Earlier, I featured at the Art Amok Slam held in Atlanta’s Urban Grind Coffeehouse.  Before my feature, I acted as the scorekeeper/timekeeper for the slam and the slam was excellent, from the performance aspect and the content aspect.  After the first round, I launched into my set.

1. Would You Like To Take A Survey?

2. Upon Seeing Your Profile On MySpace

3. Check Yes

4. Reciprocation

5. Taking Civil Liberties

6. You + Me = Awwwww Yeah

7. Do What You Want Me To Do

8. These Are Vows

9. A Letter From The Department of Health

The audience was incredibly receptive to my special brand of fuckedupness.  It was a great first out-of-state feature and I’m tremendously honored I got to do it here.

After the slam, Karen G. (the Slam Mam), Darnell, Daniel, AP, Chauncy, F.R.E.E., Curly (and a couple other names that escape me at the moment) and I went to this Chinese place called Golden Buddha.  I never had vegetarian sweet & sour pork before but now I see the awesomeness of it and am glad to have experienced it.  Tomorrow, Karen G. and I will hang out in various cool spots in Atlanta.  Sunday, I will feature at Java Monkey then make my long return trip home.

Finally, I took part in a special collaboration for the thirtieth issue of Danse Macabre called “Unsere Winterreise”.  You can check it out here.

It’s about time I posted something up here.
Ideally, you are currently thinking something along the lines of:
‘So Josh, how did that 48 hour film competition go? That one that you posted about once but then never mentioned again?’

Well.

Andy McPhee (Wolf Creek, December Boys, briefly on Rush, Underbelly, Neighbours), won best actor for his work in our film.
And also I won best cinematography — that’s $3freaking000 dollars of equipment hire from Panavision. Brilliant. Awesome. Great. So now.. what do we (Emma, Stevie, and myself) do with $3000 from panavision? Whatever we end up doing, it had better be damned good to warrant the spending of actual money. (well.. prize money.)

I’ll get to writing up a Panavision shopping list soon enough, I assure you. But for now, I want to discuss the 48Hour Film Project, and why we won, cinematography-wise.

You’ve got 48 hours. 36 teams enter the competition and compete against you. 28 teams succeed in entering their films within 48 hours. Of these 28 films, one wins best cinematography, and it’s ours (‘Mistaken’). Is it because I’m a decent aspiring DoP? In part, I’d like to think so. But ultimately, it came down to the imaginativeness of Stevie’s script, and the great locations that Emma found for us… I’ve never appreciated the importance of location as much as I do now.

After watching 27 other films created in 48 hours, you start to see patterns.. common pitfalls.. and yea. Let’s face it. The 48 Hour Film Project is going to attract a lot of people who do not like planning. They want to be ’spontaneous’, and ‘versatile’… ‘edgy’.. so what do they do? They shoot outdoors, with a small crew, in the bush. Or.. they shoot outdoors, with a small crew, down the street outside their house. They’re all using small/edgy/versatile Z1p-style cameras and haven’t figured out how to switch off the auto-gain, so the exposure is going all over the place. Lighting continuity varies hugely from shot to shot, and the sound’s wrecked by wind and traffic and whatever else. This whole ‘natural light, raw edgy realism in the bush’ thing killed a large number of films. There were a few nice shots, but none of it gelled together and some sequences were so horribly overexposed I’m not sure how they let it happen.
So yea. Natural light.. I’m not a fan.
Also, far too much wide coverage. That was irritating in several films. Granted, you’re shooting handheld and don’t want to exacerbate the shakiness.. but you’re shooting DV, and DV doesn’t like wide shots, especially not wide shots of the bush with huge variations in contrast and dynamic range. You distance the audience, correctly exposing becomes more difficult, your boom operator wants to kill you and you really don’t have enough pixels to properly capture so much detail in a bush environment. I know, it’s not impossible to do, but it wrecked many films. Seeing them blown up at ACMI cinemas really demonstrated the limits of shooting DV PAL.
And finally, so many stories just weren’t.. visually interesting. I know, visuals aren’t everything, and you’ve only got 48 hours so you should be concentrating on clever screenplays and general wittiness. But where’s the visual flare? If I had one of these other scripts to work with, I think it would’ve been hard to find aesthetically strong ways of telling the story, because some of these scripts just weren’t that kind of story. That’s why I’m thankful that Stevie’s script involved poledancing, bikers, satanic voodoo pimps and a massive revolver. There was so much to work with, especially given our locations. The strip club was lurid, every wall was a mirror and there were colourful lights everywhere.. blend all that together with a shallow focus and you’ve got lots of visual interest. And then there was the church with a massive fluorescent cross and the huge brick walls to paint shadows over. You just can’t make these sorts of shots work in a small cluttered loungeroom with white walls and a dying couch. You’ve got to get out of the house and go somewhere different.

So.. it all makes sense. We had an ‘unreal’ script that took place in visually interesting environments, also allowing us a great degree of control with our lighting setups. By contrast other groups wouldn’t have had lighting gear at all. Hence shooting out in the bush under the harsh november sun makes sense.

What I’m saying I guess is that it feels cheap, in some ways, to say “I won best cinematography!”, when so much of it comes down to these other factors. I knew how to work the DSR, I knew how I wanted to light the scene, I knew how to get a shallow focus.. but really, I got the award because of what we had to work with. Visually interesting places and characters, proper film lighting equipment and a shiny metal revolver.

Think back to ‘Silver Lining’, the film I shot with Elliot. Same camera, same lights, same DoP. Why does it look so bland? Because we shot it underground in RMIT, in front of a white wall with a makeshift ‘desk’, and it was meant to be a plumbing supply store. There was something.. NQR about the look of that film, and I think it’s simply the fact that we shot it in such an unconvincing, plain location. So for next year, in all future projects, it’s burnt into my brain.. the technical operation of lights and camera mean nothing if you’re not shooting in a good space with a good script and a damned good art department.

