Creating a daily schedule can be a great way to manage your time effectively. Here are some tips:
Coffee Breaks in Office
Identify Priorities: Determine what your non-negotiable tasks are for each day, such as work, childcare, and self-care.
Morning Routine: Starting the day right can make all the difference. Include time for a healthy breakfast, getting yourself and the kids ready, and perhaps even some me-time for a quick workout or meditation.
Work Hours: Schedule your work hours based on your official work schedule. Remember to include time for breaks, and try to batch similar tasks together for efficiency.
Kids Activities: Schedule time for your children’s activities, such as school, homework, and playtime.
Household Tasks: Divide household tasks into manageable chunks and distribute them throughout the week. This could include cleaning, grocery shopping, and meal prep.
Meal Times: Schedule time for meals. Consider meal prep on weekends to save time during the week.
Evening Routine: This is a good time to wind down, perhaps spend quality time with the family, prepare for the next day, and incorporate a bedtime routine.
Self-Care: It’s important to also schedule time for yourself. This could be time to relax, pursue hobbies, or even just to unwind with a good book or TV show.
Flexibility: Your schedule should not be rigid. Leave some blank spaces to handle unexpected tasks or emergencies.
Tools: Use a tool or an app that you are comfortable with. This could be a digital calendar, a planner app, or even a simple notepad.
Remember, the goal is to create a balanced schedule that meets your work commitments, household responsibilities, and personal needs. It may take some tweaking to find the right balance, but that’s completely normal.
Even I do not know why I have lost the sync between my mind, heart and hands. It has always been easy therapeutic to write something especially poetry or a even a blog. But since pandemic hit us I not able to get my this co-ordination back.
This blog is the restart of my blogger, writer and poetess side. Due to lack of time I am not going to extend this blog too much. It’s just that I came back to say hello to you and hope you have been doing good during this pandemic.
We all lost something for good or bad and I think I lost my mind. 🙃🙃
Do you use Facebook business Page to sell your products?
Well, most businesses do.
Facebook Shops is a new feature to make your selling easier through Facebook and Instagram.
Launched on 19th May 2020, Facebook Shops let businesses of all sizes to create a single online store for customers. This store can be accessed on both Facebook and Instagram.
It lets sell directly through their Facebook page or take the visitors to their website. Facebook Shops is powered by third party eCommerce services such as Woo, BigCommerce, and Shopify.
Setting up a Facebook Shop is easy and free.
Businesses can list the products they want to feature and then personalize their store’s appearance with a cover image and colors that represent their brand.
Facebook Shops is available for all vendors, irrespective of their size or budget. They can have an online store and connect with customers anytime.
Customers can access Facebook Shops on a vendor’s Facebook Page or Instagram profile, or through stories or ads. From there, they can explore the products, save items they liked, and place an order—either on the vendor’s website or without checking out the app.
With Facebook Shops, businesses can also provide customer support through messaging on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram Direct. These apps let the customer track deliveries, get help, and ask queries.
Facebook is also looking to facilitate the purchasing directly from a WhatsApp chat, Messenger, or Instagram Direct.
How to Create Facebook Shops using Commerce Manager?
If you have a previous business account as Facebook Page Shop, you can easily add this section. Otherwise, you can use the Commerce Manager.
Commerce Manager is a platform to create a store and manage sales on Facebook and Instagram. This tool lets you choose where you want your buyers to complete their order—on your website, on Facebook, or on Instagram with checkout.
Commerce Manager has many tools and settings such as—
Creating and managing a Facebook shop and collections.
Checking the summary of sales, catalogs, and suggested actions.
Viewing and managing items in a catalog.
Discovering advertising options.
Letting customers buying directly on Facebook and Instagram (for businesses with checkout feature).
Here’s How to Set up Facebook Shops Using Commerce Manager.
Commerce Manager lets you create a store for direct selling through Facebook page (shop with checkout) or take the customers to your shopping site from the page. The steps are different for both purposes.
Here we will explain the steps for both objectives.
First of all, let’s find out how to create Facebook Shops with Commerce Messenger if you want to send buyers to your website to complete the purchase.
Before getting started, make sure to create a commerce account in Commerce Manager.
To create a store on Facebook, you should be a Business Manager Admin and the owner of your Facebook Page. You are also required to have Manage Page permissions for the catalog in Business Manager.
For setting a shop on Instagram, you should be a Business Manager admin and own an Instagram business account, Facebook Page, and catalog. You also need Manage Page permissions to connect the Instagram business account with the Facebook Page. Manage catalog permissions are also required for the catalog.
Set Up Your Store:
This requires you to use your PC to create your shop in Commerce Manager.
Visit Commerce Manager
Choose to Get Started to visit the Create your Shop Page.
Under the Choose a Way to Sell part, choose Create a Shop, and click Get Started.
In the Assets section, upgrade your shop or click +Create a shop.
Move to the Start Setting up your shop section and select Your Website. Choose the Get Started option.
Choose your business section shows a list of Facebook Pages owned by you. Choose the business you would like to add to your store top. Click NEXT.
Fill up an account name and choose a business account as you enter the Account details section.
With the Where people can view your shop section, you can choose Facebook or Instagram to create your shop. Or you can choose both.
The Catalogue section lets you chose an existing catalog or created a new one. Choose NEXT.
Check your shop details, review, and accept the Seller Performance and Accountability Policies. Click Create Your Shop.
Once you set up your shop, you can create a collection of 6 to 30 products. Besides, you can personalize the store with accent colors. It will take 24 hours to publish your shop as Facebook reviews and approves your collection.
How to Create Account If You Want to Let People Shop Directly from Facebook or Instagram?
Commerce Manager also lets you set up a store that allows buyers to shop directly from Facebook or Instagram instead of sending them to another website. This is known as a shop with a checkout. Anyone can explore and buy your products instantly from your Facebook and Instagram accounts. However, this feature is available in the USA and to a limited number of vendors for the time being (as of October 2020)
Before you get started, make sure to sign in to your Facebook account.
