Bike sharing provides yet another travel option for the city that already boasts pedicycles to helicopters and everything in between. Bikes are just one more way that community products and services have jumped onto the sharing scene. Companies like Airbnb, Zipcar, and Bag Borrow Or Steal are all bringing to life the concept of sharing ownership of items with a community. Sharing amongst a group is a more practical solution in light of today’s economic uncertainty. It also allows for flexibility or simply caters to the whimsical, whose desires change with the days of the week.

Kickstands up this summer, as community sharing takes to the streets of New York City.

MEG FERRILL

James Parsons’ paper – The Myth of the Brand in Asia – awarded Best Paper at Esomar’s Asia Conference in Vietnam, takes a critical look at some of the assumptions that guide Western marketing reflexes and argues for a new more nuanced approach in line with the specific Asian contexts.

Unfortunately, we’re not permitted to publish the entire article online – but if you are interested in a copy, please contact us at joot.teo[at]flamingogroup.com

The video presents four, twenty-something, Caucasian, heterosexual couples all meticulously groomed in their Sunday’s best and seated with poised posture waiting anxiously for the start of the show. I don’t know if it’s the coiffed hair or the absence of color, but they look like they’ve just walked off the set of Bewitched.  The Newlyweds fashioned like the characters of the popular sitcom: Darrin never without a tailored suit and Samantha in a modest dress that today would scream she would never run out for milk in Juicy sweatpants tucked into Uggs.

Everything about the contestants is in place, even down to the witty banter. The husband serves up what would now be considered a sexist joke at his wife’s expense, which she meets with a gentle giggle. In this clip of the show from the 1960s you can see as much from the time stamped details in the video as you can from the glaring omissions, such as the lack of ethnicity for example.

That’s the thing with a show that has been on and off the air for 46 years; unknowingly, it has documented our changing cultural ideas about love and marriage. The show has changed names, hosts, and sets but at the core it has always pitted newly married couples against each other by judging each person’s knowledge of their spouse through intimate questions and double entendre answers.

In those 46 years we’ve come to see the contestants of the show change as society has evolved.  For example, the inclusion of non-Caucasian couples, interracial couples and, in 2009, during a celebrity edition of the game, George Takei and his partner became the first same-sex couple to be on the show. Ironically it also illustrated the current dialogue in the States about same-sex marriage since although they were considered “newlyweds” they had been together 22 years.  The age of newlyweds has also seemingly changed to reflect that a new marriage can and does come at anytime in life.

Yes, the show is not exactly on the pulse of society, but it does lay hints at what is becoming more acceptable to the general public.  And it has documented it in a format that is rare and hard to find elsewhere.

“Where specifically is the weirdest place you personally have ever gotten the urge to make whoopie?” – (1977)

“Your wife said you are a closet …WHAT?” (1979)

“What is the very first thing your husband does before he goes to bed?” (1980s)

“First thing in the morning my wife usually finds my BLANK on her WHAT?” (1980s)

“If I was kept away from my wife for 30 years I’d still never forget the smell of her BLANK?” (2012)

MEG FERRILL

Image courtesy of Flickr

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“Oh my god I’m obsessed with that”.

No you’re not.

And moreover, you’re playing with the English language the way a child plays with food.

An obsession you feign to ‘confess’ socially to absolve yourself of some trifling guilt, or to show your ‘quirky’ side is wholly and utterly normal. An even better word – boring.

No, obsessions run deep. Through subterranean layers of memory and subconsciousness.

They are imbued with an illogical and somehow ‘truer than true’ significance that transcends the act itself. Nobody understands this but you.

They also breed hypocrisy in any attempt at explanation.

I can trace the origins of my obsession to my mother. An unconquerable opponent. The Telegraph cryptic crossword lay massacred by her coffee before my Wheatabix were even soft.

Rooted in blood, by obsession was compounded by ritual. The cloth bag passed around the table by strangers and friends after dinner, keeping pace with the wine.

Scrabble.

I remember my young fingers rubbing the surface of tiles inside the bag for clues while I feigned disinterest, combing for the the tell-tale imprints of ‘good’ letters (by what measure?). Better yet, the unmistakable smoothness of a blank piece – what limitless opportunity!

Such naïvete to my youth. Back then I played for words – the longer (and of course, the ruder) the better.

Now I know.

Now I play for points.

If my mother was the genesis, Alec Baldwin was the catalyst. Publicly decamped by an airline for his sport. The whole gross system – embodied by those disenchanted, catty stewardesses – didn’t understand that their rules don’t – shouldn’t – apply.

What was this new game? How can I play?

Words With Friends.

Digital gunpowder on the smoldering childhood embers of my obsession.

I sometimes play nine games at a time. I select opponents across different time-zones to prevent lags in play. I play in bed just before I sleep, and again as soon as I wake up. Taxi rides go without views. Dinners go without conversation. A ‘J’ on a triple letter played both ways can get 60 points on its own: a good day.

An obsessive, I have imbued the game with mystical significance. You wouldn’t understand. But in every game the words tell a story. Not all words, but more than enough – more than seems ‘normal’ – are appropriate: to the context, the players, to me.

