Third year of BSBA and Immanuel Kant

We here in Monaco have been reminded this week that the glorious warm summer is now definitely over, by the sudden outbursts of rain. Dark clouds hang low from the sky, keeping the humidity high and the atmosphere gloomy. Worse still is that university has started and we have lots of work to do this term.

Although credit-wise, I am only taking 12 credits, four courses, one workshop and I am auditing an elective course. But this term, we must write our internship report and start working on our thesis.
Over the summer, I have decided that I want to go into computer orientated careers such as web design/programming so I am auditing the Computer Graphics course and decided to focus my thesis around the e-commerce consumer behavior field.

Today I wanted to share with you about a philosopher in the 18th Century called Immanuel Kant. One of my courses this term is about International Relations and Geopolitics and its really interesting for me because I love history and I've always wanted to learn philosophy. So far we covered Realism and Liberalism and I'm doing a presentation on one of the most influential liberalist thinker, Kant.

I volunteered to present Immanuel Kant thinking it'll be easy because he's the main liberal thinker so there'll be plenty to talk about, but when I did some research I realised that there is SO much to talk about his works that it is really difficult to give a short presentation on such an in depth character. So here is my quick overview on his life and ideology.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was born and lived his whole life close to the capital of East Prussia, Konigsberg. He was born during the Age of Enlightenment, in which during the 18th century, intellectuals tried to reform society through reason, advance knowledge through science and opposed the abuse of power by the state and the church.
Kant's contributions were mainly made in four key areas of study: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics and Aesthetics. 

• Metaphysics is "the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space" (Google Dictionary) 
• In which Kant focused on answering the question 'What can we know?'
• Epistemology means "The theory of knowledge, esp. with regard to its methods, validity, and scope."
• He said that knowledge has constraints because of how our minds are limited to the judgements we make through observations and experiences. 
• Regarding to ethics, his most famous quote about an ideology called Categorical Imperative explains his views: “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
• He also made a detailed study of judgement and thus arrived at a conclusion that aesthetics, beauty is only our perception. that the object is not beautiful but we reason it to be beautiful

Overall, his liberal view was that cooperation between people will work if everyone followed the same principles and this will be beneficial to everyone so there will be no more war but "Perpetual Peace". 

• 
  

Interesting no?

Monte Carlo International Fireworks Festival

Tonight is the Monte Carlo International Fireworks Festival! This is an annual competition and this year, the French, Czech Republic, Austrian and English teams are competing over four days during the summer. 

Check out the view from outside our apartment!

Grand Prix 2012

I am now exhausted but had a great weekend with family guests and friends!


Friday night, once I got back, my family and I went out for dinner with a guest to a restaurant called Avenue 31.
Saturday morning, we picked up the guests at the Metropole shopping centre because they need passes to cross the bridge over the track to get to our place. Then we had our annual buffet lunch party until around 3pm. In the evening, my family and I went to the newly opened Cipriani restaurant with some of the guests. The food was great! My father took us all for drinks to Zelo's for a drink afterwards, and then I went to the Billionaire's club with my friends.

Sunday, it was the big race! So we had the lunch buffet party again with all the guests.

Here's a video of the top 5 racers from this Sunday taken from our balcony:

1. Mark Weber

2. Nico Rosberg

3. Fernando Alonso

4. Sebastian Vettel

5. Louis Hamilton

After the race, we all went to walk around on the race track and had drinks at the Hotel de Paris. 

Today, we went to the Larvotto Beach and had lunch at La Note Bleue. It was a lot of fun this whole weekend but I've eaten so much I feel so full! Tomorrow will be my salad day!

Home-bound! Grand Prix 2012

I'm back in Monaco today and will be joining the family and guests for dinner at a restaurant, Avenue 31. Monaco is right in the middle of the Grand Prix, so our family is having our annual Grand Prix Buffet Party tomorrow and Sunday to watch the races and feast with about 20-40 guests every year.

