Optical illusion

This is insane but kind of awesome too! Your eyes will spin.

Walking in your own mental sphere

German artist Arnd Drossel designed a 265 pound sphere and built it out of stainless steel rods with the assistance of patients from a local psychiatric hospital.

Drossel, 38, who designs furniture for a living when not suffering for his art, will eat, sleep and move in the ball. He is walking (or you could also say rolling) 220 miles between the town of Dorsten and Raesfeld to raise money and awareness for psychiatric patients.

"I got the idea for this because, about a year ago, I hit a low and realized how little help there was out there," Drossel said. "I set about thinking of a way to publicize those who need psychiatric help and came up with this. Basically, the whole concept is about finding the courage to do something and inspire courage in those who have lost their confidence along with much else."

This is yet another example of using your talents to do something for a cause that you feel passionate about. All of us have talents and while seemingly unrelated to a cause, we can still use thse talents to create magic.

What about us in advertising?

VA Tech - some thoughts of mine a week after.

I really hesitated to post anything about the tragedy. The media disappointed me by breaking the cardinal rule of never asking "how do you feel?" during a time of mourning.

However, a week after the tragedy, I read an article that jolted me from my state of oblivion.

The article focused on the Korean community in Virginia .

Josephine Kim, a mental health expert who emigrated from South Korea said, “I think our community failed him, the school system failed him, and definitely the immigrant life really failed him.”

She describe Cho Seung-Hui as part of what Korean Americans call “generation 1.5” referring to those born in Asia but raised in U.S. and fluent in English by the time they reach high school. They live in a cultural divide where parents struggle to make ends meet while their children Americanize.

This often results in some distance between parents and their children. Kim explained, “the parents really wanted to provide the American Dream for their kids, which required that they made superhuman sacrifices working really hard. That might have meant they didn't have enough time at home with their kids. It's often kids raising themselves.”

The thing that really hit me about this story is my own sense of guilt and search for identity. When I moved to America from Singapore, I wasn’t “Asian” enough for Asians from Asia but yet wasn’t “American” enough for Asian Americans. But yet I survived.

I had the good fortune of finding a close group of confidants and while it was a small circle, it was still a support group nonetheless. I had family who were blessed to be able to semi-retire here, working only to cover monthly bills but already had their nest egg well-tended to, and as such were always in touch with me.

Therein lies the guilt but I can only be thankful and feel blessed that moving halfway round the world didn’t put undue stress on me. I am proud of my Asian heritage and while I am not Korean, my heart goes out to the Korean community in Virginia.

This is not your shame. Your hearts are in the right places. I mourn with you just as much as I mourn for the families of the many people who lost family and loved ones a week ago.

Burkina Faso Soap

Here's an image of the soap that is commonly sold on the street by the women and children of Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is not a famous poet. Burkina Faso is not a brilliant scientist either. Burkina Faso is definitely not an ancient philosopher.

Burkina Faso is a country in West Africa. The UN recently ranked it as the third poorest nation in the world. Burkina Faso has an estimated life expectancy at birth of slightly under 50 years of age. The median age of its inhabitants is under 17. Despite the economic hardships that are not foreign to the residents of this impoverished country, they have showed amazing resilience that can teach most of us a lesson in perseverance.

Only half of the population has access to clean water and experts claim that soap-washed hands can decrease diarrhea-like diseases by 40%. As such, many women and children in Burkina Faso have started sorting through toxic refuse from nearby factories, often protected (if at all) by just dish gloves and rain boots, looking for potash. Potash is a potassium salt, which the women and children boil in oil drums and mould the product into soap balls to be sold on the streets.

There are many time when I can whine and think that a situation is impossible to overcome. I can only shame myself when I think of the women and children of Burkina Faso. Through their resilience, creativity and determination, they have made the best of their situation. I am nowhere near their situation so I have no right to whine.

I can only tell myself to keep on pushing, keep sifting through the toxic waste, and create something good out of a rotten situation.