Lenspen: 5,900 views and counting…
Almost 6,000… keep on climbing Lenspen!
I’ve been busy for the past couple months delivering the final edits of the Lenspen Sensor Cleaning and Lens Cleaning promotional videos for Metrotown Media Productions. I’m really excited because this is my first multilingual editing production I have been a part of, and the HD uploads to Youtube look super “crispy”!
It took a lot of time to listen to each language voice-over to get the timing right for each video, because I’m not familiar with all the different languages and dialects.
Lenspen Sensor Cleaning
In Hungarian >
In Russian >
In Japanese >
In Mandarin >
In Cantonese >
With Mandarin subtitles >
With Cantonese subtitles >
Lenspen Lens Cleaning
In Hungarian >
In Russian >
In Mandarin >
In Cantonese >
With Mandarin subtitles >
With Cantonese subtitles >
Let me know what you think by commenting on the videos on Youtube.
Does each language sound pretty accurate in timing with the visuals?
2% MacBook Pro battery life
2% Current Battery Capacity?
When I checked two days ago with Coconut battery to see if there was something wrong with my battery, it showed it was at 10% capacity.
Right now, it’s 2%.
I guess I’d better get to bed.
I wanted to work on my photos and other work.
I hope I get a new battery later this morning at the Apple Store.
Stay tuned.
Convergence at MoMoVan 02-09-2009
- My Convergence (of) notes, MoMoVan 02-09-2009
Tonight was a gathering of various individuals and professionals of the local web 2.0 and mobile community.
Cathy and I thanked Kurt Shuster, of Noomii.com, for letting us come along with him to MomoVan Mobile Monday Vancouver tonight at Workspace in Gastown.
Being aware of Vancouver’s many content and technology industries, Kurt was very surprised to learn that I am interested local web development community because he first met me as tester for Noomii.com
Yes, the majority of my work is digital video editing and image retouching.
However, I am familiar with various industries and their operations.
For many years as I was independently editing videos, I was always for other creative professional opportunities. I talked to many professionals that worked amongst the gaming, animation, and television industries over that period of time, and currently still do today.
I took part-time television production courses, because I wanted to go through the full-time television production program at BCIT a few years ago. At the time, I was finding that there were (and probably still are) more graduates than jobs available in television production. I became more attracted to the independent, creative and collaborative vibe of the web development community, thus I switched over to study full-time with New Media Design and Development program.
A panel discussion touched upon how different our major content and technology industries are in Vancouver. There are web design and development, film and television, animation, gaming and mobile industries that make up the the content and technology sectors of business in the Vancouver area.
There was a comment made about why it’s so difficult to have all these communities come together by using the latest social web and mobile technology to connect.
Why is it so hard?
I agreed with Rochelle Grayson, of Work at Play, who said that it’s because the people involved in the other industries can be “intimidated” by new social and web technology. The idea of giving away content (IP, or as known as Intellectual property) away for free does not settle well with many. Businesses in TV, film, and animation industries do not like the fact that there has not been a new monetizing business model for the web that generates a lot of revenue that “really works” at this moment in time.
Plus, being involved within a particular industry means one is comfortable with its language or as I call it, industry jargon.
At times, some clients approach her with a great idea for an application, game, or campaign for the mobile phone. When she asks, “Which mobile device do you want us to develop it for?”
Most of the clients reply, “What do you mean?”
We all laughed, because in truth there are thousands of different phones on the market and of course, are not built the same way. Which means to develop a product for the Blackberry, it won’t work on an iPhone, or any other device because it will have to be developed for that particular phone.
When I was younger, I always got the look and comments of disbelief from elder Asian strangers when I did not respond to their comments in Chinese. At times, I did feel shameful that I did not speak Mandarin or Cantonese fluently as my family did. I tried to learn “proper” Mandarin during after-school classes in elementary school. How can anyone really expect someone to pick up a language if there is no immediate need, yearning or positive reinforcement to learn the language?
The majority of the business world communicates in English.
Today, I have mastered (or at least understand) the non-traditional “languages” amongst the web development, television, film production, digital video, and animation industries.
