Thursday, April 27, 2006

Wake Up and Shake Up

My entire schooling occurred in the LA Unified School District (LAUSD). The whole time, having friends that lived in Orange County, I knew that the LAUSD sorta sucked. Well, it's come to a head and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says, "wake up and shake up the bureaucracy at the LAUSD".

The Economist has a pretty good summary of what the Mayor has proposed. I tried to find something from the LA Times since it should have a good local take, but I could only find something about the reaction to the proposal..nothing about the proposal itself (logins required for both).

Since I'm not too familiar with the specifics of the proposal, I can't really say if I'm totally for it or against it, but let me tell you...something needs to be done. My high school was all right, but every time I drive by that place now, I just feel like it's gotten a lot more ghetto over the years. I know, I know, a ghetto look to a school has no tie to how well the eduction is in that school, but even when I was there, most of students really had no plans to do anything after high school except work. Even then, it was pretty clear that one can't go too far in this world without some sort of further education. And as you can refer to in the Economist article, a staggering number of LAUSD students don't even bother to finish school.

The LATimes article refers to the range of schools in the LAUSD since there are many rich areas in LA City in addition to the many poor areas. This is a clear example of how "Separate But Equal" is still a reality even though it's unconstitutional. I'm not 100% sure about the charter school concept, but I am definitely sure about the utility of managing schools at a smaller level. Not micromanaging, but just focusing on a smaller number of students.

One of the proposals I heard on NPR last week (though I'm not sure if it's actually a part of the mayor's plans) is to manage every school in the district at a 500 student max. This doesn't mean creating physical schools with no more than 500 students, but I take it to mean that a person will be in charge of a 500 student slice of the school to ensure the success of those students. Sort of like the multiple schools at any university (School of Engineering, Arts & Letters, etc).

I think that's a really good idea. Simply throwing money at a problem rarely solves the problem. But thinking about ways to re-envision the existing structure can really lead to new ways to succeed.

At this point, the mayor's plan would have to be approved by the California Legislaure. Given Villaraigosa's history with the Leg. and the Governator's support, I have a feeling it will pass. Here's hoping that the 727 thousand students in that district really benefit from the plans.


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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Sickly Sweet 16

Don't deny it. You've seen MTV's Super Sweet 16.

In fact, I've seen it often enough that I actually edited a video for a 16th birthday party so that the opening sequence had a similar look to the opening of the actual MTV show.

This is what I do in my spare time. Pretend I'm MTV.

Anyways, this NYTimes article doesn't have any new, but....

Click onto the second page to read about the spoiled Indian girls. I can't wait to watch that one. Not that they deserve any more or less attention and ridicule than any of the other 16 year olds on this show.

All this proves of course is that most Indians just wanna be like everyone else. As Dr. Kothapalli, the girls' father says, "It's the American way. You work hard and you play hard."

BTW...the gift from the parents? A Bentley, diamonds, and two homes in India.

Play hard indeed.

McTummy

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Finalizing the house purchase and the sale of our current house has kept us rather busy.

Anyways, we finally watched Supersize Me and both my wife and I were pretty disgusted.

I have to admit I eat a lot more fastfood than I should or want to. It's not so much that I like the taste, but that's it so convenient on my busy days. My wife actually much better than I do.

I won't really comment too much on the premise of the documentary since I'm sure we've all come to the realization about McDonald's a long time ago.

Morgan Spurlock did a good job with editing since the film really punches at the right time and rarely seems to pile on. Don't get me wrong, he obviously wants the fast food industry and the mass food industry in general to be depicted in a very, very bad light. However, he does a good job with just moving on to another topic once he's made his point. I feel like this is rather different than Michael Moore's editing of Farenheit 9/11. He really seems to love piling on. I definitely prefer the method of making a good point, then moving on.

So coming out the this movie, I've made a mid-ur resolution to cut-out (or cut down drastically) the crappy fast food that I tend to eat. If I'm in a rush, I'm going to do my best to choose something more healthful (or at least less unhealthy). In practice, this might mean going to Quizno's for a low-fat sub (rock on Honey Bourbon Chicken!) rather than grabbing a double cheeseburger and/or a McChicken. It also means going to Baja Fresh rather than Taco Bell.

