Although I haven’t made up my mind regarding whom I’ll be voting for in the next French Presidential Election, however, Emmanuel Macron is on top of my list at this point. He’s the only one that I’m not against, by default.

So it’s pretty exciting to see him:

  • Live on Bloomberg.
  • Talking with a good level of international english, compared to the majority of french politicians and top-level executives out there.

https://www.bloomberg.com/api/embed/iframe?id=9e807a3b-3c72-4fc4-9add-18196db48516

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Looks like Wired’s November Issue is a MUST READ!

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[Coming Soon] Back in Paris

Hey everyone,

Just taking a quick moment on this beautiful monday morning to let you know that I'll be in Paris between November 2-10th. And I'd love to meet up with readers of the blog, as well as friends and just about anyone else, hence this announcement.

My plan during the week is to work, go out, have fun, attend a concert or two, and make the most of what the city has to offer. So hit me up, ahead of time and let's get together!

In between other things, I'd like to check out:

For the rest, we'll see once we get there, won't we?

🌶🔥🍶

Just gonna leave this here for Friday…

“How Sriracha is Made” — aka how the rooster sauce goes from chili plant to finished product

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6HloXUtX4k&w=1048&h=590]

…and another one, because I’m posting this on my lunch break:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLVpu4X9jH8&w=1048&h=590]

Vlog 13: 2 days and a sweet treat...

 

youtube.com/watch

As the fall settles in, here’s a short vlog, summing up two days, working and going out.

Do you guys prefer shorter vlogs like this one?

Vlog 011-012: The GoPro Edition

With upcoming projects and travels coming soon, I’ve decided to invest in slightly better gear for my nomadic aspiration. TL;DR: I’ve bought the new GoPro Hero 5 Black to help me record memories on the go, without the need to always have my bulky (bulkier) camera with me in my bag.

Here’s a quick comparison and test between the GoPro and the Sony Nex-5N I’ve been using until now…

youtu.be/VgU-tSbxA…

 

And now for the real test:

www.youtube.com/watch

What do you think? Me? I’m pretty stoked about this!

Music Love & Beats | Vol 2: “Letting Go”

I had some feelings. So I took the time to publish a mix about it.

[mixcloud www.mixcloud.com/tibz/love… width=100% height=400 light=1]

Tracklist:

  • Halsey - Tokyo Narita (Freestyle) (ft. Lido)
  • Childish Gambino x Stranger Things OST - Stranger Bonfire
  • Vindata - Own Life (ft. Anderson .Paak)
  • Hundred Waters - Show Me Love (ft. Chance The Rapper) (Skrillex Remix)
  • Chance The Rapper - No Problem (ft. 2 Chainz) (McNatt Flip)
  • The Chainsmokers - Closer (ft. Halsey) (Slushii Remix)
  • Mura Masa - Lotus Eater
  • Sam Gellaitry - The Gateway
  • Jack Ü - Mind (ft. Kai) (Oshi Remix)
  • Tame Impala - Eventually (Su$h! Ceej Remix)
  • Baauer - Kung Fu (ft. Pusha T & Future)
  • Mr. Carmack - Dimepeice122
  • Branchez - Dreamer (ft. Santell)
  • Hudson Mohawke - Chimes
  • The Weeknd - High For This (Luude Flip)
  • Kanye West - FourFiveSeconds (ft. Rihanna & Paul McCartney) (Lido’s Sunday Service)

Vlog 010 - The End of the Summer

[youtube www.youtube.com/watch

It took me a while to get this one out, and I’m still thinking about ways to improve the recording, editing, and publishing process — finding a faster/simpler workflow.

Anyways, please enjoy “the end of the summer” !

It took me a while to get this one out, and I’m still thinking about ways to improve the recording, editing, and publishing process — finding a faster/simpler workflow.

Anyways, please enjoy “the end of the summer” !

