List Five

New Year, New Blog

2011-01-14T18:13:00.006-06:00

Happy New Year, everyone. Not bringing you a list of five today, but just a quick housekeeping note.

I started a new blog called GO Blog in an attempt to blog better and more often. I will be updating List-Five from time to time, but you'll be seeing most of the action at the other blog from now on.

So yeah, do what you will -- update your bookmarks, add me to your reader, etc. See you around the Interwebs.

Five Mobile Phones from The Past

2010-11-21T03:41:00.003-06:00

A trip down cellphone memory lane, from my first cellphone in 1998, to the last cellphone I had before I replaced it with my current Apple iPhone.

Nokia 5110 (1998)
Pagers were out and cellphones were in. This was my first ever cellphone and it was love at first bleep. Texting was free in the Philippines. We were so proficient at it we could do it under the armchair without the teachers seeing.
Nokia 3210 (1999)
Sturdiest and most resilient phone I've ever owned. Dropped it from the second floor balcony of a friend's house, smashed it into concrete, and it barely bore a scratch. Dropped it in water, didn't even flinch. My friend's 3210 was run over by a car and suffered only a cracked casing (no problem, they're cheap and interchangeable).
Nokia 3310 (2001)
I have this phone stashed away at my parents' house. No one uses it but it still works perfectly.
Nokia 3650 (2002)
It's difficult to say why I kept this phone for so long. On one hand, I think it was because the camera on it took great lomo-esque plastic-quality photos, and on the other, I think it was because I got so used to the circular "ergonomic" keypad, it was hard to switch back to a regular numpad phone. Also, nobody knew how to use this phone aside from me, so text-leeches never borrowed it.
Nokia N93 (2006)
At the time, few things could tear me away from my 3650's "ergonomic" keypad but Gary Oldman was one of them.

That advert is one of my favorites. The minute I saw it, I was hook, line, sinkered -- I had to have the N93. The Carl Zeiss lens meant serious business and though I would never choose it over the iPhone, I miss the amazing video quality of the N93 -- even the iPhone 4 has not topped it yet in terms of clarity of picture and sound.

I still have this phone on my bedside table and use it whenever I'm traveling (it's tri-band).

Five + Five Websites That Will Help Improve Your Designs Dramatically

2010-11-11T16:01:00.006-06:00

A couple of posts ago, I was contemplating topics for my informative presentation, and after chatting with a few classmates, I decided to do it on web resources for design.

The Truth Bear
by one of
my favorite artists,
Ray Fenwick

I'm not a graphic designer, nor am I an artist, but I agree with what Information is Beautiful's David McCandless (who himself has never had formal training in design and is actually a journalist by profession) said on his TED talk video -- being exposed to media, the Internet, magazines, adverts, and so on -- instills a dormant design literacy in people. I'm not, by any means, discounting the skills of graphic designers and people who have spent years learning about design, but what I'm saying is that, when push comes to shove, us regular folk can make do with our dormant design literacy and limited software knowledge to produce beautiful materials.

So, given: We are limited in skill, and training and talent and so on (such poor underdogs we are). Why not recruit a Mr. Miyagi to help us win our karate showdown? ("Mr. Miyagi" being the Internet, and "karate showdown" being our PR brochure or Al's portfolio assignment... I took it too far, didn't I?)

Let's get to the list.

COLOUR

COLOURlovers
COLOURlovers is a website that you can go to for help with color schemes. It’s powered by a community of users who upload their own palettes and color scheme ideas. You can browse the color schemes according to how many times it’s been “loved” by members, which means you get to pick from palettes that you already know people respond to. If they love them here, they’ll also love them on your designs.
Kuler
Kuler is run by the people at Adobe. Same thing with Kuler, you get to browse the most popular and the highest rated color schemes. As an added bonus, you can access Kuler straight from most Adobe CS4 and CS5 programs.

TYPOGRAPHY

DaFont
There are tons of fonts that are free on this website, and again you can browse through them by popularity. Be warned: lots of fonts means there’s a lot of room for success, but also lots of room for failure. Case in point:

Terrible font, awesome band name.
We need a drummer.

Please. Just don’t.

Insert obscure reference here.
MyFonts
I actually like the fonts on this website better, but it made it lower in my list because not everything here is free. However! You can browse for free fonts using the free tag.
The League of Movable Type
So now that you’ve downloaded all these hundreds of fonts and you’re drunk with crazy font power, I’m going to show you one more font website which is my favorite, precisely because there’s not a lot of fonts in it. The League of Movable Type is a collection of open source fonts, and I think some of the best free fonts in the web. It’s hard to go wrong with any them because they’re very classy, well-made fonts.
What the Font
I've talked about the iPhone app version of this tool before. You upload a photo with your mystery font on it, and it identifies it with the accuracy of Sherlock Holmes (not really, but close).
14 Top Typeface and Font Combinations Resources
A link to more links! Compiled by font man Douglas Bonneville, this is a great resource to learn about how to combine all the fonts that you now have.

MOTHERLOAD

Smashing Magazine
Forget everything else that I’ve talked about or will talk about in this post, but don’t forget about this one. Smashing Magazine is the ultimate resource for design. I have learned so much from reading their articles -- from color, typography, business cards (better late than never?) and portfolio design (hint! hint!)

INSPIRATION

Be warned: Inspiration means inspiration and not plagiarism!

Behance.net
Behance.net is a great place for inspiration for everything creative -- ads, posters, campaign materials, visual identities, logos, etc. -- you name it, they got it. It’s updated in real-time by users and lets you see what people are up to and gives you a feel for design trends.
typo / graphic posters
I've mentioned this one before as well. It's exactly what it says it is – it houses a gallery of typographic and graphic posters. What I like about this resource is that, since the posters are type-centric, a person is unlikely to require drawing skills to execute the designs inspired by the ones featured here.

Got any more website resources you wanna share? Post a link on the comments!

The Media vs. PR: Five Media Relations Frustrations of a Broadcaster

2010-11-06T00:03:00.001-05:00

Our PR class had the pleasure of meeting freelance broadcaster Agatha Moir last Thursday. She's has decades of experience in the radio industry and is now currently working as a freelancer doing "chase" work for CBC Radio. No, she doesn't go on high-speed car chases, but "chase" work is similar, in that she runs after news. She's basically in charge of making news reports happen -- she decides what's newsworthy, finds people to put on the radio for interviews, and basically is the gatekeeper for information on CBC News. (It would interest CreComms to know that, yes, she is also Garry Moir's wife.)

Through the years she's dealt with many a Public Relations professional to make her news stories happen (or not happen) and she came to us with news from the "other side." She brought with her two days' worth of news items that made it and did not make it to the airwaves, and talked about why it did and didn't make it.

I was surprised at the amount of news items that don't make it to broadcast because of simple media relations problems. Mrs. Moir talked about how frustrated she gets when a feel-good story that would help an organization or company doesn't get airplay because their media relations person was unreachable for interview, and basically confirmed everything our PR teacher, Melanie Lee Lockhart taught us about media relations during the last year and a half.

Let's get to the list. Below I've condensed Mrs. Moir's talk with us to these five frustrations that the media have when dealing with PR pros:

No one on the other end of the line. This is a big one. Mrs. Moir could not emphasize any more how important it is to have someone manning the phone lines when PR pros send out news releases or media alerts. Contact information is useless if there isn't a live person on the other end to respond. I couldn't believe the amount of news stories that gets scrapped because there wasn't anyone available for comment either because PR pros don't answer their calls, don't return calls, don't listen to their messages, or simply don't respond
No contact information. Going through the trouble of writing and sending out a news release or a media alert and then not having any contact information attached to it is really really dumb. Enough said.
Playing tag. I'm sure this has happened to you at one point of your life. You call a company and get passed around to various departments. It's frustrating. Now, think about how that must feel like for a reporter who is on a strict two-hour deadline.
Laziness. So they finally get someone on the line -- the problem is a PR person who is not helpful, close-minded and uninformed are equally as frustrating than no PR person as all.
Afraid of going "live." While it might be understandable how going "live" might scare some PR pros, Mrs. Moir pointed out that live interviews are actually better than pre-taped because it can't be edited or manipulated to make someone sound bad. "Live" mean PR pros get their messages out the way they want to.

The bottom-line? PR pros rely on the media to get their messages out, and the media rely on PR pros to get the news out. Their fates are tied together and a relationship of mutualism where each party derives a benefit should be what both should strive for.

Five Topics for an Informative Presentation

2010-10-15T17:57:00.009-05:00

Part of the requirement for my Oral Presentation class this semester is to give an 8-10 minute informative presentation. Basic common sense dictates that to give a good presentation, the speaker's topic should be something he or she is comfortable with, or at least should be something that he or she knows a good deal about. Which leads us to the big conundrum of: What do I know a good deal about? What topics am I comfortable with? More importantly, what kind of stuff am I interested in that would not completely bore my audience?

I came up with these:

Hall and Oates lyrics
Preppy designer labels
Doodling
Urban legends surrounding the 500 Philippine peso bill
The anatomy of a good pad thai

Just kidding. Here's my list:

Tennis 101
This shouldn't be a surprise. I never stop talking about tennis on my Twitter (and here too), so I might as well take the opportunity to get more people interested in the sport. Just the basics, nothing heavy. No history (well, not much), but more like things they need to know so that they can appreciate a tennis match right away. I'm thinking: basic rules, scoring, top 10 players, the tournament structure, the tournament calendar and, if we have time, maybe I'll squeeze in top 10 plays of the decade (or the year?).
Manila: An insider's guide
People always ask me what Manila is like, and I always never know where to begin -- the weather, the places, the people, the atmosphere? Here's a good chance for me to talk about my most favorite city in the world and maybe entice a couple or so classmates to come and visit. Topics I'd like to touch on: how to get around, what to do, where to shop, where to eat and where to party.
How to discover new music
Majority of people are so critical about the things that they eat, read or watch, but are perfectly indifferent to the music that they listen to. A lot of people are used to just turning on the radio and being a non-participant with the kind of music that go into their systems. This is totally fine if this is really the kind of thing they're into, but if a person has never really actively sought out music that might stimulate and affect their lives better, then, really, how would they know if it is? Would you ever just eat chicken fingers if this was the most convenient food stuff that you could get? No. You'd want variety. I want to talk about how to actively discover new music (new to the listener, at least) and recommend a few places people can go to to get started.
Website, tutorials and resources for layout and design
There are SO MANY websites out there that the amateur designer can tap to improve their work and most of them are free. Everything from tutorials, fonts, color scheme generators, Photoshop brushes, backgrounds, filters, you name it. I want to talk about where to go and what each website offers.
Apps for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad
Just today I found out that my friend, an avid Glee fan, Jasmine, did not know that there was a Glee app on the App Store (and she freaked when I said it's a karaoke app). There are over 100,000 apps available in the Apple App Store so knowing what to get, or knowing what is out there is a full-time job. I want to talk about the best and the awesomest of the apps and hopefully convince everyone to get Evernote and add me on Game Center.

So what do you think? Do any of these appeal to you at all?

Five Websites on Grid-based Designs

2010-10-01T18:00:00.020-05:00

When I created the master pages for The Projector, I implemented a grid system that I religiously follow. I've always been an avid worshipper of the grid.

My layout editor partner, Rachel, however, is more of a free-spirit and likes going off-grid. Every so often you'll hear me bellowing at her, "Rachel, turn your goddamn grid on!" She humors me, she knows I'm hopeless. Besides, my obsession has it perks -- it's been the butt of a lot of jokes at The Projector office during long late nights of production.

You should hear the monologue Rachel does. She casts me as some kind of Yoda-esque character teaching the ways of "The Grid." "Follow the grid, you must, hrmm!"

