Posts Tagged ‘Shawn Sorrells’

In Mark Twain’s autobiography, he said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” It’s a phrase that has caught on to mean numbers don’t always tell the full story. It always reminds me of a story I heard a few years ago that involved the statistics of major injuries that occur when snow skiing. The stats revealed something like 87% of all major snow skiing accidents happen on the last run of the day. Makes sense right …you’ve been skiing all day, this is your last run, you’re physically tired, maybe had a few drinks and you’re going to go out with a bang so you want to make that last run mean something.

You take some extra risks and sure enough, you get hurt!

But think about it, if you get severely injured at ANY TIME while skiing, isn’t that your LAST RUN of the day …unless you can drag yourself back on the lift and ski again with that broken leg, separated shoulder, etc!

That’s my long-winded intro to some interesting numbers that came out recently from themotleyfool.com

50 Amazing Numbers About the Economy

I’m not making a statement about the statistics about the economy but it’s an interesting  read.

 

I’ve lived in Indiana my entire life, and spent most of my time in the Indianapolis metro area and I’m proud to call it home. I see all kinds of lists based on all kinds of data that come out from time to time. These ranking lists can be “Top 10 …” – fill in the blank …”Best Places to Live, Best Places to Raise a Family, Worst Air Quality, etc. Somes times Indy makes these lists for good reason and sometimes for bad. The list I saw today is pretty bad!

America’s Emptiest Cities, 2011
Ouch!!! Indy is number two on this list for having the second highest rental and home vacany rates in the nation.

Every now and then I see something that really “entertains” me. Sometimes it’s the little things that I just happen to witness, other times it’s the more standard movie, TV show, book, concert, joke, friend, etc. It’s rare that a TV show impresses me …mostly because they can’t like a good film because of the huge difference in budgets.

I enjoy Vince Gilligan’s “Breaking Bad” on AMC. Vince worked on dozens of “X-Files” episodes and has since created, written, directed and produced all the episodes of “Breaking Bad,” which is in it’s 4th season on AMC.

The show is funny and dark at the same time – usually hard to pull off.

Click on the thumbnail to watch a karaoke video of one of the sub-characters on the show. The karaoke video surfaced during a homicide investigation – yes, Gale was murdered.

Watch the video – caution you may find the video: funny, werid, disturbing, puzzling, etc. Just remember it’s part of really “entertaining” TV.

It’s all about the story.

I love shooting and editing video.

I started doing it as a professional in the 1980′s and we’ve come a long way since then. Shot on VHS in college, shot on 3/4 inch tape at the first of 3 TV stations where I worked and thought I hit the big time when I shot on Betacam at WISH TV in Indianapolis. Got away from shooting for several years when a significant technology revolution was happening. Came back to it and now shoot tapeless on two 32GB SDHC cards.

I like to say I timed it perfectly to let the dust settle on formats, codecs, CCD’s, CMOS’, etc. but there is still plenty of dust in the air. There is no standard format or codec and there are compatibility issues everywhere. The technology used to produce professional video is constantly evolving and (I hope) will continue to do so. I missed the transition to NLE software that makes editing at times as easy as a cut and paste. I used to use 2 and 3 deck setups in my edit bays and mess with A-rolls and B-rolls and now can accomplish it all with software and a high end computer.

We upgraded some equipment this year at Coles Marketing and I can’t be more excited to shoot and edit video.

First, we got a  Sony HDR-AX2000 video camera. This broadcast-quality baby packs a full 1080p HD punch and shoots beautiful video!

Then to handle all of this wonderful HD video with its massive file sizes, I introduce you to the Alienware Aurora … a truly amazing machine. Once you get past all the “alien” design and effects, the i7 quad core processor and the tri-channel 12GB of RAM make capturing, editing and rendering videos a stable, smooth process.

Here’s a link to a recently shot and edited video for DSC in Carmel, IN. Look for the video in the lower right part of the home page: www.discoverdsc.com

Bottom line, we’re sure to continue to be producing high quality videos for our clients for years to come!

…and I get to continue to do what I love.

We all know brands. We all have our favorite brands.

Ketchup = Heinz vs. Del Monte. I choose Heinz.

Mustard = French’s vs. Plochman’s. I choose Plochman’s.

Syrup = Aunt Jemima vs. Mrs. Butterworth’s. This is a close one but I choose Mrs. Butterworth’s.

That’s why I was delighted to recently see Mrs. Butterworth in a Geico commercial and more recently in the news regarding the mystery of her first name.

In a 1987 television ad, it was revealed that Mrs. Butterworth’s first name is “Joy.” She was reluctant to let her first name be used because her childhood friends referred to her, jokingly, as “Joy Buzzerworth,” punning on the popular novelty item the Joy Buzzer.

Recently, Mrs. Butterworth ran a contest to see who could remember her first name. I had no idea what her first name was even though I’ve spent many mornings with the matronly female. It turns out, two teenagers (I’m sure with their parents help) from the Midwest knew her name was Joy. I’m not sure what the teenagers won, maybe, a lifetime supply of the tasty syrup.

The full story is a quick read and a great marketing idea.

So I’ll keep using Mrs. Butterworth’s when I make my kids their pancakes but I feel like I know her just a little more. Even more than when I chugged half a bottle of the sweet stuff on a dare when I was 13 years old!

We’ve all seen the mugshots of Nick Nolte, Heather Locklear, Yasmine Bleeth, etc. Definitely celebrities caught not looking their best. Check out thesmokinggun.com for these and more!

Now, Randy Quaid can be added to that list. Randy has appeared in some great movies over the years but is certainly not looking his best in this mugshot.

At least he’s not wearing a sheer, white sweater with a black dickey!

Here’s what happened to Randy. He didn’t get in trouble for hitting Clarke up for some cash, instead he “checked out” of a hotel in Santa Barbara without paying his $10,000 bill.

Randy’s film career has at least been interesting. He was great in “Midnight Express” and became well known as Cousin Eddie in the “Vacation” movies.

I’m sure he’ll get past this legal trouble and we’ll see him again soon on the big screen …I just hope he loses the beard!

Labor Day is this Monday. As we’re all enjoying a day off from work or school and spending time with family and friends, I thought I’d give you a liitle historical background on Labor Day.

According to the United States Department of Labor, “Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor the workers of America. This was way back in 1882!

So hats off and raise your glasses and grilled burgers and thank Mr. McGuire for giving most of us a day off.

I and a couple of million other people have watched an incredible video of a guy sliding down a huge waterslide, jumping what looks like hundreds of feet and then landing in a small kiddie pool. “Wow!!” “Awesome!” were the comments in our office. I and a few others were skeptical. As it turns out the video is a brilliant fake by Microsoft.

The video was a carefully crafted viral ad for Microsoft’s Office Project. It got millions of hits on YouTube alone. Even thought it’s fake, it’s worth a watch. And, while you’re at YouTube, check out the Coles Marketing Communications channel.