What a great night! Ok, I only made the latter part of it because I had to work until 9pm, but everybody looked to be having a fabby time. I got there just in time to see the raffle draw, and missed out on the High School Musical advent calendar – darnit!

Huge congratulations to all our prize winners, and we hope you like your rosettes! Doreen tells us that’s it for the pom-poms now, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

I missed the food, but rumour has it, it was very nice. Great to see so many people dancing, and the glow sticks (and party hats!) went down a treat – you only have to look at the photos which you can find on Facebook!

Next year we might do a fancy dress theme - any suggestions?

Once again a huge congratulations to our champions, and we look forward to seeing you fight for your titles (not literally of course) next year.

…because her book, Chasing Secrets, is a finalist in the EPIC awards in the Mystery, Suspense, and/or Adventure Romance category!  Way to go, Christy!

To toast this awesome news here’s my review of her book:

CHASING SECRETS by Christy Tillery French

I became a fan of Christy Tillery French when I read her first book, Chasing Horses.  I loved that one and the two that followed, Wayne’s Dead and Chasing Demons, and I especially love her Bodyguard series.  Whenever I pick up one of her books, whether it’s one of her series books or one of her stand-alone titles, I know I’m in for one heck of a good read.

With her latest, Chasing Secrets, she’s returned to her “Chasing” title theme and the romantic suspense thriller she does so well.  And this time, she’s topped everything that came before, leaving this fan hungrier than ever for more of the same.

Rowan Bronson is a woman on the run, an ATF agent who has uncovered secrets about a lascivious televangelist and a vengeful crime lord.  She’d like nothing better than to turn those secrets over to the proper authorities, but there’s a mole in her organization and she doesn’t know who it is.  She’s fighting to stay alive and the only thing she can count on from one minute to the next is her Weimariner, Zeus.  When she and her faithful dog escape from the scene of a murder by stealing a detective’s gun and car, detective Garrett Somersby joins in the chase.  He’s determined to catch her, if only to spare himself from the ridicule he knows he’ll get from his fellow cops.

Luckily, Garrett has a few tricks up his sleeve and he’s the first one to track her down.  When he hears her story, he offers his help.  Rowan reluctantly accepts, but only on her terms.  Working together, they evade the villains at every turn and while they’re at it, they fall in love.

Ms. French weaves a richly satisfying romance in with nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat suspense and plenty of plot twists that keep the reader turning the pages until the very end.

Keep your eye out for the secondary characters in this one.  Ms. French has a flair for creating characters readers cheer for and with each book gives us at least one we’d like to see more of.  My pick in this one is Jeb, an appealing Viet Nam vet, who just happens to get entangled in the chase toward the end of the book.  Jeb’s glory days are behind him but he proves he’s still got what it takes.

With Chasing Secrets, Christy Tillery French has outdone herself.  Filled with breathtaking action, thrilling chases, snappy dialogue and her trademark humor, not to mention her usual likable characters—even the villains in this one are fun!—she keeps the reader riveted with every page.  This is another one for my keeper shelf and one I’m sure I’ll pull out to read again and again.

Chasing Secrets is available on Amazon, B&N, Amazon Kindle, Fictionwise, and other online book sellers or you can order it at your local brick and mortar bookstore.

Congratulations, Christy, on another well-deserved award!

BETT - the world’s largest educational technology event arranges BETT Awards every year. The Awards have a long and thorough evaluation of all products both technical, pedagogical and academic. This evaluation is done by 80+ judges on all products. The shortlist (finalist) was released on November 12th.

Creaza is so proud and excited to be a finalist in the large category 8:  Tools for Learning and Teaching.

This nomination means a lot for Creaza and it confirms that professional people within technology and education finds Creaza to be a very good product for learning and teaching.

Still this does not stop the development of the product.

Creaza wants to make a difference in education to make learners achieve more, using the best web-based technology there is!

The shortlist was announced on November 12th. The evaluation was done on Creaza version 2.0. Today Creaza version 3.0 is released with a lot of new possibilities and functionality. A new post will be written on the blog with highlights of what is new and what is possible.

The winners in each category will be announced at the BETT Awards on January 13th during BETT.

Hope to see you all at BETT!

Some great news has arrived. I’ve received a letter indicating that I was short-listed as a finalist for the UK’s B+W Photography Magazine Photographer of the Year 2009.

Apparently the competition was very fierce and the quality high. I entered a range of images for various categories and am already looking ahead to the 2010 competition, so fingers crossed for that one!

Paul

http://www.paulcoghlinphotography.com

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I am an American Idol Fan and watching Season 8 was pretty intense.  Kris Allen and Adam Lambert duking it out till the end.  Kris Allen released his first Album on November 9th, 2009 and Adam Lambert is releasing his on November 23rd, 2009.