Robin Goodfellow has provided an example of self-assessment from H808. It looks perfectly reasonable to me.

It clearly states what he is rating and how he rates himself. He then provides evidence and links it to the H808 competency/understanding/development grid. Finally he provides an argument for why the claims are justified.

If this is what is required of us for our portfolio, I think I’d be fairly happy with it, although it does seem like quite a lot of work.

1. If your sales, excluding VAT, are less than £150,000 per annum, have you considered switching to the flat rate VAT accounting scheme? Tip: Not only could this system be simpler to administer, but it could also result in you paying less VAT. It could also cost you more, so professional advice is essential.

2.Do you always time the payment of dividends and bonuses so that they fall in the ‘right’ tax year for you? Tip: The timing of dividends and bonuses can have a big effect on how much tax you pay on them – and when it must be paid.

3.Do you fully understand how to calculate the tax value of benefits in kind? Tip: As an employer, it is your responsibility to calculate these tax values and include them on your employees’ P11D’s. Be careful, though – you can face a fine of £3,000 each P11D you fill out incorrectly.

4.Have you looked into whether it is possible to cut costs and improve cash flow by paying your PAYE and NIC quarterly instead of monthly? Tip: This is possible if your average monthly PAYE and NIC payments are less than £1,500.

5.Are you aware that each of your children can earn up to £6,435 a year as income, and £10,100 a year in capital gains – completely tax & NI free? Tip: Grandparents can be the key here, since it is not as simple as a parent putting money into their children’s names. Once again, you will need professional advice.

6.If your spouse pays a lower tax rate than you, have you considered passing some of your investments to them in order to reduce your combined tax bills?

If you answered no to any question, or you would like more information or advice about tax breaks, please visit our website or email us at mail@keepers.info

So, several days later than planned, it’s results day.

On the Cooper Test I produced a reasonably respectable 2680m, which translates to a VO2 max of either 48.6 or 41.6, depending on which formula you use.  I’m going with the lower of the two measurements, as according to Top End Sports, that puts me at about average, which would make sense.  I’m not super fit, but I’m not totally unfit either.  It equates to a bleep test score of about 10-6, which is lower than I expected, but not as low as I feared.  Hopefully it can be improved a fair amount within a reasonable length of time.  That’s certainly my expectation.

Moving on to the Home Fitness Tests of Top End Sports.  The results are below:

• Press ups – 56 (Excellent)
• Sit ups – 60 (Excellent)
• Squats – 75 (Excellent)
• Sit and Reach – -1″ (Below Average)
• Steps – End heart rate 92bpm (Above Average)
• Vertical jump – 12.5″ (Below Average)

The conclusions from this are slightly misleading.  You’d think from reading this that I have an awesome upper body and rather rubbish legs.  Only the second part of this is true.  Although I can do a lot of press ups and sit ups, both of these exercises involve lifting your own body weight.  I don’t have all that much body weight to lift.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad (and surprised) that I can do that many, but I don’t rate the achievement as excellent.  I’d say that 70+ press ups is closer to excellent than 56, especially for someone of my bodyweight (~75kg).

The lower end of the body is in a worse state.  75 squats is deceptive (see the previous comments on bodyweight).  Far more revealing is the 12.5″ Vertical jump.  The boundary for poor is 12″.  So my explosive power is conspicuous by its absence.  It’s a problem I first became aware of during my very brief military career.  Anything requiring power in the legs (sprinting, yomping up big hills, fireman’s carries), was a massive issue, generally leading to abject failure and mockery/vitriolic abuse from NCO’s.

The Steps test is a (very) basic measure of aerobic capacity/fitness.  Again, it tallies quite well with the Cooper test.  Not bad, but not great.

So that’s where I am.  The trick will be to see where I can get to.  Or maybe more importantly, where I’d like to get to.

Do you know what I’m not good at? Making decisions. Well. Making good decisions, anyway. Ever. Give me two options and I’ll pick the stupid one. I could get a reasonable night’s sleep – or I could stay up late and be knackered and irritable tomorrow. I could cook real actual food, or I could have a sammich. Or biscuits. Or subsist purely on haribo. I am not what I would describe as a wise person. By any stretch of the imagination. But questionable nutritional choices and exotic sleep patterns aside, if I’m quite honest, I can recall scores of pretty terrible bigger decisions which have had wider repercussions and lead to quite epic quantities of fail in life more generally. In fact anyone with whom I share even the briefest of acquaintances with will probably be able to reel off a fair sized list.

Bob here, sometime companion of Dilbert, is not really about the decisions. He is what is known in the trade as a tool. Arguably worse than failing to make good decisions, he pretty much fails to make any decisions at all. Ok, here he seems to have chosen to eat his Blackberry all of his own accord but that’s not exactly a moment of triumph. Usually he plays the role of dumb henchman quite excellently with a dedication to passively carrying out orders. I almost started to attempt to justify him by suggesting that being somewhat lacking in initiative is not an actively bad thing in itself – however, there are definite grounds for arguing that following other people’s bad decisions is an equally tragic decision failure on your part also: you are complicit in their jackassery.

In some respects I guess I could substitute myself in the place of the bad decision dinosaur right here. Not an avid reader of cat and girl, perhaps I should refrain from passing judgement too harshly on the poor chap but nonetheless he makes my point. I’d be the one who says, “Sure, Boney, you can take Russia” and “I believe it is peace for our time“. Oh yes, that’s me – devoid of perception and lacking in foresight and better judgement. However, I would even go as far as saying that often the issue can not be put down to lacking foresight. I can recall plenty of instances whereupon I have been in such a position as to accurately perceive the consequences of my actions, judge them as undesirable and yet still persist to make decisions which ultimately secure these ends. I mean, nice going right there. Surely that requires a special kind of stupid? Or is it uglier things like indiscipline or plain old weakness of character? Perhaps it is a similar character flaw to following the bad decisions of others as well. Perhaps Bob and the BDD aren’t too different afterall.

