I can’t stop telling people about this. It’s a brilliant concept, beautifully executed. Be sure to click through to view more like this as well as more by the filmmakers.
Fifty People, One Question: New Orleans from Benjamin Reece on Vimeo.
I’ve been waiting a while to write this. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I wanted to make sure I told the story of my trip once the “magic” of the whole thing wore off. But I promise – that hasn’t happened yet. I could also blame it on all the work I had to catch up on when I got back. Meh. Too easy.
The truth is I think I’ve been avoiding this because I was nervous I’d get it wrong. The entire trip was only 48 hours long, but from the moment we arrived at the airport in Boston, we knew this was something important.
Anyway – here we go. Feel free to skim, just watch the videos, leave comments (regarding the event, my vanity, or your disappointment in the Eagles).
Waiting for the train to the plane back to Boston. Exhausted after two days of constant moving and doing. Admittedly it will take more than a lot of walking to get me down from the high of yesterday’s events. Will provide a full recap once I’m back, rested, and laptopped again. For now, a snapshot of Tuesday’s crowds.
My strategy for the January Self-Improvement Challenge has been threefold:
The Food
It’s not so much a diet. I don’t do [or need] those. It’s more a welcome break in the old routine…after an unwelcome break in the old routine. The holidays always throw me off pretty well, and I come out of December hurting. So the roommate and I have started cooking at home more, we’ve gone to the pantry more often, and I’ve been partaking in my annual alcohol-free-January ritual.
The Homestead
I hinted at this in my last Self-Improvement post. Our apartment is freezing. We can’t seem to plug all the drafts in the windows and doors. We’ve taped up as many gaps as we can find, but we’re still hurting on this. It doesn’t help that we get wind from the Charles and the harbor hitting us at all times. My only hope is that that same wind will replace any A/C useage we might need in the Summer, and we’ll see some savings there.
The Work
Will hopefully be posting the result of some toiling later this month. The challenge I gave myself was to develop for a new platform. Nothing fancy, but you’ll see.
I welcome recommendations as well as any updates on your 2009 status.
Heading off to DC for a couple days. There’s something big going on down there, and a friend and I figured we’d give it a shot. Updates upon my return.
Agency Spy’s got a great post about Martin Sorrell and his WPP group taking 250 of his top brass to Athens for a strategy session. The retreat featured “jugglers to get people’s creative juices flowing. The Nintendo Wii is manned by ad execs and others are listening to an executive from Britain’s Guardian newspaper give a presentation entitled ‘Oh My God, the Internet Ate My Business!’”
Agency Spy does a superb job of laying into this ridiculously unnecessary, too-much-but-too-little-too-late move, so I’ll leave the ranting to them.
But come on. Really? Forget about being about ten years behind the curve in the ad business…what a poor business move in general. AIG much?
A quick tip from Mr. Palumbo. If you’re trying to set up a scrubber for a video player in AS3, make sure there are key frames in the video file itself.
Seems pretty obvious. Just don’t tell me or Steve that.
Update: In response to SB’s comment, below…to be honest, we’re not totally sure how this file had no key frames. It came to us already encoded. So maybe (probably) we’re making this up as we go along? I was able to compress an FLV that was 900 frames long with a keyframe every 1000 frames. When I tried to seek, it would just stop. Why you would want to have such seldom keyframes, I’m not sure.
Anyone have a cool half-million sitting around? No? Well, head over to Liberty National GC’s new site anyway. Masterfully pieced together by Mr. Palumbo with a little bit of help from the rest of us.
Will hopefully be launching more this month. Been at this long enough, it’s about time.
Ah, January: the month of the resolutionist. Every good rant begins with some quotes. And so it goes:
“No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought.” – John Stuart Mill
Good thing I’m not trying to improve mankind– just myself. And I’m also not going for great change here– just minor improvements. But the point is still well taken. While putting together an intense new gym plan or cutting out fried foods may seem appropriately ambitious (and unrealistic), it’s those underlying aspects of my life that deserve the most attention.
Is there any way I can make my home a more comfortable place– so that when I’m away from the office, I can really relax? Maybe I need an outlet for the kinds of projects that I want to be doing– so there’s a complement to my work.
We’ll see what the first month of 2009 brings. I’ve got some plans for the site, some plans for travel, and some plans for personal projects outside the office. Keep your browsers tuned for proper documentation.
Oh – and a happy new year to you. Got any good resolutions?