Homo Viator

For the next week or so you will find a new video from my China trip every day. I took quite a lot!

Below my visit to wicked Movie World, or pardon, Even Better Than Movie World. I ended up buying around 200 DVDs and am longing to go back and buy more. I would have bought more, but my suitcase just could not handle more and we went to the store just prior to leaving back to Germany. All DVDs are in perfect quality (no in-the-cinema filming) and even come with the original boxes, etc. Language change, subtitles, everything works! The best was the shop`s selection though, which can rival any European retailer. The way I like buying DVDs best is by director and they had amazing director selections. For example, I bought all Woody Allen movies that he ever made (47! DVDs), all Cohen Brother movies, all Ang Lee movies, all Stanley Kubrik movies, all Louis Malle movies, all Fassbinder movies (can you believe it, they even had the classic German directors, even expressionists!), etc. I also bought a great collection of all Cannes Film Festival winners since the introduction of the festival 60 years ago. By the way: Go watch all Cohen Brother movies. They truly are geniuses, every movie is so distinct. You watch Raising Arizon and really ask yourself how they could make a serious piece like Miller`s Crossing afterwards.

Sorry, am a little late on that one.

Somebody has just been enobled, by the most symbolic family of the United States. Even though I think that Obama`s stand on Iraq is entirely irresponsible (pulling the troops out with a set time limit), I do think that his charisma and eloquence are unrivalled in this election and he would have my vote if I was American. His foreign policy steps may be unwise, but his vision for a new and united America is one I would buy into.

Of course his vision is intangible, but isn't it dreams that truly move the hearts and minds of people? I met with a senior German politician today and he was right to point out that it really is a gift the way Obama makes use of his words. It is intoxicating! And the decisions he took in his life deserve nothing but respect. (For those of you who do not know his life story, you should have a read, it is inspirig. Obama, a Harvard trained lawyer had the possibiity to work for the Supreme Court but declined, only to go on working for little money in the slums of Chicago. He said that he had felt the urge to give something back to society!)

Mrs. Clinton on the other hand is the better qualified President. No doubt! Before opening her mouth she has always carefully weighed up all possibilities, all options. She is too good, too diplomatic, too calculating, too fake!

Good that Ted Kennedy reminded us of what Truman once said about the great J.F.K. being too young and unexperienced. Let's see if that gives him the final push. We'll have a decision in less than a week.

Is Youtube going to create more content, or better, professionally re-mix user generated content into Youtube branded content? At DLD Youtube had its own little studio and they were also present at the WEF in Davos. Attending the WEF in Davos is a clear goal of my life. It is the ultimate conference! In my last job I was able to visit the WEF Africa Summit and was hooked from the moment I set foot in that conference building. The WEF in davos of course has a different scale. Rumors have it that only CEOs of companies with minimum revenues of $5 Billion are invited to the conference. Well, never say never, but I guess it should be somewhat easier for me to get invited via a Press Status. I am currently applying for the official international Press ID and should be able to get it. As soon as I have it I will apply for a Davos ticket for next year. Some dreams one should not dream for too long, right?!

Next to the world`s biggest CEOs Davos also invites Nobel Prize winners and political and religious leaders. I have watched many Davos videos from my favorite Video bloggers Scoble and Le Meur. While Le Meur is funnier, Scoble is the more famous blogger. In fact, he is apparently the most read blogger of all times and for many the key evangelist of tech news. The simplicity of his blog design is striking, isn`t it?

Both bloggers use a site called qik, which allows life video streaming via your mobile phone. While some may argue that the sound and quality suck, I think that those little videos give me the feeling of really being there, live. Much more than I get from a professionally produced news reel. Check it out! And qik is so wonderfully interactive. While filming with his Nokia N 95s (still the best multimedia phone there is. iPhone go home!) Scoble and Le Meur would get instant feedback from their viewers and pose questions from their audience, live to their interviewees. That my friends is the future of news broadcasting.

Anyway, back to Youtube. Youtube created a special kind of video for the event: The Davos Question. It features a quick summary of questions and arguments from Youtube users around the world that many world leaders were confronted with in Davos. Great initiative I think!