But I hear that the weather forecasts say that it will rain this weekend :(
Although it might make things interesting, race-wise, I get back from 30+ degrees celsius of inland US so I wanted to enjoy the sun and the beach of Monaco!

Anyway, I'm sure this weekend will be exciting... as it always is!

I'll upload pictures in the blogs to follow!

California!!

I'm going to be in Sacramento in California, US for the next 3 weeks and I just arrived Monday. It was the first time for me to take 3 consecutive flights and man, its tiring! I went from Nice -> London -> Los Angeles -> Sacramento. I left my house at 5.30am and I arrived in Sacramento at 6pm (+9h for the time difference) so basically, I was traveling for almost 22 hours!
I flew British Airways the first two flights and then American and I was very glad that all went smoothly. My first flight was a little late, and I only had an hour to change flights, but there was a BA lady waiting as I got off the plane who gave me this bright orange piece of folded paper to show that I was running late and had to be let through the fast track immigration and security lanes. So I was at the next gate in no time.
Then the flight to LA was supposed to take over 11 hours but the wind was blowing in the right direction and we were told that it would only take 10 hours instead. Score! hehe.
So I had a little more time when I arrived in LAX Airport. I'd been told by a couple of people that it was a really annoying and confusing airport because of the lack of signs and the long customs and security checks. Indeed, there was a very long queue for customs and it turns out, despite the French lady in Nice Airport telling me that my luggage would go directly to Sacramento without having to re-check it, the audio annoucement kept repeating, "All luggages must be collect here and re-checked in after security control. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS."
It was a good thing I'd researched how to get to the different terminals for transfer so I knew where I was going.
And look what I found while waiting for my next flight:

It's a vending machine selling cameras, phones and Nintendo DS'!! Wow to America. haha I'd never seen that one before! 

Also while I was waiting, I got a text from my boyfriend that he was going to pick me up at the airport! But I didn't have any make up on and after all that traveling, you can imagine how my skin looked! :s And because the gate was such a far off place, I couldn't find a nearby toilet, so I had to use Photo Booth on my MacBook! I looked so silly trying to put liquid eye liner 2cm away from my computer screen! haha

Then, the airplane! It was the smallest I'd ever seen! It was smaller than some of the tall men and there were only 3 seats per row! 

Well now I am comfortably arrived in Sacramento and enjoying my holiday in the sun! Hope the weather improves in Monaco too!

Last Event of the Year @Stars'N'Bars

Friday was my last event as Student Association 2011-12! I organized a Open Bar Cocktail from 6 to 7pm at the newly re-opened Stars'N'Bars Monte Carlo.

It looked nice and new, looked more high tech with the automated doors and balconies!

We had the area behind the bar reserved for us and a total of 50 students attended the event! :D 

 My friends and I had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Mozza and then went out to a dance lounge, Zelo's, and then to Monaco's famous club, Jimmyz. It was a super fun night and now that I've spent the weekend resting, it finally feels like holiday! 

 

Off to Sacramento, CA, USA on monday! 

End of the 2nd Year of University!

I can't believe its nearly May already!  This week is the last week of university this school year because IUM only has two terms and I have to go do a three-month internship from June. Which also means that I have final exams! Last week, I had my Italian final exam and this week I have European Union, Marketing, Professional Writing exams. 

For our Entrepreneurship class, the teacher is making us present our business idea to 3 investors (who also came in during the term as guest speakers) and they will grade us by whether they would invest in the idea or not. So we have to be all proper, wear suits and convince the judges but we only get 10 minutes! Scary, no? :s Especially because I get so nervous for presentations, our professor told us to EXPLODE and do as if we were singing on stage (he'd seen me singing at the Christmas Ball)! So the plan is to practice tomorrow with my partner with a couple of RedBulls or a glass of whisky ;) heheh

For the Finance class, we had 3 quizzes throughout the term and the professor had said from the beginning that if we got good grades in those, he would put that average as our Exam grade so that we wouldn't have to take the exam! And well, I managed to get an average of over 100 (with bonus points) so, no finance final! Yayy

When all of this is over, I get a month of HOLIDAYYY!!! xD I am SO looking forward to it because I'm going, for the first time to California, US!! 

