I will definitely be keeping an eye out for this movie at my local indie theater! It apparently delivers gritty, heart wrenching drama through outstanding acting. TALENT. I’m all for it.

Stone Village forms media arm – Entertainment News, EXCLUSIVE, Media – Variety

“When you hear digital, most people talk about distribution and how companies like Netflix and YouTube are changing the space,” Kleinman said. “Nobody talks about two key areas that are also changing and revolutionizing the industry: content development and marketing.”

via Stone Village forms media arm – Entertainment News, EXCLUSIVE, Media – Variety.

Instagram + Facebook = InstaFriends

Big news of the day folks…the social network giant, Facebook, has officially acquired the ultra cool, photo editing and social sharing app, Instagram.  Faithful Instagramers are not taking the InstaFriendship news too well.  Last week, Instagram made its appearance in the Android market, infuriating iOS users who viewed that move as a sell-out and a ploy for Instagram to rake in more money.  (For those who aren’t familiar, iOS is the mobile operating system developed and exclusively distributed by Apple Inc.)  Now we realize that Instagram’s plans for growth were MUCH MUCH bigger than presence on the Android market.  Facebook’s acquisition of the hipster-vintage effects app cost the social network (brace yourself) $1 billion.  That is 1,000,000,000.  You are looking at 9 ZEROS in the face.  It is Facebook’s largest acquisition to date, and comes just weeks before its highly-anticipated IPO.

According to a scouring of the Twitterverse, it seems as though many Instagram users are heading for the exits because, let’s face it, Instagram was all about being cool and artsy.  It was a social sharing service clean of hungry marketing vultures looking for their impressions. 

Instagram was never a threat to Facebook; if anything, the two organically had a symbiotic relationship without being in a Facebook official “Relationship”.  Instagram can make the Facebook Timeline more easily digestible.  I predict that the timeline will soon look more like a digital scrapbook of vintage looking photos.  My Instagram sharing is set to automatically post to Facebook, and judging from the plethora of photos that only look good because they’ve been Instagrammed with the “Burn” filter, I’m guessing most Instagram users have sharing defaults set to automatically post to Facebook as well.

While pessimists see this as the end of Instagram, one must remember what Google did for YouTube.  In October 2006, Google acquired the video sharing website for $1.65 billion, and it’s no secret that YouTube has grown even MORE since that acquisition and will be around to stay for awhile.  So maybe this purchase is the modern YouTube experiment?  Yes, this acquisition is big news.

Detox.

We all know we could use a little detox time off of Facebook, email, twitter, Pinterest etc…, but how often do we actually disconnect from these social networks?  For some, like my parents, it’s easy.  But I have a hard time doing so.  I often tell people that I AM the social networking generation.  I GREW UP with Facebook.  Technically, I didn’t, although I often feel as though I have because my adult life started at 18, and well, so did my Facebook life.

I think Rachel’s reason for her detox is pure and simple.  It’s not like going on a diet to prove that you can lose that weight.  Her justification: “I don’t want my kids to grow up with the mental image of their mother looking at a glass rectangle instead of looking at them.” If I ever have kids, I’ll be sure to keep this in mind.

via Detox..

I Pledge Allegiance (It’s a Game of Thrones)

Spring used to be my least favorite season.  Bipolar weather and hay fever always get the best of me.  Last year, that all changed.  Spring meant more than the the start of a season…it meant the start of a new series and the birth of my new obsession.

Last year was the debut of a new original series based on George R.R. Martin’s best-selling fantasy novels.  Game of Thrones was created for HBO by  David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.  Last year’s season, based on the epic stories told in Martin’s A Game of Thrones, wowed audiences with its cinematography, dynamic character and plot developments, violence, sex and some really good acting.  The finale left jaw-dropped audiences wanting more.

“Winter is coming.”  We’ve had to wait for this “winter” for a whole year, and finally it’s almost here!  On April 1st, the premiere of Season 2 will illuminate television sets around the country.  The “Game of Thrones FTW” status updates will return, and everyone will want to know who will reign and come out on top.

Game of Thrones is set in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and chronicles the violent struggles among the kingdom’s noble families for control of the Iron Throne.  Early on in Season 1, audiences felt allegiance to one family or another.  The dominating families of nobility are the Starks, Targaryens, Lannisters and Baratheons.  The Stark family displays incredible loyalty, courage and wisdom (with the exception of Ned Stark’s eldest daughter, Sansa).  Targaryens are aggressive, good looking fighting machines.  The Lannisters are just raving mad, and I personally think Baratheons are useless.

At Comic Con, I swear I witnessed a Lannister/Targaryen stand-off.  I’m talking about the cast either…I’m talking about fans.  So what does HBO do?  They capitalize on fans’ outspoken allegiance to one house over another.  Pledge Your Allegiance…there’s an App for that!  A Facebook one.  Try it out here: http://www.facebook.com/GameOfThrones?sk=app_239424042811686

Taking sides or pledging allegiance in relation to a brand really gets the conversation going.  Ironically, establishing sides builds up a very strong, vocal community, especially online.  The Hunger Games launched The Capitol almost a year ago where fans could explore content representing the different cultures of each of the 12 districts.

