Richer Earth» Spontaneous Joy

An Uplifting Flash Mob Greeting

Eric — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:30:40 +0000

While I am still not sure whether it is good or bad that T-Mobile has latched onto flash mobbing, I still love it and would welcome this kind of greeting next time I come home after a long flight.

Tune in and Ride

Eric — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:08:43 +0000

Photo credit: Brooklyn Cyclist.com

I’m not generally a fan of bike riders with the distraction of MP3 players but this ride seems like a great idea: a whole group listening to the same soundtrack and getting into the groove. If you can get an area free of cars, I say tune in and pedal on. The ride is organized by JoyRide and the ride is followed by a picnic so that you can get to know your fellow riders — a taste of the original social networking.

Check out the video Joyride 2010 from Joyrideo on Vimeo and read about one cyclist’s experience.

I’m going to reach out to fellow riders in Boston to see if we can arrange one for our fair city. Interested? Let me know.

Random Wisdom

Eric — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:07:54 +0000

It’s hard to know where one will find a bit of wisdom. I was cruising the site www.twitterbackgroundsgallery.com looking for visual inspiraton today and one of my searches turned up a page with the following tweet that I thought just wonderful:

“The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.” Anonymous

I can only agree.

This photo is of Paine’s Creek beach on Cape Code where, once you cross over the rocks and onto the flats, only the hand of nature is at work. Each sunset is a work of art and I don’t pretend to be photographer enough to capture the beauty.

Happy 100th, Johnny Mercer

Eric — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:14:00 +0000

As a writer, I’ve always been a fan of the Great American Songbook. The lyrics are simply amazing: so beautifully worked, alternately passionate and playful, clever and crafted.

Johnny Mercer is among the most prolific and inspired of the contributors to this canon. On what would have been his 100th birthday yesterday, Terry Gross put together a great centennial tribute, including an in-studio concert, on her program, “Fresh Air.” Enjoy.

Pink Glove Dance

Eric — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:38:25 +0000

This is a wonderful, smile-inducing effort to generate awareness of a serious disease. Ah, the power of people to make a positive impact on the rest of the world. The thumbnail photo shows another kind of glove, but I love the shot.

Bring Back Nelson Mandela

Eric — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:07:21 +0000

This song was part of my introduction to the great music coming out of the townships of South Africa and other parts of Africa in the mid-to-late 1980s. I was working at European Travel & Life magazine and my friend had a cassette (remember those?) that we played in the office until it was all but worn out. Since then I have continued to enjoy the music of Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, King Sunny Ade, Ladysmith Black Mamabzo, and other wonderful African artists.

We used to dance around the office to this song — looking foolish, I’m sure — but keeping the energy level up and producing some great work.

3 Hours ’til the Tide

Eric — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:25:39 +0000

I love this short film about sand artist Peter Donnelly. He works against the clock, except that he doesn’t see it that way (a powerful lesson) and is not possessive about what he creates.

Stand By Me

Eric — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:28:21 +0000

I love the idea of Playing for Change and this video just makes me smile. It was used effectively as the kick-off to BeDo Intra 09, a conference on intrapreneurship that I facilitated in San Francisco in August 2009.

Sound of Music — Antwerp

Eric — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:17:01 +0000

This is the video that inspired me to create the “Spontaneous Joy” category on this site. SJ is something that we have too little of in our overly programmed, efficiency obsessive modern culture. Plus you get to see the Antwerp train station which is a little architectural treat of its own.