I came across this video made by IDEO last Friday at a lecture done by Deborah. It’s truly fascinating to see this idea proposing how modern living can be introduced to a system that helps our economy, quality of life and environment. When I finally found the link I decided that everyone should see ways in which we can help bring our world one step closer to achieving the goals this pitch sets on.

The only thing that scares me about this video, is the government controlling every aspect of our community or being able to monitor every action.

What are your thoughts?

Justin had this video posted on the blogging website, Tumblr’s, platform page for all to see. Good thing Marissa said YES!

For our final project in Core Design II we’ve been given the challenge to work in a group of three. Our focus is to combine elements from our second projects and create a new product. We then have to build a final prototype of this object and create a storyboard for our product. If possible, we would then film the segment but it’s not a requirment since we only have 3 weeks to finish the project.

So far my group and I have come up with a meditative chair that takes on the organic form of an apple seed. There’ll be more to come once we finalize on the design, color, material, and story of our product. I’m really excited! Below is an audio clip of what I’d like to use for our video/commercial (if you ffwd to 1:04 you’ll hear the slogan I’d like to play with).

This was not a planned shoot and only got to know from my friend who was shooting the whole afternoon with me yesterday. When he told me about this special proposal that his friend is going to do in the evening, I tagged along. What a great sight it was.

Let the images relive the moments…

A special night indeed with a special performance from a voluntary flash mob which in 10 minutes, a 40-strong team was gathered and conjured up an item for the couple.

In addition, this couple happened to be attending the same church as me. I wish the both of them a great one year ahead in planning for their Actual Day wedding and I hope to be there for both of you again.

This is hopefully the first of many blogs. I am making a major change to the web aspect of my business. I will be leaving my old-style web site, which is extremely hard to update, and moving to a flash-style site that is easy to update. Associated with that is starting this blog. Thanks to Rachelle Heppner for her advice in this area.

The photography business was headed for a slow-down as I looked toward the fall of 2008. I saw this as an opportunity to add teaching photography to my schedule, and I am very glad I did. I am now in my second year of teaching home schooled high-schoolers (and some younger), and am enjoying it very much.

Last school year I had about 18 students for what I called Photography 101. We covered the basics, with an emphasis on technical aspects of photography. In the spring six students continued with Photography 201. It was a blast! The small group really allowed us to bond as friends and discuss photography on a more individual level. We took two great field trips: One to Monterey Bay, and the other to Yosemite.

This fall I again have a class of 18 for Photography 101. This time I am using a data projector as a visual aid, and it really seems to help the students learn faster. Either that, or they are just smarter, or I am that much of a better teacher. I honestly think it is mostly the data projector.

I was correct that photography would slow down that fall over a year ago, and it stayed down until a few months ago. Recently I discovered that I was quite busy with post processing and album-building from the portrait sessions, maternity progression, and weddings I had completed.

Now I have been hired to covertly photograph a wedding proposal in Santa Cruz. The mother of the bride saw photos I had secretly taken of my son proposing, and she wanted the same memories for her daughter. This will be one of the more interesting assignments I have ever taken. Below is one of the shots from my son’s proposal.

Nope.

I’m not referring to the classic 1951 sci-fi movie, which I happen to own on DVD. Instead I’m referring to the website www.dealnews.com to which I refer on a daily basis. Not that I’m constantly in the market for consumer electronic goodies, but sometimes a deal is so good one cannot pass it up. But until this morning I had never seen a deal like the one below:

It’s a pretty geeky way to ask for a lady’s hand in marriage. But I don’t see it as a bad thing. Actually, it’s pretty cute. My only question is what kind of woman looks over dealnews.com?

Don’t get me wrong…consumer electronics are not the exclusive domain of men, but I do not think it unfair to state that men make up a very serious majority.

Still…I hope she accepted and that the live forever in geeky happiness.

So, I’ve decided that I am never going to bed before 9 pm. Ever again. My body has some weird problem/curse where no matter when I go to sleep. I will wake up 6 – 8 hours later. So last night, I went to bed at 9, and I was up at 4 am. Great. I had to leave Girlfriend’s house to come home because I couldn’t fall asleep. We watched “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” yesterday. Which is about an eight-year-old boy who grows up in WWII Germany. His father is the kommandant of the extermination camp Auschwitz. It’s quite a tragic story and I would highly recommend seeing it. Girlfriend didn’t like the ending though. I did, I think it was probably the most realistic thing that would have happened given the circumstances.

