I took pictures for my friends’ (aka, former roommates, Mike & Megan) wedding in Maui.

Gear: Olympus E620, E1, ZD 12-60mm F/2.8-4.5, &50mm F2.0, Cactus V4 Flash Triggers, FL50R, FL50, 1/4 CTO Flash Gels, Lumiquest Gel Holder, and Honl speed strap.

Pics turned out really good.  I was pretty pleased with the results.  It was my first time using the flash gels which I had bought to use with the wedding in mind.  I used them to help match the flash with the fading light from the sunset, with the added bonus that shifting the white balance a bit would put a little more blue in the sky.  I started off with using only 1 flash, but later used two flashes triggered with the cactus v4 triggers, set at either 1/2 power or 1/4 power.  Key light was set directly opposite of the setting sun, and i took most of the shots about 30-45 degrees off that axis (with the 2nd flash, i would set it around 90 degrees off of the axis, with me between the flashes).  I didn’t bring any stands or other light modifiers, just the gels, so i had some friends assist by holding the flash (they held it around chest level).

Shots were mainly taken around f/5 – f/5.6 shutter speed 1/160 s- 1/320 s.

Anyway, I’m always learning with this photography thing.

Lessons learned:

Sync Speed:  I made some beginning strobist mistakes (I’m such a n00b)… I tried pushing the flash up past it’s sync speed (my camera’s sync speed is 1/160th of a second).  I thought it was working, til i looked at the pics on my computer monitor when I got home, and then it hit me.  I thought my flashes weren’t directed properly in some frames because it wasn’t getting the flash coverage.  I noticed it was always on the bottom of the frame (the mirror was cutting it off).  I was shooting 1/160th & 1/200th of a second okay, but the 1/250th and 1/320th all had the distinct underexposed areas in the frame.   (The reason I had the shutter so fast was to help darken the ambient light so i wouldn’t have any blown out highlights.  When trying to control light, the aperture controls the flash exposure, and shutter speed controls the ambient.)   In any case, the wide shots were okay cuz could crop it, but definitely something I’ll wanna keep in mind for the next time.  In hindsight, I should have used the neutral density filter or the polarizing filter i brought along to bring down the ambient.

Light Stands & Umbrellas: Another thing I would change is if I could have brought my light stands & umbrellas, that would have been nice to get the light above, and the umbrellas would have given a larger softer light source.  Would have created nicer catchlights in the eyes, and a little more even lighting.  Lighting from above would have given more natural shadows.

Light angles: I probably should have done a little more on axis fill flash.  I botched some pretty straight forward group photos cuz I was trying to stick with off camera flash, but better results would have been had with on axis (even on camera) fill.  But a lot of that had to do with not getting the light to come down from above, so it was some unanticipated and unnatural shadows being cast.  I also could have done a little more with rim lighting/hair light/back lighting.  Something for next time I suppose.  I mean, if I learned it all at once, there’d be no use for me to write this blog!

Gels: Something for next time: experiment with mixing gels, balancing/cancelling light, and setting a custom white balance in camera so I can get more accurate results when checking them out on location.

Other things to work on:  I need to take photos from more angles, and use longer focal lengths to compress the angle of view.  I figured I’d keep it pretty wide to really capture the scenery, but variety is the spice of life.  I need to mix it up and think outside of the box sometimes.

Anyway, I think that’s all for now.  If I think of something later, i’ll add it.

Comments/Critiques welcome.  My monitor isn’t calibrated (yet, hoping to get a calibrator over xmas), so there may be some general color issues.  Plus, I’m using a cheap TN monitor, word is the IPS monitors are where it’s at.  I’ll probably look into that at a later time.  Also, the compression seems to do some strange things to the photos, even color wise.  I’ll have to figure out something with that.

I wandered around Brick Lane the other week with a couple of friends. We found an amazing ukelele shop but I was too awestruck to remember to take any photos. I’ll have to venture back! I’m looking for a good ukelele in the hope of rekindling an interest in playing music again. There were sparkly ones, so this plan might work. A degree in politics may have just ruined me for anything creative, but we shall see!

Fringe: Season 2: Episode 1: “A New Day in the Old Town”

Peter and Walter in a typical cross-purposed conversation.

Olivia is back, and apparently has interdimensional amnesia (couldn’t Nina have just reminded here where she went?). The usual impossibilities aside, this episode was refreshingly easy to watch.

