So… Google Glass seems to be getting traction. Experiments, experiences, apps, reviews popping up left and right. And to be honest, I wouldn’t mind trying it myself. I think it looks pretty goofy but I’m intrigued by the potential.

Anyway: I read about this guy going to a Justin Timberlake concert wearing Glass and the first thing that popped into my mind was “first-person livestream“. Times thousands.

Many people have heard me ramble about the mis-use of #hashtags on Facebook, websites, ads, Tumblr blogs and whatnot. However #hashtags would make sense in a Glass Livestream context. Just imagine the possibilities: Having a website that groups all Glass Livestreams. You just search for some event’s #hashtag and then experience the event from any angle you want. 

Since I don’t have Glass, I can’t build and experiment with it. So, who wants to build this?

So what’s a guy with a GoPro got to do? Exactly: Pick up the skateboard and shoot some of your favorite tricks. And let’s face it: GoPro’s and skateboards? That’s the stuff! The one thing that really struck me was that I always have enjoyed slow-motion skate tricks. However, I’ve never seen myself perform a heelflip. Fascinating!

“Chance of a lifetime“, “change of heart“, “who am I?“, “What would you do?“… All valid titles for the story and discovery I’m about to share with you.

I left my previous digital-related job at Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels back in October. I left with serious doubts if I wanted to keep doing work in the digital/advertising industry. I started off as a freelancer but soon got a job at a local Apple store. It seemed like a great opportunity to do something non-advertising and just have fun at work. I took it and enjoyed it very much. Great people, interesting challenges. Fun.

Back in January however, a friend of mine posted a job opportunity on my Facebook page. He knows some recruiters looking for people to fill some interesting positions at several agencies. Apparently this time around, a big agency was looking to hire a Flash Producer with DoubleClick experience for about a year. In Abu Dhabi. I wanted to dismiss this post and forget about it. I mean: I can’t go to Abu Dhabi for a year. I have a girlfriend here! And my friends. This is crazy! However it stuck in my head…

A year in Abu Dhabi. Creating nothing but cool Flash work. I have worked with DoubleClick before to create a homepage takeover on MSN.com for an anti-smoking campaign. There was tons of great stuff one could do with DoubleClick. It started to dawn on me that this might be a something different. Something I might at least need to consider. I gave the agency a call to ask for more information. Quickly this turned into a negotiation about budgets, location and what kind of appartement I was looking for in Abu Dhabi.

I started talking about this to my friends, colleagues and my girlfriend. The thing that surprised me most was that almost all of them expected me to actually go: “This is something that has your name written all over it“. I was still confused and trying to make up my mind. Sometimes it even kept me awake at night. I would get up in the middle of the night and stare out of the window of our apartement. I asked myself: “Why not? Why not take a leap of faith? This would be a fantastic adventure… Right? Right.”

I had come to a decision: I agreed to go. I wanted to go. For a whole year, I’d leave everything behind -friends, family, girlfriend- and go produce some amazing Flash work in Abu Dhabi. I was totally excited! I called the agency to confirm I would take the job. Then they told me about the volume of Flash work I’d be doing: Creating about 5000 banners.
I expected about 10-20 projects over the duration of my time over there. I expected cool and creative campaigns. It was clear that the ‘cool and creative‘ part of the job was out of the window. At that point I lost interest and cancelled the job.

I lost interest but most importantly, I had full understanding of why I lost my interest in it. Yea, living in Abu Dhabi for a year would’ve been insanely cool but the thing about this job that really got my attention was the ‘creating cool shit‘-part.
Creating stuff that blows your mind. That was it. That is it. The dream. My dream. My ambition. My purpose.

While I still wonder what life in Abu Dhabi might be like, I’m more certain than ever what I want to do with my life and what my next step is: I’m actively looking for a new job as a frontend hacker/developer and/or motion graphics designer. I’m motivated and full of energy, ready to prove that ‘impossible is impossible‘. I have a passion for Javascript and Actionscript. I also like toying around with PHP, NodeJS, Red5, Kinect and Arduino. Sometimes I also hack other stuff when they find their way into my path. When the chance presents itself, I take on video and 3D motion graphics projects. They’re always great fun.