I’ve created a playlist for all of you to enjoy.

Kris Allen The Preview First Album Nov 9 2009

kris_allen_album( cover 1) the preview

More can be found on youtube MyMuzicStation

My dear friend Miaa Rebane, a Miss Virtual World candidate, was presented, along with all of the other candidates on Saturday.  There is an excellent interview with her on this website: http://missvirtualworld.info/2009/11/up-close-and-personal-5/comment-page-1/#comment-15.  The interview displays a wonderful side of Miaa.  She is intelligent, sweet, talented, beautiful, and stylish.  Take a few minutes to read through it – you’ll be glad you got a chance to know her a bit more!

Best wishes to you, Miaa!

As things draw closer to the final decision on the Miss Refined International Competition, the challenges are starting to be issued!  The first challenge is to create a blog dedicated solely to the day in the life of a model and thoughts on the competition.

Between posting for OFA and MRI, real life work, and second life modeling schedules I hardly have time to breathe!  That’s why this blog isn’t receiving much attention atm…please visit Refined Rendition for more up-to-date info!

Seems like the unpaid pilot for Swedish Television is back on again, since we didn’t get picked by FOX to become one of the five finalists in the FOX/Aniboom Holiday Animation Competition. Nevertheless, our next step is to track down the intern at the FOX Network that saw our potential, book a meeting and fly over to the states to meet him and pitch our pilot idea.

While we’re over there, we also plan to have meetings with other network people. And we definitely gonna need an agent. Anyone have the number for Ari by any chance? I hear he’s the best.

Oh, and here are the five picks.

Harbour Funk 2009

Funk, Reggae & Hip Hop Boat Party on Sydney Harbour!

Over 3 levels,4 live acts, DJ’s & MC

Feat:  Nick Toth, SpinDMusic, Diafrix, MC Hazaduz, DJ CXL, Mike Who, DJ Ruse, Gian Arpino, Deep Street Soul, Dojo Cuts feat. Roxie Ray, Russ Dewbury,JC, Ari Roze

Where: The Lady Rose catamaran, Departing from The Man of War Steps,11.45am, (Next to Sydney Opera House) @ Sunday November 15th

Tix + Info: Facebook , Moshtix, Inthemix

Brought to you by Funkdafied

A mini music festival on Sydney Harbour, for a chilled Sunday afternoon over 3 levels, with 4 live acts,  DJ’s & MC’s…

Harbour Funk: ‘you gotta get up to get down!’

SOULed Out Deck (Reggae, Dancehall)

Nick Toth

SpinDMusic DJs (Emperor Chin & Fasmwa)

Sampled Deck (Hip Hop live acts + DJ’s)

Diafrix (LIVE)
MC Hazaduz & DJ CXL (LIVE, NZ)
Mike Who
DJ Ruse (NZ DMC Finalist 2008)
Gian Arpino

MC Hazaduz is the lead Vocalist for Batacuda Sound Machine, a 13 piece band from Auckland NZ. Joining Hazaduz will DJ CXL the 2003 NZ DMC Champion

Rivers of Rhyme  by Batucada Sound Machine

Funktion Deck (Live funk bands + DJ’s)

Deep Street Soul (album launch – Freestyle Records, UK)
Dojo Cuts feat. Roxie Ray
Russ Dewbury (Jazz Rooms)
JC (Funkdafied)
Ari Roze (Mighty Highness Recordings)

At the bottom of the boat you will find out why we call this party ‘Harbour Funk’. With two live 6 piece Funk bands! Sydney’s own Dojo Cuts feat. Roxie Ray will be bringing their infectious live show to the waves (and some new material).

Melbourne’s Deep Street Soul will be launching their debut self-titled album (Freestyle Records, UK) on Harbour Funk! After a sell out show at the Jazz Rooms (The Basement), awesome international reviews and airplay by some of the funk and soul scenes heavyweight tastemakers, this crew are downright dirty. Also, DJs spinning tunes on this level will be Russ Dewbury (Jazz Rooms), JC (Funkdafied) & Ari Roze (Mighty Highness Recordings).

Details:

Sunday November 15th 2009, @ 11.45am

The Lady Rose – 3 level catamaran: Man of War Steps, (Next to Sydney Opera House)

 Tickets & Info: Facebook , Moshtix, Inthemix

Brought to you by Funkdafied

Links:

Funkdafied 

DOJO Cuts

Nick Toth

Russ Dewbury

SpinDMusic

Diafrix

DJ CXL

Gian Arpino

Deep Street Soul

Ari Roze

Angela Wipperman – student blogger

After mammoth amounts of procrastination, I finally took the decision to begin my graduate scheme applications this month. There is something very imposing about an application form. It is a clerical mountain – the last thing you want to do is begin the long and torturous ascent but once it’s complete you feel quite good, actually.