I've been to Hawaii, Guam, New York, Miami, and recently Boston, but I've never been to the West Coast and I'm super excited. 

My bf is doing his internship in Sacramento, so I'm going to visit him and drive down to San Francisco and LA! 

Which means.... I can pack all my summer dresses and bikinis! It's been really cold in Monaco this whole month it's crazy! So I just can't wait to lie in the sun and not worry about studying... 

I am coming back for the Grand Prix though! Monaco Grand Prix this year is from the 24th to the 27th of May and I fly back on the 25th. Our apartment is located just above the GP circuit tunnel and from our balcony, we can see the cars flying out of the tunnel. So we have a great lunch buffet party every year and invite our close friends from all over. I can't believe it's already been a year! 

Ooh and April is Birthday month for our family. My father, my grandmother, my sister and my mother were all born in April! (Of course, I'm the out-liar, I was born in January) Anyway, check out the chocolate cake I made for my sister this weekend! It was really good!! nom nom! 

By the way, Stars'N'Bars is re-opening tomorrow! I organized our last university event this Friday 27th there too and we are all super excited to have our favourite American Restaurant Bar back! I hear they now have very cool balconies and a dance floor?! 

http://starsnbars.liferiviera.com/

Inside Job

I was watching some more financial films for our finance class and finally managed to watch the documentary, Inside Job. I say "finally", because my friend and I attempted to watch it last year and we fell asleep because it was late and it sounded complicated. But now that we've learnt about financial institutions and markets for a whole term, we understood everything they were talking about and recognized a lot of the people in it. It was so interesting, I couldn't keep my eyes off! And we kept pausing, taking notes and shouting "What the heck is wrong with these people?!". There were SO many people/institutions involved in the 2008 Financial Crisis! And everyone who helped cause it KNEW that it was wrong! They wanted a short term cash gain at the cost of their firm, the tax payers, the home owners and the whole world economy!
Wow.
Anyway, the film was very well made! It is a little difficult to follow without knowing some financial terms because the financial people they interview try not to answer the questions directly by using complicated words. haha.

I also watched Rogue Trader, suggested to me by an MBA student at IUM who read my blog. Thank you! It was interesting because unlike some of the other films, it was fictional and showed how a guy tried to cover up the losses he made, making him look good at first but ends in the collapse of the bank and his own life (he ends up in jail, his wife leaves him). and the sad part is that he didn't manipulate the accounts for his own profit, just that he didn't want to admit the mistakes he made and kept thinking he could beat the market. Well, I guess you just can't.

Art Monaco 2012

Happy Easter! (although I don't celebrate christian holidays...)

It is a beautiful day today in Monaco and my friend and I decided to go to an art exhibition that is on this weekend at the Grimaldi Forum. (http://www.artemonaco.com/)

 

I believe this exhibition, of over 50 exhibitors from all over the world, is held every year now. We were invited last year too and my mother and I enjoyed the lovely art scene at its Opening Cocktail event. This year, unfortunately, we could not make it on Friday for the opening but I managed to visit the booths this afternoon.

The friend of our family who invited us, has her own atelier in Monaco and her exhibit was impressive with a great installation at the back of the booth with these "wish bubbles" hanging from the ceiling (Picture below).

It was really pretty! And each wish bubble has a wish written inside and as you walk down the corridor, you can't help trying to read all the wishes inside them! 

(http://aibubble.com/)

Looking forward to next year!

WOW!! Technological World or what??

I just read on Mashable.com about some crazy new technological stuff! By "stuff" I mean Google Glasses, Wireless Charging and Windows 8 touch interface! 