Philistines!

Kidding aside, I'm here to, well, push my agenda. It's my blog, and I'll cry if I want to.

I am far (FAAAR!) from being an expert in layout and design, but keeping myself in line (get it?) using a functional grid system really helps. Here's a list of five of the best resources online for grid-based design. Clicky thems links. They will make you a better person, I promise.

The Grid System: The ultimate resource in grid systems
This website showcases articles, tools, books, grid templates, blog articles and websites for inspiration. This is it. This is the Internet Mecca for grids.
Smashing Magazine: Designing with grid-based approach
Smashing Magazine's compilation of the best grid articles, tutorials, tools and books about designing using grids. There's also a really awesome section of quotes from prominent designers who love grid-based design.
Mark Boulton: Five simple steps to designing grid systems
Grid design 101. Everything you need to know to get started using grids in your designs. Watch out for parts two, three, four and five.
Designer's Bookshop: Grid Calculator Pro Edition
Grids on steroids. There are grids -- and then there are GRIDS. This tool will help you create the ultimate grid that will make it impossible for your designs to ever fail. Ever. Again. Mind you, it's expensive, but you can have a go at it for 30 days.
Typographic Posters
Get inspired and do it in style with this gallery of typography-based posters laid-out in a flawless grid-based website.

Five Signs Roger Federer is Old

2010-09-12T03:53:00.016-05:00

Twenty-nine this year, Rog. How about that?
(Yes, the spry young lad on the right is
Canadian hockey superstar, Sidney Crosby)

I have had issues with the mortality of my favorite tennis player. Whenever the word "old" comes up, I get lightheaded and my brain goes into warp mode, flashing scenes of a tennis world devoid of the G.O.A.T.

I imagine it to be much like Gattaca, you know, genetically perfect people with perfectly coifed hair, world is a giant Danish architecture convention, lots of peeing in cups, there is no Roger Federer on the tennis courts and Jude Law is bored.

That's all in the past. They say the first step to recovery is acceptance so here I am trying to make peace with my demons. And though I do so remain ever faithful to the man, until the end, whenever that is (soon). There are some things that I need to stop denying. Partly, because I think if I hold my breath any longer, I'd probably get brain damage. Mostly, because he, himself, has given me no choice but to face the facts. The facts: 1.) old age is inevitable because 2.) time stops for no one, and 3.) Venus Williams has no time machine.

That in mind, here, mostly for my own benefit, are five pieces of undeniable evidence that Roger Federer is, in fact, older than Methuselah.

5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5
I did not know that schizophrenia came with old age but that above, is the result of the US Open 2010 semifinal match that he lost to Novak Djokovic. Djokovic who in the first half of the match, was so frustrated, he pulled a Youznhy and started hitting himself in the head with his racquet.
"Unfortunately the second and fourth just kind of snuck away from me, I guess."
He guesses? That's the explanation we get?! It just snuck away from him. What was he doing? Like, napping maybe? Dementia? That sounds flimsier than my theory -- that he was getting distracted by the shade on the court.
"The only tough part was when the shade came in and the sun was on the side."
Oh. Well, old age does that. Your vision starts to go.
Journo: As somebody who's made plenty of history yourself, what are your thoughts on the opportunity that Rafa has to make history with a few straight slams and creating the career Slam?

Roger Federer: Fantastic. It's great for tennis, and it's great for him at the young age, you know, he is to have that opportunity already.
How does he get away with saying stuff like that? How old does Roger think of himself anyway? 76? Jesus.

"I wouldn't want to feel the way that I couldn't compete with the new generation, but I can. It's not a problem for me."
Ok, gramps.
"It's a tough loss for me, but it's only going to fuel me with more motivation to practice hard and get back to Grand Slam finals, which I haven't been in for the last three slams."
Say that again.

"...get back to Grand Slam finals, which I haven't been in for the last three slams."
What?

"I haven't been in for the last three slams."
Right.

I'll get over this.

One day at a time.

Source: Roger Federer: US Open 2010 Post-match Press Conference September 11, 2010

Five Reasons Why the Gibson Learn & Master Guitar App is a Brand App Done Right

2010-09-10T22:30:00.005-05:00

This week in my PR class, we're talking about branded apps and how you can use apps as an avenue for good PR. I drafted a long list of apps that I think do this well, but my favorite is the Gibson Learn & Master Guitar.

The chromatic tuner setting

The app features a professional quality, multi-setting chromatic tuner that works with the iPhone's microphone (or with an iPod's microphone attachment), an accurate metronome with multiple time signatures and the capability for you to set you own tempo, a chord library, free video lessons from the award-winning Learn & Master Guitar course, and quick access to Gibson.com's mobile site (action principle!).

Why is this a good brand app? Read on.

It's handy. Under the four principles of persuasion, this one falls under the action principle, which essentially states that in order to convince people to do something, you must make it convenient for them to do so. This app is on the user's phone, and the chances of the user carrying around their phone is probably greater than them carrying around a tuner pedal or even a small battery operated chromatic tuner. It's convenient.
It's easy to use and actually works. This is the clarity principle working here. It's a well-made app. It's easy-to-use. The tuner actually tunes a guitar accurately, the metronome is easy to use, and the chord guide is comprehensive.
There is real life value. This is "what's in it for me." There are a lot of apps out there that don't really do the user much good outside of their phone, but this app has an actual practical use. A few years ago, I bought a small acoustic guitar to travel with and now when I find myself without my chromatic tuner, I just whip out my phone to make sure I'm in tune.
It's free. Again with the action principle. You don't have to own a Gibson guitar to take advantage of it. There's no purchase necessary, it works just as well with other guitar brands as it would a Gibson guitar. You can download a lot of these tools for free separately or download GuitarToolkit for $9.99, but why spend the money when the Gibson app gives you the same tools for free?
It makes me think about Gibson. Gibson being one of the big trusted names in musical instruments, particularly guitars, make this app stand out amongst the other guitar apps in the App Store. The brand helps me want to get the app, but it doesn't stop there, because after I get the app, this familiarity and trust that I have of the Gibson brand is further emphasized because this app is just ... well... great.

When users launch the app, it briefly shows a welcome screen advertisement for guitar lesson DVDs, but after that, it doesn't bother with ads again. Despite the lack of glaring, repetitive ads, the app really puts Gibson in my mind. I know I'm using their app, that it's free, it's helpful, and I really appreciate that. I like that that company has done this "free" service to musicians, and I honestly think it creates some kind of relationship with the user, no matter how thin or flimsy it may be. It certainly put the company in a good light in my mind and though I've always been more of a Fender fan, I think I will consider testing out and maybe buying a Gibson guitar if I'm ever in the market for a new noise maker. That's what's important isn't it? Getting the brand in people's minds, positioning it well, investing in the pleasure of potential customers and hopefully getting something in back in return. It's good PR.

Five iPhone/iPod Touch Tips for CreComm Students

2010-09-03T17:29:00.032-05:00

You've heard, I'm sure.

Everyone's talking about how the Creative Communications (CreComm) program at Red River College has made iPhones and iPod Touches mandatory for their students. Lots have been said about the pros and cons of this -- it's all over the TV (link 1, link 2) and the newspapers. I love how forward-thinking the instructors are in this program and I know it's going to benefit us, the students, immensely now that they've acknowledged this whole other medium of communication.

That said, let's get to the list. I've been an Apple user for some years and an iPhone user for a while and let me tell you, I've never owned a tool or a piece of technology that has served me so well in so many different ways. It makes countless of tasks efficient and I continue to find new uses for it everyday. I've compiled a list of my favorite tasks for the iPhone that I've employed specifically as a student in CreComm:

Take notes efficiently.

This is a big one.

Evernote (free) is the ultimate app to have on your iPhone or iPod Touch. It has revolutionized the way I take notes for school.

It's an app that allows you to read and create notes, web clippings, photos, voice notes, etc. and keep it all in one place. You can access Evernote everywhere -- on the web, on a PC, a Mac, your mobile device (iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry or Android, see the website for a complete list), and even on the iPad.

It syncs itself automatically across all platforms, so you don't have to worry about copying the stuff you have on your iPhone to a computer later on. Your account will also be accessible on the web, so it doesn't matter if you're not on your own laptop or computer, you can update, view or edit your notes as long as you have access to the Internet (in the computer labs, for example).

You're not limited to text notes either. Audio record an important lecture, or guest speaker and store it in Evernote. Take photos of the white board, of assignment sheets and handouts and keep them all together in a notebook in Evernote.

Last year, some of my classmates and I traded notes to review for the final exam. Imagine how easy that would have been if all of us had Evernote. We could have consolidated all our notes in seconds! (One disclaimer though -- I am not encouraging you to rely on your classmates' notes during exams -- no one likes a parasitic spaz!)

I also use OCR or Optical Character Recognition on my iPhone. Essentially, if I don't want to re-type a handout or keep a JPG file of it on Evernote, I snap a photo the hard copy, run it through an OCR app, like Perfect OCR ($2.99), DocScanner ($5.99) or Prizmo ($9.99), which then converts it to an editable text file that I can copy and paste to Evernote!

I also keep photos of important documents on Evernote -- for example the instructor's contact sheet. Last winter, when my car's tire deflated in the middle of Waverley Street, I had Klara Labady's phone number handy and was able to inform her that I was going to be late for class (yes, my first call was Klara, not CAA). Little things like receipts, business cards (all the ones from the Thursday seminars), take-out menus (for those late-night study groups) -- anything you can think of -- snap a photo and keep it on Evernote. Photo too dark? Edit it with Adobe Photoshop Express (free) or Mill Colour (free).
Design on the go.

One of my favorite courses is Desktop Publishing and I probably spend more time conceptualizing a design than actually executing it on Photoshop or InDesign.

I'm always looking for ideas and inspiration when I'm out doing whatever. When I see a font that I like, I take a photo and run it through WhatTheFont (free). Once I've uploaded the photo, it analyzes it and gives me the name of the font along with a list of similar fonts.

If I find inspiration in a piece of clothing or scenery, I snap a photo, run it though Palettes (free, Pro version $ 5.99) and the app lifts colors from the photograph and gives me a color scheme I can work with. Its brilliant!
Float on a cloud.

My relationship with my big cloud (aka Cloudy) is one that I treasure and nurture and hold very close to my heart. Roll your eyes, yeah, but if you don't have one, you don't know the convenience you're missing.

What is a cloud? It's a virtual space where you can store music, photos, documents, PDFs, etc. It usually comes with a software that instantly syncs the files across all your devices making them accessible to you anytime you need them. I keep a copy of all my assignment files on my cloud, finished or in-progress, that way they're never out-of-reach.

I'm currently on a couple of services -- MobileMe ($99/year, free 60-day trial) and Dropbox (free, paid version available), but I hear SugarSync is a good too.
Read the news.

Keep yourself updated for those J quizzes. My three favorite apps for catching up on news on my iPhone are CP Mobile ($2.99), The Daily Beast (free) and BBC News (free). The Globe and Mail has a free app, but you have to have a subscription to read.
Fact-check, spell-check and get it right.

As communicators, it's our job to get the details right. There are tons of reference material apps on the App Store that can aid this task. Some of my favorites include:
- Wikipanion (free) - For accessing Wikipedia -- which, as Duncan would say, is good place to start, bad place to end.
- Dictionary.com (free) - Don't know what it means? Look it up!
- ProofReader ($ 1.99) - Good reference for universal proofreading marks.
- YellowPages.ca (free) - Self-explanatory
- Forvo Pronunciation (free) - In radio and television, we're taught that pronunciation is your credibility. Learn how to say it right from native speakers.

Got any tips to add? Leave them on the comments!

