Monthly Archives: September 2009

Paranormal Activity (The Movie)

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Paranomal Activity - The MovieIn the grand world of entertainment there have been many attempts at using the web to launch a product. Some have been spectacularly successfully and some have been even more spectacularly horrible. Either way, the web is more and more becoming an important (if not cheap) way to launch marketing campaigns for any media release– this especially holds true for films where the web was seemingly made to host interactive trailers, pictures, and aggregate news on the release.

Years back you may recall the “Blair Witch Project“, which appeared in Cannes to much critical acclaim. The film appeared in 1999 at Cannes and was given little fanfare besides a small lightly built web site featuring clips, stories, and folklore surrounding the movie’s back story. For many (admittedly myself included) on first watch of the “leaked” film from a movie site. the film seemed very real. It was shot unlike any other film in a very long time using hand held camcorders, quick cuts, and little to no special effects. This intensified the overall feeling and lent credibility to the film’s believability. By the time the film made it to major release and we’d all had a chance to watch it a few more times there were some things in the film that clearly spelled out it was both acted, as well as, scripted; but nevertheless it was a highly successful way to launch a film.

Ten years later a new film hopes to recapture that “Blair Witch Project” feel using both the web and that same recorded live with a camcorder feel. The film is “Paranormal Activity“. The spin this time is we do know out the door it’s both acted and scripted. Instead the web site is used as a campaign launch to show localized movie theaters where demand for the film exists. You can go to the site and show your support by “demanding” the film in your zip code. Each zip code affiliates with a bigger release zone (for example my area collates with “metro-NYC”) and using those metrics the film makers plan to show the release outlets where the film should be released beyond the initial and already launch “limited” release. It’s a great idea and it appears to be working well in their favor. Better yet– voting requires an email address so you know that the marketing team will have a field day with actually knowing who to spend their advertising dollars on, as well as, being able to directly notify the viewers when the film is out in a given area.

It goes to show you that even an old concept can be revamped to meet new ends and that as the web continues to evolve it not only can live in harmony with traditional media, but augment the ability for actual investment to be put behind those releases. I personally like that idea and applaud the marketing team behind it for their efforts.

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Test Drives

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2010 Ford Taurs SHOIt’s been a rather interesting weekend. Went out with a few friends last night to GW’s in Chester, NY and got to drink a few nice cold pints of Guinness. It’s been 250 years since Sir Arthur Guinness founded the brewery in St. James Gate; which is in the city of Dublin in Ireland and brewed his first stout that would eventually evolve into the drink we consume today. To mark the anniversary of this momentous occasion we drank a few pints, told a few stories, and debated about music. Due to health reasons, I have restrict my alcohol drinking amount and that added a bit of extra air to the event. I feel that you always enjoy a good beer more when you consume it in moderation. This being a good example of why I feel that way. We ended the night appropriately enough with the infamous Chickenette sandwich at the Monroe Diner in Monroe, NY. A good time was had by all needless to say.

Skow and I managed to skip over to Washingtonville, NY and catch the Casket Architects as well during the course of the night. They were playing as the opening act for another band’s record release party. As usual, they were absolutely amazing live. We made sure to pick up their new album “Future Wounds”.

Today the local Ford dealer, Leo Kaytes, participated in the Ford Education Donation program call “Drive 4UR School” where you get a chance to test drive a Ford vehicle. Every test drive netted a $20 donation to the local school system in Warwick, NY from Ford and helps support the sports program. It’s a worthy cause (have to support the youth and help keep those kids fit) and how you can you go wrong with getting a chance to drive a Ford of your choice? I choose the brand new 2010 Ford Taurus SHO. Over 350bhp flows from a 3.5 liter direct injection dual turbo v6 engine to 19″ tires driven with AWD. The power delivery is smooth (I easily nailed 50 mph in about 4 seconds) though a six speed automatic. The roar of the engine is meaty and reminded me of my 2006 v6 Mustang on steroids in engine note. I was overall very impressed. So five minutes of incredible driving fun in a car that isn’t even available for sale yet, $20 to the school, and a win-win for everybody.

I also stopped by to watch my oldest daughter’s soccer game this afternoon along with my wife and youngest daughter, as well as, M’Weezy. She got to play goalie for the first time and made two nice saves. Her team lost 3-0, but overall they did pretty good (they won last week 2-0). The other team was a bit older and more seasoned. This is my daughter’s first year playing soccer and only her second game so she’s still a bit green, but she is learning fast. I noticed her defense skills were getting better and she actually played the whole game end to end without any rest (God knows I wouldn’t last 60 minutes). We’re all really proud of her in my family and I think it’s great she’s trying something new. She seems to really enjoy the game and is having a good time (which is the most important thing of all).

My youngest daughter has randomly (and seemingly out of nowhere) started saying the phrase “I’m nuts”. She must have picked it up on Noggin (she really watches nothing else). Nevertheless it was slightly funny to randomly hear her blurt it out without warning.

My wife, youngest daughter, and myself joined Skow, DJ SlipK, Aeryn Heather, and another friend at Cheryl’s Fried Fish and Soul Food in Middletown, NY. This was my first time up there, but Skow and SlipK have been raving about it for months. We were not disappointed. I had smothered pork chops, beans & rice, and potato salad. My wife had fried pork chops, mac & cheese, and beans & rice. My youngest daughter had the mac & cheese. The side orders filled a whole plate. Our pork chops were both huge. The food overall was amazing. The mac & cheese is the best I’ve had since my Mom’s homemade take on it. Outstanding. Definitely recommend it if you’re ever in the area.

