Sunday was the 55th anual San Clemente Fiesta and street fair. And as you can see from the above shot up Del Mar, it was a packed house. Lucky for us Ella has been spending the last few weeks at the Boys and Girls club getting ready for her "Prime Time" Dance review, so just in case you missed it I bring you "Ice Cream Freeze" as preformed by the San Clemente Dance 7 & under group.
Feel free to sing along!
Ice Cream Freeze - (Let's Chill)- by Hanna Montana (Miley Cyrus)
Everybody do your dance
Ain't nothing better than an all night jam
Are you ready for something a little new tonight
I got a brand new step thing you're gonna like yeah
C'mon boys
Gotta do what I do
Just follow my lead
Everybody let's chill
Do the ice cream freeze
Strike your pose
Can you do the milkshake
Shake it shake it down low
Can you snow cone slide left to right
Put your hands in the air
We could party all night
Do the ice cream freeze
Strike your pose
Can you do the milkshake
Shake it shake it down low
Can you snow cone slide
Left to right
Put your hands in the air
We could perty all night
Shake it shake it shake it shake it shake it down low
Then do the ice cream freeze
All kind of stepping make you feel good
Triple step, butterfly, sugar foot (sugar sugar foot)
But I'm comin' with a new thing
What do you need? (that's right)
Now everybody wanna do the ice cream freeze (woohoo)
C'mon boys
Gotta do what I do
Just follow my lead
Everybody let's chill
Do the ice cream freeze
Stike your pose
Can you do the milkshake
Shake it shake it down low
Can you snow cone slide
Left to right
Put your hands in the air
We could party all night
Do the ice cream freeze
Strike your pose
Can you do the milkshake
Shake it shake it downlow
Can you snow cone slide
Left to right
Put your hands in the air
We could party all night
Did I hear anyone say party?
We're just gettin' started (woo!)
Wanna take it from the top
Will you know I will
Now everybody let's chill
Lights, camera, freeze
Everybody let's go!
Do the ice cream freeze
Strike your pose
Can you do the milkshake
Shake it shake it down low
Can you snow cone slide
Left to right
Put your hands in the air
We could party all night
Do the ice cream freeze
Then you do the milkshake
Shake it shake it shake it shake it shake it
Do the snow cone slide
Put your hands in the air
Go crazy!
Everybody let's chill...
On April 24, 2009, Darin McClure sent me a link to an article about YELP. The title of the article was "Yelp Allows Business Owners to Talk Back On Site". I read the article that day and I really thought it should be a subject for a blog post, but until today I have not had time to talk about it here. The more research I did about YELP, the more I realized I didn't know or understand a lot about this particular social networking site. Is your business listed on YELP?
I would like your input. Maybe you can answer some of my questions:
Do you have a personal YELP account?
Do you often write business reviews on YELP?
Do you rely on the YELP reviews?
Can you explain how the "search" program works in the back end?
Regarding #4: If I go to YELP and search for Mexican Restaurant in the specific zip code of 85705, then how can there be 160 results with the first result listed located in the zip code 85719? There is no rhyme or reason to the listings, they are not in alphabetical order, review frequency order, etc. Or am I missing something?
Now if I do the same search on Google Maps there are many more results, but they are listed in zip code relevancy order. In other words, Google lists first those restaurants actually located in 85705. Makes sense to me.
I hope that someone out there in YELP land can explain this phenomena to me.
How Twitter's spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses
Serendipity the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.
What is Twitter? Is it a status update? Is it a Social Network? Or is it a search engine akin to the Minority Report? I guess you could say it is all of these things and more, but you will not get "Twitter" unless you use it.
A meme (pronounced /mi:m/ - like theme) is a unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices; such units or elements transmit from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word mimema for mimic. Memes act as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures.
Ok Great Darin, now we know what a meme is, and we have heard about twitter on tv, but seriously, how do you use it?
1) If I find a good link, movie, app, picture I tweet it.
2) If I need help on a project that I am not an expert in, I tweet it,
3) If I want to find out more on a current event (Like TED or SXSW) I search and follow those that are live "onsite"
4) If I am at a current event, and I want to keep track of old friends like http://twitter.com/Roebot, or find new like minded folks, I set up a feed of the twitter search in reader,
5) If I want to know what the hive mind is buzzing about, I check out http://twitter.com/trendingtopics
These are just a few of the ways that I am using Twitter, I hope they give you a reason to play with this "Tool / Meme" so that you can find some serendipitous uses for it that you can share back with us.