Five More Awesome iPad Cases (Part 2: Save)

2010-06-23T22:38:00.010-05:00

The hunt for the best iPad case continues! I've narrowed down the hundreds of cases that I've sifted through to 10. In a previous post, I talked about five "splurge" cases that are $75.00 and ove, and on this post I'll be featuring five "save" cases ($50.00 and below).

Prices are in US dollars.

TAPE Cork iPad Sleeve
$27.00+

This eco-friendly sleeve by South African designer Ryan Frank is simple, sleek, and provides all the protection your iPad needs.
Gelaskins for iPad
$29.95

Stick-on covers with a patented 3M adhesive that makes sticking on and pulling off easy. I've been a fan of their iPhone skins for a while. The best part is the range of designs, but the down side is that it doesn't provide much protection for your device. I suggest buying this for personalization and then buying a sleeve for padding.
CaseClosedUK iPad Gray German Wool Felt Sleeve
$33.00

Love the wool felt case I mentioned in Part 1, but hate the price? Here's an alternative. Same color, same felt material. The open lip makes this less secure than the other cases but if you don't really intend to carry your iPad around on its own, this is a no-nonsense case that will fit nicely in any book bag.
Byrd and Belle Wool Felt iPad Sleeve
$48.00

A bit more expensive, but a lot more attractive than the CaseClosedUK wool felt case. The leather strap secures the device and the color combination is handsome. Also available in graphite and black.
TuchMade iPad Sleeve
$52.00

Hands-down my favorite of all 10 cases. The price is reasonable, the material looks beautiful, and the design is impressive. I am so intrigued by the fact that it was assembled with no stitching or glue -- just precisely cut with notches and slots. It reminds me of Japanese sashimono furniture that are made from precisely cut wood and joined without nails, pegs or glue. Plus, you can roll it up and prop your iPad on it while typing!

Five Awesome iPad Cases (Part 1: Splurge)

2010-06-23T21:19:00.015-05:00

The hunt for the best iPad case has begun! I've narrowed down the hundreds of cases that I've sifted through to 10, beginning with these five "splurge" cases that are $75.00 and over. I've featured five "save" cases ($50.00 and below) in this post as well.

Prices are in US dollars.

Gucci iPad Case
$230.00

As much as I like Gucci, I'm not sure I would buy this case. I can't imagine carrying it around inside my cheap gym bag. There's something ironic about that -- like people who drive around in cars that are more expensive than their houses.
Kenton Sorenson Leather iPad Portfolio
$140.00

My favorite in this set. How classy is this tanned leather portfolio? I love that the natural leather will eventually get scuffed and stained as you use it -- that will add so much personality to this case. The straps that wind around it will ensure that your iPad doesn't accidentally slip out.
Julie Boyles Antique Leather iPad Case (Free Monogramming)
$95.00

Here's a slightly cheaper leather alternative to the Sorensen case. The clever memo envelope-look is what drew me in. The best part? Free monogramming. I'm a sucker for monogrammed anything.
BOOK for iPad
$89.00

Each one of these cases are handmade which explains the 4-8 week wait on every order. Kind of a bummer, but I love the clever design and simplicity of the case. I imagine slipping this into my shelf beside my other books.
Hard Graft Tilt iPad Case
$90.00+

I find that the biggest challenge with typing on the iPad is that it teeters on its sloping back when you lay it down on a table, which makes my favorite part about this case the rollable flap that you can use to prop up the iPad. I also really love the material. The felt and leather is elegant and modern.

Five on Fact-checking

2010-06-21T22:45:00.015-05:00

In the past week, a couple of companies have been the subject of fake press releases which have caused damages to their reputations and the reputation of the news wires that distribute them, or at the very least, inconveniences in policy changes. News like this really shakes up a communicator-wannabe like me and further underscores the importance of fact-checking.

I'm in the last week of my editing for print and online course, and apart from learning about how to proof-read, we are taught to read critically and to question everything.

Now, when I read a news article that mentions a media release, I go to the PR Newswire and try to fish out the original document. If the news article mentions research done by so-and-so, I take five minutes to Google so-and-so and see if he or she is a particularly reliable Joe or Jane. Seems tedious, but digging deep gives me a better perspective of whatever it is that I'm reading about.

I've compiled a list of websites and articles related to the very serious business of fact-checking. I think they're all quite enlightening and helpful.

Polygraphs and Private Eyes: Inside the National Enquirer’s elaborate fact-checking process

Craig Silverman, the editor of RegretTheError.com, writes for the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR). In this article, he talks to Barry Levine, the executive editor/director of the National Enquirer about the painstaking fact-checking process the publication is put through before it hits the news stands. Yes, as the title suggests, they use polygraph tests and employ private investigators!

If you like this article, my instructor, Duncan McMonagle, talked about CJR's article on the German magazine Der Spiegel's 80 in-house fact-checkers on his blog a couple of weeks ago.
PolitiFact's Guide to Fact-Checking

The Pulitzer Prize-winning website PolitiFact.com advises us to "be skeptical and verify everything." They've created this four-minute "guide to fact-checking" video and have broken down it down for us into six main points.
ibiblio's 44 Tips for Greater Accuracy

ibiblio is a digital archive website run by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). This link leads to UNC professor Frank Fee's comprehensive list of tips on how to avoid errors in your news articles. The tips are applicable to any kind of writing.

P.S. I laughed at #22: "Never trust a PR person's word on spellings, other facts." PR CreComms say: What!!! ;)
Kevin Scanlon's Where To Find Things

I've mentioned this in a previous blog post. The Canadian Association of Newspaper Editors website has a section called "Editorial Tips" and this section by Kevin Scanlon (senior copy editor at the Toronto Star) called "Where to find things" lists very useful sources for fact-checking.
Fact-checker websites
- FactCheck.org (Politics)
- FactCheckEd.org (Educational resource for students and teachers)
- PolitiFact.com (Politics)
- Snopes.com (General)
- Hoax.com (Technology, general knowledge)

Five Steps To Digitizing The World's Books

2010-06-14T22:25:00.008-05:00

I've always been slightly annoyed by computerized authenticity systems that certain websites implement to keep spam bots out. I know it's for my own good and protection but those squiggly lines, the blotted ink font, the alternating upper-lower case, it grates on me, as I'm sure it does other people as well. But since reading an article on The Walrus about one such authentication service called ReCAPTCHA, I'm beginning to change my feelings towards this somewhat tedious interruption in my every day internet browsing.

It's pretty incredible. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my brain around it, but apparently, the pair of words that we're required to decode from a picture image actually come from old books and documents that are being digitized for open content purposes. I've summarized the process below:

Person employed by the Open Content Alliance (a non-profit organization based in San Francisco) takes digital photos of the book or document.
Some of these books are so old that the computer's optical character recognition (OCR) software can't identify the words properly.
With the aid of the random unwitting Joe and Jane signing up for Twitter or Craigslist, etc., the blotted words are decoded.
The words are run through the system a few (three to four) times for accuracy.
Lather, rinse, repeat, and viola, a completely digital copy of St. Augustine’s De civitate Dei, 1475 edition.

It would interest my Canadian readers to know that the largest scanning centre employed by the Open Content Alliance is based in the University of Toronto's Robarts Library.

Next time I'm verifying my "humanity" by decoding picture words, I can think of how I've contributed to the gargantuan effort of preserving the world's collective written knowledge. To the folks at U of T flipping pages and taking photos with a Canon SLR, I doff my hat to you.

Read the whole article here: THE WALRUS: Human Resources - ReCAPTCHA: The job you didn’t even know you had

Five + Five Spelling Oopsies! From Manila

2010-06-07T17:58:00.032-05:00

If native English speakers commit ridiculous spelling errors, think about those who employ it only as a second (or even third) language. Jess Cable brought up the topic of Chinglish some weeks ago and featured pictures of Chinese signage translated to English. It made me think about cultural differences and what is lost in translation between the Chinese languages and English. In the Philippines, English is ingrained in the culture so much that relatively little is lost in translation, but luckily for us and for comedy's sake that doesn't mean anything in terms of spelling or grammar!

(Thank you to stand-up comic, writer, programmer, derelict bum and brother Red Ollero. Most of these are his pictures.)

Ahh, jeepneys -- the last great reminder of the American colonization. For those unfamiliar, these funny-looking public utility vehicles, they are stainless steel copycats of the US military jeeps that were brought over during WWII. The name "jeepney" is a portmanteau of "jeep" and "Jitney." The vehicles have become a cultural symbol and are traditionally painted festively and decorated flamboyantly.

Anybody wanna guess what that tail sign is supposed to say?

Here's a clue.
And while we're on the topic of vehicles...
While we're on the topic of things for sale...
Those of us uninteresting losers can drink our shortcomings away during...

By the way, 1 CAD = 44.30 PHP. That's two beers for a loonie and a dime!
Now, how about a meal?
Note the international flair.
Better yet, let's have a look at the full menu... (Apologies for the blurry photos.)

"Chef salad" and "Cesar salad w/ thousand island sauce" Several things problematic here. First, most people don't eat chefs, and second, while Cesar was a great civil rights activist, I'm pretty sure the salad was named after another Mexican dude, Caesar Cardini, and he would NOT appreciate thousand island SAUCE on it.

"Pork Gordon Blue" and "Chicken Gordon Blue"

"FLAMMING COCKTAIL," "Flamming Ferrari," "Flamming Lamborghini" Yes, they spelled Lamborghini correctly.
On to dessert...

"ICE CRAMBLE" Widely misspelled street food dessert "ice scramble." I've seen it spelled "ice crumble" too.
Enough picking on the homemade signs. Here's one from a major shopping mall.
Red took the initiative to circle the funny warning on this arcade game machine, but I'm not sure that's the only thing that needs editing!

That's it. I'm off to try to get "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish" unstuck from my head.

Five++ Websites for Editors and Journalists

2010-05-31T20:22:00.026-05:00

Canadian Association of Newspaper Editors

My favorite part of this website is their "Editorial Resources" section which is a compilation of useful tips for editors and journalists. There's an great link from Kevin Scanlon called "Where to find things" that lists online resources on how to, well, find out about a variety of things -- from reverse look-ups of phone numbers, to who owns a specific web site, and even -- get this -- how to swear in 150 languages. The page also includes tips on writing leads and headlines, conducting interviews and, of course, editing copy.
Editors Weblog: A publication of the World Editors Forum

The Editors Weblog is a collection of news articles about the newspaper industry. It is published by the World Editors Forum which is an association dedicated to senior newsroom editors. According to its website its main missions are "to be 'the voice of editors' and to represent them, to defend editorial excellence, to provide editorial services and to define the future of journalism."

The website has its news sectioned under several categories including "Print Journalism," "Web 2.0" and an "Events" section that reports on talks, seminars, and various happenings related to the journalism industry.
Copyediting: Because language matters

The Copyediting newsletter is a website dedicated to improving the copyediting skills of editors and corporate communications pros. The website hosts articles, tips, multi-media resources and information on training events related to copy editing. A podcast episode dated May 17 talks about Canadian English featuring Canadian journalist and author Joe Clark.
Newseum, FrontPages.ca, CollegeFrontPage.com

The three links above house digital copies of front pages of newspapers from all around the world.

My favorite is Newseum's interactive map feature that allows you to view front pages according to region. Ever wonder what the headlines are in Kuala Lumpur today? Well, here you go. (At time of posting, headline is "Sec-gen sacked." Good alliteration, no?)
Overheard in the Newsroom, @FakeAPStylebook

After a long day of editing and writing, sit back and have a couple of chuckles with Overheard in the Newsroom and @FakeAPStylebook.

