Visit the Maps of the Roads Less Travelled

Are you more into experiential travel than resort relaxation? Want more adventure than you do tourism? Estonian coding firm Bluemoon Interactive , working in conjunction with travel photo-log Panoramio, has designed two new interactive travel maps that detail less-touristy and more interesting, remote destinations.


The world touristiness map has colour coded destination hotspots, derived from the quantity of a specific destination's corresponding photos found on Panoramio. The more warm the destination's colour, the more touristy it is.

Similarly, the interesting remote places map colour codes destinations that are away from cities, but no less fascinating, whether highly accessible or not. For example, certain Greek islands may be coded red, identifying them as interesting destinations with high accessibility/visitation rates. Whereas certain destinations in the Amazon basin may be coded green, identifying them as extremely remote places of interest. Locations that are undocumented on Panoramio, or that are cities, are coded grey.

These maps are of great benefit for those looking to trailblaze off the beaten path, or at the very least, visually identify where mainstream travel trends lie. For example the "rite of passage" European tour renders the conteninent a fiery array of hot colours, whereas the midnight blue of much of Africa so poetically corresponds to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

As a Canadian, I can't help but find interest in the tourist maps's depiction of Canada, a sharp reduction to the already southern and coast concentrated demographic maps. The flares of the Ontario-Quebec corridor and southern British Columbia are a fantastic contrast to the deep blue-black of the rest of the country, reminding me that there is still much adventure to be had in my own backyard.

The Irony of Intrapreneurship: Looking Out from Within

In the recent comedy She's Out of My League an awful ex-girlfriend of the central character attempts to shame him by stating that her new squeeze is an "Entrapener" (spelling error intended). To this, the central character incredulously retorts "he owns a Pizza-Hut franchise!"

Now, the blurred lines of franchise ownership vs. entrepreneurship aside, the scene both highlights and lampoons a prominent social trend , that being the romanticism placed on being an entrepreneur. Granted, as far as business trends go, particularly in the west, much importance is placed on the growth of entrepreneurs and the emergence of small business start-ups. This is rightfully so, particularly from a macro-economic perspective. As certain manufacturing and production costs increase in developed nations, larger and less encumbered firms will continually search for, and shift to, inexpensive location alternatives. For many regions in developed nations this leaves a commercial gap, a gap that many thinkers and leaders have identified as needing to be filled by empowered entrepreneurs and small business owners. Though this heralding of the socio-commercial heroics of entrepreneurship is not without its numerous truths, it does unfortunately obscure an (in many cases safer) alternative, Intrapreneurship.

Coined in the late 1970s by Gifford Pinchot III and Elizabeth Pinchot, intrapreneurship is essentially the translation of the same sort of risk-taking, ideation and project-management behaviours commonly associated with entrepreneurs, but into the boundaries of a larger organization. A popular outcome of intrapreneurial behaviour, but little known example, includes the creation of the Macintosh in the early 1980s, done by a project group working within Apple Computers. Of course, such intrapreneurial developments do not need to be technically inclined, nor directly responsible for a firms revenue. With many large organizations placing a greater emphasis on social-responsibility, they can also be socially beneficial developments and enterprises existent under the larger organization. An example of this can be seen in Nokia's "Nokia Life Tools" initiative, which aims to "brige the digital divide in emerging markets."

Not only does the notion of intrapreneurship minimize the risks commonly associated with entrepreneurship, it also minimizes the by-product noise inherent in a market made up of myriad small businesses, all struggling for their own recognition. An example can be seen in the microcosm of university campus environments, where in some cases over 250 student clubs exist (many similar in mandate), all fighting for the same captivated audience of students and pool of funding. Intrapreneurs can, and in many cases much more easliy, leverage pre-existing pools of resources, partners, and channels. Yet, it is also not without its failings. Organizations that are not horizontally structured, have myopic vision, or are overly possessive of information or employee creations might not only squelch potential intrapreneurial behaviour, but in-fact may prompt the departure of employees who would rather be entrepreneurs.

