Wow In Music – No Me, No You, No More

Darrell Mann

I was reading the inspiring book, ‘Your Song Changed My Life’, by Bob Boilen a few weeks ago. In the book, Boilen interviews a number of my favourite artists asking them, per the book’s title, which music changed … Read More

The Coffee Panacea

Darrell Mann

Upon learning this month that caffeine makes perovskite photovoltaics more stable, thus enhancing their commercial potential in the next generation of solar-cells https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/green-tech/solar/java-takes-the-jitters-out-of-solar-cells, it made us wonder what other miracles coffee was capable of achieving. Turns out quite … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“In the received wisdom, which assumes that the problem is resistance, it follows that what is needed to overcome the resistance is leadership. So when the project fails, this is seen as resulting … Read More

Wow In Music – First We Take Manhattan

Darrell Mann

With 20/ 20 hindsight, it makes perfect sense that Jennifer Warnes’ exquisite 1986 album, Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, became a critical and commercial success. After all, Cohen is now widely regarded as one of … Read More

40 Inventive (Shoe) Principles

Darrell Mann

After last month’s criticism of the fashion industry’s lack of creativity, we faced a backlash. Armies of angry fashionistas carrying placards outside our offices. Chants of ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’. It was, frankly, time for … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“There must always be two kinds of art: escape-art, for man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep, and parable-art, that art which shall teach man to unlearn hatred and learn love.” W.H. Auden

… Read More

Wow In Music – River

Darrell Mann

Released in 1971 and produced by Reprise records, River is a contemporary folk song found on Joni Mitchell’s classic album, ‘Blue’. For some reason, even though it really isn’t really a Christmas song, it has somehow … Read More

Sustainable Innovation 2019 Conference

Darrell Mann

I’m told that the reason women agree to have another child is because they’re programmed to forget the pain associated with giving birth to the previous one. Not on anything like the same level, but I think I … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

Things can be correct but not true. They can be incorrect and yet be true. They can be neither correct nor true. Or they can be both. This gives us four possible kinds of … Read More

Wow In Music – You Make My Dreams

Darrell Mann

Something of a guilty pleasure of a song for this month’s ‘Wow’ feature. “You Make My Dreams”, sometimes incorrectly referred to as “You Make My Dreams Come True”, is a song by the American duo Hall & Oates, … Read More

(Taking Out) Letters

Darrell Mann

The absence of a letter or two can make the difference between meaning and meaning more. Meaning something different, and yet somehow strangely still be connected to the original…

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Short Thort

Darrell Mann

Slogans & Emotions Brexit:

Trump:

Red Bull:

Related posts:

1. Best of the Month – Win Bigly
2. Not So Funny – Feedback Loops
3. Can You Have Your Cake And Eat … Read More

Wow In Music – Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Darrell Mann

After writing Dark Side of the Moon, their most commercial album to date, the four members of Pink Floyd were introduced to all of the trappings of international stardom. It is perhaps no surprise, therefore that the band’s … Read More

The Worst of 2018

Darrell Mann

Finding bad things to write about increasingly feels like shooting large fish in small barrels with large Howitzers. That said, 2018 felt a bit like a year of flux. The focus of the rubbish-ness is shifting. Customer service … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing. There is the silence … Read More

Wow In Music – Horses

Darrell Mann

Pipping the Ramones’ first album to the post by five months, Horses is generally considered not just one of the most startling debuts in rock history but the spark that ignited the punk explosion.

Exactly forty-three years ago … Read More

Definitely Not Funny – The Iron Law Of Unintended Consequences

Darrell Mann

Not so long ago I proposed a new rule: No-one should be allowed to run for public office or work in a management position unless they’ve successfully passed a Complex Adaptive Systems 101 course.

If we don’t understand … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“What is the nature of the search? you ask. The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the search is to … Read More

Wow In Music – Here, My Dear / Let’s Get It On

Darrell Mann

I have another theory. One I’ve had for a long time, but have never had the chance to really explore. Mainly because, outside the world of art, music and literature I wouldn’t know where to go find the … Read More

Not So Funny – (WD-) 40 Inventive Principles

Darrell Mann

All hail the mighty WD-40. If there is ever going to be a 41st Principle, WD-40 will very likely point the way. Or it might actually be Principle 41. Meanwhile, it is already all of the 40 we … Read More