Vlog 009 - Hiking, and a Short Summer Trip to Paris

Summer on the French Riviera, Hiking, and a short trip to Paris…

youtu.be/Hf8K3HBfD…

 

Vlog 008 - Living Well's The Best Revenge

I finally took the time to publish a new Vlog!

youtu.be/w8TZENdv5…

After the attack in Nice, it’s been really good to enjoy live, go out, and spend some quality time with friends! Thanks to all those wonderful friends that have been around during this period!

Vlog 007: The Mountains in the Summer

Family Weekend Getaway in the Mountains

youtu.be/_Z49bMpov…

Vlog 006: Summer Street Food Festival

This weekend summed up in 4 words: Friends, Festival, Food, Football!

youtu.be/yHDDPUMyF…

More videos and adventures on my Youtube Channel

Vlog 005: A visit to the Exotic Gardens of Eze

We went to Eze this past sunday. It’s a charming medieval village on the French Riviera. Its unique Exotic Gardens sit on top of the Mediterranean Sea.

youtu.be/Zu7C98cEC…

Vlog 004: Brexit Explained

My personal take on the big Brexit decision… I was heartbroken that day!

youtu.be/96kNJLHtn…

Vlog 003: Summer Life on the French Riviera

Concerts, Friends, Work, Life and more!

youtu.be/a880C4D4p…

Reflecting on my first year as a Freelancer

This past year has been a wild ride, to say the least. In May last year, I finished working for Realmac and started working as a contractor for a low-key B2B SaaS company.

Officially, I’m working like an employee, working the whole week on behalf of this one of a kind small business. They’ve been around since 1991, as old as I am, which is something to celebrate in this fast industry. And they cater to a very specific niche: offering a desktop software licensing & analytics solution for ISVs (independent software developers).

I’ve learnt a lot in this past year, and in the past few months, I’ve even managed to find the time and discipline to take on more client work and work on new projects.

projects

As a contractor, my #1 problem is: What happens if Primary Client is unhappy about my work? The answer is simple: I will need to find a new opportunity very very fast. Of course, living in Western Europe, there’s always plan Z: being unemployed for a couple of months until I figure things out, but I’m proud to have avoided any form of unemployment so far and would like to keep it that way.

To try and bypass this, I’m trying to save a little bit of money every month, as a safety net. At this point in time, let me tell you that the net is not nearly as comfortable as I’d hope it would be. Then again, I don’t think one would ever be satisfied about the size of a financial safety net.

Thankfully, I already have a few things going for me: I don’t have any debt, I’m able to pay my bills, and I’m slowly trying to get more money and experience from side-projects, missions, and other client work.

But this is not enough: I won’t always be in good health, or working for this client. And as someone who’s very pragmatic, I know that if I continue working as a freelancer, there likely will be some hard times where I won’t have either work OR an income. Thankfully, this is a risk I’ve acknowledged from Day One and I’m working on a generic roadmap, setting things up to try and avoid the downfall of freelancing.

Processed with VSCOcam with lv02 preset

So, at the time of writing this article, here are my short, mid-, and long-term plans:

Short term:

I’m continuing to work for the B2B company. It provides me with a lot of responsibilities, and I’m still learning a lot. It pays me moderately well, enough to afford to pay the rent and bills.

Mid-term:

I want to take on more client work. I’ve come to realise that for sole-traders such as myself, there’s a wealth of opportunities offering marketing services to smaller companies. The hard part is landing those early gigs.

Originally, I was thinking about working with local businesses: they clearly don’t have the money to afford a new website designed by a marketing agency, and they don’t have the time to spend on marketing campaign, social media, ads, SEO and all of these different topics. But maybe I could handle it for them, for a smaller fee. However, I’ve come to realise that most of the time, they aren’t willing to spend the money on those services, even at a discount compared to industry standards. And most of them are looking for an old-school “webmaster” to manage everything for them. My goal was to teach them how to manage their ecommerce websites or social media presence, not make a commitment for months (or worse, years to come.) It didn’t work out for me, but I have other things I can find and do.

In the short term, I have found some new clients that require my services, for completely different things that I handle day-to-day with the Primary Client. This helps me diversify my income, which is the single biggest threat to my existing working life.

Oh, and if you need some help with your website, marketing, or customers support, get in touch!

img_6759

Long-term:

That’s a very good question.