Over the course of any week I receive a number of SEO/Webmaster newsletter emails. I try to read through them for hints, myths, SEO/SMO news in general. This past week one of these newsletters had a link to a video in which Sally Falkow was discussing Internet marketing. I don't know Sally Falkow but I found what she had to say very intriguing. She sited an old mantra "Tell, don't sell", which I believe applies to blogs, in that blogs should tell a good story.
Now you are probably wondering where I am going with this idea. After all it is Saturday morning and you no doubt, if you are reading this at all, are thinking to yourself with a sigh, "doesn't Judy always tell a story in her blog post?"
It is very easy for the Webconsuls' team to suggest to a client that the client should have a blog, but most clients go into panic mode because they don't trust themselves to be able to write. What our clients sometimes forget is that every business has a story to tell and all they have to do is relate the story for their guests, customers, or clients to read. Just tell a good story.
Finding your niche in storytelling can take some time. Let me give you an example. In June 2007 Webconsuls built a blog for Alice and Len Schiller, owners/innkeepers of The Inn at Stockbridge. Darin McClure coached Alice on how to do blog posts and she did a nice job. She frequently would write about events and attractions in the Berkshires. All very interesting, but might have served the local attractions more than the inn.
On December 29, 2008, Alice came up with a clever idea and she posted it: "The Inn at Stockbridge blog is going to put a new spin on things. Alice Schiller feels that she is fortunate enough to have owned and run the inn for over fourteen years. Over the years we have had a great variety of guests visit us and each one has a wonderful story to share. We are now going to share their stories. Guests who visit the Inn come from all walks of life, are a varied age group and have met in a myriad of ways and have wonderful tidbits to share with you the readers of this blog. We are fortunate enough to have them share their experiences at the Inn as well as their stories with you."
Wonderful...the stories have begun, complete with photos, so interesting to read and the best part is Alice and Len are involving their guests (read customers). As a former innkeeper I know that relating stories about your guests is a great marketing tool. People love to be part of something and future guests secretly hope that they will also be featured at some later date.
You may recall, on September 20, 2008, I wrote a blog post called "The benefit of being a 'blogger-in-chief'?" In that blog I talked about how I wrote a newsletter for our inn, Cranmore Mountain Lodge. This was the old fashion way of staying in touch with our customers. Just this past week I came across a copy of the last issue of Inn-Ovations that I wrote in the Fall of 1997. You might enjoy reading the front page. Click on the image and it will get bigger!
Today I hope you will check the Inn at Stockbridge's blog. Read the stories about their guests. Leave a comment. And if you want to preview the inn, here is a video that tells the Inn's story in another way.
I have a feeling Sally Falkow has not come up with something unique. Storytelling is as old as mankind ~ it is the fabric that keeps our cultures, our families, our nations moving through time.
What do we do for fun when not building websites? We like to go GEOCACHING! What is geocaching you might say? (You must be a muggle!) Geocaching is people just like you, using a billion dollar satellite system to find hidden tupperware! But seriously folks, geocaching is a huge world wide phenomenon, with equal measures of search and explore built right it. Maryland recently started a state wide geocaching trail to help drive tourism. The next day an NBC reporter contacted me thru Twitter to ask me about it. ( I have been tweeting my finds and caches ) and I gave him this info.
There are 708,619 active caches worldwide.
In the last 7 days, there have been 688,000 new logs written
by 77,717 account holders.
Geocaching is fun sport that can be enjoyed where ever you may find yourself. Go to Geocaching.com, sign up for a free account, and do a search for caches in your zip code.
Remember, All who wander are not lost, some are geocachers.
Webconsuls' SMO team works hard to keep our clients and us up to date on all of the latest "gadgets" that seem to offer some benefit either for our website marketing or general business tools. I will admit that I am not always the first one to try out or sign up for the latest and greatest, but I do try to glean from my co-workers their reviews of these new tools. So today I want to talk about Yammer. To Yammer or not to Yammer, that is the question.
I first learned about Yammer on November 5, 2008. I received an email from Lisa McClure inviting me to join the Webconsuls.com network. This email arrived at 7:53AM, then at 8:56AM I received an additional invitation from Malik Moosa. On November 5 I had a very good reason for not responding to these invitations, as I was flying from Tucson to Albany, NY, and the laptop was not accessible for most of the day. Five weeks went by. I was busy with many client's projects and I waited to see if any other team member would invite me to join webconsuls.com yammer network.