Visit Commerce Manager
Choose Get Started to visit the Create your Shop Page
Under the Choose a Way to Sell part, choose Create a Shop, and click Get Started.
In the Assets section, upgrade your shop or click +Create a shop.
Click Get Started for either creating a shop with Commerce Manager or with an e-commerce platform. If you want to choose an e-commerce platform, choose the one from the list. To use Commerce Manager, select Facebook or Instagram.
Review the things required to complete a Commerce Manager account and click Next.
Provide business information; add products and settings; set up Payouts; Submit Instagram account for review (if you use Instagram). Check all the information and make changes. Click Finish setup.
When you are done with the process, visit Commerce Manager to handle your catalog, get educated on the selling tolls and other policies.
It takes up to two weeks for the Shops tab to occur in Commerce Manager while Facebook assesses your account.
Once it occurs, you can add a collection that can include two or more products, personalize your store, and publish your shop. The customers will see your shop once Facebook reviews and approve your collection, which is done within 24 hours.
Some Other Important Features by Facebook for Ecommerce Businesses
Facebook Shops is an exciting feature launched by Facebook to help online businesses. As an added bonus, there are some features provided by Facebook to maximize your sales potential. They can play an important role in your eCommerce campaign management over Facebook.
Lookalike Audiences:
Facebook tells that its “A Lookalike Audience” facility can help “reach new people who are likely to be interested in your business because they’re similar to your best existing customers.”
It is a useful feature for advertisers to maximize their reach by targeting customers with similar interests as their exiting buyers on Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram Ads with Product Tags:
Instagram has been involved in the testing of product tags for organic Shopping posts. Marketers can then use these posts for promotion as ads. Now, they will be able to directly make ads with product tags in Ads Manager without requiring to visit the organic post way first. White dots will be used to show product tags. Product information, including the name and price display, when these dots are clicked. Product tags can also be incorporated to photo, video, and carousel ad formats.
Insights:
Insights feature in Commerce Manager is useful to see how your sales, products, and other things are performing on Facebook and Instagram. Besides, it helps determine how people interact with your products. Make sure to check your insights regularly to see the trends and performance of your shop and offerings.
EXPERT OPINIONS
“We’ve seen live shopping take off in other parts of the world. The pandemic has really changed behavior from a consumer perspective, so we’re moving as fast as we can to bring out these tools to help [businesses respond].”
Vishal Shah, VP of Product at Instagram
“We really hope that our commerce solutions help businesses not only survive but thrive during coming months, and adapt to new consumer behavior,”
Layla Amjadi, Product Lead at Instagram Shopping
“So it makes sense for Facebook to make the purchase process as easy as possible from those profiles. From a business perspective, the obvious goal is to drive more advertising. But it’s also worth remembering that the pandemic’s economic fallout will likely kill off many small business – including the ones that post and advertise on Facebook. So the company has a stake in helping those businesses survive in any way it can.”
Anthony Ha, a senior writer at TechCrunch
“The one thing that we haven’t always done particularly well in the past is provide data that’s actionable for merchants. It’s one thing to share a bunch of data, and it’s another thing to show data that actually could result in product changes — like changes to your Shops, in terms of how it looks or how it’s organized. Most of the [new insights] will be centered around the performance of the Shops. “
George Lee, Director of Product Management George Lee at Facebook
Case Study: Using Facebook Shop to Increase Case Study
Can Facebook Shops really help you boost your sales?
Well, it all takes the right strategy. This case study of a Thai beauty product will tell you all.
(Note: Brand name hasn’t been given for privacy issues)
About the Business:
This Thai fashion brand has been selling women outfits. They decided to take their products to more customers with Facebook Shop. This is more important as they don’t have an eCommerce website.
Objectives:
Showcasing more products to Facebook followers
Selling directly without having them to click to other eCommerce platforms where their products were listed.
Strategy:
Setting up Facebook Store
Targeting the female audience
Running 5 Facebook ad campaigns a month.
Using high-quality product photography
Using social media influencer (within their budget)
Making quick videos on styling and sizing guide
Using snappier captions
Running Facebook Live Videos and Stories
Letting the customers tag their photos in their community tab.
Tagging other businesses in their shoots such as photographer so that they can get a mention by other businesses
Encouraging customers to drop reviews
Providing customer support and responding quickly to the customers’ comments.
The Results
With over 2500 product views and 400 clicks, 80 purchases were made directly through the Facebook page within a month.
50 % of new followers increased.
8X return on ad spend
A QUICK RECAP…
Facebook Shops is a wonderful opportunity you should leverage to boost your sales. Creating Facebook Shops is easy and straightforward. If you have a previous business account as Facebook Page Shop, you can easily add this section. New sellers can create a store using Commerce Manage for letting the customers shop directly through their Facebook page or take them to their website to complete the purchase. To make the most of selling with Facebook Shops, it is recommended to use essential features such as Lookalike audiences, Instagram ads, and insights.
Once you set up your Facebook Shops, make sure to use the right strategies like adding high-quality images of your products and other things to see success.
Hope this information will help you create a successful Facebook Shops account. What do you think? Don’t hesitate to drop your opinion on the comment box given below!
Disha: Lukas you are as explained by BMEzine Encyclopedia; body modification artist, nomadic performer, documentor of the contemporary fringes and one of the major figures of the contemporary underground. Do you agree? And what more can be added to introduce you to the audiences in India?
Lukas: It’s quite a flattering introduction! Yes, I have always been involved in many kinds of subculture. I am what we can call a transdisciplinary artist, meaning I work on a lot of different mediums. I started doing different artistic experimentation back in the 90s before starting to work on the body.
I also do photography as well as documentary and spoken word. I think what can describe the link between all my works is the idea of working with the limits, the boundaries, and the social impact of a work.
I thank you for the opportunity to present my work in India which is a country I was always interested to visit and never had the chance to see so far.
Disha: As I mentioned BME, the fallen king’s death was one of the saddest news for me after he lost BME. I think many do not know/remember him, would you like to say few words about Shannon Larratt.
