Video Arts: “Assert yourself”
From the wiki:
Video Arts is a British-based video production company which produces training videos for companies. It was founded in 1972 by John Cleese and a group of other television professionals. The videos are noted for using humour to explain business concepts and for featuring well-known British actors. Past productions have featured Cleese, Dawn French, Prunella Scales, Hugh Laurie, and Robert Hardy.Cleese sold the company in 2007, presumably before this one was made, so don’t watch it because it’s relatively crap, but here’s one from the 90s which features Cleese as St. Peter offering a postmortem to a recently deceased unorganized manager. It’s called “The unorganised [sic] manager” whose laptop is comically enormous.
And here’s one from what appears to be the heyday of Video Arts featuring a very Archie Leach-like Cleese as a salaryman fed up with the inanity of meetings. It’s titled “Meetings, Bloody Meetings”.
Two observations: 1) There are clearly giant piles of cash to be made from producing entertaining and tasteful vignettes for corporate use. A quick look at the catalogue shows that most of these pieces can be purchased for something insane like a grand or four for a DVD or e-learning CD-ROM. Serious cash. 2) It’s hard not to think that ‘The Office’ may have taken a cue or two from Video Arts’ astute lampooning of the corporate culture.
GPOYW - Breaking it down to MJ at a club in Florence
Thanks for hanging out Vince and Hana!
What an awesome place!
And no it isn’t all hookers and drugs - really not even close.
Granted there are a lot of people HERE for the drugs, the residents are friendly, the food is much cheaper than Italy, and people are generally excited to explore and discover everything this place has to offer. I really like it.
Lots of similarities to my trip to Prague, great public transport etc - but all in all I’m impressed by the city, its people, and its culture.
Heading out to get a bike and see some museums now. Hopefully riding a boat tonight and exploring the rest of this place tomorrow and flying out Friday.
The second episode of Ikea Heights premiered last night at Channel101 and got voted back for another episode. Hooray. Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen:
In the second episode of Ikea Heights, Detective Mathis must uncover the mysteries behind the murder of Thomas Jespens. Meanwhile, James Melville tends to his long lost brother.
Directed by David Seger, Shot by Paul Bartunek
Written by David Seger, Tom Kauffman, Spencer Strauss, and Paul Bartunek
Starring: Matt Braunger, Randall Park, Whitney Avalon, Rick Lee, Inga Draper, Abed Gheith, Dean Pelton, Del Shoopman, Wade Randolph and Tom Kauffman
‘swedish meatballs’ are really peaking in this episode.
congrats on getting picked back up gang!
what exactly would you like to hear from me? that everything will be ok?
OK’s are fair game for waiters and people that want to sell something.
“hey so is everything ok here? you save any room for dessert?”
most days the rate at which the world turns requires more inertia than my legs can muster, but don’t we all get a twitch of this? don’t we all feel our bodies sink a little more with each bad day, compounded with a handful of rough patches and awkward moments, exponentially making you question things more with each hesitant heartbeat.
well the good news is failure is glorious
and success is easy,
and the real beauty that this world offers is somewhere in between.
and because of that you’re grateful for the struggle,
and if you’re smart you embrace and take pride your works,
and hopefully you follow your path a little more each day,
and in that path you find peace, and glimpses of a future doing what you should, where you should, with good people and great intentions and the best dreams.
I hate pregnant women, because then they have children.
Heading to Amsterdam for the week, found a cheap flight and hostel, and with a half dozen friends there this week it’s easier to be a tourist with other tourists.
Any recommendations, thoughts, or ideas?
The irony of travel isn’t lost on me. Most travel is sold or pitched as relaxing, exciting, and adventuresome and new. I’ve never bought into this cult, I’m not really into theme parks or cruises or anything overly manufactured or manicured being the key to me getting a travel fix. (although those hedge sculptures at Disney parks are INSANE)
What people want and eventually do versus what they THINK they want TO do is a point that isn’t lost on me as a marketer. That said - there are triggers to making any decision - and its in that spirit that I clearly realize that I’m not being honest to myself and making the most of this experience.
Six weeks into my travels in Italy and my desire to be in my car on the open road traveling the US is piqued yet again. My time living out of my car, sleeping on couches, going cross country this Fall showed me more about myself and my country than traveling here. If anything there are too many Americans around me to really feel like I’m “somewhere else” most of the time.
The police here call it the “Disney Effect” - tourists walking around Florence with other tourists staring at the statues and bridges and buildings, as if this isn’t a bustling metropolis but rather a theme park built for their leisure. I could see a week or two of that would be magical, but after six weeks the gloss and shine wear off and you start seeing the “actors” taking smoke breaks, and the mimes ordering cappuccino and kebabs and you realize, “oh life goes on here without the tour busses and people like me.”
Travel outside of Florence has been nothing short of fantastic. Even in the Southern part of Italy where I had some less than flattering exchanges with some locals, it was amazing. I’ve got to shift my goals and refine them onto experiences that are unique to Italy and Europe in general. From there I have tighten my focus and start set plans to travel, in order to bring these goals to life. It may seem like a simple feat, but this place can put your feet in quicksand fast. Why leave paradise? Why leave this nice little American-ized cocoon you’ve got in Florence?
I’m excited to push myself the next six weeks and see what results may come.
feist sings “you and i” with wilco at the wiltern on june 25, 2009
Nick writes about Frank Fairfield
Check out Nick’s own music blog here.
We are a bi-monthly anthology of short fiction. We select stories charged with wit and emotional gravity right from the first sentence. You choose how you want to read them. We deliver content in every viable medium.
This is very exciting. As my friend Ted said, “E-revival of the short story has begun.”
I love this, and find it to be very true:
The short story is uniquely suited to our age.
A.O. Scott said recently in the New York Times, “The blog post and the tweet may be ephemeral … but the culture in which they thrive is fed by a craving for more narrative.”
By publishing gripping narratives from America’s best contemporary writers and embracing new forms of distribution, we hope to facilitate a renaissance of the short story.Thank Jesus.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Ulysses, Madam Bovary… these books were banned because they could subvert society. How? Again, by revealing life’s possibilities, expanding consciousness, and exploding social norms. We want to re-introduce the idea that reading can be dangerous.
Wee! Check out their website. I am sort of tentatively thrilled.
OH YEAH PS THEY PAY $1K DOLLARS A STORY. Every line on their Submit page reads to be written by God Himself:
No Submission Fees
We pay writers, they don’t pay us. We are proud to support writers who entrust us with their work.No Contests
Every other month, we select five stories for publication. Each writer receives $1,000. This is a payment, not a prize. We value writing, we know how hard it is, and we believe writers are entitled to fair compensation.No Cover Letters
We don’t need to see your resume. All we care about is the story.Grab Us
We are looking for work with a strong voice which hooks us in the first paragraph and doesn’t let go until the final sentence.
yes.
Other than the obvious challenges of moving to a new place, moving to Europe and moreso Italy has some aspects that I didn’t think I’d experience.
The way of life is their art, it is their culture, and in many ways it is their greatest export - or at least an extension of it. A Professor said that shoes and watches are still status symbols to this day because of the importance they had in periods where your mother or family could make your clothes, even nice ones, with relative skill. To craft a shoe or a watch takes time, precision, machines, and skills beyond what most possess. Finally, shoes and a watch to me, represent freedom. WIth them you could walk for hours, and know what time it is without a cumbersome clocktower - tracking paths and logging progress from one village to a next - without a horse!
My question is this, in an environment that makes a great deal of technological advantages flat, and communication is relatively simple - what is the defining factor of wealth or freedom?