December 8, 2008, the wait was over. I received another invitation from Dick Fay. Now this impressed me. Dick is not only my co-worker he is also one of my business partners, and I decided that Dick's invitation offered some validity to yammer.com. So, I signed up!
It was easy to do, I followed the steps and what do you know there I was part of the TEAM. On the home page you can easily see "posts" or "updates" from your team or group members. But what startled me was that, aside from the automatic post showing that Dick Fay had joined the "network", all other updates were from Darin McClure, our SMO director. Hmmmm! What does this mean? Where were Lisa's updates and Malik's update? I didn't understand.
If, as the Yammer.com "about us" page says: "Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: 'What are you working on?' As employees answer that question, a feed is created in one central location enabling co-workers to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions, and share links and other information. Yammer also serves as a company directory in which every employee has a profile and as a knowledge base where past conversations can be easily accessed and referenced."; then why is only Darin posting updates? And for that matter, is anyone listening?
I am reminded of a winter day in 1989, when I was the co-owner and innkeeper of Cranmore Mountain Lodge. Our chef at the time was a colorful fellow named John Littlefield. (Picture Ignatius J. Reilly, the main character in the Pulitzer Prize winning fiction novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole.) John was a superb chef, but let's just say he had some idiosyncrasies and someday when I write my expose about innkeeping I will devote an entire chapter to John.
But back to my story. I was in the laundry room with my youngest son Daniel (he had just turned five years old). The laundry room had a doorway to the country kitchen and John was in the kitchen busying himself and talking. Daniel watched John for a few minutes and then turned to me and in a soft voice inquired: "Momma, who is John talking to?" To which I responded: "He is talking to himself." Daniel considered my answer and then in turn responded: "But who is listening?" I didn't have an answer, except a knowing smile.
Now almost 20 years later, I find myself asking the same question when it comes to all of the new-age technology. I know that people read blogs, I know that the Internet and SMO can be very powerful on so many levels. But I also know that I can write this blog every Saturday and I don't really have any idea who is listening. So should I Yammer?
I would like to invite all of my readers to learn more about yammer.com, but at the same time I worry about even the name of "yammer." According to Websters', yammer means to utter repeated cries of distress or sorrow, to utter consistent complaints, to talk persistently or volubly and often loudly. So why would Yammer.com founders choose such a name? I don't know.
What I do know is that I am going to give it a try, but I am going to use it strictly for business questions. I am going to try to solicit input from my team members about business questions regarding SEO, SMO, web design, etc. I will let you know how this works out. In the meantime, here is a video that gives you a pretty good overview of YAMMER. And if you are looking for a good read, try A Confederacy of Dunces, you will laugh yourself silly.
Hunger in Eastern Massachusetts And How You Can Help
Hunger is a silent epidemic. Each year, more than 320,000 people seek food assistance in eastern Massachusetts alone. They are the most vulnerable among us: children and seniors. They are people we know: our friends, neighbors, and colleagues. They live in each and every one of our communities, and are quietly seeking help from the more than 600 member hunger-relief agencies in the nine counties and 190 cities and towns of eastern Massachusetts that receive food from The Greater Boston Food Bank.
Lisa was checking in to Twitter this morning and saw a post that intrigued her from Connie Reece, about how Tyson foods was donating 100 pounds of food for every comment to this post. This time of year a comment is not to much to ask for please do your part, comment, feed the hungry and prove that tweeting and blogging about a subject is more than a bunch of people talking about what they had for lunch or where they can spot their cars on google maps.
Imagine there's no Heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today
Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one
1980, I was a high school student in the OC before that was cool, I was not a sporto, I was not a band geek, I was not a thespian, but I knew people in all of those clicks and could move freely between them. The 80s was not a time of great music with few exceptions. We were raised in a house with everything from Brubeck to the Beatles being played on vinal via the Hi-Fi. We have always loved new tunes when they came out from out favorite artists. John Lennon had taken a hiatus to raise his second son, and the world was without his gift for many years when Double Fantisy came out. I can remember slow Sundays on the patio, rib eye steaks on the grill, John and Yoko on the turntable. That year summer ended and winter came, and with it the senseless killing of one of the most popular composers of all time.
It't now almost 30 years later and Imagine still kinda chokes me up.