In case you DON’T know. I had lost my computer to problems for the second time in about 3 months. After about 3 weeks of waiting I finally got it back this week. And I am definitely happier with it. Is that sad? Probably. Oh well. I had a lot of stuff on here that I couldn’t do. Like a music paper, a whole bunch of CD reviews and writing blogs! So I am getting started on that again. Maybe I’ll finish all three of those things this morning! It could turn out to be a productive day!

My jazz band concert is tonight. Great. I am so excited. Except not at all. I have dreaded jazz band and hate the class. I barely do anything so it’s practically a waste of time for me. I guess I set myself up for this, my teacher/conductor lady said that I’d be bored most of the time. I originally wanted to play vibraphone, but that doesn’t really happen because it’s so much of a hassle to get my instruments. I had to go buy a shaker for myself so that I had one to use. So once this is over I won’t have to deal with it for a while. I’m probably going to send an email to the conductor of the Symphonic Band for Non-Music majors and see if I can join that next semester. It should be more rewarding.

Plans have been made for coming home @ Christmas. I will be arriving on the 19th, staying the night in Calgary, going to Thunder Bay to visit my grandparents there for 3 days, and return on the 23rd. This second part is tentative, but probable. On the 23rd, Girlfriend comes home too! So I get to pick her up at the airport and bring her home (hopefully.), then we can go to a party with my friends. I’m pretty excited for that, no one has met her and I want to show them the girl I’m happy to be with!

What else is newsworthy here….I finished my season of NHL 10 yesterday. This really means nothing to anyone but me. But I feel like sharing. I created a character and played through a whole 82 game season and then playoffs. I finished with 120 points in the regular season, 31 in the playoffs. I won 7 awards and the Stanley Cup. Man I am a loser.

It’s been pissing rain for the past 3/4 days. It absolutely sucks. Everything is so fucking water-logged and soaked it’s just gross.

Christmas is coming up slowly. I’m probably just going to get my parents/family/friends small things. I saw ‘Up’ with my mom when I was in Calgary this summer, so I might get her that. Or a puzzle. I’ll probably get my Dad some movie that he always says is so good. Or maybe I’ll buy them “The Proposal.” There’s a funny story behind this: When my parents came in October, they told me and Girlfriend, “You guys should go see the Proposal, we saw it and it was so good.” And Girlfriend and I kinda look at each other…and we’re like…what? Is there some kind of hint behind this? Awkward….So now we’ve kinda made it our own personal joke.

School has been going terribly for the past few weeks. Every Monday comes around and I say to myself “It’s just going to be one of those weeks.” Well, when every week has become “one of those weeks,” I think somethings wrong. I hate all of my classes, nothing really interests me and I just want to do what I enjoy. Because of this, I’ve looked into going somewhere else for school. The next closest thing to the program we have here at UVic is in Lethbridge. I am not at all close to deciding on a place and I’m just inquiring now. Next semester I am going to drop the two Computer Science courses I have scheduled to take, and maybe take a photography class. Or something that legitimately interests me. None of this stupid electrical engineering crap. I’ve only talked to a few people about this, and I am planning to meet with my boss (who is also the head of our program and become kind of a mentor for me) and see what he has to say. I sent him this lengthy email about how much I hate the program, he said we should go for lunch and talk. Which will be good.

Hopefully I’ve given you something to read and enjoy and think about. More to come soon.

Later days,

- J

I have been working on/dreaming up ideas for my final project.  I love the idea of the augmented reality 3d figures – as an option on the website – where the user can print out a sheet of marked paper, place it on their physical desktop, where (once they have allowed their webcam access), a 3d figure will appear on their physical desktop (viewed on the monitor) as if in reality, shown on their computer screen, whilst they look on in the background.

BUT… I am thinking it would be such a shame not to take advantage of the space at Wilson Road and show this also as an installation.  I imagine  a room, where the viewer walks in and behind them is a large projection of the animated movie (as in the website), before the viewer would be another projected screen, and at the top of this screen, a webcam/camera focussed on the viewer.  ON the ground would be certain marked patterns.  These patterns would act as marker symbols for the 3d images.  So… the viewer would see in front – herself, surrounded by 3D moving (animated) images, with the projected movie running as a scene behind her.

I am not sure if I am describing/explaining this well enough – I am not certain of the terminology yet, but I am hugely excited by this idea!

This would fit my proposal exactly, and I am hoping it won’t be too much of a brain-twist to do this either (see my earlier comments on the technology being foregrounded rather the artwork, and spending too much time on the technical and so missing out on the creative).

