Sounds Serious

07/12/2023

Who do you turn to when you need a REAL podcast?

08/11/2023

On the next edition of "Making Waves"... How much of a "crisis" is there at America's ? What does it mean for us, and for those crossing the border illegally into the US? How can good policy make things better for all of us?

Join us on Wednesday, November 8th when we speak to immigration attorney Sara Dady, who will help us navigate those and many other associated questions having to do with .

We'd love to hear your comments and answer your questions. Just accept the invitation to receive notification of when our live online show starts!

04/10/2023

On the next edition of MAKING WAVES: On fakes and forgeries - art forensics and what it means for the art world.

Join us on October 4th (8am Los Angeles, 11am New York, 5pm Vienna) for our talk with the the fabulously interesting and erudite Dr. Jeffrey Taylor, a partner at New York Art Forensics, an art forensics laboratory that specializes in the authentication and attribution of works of art.

A highly respected expert in the field of art forensics, Jeff has written about a wide range of cases, including the Knoedler Gallery forgeries case, which was the subject of the documentary "Made You Look." He has also been featured in numerous articles and documentaries about art forensics.

Jeff has a PhD in Comparative History from Central European University, and has taught courses on the art market, curatorship, connoisseurship, and art forensics. For the last year he’s been a US Fulbright Scholar at the European Humanities University in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Best of all, Dr. Jeffery Taylor is someone I’ve known for about three decades as a fellow long-time resident of Budapest, Hungary. Welcome, my old friend, to Making Waves.

22/06/2023

In his hundreds of free YouTube videos, online phenomenon Brad Yates helps people who are struggling with emotional issues through a method called “tapping.” Brad shows how to tap on several acupressure points (such as the temple or top of his head) as he recites suggestive statements to those feeling anxiety, resentment, or who are in need of motivation.

Formally known as Emotional Freedom Technique (or EFT), "tapping" is an alternative acupressure therapy treatment used to restore balance to disrupted energy. It has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing stress and anxiety, easing depression, decreasing pain, and reducing cravings.

For over 15 years, Brad Yates has been uploading free EFT videos, which have literally been viewed millions of times and receive a flood of positive comments. In addition to being an internationally-known EFT practitioner, he is the author of several books, including "The EFT Wizard's Big Book of Tapping Scripts." Brad also travels to other parts of the world to introduce tapping and offers numerous other resources for personal development.

Join our next “Making Waves” to meet Brad Yates to hear how he mends moods around the world, one tap at a time.

15/02/2023

On 15 February, don’t miss our Making Waves chat with ANJA STRELEC, an award-winning audiovisual & documentary film director and photographer who lives in Brussels, Belgium.

Originally from Croatia, most of her work is concentrated on social, environmental and development topics, but she also does audio-visual portrait storytelling and even music videos. Strelec uses a multidisciplinary approach, working with a diversity of visual formats – documentary film, different video formats and photography to produce multifaceted storytelling.

For the last 12 years, Anja’s been working on various audio-visual projects for Belgian TV and the European Commission, among others. She also does audio-visual training for different agencies and EU delegations and has been involved in projects in Nepal, Argentina, Ghana, Eritrea, Guinea and all around Europe.
Currently, she’s finishing two documentaries, one called “Where have all the smiles gone”, about Nepalese migrant workers, and the other, “Khadia,” is about female ge***al mutilation.

Most recently, Anja has recently returned from Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she was a panelist at 9th International Conference for Women in Cinema, a jury member at 21st International Film Festival and gave audiovisual training to EU delegation in Bangladesh.

Join Making Waves’ host Drew Leifheit in a wide-ranging, live interview with another spectacular individual: documentary producer Anja Strelec.

Please join us! We’d love to have you chime in in the comments section, or let us know if you’d like to ask a question in the LIVE video feed.