I drew up a  modest list of 25 companies to which I will be applying. I have found that with most of these application forms, done one, done them all. Over the last couple of weeks, and the last twelve forms, I have identified a few useful rules to approaching an online application form.

1. Parents: You milk them for money, now milk them for experience. Chances are, they’ve done these many times before, and may well have interviewed people themselves. They know what they are talking about. And if your mum is anything like mine, she will have remembered every tiny achievement of yours far better than you have. Oh, and the above  also applies to older brothers/sisters/cousins/friends. Although as a warning, bear the patronising tone of older brothers with patience, somewhere beneath that sarcastic and caustic wording is some real advice.

2. Internet: Our own careers service, Prospects.ac.uk, Milkround – all offer useful insights into what employers are looking for. Also, they all have useful tips for filling out these application forms from what counts as relevant work experience to advice on answering competency-based questions.

3. Know your competencies: Almost all the questions on forms will ask for an example of some moment where you showed a variety of skills. Well, apparently employers don’t really care whether your greatest achievement was climbing Kilimanjaro, or completing you European stamp collection. It’s all about learning and applicable skills. Employers love competency questions: ‘Describe a time when you worked in a group…’ ‘Describe a time when you overcame a problem’ ‘Describe a time when you went insane from all these ‘describe a time’ questions and ended up chaining yourself to the gates of Whitworth Hall muttering “don’t make me leave”’.
Even if you haven’t led the most exciting life, there will be a relevant example there somewhere. And whatever you use, always make the most of it. Lying isn’t particularly sensible, but instead of saying ‘I joined the hockey club, embarrassed myself at the second social and never returned’, try ‘I regularly attended the hockey club in my first semester, and applied for the fourth team. I also played an instrumental role in the team socials.’

4. Know your company: Copy and paste has served me well over the last couple of weeks, but make sure you know the company. I remember one phone interview I did for an internship over the summer, where my grasp of what the job actually entailed was, well, limited. The resulting mumbling and stuttering when asked what I felt my role should involve was not a pretty sight. Make sure you know who you are applying to, and for what. If you know who you are selling to, you know how to sell.

These are four rules I have come to swear by, and will be using for the rest of my graduate applications. It’s time consuming, laborious, and by the end of just one form I know I wanted to throw my laptop through the window, drop out of society, and live in a yurt in Nepal. But, when those acceptance letters inviting me for assessment days come flooding (please, God, let them come flooding) it’ll seem worth it. I hope. Now for application number fourteen…

…has been honored as a finalist in the National Best Books 2009 Awards (NBBA), under the category Fiction and Literature: Cross Genre Fiction!  Congratulations Christy!  A well-deserved honor for an outstanding book–and I’m not just saying that because it happens to star…me!  Um, okay, not me exactly, but the client Natasha’s guarding in this one is a rock star with my name.  Okay, not my real name, but a family nickname–Giki!

Seriously though, The Bodyguard and the Rock Star, the third book in her Bodyguard Series is a fabulous book, one of her best and not just because it has a character named after me.  Here’s the review I did of it shortly after it was released:

The Bodyguard and the Rock Star by Christy Tillery French

With The Bodyguard and the Rock Star, Christy Tillery French has once again taken me on a enjoyable roller coaster ride of heart-stopping thrills and rib-tickling humor.

 In the third installment of Ms. French’s Bodyguard series, Natasha Chamberlain eagerly takes on her latest assignment—guarding English rock star, Giki, on a tour of the Southern United States.  Natasha is convinced this will be an easy job.  True, Giki has a wild streak, and at times she’s uncontrollable in her desire to experience every facet of being a rock star, from sex to concerts to…sweets?  Yes, Giki has a sweet tooth that is sometimes irrepressible, along with several other bad habits, and Natasha soon feels more like a babysitter than a bodyguard.  No problem, she can handle the aggravation of that, but Giki has a secret; a cyber-stalker who is willing to do whatever it takes to end the rock star’s career.  And Natasha is suddenly caught up in a job that’s far more dangerous than she first assumed.

 When she’s shot at the first concert, her fiancé, Jonce Striker, shows up at the hospital, and the battle is on as single-minded alpha male clashes with strong-minded, determined woman, adding another delightful twist to the thrilling plot.  Natasha loves Striker and would do just about anything for him, but the one thing she’s not willing to do is give up her job.  She knows she can protect Giki, and she’s going to prove it to Striker once and for all.  Jonce, however, is worried and despite her protests brings in the competent, but completely adorable duo of Pit and Bigun to safeguard her.