- Success, Live and Carpe Diem on my keychain
Back to our goodbye to Kurt Shuster-
Kurt wished that “back when he was our age” that he knew about these different opportunities and be able to go out to different networking events such as tonight’s MoMoVan. I said it’s probably the fact that information these days is very accessible so anyone could find almost information on anything they wanted compared to a few years ago.
After we said goodbye, I thought about an acquaintance, who was in her early 30s, who I chatted with at our friend’s birthday party last year. She asked me what did I do for a living, and I said “mostly video editing but I also do image retouching and some web design.”
“Wow, you do so much and you’re so young! I wish I was like that when I was younger…
It’s funny how my mother was doing office work for 25 years, and right now she’s basically doing similar things like you. She’s 54 now, and she has been coding websites for the past couple years. She picked up on that real fast.”
I believe why let age be an excuse?
If you set your mind to it, there’s no stopping you from accomplishing anything you want.
Learning the basics of Adwords
A page of the intro to one page adwords workshop
Eeps, I was running late with my lunch meeting so I slipped into my SEO workshop on Smithe a little late.
Luckily I was not the only late one, another person came in a few minutes after me.
Phew.
Darn computer died a few minutes, so the writing I was doing earlier disappeared because I didn’t save while typing in MS Word. The whole MS doc disappeared. Argh! My laptop only lasts 10 minutes if I’m not plugged into a power source… why why why why?!
So far in the class, our instructor is going over how to use AdWords and how to optimize your keywords to stretch your daily budget.
In the back of my head, the lyrics “Moooney makes the world go around, the word go around…”
Gotta get back to learning about traffic.
I’ll be twittering “interesting” things during this class anyways.
Impressive American Apparel, a visit by Kevin Meyer
From guest blog entry by Kevin Meyer on Venture Hacks
Every business runs their daily operations in their own way.
Depending on the size of the business and demand for the services or products, the strategy to run the many aspects of the business looks overwhelming.
Sometimes I’m online checking up on my RSS feeds and I came across this interesting article by a guest blogger on Venture Hacks, and his visit to the American Apparel factory.
I was amazed about the many aspects of his visit- from how employees are treated, the importance of sustainability, to vertical integration.
“The value at American Apparel isn’t created by the building, or the machines, but by the people. So many companies—probably the vast majority—think of their people as a cost. Very few companies recognize the value of the brain that sits slightly north of their people’s hands. American Apparel realizes that the value of that brain more than offsets the traditional cost difference between their employee’s hands and a pair of hands in a sweatshop.” – Kevin Meyer
Read the post on Venture Hacks >
Cable and earbud management
The Youtube example showcased tying earbuds around the first gen of the iPod shuffle. I tried it myself, and it’s a practical saver.
Finally I can avoid those embarrassing moments of taking forever to untangle my iPod earbuds while trying to stay balanced on the bus.
At home I don’t have as many hard-drives as the large amount at work.
Under my desk at work, I’ve accidentally knocked out my internet connection because the hub is loosely sitting on the floor….
While I’m figuring out which cheap “cable-management” system I should implement in the office, in the meanwhile check out ways you can de-clutter your cables in your workspace.
Haaa haaaa Vista!
Last night I was digressed a little bit away from my Apple-Blu-Ray problem research as I wandered over to the recent ads on Apple’s site.
Aw, poor Vista.
Even funnier news-
“Intel, the giant chip maker and longtime partner of Microsoft, has decided against upgrading the computers of its own 80,000 employees to Microsoft’s Vista operating system, a person with direct knowledge of the company’s plans said.”
See full article here on BITS blog of the New York Times >
Blu-Ray + Digital Copies?
Okay, so I’m a bit down on the ‘revised’ Digital Copyright Act for Canada.
Downloading= illegal?
Can someone send me some links about this revision?
Anyways, looking towards other alternatives to legal downloads or aquirement of digital assets and entertainment, I smiled as I was reading a recent post on Terry White’s blog about Blu-Ray and Digital Copy.
Technically, ripping DVDs to a portable media player’s format is frowned upon.