15 February 2022
3pm Budapest (Central European Time)
2pm London
9am New York (Eastern Standard)

Check out Anja’s website: https://www.anja-strelec.com/

01/02/2023

On 1 February, don’t miss our LinkedIn Live chat with Dr. Stephan Singer, a one-time militant activist, who is now an advocate for clean energy and a low-carbon future.

Dr. Singer is a Senior Advisor for Global Energy Policy at the Climate Action Network International, a 1200-member umbrella organization pushing for 100% renewable energy across the globe. His efforts include pushing for drastically reducing CO2, phasing out public financing for fossil fuels, and promoting the benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Stephan spent over two decades at various WWF organizations, and was Director of Global Energy Policy at the international group. His seminal experience as a teenage nuclear activist sparked his intellectual curiosity, leading him to studies and eventually becoming a scientist.

While he has a record of being incredibly direct and outspoken to the captains of industry, today Dr. Singer says he’d like to focus less on the impacts of climate change - the so-called “doomsday stuff” - and focus on areas where NGOs and civil society organizations can make an actual difference.

Join Making Waves’ host Drew Leifheit in his wide-ranging, live interview with another spectacular individual: climate and energy expert Stephan Singer.

1 February 2022:
3pm Budapest (Central European Time)
2pm London
9am New York (Eastern Standard)

17/01/2023

If you're like me, you're astounded by people who literally run towards they eye of the storm instead of retreating, and come out stronger and ready for more after they've survived. That's why I'm really excited to interview a person who's made a life out of confronting adversity.

On 17 January (3pm CET), I'll be interviewing wise warrior Robin Horsfall on the latest edition of Making Waves, "From Northern Ireland to Ukraine - The Takeaways of a Wise Warrior." Please join us, ask questions and be inspired.

FYI I'll be asking Robin about his provocative and thought-provoking posts about the

On 17 January don’t miss our LinkedIn Live chat with Robin Horsfall, a decorated British military veteran whose varied and extraordinary life experiences hav...

02/01/2023

Why Sounds Serious? (The origins of DREW, part 1)

Recently, while walking my dogs in our picturesque hamlet, I ran into an artifact on the street that sparked something way down inside of me. It was such a distant-yet-distinct memory, an old friend of sorts reminding me of certain aspects of my past.
It revealed a clue. Why I am who I am.

It was a plastic case containing empty soda water bottles to be picked up and replaced with filled ones (which is, miraculously, still possible here in Hungary).

For me, however, the returnable bottles weren’t that interesting, while the plastic case they were in, was.

It was emblazoned with the label of Royal Crown (RC) Cola (FYI RC Cola International), a soft drink brand that was legendary in the 1970s, especially in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois, and in my family. RC Cola also had its own diet drink called Diet Rite, which was the number one selling diet cola in the 1970s.

My father, who started out as a “route man” delivering the product - most often in 16 ounce glass bottles, which were 24 in a whole case - worked at various incarnations of the company: as a supervisor in Rockford, where RC outsold both Coke and Pepsi; running a whole plant franchise in Sacramento, California for a gentleman called Doug Lee; and, shortly after, becoming a representative of the parent company for the entire state of California.

Dad’s parent company job meant that he was incessantly driving and flying to cities throughout California, wining and dining the owners of the RC Cola plants in Chico, Santa Rosa, San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles.

My dad’s career had gone stratospheric. He was young, ambitious, handsome and confident.

30/11/2022

Hear a man who is truly TOMORROW (1 Dec) 3pm CET/2pm London/9am New York. That's when I'll be interviewing Robin Horsfall in a session called "Northern Ireland to Ukraine - The Takeaways of a Wise Warrior." https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:7001233097203564544/

18/10/2022

Yikes! I really failed my clients—but I wasn't even aware of it.

It’s as if no one wanted to tell me. The documents I was sending back to them as finished work—my completed edits—were actually a jumbled mess. This would truly be an embarrassment for anyone in the copy editing/proofreading business, but for me it’s that and more.

