Recap of Social Media Fast '10 (January 2-9)

So my wife and I spawned the idea of SMF 2010 (sounds like a film festival acronym, right?) when discussing new year's resolutions on New Year's Day. As per the New York Times back in August, Facebook attracted nearly 88m unique visitors in July and this was a symptom of a forthcoming "exodus". With those figures in mind along with the suggested mass "exodus" (an embellishment considering Facebook had 102m unique visitors in 11/09), the two of us had been feeling that the e-transition of our relationships (think green here) was gradually contributing to the erosion of our social skills. So we decided to partake in the fast in tandem for the week of 1/2-1/9.

The rules were simple - no personally-affiliated social media. No Twitter, Facebook or MySpace. Given my unemployed state, LinkedIn was an exception. It felt right and, well, somewhat sacrificial. Not like lent or anything, but kind of old-fashioned (like late 90's old fashioned). Telephone calls, voicemail, email and human interaction. Off we went.

The first couple of days were pretty simple - I had a ton of reading and financial research that had been held up by social media OVERuse. I dug deep into a book, read financial statements, actually responded to emails, answered my phone and began nervously exercising my "conventional" communication skills. It was a little nerve wracking to start, but it quickly felt good. Normal even. I felt like I had an actual NEED to speak to people - versus checking their catalog of status updates or their profile pictures. As the week progressed and my to-do list with it, I gradually forgot about social media.

Before I knew it and felt fully reconnected to my friends, the week was over. I took a peek at Twitter, but with no need to immediately visit Facebook - I actually made it an 8th day without it. My re-exposure to it was so very anticlimactic. I realized I didn't need it - I didn't actually even like it that much. With all the bells and whistles, it is a veritable socially-oriented coloring book for adults. With that in mind, I discovered how to configure Twitter (which I'd previously mocked as a one-dimensional company angling for a buyout) to manage my Facebook updates and think I've visited the site 4-5 times since.

In summary - the distance between Facebook and I now feels appropriate. I still struggle with the occasional inclination not to answer my phone or emails, but unfortunately, this existed prior to my sojourn into social media. Unfortunately, being given and exercising the ability to check a page and see EXACTLY what they're doing, where they are, what their personal status, where they're working and what their personal interests currently are sort of makes the phone call redundant sometimes, doesn't it? I'll be using that as my rationale when I don't answer the phone (much less frequently) in the future.

Nate

Worst 3 acting performances of my lifetime (IMO)

Hello, all.
First off - let me start by saying this isn't very nice. I know it's not nice and actually...I can't act. Not a lick. The difference between me and these folks (at least these performances) is that I know it. This is why I'm staying strictly behind the camera. Even further actually.

Anyway, I know you're on pins and needles, so here it is:

3. Sofia Coppola as "Mary Corleone" - Godfather 3.
Popular and easy choice here. Wow she is pretty and she and her father have made great films. Unfortunately, the producing and directing gene is dominant. Every time she spoke (and it was a lot), it seemed like she was saying too much. Little or no emotion regardless of a scene's progress or contribution to the plot. Did I mention she was pretty?

2. Hayden Christensen as "Anikan Skywalker" - Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones.
A handsome guy and basically a local (he's from Vancouver, BC), if any one actor took the franchise lower than the CG, script and George Lucas' ego did - this is the one. There were times in this movie when Amy and I recall people laughing hysterically after he delivered a crucial line - and it wasn't intended to be comical. He desperately tried to maintain the needed degree of naivety in this dreadful installment of the prequel, but it came across as so disingenuous. The whiny tone he maintained was obnoxious, he spoke with no emotion whatsoever and basically never completely assumed this character. His performance felt more like a fan playing a part than it did a big-name actor playing a critical role.

1. Jonathan Rhys Meyers as "Coach Joe" - Bend it like Beckham
I'm not really even sure where to begin here. Anyone who has seen this film and didn't notice (it isn't bad thanks to Kiera Knightly and Jess Kaur Bamrha) should see it again. EVERY SINGLE LINE of his performance is delivered in the same frequency, pitch, tone, volume and etc. No emotion, instinct or discovery on display here regardless of the point in the film. The first in a slew of Keanu-like performances for a guy that seems to be adored by a vast quantities of women. I hadn't even taken a single film class at this point and I could barely watch this guy (I still can't for that matter).

Honorable Mention: Julianne Moore as "Nancy Donovan" - 30 Rock
What was that accent? Did it seem made up to anyone else?

Have a great week! Best,

Nate

Status update

Faithful 14,
I've been unreliable at best of late, but rest assured, I'm back in the saddle now. The truth is that I completed an intensive screenwriting program at The Film School (thefilmschool.com) last July and the journey spawned a feature project. Since mid-August, my partner and I hammered out a story, developed a wide dearth of characters and painstakingly pieced together a rough scene script.

