Fun stuff Category

The Other Intern

By on May 8th, 2012
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Hello, hello! My name is Collin Henderson, and I’m a computer programming student at Niagara College, interning at Hypenotic. I specialize in web design, user experiences, and front-end development. After my internship here, I have one more semester of school before I graduate with a Computer Programmer Analyst diploma.

I’ve always been enamoured with all things on the web. I’ve been designing and developing websites for around five years now, and am always keen to learn the new and emerging technologies that come with it. During my days here at Hypenotic, I’m usually kept busy with a variety of work such as tweaking WordPress themes, developing responsive solutions for web pages, and trying to get the office puppy Blue, to like me. During evenings and weekends, I like to hack away at a plethora of different projects using fun tech like PHP, MySQL, Node.js, Socket.io, Objective-C, etc. I also love to play volleyball, and enjoy composing music of all sorts.

I look forward to continuing to work with this great team, here at Hypenotic. I’m sure I’ll learn a ton while I’m here, and hopefully have the opportunity to share some of my own skills with others.




New Kid On The Block

By on May 4th, 2012
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Hello there!  After finishing up my second week here at Hypenotic as the newest Graphic Design Intern, I thought it was about time to introduce myself. My name is Christopher Hebert and I am currently entering my fourth and final year at Sheridan College’s Bachelor of Applied Arts Illustration Program.

So far, Hypenotic is proving to be worthy of the early morning alarm and commute that I’ve been getting used to. I work in a downtown studio space complete with eleven large windows, my own desk (displayed below, along with things I enjoy), a smiling and talented staff, and of course, Blue, a cute Australian Sheppard that won’t let me touch him. I’ve got no complaints. Like I said, the staff are a great group of people and their mission to create meaningful marketing for good things reflects in their personalities. So, for the next couple of months, while I’m not trying to win the friendship of Blue, I am going to be building connections with my colleagues so that I can learn some new skills from them, maybe even vice versa. I hope you have a lovely Friday, and you’ll be hearing from me again soon.

 




Welcome to Hypenotic, Chris

By on April 23rd, 2012
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My name’s Rebecca and I’m Hypenotic’s bookkeeper. Barry is not a silo thinker. He believes that everyone at Hypenotic should have the opportunity to write for the blog… even the bookkeeper.

In my long distant past I wrote for Canadian Tire’s employee newsletter, so I’m not a complete newbie, but it’s nice to know I can get back in the saddle when called upon.

The weather forecast today called for flurries. This was a bit disconcerting as it is April 23 and Hypenotic’s Summer Intern–Chris Hebert’s–first day on the job. Chris is from Sheridan (who we do a lot with) and is at Hypenotic to earn his 420 hours work experience. I’m sure he’ll be introducing himself in his own blog post, but I’m using his joining Hypenotic as a springboard to launch my first blog post.

I love the Interns. I love their energy, their eagerness, their freshness and readiness to take on any task, and yes, I even love their youthful naivete.  They are here to learn, and what an opportunity we have to teach them. They already know some theory, but this isn’t the classroom; they aren’t being inculcated through books and lectures. This is reality. This is diving into the deep end.

Here is where they’ll learn about teamwork and deadlines. Here is where they’ll learn to grow a thick skin as their project is edited till it no longer resembles their work. Here is where they learn to put aside their handheld devices and focus their attentions on their work. Here is where they’ll learn how to keep track of their hours and invoice for the time they worked. Here is where they’ll complete their education.

Welcome to Hypenotic Chris.




On April 18th, ontario craft beer buys edible gardens for school kids.

By on April 8th, 2012
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At a fundraiser dinner a few years ago, I sat next to a nice fellow from Muskoka Brewery who explained to me what it took to get their products listed in The Beer Store.

Beer store wall. Image from: http://sophiebury.ca/ocanada/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/beerstoreinternal.jpg

As I recall, getting your label posted on a wall 15 feet up there costs entrepreneurs $50,000.

