Easy Tiger

Melancholy is such a dramatic sounding word, but sometimes it’s the right one. When you’re feeling both a little happy and a little sad; it’s the feeling that most people experience at a high school graduation I suppose, or watching their child board a school bus for the first time. The night before Henry and Beth’s wedding, that’s exactly what I felt – melancholy.

As of 2015’s halfway point, Shotgun Lovesongs has been my favorite read this year. The title stood out to me when I first walked past it on a shelf in a store, and the description lured me in. I love some good old fashioned Americana, and I guess heartland heartbreak is a strand of that DNA.

The novel centers around four friends who’ve grown up together in Little Wing, Wisconsin,  a town so small that Minneapolis seems a metropolis. There’s reliable, heart-of-gold Henry, a struggling farmer who’s married to Beth, Ronny, the sweet local idiot, Kip, the money-grubbing douchebag of the group, and Lee world-famous musician whose character was supposedly inspired by Bon Iver.

I think the minute the characters first made me smile was when Henry and Beth met up with Lee and his movie star girlfriend before Kip’s wedding and they got high, lost track of time, and had to break a few traffic laws to get to the venue on time.

Somewhere early on, as Beth and Henry prepare to head to New York for Lee’s big fat celebrity wedding, she wonders if he could have written a song about her. Later, in a chapter narrated by Lee, it’s revealed that his entire debut album, Shotgun Lovesongs, was about Beth.

Well, maybe one - going global. I came across this article on Linkedin today, written by Starcom MediaVest Group CEO Laura Desmond as part of Linkedin’s “If I Was 22” series. 

The series is aimed at recent grads but I’ve adopted it as I believe it’s applicable in my life. My favorite quote…

The idea of “going global” isn’t about geography. It’s about escaping the familiar and exposing yourself to new worlds of opportunities, whether they’re on the other side of the globe, across the street or right at your own desk. Learn a new language, become more digitally adept, take art classes, ask questions and listen to the answers.

A current problem with Millennials, I’ve read here and there, is that if you’ve got gaps on your resume or a tendency to hop from job to job too frequently it reads as a red flag to potential employers. Well, that made me feel lucky to have stayed at a job for nearly three years – my very first “big kid” job.

Inevitably though, we all cave into our hunting instincts and head for greener pastures. I began to feel stagnant and unwilling to put up with certain workplace dramas that came as a side effect of my homey full-time job, and when an opportunity opened up at a company I’d always dreamed at working for, I took that leap of faith.

Three months later that leap of faith turned into a layoff. Do I regret making that move? No, because in the end is it not a beautiful thing to follow your intuition? So here I am in limbo, and as I keep my eyes fixed on the sun (to quote Cage the Elephant) here are some positives I’ve been fortunate to pick up in my brief professional stints since quitting the full-time.

Understanding what real, clear cut branding guidelines look like. It’s important to lay out the voice and guidelines for what you plan to say on social. Image is everything, and a closer examination at brands like vitaminwater, Starbucks and PopChips on social confirm this. It’s not unlike being in character every time you slip behind a computer screen to communicate with a consumer, and the character you’re playing changes with the company you’re tweeting on behalf of.

Learning how to run a self-audit. If there’s one thing I learned at my full-time, it’s that it’s easy to come in as the new guy or gal and see the cracks in the ceiling. When you stay at a job for a long time, you fall into a routine. Sometimes you run on autopilot and forget what it is to take the time to step back, breathe a bit, be proactive, and innovate.

 I was fortunate enough to experience a professional audit by an agency where they assessed a brand’s previous efforts on social and make concrete recommendations based on the competition and where there was “white space” in the industry – in other words, ways in which this brand could go where they had never gone before. And I realized, after watching the pros do it, that I could, can, and will do the same someday.

Seeing how it’s done. Every company has a different way of running things – there is no wrong or right way, but the more your know about different ways to get a job done the more versatile you are at what you do. And this can only be a good thing.

One company I was with used Sprinklr, another used Hootsuite. In getting the opportunity to use both, I only gained – and despite the income squeeze, I am grateful for that experience. I guess it’s like Woody Allen said at the end of Annie Hall – we need the eggs. I can honestly say I gleaned some form of knowledge at every work experience I’ve ever had – and being able to apply that to the next position is always a win.

There's this phrase that any half-adequate procrastinator (I mean, connoisseur of the internet) would recognize. It goes, "Nobody dies a virgin. Life screws us all." 

