'A Lovely Feeling': Celebrating Older Women With Fabulous Style

The fashion industry is sometimes criticized for unrealistic portrayals of young women. But if you're a woman older than 60, there are almost no portrayals, realistic or otherwise. Fashion may be something you have to invent more than follow.

A blog called Advanced Style focuses on women who've done just that. The blogger bringing their images to the world is 31-year-old Ari Seth Cohen. His idea of heaven is to wait in the freezing cold on a street corner in the middle of Manhattan hoping a fabulous-looking older woman passes by.

When he spots one, he rushes up to her, explains his project, asks for a photo and just generally tries to convince her he's not a weirdo. He's rarely turned down.

Cohen says the most influential people in his life were his grandmothers. He loved watching old movies with them and looking through their scrapbooks. And as a little kid, he became fascinated with the way women dressed in the 1930s, '40s and '50s. "I used to draw pictures of fancy older ladies as a kid," Cohen says.

He collected the drawings in a book, he says, and called it something like "Fantastic Ladies with Amazing Style." Blogger Ari Seth Cohen with Ilona Royce Smithkin, 93, one of his most famous subjects.

He didn't have anything in particular in mind when he moved there, though. "I didn't set out to be a photographer or a writer," he says. "I just wanted to do something that I felt inspired by and start sharing it with people."

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/01/174767233/-a-lovely-feeling-celebrating-older-women-with-fabulous-style

Nikon at CES - you should have been there!

Nikon has a new camera body. Super light. Here’s the West Coast Sales Manager that I met at CES. He demonstrated the unique super light camera body. The cost was about $2,100. At Costco it is still $2,100 but you get a bunch of free extras.

Actual Customer Review:

The D3X produces film quality. The image size is mind boggling and the ease of operation is so simple. I can operate the D3X easier than a P&S camera. Along with the use on Nikon Capture NX2 to process the RAW NEF captures is unbeatable. The D3X is as close to using a view camera as I have ever experienced. If were to compare the D3X to an automobile it would have to be compares to a 12 cylinder Mercedes Benz with all of the features in that high end model.

Networking and Robot Chicken

Seth Green, Matthew Senreich and Breckin Meyer will set off on a historic voyage across the country with the Robot Chicken on Wheels '09 Tour as part of the Adult Swim Presents series. In each of these nine cities, the boys will promote the DVD release of Emmy-nominated Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II by invading a roller skating rink and spreading the madness that is Robot Chicken.

Tour Dates

Day Date Place City Special Guests Web Posts
Sunday August 2, 2009 Rancho Crystal Palace Skating Center Las Vegas, NV

All shows will open the doors at 8PM and admission is free. Fans who have purchased the Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II DVD will be able to get in an hour earlier with an early entry voucher found in the DVD box.

There will be games and competitions, plenty of skating and a performance by the band Gym Class Heroes. There will also be special appearances by RC writers, producers, voice cast members, as well as guest bands. Celebrities appearing in the below videos could be

CineVegas is over and I had a great time.

CineVegas is over and I had a great time.

It was a bit shortened this year, and this made it more difficult to both volunteer and participate in the festival. I did work the box-office for the third time in my ten years of working the festival. It seemed the lines were longer at the box-office, but the loading of the theaters went smoother.

I made a point to see the picture that Trevor Groth was hot on at his presentation at the Coffee Bean a few weeks ago. I have to say that it was the best hamster mover I had ever seen. The basic plot was after a young finds out that his best and only friend, a dwarf hamster named Etienne, has terminal cancer, he decides to take his pocket pet on a bicycle road trip to show him the world before he has to put him to sleep. It was a terrific student film, but hardly a major motion picture as the credits suggest.

I spoke to the director, Jeff Mizushima, in the CineVegas headquarters. He ended up winning the Filmmaker to Watch Award for his film. I complemented him on getting the film made – this is a tough thing for young filmmakers – and asked him about his plans. Chris Gore joined us. He is a writer, filmmaker, speaker, television host and commentator who has built a solid reputation as an outspoken voice in the independent film world. His original site is http://www.filmthreat.com/. Check his (outdated) personal website http://www.chrisgore.com/. I have heard him speak at the http://www.filmfestivalsummit.com/ a couple years ago.

We discussed why young filmmakers are at a loss as to using their project to make money. It is a challenge to just get the film made. Actually using it to make money is a very difficult concept. Since he did not have distribution for his film, I suggested building a marketing program. He might start with a youtube.com video. He should build videos as DVD extras. He had an original song in the film performed by a local band. They were performers at a party at the festival. I suggested that he reedit the footage into a music video and use it to get a lot of hits. He could also reedit the scene of bike crash into the car with the unused footage about the bike into a tree that he discussed in Q&A after the film. This would be a kind of outtakes reel. He nodded. I later checked that indeed he had posted a video to youtube.com almost a year ago. It was dull. At the time it had about 1000 hits. Check it out if you want, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ZH7YaHbGo He needs to work harder to get some buzz to pre-sell his film. The student videos (of varying quality) on THIS blog have gotten over two million hits. Getting noticed is possible. Making money is OK. You can use it to do more of the things you like to do… like make movies.