The board is a jumbled dialogue (which aren’t?) filtered but despite of a ‘random’ tile allocation (luck?), despite playing for points (goals?), despite it all just being a game (?). Despite, our unconsciouses communicates – something. Satisfying little sounds emitted as the pieces fall into place – ‘bloop’.

Its not about Fair (only 7 points). The rules are not fixed and language has always evolved. Hypocrite is worth 20 points and ‘Alec’ is now a playable word. When I met him, on a plane no less, I didn’t have the words (even the letters) to explain what it all meant.

But on my last visit home, having never won in 10 years, I drew with my mother.

SAM HORNSBY, OBSESSED WITH WORDS WITH FRIENDS

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I am obsessed with planning Thanksgiving dinner!

It’s my favorite because everyone from friends to family get together. And my job is to help make it merrier with a delicious dinner that will make them look forward to next year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

ANANDA EIDELSTEIN, OBSESSED WITH THANKSGIVING DINNER

Obsessions matter

Obsessions are how we relate to ‘things’ that populate this world. The things we, as individuals and as members of the group, bestow with meaning – as in Dee de Lara’s piece on Millennial engagement with Tumblr to continually shape identity.

Obsessions tell part of the ‘human story’ that often falls to the wayside as rationality reigns, as Jo Shaw demonstrates in her analysis of our primal need for meaning in icons, shamans, and Jordans.

Our passions and obsessions give meaning to our daily existence.

Obsession is a force

Obsessions give us a deeper understanding of the cultures in which we live, from Kung Fu’s effect on American masculinity, to the hummingbird-short lifespans of obsessions in China and the ‘K-Wave’ in Singapore.

Obsessions influence what and how we consume, from Anthony Leung’s piece on our obsession with newness, to the fascination with perfection in Japan, to the way Amazon has an obsession built it into its DNA.

Obsessions shape the way we feel, act and buy.

Obsession is interesting

Obsessions are fascinating in their vibrancy, humor, and pure ability to capture our attention. From the quirky to the meditative, obsessions from around the world come alive on film.

Obsessions depart from the normal ‘rational’ patterns of behavior, and beg for a closer look. Some are subtle – such as Abbie Wilson’s piece on UK’s obsession with normalcy via blue jeans. Some, like Michelle’s Katz’ piece on Bieber-Fever, are about tear-soaked, scream-laden expressions of obsession from a distinct cultural ‘tribe’.

Once observed, Obsessions are hard to ignore.

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Who knew that one of the best dramas on TV would pit 5 rich people in savage negotiations over the potential ROI on a bacon-scented candle?

Before you start to defend the many soaps and melodramas that dominate primetime, let me proselytize my obsession with the BBC export that seamlessly melds venture capital strategy with reality-show drama.

To start, the businesses themselves range from the schadenfreud-inducing (revolting fashion experiments and modern alchemy engines, feces-powered fly trap) to the brilliant (nose filters, home lock smartphone app) – and this sheer variety provides a layer of entertainment – what will they think of next?!

And the wheeling & dealing with the sharks wraps some basic business principles in barb-laden interrogations. The fact that the shark are using their own money lends a credibility to the strategy that they discuss and debate, and eventually put money-to-mouths. (An emblematic interaction is the showdown between Robert Herjavec and Mark Cuban, whose rags-to-riches personas bookend the panel, and Kevin O’Leary, arch Free-market Capitalist and resident ‘heel’).

Ultimately, the brilliance of the Shark Tank – and the source of my obsession – is how the show reveals the inherent human drama in business. For the culturally-minded strategist, Shark Tank is televisual crack.

JOHN WISE, OBSESSED WITH SHARK TANK

Image courtesy of New York Times

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Trader Giotto. Trader Jacques. Trader Darwin. Oh, and let’s not forget beloved Two Buck Chuck. These men, among others, represent the many faces of Trader Joe’s, more amicably referred to as TJoe’s, which truly embodies the neighborhood grocery store.

Never was I so excited to go food shopping until discovering TJoe’s. In fact, I kind of want to go there everyday…all the time…be the first to try any and all of their new products. Great food + great prices + great service = Best value. What more can I say? I’m obsessed! So obsessed that my friend and I instituted TJoe’s rules – the most important being that we may never leave the store without having purchased one new product.

MICHELLE SANTONACITA, OBSESSED WITH TRADER JOE’S

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I’m obsessed with old school 90s hip-hop.

A Tribe Called Quest, Souls of Mischief, De La Soul – nothing beats that old school soulful sound. It makes me all fuzzy and nostalgic.

My friends at Work It are also obsessed with the sound of our generation – so obsessed they’ve turned an amazing old school 90s hip-hop and R&B night into a cultural phenomenon. Now that’s real obsession.

TRACEY OSUNDE, OBSESSED WITH OLD SCHOOL HIP-HOP

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I’m currently obsessed with the visual and material culture of Disney in China: the pervasiveness of Disney motifs and the variety of forms its takes – fake or otherwise.

So much so, I’ve started a Tumblr with photos gathered from my wanderings: disneyfychina.tumblr.com

SAM HORNSBY, OBSESSED WITH THE VISUAL AND MATERIAL CULTURE OF DISNEY IN CHINA