This episode is debunked at Popular Mechanics and Polite Dissent, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

Ordinarily, I might comment that people can’t change their bone structure like that – but now that we have the catch-all explanation, “it’s another dimension, stupid!” I can’t.

Much of LA becomes consumed with the buying and selling of features this week as 8000 gather at the American Film Market which kicks off W 11/4 and runs through W 11/11 concurrently with AFI Fest. Ground zero is the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel where 400 distributors are getting ready to rumble.  As the distributors are there to sell, the first half of AFM belongs mostly to the buyers.  You need a full market badge ($895) for access to the upper floors during this time, but its free to linger to the lobby and lounge by the pool putting together target lists which many do in prep for half badge face time ($345) starting Su 11/8.  Day badges $275.  To see the market in action check out these videos from Film Specific’s Stacey Parks, UpsideDownTV’s Johnny Neurotic and Variety’s Michael Jones.

Here is the list of IFTA members where you can dig deep for contact information, slate and budgets. You can also pick up free in the Loews lobby the AFM directory in the bumper copies of Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen International and The Business of Film.

On the Variety & THR list of AFM targets are Akin Gump ($600mm for 60 films), Endgame (3-5@$10-40mm), Exclusive Media ($100mm for 2-3 films), Incentive Filmed Entertainment ($100mm for 10@$15mm each), Liddell (3-4 films@$5-20mm each), Magnet Media (Jeanette Buerling & Magie Monteith), Natural Selection ($100mm for 20 films@ $5mm+ each), Overnight Prods (3@$10-40mm), Sheppard Mullin ($65mm), Social Capital (2-3@$2-20mm each), Stroock Stroock ($5-100mm), Tic Tock (2-3 films@$10mm each), WestEnd Films (Maya Amsellem & Eve Schoukroun), Winchester Capital (3-4 films@$10-40mm each), plus those in bold above.

Some are speaking at the AFM seminars:

F 11/6 9-12:30
AFM Finance Conference
with Media Rights Capital, Hyde Park Entertainment, NatGeo..
Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire
2008 Videos

F 11/6 4-5:30
FILMART/HK Co-Production Partners
with Screen International, Distribution Workshop, Imagi Studios
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean
2008 Videos

Sa 11/7 9-12:30
Pitch Me!
Producers for Bee Season, Capote, Nurse Betty
Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire

Sa 11/7 9:15-5:30
Distribution U
9:15 Breakfast/Introductions
10:15 Fans, Friends, Followers – Scott Kirsner
11:15, Break
11:30, New World of Distribution I – Peter Broderick
12:30, Lunch with Adam Chapnick, Distribber.com, Thomas Mai, Festival Darlings, Jon Reiss, Thinking Outside of the Box (Office), Adrian Belic, Beyond the Call, Genghis Blues, Justine Jacob, Ready Set Bag
2, New World of Distribution II – Peter Broderick
3, Case Studies/Anvil!, Good Dick
4, Booksigning/Thinking Outside the Box (Office)
4:15-5:30, Pitch Workshop
USC, Davidson Conference Center, 3415 South Figueroa

Sa 11/7 2-5:30
Produce and Sell Your Film with Dov S-S Simens
Topics include: Theatrical Deal Memo Points, 7 Major Revenue Sources, Profit Participation Scenarios, Cable/TV/DVD Licenses, Publicity & Festivals, On-Demand vs PPV, Global Revenues, Foreign Sales, Private Placements, Investor Offerings, Gross vs Net, Split Rights & 50-50 Deals, Production-Distribution Agreements, plus Producer’s Workbook/Directory
Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire

Su 11/8 11-12:30
Changing Indie Distribution Strategies
Ted Mundorff, Landmark Theatres, Jon Reiss, Think Outside the Box (Office)…
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Su 11/8 2-3:30
DIY Distribution Playbook
with Adam Chapnick, Distribber.com, Matt Tyrnauer, Valentino, Sacha Gervasi, Anvil!, Scott Hamilton Kennedy, The Garden, Lisa Smithline, Trouble The Waters
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean
2008 Videos

Su 11/8 4-5:30
SAG/A Filmmaker’s Resource
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

M 11/9 11-12:30pm
WGA/Writing for the Genre World
Mick Garris, Larry Cohen, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White, Stephen Susco
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

