Is it harder to get a job at Google or Pixar?

June15

For those of you who haven’t been following along here on Slightly Overexposed I’ve got 5 Days (4 days and 1 hr) till my unemployment benefits run out (or at least that is what I am telling myself as an additional motivator). Some people have said that I may be eligible for the latest extension… I was laid off from Viacom last year and since then I have been collecting unemployment in-between a number of great freelance opportunities. I am afraid the time is running out and I’m about to loose my security blanket! Waaaaaa

So end of Day 5 I HAVE lined up some new work for next week (yay!) but did spend the majority of the day trying to get an insider contact at Google for a posting that I saw on Google Jobs.

Is it harder to get a job at Google or Pixar? I have been thinking about this ever since I saw “UP” this past weekend. As I’m sure almost everyone would drop what they are doing and go work for either company if they got the call. Two companies that provide the world with innovation and joy! Also two companies that send out recruiting ninjas into the world and bring back the finest minds of our time.

How come we all can’t work for companies that treat their employees well and provides them with resources to create wonderful things while also getting the added benefits of health care, dental, child care, free lunch, etc.?

I’d like to share Scott Heiferman, CEO of MEETUP.COM’s great job comparison of working at Google vs. working at Meetup.com

At least I know this meetup.com has a sense of humor. Wonder if they are hiring…

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Things to do: Boner Party, Post-It Stop Motion, 100 Days, 100 Songs, 100 Locations, 100 Dances

June12

I have been spending a lot of time with my Google Analytics either at 12:00am or 9am. I love seeing where people find my website, their origin and which posts they gravitate towards. I noticed I get the most hits from “things to do” and “free”. So here’s my new weekly feature “Things To do On The Internet Free & Free”

If you are looking for things to do on the Internet today. May I suggest via my new favorite site to waste time on BUZZFEED.

The Great Boner Party Debate

CULTURE BUZZ In the emo corner of the internet, there is a Tumblr called Boner Party that posts amusing “anecdotes” about women. The name/ description alone should indicate that a bunch of people think it’s sexist, but anyway, such a debate has erupted. This BuzzFeed editor does not buy the sexism claims, but I also spend 40% of my working hours ogling Chris Pine. So. Boner Party is a great read, btw, if you don’t get offended by things.

DEADLINE

CULTURE BUZZ A nifty little post-it-note stop motion created by Savannah College of Art and Design student Bang-yao Liu. If he can make something like this and still find time to do all that procrastinating, I feel like he’s in pretty good shape.

This is an old favorite of mine. Makes me wanna turn up some music and dance around my room.

100 Days, 100 Songs, 100 Locations, 100 Dances!

http://www.vimeo.com/3237836

posted under Obssessions, Ruminations, Things of Interest, Viral Video | 1 Comment »

What do you want to do before you die?

June11

picture-11

I was playing one of my favorite games (website/information surfing) when I came across the blog and mind of one of the Executives that I used to work with at MTV. I used to dream of having HIS job. Programming & Development. I have a notebook of show ideas and I enjoy finding and developing other people’s ideas.

Shortly after the Hollywood Sensation The Bucket List came out. I made a list of things I would like to do before I die. Then I thought, what if I made a documentary about that? I do that for everything. Then I snapped out of dreaming mode just in time to step out of the way of a cab. Well at least I know my idea was a good one. MTV just picked up a show called THE BURIED LIFE.

In THE BURIED LIFE 4 guys put off college to travel the world in pursuit of completing their list of ‘100 things to do before you die’ and to help and encourage others to do so as well. I wonder how that conversation went with their parents? Where did they get the funds to travel?

Way to go guys! I salute you. I am going to go dust of my list and get cracking on it!

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A Play Date With My Imagination

June7

cezzane Yesterday while waiting for a friend I plopped myself down on a park bench (in white pants!) and indulged in my new favorite summer weekend activity. Reading The New York Times in a park. I got myself up to date on all the relevant issues of the day (that I ignore during the week) and found myself well immersed in an article by MICHELLE SLATALLA “A Play Date With My Imagination”.

