Yours truly on PR Voices

Let me start off with a big "whoohoo!"

My MRP post for OneDegree.ca made PR Voices top fifteen stories of the day! I'd be a grown-up about it and pretend it's not terribly exciting for me but where's the fun in that?

They picked it up from OneDegree rather than here so I suppose I'll have to wait for the groupies to come banging on my online door...

Related:
No Ordinary Rollercoaster: OneDegree
MRP 101: Measuring for success

MRP 101 [OneDegree.ca]

My second guest post for OneDegree is up today! It'll look familiar to some of you as it's an expanded version of the MRP post from back in November. It caught their eye a long time ago but thanks to overzealous Gmail junk filters (usually a good thing), it took us a while to connect. The updated piece now includes a web 2.0 component to appeal to their regular readers.

The Media Relations Rating Points system (MRP) is being called a cost-effective, simple measurement that gives professionals apples-to-apples comparisons of Media Relations initiatives. By predetermining customized evaluation criteria (key messages, inclusion of photo, quote from spokesperson – what you want to hear and see in the media coverage) for each campaign, a simple point system then offers a direct rating out of ten to quantify your success. Over 300 users representing over 1300 clients have already incorporated the system into their practices.

What does all this mean? Well, let’s find out by evaluating my own media campaign. In November of 2007, I was a finalist in the CBC Radio Canada Writes competition. [Despite crashing and burning in the first round, I still maintain the rights to hold this over the heads of my peers until the end of time.] As such, I made numerous radio appearances and was interviewed for both local newspapers in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We’ll use my media coverage to illustrate how the MRP system works. Read on!

Check out the full column here.

Related:
No Ordinary Rollercoaster: OneDegree
MRP 101: Measuring for success
Are your personal photos ready for a national ad campaign?

Until something younger and cuter comes along

As a result of my devious communications skills, I have so far convinced two couples that mini dachshunds are the only dogs worth getting and that my breeder is the only one worth getting them for. The end.

Okay, so it's not. We all know and love Tofu, the strong hunk to Calvin's frail nerd, but now little Shopsy has been added to the weiner army. He's three months old, sandy brown with a Micky Mouse silhouette bleached into his side. As far as we know, this was genetic and not a vanity measure.

We got Shopsy and Calvin together last night which was at first fun for our guy who loves to jump other weiners like hurdles, but quickly turned sour when Calvin got jealous and realized he was bigger and therefore more worthy of attention. Luckily, Shopsy didn't seem to mind getting pounced on every few minutes.

Warning: our collective puppy voices have been known to cause seizures but please, don't even pretend that you wouldn't go up a few octaves when dealing with these creatures.

Enjoy.



Related:
No Ordinary Rollercoaster: Puppy
No Ordinary Rollercoaster: Clips

All Rights Reserved Update

The All Rights Reserved Literary Journal is getting ready for a big year in 2008. Plans are underway for the third annual silent auction in March and our editorial team is reviewing the fantastic submissions for our Heroes & Villains issue slated for an April release date. That being said, there are plenty of ways to get more involved in the journal that won't take up any more of your time than you want to give.

First up, we're putting together a reading panel to help us choose the best poetry submissions for our future issues.

We're seeking your expertise and love of poetry, to assist us in piloting our new reading panel program for poetry. The panel will review ARR's poetry submissions and then forward their feedback to our editorial team who will use their comments to assist in the journal submission decision-making process.

For the panel we are still looking for 2 to 3 ARR supporters who are avid readers and have an interest in providing honest feedback and constructive criticism to our poetry submissions.

Please email info@allrightsreserved.ca of your interest as soon as possible. The panel will begin reviewing in early February.

Not into poetry? Do you like working with people? We're hoping to expand upon our successful creative writing workshop with students learning English at the TESL Centre at St. Mary's University.

We're looking for a Literacy Coordinator to manage creative writing workshops with the St. Mary's University TESL Centre in Halifax, NS. The program will run once every eight weeks and requires setting up 1 1/2 hour sessions to be instructed by local writers. The position requires a few hours of time spread over the course of several weeks. Must have excellent written and oral communication skills and an interest in literacy.

Please contact the managing editor, Kimberly Walsh, at manager@allrightsreserved.ca with your resume and letter of interest.

Lastly, I personally need a hand with some good intentions of expanding our online services for both our contributing writers and our members. If you have web design or IT experience and would be interesting in chatting with me about our options, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks in advance and stay tuned for more All Rights Reserved news in 2008!

