Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Hugs and huggers

Today I'm inserting a YouTube video for the first time. I'm trying Michael Stein's instructions as suggested by Jenny in our B4B YG.
The first video is Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring story!; I found the link to it some months ago in Garr Reynold's Presentation Zen (a blog worth checking if you're interested in presenting) under Inspiring visual presentations.


I then saw this video mentioned again in the webheads mailing list sometimes last year, together with the Australian news report about it below.


Anyway, the hugging spirit happened to briefly touch Slovenia in December; the music from the video was rolling on Slovenian channels as part of an advertising campaign for our mobile telephony provider and there were some individual huggers in Ljubljana, Maribor and Nova Gorica (the town I live in) – reports mentioned two boys and a girl I think, most likely students. They received a little attention in the news but went pretty much unnoticed by the public.
I showed the video to my students - they (male, aged 20+) would generally not stop for such hug. They find it weird. :-(
And now let's see if this works.

9 comments:

Michael Stein said...

Hi Sasha - It's great to see someone so far away using my YouTube instructions.

I like the hugging video... nice to see all the different huggers; some go for as much contact as possible - others strive for minimal contact.

Hope you enjoy your experiments wit Blogger... I've always been pretty happy with it.

I'll check back.
Michael

Saša said...

Hi Michael - your comment is a BIG surprise:-). And a very pleasant one too, showing nothing is 'far away' in the cyberworld. Thanks for dropping it.

Erika Cruvinel said...

The video owner stopped by??!!!
What a great start Sasa! You are famous now!
I loved the Free Hugs video! Really cute! I have many free hugs to distribute to all B4B friends and webheads!
Hugs, hugs, hugs, hugs...
Erika

Gladys Baya said...

There was a TV commercial here in Argentina some time ago, presenting this idea of the free hugs... I can't even remember what it actually promoted, nobody seemed to notice!

Gladys

Saša said...

Dear Erika and Gladys - the meaning of hugging is no longer the same for me as before joining the webheads - it means more - friendship, enthusiasm, eagerness to share, to give, to know, to appreciate... and lots more :-).
My kind surprise visitor is not the video owner, but the techie behind the 'Non-profit technology blog' whose instructions I used for embedding all those hugs into my post. :-)

Maria Claudia Bellusci said...

Dear Sasha,
I happened to see this video about the hugging campaign some time ago and I found it really moving. First, the surprise and then the joy of being hugged. I strongly support the cyber-hugging campaign.
Hugs from Argentina,
Claudia

Berta said...

Dear Sasa, I had never heard of the hug campaign before (nowadays what we unfortunately have had in the past 8 years is a hatred campaign instilled by our government, sad but true). I wish the positive vibes could spread and touch us in the surreal world we live in.
Both videos are fantastic and I truly thank you for sharing them with us. I loved the song, by the way.
A zillion hugs, Berta

derya said...

Hi Sasha!
This hugging video is GREAT!! The idea of giving free hugs to anybody no matter who s/he is is amazing, isn't it? and very creative, too. I now feeling like going out to give hugs to people. But I started with my daughter! I gave her a really big hug after watching the video! Thanks for sharing it, it really made me happy:)
Warmest hugs,
Derya in Istanbul, (from BaW07)

Maru del Campo said...

Dear Sasha:

You have a great place here, so cosy. You have given a warm 'touch' to cyberspace! I had never heard of a hug campaign before, a tempting idea.

I have a lot to learn from you, thanks for being there.
Love: Maru