Lukas: I had a complex relationship with Shannon, he was the first one over sea to support & showcase my work. At the time everyone was on BME.
It was good but also had it’s downside. It was the place to meet talk exchange but at the same time, it was a microcosm through which many were living without having a grasp on reality. Many people tried really hard to exist on bme, to be recognised & recognisable. Even the system of IAM (the social network within BME) was pushing this dynamic to get 15 minutes of fame.
We always disagreed on that and on the consequences among Bod Mod enthusiasts, but we always had a mutual respect. Without BME the scene wouldn’t be what it is nowadays. I felt really sad when I heard Shannon got ripped off of BME by his -at the time- wife and staff.
A lot of questions were still pending, that I never had the opportunity to talk about with Shannon, so when he lost the website I decide to take the opportunity to have a fiar talk with “the fallen king”. I did an interview with him, during which I could point out our disagreements and we could share our POV.
Shannon was a father figure for many, who ended up a little bit lost when he lost the website & passed away a few months after. The scene changed and slowly became an industry. It is hard to say so little about a man who did so much, so if you are interested to read more about him, here is the full interview with Shannon.
Disha: Your performances have evolved a lot over a decade. Can you highlight some advancements that can give the depth of the latest happenings and share your experiences from some of your memorable performances?
Lukas: Though my performance exploration took many ways, I mostly explore body suspensions since the past 15 years.
It started as an exploration and slowly became more and more an “in depth experience”. Though the performances were well received and my work respected, it always felt a bit frustrating for me, often feeling the public was often missing the point as no matter what I tried to express most of the people focused on the hooks, the blood, the pain. In 2009 I started to conceptualise a new approach, trying to find a way to share the experience with the public. In 2011 I found a team of hackers from Italie Spectre who developed for me the programme for a bio feedback performance. That was the first version of Danse NeurAle .
With started to monitor different body responses to the experience (heart beat, breath, brain waves) and used it to create an immersive sound and images installation. The idea was to have the public see the changes inside me during the performance. It worked pretty well, but not as I expected. When we did this first representation I was already on stage as people entered the space, I was equipped with a microphone inside the mask to amplify my breath and a stethoscope for mthe heart beat. I noticed the people arriving, speaking, laughing, but very quickly started to hear my breath, then whispered. Then they could heard my heartbeat and so they became quiet.
I was without realising it at first creating a natural organic connection with the public. I had a fantastic feedback of this performance and for the first time they spoke of the “experience” they had, not about the pain and hooks or blood. But still, I noticed that I was losing something as the public was sitting in front of me watching images projected on screen that put them through an intellectual process. So I redesigned this performance in order to emphasize this organic and intimate connection I had with the public. It took me many years to find a programmer who could understand what I was trying to achieve and willing to work on my performance. In 2018 I met David Chanel from Theoriz (www.theoriz.com) in NYC and again few months after in Tokyo with whom I started to develop Danse NeurAle 2.0. In 2019 I found a venue to present the Beta version. Since a month we are working on a new emulation and have added to the team Remi Cambuzat who is developing a robotic part through which a piece will be created live using also the datas generated during the performance.
In this new version I am in the center of the room and we created a complete immersive environment designed with my body responses through which the public can go through. The lights are changing, sound is evolving & there are abstract representations of my datas all around me. The space become an extension of my inner self, through which the public can wander. An organic experience rather than an intellectual one, at last. From the beginning to the end the public is intimately connected on an emotional level with me.
Disha: I want to talk about the music in your performances. Is it truly being derived from brain? Can you throw some light on this for music enthusiasts. [Please, Share some video as example]
Lukas: Everything is generated by the data we collect during the performance.
The algorithm my team created interprets the information collected (brain waves, blood pressure, body temperature etc) and transforms them into different sounds that change depending on how all those information evolves. We created a basic pattern and the algorithm does the rest.
Here is the link to the first version of Danse NeurAle, as well as the beta version of DNA 2.0 we presented last year here
Disha: It’s very rare we’ll be able to find, can I know who and how does Lukas spend his work break at home? You wear bracelet in your hands can you tell what is it made of and it’s significance in your life.
Lukas: Well ! when work and passion entangle, there is never “off of work” time. I have been living a nomadic lifestyle since +20 years, traveling months at time with my daughter Mayliss, it is a constant reflection of life and thoughts. Traveling is part of my work rhythm, going to new places, encountering people, creating content. Rather it be photography, performance, workshops. China, Canada, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, all those places have the same value to me, they are home away from home, traveling means also to get out of the comfort zone, a concept that influenced & attracted me. It is not an easy path, it’s just the only one I know. I am my own walking manifesto and the bracelet among other artefacts are statements of that. It’s often in Avignon I come back too. Enjoy the amazing culinary culture of South of France. I read a lot -on the phone- about many subjects & books, as well as a lot of cinema. Sports daily, photography often, also I am a great cook! (laught) Always on the move, but never stressed. I like to keep busy with creative stuffs !
Disha: Please can you enlist your tattoos and body modification with any symbolism or any event attached to them.
Lukas: My first tattoo was my arm and chest biomechanical tattoo.
I guess it was some kind of representation of something i had in mind, this hybridization was the first thing that came to me when I did my first piercing. Inspired by comic books & some darker superheroes. Then I started to do bod-mod so it was kind of a logic to do these tattoos, it was really like giving some kind of shape & aspect of this hybridation. After it evolved slowly, I don’t even remember in which order I did the rest of my tattoos (laught).
I know I did my face and hand pretty “late” because it had a lot of impact on the social level. It’s something different. As long as you have a tattoo that you can hide, like under suit -I used to wear a lot of suits- of course I had some piercing and so on, but nothing so visible, there you can still disappear somehow, but when you do the face or the hand, then you go toward something else.
I was in the state for a few months, far from old europe – was then, still isIn the US it was a bit more common to see hand and face tattoos and I knew from my experience it was completely different in europe. I started there to do my implant on the forehand with Steve Hayworth, then tattooed my chin, then slowly my hands – well not slowly actually, pretty fast (laught) Xhead did the work on my hands. He’s one of the pillars of the full Black Tattoo style- When I came back to Europe with really visible modifications, I thought it was going to be something difficult to live with on the regular bases & somehow I discovered it was kind of the opposite.