Slightly more generously, perhaps I might even be favourably compared with another prehistoric patriarch of webcomic stardom – namely T-Rex of dinosaur comics. He’s naïve and boisterous, occasionally witty and sometimes even quite sweet. Often his ever present companions foil his ever more ludicrous schemes but generally he learns some form of life lesson from his musings and dialogue within those six strikingly similar boxes.

I guess my point is that although undeniably loveable the best thing you can say about these guys is that they are stupid rather than malicious (perhpas in contrast to the dinosaurs found here). They don’t intentionally harm anyone but often manage to in the course of their generally self interested (…if that) existence. That is the category in which I would like to place myself, the box I want to tick: my plea against the charges of ill treating those around me. I might be lacking in initiative, sensitivity or consideration but I am not malicious.

I had almost settled with that position. But you know what? It’s not good enough. It’s not enough to say, “Well, I meant to look out for ice bergs…” or at least, “well I had nothing against the guy I ran over, it’s not like I meant to kill him – I just needed take a call” – sometimes one has to take an active interest in specifically avoiding the bad stuff [Edit: contrast to my last post much?] rather than simply deciding not to aim straight for them. If we’re heading for problems because they seem to be the default then observing this and failing to change course has to be a problem in itself. The reason why any of this came to mind is that earlier I made a very small decision. I believe it was perceived as rudeness and I probably came out of the situation looking like the bad guy – but knowing that the alternative was all different kinds of ugly for everyone involved, to allow that to happen has to be seen as worse. I’ve got it wrong before. I got it right today.

Earlier, I performed “How Esmeralda Estrus Got Her Revenge” in its entirety in front of an audience for the first time.  Despite not having the full thing memorized and mapped out, it was very well received.  After the performance, I was exhausted in an incredibly beautiful, fulfilling way, almost to the point I wanted to break down.  After Dodging Traffic calms down a little, my focus will be to get this in a theatre either as one-man show or at the 2011 Orlando International Fringe Festival.  For those who came to see it, thank you.  For those who did not, you don’t know what you missed.  Happy Thanksgiving.

The following message was sent to the participants of the  75 Days of Action Challenge on Facebook.

————————————————————————————————————–

Hi there – late, I know.

It’s been such a wonderful day of giving…this time of year is particularly wonderful. Wouldn’t it be great to be thankful all through the year though? (Thanksgiving here in the US on Thursday)

…Anyway… by the nature of the responses to yesterday’s message, I am suggesting we linger here for awhile. It seemed to strike a nerve of some sort, for some.

So for today:

1)   Please consider and reflect upon Day 12’s message.
2)   Do your daily activities…as usual.
3)   Spend 5 minutes alone, be still and breathe deeply (using diaphragm) five times. Here’s a helpful article on proper breathing at ehow.com ►http://bit.ly/4mHVSh

Celebrate your unique and magnificent self!

And, as one of our members – Marguerite Orane – would say…laugh, just laugh! A lot!

That combined with some good breathing will do wonders for your heart, health and happiness.

Be well!
Julette Millien
♥~

Though there is not a lot of cold weather in Florida, I’ve stumbled onto some albums that are perfect for those who live in a place that has more than two seasons (hot and not so hot).

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago: This is a no-brainer since the band’s name translates to Good Winter.  It’s a haunting, beautiful album that you should listen from front to back.

Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism: No matter what these guys make, Transatlanticism will always been their magnum opus.  Hearing the title song live punches you in the stomach then asks for make up sex with your tearducts.

Counting Crows – August and Everything After: This is a band that peaked with their first album then went to utter hell (except for “Long December”).  However, this is another perfect album that needs to be listened to from front to back (yes, even “Mr. Jones”)

The Cure – Disintergration: Yeah I went there.  Yeah, if you don’t feel anything after listening to it, you have no soul.

The Twilight Singers – Twilight As Played By The Twilight Singers: Greg Dulli is one interesting guy.  On one hand, he’s really obsessed with being a lothario and a private detective.  On the other hand, he’s crafted some compelling music with three different bands (The Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers, and The Gutter Twins).  This is another beautiful album that would go well with dying leaves or six inches of snow.

Antony & The Johnsons – I Am A Bird: Listen to it.  Trust me.

Other than holiday music, what is your soundtrack to the decaying fall and unforgiving winter?

1. When an organizer  doesn’t release the names of the readers at an event until four days before the event takes place.

2. When an organizer doesn’t try corralling people to come see you read when it’s your time to perform.

3. People molest your books, smile when they read the poems, and yet don’t buy a copy.

4. When the venue warns you it’s a bad idea to do a poetry show at that time of night on a Saturday and you try any way.

5. When an organizer is surprised a handful of people show up at your event despite a football game.

What I’ve learned:

1. You should be at a bookfair as a featured author not a vendor if you want to sell your books.

2. Listen to a venue’s recommendation about why you shouldn’t be there.

3. Avoid Sundays unless the venue has a poetry event that day that has a consistent following.

4. Book features at structured events only.

5. Unless you know the promoter, treat them like they don’t know what they’re doing and flyer the living hell out of a city before you go on.

St. Pete, I come for you next.  I know we are going to get along very well.

paper on ‘modernising assessment in the age of web 2.0′ by Bobby Elliot of the Scottish Communications Authority

most of the points/ideas have nothing to do specifically with a web 2.0 environment, and are simply sound contemporary pedagogical practice

Berapa jauh lagi langkah Anda menuju standar?