So… Time for a conclusion. I love to create and hack things and I pretty much rock when I’m at the keys.
Check my portfolio for work and my blog for other experiments, then get in touch. And preferably: Hire me
If you’re interested: Feel free to get in touch with me via senderhas@nocreativity.com. I’d love to come by your office and talk about creating cool shit.

In November 2011, I signed a contract for a job at Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels. I was scared shitless on my first day: I used to be a freelancer that executed the actual production. Now I was heading towards an office where people expected me to manage projects and tell other freelancers/teams how to execute stuff. I was not sure if I’d like the job or if I’d be any good at it. I was great at execution… I had experience, insights and motivation. It was anybody’s guess.

Turns out I hated the job and I sucked at it. And it was pretty clear why: I like to figure stuff out. Build, design, animate things myself instead of telling other people how to approach a project and by when to finish it. 10 months after my first day I decided to quit my job. While my 6-week resignation period was passing by, I started wondering “Was this the right decision?“. Then I read this piece.

It tells the story of Linds Redding. He used to be an Art Director in several ad agencies (Saatchi & Saatchi was one of them). He tells the story about how back in the day when they got a new briefing, they spent all day coming up with ideas which they sketched down on paper and ended up on the walls of their office. At the end of the day they went home and when they came back the next day, they reviewed their work. A lot of it came down the walls immediately. The things that were still up had actual potential and would probably be presented to a client in some form. They called this “the overnight test“.

Then he goes on to tell how times changed: With faster computers and broadband internet, ‘the overnight test‘ quickly became the ‘over-lunch test‘. In the end, they found themselves working lots of overtime because they were building “new worlds“, making brands become “lovemarks“, etc. Then Linds was diagnosed with cancer. He was terminal.

Reality check… He realized the truth: They were not building new worlds or lovemarks. What they did was making a rich guy even richer. There was no higher purpose. To quote him: “It’s a fucking TV commercial. Nobody gives a shit“.  He goes on to conclude that in hindsight, it wasn’t worth his time and energy.

“As a life, it all seemed like such a good idea at the time. But I’m not really sure it passes The Overnight Test”

Linds Redding passed away in October 2012.

Ever since I read that piece, I was certain that leaving Saatchi was the right choice. Not because advertising is bad or the industry is not worthy of my time. It’s actually a very glamorous industry and being part of that is pretty cool. However, for me it didn’t pass the overnight test. It didn’t make me happy.

The lesson I took from his piece and the reality that Linds is no longer with us, is that we only have this one life. We have one shot at making this life worth living. It’s a cliché; I know, but Linds’ story has made this everlasting impression on me and I am very aware of the fact that in 50 years I’ll have to look back at my life and either congratulate my younger self for the amazing adventure he embarked upon or hate him for being such a loser.

Thank you, Linds Redding for pointing out the obvious. May your soul rest in peace.

Back when I was 16, I once made a list with things I wanted to do in the new year. I remember working my way through that list and accomplishing every single item on there. Some were tiny and meaningless. Others were pretty huge and life-changing. I still remember finishing the last item on that list on December 29th, that year. It was a great feeling and I remember distinctively telling myself that it was a good year. During the past weeks I felt the need to try to accomplish this again in 2013. So here goes:

1. Buy my first car and don’t have any accidents

I’m pretty far ahead on this one already actually. I’ve found a great deal and somewhere next week I should be able to tick this one off. The ‘no accident‘ part should be okay buy you never know…

2. Make bold decisions. Don’t be afraid.

I used to have this ‘No fear‘ attitude and it all went well. I did what I wanted, no matter how stupid or dangerous it was. I’m not sure if that was ignorance or confidence but great things have happened nevertheless. I really feel as if I became a bit afraid to do/try things. That has got to stop.

3. Be creative again.

It’s time for me to start creating stuff again. It’s been a while since I went out and shot some photos or timelapses… Since I made some stupid projects that are fun nonetheless… Build and create stuff again!

4. Build and create something great!

And while we’re at creating… I want to actually create something that makes sense. You know… Something that people actually like using and makes people happy. It doesn’t need to be the next Instagram or Twitter but at least something like Dooodl.