Firefly sees the light

I love when fantastic people I know get the wonderful praise and attention that they deserve!

Tracy and Julian from Firefly Digital were featured in today's paper for their firm's whopping success. I was very lucky to work with Tracy during my first co-op term with the Downtown Halifax Business Commission before she and Julian joined forces to battle evil...or, dull corporate videos. Read the full article and check out their work.

Last fall, Firefly was recognized for an ACOA-commissioned video it shot for Halifax’s MT&L Public Relations on the Global MicroCredit Summit in Halifax. The documentary-like video, which focuses on individuals who have benefited from microcredit investments, won a U.S. Gold Summit Award for government videos.

"They’re excellent at taking a creative concept and making that real," said Mark Renouf of MT&L, which has clients throughout Atlantic Canada and a pan-Canadian reach through its partnership with National, Canada’s largest public-relations firm.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1034232.html

The challenges of freelancing

In a desperate attempt to digest an intense IT report in order to finalize a column:

BB: Did you read this release from Hibernia Atlantic? I have never felt so clueless.

SL: Do you want to know what I thought when I first heard about Hibernia? They told me I had to get over there right away and I immediately said: Oh my god! How many time zones away is that?? How cold is it? Are there polar bears? Do I pack my Uggs?!

BB: Enough said.

I couldn't make this stuff up

Before flying out to New York and after telling an unbelievably true story about an innocent young woman landing herself on the Canadian terrorist list due to an unfortunate incident involving a bag of luggage and a TNT sticker...

SK: We're going early because she might have to go through extra security. She said that since she bought my ticket - she gets a frequent-flyer discount as a recruiter - I might have to go through it too.

BB: Your friend is both on the terrorist and frequent flyer discount lists...

SK: Um...yeah?

Are your personal photos ready for a national ad campaign? [OneDegree.ca]

It’s been a while since my first guest post but thanks to the whirlwind of writing geekery, Canada Writes, I met half of the wonderful team over at OneDegree.ca. The site is a collaboration of the best of the hippest online marketers, bringing you the news and know-how to succeed in the fast-paced sector. OneDegree was nice enough to show interest in some posts that I had made here at No Ordinary Rollercoaster and invited me to become one of their contributors. Whoohoo!

If you’ve stumbled over here from OneDegree, forgo the puppy foolishness and check out the November articles…I think I was much more with it back then before I eroded down to someone who rolls around on the ground and picks up poop all day.

For the rest of you, here’s the start of the column but do click over to their site too. I have one more column lined up for them so far with hopefully many more to come! Big thanks to Shannon for giving me the scoop on such a ballsy story...

---

Remember that time you posted your wedding photos on Flickr? How about that time that you added your portfolio to your blog for a bit of self-promotion?

It doesn't take a web specialist to recognize the booming growth of social networking as the general public continues to flirt with voyeurism. My dad, my dog, my hairdresser and over 300 of my –ahem- closest personal friends all have their Facebook sites loaded up with photos, videos, poetry and artwork to showcase their interests, talents and personalities. Despite the warning stories of people being fired for what has been seen on their profiles [Okay, the guy who called in sick so he could get hammered in a fairy costume deserved everything he got...], we can't help but want to show off our lives. But what if the tables were turned? What if someone else was showing off your photos, your songs, your life?

Before you click that upload button again, read on.

Related:
Ready for the next generation of search engines [Talk IT]
Ben Boudreau, Guest Blogger

Because of the fantastic headline

...and because my Dad is one of those [hardcore, $200-sneaker buying, carb-loading, energy-gel slurping, nipple-taping] crazies who talks about eurphoric running is while he's dashing off to do his 872 marathon...

I hate running but I really hate cancer
by Barry Dorey

I still do a bit of light jogging each spring to induce a slight stamina boost for my summer soccer pursuits, but I hate every minute before, during and after.

People talk about that "runner’s high" stuff where a sense of euphoria can replace the pain and exertion during a marathon. Maybe I didn’t push far enough into that wacky marathoner range to achieve this natural high. Maybe it’s all hocus-pocus, or worse yet, near-death delirium they are experiencing.

Anyway, the fact is I would rather juggle razor blades or gargle with broken glass than lace up my sneakers to go for a short run through the neighbourhood.

My other main hate is cancer. I have lost more friends and colleagues than I care to count to the garbage. I have old school chums fighting it. And I have a sister-in-law courageously locked in a battle with breast cancer as I type.