If you do business writing of any sort, you’re more than likely aware of the “Track Changes” function on Microsoft Word. When you turn it on, it shows the other people working on a text the changes that others have made, so all stakeholders can see the modifications, for example, that I’ve made to a document. Usually, there’s very little deliberation unless there are industry terms involved that I’ve changed erroneously.

I’m the native English speaker who’s supposed to make things better when non-native English speakers send me a text, and I pride myself on being able to do that. When I send the document back to the “owner” of the document, they get to review the changes and can accept or reject each one.

Recently, one of my clients asked why the tracked changes I was sending back to them were so weird. The words I had corrected, deleted or changed were in text boxes that they'd have to delete first and then replace by typing in my suggestions.
The end result was, I was making additional work for my client (and all of the others who were seemingly afraid to say something!).

I thought I had such a great system. By synchronizing my new Mac with Google Docs, I'm able to work on the various texts that clients send me, and they're all saved in an organized fashion on my Google Drive.

It makes things very convenient when I need to work on something but don't have my own computer in front of me, because I can log into my Google Drive from other devices, anywhere.

Also, when a client also uses Google Docs, it's amazing because both sides can work on the “living document,” which is shared between us. They can see and reply to my edits and comments, and vice versa. Great for finalizing things, but not all businesses use Google Docs (thus the conversion problem!).

And for those who don’t, I’m sorry for sending those weird texts and appreciate your business even more. (No worries, I’ve found a solution.) Please, don’t be afraid to tell me if our work together is anything less than seamless.

26/07/2022

Wow, I’m a video star!
Things to consider when scripting and starring in a promotional video

Producing videos (and feature films for that matter) is kind of like making sausage - it’s a messy business, because putting together scenes, narration and b-roll according to a script is akin to sewing together a patchwork quilt. You also have to make sure the sound is clean(!). There are a million little things that can go wrong, and often do, which people in dark rooms do their best to clean up and smooth over in post production.

I feel their pain! In the last couple of weeks I was the narrator/host on two video shoots, which required a ton of optimism and resilience.

The objective of the video production itself is to explain how a research institution here in Hungary is taking initiatives to simplify matters between people building a house and the authorities, ostensibly to make things easier for home builders navigating through the bureaucracy.

My first assignment for the production was to translate the script into English, a task full of unanticipated minefields. Many times, clients are convinced of how important their jargon and industry acronyms are, but a video script needs to use as simple language as possible - the ultimate objective being that the audience watching the video is able to follow the entire production, meaning they understand what’s happening throughout. That’s why scripts for “broadcast” need to be elementary rather than a word-for-word translation, otherwise the viewer is overwhelmed in detail and “loses the plot.”

We went through several versions of the script before the client signed off on it, but when I got to the shoot and figured out there was no teleprompter I realized I was facing a challenge. I had only been notified a couple of days earlier that I’d have to recite the script by heart. Unfortunately, it was full of clauses, acronyms, words not used in colloquial English, foreign names, etc.

When you have to spit out several such sentences in a row in one take, things get tough. Throw in some hand gestures, walking while talking, a head-turn and the attempt to appear cheerful and interested throughout, and it can feel almost impossible.

Fortunately, the director (Braun Zsolt) and cameraman were patient and helpful, but it was not easy spitting out some of those convoluted lines. We did many, many takes! On one occasion, I had the director hold up a piece of paper with keywords on it, which was a big help. I wish I'd brought a white board from an office supplies shop for that.

My takeaway is, put more time in on the script before shooting starts to make things easier.

16/07/2022

It's a terrible to feel that you've been ripped off when you're trying to have a relaxing summer . Have any of you out there ever felt that you've been fleeced when changing money while on vacation in ?

Don't get me started! An incisive YouTube post by Wolters World has rung all sorts of bells (and drudged up memories infused with resentment) in my head.