Overheard in the Newsroom is one of the many spin-offs of Overheard in New York. Readers mail in overheard quotes or conversations, hilarity ensues. I love the candid quips, inside jokes, and quotes that allow us a glimpse of what really goes on behind news publications.

The guys at the @FakeAPStylebook decided to throw the rules out of the window and just make up their own. This Twitter feed that is sarcastic, hilarious and preposterous all at the same time. My favorites:
- When it is raining put a circumflex above all vowels to prêvênt thêm frôm gêttîng wêt. [Link]
- Dates should be formated as MM/DD/YY except for the years 1990 through 1992, which should be denoted in 'Hammer Time.' [Link]

Five Ways to Use Technology to Edit and Proofread Efficiently

2010-05-24T19:21:00.007-05:00

Disclaimer: Edit with caution! It's undeniable. There's no substitute for the human eye. Misspelled proper names are never corrected and properly spelled words in the wrong context are not at all caught by automatic spell checkers. My CreComm teachers always say that while spell check is not the best place to end your editing process with, it is certainly a good place to start.

With that, I bring you a list of five ideas to use technology to aid with editing a written piece of work.

Scan to OCR
Need to edit a document but you have no soft copy available? You can scan your document and with optical character recognition technology (OCR), convert the scanned photo to text. You can do this on almost any computer that runs MS Word.

Also handy if you are editing a hard copy of a document that is formatted irregularly because text is usually easier to edit if it is in plain format.
iPhone OCR App
Don't have a scanner handy? There's an app for that. There are tons of apps on the iPhone that supports OCR. I personally recommend "Perfect OCR.". This app allows you to take a photo of the document you want to use, it improves its clarity, straightens the edges, and then converts it to PDF. After that, it's only a matter of emailing the file to yourself to edit on your desktop or laptop.

Comments on MS Word and Adobe Acrobat
I'm faster and more efficient with a keyboard than I am with a pen, so if you're like me, you know how funny it feels to put editing marks on hard copy with a pencil. I know, I know, some people find it easier to edit on a piece of paper than a computer screen, but to spare the poor recipient of my editing notes from my illegible handwriting, I always find the comments function in MS Word and Adobe Acrobat to be the best way to leave editing notes. Just pull down Insert > Comment and viola!

iPhone ProofReader App
And in the inevitable chance that you do need to use a pen to edit, there's a handy little app on the App Store called "ProofReader." It's a handy little guidebook to standard/universal editing marks that most writers will understand.

CP Style Spell Check?
This doesn't actually exist. Why? I don't know, but someone should really get on this because there is no reason for it to not exist seeing as the technology is available, and the system is in place. There isn't even a Canadian spell check function on MS Word yet! (Not on a Mac anyway. Does anyone know if it exists on a PC?) Imagine automatic formatting, a database of proper names, an alert to use plain words, etc. That would be a dream, wouldn't it? I would pay for software like this.

Five Epic Spelling Screw-ups

2010-05-18T00:08:00.021-05:00

In CreComm, the difference between an A and an F could be one misplaced letter or symbol. The emphasis on proper spelling and correct punctuation is so strong, teachers fail us on our assignments if we spell a proper name incorrectly. Word is, in second year, PR students are deducted 10% for every error – spelling, grammatical or punctuation.

I've experienced the strict lashing of this program-wide rule many times. Just last semester, I was the recipient of several auto-fails in my Journalism class that dragged my final grade down severely. I can't tell you how many hours of sleep I've lost over the missing 'e' in "Waverley Street" in my otherwise A-grade streeter. By the way, did you know that "David Livingstone" is spelled with an 'e' at the end? Well, I do now – thank you, city council assignment. *shakes fist*

To better my chances of a flourishing career in PR and, more importantly, surviving my last year of CreComm with my grades, sanity and sleep intact, I've registered this spring in a class called Editing Print and Online Media taught by my J teacher and former editor-in-chief of the Winnipeg Free Press, Duncan McMonagle. Hopefully, the class can help sharpen my eyes and help make me a better writer but in the meantime, I check my marks on Web Advisor several times a week, hoping that if I check enough times, my J mark will magically up itself a couple of letter-grades, and I scour the Internet for epic screw-ups as a sort of schadenfreude or company to my misery.

Here are five:

A couple of weeks ago, a curious passerby possibly saved someone a lot of humiliation by making a call to Hollywood Walk of Fame press rep Ana Martinez-Holler to report that Julia Louis-Dreyfus's name had been misspelled as "Julia Luis-Dreyfus" four hours before the Walk of Fame star's unveiling ceremony. [Link]
An editor for clothing? Well, that's what athletic wear company Majestic seems to be in dire need of. The company has misspelled names twice in the last couple of years -- once last season spelling "Natinals" on the jerseys of two Washington Nationals players and again last month spelling "San Francicso" on San Francisco Giants' player Eugenio Velez' jersey.
How's this for an inconvenient typo? An error in a Bissau-Guinean man's resident card causes him to spend four nights in an Indian jail and two years in the country's no-fly list. [Link]
Let's go local with this one. A missing accent aigu has cost Manitoba Public Insurance $90,000 in replacement licences. [Link]
Saving the best for last. The general manager of the Chilean mint and several other employees have been canned because of a typo! Well, considering that the typo is a misspelling of their country's name and is engraved on several thousands of Chilean coins, it might just be justifiable! [Link]

ETA: What's tough about a blog post about editing is editing it. I just re-published this entry five times. I'm sure it's still not perfect. Go easy on me.

Five Examples of Good Writing in Video Games

2010-04-09T15:42:00.014-05:00

I'm not the biggest video gamer, hence, not the expert to ask about video game writing, but for this week's blog, I've been tasked to write about the topic, so I asked the help of video game enthusiast Evan Matrick to give us his list of five video games that showcase excellence in video game writing.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
(PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable)

List-Five: What exactly is this game about?

Ev Matrick: In Persona 3 (P3) the player is a teenager starting at a new high school who gets involved in some kind of metaphysical conspiracy that might potentially lead to the apocalypse. The game has a calendar system and time passes indefinitely and the players decide how to spend their time wisely.

L-F: How do they spend their time wisely?

EM: Well, attending school is a must. Players can choose between studying -- which is good because getting good grades opens new social opportunities, or they can choose to socialize with other students, teachers, and local citizens -- and socializing, allows the character to learn new abilities, or they can choose to battle it out in a mysterious tower -- this part is necessary to progress through each of the plot's monthly challenges.

L-F: What about this socializing part? That's pretty interesting. Do they develop love interests?

EM: Oh, yeah. I mean it's high school after all. So over the course of the game's 80 plus hours, the main character has the opportunity to build friendships and fall in love and this all happens in a believable and touching way too.

L-F: What would you say makes this your favorite video game in terms of writing?

EM: The fact that it is entirely up to the player to decide what to do, and the fact that the choices are so compelling, and that you'll genuinely want to get to know a lot of the characters makes it a huge milestone in video game writing, I think. I mean, look, The story of P3 was so popular that it spawned a TV series, comic book series, multiple radio dramas, and even a revised directors cut with an additional 30 hour post-story game to give fans the closure they wanted.
Metal Gear Solid
(PlayStation 1)

L-F: First of all, yay, because I have a big crush on Otacon. That said, having a hot nerdy scientist guy in the game does not make for good writing. What does?

EM: While the voice-acting may sound corny by today's standards, my favorite thing about Metal Gear Solid was that it was like "playing a movie." Of course keep in mind this was in 1998. But yeah, it was so smart, and so far ahead of most everything that came before it, it seemed like an entirely new experience.

L-F: That's probably why I know a little about it -- because it came out in '98 and I was still kind of playing video games then. I loved loved loved the cut scenes.

EM: Yeah. The game really didn't pull any punches in terms of story telling. For the first time ever console gamers could expect to spend the upwards of 15 minutes at a time just listening to conversations between the characters. There were hours of dialogue in MGS. Hours. And for the most part, it was worth listening to.

L-F: And the plot?

EM: I think the plot could largely be summed up as post-modern Tom Clancy. If you were born in the '80s, this was your James Bond. It was so well told and put together, it made series director/creator, Hideo Kojima, into a household name.
Final Fantasy VI
(Super Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation 1)

L-F: Why is Final Fantasy VI (FFVI) such a big favorite?

EM: I think Final Fantasy VI, or III as it was known in North America, is a masterpiece epic in 16-bit role-playing. While the story is made up of what have become typical JRPG [Japanese Role Playing Game] cliches in 2010 -- you know, a band of outlaws seek to save the world from an "evil empire" etc. -- the game also manages to bring forth a series of firsts, some of which have not been replicated to date.

L-F: Really? But it's such an old game. Does the graphics get in the way of the writing?

EM: No, no. That just adds to the appeal, you know? Video game nerds love that it's an old game. And even if the graphics require some imagination by today's standards, there are situations which will cause you to genuinely care about the outcome of your 2D pixelated troupe. It was the stuff of 12 year old boys' dreams.

L-F: So maybe that's all that is? Nostalgia?

EM: No, I don't think so. FFVI had an unprecedented large cast of playable characters -- 13, I think -- and each with their own playing style, personality and goals and all of their stories are tied together convincingly to reach their goal. That's still pretty amazing even in today's standards.
Bioshock
(PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

L-F: Tell me about this game.

EM: Well, let's get this out in the open -- Bioshock draws heavily from Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." That might seem like an unlikely inspiration for a video game but
what makes it good is that despite the book's rather lofty subject matter, the writers handled it deftly, and in a way that people who are completely unfamiliar with the novel will likely not miss a thing.

L-F: I'm not a big fan of Ayn Rand. Will I hate this game?

EM: Well, it's not directly copied off the book. It's just a lot of the concepts are copped off of it, but because it's a video game, you can be a bit more forgiving. I mean, it's a game, you know? It doesn't pretend to be anything else.

L-F: So what's it about?

EM: Well, it's set in an underwater dystopia known as Rapture, the visiting protagonist uncovers an intriguing oral history of the setting over a series of audiologs found throughout his adventures. The protagonist is guided along through a series of gorgeous 50s/60s sci-fi inspired set pieces via radio by unseen characters of dubious morality.

L-F: And what makes it good video game writing?

EM: When the story reaches its climax and all the puzzle pieces click in to place, you will be amazed by how well it was planned out. Even if you sort of saw the "twist" coming, you can't help but appreciate the finer details. It's a mature title in which the choices the player makes affects the story in a manner mostly absent from all games, let alone those in the FPS genre.
Killer 7
(PlayStation 2, GameCube)

L-F: So, Killer 7.

EM: If Killer 7's writer/director, Goichi Suda aka Suda51, were a film director instead, he'd fall somewhere between Quentin Tarrantino, David Lynch and Takashi Miike.

L-F: Hahaha! Wow. And the game?

EM: Well, the game itself is this ultraviolet, surreal cross between a shooter and an old school pc adventure but it's the story that takes place in between the gameplay chapters that really blows minds. It's the kind of thing you need to play through or watch a second time to figure out just what is going on. I can't even explain it.

L-F: Try.

EM: Ok. The plot adeptly builds a world of demigods, assassins, alternate realities, metaphysics, BDSM, and governmental conspiracies that you won't want to take your eyes off.

L-F: BDSM?!

EM: Hahaha! Yup. It's explicit and thrilling. That's all I'm gonna say.

Five Random Things

2010-03-22T19:27:00.005-05:00

I'd like to address the fact that I completely missed Indian Wells this year. I saw a grand total of ONE match and it was the match that Federer lost to Baghdatis. It was the end to what was a good day, what made it good? well, that is coming up next.
We are the proud owner of a VW Jetta. The old Toyota Echo had to be replaced because of a previous accident (completely not our fault). It was sad to see the little thing go. It was especially depressing to have to go to the MPI's Collision Centre out at Plessis Road and seeing all the banged up cars. It felt like a 24/7 funeral.