Oakley Sunglasses at Night Art Tour

Oakley Sunglasses at Night Art Tour joined AILV on May 21 at night in front of the school. In addition to a full Oakley gallery exhibit, beats being played by Oakley's resident DJ, and free food and drink, the event featured 40 pairs of Oakley sunglasses designed by students wanting to make their mark on the Oakley brand.

A week prior to the event, participating students at the Institute were given white Oakley Hijinx and very few guidelines. Leaving no material left behind, the students showcased their artistic talents on an Oakley eyewear canvas.

Residing Judge Andrew Petterson, who last year designed 50 handcrafted Oakley Frogskins, held court over the festivities. He is a freelance artist with an Oakley connection. Though a bright and Red Bull (and something else) fueled conversation, he revealed that he had been raised in Boise, Idaho and moved to the West Coast at age 19. He makes his living in the automotive industry as a custom paint designer. He freely admits that he has no creative control over his day job, so he uses his Oakley connection to express himself. Living in Huntington Beach, he is connected into that snowboard, skateboard young guy lifestyle that inspires the Oakley brand. Although unschooled, he was inspired by both his parents who were artists and educators. Though laidback, at 28 years old, he admits to an intense commitment to his creative energies. “I live this,” he says, “but I love what I do.” Induced to share his body art, he says he worked in collaboration with the tattoo artist to blend his original designs with the artistic ability of the other artist. They hooked up though a chance meeting with a mutual friend who had a tattoo that Andrew admired. The tattoo artist needed a paint job to restore his car and Andres wanted a chest to knee tattoo and a deal was stuck. Visiting his third Art Institute, he admitted that for the first time that he was a little intimidated by the talent of the students at our school. The quality of the students work, both in the sunglass project and student work on display, impressed him.

Rett, the marketing manger from Oakley was equally excited about the school. He revealed that he like to continue our relationship. He suggested that he might be a good addition to our marketing classes. The target market for Oakley products is exactly the market that is hardest for current marketers to reach.

Try these site for more information and pictures!
http://oakley.com/community/posts/1377
http://www.944.com/nightsites/gallery/oakley-at-lv-art-institute/

GarageBand on the Mac's

GarageBand puts a music studio on your computer, where the band is never late and always plays in tune. Since it is on a Mac, you already know how it works... kind of. It is pretty easy to play with, but you have simply got to have some talent to make real music. Some of our students do! The school has higher end and more comprehensive software, but for some students, this is all they will need. GB is part of iLife and is standard on all new Mac's.

With GarageBand, you can record, arrange, and mix your music, and then share it with the world. GarageBand includes a complete recording studio, a set of pro-quality instruments and effects, and a large library of prerecorded sounds you can use in your projects. Whether you’re an experienced musician or you’ve never made music before, you can create your own songs, podcasts, and ringtones using GarageBand.

We have GB08 on the AILV Mac's. Since Apple has released a new version, if you want some Video Tutorials on GB08, click:
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/music/garageband08.html

Four great projects in Fall 2008

In project management, we did four projects with between four and five people in each group. I asked the class as part of the final exam to choose who did the best job as related to the course objectives. Usually it is pretty clear who is best and who comes in last. This quarter, it was pretty tight. All the projects were great – certainly a first – and three had very good presentations. One was a great project where the presentation fell short of showing all the work that had been done.

Here is how the classes rated the projects:

Seven for http://hammerstruckco.blogspot.com/

Four for http://anunknownproduction.hunterunknown.com/

And two each for http://celebratingactionsports.blogspot.com/ and http://lakatcafe.blogspot.com/

Check out the projects and judge for yourself!

One+One =Four

If you have an apple and I have an apple, and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea, and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.

- George Bernard Shaw

http://www.sparkyawards.org/index.shtml

The Winner will receive a check for $1000 plus a fabulous “Sparky Award” statuette.

http://blip.tv/file/488550

Last years winner!

Indecent Completion: playing hardball with the big boys

Its midterm and the quarter is going fast. Some of the student videos are really well done. Many of the student videos are doing quite well, but they did not get the hits I was expecting. I guess that the election just reached a saturation point where it was difficult for a student video to break though the commercially made and new worthy stuff that has flooded the internet. We had much better luck with our parodies of the super bowl style commercials in January because people seek those out. With a constant flood of political media, funny student videos just seemed to be lot harder to promote. I guess it is also difficult to compete with Comedy Central (http://www.comedycentral.com/), Bill Maher (http://www.billmaher.com/) and the late night pundits (http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/), too.