You know … when you don’t have anything and you start to get tattooed, people try to take you back somehow ”what are you doing?!” “Are you sure?” they always ask. Everybody has opinions about what you should do & how you should do it. Problems & regret you will have because of it, they try to pull you back from it. Somehow, as soon as I arrived with my face & hands I was “on the other side” already, so suddenly I had less problems.
For me these tattoos are important. I use symbolic for everything, all my tattoos have a meaning, something metaphorique i couldn’t say “this tattoo is this, this tattoo is that” but to me they all mean something.
They are all a part of a story I want to tell to myself and also to the spectator, the witness.The people will see my tattoo & Bod-mod, it communicates ideas about oneself Our body communicates: the way we use our body, the way we walk, the way we dress, everything.
It’s like a dialogue through body language, so somehow the tattoo is a part of this, i guess. Or maybe something else, something more.
Yes, my tattoos are meant to create something inside or outside me, something I want to keep forever in my memories, or some coat I want to use to create interaction with others.
Often people say “yeah the problem with tattoos, it closes a lot of doors & opportunities” when actually the only doors that are closed are ones I anyway didn’t want to open. To be honest it opened me much more doors than I could have imagined.
I Am lukas Zpira because of my tattoos & because of body modification, I am answering this interview because I have these tattoos and body modification, I do a lot of things because of that. It opened a lot of doors, the dialogue with many people I would never have had the chance to speak with.
Disha: Bødy hacktivism or body hacking is coined by you (who else could have done that) can you write few words for someone who knows nothing about the world of body modifications or suspensions?
Lukas: That’s a pretty interesting and complex question!
Body modification and body hacktivism are pretty much two sides of the spectrum. The history of Body Modification starts with the beginning of humanity, humans always transformed themself one way or the other: scarification, tattoos, from every culture, every part of the world, people used to transform the body.
Using the body as a tool to other means, the purpose wasn’t to modify the body in itself but to mark something, a rite of passage, done often as a ritual or to heal. To create a print in the mind through the work on the body as a means to get to the soul. All these cultures have been lost, pretty much with the religions of the books arrived, they whipped out those practices to put new rituals and took the sacred we had in us. Decentralising the body. Putting the sacred it in churches, temples, or whatever. We have been ripped off from our spirituality somewhere in the process.
Let’s move forward to back in the 1970’s with Fakir Mustar. A Californian guy, who starts to take all sorts of traditional practices, gathering all the information he could see in magazines such as Nat Geo and books. He recreated practices such as Suspension-For those who don’t know about suspension, to break it down it is about putting hooks in your body and getting suspended by those hooks. The ritual is not about the pain involved but overcoming it to access higher spiritual grounds, this particular form refers to Native American.
From there he reproduces it, kind of instinctively. Out of necessity.
Others were also attracted by that kind of practice, and slowly it created a movement : the modern primitive, which was the first movement to bring back this culture to us. It was interesting, that was pretty much the birth of modern body modification. I don’t feel connected to the modern primitive though I acknowledge and appreciate the movement because it put in light all those possibilities of practices.
For me the problem with the mod primitive is the cultural appropriation, of course it wasn’t met with bad intention, Fakir was bringing back this practice out of a need, a will to express himself, challenge himself but by doing so he was using rituals that belonged to other cultures. Taking the shape but leaving the meaning somewhere lost, still. Meaning has always been important to me, I was looking for my own meaning, that’s how I came to create the Body Hacktivism movement.
When I started to do body modification I never looked thorward the past Though I had been inspired by fakir musafar and by Leni Riefenstahl pictures in Africa, and lot of different thing we could discover through the magazines and book, it was the only hint we had to go by, there was no internet, none of this kind of practices around. So slowly bod mod came to be kind of popular as a white culture. Cause if you look at the it’s mostly white / hispanic.
The bod mod as we apprehend it now is different, is something that came to us not really as looking back to the past and trying to reproduce it, but a way to find something that has been stolen from us, this spirituality we had in ourselves. All these rituals that the tribes and primitive culture were practicing had a purpose. When we lose all these practices & those rituals we lose the purpose, and we all look for a purpose. From there people all around the world started to do/get body modifications. Of course at the beginning olny few around Fakir, a new wave started from there, back in the beginning of the 90s were all these practices started to become very popular. Piercing, tattoo, scarification, suspension. Around then Steve Hayworth created the implants, Sanon Laratt started BME, I started to practice and few around the world. Slowly but surely it became a big movement.
I was searching for meaning; questioning myself, my future and what i was going to become. Understanding my past self and what I am made of, canalyse all these energy in me, get read of what I need to, and go toward what i wanted to become. It wasn’t just the transformation of a body but the change of a self.
To be modified was changing a lot of things on a social level. I came across different texte that influenced me a lot, like Stelark. He was more inspired by hybridization, those practices being for him a way to bind with the machine and challenge the body, to become one with the machine. Testing the body in its strength or weaknesses.
I invited him in early 2000 for a conference at my private atelier in Avignon – where I live in the south of France.
The town was one of the cities to represent the European culture that year, the theme of the city was the Body. I was approached by the city as I started to be a little bit known, somewhat “popular”. I proposed to start questioning the body -or maybe to answer- all the questions I had about these challenges in regard to being modified in the modern world.
I invited various sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists at round table over the course of 6 month, to try to question a little bit everything about the body. That was Art-Kør 00.
Even before that, there was a texte from Arthur and Marilouise Kroker she wrote that caught my mind, something about the Data Flesh. As I mentioned before I was always admirative of human hybridization and the data flesh stuck with me. I started to realise somehow we are hacking the body, like on a computer. Going inside the system and changing what we want to. The ideas of hacking became evident, from there I started to use the word Bødyhacking to explain what we were doing. I went to japan for the first time, and met Rihyochi Maeda who was -and still is- the chief editor of Burst Magazine, he was documenting through it all kinds of subculture and of course body modifications.