I remarked that the gov’t didn’t seem to be trying to make it easy for our burgeoning craft beer industry to connect with prospects, and that’s when the next shocker dropped. I learned that our beer stores were owned by three large brands: Molson, Labatt and Sleeman.

This was particularly disturbing because it occurred to me that they’d kept Beer Stores looking so crummy for all these years to maintain the illusion that they were government owned. Digging in further, I learned that each of those organizations are in turn owned by Multinationals based in other countries. Labatt by ABInbev, Sleeman by Sapporo and Molson is actually Molson Coors.

It’s still all a bit confounding, but anecdotally, I do feel that it’s getting easier to find local craft beer. The LCBO does carry a few, the kinds of bars and restaurants I get to carry them and they’re increasingly found at Ontario events. Which brings me to the original point of this post.

The Brewer’s Plate

I’m on the steering committee of an event that brings together craft brewers, dynamic artisans and some of the Province’s best chefs to raise funds for a different local sustainable food initiative each year. Last year the beneficiary was Not far From the Tree. This Year it’s Green Thumbs Growing Kids. Here’s a bit about them:
Starting with the idea of connecting children to their food, we give them the tools to grow, harvest and enjoy food through hands-on learning programs on public school and park lands. Food produced in the school garden during the school year goes into lunch or snack programs – into students’ mouths. Summer produce is equally distributed among volunteers and families who participate in the garden work.

I’ve really enjoyed the Brewer’s Plate over the last few years. Last year I even won a dream auction item:
  • http://hypenotic.com/meaning-fulmarketing/5121/choose-the-new-face-of-beaus-beer-caps
  • http://faceonacap.com/
Now in it’s fifth year, the Brewer’s Plate will be at Roy Thompson Hall, a really dynamic venue that allows for all manner of shenanigans, an amazing music (including Neil Brathwaite who some of you may recall from my bday party or if you go far enough back my wedding)  lineup and:

21 Ontario craft brewers:

Great chefs:

And awesome artisans:

Tickets are $125 (no hst) which is pretty good for the amount of professionals showing up at a fun venue for a fun night and a great cause.
Come if you can.
Certainly share it with friends into beer, food or teaching kids the value of/feeding them real food.

Any questions?

 




Email Etiquette: A review we could all benefit from

By on April 7th, 2012
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Sorry if this is a little 101 for some of you, but I had it set as an unfinished draft, probably hastily scrabbled together when someone who should know better abused my email reading patience.

The fact is that while email is ubiquitous and benefits us in too many obvious ways to warrant a blog post, one conversation we hear about increasingly is the burden of addressing it. Email’s ease of use lends itself to careless, ignorant and deliberately layered use.

So here’s a critical piece of email etiquette that some people could benefit from. I pulled it from a great list of 101 tips. Some of them are outdated or matter less depending on your platform or situation, but I’ve grabbed one section in particular here to focus on (my comments are in [ ]):

To, From, CC, BCc, RR, Subject:

  1. Only use Cc: when it is important for those you Cc: to know about the contents of the email. Overuse can cause your emails to be ignored. [I have 1000s unread]
  2. Don’t use Return Receipt (RR) on every single email. Doing so is viewed as intrusive, annoying and can be declined by the other side anyway.
  3. Include addresses in the To: field for those who you would like a response from.
  4. Include addresses in the Cc: field for those who you are just FYI’ing.
  5. Make sure your name is displayed properly in the From: field.
  6. Remove addresses from the To:, CC; and BCc: field that don’t need to see your reply. [BIG ONE. Unnecessary email can mean junkmail to some or just more work for others]
  7. Always include a brief Subject. No subject can get your email flagged as spam. [A good subject is like leaving a good phone message–it can help the recipient act more quickly]
  8. Think about your motives when adding addresses to To:, CC:, BCc. Use your discretion. [Many people Cc: as an ass covering measure–think about how that looks to the recipient]
  9. Never expose your friend’s or contact’s email address to strangers by listing them all in the To: field. Use BCc:! [BIG ONE. Email is private.Even if you trust the people you share  addresses with, it may make the owners of the addresses uncomfortable. Also, if enough people do this, everyone will have everyone's addresses].
  10. Make sure when using BCc: that your intentions are proper. To send BCc: copies to others as a way of talking behind someone’s back is inconsiderate.

via Email Etiquette: 101 Email Etiquette Tips.