I’m wondering about the popularity of this choice to have both copies of the movie in Hi-Def (Blue-Ray) format and standard def (especially for my iPod or portable DVD player that doesn’t play in Hi-Def).
I was looking for the availability of the DVD Terry White featured that offered both Blu-Ray and Standard Def format on Amazon.ca.
Note:
Yes, Amazon DOT C A.
Remembering the day that Steve Jobs announced that movies were to be available in iTunes, I quickly was dismayed as I reinstalled my iTunes and found that movies were only allowed to be offered in the States.
The Eye
Search result 1>
Hmmm, doesn’t look like the same image of the DVD cover on Terry White’s blog until I realized that it was just a Standard Def- DVD.
Search result 2>
Had to look under the Blu-Ray DVD section.
I looked through the text-details and found that there wasn’t an indication that this edition also offered a “Digital Copy”. Only by the image with the “Digital Copy” sticker was how I was able to distinguish that the DVD offers a Digital Copy.
I’m hoping that really soon that movies can be searchable by formats.
Especially “Digital Copy” so I can have movies to watch while commuting to and from work.
Adobe Photoshop changes?!
Wow, I’m pooped.
Just got back from a lil ‘vay-cay” time in Vegas.
I’ll eventually get around to uploading all my pictures onto my Flickr and writing a little bit about it.
For now-
For the the fellow Mac lovers.
Changes are forecasted for the user interface of Adobe Photoshop.
YouTube screencarpture
Dun dun DUN!
Read more by John Nack >
We are not alone- WordCamp Vancouver
Wordpress is great for a lot reasons, and I found many more reasons to take a deeper look at wordpress.org.
Brought together by Tazzu, Wordpress enthusiasts and experts gathered at the Network Hub in Downtown to talk about various topics relating to Wordpress.
People were so packed, I think this should have been promoted as a “Wordpress Work Camp”.
Excellent details updated live of the highly popular gathering was excellently uploaded by Miss604 herself.
See post here >
By the halfway point, I couldn’t recall the feeling of my bum from sitting on the floor jotting down notes as speakers presented their advice and tips. That feeling was forgotten when most of us headed to the Flux in Gastown for an after party.
One of the things I won’t forget is something I’m sure many creative professionals have encountered in their lives.
Remember as a kid, all the grown-ups ask you what did you want to be when you grow up? The question was “be”, not “do”. The answer always had to fit a traditional profession, a role, a label. Without that, how can one be assured to have a steady income?
I was chatting with Jeremy Lim as we were grabbing seats. One topic lead to another, and I mentioned something the “Richmond blogging legend.”
“Oh yah, Vicky ripped out this article of the local Richmond paper for Travis and I to read about. I quickly glanced at it and didn’t think much of it at that time. I don’t remember who it was, but I remember that this particular blogger was making serious cash from his blog…” I said.
“Really? Well, Johnny’s from Richmond.”
Jeremy then waved Johnny over. “Hey, did you know you’re known as the Richmond legend?”
Haha, my cue to gush- “Oh! You’re him. You were that guy in the paper!”
John Chow gave a quick talk about monetizing your blog earlier at the Network Hub.
For a second I felt like a total idiot for not recalling earlier about that article.
Then that led to him mentioning his picture and article splashed all over the front page of one of the local Chinese papers. “I showed my mom this article and said, now you can understand what I do for a living.”
“My mom read it and still couldn’t believe it. You can’t make money doing this! she said.”
I found it frustrating to explain what I do these days as a creative professional to my parents. I guess because the results I generate from working can’t fit in a traditional sense. A doctor can say that they’re a doctor and generally an image of someone in a white coat, writing prescriptions is conjured up to understand.
This generation I learned that anything can be monetized and become a form of cash-flow. It’s just a challenge sometimes to explain your current job in a small sentence because it can just be so new and untraditional. Not everyone understands what “CMS” stands for or what it means.
I just have to lean back, smile, and accept the fact that what I love to do and get paid for can’t be easily explained, understood and accepted right away.
Oh well.
Paparazzi yourself
MethodIzaz.com calls themselves a “unique photography experience” providing “your personal works of art”.