I met Maeda at the first Mod Con that was organised by Shannon in Toronto in 99. In japan we started to talk about the singularity of my work and about ways to give definition to what we were doing & wanted to achieve with it. In 2004 I wrote the Bødy Hacktivist manifesto to define body modification as a form of hacktivism.
In the early days it wasn’t like I was craving to do a suspension. It came quite later for me. I went to the state and met Steve, who with him did my first suspension, on a rooftop in Arizona. When I was suspended up in the air, someone asked me “How do you feel?”
I said: Like a butterfly.
That was the feeling that moment left on me. Afterward I took the process for granted and forgot to take the time & put spirit into my suspension & modification. Then it’s when Iost a bit myself on the way. Doing too much suspension, in not so great places, with terrible vibs.
It took a toll on me, I was washed out. Again in the USA I met an older woman, she was descending from local Native tribes and proposed to help find what I had lost. She was my shaman and it’s her who introduced me to rituals. From there I really embraced the ritualistic approach in my performances, tacking on various forms throughout the years. My latest experimental work DNA is still an evolving piece.
D.Q. The world is going through unimagined scenario of COVID-19 pandemic. Your thoughts about it and how is your world of body modification going through it?
Ans. It is difficult to have an opinion. I am looking at the world falling apart, as I saw it coming and many of us did. Cyberapokalips nightmare That we saw the same books of science fiction that helped us to become cyborg or go toward that, we already knew the world as we know it is going to an end. Can be a pandemic but it can be anything, there is war everywhere around the world, and inside every country. People fight each other, religions fight each other, whatever is different from the other people are fighting for it. We can just acknowledge what is going on and try to do our best to go through all the storm but it is going to be a long storm, but as everything bad it inspires something good so it opens the eyes of some people to other alternatives, giving the will to others to try something new. Anyway that is something that’s going to happen, there is no one truth. The new ways of thinking, of living this world, and with each other that’s what’s going to make the change. Because anyway it’s something that is going to happen, but the change is going to be long and difficult.
The bod mod scene has also evolved with that idea that the human as we know it is not going to be the same, and thinking of this new human identity. It was a lot about that, and still is. The scene is going through this. The bod mod scene is born from that. This re-appropriation of ourselves, of the world, and try to make something new in it. It was through an individualisation, a specification: Become Yourself.
Not against others or without each other, but be good & feel good with yourself then you can resonate in the world in a better way. It is always easier to express yourself in a healthy world when you don’t need to worry about everyday life and you can start to think. Think for yourself, about yourself & the world and so on. At the moment people don’t think about how they survive, they think of going through what they have to, it’s a difficult time for everyone.
It is not really a time of self expression, though everyone as an individual is looking for a solution.
Disha: Explain the process of your performance? How much hard work is involved?
Lukas:It all evolved from a concept, the first version of DNA (see question 3&4) was created in 2009 and presented for the first time 2 years later. It wasn’t as difficult at the time I had a sponsor to back up the idea & a venue to present it.
Changes needed to be made, I searched for ways to evolve in a more organic connection and that involved creating a new setting, re-programming all the sofware, aquire the hardware, that was where the problems started.
Spectre – the digital tech behind the performance- were too busy to be fully invested in the project & will all those changes time was needed. I had to find a new team, new funds, and a new venue. It took me 8 years to be finaly to present the newest version. Then i met David who was willing to work on the performance, and for a few months we chatted about it. After long and difficult searches I found the venue where we could finally test run the DNA 2.0. I self found the whole process and still on my own regarding many aspect of this work. We are in constant evolution of the concept, have hadded members to our team, and though having now few emulation of the performance, havent been able to present yet the concept as a whole.
The constant search for finances to devellop such work or simply to find a venu where to work and present it is a real problem and constant struggle.
The data collected during this performance has immense value for reaserchers from many feild… thats an option we are now exploring.
As of now, there are not many places worldwide that have the will to support, finance & showcase the kinds of cutting edge performance I wish to create. We have yet to find an Artistic residency in a place somewhere in the world where we could work few month on the performance development and present it as I imagine it. I got the opportunity to present Danse NeurAle 2.0 beta version last year at L’Ardenome in Avignon, a place dedicated to digital art, but it was a one shot and had only two days in the venue to make it happen.
Discover more in depth infos about the performance Danse NeurAle
Disha: Have you achieved what you wanted to or there are still something pending?
Lukas: I wrote one day : “Which caterpillar would think of flying before becoming a butterfly”. When i started i was still a caterpillar so imagine what becoming a butterfly would be. I couldn’t plan anything, I just wanted to change, to evolve. I didn’t know what was after nore what to expect. Where it would take me. It’s an ongoing process. I change a lot, evolve a lot, but I still have a lot of time for more evolution. (laught) More transformation & Experiences.
The following texte is one of my many writings you can find across my social media, ideas scribbled alongside photos of my avatar floating around in the matrix.
“Everyone who witnesses it, from close or through the image they create of us has an opinion about our life. What we should do and have done or not, how we should do it or have done it or not and so on. But at the end, we are the one living it, the one facing the consequences or getting the benefits of our choices.
Though we should pay attention to those opinions as they give us the big picture of our social appearance, they shouldn’t be more than a parameter, an echo reflecting the vibration of our existence, but they should not guide us on the path we follow.
Yes I made a life of radical choices that made me see the best and the worst in myself, in others and of the world I’m living in. I have been as often admired for what they see as my success than blamed for what they imagine to be my failures. I have had friends or often people I never had the chance to meet supporting me when needed the most and expecting it the less – I have had supposed to be friends, people I thought were on my side – sometimes “forever”, some I wish i would have never met, some I hope I won’t ever, praying hard or at least expecting me to break.
Here I stand.
Whatever path we follow eventually takes us to the same point. Maybe when we cash out, life presents us the bill.
Then what ?
