Strands of Genius: One Story Away, RockyNoHands, NYC Clock Installation

Guest curated by Samuel Bateman

Sep 24, 2020

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, SAMUEL BATEMAN ::

LOCATION: London
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Xbox

Hello 👋

I'm Samuel Bateman and I'm the Marketing Lead for Xbox in the UK and Ireland. Before that I was a Planner at Twitter in their Brand Strategy team and even before that I was at Cake Group, where I first met Rosie and then eventually Faris. These guys met me right at the start of my career, circa 10 years ago and really were amazing role models to look up to. I've spent many a day that eventually turned into night talking across all corners of the world with these two - they're brilliant and I would say huge contributing factors to where I'm at now.

Editor’s Note: We’re huge fans of Sam’s, and have been from the get go. At first he was one of those young people we could try to indoctrinate (kidding!!), but before long he was the one we were stealing from. Conversations have traversed continents, and the links he shared below are reminding us that despite how annoying ZOOM can be, we really need to get back on his calendar so we can steal more from him… But we’ll wait ‘til after November 10th, when, you know, the next generation of Xbox consoles hit the market. Thanks for sharing with us, today and always, Sam! We miss you!

:: THE LINKS ::

NETFLIX - ONE STORY AWAY

This is Netflix's latest campaign "One Story Away" - I'm obsessed with it. If you haven't seen the main ad, go and watch it. It's a great culmination and showcase of their content (either licensed or original), with a great voice over and ultimately it's wrapped up in this gorgeous bow of the UI running through out. It's nice that it starts at the 'start' and ends at the 'end'.
The link specifically takes you into your Netflix account, but actually what it does is recategorize the content in 'emotions' rather than genres. So you're "only one story away from standing up for something" which then displays content such as Our Planet and The Innocence Files.
It's a cool way of flipping age old genres into new realms of thinking but tied into a wider campaign. I'm into it. (Netflix)

ROCKYNOHANDS: THE GAMER WHO CAN BEAT YOU WITH HIS MOUTH

I stumbled upon RockyNoHands when I was deep in a TikTok hole one day and I arrived at this clip of a guy who I can only describe as 'popping off' in Call of Duty: Warzone. He's sat there, eliminating 1 then 2 then 3 then 4 opponents as the quick clip wraps up.
This guy is an out and out gamer that doesn't use a controller in his hands. He actually does all of the movement using a mouth piece controller. Using a serious of movements, presses and breaths, he's able to control the game just like any other gamer could. This video gives you a small insight into what life is like for him, but I'm so utterly captivated by his ability and motivation. Not to mention his incredible social presence - the guy has a really bright future. (YouTube)

NYC CLOCK COUNTING DOWN UNTIL IRREVERSIBLE CLIMATE CHANGE

This is a seriously impressive piece of work happening in NYC. Artist Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd have installed a huge digital clock in Manhattan's Union Square. It's one of the most visually arresting pieces of art I've ever seen, yet is just so simple in it's manifestation. Yes, the placement helps being such a prominent location, but I think this is getting a lot more pickup than could be said for previous work over the years. (HypeBeast)

Looking for more from Samuel Bateman? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Counter-Strike 1.6

:: City :: London

:: Book :: Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie

:: Podcast :: Hip Hop Saved My Life by Romesh Ranganathan

:: Album :: Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

:: NO PERFECT EQUATION ::

"I cannot create the perfect equation to life. Because it is not a linear graph and there are so many variables" - Victoria Richards

Thanks for having me geniuses. It feels like a coming of age to be able to curate this, and I thank you all immensely for reading. Please feel free to catch further musings on my Twitter @samuelofc 👋

Samuel Bateman

samuel.bateman@microsoft.com
twitter | linkedin

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

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