Sparkatopia

Jess and Tommy talk about James Cameron’s Epic movie Avatar and the news reports that people are leaving the movie depressed and some even suicidal. Can a nearly 3 hour movie really bring on feelings of depression and make an otherwise normal person suicidal? What do you think? Join the discussion on twitter using #redshoesspeak.

Red Shoes Speak No 11 – Avatar Depression and Economic Escape from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

It’s estimated there are one-hundred million videos online on Youtube – the popular video sharing website. Hundreds are posted by Appleton’s Tommy Clifford. Today in Online with Erin, Clifford shares with Erin Davission some simple tips that will get your videos in front of your audience…. and when you are posting your video, DO NOT forget keywords that will describe your video – very helpful for finding them later.

Lisa and Tommy talk about the late night talk show spat between NBC and Conan O’Brien. Conan is getting a reported $40 million to leave NBC, now’s the time for him to start anew. The Tonight Show is getting old and stale. Does he needs to get away from network TV and take his show to the internet? Be part of the conversion, tell us what you think. #redshoesspeak on twitter.

Red Shoes Speak No. 10 Fly Conan FLY from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

Jess Dennis and Tommy Clifford talk about the impact of social media on our TV watching habits. We are in a “I want it now” mentality and social media gives us the feedback we crave, when we want it. Now if TV could just keep up. DVR’s help, but they don’t give us the true access we want.

Red Shoes Speak No. 9 Social Media and ON-Demand Television from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

Jess and Tommy talk about Jess’ blog post called Social media, not a strategy or a tactic…a communication channel. How should companies be using social media and incorporating it into their marketing plans? Jess and Tommy discuss best practices for corporate social media use.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 8 Social media, strategy or communication channel from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

A few days ago, Becky brought to my attention a family in her hometown of Idaho and their 1.1 micro premie Eden. Baby Eden Swenson was born on December 28th. Eden was only 23 weeks. 4 months early, boy that little one just wanted to meet mom and dad. Becky and I kept tabs on Baby Edens progress via a blog that was set up. Daily we would check the progress of that little one. Neither Becky nor I have ever met the parents, Jeremy and Rachel, but their strength is amazing. My daughter Clara was born 6 premature. She had to spend a few days in the NICU here in Wisconsin and I saw some pretty small people in there, but I do not recall seeing anyone this small.

Today during lunch, Becky IM’d me to say that Eden had passed. Against all odds, Eden held on for 10 long days. My heart was ripped in two. I had to close my door at work and just let the tears stream down my face. I admit it I’m a softie when it comes to children. How can a family in Wisconsin be so touched by a little girl in Idaho. How does that happen?

During my drive to get the kids for what I call “big kid weekend” I vlogged about Baby Eden and the impact in my life.

Then tonight when I came home and saw the good-bye posting, WOW, it hit me again. I had to just pick up Baby Drew and hug him tight. I wish I had the right words…but are there really right words for this situation? I know of no Hallmark cards that can help.

Baby Eden, you certainly must have been a choice spirit to only need 10 days on this earth. Oh how blessed you are!! Heavenly Father must have a lot for you to do to prepare for the rest of us! What a special family to help you on your short journey. Till we meet again!

For Christmas I planned to give my husband a date night out- without the kids.  I knew exactly where I wanted to go for dinner- he can fill you in on that- so I just had to pick a great movie.  My first thought was Avatar because figured Tom would get a thrill out of that technological stuff.  But then I would have to hear him talk about it for days using words I don’t even pretend to understand.  Selfishly, I wanted a movie that I would enjoy also.  We had seen Ironman and Tropic Thunder, so I figured Tom would appreciate Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes.  And, I must admit, I had seen screen shots of RD Jr. shirtless in a boxing scene…Avatar who?  Plus a little Rachel McAdams couldn’t hurt Tom’s eyes of the story turned out to be less than stellar.  He seemed gung-ho, so off we went.

