Every year from her home in Vancouver, graphic artist Marian Bantjes creates beautiful Valentine’s Day cards that are sent to a select group of people in her life. Last year’s cards were laser cut from old Christmas cards and surprised even Marian on how spectacular they turned out. This year is no exception.
Follow this (as Doyald Young calls her) intrepid artist as she creates something very special for Valentine’s Day 2011 while the Creative Inspirations cameras were rolling. (A subtle hint about a future installment).
Did you know you can send text messages from Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010? This tutorial from David Diskin shows how to send a text to people on the most common cell phone networks in the U.S. from within Outlook. You’ll find this productivity tip along with hundreds more in David’s new courses Outlook 2007 Power Shortcuts and Outlook 2010 Power Shortcuts.
If you are in the Santa Barbara area, join us on Sunday February 13, 2010 at the Granada Theater to attend an interview with Lynda Weinman and Matthew Weiner, creator of the hit TV show Mad Men. Since its debut in 2007, Mad Men has not only reinvigorated 1960’s retro with its uncanny historical accuracy and flawless visual style, but has also garnered three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Drama Series, and a myriad of other honors. Culture-watchers love its complex storylines that reveal American life on the cusp of enormous social change. Strike a pose for our fashion photographers and show off your glamorous 1950s -1960s cocktail attire, and enjoy a dynamic discussion with one of the maddest men in television.
Are you building a relational database with Access 2007 or Access 2010? This technique from Alicia Katz Pollock shows how to properly set up relationships between tables using AutoNumber fields and foreign keys. You’ll find this tip along with lots more in Alicia’s new courses, Access 2007 Power Shortcuts andAccess 2010 Power Shortcuts.
The last, and arguably most important panel of the festival’s second weekend, was the 2011 SBIFF Director’s Panel: Directors On Directing. I don’t know if it was because I arrived early or because I work with lynda.com, but I found myself sitting in the front row. Quite a view.
Moderator Peter Bart from Variety started out with an observation that unlike in previous years, most all of this year’s Oscar nominated films were low budget films, except Pixar’s Toy Story 3, which costs $200 million. Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan was among the highest budgets at a relatively paltry $13 million. Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone was a slim $2 million and even David O. Russell’s The Fighter weighed in at only $11 million. The directors described how not having money to throw at problems required innovative creative storytelling techniques and in many ways, made the films better.
Since this troupe of directors have been tied together doing the Oscar circuit of award ceremonies and interviews, they talked about how this effects their work and the camaraderie they’ve developed. Their overwhelming desire was to get back to work as soon as possible. In the meantime, they joked about acceptance speeches, not sounding glib, and thanking the people most important to them.
Stefan G. Bucher and the lynda.com wall of monsters.
The first time I walked the halls of our headquarters in Carpinteria, I was pleasantly surprised to come in contact with a pack of lynda.com monsters.
The monsters are the work of the amazing Stefan G. Bucher, the genius behind dailymonster.com and 344 Design in Los Angeles. lynda.com co-founder Bruce Heavin originally suggested that Stefan create four monsters to adorn the walls of our headquarters, but Stefan got inspired and created 13 for Bruce to pick from.
According to Stefan, once Bruce saw the selection of monsters, he decided to use them all. The monsters are displayed on a prominent wall at the office and lucky lynda.com folks get to see them every day. As you can see from the photo, Stefan’s installation is pretty cool, too.
Stefan has decided to let the lynda.com monsters out into the wild and posted each of them on his dailymonster.com blog. Go check them out:
When you’re entering data in Access 2007 or 2010, the ‘Cannot contain a Null value’ error can make your head swim. This tutorial from Alicia Katz Pollock shows what the error means and, more important, how to stop it from occurring. You’ll find this tip along with lots more in Alicia’s new courses: Access 2007 Power Shortcuts andAccess 2010 Power Shortcuts.
For obvious reasons, I always feel at one with this panel. Whether the budget is small or large, producers share similar concerns. Whether you’re only shooting for 24 days (Blue Valentine) or as many as 90 (The Social Network), the producers job is the same–we’re here to preserve the director’s vision of our projects and pick the right times to help or stay out of the way. Such is the case with the Academy Award nominated group of films featured in this discussion.
I found particularly fascinating the MPAA ratings battles that continue to rage amongst the filmmakers. The King’s Speech, searching for a broader audience, is seeking a PG-13 rating, though can’t get it because of one scene (you’ll have to see it to know which one). And Blue Valentine fought off an NC-17 rating, winning an appeal to the board with a unanimous vote to overturn.
There was also a lively discussion about making films based on real people and real events as is the case with The Fighter, The Social Network, and The King’s Speech.