Earlier this month, you might remember, I visited Amherst, MA, for homecoming weekend at Amherst College. During that weekend Dennis and I took a side trip to Hampshire College to visit the National Yiddish Book Center. How and why we came to make this side trip is a story for another day, but suffice it to say we were awe struck as we parked our car and strolled into this incredible center. We were welcomed into the center and invited to watch a short video on the history of the National Yiddish Book Center. The words of the narrator were both comforting and chilling: "Throughout their long history, Jews have turned to books as a 'portable homeland', the repository of collective memory and culture." What struck me about this statement is while it is true for Jews, I think it is also true for most people. That is, our books ground us as we move from place to place, from home to home. Looking back on my adult life, I have always treasured my books and I have never felt quite settled in a new home (whether it be a college dorm, a new apartment or a spacious house) until the books are gently set in a place of honor. It is not that I keep re-reading these books, but the fact that they are present in my home makes me feel settled.
My books are a conglomeration of novels, history, memoirs, poetry...many were gifts from friends and family or simply passed to me from my parents over the years. I have packed these books so many times over my adult life, at least 16 times, that each time it has become a ritual to hold the books, dust them and then quietly set them on a shelf..."just in case". They represent a part of my life's history. What I particularly love to do is read the personal inscriptions that many of them hold, written by people that have touched my life.
A few months ago I was riding in a car with Darin and Lisa McClure and Lisa reached into her purse and retrieved a new "gadget." I asked her about it and she cheerfully extolled the virtues of her Kindle, Amazon's wireless reading device. According to Amazon this is "a convenient, portable reading device with the ability to wirelessly download books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers." I could see that the device was all of those things, but what about the book? In other words, what about the essence of the book itself: Buying the book, reading the book, holding the book, referring back to the book, sharing the book, and giving it a place of honor on your book shelf? What about the "dust cover(s)"? Here is how this new "reading" works. First you buy the Kindle for about $360. Then there is the download purchase vs the traditional purchase. For example, in 2005 Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. If you purchase the hardcover version of this book it will run about $35, the softcover version is about $21 and the Amazon Kindle version is $9.99. You can learn more about the Kindle by watching this YouTube video.
I invite you to visit on-line The National Yiddish Book Center. On their site there is a copy of the video that Dennis and I viewed. The video is called a "A Bridge of Books: The Story of the National Yiddish Book Center." As you view this video, you might wonder about the meaning of the word "save". According to Merriam-Webster's On-Line Dictionary, the intransitive verb "save" has the following meanings: "1 a: to deliver from sin b: to rescue or deliver from danger or harm c: to preserve or guard from injury, destruction, or loss d: to store (data) in a computer or on a storage device (as a floppy disk or CD)." Now ponder a Kindle vs the National Yiddish Book Center. A Kindle depicts definition "d", while projects like National Yiddish Book Center honors definitions "b" and "c".
Going back to the "portable homeland" and "just in case"...a few months ago my youngest son asked me if I had ever read The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Imagine my delight when I was able to walk to our bookshelves and retrieve my copy of this book. It had been a gift (1968 price for this hardbound book was $3.95) to me 40 years ago and still I could find it, touch it and present my copy of Gibran's masterpiece to my son to touch, read and enjoy. Simply amazing, dust cover included!
The other day I signed into my Gmail account and noticed a new link at the top of the page. The link says: "New! Video chat." Usually I learn about new Gmail tools from Webconsuls' technical director, Darin McClure. What crossed my mind is why hasn't Darin sent me or us an email extolling the virtues of this new tool. Not like Darin to not jump on a Gmail bandwagon. Hmmm! I even reviewed the Webconsuls' blog to make sure I hadn't missed a blog about this new tool. Couldn't find anything.
I ignored the bold red font, "New! Video chat" for a few days, but yesterday I was a little curious. So, I clicked on the link. This is what I learned: * Voice and video in Gmail only works with the newer version of Gmail in supported browsers: FF 2.0+, IE 6.0+, Safari 3.0+, and Google Chrome. * Download the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in, quit all open browser windows, and install the plug-in. * Sign in to Gmail. * In the Chat section of your Gmail, select the contact you want to call. If they have a camera icon next to their name, you can make a voice or video call to them; just click Video & more.
Now the first thing to remember is that you need to have a web-cam. If you don't have a web-cam, then Google has made it easy for you to purchase one. According to their site: "We tried to make buying a web-cam easier by working with Logitech and Buy.com to offer high quality cameras at up to 30% off with free shipping until November 30th, 2008." The prices quoted range from $39.99 to $89.99. But, not to worry, I already have a web-cam, so I was good to go.