I have started working on 3d models recently – just need to ensure they can be output/exported into the correct extension to work with the code/software I found.  I really didn’t have the time to learn how to code, etc from scratch, so I am hoping this is the answer to my prayers, and I feel it is a much better fit than my original markerless facial tracking idea.

I want to start working on the website movie now – I want it to be an atmospheric, ethereal experience, and so am looking at After Effects here, and looking at researching other artists and the work they have done which may have a similar style.

Lots of work to do – but I finally feel like something concrete is in place now.  Now I can run with it!

The soul wishes for a tryst with you, you and me together far away in solitude..

Solitude and silence shouts schmaltzy.

The arrow struck the moon, shattering it into pieces that falls on earth as glittering remains of romanticism. Am collecting its pieces, memory lane silently sheds a drop tear.

I am at the edge of another world, not alone. Can feel you breathe…

Up until about 5:45 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, I was having a normal week – a strenuous week of teaching, especially since my school was on lockdown on Friday. I came home expecting to have dinner with my friend Kelly. When she arrived at about 5:40, I was ready for a girls’ night out.

Just as we were preparing to leave, I heard someone knocking on the front door. When I looked out the window and saw Devon’s face, I could only conclude that I was hallucinating. He was supposed to be working in Tulsa until 7:30!

I was so shocked when I saw Devon at the door!

Once we were inside the limo, Devon popped a CD in – “Friday the 13th Part 1” hosted by Pepe LePeu (Devon doing a fantastic Pepe impersonation – I love French accents!). Pepe told us that the first leg of our journey would be a look back on our past. The CD included songs like “Deeper,” “History Maker,” and “Just Three Words” – songs we had listened to while growing up at Oneighty youth group in Tulsa. I had no clue where we were heading, but I was so amazed the whole time, feeling like a princess.

Before we arrived at the restaurant, Devon explained that it was an old 1920’s restored church, just like where we originally met (at church!). On our table, he had pre-arranged a collage for me – a painting on an easel with a faux newspaper story he wrote about our first time in the Philippines, and also a photo of us from our Cameroon trip.

Dinner was exquisite – seafood bisque for the appetizer, shrimp for my main course, and duck for Prince Devon. As he ordered dessert, Devon requested, “We’ll have the warm chocolate cake with the Morris special.”

“Hmmm…the Morris special?” I was a little suspicious. Was a ring going to be part of the dessert?

Dessert was presented, and all appeared to be normal. But as I tasted the ice cream on top, a familiar taste greeted my tongue. “Hmm…I wonder what kind of ice cream that is,” Devon said mischeviously.

I still didn’t get it.

“It’s ube!” He finally told me. He had driven all over Houston just to find this unique ice cream from the Philippines. Then he drove back to the restaurant to request that the pastry chef include it in our dessert! That’s my man – a man who would go to such great lengths just to put a smile on my face!

After dinner, we stepped back into the limo and Pepe told us we were now entering the ‘present zone.’ The limo pulled up to Path of Tea, a tea room I had been to about a year ago. There, he had pre-arranged for a cute outdoor table with a red tablecloth, an Asian candle set, and a frame with a photo of us in Houston and one of us in Tulsa. He also included a love note encouraging me to seek first God’s kingdom and to not be discouraged even though we are still presently in separate cities.

The final limo ride arrived, and Pepe told us we were entering the Future Zone! How exhilarating! What would happen next – where would the limo take us? I wondered. Just as I was musing as to the wheareabouts of our final destination, the limo driver gave it away – Hermann Park, one of my favorite spots in Houston!

We arrived and started strolling around the park. I noticed a firetruck parked in the park, but didn’t think much of it. As we were walking over a bridge, enjoying the cool, quiet evening, we suddenly heard a crowd cheering. Someone was celebrating their 50th anniversary on the other side of the pond. And serendipitously, directly over our heads, the skies erupted in a brilliant display of fireworks. It was so unexpected and so perfect!

Only God could have selected such an amazing addition to our engagement story! To me, fireworks have always symbolized the future. I could not have asked for a more perfect addition to that moment than the bright rainbow of lights cascading right before our eyes.

After the surprise fireworks show, Devon escorted me to a spot beside the pond and presented me with a leather journal. In it, he had written me a beautiful poem called “Diamond in the Rough.” At this point, I was expecting him to drop to one knee. But he didn’t! He was piquing my curiosity even more! That stinker! Instead, he pulled out his guitar and played me one song he wrote for me, as well as Ryan Adams’ “Desire,” and Jars of Clay “Worlds Apart.”