This concept of portrait photography seems facsinating- no special lighting set-ups, no rental of a studio space, no control of the lighting and especially the modeling of the subjects. It’s like shooting animals in their natural habitat, while they’re going on with their lives.
I wonder if the hired guns shoot from far away with large telephoto lens, trying to hide themselves or do they just go out and shoot you?
Freelancing vocabulary
I’ve been settling back into my regular routine of work and relaxing.
It’s been really strange to actually have weekends to myself again.
For the past few weeks, I’ve tried to “completely veg out”.
It was fun for awhile, but I’m always itching to keep busy as much as possible.
So I’vee been practicing shooting with my D20- recent outing was at Hinamatsuri at the Japanese Language Centre just last week. I just wanted so warm-up for “event shooting” for this wedding season.
Freelanceswitch.com is a great resource for freelancers.
They’re on my very large list of my Yahoo RSS subscriptions.
I’m currently guilty of including number 3, 4, 10 in my conversations from the “10 Phrases every freelancer should kick out of their vocabulary.”
I’ll try to eliminate those next time I meet up with new clients.
Vidfest Creative Exchange Conference 2007
I’m exhausted.
I think this is the reason why blogs can be so hard to update.
After a long day, no one really wants to sit down in front of their computer, racking their brain trying to summarize what happened earlier in the day.
But here goes-
Mark, Matt and I zipped to the Vancouver International Film Centre on Davie and Seymour. Earlier this term, I asked Dennis from New Media BC if they would like us to tape some of the sessions at the Creative Conference. I have to admit Vidfest (I went to the one in 2005) was one of the reasons of why I went from broadcast studies to new media- which looked way more exciting and creatively hands-on.
It was strange thing to have ancient history open up a presentation by Ori Brafman- with the Incas and Apaches, but he did have a point to bringing them up.
I need to go find his book and read more about The Starfish and the Spider models for digital media organizations.
Matt and I shared camera-handling for simultaneous sessions- we switched between macro sessions (in the theatre) and micro sessions (in the lobby). There were four macro and four micro sessions altogether, with additional opening and closing keynotes.
I covered the first couple micro sessions outside in the lobby about IP and bite-sized entertainment. I’m so glad that the conference wasn’t as focused on the gaming and animation industry. Honestly, I was glad there was some talk about things that I was more passionate about because there are already other dedicated gatherings for those industries.
IP has a different meaning between content providers.
Internet Protocol popped in my head when I saw IP.
However at the conference, IP meant Intellectual Property.
It’s a major issue amongst very large organizations, wanting to control and own every property they are a part of.
Bite-sized entertainment- When is North America going to adopt this “pay-by-cellphone” capability?
It’s highly popular in UK and in Asia, where mobile-payments shadow usage of credit cards. The only implementations of this payment that I have seen locally are parking meters. This would be such a great and convenient thing to bring to other services in North America, especially to Vancouver.
There were a lot of business owners and managers who attended this conference. The main issue hanging over our heads was money- How in the world are we going to make money?
One can give away so much, but is there a guarantee that there will be pay back? There was no clear answer revealed amongst the speakers of several sessions. For those involved in digital media, we’re all still in the experimental stages of finding that new formula for making money.
The traditional model worked for broadcasters, I quote from one of the speakers-
“It’s all about the money. The shows are created as filler in between the advertisements. That’s why there’s so much crap on television.”
With flourishing new media and audience wanting more- there’s no definite current formula to making money. Major studios and broadcasters had always depended on this model. There’s also the issue of intellectual property- to control and own its value.
It’s hard for these organizations to work with different and newer business models of today. Advertisers are used to relying on audience metrics being able to count on the eye-balls to be exposed to their clients’ product or message. With PVRs and TiVos, these metrics are even becoming more challenging and difficult to accurately calculate.
Eventually, these organizations will have to understand and let go of their control of their properties. Audiences these days don’t need to have advertising thrown in their faces, annoying as those flies flying around as the result of Vancouver’s garbage strike (three months and counting to this day…)
One speaker mentioned that the main market that advertisers are targeting- the18-to- 30 year olds – they need to gain their trust in the brand and product.
It’s like the never ending circle- content is created.