First of all the Google Glasses. I don't know if you've heard of them but in my IT course, we discussed about the possibilities of Augmented Reality. Ok, here's a google definition:"A technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view" but basically it is like seeing reality through a device which gives you additional information! for example, holding your smartphone up and through the camera, it tells you where the restaurants are in the street opposite, or glasses with face recognition etc. In class we looked at this YouTube video:

When we watched it not even 6 months ago, we thought it would be something that will become true far in the future...
BUT apparently, Google already has a prototype and Google's Co-Founder, Sergey Brin, was wearing one the other day! How fast our world is moving forward!!! 

http://mashable.com/2012/04/06/sergey-brin-google-glasses/


Also on Mashable.com, I read how Apple was getting the patent for wireless charging of devices! I don't really understand how it works but the fact that this kind of thing is possible is just wow... Read the details on AppleInsider.


And the news of Windows 8. I'd heard that there was going to be another version of Windows soon from my mother, and we were laughing how by the time I'm 50 there'll be a Windows 208... But seeing this video made me think, "huh... I kind of really want to try that..." AND IM A MAC PERSON!!! Soon we'll all have both a mac and a windows just because they are both so awesome!! 

I haven't read the specs and details about windows 8 so I don't know if it really is gna be this awesome but they sure did a good marketing job in that video! Haha

Spring Arts Festival at ISM

Yesterday was the Spring Arts Festival at my old high school, International School of Monaco. It's basically a Talent Show, where all the kids come up on stage and perform.
My little sister, who is attending primary school there, was in the Cheerleading team and they did a performance so my mother and I went and watched all the other 3 hours of performance to watch our little girl dance with 10 other girls for 3 minutes...

Anyway, the show was a lot of fun and it made me and an old friend of mine I met there were saying how old we feel because we were up there singing and dancing only 2 years ago (I sang an aria from an Opera 2 years ago). Now we are grown up, going to universities coming to watch the show for our little brothers and sisters!
I also realized how the school had become a lot more musical! When I was there, there weren't so many acts and so many students performing! It was great to see a lot of talent and effort and it made me want to run home and practice my songs on the piano! Of course I came back and wouldn't stop singing about even though it was already past 10 pm :P

Anyways, the weather's looking better this weekend in Monaco so let us enjoy it this weekend with some beaching and tanning? ;)

Cinderella Man, Social Media Marketing

Today, I decided, after a casual conversation in one of my classes to watch the film "CInderella Man" starring Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger. It was a film about a washed-up boxer in the 1920-30s getting a second chance and winning the world heavy weight championship. Made me tear up towards the end... I am quite easily moved by emotion... 


Another thing that makes me want to tear up is watching figure skating competition. I don't know why but the beauty of the skating, the cold ice, the challenge of the jumps and pressure the skaters have on them... (also the fact that i am a terrible ice skater makes me feel respect for people who can jump around on that thin piece of blade!!) 


The World Figure Skating Competition this year was held in Nice and since Japanese ice skaters are almost always at least in the top 5, Japan is very enthusiastic every year about it. I've been watching the National and World competition for the past 5 or 6 years now and I have become very pro (in my opinion lol) at analyzing the jumps etc. hahaha. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to the competition, but the rest of my family went and they said it was a great experience :)


The weather today in Monaco was not very nice and it's been forecasted to rain this week. It's a shame because we went to do our Marketing Research project at La Note Bleue restaurant in Larvotto beach but it was so cold and it looked like it could rain, we decided to head back to the university. 


Our project, by the way, is "To determine the effect of Social Media on Consumer Awareness of Hotels". We have to conduct a survey and other data collection methods and write up the findings and analysis as if it was our thesis. Only thing is that we can work in a group, but I spent the whole day today doing some observational research as to which hotels and hotel groups have what kinds of social networking sites. The results are pretty interesting because I predicted that a lot of hotels have Social Networking Sites like Facebook and Twitter, but I never expected so many to have their own channel for YouTube and Blogs! I guess I had undermined the Social Media Marketing blooming within the hotel industry too!