In general, I don't think I overeat, since I try not to fill my stomach, just satisfy my hunger. But as far as I'm concerned, eating a small amount of shit food on a consistent basis is just as bad as eating supersized meals regularly.

And just to mention that I tend to eat decent food, here's my regular, rather bland diet: Oatmeal in the morning, Gardenburger (no cheese) for lunch. Dinner can really vary since lately we've been eating-out or ordering-in more often than usual. It's those times when I'm sick of the cafeteria environment that I fall off the cliff into a pile of McFat.

No more.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Moblogging

So I may pick up on things a little late but you cant
tell me I dont recognize a good thing when I see it!

For what its worth Im posting this blog from my cell
phone. It doesnt require any crazy cell phone but my
phone has a decent keyboard on it so heres a go at me
jumping on the latest bandwagon: Mobile Blogging.

Youd think I have more to say...but nope thats it. I
doubt Ill use this on any frequent basis but if I ever
travel (which is in doubt considering how much were
spending on the new house) I can definitely see myself
posting thoughts and photos from my cell phone. Just
the fact that I have that option is really cool. Of
course in the meantime all of my (inconsistent) posts
will be coming via my laptop.

Now...let me get back to the laptop which is right in
front of me :)

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Soliciting gone a step further

We attended another bridal faire on Sunday since we find it an easy way to introduce ourselves to new families who may not have heard of us through referrals. It went quite well and we were busy the entire time. Depending on the person who comes up to our booth, we'll either let them take a look and just say "Hello" or, if they look more interested, we'll ask more specific questions. Generally, the first thing people ask us is what we do and we tell them about our Photo & Video skills, etc.

But about 1/2 way through, I got a really strange first question...

An Indian woman in her late thirties asked me "So do you do this full time?"

I thought to be a sort of wierd first question. We do indeed get the question all the time and we're up front about the nature of our business: I have a day-job and my partner is currently doing this full-time. But the topic is usually something that only comes up after we've talked about our skillset, etc.

So anyways, I told the woman that I do this part-time and she responded with "Oh that's great" and then said something about entrepreneurship and finding the time to do such things. Again, I thought her response was really odd, but said something neutral like "Ya, we've always got to keep our options open and do things we love"

So then the woman launched into a typical Quixtar shit-speech!

She didn't mention Quixtar at all, but I've been on the receiving end of this schpiel enough times to know the deal. She said her husband has a internet based marketing company and he's always looking for new partners; would I be interested.

No.

Fuck No.

I quickly gave her a polite response "Sorry, I'm not interested"

And she went on her merry way to harrass other people in a totally inappropriate venue. And I say it's inappropriate, because a Bridal Faire is not the place to get people involved with your "pyramid, but not technically" scheme.

I really wish I had told this woman that it was not right to go around asking people about getting involved in Quixtar in this situation. But I really had no need to get into it with this little woman.

I just hope other people didn't have to face her. Even moreso, I hope they told her off.

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Monday, April 10, 2006

Marketing and Retail Sites

Have you heard of the movie "Akeelah and the Bee"? I bet that if you're not a coffee or tea drinker you've never heard of it. I also bet that if you drink Starbucks you've not only heard of this movie, but have been wondering what the hell it is.

It's a guerilla marketing campaign!

Well, obviously this is no guerilla campaign. It's a well orchestrated, savvy, and low(er) cost campaign for what seems to be a low(er)-budget film. Having seen the little green circles palstered all over ever Starbucks I've visited in the last 2 or 3 weeks I really got to wondering what it's all about.

According to the trailer, it's a movie about an 11-yr old girl from South Central (err, South Los Angeles) with a gift for words. I assume this girl goes a long way in her local spelling bees and becomes an inspiration for her community and an example for underpriveledged kids the world over.

Anyways, this post isn't really about the movie, it's about the marketing campaign. I haven't seen a single ad for this movie, nor have I heard a thing about it anywhere outside of the Starbucks confines. Yet, I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people know the name of this movie and some might actually be curious enough to see it.

What interests me most about the campaign is how little money has probably been spent. I bet there's a very high ratio of awareness to marketing dollars spent. Now, Starbucks is obviously different than many retailers in that they do a lot to give back to the community and so I assume they are promoting this movie because of the message it sends. But at the same time, I don't think Starbucks plans on losing money on their marketing for this film.