How do we deliver it so the audience doesn’t have to cringe when they have to pay for it?
And usually that’s when some advertising comes in the picture.
Putting advertising aside, there was another prevalent subject amongst Vidfest speakers today-
Content is king.
No matter what particular part of the industry we’re from- whether gaming, broadcasting, animation, film-making- we’re all in it for the same reason.
Entertainment.
The glory of sharing ideas, stories, and concepts.
Whatever platform you’re on- an iPod, online on a Mac, on a PC, on a TV, it doesn’t matter. The main thing is really- what are you trying to communicate? What is your message? Why do you want my attention? Does this pique anyone’s interest?
Almost completing this intensive one-year program, I just realized how much they emphasize so much on how to use the tools. There’s that deeper concept of communication that was touched upon a few courses over the terms, but I think those getting into this program need to understand, sure you can learn these tools, but do you really want to be another cog in the wheel?
I was extremely pissed when our previous video instructor kept emphasizing “Shazam. It’s what clients want to see.”
I regret for not skipping over that class, I thought that the instructor will give me new insight. I didn’t learn anything new in that class- I just really was the tech help for some of my classmates. It was frustrating how our class video instructor never emphasizing the most important thing- you’re trying to share a message, not bombard the viewer with the latest thing in cuts and filters.
The story/message comes first, but make sure your cuts justify your story.
I guess that’s why many artists have the need to take a longer program, like film-school or take courses for an art degree. There’s that need of time to take to further develop and refine their communication skills. It’s not only about the technology and trends, but it’s first foremost emphasizing the content. The content’s got to be interesting in tune with the fancy effects to draw in people, or it’s just all glitter with no substance.
Balancing the quality, with approvals and deadlines sometimes can be hard to practice.
Overall, I realized today that facing the world of digital media, there is always the issue of money, ownership, and time. I truly wonder where this is going to go? What will truly come out as the best-money-making-model for the web and mobile?
I was too tired to make it to the Mixer and Happy Hour.
How much more standing can I take in one day?
I didn’t stay long enough to find out.
It was a very thought-provoking day.
Thanks to the coordinators of Vidfest by New Media BC.
Thanks to the AV guys for helping me out with hooking up audio with our cameras- Matt and John.
Thanks Mark Whitehead, thanks Matt Morrison.
This would’ve been a different experience without you guys!
Now I’d better get some rest so I can get to class in morning, go to downtown for Joshua Davis’ workshop and come back for an evening class.
I like keeping busy and learning new things, and yes, I do get sleep.
Vidfest 2007
What every digital and new media professional is waiting for every year- VIDFEST!
This year it’s being held in the beautiful Vancouver International Film Centre (also known as VIFC) on Davie and Seymour in Downtown Vancouver.
On Saturday, I checked out the POPVOX awards and the opening gala.
There was a lot of competition in the awards, and there was a lot of outstanding work showcased that night. I didn’t realize that there are so many companies locally in Vancouver- phew.
I’m usually on-the-ball when it comes to dressing up when going out. I think I should’ve thrown on a skirt or something- everyone was fabulously dressed too. Food was great, but I had to run off so I could pick up Trevor’s equipment from the wedding he was doing 2 blocks away.
Too bad I couldn’t snag him and a couple other passes for my buddies. I just wanted for thank Tre for lending his professional equipment out for shooting on Monday and let him check out how the vast the Vidfest was. Oh well, so I owe my buddies dinner then.
Running a little late, I missed about half-an-hour of the premiere screening of the Sanctuary.
Trying to figure out the missing storyline and getting into the amazing CG world of Sanctuary, I couldn’t help noticing some scenes with some spill and fringing. Eh, I don’t think they can see that when the podcasts are downloaded. It was a fun story- “There are no such things as monsters.”
Sanctuary is the first television show meant for online and done in HD.
Wow- those are not the things that go pleasantly together.
How does one shoot HD and compress it well enough for the quality to be outstanding, but also does not take forever to download? We’ll find out soon enough.
Tomorrow is the Creative Exchange Conference- tonnes of speakers and attendees all gathered together to discuss the future of digital media.
