Early Bloggers

Posted on 20. Oct, 2011 by in Blog, blogs, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

When did blogging begin? Earlier than you think!

early bloggers, blogging history, marketing blogs, Psychotactics, Sean D'Souza

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If you aren’t already on the ‘Friday cartoon list’ then here’s a link to make sure you don’t miss a fun cartoon

P.S. Also winners for the Bat Cartoon Contest. And the winner is: Justin + a consolation prize for KC Ramsay!

Clueless Cartoon: iPhone Dead?

Posted on 13. Oct, 2011 by in Blog, iPhone, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

clueless cartoon, iPhone dead, Sean D'Souza, Psychotactics

So my iPhone didn’t exactly die. It just ran out of power.

Apparently dropping it didn’t help because it blew up some stuff in the iPhone. I know, I know. It’s just a phone. But I was distraught. After all I use the iPhone for almost everything but a phone. I use it to learn Japanese and Spanish on my walk. I use it to take dozens of photos. I upload stuff to Facebook via the iPhone. All my recipes—yeah you got it—on the iPhone. And my reminders—ooh the list goes on. So anyway I posted on Facebook about my, um, problem and got at least a dozen responses.

And one of them was from Shaun Robert Connell (thanks, Shaun—ooh, nice name) who came up with this punch line “First World Problems”. It was too good a line to get buried in Facebook. So I decide to immortalise it a bit :)

There you have it. The full story.

Am I still distraught? No, because I followed up and hounded the repair shop until it was fixed. I picked up the iPhone at 7:30pm last night. Yes, about an hour and thirty minutes after they were supposed to close for the day.

And we all live happily ever after. Till the next iPhone incident ‘ruins my life’ ;)

Do you have an iPhone story? Or just a comment on how crazy I was? Let’s hear it in the comments below.

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If you aren’t already on the ‘Friday cartoon list’ then here’s a link to make sure you don’t miss a fun cartoon

Bats and Coffee: Part 2 + Win A T-Shirt

Posted on 22. Sep, 2011 by in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

Remember last week’s cartoon on ‘Why Bats Don’t Drink Coffee?’

Well, one of our subscribers Cesare Ferrari took that situation and  created a little tweak—and a punchline of his own. And it’s hilarious! Well, that means Cesare wins a t-shirt from Psychotactics. And you can win too! And you don’t even have to be a cartoonist. Just send in your punchline for the bat-cartoon (from last week) and if I like it, I’ll do a t-shirt (yeah, one of a kind) just for you! So are you up to the challenge? You have nothing to lose and a cool t-shirt to gain! So post your replies in the comments section below. May the best one win.

And here’s a link to last week’s cartoon again. What I need is a funny caption for last week’s cartoon. And yeah, post your caption below.

P.S. Note that Cesare’s cartoon changed the situation. You don’t have to change the situation at all. It just has to be a funny caption. And not even about coffee. Just something funny! So go for it!

bats, coffee, coffee cartoon, Cesare Ferrari, Sean D'Souza, Psychotactics

Here’s last week’s cartoon. Write a caption for this one! You can submit as many captions as you like. Um, don’t spam the system. It’s about quality, not quantity!

Cartoon: Why This Bat Won’t Drink Coffee

Posted on 16. Sep, 2011 by in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

So why won’t bats drink coffee? Or rather why does this one bat avoid coffee? Here’s the answer.

bats, coffee, coffee cartoon, Psychotactics, Sean D'Souza

So how did I go about creating this cartoon?
It was a tricky one. I couldn’t work out what to do. And while most cartoons of this nature may take about an hour or so to draw and colour, this one took twice the time. First there was the problem of upside down characters. That’s easily solved by drawing them straight up and turning them upside down in Photoshop. But do bats keep their wings open or closed? They tend to close it, but in the interest of quickly identifying the bats, I kept them open. Well I did close the bat wing for the bat on the right. For one, it gave me a little space to get the bat closer. But it also gave me the chance to make the talkative bat a bit wider in comparison.

