In December a film based on the true story of Luna the orca (aka killer whale) that has been making the rounds at film festivals will be showing at the Ridge in Vancouver.
Luna (1999 – 2006) officially named L98 and also known as Tsuux-iit was an orca. After being separated from his mother as a toddler, he spent five years alone in Nootka Sound, off the west coast of Vancouver Island. His presence in the busy area, which delighted tourists but often brought him into conflict with boaters, led to years of controversy over whether he should be captured and returned to his family. Luna died on March 10, 2006 after he was struck by the propeller of a tugboat. [wiki]
The film, Saving Luna is about more than a friendly Orca. “As Luna got close to people, he became both treasured and feared. To natives he was the spirit of a chief. To boaters he was a goofy friend. To conservationists he was a cause. To scientists he was trouble. To officials he was a danger. As conflict and tragedy stained the waters, Luna became a symbol of the world’s wildest beauty: easy to love, hard to save.”
I’ll have a chance to see the film soon and will offer up a review and specific show times. With over 20 awards ranging from Best Documentary to Audience Favourite from the festival circuit this year, I’m certain it will be almost as captivating as Luna’s legacy.
Update: This will be playing at The Ridge on December 5th. Show times: 4:00, 7:00, 9:00 plus Saturday & Sunday 2:00.
Update: I had the chance to see the film last night and I don’t believe anyone in the audience could have walked away without being affected or touched by this very true story (and no one left with dry eyes either).
While recording an episode of The Crazy Canucks Podcast tonight, my co-host Alanah mentioned she did a Wordle of a Patrick Roy conference call. As this was the first time I had heard of Wordle I looked into it and even made my own based on my current feed.
You can input a block of text, a url or an RSS feed and it will create a tag cloud for the most prominent words used in that story, chunk of text, post or site. I think it’s pretty neat – even moreso that the largest/most used word in the Roy story was “mean”.
While in the middle of my weekly segment on Talk1410am my computer screen flickered and my Gmail turned blue. Thinking something was amiss, I immediately signed out of my account. Once I logged in again I took notice of a little message at the top of the Gmail window – hello themes!.
I know there are many people who do not like change and I can be the first to admit that it takes me about 2 months to try something after John tells me it’s cool and I should be using it.
No need t worry though, there is a “default” setting that you can still use if you do not like any of the 30 new ways to have your email displayed. This includes picture backgrounds, minimalistic (no lines), animations, dark contrasts, and various colour options. Now if only they would spruce up their labeling system.
In case you miss the message at the top of your Gmail account, you can access the theme browser by going to Settings > Themes. Also it appears the switch has not yet been flipped on Gmail for domains and a few other accounts but the Gmail blog says the change will happen gradually over the next few days.
From the Gmail blog: “We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we’re launching today, there’s a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company.”
What are your thoughts on the new Gmail options and while we’re at it… are you one of those people who (still) completely oppose the Facebook layout changes?
Last night I gave a talk at Third Tuesday about building you personal brand, which was actually more of a “how to get started, find and audience, keep an audience, and grow from there”. I’d like to thank everyone who came out to the Granville Room (even though it may not have been an ideal spot), and also for the support and for asking some great questions. Apparently there were about 85 people last night, which is pretty amazing – now I just wish I would have had a microphone.
You can find Raul’s notes of my talk on his site, Tris did a live blog, Dale took a video of the entire talk (that I believe will be up on his Blip.TV account) and John Chow took a video that he promised would have embarrassing bloopers.
If you have any photos, posts, or video of the event please feel free to share in the comments.
A few days ago the makers of pain-reliever Motrin (Johnson & Johnson) launched a commercial campaign that annoyed and outraged mothers around the world.
“That couldn’t have been written by a mother,” noted my sister, Jennifer. “The speak about how carrying your baby around is in fashion, but it’s certainly not a passing fad nor a fashion statement – you need to carry your child… and the car seat… and the stroller.”
Complaints about the ad were flooding through social networks like Twitter this weekend. Jennifer added, “some of the comments I read online said that ‘mommy bloggers’ were taking things too seriously. But, um, aren’t ‘mommies’ the target audience for this ad?”
In a demonstration of the growing power of social media, on Monday the company issued an apology and withdrew an ad that was meant to be a light-hearted look at ‘baby wearing.’ …Instead, the online video offended a large majority of moms. They not only weren’t laughing, they were making their views known in an online storm that blasted through the blogosphere and the micro-blogging website Twitter, spiking traffic and spreading bad news about the brand. [Vancouver Sun]
I was asked by the Sun for my thoughts on Motrin’s use of social media for this campaign.
“The first mistake was the content of the Motrin ad. And then they didn’t follow up and see the online reaction. It is the second biggest topic on Twitter after Christmas.” The conversations varied from vitriolic to very funny. [Vancouver Sun]
The NY Times noted that within 48 hours people were taking matters into their own hands.
By Sunday afternoon a few bloggers and tweeters had gotten the ad agency that created the ad on the phone, to find they didn’t know a lot about Twitter and didn’t seem to have a clue that there was so much anger piling up online. [NY Times]
However, Sean Moffitt with Buzz Canuck reminds us all that this was just an ad, which has actually since been retracted with an apology:
“Unlike previous social media infernos, Motrin neither lied (Sony), deceived about their identity (Wal-Mart), endangered/inconvenienced a city (Aqua Teen Hunger Force) or provided dubious insider tips (Whole Foods). It was simply an ad. As ads go, it was more intriguing than most…perhaps with the same ad executed poorly, we might have never noticed it.”
True, a lot more harm could have been done, and because of this outcry (because apparently mothers cry all the time) the ad was pulled. Case closed… or is it?
It’s an example of how quickly word travels. The ad can be launched, up on YouTube, and around the world 10 times before you take another sip of your coffee or in this case, before the end of the weekend.
Now all but the bravest marketers are going to worry about this kind of outcry and yet another layer of political correctness will creep in. [Buzz Canuck]
I don’t think this should scare people off, I just think there’s a bigger conversation out there that companies need to be a part of.
“One bright spot is that we have learned through this process – in particular, the importance of paying close attention to the conversations that are taking place online. It has also brought home the importance of taking a broader look at what we say and how it may be interpreted.” [Johnson & Johnson Blog]
Ways to fix this? Get some of those ‘mommy bloggers’ to submit ideas for an ad, or send them some Motrin and have them create their own YouTube videos about how it effectively helped them.
The simplest way for now is to sign up for a Twitter account and check things out for yourself or at least become familiar with the social media tools you are using (you don’t even need an account to check out trending topics either). Being social and having discussions is what social media is all about, as the parody video (above) suggests.
