The 2010 (Women’s) Effect: The 100th Annual International Women’s Day

I am joining with legions of others around the world today to honor women for all they are and all they do as the greatest and most powerful force on Planet Earth. Mine will not be a lengthy tribute, but I do want to point up some of the amazing resources I’ve found that are providing different perspectives on the achievements of women, and some of the biggest challenges faced by many of them. Read more

The power of dreams…

At an early age, I decided I was going to be a writer. Somewhere along the way, I also took a strong interest in filmmaking, and being very ambitious, by the time I was 20 years old, I developed a clear vision of myself as novelist and filmmaker. While I have made great strides on achieving those dreams over the years, I must admit that I have a long way to go in seeing them through; nonetheless, those dreams have driven me into situations that I never would have imagined, and while I’ve not yet fully accomplished those missions, I feel very fortunate to have progressed as far as I have.

By pursuing the opportunies that have come my way over the years and applying my talents, my writing achievements and my reputation for success have opened many doors. One of them opened in the early 90s when a young Orlando filmmaker named Bill Waxler decided he wanted to produce and direct a 16mm short film based on something I’d written. Delving into my past experiences, I wrote a script for a dramatic short which I entitled “Bumper Crop,” and in that story Read more

Tommy Ewasko, Imagemaker Extraordinaire…

This Friday and Saturday nights, and by private appointments thereafter, The Wine Cave in Montrose, California, will proudly host Artist’s Receptions and Charitable Fine Art Sales honoring master Getty Images imagemaker Tommy Ewasko and his work, and benefiting Amazing Grace Children’s Foundation. On display and available to collectors on a first-come, first-served basis are numerous Art and Gallery Prints from Tommy’s exclusive America’s Moments and Hot Color Icons collections. Please join us for wonderful wine tasting experiences, while getting to know one of America’s great imagemakers and his one-of-a-kind works. Read more

Lessons on professionalism, persistence and “Endurance” from artist Theresa Ortolani

Two years ago, I attended a publishing workshop hosted by Kiki Bauer, senior designer for powerHouse Books, at the powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn. Six of us attended, each eager to discuss our very specific idea for a brilliantly conceived, beautiful and riveting coffee-table book like those famously published by powerHouse. Theresa, Lori, Brad, Debra, John-Michael and I all presented our pet projects to Kiki on that day, and I’ll bet the rest of our classmates are as proud as I am to see that Theresa has persevered in seeing hers through, and getting it into print: “Endurance” published by powerHouse Books, is now available for purchase. In fact, the official launch party is happening at powerHouse Arena on Thurs., Dec. 3. More information on Theresa Ortolani, “Endurance” and this very cool upcoming event follow below. Read more

Earth Island Institute asks tomorrow’s leaders, “What would Dave do?”

Earth Island Institute established the Brower Youth Awards in 2000 to honor their founder and legendary environmental activist, David R. Brower and to call forth a new generation of leaders. This award manifests the Earth Island Institute’s abiding commitment to growing environmental leadership. The annual Brower Youth Awards honor six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Read more

Amazing grace, and a really nice guy…

A very nice and cool friend of mine named Michael Vitti surprisingly passed away this year at the age of 46. He was the passionate founder and leader of the Moving Pictures Collective (Mopictive), the New York City Final Cut Pro User Group. Very soon after Michael’s death, Mopictive announced a new scholarship fund to promote Michael’s love for educating people in the field of digital videography, editing and storytelling. The Michael Vitti Digital Storytellers Memorial Scholarship Fund celebrates Michael’s life and his spirit. If you knew Michael or are interested in reading about his legacy, his family is keeping an online guestbook at this address.

Business ventures of your dreams…

I remember being 12 years old and being very impressed by a young guy I met, Tommy Ewasko, who at that time (1978) was well on his way to becoming a professional photographer. Tommy was the first professional creative person I ever crossed paths with, and after getting to know him a bit better, I began to see the world in a different way. Last month, my successful English entrepreneurial comrade Rob Ford of Favourite Website Awards (TheFWA.com) shared a story with his friends on Facebook where he was included in a 10steps.sg feature by Johnson Koh entitled “Interviews of Ten Accomplished Founders.” If you have not visited TheFWA.com before, I can easily imagine you having a kind of epiphany when you do, and there are other domains within Rob’s empire which are equally inspirational, including FWATheater.com and FWAPhoto.com.