The key to getting attention is to have contrast.
Big shapes with smaller shapes. And though the dark background does form a bigger shape, the focus is totally on the bats. But I had to do more to get your attention to the talkative bat. So not only is he wider (yes, he’s a he) but also his eyes have a brighter shade of lemon yellow. The other bat has greyish-eyes. Well they started out yellow and then I toned it down a bit.

Then I had a bit of a head-scratcher with the speech bubble.
I played with the position a bit. Should I put the bubble below the bats? Or above? And should the text be right side up? Or upside down? And should the speech bubble be grey or stark white? The grey made the text hard to read and the upside down text was good only if you turned your monitor upside down. So there you have it.  A ton of playing around to get this effect. Oh and I loved the magenta/purple/lemon yellow combination for the bats. Really made it jump off the page.

Oh, and there was this final tweaking
At first the bats were front and centre. I moved them to the right, because front and centre is kinda boring. And there was also this bit of border that needed to be added, right next to the text that says “Coffee Conversations”. I did that in Photoshop with the stroke tool. Here are some of the images in progress, if you want to take a look (Click on the images to see a bigger image).

bats, coffee, coffee cartoon, Sean D'Souza, bats in center
This is the cartoon with the bats in the centre. And without the border at the bottom.

bats, coffee, Sean D'Souza
Still no border, but the bats have moved to the right.


The final cartoon with the border (looks better in the big version at the top)

Time for coffee now. I ain’t a bat :)

Einstein: Before And After Coffee

Posted on 08. Sep, 2011 by in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

Even wondered how coffee could have affected Einstein? Now you no longer have to guess ;)

einstein, coffee, starbucks, morning coffee,

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If you aren’t already on the ‘Friday cartoon list’ then here’s a link to make sure you don’t miss a fun cartoon

Pet Hate #359: Arm-Rest Hogs

Posted on 24. Aug, 2011 by in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

Don’t you hate those arm-rest hogs when you fly? That’s Pet Hate #359! And what’s the punishment? Why, that’s easy. Find out for yourself. And while you’re here, post your own pet hate and punishment (and maybe it will go into the Pet Hate and Punishment Series).

pet hates, flying, psychotactics, Sean D'Souza, arm rest hogs

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If you aren’t already on the ‘Friday cartoon list’ then here’s a link to make sure you Don’t Miss a Fun Cartoon

Clueless Cartoon: The Four Hour Work Week Effect

Posted on 19. Aug, 2011 by in Blog, outsourcing, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

Kids, these days! They have no sense of respect, no sense of hard work. It’s all easy going for them, huh? How do they get these ideas?

clueless cartoon, four hour work week, Sean D'Souza, homework assignment, outsourcing

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If you aren’t already on the ‘Friday cartoon list’ then here’s a link to make sure you Don’t Miss a Fun Cartoon

Cartoon: One Day In Junior High

Posted on 11. Aug, 2011 by in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

Remember how we all wanted to be astronauts and teachers when we grew up? Well that hasn’t changed a lot, but there have been some changes for sure. Have a look below, and be sure to leave your comments. :)

Internet guru, social media marketing, when I grow up, Sean D'Souza, marketing cartoons
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If you aren’t already on the ‘Friday cartoon list’ then here’s a link to make sure you Don’t Miss a Fun Cartoon

One Evening On Facebook

Posted on 04. Aug, 2011 by in Blog, facebook, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media

You know those evenings when you get on Facebook after work is almost done? What happens next?

facebook, dinner, social media, Sean D'Souza, Psychotactics

facebook, dinner, social media, Sean D'Souza, Psychotactics

facebook, dinner, social media, Sean D'Souza, Psychotactics, sushi, wasabi, Kyo Ya

facebook, dinner, social media, Sean D'Souza, Psychotactics, The Brain Audit

facebook, dinner, social media, Sean D'Souza, Psychotactics, わさび

cartoons, dinner, わさび, facebook, Sean D'Souza

おいしい寿司, dinner, FaceBook, Kyo Ya, Takapuna, Psychotactics, Sean D'Souza, The Brain Audit

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If you aren’t already on the ‘Friday cartoon list’ then here’s a link to make sure you Don’t Miss a Fun Cartoon