Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I Wish I thought of This

I am a big fan of those in the industry that create similar products to mine, as well as those who create innovative ways of educating and inspiring. My appreciation for this never includes jealousy, because I feel jealousy is wasted energy (topic for a future blog). That being said, it is rare that I come across a unique idea that I say to myself "I wish I thought of that!" Usually my reaction is, "Oh that's cool. . . .How clever. . .etc." However, something came to my attention twice in the past week that I want to share with you, and I wish I had thought of. It is called StoryCorps.

StoryCorps is a project that allows people to come into a specially designed location to tell their story and have it captured in their own voice. It captures the story of America, from the common person's point of view. I used to love sitting with my grandparents and hear the stories of their childhood - their first exposures to innovations and times in our history that they lived through. Just like we all have stories regarding 9-11, and generations before me have those of JFK's assassination, or my grandparents had of Pearl Harbor, America's history is most uniquely told from the perspective of Americans who lived it. History books tell the facts and introduce major contributors of events through time, but the real story comes from those who lived through them.

I am often disappointed that I never had an opportunity to sit with my grandparents or my aunt Noreen to get the full story of my family down on video. Today, the Internet, and services like this, allow us to keep a journal of our life, experiences, and opinions. Maybe future generations will be able to learn from those of us who were arrogant enough to think our words meant something (or had business managers who kept poking us to put words out to the world). Maybe someday, my great grandchild will read this post and add a comment on the bottom.

In the meantime, I encourage you to go to the StoryCorps website and check out what they are all about. I also encourage you to spend time with the older generations in your families and find out what they truly thought about events in their lives. I do it all the time, and am so happy I have the memories of my grandparents and their peers, as well as my parents and their generation. It helps me remain grounded in where I have come from and conscious of where I am going, for I will be the history to generations of Rossillis that follow. My wife always teases me about the fact that I always seem to be interviewing people. I do that to get a appreciation for the life others (plus it makes it easier when I am developing charcters for projects. You never know when you might pop up in one of our stories . . .LOL)

The StoryCorp has put together a special book for Mothers. I have read and heard several of the entries online. I was so inspired by them and impressed by the whole project that I will be purchasing copies for the mothers in my life. I recommend you check it out and consider doing the same. I have absolutely no connection to the project, I just thought my readers would appreciate hearing about it.

Although we may live in different parts of the country, and have experienced different trials, challenges, and successes, there are core human values that connect us all. StoryCorps really illustrates that in a way I wish I had thought of! =)

StoryCorps Website: http://www.storycorps.com

Friday, April 2, 2010

5700 Channels and Nothing On.

I have always been a HUGE fan of television as a means of information, entertainment, and education. It is truly my medium of choice for those items. However, it appears that today television is becoming strangely marginalized. We have more channels than ever, with more freedom (thanks to DVRs) as to when we watch. We can also control whether or not we want to subject ourselves to commercials.

With broadband becoming more ubiquitous, and access to video-based information being delivered to our phones, iPods, computers, etc., there seems to be content flying at us from everywhere. You go to ShopRite and there is information broadcast on a flatscreen there as you are waiting for the old woman in front of you to balance her check book after writing a check for $10 worth of groceries. Billboards (like we needed help being distracted when we are driving) are now animated and/or are not only showing movie posters, but movie trailers! Cars are now equipped with video players and Wi-Fi connectivity. I am certain that someone has developed, or will after reading this, a way to have video on demand delivered directly to cars via satellite transmission (like we do with SiriusXM for our radios).

You would think with all of these new opportunities, we would be receiving better programming. I think you would all agree not necessarily. Oh, it's out there, but there has not been an effective way of allowing us to cull through the abyss of content that is being produced, remade, or re-released. Someone should come up with a way for us to find what we want on whatever our viewing device of choice is. For instance, my wife and I LOVED the documentary Life on the Discovery Channel. It is 11 hours worth of television. That is a lot of TV, especially considering the other responsibilities we have in our lives, and the other programs we enjoy. . . .can't miss an episode of "Idol" =) It would be awesome if we could watch it on our iPhones, or on our computers, but not have to pay the premium of doing so. We already have a HUGE cable bill. Shouldn't those services come along with what we already pay? I am sure somewhere in the near future, a service will be made available that will allow us to watch what we want, when we want, where we want. My children wanted to see the movie Karate Kid 3 (We had already seen 1 and 2). It was not available on-Demand, and I do not have an AppleTV (where I can rent right to my TV from my iMac (I know. . . very surprising) In the future, I am certain that someone will create the ability to allow us to have had the instant gratification of viewing that film when we thought of it. It will require some insane negotiations for residuals, profit sharing, IP rights, but someone will come up with this.

Anyway. . .today's vBlog is about the quality of the programming we have available to us. What we fail to realize is that we are in total control of what is broadcasted. The television industry is not a charitable organization. It is a business, all about making money. If nobody is watching, they will lose advertising revenues. . . . . I hope you enjoy it.


Life was so much simpler before cable. 7 Channels. . . . still not much on. . . .but we expected less. . . .