Chicks Wispering

There's nothing more disturbing than two chicks wispering to each other.

So Keith says on the subject of women.

He says a lot of other good stuff, but for now I'll focus on the wispering part.

Cos women wisper online as well. We share good consumer experiences and we bitch about the bad ones. The ones where we feel overlooked, misplaced or disregarded.
And girlfriends aren't taking it!

Last week we saw the strength in speaking up when some UK eating-disorder support groups voiced very critical views on Topshop using a size 0 model.

The retailer did replace the picture with a less anorectic looking one of the model, though never really seemed to get what the fuss was about in portraying this ultra skinny model.

This faux-pas in misunderstanding ones key customer is not unique, but it is fatal.

Count on a lot of women worldwide to no longer shop at Topshop. And count on them
to spread the word of why not to shop at Topshop

Looking good is a state of mind

But mostly chicks will wisper, talk and blog about clothes that makes us feel good 

in our own skin. Of fashion made for "real" women and the way we breathe, move and have curves, quite different from those of young boys.

We know that "looking good is a state of mind", and we want to feel good, be kind, laugh at our troubles and let love flow. 

We don't want to be scared of food or men or ourselves or have 

to control our flowing nature 24/7. Eating-disorders are inner demons and should not to be helped upon any woman. 

To me, we all have a responsibility to accept more and condemn less. Among that is to laugh out loud at those who want to sell us weak and needy self-images. 

I'm very keen on Sophia Loren. There, as they say, is a bird.

As Keith put it in 1964. 

Knighthood Not Really

There are knights and then there are dark knights.

And you wouldn't want your man, comrade or colleague to hang around with the
posing kinds.

Praising the establishment of whatever business you're in is as a rule counter-
productive, or in today's words "not exactely innovative".

Way more sane and creative to do it the Keith way:

The music business, in any given year, is ninety-eight percent crap. If you know that, 
and can avoid the posing...you might fail totally 'making it'...but it's not going to 
hurt you to go for that two percent. But go for the other ninety-eight and you're lost.

Brushes With Death

The insanly scarry man who yesterday killed close to 100 people in Norway
is just too cold to consider being human. But he is. Made me think of:

Other people's shopping list doesn't interest me.
So Keith said when being told he was on Mark Chapman's 1980 hit list,
along with John Lennon.

Cooler than the coolest cat is the man! And just as kind and just as placid.

Mortality is hardly the first thing on Keith's mind, though he for one could speak
of his many near-death-encounters with insight. But as with any crisis, Keith
seem to travel down a brighter road than that of complaining and worrying:

Brushes with death are always, I've found, quite enervating in a way.

La Différence Culturelle

Any 7-year-old Flemish schoolchild knows 100 times more about cycling 
than all Americans combined.

So says American former pro cyclist turned author and television sports
commentator; Bob Roll.

Hats off to Bob! A bit cheeky, then again completely true. And nowhere are the cultural differences more visible than during Le Tour de France. Here we see and hear more of American riders than during all season.

I'm sure "they" are as surprised about "Europeans" when they're asked to let us in on how they deal with a beautiful failure or a tragic time loss, out to puncture their team.

We expect to cry with them, cheer them on and show our deepest respect for their strength & courage. And certainly so if they're beaten up by the road, the race and
the loss.

But then we hear them talk in what sounds like PR terms: "we can do it", "we might be down but we'll get back up", "we'll show them". Huh? Sounds like pretending, like showmen reading from a script.

And not like the heroes we admire for crying, yelling, laughing and fighting on the bike
- for showing us their pain and pride, their suffering and their fighting, bloody and all.

As Keith says:
To me, the biggest thing America had done this century - apart from throwing its weight around - was its music.

Hard Reset

Good Lord! I haven't even got a mobile phone!
While throwing his hands up in horror, that what was Charlie Watts said to
Mark Saxby as he told the dapper drummer that he writes for the Stones Facebook page.

I happen to own not only a mobile phone, but a Smartphone, letting me be online all the time - or not! Just a couple of weeks ago I switched worlds by abandoning the iPhone for an Android model - in this case a LG phone.

I remember cracking up when I first saw Keith quoted for:
I don't do mice!
in a cool-cat-respons to the (often repeated) question of why he doesn't use a computer very well. Or at all.

So after spending about 4 unpaid hours today on butchering all my LG settings with a hard reset, and then re-installing all apps and data, I must admit to thinking:
Smartphone - Smart ass! Just bloody work. I don't care what you collect of data as long as the actual phone is actually working!
 
It is now! But I've prioritized mighty tight and some of the apps just didn't make it. Cos along the way I'd discoverd that I don't use even half of my apps regularly. Or at all.

Cutting down on my gadget download is clearly step 1 in minimizing my phone clutter.

What's In Here

You won’t understand others, if you don’t understand yourself first.
That’s just the way it works.

Most of us knows it, most of the time. And yet we try to delay making room
for the aloneness, that's also needed in order to feel close to our inner self.

You don't have to be Buddhist about it. I'm not kissing no Maharishi's
feet either. But if we're out of empathy for ourselves, it's quite difficult to be
loose enough to let ideas, emotions and passions run their creative, often
crooked course through a project. Or a relationship.

Keith of course talks fluently about self-knowledge:
People should check in with what's in here [the heart] and then see how  
you can deal with what's out there.

The King Is The Man Who Can

You can't airbrush personality
As one of the young bloggers write at HeySugarMagazine

And she has a valid point, since today it seems like posers rule the world. If you're not famous for whatever, forget it.

Go get seen, is the message. Let others tell you who they think you are and avoid showing any doubts or insecurities. Become glitter or vanish. These are indeed mad times!

Personal depth and integrity always shines through though. You can't airbrush personality - and pretending is as vital as death. Don't want it around!

If you just fancy yourself as being a big star, don't bother.
As always Keith sets it straight.