The Commfest Film Festival will be screening my mini-documentary “Hope Dealer”, on September 20th, 2009 at the Rainbow Cinema in Market Square. The price of tickets is $10 and it gives you access to all the films being screened that day. Click HERE, this website has more details and schedules. A trailer will be available there as well. Tell your friends, the more the better.
During what was considered a bad year in sales due to you know what – slow economy – I was able to still achieve 101% off my sales plan. The company sends the top 3 Solutions Sales Specialist in the country (I was #2) on a 5 day trip – which happened to be Ireland this year !! My wife was so excited about this trip when I told her last year this was a possible place to go – she said “you have to make it”. Mission accomplished and was it ever worth it !!! We stayed at a place called The Merrion in Dublin – an awesome 5 star hotel. I could write an entire blog entry on how awesome it is to stay in a 5-star hotel but to keep in short you are treated like Royalty. We went Horseback riding and did a city tour where we learned much about the history of Dublin (again an entire blog entry worthy). We had so much free time to just shop and sleep and relax (away from the Kids). If we were more into drinking we could have enjoyed the many Pubs that were around (we did get a tour of Guinness Storehouse), but we still enjoyed ourselves. If someone was to ask “what was the highlight of our trip” – I would say the entire experience of being taken care of as special guests from start to finish – you can take a trip somewhere and feel relaxed but everyone needs to experience the feeling of being treated like a “star” at least once in their life.
I apologize that I have been so slow with my posts lately… My son, Izaiah, celebrated his milestone 10th birthday last weekend. He is so into dancing I had to make this a “Best Dance Crew” type theme. He is also into stackers (stacking cups) and video games of course. But he is at his best when active and boy do we have to channel his energy into activities – he has so much, just watch him go… cause he goes ALL OUT !!
As we celebrate my daughter Daelynn’s 3rd birthday we also celebrate the life of the world’s biggest music Icon of our era, Michael Jackson. This confirms my constant believe that we should give someone all their roses while they can smell them. This is Daelynn’s day, at this age she has cuteness done pat – every morning she introduces everyone to her “Blankie” which she has with her constantly, she tells on her brothers and sister, and is quick to tell you when she disapproves “That’s too loud”. To summarize I want to quote a line from Michael Jackson’s song Human Nature, “I like living this way, I like loving this way…”
A friend of mine asked me to capture her son’s 6th birthday which took place at a kids party place called Reptilia. The kids had a great time exploring and learning about reptiles like Crocodiles, Snakes and Lizards. Watch the following clip to see all the fun they had, it was amazing !!
My acrobatic team reunion is finally here !! As i mentioned in an older post, I was part of an acrobatics team called the Aerials during high school. After collecting many video tapes, photos and music and hours of capturing, editing, printing labels and DVDs I have accomplished what I set out to do, commemorate the past 25 years of a very special group that I was proud to be a member of. My concept for this video was “what if all the teams could perform as ONE ?” – in one great big performance (while we were all in our prime). “Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the Kingsway College Aerials”
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting a Martial Arts teacher named Colin Ninvalle. He is the founder of MATS (Martial Arts and Tutoring Studies), which focuses on developing positive and productive characteristics by using martial arts as a vehicle to attain success for his students. Colin asked me to capture a performance of his program called “Wadoka”, where he showcases the students’ unique talents. The password to view the video is the name of the performance, look back in this post if you can’t recall (all lower case).
We read about Black History because it happened in the past; but now we are living Black History as it is in the making. When Barack H. Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, he made history, being the first Black President. Often times we may have felt ashamed of what other Black people have done when the media shows all our wrong doing, this time we are all lifted by Obama’s accomplishment. When He Made it, We ALL did !!
My long time friend Curtis, found the love of his life, Lucia – and they got married in 2006. I couldn’t be happier for a couple, they recently had a child too. This wedding didn’t take place on a tropical island, but I recall the temperature being pretty damn HOT !!. An awesome wedding (the music was great too, little plug for DJ Glen C,
My coworker, Robert, asked me to record a ballroom dance performance last weekend. Robert and his wife Gertie, have recently won first place in a dance competition in Halifax, and they compete all across Canada. I was glad to have the opportunity to record this for them. Even though I enjoyed watching Dancing with The Stars; it’s so much better to watch in person than on TV.
The date was May 21, 1998 around noon… I was just returning from my lunch break, in my green ‘93 Mazda Protege. I recall there was a dump truck up ahead of me moving slowly (like most trucks do). I decided to pass him, but when I made the lane change I realized he was in the process of making a wide right turn (he was covering both lanes). I had a split decision to make, brake super hard and skid into him, or swerve. I had trees to the right of me, and a center (turning lane) in the middle… I decided to go for the centre lane…. BAD CHOICE !!! it changed my life forever… When I first heard Kanye West’s “Throught the Wire” – his song about his near fatal car accident, I could completely relate, the way he expressed himself through that song (he continues to be my favourite rapper because of his expressiveness) – is a big part of why I love to create videos to tell a story.
The 10 year mark (end of my accident claim) is coming up and how appropriate, I’m going to a Kanye West concert on May 21st – perfect close to that chapter of my life.
I recently completed a wedding DVD slideshow of some awesome images from an amazing photographer, Joel Robertson. I have included a snippet of the DVD to give you a sense of the artistic images he creates at weddings. If anyone you know is getting married why not check him out.
We black people have been awaiting this day forever !!! The pride I’m feeling right now is too much to describe, because it is so BIG, I received an email today that has a quote that sums it up very well:
”Rosa Parks sat so that Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so that Obama could run. Obama ran so that our children could fly.”
I am going to take this opportunity to expand on how I feel about this day in history. Especially speaking from a Black male’s perspective, and having some negative stereotypes about us that could hold us back. This changes everything, it makes you feel like you can shoot for the stars and accomplish whatever you set out to do. There are some people there that still want to connect his name with Osama Bin Laden (some fool at work used that remark today)… There will always be naysayers, but what we should say to each other when we need uplifting is “YES WE CAN !!”
2nd Half
My daughter, Zienna turned 8 today. She has Down Syndrome and Autism, so she is extra special, and such a joy to be around. Any parent who has a child with special needs can agree that what seems easy to other kids is extra special when your child reaches there in their own time (ie: Zienna going potty for the first time at 7 yrs old). Here’s a quick animoto to celebrate her bday – by the way she has this on our TiVO box and loves to play it over and over again.
When I was in high school i was a part of an acrobatics team called “Aerials”. We are having a 25th reunion in May, so I put together this quick animoto to promote it. I can’t believe how I was able to do all this stuff, it was so much fun, best memories of my high school days. I hope to put together a much longer video montage and showcase it at the reunion. Maybe help promote my business a little too. (see if you can spot me a few times)