The answer may lie in the ability we have to keep our integrity and live as close as possible from our dreams even if we never managed to achieve them. Because at least we tried, no matter what, and managed to transform the good and the bad, everything that could have felt as regrets into unforgettable life experiences from which we shape ourselves and the world around us. “
Social networking has rapidly become one of the most critical facets of digital marketing, offering unparalleled rewards that can attract potential customers globally. And if you don’t use this lucrative tool, you’re losing a fantastic publicity tool, since it makes it easier to spread awareness about your brand and purpose. Other than brand awareness your goals could be-
Boosting Brand Engagement
Social Customer Service
Generate New Leads
Laying the foundation for the business community
Increase or Drive traffic to your website
Credit: hootsuite.com
Customize Your Content accordingly
It is crucial to keep in mind that not every social media is the same. Preferably, you would need to personalize the content for each platform.
Credit: Marketer.com
Instagram
With over 500 million daily active users and 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram has an incredible marketing power. Instagram is an entirely image-based social network platform, so you’ll need to share intriguing, appropriate photos, and short video clips. You could even incorporate these to create a story, which would have the edge of staying at the top of your audiences’ feeds, instead of being forgotten in repeated posts. The best time to post on Instagram would be around Wednesday noon hour and Friday 10 am -11 am
Twitter
With over 1.3 Billion accounts, Twitter is a social media giant. Twitter seems to have a self-imposed constraint – you cannot type more than 280 characters in a single tweet. That’s why the information needs to be brief, crisp, and to the point. You could include links in twitter posts and hashtags. Make sure you do not exceed more than two. Tweets with pictures have a far better response than the ones without. The best time to post on Twitter would be on Fridays and Wednesdays at 9 am.
LinkedIn
With 44% year over year growth, marketing solutions continue to be LinkedIn’s most rapidly growing segment. LinkedIn is a strictly professional social media network, so you’ll need to make sure that all the articles, posts, and information you share are appropriate for the audience. LinkedIn Users often read opinions and articles on LinkedIn expecting to enlighten themselves, mostly everything that can improve matters surrounding their professional lives. The best time to post on LinkedIn would be Wednesdays from 8 am to 12 pm, Thursdays and Fridays at 9 am.
Facebook
holding almost 93% of entirety, Facebook is Social Media Advertisers’ favorite platform. Social media posts on Facebook may be lengthier than tweets, but don’t ever overdo them. People are so quickly put off by a long essay-like text.
It’s always a fantastic strategy to add a few personal comments, even if you’re posting unique content. Short clips do well on Facebook. Attach a picture or video to each Facebook post, and then link it to your article. Reference posts are often doing great on Facebook. Contrary to popular belief, weekends have the least traffic. The best time to post on Facebook would be on Wednesdays between 10’o’clock in the morning to 3 in the afternoon.
Pinterest
Pinterest is also quite photo-focused. Even so, customers Pin pictures on themed boards. So you would need to start concentrating on your Pinterest content around with a “pinnable” image. Pinterest can be fantastic for inventively spotlighting products, especially if you have a female-dominated intended audience.
Realistic Goals
Among the most severe obstacles posed by many companies engaging in social networking is that they have rarely invested time establishing specific and practical social media marketing targets. They acknowledge they ought to be on social networking sites, but they don’t realize why they’re there. Goal-setting marketers are far more likely (376%) to succeed
Your social networking content strategies ought to integrate with your business plans as a whole. Preferably, you might want to have realistic targets on how you expect your company to grow. Your social network advertisement strategies will support the overall company objectives. Make sure your targets are –
Attainable
Relevant
Specific
Time-bound
Measurable
Organize and Plan your content
Organized marketers are 397% more likely to garner success. Regardless to say, if you want to be influential across social media, you’ll need the best quality content there is to post. One of several most significant errors that companies commit is the distribution of unnecessary advertising content. Note, social networking sites are supposed to be sociable – they’ve never been designed to be a platform for you to advertise your products and services.
You ought to harmonize the content you post publicly to blend insightful and fun products, with a minimal percentage of advertising material included.
You would always need to post the content that is of relevance and importance to other users.
This is perhaps the most crucial factor why most of the influencers have achieved this title. They fully understand their target well and build strong content to be of value to their fans. You ought to do the same thing as a company. It would be best if you also consider any constraints that you may encounter while creating content. For instance, you wish to run a YouTube for your company. It is an excellent idea if you have the relevant content, but it would backfire if you do not have the right staff, resources, skills, and, most importantly, all the time in the world to invest for a successful YouTube channel.
Carefully pick and understand your target audience
One of the really frequent pitfalls created by companies on social networking platforms is to believe that all users and followers should be perfect for them. There is a valid explanation for why analysts favor numerical follower numbers and label them vanity metrics. There’s no sense in getting anyone as a follower when he’s not going to be curious about the content you post.
Not all social networking members are the same. Various forms of users use social media in a variety of ways. If you’re trying to achieve your targets, you ought to utilize the same social networking platforms as the intended audience.
Correspondingly, if you plan to partake in influencer marketing, you ought to determine that you approach influencers whose followers suit your targeted market.
You could be a mid-thirty professional who’s using Twitter. That being said, if you do not directly suit the target audience of your company, you cannot simply presume that your clients would always invest their time on Twitter.
Choose suitable Social Media Networks for Your intended audience
Some people are concerned about how they’re going to aim to sustain energy and time to manage accounts on any social media platform. In certain situations, you should not have to do so. You have to pick the suitable social media platforms for your company. You ought to get to know the social networking sites where the target audience invests their valuable time.
You will have to do some homework first to figure out where the target audience is hanging out. This isn’t expected to be too complicated, especially if you understand your audience. If you still don’t get that, you may get a survey done about their favorite social media networks.
You could perhaps begin with the most popular network among your audiences and then extend to involve those where a relatively significant number of active social media accounts run. Even so, you wouldn’t have to move past three or five social media platforms.
Analyze Your Competitors social media approach
Many businesses do not operate independently. You’re typically going to have competitors that are often managing a networking campaign. You’re certainly going to have to learn what they’re planning (and executing). What’s the primary objective? Who is their target audience? What are all the keywords through which they intend to influence?