Proper, or at least thoughtful use of basic tools like email can help us handle the exploding media fire-hose enough to keep benefitting from it. If you feel someone just isn’t respecting your privacy or time, you can always send them here: http://www.thanksbutno.com/




My Toronto

By on March 15th, 2012
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by Dusan Petricic

 

As a Mexican in Toronto sometimes I feel like I have a double personality. While I’m a native of Mexico City (or Chilanga as we call ourselves) I take a temporary Torontonian identity to be able to blend in and become a resident of this city. I know I’m not the only one and that’s one of the things that fascinate me about Toronto. People from all over the world come here taking an alternative identity that allows them to share a common ground and live together.

The other day a friend of mine from Colombia showed me a book by illustrator Dusan Petricic called My Toronto. Petricic was a political cartoonist in Belgrade who moved to Toronto in the early 90’s. Chances are you have  seen his work on The Toronto Star on in one of the many children’s books he has illustrated.

What really called my attention about My Toronto, was the way in which Petricic’s illustrations show an intimate view of a city that is hard to define in words.

Dusan Petricic

With his humorist style, Petricic captures the spirit of a city in which newcomers are becoming locals and locals are always under the influence of newcomers.

 

by Dusan Petricic

He also shows a city that keeps transforming right in front of the eyes of the locals, or at least of those who have lived here long enough to witness it’s growth and expansion.

 

Toronto's Skyscrapers by Dusan Petrici

 

I find the interdependent relationship we have with the cities we live in extremely interesting and I certainly loved the way in which Perticic communicates our relationship with Toronto.

If a city makes us who we are, I think I might be turning little by little into a Torontonian kind of Chilanga.

What about you, what kind of Torontonian are you?

 




Keep Calm and Meme On

By on March 2nd, 2012
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You can love them or hate them but one thing is for sure, memes travel at the speed of light invading our Facebook walls and Twitter timelines until the point of exhaustion. What is it about them that makes people keep posting them and sharing them?

The definition of Meme according to Webster dictionary is “an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.”

Taking on Jodi’s blog post this week about how movies can help us articulate thoughts, I think Internet memes have a similar function. They are an ultra condensed statement about our opinions with a touch of irony and satire. But their real strength also comes with repetition; we have seen so many of them that they have become a common language in online culture.

Here are my top 4 examples of memes that have recently brought us together (or torn us apart?)

1. “What society thinks I do” …
According to buzzfeed before these meme flooded our Facebook walls with examples of every career imaginable, it appeared on the Wellesley College yearbook in 1909 and it showed how the world viewed women scholars.

My favorite example: Stormtrooper!

2. Sh*t People Say

Starting with the video Shit Girls Say (15 million views on YouTube), posted only two months ago, we’ve heard what almost everyone has to say!
My favourite so far: Sh*t nobody says:

3. Y U No Guy

He’s the all time #1 most popular character in memegenerator.net with 776,097 different combinations of the formula: “(subject noun), [WH]Y [YO]U NO (verb)?”.
Apparently the original face comes from a Japanese sci-fi manga / anime series called Gantz.

4. Keep Calm and Carry On

This was originally a poster produced by the British government in 1939 to raise the morale of the British people during Second World War. It was not very well known until the year 2000 when it was reissued and used as a decorative theme for products.
Check out Keep Calm O- Matic, a website where you can make your own customizable poster and then share it and have people vote for them. Although for guaranteed results once you’re done with your meme just post it on pinterest.

;

So tell us, what’s your favorite meme and what does it say about you?




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