Lots of things related to networking, web 2.0, technology and tonnes of other ear-piquing subjects.
Hope to see y’all there.
Those darn hard-drives
Back-ups are a crucial part of anyone’s life.
Especially when it comes to those who rely on their computers to do their work.
I’d never thought hard-drives can be so dysfunctional.
Today I encountered a very strange situation- how does one explain 5 external hard-drives that cannot mount upon a variety of 4 different Macs in one office?
I returned one 500GB Porsche designed hard-drive from LaCie to Future Shop.
I still yet had to face an “emergency room” of un-mounting external hard-drives.
They were all LaCie drives- there was a 1TB, 320GB, and two other 500GB Porsche hard-drives.
Plugging all of these drives in my MacBook, I was really surprised none of them had mounted.
I thought- “Hmm. Could it just be the drivers? Maybe I need an update and restart.”
Nope, no luck.
Luckily they were all back-up drives.
I’m just really disappointed about today.
I have footage from a couple weddings I am undergoing editing for. My functioning D2, 320GB drive has the footage that I have logged and captured. I still currently shoot with DV tapes, so I always have the master tapes I can always recapture if my drive suddenly goes blip.
Yet what if I was working with PS2 cards? Those cards are not cheap, on average they cost over $50/GB, depending on what size of card you need, and quality of footage you are shooting.
When that Panasonic HD camera came out there was always that debate of , “How do you archive your footage properly?” Original shot footage has always been on tape, which gets copied, and the original master gets locked up in an archive so no one touches it. (for reasons of tape “degradation” if it gets handled often). The tape has always been a reliable “hard-copy” of the footage.
P2 Cards- there must be a reliable solution to this archiving blunder. These cards are like camera-thumb drives- footage shot, thrown on computer and used again for another shoot. Knowing that external hard-drives (depending on usage and storage) on average can stop working after a couple years, it can be daunting if all that footage shot disappears off the hard-drive.
I did some research on other storage options.
Steve Krueger suggested NAS.
NAS?
Not the rapper- Network Attached Storage.
Yahoo Tech had a great article about NAS here.
Big plus for NAS was the price factor for every GB of storage.
I’m thinking about a RAID or NAS system in the near future. I’m tired of the time-consuming task of burning my archive footage on optical DVDs and having the need to bring them out if I need something in particular.
Photoshop Las Vegas 2007
Wow.
I made it back. 6 days and 5 nights on my own in Las Vegas. That was a blast.
I’ve learned a lot from my first trip out and first Photoshop Conference.
I have to admit though, it was a pinch disappointing. This year’s conference was really targeted toward photographers. The classes that I was interested in and attended were at beginner level. I did pick up some tips, but I have to admit I sat in some sessions thinking- “I learned THAT last term in my program.
Next time, I’m going to take time on the first day to plan my conference experience. Another Photoshop World attendee and I thought that they should’ve labeled the classes- begginner, intermediate, advanced…
On the bright side, I got to sit at a podcast taping of Photoshop User TV in the Peachpit/Kelby Training area on the Expo room floor.
Mis-communication is global- about a dozen of us sat at the Microsoft Theatre wondering why the Photoshop Guys weren’t setting up. I guess with all the frantic panic of set-up time, nobody contemplated on putting a sign pointing to the other set- “Photoshop User TV taping changed to Kelby Training stage”.
I’m really not complaining about my experience- I just had really really high expectations before attending this conference.
Signs EVERYWHERE would’ve helped a great deal- no signs at front end of the hotel. Please, don’t advertise “Mandalay Resort & Casino” when it actually happened at “Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino- Convention Centre.” I’ve learned from the many “usability” lessons from my New Media Program- we’re thinking less these days, please make directions or signs “OBVIOUS” to everyone. Save me some walking, I had to travel from the North end of the strip to get here, I’d rather save my energy listening to instructors.
I felt really lost on the first day- I followed other attendees from the front of the hotel, walking past the main lobby, the many slot machines, restaurants, a long hall toward the South Convention area, to a Photoshop World Information Booth, redirected to the escalators, went up a floor and finally ended up standing in line to get my pass.
Internet access was ridiculous- $750/day?!