But if you're Richard Branson, life is about losing your virginity - again and again - and having a great fookin' time doing it. Amusingly, the time he actually lost his virginity the girl had an asthma attack. It's fair to say he's the world's most optimistic mogul, and my absolute favorite quote in the entire book reflects it:

"Dreaming about the future is one of my favorite pasttimes." 

We live in a world where times are tough, and you can't sit in the same office chair until retirement the way we used to. In the later stages of the book I got to wondering if someone as eager to spread their wings as Branson could do a life sentence on a cubicle farm. Personally, I don't think so. Looking at his overall track record, we all know it'd be a waste of creativity, energy and, well, dream building. 

Confession: the reason I'm drawn to autobiographies is because I like to get into the shoes of successful people on their ascent to the top. We generally don't see the long hours, financial strain and stress that goes into founding your own venture. But with this book, Branson takes you on the many ups and downs he experienced well after Virgin Records made it to the top, and it's intriguing to see what a multi-faceted guy he is - daredevil, world traveler, entrepreneur, philanthropist, social activist (the list goes on).

As the story goes, a headmaster told Branson he'd either go to prison or become a millionaire. Both happened, in that order. 

A few interesting tidbits I picked up in reading about his life...

His parents toughened him up, but always supported him. His mother dropped him off on the way to his aunt's and made him figure out how to get there on his own. That said, later on, his parents lent him money and let his friends/colleagues work from the house when Virgin Music was in its early stages.

There were many, many close calls - so many chapters where the bank was on the verge of shutting him down but he made frantic phone calls and pulled off a last-minute save. And then, the minute he had a surplus, he used the money to invest in a new venture. You need to be a daredevil to live like this. I honesty don't think I could be this daring.

He always thought like an entrepreneur - that is, noticing where there was a void in the market to expand. Virgin Music started selling records via mail because he figured students would want to buy them cheaper. The store opened when a mail strike prevented the records from getting to the customers. From there, the record label was created when he noticed that musicians didn't have access to affordable recording spaces. And so the ball kept rolling. Next it was nightclubs, books, and cola. 

Ironically, he never set out to be an entrepreneur. He just wanted to express himself by starting Student magazine - then he just set out to make money to keep himself in business. And look at what that snowballed into. 

One of the toughest turning points in the book is his decision to sell his beloved Virgin Records, where he really amassed his fortune, in able to keep Virgin Atlantic afloat when rival British Airways threatened to take down the latter. 

It's easy to be skeptical of how soon Virgin Galactic can become a reality (an important lesson in this book is that it's easy to be skeptical in general, but if you choose optimism you'll accomplish a hell of a lot more), but whether it happens next year or ten years out, the fact remains: it won't happen without someone believing 100% in it. 

Really, though, the guy sums it up beautifully in the end with this summary:

Note: this is a blog post I wrote in 2011 for the Palo Alto International Film Festival. A recent look at their site seems to hint that they're not around anymore but I really want this on the internet to share so here it is. 

If you remember seeing Beauty and the Beast on the big screen, you were a lucky kid – you experienced the Disney Renaissance. The Disney Renaissance has been described as a “golden period” for the studio’s features. Some of Disney’s most beloved work came out at this time, including Aladdin, Pocahontas and The Lion King.

Prior to 1989’s The Little Mermaid, Disney’s animation department faced stiff competition and a lull in the success of its features. Main sources of revenue at this time were its theme parks and various product sales.

It’s not commonly known that dreammaking factory Disney hit a rough patch after animator Don Bluth and 11 Disney animators left and launched a rival studio. An American Tail, The Land Before Time and All Dogs Go to Heaven are among the successful films put out by Don Bluth Studios.

The documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty chronicles the earlier parts of the Renaissance, ending around the production of The Lion King. The film pinpoints The Black Cauldron (1985) as a lowpoint in the animation team’s output and describes its efforts to get back to the top of the box office. It was The Little Mermaid that turned out to be the ultimate game-changer.

The Disney Renaissance roughly covers the decade in between The Little Mermaid and 1999’s Tarzan. The studio hasn’t slowed down by any means – popular 3D features (Tangled, 2010) and the occasional traditional 2D (2009’s The Princess and the Frog was a revival that payed homage to the studio's classic format) continue to be produced.

Interestingly, around the time of The Little Mermaid’s release Disney started a partnership with a small computer graphics firm that made Listerine commercials to pay the bills. Its name? Pixar. The first feature Pixar collaborated on was The Rescuers Down Under, which was released in 1990.

The Disney Renaissance covered more than just fairytales such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Classic literature got the Disney treatment in Tarzan and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Greek mythology came to the screen in Hercules and world history met cultural legends in the adaptations of Pocahontas and Mulan.