Wanna talk about hate or fatigue? You should look into the eyes of someone just before they head to the hospital for a third or fourth cycle of chemo or radiation. They know what’s coming and are dreading it. But they soldier on with it.

Read the full article here.

Related:
A run of biblical proportions

The funniest thing...

...I've read this week:

It's a full inch long, it lives in trees and thus can and will fall on you to scare you away from its hive--the one you didn't know was there, because it's in a fucking tree. Before it does this, it shrieks at you. This ant, you see, can shriek.

It's called a Bullet Ant because its 'unusually severe' sting feels like getting shot. On the Schmidt Sting Index, Bullet Ants rate as the number one most try-not-to-shit-out-your-spine painful in the entirety of the Kingdom Arthropoda.

Also--and we do feel the need to stress this--they fucking shriek at you before they attack.

Read about the five most horrifying bugs in an obscenity-filled rant of terror here.

I can't help myself

This is pretty much how the days roll by for me lately. I figure I might as well share the torture...

NOR Stats Dec 07-Jan 08

The hits are down from last month which is probably okay. I have a strange feeling the numbers were inflated from the rush of friends and relatives visiting to watch the puppy tear apart a Santa hat time and time again. Fair enough.

I'll be pushing the blog a bit more in the months to come through a few more guest posts elsewhere and endless videos of the weiner on YouTube (check the Calvin Cam on the right-hand side for the latest).

As always, thanks for reading!

December 15 to January 15:

255 absolute unique visitors
421 visits 788 page views
Average stay 1:5 minutes

Most popular pages:
Our creature is definitely stirring
Ellen Page
The next epic trilogy
An epic battle
MIA Reason #1

Most popular search key words:
"blood and ice cream trilogy"
"ben boudreau"
"ellen page"
"no ordinary rollercoaster"
"golden compa" - seriously...I guess people couldn't muster up the strength for those last two letters.

Related:
NOR Stats
Build your personal brand

Puppies unleashed

This one is dedicated to Rosemary over at Creampuff to make up for her traumatizing trip to a Vancouver dog park (swamp).

Of vampires, old and new

In 1973, Anne Rice completed the first installment of her Vampire Chronicles. Of course, Interview with a Vampire didn't make it into my hands until the new millennium but it's a book that still stands out in my mind. The story was an innovative take on a subject that has seen great heights (the descriptions in Stoker's Dracula still send chills down my spine) and too many cheesy remakes to mention. Rice's characters were profoundly interesting and alluring, not to mention a world and history so complete that you could drown in it.

Being a fan of the romanticized vampire (not so much the hack 'n slash variety), I couldn't get enough of Interview. The chapter outlining the (near) death of Lestat in the burning house and the narrow escape of Louis and Claudia is one of the few times I remember a book giving me an adrenaline rush. I went on to enjoy the complexities of its sequel, The Vampire Lestat, but then gave up on the dying series by the time I attempted The Queen of the Damned.

About an hour ago, I finished the most recent reinvention of the vampire, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The book is the first of her (so far) three-part series that has already had a huge impact on the book-buying world since first published in 2005. Twilight is currently in preproduction for the big screen and Meyer is starting to rake in the cash with upcoming projects. I started with the first 50 pages or so back in November before deciding that the book really wasn't for me. I figured I'd give it away to someone who might appreciate it more. Part of the problem was that I went straight from the complex British language of The Golden Compass to the teencentric story of Twilight. Nonetheless, I resolved to give it a shot before the series really catches on and is potentially destroyed by the hype. The next read got me to page 174 prompting me to remember the My Teacher Is An Alien series from elementary school - another hurdle in the reading experience.

That being said, I cleared the rest of the 500 pager in the past two days and ended up liking it more than I thought it would. Truth be told, it shares many similarities with Interview but unfortunately - and I hate to say this - in a simplified way. The high school melodrama really consumed the first half of the book and the main character, Bella, tended to get on my nerves considering more interesting characters in the vampire's family really didn't get their time to shine. Pivotal confrontations and explanations were waved off using Bella's shock / indifference / stunned-by-her-totally-awesome-boy-crushness, making for odd letdowns when you really expect a big moment. However, Twilight really did become a page-turner once it got rolling.

The vampire characters were quite believable while still being impressively mystical so the series should by no means be written off as cheesy. Meyer maintained a freshness to her reinvention that keeps Twilight from having to measure up to better, more thought-out blood-sucker books. Still, I don't think the book carries a lot of depth, symbolism, or linguistic fireworks. I can't help but feel it was written in hopes of getting optioned for a film.