TED Talk: Simon Sinek, Noel Bairey Merz

I don't know if you've noticed through some of my previous blog posts, but I'm someone who tend to ponder about issues and often I see both sides of a case and have a very middle stand to arguments. 
And I like to share these thoughts through this blog and bring up little anecdotes I find interesting.
Just now, a friend of mine who is studying abroad for a term in Boston, MA, USA, sent me a link during a Skype conversation saying "Since we're amongst geeks...here's a very intersting video". Of course, the geek that I am, as soon as I realized it was a TED Talk video, I watched it immediately, and it was one of the most interesting videos I've seen on TED.


The Speaker, Simon Sinek had worked out what the difference is between those who are successful and those who aren't. Whether it be individuals, corporations, innovators, these people had a complete opposite approach to others in the same field. Even if you have the perfect conditions for success, funding, the right people, the know-how, people follow those who know "why" they are doing what they do. People follow leaders who believe in what they do. And these people don't follow because it's a good idea/product, they follow because this becomes their belief. Leaders are people with authority and the qualifications to prove it, but people who actually lead just believe in what they do which makes other people believe in what they do. Mr. Sinek gave really great examples using Apple, the Wright Brothers who built the world's first successful airplane, and Martin Luther King.  Another interesting concept he talked about was the Law of Diffusion of Innovation. This determines the how products diffuse through different types of consumers in a culture with the development of market share. 


Here are some good graphs of the two concepts I found on Google Images:

 

Well, rather than me going on more about it, it would really be worth watching the actual video on TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Coincidentally, I was watching another TED talk today, which I was sent the link from one of my old professors at my university. It was by Noel Bairey Merz, director of the Women's Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, who talked about how heart disease is far more fatal for females today than breast cancer, and we absolutely NEED to raise more awareness. The statistics given truly surprised me and the nature of the talk had a nice personal touch for a female audience too ;) 

So here it is: http://www.ted.com/talks/noel_bairey_merz_the_single_biggest_health_threat_women_face.html

Weekend soon! Yayyy xD

Larvotto Beach, Monaco

Monaco beaches are starting to open again! 
After 4/5 months of winter, the recent blazing sun and blue sky has convinced the Larvotto beach houses to open again. 
I went to have lunch at our favorite beach house La Note Bleue. My family has been going there for the past 8 years now, and of course we've tried the others, but nothing beats the joyous servers and the great Jazz music provided by La Note Bleue. 
Actually, at first, they were not as nice to us because we were new in Monaco and looked much like tourists. But we knew that it was the best beach in Larvotto, right at the centre, and so we kept going and they soon warmed up to us. 
I think it's a common attitude in rural towns like Monaco that the restaurants are really nice to repeating customers and not so much to the never ending stream of tourists. I don't know what's better. Recently, my boyfriend has gone to the US and realized that it's actually very annoying that the waiters are SO nice to you wherever you go. Is it better to be fake and overly nice to all your customers, following the server's manual of asking how the meal is etc. or to be rather cold to new customers but the repeaters feel privileged with extra services like a drink on the house? The second is perhaps more common to Europe and it may feel rude at first but it does make it worth becoming a good customer at a specific restaurant. I guess it depends on the size and style of the restaurants too. 


Anyway, since then, my father has always done his Monaco tv shoots there and my parents did their official wedding ceremony there last May. 
Yes, wedding ceremony. They were legally married 21 years ago but they never had a wedding so they decided to take the 20 years anniversary as a good opportunity to renew their vows and have a proper ceremony. 
I was in charge of organization and I had to coordinate the restaurant staff and our friends who kindly volunteered to help us. We had to bring in the wedding cake that was ordered from another one of our favorite restaurants, Joël Robuchon Monte Carlo in the Metropole Hotel, have a bouquet of my mother's favorite Kala flowers delivered on the day etc. There were lots of delays such as, our friend the hair and make up artist was taking too long to do my mother's hair and make-up, another friend who is the official pianist for the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra was late and she was supposed to play my parent's favorite song - La Vie En Rose - as they walked in through the curtains arranged for their entrance. 
In the end, it was beautiful. The weather was perfect, the food was great, there were plenty of drinks and everyone seemed to have a good time. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good picture to post from the wedding but here's the link to La Note Bleue


Starting this week, Monaco's started redoing the roads for the Grand Prix in May (which is why it's so loud outside my window at night so I can't sleep but) it's so exciting that the weather is getting warmer!   I can just feel Monaco starting to get ready for it's best time of the year! 

