossoms…and my own birthday.
See more photos of the sun dropping into the Tyrrhenian Sea, while the island of Stromboli slumbers, smoking above the watertop horizon.
After I finish Seth Godin’s new book “Meatball Sundae,” I’m movin’ ahead to my next stack of books for the year.
Some of these I already finished:
* “Let Your Life Speak,” a book about listening for the voice of vocation by Parker J. Palmer.
* “Who Moved My Cheese,” which is about how we can get unstuck when we need to change by Spencer Johnson, M.D. (a quick read on a plane ride).
But I’d like to mix in some more mind exercises with storytelling, marketing and communications. Some of these are a few years old, but here they are:
* “Mashup Corporation,” about the culture of communications change in the corporate world by Andy Mulholland, Chris S. Thomas, Paul Kurchina and Dan Woods.
* Seth Godin’s legendary “Permission Marketing,” which I believe is inside me already, but I want to get it in Seth’s words.
* “A Whole New Mind,” is about why right-brainers will rule the future by Daniel Pink. Not so sure I believe that yet, so it’ll be cool to feel my reaction.
* “The Springboard” is a book by Stephen Denning, who outlines how storytelling ignites action in knowledge-era organization. I’m a big fan of storytelling!
I’ve visited Martina Franca a few times and see why Martina, Alberobello, Locorontondo (great wines) are treasures of the southern heel-region of Puglia. The mozzarella, roasted meats, white painted everythings and the Trulli.
In this picture I found on Flickr’s photo feed by Mery Mellivora you can see how the old round, coned Trulli houses blend with modern homes in Alberbello. There is a historic strip of Trulli lined with excellent restaurants.
I rang in the new year 2008 at Martin Franca. I’ll upload my photos and share on Flickr. If you go, check out the killer antique furnature store Bruni Arte
Last year at CES 2007, I remember seeing a huge surge in the number young people with digital video cameras visiting the Intel booth. I typically work with local, national and international broadcasters, so I took every opportunity to try and meet this new crop of video bloggers.
This year at CES 2008, I saw two times more people walking around video taping our booth, learning about the latest technologies from Intel experts. I even brought my Sony HDV cam and shot several interviews and the Intel keynote — here’s an Intel blog post I shot and wrote featuring a few short clips of Smash Mouth on Stage with Intel CEO Paul Otellini. As did my “double down” pal Nick Knupfer.
What I love most every year — this was my seventh CES in Las Vegas — is getting to see so many of my media friends, coworkers and even college buddies (ran into one of my best Chico buddies at the Intel keynote). This year took things into a new stratosphere because I got to connect and work alongside fellow social media enthusiasts and see my Intel pals like Bryan Rhoads really have fun with more resources devoted to social media. Today’s (somewhat) more organized efforts spouted from organic energy a few years ago, and now I see the social media posse swelling with new talent. We’ll making new inroads, new friends and better relationships along the way. This is great, because I believe that we ought to encourage any Intel employee to participate with social media in a smart, fun way. The more people we have out there, the more connected and meaningful Intel will be to people’s lives. More relevance and more able to respond to what’s happening today and any changes we need to make in order to make a positive impact in the world. If we keep at this pace, I (and many of my coworkers) believe we can help move up into the top ten most recognized brands using social media.
Here’s some of the social media posse action from my visit to CES 2008:
Everyone’s favorite “Tell Me How It Works” guru and my Chico WildCat buddy Ralph Bond and I visited PodTech’s BlogHaus the evening after Bill Gates’ keynote. At that point, he thought my soft brown Italian jacket was the most talked about thing at CES.
We got to hang out with PodTech’s wonderful interviewer and photographer Michael Johnson:
There’s never a dull moment because even standing in long taxi lines allowed time for mindflow sessions with geniuses like Rohit Bhargava.
Hotel hopping with John Furrier — who helped me dive fast and deep into Podcasting in 2005:
And seeing Brian Giesen’s bright smile and energy at breakfast is enough to give anyone a jolt — let’s hit the show!
I flew back to the Bay Area on the new Virgin America — what a great flight! Cool new painted planes, sweet back seat touch screen entertainment with music videos, live TV and other cool things. Got a few drink and really enjoyed the spirited, lovely people working for the new airline. As I entered the plane, I got to congratulate Robert Scoble holding his cheerful newborn baby. That’s what life’s all about!
One person I most missed this year compared with last year? Jeremiah Owyang, one of the best social media posse pioneers who has helped me make so many connections and is helping so many others nowadays playing in the big leagues at Forrester Research.
For the second year in a row at CES, PodTech’s BlogHaus was the place to be whenever you weren’t on the showroom floor, eating or taking a bathroom break (notice I didn’t say sleeping). It was a great place to see friends like Tom Foremski, Michael Johnson, John Furrier, Reboot gaming guru Rio Pasino, Robert Scoble and his video shooting/editing partner in crime Rocky. I got to catch up with many of them and made new friends. The PodTech crew pumped out lots of great video, audio and blog stories from the BlogHaus, located deep inside the bellissima albergo di Bellagio.
I got to hear about the blogger bus ride from the Bay Area and see what Tom Foremski was excited about as he arrived in Las Vegas for CES 2008. Here’s a look at one thing Tom released from CES:
Video | 09:36 | Posted by Tom Foremski | January 10th, 2008 5:44 amNext week I’m launching ScobleWatcher.com – the ten minutes of Robert Scoble you need to see each day 🙂
Robert is an extraordinary and tireless media producing machine. He would run 24/7 if he could, and he sometimes does.
Here are a couple of days of Robert at CES2008 in Las Vegas and the PodTech BlogHaus, (which was a great place to hang out…)
My first week of sabbatical. I kicked jet lag, hit a 5-year-old’s birthday party and taught by boy how to fix his 6s and 9s. My wife made a pinata — pretty ugly and proved to be tougher than stick swings. My daughter is adorably tough and remarkably at peace for such a spicy Calabrese grrrl!
Here’s the reflection of coastline of Vibo Marina just south of Pizzo. Shot from the terrace looking inside the top floor kitchen where my wife is writing her dissertation about Roman mosiacs. Pepperincini, aqua buonissima Mangiatorella di Stilo and Kimbo green coffee in silver canister.
The martini bar at Ducca inside the Westin in San Francisco. This was originally a party for press and analysts, but we turned it into an international social media bash. Bloggers from France to San Francisco, including Chris Heuer, Mike McGrath, Daniele Barbosa and cool Intel bloggers, too.
Video | 09:36 | Posted by 
Movin' Ahead 