Disney won a total of 11 Academy Awards throughout this period and achieved another milestone with Beauty and the Beast’s Best Picture nomination – the first ever for an animated feature. Pixar’s Up was nominated for Best Picture in 2010, making it the second animated feature to receive that honor.

Waking Sleeping Beauty provides an amazingly detailed inside look at the creative process. It familiarizes viewers with the creative mind of Howard Ashman, the lyricist who worked with Alan Menken and died shortly before the release of Beauty and the Beast.

Although as lyricist he made up half the songwriting team, in archive footage he describes how he came up with the idea for the opening sequence ofBeauty and the Beast, how he decided Sebastian should have a Jamaican accent in The Little Mermaid and how his favorite musicals inspired him to write Ariel’s “Part of Your World.”  

Seeing the animators geek out at work, delve off into teams to work on specific characters and propose story ideas also lends a great look at the creative process. Live lions were brought in for the initial sketch work on The Lion King. Animators fought to work on Pocahontas rather than The Lion King because it was widely believed the former would be the more successful film.

After Beauty and the Beast won its Academy Awards animators complained that they were working so hard that many of them were developing carpal tunnel and being deprived of time to spend with their families.

Ultimately the documentary stands as evidence that animation is nothing without collaboration, just as Disney stands as evidence that cinematic magic results from an army of creative minds.

Over the credits in Beauty and the Beast’s recent 3D release, a moving tribute to Howard Ashman reads, “To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful.”

I came across this book in a Barnes and Noble, where Tamara was sitting daintily on display on a bookshelf across from Sir Richard Branson. I'm wouldn't call myself a fashion junkie and I would not have recognized her name, but the cover specified that she was the co-founder of Jimmy Choo.

The book's jacket promised mansions of Beverly Hills and New York, criminal trials, and a wedding photographed by Vogue and Mellon's "personal glamour," so I was in - why not have enjoy a whipped topping of drama alongside some entrepreneurial advice? 

The book begins with a sad ascent - a little girl constantly being told by a vain and alcoholic mother that she's ugly and stupid, then being sent off to boarding school where she drifts vacantly through life like a zombie because her self-esteem is shot and she's painfully depressed.

All right, she's got my sympathy vote. Mellon gets right to it, and less than 70 pages in she's teaming up with a renowned London cobbler named Jimmy Choo to start a shoe line. 

A few things worth noting about this straight away: 

She used her father's wealth and connections to start her business

Much of Jimmy Choo Ltd's initial success had to do with Jimmy Choo's popularity in London society and the name recognition that he carried

So she had a lot of important elements handed to her, and goes on to complain often about Jimmy. She eventually buys him out and lands herself in hot water with far worse business partners. 

The shoe that got Jimmy Choo its first shout-out on the TV show Sex and the City.

It was very interesting to see how fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants it is to start a luxury fashion brand and learn about the company's early days, as well as gain insight about the design process. 

However, once that part is through Mellon spends the middle three-fifths of the book making herself out to be a victim. That is to say, a victim who vacations at St. Barts, has a car service, lives lavishly between New York and London, dates Christian Slater and complains that he was too simple for her because he took her to baseball games, where they serve hot dogs and Cracker Jacks (the horror!). 

Due to all that, I found myself quickly souring in my opinion of Mellon - only to turn to the final few pages and find her pull one last-minute redemption card where she offers some excellent advice about navigating the business world as a naïve woman, based on her experiences, and discusses the bitter relationship between creative executives and "bean counters," aka the Finance Guys. 

I identified a lot on her statements about creativity vs. finance due to things that I've been experiencing at my job. 

My favorite excerpts: 

I was also the customer I wanted to reach. I had an emotional connection to her tastes and dreams because I shared her tastes and dreams, page 45.

The private-equity mind-set is delusional...with it there's never an open dialogue between creative and financial. The exchange is always acrimonious, because it's always dominance, ego and control, page 259. 

If I'd had an MBA when I started Jimmy Choo, I think it might have given me more confidence to shut down the unimaginative and short-sighted bean counters when they wanted to interfere with the creative process, page 259. 

Unless you make your boundaries clear, as well as your needs and desires, the other guys can't possibly know. And bullies will be bullies, page 261.

Being blown back and forth by the winds of conflicting opinions will get you nowhere, page 264.

They say that when we reach our forties our life goals shift, with autonomy becoming the central issue. But at any age, being able to chart your own course rather than just responding to others' demands is a beautiful thing, page 265.