When my friends and I first came to Hungary in 1990, changing dollars into Hungarian forints sounded like a wonderful prospect, because one "yankee dollar" was worth around 62 Hungarian forints, and all sorts of things - restaurant meals, beers in a pub, etc. didn't cost much more than a dollar.

If I remember correctly, a beer in one of my favorite bars, Tilos Az A, cost about half a dollar, and you could have a full-blown homemade sausage lunch in a butcher shop for about the same (leave your low cholesterol dietary restrictions at home!). A full-blown meal in a restaurant, including drinks, rarely cost more than $2-3 dollars, if memory serves.

However, changing money had its challenges. Official money changing offices in Budapest enjoyed capitalizing on foreigners' confusion over how much things cost, meaning that there was often a huge differential between what the official exchange rate was and how much one would actually receive after having submitted their dollars.

That meant the exchange office might post the rate as HUF 66/USD 1, but you might only receive HUF 55 because one of the posted rates was how much they bought forints for a dollar, while the other was how many forints you'd receive for submitting a dollar. It could be confusing and such offices thrived from what I think was intentionally confusing the situation.

To this day, unsuspecting travelers to Budapest Airport get totally ripped off by believing it's prudent to change money while they're collecting their luggage - for those in the know, it's like they've been robbed right off the bat!

Imagine my surprise when, years later, traveling to Prague with the woman who would eventually be my wife, we almost got totally ripped off by a money changing office in the capital of Czechia, which I've never felt was as predatory in its approach to tourists as Hungary is.

The exchange office, which was right in Praha's center near a gorgeous Art Nouveau municipal house (Obecní dům), wanted to charge us EUR 40 for changing EUR 200 into Czech koruna. The trick was, one had to change EUR 1,000 to receive the "normal rate" that was posted on the board; in fact, there was a very tiny asterisk which led to a footnote explaining this contingency.

My guard was down because I love the town, but then I did a rough calculation and figured out how I'd been had. I was so infuriated, that I refused to leave the cashier's counter, asking him if he felt good about having defrauded me.

My Italian temper got the best of me! I yelled and really tried to make this poor employee feel like the sh****ad he was for doing this to oblivious tourists like myself. "Do you like ripping people off, you as***le?" I implored.

I made all sorts of threats that I'd call the US Embassy, the police, whomever I could think of. I made some calls and was told that it was totally legitimate and legal what had happened to me(!). Nothing seemed to be working.

But then, I started telling every tourist that came into the little change office about what had happened, that it had cost me 40 euro to change 200 euro - and most of them believed me and walked out.

It was at that point that the money changer said he'd give me the rate posted on the board if I'd just get the hell out of there.

You can also get fleeced by the choices you make at ATM machines in Europe, so be sure to watch this video for a quick and crucial tip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW5dALdq468&ab_channel=WoltersWorld

It is not just Americans, it is anyone that does not have the local currency as their home currency. NEVER TAKE THE CONVERSION. If you are using an ATM in Eu...

14/07/2022

I wrote that(!).

What's the best mood for your luxury space? Our ARTICA model in peachy rose coloured crystal gives off a precocious, bubbly energy.

06/07/2022

Had an excellent conversation today with Andy Strote, the author of "How to Start a Successful Creative Agency." As a former agency copywriter, associate creative director, freelance copywriter, and founder of two creative agencies in Toronto, Andy dishes up a wealth of information on leveling up your career as a freelance creative and turning it into a full-blown agency. Click through to listen to our TwitterSpaces chat!
https://twitter.com/b2bContentKing/status/1544701395852574722

“"Look for other clients who are like the ones you like," was one nugget of wisdom from , the author of How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. Really enjoyed our chat!”

02/07/2022

Have you got a hankering for a delicious-yet-nutritious news source? Something that sates your hunger for news, but won’t take up your whole day? What do you do when the international news media are no longer paying much attention to the good versus evil fight that is happening as Ukraine defends herself against Russia’s evil invasion (especially when it’s in the country next door…)?