M 11/9 2-3:30
DGA/Online Piracy
Brad Beutlich, DtecNet, Darcy Antonellis, Warner, Jonathan Dayton, Little Miss Sunshine, Andrew Horton, Mark Monitor, Alann McNeil, Deluxe’s Web Watch
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

M 11/9 4-5:30
PGA/Package and Finance Indies Oversees
Aurora Productions, Akin Gump, Endgame Entertainment, The Film Department, Paradigm
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Tu 11/10 11-12:30
Indie Marketing with Ondi Timoner, We Live In Public…
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Tu 11/10 2-3:30
WIF/New Hollywood Movie Studio & Social Networking
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Tu 11/10 4-5:30
ASC/Film or Digital
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Sa 11/7 – Tu 11/10 9:30-5
Favorite Film Pitch
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

For newbies, there are AFM first-timers guides on working the market at:
IFTA , FilmSpecific, and IndieGoGo.

As for AFM Hotels, many were booked by 10/2 but feel free to try:
- Georgian, 1415 Ocean 90401 ($242-384) 310-395-9945
- Ocean View Hotel, 1447 Ocean 90401 ($224-272) 310-458-4888
- Hotel California, 1670 Ocean 90401 ($260,299+) 310-393-2363
- Hotel Shangrila, 1301 Ocean 90401 ($319-489) 310-394-2791
- Le Merigot Marriott, 1740 Ocean 90401 ($365+) 310-395-9700
- Viceroy, 1819 Ocean 90401 ($348+) 310-260-7500
- Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire 90401 ($324+) 310-576-7777
- Hotel Casa del Mar, 1910 Ocean 90405 ($459+) 310-581-5533
- Sheraton Delfina, 530 Pico 90405 ($267-320) 310-399-9344
- Doubletree, 1707 4th 90401 ($270-$282) 310-395-3332
- Holiday Inn, 120 Colorado 90401 ($248-258) 310-451-0676
- Hotel Carmel, 201 Broadway 90401 ($175-232) 310-451-2469
- Ambrose, 1255 20th Street 90404 ($192-227) 310-315-1555
- Best Western, 1920 Santa Monica Blvd 90404 ($170) 310-829-9100
- Shutters, One Pico 90405 ($575+) 310-458-0030
- Huntley, 1111 Second, 90403 ($350) 310-394-5454
*There is a shuttle for the AFM hotels, parking lots and screenings.

Film Catalogue/445 screenings, 73 premieres including:
- American Sunset (Global Universal) – Corey Haim, Frank Molina
- Blue Seduction (Global Universal Pictures) – Estella Warren*
- Bobby Fischer Live (Amadeus)
- Chloe (StudioCanal, budget $10-25mm) – Julianne Moore
- Dorian Gray (Ealing Studios, budget $10-25mm) – Colin Firth
- From Time to Time (Ealing Studios, budget $5-10m) – Maggie Smith
- Get Low (K5) – Bill Murray
- Glorious 39 (The Works International) – Julie Christie
- Harry Brown (HanWay) – Michael Caine
- Hawaii A Voice For Sovereignty (ITN)
- Junkyard Dog (Epic) – Vivica Fox**
- Kill Speed (Epic) – Nick Carter, Tom Arnold**
- Life During Wartime (Fortissimo) – Ally Sheedy & Paul Reubens
- Love & Other Impossible Pursuits (Essential Ent) – Natalie Portman
- Mama I Want to Sing! (Vision Films) – Ciara & Billy Zane
- Mao’s Last Dancer (Celluloid Dreams) – Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Cheng
- Rounds (Global Universal) – Billy Drago, Mark Attenza
- Saint John of Las Vegas (E1) – Sarah Silverman & Steve Buscemi
- Snowmen (MPower) – Ray Liotta, Christopher Lloyd
- Stay Cool (American Cinema) – Wynona Ryder, Hilary Duff
- The Making of Plus One (New Films) film market wheeling and dealing
- The Meaning of the 21st Century (WWFilmEnt, bud $3-5m) – Michael Douglas
- The Next Three Days (Mandate Intl) – Russell Crowe
*no screening, ** got picked up by Independent Feature Films

And more:
- AFI Fest - free tx to screenings, red carpet events, details here
- IBM/USC Imagine The World in 2050 invite-only event
- TromaDance Film Festival press conference
- 8th Samurai screening at the Consul General of Japan

Events that recap AFM:
- 12/1 Distribution U, San Francisco
- 12/8 DMW/Variety’s Future of Film, Sheraton Delfina

When teaching vocab for parts of the body, I often get students to draw a picture of a person in small groups or pairs.  Then I give them the attached sheet (cut up if I have time, or they cut it up themselves).  The students must then stick the words in the correct place on their drawing.  Students enjoy looking (laughing) at their own and each other’s drawings, which are often ridiculously bad! 