The result of this project is the first draft of the script for a business-placed comedy, "Are we solutioning?" I cooped myself up for most of December to write it (all 137 pages) and my partner, Dan Baumgartel, is currently overseas reading it. Since 6-7 re-writes is typical, it will be another 6 weeks before we have a draft ready to circulate. All in all, exciting things are going on.

In the meantime, I'm pursuing a day job as ever and will be posting my typical observational, awkward and bemusing content more regularly. I can hear it now - "YESSSS!"

Nate

Ongoing career change

Hope your holidays went splendidly. As my unemployment dwindles down, my job hunt in the field of communications and tech writing is intensifying. What an invigorating and frightening dynamic this is. I'm basically taking 10+ years of supply chain management experience at a Fortune 500 retailer and chucking it out the window. If only I'd known what I wanted to do as a grown-up when I was 22.

So I'm leaning on JC and my family in the New Year. Hoping the Lord will provide a job lead soon. A more "humorous" posting forthcoming soon. Happy New Year!

Nate

Drugstores

I love them. How can you not? My wife always knows when I've been to the drugstore by the amount of time it takes me to get home from the gym, my mood or the wrappers she sees in the garbage. I always thought that it was the fact that the drugstore is a shop FULL of solutions. I mean - you have a headache? Ibuprofen. Need materials for school? Trapper keepers, pens and stationary are all over the place. Body odor? Deodorant. Dry skin? Lotions abound. On the lam? They basically have an entire aisle dedicated to hair dye kits and another half an aisle for shaving materials! It has always been a top destination from me.

During an innocent trip to peruse and pick up prescription (solution!) - I had a thought that changed my perception of drugstores and disappointed me immensely. Everyone always blames the government and/or "corporatocracy" for not finding a cure for the common cold. The array of products offered by drugstores and the way the stores are merchandised lends credence to this belief and, even more devastating, tells me that drugstores are in on it. I thought for all of these years that drugstores just innocently added products like candy, chips, crackers, gum, and beverages for the simple add-on sales they offered. Then when I was checking out trying to convince myself that this was all a lie from below - I noticed the cigarettes on the other side of the register. Why on earth would drugstores offer cigarettes unless they were TRYING to ensure there would always be a need for the solutions they offered?

Even worse, and I'll leave you with this, the stores are staged in order from the best solutions (pharmacy at the back) to the worst health-inducing problems (cigarettes at the VERY front). It's even a gradual downhill slide in the order of products from the pharmacy to the front counter (OTC remedies to hygiene products to school supplies to toys to gum to candy to cigarettes. I hope I haven't disappointed anyone else, but I'll never view Walgreens with such naive, giddy excitement as I have for the past 32 years.

Tempting the negation of the negation?

During my month-long crash course in film school, Warren Etheredge introduced us students to a term called "negation of the negation." It represents a twist in a film which takes place after the protagonist enters the cave scene - and this event basically makes the cave even deeper. The accompanying statement Warren posed was "if you think THAT was bad, check this out!"

Now to the part of this post which might lose my creative colleagues...

Reading an article today about Michael Schumacher (7x F1 World Champion), it looks as though he was considering a temporary comeback in Formula One. This was due to Ferrari Felipe Massa's injury at the Grand Prix of Hungary (which is one of the craziest things I have ever seen in motorsports). Anyhow, Schumacher revealed that a neck fracture he suffered in a crash last year during a motorcycle race. Wow, really? REALLY? You survive 15 seasons (7 championships, 91 wins!), make $800m and survive a pretty bad crash in a profession where you're hurdling yourself around a track at speeds up to 200mph (320kM) in a carbon fiber cart that weighs less than 1k pounds and you feel you haven't tested fate enough? Don't have your fix quite yet?

One more...

Tedy Bruschi wins 3 Superbowls with the Patriots, survives a STROKE (!) at the age of 32 and turns down an exec job with the Patriots to KEEP PLAYING. Are those 3 kids not enough to stay home? How about the two Pro Bowls you made?

Are these guys so wrapped in these professional personas (dangerous, at that) that they can't cash it in and start a company or something? If I were writing a script, these stories would provide some nice material for the "negation of the negation."

I'll spare you any mention of Brett Favre. Oops - sorry.

Revelation, new career path, film school...

All,

What an invigorating, challenging and overwhelming past 8 weeks it has been. God revealed to me in an interview last month that I cannot continue with a career in supply chain and cost analytics. It didn't play to my strengths and would most certainly result in an early death for me. Seeing people in the lobby of this company I was interviewing at looking incredibly ragged, though well-dressed, nearly caused me to walk straight out.

Fortunately I had enrolled in film school for basically the month of July. Wow - what a powerful experience that was. As most of you know, I have a sitcom in development and now have a short film project to compliment it.

Now for the big part - if all goes according to my plan (His is the X-factor), I'll be transitioning to a career in writing, communications or public relations within the next 3 months. The screenwriting will continue, but we need to pay the bills until I can sell something. I'm excited, terrified and all of the above...please keep me in your prayers!

Nate