You “tune in” to Times Radio, which does daily remote news interviews with a wide variety of experts from Ukraine, the UK, European Union, think tanks, etc. It’s on YouTube.

The bonus is that not only will you come away better informed; you’ll also hear something provocative about what’s going on - or what could go on - regarding the war, Putin’s psychology, how the Ukrainians are faring, or how the Baltic countries are preparing themselves for a possible attack - all in a segment that lasts just a few minutes.

All of the interview guests are interviewed by knowledgeable and incisive British journalists, who are sitting on a newsy looking set with a very serious microphone - their base for cranking out short interviews with the various news-makers.

As a former radio journalist myself, the idea of being able to do lightning fast broadcast interviews with experts and publish them immediately online is a dream come true. By watching a few episodes, one can easily see how they’re delivering top quality content that is chock full of insights. They release several segments per day. Highly recommended!

This episode features an interview with Ukrainian politician, Oleksiy Goncharenko, who talks about Russian missiles strikes on Odessa, something he describes as revenge for Ukraine having taken back "Snake Island."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1FlAvXK9pw&t=532s&ab_channel=TimesRadio

"Goodwill and Russia is not something which can be combined together in one sentence.”18 Killed in Russia Strike - 0:00Ukrainian politician, Oleksiy Gonchare...

27/06/2022

It's intriguing to think about the brands that were my favorite as a child, decades before the incessant talk of brands and branding. One brand I was into, which would become world famous, was from my hometown of Rockford, Illinois. It was that of a quirky local rock and roll band that busted their butts to become “big in Japan” in the late 1970s. If you’re from Rockford, like me, you know exactly who I’m talking about: our “hometown heroes,” Cheap Trick.

The odd combination of the band’s personalities seemed orchestrated (like The Monkees on steroids), but their playing showed it was not - it was hard rocking stuff they played, tinged with flavors reminiscent of the Beatles and Yardbirds. On the one hand, there were the skinny lead guitar player decked out in a baseball cap, funny sweaters and wrestling shoes, and a nerdy looking drummer with a mustache who wore suits and dragged on a cigarette while he bashed his kit (both lovable dweebs). The other side of the coin had the band’s two other, “beefcake” members: the heartthrob blond singer and a tousled-hair bass player, also both talented, but easier on the eyes. Two of the band’s early album covers exploited the contrast: In Color and Heaven Tonight. Check those out, both for the great Midwestern power pop and to crack a smile.

The band’s logo, which has been described as a “messy typewriter,” is truly iconic: the words “Cheap Trick” typed out six times and stacked one above the other. Cheap Trick also incorporated the checkerboard into their look and feel. It’s on the lead guitarist’s guitars, guitar straps, sweaters and picks, not to mention their album covers. Combined with the logo, their visual brand is instantly recognizable, 45 years after their eponymous debut album hit the stacks in 1977.

And they still make great music. Cheap Trick released “In Another World” last summer, and the band continues to tour. There's a YouTube link to their latest album in the comments.

https://www.cheaptrick.com/

20/06/2022

These days it's easy to point out the faults and pernicious nature of social media, so it's great when something pops up that empowers users. Such is Twitter Spaces.

It's kind of like podcasting, which really democratized online media - anyone can be "on the radio" (online) without having to buy a radio station. But Twitter Spaces takes place in real time and is kind of like a chatroom. No equipment is necessary - producers and users only need a smart phone (and the quality is shockingly good!)

After pushing a few buttons, I can start my "radio show" any time I like and potentially access the millions of Twitter users around the world. Not only do they listen to the show, but can be granted access to chime into the topic and add their two cents (or million bucks).

Basically, if you have an interesting topic for your Space, there will always be an audience because of how many users Twitter has (I'm hoping). It certainly seems like a less anonymous way to connect to one's tribe. I've had this experience with podcasting, with people getting the feeling they knew me just by listening to my show.

As a listener, this means I can scroll through the shows that are happening in the moment, or put a future show into my calendar so I don't miss it.