In a recent report on Intrapreneurship, Beyond Profit begged the question "Is it the future of social business? And if so, how do we make it the 'new sexy'?" In response to this, I would say that there are many ironies inherent in the idea of intrepreneurship, among them are the idea that in an increasingly individualistic world the idea of working for a larger organization could actually, once again be vogue. As well as the conflict of whether or not one can be truly, individually empowered under a larger organizational umbrella (no matter how horizontal its structure). Yet, perhaps the most prominent irony, and relevant to their question, is that despite the individual bend of intrapreneurship, it is not about "we," nor is it about the individual, but rather "them," and the idea that a firm would first need to enact large cultural shifts and relinquish much control before it can be truly, intrapreneurially attractive.

Photo by Me.

Beauty is to the Beholder as... Sexiness is to Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation

Education, first-aid, and pulse-racing, libido revving, life-saving are all brought together in an innovative viral marketing video produced by Red Urban for Canadian based Fortnight Lingerie.

The lingerie advertising world as we know it typically consists of (in print):
a) Attractive woman (or women).
b) Attractive male (or women).
c) Lusty colours/black and white.

d) Nice, but expensive looking bedsheets.
e) Moisture.

or in media:

a) All of the above, but moving.
b) Quick shots of naughty body parts.

The Super Sexy CPR campaign does not so much turn the lingerie marketing world on its head, as it does appropriately tilt the head back and apply the proper pressure in well timed chest pumps. This video, which had CPR professionals on-set ensuring proper instruction, intends to not just express the allure associated lingerie, but rather show that Fortnight's lingerie can make anything sexy, even mundane instructional videos - as expressed by a Red Urban representative.

Red Urban will be continuing this strategy for Fortnight, as displayed on the Super Sexy CPR website, audiences can expect to be enticed by proper instruction on abdominal thursts starting next month.

The "super sexy" campaign is proving itself to be cheekily effective, with a staggering, over two-million viewings since its posting on May 12th. Though it's reminiscent of the "Ms. Taken" Lonely Island parody video introduced last year, this is only because of its viral intent/strength. The real brilliance of Super Sexy CPR, is the creativity and humour inherent in the idea of making the mundane desirable, and pushing the typical advertising boundaries of a fairly form-promoted product category.

The "Beginning" is about the "End"

For the maiden Bohemian Cusp blog post I have selected a story found on the May 17th PSFK Good Ideas Report.

"Before I Die I want to" is an artistic, cultural anthropolgy project undertaken through the medium of Polaroid photography. Creators Nicole Kenny and ks rives ask participants "What do you want to do before you die?" Following the query, a Polaroid is snapped as the participant answers. They are then prompted to write their answer on the Polaroid, below their picture.

The project aims to investigate three central themes:
1) The "death" of the Polaroid.
2) A psychologist's tool called safety contracts.
3) A passion to get people to think about (and act upon) what is important in their lives.

Adding a further dimension to this project is the creator's decision to engage participants in both the United States and India. From this, clear cultural differences were found between American and Indian participants, particularly concerning anxieties related to death. In this regard, Indian participants were generally more comfortable with their impending fate than were American. An additional finding was the affect that levels of financial security have upon the participant's "dream." Broadly speaking, the greater the security, the greater the "dream."

Concerning the notion of individuality, this project poses an interesting challenge. Essentially, although we may all have specific desires and goals that we'd like to fulfill prior to our expiration, defining us as seperate sentient beings, the types of goals we might "dream" and the ways in which we "dream" them are determined by much larger class and cultural definitions.

As for me, middle-class, caucasian Canadian male, I characteristically have a general anxiety towards death. Yet, given the sometimes random nature of death, I would like to think I could be comfortable with my life and what I've done at all times, recognizing that in life you can never do everything. Nevertheless, anxiety, and comic avoidance in uncomfortable situations prompts me to, on a completely silly whim, respond with "Before I die, I want to finally finish reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, or at least start."