Wonderful Video Contest

Here is a link to a page that combines two of my favorites – indie music and videos. http://saidthegramophone.com/contest_winners.php

It seems like such a great idea. Perhaps there could be a cable channel devoted to nothing but music & videos. My favorites are the ones that show why technology and money are never the limiting factors. You can do whatever you can imagine.

Gatekeeping In Action.

The NFL Players Association produced a television advertisement
to air during the NFLPA All Star Game this February 5^th. CBS told
them “their moneys no good here”. Is it because CBS is one of the four networks
that get around $4 billion dollars from the NFL to broadcast their product?

nflpa tv ad

Bob McMillan

RIP Kodakchrome. After 75 years, its goodbye analogue, and on to a brave new digital world. Kodak gave the last roll of Kodachrome it ever produced to Steve McCurry. You may know his work through his cover shot of an Afghan girl for National Geographic. You can see what he decided was worth shooting at his blog.

The End of an Era – 1935 to 2010 « Steve McCurry's Blog

Sports Fun

Had enough culture for the day? Good, let's have some fun. Here are 32 Great Calls. No, not blown calls by the referee. Great calls by announcers covering some of the most memorable sporting events of the last 60 years. Some of the clips I've seen many times before, but check out number 6 Secretariat at the Belmont Stakes in 1973. I don't even care about horses, but I know greatness when I see it. The other clip not to be missed is number  7, Victor Hugo Morales on the greatest goal of all time, Diego Maradona’s second goal against England in the 1986 World Cup. You don't have to love soccer to enjoy this one, trust me. What's your favorite clip?

More Film Fun

Think you know your movies? Think again …  This one is from The Guardian UK. Name all 26 films referenced in this short video.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/sep/23/film-season-video-challenge

The next link is a more artistic endeavor by Philip Scott Johnson.
 A short history of Women in Film. http://vimeo.com/1455935 If you like it, don't miss Men in Film. http://vimeo.com/1456206

The New Face of Marketing

Here is an article published in "Marketing Daily" discussing new trends in marketing. If you can wade through the buzz words here is what you should learn.

•There will be a shift from buying impressions to acquiring user data.


This translates into marketers mining your data acquired from
registration forms, Facebook/Open ID plug-ins, web searches etc. and delivering that information to marketers and producers.
•Seamless experience across multiple media.
According to a recent Nielsen study 32% of all mobile activity is related to social media. Marketers will design advertising campaigns to find you no matter where you are and what media device you are using.
•Growth of Apps
The article talks about the change from a wide open web to semi closed platforms. Marketers will try to get you to use the web in the manner that benefits them, not you.

Browser beware!

The Great Depression Ends (75 years too late)

In class we looked at Depression era photographs by Dorthea Lange and Walker Evans. These photographs helped document the migration of farmers from Oklahoma to California in search of a better life. Now the trend is reversing on a somewhat smaller scale, as California migrants to Oklahoma increase. http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-10-12-oklahoma12_CV_N.htm Happy days are here again!

No Boundaries

When I was a young lad I thought art was something you went to a museum to see. It hung on a wall in a frame, or perhaps as statue on a pedestal. Then one day I opened a magazine and saw a picture like the one above. I had heard a description of "Running Fence" and thought "give me a break - that's not art". Then I saw the pictures. It was a life changing experience. For me, it removed so many boundaries of what art could be, but also the boundaries of what I could be. The act of viewing this picture gave me permission to be creative. I found out the artists name were Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Their website describes their work as "temporary large scale environmental works that include elements of painting, sculpture architecture and urban planning". I would describe their work as surprising, lyrical and powerful.

I've been lucky enough to see one of their works in person. In 2005 I drove to New York City in a blinding snow storm to see "The Gates". Here was a work of art so powerful that it made jaded New Yorkers behave nicely towards tourists. You can see that work at Christo's and Jeanne-Claude's website. The Smithsonian American Art Museum is currently holding an exhibition entitled "Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence". The exhibit ends September 26th, 2010. While it is not the same as seeing the work in person, it is probably the next best thing. Go.