More on Product Placement, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Alright, so I watched "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold"(2011) and "Super Size Me"(2007), both directed by  Morgan Spurlock this weekend. 


Super Size Me became really famous and it's kind of obvious what it's about but I hadn't actually watched it for some reason and it was a good opportunity so I decided it'd be good to show it to my 10 year old sister too. 


Result was great. My sister, who often eats more dessert than the meal, now swears not to drink coca cola or eat McDonalds or anything sweet ever again. Well. That's never going to happen but it's a good first step for her to realize what she's eating. 


I was astonished too. I didn't think there was so much health risk to your liver, blood and heart just by eating McDonalds. I just thought you'd get fat. Apparently, that's not the only effect. 


And "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" was pretty good too. Although the two documentaries, seemed to have a bit of a different style. "Super Size Me" is more like an actual documentary, but with "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold", it was difficult to grasp that that was the actual the film. It's difficult to explain but, "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" is really a behind-the-scenes clip, the documentary is about how that documentary was created. You'll see if you watch it. 


But the really interesting thing is that the Product Placement in "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" really worked. There were a bunch of brands that decided to sponsor the movie, most of which I had never heard of and it really made me want to try it.


For example, I didn't know there was a Pomegranate juice! I had never even considered that option! But I love Pomegranate as a fruit and next time I go to the US, I am definitely trying POM Wonderful! 


And Ban is not well known here in Europe, but I know it in Japan as one of the two main deodorant brands. Next time I face a choice between buying an 8x4 or a Ban deodorant in Japan, I can already say that I'm going to try Ban because I watched it in "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold"!! 


AND, now that I've mentioned them in my Blog, you're curious. So either, you already want to try these products, or you're curious so you go and watch the film only to have the same effect. Honestly, it's scary. But I can't quite be against it. And I think the reason is that I am amazed at how effective it is and I kind of want to say, "Wow, Well done. Kudos for that!". I have to give it to them that it did widen my options and it gave me information that these products are out there and that it's something I might like, and otherwise I would never have known that my potentially favorite fruit juice existed in this world! 


Although it did leave me wondering, am I so vulnerable as to want things if they have enough exposure? 


I was slightly worried when I started watching"Super Size Me" that maybe, instead of learning how bad it is, I'm going to want to eat McDonalds. But no, I did feel disgusted and right now I don't want to eat anything. I also saw an interesting commercial for a TV show that I don't like, and I still felt that I didn't want to watch it. 


So I think, the conclusion I'm reaching about whether Product Placement is good or bad, is that, like most other things in the world today, it depends. 


Product Placement 
IS effective. to the point that it's scary. 
but it also ISN'T evil. It can broaden your options. and maybe a good alternative to commercials.


But one thing is for sure: We can no longer escape from being fed advertisement and unnecessary information while we are awake. It's now up to our individual intelligence and ability to filter things out and determine what is information and what is noise. 


Here's the trailer of Super Size Me in case you hadn't heard of it. 

Product Placement

Today, I had to prepare a debate for my Product Placement class.


Product Placement, is when brands pay the production to place their products on TV or in films. 


In class, we were given three topics of Product Placement (PP): PP in Music, PP in Film and PP in Children's Film/TV shows. Then we were assigned into groups of three to argue for and against whether PP is ethical in these key areas. Our professor wanted Opening (5min), Rebuttal (3min) and Closing (5min) Statements given by each member and we were all given 15 minutes to prepare. 


My group was told to be For PP in Children's TV shows. 


Since we knew that we were going to have this debate, we were some what prepared and although I am not quite for PP in children's TV shows, we had to stand our ground. I did the Closing Statement and ran out of time to say everything so I think it was fine.


