Some of you may recall that in 2007, the lovely and talented Philip Banks came up with the idea of asking his friends on the VO-BB.com to recite the Christmas poem “The Night Before Christmas”.
He read the first lines and then emailed the poem to the the lovely and talented D.B. (that’s a capital “B” Facebook, dammit!) Cooper who read her lines; she emailed it to me so I would read the next part, I chose to email it to the lovely and talented Kara Edwards and on it went. Philip mixed it all with some wonderful music and it became one of my proudest voice over accomplishments ever.
So fast forward to 2009 where video is now all the rage and in spite of what I think is a logical and fair aversion to the camera, I agreed to Jeffrey Kafer’s idea to participate in a video version of the recording, again with my friends from the VO-BB.com from around the world…literally.
Some of the Voice Over Talents on the roster of Voice Talent Productions
If you count the smiles handshakes, hugs and flashbulbs from this weekend’s New York City Voice Over Mixer – there is no way to call it anything except a great success. One of my agents, Erik Sheppard from Voice Talent Productions, put this together for the 2nd time and it was a lot of fun. Knowing how these things work, specific thanks should go to Lindsay Reiss and September Day Leach for what I am sure was a lion’s share of the work.
And best wishes to Erik and Lindsay on their impending nuptials…engaged before the event, Lindsay was actually surprised by Erik at the mixer with the actual ring.
You know a party is going to be good when you close a club in the city and have to cap the guest list. I think we were at about 250 people for the event. It was packed.
Some of the members of the VO-BB.com - photo courtesy of VoiceChasers.com
There were two great joys attending this event (which I almost didn’t go to as daughter started a 24 hour bug on the way with the family to drop Da off at the airport…she’s perfectly fine now): seeing all my VO-BB friends many of which I know in real life but some of whom I had only known for years virtually; and then getting to meet so many familiar and new voice talents from around the country and around the world.
New York’s weather was not even in the vicinity of perfect as it poured rained with alternating snow most of the early evening (it was yucky). But that didn’t stop these voice talents from getting to their appointed destination. And as always with any good trip, there fun stories along the way.
The VO-BB gang, lead by the talented and generous D.B. Cooper, decided late Friday on line that we would have a pre-mixer get together at a place called Boca Chica on 1st Street in the village, near the mixer at 5:00 p.m. AT 4:50 p.m. while I am in a cab to the event, D.B. calls me to tell me the restaurant doesn’t open until 5:30 p.m. I figure, it’s NYC so there WILL be a bar nearby and I’ll make my way over to the restaurant at 5:30. D.b. also asked me to advise anyone at the restaurant of the same issue.
Voice Talent Lee Gordon (I swear it's him)
Well I got to my destination and standing outside -in the rain- in front of a bar right next to Boca Chica is my friend Lee Gordon, whom I promptly ordered out of the rain and into the bar he stood in front of, which was dry, warm and deserted. We had a very nice visit and were quickly joined by a fellow VO-BB Tony Impieri.
Voice Talent Tony Impieri
At 5:30, my good friend Doug Turkel pinged me to say that he, Bob Souer, Dave Courvoisier and Anthony Mendez had smashed the door down at Boca Chica to get seated and indeed when Lee, Tony and I made our way next door, the staff had to unlock the door for us. From that point on, I think the noise level in New York City hit a record high cause nobody shut up…we’re voice talkers for goodness sake, what could you expect.
Voice Talents Melissa Exelberth, Anthony Mendez and Peter K. O'Connell
This will sound a bit like a Mouseketeers roll-call but at the restaurant in addition to us seven guys were also D.b. Cooper (with her talented husband Dewitt Hardy) Mary McKitrick, Moe Egan, Liz deNesnera, Melissa Exelberth, Elaine Singer, Mandy Nelson, Pam Tierney (all lovely and talented), as well as John Florian from Voice Over Xtra. Likely getting the award for furthest traveled (England and Scotland no less) were Elisa Canas and Philip Banks (a terrific table mate – great insight). Truth be told, I think many folks on the VO-BB registered once Philip announced he was coming over because we all hold him in high esteem and has been a virtual friend for so long.
Voice Talents Bob Souer and Pam Tierney try to figure out which camera to look at (that was a pleasant challenge for everyone all night long)
The O'Boys with Courvo- THE Patrick O'Connor, Dave Courvoisier and Peter K. O'Connell
Voice Talents Pam Tierney and Peter K. O'Connell
Voice Talents Peter K. O'Connell & Philip Banks - it was about 2:00 a.m. UK time for Philip when we took this picture but he was standing tall (which compared to me is relatively easy)
Voice talents Dave Courvoisier, Peter K. O'Connell and Elaine Singer
Voice Talents Peter K. O'Connell and the great Bobbi Owens
I thought I could summon the stamina of my youth but by 11:00 p.m. I was back at my sister-in-law’s apartment in my bed to catch some sleep before the car service arrived early Sunday. A terrific trip with new and old friends whose kindness and professionalism I cherish greatly. Thanks everyone.