Related:
Books may yet survive the post-Potter era
No Ordinary Rollercoaster: Books

All Access 2008

Through some odd turn of events, a lone communicator found himself in a surreal warehouse filled with spinning lights, disco balls, an overzealous smoke-machine and pumping bass drums. I know what you're thinking and you're wrong. I was there with every AV Club geek from every High School who now finally get to hold their heads high knowing that they are making great money doing what the rest of us wish we could do.

I don't know a whole lot about the All Access Trade Show or seminars as I just heard about it on Monday from someone I'm working with for a future column so I'll let you do your own investigation should you feel so inclined.

As I waited in one of the many stairwells in the TourTech warehouse, eyes getting tired from the heavy mist that clouded the entire building - not to mention the obvious comparisons to late-night club nights - I tried to keep up with the conversations being had by the crowd who all seemed to know one another.

1) "You had better ask about media management in Final Cut Pro [the seminar we were waiting for]!"
2) "Why? What's wrong with the media management in Final Cut Pro?"
1) "What's wrong with the media management in Final Cut Pro??"
All) *laughter*

Huh. This is in addition to the many chitchats including the words upgrade, render, scratch disc, filter, etc. The coolest moment of the wait was seeing a young man pass out a video disc while explaining, "business cards are so boring." Man, A/V folk really do become rock stars later in life...

The Final Cut Pro demo was both incredibly impressive and so far over my head that it was in orbit. Since my camera work is shaky and my editing skills aren't even good enough to be considered amateur (see sidebar), watching Woody from Splice edit his film in 3D and create his own custom animations was really just a rude awakening telling me to stick to writing for now...

Portrait Gallery city-search continues

Debate for the new hometown of the Portrait Gallery of Canada continues as Ottawa throws its hat into the ring in an attempt to keep the facility in the nation's capital:

As cities across the country debate whether they should make a bid for a national portrait gallery, Ottawa itself is reluctantly entering the fray. Today and tomorrow, Ottawa municipal councillors are scheduled to debate a staff report that recommends lobbying the federal government to keep the gallery in that city.

The nation's capital was snubbed last year when the Conservative government scrapped plans to house the proposed gallery in the former U.S. embassy on Wellington Street across from Parliament Hill, but Ottawa was still on the list of nine cities from which developers were invited to bring forward private-sector bids to build the gallery.

On the East Coast:

In Halifax, meanwhile, a private group is putting together its own bid that Mayor Peter Kelly says he expects to be presented to city council for a show of support, and perhaps also a cash contribution, once it has been refined.

"In the development community, the architecture community and the heritage community [in Halifax] there is certainly a lot of dialogue and support, and wanting to help refine whatever bid will go forward."

Read the full article here.

Related:
Portrait Gallery of Canada a long-shot for Halifax

Media savvy, savvy?

What are these characters really telling us?

I think it was tenth or eleventh grade before someone asked our class this question. The subjects? Disney princesses and their male heroes.

While we had all grown out of the hypnosis of the happy ending, it was the first time we had ever been asked to look at our childhood favourites directly with a critical eye. Example: a mute mermaid told little girls that boys don't really need to hear what you have to say to fall in love with you.

Flash-forward to second year of my BPR when an entire semester was dedicated to unraveling the behind-the-scenes motives of the media outlets, the holdings of Rupert Murdoch (watch OutFoxed), the agenda-setting, and the blatant slants that we are exposed to everyday. If you think about it, the number of messages bombarding us before we even make it to work or school can be scary.

Flash-forward to this week when I spoke with some teacher friends about the media component of their curriculum. Teachers today are encouraged to expose their students to a variety of media products throughout their lessons starting as early as first grade. Now don't get me wrong, the program isn't dissecting the underlying stereotypes of Hannah Montana or High School Musical - that sort of critical evaluation would be WAY over their heads. Instead, a fifth grade class up the street gets the newspaper donated daily and is currently learning the different components of non-fiction sources. A sample lesson makes the children look at a variety of headlines - some real, some fake - and are instructed to pick out the ones that seem the most believable and trustworthy.

Given the immense influence of the media through children's programming and the fact that kids get early exposure to often mature content, I think this part of the curriculum is extremely important and should be expanded, especially in the online environment. Some say working with children on the internet is setting a dangerous precedent and that they're too young. But think about this, my friend's ten-year-old students are already finding him on Facebook and downloading Snakes on a Plane illegally and bringing it in for the class to watch.