My browsers met the requirements, I downloaded the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in, I quit all open browsers, and I installed the plug-in! I signed in to my Gmail account and lo and behold, there I was in a little window...Judy at work! Great, right? Here is what I noticed: 1. My Web-cam sits right on top of my monitor, so I could see myself very clearly, but I could also see my co-worker, Dennis, at work at his computer desk. You see when we are both working my back is to him, a kind of "what I don't see won't hurt me" position. But now I could clearly see him working away. 2. I could also see the little camera icon next to my name in the "Chat" box on my Gmail page, but interestingly enough the only associate with a camera icon next to their name was Malik. I could see that Malik was on-line so I tried to connect with him with video chat. Well, he could chat, but what I discovered is that he was experiencing problems with Video Chat. To quote Malik: "crashes my browser every time though". Not good and I read on-line that other users were experiencing this problem. Bugs!!
You need to be aware that this new tool is being rolled out by Google, which means not everyone has access to the new tool at the same time. Don't assume that because you have access that all of your friends can access it, just yet.
Here is my first take on this tool: Fun tool. Free tool, unless you need to buy a web-cam. I don't really know if it will take the place of Skype, as Google video chat does not allow you to connect to landlines, but it is one more tool for the tool box. Whether it will be the sharpest tool in the box remains to be seen. Also, I noticed that once you have downloaded this new tool, there does not seem to be a way to just "turn it off" should you not want to be contacted via video chat. This is a little disconcerting, but maybe I just haven't played with it enough. I do know that the software is not activated unless you are signed in to your Gmail account, so maybe that feature is the main "shut-off" valve. In other words, you can be signed out of your Gmail account and still be running "Google Talk" on your desktop and chat with friends and co-workers the old fashioned way, sans webcam.
According to the official Gmail blog: 'Once you install the plug-in, to start a video chat, just click on the "Video & more" menu at the bottom of your Gmail chat window, and choose "Start video chat." You'll have a few seconds to make sure you look presentable while it's ringing, and then you'll see and hear your friend live, right from within Gmail.' The operative phrase in this statement is: "You'll have a few seconds to make sure you look presentable." Yikes!!!
Here is the bottom line: if you are always signed into you Gmail account, the webcam is running and you better be prepared for your friends and co-workers to want to video chat with you. You better keep your desk straightened, your hair combed and not be wearing your PJs at 3:00PM.
For the record, I un-installed the "plug-in" yesterday, because I don't want to be the first one on my block to use this software...I am going to wait for Darin, Lisa, Dick, Dennis, Malik, Keith, Dan and Dennis to "plug-in". I don't want to be the cheerleader and I am still wondering why the usual cheerleaders are not cheering...just yet. To learn more, view the video below and I promise to keep you posted on this new tool. Let me know what you think by posting a comment here.
Kevin Rose, of Digg fame, demos the new Qik.com app for unjailbroken iPhones. For those of us who did not want the chance of having an iBrick you will no longer have to jailbreak your iPhone to install this new Qik app once released. Did you watch the above video? Excited yet?
What does Qik on the iPhone do?
The Qik iPhone app Streams video to the Qik.com site,
The Qik iPhone app notes the location of the video,
Chat with the folks watching the live stream at Qik.com from your iPhone.
The iPhone 3G the Swiss Army Knife of SmartPhones, just keeps getting better and better.
It is Saturday morning and tomorrow I will turn 59. I was hopeful that at this age I wouldn't still need to be concerned about tags and labels, but hey I still do laundry at least once per week and in this day and age I find myself discussing the pros and cons of labeling or tagging blog posts. Let's talk about clothes first: What is it about the tag or label in the neckline of a shirt or top that is so annoying? I ask this question, because as a woman I can categorically state I have never removed a tag from a piece of my clothing. But I can also attest that my significant other hates tags in the neckline of his clothing and he has on occasion twisted himself into the shape of a pretzel to attempt removing the tag while he is wearing the garment! He claims it is scratching his neck and driving him crazy. I maintain that this is learned behavior from childhood when his mother tried to make him comfortable and dutifully removed all tags. You should know that when my children were little I never removed a tag from the neckline of their shirts, pajamas or the like. It was a sociological test I was running in my own little world. The truth is I really don't care if my spouse removes these tags, unless, of course, the tag includes the laundry instructions.
Can't tell you how many golf shirts have been ruined because they needed cold water as opposed to warm, or they should be hung to dry! Clothes manufacturers came to our rescue about 2002 and invented the tagless label. Accordingly, Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y., market research firm stated in 2005: ''Tags are a very emotional issue." Is he kidding me? Illness, death, bankruptcy, divorce, crime, war and the like are emotional issues, not TAGS!