On the positive side, the Jetta is midnight blue, heated seats and a moon roof. We opened the top for the first time last Saturday and it was glorious. I'm going to enjoy having that feature for the summer, and the heated seats for the winter.
Let's talk about why I missed Indian Wells. The bloody magazine project (and I mean that in the nicest way possible) has eaten me alive. The project essentially is to conceptualize, write, design and promote a magazine from ground up. The final PDFs were due today, and the printed copies are due Wednesday. You were wondering why the sudden return to blogging? Well, that's why. Magazine's out of the way. Well, not really, since there's still the promotions bit to look after, but hey, I'm taking a day off. I need it.

Our cover girl Yvonne Raymond looks smashing on our pages, btw. And many thanks to Rachel Hesketh for lending us her keen eye. You need to come see it April 1st at the Princess Street Campus. (Promotion?! But I thought I'm taking the day off?!)
This is the most important part of this blog entry. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have kept me focused this past couple of months. Family and friends, you know you who are.
I missed blogging about my birthday. It was March 11th and I was busy in the IPPP's TwitPit twittering my little fingers off. We had a nice dinner at Inferno's Bistro the night of, and then the next evening wreaked crazy havoc at Osborne Village for some karaoke. It was intense. You should have been there.

Five Quotes from Thursday's Majors and Electives Seminar

2010-02-26T17:07:00.001-06:00

"We manufacture feelings, sell it, and make a profit."
- Kenton Larsen, Advertising
"If you have a typo problem, get help."
- Melanie Lee Lockhart, Public Relations
"If you plan on missing classes, do not take the all-day Thursday TV elective. There are exceptions, of course -- say, you get malaria."
- Steve Vogelsang, Journalism
"I'm not frowning, I'm just concentrating."
- Kiley Dyck, Student
"The short answer to that is 'yes.' The long answer is 'yes, yes, yes.'"
- Garry Moir, Radio

Five Poems On Long-Distance Love

2010-02-05T18:00:00.013-06:00

Picking up from Kiran's post the other day about an absolutely arresting Jeffrey McDaniel poem, I decided I'd keep going with the poetry theme, and serve you all five wonderful gems about a theme I know some of you might be able to relate to. I don't offer any sort of commentary on each, except that I love each of them and every little detail as a person who has experienced what it's like to love from thousands of miles away.

"Words, Wide Night"
by Carol Ann Duffy

Somewhere on the other side of this wide night
and the distance between us, I am thinking of you.
The room is turning slowly away from the moon.

This is pleasurable. Or shall I cross that out and say
it is sad? In one of the tenses I singing
an impossible song of desire that you cannot hear.

La lala la. See? I close my eyes and imagine the dark hills I would have to cross
to reach you. For I am in love with you

and this is what it is like or what it is like in words.
"i carry your heart with me"
by ee cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
"The Quiet World"
by Jeffrey McDaniel

In an effort to get people to look
into each other's eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.

When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.

Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.

When she doesn't respond,
I know she's used up all her words,
so I slowly whisper I love you
thirty-two and a third times.
After that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.
"Longing"
by Matthew Arnold

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me!

Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth,
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say, My love why sufferest thou?

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
I thought I felt your shape but I was wrong,
really all I felt was falsly strong.
I held on tight and closed my eyes,
it was dumb, I had no sense of your size.

It was dumb to hold so tight.
But last night on your birthday in the kitchen,
my grip was loose, my eyes were open.
I felt your shape and heard you breathing,
I felt the rise and fall of your chest.

I felt your fall,
your winter snows,
your gusty blow,
your lava flow.
I felt it all:
Your starry night,
your lack of light.
With limp arms I can feel most of you.

I hung around your neck independently
and my feeling of loss was overwhelemed
by this new depth I don't think ive ever felt.

But I don't know...
my nights are cold.
November warmth,
I could have sworn
I wasn't alone.

Five Notes on the Fifth Installment of Theatre Projects Manitoba's "In The Chamber"

2010-01-17T18:31:00.001-06:00

In The Chamber is a series of theatre pieces that centers around daring personal writing and raw production. This year, the fifth installment of the series, features two performances featuring Gordon Tanner and Steven Ratzlaff. Both wrote and starred in each of their pieces -- Tanner in "Last Man in Universe Alpha - 11" and Ratzlaff in "Last Man in Puntarenas."

In "Last Man in Universe Alpha - 11," Doug (Tanner) is a 40-something agricultural engineer at the end of his rope. He has been a safety engineer for a Manitoba company that services hog farms for the last 20 years, but due to a series of hog plant fires (which he insinuates are insurance fraud tactics), he has come to despise the industry he works in. After an outburst and a nervous breakdown during a field inspection, Doug races back into his hotel room to video record a plea to the corporate head of the company he works for: better treatment for the hogs.
In "Last Man in Puntarenas," Hugo (Ratzlaff) is in a small restaurant celebrating his retirement (actually, he didn't retire, he quit) with five friends (cleverly represented by white balloons tied to the chairs). Here, Hugo recites a cynical, hopeful yet hopeless, self-deprecating retirement speech about his marriage and the hazards of the health care system. One by one, his friends leave (either they grow impatient with his long-winded speech, or he says something offensive and they walk out) and he is left with the restaurant waiter, who takes pity on him and sits down with him for a last drink.
Tanner and Ratzlaff both deliver smashing performances in each of their parts. Th connection of the artist to the roles they play is so strong and personal, it's almost painful to watch them deliver their lines -- like peeking into someone's living room window -- it bedroom chamber. In this sense, TPM has achieved "In The Chamber"'s goal of delivering a very fearlessly personal production.
The Rachel Browne theatre was the perfect venue for the production. The small theatre adds to the intimacy of the pieces.
While the performances were superb and the set, the delivery, the method in which the pieces were delivered were commendable, the subject matter of the monologues, particularly Universe Alpha-11, left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. The injected political agenda in the monologue made me feel a bit trapped -- I came to enjoy a play but instead, I was lectured on and made guilty of my eating preferences. I don't attend PETA meetings for a reason, and this is what it felt like.

Five God-Awful Movies

2010-01-15T16:16:00.009-06:00

Lost Highway

I think nobody ever admits that they hate David Lynch movies for fear that they'd be labelled as an uncultured Philistine. Movies can be experimental and break rules but it has to still be somewhat consumable. The lack of a story line, the poorly composed scenes, the bad dialogue, the promise that never delivers -- Lost Highway is the pinnacle of lazy, self-absorbed artistry.
Waking Life

The movie is about a guy who is caught inside a lucid dream and throughout the dream encounters different people. That description on its own doesn't sound like a bad idea for a movie, but what goes on as he is dreaming is what makes it unbearably annoying. Waking Life is the worst collection of pretentious insights crammed into 100 minutes with Linklater sounding like he just finished a freshman philosophy class taught by Michelle Pfeiffer's character from Dangerous Minds.
Across the Universe

I'd rather sit through Eddie Murphy's entire filmography than watch Across The Universe again. My theory is that the writers took the Beatles 1's album, put it on shuffle and then tried to build as much a cohesive story as they could around it.

If the movie was a straight-up love story, I could have respected it more but the injection of the war agenda was so unnecessary. In fact, why was the Dr. Robert scene necessary? Who decides to call their mother in the middle of a riot? Prudence was such an insignificant, unnecessary character and was obviously just written in there so they can coax her out of the bathroom with "Dear, Prudence." What the heck was the Mr. Kite scene about? That was so unnecessary. Really, the entire movie was unnecessary -- it should not have been made.
Yeopgijeogin geunyeo (aka "My Sassy Girl")

I'm referring to the original Korean version of the movie as opposed to the version with Elisha Cuthbert in it (though that one is equally as bad). Maybe this is not a fair reason to dislike a movie, but the reason I list this here is because it was severely hyped in Manila but failed to compel me in the least. Everybody and their pet fish loved My Sassy Girl -- it was the best love story of all time, it was epic, it was mind-blowing, best movie ever made. What? It's a goofy rom-com about two socially maladjusted masochists! I have a really mean theory, though, that Haruki Murakami fans would love this movie. :P
Batman and Robin

The Terminator fan in me wants to argue that the mere presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger on this film make it an instant winner, but the bad acting performances, the mis-casted roles, the lack of any real plot, the inconsistencies and so on, make Batman and Robin, one of the worse movies ever in my book.

Five Good, Bad, Bizarre Publicity Stunts

2010-01-11T02:04:00.022-06:00

The Accidental Publicity Stunt: Mooninites Invade Boston

Do you remember this one? Two years ago, in the morning of January 31, 2007, the Boston Police Department bomb squad received a phone call from the Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority to identify a device found on Interstate 93. Soon after "diffusing" the device, calls of a similar nature were received from all the city, including the Longfellow and Boston University bridges which were closed down as a precaution.

The "bombs" were later identified as harmless magnetic lights that were part of an outdoor marketing campaign for Cartoon Network's show Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Turner Broadcasting Company (TBS) had to pay 2 million in damages and was repeatedly criticized for its irresponsible campaign. News outlets and and the State of Massachusetts referred to the event as a "hoax" despite TBS's argument that they did not intend the ad campaign to rouse panic or suspicion.

The moral of the story? Watch more cartoons! If Bostonians were more diligent with watching late night cartoons, they would have easily identified the Mooninite icon in the light fixture!
Gail Porter at the Houses of Parliament

Let's hear about this from an eye witness, shall we? Here's my friend Steven, from London reporting on the 1999 incident:

Steven: Here's a girl-next-door type from Edinburgh, Gail Porter. She's a TV presenter, married a bass player in a rubbish little pop band:

Steven: Here is the British Houses of Parliament - with Big Ben as the clock tower:

Steven: Here it is at night:

Steven: When Gail Porter does a photo shoot for FHM, this is what happens when you put them all together:

Glenda: Hahaha! Girl-next-door, indeed! So what happened?

Steven: The security guards claim not to have known! Yeah right, dudes! If that was the White House, the projectors would have been cruise missiled.

Glenda: Did a lot of people see it?

Steven: It was a rainy Sunday. Not a lot of people saw it, but it was all over the papers and the telly. They estimate about 40 million people saw it then.
Herostratus: The Attention-Seeking Pyromaniac

Probably one of the earliest recorded publicity stunt was orchestrated by a young man named Herostratus. In 365 BC, for the sole purpose of fame and publicity, Herostratus burned down one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world -- the majestic and beautiful Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

He proudly declared his arson and his reason for it and was executed by the Ephesean authorities.

Crazypants!

Source: The Best, Worst and Most Unusual Noteworthy: Achievements, events, feats and blunders of every conceivable kind by Bruce Felton and Mark Fowler
T-t-t-twenty-four Hour Pigeon Manglers

I think somebody got a little bit carried away with trying to prove that punk's not dead. In 2001, the cast of the movie 24 Hour Party People were kicked out of a Cannes beach after attacking each other with... uhh... dead pigeons. (Hang on, there's an explanation for it, just wait...)

The movie is about the Manchester music scene in the late '80s and apparently, the stunt was inspired by an event in the life of Shaun Ryder, one of the movie's characters. Ryder allegedly poisoned 3,000 pigeons in Manchester with crack cocaine. (Doesn't really help tone down the weirdness though, does it? I'm not done...)

The stunt was performed in May 15, 2001 to promote a movie that wasn't due for release until February 2002!

Uhh... what? I'm just shaking my head at this one. I can't really decide whether it's inspired or stupid or hilarious or offensive.

