As 2010 draws to an end and 2011 is about to begin, I stand at this nexus and ponder about the perception of time. Many philosophers have pondered about the nature of time. Aristotle speculated that time itself is motion. He contradicted himself by suggesting that motion could be slower or faster but not time. Ofcourse, he did not have the knowledge of Einstein's relativity in which time is subject to change. Writer and physicist Paul Davies has called "time" Einstein's unfinished revolution. Philospher John Ellis McTaggart observed that present is the most real perception of time however almost all of that we perceive as the present is already past. The present is a fleeting moment, whatever is happening now (present) is confined to an infinitesimally narrow point on the time line which is being encroached upon by what we think of as the past and the future. Hence the famous idiom, there is no time like the present.

Catapulting to present, today is the 363rd day of the year, two days before we welcome 2011. At this point in time, I express my gratitude to my friends, families and contemporaries for their encouragement and benevolence. My readers from Amsterdam to Azerbaijan: Thank you. I am not a writer. Yet, your enthusiam has prompted me to explore this introverted expression. My superiors: Thank you for believing in me even when I failed desperately. My friends and clients: Thank you for travelling with me even when the destination was not clearly mapped out. Skyline: Thank you for the innovative products that you have brought to the trade show arena.

As I muse over time, I travel to the future and find myself exploring some exciting avenues. My logic knows time to be a continous present, however, it is the future that is the convenient place for my dreams.

Happy New Year. Wishing you all very well.

The goddeses of the spirit who inspire the creation of the arts, the sciences and the very intelligence of creation itself is what we call muse. It is the underlying force that compels us to be greater than who we think we are. It is the source of our inspiration.
In Greek mythology, muse has been attributed to the characteristics of the 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; keeper of the arts and the sciences. One of the daughters, Calliope, is best known as Homer's muse, the inspiration for Odyssey and Illiad. Likewise, Urania is the “heavenly muse” invoked in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost. Through out the ages, mankind has always saluted this inner knowledge as the driving force for all their creative pursuits.

As we are closing in on one year and embarking on another, I dared to embark on this journey, to find out if there is a methodology to musing. It would be foolish of me to think that I can wrap it up in a neat little package, when so much has been researched about it. Yet, I believe, if we start with a very simple belief system, we are well on our way to be the creators monolithic greatness.

1. Expel the "t" from can't. Always explore can. See how far it takes you.
2. Repel Negativity like the Black Plague.
3. Enjoy the basics. Marvel at this simple fact; your body does not skip a heart beat nor it forgets to breathe no matter what the physical and the environmental challenges are.
4. Read, Read, Read. Learn from famous biographies and the works of Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson, Joseph Campbell to name a few.
5. Mobilize your inner smile. Cultivate mind mapping.

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”....... Yoga Sutra by Patanjali

Our belief system dictates us in setting our aims and achieving our goals. Michelangelo reminds us: “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

The term bi•zarre |biˈzär| means odd, eccentric and strikingly out of the ordinary. The bizzare is the construct of our creative, nonconformist right brain. It is absolutely absurd, crazy, nonsensical, preposterous. It is unreal. It is wild. It is fanciful. It is the bizzare that creates movements and sets trends. An example is The Dada (movement or more of a non-movement) that began in Zurich in reponse to the insane killings of World War I. The movement was spearheaded by people walking in the bizzare.  Artists, poets, writers, intellectuals all concerted their efforts on anti-war politics by denouncing the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Their purpose was to taunt what they considered to be the nonsensical nationalism, rationalism, materialism and any other -ism which they felt had contributed to a senseless war. An example of the outrageous Dada art is the painting of Mona Lisa with a mustache by Marcel Duchamp.

As crazy as it sounds, the movement chose the name “Dada” by inserting a slip of paper into a French dictionary. It so happened that the paper landed on the word dada, which happens to mean a hobbyhorse or child's toy. A bizarre idea to create non-art moved on to be a powerful influencer of avant-garde, downtown music, surrealism, Nouveau réalisme, pop art, Fluxus and punk rock.

We are in an age of bizarre mass media homogeneity. Very often, we are concerned about the market approval rather than our inner consent. As easy as it is to follow the trend and become a part of mediocre mainstream, it is crucial as designers and thought leaders to step out of the proven path of mediocrity and experience the backroads of bizarre....there is only one rule. Never follow any known rules. You will be amazed! 

I owe this indulgence in the bizarre to a bizarre blog that I had come across a few days ago. It seems like the writer, if even for a moment happend to realize the illusive nature of our universe.

In Latin, December means the tenth month. History dictates that in 700 BC, the Roman King Numa Pompilius moved the beginning of the year from March and added January and February. From here on, the nameless dark stretch contributed to the 12 month Gregorian calendar as we now know.

December to me, is the month of instrospection and reflection. It is a white canvas in waiting. White is the merging of all that it is. It is light. It aids mental clarity, evokes purification of thoughts and enables fresh beginnings. It is intellectual intelligence that requries us to go through such a period of "whiteness" before creativity manifests itself in the form yellow daffodils, in early spring.

"The first of all single colors is white ... We shall set down white for the representative of light, without which no color can be seen; yellow for the earth; green for water; blue for air; red for fire; and black for total darkness."– Leonardo Da Vinci

The Room gives us an exclusive experience in white. Designed by Toronto-based Yabu Pushelberg along with The Bay CEO Bonnie Brooks, the 1858 sqm space uses white as color base, punctuated by polished metal, glass, chandeliers and geometric curves to showcase its wares. The design changed and transformed the perception of space as we understand in retail. Launched in October of last year at a cost of $3.8 million, the refurbishment saw the doubling in size of the store’s iconic St Regis Room to create The Room. It now encompasses more than 70 high fashion labels and European lines, some of which are exclusive to The Bay.

Smart, effective and timeless white ensures endurance and resilience–a key layer to any design classic!