What?!
Setting up wi-fi networks are easy and I had expected access to it to be as easy, fast, and low-cost/free.
I waited until the last day of my trip to plant my bum beside the Fashion Show catwalk that was in front of the Apple Store at Fashion Show Mall.
Overall- Photoshop World was an “okay” experience.
I loved Las Vegas, just not Photoshop World as much. I came here mostly on my own dime. Without the student award for the pass, the likely chance of myself travelling outside my country to attend a convention would be slim unless I was going to represent a company who was covering my expenses.
Las Vegas, I can’t wait to see you again.
Just sometime in a different season where it isn’t so sweltering for me.
Cram cram cram
It’s almost half-way through fourth term, my final term here at BCIT. I’m so excited that I’m close to graduation, anticipating new companies and enterprises to embark on.
As well as I plan out my day, week, and further out in the month there always seems to be different dry spells and hot spots.
At the beginning of the term, about five weeks ago I was at ease trying to find another place away from the YMCA in downtown and its construction and figure out which company to do my practicum with.
Holy toledo, the summer gets hotter and my schedule got tighter.
I bought a new agenda to keep my appointments and my to do lists in earlier in July.
Earlier this week, I met to talk to Thomas at Hot Tomali about starting my practicum with them. I wonder if he noticed the tonnes of writing in my page for this week…
My book is crammed with “Don’t forget this,” “This is due today,” “Homework, homework!”
I wanted to finish my portfolio by the end of term so I have it ready for Industry Night, October 18th.
My buddy, Trevor wants help with one of his clients’ wedding music videos and I want to start on a new demo reel.
Looks like I have less than 3 weeks to launch my website, dvd, demoreel and my print portfolio.
I want to have my demoreel and website ready for Photoshop World in the first week of September. (Thank you student scholarship!)
Watch out Las Vegas, here comes Yumi.
With the wrenching heat and knowing I’ve got tonnes on my plate, I’m swimming in a constant pool of sweat.
Phew.
McDonald’s
Moving out of my place downtown, I knew that I forgot to get a couple of things from my old place.
I took the bus back from Burnaby so I could pick up my lost desk piece. Upon being bored on the bus- I opened up a 24HRs paper, one of the many free circulating publications on paper mostly targeted toward transit users or people who really just don’t have much time to get to know the latest news.
And who really doesn’t like free?
I ripped out a coupon for “Free small fries” for the re-opening of the McDonald’s on Granville and Smithe. Since I was passing by I thought that I might as well get some free fries.
The usual lunch hour- it’s busy, there’s a lot of people on their breaks – and I was actually surprised on how efficient the team was at this location. For being fast-food, I wasn’t expecting much- honestly it’s just go-in, get the food and get-out for me and other patrons.
There was one of the managers from behind the counter courteously asking everyone if they have been helped.
Score 1 for McDonald’s, Score 0 for Usual Bad Customer Service (let’s shorten that to U.B.C.S.).
“Sweet, I can get my food right-away.”
There was this young gentleman with his free coupon, unaware of his surroundings and that people were standing in line, he darted straight toward the first open counter.
“Excuse-me, this young lady was waiting before you.” as the manager guided me toward the counter and the gentleman moved aside.
Score- McDonald’s 2 U.B.C.S. 0.
Hmmm… looks like McDonald’s ahead on this one.
I ordered, got my breakfast right away and climbed up the stairs to find a place to sit and eat.
This really reminded me of this article I read recently-
http://www.uxmag.com/design/303/dont-let-branding-kill-your-brand
Whether positive or negative, spreading customer experiences through word-of-mouth spreads like wild-fire.
McDonald’s well known for their golden arches and cheap food, but a poll amongst friends and co-workers it’s not the usual best place for a “customer/user experience”.
Today really surprised me- I admire efficiency and hard work.
What topped it all was the hi-five the manager gave to one of the employees behind the counter.
“Whoot! Good job!”
All in all- I really admire a fun-looking workplace. Being part of a caring and awesome team helps anyone to look forward to getting off to work.
McDonald’s
Moving out of my place downtown, I knew that I forgot to get a couple of things from my old place.
