What’s life without some food for thought. Here you can find inspiration columns with a link to the past. Ready to be applied in your own life.

Once upon a time oriental spice and some chocolate picture

Tell your stories

Once upon a time oriental spice and some chocolate picturePersonal picture made by Als Filmster Op De Foto

Ah…remember the ‘60s? The times of rock and roll, glamorous Old Hollywood movies and a lot of classic songs which survived the radio and CD eras. In fact you are now still playing those songs on your iPhone, Youtube or that playlist on your laptop. Let’s not forget the lovely, colorful retro fashion and let’s also take a moment to remember that the world back then was black and white. And I am not just talking about the televisions right now.

Yesterday I watched an interesting movie: The Help (2011). The setting of this movie is in the 1960s. Back to 1963. We’re in Mississippi, America, in the middle of the Civil Rights Era. We’re following a young, independent (aspired) journalist who is ahead of her time. She decides to write a book with the stories of black maids, that expose the racism they face in everyday life. After the book is written, there is of course no significant change. Still, those untold stories are finally out there and intrigue the society.

The movie received four Oscar nominations, won one Oscar and was a Box Office hit. Apparently a lot of people were intrigued by the story. I also liked the story. Not only for the realistic situations, beautiful retro settings and a pinch of humor, but even more for the read-between-the-lines message about stories. Not following me anymore? Wait for it. We all like good stories don’t we? Guess what, we also have good stories to tell. Positive or negative. With an open ending or not. It doesn’t matter. That’s exactly what this movie pointed out. If the maids did not tell their stories, who would know? And although there was no significant improvement in their situation, there was a story being told that had never been told before.
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Veronica Lake

Rule the world with Authenticity and your Trademarks

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Another not so typical retro-meets-present day. Today we will start with a little test. Imagine the Golden Hollywood era. Ready for the questions? Here they come:

1. Name the “Peek-a-boo” blonde of the 1940s?
2. When I say blonde bombshell of the 1950s, who do you think of? If you’re familiair with the Old Hollywood world, you may think of a few. But there is just one person who pops up into everyone’s mind without having the google her name…
3. You think you can dance, but he danced Classic Hollywood nights and Broadway Ballrooms away and still is an inspiration for nowadays dancers. He is usually mentioned in one sentence with Ginger Rogers. Guess who?
4. Now let’s go to the 70s. Sideburns and white shimmering jumpsuit?
5. Ok, last one. When I say moonwalk, who comes into your mind?

Answers can be found at the bottom of this post.

Congratulations if you got all the answers right. You win nothing. However, you can give yourself a pat on the shoulder or a high five. If you didn’t get all the answers right, you know what they say: You learn every day!

So, why do a lot of people know the names of these persons with just a few keywords and without assistance of mr. Google? Well, it has everything to do with trademarks. These persons had a certain behaviour, quality or charisma that no one else had. More importantly: they are all gone, but they all left their trademarks in this world until this day.

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