I can call myself lucky having been invited to the DLD Conference in the first place. According to a German magazine, Burda Media had to slice their invitation list by half, because more people had agreed to come than they had initially expected. The Conference had a couple of hundred attendees but nevertheless felt very intimate and one could just walk up to let`s say Paulo Coelho, or Toscani and speak with them face-to-face. Those were just two examples, out of the blue, of people I spoke with, but there were many more interesting CEOs, artists or scientists, all very approachable.

But when I was being invited to attend the Speaker`s Lunch I was feeling very lucky. Only speakers and top-notch attendees were at that lunch and my guess is that we were less than 50 people. I got invited when I was thanking the organizer for the great time I had at the conference. She looked at my badge and me, said that she was a friend of my aunt (I had no clue) and told me to join the DLD Speaker`s lunch. I sat at the table with my good friend Nina Wiegand, Martin Varsavksy, Kara Swisher, Simon Levene, Carlos Bhola and the Head of Google Germany, who just introduced himself as Christian.

In the videos below you can get a glimse of that lunch. The man with the glasses, next to Naomi Campbell is Dr. Hubert Burda, the host of the conference and an admirable media magnate. You´ll also see Linda Stone just next to me with Jeff Jarvis and see the drawer and director of the Simpsons, David Silverman. What a nice fellow and what a humor, he was cracking us up! Poor him followed a tipsy Woischnik throughout the hotel, looking for the bar, but was misled and we ended up in a dead end. He told us that it was him, who came up with the idea of the Spider Pig in the Simpsons Movie, which earned him the proper respect of Martin´s son Tom, for whom he created a new Simpsons character, drawing it on a napkin.

Speaking about all these inspiring people, I forgot to mention Naomi Campbell, who I really could not care less about. Next to those innovative and influential media icons, people who transform our media landscape and drive the information age forward, people who change the way the world interacts and communicates, next to those Namoi just looked like a replacable tall model, who helps sell products that nobody needs by selling her body. She is smokin' though!

Dr. Burda and Naomi Campbell



Feedback from the Crowd and Naomi Campbell



Krister Linder and crowd singing

Guys, you gotta wait for the weekend to read some insights on DLD and watch the close up video of Naomi Campbell that I took at the DLD lunch. I came back so enthusiastic and motivated that I gotta push it hard this week-work wise. Even though my friend Ali, who works on the design of homoviator.tv, would prefer to have you guys visit the sight when it is finished, I would like you to have a look at it already.

Do you like where it is going? I think we ought to change the yellow for a Art Deco type color, but I like how Ali incorporated the graphic that I wanted so badly. Do you also like the guy standing at the light, outside of the city, with two empty signs showing a way back and a way forward? When I saw that graphic for the first time, I immediatley liked it and thought that it would nicely symbolise a Homo Viator, a restless wanderer.

I know you guys hate commenting and I often wonder why. I mean, the blogs sees more than 2000 unique visitors per month, but hardly any comments. If you guys do not comment on the new design I gather you like it and will go ahead with it. Ali is working on the logo now and be in a proper retro, Art Deco style.

Guys, there is so much I want to write about after this conference. Unfortunately I don`t have the time to start right now. I am flying to Berlin in a couple of hours, but will start to blog about the conference this evening.

It took my sis to show me that Pete Doherty has more than a good taste for women. They guy has skills, too. My current favorite song is called There She Goes by the Babyshambles. You may all know it, but since my music library does not features too many songs written after 1979, this has been a pleasent surprise to me. Below two videos and versions of the song:

Live




Album Version

Watch it here.

Can you believe it: Steve Jobs gives his most important speech of the year, a speech that all media is praising as one that defines the direction of not only Apple, but the Media and Technology world as such, and I am not able to watch it live. Not even Apple shareholders get that service. What kind of Investor Relations Management is that? Fortune calls their coverage live, but all you get is a Fortune editor blogging life from the conference and he seems to be one lazy fellow. I am surprised that Fortune published my comment on its website though. At least they do not hide their points of criticism.

When will we have proper Live Internet? At all times, everywhere? Can`t wait!