Tuesday, 11 February 2014

A story on

This article from TheOneRing.net just caught my attention.

A flute with the story of The Hobbit on it.

Music is of course very important in the various works of Tolkien. Remember the Misty Mountain Song from An Unexpected Journey. Or the Road goes ever On from The Fellowship of the Ring. 
So putting The Hobbit on a flute is very fitting.

And it looks amazing. 
I'm going to share one picture with you:


Just look at the detail. And those keys are about the size of your fingertip!
Here you see the three trolls. The road the company of Thorin Oakenshield has to take. A couple of the dwarves. And the good morning moment between Gandalf and Bilbo.

What an amazing way, to combine music with a story!

Friday, 7 February 2014

Every day references

Do you have those every day references that come from stories?

Today I have one.
Because it is a Blustery Day!



The wind is howling around the building, I hear the roof creaking.
But in my head, I'm humming the Blustery Day song from Pooh!

Now let's hope tonight the Heffalumps and Woozles stay calm.

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Don't tell

Sometimes you want a story to be told, sometimes you don't.

In this song, a bit of a drastic way to make sure your "rumour" isn't told.
The ladies of The Pierces will make sure their secret won't be told around.


Don't be afraid, I won't be so drastic if you share this story...

Friday, 31 January 2014

Paper by Facebook

Facebook is going to introduce a new app: Paper.
An app in which you can organise your stories. The once you get from friends or official news outlets, but you can also put your own stories in it and share those.


In this short video they explain how it works
And the explain the wonderful world of storytelling. From the various shapes and sizes stories come in, like text, letters or pictures. To the importance of sharing.

The launch is February 3rd. First only in the US.
So US-friends could you please share your story about Paper with me?

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

How one little stories turns into something big

A couple of weeks back I posted about how where you live tells a story about you.

In this post I told you also about my amazing neighbourhood with the fun streetname signs after the characters of Tolkiens books.



Those pictures I took for a school assignment, showing what is so amazing about the place you live in.
When I posted those on Facebook one of my Brazilian friends from the Brazilian Tolkien Society read it and thought it much fun. They asked me a couple of questions over Facebook and posted a story on the internet with my story of my neighbourhood and my pictures.

Beginning of January a Google map images of my neighbourhood turned up on 9GAG. "An entire neighborhood named after Tolkien's characters in the Netherlands."

And yesterday The Huffington Post picked up the story: "Every street in this Dutch neighborhood has a Lord of the Rings name, which is awesome."



Which today got the attention of the local newspaper and even nationwide Dutch news.

Can I claim all this attention happened because of my pictures and the story of my neighbourhood? No, I can't. But it is a very big coincidence it is all happening now, just after those pictures.

Just showing, how one small story, can turn into something really big.... (me creating world news?!?).

Sunday, 26 January 2014

Creating memories

Memories are a very powerful story. Something happened to you and it was so profound, it stuck with you for a very long time.

If a company can make it happen something so amazing happens to you, you want to tell it to all your friends and you will tell it for a very long time. That is a very powerful marketingtool and a very powerful story.

Visiting a Disney park is of course already a big event for children. Having fun the entire day. Getting to meet your favourite cartoon characters.
When you are allowed to walk around the entire day in your favourite prince or princess costume. That will make it even more special.
But if then, somebody who is clearly from the park, comes to you to ask for an autograph, because he believes you are really a princess. Wow, that makes an impact. 

Making a story you will tell for a very long time!

Friday, 24 January 2014

Busy, busy, busy

Yes, the story of my life at the moment.

It is all fun to do, organising a VR Symposium.
But working a fulltime job, trying to manage a study (luckily that one is quiet for two weeks), it is a wee bit busy. Besides that all I somehow also seem to have a social life. Hello friends, I'm still alive, although you haven't heard from me in a while.

And keeping a blog. Oops. Somehow managed to not write something yesterday and lacking a story to tell for today.

But, welcome to the story of my life. Yes, I'm busy.
Hopefully after next week Thursday I'll be able to breath again.

Until then, when inspiration flows, you will get a new story from me (or it will be a little quiet over here).