Was it worth the time I spent reading it?

Yes, definitely. It was refreshing that Mellon was able to teach some valuable business lessons without getting preachy. I hope I am able to remember the advice in this book and use it to my benefit in my own professional life. 

People are always dreaming of bright lights and faraway places. Paris. New York. Tokyo. But I think Vancouver is a place that everyone should add to their travel destination wishlist. 

It's a great place to go if you can appreciate an eco-friendly city full of nice people, good food and some great coastline views fringed by a little wilderness. 

This year, on my mom's birthday, I decided to wake her up at 4 A.M. and haul her off to Vancouver. Here's a takeoff/landing shot from San Francisco to Vancouver. 

Why Vancouver? To be honest, I'd never given much thought to going there. I took a family trip to Victoria when I was a kid and remember being bored out of my mind. I didn't appreciate the raw beauty that Western Canada has to offer - but this time, I had a blast. 

A little context: I had just relocated to Los Angeles the week before, and Vancouver provided a complete 180 of an experience. I learned that it has a decent amount in common with my home base, San Francisco - in fact, it's the second greenest city in North America after San Fran, and the Lions Gate Bridge (yes, the namesake of the film company) bears a striking resemblance to the Golden Gate. 

Best tour guide joke: "We have a lot of drive-by shootings in Stanley Park, but ours involve cameras." 

Anyways, I got the idea to go to Vancouver after spending some 3 hours at YVR for a layover in August. Everyone in the airport seemed so nice and pleasant, they had totem poles, bears and moose decorating the place that it made me wonder why I couldn't just venture out of the airport and do some exploring. All I got out of that pit stop was a bottle of maple syrup. 

One of my favorite things about Vancouver was Granville Island. Probably known as a tourist trap to the locals, but it has excellent views, cute shops and great food. 

We stayed near Coal Harbor, which was nice because it gave a great view of the ports and was spitting distance from Canada Place, which housed the media during the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the Olympic torch itself. 

Seeing those ports made me realize something that should have been fairly obvious all along: port cities are the bomb. I'm super eager to visit Sydney, Australia, and I hear the harbor is one of the most beautiful things about it. 

Gastown (harharhar) was obviously where the cool shops and bit of town's history was, having been founded by a guy called "Gassy" Jack Deighton, who paid off his employees with all the whiskey they could drink. So naturally, I found it to be the best bar spot. 

Another highlight was taking a luncheon cruise through Indian Arm, a place only accessible by boat. I'm impressed by how undeveloped this region is, and how much a part of that is of Vancouver's character. You don't see a natural waterfall everyday in California! 

Pictures Are Worth 1,000 Tweets

Did you know that Pinterest is responsible for 23% of social media purchases? 

Tell a Story about Your Customers' Lifestyle (or the One They Wish They Had)

Think about who's using your product or brand. In a visual or realtime way, let your social media show how you're going to improve a specific area of their life.

Be Yourself 

Don't be afraid to show a little personality. Let your followers become friends, and they'll supportive of your successes and forgiving of your failures.

It’s always sunny in San Diego, and that was as true as ever on the day Breesa Renee Herrera took the stage to open up a show for Chris Lake, Nom De Strip, TJF and GTAwith her very own set at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Breesa, a rising star on the Southern California EDM scene, was one of our eight DJs selected to open for the Rising Tour in North America. She’s won the hottest DJ competition in Orange County at Ten Nightclub, and most recently opened for Krewella.

Read on to hear about her experience with Chris Lake, savor her best piece of advice, and find out all about that inflatable monkey at the afterparty…

TH: You knew you wanted to be a DJ when… Breesa: I started as a radio DJ at my college radio station, and then I realized I wanted to do more, so I got behind turntables and was hooked. Once I invested in my own set, I knew DJing was something I was going to be taking very seriously.

TH: Tell us about the San Diego gig. Breesa: It was my absolute best DJ event to date! I had opened for big names before, but this was the first time the headliner actually listened to my mix and personally picked me to open for them. I can’t even explain how much of an honor that is. Not only that, but Chris Lake, TJR, and Nom de Strip were all great guys, very friendly and personable. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. The whole day was a lot of fun, and a lot of laughs.

TH: What’s one genre of music you like to listen to that not a lot of people would guess about you? Breesa: I have always been a punk-rock chick at heart. I was the Punk-Genre Director at KUCI 88.9 FM, and I used to play From First to Last (Skrillex‘s former band) on my show all the time. Once they stopped making music, I researched where they went and discovered that Skrillex was a DJ now and on tour with Porter Robinson. After listening to both of their music, I got turned on to EDM and the rest is history! I think punk music still influences my DJ style though, I definitely love those dark beats and heavy bass.