My anticipation is building!  I am SO EXCITED for Spring fun and Games.

 

 

Pinterest gets my fourth published accolade

 

My pinboard for all things California-esque, surfer cool and mermaid-ish

Today, I’m writing about Pinterest, again.  I think I could probably start a separate blog and write about Pinterest alone everyday.  It is THE fastest growing social network on the planet, and if there ever was no reason to be in such awe of it before, now there is.  CEO Ben Silbermann announced new developments at the SXSW Interactive Conference yesterday, and some of these features will be live by end of week.  The growing membership and skyrocketing interactive engagements gave every reason for Pinterest to explore redesign and enhancement of profiles and “pinning” features.

I’m sure MOST readers know what Pinterest is now (although, I do have to explain what Pinterest is on a daily basis to my colleagues).  It’s an image sharing platform where users can virtually “pin” images they find on the web into a grid-looking virtual pinboard.  Yesterday, Silbermann announced that Pinterest will roll out redesigned profiles with an aesthetic more eye-pleasing than a grid.  The thought behind redesigning an already successful model?  1) Differentiate it from the Facebook profile layout, and 2) Make it more beautiful to motivate users to build and share robust collections.

Silbermann also introduced new discoverability functionality that better connects you to like-minded users.  I don’t know about you, but most of what I pin are directly from those I follow or those who are following me.  I rarely check out the pre-categorized feeds because I often find that what the general population posts in those feeds isn’t necessarily what I look for.  With the enhanced discoverability features, it seems like those who are like-minded and pin similar images will be more visible to the user.

Silbermann noted that his team is working to expand the number of things users can pin, including video, so users will be able to share content discovered on Vimeo, Hulu and Netflix.  While I love the idea of being able to pin high-quality video from Vimeo (I typically use Tumblr for reposting Vimeo videos), I wonder how videos from Hulu or Netflix will work, especially if the video content is premium content where one would need a subscription to view it.  If premium content is posted, must a viewer have a premium subscription in order to view it on Pinterest?

Silbermann also revealed that an iPad with an open API is in the works.  This news in particular will have brands jumping for joy as they figure out how to best leverage Pinterest’s features.

In reading excerpts from the SXSW Conference, it sounds like Silbermann’s team obsess over quality.  They take the highest degree of pride in their product because they want their users to take pride in the product they create using Pinterest.  Silbermann plans to take Pinterest to the next level so that profiles, like Facebook profiles, truly show who you are.

#StopKONY Now!!! – NYTimes.com

“The real q is: why? Another q, for people in my business, is why try to get people exercised on the world’s problems in 800 words when long-reads are a shrinking niche, widely regarded as lame or just BS, if millions can be mobilized about not much in 140 characters or less?”

via #StopKONY Now!!! – NYTimes.com.

My Love and Hate for #StopKony

The news ticker on my laptop repeatedly highlighted the same newsflash: “An Internet Star is born: LRA leader Kony” or “Web star born: Joseph Kony gets millions of views”.  I honestly cannot tell you which part of these headlines caught my attention–was it “Internet star/millions of views” or “LRA/Kony” that made me click to see exactly what everyone was talking about?

Here’s a bit of background on me.  I have a background in journalism.  While exploring my then (and sometimes still current) dream of being an international journalist, I was fortunate enough to work for a major news outlet and was stationed at the United Nations.  I spent day-after-day interviewing Susan Rice (US ambassador to the United Nations) about two global issues: 1) Maritime Piracy in Somalia and 2) The LRA.

Even after ditching my longtime dream of making a difference in the world by reporting stories from far-away foreign places, my heart still held major concern for Child Soldiers in Congo and Uganda.  Years into my job working in mainstream entertainment, I still attend non-profit fundraisers and board meetings all dedicated to provide aid to and raise awareness of the children who are abducted from their homes and forced to kill (or be killed).

On criticizing nonprofits

There are plenty of nonprofits who dedicate themselves to this cause–Invisible Children and Falling Whistles to name a couple.  It’s uncertain what percentage of funds actually goes toward the cause.  I think every nonprofit is scrutinized for how they spend donated funds.  All NPOs have a system where most of the funds donated don’t go to the actual cause. But that’s the problem with NPO structure as a whole. When people donate, they should know that the money is going towards marketing to raise awareness of the cause. For an issue as sensitive and violent as this one, nonprofits should be focusing more on raising awareness, getting the media’s attention, getting the government’s or international org’s attention because those are the powerhouses that have the resources (more money and some militia availability) to go to the front lines and actually DO something about it.