I’m trying to build an audience for my podcast, and I’d like that to start making a little bit of money on the side. It doesn’t have to be my full-time job, but I love having and sharing these conversation for the Digital Digest podcast, and I love hearing what people think about these interviews. My dream would be to have a financial complement, at the very least, if not relying on podcasting as a business.

I know it’s a long shot, but with patience, continued efforts, and good content, I’m confident that I can make it. It just might take a couple of years, and I’m OK with that: I knew it coming in, and, as Josh Long would say: “for every overnight success, there’s 10 years behind that.” I’m hoping that learning from the best helps me accelerate my learning process and avoid a few mistakes along the way.

For the rest, I really like the freedom that comes by being a location-independent freelancer. And I truly think that the what has been the hardest part so far, is now behind me: finding new clients and projects to work on. For the rest, I’m hoping to follow in the footsteps of my other independent friends (like Adam, Greg, Axelle and Paul) and trust that my passion, reputation, network and current gigs are enough to help me find some new work in the future.


And there you have it, a not-so-certain 5-year plan that could change today or tomorrow. Times are a-changin', hey?

Vlog 002: Rainy Weekend and Epic Coffee Fail

The second of my irregular vlogs brings the tale of a lazy rainy weekend, and some misadventures around town.

youtu.be/pdsabNrGf…

Allez Les Bleus —Something is in the air!

About 18 years ago, something incredible happened in France. It was in between the months of June and July 1998. Our team won the FIFA World Cup. Two years later, during the Euro, France won again, being the time ever that a team would win both titles back to back.

During this time, I was 7-9 then, you could really feel the excitement of young kids in school. This coincided with the time that we moved from the suburbs of Paris to the South of France. But nearly a thousand kilometres apart, the excitement was just as strong. The love that our people developed for the sport, the national team, and the local clubs was incredible. During that time period, our champions had given us so much hope, so much joy, and for a time, we felt on top of the world.

Ask anyone in France what Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” song represent to them, and if they were born before 1994, it’s likely that they’ll tell you about the ’98 World Cup.

youtu.be/nIvVXz-qE…

I felt the same type of reaction amongst my peers, but on a lower scale, back in 2007 when France hosted the Rugby World Cup. On a lower scale still, as Football is still the dominant sport here in France, by far. But since 2007, more and more people have started to follow rugby, partially as an attraction to the sport, and partly as a reaction to the bad culture that has been around football too.

See, when a rugbyman gets pushed down, he goes back up immediately. When football players hit the ground, they tend to dive and look for a foul, possibly a yellow or red card against the person who touched them. For a lot of people, myself included, this has become unbearable. The corruption around the sport, the ego of some of the massively overpaid superstars, the lack of humility, it all started feeling dishonest for me, and that’s why I’ve only kept in touch with big international competitions.

But this year, something is in the air, something I haven’t felt since 1998. This year, France is hosting the 2016 UEFA tournament, the “European Cup”. The team has slowly been renewed since 2014, with a lot of fresh blood, exciting talented players, and a new coach. And despite some controversies around the team and the staff, there remains an excitement in the air.

I haven’t felt this excited about football since 1998. I haven’t felt so proud and hopeful about this new French team in many years. And I hope that we win this competition, but even if we don’t, I hope that this team delivers and that they give it all that they’ve got.

It’s hard to host a competition and be on the opening match. No matter the discipline, there’s an immeasurable amount of pressure on the local team to win the first game, and to continue getting better, stronger, and to some extent, our 2-1 victory over Romania has been a huge relief.

But the most important, whether we win this year or not, is that this team learns to work well together. Because we can’t wait another 18 years to inspire our youth and our people. Allez Les Bleus, on est tous avec vous!

#Fiersdetrebleus

Vlog 001: Scary Football

Officially the first video in a series of …I guess you could call it irregular Vlogs?

youtu.be/gLPZWEa8m…

"The End of the Apple Man"

Katie Notopoulos for BuzzFeed:

"For women, safety while walking down the street is something we think about pretty much daily, most times we leave the house."