I took the bus back from Burnaby so I could pick up my lost desk piece. Upon being bored on the bus- I opened up a 24HRs paper, one of the many free circulating publications on paper mostly targeted toward transit users or people who really just don’t have much time to get to know the latest news.
And who really doesn’t like free?
I ripped out a coupon for “Free small fries” for the re-opening of the McDonald’s on Granville and Smithe. Since I was passing by I thought that I might as well get some free fries.
The usual lunch hour- it’s busy, there’s a lot of people on their breaks – and I was actually surprised on how efficient the team was at this location. For being fast-food, I wasn’t expecting much- honestly it’s just go-in, get the food and get-out for me and other patrons.
There was one of the managers from behind the counter courteously asking everyone if they have been helped.
Score 1 for McDonald’s, Score 0 for Usual Bad Customer Service (let’s shorten that to U.B.C.S.).
“Sweet, I can get my food right-away.”
There was this young gentleman with his free coupon, unaware of his surroundings and that people were standing in line, he darted straight toward the first open counter.
“Excuse-me, this young lady was waiting before you.” as the manager guided me toward the counter and the gentleman moved aside.
Score- McDonald’s 2 U.B.C.S. 0.
Hmmm… looks like McDonald’s ahead on this one.
I ordered, got my breakfast right away and climbed up the stairs to find a place to sit and eat.
This really reminded me of this article I read recently-
http://www.uxmag.com/design/303/dont-let-branding-kill-your-brand
Whether positive or negative, spreading customer experiences through word-of-mouth spreads like wild-fire.
McDonald’s well known for their golden arches and cheap food, but a poll amongst friends and co-workers it’s not the usual best place for a “customer/user experience”.
Today really surprised me- I admire efficiency and hard work.
What topped it all was the hi-five the manager gave to one of the employees behind the counter.
“Whoot! Good job!”
All in all- I really admire a fun-looking workplace. Being part of a caring and awesome team helps anyone to look forward to getting off to work.
SuperNews! – Gates vs. Jobs
Could you not feel the Mac love in this SuperNews installment?
iHouse- one of my fave parts of the video.
Oh marketers, what’s next for Gen Y?
And how do we label the next generations after Z?
Double As?
That could potentially be mistaken for bra sizes or batteries.
I hope the future generations won’t be total “boobs” or become marketers’ main source of power and energy.
HSBC Fireworks & New Media
The annual HSBC Celebration of Light over the waters of English Bay again was spectacular this year. I kind of do wish that the fireworks showcase was on just to commemorate my classmates and I for working their butts during this intensive program for the past three terms.
Fireworks were spectacular, even with a some downtown buildings in the way.
I didn’t feel like swimming through the crowds all scrambling to get through the beach barriers, like last Wednesday during Spain’s performance. I climbed over a concrete barrier to get out of the mosh-pit of a crowd that night- so I decided to watch the light show from the windows of my apartment.
Having no radio, I tuned to Rock 101 online to listen to their simulcast of the Celebration of Light music. I was crossing my fingers for Canada (who was todays performance) to have at least one Michael Buble song like last year.
Not this year, it was even better. Throughout the whole 20 minute performance there was a showcase of hot jazz from the early ages. They threw in a rockabilly song in the middle of it and that totally reminded me of what advice I was given for my demo reel- I’ve got to showcase that I’m able to edit to the beat, slow and fast and show off some other tricks, too.
The fireworks reminded me of the colour-theory classes I completed during the first half of the program- New Media focusing on RGB colour spaces because most of the production and work are screen-based. A lot of the fireworks were big balls of red, green and blue.
I’m going to continue in some studies in motion graphic design and animation. The fireworks remind me of creating particles in After effects- birth rate, death rate, how often should these particles burst… I love learning!
Web Marketing class
Instead of starting another blog that would eventually be taken off because of the end of this course, Web Marketing, I’ve decided to just continue with my blog I’ve started at the beginning of this program. To differentiate the posts that are personal from the ones for class- I’ll tag with my “business” categories.
I can’t wait for the rest of the final weeks of my new media program to unfold in this last term.
We’ll see how it goes.