What really got me thinking is the power retailers could have by doing this sort of thing. Of course, if every retailer was pushing a new movie every week we as consumers wouldn't notice it as much, but I think we're on the leading edge of a new trend. The overall trend is one where we are hit from more and more angles by advertising. Some of it is really well done, others are horrible. The Starbucks campaign is pretty good in that it's not just posters for the movie. I doubt that Wal-mart would think of anything so interesting as listing past spelling bee words, but if Wal-mart got into this game, they could definitely make a significant difference in the gross receipts of any movie they promote. McDonalds and other fast food companies have been doing this sort of thing for quite some time via toy promotions, but this is really the first time that I've seen such a campaign aimed directly at adults.

Anyways, it's just something I've noticed and I think we'll see a lot more of. Who knows how much money Akeelah and the Bee will make, but it's a name which is now etched in my brain. Have you guys heard of it?

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Bride and Prejudice

So I may be a year late on this, but I finally watched Bride and Prejudice, starring Aishwarya Rai. And as beautiful as she can look, Aishwarya just comes off as a really bad actress.

Okay, so English may not be her first language, but she clearly knows the language well enough to carry herself elegantly when speaking to Oprah or at Miss World (or was it Miss Universe?). But in this movie, either she got really bad direction from Gurinder Chadha or Aishwarya just doesn't understand which words to emphasize in a sentence. She got better as the move progrssed, but that could just be me getting used to the odd speaking style.

In any case, the acting (not just her's) comes off as very wooden and awkward. As good as Chadha did with Bend it Like Bekham, she's done a really bad job with this one. As I mentioned, acting throughout feels really awkward. Perhaps it's just the most of the actors are used to acting in Hindi and not English, but that's no excuse when you're a British director making a movie in English.

In addition to bad acting, this movie is plagued by way too many musical numbers. They're bad enough when they're in Hindi, but when they're in English, they make me want to gag. It's a novelty at first, but after about 15 seconds, you wonder what Chadha is thinknig. Is she trying to be tongue-in-cheek with the musical numbers? If so, she went too far. Is she serious with them? If so, she's insane.

I think what's bad about the musical numbers is actually the lyrics. I don't watch Enlgish stage musicals, but the bits I've seen have some lyrical and musical flow. These numbers just have horribly written lyrics with absolutely no flow and with gag-inducing rhymes. I said that Hindi musical numbers are bad, but in actuality, they're quite good for what they're aiming at. Nowadays they're not just well produced, but they work well in the flow of movie and have lyrics which work in the course of the song. The musical numbers in Bride and Prejudice may be well produced, but that's it.

So in case you haven't figured it out, I won't be watching this movie again and I suggest you stay away from it as well.


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Friday, April 07, 2006

Journey of a Lifetime

I came home tonight a bit late (taxes, ugh) and my wife was watching this show on the Travel Channel. I didn't know what it was, but I just saw nappy headed Indians wearing saffron so I had to investigate. Turns out that it was a show called Journey of a Lifetime

It's a two part show where Jeremy Piven (of Entourage fame) travels in both South and North India. The show is nothing ground breaking since there have been many travel documentaries including Lonely Planet. But I guess I took a chance to stop for an hour and think about just exploring.

I've mentioned a few times that I've been quite busy lately. I don't feel overwhelmed or anything, but it's nice to be to take a moment and just think. Think about something new. Think about exploring. Think about thinking.

Okay, I won't go wacko on you, but most times, I just kind of shuffle along in life and don't time out. I've written about these previous times when I've had the chance to stop for a moment and appreciate what we have, where we are etc. This time, the moment was more a selfish thing. Wondering about when we'd get a chance to just step our of lives and do the kind of exploring that Piven does on this show. I used to think about this all the time...the Thorn Tree over at the Lonely Planet website was a daily web destination for me since I loved to just think about all the interesting things I'd do and see when I visit India. And I made it happen for several years after graduating. I found an exuse to head there any time I could and always planned trips to somewhere interesting.

We're hoping to go to India at the end of this year, so hopefully it works out. For a while, I had been going to India every other year, but now it's been 4 yrs since we've been there and it feels like much longer. I don't know if we'll actually be able to travel within India since we may just end up going to attend a family wedding, but we'll see. If nothing else, it would be interesting to take photos of a Hindu wedding actually in India. A weddings's, a wedding's, a wedding. But it'll be a different world with very different elements to capture.