Read more here. Careful, pictures of dead birds abound.
Tennis at Such Great Heights

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Roger Federer, tennis, Andre Agassi, again, and again, but I make no apologies! I tried to shove this one under the carpet but how can anyone ignore this:

Those, readers, are my two favorite tennis super stars battling it out on top of one of the most celebrated architectural wonders of the modern world -- the lavish, the luxurious Burj Al Arab in Dubai, UAE.

The event was staged to promote the 2005 ATP Dubai Duty Free Men's Open.

Here's another one of Roger, for good luck:

Photo source: BBC News Galleries

Five Household Chores I Absolutely Abhor

2009-12-20T02:46:00.003-06:00

Doing laundry
Vacuuming
Dusting
Anything that involves moving furniture
Doing laundry

Five Highlights from Neil Gaiman's Visit to Winnipeg

2009-12-17T05:28:00.015-06:00

Last Tuesday, I attended Neil Gaiman's reading and book signing at McNally Robinson. Having been to a reading by him years before as a volunteer organizer during his first visit to Manila, I knew it was going to be fantastic. He's quite the performer and is very charming.

While Gaiman might not make my list of five authors anymore, he still holds a place in a very special corner in my heart because he was once the driving force behind the formation of some of my very best friendships.

I remember some seven or eight years ago when the lot of us dressed up as The Endless for Halloween. A bit trite, but I was 18 and I thought I was the raddest thing on earth with my mismatched contact lenses and ripped fishnets. Hah!

In any case, I have never stopped being a fan of Gaiman. He started writing children's books right when I started taking interest in children's books, so I continued growing up with him by my bedside table. (I should confess too, that I have visions of colorful fish swimming at the back of my eyes every time I close them.)

It was wonderful watching and hearing him read again. There was laughter, there were tears, there was chaos, but mostly, there was laughter. Though sometimes I think I may have outgrown The Dreaming, there's always something wonderful that reels me back in. Here are five of them:

Gaiman is introduced and talks about his feelings about "Theatre in the Round."
Gaiman reads from Odd and the Frost Giants.
Gaiman concludes his reading from Odd and the Frost Giants and is given a warm round of applause.
Gaiman talks about his inspiration for the book The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish.
Gaiman talks about his obscure hobby of keeping bees.

Here is Gaiman's blog entry on his Winnipeg visit.

Here is Brietta O'Leary's related entry.

P.S. What!!! I didn't blog for 12 days!? Insanity! I won't let it happen again. I vow at least one entry every week. Next week, I'll be blogging from the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, so stay tuned!

Five Quotes from Steve Vogelsang

2009-12-05T01:23:00.028-06:00

Creative Communications' beloved Journalism instructor, Steve Vogelsang, is one of the most quotable personalities in the program. Here are some of my favorites from the last semester:

"Caps and Spelling will set you free." –Regarding The Canadian Press Caps and Spelling handbook
"I never got that. I don't understand why they wouldn't want to present themselves well and make a good impression on the 75 young people who will soon be running this city." –Regarding council members who snub CreComm students on City Council day
"Well, it's been an hour and I still haven't mentioned that I used to be on TV..." –Steve Vogelsang, The "Reluctant" Celebrity
"Do not rely on a script. It will give you expectations based on false pretenses. It will promise to call, but it will never call." –Advice for the 'Live Hit Derby' CreComm tradition
"The short answer to that is: Don't be a sauce donkey." –When asked whether or not drinking alcohol during the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Game assignment was appropriate

BONUS:

This was a note I got from Steve for one of the Remembrance Day articles that I wrote:

Text reads: "Glenda: Clearly written, but with not much emotion.
Getting quote in higher might help. -SV"

Coming from a guy who often jokes about having "a heart the size of a shriveled-up raisin," this makes me the Ice Queen! Hehe...

Five Reasons the RRCSA Should Fund an Online Version of the Projector

2009-12-04T17:45:00.015-06:00

For a Public Relations assignment, we were asked to conduct research regarding the benefits of having the Red River College Students' Association (RRCSA) fund an online version of the Projector, Red River College’s (RRC) official student newspaper.

In today’s online-driven world, rare is the professional news publication that does not have an online counterpart or supplement. The Projector’s lack of an online version, no doubt puts it in a disadvantage not only in terms of readership, but also in terms of providing students hand-on experience on this very prominent avenue of media communications.

I, along with Kiley Dyck, Rachel Hesketh and Alexa Lacroix, conducted a survey of 150 students, ages 17 to 57 from 23 different programs.^* We asked them about the ways in which they get their news, their familiarity with the Projector and the likelihood in which they would read an online version of the school publication. In the interest of a possible income-generating publication, we also asked them how often they view ads in print and online.

We also interviewed Aaron Epp, Managing Editor of The Uniter, the official student newspaper of the University of Winnipeg regarding his experience with The Uniter’s online version.

As well, we interviewed Kevin Doole, Editor-In-Chief of the Manitoban, the official student newspaper of the University of Manitoba regarding his experience with the Manitoban’s website.

I have put together the information that we have collected to present the benefits of funding an online version of the Projector.

Hand-on experience. An online version of the Projector will give the students the opportunity to gain experience running an online newspaper.

RRC already houses an amazing number of talented individuals who could be tapped to help build the website. We could recruit a slew of in-house experts to work on graphic design, web-design, editing, and maintenance. Volunteering for the Projector would be a relevant learning experience and would make a good addition to their portfolio and resume.
More content. The Projector will not be limited to traditional text articles, but will also be able to release video and audio content. The website will expand media avenues and communication surface areas. We can integrate social media like Facebook and Twitter in the website the same way other industry-standard publications use them to encourage audience participation and discussion.
Exposure. In our survey, we asked 150 students from different programs how they got their news. The most frequently mentioned news source (referred to 75 times) were online news sources. In the same survey, we asked how often students read the Projector, and a staggering 36 per cent admitted to never have read it at all. Now, when we asked the same students if they would read the Projector more often if it were available online, a very significant 40.7 per cent of them said, 'yes' and 'more likely,' they would. This is a very good indicator that there is definitely an audience out there that would benefit from an online version of the Projector.

As well, the print version of the Projector is only accessible to students in the Princess and Notre Dame campuses; meanwhile, an online version would be accessible to students in rural satellite campuses, and, really, anyone with an Internet connection.

Aaron Epp from The Uniter said that its website receives approximately 8,000 unique visitors per month, and this has continually been increasing since 2004. This is evidence that there are significant opportunities for a school newspaper to increase its readership online.
Archiving. The website can serve as a database of current and past news stories, articles, and multimedia. The website could be made searchable for the ease and convenience of students.
Instant market feedback. The website would enable students to leave comments and discuss stories online encouraging discussion and online interaction. Comments and statistics that the Projector can track on the website will give instant market feedback on which sections of the paper, as well as which stories are the most popular. This would enable the Projector's staff to produce more stories that are more significant to their readers. Also, the RRCSA could use this information to see which issues concern the students the most and then gear its funding and activities around these concerns. Kevin Doole of the Manitoban says they use Google Analytics, a free service, to analyze their site’s statistics.

* Note: Time and resource constrains have limited our sampling size, but our team has made every effort to ensure that the student population is well-represented by the sample that we surveyed. We considered the population size of each campus and skewed the student distribution towards Notre Dame Campus by surveying 100 students there and surveying 50 students from Princess Campus.

Five Ways to Enhance Your Twitter Experience

2009-11-24T20:45:00.017-06:00

So, you've gone and got yourself a Twitter account. You've picked a spiffy name, you've followed your friends, you've learned to RT and to DM, you've learned to search, and you've answered the highly enigmatic query ~~"What are you doing?"~~ "What's happening?" Now what?

Now, you're ready to take Twitter to another level! There are dozens of ways to use Twitter and there are hundreds of different tools, apps, widgets and scripts to aid you.

Listed below are five of my favorite ways to tweet better, easier and more effectively:

Use your phone or a desktop client.

There are multitudes of ways to post and read tweets and there are so many Twitter clients available out there that only 20% of Twitter users post their tweets via the website.

Enhance your Twitter experience by downloading a client either for your desktop or for your phone! My favorites are TweetDeck and Echofon for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Do you still own an outdated and outclassed BlackBerry? (Hehe.) My very tech-savvy significant other swears by OpenBeak (formerly TwitterBerry).
Integrate Twitter into your other online accounts.

The whole point of Twitter is to expand your avenues of communication and to broaden your conversational surface area. Pull in your already existing online audience and direct them to your Twitter feed!

Embed your Twitter feed into your blog page or use a multi-status updater client, such as Ping.fm, that allows you to update multiple social networks (Facebook, GTalk, Blogger, Wordpress, etc.) all at once.

Find out how to integrate Twitter into your blog here or simply add a gadget:
Add visuals to your otherwise flat tweets by including pictures and videos.

Twitpic lets you upload a photo from your phone or desktop, meanwhile Twiddeo lets you upload a video from your phone or webcam. Both services place a link to the media you uploaded on Twitter and then tracks all your friends' comments.
Find people.

Twitter directories like Twellow and TwitDir help make finding people to follow easier. Users are categorized and you can sort through them either alphabetically or by popularity.
Use Twitter's advanced search features.

Barb Dybwad writes: "There’s an astonishing amount of information to be gleaned from mining the amazing real-time stream of information Twitter provides. Twitter search is an extremely powerful way of turning up some of those answers."

You can go ahead and use plain text to search or, you can search even better with advanced features and search operators. Mashable.com explains how here.

BONUS: I'm going above and beyond my blogging duties here by bringing you an extra item on our usual list of five. Another way to enhance your Twitter experience is to follow me! @glendaplatyus :)

Five TED Talks That Will Blow Your Mind

2009-11-20T17:38:00.027-06:00

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started off as a conference that aimed to bring together innovators from those three areas, but has since expanded to a broader range of topics. They're a nonprofit organization that holds annual conferences in Long Beach and Oxford and they feature some of the world's most brilliant minds.

Here are five of my many, many favorite TED talks:

Hans Rosling: The best stats you've ever seen

TED says: You've never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world."

Coming from what you could call a "developing nation," I found that this talk gave me some sense of justice or satisfaction. I meet so many people who have so many misconceptions of what Southeast Asia is like -- they think it's some kind of impoverished hell zone teaming with Malaria-infested waters or, I dunno, a region of red-light districts populated by women who are dying to marry a foreigner or become a mail-order bride.

During my last visit to Manila, I went on a short tour around the Southeast. I was talking to a co-worker about how much I wished I had time to visit Hanoi, Vietnam and another co-worker overheard this and said: "Vietnam?! Well, if I were going to spend money on a vacation, I wouldn't go to Vietnam! I would go somewhere SAFE." Little does he know that Hanoi is one of the cultural capitals of Asia, is probably more metropolitan than Winnipeg, and maybe 10 times safer than the Exchange District.

Surprisingly, even the most educated people have a lot of misconceptions about the developing world. This video is a must-see for everyone, including the most worldly traveler. Even if you think you're sophisticated or sufficiently well-informed about the third world, you could just watch it for the neat graphs. :)
Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man

TED says: Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value -- and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life.

Rory Sutherland is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group. In this talk, he asserts his "naive advertising man's suggestion" to use advertising as a tool to make people appreciate what already exists instead of spending so much time agonizing about what else new thing they can do. This talk is one of the funniest I've seen on TED.

Oh, and he name-checks the Canadian ad campaign for Post's Diamond Shreddies!
Jacek Utko: Designs to save newspapers

TED says: Jacek Utko is an extraordinary Polish newspaper designer whose redesigns for papers in Eastern Europe not only win awards, but increase circulation by up to 100%. Can good design save the newspaper? It just might.

