Summer Lovin'...hopefully!

With less than a month of school left, the summer months are fast approaching. Last summer I didn’t really do too much. I worked full time as the assistant manager at a Wal-Mart portrait studio, and part time at Penningtons. I only went to the beach once or twice because apparently going to the beach involves tons of planning and coordination. Back in the day all you had to say was “who’s down to go to the beach?” and everyone was in. I guess because we’re all getting older and have more demands that take up time and energy, doing something seemingly simple as heading down to the beach, can’t be as easy as it once was. 

Anyway...

I’ve been looking for a summer job or internship within the communications industry, preferably a job. So far I’ve been applying for jobs outside of Winnipeg. I didn’t do any travelling last year, and so I thought it would be efficient for me to kill two birds with one stone. 

In addition to getting a new job, I really want to, and really NEED to start working on getting things for my Red Dress Gala in order. It’s going to be a ton of work, which I’m excited for, but if I get an out of town job for the summer, it would be harder to coordinate things while I’m not here. Not impossible...but harder.

I also really want to visit my cousin in Calgary. I haven’t seen him since last April and I would love to see his new place. One of the jobs I applied for (I actually had the interview this morning) would allow me to travel across Canada to carry out a promotional campaign, and I believe one of the stops is Calgary. How perfect would that be if I got the job? That means I would kill three birds with one stone. 

This could quite possibly be a very big stone.

Stay tuned to see how my summer plans progress!

IPP Panels

APPROVED is a word I like to hear. Today around 70 first-year CreComm students proposed an idea for their Individual Professional Projects (IPP) to a panel of instructors. Project ideas ranged from graphic novels, to videos, to blogs, to fashion shows. A list was posted last week of which students would be pitching in front of which panel of judges, and I along with a handful of other students definitely got the tough group of instructors. 

I had a sliver of self-doubt and thought my idea for a Red Dress Gala & Fashion was going to get rejected, in fear that my event was going to be perceived as too big a project for one person...just a sliver. The feeling went away after a short time until I got to school this morning. Almost everyone I had talked to who had presented their project ideas in front of the same panel I had been assigned, had been rejected! The nervous feeling came back for a few minutes, but then quickly went away.

Why?

Because I know my project inside and out, and knew I was prepared to answer any and all questions that came my way. And boy were there A LOT of questions. They came quickly and they came one after another with barely a breath in between. But my responses to these many questions came just as quick. I walked into the room with a container full of chocolate covered strawberries (which nobody ate) and a mind filled with confidence. 

The major concern for my gala was one I predicted, that my event was too big for me to take on as a solo project. I was told that I would need a lot of help with different elements of the event. However, when I said that I had more than a handful of people willing to lend a helping hand at my disposal, I was then told that I can’t rely on outside help.

 You’re not alone....I didn’t get it either. 

But you know what, I still had confidence in myself and in my proposed project, so I left the room with my head held high, and waited for the judges to deliberate. Was I nervous that I was going to have to re-pitch my idea after making some moderations? Not really. But of course I wasn’t 100% certain.

I walked back into the room and they had told me my event has been approved...conditionally. What does that mean? It means that in order to successfully pass the IPP portion of my second year, I have to stick to everything listed in my written proposal...which was my plan from the get-go. I was also told I had the option to re-pitch a smaller event or a different idea entirely, if I so choose. So am I going to re-pitch something smaller or something a bit different?

NO!

I fully believe in myself and my capability to successfully host this event. Is this something I’ve done before? No! Is it going to be a quick and easy task? Definitely not! I’m I going to get a bunch of bumps and bruises along the way? I sure hope so! 

The real questions here, ladies and gentlemen? Is this something I want? Something I’ll work hard for? Something I can look back on and be proud of? Something where failure isn’t an option? 

YES! YES! YES! 

Here`s my advice to all of you out there who may have not been approved on the first try...

If you have something you’re can be passionate about, something you feel you know like the back of your hand, and all the confidence that can fit in your body, you’ll do just fine.

Be strong, be brave, and be yourself! 

P.S. Curious where I get all of this confidence and strong will from?

I got it from my mama!

Busy Bee

Good afternoon readers!

I apologize for not giving this blog more attention in the last few weeks. School has been intensely busy for the last while and I have focused the majority of my attention of the many, many, MANY, elaborate assignments with fast-approaching deadlines. Some of the assignments?

·      Magazine Project (layout, tradeshow, etc…)

·      Magazine Proposal X2 (one for PR and one for creative writing)

·      IPP Proposal

·      IPP Planning (date, venue, sponsors, etc…)

·      Video Montage of Alpha Phi (female) Fraternity

·      Reading Journey for Justice

·      And the list continues…….