Dengan tool ini, Anda menilai sejauh mana perusahaan Anda sudah menerapkan prinsip-prinsip Food Safety Management System berdasarkan standar ISO 22000:2005. Tool ini berisi seperangkat pertanyaan yang akan Anda jawab berdasarkan kondisi perusahaan Anda. Hasil dari assessment ini disajikan dalam bentuk persentase pemenuhan setiap klausul ISO 22000:2005. Selain itu hasil ini juga digambarkan dalam bentuk grafik sehingga memudahkan Anda untuk menilai area-area mana yang harus Anda improve untuk memenuhi persyaratan Standar ISO 22000:2005.

This is just a quick post to tell you a little bit about ourselves. Ever since Keepers Accountancy started in 1989, our philosophy has always been closely aligned to this Chinese proverb:

“A man without a smiling face

should not open a shop”

We enjoy what we do, the businesses we meet, the help we

give and the people involved.

Our job is to show you all the great things that we can do for you and your business – to help it grow, help you enjoy it more, and spend less time working and more time with your family and friends.

We are committed to changing the way that small businesses work so that the UK’s owner-managed businesses are much more successful and much more fun.

We believe that we provide businesses and individuals with sound advice in the most professional and friendly manner. We pride ourselves on the fact that we operate the most professional, approachable and friendly practice you will ever encounter and always relish the opportunity to show this to new clients.

We have just branched out into social media, using blogs, Twitter and Facebook to get our name and brand recognized, so sorry for any beginners mistakes !!

We have many goals, but our main one is that we want to bring back the customer service into Accountancy, which, apart from us, has been missing for far too long. By customer service, I mean being proactive for the client. This would include highlighting parts of your business that are profitable, and other parts which may not be as profitable.

Some of our other goals include;

Aim to complete the work within four weeks.

Reply to every telephone message the sane day – usually within 90 mins.

Reply to every letter we receive, on the day.

Maintain the highest possible standards of integrity, honesty, professionalism and confidentiality, which you have a right to expect.

Refer our contacts to you, where we feel they will benefit from your services, and vice-versa.

Do what we say we are going to do, when we say we are going to do it.

Before I say goodbye, what goals would you like to see included in your Accountancy company?

Thank you for reading, come back soon for the next post !!

This sunday being the last session of the campaign, we had decided that today we will not `try` to teach anything to the kids, and let them have fun ( i mean, more fun!!! ), and we would do some self assessment  by meeting the parents.

It was the usual scenario, with kids waiting to be escorted to the class!! . When we declared that we wont be learning anything today, and just watch some cartoons, as this was the last session, it was a pleasant surprise for us when all kids in unison said that they want us to continue!! told them we are giving them a vacation of one month, which they didnt want!!! ( first question cleared in the self assessment!!! )

Began with the prayer, and then put in the cd of jungle book. it was little disappointing to see that none of kids knew about this series, but they seem to like it when it started. many of the kids were amused by the lyrics of  the song… `chhadi pehen ke phool khila hai`…slowly we all got engrossed in the animated movie, with some interruptions from  few kids. when everyone seemed to be quite and enjoying, and as the movie was of one hour, we thought it will be sufficient time for us to meet the parents.we went out to their homes, entrusting the handling of kids to the owner of the house.

The parents were hesitant initially to come out and talk to us, but later on some of them talked  with us freely sharing their thoughts. Out of courtesy, they said that they did find some change in the kids!! ( actually, it was the way i asked, that they had to answer in positive!!! self- assessment is always biased, isnt it ??!!! ) But at the same time, one of them informed us that though most of the kids go to the school, they hardly know anything, even after reaching standard 5 in school. It was disheartening to know that ( actually knew about functional illeteracy  since long, but heard it first hand for the first time)but at the same time made us resolve in our minds that we will atleast try to do something about it.As we were talking with the parents, we were surprised to see many kids had come out of class, and realised our mistake of leaving them on their own!! ( proved that we have yet not learned enough in last 3 months!!! )

so we were back in the class. they wanted to see something new, which unfortunately we didnt have. so made them sing and dance instead.and this time two boys sang and danced!! it was a song about calling lord krishna to their house, giving him the attraction of good food, `maakhan`, and of gopis and radha for playing  raas !!! it was very well done!! enjoyed it a lot!!

and now it was turn of girls!! and for the first time in these 3 months, boys and girls performed together!! they enacted a play based again on lord krishna. It was a nice play about sudaama`s and krishna`s friendship!! and they knew the moral of the story too!! friendship has no boundaries of anykind whatsoever!!

And now it was already time to say good bye!! as promised to kids, we had made a cd compiling of what we had taught them till now, and the panchtantra tales, and gave them one each, and they promised that they will revise everything along with the panchtantra tales!!

The result of self assessment was out!! and we realised that nothing much has been done on actual studying level, but a strong bond has developed between kids and us, and atleast they have come out with the desire to learn!!

To sum-up, i would put it in this way– we have learned to stand up on our feet  with support ( of CEE and TOI ). and now its time to begin to take our baby steps!!! .. the beginning of long enjoyable journey…

This is a media course. TV2. Sometimes I forget to look at it this way, to consider what the course is doing to me, how it changes my brain from semester to semester. So I’ll look at it now.