To me, because his business model is original, creative, seemingly very fun, and largely self-guided, Rob represents the kind of successful entrepreneur that one only dreams of becoming. Do please read the “Interviews” article linked above to learn more about the origins of Rob’s business, and those of the other talented young gentlemen listed below. There’s enough inspiration here to change many people’s perceptions of the very nature of business… and represent new approaches to how resourceful individuals can build their own unique success stories independently.
. BuySellAds – Todd Garland
. Envato – Colliss Ta’eed
. Good Tutorials – Zach Holman
. Abduzeedo – Fabio Sasso
. Tutorial9 – David Leggett
. DeviantArt – Angelo-Sotira
. iStockPhoto – Bruce LivingStone
. Pixel2Life – Dan Richard
. SmashingMagazine – Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz

At age 23, self-styled creative agency ATTIK keeps making “Noise”

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Taking doing what you love to a whole new level…

The musical artist Squeak E. Clean, also known as Sam Spiegel, has a famous filmmaker brother, Spike Jonze. Though Jonze has grabbed the lion’s share of the family’s entertainment industry headlines in the past, Squeak E. Clean has come on strong this year by virtue of the Feb. 17 ANTI- Records release of “The Spirit of Apollo.” Mr. Clean is half of the group N.A.S.A. (North America/South America) – a creative collaboration between him and DJ Zegon, as well as their friends, friends of friends and musical heroes – and the project is the culmination of more than five years of hard work. Produced by Squeak E. Clean Productions, Spiegel’s award-winning LA commercial music and sound design venture, the goal of the ambitious “The Spirit of Apollo” project was to bring people together through music and art.

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As widely reported across the media over the past weeks, the guest stars on “The Spirit of Apollo” include Tom Waits, Kanye West, Karen O, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Spank Rock, David Byrne, M.I.A., RZA, Santigold, George Clinton, Chuck D., Sizzla, Method Man and many others. N.A.S.A. also invited many fine-artist friends to lend their talents to animated music videos for the release’s 16 full tracks. The very first music video, for the track “Money” featuring David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge, and Z-Trip, was created by directors Syd Garon and Paul Griswold with visual artist Shepard Fairey and released last December. This month saw the release of the video for “The People Tree,” which unites more of Byrne’s vocal contributions with those of Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab and Z-Trip in a visual extravaganza directed by Syd Garon and Johannes Gamble leveraging original art from Marcel Dzama. Over the weeks to come, fans can anticipate more music videos featuring original art from Sage Vaughn, The Date Farmers, Splunny, as well as animation and production work by commercial production teams from Logan, 3Legged Legs, Flourescent Hill and others. And finally, Sage Vaughn, Mark Gonzales, Shepard Fairey, Marcel Dzama and The Date Farmers also contributed their own original album cover designs — so that CD buyers get five interchangeable covers with each copy. To me, this amazing project represents the ultimate example of the rewards possible when people pursue their passions with everything they have….

Making it to the big-time….

Earlier this week, I found myself doing some research on the international filmmaker, art director and fashion designer Youcef Aden. From the front of Youcef’s personal website, this colorful original anecdote jumped out at me: “People fall into three categories: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who bitch about everything.” Though I’m intent on staying positive in all aspects of my outlook — and especially in this space — that observation from an interesting, self-styled, successful artist rings so true to many of my own experiences, reading it made me laugh out loud. Fortunately, I’m surrounded by a lot of people who are intent on staying actively busy and making good things happen… for themselves and others. As one example, I’m proud to share this recent project from my client Josh Sahley, who is the owner and creative director of LA-based motion design and production company Monkeyhead… and below the video, a few more details on Josh’s growing success.