You must immediately do a competitive review to help you fully grasp their attributes and shortcomings. This would give you a clearer idea of what future clients expect from your company.
All in all, it’s beneficial and useful to develop a social media strategy such that you don’t merely share content solely for the sake of publishing content. It’s going to help you reach your social network and market targets.
Implementing a marketing strategy through social networking is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges because it needs you to step away and review at the larger picture. It would be best to move your attention away from your everyday activities, such as managing and reacting to feedback to the higher-level thought process. However, with the tips mentioned above and tactics, you would be able to bring forth your A-game.
“Louis Vuitton is known for two things – quality craftsmanship and a symbol of luxury that never goes out of style.” The Market Herald
(Flashback)
It was somewhere in 2007, when I wrote about the Louis Vuitton Tribute Patchwork bag. I tried hard to trace the link of that blog post but I think I lost it. Anyways, that time I remember every blogger was writing hate-stories about it. It was a limited-edition, where only 24 pieces were crafted. Marc Jacobs (designer) was ridiculed for designing such bag, “He makes ‘editorial’ bags that the magazines will talk about and then he can sell the regular bags based on the hype.” Kelly Cook of Bagsnob.com (now SnobEssentials.com)
In that blog post of mine I tried very hard to show some love to LV but I could not and wrote an article titled The astoundingly priced ugly LV Tribute Patchwork Bag…
Fiber-optic wonder – the Louis Vuitton Keepall Light Up
(Today May, 2020) I was on a regular shopping mode where my eyes wide opened to see the show stopper of LV Men’s Fashion Week 2019 Fall Winter in Paris – Louis Vuitton Keepall Light Up designed by Virgil Abhol. Yes, it might be stale news for some, but I saw it and I am going to write about it. My blog my rules 😉 LOL!
Atmosphere during the Louis Vuitton Menswear Fall/Winter 2019-2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 17, 2019 in Paris, France.
Anyways, those who admire LV as a brand has seen its evolution and experimentations that have been equally appreciated and discouraged by the people and critics. In recent years, the monogram has undergone several manifestations as artistic directors have bid to put their own stamp on the house. First came Marc Jacobs, who enlisted the help of Stephen Sprouse and applied roses to the beloved Keepall bag in 2001. Jacobs followed that up with a Takashi Murakami collaboration, yielding the Multicolore handbag that soon became an “it” item among the Hollywood elite. It might have been nearly two decades ago, but Jacobs laid a street foundation that would change the course of the house’s modern history.
The House of Louis Vuitton has been driven by its desire to explore new horizons and give new definitions to the luxury. Luxury that is everlasting.
Last year, at Louis Vuitton’s Paris Fashion Week menswear show 2019, Virgil Abloh put his own unmissable light on the monogram and introduced us to their fiber-optic wonder – the Louis Vuitton Keepall Light Up.
SPECIFICATIONS
It is a cabin size masterful reimagining of LV’s original soft travel that light up to display a luminescent version of the iconic Monogram motif. Activated and controlled by a smartphone app, the colors can be adapted to one’s look. The innovative jacquard weave of optic and synthetic fibers makes this bag as beautiful with the lights off as on.
With a cowhide-leather trim, matte-black hardware, double zip closure with padlock, adjustable and removable leather strap, leather nametag, and leather handle fastener; it is a sheer luxury for oomph.
There is an inside central zipped pocket with inside side zipped pocket to protect battery as well.
And it weights around 2kg including battery when it’s empty. You can comfortably pack your stuff for a week’s travel.
PRICE
PRICE of Louis Vuitton Keepall Light Up is around 17.20 lacs INR or you can say approx. 1900 Euros.
WATCH FULL SHOW : Louis Vuitton Show Video, Paris. Men’s Fall – Winter 2019
It’s true! Men is know by the company he keeps… same is the case here. Today, I’m going to write a confession post of a partner who understood how gradually couples start to shout and yell at each other. And why you are taken for granted over a certain period of marriage.
Especially during this phase of lockdown the vent outs have increased further. There is confinement, work stress, distressed news updates and anxious thoughts about future.
But when I look back at our table talks with friends I see that it had become usual sight that couples sit and complain/pass subtle insults about each other in front of friends though it is casual but it is socially accepted now. Jokes are cracked and now this whole scenario of husband and wife tiffs have become a content of regular mainstream jokes.
It’s just okay if one yells at other and other is poking for one task or other. But have you (couples) ever paused and thought… do you like it? Do you loose your cool when being provoked/poked or this thought never came to you that why we loose our cool most of the times.
I sat down overnight to rewind my marriage of over a decade and brought few points that were worth addressing. Every moment was noted and analysed. Yes, we have changed or you can say evolved but I think it’ll be a worth read for you.
Ours was a Love marriage full of love and respect. Love still persist but over period of time respect is drying drip by drip. What happens is that when we have been together one of the partners automatically becomes a listener Oh! that never happens, I correct it here, one partner closes door to react whatever noise or fault-findings are done by other partner. So, when one is not overreacting to other comments it creates a pattern where one becomes a fault-finder and other ignores what is being said. Gradually, it becomes a vicious cycle where ones mind blocks whatever is being said by other, this blockage brings repetition of words by other partner as she never got any assertive reaction. So, many words are put in repetition to explain what had just happened … where if the other partner explains or answer nicely the situation there will be very less repetition of blame game. Here, I give you an example, husband for the geyser on after taking a bath and it happens everyday, wife points out he does not react… Then she keeps putting so many words to explain the importance of switching off appliances when not in use, and all the stories of past ignorance also build up and brought forward. Whereas, solution can be when wife points out about the geyser left on, husband can simply reply oh! will take care in future! End of conversation.
And, one point which I mentioned in beginning of this article about you are known by the company you keep; as well proves itself true, when one partner is mostly shouting for every small or big issue – over period of some years it seeps into the behavioural of other partner as well and similar loud reactions are received. Which comes as a jolt.
