After the jump...

Too Long

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:16:32 -0800

A very very long time since I posted.

I'm also posting at http://mintresumes.wordpress.com

And at http://tonehall.typepad.com

That's it for now...........

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Lunch with O'Reilly author Amy Shuen

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:26:15 -0700

Had lunch at Rubicon yesterday with Nilofer and Dr. Amy Shuen, author of Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide.

Fascinating and practical book. Nice to read something on Web 2.0 that is straightforward and has great cases.

Looking forward to reading more by Amy in the future.

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Social media - Plurk

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:23:59 -0700

Got set up on Plurk today and enjoyed the experience.

A bit tough to navigate around, but easy and fast entry. Looks like it's running much faster than Twitter, but probably has many fewer users, so no surprise there.

Popped off 100 updates in no time, but it's hellish trying to get that karma needle to go up. A pretty punishing experience.

Added it to ping.fm - ultaconvenient.

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The cats are asleep

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:21:47 -0700

The cats have taken up opposite corners of the bed and now slumber, exhausted from their expedition to the outer wilds of the backyard this evening. There were shoots of grass to bite, a deck to sniff, and gorilla hair to carefully tread over.

They're settling in more and more. It's over a month and they're so much more comfortable than when they first came to live with us. But Huckle is still hyperaware of every sound. Sally is excited about going outside and wants to spend more and more time in the yard. They are absolutely not allowed out without being supervised.

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The New Freelancer - Jane Genova

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:46:21 -0700

Many people wonder how they can use the Internet to develop a freelance business.

I recently interviewed Jane Genova, a communications expert, indie journalist, and speechwriter. She's seen and done it all for 20+ years for C-suite habitués and executives you've read about in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Her upper-level clientele depends on Jane to get the tone and content pitch perfect every time - and she does. Contact her at MGenova981@aol.com.

Q: Used to be that freelancers were just corporate transplants. What’s the strategy now?

Jane: Marsha, the strategy now is that being a free agent is now the best shot at any financial security. Get fired or laid off, and that’s a crisis.

But here as a freelance communications consultant and independent journalist [as well as a blogger], losing a client or having to offer deeper discounts to attract new prospects is just a situation. It’s a problem to be solved and it will be solved, as least by those of us with hustle, flexibility and talent.

As a freelancer, I live in uncertainty, but not fear. Most of my colleagues who are full-time employees are basket cases in this downturn. That’s how I was every day, good times and bad, when I worked full-time for the Fortune 500.

Q: What are clients asking for today that they didn’t have a clue about two years ago?

Jane: They are asking for help. Their business is usually in trouble or they sense it soon will be. They ask me what I can do for them. Before, they told me what they wanted me to do. I was an order-taker. In fact, I rarely opened my mouth. That wasn’t my role as a vendor then.

Q: Do you have more freedom now than when you started your business years ago?

Jane: Yes. That’s because I network and develop new business via my two blogs http://janegenova.com and http://lawandmore.typepad.com.

I used to have to tether myself to professional organizations and supposedly well connected people to be in the loop. Now, if you’re adept online, you have it made. Just take your laptop along, everywhere.

Also, the cost of transportation has freed me up from meeting clients in person. We do most of our business by phone and by email. Our pictures are out there online so they see I am professional looking or at least know how to put that persona together for the photo.

Q: Has client knowledge of the Internet increased?

Jane: No. They are still in denial that it matters so much.

Q: What tone shakes open the client’s budget in terms of giving you work and paying you well?

Jane: The only tone that works is: The desire to be helpful. Brand, credentials don’t matter as much anymore.

Q: Have you seen business change as a result of the Internet?

Jane: My business primarily comes from people who bump into me on the Internet. Most of them want to find out how they can improve their business through the Internet – but they are ill-prepared to take the risks and do all the work.

Q: What do you know today that you wished you had known in 2002?

Jane:

1. Select clients carefully. There is a ton of work out there but the wrong clients will exhaust us.

2. Be humble and helpful.

3. Be more assertive in telling the client that such-and-such will not be useful to them.

Q: What phrase inspires client trust?

Jane: What do you want to accomplish? Let’s see if I can be helpful.

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Mamma Mia!: Meryl Streep Sings, Dances and Acts - Brava!

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:20:06 -0700

Mamma Mia!, now the highest grossing musical film to open in the U.S. beating out Hairspray, is great for anyone who loves ABBA music, Meryl Streep, Greece, dance, Amanda Seyfried, romantic comedy, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Walters, beautiful scenery, Colin Firth, the beach, Stellan Skarsgard, and islands.

Streep is a force of nature - there's nothing she can't do and it's a treat to see her singing and dancing. I would have paid the price of admission just to see her jumping up and down on the bed!

This production, true to the original stage version, is packed with joy and fun. You just feel everyone in the cast got paid to have the time of their lives.

Well worth seeing and a very uplifting film. Don't leave before the last scene while some of the credits are rolling - the crowd was just about falling off their seats laughing.

Mamma Mia

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Mamma Mia: It's ABBA

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:25:04 -0700

take a chance on me

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Oscar Potential for Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:20:41 -0700

If Heath Ledger personifies strange in his star turn as The Joker in the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight, we also see a tone of grotesque that just gets weirder every time you talk with another person who's seen the movie. The acclaim is all over the demographic charts. I spoke with many people this weekend and everyone who'd seen the film was awed by many aspects of it - not the general reaction.

So what is it - our national fascination with the grotesque? Seldom has makeup in a film been so reflective of a character while also characterizing the national tone at this moment in time.

Kudos go to the brilliant makeup artist John Caglione, Jr., an Oscar-winner for "Dick Tracy" in 1990. I'm predicting the Oscar will go home with Caglione once again for the incredible work he and his team have done on The Dark Knight.

As Caglione says in an interview with Resource411: "[The technique] can only be described as a dance. Before I applied the white makeup, Heath would "lead" by contorting his face, scrunching his eyes, and raising his forehead. I would follow, brushing the colors over his expressions. This created all the cracks and drippy creases. Where he moved, I moved in the makeup room and on set each day, shot by shot."

Taking inspiration from the eerie paintings of Francis Bacon, suggested by director Chris Noland and producer Emma Thomas, Caglione created makeup designed to keep the audience squirming at least as much as the behavior and dialog of The Joker.

Already a huge winner with $66.4M in its opening weekend, The Dark Knight has toppled Spider-man as the biggest opener. I'll be watching to see if this one has legs.

And props to the late, great Heath Ledger - few leading men in Hollywood have ever had the courage to appear on film with so deeply frightening a 'mask.'

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Heath Ledger talks about The Joker

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:14:28 -0700

Heath Ledger talks about the Joker

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Technology QotW: Technology & Success

nobody@vox.com(Marsha) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:53:32 -0700

What is the most important technology every business should understand to make his/her business successful?
Sponsored by HP.

Effective use of email - we all spend hours on it. Teaching employees to be more efficient would be a huge time savings that would benefit any kind of company.

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