More able students can be given fewer words, or no words at all. 

For E1 students, I often follow this activity by getting them to complete the activity on unit 5, page 4 of the E1 Skills for Life Materials (matching body parts to picture of a person).

The vocabulary sheet is here.

Revenons à des choses plus ‘street’ avec le nouvel album studio des M.O.P. Des mois d’attente, une série de mixtapes sans succès, des actes manqués à la pelle, des contrats signés puis prématurément stoppés, la vie d’artiste est dure quand on s’appelle Lil’ Fame et Billy Danze. Depuis une dizaine d’années, les deux requins de Brownsville enchainent mésaventure sur mésaventure. Propulsés au plus haut grâce à leur hit « Ante Up » en 2000, les gueulards n’ont jamais su tirer profit de leur réussite. Leur signature sur l’écurie G-Unit Records en 2005 n’y changea rien, le second millénaire ne semblait définitivement pas fait pour eux. A tel point que leur retour annoncé pour cette rentrée 2009 sonnait comme une mini révolution pour les amateurs de gros flows. Arrivé dans les bacs le 15 septembre dernier, Foundation, leur cinquième opus, portait en lui l’espoir de voir revenir le Mash Out Posse à son meilleur niveau.

Un espoir rapidement étouffé médiatiquement par les deux ‘super sorties’ du 15 septembre : Jay-Z et Kid Cudi. Pas simple, on leur accorde, d’attirer l’attention sur soi après un si long passage à vide, qui plus est quand on est opposé à ces deux poids lourds (l’un confirmé, l’autre en devenir). Mais ça, Lil’ Fame et Billy Danze s’en moquent. Les tapis rouges, les soirées mondaines, les strasses et la gloire, ce n’est pas le rêve des M.O.P. Les deux potos vivent pour leur ‘hood’ (Brownsville), et ils entendent le représenter jusqu’à la mort. Transition parfaite pour commencer à parler de l’album et du premier morceau : « I’m A Brownsvillain » (prod. Nottz). L’intitulé parle pour lui-même, les lyrics sont hardcore et street, ca gueule, ca représente, en deux mots : ca tue ! Que les fans se rassurent, les fauves semblent avoir repris place dans l’arène. Cette entrée en matière fait plaisir car elle vient ponctuer une dizaine d’années de disette et d’infortune artistique. Foundation nous apparaît comme un retour aux sources, malgré les imperfections. C’est aussi les retrouvailles avec DJ Premier, producteur fétiche du groupe depuis le deuxième album, Firing Squad. Ici, l’ex Gangstarr pose sa patte sur le soulful et mélodieux « What I Wanna Be » (feat. Rell), samplant du Diana Ross au passage. Venant de lui, ce style feutré et mélancolique peut surprendre mais nul doute, la qualité y est.

Passé cet interlude R&B, on retrouve les M.O.P. dans un registre qui leur est davantage approprié : plus lourd, plus cru, plus hardcore. Démonstration sur les excellents « Blow The Horns » et « Stop Pushin », deux produits crédités Fizzy Womack, qui n’est autre que l’alias de Lil’ Fame quand celui-ci passe derrière les platines. Plus loin, Fizzy lâche un « Street Life » convaincant, et parfaitement dans l’air du temps. Malgré le refrain de Demarco passé à l’auto-tune, le binôme n’en perd pas pour autant sa street-crédibilité. Niveau prods, Lil’ Fame a.k.a. Fizzy Womack a franchi un cap. Ses trois instrumentaux respirent l’asphalte, sans tomber dans le sinistre ou le ‘déjà entendu’.

Mission également accomplie pour Statik Selektah a.k.a. ‘DJ Premier bis’. Le producteur de Grey Hairs (Reks) et All In A Day’s Work (Saigon) est sur la pente ascendante depuis environ deux ans. Sur Foundation, il livre l’oppressant « Crazy », agrémenté d’un couplet du ‘on ne peut moins’ charismatique Termanology. Mais son éclair de génie est ailleurs… Sur « Forever & Always », le producteur ressuscite le son new-yorkais post Mobb Deepien en lui donnant force et finesse.