After he finished serenading me, he grabbed my hand and said, “I want to show you something.” At this point, I was starting to think that perhaps I wasn’t going to get a ring after all! But I was just delighted to be with Devon. He led me to the hill overlooking the Miller Outdoor Theater and much of the Houston Medical Center. On the way to the top, he told me how much he had liked me starting on our missions trip to the Philippines way back in 2000. I never could have guessed that God placed my future husband in my life by the time I was 15!

Once on the hilltop, we lay down and stared up at the vastness of the sky. Devon talked about how Houston was just a pinpoint in the huge world, and how God has destined us to go into all the world and preach His Gospel. Just seven months ago, Devon thought he might end up practicing in one of the medical buildings we were looking at. But because he was obedient to God’s will, God changed the course of his life and brought me back into his world.

Finally, we stood back up, and Devon dropped to one knee and sweetly asked (in French), “Veux-tu me puse?” I had never had anyone ask me that before, so to confirm, I asked, “What are you asking me?”

“Lindsay Goodier, will you marry me?”

“Yes! I don’t even need to see the ring! The answer is yes!”

We threw our arms around each other and we shared the sweetest embrace as he slipped onto my finger the gorgeous princess cut diamond with two trillian diamonds set in 14 carat white gold. We were so overjoyed that we spun around in circles like zealous little children until dizziness made us topple over.

This is only the beginning
Of this race running for His glory
Only one destination in mind
One cause that provokes us
Together, we are stronger.

Jay’s proposal 1

1. Interview box (Are you marginalized, are you outraged?)

2. I want to show how people feel about institutional structures that make them feel like they don’t belong, are disenchanted, or have been set back because of their disadvantages at navigating the school system. This won’t be a place for students to whine about their classes or how much work they have, but a forum for them to discuss and voice their issues of teachers’/ students’ ignorance, or ways that the school or the institution is corrupt or blind to the views of its marginalized students, teachers or faculty.

3. I want to show this video to a broad audience for people to be aware, both working and attending, at the school of the people around them. For those people who feel disadvantaged, to be empowered with the fact that they have others like them at the school. And for other students that fail to acknowledge their privilege, they should not take what they have for granted.

4. I want to shoot this video 1st person documentary style. Just one take. I want to build a interview box for and interviewer to sit at, provide questions, and to video tape the people giving their responses.

5. Disproportionality in education histories/ debates in higher ed. Readings, previous work, surveys, and demographics.

6. Then we take the video, edit it, and present it during a viewing event or play it on the available screens in the school (2 W 13th lobby, Aronson Gallery).

7. Get as many people as possible to work on this.

Jay’s Proposal 2

1. A Day to View

2. I want to create a video and go through a normal day or two of 3 or 4 (maybe one from each grade) different students at Parsons to show how strenuous it is to keep up with the workload.

3. I want the administration and other students or faculty to realize what its really like for a student who does not have the advantages like an allowance or a nice apartment in Manhattan to make it through the day with so much riding on them.

4. Just document, and maybe set up certain tasks, that absolutely need to be completed by the subject, but in order to make the point stronger. Like having the subject actually pay or not pay those bills that have been hanging over their head. Or have to go get that book that they’ve been holding off on because of the lack of money.
5. Research – Disproportionality in education histories/ debates in higher ed. Readings, previous work, surveys, and demographics.
6. We have a person in each grade in the class, but also maybe include some students that we know that would like to participate.

These could both be put together to make one video. Or possibly combined with Gene’s project. Tanya’s could be linked to the video as something on a website for the video. The website would catalog the different places we go day to day. Then people who log onto the site could also input their places and reviews. I think google maps has a embed function.

(CFD.net.au – Contract for Difference, Share, Forex, ETFs, Commodities Traders) – Suncorp-Metway Ltd has sold its Hooker Corporation Ltd real estate operation to the grandson of the founder of the business for $67 million in cash.

The business, which includes the LJ Hooker real estate franchise business and the LJ Hooker mortgage broking business, has been bought by Leslie Janusz Hooker, grandson of Sir Leslie Hooker.

Suncorp said it would reap $67 million in cash for the sale of 100 per cent of Hooker Corp and about $15 million in cash from pre-completion dividends, making a total of $82 million.

“Suncorp has received numerous approaches for LJ Hooker over the past few years but this proposal offered an attractive price for Suncorp shareholders as well as an excellent outcome for the LJ Hooker business and real estate network,” SuncorpGroup Executive for Strategy and Corporate Services Stuart McDonald said in a statement on Thursday.