5. Update Playr.

I haven’t updated Playr in a while. I have been putting this off for too long. Playr needs some changes and updates to support more and allow easier use. Time for me to actually implement a lot of changes and make sure that stuff works flawlessly.

6. Build dooodl drawer in HTML 5.

Back when I created Dooodl, using Flash was no big deal. However with the web moving to more mobile devices (aka tablets like iPad), the need for an HTML5 alternative of the Dooodl drawer becomes very real. I think we should see the Dooodl Drawer in HTML5 sometime soon

7. Impress everybody.

I’m not really sure how to explain this so maybe I’ll just leave this one for now. When the time is right, I think everybody will understand what I wanted to do.

8. Go on a holiday.

On a real one. Pack my bags, leave me laptop and head out to some exotic country and recharge my batteries. It’s been more than 2 years since we (my girlfriend and I) last went on a holiday, so you can see why I’m making an important point of this item.

9. Blog more.

Well. Yea. This one speaks for itself.

10. Reconsider videoblogging or podcasting.

2 years ago I was thinking about doing some kind of videoblog thing. People responded to my first videoblog with lots of feedback. And while I really appreciated that, I’m not sure people understood where I wanted to go with this. I’m not even sure if I knew where I wanted that to go… That’s probably why there never was a 2nd videoblog. Lately I have been thinking about this again. I might have an idea for this… But I’ll first finalize the idea before rushing into that. Again.

11. Do a 365 project again.

Recently, I was able to download all my Flickr photos again. It reminded me of the 365 I did a few years ago. I went on for about 4 months and then stopped because I had (also) planned this very badly but now that I know what went wrong, I should be able to get this thing going again and make a full 365.

12. Create a new reel.

I want to create a new demoreel. My last one still dates back from 2011 so it’s clear I need a new one. Something pretty Ronny...

13. Experiment more.

Man, I love experimenting but lately I just didn’t find the time to do so. That’s seriously annoying and depressing. I used to build stupid experiments all the time just for the kick of doing it. I learned so much and it opened quite a few doors for me. This one means a lot to me.

14. Start building iPhone apps in Objetive C.

I backed the Try iOS course on Kickstarter which also gave me access to the course. That means I have no reason not to learn coding in Objective C and start building my own Fart apps that will make me Richie Rich rich.

15. Go to the gym more often or retake skateboarding (either one will work).

I’m not exactly sure why I’m putting this on this list. Well, at least the gym part. I mean: All of the other items on this list are pretty geek/nerd-related so I thought ‘going to the gym‘ would sound pretty manly… Anyway: I really would like to start hitting the skate park more often again. I still have a skateboard lying somewhere around here, so I should be good.

16. Jump out of an airplane…

…and make it back to the ground alive and well. I have been wanting to do this for years and I’m tired of not being able that I jumped out of a plane. I have bungee jumped a few times now but I have never done a parachute jump. I would totally love to do that!

17. Go bungee jumping again.

Because it’s massive fun! Anyway know about a great jump somewhere in or around Belgium, you let me know!

18. Visit my family more often.

I haven’t seen my mother and my little brothers very often the past year and I miss them a lot. That’s partially my own fault. I’m the kind of guy who plans all kinds of stuff and then forgets to visit his family for weeks (sometimes months)… Really uncool, I know.

19. Publish a new poetry book.

Many years back, I got a poetry book (filled with my own poems) from Dorien (who was my girlfriend back then). It was a really special gift and I still have it. But the poems in there don’t reflect my personality and style anymore. I’m thinking about creating a new one this year.

20. Start creating more content.

In the past 2 years I learned a lot about the social web, about sharing and about creating content. In the past months I’ve been thinking about actually moving towards that creating new content concept instead of finding the good stuff and sharing it via my blog or Twitter account.

21. Laugh more. Bitch less.

I’ve found myself bitching about lots of stuff and I realized that I care too much about stuff that nobody else cares about and then go on and bitch about it. I’m not talking about important details in user interfaces. I mean general negative energy. I don’t like this in other people and I certainly don’t want to be that guy. I always remember that quote from American History X: “Hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time. It’s just not worth it”. I think that pretty much sums it up.