That's just one of the more exploratory things I'd like to do if we do go to India. It's too far off to think about right now, but this show gave me a chance to look forward to a possible trip in the near future.

I've got a few photos from India on Flickr. Unfortunately, it's difficult for me to post more photos from those trips since everything was still on film but I'll hunt around for scanned versions I've got sitting on one of the computers around here.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Designing for the user

All right...I figured out how to add tags/categories using Blogger so I think I'll just stick witht his over here. Every time I try to leave, Blogger just pulls me right back in...so here's my post from yesterday which I posted over at Wordpress:

Okay...before I get started with this topic, let me just say that this attempt at using Wordpress stems from the featureset, namely the ability to tag posts. Let's see if I like this and continue here or go back to blogger. I'll post more about my thoughts on Wordpress as I spend more time with it.

Moving on...

There's a couple of things I noticed about CBS's Sportsline website during the recent NCAA Tourney (I'm bummed about the Bruins losing in the Final, but gotta hand it to the Gators...Noah is a MONSTER!). A couple of things really showed me that CBS sports gets their viewers. They may not have the best TV graphics (Fox still wins in style and utility), but CBS has their website down.

Firstly, this was the first year that they provided free video of all of the early round games. That alone is recognizing their users. Followers of the Tourney are going to head to a bar anyways to watch games they really want to see. Why not make it easier to watch them when you can't get out of the office. On top of that though CBS did a few things which made the experience thatmuchbetter. They required logins (which is no big deal considering you're getting something worthwhile), but gave quicker access to the people who signed up early (me being one of them). They called it a VIP line. Why do this? Because they knew that traffic to the site would be huge and it would take some time to get people logged into the site to actually view video. So for people that signed up later, they would have to wait longer. Not only did they create these different types of access, they showed users how long it would be until they could actually view video. They didn't just leave it up to the servers to pop up a video when there was bandwidth. They created sort of a countdown. In many cases, that countdown was very long, but at least users could get an idea of how long they'd have to wait. And once in, video actually worked! Consistently! So this whole waiting line thing was used as a way to regular the server load, but they kept it clean and user-friendly.

Now...the other thing that I thought was just really smart was the game logs which show all the details stats. Here's an example of the FLA-UCLA game. During the game, this page updates specific information without having to refresh the entire page. That's sort of ld technology but perfect for sports. I hate having to set refresh settings then having the refresh get hung up since there's some ad which needs to load up. And speaking of ads, here's where CBS really gets its user. During the game, there are no ads, but as soon as there's a timeout or ad on TV, a video ad loads up within the page. It's smart since they're recognizing that many people (like me) will have both the TV and laptop going at the same time. We're only looking at the laptop to be able to get instant info about some stat. I've been doing it since at least 2000 when I got my first laptop. So then why show ads when the user is really just paying attention to the TV, right? Exactly. Just show the stats. But during a timeout, the page automagically shows a video ad. And it got me every time. I'm taking a mental break during the timeout and the ad just loads itself. I didn't really care for the ads, but I did glance over to see what the ad was for. Now, I'm sure CBS and it's advertisers would like for me to view the whole ad, but hey, at least I know the specific companies that had ads. And that's a win for both the advertiser and CBS.

So now I know that if I'm watching a sporting event on CBS, rather than load up ESPN.com like usual, I'm going to load up Sportsline.com since they will probably have something extra which makes it worthwhile. Good stuff.


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Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Trying it out

Ok people, I'm trying out another blog system and I may end up staying there. Check it out:

http://narrator.wordpress.com




Saturday, April 01, 2006

Our First Dog


I've mentioned Rajah in this blog previously. In fact, he's not actually our dog, but in so many ways, he is. He's the first dog we ever took care of. He's the reason we fell in love with dogs. He's the reason we have two golden retrivers of our own. And he's the reason I can't help the tears in my eyes...

I'm sorry to say that Rajah passed away earlier today. He had been fighting bone cancer for some time now and the pain in his hip was so bad that he couldn't even get up to greet the people he loves so much. We were able to see him a couple of times this week. This morning the family had to make such a tough decision, but it was for the best.

I won't go on since there's really nothing I can say to ease the pain of losing him.

We love you Rajah. We'll always remember you. We'll always miss you.