TV1 and TV2 have been by far the best courses on offer in this degree. The most relevant, the most engaging, the most rewarding. And it has nothing to do with lecture content, or selected readings in the dossier. It’s just a framework. TV1 and TV2 are structures that force you through the production process, force you to grow and meet people, force you to ‘know your stuff’ or learn the hard way. The most important part of the course is the final due date. It may sound ridiculous, but these courses are catalysts, the due dates are catalysts. And during the last two semesters, I do feel that my production knowledge has grown exponentially. We’re not spoon-fed. We get the basics of production locked down, and from there it’s only a matter of choice, a matter of how much further you’re prepared to go. Then the course itself becomes more about ideas, pacing, narrative, structure, characters, those elusive elements that are difficult pin down and talk about in concrete terms. That’s where the course gives us guidance. It gives us creative fuel, creative feedback and assistance. And that’s great. Anyone can find technical information online if they want it. It’s the creative direction that’s difficult to develop, that sense of knowing what feels “right” after you’ve been numbed by hours upon hours in the edit suites. That’s where this course helps.

Still, after attending the screening, I do feel that just a slight increase in our technical schooling would have saved so many films, made them so much better. RTN monitoring.. configuring levels on the wireless lapels, the apparent discrepancy between slate levels and actual dialogue levels when monitored on the camera, turning off the auto-gain on the Z1p, recording both mixer channels on the Z1p… all of these things are easy to mess up, to forget. It’s difficult, striking a balance between the conceptual and technical elements of production. I’m not blaming the course, that would be utterly stupid. But sometimes, sitting in the lecture theatre, I do get this hunger for some horrific blast of technical information to take onboard, and I wonder if maybe the technical briefings need to be slightly more indepth. I always need to know why I should monitor via RTN, or why I should export the widescreen project as 4:3, or why I shouldn’t draw more than 2400W from a household circuit, etc. Without knowing exactly why it’s necessary, I’ll forget it. Probably that’s just me. I’d like a bit more of that in lectures. But at the same time, I know I can just buy more production books over the holidays and learn everything to the nth degree.. so why have technical lectures? It’s true. It’s fair enough. Tech knowledge is easy to acquire and goes out of date. Conceptualising.. that’s where the party’s at.

Anyway. TV2, specifically, has opened my eyes as to how strong a documentary can be. You’re watching real people. In essence, that’s the appeal. That’s where “Beyond Explanation” works.. Gitta’s so powerful to watch, and I don’t think it’d be possible for an actor to recreate what Gitta gives us. It does scare me a bit.. how can anything fictional be as strong? How can I go into PP2 knowing that whatever I end up making, it will fail to be as compelling as Gitta, because she’s real. I’ll have to go back to silly little films with gags and comical characters.. and after TV2, that does seem a bit small, a bit depressing. But I’m not a documentary person.. it was a great experience this semester, but it’s not where I want to end up. I want to construct something visually powerful. I was lucky enough to get a chance to construct something visually this semester.. but I don’t think I’d be afforded this luxury in most docos. You go there.. you shoot it. That’s how it was, that’s how it will be. Simple. You might move a prac light, or shift the flowers a bit further into frame.. but that’s the extent of your “construction”. And I don’t like that idea. It’s real.. it’s more honest. But I’d take “aesthetically pleasing” over “honest” most of the time, I must confess.

I must wrap this up. This is meant to be an ‘overview’.. hmm. Well. In summation, TV1 and TV2 are great courses. I’ve gotten a taste of both fiction and documentary. I feel comfortable on set, in various roles. I’ve had great guidance from Paul. And this semester especially, I’ve had the chance to work in a great production group with driven, enthusiastic and creative people. I’m just worried about how next year will measure up. It’s going to be difficult to top 2009.

Position your Company for Success: 5-part Series.
Part 1: Self-Assessment
 
By Adam Mauldin

 
When thinking about owning and operating your own business, it is popular to think of the successful shop serving goods that everyone wants. People crowding the aisles clamoring for more of your products, and difficulty keeping enough inventory on the shelves. The register filled with cash and customers throwing money at you. It’s a pleasure to balance your books and you are more successful than you ever thought possible. Business is good and you are good at it!
 
Ah, what a great daydream! Now, how to turn those dreams into reality? This first installment of the five part series, “Position Your Company for Success,” focuses on self-assessment.  Ask yourself these questions and know the answers before you design the letter head for your new company or sign a lease for your business location.
 
·         Why do you want to own a business?
·         What are your personal traits?
·         Can you handle stress?
·         Do you mind working alone?
 
In order to decide whether or not going into business for yourself is a good idea, know your personality, goals, competencies, and values. If your business ideas are at odds with your competencies, goals, and values, you might discover great difficulty in positioning your company for success.  You may decide that you are determined, extroverted, and energetic.  Or, you might find that you cave under pressure, are introverted, and tire easily.  Whatever the responses, you must be truthful with yourself and know who you are.  After answering the questions above, you can continue your self-assessment by reading the chapter, “Assessing Your Entrepreneurial Profile: Do You Have What It Takes?” in the book, The Ultimate Small Business Guide. A Resource for Startups and Growing Businesses.  
 
Are you in it for the money? If starting your own business is to get rich quick, small business ownership may not be the path for you.  Monetary gains do not grant satisfaction, but rather can only make a person dissatisfied, according to Frederick Herzberg who proposed the Dual Structure Theory of Motivation in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.  In other words, if you hate your job and suddenly get a raise and are now paid well for this job, you will not like the job, but you will tolerate it. 
 
Common personality traits of successful entrepreneurs, according to The Ultimate Small Business Guide, are:
 
·         Extroverted and confident
·         Able to communicate effectively
·         Sociable and able to lead
·         Able to handle failure
·         Creative and Imaginative
·         Hardworking, committed, and determined
·         Individualist
 
Although, these traits are not necessarily indicative of success, they are common among successful business owners. If your personality differs a bit, don’t worry. What is important is that you know who you are; every strength and weakness, and can learn how to compensate for these weaknesses. 
Through the course of the self assessment, find your competencies – the things you’re good at. This may include experience that you have had related to the field or industry you want to enter, education, and life experiences. You do not have to have technical expertise in the area that you wish to do business in because the technical aspects of creating a good or service, and the business aspects of providing the good or service are not one in the same.  However, it never hurts to know the processes associated with the creation of your good or service.
 