22. Leave the past in the past.

I keep bringing up bad things that happened to me in the past and using it as an excuse to not do certain things. That has got to stop or I’ll end up not having breakfast one day ‘because of something that happened‘…

22. Don’t disappoint myself.

I once wrote about ‘keeping your inner child alive’. Sometimes I feel like I let my inner child down. Since I like to ‘practice what I preach’ I must eat more chocolate. (This is a very cryptic way of saying “I’ll pursue my own dreams more seriously from now on“.)

So there you have it. My very public list of things I really have to do in the next 12 months. I think it’s pretty clear that all of this comes down to 2 things.

Be happy & do more stuff.

And with that I’m signing off. Goodbye 2012.
Hello 2013. Whatup, gangsta?

It takes months to build a new Apple store. In fact it takes years. You have to find a location, you have to get approval for that location, tons of paperwork, design of the store, planning, finding guys that will build and deliver the custom furniture for the store, etc. All of that stuff and the funny thing is: The whole process ends in a massive explosion of work.

That’s exactly what Lab9 Stores did when building their new store in Kortrijk. 7 days to opening and the furniture wasn’t even in place yet. That might unsettle people but apparently that was part of the plan. The furniture was custom-made and was delivered to the store over the course of 2 days in 3 massive trucks. Lab9 wanted to keep people updated on their Facebook page about the progress of the store just a few days before the opening. In order to do that they wanted to create a timelapse of the last important step in the progress of opening the new store.

That’s where I come in: In the past years I have timelapsed just about everything that showed up in my life. This was my chance to actually use this knowledge in a real project. This is what I came up with. The music was provided by SX.

So, the new Google Maps app for iOS came out. I’m pretty sure you installed it and you are using it already. You love it, don’t you? You’re completely happy that Google rushed to the rescue and delivered a great looking app that works so great. You are not alone. Millions of others thought so too. And (almost) nobody wonders: Why was The Mighty Google so eager to help people get a maps app that doesn’t get you lost? For free.

It’s really not free, is it? Let’s see: Google does advertising. And now they have an app on your phone and the main feature is tracking your location. Guess what: Google now knows where you are all the time. And millions of people couldn’t wait to give this information to them.

Really, I love how everyone is always being considering their privacy but almost nobody took one step back and thought to themselves: “Wait a minute… When Apple built this thing, they were in control of the user data… But now this is an app completely controlled by Google. Why would they be so eager to give us this great app on a competing platform?”

Anyway: You might want to check this article to get rid of the tracking and protect your privacy.

For those of you who don’t know Dooodl, my fun little WordPress plugin, read about it here and here.

I was kind of hesitant to post this publicly but it kind of looks as if the last Dooodl update I committed  last week is working out nicely. I contacted a few of the people who were having issues with the saving of the Dooodl to test-run the new Dooodl version. They all came back to me with positive feedback.

So I’m glad to announce that the infamous ‘Dooodls not saving‘-bug is finally gone. However, I’m not the one to take credit for this fix. In fact a commenter posted it on the blog about 2-3 weeks ago. So big thanks to Fischi for his help in fixing this!
Since I’m unable to reproduce the issue, I had no way of finding out if it works. The plugin still works on my blog, so I’m guessing the changes didn’t break anything Thanks to those of you who tested the changes and confirmed it works!

Check it out and let me know if it works for you!

PS: The plugin just reached 6500 downloads a few days ago: THAT’S MASSIVE! Thanks to all of you!
More PS: I just got a tip I should replace the short PHP opening tags by the normal ones and insert closing PHP tags in all files to reduce the chance for errors. Another update should be pushed online soon!

Back to my latest project: I made this little ident for Man VS Pixel both as an exercise in Cinema4D and compositing as well as first additional work in my portfolio in a long time. Feel free to give me some feedback. Since not a lot of people around me are doing 3D and motion graphics work, I don’t have a lot of walls to bounce ideas off. So any critique or suggestion for a next project is greatly appreciated.

PS: For those of you who care: My fulltime freelance career has already found another time-out since I signed for a new job already. I will however keep doing freelance work from time to time this time around .
If you have a project which you’d like to talk to me about, hit me up at info@manvspixel.com