“We, along with LJ Hooker management and franchisees, are particularly pleased that a member of the Hooker family is back leading the company, and are confident the business will continue to grow and develop under its new ownership.”

Mr Hooker said he planned to further develop the LJ Hooker business.

“It has long been an ambition of mine to reconnect with the business my grandfather founded and to be part of its future development and growth,” he said.

“Suncorp is to be commended for expanding the LJ Hooker network over the past decade, and I thank them for taking care of the business,” he added.

Mr Hooker said the expansion of the business will continue, especially in terms ofinternational representation.

LJ Hooker already has a growing presence in the Asia Pacific region and Mr Hooker cited his extensive business experience in Asia, especially China.

Suncorp said it would book a one-off accounting profit of about $50 million before tax in its 2009/10 first half results, due to the sale.

Suncorp had bought the business in 1989.

Source: Hooker Corp sold to founder's grandson

Most agents and publishers at some point during the submission process ask for a proposal. There are many books and articles out there that teach how to write a non-fiction proposal but very few about fiction proposals.

For the next few posts after Thanksgiving, I’ll cover different aspect of the fiction proposal. This post covers what should be in a proposal and how to format it. Different agents and editors require various things in their proposals. My recommendation is to write a full proposal. If you do this, you can delete certain parts not needed for your submissions, but you won’t have to rewrite a new proposal for each agent. Here’s what you should have in a full proposal.

Cover Page: The cover page should have your contact information and the title of your proposal. In the left hand header, have the contact info. Center the title in the middle of the page. Here’s an example.

TITLE

A Proposal by Name

Genre

Word Count of Entire Manuscript

Sell Sheet: On the second page, you should start page numbers in the right hand corner. The second page is a sell sheet. I’ll talk about what a sell sheet is later. Here’s what’s included in the sell sheet.

• Promo Sentence Sales Handle
• Back Cover Promotion
• Genre
• Word Length
• Series (if applicable)
• Purpose or Spiritual Premise
• History of the Manuscript

Synopsis: Next is the synopsis. Remember to have a three page and a one page synopsis available. For more about the synopsis, click here.

Biography Page: The biography page includes a biographical sketch and past publications.

Marketing Page: The marketing page includes market analysis, similar books, and what you, the author intend to do to market your book.

Sample Pages: Normally sample pages are asked to be included in a proposal. You can tack these onto the end of the proposal. Include another cover page telling the title, how many pages or chapters are included, and your name centered on the page. There’s no need to include contact info on this page because you have it at the beginning of your proposal.

After you write a full proposal, you can tweak it for each publisher or agent’s submission guidelines.

Today there are many instances where people take things that happen on the Internet, radio or television a little bit too far, and it starts to effect life in “the real world”. I’m told it is this magical place where people interact on a human level, completely devoid of technology. Hmm, if only.

One such example involves something I have already blogged a little bit too much about, Tumblr. I only bring it up again because yesterday, someone proposed, via Tumblr. Yes, PROPOSED. Their proposal was posted in banner form above the Tumblr log-in where every user could see it. I snapped a photo for your viewing pleasure.

There were many, many posts about this on Tumblr after it happened. And just as many people found it adorable as found it atrocious. Propose over the Internet? What kind of memory of the proposal does that leave you with? How will you describe it to your Grandkids? They probably won’t even know what a Tumblr is. And I must say, I agree. While I give this dude points for being creative, it is a little creepy to propose over the Internet.

Secondly, I wanted to discuss an article I found in The New York Times the other day about the advertising company McCann Erickson. This real-life company has been name dropped on the hit AMC show Mad Men and, SPOILER ALERT: in the season finale last week, the fictional advertising company in the show, Sterling Cooper, is revealed to have been bought out by McCann, against the will of Sterling Cooper’s employees. And thus, for this week only, McCann’s website features an intro with the show’s characters talking about the merger and then is concluded with a banner reading “Welcome, Sterling Cooper.” Check it out now, it is only up on the site for a week!

I find this kind of integration of television to a real world company a bit more understandable than the Internet proposal, almost cute and kitschy in a way, as if to say, “Yes, we can have a good time and poke a little fun at ourselves and the TV show we have been mentioned on,” but it still doesn’t completely fit this serious advertiser’s model. What about clients who don’t watch the show and see it? Won’t this just seem a bit out of place? Does this kind of media placement mean we should all be paying a lot more attention to hit TV so we can feel more in the loop, more than we already do, when even advertising company conglomerates are using it regularly? Hmm.