On Kony 2012

The video has seen almost 40 million views in four days.  It’s a video that has seamlessly integrated the issue itself (the LRA’s use of child soldiers) into our daily lives.  In fact, the filmmaker’s decision to integrate a UGC (user-generated content) style, rotoscoped photos, Facebook Timeline, Facebook fan/like tickers, and a showcase of Google Maps’ insane capability to look at the world as a whole and then satellite zoom onto a street in Uganda makes this 30-minute video BRILLIANT.  I’m talking from an online marketer’s, Gen Y point of view.  The video does its job by making the cause relevant.  Additionally, the video wasn’t just a fact spiller.  There is an element of personalization as Jason Russell, founder of Invisible Children and filmmaker, shares his experience in discovering the LRA use of child soldiers for the first time and then explaining it to his four-year-old son ten years later for the first time.  The fact that the video has seen 40 million views means its working.  Awareness is growing.  Its getting the media’s attention.  Even P.Diddy, Kim Kardashian and Rihanna have taken the time out of their busy lives to tweet #StopKony.  This leads me to my next point.

Last Resort: Get a Reality TV Star to Tweet

Today, the media is covering all sorts of reports stating that the Invisible Children’s use of facts is manipulated.  Even if you think the facts of this video are manipulated, you can’t ignore the FACT that the LRA mobilizes child soldiers to do their dirty work. This is NOT something new. I personally, have a bigger problem with the fact that it takes celebrities like P.Diddy and Kim Kardashian to popularize a social issue as problematic and inhumane as this. But considering the ignorance of Americans and our refusal to address or even acknowledge what goes on in other countries, I guess I should be fortunate that someone like Rihanna can bring attention to what goes on in Uganda.  This said, the KONY 2012 campaign has done a remarkable job at leveraging available resources (i.e. YouTube and Facebook) to give viral acceleration to a very important, and otherwise generally unnoticed and not-thought-about social issue.

Speaking from the heart

This post was difficult to write because I sincerely admire and dislike the KONY 2012 campaign.  I’m not at all against Invisible Children.  I believe the accusations for their money hoarding is uncalled for, because if people really understood the purpose of nonprofits, they should know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to give every penny you donate to the root of the cause.  Those criticizing the NPO are narrow-minded and not thinking about the big picture.  I think my dislike for the campaign’s concept and execution mainly stems from my disappointment in our generation’s and our country’s inability to know about social issues like this on its own without having a reality TV star popularize it with her twitter account!  But in thinking about the big picture, I’m glad that this issue has been explained to 40 million people who may or may not have known about it previously.

The LRA and child soldiers is not a new issue.  The video showed the International Criminal Court head attorney saying, “We need to plan how to arrest Kony, start to plan.”  Well, the ICC has been planning, and for a long time, to arrest Kony.  This is NOT new news.  The U.N. and Susan Rice turn blue in the face telling world leaders that Kony’s actions are inhumane, but no administration will do enough because it’s simply not an important enough issue in Foreign Policy for ANY country other than Uganda.  It doesn’t affect our national security nor economy, thus the US government sees little reason to get involved.  Yes, the U.N. is more like a grade teacher who’ll slap your wrist if you do something wrong; they’re generally perceived to be an ineffective deliverer of justice.  But, to the U.N.’s defense, political corruption in Uganda is so complicated that in spite of the awareness of such injustice, very few parties take a stand against it.  That is why it’s still an issue today.

To close my thoughts on the Kony 2012 Campaign, I’d like to quote Santo Okot Lapolo, a politician in Uganda.  He said, “Let the international community take justice to him there, to wherever he is, FIRST TO RESCUE OUR CHILDREN and secondly, to deliver justice.”  I think it’s important to remember why 40 million people are talking about this.  It’s for the children.  We can deliver the justice later.

Our Generation: Have we got it backwards?

Thanks to my friend, Anna, I understand what it means to get things backward.  I understood this when I read it forwards.  I sympathized with the Lost Generation member who looked upon life as a passive soul caught up in the too common failures of life, love and the pursuit of happiness.  Dear God, could this be me?  Would I later find myself as a divorcee indulging in money because all I care about IS success?  Will family be sacrificed for the American DreamIhave gotten backwards?

The same voice that tells you YES, this could be you, whispers an opportunity to reverse that mentality by reading the same words in reverse.

Pablo Picasso once said, “Art is the lie that tells the truth.”  So tell me now, which part (the forwards or backwards) is your lie?

Lost Generation by Jonathan Reed

I am a part of a lost generation and I have believe I may not change the world.
I realize this may come as a shock
But
“Happiness comes from within”
Is a lie,and
“Money will make me happy”
So in 30 years I will tell my children
They are not the most important thing in my life.
I will tell my employers
I have my priorities straight because
Work
Is more important than
Family.
I’ll tell you this…
Once upon a time
Family’s stayed together
But this is not true in my era
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
30 Years from now on I will be celebrating my 10th anniversary of my divorce.
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making.
In the future,
Environmental destruction is the norm.
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth.
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic.
It is foolish to presume
There is hope.

Living in the moment…

This picture is very much indicative of my thought process.  I try so hard to live in the moment, to enjoy everything as it comes and to face challenges…with a cookie in my mouth.