Dans quasiment toutes les chroniques que j’ai pu lire à droite à gauche, on critiquait les M.O.P. pour leur perte de flow. Soit. Néanmoins, en écoutant et réécoutant cet album, je me suis aperçu que leurs beats se sont nettement ralentis. Des up-tempos d’antan, ils ont opté pour une majorité de mid-tempos mélodieux sur ce cinquième effort. Les gueulards seraient-ils fatigués ? Possible, ou peut être ont-ils tout simplement envie de plus de douceur. En atteste le corps du disque assez « tranquille » (tout est relatif) avec des pistes comme « Rude Bastard », « Brooklyn » ou « Street Life ». Faut-ils les blâmer de s’être assagi ou les encourager à aller dans ce registre qui, selon moi, leur va tout aussi bien ? Cette question est à méditer.

En revanche, si le ventre de l’album recèle de tempos soulful, la fin, elle, est aussi brute que le début. Sauf que là, c’est très mauvais ! Avec son « Bang Time » (feat. Styles P), DJ Green Lantern a dû penser qu’il avait composé LE beat qu’il fallait aux M.O.P, or c’est tout le contraire. On peine à tenir jusqu’à la fin du morceau tellement c’est brouillon et bruyant. De même avec les deux pistes suivantes : « Sharks In The Water » et « Riding Through ». La présence de Redman sur la dernière ne change rien à la médiocrité du son, c’est redondant, peu ou pas inspiré du tout et saoulant à souhait. Heureusement pour lui, DR Period se rattrape de son horrible « Sharks In The Water » avec l’ultime titre du disque « Salute A G ». Une note positive et assez west-coast pour en découdre avec ce cinquième opus.

Conclusion, débriefing, bilan des courses. Le Mash Out Posse est revenu à son niveau suprême ? Non ! Foundation est un mauvais album pour le binôme de Brownsville ? Non plus. C’est un retour encourageant après dix années de malchances ? Oui ! Ca ne fait aucun doute. Les fans de la première heure seront probablement déçus de cet essai, dans la mesure où il ne correspond pas totalement à ce que l’on pouvait attendre du crew. Cependant, pris dans son contexte, Foundation satisfait. Similairement à Tha Blaqprint de Blaq Po’, ce disque se savoure comme un produit authentiquement new-yorkais, avec tous les délices que le son east-coast peut contenir. Maintenant qu’ils sont retournés en indé (E1 Records/Koch), on espère que le futur leur sera radieux, afin qu’ils nous reviennent rapidement avec une tuerie comme ils savent les faire. C’est tout le mal que l’on souhaite à Lil’ Fame et Billy Danze en tout cas, car sans ces deux carnassiers, le rap game est bien moins drôle.

14 / 20

I have recently noticed that despite living in London for a little over a month now, my scope of London is very narrow. I live within about a one mile radius of my flat. Since everything is within walking distance from me (think Marks & Spencer, Top Shop, H&M, Zara, Mango, Aldo, cool restaurants, etc. all within 0.5 miles), I have very little need to venture outside of the WC1/WC2/W1/SW1 area. I have literally never been outside of any of those postcodes (except Canterbury) since I’ve moved to London! So, today, my flatmate and I have decided to broaden our horizons and hit up Brick Lane in the East End. Brick Lane is near Spitalfields, and is home to a huge Bangaldeshi community and has some amazing food, jewelry, clothing, art and vintage pieces.

You can feel like you’ve been now; welcome to the pictorial guide of our journey from the West End down to Brick Lane:

1) Me, very excited & getting ready to leave my magnificent, opulent flat in the West End.

2) A snapshot of High Holborn, the road we travel to get down to the Tube Station. Clearly a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

3) Good old High Holborn Tube Station, our nearby hub of love. Much better than Covent Garden’s tube station (which is the same distance from my flat), since CG’s gets overly crowded with tourist action on the weekends!

4) Liverpool Street Station — stepping foot on East End soil for the first time and getting ready to head to Brick Lane!

5) Old Spitalfields Market & the Sunday Up Market contain stall after stall of amazing ethnic foods, clothing, jewelry and arts & crafts.

We ended up grabbing lunch at Rainforest Creations in Old Spitalfields Market — amazing, super healthy food. For £5 you can grab an overfilled wrap of goodness and snag some seating nearby that’s perfect for people watching. Today’s sunshine-y weather was perfect for enjoying some hummus and lentil action.