Let the Games Begin!

2008 Insomnia Film Festival

2008 Insomnia Film Festival

Turn 24 hours into a 3-minute masterpiece.

Festival Calendar

10/22 at 9:00 a.m. eastern standard time (EST) - Team Registration Opens
11/13 at 12:00 a.m. EST - Team Registration Closes
11/15 at 9:00 a.m. EST - Festival Begins
11/16 at 9:00 a.m. EST - Festival Ends
11/21 at 9:00 p.m. EST - Public Voting Begins
12/7 at 12:00 p.m. EST - Public Voting Ends
12/8 - 12/16 - Celebrity Judge Voting
12/19 at 9:00 a.m. EST - Winners are Announced

Once your movie's up, you'll need to get everyone you know—and then some—to watch and rate it online. If your movie makes the top 25, you can host a showing at the Apple Retail Store. Your adoring fans can download it from the iTunes Store. And it'll be screened by some big-time industry players: John August, Doug Ellin, Jody Hill, Masi Oka, Jason Bateman, Paul Haggis, Greg Mattola, Barry Sonnenfeld.

Obama Freaks

Fifteen seconds of political silliness. One week BOC.

Comedy Central

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=188638

McCain has been pushed back and forced to Campaign in October in states that should have been locked up long ago, here is a preview.
Category: Comedy
Tags:
Bill Maher Real Time Red State

Trombone Player Wanted - Authentic

http://www.marcusbuckingham.com/home.phpw.marcusbuckingham.com/home.php
Developing curriculum for teaching professionals can be a challenge. The senior faculty organized and created a faculty development committee. They volunteered to take over what is called Admin Week. With direction from the Dean of Education, the committee was charged with implementing a new technological leap for the school. This is tracked and part of the requirements for employment at the school. This workshop was to give 12 hours of specific training to migrate the faculty to this new product. The faculty development committee built the two-day workshop around the teachings of Marcus Buckingham. A provocative title was chosen for the conference: “Playing to Your Strengths as an Educator”. The faculty wanted to extend the workshop to allow more conversation and interaction. This was certainly a change for some previous Admin Weeks that people could not wait to end – or tried to slip out early. Engaging people whose job it is to engage people is a special challenge. By offering a variety of experiences, lots of interacting and teambuilding and an involving use of technology, the conference seemed to be a success.

Michael Brodkorb - Blogger of the Year

Sepember 4, 2008: Thanks to some rather generous grants and sponsorships, we’re now able to open the 2008 Conservative Leadership Conference to the public absolutely…FREE. Please join us at this exciting and critically important get-together of conservative-libertarian activists, leaders and candidates in Las Vegas on September 18-21, 2008. And by all means, bring a friend. Or two friends. Or three…"

Although politically some of the ideas presented were not representative of my thinking I like ideas.. and even more... I like FREE!



http://www.minnesotademocratsexposed.com/

Of interest to me was blogger Michael Brodkorb of “Minnesota Democrats Exposed”. He had been chosen to receive the annual Blogger of the Year Award. Brodkorb is being widely credited with almost single-handedly torpedoing the U.S. Senate campaign of “comedian” Al Franken this year. Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and every major news outlet in his state have mentioned his blog.

His blog - the form - is hardly innovative. it is just a blog built on the free Wordpress platform. What makes him stand out is compelling content. He uses extensive promotional activities to get his content noticed.

In the late 1990s, Brodkorb worked for Minnesota senate Republicans where he learned how to do opposition research. He did it well enough to become director of research for the Minnesota Republican Party and served in similar roles for several Republican campaigns. Minnesota Democrats Exposed, however, is his personal blog, unconnected with his professional activities. Brodkorb says, “If you read Minnesota Democrats Exposed and can’t figure out that I am a partisan Republican, you are a moron. Turn your computer off and get your head examined.”

I met with him unexpectedly in a quiet room and we spoke for about 20 minutes. I asked him how he developed his blog and how he supported it. He was most gracious and gave me a lot of information on how to use the internet to connect with others and put action behind ones words. He even make money (Google ad words) off his blog - not much, just enough to support his personal mission. His blog is very local and has little meaning outside his home state - but it does, through his diligent work, really have an impact. I think his blog is a lesson on how to use the internet to get noticed and make a difference - regardless of your political leanings.

Having great ideas is one thing. Getting noticed in another. If you have compelling content and you work to get the work out - that is what I call authentic. Having great ideas, but sitting in bed with a paper bag over your head is not!

PS: the sumptuous ($150) dinner Saturday night at the Venetian (also free, thanks Sheldon Adelson, the media-shy owner of the Venetian) was wonderful. The speakers were loaded with provocative ideas, as was the dinner conversation.