24th March 2018

This story is both very soulful and really rather sad. It is also a reminder that there can (sometimes) be dangers in socially sharing something you love. ‘For the past few years, Patrik Svedberg has been taking photos of a beautiful Swedish tree he dubbed The Broccoli Tree. In a short time, the tree gained a healthy following on Instagram, becoming both a tourist attraction and an online celebrity..Last week Svedberg posted a sad update. ‘To share something is to risk losing it’.

The rather wonderful curate.tv, is like Desert Island Discs, but for video.It is comprised of video playlists from the most interesting people in the creative industries. And on a bit of a plug for the Filter, you can see our ‘Videos Of The Week’, going back several years, here.

This seems both poignant and compellingly relevant. ‘The exponential proliferation of marketing activity over the past decade has led to unwelcome, wasteful or even toxic activity that gives marketing a bad name.‘Marketing needs a brand relaunch amid so much pollution’.

This shows how the times have changed and, I’d imagine, rather galling for those who still hark back to the days of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. YouTube are to display Wikipedia blurbs alongside conspiracy videos.

$50 billion. ‘This is the estimated size of the legal marijuana business by 2026, up from $6 billion last year. Cashing in on the legal marijuana market is former NFL player and Heisman trophy winner Ricky Williams, who to some notoriety left the league after failing a drug test and testing positive for marijuana, then returning a year later, then failing another drug test, then getting suspended, then retiring a few years later.’ Looks like an approach that Homer Simpson would be proud of. 

From McKinsey, a nice interactive infographic : ‘An Executive’s Guide To AI’ – ‘A convergence of algorithmic advances, data proliferation, and tremendous increases in computing power and storage has propelled AI from hype to reality.’

Apparently seriously, Japanese scientists have invented ‘Robo-bees’, that can legitimately pollinate the earth.

From Marketing Week. Instagram launches shoppable posts as it looks to play a bigger role in ecommerce.(registration needed)

In the world of box sets, binge viewing and over extended drama series, here is nice reminder that there is only ever a small line between comedy and tragedy, the ridiculous and the rational. This trailer recut of ‘Monty Python and The Holy Grail’ as a serious historical drama, works way too well.

Finally, a bit of jaw-dropping weekend video fun, featuring Nyjah Huston’s first Nike SB signature model. Til Death. Nyjah’s vow to skateboarding. Renewed.