The big unveiling is upon us! Bill and Co. are putting the final touches on Gastown's newest space this week in preparation for the Workspace Unveiling party on Friday night. Dress up in your swankiest duds, bring your friends, and head down to 21 Water St. to check out this innovative shared working environment. Cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and music are on tap.
Link: unveiling | WorkSpace.
As Richard Branson once wrote, "Oh screw it, let's do it!"
Link: Seth's Blog: The intuition vs. analysis conundrum.
Let's say you've got a really good idea. And you've had good ideas before.
You show it to your colleagues. They analyze it. They tell you why it's not a good idea.
Hmmm.
Do you go with your instinct? Is your gut reaction to be trusted? After all, you've been right before. After all, you've been wrong before.
The analysis, based on past events, certainly seems sound. But your instincts are the only way you're going to do something unsound.
And unsound things become hits. Sound ones never do.
Kris Krug caught up with Megan and I at VIDfest for a quick video interview about ThisCityRocks. Check it out!
I just sent off my last minute registration for the VIDFest 2006 conference (aka Vancouver International Digital Festival). With the tag line: Digital Entertainment. Interactive Design. Mobile Content, this 3 day event is right up my (new) alley. I'm looking forward to learning and networking with all the talented New Media folks from Vancouver and the World! Drop me an email if you're going and we'll try and connect!
VIDFEST 2006 is three days comprised of business partnering, conference sessions, screenings and super fun networking events including the VIDFEST gala, attended by 400+ in 2005. Now in its third year, VIDFEST has attracted thought leaders from the likes of Cartoon Network, Electronic Arts, MTV, Warner Brothers, and Walt Disney.
After a long night of editing on Friday (I got up from the computer and saw that it was getting light outside!) and a few more tweaks yesterday, I'm happy to announce that the first episode of ThisCityRocks is now online for the masses! I'm really happy with how it turned out, and more importantly, learned a lot about how to make the next one better! Check it out at www.thiscityrocks.com or you can subscribe to it in iTunes.
So, I've been quietly working on a new project that I'm hoping will put Formula Photographic at the forefront of online video in Vancouver (and beyond?). Over the past year there has been a surge in demand for online video content. Combine the forces of Apple's video ipod, faster internet access, new online services, and the growing power of citizen journalism, and video blogs have exploded in popularity. As more and more people discover RSS feeds and have thier daily entertainment pushed to them through their browser, traditional TV/Radio/Print as we know it is going to have to change. In fact, it already is.
So, in an effort to be at the forefront of this trend and capitalize on the opportunity to place myself as a leader in this market, I'm starting up a series of video podcasts - starting with a weekly Vancouver music show called "ThisCityRocks". It will likely be followed up with a Classic Car video magazine in partnership with Dave Hord.
I'm currently working on the pilot episode of ThisCityRocks, where we feature local band The Manvils. I'm working with a great host - Megan Cole - who has worked as an actor, talent agent, graphic designer, and on the production side of things at CBC for the Torino Olympics and Hockey Night in Canada. She likes to joke that she's on career number 89, and she's probably telling the truth! She has lots of energy and ideas to help make the show a success. If all goes well with the Vancouver version of ThisCityRocks, the plan is to expand quite quickly to a couple of other markets like Seattle or Toronto. Apart from being a really cool show every week, I can't think of a better weekly reminder of Formula Photographic's talents - distributed to a wide range of viewers in a regional target market! Watch for the pilot episode to be online later this week!
Jian Ghomeshi recently did a series on CBC called THE END, exploring the fate of mass media. The second episode focused in on "The End of TV" and how Tivo, podcasts, and mobile video is changing the face of traditional television. Ghomeshi interviews many of the top players from advertising firms, major networks, and the new faces of online video - including Rocketboom and Guerrilla News Network - and provides a great overview of the changes taking place. CBC has the episodes streamed on their site - have a look at 'The End of TV' segment (link to the video is at the top of the right-hand column).
CanWest has canned the daily commuter paper, DOSE. Hardly surprising. In an age of expanding online communities, news sources, and citizen journalism, the launch of DOSE a year ago just seemed like really, really bad timing. Turns out it was.
"In this very competitive newspaper market, we feel the printed publication will not produce the financial results we expect over the long term," said CanWest MediaWorks CEO Peter Viner in a release.
"However, we see a growing product in the Dose online and mobile offering which we will continue to develop," he said.
Well, duh.
Now, if they had launched a daily podcast/videocast with all the same sort of news, gossip, and articles and targeted all those leading-edge trendy folk and their ipods...they would have made a much bigger impression. Their target for the paper was specifically 18-35 year olds. These people are WITH IT. Give them something cool. Sure, you can read a paper on the bus going to work, but wouldn't it be WAY cooler to sit and watch the days news and entertainment on your ipod? Would have put an end to all the garbage and street litter those discarded free handouts produced too.
The upcoming location for Workspace has been undergoing some demolition at the hands of Bill, Eric, Dave and I for the past couple of days, and the space has gone from a poorly-designed and dark "office" into a wide-open airy loft. The views are spectacular, and once the renovations have been completed, this will be one of the coolest places to work in Vancouver. Check out my photoset on flickr to catch a glimpse.
I deposited a US dollar cheque yesterday at the bank and the exchange rate was $1.109/$0.90! Analysts are suggesting our dollar might pull even with the USD by the end of the year. Great for purchasing, but bad for my bank balance as I get paid mostly in US dollars. Oh well, time to hike my rates to compensate - and I think I'll be buying my camera gear south of the border soon!
