Alex Reid

Before attending Barthman’s Birthday Party, I helped film a 48-hour movie challenge with Dave Twigg on Saturday.

The 48-Hour Film Fest (started in 2005) worked this way; The contest began with registration on Friday, February 17 at 7:30 PM and had to be completed by 8:00 PM on Sunday, Feb. 19 and would be shown a hour later – from first frame shot to the final edit.

 

 

Anyway, despite the Stink & I getting pretty drunk by 6pm on grain alcohol, the boys were able to pull it off, even though it looks nothing like the script suggested it might (alas, that’s film making for you). But as usual, Dave Twigg spun gold with The Stink, all in 48 hours.

I don’t watch television much, but there’s about 12 shows (so far) I really like. Arrested Development is one of them. It’s a demented fast-paced comedy built around a dysfunctional family, that uses brilliant gimmick parodies.

It reminds me alot of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I’m not exactly sure why, but maybe it’s the constant narrator reminding you that everything doesn’t make sense. Like how every episode ends with a fake “On the next Arrested Development…” preview of events that don’t actually take place in the next episode.

But FOX started slowing killing this genius idea in its second season in favour of Family Guy and American Dad. Four episodes were axed from the second season. And then the episode-order for Season Three was cut from 22 to 13. THEN.. a month ago, FOX stopped airing it altogether, leaving an awkward episode 9, pulling all the stops to parody their own demise. Well, now FOX has returned Arrested Development back to its schedule, but for one night, tomorrow night, to play off their last four episodes of the third season, back to back. Watch it if you can; it’s one of the funniest shows on Cable.

I like what the Boston Globe says:

The deeper problem for ”Arrested Development” was its identity as the antithesis of ”Everybody Loves Raymond” at a time when family sitcoms have retreated from the edge. To be a hit domestic comedy, you have to be as fangless and traditional as ”According to Jim,” or else leave domestic humor behind for the dating realm. Arguably, as global threats become more harsh, viewers prefer to see home life as a safe haven and not as the hyperactive battlefield it is on ”Arrested Development.”

My project-turn-empire “New Winnipeg” celebrates its sixth year this week.

I remember when people laughed at me for starting an “internet” business six years ago. Perhaps it was because they didn’t understand what the Internet was. Maybe they didn’t have faith in me. Or maybe it was simply because it was mere weeks after the infamous stock-market bubble burst of 2000.

Ironically, my initial investment money was my profit from the IPO bubble. I held stocks in about.com and I jumped ship less than two weeks before the market crashed. While many lost money – a friend tells me her dad lost a quarter million dollars from the bubble – I made off with $4000; roughly four times what I had invested. All of that went to the business that would change focus after I made a second investment in 2002, after I quit my job at shitty hall (which was one of the best decisions I ever made).

Sure I worked lots and I sacrificed more, but the real thanks goes to everyone I do business with. From large partners to the little guy with a $9 account; I say happy birthday to you!!

I think when clients are prepaying into the next decade, you know business is good.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, spoke to Stanford University students in which he talked about his adoption, his love, his loss and his death.

Really inspiring speech here.

…you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Woot!

CIRA is planning Canada’s first “Internet Day”, and it happens on my 30th birthday!

Not to be confused with Europe’s “Safer Internet Day” which happens on February 7th, which will be the 6th birthday of New Winnipeg Media. CIRA (the non-profit that manages .ca domain names) says they hope to “raise awareness, understanding and appreciation of the Internet to encourage usage for positive purposes.”

..on my birthday, how sweet!