Miss La Muse

Miss La Muse from Miguel Martinez on Vimeo.

Creative Writing Assignment

In this past year, I have done quite a bit of creative writing: poetry, short stories, short film script, and writing for video games, and much more. I’ve learned, in theory, what it takes to create an engaging script that has dialogue, but how do I write a script for a silent film?

For my IPP (Independent Professional Project) I decided to write a script, score, and film a short silent film. This is going be quite the challenge! First, because I’m not even sure how I’m going to write a script for a silent film, my guess is that it will just have to have a lot of stage directions, and no dialogue. So that will be the first challenge. The second will be to compose and record music that will go along with this story -- something that will basically serve as a dialogue for my film since my actors will not speak. I want the music to still up emotions, and to tell half of the story.

To continue on the creative writing topic, I’ll show you one of the videos that inspired me to create a silent film. It’s a little longer than mine will be, but oh so good.



Not one word was spoken by the main actors in this entire short film – yes I did see the signs – mine will rely more heavily on the acting and music. Maybe some captions whenever it extremely necessary for the story.

So what I’m saying is that writing this kind of script requires quite the imagination. Imagination that I hope I have. For now, all I can do is spend the summer watching silent movies by Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. Gotta love The Freshman!

Interactive Ads

Apple is introducing iAd and promising about one billion ad impressions in the iPhone community. That's quite the promise. OK, maybe not promise, but Steve Jobs sure made it sound like it.

It's true that that interactive ads are a bit more interesting, but I have never clicked on any interactive ads in my life on the web. How is this going to be any different? Unless they make those ads automatically pop up on your phone, I don't know if people are really going to be interacting with them. What I do like though, is that this will help keep the apps free.

Now, this interactive billboard below is kind of a good, yet creepy idea of what advertising might become.



But hey, maybe people won't touch these ads because so many people have touched them before. I sure wouldn't touch a screen that has a bunch of nasty fingerprints on it. Or maybe someone will throw a rock at it. You could always pay the squeegee kids to clean the ads all the time. Remember, you read the squeegee kid idea here first.

Netvibes

If you are one of those people who hate logging into multiple sites one at at time, then you are going to love Netvibes. Netvibes is a dashboard website that allows you to manage all your social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, websites, news, keywords, photos, and much more.

I'm not a super big fan of it just yet, but I think that something like this will soon become really essential, and popluar. It's best to have the news, Facebook updates, and tweets come to you -- rather than having to go out there and search for them all the time. But the main reason why I don't like it is because I feel a bit uneasy giving some website all my passwords to all these websites. I'm sure you would too.

How long until cash dies?

Sorry, I would pay you today but I don’t have any cash on me today -- sound familiar? I’m sure most of us have heard those words spoken. But how long until those words can’t be uttered anymore? It could be sooner than you think.

The “guys” at Square have developed a new iPhone App that will make it easier for anyone to take payment via their mobile phones. So if that funny guy asks you if you take Visa, now you can reply “well, yes I do.”

When you buy the App you will receive a nifty little card reader that plugs into the iPhone’s headphone jack. After both parties have signed up with squareup.com, all you have to do is enter the amount that you want to charge, scan the card, and voila. You have yourself some money.

How long until people trust this kind of service? I would say that it will take at least ten to fifteen years until cash really dies. I say this because it has been about five years since I heard that something similar appeared in Japan. Where a small RFID chip is inserted in the cell phone and allows you to pay for most things without cash. Like a can of pop.

All of these methods have a big risk factor, and if someone wants your money really bad, they will take it. But are these techno thieves going to target the child paying for a pop, or a wealthy looking business man? Probably the child – it’s a joke.

For now, we will continue to use cash and debit. Even though we all know that debit is still not all that safe anymore due to the recent debit scanning frauds – oh, but they have a chip now, so we’re safe again. Just hit override on the keypad, and continue on.

The safety of our identity and cash has a long way to go, but for now, enjoy the following video.

Whopper Face?

I'm not sure who came up with this name. But I don't think Whopper Face is the best fit for this. Personally, I don't want a whopper face -- I don't know about you.

Burger king in Brazil decided to emphasize the fact that you can personalize your Whopper so much that you can even get your face on it; a Whopper Face. Now, the idea doesn't sound that horrible, but the name is what really turns me off immediately. I don't think I have to really explain why that is either.



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McDonald's polluting a river? Sure, maybe McDonalds didn't turn this river green, but how do I know that for sure? I don't live in that city.

Now for the good

The video says it all. A virtual homeless man that encourages people to interact with him. A very modern and innovative idea that uses social media to its advantage. I will definitely use this idea as an example effective buzz.

Google on Dish?

Google continues to take over the world by developing as many different prodoucts as possible. The company announced, according to the Wall Street Journal, that it will be adding Google software to new Dish Network set-top boxes.

So what?

This will mean that users will be able to search for YouTube and TV shows. Call it mix in between television and the internet. What could this mean for the future of television and advertisement? We'll have to wait to hear about all the details of this service for now.

"Previous efforts to access Internet programming on TV sets have failed to catch on, partly because they required consumers to purchase extra hardware," wrote Jessica E. Vascellaro of the Wall Street Journal article.

"[So this] test represents another effort to extend its technology for delivering targeted ads into new fields, as its search business slows down," she added.