M’Weezy stopped in today. We briefly talked about Pirate Radio. We’ll be lining up recording soon and starting to hash out a guest list. What’s holding us up is my orthopedist visit tomorrow. I want to know roughly how my schedule is going to look for surgery before I line a bunch of things up. Once I understand that time line I can start working on staging production around my downtime.

And that was my mundane, but very satisfying weekend in a nut shell.

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Flashbacks & Flash Forwards

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With over 189 news posts in the blog even I am amazed at how much stuff I was able to dig up. For those of you who haven’t followed my written posts before, I have never until this point kept a record of what I’ve written past five posts. With that in mind, this is the first time that the majority of df.com’s major blogs have ever been collected into one unified chronological piece of written work much less one that spans ten years. The latest trove of entries comes from my old work computer where I found the original 1999 web site with several gems. They all revolve me arguing with basically everyone in site. How I ever had any friends is beyond me– looking back it seemed I was constantly arguing with someone at any given point during the course of that year.

There’s been a lot of reflection during my travels collecting my own history. It’s amazing how much we both forget over time and more so how much we choose to forget even when we could recall. There is definitely a sense of history here and I almost feel like I’ve just collected my memoirs after two terms as the President of the US. I have to reflect on my short failings and my victories– something that is sometimes wonderful and other times painful to do. In the grand scheme of history mine is, but a small part of humanity’s overall course of time. I can say though the times have changed me in some way much about me is still the same. In many more ways I just finally have clarity of mind that for whatever reason I never possessed before.

The tenth anniversary was supposed to be about amassing the history of this grand project we call df.com, but in many ways it became my own personal journey of recalling who I am and where I come from. In the end, I feel exonerated to know that I have matured in many ways, but am a lot more easy going in so many important other aspects of self. Is that part of growing? Who knows. I leave the psychoanalysis to the pros. I’m just happy to have been able to take the ride and survive it all, as well as, to have the family and life I have now. I have been reminded these past few weeks of how truly blessed I am in oh so many ways whether it be my daughters, my wife, my mom, or my siblings. Not to mention all my friends and acquaintances.

On another note, I did get my MRI this past Monday (9/21) and the results were delivered to my orthopedist yesterday. With no emergency phone call coming in it appears all is good thus far. I will know definitely more this Monday (9/28) once I visit the orthopedist to discuss the results. I do think I’ll need at least minor surgery; but my hopes are high for a quick recovery. My arm is out of the sling and though I cannot bear any real weight with it– it does work and I can type. All in all, that’s all I can ask for considering the situation.

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Milestone dfv11RC2

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The site is pretty much finalized and with that I’d like to announce we’re at version 11 release class 2. Minor changes will occur herein to the actual web site framework with most changes being either content updates or additions, but overall development is final.

Last night we opened up comments on the Music and Visual Artwork pages. That takes care of the ability to comment throughout the site. I’m thrilled to be able to offer you the viewer a more interactive experience.

Along those lines we’ll be shifting gears over the next week or so. I’ve built a new Facebook Group profile that you’re welcome to add if you so happen to be on that social networking site. It features full integration with updates from this site so if you’re lazy like me and would rather login there to check both what’s going on there, as well as, see the latest df.com news from here you most certainly can do that.

We’re going to be doing more along the line of turning up social networking profiles and integrating them back to the main news/content on df.com over the next few days including MySpace, Pure Volume, and Twitter. More on that work will be posted as it happens. That should all be rather exciting. If you have a social network site you think we should join let us know and we’ll put it into consideration for future integration plans.

I also added the “Cliff Notes” for each df Pirate Radio season that used to be on the old site. That completes all the old Pirate Radio content and df.com content being integrated into this new site. We’ll see if we can dig up more of the classic df.com news posts, but for now the collection is pretty complete and includes everything that was on version 5-10 previously.

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Doing The Deed

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So last night I continued to update content. There are a few new pictures on pages 6 , 7, and 8 of the Visual Artwork “Graphic Art” gallery including some old pen & ink comic art I did for Daemon Immortalis’s “Stack Ups” cartoon series. You’ll also see exclusive never before seen scans of the character sketches. You’ll also see some old “Vote Bush” banners from back when we were young and stupid, as well as, some old holiday greeting graphics from v4 and v5 of df.com. We now have over 90 pieces of art work in this category alone. This is arguably the most complete collection of both my and our contributors graphic art work to date that we’ve publicly displayed at any given one time ever. As always, this site is about being bigger and better than before. I think we’re doing a good job of that motto thus far (and based on your feedback it seems you feel the same way).

You’ll notice on the right hand menu a new “Around the Web” feature that will show you the latest news from some of my favorite sites (CNN.com, BBC News, and CNET to name a few…). I thought this would be a nice compliment/feature to have on the site. It’ll give you some insight into the news I’m reading and an opportunity to catch up on some of the latest developments in politics, science, entertainment, and technology. I don’t think it’s over whelming in any sense and compliments the overall look/feel well. As always, please let me know if you disagree.

Overall the site is working very well and it appears as if we may be ready in the next week or so in going ahead with the final beta portion of the site (dfv11 RC2) before we finalize the site. Again– thank you both your patience through development and your feedback as it has helped shape the site into quite the little masterpiece.

I also opened up all the old articles and df Pirate Radio posts to public comment. Feel free to have at it and let me know what you think. We did have comments closed down while we finalized the look/feel on those pages, but we’re ready now for you to leave your own mark on the posts.

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