Mistress Mia Jane just released the digital version of the social media marketers’ pinup calendar, now called Women Who Rule the World!
You can download the digital calendar for FREE here.
Sweeet… you can now call me Miss May, thank you very much!
Here’s what they did with my page…
Keep Unwrapping Your Online Success!
We just posted Part 2 of LWL TV Episode 1 on our LWL blog…
Yes, it was too long for one part so we split it into two, just like a mini-series.
The information is presented in a screen capture format to illustrate what we’re saying, rather than our faces — because who wants to watch talking heads?
Let us know what you think of this type of programming.
Keep Unwrapping The Mysteries of Life!
Barry and I just launched a new experimental type of video programming where we talk to our community in a radio show style, but with pictures.
We had a lot of fun doing this, and hope that you enjoy the information we shared, and the format we shared it in.
We walk you through numerous different visuals as we talk about what’s going on in our world.
Keep Unwrapping The Mysteries of Life!
Barry made us a sweet video of the best moments of our life in 2008.
Wow, it sure brings up some amazing memories… and I end up with tears every time I watch it! Not just for the memories (good and bittersweet, like seeing our wedding, which is one of the happiest days of my life so far, and Mercury, my special cat who is no longer with us)… but also for the fact that I have a man who would make such a beautiful keepsake for us:
As for the tool he used — that you can also use yourself to create something that cool (yes, really, and just using pictures from your hard drive) — it’s called Animoto.
Now, we’ve mentioned a similar tool in the past called OneTrueMedia. Both have free and paid options, and we opted for paid with both because of the premium features.
But while OneTrueMedia lets you add video clips and do more editing (like fading the music in and out around the audio on your own video), only Animoto does these highly professional-looking fades, pans, wipes, zooms, and cool edits so that you can look like an MTV producer even if you know nothing about editing… and all with just your digital photographs.
In fact, Animoto was started by former producers from MTV and ABC.
For more on the technical aspects of using this tool, check out Barry’s comprehensive review on the LWL Worldwide blog (it’s our LWL Tool #8).
As for why you’d want to make this kind of video for yourself (the metaphysical, rather than the physical, side of the story)…
>>> CONTINUE READING Sweeet! Our Life MTV-ized!…
Back in the early 90s, I was a model. I had a sweet-looking portfolio of shots that made me look sexier and more beautiful than anything I saw in the mirror, and I loved working with the camera.
Eventually I got bored of still shots though, and focused my energy on TV. I thought at first I wanted to be an actor (my first pro gig had actually been in the mid 80s, when I was still an art student, in a film starring then-unknown John Goodman).
But I realized pretty quickly that what I really wanted to do was be myself on camera, and set my sights on becoming a TV show host (which turned out to really be my forte, and I loved it).
However, the still camera is always fun, and about six months ago when I did my most recent promo shots, I rediscovered the joy of posing.
Now the organizers of the Social Media Divas Pinup Calendar Contest have asked me to take part… and hey, why not? I love the classy old-style pinup photo, and I always went for the classic look when I was modeling.
Of course, I can’t enter those old pictures in the contest, but I thought I’d have a bit of fun with it all.
After all, social networking is fun, internet marketing is fun, and pinup modeling is fun… and since this is a pinup contest for social network marketers, how much more fun could we have?
Watch my YouTube video that I just created using a really cool new online tool (come back tomorrow for more details on how you can use it)…
Then vote for me by leaving a comment here!
Keep Unwrapping Your Online Success!
My parents came to visit a few days ago… they’re here for almost a 2-week stay, and they’re planning to see as much of the area as they can during that time.
They’ve never been to Oregon, but it’s strangely reminiscent of Ontario in a lot of ways (besides both starting with an “O”)… for instance, both have beautiful rivers and tree-filled scenery, and both have Shakespearean festivals that are among the top in the world.
So Barry and I thought they’d enjoy going to a play here at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland… and I decided on A Comedy of Errors, which was presented as a Western musical.
Yes, Shakespeare, Western twangs, and song-and-dance — all in the same play.
This picture of us is one Barry took a few hours before the show, walking around the quaint historic downtown Ashland. And since my Dad is a retired history professor, we knew he’d like the old-time aspects of the town, and also the local school — so we took him to explore the campus of Southern Oregon University.
It’s interesting how things happen in patterns in life… and no matter where we go, we find things that remind us of home.
It reminds me of the saying, “Wherever you go, there you are.”
I moved 3,000 miles across the continent, and to a different country, almost a year ago… to follow my heart.
And here I am.
Keep Unwrapping the Mysteries of Life!
May 15 is Bloggers Unite for Human Rights day… where the call is out for bloggers to “use their space to make the world a better place”.
There are many human rights issues that deserve to be talked about. My personal issue though, is with the way journalists have often been treated, and now — through expansion — censorship of the internet.
