Loves this: Designer Zef Narkiewiczi

It's not often I am captivated by the sheer spirit and talent of someone, but Zef Narkiewiczi's work is pretty amazing. He is a dab hand at the whole graphic design thing + resides in one of my all time favourite places, Falmouth. Here are some of my favourite examples of his talent:

Angry Note

Food Colouring

Disco Zebra

Zebras have excellent eyesight. from Zef Narkiewicz on Vimeo.

Sex Olympics

His Ceefax CV: Must See!

This is what Zef’s CV looks like.

My Dream Road Trip and App to Make it Possible

I've always thought how great it would be to mash up the IMDB film location page with Google Maps. About a year ago, I researched locations to my favorite movies and created my dream road-trip via Google Maps, plus tagged where I would visit my friends  Have a look below, I have plotted to visit the backdrops for many a road-movie or seminal film for me (it's a work in progress) ranging from Into the Wild to True Romance.

                                     View Lisa US Road Trip in a larger map

The point is, I only ever used IMDB to research locations and some other random sites, then I would tag the locations on my map. It was a fairly laborious process. Then I found this site today: Filmaps. It's a Film & Tv location Wiki using Google Maps, people are posting up their own tags to filming locations. You can search by film/TV series, check out the Goonies breakdown, or Into the Wild. It is pretty amazing. The only negative thing about the site, is it still doesn't get around the problem of being able to help you map out your own personal trip or plan a schedule (it doesn't let you extract the information, all the maps are locked).

Film & TV Location Tourism on the Rise

After watching surf movie Blue Crush, I went off to Oahu's North Shore (I should really post about my surf-girl culture immersion for a month there, surreal) to explore and live in the film's beautiful setting. As Filmaps' puts it:

'Sometimes the charm of the places where the films have been filmed wakes up you adventure soul and you would like to discover even visit the exactly place where the scene is taking place'.

I think there could be a market for an online service such as this, the Telegraph writes about the surge in visits to British TV locations last year.

Iconic Sights App Idea

I want to develop an online service in which people can entirely self-plan an iconic sights trip. This service is about really personalizing it; creating one seamless visit and saves you researching and flicking between a thousand screens all the info. Here's how the App would work:

• Get given a blank map of the country or area you want to visit
• Tick the iconic/film/tv-sets/books/events/areas you like to visit by country - a plot would be worked out for you by Google Directions/Mapquest. It can go from big road-trips to a day-out in London.
• A complete road-trip is produced for you, including ideas for lodging, costs, suggested activities, movie/book/music fun facts- just basically make it an amazing foolproof schedule and very easy to book stuff.

You are just integrating google-maps+iconic sights+tourist operator service= How brilliant would that be?

Random

The one thing with funny thing with google maps earlier, is I typed in Thelma and Louise, and I found this. Look closely, yes they live on as Louise Drive and Thelma Avenue in Ohio....

                                       View Larger Map...

Power of the Convention: Comic-Con

The Red Sonja re-make - the buzz of Comic-Con 2008

Getting my Comic-Con On

I was day-dreaming earlier about being my alter-ego Red Sonja, it was treacherous, there was a Barbarian man to contend with, a killer lesbian queen to ward off and all with just a chain-mail bikini and sword to my name. Then I came back to earth and wondered; what did happen to that Red Sonja remake? Back at Comic-Con 2008, some Hollywood Studio announced they were making the film, starring Rose McGowan and directed by my guru Robert Rodriguez, and I was very excited. They released some stunning images, created a lot of talk and then there was.... nothing. I have since learned that the film has been shelved for various reasons, including copy-right infringements, finance issues and quite significantly a huge bust up between former lovers McGowan and Rodriguez.

I have always been fascinated with Comic-Con (I have now a real reason to attend, I am intent on this film being made) and how it got to be such a huge deal. New Media Strategies posts here about its rise, and the power of a fan at a present-day gathering. Back in 1970, the convention started out as a small gathering in San Diego for comic-enthusiasts, who would occasionally get to meet the creators behind their favorite stories and get a tantalizing sneak-peak at new characters and titles. Over 30 years later, it has transformed into one of the biggest events in the entertainment calendar. It's now huge multi-media showcase, promoting everything from niche anime to big Blockbusters films and Comic-Con fans wield extraordinary influence: they can pretty much commission their own content.

However reporter, Wes Taylor, is quick to point out how Comic-Con shouldn't be seen just as a celebration of fan-power, but as an adept marketing tool for content creators to 'plant their next big thing indelibly into the collective consciousness of the critical-but-rewarding geek masses'. So who's ideas are invading who? Is it Fans vs Marketers? Does it matter? No, not in my non-fiction world, I see it as a mutually beneficial love-in, in which fans get to at least have a say in what they consume, or as co-creation agency Facegroup advise about fans “let them create it and they will embrace it”. So it seems a win-win situation, well it was until I read about the Guardian in visiting in 2010, they couldn't help noticing that this idea could be back-firing, citing the recent failure of Tron.

It seems the key to making Comic-Con work for you as a producer/promoter, is controlling how much you share of your content and working hard at protecting the most vital thing: the plot. What Comic-Con really owns, is its ability to tease.There is a lot of little show and tells to get you going, which is why for me, a good poster campaign like the one for Red Sonja seems to really work in creating the right amount of fan anticipation. So much so, that it is now time to go back to my own fan- story to rescue my heroine from Barbaric Development Hell, it would make one amazing movie.

Loves this today:

From http://photoisafeeling.tumblr.com/page/2

Look again at that Facebook Map « crackunit.com

Look again at that Facebook Map « crackunit.com

Spring 2011

Ring in Spring Stevie Nicks style: The Pierces

Break your finger on the spinning wheel...
'You'll be Mine' by NYC girl-band The Pierces, is the perfect song to bring in spring 2011.Their vocals soar over a searing beat, that reminds me of 1970's Stevie Nicks. I checked out their video, and it is a lovely ethereal homage to Abba and Stevie's videos. Some of it reminds me of one my favorite films, Picnic at Hanging Rock. Or maybe, it's a romantic vision of what a weekend with Joss Stone & her mates would be like in Devon?

Picnic at Hanging Rock. Unforgettable film.

Grind off - Beyonce and Shakira in Beautiful Liar

The funniest writer out there at the moment - Anna Pickard analyses music videos
Anna is my new favourite writer at the moment, she has given me some new phrases that I will be sure to be using. She describes the hilarious 'wall-humping' of Shakira and Beyonce in their video 'Beautiful Liar' and really nails down what is so funny about music vids these days. When she starts talking at the beginning about the women's 'donks' or 'the wagons they are draggin'. I just know I am going to enjoy her commentary. Enjoy all her music vid reviews here.

J-Lo is a Modern Day Venus

Golden, golden, golden . . .
Jennifer Lopez looked absolutely stunning at the Puerto Rico premiere of her new movie 'El Cantante'. Amazing curves and tone, she is for me the epitome of womanliness. It is well known she works out quite a lot but you can see it pays off without the muscle madness / skinniness of some celebrities. This dress is heavenly and I am not one to swoon or care about dresses or the latest couture normally, but the J-LO glow is still making her shine out from a million miles and this photo was really refreshing after so much Beckham (er hum Posh) mania of late.