TH: Your dream gig? Breesa: Honestly, it’s to DJ at any major festival and be able to interact with the top DJs of the world. That’s when I’ll know I’ve made it. I love traveling also, so if I get flown to DJ anywhere in Europe that would be magnificent!

TH: Who are your biggest influences? Breesa: Porter Robinson is my favorite producer. He is constantly reinventing himself, and manages to pull off heavy hitters every time. His live shows are amazing too, the energy never stops. My own tracks tend to be on the dark tech-house side, so if I could get anywhere near as good as Gesaffelstein or John Dahlback, I would be happy.

TH: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Breesa: Actually, it’s advice I came up with myself to keep me motivated – if every day you aren’t working toward your future, you simply aren’t working hard enough.

TH: What’s next for you? Breesa: Right now I am focusing on producing, since making great tracks is what gets you known in this industry. My next show in San Diego is at Bassmnt on November 9th, so hopefully some new fans that I gained at Hard Rock will come out then!

Michelle: Any experiences being a female DJ that you’d like to share? Breesa: I’ve had both good and bad experiences being a female DJ. For the most part, people like to see a female up on stage for a change so it has it’s advantages. Then there are people who assume that I’m up there to “look cute.” I just like to surprise everyone and prove not only that I know what I’m doing, but that I’m good at it and have my own unique style.

This was actually the second DJ competition I won. My first was at a club in Orange County, where I beat out 22 other DJs, all males. So I take pride in knowing that my gender has nothing to do with my skill or what I’m capable of accomplishing.

My interview with Emily Woodvine, a music videographer who won my company's contest to go on tour with English singer-songwriter Gabrielle Aplin. 

Early on in the summer, singer-songwriter Gabrielle Aplin launched a Creative Invitewith Talenthouse in search of a filmmaker who could hit the road with her as she embarks on her 8th sold out autumn tour across the UK.

Gabrielle herself chose Emily Woodvine as the winner, along with judges Will Nichols(AudioVisual, Parlophone Records) and Claudia De Wolff (content producer for VEVO).

As Emily prepares to capture Gabrielle’s best concert moments and behind-the-scenes footage on film, she took the time to answer some questions for us. Emily will be behind the camera as Gabrielle takes on Sheperd’s Bush Empire, the O2 Academies and several venues in between.

Read on to see why she’s the perfect match to cover Gabrielle’s string of gigs.

MIchelle: Tell us about your background in film, and why making films about music interests you so much. Emily: I’m relatively new to the world of film! I only started making my own films once I started studying TV Production & Technology in uni. Both film and music are two of my favourite hobbies, so combining the two and filming music seems like an obvious choice for me!

MIchelle: What’s the music scene like in North Wales? Emily: There are loads of local bands in North Wales! My university, Glyndwr in Wrexham, regularly host live sessions for Glyndwr.TV in the TV Studio which many of the bands get involved in. The sessions are filmed “as-live” and are directed and filmed by the TV Production & Technology students. I’ve worked on many of these live sessions and it’s a great experience being in a TV studio and gallery.

Michelle: How did you hear about this Creative Invite, and what made you decide to submit your work? Emily: I randomly searched “tour videographer” on Twitter and found a tweet from Talenthouse about the Creative Invite. I had already planned to make a video with my friend, Geoffrey Evans, so I thought why not try and win this Creative Invite with it! I was incredibly lucky to have some amazing support from my family and friends who encouraged me, too!

MIchelle: You stated that you’re self-taught with video editing software – what was your learning process like? Emily: I never got the chance to study anything related to media in school, so I decided to teach myself. I watched so many YouTube tutorials and it was a case of trial and error when trying out new things and seeing what works.

Michelle: What first sparked your passion for filmmaking? Emily: To start with I was only interested in the post-production side of the filmmaking process. My friend showed me a video editing app on my phone and from then on I was always making videos using other people’s footage.

It wasn’t until I went to uni that I realised all the different processes of making a film and realised that I could actually direct and film as well as edit.

MIchelle: Which filmmakers do you most admire? Emily: I’m a massive fan of David Spearing‘s work. He has directed, filmed and edited some of the best music documentaries I’ve seen, and has definitely influenced my work. He also filmed Gabrielle on tour earlier this year, so the fact I’m following in his shoes is amazing!

Michelle: Favorite song by Gabrielle? Emily: I think Home is my favourite! Or Salvation and Keep On Walking!