What I found most impressive during the keynote, behind feature updates and announcements, was Apple’s true commitment to diversity.

Between a very diverse keynote (4 women on stage, 3 people of color, and the incredible Bozoma St John - whom everyone is asking to see in upcoming keynotes), and features dedicated to security and to users with disabilities, it feels clear to me that no other company really tries to help their end-users who happen to be outside of the stereotypical Silicon Valley White Man.

Image courtesy of Wired

Digital Digest | Eamonn Carey - Season 01 Episode 05

A chat with Eamonn Carey, Entrepreneur in Residence at Techstars. We discuss startups, technology hubs around the world, VC funding, The Bubble™… And what the hell is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence anyway?!

https://simplecast.com/e/36876?style=large

About Eamonn

Show notes

 


Digital Digest

Subscribe to the Digital Digest podcast via:

Also available on:

Finally, if you’d like to help:

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Amazing Chill Vol. 01

I’ve been meaning to do a bit more on the music front, so here’s a very special something I’ve cooked up overnight: a relaxing mix I’ve pulled out of some old Soundcloud favourites!

[mixcloud www.mixcloud.com/tibz/tibz… width=100% height=300 light=1]

 

Tracklist:

  • Holocene (Official Kyson Remix)- Bon Iver
  • To Build A Home (Jernalism Remix) - The Cinematic Orchestra
  • I Miss You - Ta-Ku
  • The Journey - Tom Misch
  • Spectre (Bibio Remix)- Tycho
  • Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover - Live At BBC Maida Vale) - London Grammar
  • Don't Wanna Be Your Girl (Eest Coast Remix) - Wet
  • Glacier (Atu Remix )- James vincent McMorrow
  • Backwards - Kareful
  • My Afternoon Dream - JhenéAiko
  • Create And Explore 002 - Insightful x Frusty
  • Bloom - Dpat
  • Rideaux Lunaires (Guillaume Griefjoy Remix) - Chilly Gonzales

Blogging in 2016

My friend Adam Tinworth (of One Man & His Blog fame) has launched a more personal blog, called Coffee and Complexity, powered by Ghost.

As I had missed out on the launch of his new blog, I’ve decided to read the articles he had posted until now, including this one :

“I do NOT miss this aspect of blogging.”
A screenshot from Coffee and Complexity

One of the many reasons I’ve moved to Wordpress nowadays, boils down to a couple of things including the FTP technicality.

Tibz Approved
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PS: Someone remind me to clean my list of followed websites and blogs, in my RSS Feed please!

The Musical Internet time-sink

I want to talk about music today. Looking for 5 recommendations? Read on!

TL;DR:

Listen to the latest releases from these 5 talented artists:

The long story of how I got sucked in to Spotify

Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot more music, bringing the ratio of music-to-podcast back to a healthy 50%.

I needed something to work along to, and since re-reading this article, I figured, why not listen to something hard, heavy and filthy: Skrillex. Beats1 has actually given Skrillex his own show, called “OWSLA Radio”, after his own label. So I caught up on recent episodes here on Mixcloud:

[mixcloud www.mixcloud.com/PAUL_DI/o… width=100% height=400 light=1]

At some point in this sixth episode, Skrillex & co started shouting someone’s name: “Bibiii”. This part of the episode kinda stayed with me. So, earlier today, when I browsed through I-D’s website and saw a video feature about the lady in question, I decided to check it out.

Turns out that Bibi is actually a songwriter who’s written Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money”. And one of the background tracks in the video is from her. Something I had heard before but hadn’t had the chance to identify the singer at the time. I started listening to her on Spotify. She’s actually released her debut EP Free The Real (Pt. #1) today!

But her story also reminded me of another artist I really like: Jon Bellion. Jon is the songwriter behind Eminem’s 2013 hit “The Monster (featuring …Rihanna, again). It even got him a Grammy.

youtu.be/EHkozMIXZ…

 

So then, I started adding Jon Bellion to my Spotify Listening Queue. I’ve been a fan of his for a couple of years now and can’t wait for his first studio album (“The Human Condition” —out June 10th.) I really like Jon’s style, and have so much respect for him because he’s able to write, sing, produce and record all on his own. He’s just ridiculously talented.