Diving into the world of small business is frightening and can be humbling. But, it’s important that you don’t lose the dream!  The dream is the reason you’re reading this series and why you have begun to research ways in which you can reach success in business ownership. However, it is important that you complete your research and proceed with caution before you commit large amounts of capital to your idea. If you do not thoroughly analyze yourself and your idea in the planning stages or your business, then your dream of owning your own business can quickly become a nightmare. And, if you decide after completing a self-assessment that owning a small business is not for you, then you haven’t lost any money. If anything, you have learned a bit about yourself and will be better off for it.
 
Personality Quizzes:
Entrepreneurial Personality Test - 60 questions, 15 – 20 minutes
Is Entrepreneurship for Me? - short quiz for surface analysis
Deciding Which Assessments are Right for You – learn about the different asssessments available, and decide which one is right for you.
 
Helpful Websites:
Small Business Administration: www.SBA.gov
Service Corps of Retired Executives: www.SCORE.org
U.S. Chamber of Commerce: www.USChamber.com
 
Works Cited:
Hingston, Peter. Starting Your Business (Small Business Guides). New York: DK ADULT, 2001. Print.
 
Publishing, Perseus. The Ultimate Small Business Guide. A Resource for Startups and Growing Businesses (Ultimate Business Library). New York: Basic Books, 2004. Print.

Last Saturday, I was one of two poets at the 7 Deadly Sins show at The Cameo Theatre and I had a blast.  I performed three sets and here are the poems, all of which are in Dodging Traffic.

Set 1 – Tailor Made

Set 2 – You + Me = Awwwww Yeah, Taking Civil Liberties

Set 3 – Reciprocation, Upon Seeing Your Profile On MySpace, Check Yes

The first set was early so the crowd wasn’t quite drunk, engaged enough for me to do anything sinful.  The second set, people were into the show more so I was able to engage them more and do some of my raunchier work.   The last set, I decided there needed to be some wrath with lust at the end.  Overall, I was well received and thanks to Jamesson Beane, met some new movers & shakers in the scene.

Sidebar: Originally I was going to do Archeology in my set but at the rehearsal, I saw one of the models covering her ears and I thought “do I really want to make people feel uncomfortable”.  As it turns out, the model was uncomfortable because she was sitting next to her mom when I performed it (the model is 17) and she actually told her friends about it as a reason why to come and support.  Oops.

Next was my book signing and as it turns out, I had one of those Spinal Tap moments (Flight of the Conchords for those who have not seen This Is Spinal Tap).  Other than my wife and a friend, no one came.  I have some theories on why:

1. The time frame, 12 pm, was far too early for anyone hungover to come in for a book signing.  I noticed that when I packed up my stuff and left, foot traffic increased tremendously.

2. The location of the store is challenging.  Parking is not easily accessible unless you want to pay a hefty fee or you score a distant, empty metered space.

3. As my wife pointed out, people don’t go to book signings.  If I advertised it as a performance and book signing, I would have attracted more attention and thus wouldn’t have been surfing the web for two hours surrounded by copies of my book.

It is a combination of all of these things I think were factors in why my book signing wasn’t attended.

Was I disappointed?  Sure.  Am I over it.  Totally.  I love being able to say that I had a book signing that no one came to – I didn’t have that kind of problem last year and frankly, it’s a cool kind of problem to have.

Next is New Orleans.  I found out I will be performing during the afternoon at the Apple Barrel (609 Frenchmen St – New Orleans, LA
(504) 949-9399) around 12:20 pm on November 7 as part of the 8th Annual New Orleans Bookfair and I have my two other shows as well (one at Neutral Ground later that night and then The Zeitgeist on Sunday).  I’m really excited and hope to rock many faces off.

Screening’s tomorrow. Today’s like christmas eve. I want to see everyone’s work. If it’s like last time, I’ll be surprised, in a good way. It’s easy to get wrapped up in your own project and assume that no one else is working as hard as you. Obviously that’s not the case, and I think that the screening is one of the most educational parts of this whole course. You get to see what other people did with similar subjects, what sorts of documentary styles proliferate.. and I think you really get a better sense of why a film works or why it does not. You watch so many films, and you start to find patterns — the best docos had certain common elements.. or the bland docos were unengaging because of the following… etc.

How do I think our film (now titled Beyond Explanation — look out for it) will stack up? I think our approach will be refreshingly different. I can’t really say anything without watching many of the other docos, but I think that ours will be more.. ‘atmospheric’. Rather than create an informative documentary on a certain topic, we’re dealing with personal stories and personal belief systems, in an abstract, fairly eclectic sort of way. Yes, it’s constructed, it’s contrived, it doesn’t look “real” as such. But I do think we’ve constructed something that augments Gitta’s real story. Rather than heading out into “the real world” to get the inside scoop on something, we retreated into darkness.. into quiet, controlled environments where we could set up lights and project imagery. It’s not “raw” or “edgy” or “down to earth”, but it has allowed us to create something that’s visually polished and aesthetically charged. It’s less about “truth”, or about learning anything particular.. and it’s more subjective. Some parts of it are polarising — you’re either captivated, or you dismiss them as contrived or unnecessary. I’m fine with that. Strong reactions are better than no reactions, I feel. Last semester’s film (Straight to Video) technically worked.. it was well executed, but it lacked guts. It wasn’t daring.. we were afraid to take a specific direction.. was it drama? action? comedy? You get what I mean. I’m immensely pleased that this semester, I’ve been able to work on something that has some definite affect. No matter what you think of our visual style, Gitta’s a very captivating person to listen to, and to watch, I’d argue.