Barry made a great post on his blog about Net Neutrality that is a good place to start on that topic. If you publish OR consume content on the internet; if you like to be able to go to whatever sites you want, regardless of what ISP you choose; if you actually want to receive emails that you subscribe to; then you need to care about Net Neutrality.
And of course, this is just an extension of the censorship that has been going on in mainstream media for years. The internet is the media of the people — anybody can create a video, audio, article, e-book, or nearly any kind of content and distribute it online, including very professional “radio” and “TV” shows that are webcast or podcast rather than broadcast… and is in essence “the medium of all media” in the way that you can mimic any other form of media online (be it print, TV, radio, or anything else).
The true “journalist” — even in mainstream media — really believes that they are working for the people, and publishing our “right to know” for the good of all. But true journalism doesn’t really exist in mainstream media, try as hard as the reporters might.
Yes, journalists around the world are being wrongfully jailed, tortured, and even killed for publishing (or attempting to publish) stories that certain countries want to censor and keep under wraps. Those governments don’t believe that people have the “right to know”…
>>> CONTINUE READING A Different View of Human Rights…
Barry and I recently discovered a really cool online course about how to utilize and optimize Camtasia (or other screen-capture programs) to create impressive videos to establish a modern online presence, drive traffic to your site, build a list, create products, make money, and more.
Of course, the lessons are Camtasia tutorials — appropriately enough — and laid out in a logical and self-explanatory way. Because of this, you can find exactly what you want to learn, and target your viewing to that specific video, so you don’t waste hours searching through unrelated content for those advanced techniques you’re dying to try (as soon as you can figure out how to do them… which now you can!)
Up until now, I’ve mostly used Camtasia for tutorials of website tactics, and for recording and editing webinars. But I’m realizing more and more that it’s a feature-packed tool I can be doing a lot more with.
Here’s a video I created using one of the techniques outlined in the bonus section of this course:
Yup… that’s a caricature of me, and you can easily do the exact same thing. The possibilities with just this one little gem are nearly endless — no need to worry about a bad hair day or not knowing what to say on camera, because the cartoon you (or another random cartoon character if you prefer) just performs flawlessly, right on cue.
I’ve only really begun to dive into everything that’s offered in this course… but the techniques I’ve discovered already have been worth the price of admission.
You obviously know how important it is to use video these days for search engine placement, traffic from various sources, buzzworthiness, and appeal to the internet generation.
This Camtasia course will show you that the options for creating those videos are a lot more varied than you might have thought.
Keep Unwrapping your Success!
For months now, I’ve been laughing at Taco Bell‘s “Cheesy Beefy Melt” commercials.
You know, the ones that are set to Modern English‘s 80s hit, Melt With You (one of my favorite songs from my youth, by the way):
“Get seasoned beef and melty… melty… and even more glorious melty cheese…”
Okay, I still like the song, and I loooove cheese, but come on! How silly can you get? What kind of marketing genius thought “Cheesy Beefy Melt” was an intelligent product name, and that goofy commercials of people with cheese hanging out of their mouths would make people want to buy these melts?
Well, apparently rival McDonald’s thought it was a GREAT idea, because I just saw a commercial for their new “Beefy Cheesy Double Cheeseburger” (like a double cheeseburger shouldn’t be beefy and cheesy without having to call it that!).
And as they say, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery… right?
Uhhh… yeah!
At least these commercials make me laugh every time I see them. I just can’t get over how silly it is to call a product “Cheesy Beefy” or “Beefy Cheesy” or refer to the quality of being “melty”.
But what I really wonder is, is this an innocent silliness? Or is there a sexual overtone?
>>> CONTINUE READING Cheesy Beefy Melty TV Marketing…
Last night the Oscars were on… formally called The Academy Awards, but colloquially called the Oscars (because technically, the Emmy Awards are also Academy Awards, as are Canadian awards like the Geminis and the Genies… they’re all awarded by “The Academy”).
And besides, who wouldn’t want to honor the little gold man named Oscar?
While watching the presentations — and the many flashbacks, since it was the 80th annual show — one thing caught my attention time and time again.
People were talking about all the times they had “pictured” (visualized) that moment onstage… and how they had followed their dreams against all odds.
What does it take to make a dream come true?
Or maybe all of the above “ion”s?
Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back on what people have achieved, it’s tempting to say, “Well, it was easy for them… they have (talent, looks, money, fame, whatever, blah-blah-blah)…”
But was it easy for them?
Maybe, because they loved every minute of the journey.
Could it be “easy” for you too?
Why not?
Go for the big reward… and maybe that involves an award, or maybe just the achievement is enough.
But dare to dream… and dream big.
Because if you shoot for the stars, you may hit the moon.
Keep Unwrapping the Mysteries of Life!
"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem." -Theodore I. Rubin
Tiny Buddha Get