I can't help but wonder whether or not Margo Goodhand has seen this video already. For those of you who are non-CreComms, Ms. Goodhand is the editor of the Winnipeg Free Press and during her last visit to Red River College, she discussed the conundrum of the survival of print newspaper. This endeavor by Jacek Utko seems to be one that has worked for several Eastern European dailies. Inspired by the Canadian entertainment company, Cirque du Soleil, Utko took the boring design of the newspaper and turned their pages into beautifully designed, multi-awarded daily publications.
Alisa Miller: The news about the news

TED says: Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, talks about why -- though we want to know more about the world than ever -- the US media is actually showing less. Eye-opening stats and graphs.

Alisa Miller begins this talk with a map of the world and then shows us another version of the map were it be painted based on the news that gets covered in American networks (see graphic below). She talks about the staggering lack of world news coverage and how networks shove aside important and relevant events in history to make time for the latest gossip on Britney and Ana Nicole (the talk is from 2008).
Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

TED says: Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.

I always say that if everything in my life would go wrong, split, vamoose, or whatever, I would still want to stick around just to see the inventions -- to see what scientists, engineers could come up with next. I love technology and I always get giddy about the silliest new things (I was drooling all over my keyboard while watching the new Magic Mouse video).

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that when I saw the video below of Pranav Mistry walking around with a small chest projector that shot out light that interacted and interfaced with everyday regular objects and had the ability to convert a regular piece of paper into a touch screen monitor like it was straight out of a sci-fi movie of the future dated 3030, I just about burst into flames.

Five Reasons I Shouldn't Shred My Knuckles on a Cheese Grater

2009-11-08T20:50:00.025-06:00

Wipe that foolish grin off your face, Twitter icon.

I dunno, Rog. I dunno. I really don't know anymore. Ok, let's say it's not really ALL that big a deal in the grand scheme of tennis. It's just Basel. It's not like it's the US OPEN OR ANYTHING. Right? Yeah.

Let's turn a blind eye to the fact that you lost in the arena they're naming after you after they reno it OR the fact that you skipped Tokyo and Shanghai for this homecoming flop. Let's do that!!!

Let's try and be positive about the big fat joke your career is slowly turning into, Rog. Starting with reasons I shouldn't yet again hit the graters. Because, let's be honest, you're growing old and I'm in deni-- NO. You will be young forever!!!

My bright and shining future as an HBO Publicist. I will forget all about this horrible abuse when I'm sipping wine with Adrian Grenier and Jason Schwartzman whilst promoting the next season of Entourage and Bored to Death at The Ed Sullivan Theatre.
Mad Men Season Finale. If Lois' running over someone's foot with a John Deere riding mower hasn't already made this season of Mad Men the best yet, I don't know what will. That said, I am still forever curious as to what will happen next. What would Don Draper Do? He'd probably advice you to pour yourself a drink and light a Lucky, Rog, because clearly you need as much luck as you can get.
Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi. Who isn't going to be in line tomorrow at McNally Rob to buy this? Forget the meth use. I wanna know about the wig, Sampras' horrible tipping habits, and Andre's lack of underoos! Real fans take the bad with the good!
Dinosaur Jr. @ The Pyramid Cabaret. If there's one thing I don't like missing, it's a good show. Plus, J Mascis, after all, is God. They're playing Sonic Youth on the 21st and I'm contemplating writing Lee Ranaldo a love letter and sending it through them. It's probably not a good idea, but it's worth staying alive for.
Spiral Cut Honey Ham. My mother, being the avid home entertainer that she is, always says: "When all else fails, turn to cold cuts."

After all's been said and done, I do remain, so very truly yours, Roger. Truly. Truly. Truly.

Hey, Unyime! Moron much?

Real fans take the bad with the good.

Five Hot Female Indie Musicians

2009-11-06T18:00:00.045-06:00

Quick disclaimer before we get to this week's post. This list aims to celebrate the beauty and talent of these women and in no way means to sexually objectify or degrade them.

Mia Matsumiya (Kayo Dot)
This half-Japanese, half-American violinist of avant garde group Kayo Dot is a multi-faceted cutie whose interests range from nanotechnology, robotics, cryptozoology, foreign languages, and fine art.
Ruth Radelet (Chromatics)
Ruth Radelet is a 2009 reincarnation of Jane Birkin. She's got the vibe of a French yé-yé girl and a velvety smooth voice that you almost want to inhale through your nostrils.
Sharin Foo (The Raveonettes)
It's the second time Sharin has made an appearance in my 'hot' list. The first time was on a list I drafted two years ago, but she's here now because I believe that she's still one of the most gorgeous women musicians out there and, since The Raves released an album this year, she remains ever so relevant.
Anna-Catherine Hartley aka Uffie
Uffie makes an appearance here due to popular demand. Personally, she's a bit too racy for my snotty sensibilities, but she's hot, so I have to cowboy up and steel myself against the prospect of my young male readers taking the initiative to conduct further research and see what other pictures of her are out there. Google with care, my lovelies.
Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors)
Deradoorian (the surname's Armenian, btw, in case you were wondering) is an acquired taste. I got mixed reviews when I was asking my friends whether or not to include her. I think her low-maintenance, understated looks and girl-next-door vibe is exactly what earns her a spot in the list -- not to mention she's got an amazing set of pipes. In fact, if you doubt her worthiness in this list, I urge you to watch the video below.

All image copyrights belong to either the artists or the photographers. If you're a copyright holder and you wish for me to take down your photograph, email me at glenda [at] noiseorspeech.com.

Five Tips For Beginner Bloggers

2009-10-27T11:52:00.021-05:00

So you've decided to jump in the blogging bandwagon. You know what it is, you have a basic idea of how it works and you know you want in. Here are some quick tips that might help.

Choose a blog host that works for you.

According to Susan Gunelius of About.com, a blog host is the company that provides the space on their servers and equipment to store your blog.

There are hundreds of blog hosts that you can use to anchor your blog to, and picking "The One" might get a bit overwhelming.

If your primary reason to start a blog is to network and keep track of your friends, the obvious choice is to go along with whatever blog host they're are using. Chances are there are built-in features that can help you keep track of each other easier.

That said, there are a myriad of services out there that can help you keep track of your friends even if you're not in the same blog host. Services like Google Reader and other blog aggregators are free and easy to use.

Visit Mashable for a list of free popular blog hosts and browse through each to see which is the best fit for your blogging needs. And don't worry, you're not married to the first host that you choose, most services offer a feature that helps you migrate your blog if you ever find the one you're using wanting.
Find a theme.

While it's perfectly fine to just write about whatever you feel like writing at a given moment, or just type down interesting bits of your day-to-day life, it's always better to give your blog a semblance of cohesiveness.

Themes could be based on a topic (e.g. politics, biking, knitting), it could be based on a format (e.g. a list of five, a pro/con or rant/rave), or a combination of both. There's no hard rule that you can't divert from this theme, afterall, it's your blog, but it's a good idea to give your readers something to expect.

Don't feel limited. There are so many ways you could spin a theme to suit a particular topic you want to write about.
Find other bloggers and link yourself.

While some people might argue that they only "write for themselves," most people blog because they want other people to read what they write.

Find other bloggers and get yourself linked. A good place to start is blogs of friends, relatives (hi, mom!), or co-workers. If you don't have an already existing network in the blogging world, or if you're opting for a more anonymous personna, find other bloggers that write about the same things that you do. Finding common interest is a good way to make friends in real life and it applies just as well with making online connections. You can also tap blog directories or social media directories like Digg and Stumbleupon.
Comment and be commented on.

Now that you've found yourself an internet posse, don't keep to yourself or be a lurker. Participate! Sometimes the best part of a blog entry are the comments. Read comments, write comments, and while it's not good blog etiquette to indiscriminately promote your blog on comments, it's not a bad idea to promote an entry on your blog if its closely related to the post.

One thing to remember though -- while being a prolific commenter is good, do make your comments relevant and read-worthy.
Blog about something you know.

You know how it's annoying when people talk about things they don't really know anything about? It's exactly the same thing with blogs.

Blog posts will be more interesting and enjoyable to read when the writer knows what he or she is writing about. It's also easier to write about a topic that you're already familiar with.

Always check your facts. Better yet, apply the tried and tested rule of 'when in doubt, dont.'

Graphics by Randall Munroe. I love XKCD. Boom de yadda, boom de yadda, boom de yadda, boom de yadda...

Five Questions I Would Ask Salman Rushdie

2009-10-22T19:10:00.006-05:00

I'm at The Agency waiting for Ev to pick me up. We're going to the Pantages Playhouse to see Salman Rushdie speak, and being that I list "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" as my most favoritestest book of all time to infinityx1000, I'm quite psyched, pumped, amped, revved, hyped, stoked, and whatever the kids call excited these days.

If the opportunity presents itself, here are the five questions I would ask Salman Rushdie:

You must miss home. How do you cope with homesickness?
You were in advertising working for Ogilvy and Mather and Ayer Barker before becoming a full-time author. Can you tell us about the first advertisement you worked on?
You're a notorious modelizer. Obviously a lot of these women are not in the same intellectual bracket as yourself, so by process of elimination, if it's not brains that you're attracted to, it must be their looks. For you, is that enough for the most part? Do you believe in finding a holistic fulfillment in your relationships or do you find fullfillment elsewhere?
They say writers take from life and I know that a lot of what is in "The Ground Beneath Your Feet" were taken from feelings you had from being exiled from your home, but I'd like to know: Who is Vina Apsara is based from? Is she somebody you created from real life?
What are your top 5 favorite books?

Five Questions a Pandemic Plan Attempts to Answer (Buyer Beware Project)

2009-10-13T23:00:00.009-05:00

Sickness is a reality and you should be concerned. There have been 892 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus in Manitoba, according to the Public Health Division.

With almost 87,000 post-secondary students comprising Manitoba’s population, it’s surprising that there are rarely any reports regarding the management of H1N1 in post-secondary institutions.

For our Buyer Beware project, my group and I set out to close that gap.

We examined the H1N1 pandemic policies of the five major post-secondary institutions in Manitoba, namely, the University of Manitoba (U of M), The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg), Red River College (RRC), Brandon University (BU), and Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface (CUSB).

We found out that most of the institutions had a lot of common goals, and that is to answer five questions that may arise in the case of a pandemic. Here is the break down:

What are we dealing with?

The first step to preparedness is to find out what you’re up against. A clear definition of the H1N1 influenza should include its symptoms, preventative measures, and how to manage the virus.

All of the five institutions had, at the very least, a basic background on H1N1.
What’s going to happen?

In order to prepare for a pandemic, it is important to anticipate how it could affect those who are involved. Employees and students should know what to expect.

Only U of M, UWinnipeg and RRC have information about the impact of employee and student absenteeism. Out of the five, only U of M and RRC touch on the possibility of a supply shortage and the possibility of facility closures. U of M is the only institution that mentions it is anticipating financial setbacks.
Who is doing what?

A clear outline of the roles and responsibilities of people involved will help manage an H1N1 pandemic. For any plan to succeed, it’s important that everyone is informed of his or her responsibilities and has a sense of accountability.

All of the institutions, except for BU, have information available on the roles and responsibilities of students. The U of M, UWinnipeg and RRC mention the roles and responsibilities of employees. Only U of M and RRC talk about the existence of a Pandemic Planning Committee and an Emergency Operations Centre. Lastly, only U of M details the roles and responsibilities of its president, vice-chancellor, deans, directors and department heads.
What are we going to do?

Problems will arise. Information about how to deal with a specific problem will be helpful in the event of a pandemic.