 And well, let’s just say, chaos ensues as Natasha struggles to find her balance between Striker and her chosen profession and, as she always does, manages to get her man.  No spoilers here, I’m not going to tell you which one she gets, you’ll have to read it for yourself to find out!

 As with all the books in her Bodyguard Series, Ms. French has peppered this one with laugh-out-loud humor, nail-biting suspense, familiar, lovable characters as well as a few new, quirky ones, and dialogue so realistic it practically leaps off the page.  Then there’s the constant and stimulating tug-of-war between a strong man and an even-stronger woman.  Throw in a delightful tour of the cities of the South, which Ms. French writes about with obvious love and pleasure, and you have a very satisfying read that will keep you glued to the pages until the end.

 Needless to say, The Bodyguard and the Rock Star is going to join the other books by Ms. French on my keeper shelf!

So go on, click on one of the links below and get your copy today.  You’ll be glad you did!

Print: Amazon, B&N

Ebook: Fictionwise, Amazon Kindle, B&N

You can also visit Christy’s website or her author page on Amazon to find out more about her and her fantastic books.  And of course there’s always the Christy Tillery French page here on the Dames of Dialogue blog.

Yippee! We just got a mail from Aniboom telling us that we have been chosen by FOX among hundreds of submissions to get to the next step in the Fox/Aniboom Holiday Animation competition, for our submission “The Elk Day“. It seems we now a significant chance at becoming one of the five finalists yearning for the Grand Prize; a development deal with FOX.

And it seems that getting to this step gives us the opportunity to have an audience with FOX, and show our work to them for potential development as a “first look” option, which sounds like a really big opportunity.  The five prize winning finalists are announced during the first week of November. Keep your fingers crossed.

We can argue all day and night about why the printed poster is disappearing from the visual landscape, but the truth is that posters are still being produced all over the world. Designers everywhere are creating posters that are well-conceived and beautifully crafted, but there is evidence that the poster is simply not taken as seriously in the U.S. as it is in almost every other part of the industrialized world. As evidence, look at the major International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA) endorsed poster competitions around the world over the past year. Very few US designers enter these competitions and, for the most part, even fewer win anything.

Two such competitions stand out: the prestigious Toyama International Poster Triennial in Japan and the China International Poster Biennial. At Toyama, of the 4,516 posters submitted for judging from 49 countries, only 52 were from the USA. And of those, only 7 were selected for exhibition at the Toyama Museum of Modern Art (out of 409 exhibited). In China, the numbers were even more stark: of the 178 posters selected from all entries, 106 came from Asia, 66 from Europe, and only 5 came from all of North and South America.

What can we say? We’re trying to do our part to keep the American poster alive on the international design scene. Legendre+Rutter had three finalists chosen for exhibition in Toyama and four of the five US posters selected in China.

Finalists in the Toyama International Poster Triennial: “Cet Obscur Objet du Désir” by Legendre+Rutter and "Imagination" by Yann Legendre

"Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Lance Rutter, Toyama Poster Triennial

Finalists in the China International Poster Biennial: "Niki de Sant Phalle" and "Fantasmagoria Fukuda" by Yann Legendre

Finalists in the China International Poster Biennial: "Music Awards Dinner" and "Homage to Mucha" by Lance Rutter

Yesterday I was notified that I won the Miss *LA* Beauty contest!  Wow.  What an honor and privilege this is.  Thank you to all the wonderful people that reached out to congratulate me on this win.  It felt so good to have so many friends supporting me and cheering me on!

This morning I received two emails, about 2 hours apart, that I am a finalist in two contests. Both require votes, which reminds me – I’ve got to stop entering contests that require votes because I think I am really starting to annoy people.

The first one is for $1000, and I think the video is cute. I definitely think it’s the most entertaining of the 6 finalists. This contest requires you to make a video about Stacey Mayo’s “One Minute Meditation” and how it works for you. NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED so please vote for me below:

Joel Levinson – One Minute Meditation

The second contest, I honestly only entered for the consolation prize to the first 100 entries, and never expected to win, but apparently my painfully fake sneeze cuts it, and I am a finalist in the “side-splitting sneeze” contest. The prize is a spa-weekend getaway, and I want you to see something. First, the little amount of work I put into my video:

Now, the mind-blowing amount of pyro-technic work used in this other finalist entry (why these two dudes want a spa-weekend getaway so much is beyond me, but here it is)

Feel free to vote for either video by visiting the  Side-Splitting Sneeze Contest (registration required to vote).