The magazine is what seems to be taking up the most time, and has been the hardest to digest. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always wanted to create a magazine, but it can be a tough time when creative opinions don’t meet.

I’m still really busy so I still may be scarce for just a tad longer, folks. But I still try my best to sneak another blog or two in, in a few days.

If you haven’t checked out my other blog in a while…do it! Some of the posts may be a bit more recent.

What Can I Say?

Janelle Wookey- Memere Metisse

Director, writer, producer, shooter, editor, and on-air personality, Janelle Wookey, came to talk to first year CreComm students yesterday about her 2008 Individual Professional Project (IPP). 

She is a young woman from a French-Aboriginal background (Métis). Her grandmother, from the same background, has for years denied the fact that she was Métis and was embarrassed to talk about her heritage. Janelle shot a documentary about her grandmother for her IPP, in which the end goal was the get grandma to acknowledge her background, and to register for her Métis card.

The documentary was absolutely amazing. For most seminars you can often find me texting (although I’m paying attention as well). For this one, I started texting before the documentary started, but didn’t touch my phone once until the entire seminar was over. Yay me. And by Yay me, I mean Yay Janelle.

Her video was truly inspiring, and it couldn’t have been shown to us at a better time. Right now all the first year CreComm students are working on their IPP proposals and working out the kinks in their ideas. I thank Janelle for taking time out of her busy schedule to come in and inspire us to think big, work hard, and achieve greatness.

On Janelle Wookey’s website, you will find a link to her “Memere Metisse” documentary which I highly suggest you take a look at. She also has a bunch of other videos on her site, and I’ve been really impressed with the ones I’ve watched so far. After you watch her video, come back here and tell me what you think. I’d love to chat about it with you folks.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Over reading week I watched “Pom Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.” I first heard about this moving in advertising class. There’s a trailer below but the just of it is that it’s a documentary about the world of product placement in movies. Some of you may not know this but many movies are reliant on getting advertisers interested in having their product shown in their movie, because advertisers pay a hefty amount for this type of publicity.   

The movie is directed by Morgan Spurlock, the same guy who directed “Supersize Me.” His mission throughout the movie is to fund it strictly through advertising. Pom Wonderful paid the most amount of money to be a part of this movie, and you can post their logo or drink in almost every scene. To me this was very effective because ever since I watched the movie, I’ve wanted to buy some Pom Wonderful because I’ve never tried it before. I had one in my hand at Wal-Mart the other day and almost bought a bottle, until I realised it was $4. Sorry Pom Wonderful, I’m a poor student.

Sandbox Farewell Party

I have a strong tendency to blog about things that are looooooong over....but just because something is overdue, don’t make it less worthy of a Charmaine-friendly blog post. 

A few weeks ago my friends Kimiya, Lindsay, Maria, and I went to the final Sandbox magazine party. For those of you who don’t know, Sandbox in a local magazine about fashion and culture, and was started as a Creative Communications project at Red River College. They carried their magazine for two really successful years and have recently decided to call it quits. I’ve always wanted to go to one of their parties but it never seemed to be good timing for me, so I made sure I put time aside to go to their very last one at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Let me tell you, it was a ton of fun. The room was packed with people who all shared a love of the magazine and its creators. There were drinks, dancing, live bands, singer/songwriter Flo, and so much excitement. Here are some pictures I took from the shindig. 

Super Plate? Super Mug? No no, Super BOWL

I didn’t watch the Super Bowl. I find it mildly offensive that the Super Bowl has been around for years, but they have yet to make a Super Plate, or a Super Mug. Why discriminate against those dishes, why is the “bowl” so special?

I considered watching at least part of it, so I can watch the commercials. In advertising class we spent a couple of days talking about the commercials that air during the Super Bowl, how much people pay for them, and how people found it odd that this year they released some of these commercials early. I learned that aside from the hockey game? Baseball game? Oh wait, the football game! I learned that aside from watching to FOOTBALL game, a lot of viewers watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials.

This didn’t quite make sense for me, but after watching a few of the commercials in class, I realized I too would have enjoyed watching them during the game. I tried to watch, I really did. But my attention span for sports isn’t very long, and the commercials I did manage to catch, were mostly for CTV. I initiated a Glee marathon instead. But I did take the effort to YouTube some of the ones people are talking about. Here are three of my favourites...

 You can't go wrong with the combination of M&Ms and LMFAO

Now I know what you're thinking. The whole vampire thing has been done to death, (like that punn?) but I still like this commercial. At least the people at creative team at Audi knows what's trendy. So what do you say? Does this commercial make you want to join team Audi? 

Does it make sense? No. Is it funny because there's kids in it? Yes.