The title grabbed me immediately, as I was only too eager to read about creativity and what happens with age. When I was a child (8), I used to go down to my parent’s basement, choreograph dance routines and video tape my sister, my dog and myself as we recreated my favorite scenes from “Annie” and “Grease”. As I got older my urning for creating only got stronger and more intense. At age 13 I took over the downstairs bathroom, painting murals and dripping plaster all over the floor (from my sculpture phase). I still have to go down there and clean it up, it’s been 16 years! Then it was off to college where I spent 4 years creating more stuff!

Even now at the age of 29, generating ideas and trying to execute them is like my drug of choice (besides ice cream, cookies and fresh bread) it fills with me with elation and exhilaration.

The article talked about how some lucky people get to feel the excitement and joy of creating all of their life, while others start to feel the creativity slip away with age.

Michelle also asks the question where does creativity come from and how can I get more of it?

“Usually the people who keep going are the ones who are open to new experiences,” Professor Simonton said. “Do something different. Take a risk. Try to believe in the future tense.”

You can read the full article here, as I highly recommend it.

I look forward to a time where I can look back on this post (40 years) from now and be able to say whether or not I kept up with my creativity or if it shriveled up with age. I hope it’s the former!

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An online movie theater where you watch and discover auteur cinema

June5

picture-1 Have you ever pondered the following?

Why Can’t I watch In the Mood for Love in an airport lounge?
Why is it so hard to get hold of Antonioni’s complete filmography?
Wouldn’t it be great to instantly send Tati’s Playtime to a friend if you think they need it (there’s nothing like film therapy)
Why do films on the Internet look just awful?

Thankfully the good people that imagined up the auteurs.com not only had these questions in mind when building their site but they also spent time thinking about two very important things: film distribution and film community.

As someone that curates films and has an affinity for the filmmaking process this site is a dream come true (sorry Netflix or Greencine you are so 2002). Not only can you watch independent films from all over the world for $5.00 (per view) but you can discuss those films with a community of cinephiles. This site is so great that even Martin Scorsese himself is a member! You know if Marty has his stamp of approval, you know it’s good!

BEST THING ABOUT THIS WEBSITE IS THAT YOU CAN WATCH FOR FREE WINNING FILMS FROM CANNES.!

Oh what a good day this turned out to be! Now I can forget about my sore ankle and pretend I’m at a screening in Cannes.

posted under Film, Ruminations, Things of Interest | No Comments »

Back to the drawing board.

June3

purpose

I just wrapped up producing and helping to launch a film festival in the US called Art By Chance (for those of you new to my blog today). The festival organizers are actually based out of Turkey and it was the first time that I used Facebook IM as means of communicating with members of their organization. (I’ll have to introduce them to Skype). The event for the most part was a success and a great start to the first year of the festival.

Like all my projects that I have been involved with over the years (films, sculptures, paintings, countless classes), I’ve always give 110% percent of myself to them. I have that addiction where I get high off of the constant brain stimulation. I love creating, researching, planning, organizing, anticipating and problem solving. Although this also comes with a fair amount of stress and anxiety. And at the end of every project, when it’s over, I always mourn the loss of it.

So now I’m back to where I started. I have a few ideas of things that I want to do and I’m very interested in taking some classes and finding new people to collaborate with. I don’t want to be pigeonholed into a specific career path I want the opportunity to grow and learn new things in new fields as well. While I start to formulate new ideas, I am also reminded that I have to pay my rent, credit card bills and put food on my table.

The job hunting cycle starts again. I am thinking about dusting off a video camera and documenting innovative ways people are getting or creating jobs in today’s shitty job market. Perhaps I start a series of success stories? Although I’ll still be trying to figure out how to pay my rent.

I got to go, my Dad’s calling me on the other line. Something about how my generation blah blah blah needs to blah blah blah, get a job blah blah put your passions aside. Starbucks is hiring.