In my personal opinion, as someone from my generation, PP doesn't bother me that much. I realize that it can be considered subliminal mind controlling or unethical, but as long as PP doesn't destroy the content, the story and the art behind the show/film/music, I think it is a pretty clever idea. Tivo and others such like has enabled us to skip ads and to be honest, I would rather have the characters of a TV show drink Fanta than watch a series of 30 second commercials every 10 minutes! 


Yes, people will want to buy a Louis Vuitton bag because of a character that she is a fan of. But I don't see so much harm in it, because these people admire the person's personality and the bag is just a prop to help represent it. 


Although I do feel that our generation is more used to the mass advertising and don't feel so threatened by it. 


I enjoy the class a lot though and it's amazing how I hadn't noticed the products placed in the films that I had watched! 


We've talked about a couple of films in class that has a lot to do with Product Placement etc. like the: Transformers (2007), The Joneses (2009) and The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011). 


The Greatest Movie Ever Sold seems interesting because it is "A documentary about branding, advertising and product placement that is financed and made possible by brands, advertising and product placement." (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1743720/) 
And it's done by the director of "Super Size Me"(2004), the film made about eating only McDonalds for a whole month. 


I'm going to watch it tonight so I'll let you know if it's really as interesting as the trailer looks :)

CREM, Cipriani Restaurant

Good evening, I just came back from a Members Cocktail at Monaco's Members Club Society CREM. 


CREM, Club des Résidents Etrangers de Monaco,  is an association created in 2010 for foreign and Monegasque people living in Monaco to "take part in the social, economic, cultural and sporting life" in Monaco. (www.crem.mc/)


My mother is a member since early last year and the organization has organized numerous events through Monegasque connections as well as by request. For example last year, a member wanted to go to Alba, Italy to eat the seasonal delicacies of white truffles, so they organized a weekend trip! Other services are such like: premium tickets to the Monte Carlo Opera, weekly Happy Hour at the Club, guest speakers, art exhibitions, etc.


Tonight, we also had representatives from the famous Cipriani restaurants (Venice, London, New York, Hong Kong) join us because they are opening one of their restaurants in Monaco right next to CREM's lounge, where the former Ni Tapas used to be. (1, av. Princesse Grace, Monaco; to be opened around May 2012)


I actually have been to the original restaurant in Venice when I was 9 years old and I remember going to Harry's Bar, a Bar renown for their association with the Cipriani Hotel in Venice and their delicious Bellini. We were actually recommended the place by a friend in Japan who had worked there. So as a little kid who had come along with their wine-loving parents, I was sitting there asking for more Bellinis without the sparkling wine! ...Which turned out to be just peach juice...


So we shall wait impatiently to see how the restaurant in Monaco turns out! :) 

Financial Films: Margin Call, Too Big To Fail and Wall Street

In Finance class today, we discussed a film called Margin Call that we had to watch as an assignment.

It's a film released in 2011, with Kevin Spacey, Zachary Quinto, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker and Demi Moore.

This film, as in its trailer, is about the very first 12 hours of the 2008 Financial Crisis and about how the first investment bank to go down managed not to, by selling off all its toxic assets to other banks, which then couldn't handle them and went bankrupt soon after.

I found the other two films that we had to watch, "Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps"(1987, 2010) and "Too Big to Fail"(2011) very interesting too although I was disappointed by Wall Street because of how much drama there is instead of financials.

But basically, they all have a different take on financial dilemmas.

Wall Street (both the 2010 and 1987 versions) talks about an individual, Gordon Gekko, and his way of making money - by cheating. We can say that he believes in the Efficient Market Hypothesis, which says that you cannot beat the market because all available and public information is already incorporated into the market price. Which is why the only way Gekko believes he can make money is by having insider information.

Too Big to Fail depicts the American financial ways as a whole. From the Government Treasury, to the Fed to the investment banks. This film is actually more real and based on the actions actually taken pre and post the Lehman brothers bankruptcy. The clips used in this film from the tv news are real tv scenes that were aired at the time.