We spent time just exploring and checking out vintage-y shops all down Brick Lane. The feel is 100% different from that of the West End/theatre area. It’s much more edgy and a bit seedy, but it adds to the overall appeal of the area. If a picture is worth a thousand words, some of these photos may help illustrate:

Next on my list of my places to venture? Camden!

Hope everyone’s weekend was fantastic! I’m enjoying the extra hour thanks to Daylight Saving Time. Gonna take a power nap.

And it seems in the world of school IT, or atleast this school – they are.

Since before the summer we have been looking into replacing our Management Information System (MIS – database of pupil records).  There have only really been three contenders – Phoenix (the here to LEA approved suppler), SIMS (the biggest player in the market), and Serco (the young pretender making serious in roads).

We thought we had it down to a choice between Serco and Phoenix – SIMS had priced themselves out the market.  We’d pretty much decided on Serco and were about to go through the motions of officially choosing them as our supplier.

Earlier this week SIMS had come back to us halving their price and putting themselves back in the game.  Then today I had my termly network manager meeting.

Two big pieces of news came out of the meeting.  Firstly, major issues with Serco support within the LEA.  Integration problems with the VLE, remote support problems, and they are failing to sit around the table and work them out with the LEA.  This is enough to take Serco from first place to firmly in last place. Oh hum.

Secondly the LEA’s contract with the prefered supplier, Phoenix, has come to an end and is about to go back out to tender.  The LEA are unsure if they should now have 1 prefered supplier or 2.  So ethier next August Phoenix will be re-confirmed as the supplier of choice, or Phoenix and SIMS would be the official MIS suppliers for the LEA.

Okay, so I’m pre-empting the decision of the tendering process but Phoenix is far to entrenched in the LEA not to be reaffirmed as their MIS of choice.  Serco have had to meny issues with the LEA to stand a chance.  That only leaves SIMS as the possible number 2 supplier.  Everyone else is far too small an outfit to even get close.

What an interesting week this had turned out to be.  Monday we were looking at becoming a Serco MIS school and SIMS had no chance of getting a foot in the door.  By the end of tomorrow we’ew more likely to be exploring becoming a SIMS MIS school and Serco will have no chance.

Check out our studio hire promotion we are running for the rest of October and November….if you dont take us up on our lovely tempting offer then what a fool you are….not only do you get to shoot at our awesome studio you get to know our lovely team….what a prize offer!!

Students must write the jumbled up questions in the correct order.

For use with ESOL Skills for Life Materials, E1, unit 4, p. 3.

Click here!

A different method of getting to college is shown on each page with the caption, “I come to college by __________” (or similar).  Students can try to guess the missing word. 

Great warmer for use with Skills for Life ESOL materials, E1, unit 4. 

Adapted from a presentation by Demetra Ciobanu (talent.ac.uk).

Click here to access the presentation!

Celebrity Stylist Andréa M. Harrell has been added as a Panelist for
the Houston Portion of the WEEN Conference

Celebrity stylist Andréa M. Harrell has been confirmed as a panelist for the Houston leg of the Women In Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN) Conference Tour.  The six-city tour, “I AM WEEN,” will arrive in Houston October 17, 2009.

After successful stops in Atlanta, Chicago, D.C, Philadelphia, and Detroit, the tour will conclude in Houston and is expecting a great crowd. The Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network is a coalition of women of all ages and races committed to supporting, promoting and defending the balanced, positive portrayal of women in entertainment and in society.  The organization’s consists of women and men in entertainment dedicated to improving the quality of life of women and young ladies throughout the world. As trendsetters, WEEN members
utilize their impact and visibility to effect positive social change in areas including healthcare, financial literacy, personal development and professional development through corporate social responsibility, media impact and grassroots programs. “I’m very excited to be recognized by the organization and included in this grand event,” Harrell states.

The Jones Magazine Fashion Editor is very busy these days styling her clients for award’s and holiday party season, and is also in development for a new reality series.  Her persona advising firm, Glamourotti, is in very high demand working for individuals and film/video production companies to create memorable looks.  Harrell
recently was the stylist of record for E1 recording artist Dorrough’s latest videos “Trunk Bang” and “Wired to the T.”  She is also dressing Dorrough, video director Dr. Teeth and several others for the 2009 BET Hip Hop Awards.