Would you like whipped cream with that?

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Blog you, I don’t even know you: Lessons from a first time blogger. Chapter 1

May7

I remember back in 2002 or was it 2003… Anyway, I was working for a small video production company, that made horror I mean corporate videos. I was bored out of my mind and under used as an employee so I did what you are doing now, reading someone’s blog. Oh and did I find some blogs! One blog I read was about the secret life of an escort, another about a girl that drank too much and wanted to blog about music and her new found sobriety, a guy that liked to tall about poop , a Puerto Rican who interned at Playgirl and liked to kiss strange boys at parties…I can go on and on here, I worked from 9-6 and had a lot of spare time. I would like to add here that some of the bloggers referred to here have used their blog as a vehicle for their career and are doing well for themselves right now. As I hope this blog will do the same for me, if not, it will be a really good way to show my Grandkids what I tried to do in year 2009.

As I am not the only person jumping on the blog band wagon, I noticed that as the unemployment rate rises in the US to 8.1%, there has been an increase in the number of people turning to blogging. Everyone’s a blogger now. What else is there to do then write about yourself and your work/lack of work on the internet? You may be reading this now and thinking, if everyone else is doing it, I want to too. So where do you begin? blogcartoon

Here are a few quick tips to get you started. Don’t forget to try and be different! We don’t need more Perez Hiltons!

HOW TO START BLOGGING

HOW TO START A BLOG FOR FUN OR PROFIT

TOP 25 BLOGS ABOUT BLOGGING

If you are wondering what I’VE LEARNED SO FAR from my 56 days and 13 hours of blogging.

1. I really really really should of taken “Spelling, Usage and Grammar” in college instead of “History of the Future”. Actually, I have a whole list of classes I should of taken like Website Making for Dummies, Personal Finance for the math challenged and possibly dyslexic, Nutrition and Wellness or How to Not Eat All the Cookies.

2. Word Press is not as easy as people make it out to be, the Word Press forum doesn’t solve all my problems.

3. If I can’t write up my thought or idea in two hours then it wasn’t a thought or idea that should be cemented in internet history.

posted under Advice, Ruminations, Things of Interest | No Comments »

Billy The Kid: My New Hero

April28

For a while I’ve had BILLY THE KID on my list of documentaries to watch. I’ve been obsessed with documentaries and their subjects for years. I wanted to interview everyone I met, everyone that I walked by on the streets, waiting just waiting, to find MY subject, my character, my story, For a while I’ve had Billy The Kid on my list of documentaries to watch. I’ve been obsessed with documentaries and their subjects for years. I wanted to interview everyone I met, everyone that I walked by on the streets waiting just waiting to find my subject, my character, my story, that I was going to tell. I knew that as a “filmmaker” that my talent was not in the written word but in my curiosity and observations of others and through this I would find a good story to tell. So I waited, and waited and wrote down my ideas, and waited for that one story that one story that would be mine. I share this because in an interview with Billy The Kid’s director Jennifer Venditti, I find myself in the same headspace.

“one day, one day, I am going to make a film and it was like I was waiting for that story to fall on top of me and be the story that’s going to change the world and be the best film ever. ” She then goes on to talk about how when she found that story that she was going to dedicate her life to it. Time goes by and she has such high standards for this story that nothing happens. Finally a friend said to her you just have to go out there and do anything “film a tree”.

That friend is right! I do need to go out and film anything. First I have to get a camera.

Or wait, first I have to secure some paid work then I can get a camera. Sigh. The cycle continues. Enough about me, here’s a synopsis of Billy The Kid, which I recommend.

