Life in Venice
Dean Javier Quintana draws a comparison between the Metropolitan Tower in New York and the Campanile in Piazza San Marco, Venice.
Back in October when I first spoke about shooting this video of the Dean of IE University’s School of Architecture, Javier Quintana, he said he would like to compare the architecture of Venice with the architecture of New York, more specifically the Campanile in Piazza San Marco and the Metropolitan Tower. Coincidentally enough I had to travel to New York at the end of that month and had the opportunity to film some of the places he wanted to talk about. Then, in November, I joined him on a business trip to Venice. I had a great time, partly because there aren’t many cities that can beat Venice on a sunny day, or any other day for that matter, and partly because he spoke with such passion and knowledge about the two cities that I gained a new perspective of every corner, every square, and every tower.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t fit all the interesting things he said into this video, and he didn’t only talk about architecture, but also about music, cinema, and life in general. So there I had no room left to say anything about either the amazing Schubert or the fabulous Death in Venice (both the film and the book). I decided to focus more on the life side of things. You’ll be interested to know that Dean Quintana is really good company when it comes to looking round shops.
As you might have imagined already, there was only one way this could end and that is with some excellent Bellini cocktails at Harry’s Bar.
P.S.: Don´t miss Martin Rico´s (1833-1908) Venice paintings at Prado Museum. Only till February 2013.
A Special Marriage
Strategic Management Prof. Caterina Moscheri talks in Cambridge about M&A.
Before Professor of Strategic Management Caterina Moscheri gives an address on corporate governance at a conference being held at Judge Business School in Cambridge, we have agreed to shoot this video about a “Special Marriage”.
8 a.m. We don’t have much time before she is due to speak, but on the plus side we are very pleasantly surprised to find that despite a horrendous weather forecast, the sky is blue and the sun is shining. So England 1, rest of the World 0. As Shakespeare said, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.
In this video Professor Moscheri talks about one of the subjects of her research, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As), and takes us to a rugby pitch, King’s College…
By the time we finish, the sky is gray and threatening rain. So now it’s England 1, rest of the world 1.
Finita la Comedia!!!
Professor Moscheri is fluent in several European languages, and runs almost every day.
P.S. Did you know that Pink Floyd is a Cambridge Band? Also she recommended an excellent film, “Moneyball”. You should try it!!!
A Tale of Two Cities
History Prof. Rolf Strom-Olsen meets at the Hay Festivals in Budapest and Segovia Georg von Habsburg and Lucy Kellaway.
Originally from Canada, history Professor Rolf Strom-Olsen is a man of more than one city. But if we stick to two here, it’s only because we must put numbers and limits to everything we do and say.
Rolf is conversant in various languages and has travelled extensively around the world. However,this is not what makes him a citizen of the world. Rather, it’s that, when speaking with him, one senses that he utterly and wholeheartedly believes in certain universal things; he would, I think, even draw the sword for them. Canadians are a bit like Spaniards in this sense, a bit of a crazy bunch.
In this video, he freely and humorously speaks at the Budapest and Segovia Hay Festivals with Georg von Habsburg and Lucy Kellaway. Georg is undoubtelly full of history and knowledge, but what he does best in this particular video is drive Rolf around Budapest. Lucy is quite simply full of life, wit, and anything you believe makes good company, just like that.
By the way, if you have never been to a Hay Festivals, just check when and where in the world the next one is taking place; because if you don’t go, you are missing something, and I mean it.
“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imagin-ings, a secret to the heart nearest it! “ (A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens).
Photo Professor Rolf Strom-Olsen in theotherphoto.blogs.ie.edu
Talking to strangers
When Professor of Leadership, Diversity and Social Capital Steven D´Souza told me on the phone that he wanted to go to the London Olympic village in Stratford to talk to strangers, my immediate thought was that I was that first stranger. I had never met him before. Then, for no reason, or maybe because I also play tennis, the film “Strangers on a train” popped into my mind. The main character in the film is an amateur tennis player named Guy Haines who meets a stranger, Bruno Anthony, who is already familiar with Guy’s marital problems thanks to gossip items in the newspapers. At some point, Bruno tells Guy about his idea for the perfect “Criss-cross” murder(s): he will kill Guy’s unfaithful wife and in exchange, Guy will kill Bruno’s father. Since both were strangers to one another, unconnected, there would be no identifiable motive for the crimes and thus no suspicion.
Well, Prof. Steven D´Souza and myself did finally met each other in London, and met other strangers (a Czech Olympic volunteer and a South African Olympic athlete.) I am happy to say we never plotted to kill anyone… but only talk about the importance of meeting strangers to strengthen social capital.
Photo Professor Steven D’Souza in theotherphoto.blogs.ie.edu
An American in Madrid
I love Vincent Minnelli’s films. And I always have in mind films like Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Bad and the Beautiful, and An American in Paris…Doing this short video “An American in Madrid” with Professor of Managerial Economics, Gayle Allard, is the smallest hommage I could pay to such a great film director. In the process of preparing the video I also discovered a fine car we make here in Spain: The Hurtan Albaycin. Just beautiful.