Still think it's too early to develop their media and online common sense?

For anyone wondering, the photo is Princess Clara from the offensive and hilarious cartoon Drawn Together. Search for them on YouTube or click here to understand why she was my choice for this post. Ahem, do so at your own risk if you lack a liberal sense of humour.

Told you so

After going to see the much-loved movie Juno, my Dad and I discussed whether it would actually be a success. At the time, I didn't know much about how the movie was performing but I figured its indie appeal would bring in the indie folk (duh), the big names would bring in the mainstreamers, the Superbad star Michael Cera would bring in the silly teens, etc., etc., to the point where the movie would actually appeal to more people than it set out to. Also, it's working the word of mouth like crazy. A 100% slow-grower.

Dad more or less agreed. Or, at least I think he did. I can't remember a whole lot because I got too caught up in how smart I managed to sound at the time. And how pretty I am in the car window's reflection. But really, I think Dad's concerns were that the movie was almost too smart and understated for the masses.

Thanks to my GlobeInsider subscription, I give you, The coolest little success story coming out of 2007:

The comedy Juno, starring much lauded Canadian Ellen Page, is emerging as an independent film sensation grabbing critical praise and building momentum as Hollywood's awards season progresses.

With $52-million already in the bank, Juno is on its way to becoming Fox Searchlight's biggest hit ever, approaching Little Miss Sunshine at $59.9-million and Sideways at $71.5-million.

Read the full article here but also check out hilarious Ellen Page on Letterman - I love her even more now.



Related:
All about babies (sort of)
Ellen Page

All about babies (sort of)

Today was a wonderful and trying day!

The Calvin decided that today would be the day that he would forget how to walk. So, annoyed and cold Dad lugs him up the street to visit the newf and fellow dedicated teachers working the weekend at school. The Calvin delivers a beautiful performance without barks, bites, whines, or terrified looks of horror as his first three children acquaintances chase him throughout three classrooms.

Stage direction: "The Calvin" is to be read as if speaking of The Bubonic Plague until further notice. Adorable though he may be...no, I'll leave it at that. Read on.

From this fantastic start of the day, the dog is left at home as the humans celebrate with lunch out. Upon our return to recharge, the Calvin has decorated the inside of his cozy little den of a crate with copious amounts of number two. I didn't think this blog would ever resort to talking about poop...but there you have it. The beast is cleaned, dried, fed, walked (read: plopped outside on the sidewalk) and left again to sleep cozily as the humans go to the movies.

Break for real people conversation: GO! SEE! JUNO! I've already raved about Ellen Page but my fandom is growing to a whole new level of insanity after seeing one of the quirkiest, freshest, funniest movies that I have seen in years. Ms. Page was absolutely incredibly in the way that she carried the entire movie. It was all her. She overshadowed hysterical performances from (my favourite) Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons and surprisingly subtle appearances by both Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman.

Juno made me laugh out loud along with the rest of the packed theater in Ms. Page's hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia, from the great one-liners ("You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events.") to the wonky soundtrack capturing every awkward encounter. Shut down your browser and go see it right now.

For those of you who can't read directions, we returned from the movie to find that The Calvin once again defecated throughout his den. The bathing/cleaning ritual was completed once again and I am now rewarding my suffering with a martini while I listen to the newf reporting that our baby has had his first leg-hump. Super. We're bringing him over to see his brother at Kimberly's tomorrow afternoon so that we're all at least drinking away our puppies together. That makes it better, no?

Update: I actually just heard the following words being spoken to our whining, pubescent pup: "You poor little horny thing." That just bought me another martini.

More search developments

As I discussed here, the heat is being turned up on Google by the next generation of search engines. The Globe & Mail recently wrote about more major players looking to get a piece of one of the fastest growing sectors of the IT industry, namely the founder of Wikipedia:

After months of talk and a few weeks of invitation-only testing, Wikia Search is to open to the general public next week.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales says his goal is to let volunteers improve search technology collectively, the way Wikipedia lets anyone add or change entries, regardless of expertise.

"That reduces the sort of bottleneck of two or three firms really controlling the flow of search traffic," said Wales, chairman of Wikia Inc., the for-profit venture behind the search project.

Another interesting development is the upcoming Google version of Wikipedia:

Even as Wales tries to challenge search, Google has announced a project that could challenge Wikipedia. Google's version, called knol, will differ from Wikipedia by identifying who wrote each article and giving authors a chance to share in Google's advertising revenue.

Read the full story here.