My blog commitment has been to make you laugh and to offer you something useful, so today I am including a PDF that you can print and hang by your laundry machines. It is a Guide to Home Laundering and Dry-cleaning Symbols. The reason you may need this is twofold: 1) You may find that when you launder your clothes, someone has removed not only the neckline tag with laundering instructions, but they may have removed the additional tag sometimes found elsewhere on the clothing. 2) You may discover that the laundry instructions are written in size 2 font and in universal code. Take a look at these instructions; you may be amazed at how often you have misinterpreted a symbol.
Now for a short discussion about Web 2.0 Tags and Labels: I will make this short and sweet. You can read a lot about labels / tags, as they relate to blog posts. I will only offer you my very simple observation. Tags and labels have always been important in our day to day life, even before we had the world wide web. Think of it this way. The tag/label is an identifier, it guides the reader to more information about the subject matter within your historical blog posts and it perhaps provides just a bit of information that will make your life easier in the case of Web 2.0 allowing your blog to be found by more people. If you really want to understand this in greater detail, contact Webconsuls' Social Marketing guru...Darin McClure, because I have to go do the laundry!
P.S. I know I took 599 words to enlighten you today. Happy Saturday!
On a recent Webconsuls trip to UCLA we got the chance to shoot the above Photosynth for the Division of Interventional Neuroradiology. This new state of the art biplane angiographic equipment with 3D capabilities and unique CT incorporated software will allow the Dr.'s at UCLA to have immediate image and CT scans after treatment. Thus avoiding additional transportation of the patient. The high-resolution angiographic equipment and new CT capabilities at UCLA, in conjunction with the world-wide recognized UCLA endovascular team experience, place the new Ronald Reagan Hospital at the forefront of advances in the treatment of stroke, aneurysms, and vascular malformations.
For years I was a fan of the television show "Everybody Loves Raymond". Even today if I just want to take a break I might tune in to watch a rerun of this show. One of my favorite episodes was #171 which first aired in 2003. If you are a fan, you might remember "Robert's Wedding" as a day when Marie Barone (Robert's mother)interrupts the wedding ceremony as the minister asks if anyone knows of a reason why Robert and Amy should not be married. Later at the reception Raymond is asked to give a toast which was probably one of the most touching scenes of the entire series. Referring to his mother's interruption of the wedding ceremony, Raymond opens his toast by saying: "I think I know one thing that can make this day all better...editing. When all is said and done we will only remember the good stuff. I think you're gonna remember about today what you want to remember."
Editing as defined by Websters means:1 a: to prepare (as literary material) for publication or public presentation b: to assemble (as a moving picture or tape recording) by cutting and rearranging c: to alter, adapt, or refine especially to bring about conformity to a standard or to suit a particular purpose .
Editing as it applies to your website can be critical. Your text, photos, videos, and documents should all be carefully reviewed. This process takes time and almost always requires the efforts of more than one person, as we all know after you look at text long enough your eye doesn't catch all of the misspellings, grammatical mistakes, etc. The same applies to photo and video editing. Photos and videos are powerful. Original unedited photos or videos can make us laugh out loud or cry. Perhaps that is why Google videos and YouTube are so successful. We can see people at their best and worst, for the most part unedited.
Recently Webconsuls was asked to make some videos of the mariachi performers at La Fuente Restaurant in Tucson, AZ. The stage area is almost completely surrounded by dining tables and walking paths for the waitstaff and guests. Try as I might, everytime I would try to shoot a video people, other than the musicians, would come into the field of view. But I videoed about eight songs and sent them to Darin McClure to "edit." Much to my surprise Darin decided to put up all of the videos on Google videos and one in particular is very comical. The song being performed is Guadalajara. As you watch this "unedited" version you will see patrons and staff cross in front of the stage, then suddenly the parking lot security guard comes into view and stops in front of the performers to "check out" the tip basket. It gets better. Within a few seconds, Dennis, my husband, gets up from his table and proceeds to walk to the tip basket to make a donation! By now I just keep shooting only to see the security guard come back through camera's angle of view "dancing" to the music.
To appreciate the art of editing, I invite you to preview both videos. Here is a link to the unedited version and here is a link to the edited version of this performance. Editing...only remembering the good stuff. This weekend we will update La Fuente Restaurant's website to include the "edited" version of Guadalajara. I hope you will visit their site. La Fuente has been in business since 1959 and has a colorful history.
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