“A New York City-based casting director, Venditti discovered the 15-year-old Billy Price while working on a short film in Maine. Misunderstood by seemingly everyone around him, Venditti decided to return to the small town with a camera to follow Billy around for a week and let him tell his own story. The result is an exhilarating work of nonfiction that is both heartbreaking and hilarious. Billy has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, yet Venditti doesn’t call attention to this diagnosis. Instead, she follows him in a vérité fashion and allows him to speak for himself. And speak he does. A well-read, thoughtful young man, Billy unleashes quotes and references that will leave viewers dazed and amused (his spectrum covers everything from Robert Frost to the band Kiss). Billy’s mother realizes that her son is a special case, and she treats him with patience and understanding that is rare and noble. While the entire film is a revelation, it is Billy’s courtship of a fellow outsider, Heather, that takes the film to another level completely. Watching these extraordinary characters experience such universal stomach-punching emotions is a wonder to behold. It is here where BILLY THE KID transcends its seemingly breezy, innocent atmosphere and becomes a profound meditation on the raucous emotional tornado that is adolescence. It is impossible to watch BILLY THE KID and not cringe with recognition.”

–Rotten Tomatoes.

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Reliving the heyday of Sonic Youth & Nirvana: The Year Punk Broke

April28

Throughout my life I have gone through countless phases, some lasting longer than others, certain phases still revitalizing themselves within me every few years. From ages 12 to about 24 there was always one CD that remained in my 4 disk CD player: NIRVANA. The NIRVANA album of course switched out depending on my mood and for years Unplugged was my ultimate lullaby. The one album that always helped me fall asleep at night. As soon as I heard All Apologies I knew by the end of that song - I would be sound asleep. Why am I telling you this? It’s all so I can segue into a screening of THE YEAR PUNK BROKE which will be playing at the FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER at WALTER READE THEATER on Monday May 4th at 8:15pm. THE YEAR PUNK BROKE is a no-budget indie doc made in 1991. Directed and Produced by Dave Markey who follows Nirvana and Sonic Youth on their 1991 European Tour. The documentary offers up a view of Kurt Cobain and company with home-video intimacy, and capturing live performances by Babes in Toyland, Gumball, and Dinosaur Jr. As this month marks the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, a screening of THE YEAR PUNK BROKE is the prefect way to commemorate the influence of grunge music on today’s music. THE YEAR PUNK BROKE 1991: “The Year Punk Broke is raw and playful, with a handmade quality that honors its grunge roots, and is dominated by live performances by all your old favorites, so come feel nostalgic with us and watch this film that is as loud and loosely-structured as the music it celebrates.” -Christianne Hedtke To find purchase tickets to this screening or find out about upcoming screenings at Lincoln Center click HERE

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The Four Seasons: Sundance, Cannes, SXSW & Toronto

April23

At least four times a year I get “the itch” to pick up and move to Park City, Utah, Austin, TX, Toronto, CA, or Cannes, France just to attend or even by some chance work on one these prestigious film festivals. Of course these film festivals are so large and so prestigious that many will argue that it takes the indie out of independent film festivals. Especially with all the big name headlining films. . .

Cannes annouced it’s line up for this year’s film festival and I actually chccked to see what airfair costs. A girl can dream right?

In Competition: Jane Campion’s “BRIGHT STAR”

I hope she can redeem herself from IN THE CUT’s criticism (which by the was the first feature film I ever worked on). As I look down the lists of films I become I kid in a candy store, I want, I want, I want to see Quentin Tarantino’s World War II actioner “INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS,”

Ang Lee’s Lee’s “TAKING WOODSTOCK,” a comedic take on the legendary concert
Sam Raimi’s feel-good horror movie, “DRAG ME TO HELL,”

and well the list goes on! Pixar is opening the Cannes with “UP”.

The full line up looks great and I can’t wait to read all the reviews. One day mark my word. I will be there to see the films first hand!

To me it’s not about the glitz and the glam and “the biz” but about that one real Independent Filmmaker that emerges with his/hers unique story and voice that wins the Palme d’Or.

FOR THE FULL LINE UP: SEE TODAY’S VARIETY

BTW tickets to Cannes are running about 2,000 each way UNLESS you plan to stay awhile then you can get $250 each way! Then you would just have to worry about accommodations.

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