So yes. I’m pleased. Maybe even “proud”. But pride’s dangerous in this industry. If you’re proud, you’re content, and at risk of becoming complacent. But at the same time, you need a sense of confidence, a sense that you know what you’re doing, that your production is actually worth something. Without that, you have no drive to continue. And that’s pride.

Whatever. This post is devolving into a semantic debate. We’ll just see what happens at the screening. That’s the only thing that counts.

Que este blog transcende a perspectiva do mero ceticismo para o âmbito da auditoria e da investigação de fraudes, isso já deve ter ficado notório aos leitores.

Ademais, um dos objetivos aqui é mostrar práticas de auditoria para que os religiosos possam AUDITAR os argumentos apresentados pelos neo-ateus, e então apresentem refutações estruturadas destes.

Mas o foco deste post é outro: é buscar olhar um pouco para nós mesmos.

E mostrar como a aplicação de uma “pré-auditoria” pode ser útil até internamente. Isso significa que o teísta poderá investigar os seus próprios argumentos a serem apresentados, ANTES que os argumentos sejam publicados ou divulgados.

É o princípio do self-assessment, também utilizado (muito) nas organizações.

Nas empresas, o self-assessment se baseia em uma revisão compreensível e sistemática das atividades da organização, e seus resultados, em comparação com um modelo de excelência (para referência). Isso tudo realizado pelos próprios responsáveis pelas atividades, antes que chegue à alçada da auditoria interna ou externa.

Transcendendo isso para o mundo dos debates, é basicamente checar e avaliar os seus próprios argumentos antes de apresentá-los.

O motivo para isso é um só: assim como você pode refutar fácil muito dos argumentos neo-ateus, um neo-ateu (ou até um ateu tradicional) pode refutar os seus argumentos, caso você tenha incluído neles componentes facilmente refutáveis. Esses componentes são erros argumentativos básicos, falácias e estratégias erísticas, além da divulgação de informações fraudulentas.

Notem como eu pego um texto de um neo-ateu (há vários exemplos neste blog). Geralmente o sujeito aparece com o textinho dele e acha que vai passar pela checagem. Quando eu começo a encontrar os erros no argumento, o neo-ateu começa a fraquejar, e logo vai para a lona. A partir daí, torna-se presa fácil.

O mesmo pode ocorrer caso um teísta apresente argumentos com tais tipos de falhas lógicas.

Notem esse exemplo, em que um teísta tentou dizer que a ciência não substitui  a religião:

A ciência consegue mudar a vida de uma pessoa pra melhor? Consegue converter o coração de uma pessoa má e torná-la melhor? Consegue dar a paz que as pessoas precisam em um mundo tenebroso como o que enfrentamos hoje? Vocês deviam ler por exemplo as Bem-Aventuranças, que é a maior lição que Jesus deu a todos.

É correto o fato de que a ciência não substitui a religião, mas ele deveria ter feito isso apresentando os OBJETIVOS tanto de ciência como de religião.

Ele optou pelo caminho inverso e recheou o seu discurso de falácias e erros lógicos.

Vamos a eles:

• (1) A ciência consegue mudar a vida de uma pessoa pra melhor?: A pergunta dele perde o efeito, pois a ciência consegue mudar a vida de não só uma pessoa para melhor como também de muitas pessoas. E de forma diferente que a religião, mas consegue. Logo, isso não ajuda em nada o argumento dele.
• (2) Consegue converter o coração de uma pessoa má e torná-la melhor?: A questão do “coração de uma pessoa” é subjetiva, e não poderia ser alegada. Seria melhor considerar governos com ou sem religião, e observar os efeitos em larga escala, até de forma científica. Mas o questionamento à ciência aqui é também inútil, e apela a um objetivo que NÃO é da ciência. Erro grosseiro.
• (3) Consegue dar a paz que as pessoas precisam em um mundo tenebroso como o que enfrentamos hoje?: A questão da “paz” é também subjetiva, portanto não deve ser alegada. Carl Sagan dizia que olhar para as estrelas do universo lhe dava a “paz de coração” que necessitava. Logo, qualquer um pode dizer que retira tal “paz” de onde quiser. Não serve como argumento.
• (4) Vcs deviam ler por exemplo as Bem-Aventuranças, que é a maior lição que Jesus deu a todos.: Eu sou católico, e acho que realmente é a maior lição. Mas nem todos são cristãos, então o argumento dele só seria válido se o outro interlocutor fosse cristão.

Mas o pior de tudo é que o argumentador ainda por cima ASSUMIU que ciência e religião eram opostos, e portanto deveria haver uma ESCOLHA.

Ele caiu na armadilha desejada por qualquer neo-ateu: aquela que diz que há conflito entre ciência e religião.

Obviamente que eu afirmei ao debatedor ANTES que qualquer neo-ateu se expressasse: “você já perdeu esse debate”. E perdeu mesmo. Qualquer um refuta isso fácil, e não demorou meia hora para o refutarem.

E, detalhe, não era preciso que o outro fosse neo-ateu para ter vontade de refutar isso tudo que o teísta escreveu. Até um ateu tradicional iria fazê-lo. EU MESMO já me disponibilizei para refutar.

A lição que fica é: o direito de cometer erros lógicos e ser ignorante em relação aos conceitos básicos do que é ciência e religião, além do que é lógica e argumentação, é democrático: tanto pode acontecer com um religioso ou com um ateu.

E todos se tornam vulneráveis no debate após cometê-los.

