Het Parool is a leading daily Dutch newspaper and this year they started their own tv channel on www.Parool.tv! Last week they interviewed me, after the official Launch Party of AceJewelers.com.
For the Dutch readers, please also visit: Parool.TV
Het Parool is a leading daily Dutch newspaper and this year they started their own tv channel on www.Parool.tv! Last week they interviewed me, after the official Launch Party of AceJewelers.com.
For the Dutch readers, please also visit: Parool.TV
This week I have been tagged by my (digital) friend, Harry Bishop, from Canada (http://www.harrybishop.ca). It wasn't clear to me exactly what it meant, but if you read the rules, it is a rather fun concept. I renamed it: "The Blog Game".
The rules are:
When I got tagged, I had no idea what to share, so I am going to share 8 random facts that pop-in to my head:
1. You might have guested what my passions are (looking at my blog and career choice), but I have a virus! I am mad about watches/mechanical movements/watchmaking. That is the reason I initiated the blog WatchFreaks couple of months ago. From the start we received positive feedback and the group of visitors grows steadily every day.
2. If people need to guess where I was born, looking at my name, the largest chance is that people will say Israel. Although my roots go back to the Jerusalem of King David, I am born and raised in Amsterdam (The Netherlands, Europe), where I still reside.
3. Talking about names, almost everybody gets confused about my double family name: Ben Joseph. Most people think Ben is my middle name. My family name means Son of Joseph in Hebrew. So, my complete family name is BEN JOSEPH and first name is: Alon, which means "Royal Oak" (yes, like the watch).
4. A lot of people question me about the meaning of the slogan of my blog: "Strong as a Tree"... If you paid attention at fact #3, my name is also used for a tree: an Oak 😀
5. My favorite dish/food is: Almost anything that comes of a BBQ! Especially a good juicy steak.
6. My direct circle of friends know that I love quotes, so hereby one of my favorites, an oldy, but a goody by C.G. Jung: "Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you!".
7. My favorite (dream) car: Lancia Flaminia Zagato Supersport.
8. Last, but certainly not least, a question that is asked many times: My favorite watch. That I currently own, the IWC Portuguese Chrono Rattrapante. My dream watch: F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain.
I hope that you enjoyed my scribbles. Now I am tagging to following people that I think have something interesting to share:
1. Natalie Shell of Think Talk Walk- My friend that was one of the first persons in my direct group of friends with a dynamic blog.
2. Guilda Moussazadeh of Funfair - The first member in my family that started blogging.
3. Robert-Jan Broer of Fratello Watches - My partner-in-crime on WatchFreaksBlog.com.
4. Tom Mulraney of The Watch Lounge - My Australian (digital) WatchFriend.
5. Suzan Fluitman of ONLuxury - The Dutch Online Luxury Guru.
6. Schelly Talalay Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe - The expert on Jewish Genealogy.
7. Doron Krant - My buddy who doesn't blog yet, but urgently needs to. He always finds the newest info/FunStuff & shares the coolest things with all his online contacts. He already owns the domain: Krantee.com (keep posted)!
8. Steve Fritsche of SteveFritsche.com - My Photography Friend, who doesn't have a blog yet, but now that I have tagged him, he needs to!
For all the people that don't have a blog yet, I advise them to logon to www.wordpress.com and get a free account. You can be blogging within 5 minutes!
I love cool adverts, especially commercials made on film. I will never forget when BMW launched the BMW Movies website in 2001 and had independent (famous) movie directors create short movies where a BMW car is the main character. Unfortunately, the website is off line, but you can find may of them on YouTube, one of my favorites is "Star" directed by Guy Ritchie, and starring a BMW M5, Madonna (Yes, Guy Ritchie's wife) and Clive Owen:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1dYv_gKTA8]
But also make sure to check out: "The Devil", featuring James Brown and Clive Owen, made in 2002 and "The Hostage" directed by John Woo (also made Hollywood blockbuster "Face/Off").
A book that made an impression on me is "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell and I believe that the directors of the folling amazing commercials also read this book:
New Ford Focus - "Beautifully Arranged"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4y272NI7J8]
New Honda Accord - "The Cog"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGngcQb_0qg]
Guiness Beer - "Tipping Point"1600
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMzoWqnTb5I]
What is your favorite commercial displayed here? Mine "The Cog", but I find the Ford advertisement very elegant and fun. Last, but not least, the Guiness advertisement is also very breath taking! If you have any favorites, please do share 😀
I have been hesitating to buy a mac for years, but when they launched the new generation with Intel processors, I bought a MacBook Pro in 2006 and fell head over heals in love with it.
Friday, I visited the Mac Store to see the new AirBook and it is AMAZING! Since we do not have a Dutch mobile phone operator that supports the iPhone yet, I still didn't get one, but as soon as that happens I will hope to use one next to my CrackBerry.
My visit to the Mac store not only got me excited as a consumer, but also as a retailer. It is amazing how they interact with consumers. It made me realize that there are many similarities between Ace Jewelers and Apple stores, it even inspired me to write an article about it on the Ace Blog: www.aceblog.info.
Once in a while I will share the CoolLinks and gadgets I find for your mac, lets start with a cool tool that is shown in a YouTube movie:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkAtRfA1UXc]
Whenever I get a strange mac in my hands I have to see what cool widgets and tools the user has installed. Hereby a list of 10 downloads that are free:
1. Caffeine = coffee for your screen, it prevents that your screen falls asleep.
2. Paparazzi = make screendumps of a complete webpage.3. Quicksilver = a program that can replace your complete dock and improves your efficiency.
4. Sim Daltonism = a tool that simulated different forms of color blindness.
5. Cyberduck = an easy FTP program. And it supports Growl (if you are wondering what that is, see bullet 6 😉 ).
6. Growl = a notification program.
7. OnyX = one of the most reliable system maintenance program. Also available for Leopard.8. SuperEmptyTrash = Does this need any explanation? Gone = Gone, when you delete!
9. Taco HTML Edit = HTML and php editing tool; pure code! Easy to use when you are used to Dreamweaver.
10. Tomato = Good Torrent-client.
Enjoy! Please share cool links here 😀