How original DO you need to be

It's always difficult to say something to the next of kin when a loved one passes. You might end up with some cliches, because they tend to work somewhat. But after some time even such overuse will miss the intended effect... a level of comfort, a sense of support.

Then again, if you end up saying something truly original, is that what you really intended to do? Mustn't you actually utter a cliche ion the first place, just to get along? Would the bereaved actually notice a genuine thought actually entering their ears?

G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra

Truly the meek shall inherit the earth... or at least everybody who was a kid in the 1980s. With Transformers and G.I. JOE hitting the big screen, it's a wave of nostalgia that washes over us now. And I like it.

Case in point: Rise of Cobra. Definitely a loud, brash, action movie that will never win a lot of Oscars or awards of any serious kind. However there's some good fun to be had. Still I've had some thoughts during and after the movie:

• G.I. JOE adheres to the cardinal rule in Hollywood movie making: "when thou cast a black actor, he shall be either a big, bald tough guy, a suave muthafuckin' playa', or a comedy sidekick." In this case G.I. JOE had all three. God forbid an American movie has an actual black character with two dimensions.
• Forget about all the hi-tech weaponry (accelerator suits? WTF?). Just put hot women in skin tight leather outfits, or leave ample room for cleavage, and you'll win 9 out of 10 wars. And in the one case it's going to be girl-on-girl anyway, so everybody wins.
• Rachel can leave this hair color on for a while.
• In fact did they really have to make the sole female heroic character athletic, nerdy, independent, strong AND smart? That stuff is obviously written in fantasy, dude.
• Also because of the recession Peugeot, Citroen, Renault had a lot of cars still left in stock. And in order to bring the inventory levels back under control, the powers that be sold a shipload of them to G.I. JOE... to get destroyed.
• [SPOILER] Ehm... did the script writers lose track of time, and submit the screenplay to X-Men 1 instead? They should have let the bad guys escape, and unless they come up with an ingenious way for the Baroness to come back under Cobra control, and break out Destro and Cobra Commander, the dear writers put themselves in a bind I fear. It also means we're going to have a battle near Hoover Dam in the sequel, see Scarlet or Ana get swallowed by water. And we'll have the Last Stand in part three, after which we'll get treated to the obvious Snake Eyes spin-off (which would be freakin' awesome, apart from the fact that you can't really make a movie nowadays where the main character is a mute).
• Why doesn't Rex just use the nanomites on himself? He must be the biggest self-righteous prick that he only experiments on others. [END SPOILER]

Like Transformers 2, G.I. JOE is good enough for the Blu-ray treatment. But definitely not the special edition... unless the special edition contains Rachel Nichols in lingerie, and a hotel room reservation that is.

My New Favorite TV Show

There's one show on television... actually it's a full on channel, that just goes on and on for 24 hours a day, 5 days a week (because on Saturday and Sunday nobody does any trading)...

CNBC is great. You can have it on in the background, and seem like a true businessman. It's not so omnipresent, that you have to pay attention all the time. The ticker at the bottom will always keep you up to date with the latest, so you're never out of touch. And occasionally they will show an item that actually interests you.

As an added bonus the presenters are almost all gorgeous women. In fact, they are a bit distracting to say the least. You don't really pay attention to what they say anymore.

Anyway... watch it. Love it. Leave it on.

The Latest Hype in Management Country

Lately the MECE principle has been propping up a lot more in arguments and feedbacks in consultancy. For those of you who haven't been acquainted with the principle yet: it's an acronym that says Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive. In my day job, people use it to give feedback on all kinds of decisions. As in:

"This memo is not very MECE."

"I think your analysis of these two options must follow MECE."

Of course when you first hear about this principle from your manager, you feign you know what it's about, but immediately you start looking for the wikipedia page, when he's not looking.

Then you read the page, and try to use what it says: when you present a collection, you must present attributes that are exclusive and exhaustive. In this way you keep the argument clear, pertinent and precise.

Unfortunately, when applied to consultancy, MECE as a principle is fundamentally flawed. The goal of the principle is to avoid ambiguity, but if anything, a consultant thrives on this. A consultant can be as exclusive and exhaustive as he wants to be. In fact the MECE principle in consultancy has more to do with political exclusivity and exhaustion, rather than logical.

I'm sure the MECE hype will blow over, once the consultant confront his manager with a MECE-approved memo, which proves to be unreadable, extremely difficult to follow, and ends up leading people to the wrong decision.

What happens in Pyongyang, Stays in Pyongyang

It has to be the feel-good story of the week, the two American journalists have been released from North Korean custody and have made it back to the USA. All it took was a visit from an ex-president, a dinner, and some conversation between old men.

But despite the official press release, I am quite interested in knowing what happened behind closed doors. Was money exchanged? Were any favours granted? Did they play a game of poker for it? Did Clinton promise Kim the new Apple iPod or something? Perhaps the last remaining tape of a Michael Jackson concert? Did Big Bill go all GI JOE on K-Jizzle?

Come on guys, WHAT HAPPENED THERE THAT CONVINCED KIM JONG IL TO FINALLY GIVE THOSE WOMEN A BREAK!!?? PEOPLE NEEDS TO KNOW!

Next they are going to send Clinton to the Gaza Strip to solve the crisis there over lunch, then fly him back over to Iran to settle the elections once and for all, and have him back in time for breakfast to automagically whistle the economic crisis away.