Por isso, o conhecimento básico antes de qualquer debate que envolva religião e ciência é:

• (1) Saber o que é religião e teologia
• (2) Saber o que é ciência e epistemologia (mas nada de Carl Sagan, por favor, e sim Popper, Kuhn, Descartes…)
• (3) Saber o básico de lógica e argumentação
• (4) Conhecer o ceticismo e seus limites
• (5) Saber auditar e investigar fraudes de possíveis argumentos oponentes
• (6) Praticar o self-assessment

Até por que, independente do responsável por um argumento ser teísta ou ateísta, meus olhos ou ouvidos não são penico.

Last night, I had the book release party at Stardust and we had a pretty decent turnout for a poetry show on a Friday night.

(The person taking the photo back at me is my mom).

I had two poets open up for me.  First, Chicago transplant Shannon Kortbek.

Shannon Kortbek performing a love poem. Chicago, take notice: she's ours.

Next was Rebecca Webb, fellow Ampersand contributor.

Rebecca Webb rocking one of her poems in The Ampersand vol. 3.

Then, I went into my eighteen poem set.  First, here are various performance photos.

I'm performing "Would You Like To Take A Survey?"

I think I'm bantering here.

I'm summoning a poem from Dodging Traffic.

My wife and I at the Bull & Bush after the show.

Here’s my set list from last night.  Anything with a link is a previously published poem that you can easily get to online.  All poems on the list are in Dodging Traffic.

1. Would You Like To Take A Survey
2. Doing It Norse Style
3. Check Yes
4. Juno MacGuff to Bristol Palin
5. Taking Civil Liberties
6. Stellar
7. Tailor Made
8. Hunt & Gather
9. Chasing Rumor Mills
10. Pre-nuptial Agreement
11. These Are Vows
12. Contest
13. Endowment
14. Why There Are No More Unicorns, My Child
15. 25 Random Things…
16. Another Poem About China
17. The Bride of Dracula’s Gynecologist on Career Day
18. A Letter From The Department Of Health

I think I did well with the set.  My banter improved tremendously (I was so bad at bantering that I bantered about being bad about bantering – meta bantering) and I think that was because a) I kept the banter concise and b) I actually talked a little bit about how I wrote some of the poems without giving away the meaning.  For future sets, I may shorten the list to about fifteen and do a long poem on slot 1, 5, 10, and 15.  I know that I have to make more eye contact at times and I’ll work on that.

My next show is tonight over at The Cameo Theatre, where they are hosting 7 Deadly Sins.  I’m doing three sets there regarding the sins of lust and wrath.  Then, tomorrow is my signing over at Urban Think from 12pm to 2pm and I may kick a few poems there, too.  If you’re in Orlando, hope to see you Saturday and/or Sunday.

The following message was sent to the participants of the  75 Days of Action Challenge on Facebook.

———————————————————————————————————————

Hello Hello!

On this 14th day, just six days left in this 21-day, phase one of our journey and it’s a great time to take stock.

A very important role to fill in all projects and undertakings is one of “assessment officer.”

Having someone responsible for reviewing the process, making suggestions and adjustments along the way is essential.

When the project is to do with self-development, you have to be your own assessment officer.

So that’s your role today – assess how things are going: [reflect silently, write in journal, discuss with accountability partner]

1) What is going really right with the past 14 days as you participated in this program?

2) What would you like to change, stop doing or start doing??

4) What is the single most important change you would have to make with your lifestyle or mindset in order to become as self-disciplined as you would like to be?

5) What single step can you take today to begin that process of change?

6) What other questions would you add to these to get to what you deem most important about your journey?

Spend some time with this assessment process, make adjustments and share with us..we all learn so much from each other.

Wishing you a wonderful and revealing day,

Oh – btw, though tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the US, the daily activities continue… 21 days straight, remember.

Peace & Light,
Julette Millien
♥~

The following message was sent to the participants of the  75 Days of Action Challenge on Facebook.

————————————————————————————————–

WOW!!

The day just slipped away…amazing. I feels like I looked up and 7 hours elapsed.

I’ll be brief as it is so late in the day. We have participants in parts of the world where it’s already tomorrow!

We’ll continue this conversation tomorrow…for today please think about areas of your life where you might be displaying addictive behavior.

On a self-discipline scale of 1 thru 10, addictive behavior would be near a zero right? When we’re addicted we exercise no control and we seek a thing or activity with laser focus.

It seems then, useful to consider what aspects of your personality or character might have elements of addictive behaviors.

There are gray areas in addiction. Some people are quite capable of masking and concealing. But it makes no sense to go after self-control in one aspect of your life if you are not honest with what’s going on in other areas.

The fact is, try as we do, we are not compartmentalized. We are all one person. And what is done in one area spills into another.

So for today:

1)  Do a self-assessment – overall, where are you on a scale of 1 – 10 in the area of self-discipline? Compare to your earlier assessment.

2)  Reflect on all areas of your life - home, work, school, community, relationships, are there addictive behaviors to be accountable for?

3)  Before you say no, consider all the food types (sugars, carbs, etc) or other substances you must have to get through your day. Consider activities that are wrapped up in your self-image that you feel compelled to engage in. Consider your patterns – falling asleep, eating, working…that you depend upon, yet they add nothing of value to your life. They actually take away from your sense of peace and joy…ultimately. Some patterns are overtly negative, those are easy to uncover. Some, not so easy.

Think of anything that you do that feels like a strong NEED, a compelling pull on your emotions…and like the ant and the elephant (Day 9’s message) try to see what is beneath the need. Peel the onion back to reveal truth.

OK — talk to you soon…Have a wonderful day/evening!

Light & Love,
Julette
♥~

P.S. Be sure to stay in action. If you slipped, just get back on the path. If you’ve been stellar, challenge yourself further. No complacency allowed! We only build muscle with weight/resistance.

P.P.S ALL PREVIOUS MESSAGES are POSTED HERE►►► http://bit.ly/3QyXKX