Bo Laurent I help sales and marketing professionals hit their goals, by simultaneously optimizing business and technical processes.

I have degrees in Mathematics (MIT) and Organization Development, with strong skills in understanding human systems, process consulting, executive coaching, and organizational improvement.

Okaka kale

Chop kale into bite-sized pieces. You might want to use a nice Japanese knife. I used this one.

Japan Woodworker Usuba

Rinse dirt off the kale, and add to a pot, with perhaps a quarter cup of water added to the drops clinging from the rinse. Apply low heat until tender.

Strain, grate a bit of fresh ginger over it, then add a generous handful of quality katusobushi, and drip a bit of quality tamari. Almost vegan, very good for you, and quite tasty.

Ugetsu Monogatari

First gathering of Japanese Film Buffs occurs Tuesday evening, September 27 2011 07:00 PM, in Santa Rosa. We begin with—what else—Ugetsu Monogatari, by Kenji Mizoguchi (1953). The year 1953 was something of an Annus mirabilis in film history—a year that saw important films by Bergman, Fellini, Ozu, and Mizoguchi. Japan had only emerged from United States occupation (and American censorship of Japanese film) in 1951. Mizoguchi is known for his theme of acceptance of what cannot be changed; for his strong female characters; and for the cinematography of his films. Check out the long crane shot establishing the hut of Genjiro (the story’s principle) at the opening (you’ll have to attend the showing; I can’t find an online clip to link to).

“Quite simply one of the greatest of filmmakers,” said Jean-Luc Godard of Kenji Mizoguchi.

Ugetsu Monogatari, 1953 (DVD cover image)

I watched Thelma and Louise this evening. It struck me: the ending is exactly a 心中 (shinjū) moment. In Japanese culture, when two or more people who are bound by love (either romantic love, or familial love) choose death together, it is called shinjū. Shinjū is a popular theme of Japanese literature and film, but it is a relatively rare theme, or an impulse that is difficult to empathize with, in Western culture.

Data interpretation as business opportunity

The problem isn’t that specialised companies lack the data they need, it’s that they don’t go and look for it, they don’t understand how to handle it.
—Hans Rosling, “A Data State of Mind“ 

Data enables market efficiencies. There should be plenty of business niches where most of the players have not yet noticed that market data is available, or have not yet figured out how to find the data and use it for decision-making and pricing. This represents a business opportunity. (Or lots of them.) A great deal of public data is probably productizeable, if appropriately interpreted.