All institutions, except BU, have guidelines available for students on how to cope with missed schoolwork due to closures and absences. Most institutions, except U of M and BU, acknowledge the special needs of international students who might want to travel and might not have health care insurance. In terms of communicating and staying in touch, the U of M, RRC and CUSB, have specified guidelines. Only U of M and RRC mention guidelines on how to manage human resources, facilities, and information technology infrastructures. Only U of M provides information about what should be done for students living in dorms and housing facilities. The U of M is the only one that talks about making provisions for public safety, financial services, food services and issues on legalities.
How do we move past this?

Wrapping-up, cleaning-up and touching-up after a crisis are needed for an institution to get back on its feet.

The U of M and RRC have information available in their plans for recovery in case of a pandemic. Both focus on making psychological support available to students and staff. As well, both mention the possibility of needing to replace staff lost to illness. The U of M even mentions a plan in place for writing up post-pandemic reports.

To wrap up our report, our group also consulted two public relations experts on what makes a good pandemic plan.

What we found out was intriguing because our experts made us realize that what we were seeing was only the tip of the iceberg. That most likely, a larger crisis plan is in place and is being kept confidential. Why? Well click the play button on the video below and hear it from the experts themselves.

A crisis communication plan is released in small portions. Public relations expert Therese Mickelson says, "An operational plan should be really detailed and to a large degree, confidential because if it’s in the wrong hands it could cause more fear mongering."

Melanie Lee Lockhart, president of Lockstep Communications, says, “If people know what could potentially be coming down the pike, it can change their behavior. They can conduct themselves in a different way than they might if they didn't have that information. As an institution you want people to continue behaving as normally as possible until it’s time not to be behaving normally.”

So there you have it, kids. You want the truth? Well, you can't handle the truth. What do you do instead? Here's a few that we recommend:

Students and staff should continue with their daily activities as normal.
Students and staff should stay up-to-date with the stages of progress regarding H1N1 in their institution.
Students are encouraged to visit their school’s website and ask questions if they have any concerns.
Students and staff should practice the preventative measures given to them.
Crisis team members and instructors should reassure their students that there is a larger crisis plan in place.

Five Indicators That You've Sold Your Soul to CreComm

2009-10-12T03:41:00.014-05:00

The fine line between a healthy diligence to correct spelling, and neurotic obsession isn't fine at all -- it's actually very wide, as wide as the Grand Canyon. You know you've sold your soul to CreComm when you obsess about whether or not the "la" in Portage la Prairie should in uppercase, you have imbibed the role of Linus and your Caps and Spelling book has taken on the role of blue blanket, and you sometimes have the urge to rock yourself in a corner while chanting "i before e, except after c..."
It's a good habit to be early for classes and appointments, but you know you've sold your soul to CreComm when you wake up several times a night to check if you've set your alarm, you often find yourself sitting in the dark, covered with cold sweat, after a nightmare about sleeping in, and you contemplate running a red light at least once a week to make sure your professionalism mark remains as pristine and untouched as a virgin forest.
You know you've sold your soul to CreComm when, in class, you find it perfectly normal to sit beside someone whose face is painted with tiger stripes, or worse, you're the person whose face is painted with tiger stripes.
You know you've sold your soul to CreComm when, instead of paying attention to the movie you and your beau (who by the way, you haven't seen in two weeks) agreed on, you are drafting a three-page to-do list in your head.
You know you've sold your soul to CreComm when you have the constant urge to ask every other pedestrian and hokey bum the question: "Has anything interesting happen to you today?"

Five Breakout Acts of 2009

2009-10-05T17:29:00.021-05:00

As a disclaimer, I want to say that these bands are not to be considered the five bands I would name the best five of 2009, but rather the best five who have broken-out or debuted into the music scene with the flair and panache of a benevolent conquistador out to stake his claim on the ears of those who seek good music.

They used to be so-so, now, they're huge (relatively, anyway).

Grizzly Bear - Grizzly Bear is a Brooklyn-based indie/experimental band that debuted in 2004. The band has been well-received in the independent underground rock scene since their formation, but only broke through to the mainstream music scene this year after touring with Radiohead in 2008. Their 2009 album Veckatimest peaked the US charts at 8th place. The following is a song called "Two Weeks."
Phoenix - Phoenix is a French alternative band that formed in 2000 but never really caught a break until this year with their fourth studio album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The album gained a lot of critical acclaim and peaked in the US charts at #37 and the Canadian charts at #19. Below is their album's most popular single "1901."
The XX - The XX are an English indie rock band under the label Young Turks Records. They have received unanimously critical acclaim for their self-titled debut album which so far has peaked in the UK charts at #36. The track below is called "Crystalised."
Dirty Projectors - Another band hailing from Brooklyn is the experimental band, Dirty Projectors. They are comprised of six members, four of which are active vocalists. The Dirty Projectors make use of a lot of harmonizing and are quite amazing to watch live. Below is a track called "Stillness is the Move" from the 2009 album Bitte Orca.
Japandroids - Finally, I get around to some local talent. Japandroids is Brian King and David Prowse from Vancouver, BC. Similar to some of the bands mentioned above, their 2009 debut album was unanimously praised by critics and music bloggers. They play a mean live show as well, compensating for their two-man act with three amplifiers and an energy that could power a small city. They proclaimed the show they played here in Winnipeg as one of the best shows they've played so far in their 2009 tour and I have even heard from a friend in New York City that they've been talking up the Peg City show over there (unusual considering Winnipeg is famous for its generally unresponsive audiences)! How do we know they're huge? Well, they went from playing dive bars in East Van to playing the Pitchfork Music Festival in July this year. Below is the flagship song to 2009's Post-Nothing called "Young Hearts Spark Fire."

Five Quotes from Mad Men

2009-09-20T21:29:00.010-05:00

I've just finished watching the first season of Mad Men on DVD last week and started the second season tonight. Here are some of my favorite quotes. Nothing too groundbreaking, but I love how ultimately, they're all so dismal and pessimistic. Must be all the cigarette and alcohol.

Peggy Olson: Sex sells.
Don Draper: Says who? Just so you know, the people who talk that way think that monkeys can do this. They take all this monkey crap and just stick it in a briefcase completely unaware that their success depends on something more than their shoeshine. YOU are the product. You, feeling something -- that's what sells. Not them. Not sex. They can't do what we do, and they hate us for it.

Don Draper: The reason you haven't felt it is because it doesn't exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons. You're born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I'm living like there's no tomorrow, because there isn't one.

Roger Sterling: You know what my father used to say? Being with a client is like being in a marriage. Sometimes you get into it for the wrong reasons, and eventually, they hit you in the face.

Joan Holloway: I said congratulations, didn't I? Although, sometimes when people get what they want, they realize how limited their goals were.

Pete Campbell: Adding money and education doesn't take the rude edge out of people.

Five Pet Peeves Inherited from My Mother

2009-09-18T07:11:00.006-05:00

80's Hair

Sleeping under the wrong side of the comforter. A comforter has north, east, south, west sides, topsides and undersides.
People sitting on cushions. Or anything else on the couch for that matter, e.g. a decorative shawl or decorative stuffed toy.
Wrinkled curtains.
Toothpaste in the sink.
Wearing socks on hardwood floors. Under the you're-gonna-slip-and-break-your-neck premise.

Five Things I Have Done to Try to Get Over the 2009 US Open Finals

2009-09-15T23:55:00.006-05:00

No, I'm not over it yet and don't you bloody rush me.

I'm mourning. There are some hours of the day when I think I have healed and am ready to move on with my life, then it hits me again.

Ouch.

This is much like whipping a ball against a wall, you know? And I'm the wall.

Ouch.

Here's the list:

Yeah, Rog, we get it. You're number 2. FML.

Drink a hefty amount of pink drinks. I particularly favor mixing Schweppes Cranberry Ginger Ale with a shot (or two) of Skyy Berry Vodka. There's something about pink drinks that make me feel more like a winner and less like a slovenly drunk -- like it being sweet and pink makes the fact that I've turned to alcohol for consolation less disgusting. It's all about packaging, baby.
Distract myself with David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. I've been tenaciously whittling away at this book for off-and-on 3 months now. I've restarted this book about 3 times, and I still can't tell you what the hell it's about except that it involves a lot of tennis and suicide via microwaving one's head. Perfect!

ETA: Incidentally, DFW was a big Federer fan. Here's a piece that he wrote a few years ago for The New York Times: Roger Federer as Religious Experience.
Re-live the worst. There's nothing like remembering the worst times to put things in perspective. What is the worst? The 2009 Australian Open awards ceremony, of course! Roger was so beside himself with emotion and grief that he could not even begin his runner-up speech. I cried my knickers off when he started weeping. Usually, when he loses I just go to the kitchen and rub my knuckles against a cheese grater, but during the 2009 Australian Open, it was different. That time, I was contemplating a drive to Home Depot and an electric saw.
Read All I Need Is A Picket Fence's post: USO Shithouse: Wake me up when September ends. This blogger found my letters and read each one out loud. She is strumming my pain with her fingers and singing my life with her words. I could not have put it better myself. I especially relate to the part where she addresses the cookie tray.
Make a mix.

"Roger Federer Broke My Heart to a Bazillion Pieces and Fed It to a 20-Year-Old Argentinian:
A 5-Step Recovery Program Mix"

Part 1: Denial
- "Wishful Thinking" - Wilco
- "My Favourite Game" - The Cardigans
Part 2: Anger
- "I Bleed" - Pixies
- "One Too Many Blows to the Head" - The Dismemberment Plan
Part 3: Self-Reflection
- "Last Crawl" - The Posies
- "Any Major Dude will Tell You" - Steely Dan
Part 4: Acceptance
- "It's Too Late" - Carole King
- "Middle Distance Runner" - Sea Wolf
- "Harder Now that It's Over" - Ryan Adams
- "Spinning Around" - Kylie Minogue
Part 5: Indifference
- "Oh Well, Ok" - Elliott Smith
- "You Beautiful Bastard" - The Sea and Cake

Five Hottest ATP Players

2009-09-11T17:10:00.002-05:00

Let it go on record that I think that the hottest athletes are tennis players.

Their long, lean frames, the preppy regalia, the white shorts hiked-up on thighs while in waiting stance, the shirt changes in between sets – kills me every time.

In honor of the last Grand Slam weekend of the 2009 tennis season, I think we owe it to ourselves to take a long, hard look at some of these wonderful specimens of nature and let their images linger in our minds while we wait in cold misery for the beginning of another season.

Under the premise that a truly "hot" athlete must not only look good, but also play well, I've limited this list to players who are within the one to 50 rank. Also, for the sake of relevance, only active players are listed (otherwise, Patrick Rafter would be all over this thing).

5. Simone Bolelli - Country: Italy, Age: 23, Height: 6'1", Sign: Libra

Simone is adorable even when cameras catch him making one of those mid-strike grunty faces. His boyish looks come from the fact that he is, quite literally, still a boy.

4. James Blake - Country: United States, Age: 29, Height: 6'1", Sign: Capricorn

James is a Harvard-educated New Yorker with pretty eyes and a smile to die for.

3. Marat Safin - Country: Russia, Age: 29, Height: 6'4", Sign: Aquarius

The very explosive and hot-tempered Marat Safin is Ethan Hawke if Ethan Hawke were less of a sissy art nerd and more of a jock troublemaker. Personally, Marat would rank higher on this list if he didn't date such tacky-looking women.

2. Dmitry Tursunov - Country: Russia, Age: 26, Height: 6'1", Sign: Sagittarius

Dmitry reminds me of a mischievous Paul Bettany. Plus, who doesn't love a guy who knows how to poke fun at himself?

1. Roger Federer - Country: Switzerland, Age: 27, Height: 6'1", Sign: Leo

There is no going wrong with this choice. Strong and silent, coupled with amazing skills and regal manners – Roger is indisputable.