paris

Clowns Sans Frontieres and My Transition to TikTok

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You’ve probably heard of Doctors Without Borders, but have you heard of Clowns Without Borders? I hadn’t, until my first afternoon in Paris in October, 2023, when I was just looking at the Seine and spotted a colourful parade on the other side. It turned out to be La Marche des Nez (Parade or March of the Noses), by Clowns Sans Frontieres, as I found out later. Immediately, I sprang into action to run to the other side to document some of it on my phone. However, something switched in me after I got some pictures, reviewed them with the parade past me, and saw that my pictures didn’t really capture the uniqueness of the experience. As a result, I ran back to the other side with intent to get videos of this parade rather than pictures, with capturing things on video being something I had rarely done before despite having had smart phones for a decade. That might have been the day when I became more of a videographer than a photographer.

Something else switched in me after that, though. Instead of putting it on YouTube or Instagram, I thought I would give TikTok a try to post it there. YouTube didn’t like the vertical video format, of which some footage I got was best shot in, while Instagram had the one minute Reels limitation that didn’t let me fully show more of the experience I was wanting to share. And that, was the moment, I got on TikTok. I wouldn’t grow to like it at the level I do today for a few more months, not being agile to think about capturing moments with video rather than photos, thinking I’d use up all my phone space quickly. However, once I realized I would not, especially if I mostly uploaded and deleted the videos rather than holding on to them like I do with photos, and saw how easy and powerful the TikTok video editing suite was compared to those on every other social media platform I had tried, it was game over for most of those other platforms where I only use them for general communications and a few short posts here or there. That’s even though most people I know on social media are there. It’s not how I build connections and I wasn’t going to let those platforms’ tech limit my creativity, so I just went elsewhere to play, even if just by myself… and I haven’t regretted it, nor do I expect to ever do so. Aside from a few who have earned the respect and privilege, I don’t keep people around who will slow me down. There are tons of people in this world. Find the ones who will help you be your best self, not the self they judge you to be allowed to be.

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If Only Trump’s Dad Had Been So Good at Pulling Out

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So Trump wants to pull out of the Paris Agreement now, after having pulled out of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a whole bunch of his campaign threats, and threatening to pull out of NAFTA, and on and on.

Oh, if only Trump’s Dad had been so good at pulling out…

Least Likely To Facebook Tagging Meme

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After creating my version of the next generation of pictorial Facebook tagging meme in the Most Likely to version,the logical progression was a Least Likely To version below so this is original at the time of posting as far as I know it. While one can use this  poster in a pessimistic way towards tagging people for the future, to identify friends who would be least likely to do something, I meant it as a reflective exercise with the instructions being to tag friends who were least like to do something.

This is an exercise to acknowledge how people change in big ways we don’t expect, but that we should afford them the chance to in life, rather than blocking them in by removing their potential. I’m generally a positive kind of guy, though with a bit of a wicked sense of humour, at times, as you can see by some of my choices in the poster below. As a result, despite using the same poster as the Most Likely to version, I changed the picture text to be more general in some circumstances. We may dream or lift others to the post of president, for example, but in reality, just being a leader applies to far more of us than president, no matter what kind of president you want to consider.

Here’s how to get the new graphic for your Facebook fun:

  • Click on the picture below to get it at full size.
  • Right click on that picture and save to your computer.
  • Upload it to your Facebook profile.
  • Tag your friends!
  • Click the Back button on your browser to return to this post.

Please click here for a complete list of over 100 Facebook picture tagging memes on this site with which you can use for fun with your friends.

 

In case you don’t recognize some of these people, they are as follows, left to right:

  • Top: Peyton Manning, Wangari Matthai, Osama bin Laden, Paris Hilton, Jet Li
  • Middle: Pamela Anderson, Bob Dylan, Oprah Winfrey, the current Dalai Lama, Sue Johannson
  • Bottom: Claudia Schiffer, Martha Stewart, Bill Gates, Anna Nicole Smith, Barack Obama

I’m too tired to put links to all these people but you can Google them, and maybe guess why I’ve put labeled each as such.

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Most Likely To… The Evolution of a Facebook Tagging Meme

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Note: Since this posting, I have evolved Facebook picture tagging memes on my own ideas far beyond this concept I saw. My ideas involve real world and life actions rather than just associating ideas. They are listed under the Action memes category, involving what I call Facebook 2.0 tagging memes.

The pictorial Facebook tagging memes that have been going around in many variations seems to have evolved into that common high school year book feature, the Most Likely To… page. I saw one just hours ago, but it was so poorly done (mostly due to almost unreadable small type) I went and created my own, text, picture compilation and all. Here’s how to get it:

  • Click on the picture below to get it at full size.
  • Right click on that picture and save to your computer.
  • Upload it to your Facebook profile.
  • Tag your friends or let them tag themselves.

Please click here for a complete list of over 100 Facebook picture tagging memes on this site with which you can use for fun with your friends.

In case you don’t recognize some of the people in my new version, they are as follows, left to right:

  • Top: Peyton Manning, Wangari Matthai, Osama bin Laden, Paris Hilton, Jet Li
  • Middle: Pamela Anderson, Bob Dylan, Oprah Winfrey, the current Dalai Lama, Sue Johannson
  • Bottom: Claudia Schiffer, Martha Stewart, Bill Gates, Anna Nicole Smith, Barack Obama

You can Google these people if you want to know more about who they are, and maybe guess why I’ve put labeled each as such.

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