Admittedly, I don’t have a lot of Guy Ritchie experience, other than Snatch which I only remember as the movie where Brad Pitt mumbled or something, so I had no idea what kind of thrill ride we were in for!  I do not go to movies to analyze cinematography, editing, or art direction.  I just appreciate a good story that lets me forget where I am for a couple of hours.  Sherlock did just that.  However I can honestly say I have never taken such notice of visual effects and the soundtrack of any other movie.

One would expect cool CGI or whatever in flicks like Avatar, Up in the Air (how DO they make George Clooney look like he never ages?), and Alvin and the Chipmunks:  the Squeaquel, but Sherlock had fantastic effects!  Kudos to Guy- and not just for finally freeing himself of Madonna- I mean the vision he had in his head while putting this together must have been incredible. I think I most enjoyed the moments when Sherlock had his shirt off would think through his next steps and we would see it play out in slow motion, then we got to watch it all happen just as he planned.  It’s a little hard to explain, but it was AWESOME!  Guy could have totally abused this little technique but he restrained himself so that we didn’t get bored of it.

As for the soundtrack, I really can’t explain why I enjoyed to music so much but I loved the simple notes Hans Zimmer used to let us build excitement along with the characters.  I don’t like the creepy music they play in scary movies to clue viewers in that something bad is going to happen; I am not so dense that I need musical foreshadowing to tell me that the dark, abandoned house is bad news.  I did, however, LOVE how the score in Sherlock helped build the fun!

I am, by no means, knowledgeable about the Sherlock Holmes stories but I am sure this is nowhere NEAR what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle envisioned in his anti-hero – not that he is rolling over in his grave or anything.  I think my ignorance allowed me to thoroughly enjoy the movie.  I spent more time reveling in the similarities with Hugh Laurie and his House than I did comparing the characters with what I thought they should be.  It was just good, clean fun from start to finish.  If you can just sit back and let yourself get caught up in the joy of it all you can have a pretty darn good time.  Don’t try to solve the mystery ahead of Sherlock, don’t wonder if he will wear the stupid hat or say, “Elementary, my dear Watson” (he won’t), and DON’T wonder how Irene Adler found a pair of perfectly tailored pants in that day and age.  Just don’t.

What you should do is get a big tub of popcorn and a giant Diet Pepsi, find someone you want to sit next to for an amazingly quick couple of hours, and go enjoy a well done, fast paced, hoot of an action flick.

And did I mention we get to see Sherlock without his shirt on?

My sweetheart and I went on a date tonight and we went to Wild Truffle Pizza behind Wal-Mart on Michael Drive in Appleton. The firs thing you notice is the look of the restaurant and the wood fired oven in the back. The decor and ambiance of the place look as if it belonged more in ski resort town like Park City or Sun Valley then Appleton, Wi…but I liked the overall feel. Large tables and dim lighting made it a perfect date night spot. The food was really great. This is the type of place where presentation of the food means just as much as the taste.Mrs had the “Wild Truffle” Mac and Cheese and I had the Sweet Italian Sausage Pizza. Wild truffle is known for its pizza and I had to give it a try. Our waitress mentioned that they use flower shipped from Italy for the pizza. This was certianly no store bought pizza crust.

What a great place for dinner. I’m so glad mrstommy suggested it. Wild Truffles has an outdoor patio area too, but it was much too cold to try this this visit. We will certainly be back! One thing they do need to do is to beef up their website. It only has phone numbers, address and a scan of their menu. They must add some social medial touches to it like a bog and add themselves to facebook. Feedback is the key to growth!

UPDATE: ok after posting this my wife said I was a bit harsh on the website comment… and I tend to agree. It does say at the top in big bold letters…” PLEASE NOTE OUR OFFICIAL SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION.” I guess I need to give them more latitude but the restaurant has been open for over 6 months now.

A few months ago I was contacted by Erin Davisson of WFRV Channel 5 in Green Bay about appearing in a technology segment with her. We bounced around a few ideas till we came to a on the idea of talking personal video camera‘s and editing videos. She invited myself and the camera guy Mike to her house… to make it look more personal. In one scene, you actually see me and Erin videoing each other. I was actually making a TommyLog while doing the piece. What an honor to be asked…  So Cool and so much fun to work with Erin and her team. THANKS Erin and thank you WFRV!