All these films in a way mocks the head of these billion-dollar investment banks because in the end these people got to the top by being "good salesmen" (Margin Call, 2011) and not by having all the technical knowledge. This point, discussed in class brought us to a very interesting debate as to whether the top people need to know what they're doing or just have to have charisma? For example, did Steve Jobs know how to make the iPad? (I'm not saying he couldn't, because I have no idea, but) could he have engineered the software? Or was it just enough that he had the ideas, the charisma and the quality to represent Apple?

On that note, I will leave you to ponder and watch the trailers of the films mentioned above :) Cheers!

Marketing Report - Is Social Media an efficient Marketing platform for Hotels?

Back from holiday, we had a quiz this morning in Entrepreneurship! We had to explain how to value a start up company, all the risks involved in running a business and the ways you can finance a start up.

This afternoon we have to present in Italian about a fictional trip to Milan.

Right now, I am working with two of my friends for a Marketing Report that we have to write about how efficient Social Media is as a Marketing Platform for the hospitality industry. It's a pretty difficult topic because yes connecting with customers through social networking is crucial nowadays and to be found in the top ranks of search engines is important, but how much of this actually results in increasing ROI (Return on Investment) is difficult to measure. But it takes substantial time and effort to keep social profiles up-to-date and you have to have things to say. Just saying "we have great rooms" isn't going to make readers follow your blog or tweets. 


Anyways, I'll keep posting :) 

Irish Referendum 2012, Entrepreneurship Negotiation

SO as I mentioned before, I live in Monaco. I'm studying at the International University of Monaco for my Bachelor in Business Administration.

This term, I'm taking 8 courses:  
Entrepreneurship And Family Business Management


Professional Communication - Writing

Job Search Techniques


Introduction To Financial Markets


Italian Elementary Level 2


Marketing Management II

Product Placement

The European Union

Today, I had to present an article in my EU class so I prepared a 5 minute explanation about the Irish referendum. The Irish PM, Enda Kenny decided to hold a referendum for the Irish people to vote whether they want to ratify the Austerity Treaty (which will give Brussels more power to intervene in economic and social issues of the euro-zone members) that they are signing with other euro-zone countries tomorrow. It's in the Irish constitution to give a vote whenever they have to agree to giving up more sovereignty to the EU. 

Even if Ireland votes "No", the treaty will still carry on because they only need 12 out of 17 signatures, but it may be a problem for the EU because investors will think that the EU are doing things that the people of the EU do not want. Also for Ireland, it may hurt them in the future not to be able to have a back up when they come out of their current bail out and has to raise capital on their own.

After my EU class, was the Entrepreneurship class. At the moment we are writing a Business Plan of our own about an idea that we came up with in groups of 2. My friend and I are writing about creating a Japanese Style Hotel and Resort in the South of France. Today, we had to give an "elevator pitch negotiation" where the teacher gave us 10 minutes to prepare, 10 minutes to talk to him as the investor in front of the class. We were very nervous because we didn't know about this, but we tried to structure what the message was that we wanted to portray about our product and what we wanted from him and why. It turned out ok and we all talked about how body language is important and it's ok to have a weakness and want advice from the investor once he is on board. 

Now I have my Marketing class but tonight an exclusive dinner event for an opening of "Sexy Burgers"at the BeefBar Restaurant in Monaco. 

Got this event through an ex-student at from our university and because I am head of the student association, he wanted me to invite some students from the uni. 

wsa - Write Soon Again! 

Koko xx

About me

Hi everyone, I'm Koko. I've decided to start a Blog in English as well (because I already have one in Japanese http://ameblo.jp/xkokoxx/).


So anyway, let me explain a little about who I am. 


Here's the official explanation I've got on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn:


Born in Osaka, Japan and raised in Tokyo till the age of ten. Lived in Monaco from then on, except at one point, when I went to live in Chelsea and Knightsbridge, London, UK. Completed all my education in English and currently studying in Monaco for a degree in Bachelor in Science for Business Administration.


But I hope that through this blog, you can get to know about me and my points of view on current events and other social trends. 


Will be writing more about me soon!