Good read: The 4-hour Work Week

I avoided this book when it first came out because I thought I would feel like a sucker if I dished out money for another lifestyle self-help hardcover. As they say, “If self-help books worked, there would be less of them every year.” I don’t know who said that, but it’s bang on.

I read The 4-Hour Workweek in just under 8 hours. That’s 2 weeks in the author’s world.

Surprisingly, there are some great ideas in this book. If nothing else, it poses interesting questions about our relationships with labour, money and success. I plan to read it again. Next time, I’ll go slower and maybe try some of the worksheets.

I plan to introduce some of Ferriss’s ideas into my daily routine. But I don’t plan to work 4 hours a week. That’s just not wise for a freelance writer. I would prefer a 50-hour week, so please hire me.

Look for the revised (post 2008) version. It will be making the rounds in the used book stores by now. Or, buy it new and reward the author. If you’re read the book, leave a comment. Other readers would love to hear your opinion.

Your Boss is Probably the 1%

The Occupy Toronto protesters were protesting the supposedly lavish lifestyles of the so-called 1%. I was amazed to read in Toronto Life that the income threshold for the 1% is $196,000 a year. That might seem like a lot, but it’s not out of reach for most households where mom and dad work in the mid-to-senior ranks of a tier-one marketing company or financial services firm. In other words, a lot of Ellisism readers are in the 1%. Good for you. I don’t think the protesters were focusing on the lower-lever 1-percenters.

Copyright prohibits me from posting the article, but it’s worth tracking down before this issue leaves the newsstands. The authors divulge the spending habits and financial woes of five households surviving on approximately this amount. If there is any lesson to be learned from these case studies, it’s the old adage “It’s not what you earn, it’s what you spend that will kill you.

 

See: Almost Rich (Toronto Life)

An income of $196,000 places you in the country’s top one per cent of earners. But does it make you wealthy? An examination of the true cost of city living and why rich is never rich enough Essay by Jonathan Kay; interviews by Maggie Gilmour and Jasmine Budak

Funny. But not. But kinda funny.

I’m posting this because it’s kinda funny. But at the same time, it’s not. But it kind of is.

It’s not funny because I think there’s nothing more important than an informed, passionate client. I’ve worked with some great ones. They’ve elevated my game. A great client can make up for any short-comings on the agency team. That said, this is kinda funny.

The last book book I read was “A Sunday by the Pool in Kigali“. After this horrifying account of Rwanda, I was ready for some good old-fashioned hippy lit about a bunch of people who just want to kill themselves. Earle does a great job of setting up his main characters, establishing place and giving us enough reason to stick around for the finish.

I liked “I’ll never get out of here alive” for a lot of the same reasons why I liked “Jim Giraffe“. These are slightly surreal, quirky, easy-to-read novels about unbelievable things happening to very believable characters. It’s fun.

Here’s what the Guardian had to say: Steve Earle‘s debut novel borrows the title of Williams’s final, posthumous release; though some would say it’s a minor miracle that Earle is still around to participate in this world at all. In the early 1990s, Earle’s songwriting career derailed in spectacular fashion when he received a jail term for drugs and firearms offences. But at the age of 56 he has settled into his seventh marriage (two of which were to the same woman), while joining Kinky Friedman and Rosanne Cash among the small but distinguished corpus of country musicians with parallel literary careers.

Read the rest here.

The sh_t meme keeps getting steamier

Episode 1 of Shit Girls Say is pretty funny and worth a look.

Nothing more to say about it. It’s just fun.

Lulu lightens up

Now that YouTube is the new, free TV for advertisers it’s inevitable that we’ll see more of these self deprecating efforts to appear hip. This would have been funnier with a bit more edge but it’s still worth a look.

Why we hate adjectives

This copy stinks like a rotten egg.

No doubt, the adjective “new” was mandated by the creative brief. But, in this case, it results in an absurd form of ambiguity. It begs the question, “how much for a used sandwich?

Adjectives that qualify nouns are sometimes necessary. More often than not, they’re just reckless.

And why the “each” after $1.99? Isn’t sandwich singular? We can probably hang that one on legal.

 

 

 

 

Ugg – that hurts the brand!

There’s a backlash brewing against UGGs. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, this is a pretty funny video. Ellisism takes no stance on this issue.

What’s amazing is the production value, the editing, the performances and overall impression of this non-commercial effort. There’s more entertainment value here than in most million-dollar spots. Nice effort.

Hipster Ipsum

Thanks to the awesome talent Elliot Smith for finding this site. Hipster Ipsum lets designers use place-holder font based on Hipster lingo instead of the traditional Lorem Impsum text. It’s fun.

If Hipster lifestyle is your thing or the thing you hate most, check out Stuff Hipsters Hate or buy the book by the same name. It’s funnier than you might think it would be.

Geeky wall poster for font junkies

Fonts in “The Periodic Table of Typefaces” are arranged by family, and according to their ranks on a series of “Best Of” font fave lists from around the design world.

This makes a great wall poster.

 

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.dwell.com/articles/periodic-table-of-typefaces.html#ixzz1hvleAdUI

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