P.S. The best looking man in voiceover, Dave Courvoisier, proved his talents expand beyond his voice talent abilities with an animoto slide show featuring a montage of many other pictures from the New York City Voice Over Mixer. Great job Dave, thanks.
P.P.S. I’ve now come across what I believe is the definitive compilation of pictures from the New York City Voice Over Mixer running over 8 minutes so it’s possible if you aren’t in one of these pictures…you were too busy taking pictures of other people to pose for one of your own.
Even though he didn’t know it, Bob Souer reminded me of something today inhis blog post.
I had asked for any bloggers who wanted a link on my blog and who were not already listed to ping me and I’d add them to my voice over blog roll on this site. You may see it better if you scroll down a bit in the columns on to the right of this post.
I also asked for a reciprocal link which I hope those I link to will put on their blogs but I don’t have the time to check on each and every one of them. HEY, but YOU might have the time, so if you see a voice over blog that doesn’t link to mine, ping me and there will be a major cash reward…not from me as I don’t HAVE any money).
Bob’s post noted that John Florian on VoiceOver Xtra had a blog link page which, sadly, I didn’t realize until just now, even though he gave this blog a link on his page. BUT since John’s news service now accepts comments on stories, that enters it into blog territory so John now has a link on voxmarketising. Thank you John, for all you do for your fellow voice over professionals – it is appreciated and valued.
An IMPORTANT point: some blogs I found recently were NOT added as they had not posted in over a year. While its not my place to tell people how often they want to write, I gauge the credibility of a blog by the frequency of its posts. I get that blogging isn’t for everyone and I am not judging. I am committed to providing information on all current voice over blogs. If this is you and you increase your post frequency, please let me know and I’ll pop you right up there.
And for goodness sakes folks, how can anyone have a blog WITHOUT an RSS button or link. It’s one of the main ways people SUBSCRIBE to a blog. If a blog post is uploaded to the internet and nobody reads it, does the blog really exist? And yet I saw a bunch of them today; it’s a darn shame no one can easily read them regularly. Oh well.
As you’ll recall (cause you’re the only one who reads this blog…and thanks again for that) the issue of payment terms for voice over services provided was addressed here recently. It revolved around American voice talents who work domestically and internationally with one story focusing on the challenges of U.S. voice talents getting paid by internationally based clients.
This is truly a universal problem, as Mahmoud Tajinotes in his recent post, because getting the money one is owed is an economic challenge for voice over talents no matter where you live.
Official logo of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi
Despite reports to the contrary, this is the new, official logo of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
I am still taking this all in as the new Sochi 2014 logo has just been revealed to me. Here, I will write me thoughts on it as they come into my head (get ready for a bumpy ride in there):
> Unexpected
> More a wordmark than a logo
> Kinda 80’s
> Less iconic
> Different
> Domain name in the logo
> Not as bad as London’s logo
> Sometimes different is good
> Liked how they laid out the subtle crystal imagery in shoes, uniforms etc.
> Subtle
> Unique
> I could grow to like this
The blue and white Sochi2014.ru wordmark, which Interbrand created and Moscow introduced on Tuesday, is the first major international sports logo to include a website address. Sochi.ru appears reflected atop 2014 with the Olympic rings below .ru, the Internet code for Russia.
I think what makes the new logo work most for me is having the domain name in the mark. That recognizes where we are as a world and where we are going in a very profound way. More than branding, to me, that’s an important statement.
Not having an icon within the logo and instead using a crystal effect will require a stronger communication effort of the committee’s part.
I am not sure if they will create a mascot for these games, as has been done in the past. It’s possible organizer’s plan to use that mascot as part of the icon, but that’s just conjecture on my part.
Having personally really liked the Sochi 2014 bid logo, I was kinda hesitant with this word mark. But Russia is trying something very different and I think we have to respect that. It certainly does not evoke within me the complete distain I have for the London 2012 logo mark.
I’m not a fan of their national politics but the Olympics are not supposed to be about politics, in spite of the fact that the country is blatantly saying they are using this Olympics as a way to brand the new Russia. Honestly, that is one of the main reasons every country wants to host an Olympics ‘come see us, we’re not so bad, let’s stay friends after the Games are over, maybe we’ll do some business together.’ There not a hammer or sickle in sight (the icon of the USSR to which Russia is most often associated) and they only red in the logo is the red circle of the Olympic logo. Sometimes it’s what is omitted that sends the biggest message.
Or maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Now that I have totally skewed your opinion of all this, I hope you’ll still share your immediate thoughts on the new Sochi 2014 logo.