Another reason that I strongly feel is that we become friends and say out whatever comes in mouth – which needs a big check! This can only be checked by highly respecting the partner. It is very important. The reason for most couple-fights is nothing but lack of respect over period of time! And they just start to live in this disrespecting environment.
During this distressing phase of lockdown it is difficult to measure a problem as big or small. We know there are truly many big problems in the world but for us who are at home during lockdown broken slipper (flip flop) became a major concern since many days.
Then I found that many of my family and friends were sailing on the same boat. For them and other people frustrated with broken chappal/slipper/flipflop this is going to be pretty helpful.
Steps and Process of DIY – fixing broken Flip Flop
Take a carry bag cut the handles as shown in the video. We’re going to use the bag handles as the toe thongs of the strap. These handles are water proof so for me this was the best available option at home apart from thread/cloth piece.
Quickly cut the toe thong smooth to leave the Y-strap looking like V-strap. Remove the knob under the sole. It was difficult to do this in Crocs so I simply used my pair of scissors to do so.
Next I half folded the handle and ran it through the V-shaped strap to make it Y-shaped again and pushed the bag handle inside the toe thong knob hole.
Finally, I tied a thick and strong knot underneath the sole. Cut-off the extra material. And you have a survival slipper/flipflop ready.
Takeaway, If you can remove whole Y-shaped strap then simply take bigger piece of material measure it across the toe thong hole and the holes near the heel. Simply like a ribbon pass through toe knob hole, bring them upwards and tie underneath both holes at the back separately to make perfect Y-shaped strap.
It is a place where I was born and I love every bit of it whether it is the forest, the weather, the people, the bakeries, the fashion, the Mall road, the schools, the college, the rhododendron flowers, the morning daisies, the hills, the roads, various temples, the fruits, the fresh vegetables, the office alarm siren, my true friends… I can go unstoppable! 🙂
It has taught me everything. Even tough I have been living in some other place my love for Shimla has not demised. In fact it has become deeper.
There is so much to do in Shimla but this time we just had one day so we only planned our visit to the Mall Road.
Whenever in a rush we make our feet upto these 7 best places near Shimla, Mall road and we would like to share with all our readers that we never miss!
1. A quick stroll from one corner that is Marina (near CM residence) to Scandal Point further to city point. Enjoying the crowd, the similar faces and the tick tock of travellers. The fresh air and that touch of royalty makes the walk a charming experience.
Night View Mall Road Shimla
Stroll at Mall-Road
2. Must visit Trishool bakery and eat uncountable chocolate pastries. Being a chocolate lover, I can assure you that you would never get that kind of authentic taste anywhere in the world!
Also, it is one of the best places as recognized by local celebrities like Preity Zinta.
This time I tried their Japanese pastry on being suggested by this man standing behind us, you won’t believe he has been serving people for over 45 years. It is a must-visit-place of all my relatives and have been serving the same quality throughout these years. Simply Remarkable!
Trishul Bakery Shimla
Trishul Japanese Pastry Shimla
3. Then my favorite shop Minerva Book House locals just say ‘Minerva.’ My school books were bought from there. And now I buy books for my son Aditya and ourselves. This shops’ display window in itself is very close to my heart. They have very cool stuff you would surely enjoy exploring.
We love books and make sure we make visit to Minerva, just because we do not want to miss the charm of discovering and selecting the best collection of hard copies through a book store – than just being a tech savvy and ordering a book online 😀
We want the book stores to Stay and survive!
Minerva Book House Shimla
Minerva Book House Shimla, Image Credit – Aman Dhayal
4. Coffee time! how can VarDish live without coffee. So have to find the best brew somewhere on the Mall Road, Right? So which place can be better then Combermere “Cafe Sol”
Combermere Cafe Sol Shimla
Combermere Shimla
I tried their Cafe latte and Varun went for his all time favourite “A tale of two chocolate” (A chocolate based coffee with orange flavour).
5. Marina Hotel is so apt for nice lunches or work over meals. “Work from Marina” what VarDish calls the place! Sit down, Eat and relax in the beauty of mountains while doing your daily technical chores.
6. How can we miss the ice cream and specially the softy at Embassy, near the lift. I eat my legendary favourite Twin softy and Varun buys chocolate cone I might be forgetting the name i.e. chocolate cone filled with vanilla ice cream!
Ice cream Embassy Shimla
Also, with this I would like to add new small cafe named as “Wood Street Cafe” at Lakkar Bazzar – if you have a taste bud of that home-styled sandwiches and pizzas.
Wood Street Cafe Shimla
7. At last, Dont forget to visit ‘Thakur Bhrata’ for pickle and murabbas, surmas, etc
Thakur Bhrata Shimla, Image Credit – Facebook
You can as well try locally made wine, I bought sparkling wine apple flavour. Just for the sake of trying, I won’t buy it again.
Note: If you are a person like us who loves Food, Coffee, Travel, Books, Super Bikes, Dogs, Body Art, Games and Life. Then do comment, share and subscribe to our Blog. For more stay tuned!
I feel & hear the dug-dug-dug-dug of this chopper over my head. I dunno why there is a feeling of World War in near future! 🤞
This thought is the result of recent episode towards Jammu & Kashmir. Being an outsider I feel it’s good but I do not know the scenario there… One side as a trivial spectator I feel encroachment in a way and on other side I feel this was the only solution. I pray 🙏for peace to every family in Jammu & Kashmir.
Sharing my experince in Kashmir: People there, whom I met, do not like India or Hindus. They referred Kashmir as another country. My driver was not ready to take us to Holy Shrine of Shankaracharya Temple, and the security system into the temple self explained the hardship army is facing to protect that temple.
On Dal Lake one shikaara guy said “jitna paise ka aid Government ko milta hai, agar usmeise woh log 20% bhi dal ki safai pe laga dein toh bhi kafi hai!” He mentioned this when I said why do people come to Dal Lake when it is so unclean…
So, this might be good as well as bad, god knows but we always pray for peace and happiness to all.