And then I looked over on Hypebeast Music, one of my favourite websites to keep up with music, only to realise that 3 albums that I expected had dropped.

  1. Kaytranada’s debut album “99.9%”
  2. James Blake’s new LP “The Colour in Anything”
  3. and on a more gangsta-related note, Skepta’s latest album “Konnichiwa”
Kaytranada

This album is SO GOOD! Kaytra is an incredibly talented beat maker and producer based out of Montreal. I’ve discovered him via Soulection’s iconic radio shows and I was so excited about his debut LP. And the man delivered!

This is a great album that will get you to jump, dance, vibe, and enjoy! And a possibly the album to play all summer long!

https://open.spotify.com/album/1dZZh7PvVgce1DDsDPzy8Z

 

James Blake

Like his previous albums, James Blake delivered a very ambiant and melancholic album. I love this type of music and this really did it for me. I feel like it’s gonna be on repeat all autumn/winter-long. It’s the kind of music you listen to on repeat on a rainy day, when the sky is grey and your mood is clearly meh.

But just like everything Blake touches, it’s really well produced. And I’ve absolutely loved “I need Forest Fire”, featuring… BON IVER (!!!)

At 17 tracks for a total of 76mn, it’s a long one, but definitely worth your while.

open.spotify.com/album/3W6…

 

Skepta

And finally, the return of the king of grime. I’m not too familiar with grime or with Skepta in general, but there’s been a lot of hype for this album, and around Skepta and grime in general, so it was very interesting for me to indulge in this artist’s world.

Wanna go full circle? Skepta is actually the brother of Julie Adenuga, one of the hosts of… Apple’s Beats 1 Radio.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2yegc4SUhhXxUXUavLHUqL

 


So there it is, the end of yet another busy week, with my musical recommendations:

No one kept Prince from a party.

Since the announcement of Prince’s passing, I’ve finally taken the time to educate myself and listen to his music, trying to learn from the different records he’s put out over the past 40 years.

Prince was an artist who’s transcended music: he was moving across other arts, has influenced the world of fashion, and was so influential that he’s amongst the handful of human beings that have done more for the acceptance of others, regardless of their identities, gender and sexuality, than most politicians, regulators, or even artists.

But coming back to the music, I was impressed to learn that he simply knew everything about music: creating and playing, of course, but also all of the technical aspects that go into making and publishing a record. Legend has it that he showed up to a Music Studio as a teenage musician, and impressed the owner so much that the latter gave him a job working some of the machines (remember this is the 80’s, we take it for granted that one could potentially create, produce and release an entire album from a computer or an iPad nowadays.)

I’ve done a lot of reading over the past week or so, adding articles from the New York Times, Pitchfork, the New Yorker, Rolling Stones, The Atlantic, and many others, on to my Instapaper queue. However the piece that’s actually done the best job at explaining who Prince was as an artist was probably the personal one written by Michael Oates-Palmer for Vox.com

I remember being again stunned by his guitar playing. He was so good at everything else — singing, songwriting, dancing, being his crazy self — that we so rarely talk about how phenomenal a guitar player he was.

That second part of the quote also hits the spot:

Think of that: probably the fourth skill in his toolbox, and he was one of the 10 greatest guitar players of all time. One of the only ones of the last 30 years where even if you hear just three-seconds of a lick, you instantly know it's him.

Properly listening and discovering Prince, I’ve come to realise that what I had in mind when thinking of “crazy 80’s guitar solo” was actually Prince. 80’s trademark sounds: Prince. Some of the biggest hits in the history of pop music? Yep: Prince too!

Between the deaths of Prince and David Bowie, 2016 has left a giant gap by taking away two seemingly immortal legends responsible for some of the best party anthems we’ve ever heard, at a time when the love and partying would be much appreciated. Like Bowie, Prince will be sorely missed, however I’m grateful to live in a day an age where it’s so easy to discover so much about these artists. Time to educate myself.

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