I can't help but feel that Twitter Spaces is something of a "blast from the past" - sort of like Citizen Band radios, but also “ham radios” which connected operators with broadcasters on the other side of the planet.

With Spaces, there's also an element of tuning into an international shortwave broadcast - the world is at your fingers, but there's no static or need to fine tune the station.

In my first Twitter Spaces show tomorrow at 3pm CET I'll be interviewing a very cerebral writer and researcher (catch the link in the comments below). Wish me luck!

09/06/2022

There are times when my client Manooi Light Creations shares such fantastic pics as this on their social media accounts, that all I have to do is write something pithy. But that ain't always easy.

For one thing, it can be tough to come up with anything at all, even tougher to avoid saying exactly the same thing over and over.

Compared to the business writing/copy editing I do, it's a challenge to write these one-liners, and sometimes even super fun!

Beyond cool. Manooi's Ozero crystal pendant lamp epitomises modern chic in this converted warehouse space.

03/06/2022

When everything is "breaking news" it's like the boy who cried wolf - we become desensitized to things that are happening, some of which *are* breaking news and many which are most certainly not. As this article points out, the breaking news banner gets viewers attention, but after a few seconds viewers feel they've been duped. I'm not convinced CNN changing their stance on what breaking news is changes much of anything.

The horrible mass shootings likely fall under the category of breaking news, but in a cynical way it seems like they're happening so frequently as to lose their significance - at least for someone like myself who is witnessing things from afar. I can't even keep track of all the different incidents, no matter how tragic they may be.

It makes me think of my wife receiving breaking news alerts from the BBC's news app, which plays a very stern musical jingle whenever it goes off. I've begged her to take it off of her phone, because even though I am a bit of a news ju**ie it makes it impossible to relax: it's like we're always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

There's a "slow food" movement. How about a "slow news" movement, too?

Let’s see if CNN starts a trend that then carries over to the other networks. Let’s hope so.

30/05/2022

So when are you going to start again? There are times when you just run out of excuses (meaning me!).

Back when I started out podcasting in 2006, it was a really tedious process. One hurdle was that I was coming at the whole thing as a public radio producer, so I was putting too much time into production: making lots of edits, mixing music and sound into my show... you name it.

Then there were the technical aspects of having it on a webpage and enabling people to subscribe to it: show notes, keywords, an RSS feed.

As a one-man band on the show, putting something together every week was grueling at times - and I wasn't even getting paid for it.

It was less demanding production-wise when my wife and I did shows about what was happening with us, but still took some time to record with one device, transfer it to a computer, slash the super boring parts, etc.

But since Anchor came along, anyone can record a podcast on their phones that is hosted by Spotify and can be registered in all of the major podcast directories, such as iTunes, Stitcher, etc.

We did our first, a return of sorts since our last show in 2020, last week (link in this post's comments). The sound quality is actually amazing considering it emanates from a phone.

So if you've been thinking about doing your own podcast, read more about it, and just go for it! https://www.thepodcasthost.com/planning/using-anchor-to-make-a-podcast/

We test out Anchor. Here's why this free app might be a great option for your podcast - and why it might not.

27/05/2022

Talk about *going viral* - in a neighborhood. This is such a great example of spreading some positivity and providing some hope in difficult times/situations. This gentleman's act was authentic communication that broke through to the residents of this neighborhood. https://vimeo.com/109567314

When Dan Stevenson placed a stone Buddha across the street from his house in Oakland’s Eastlake neighborhood, it was out of desperation. He never imagined…

26/02/2022

Also for Manooi Light Creations

All of a sudden, a meal turns into a celebration. That’s what happens when you place three majestic OZERO model modern crystal chandeliers in your luxury design kitchen to take it to the next level. Whether you’re having a luxurious Sunday brunch with family and friends, or enjoying a cocktail at the end of a long day, OZERO brings some sparkle into your space.