So I don’t ‘just post links’ too often on this blog because usually I’m too interested in what I have to say about something.
But enough about me, what do you think about me.
Ego, moi?!
Seriously though, the point of this post is that Voice-Over Talent Karen Commins wrote another blog post that I found helpful and if you haven’t yet subscribed to her blog you should.
Sometimes I get a little behind in my blog ideas.
Often, I sift through my web browsing and my google reader and I note so many wonderful ideas for a blog post that I just don’t have time (at that very moment) to write about. So I click “save” or “unread” so I’ll have them in my file.
And then I keep them there and I never get around to them. Then comes a day like today where I am hell-bent on getting these ideas out but there are too many to write up individual blogs posts about and yet I am NOT going let them stay in my blog reader one minute more.
So this post will feature a link to all of them with maybe some notes from me on why I thought this was cool and you can decide for yourself.
Pintrest? WTH?: If you were to look for a pintrest board from me you wouldn’t find squat cause I don’t see a use for it yet, but remember, I am a famously late adopter in Social Media. You know how Courvo gets to everything first? I’m nearer to the opposite end of that spectrum. BUT for those in advertising and marketing (which almost every voice-over talent is, whether they like it or not) I saw that my friends at the logo critique web site, Brand New, have a new Pintrest board. It’s loaded with pins to their favorite logos and logo related stories. I enjoyed it.
Comic-Con: I’ve never been but I hope someday to actually go.
Peter O’Toole is one of my favorite actors, mostly because he was the star of one of my favorite movies, My Favorite Year. This week he announced his retirement from acting. I understand it but I’m still a little sad about it. All his amazing talent, multiple Oscar nominations but he never won an Oscar. That confirms for me what I’ve recently surmised: the Oscars are really nothing more than a 4 hour string of commercials occasionally interrupted by some trophy toting circus performers. Sorry Mercedes.
Evidently, a long talked about movie about voice-over is closer to production. Here’s a link to the trailer and no I’m not in the movie.
Someone who IS in the movie is the great voice actress June Foray. The big news here is June recently won her FIRST Emmy Award at age 94 for her work as Mrs. Cauldron on “The Garfield Show” on Cartoon Network. It’s about damn time!
Also under the about damn time category, George Whittam decries that its about damn time somebody found a decent audio interface for the iPad and iPhone. The winner at this point is the Studio Six Digital IAudioInterface2 as blogged by George via a report from voice-over talent Beau Weaver. The Beau/George report (not be confused with the Huntley/Brinkley report) can be found here.
Benztown Voiceover grabbed a very nice interview Voice Talent and WPLJ Creative Services Director Dan Kelly that I think is worth the read.
Finally, it might have been back in 1957 that Unnouncer Doug Turkel gave me the heads up that Twitter changed it branding, the Floridian knowing well how much I like logo news. And I do/did except I didn’t get on this in a very timely manner. But in case you’re one of the 12 that did NOT hear about the change, here’s a quick summary.
There’s probably more but my laptop battery is dying and I don’t feel like plugging in.
Best always,
-Me
I got a Facebook message from my friend Andy Boyns today, giving me a heads up on some very sad news from the voice-over community that occurred last week.
Two young girls lost their mother. A husband lost his wife. Seven months after voice-over talent Andrew Swingler’s wife Sandra (surrounded in the above picture by her daughters) was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, she died last week.
Conceptually, that’s an awful thought; cognitively, it’s paralyzing…at least for me.
For Andrew and his girls, it’s got to be cataclysmic. And I don’t even know the Swinglers.
But for a neighborhood community or an online community, all we have to do is “know of” because in one way, shape or form, we’ve all been there.
We can’t undo their grim reality but maybe we can shape a part of the family’s better days to come…especially when it must be so hard for these three broken hearts to imagine ANY future.
So we help, because as people we refuse to be helpless when we have options. Andy and our mutual social media and in-person friends Natalie Cooper, Anne Ganguzza and Derek Chappell have shared their offerings, insights and ideas on how we CAN help the Swinglers in their time of need.
If you’d like to know more…I hope you’ll CLICK THIS LINK and do whatever you can, no matter how small. Even if it’s just offering a prayer, thank you for all of it.
If you live in New York State, you likely have heard of Darien Lake, which is the Empire State’s largest theme park. Rides, shows and some amazing concerts in addition to multiple hotels, lodges and camp sites.
Oh and a very nice water park.
It’s really quite a place so I was very pleased when I got the call to be the voice of their 2012 Season Pass campaign. It was fun and unique recording session that you’ll have to remind me to tell you about sometime. A brief hint, I was in Missouri at the time.
So in case you are out of state, here’s their nifty spot with a little voice-over boost from yours truly.
I don’t believe the song “Meet Me in St. Louis” included anything in the lyrics about Denny’s but that’s where I met my first class voice-over talent friend and popular audiobook narrator Donna Postel. And my friend has been very busy with her audiobooks!
She just got back from the schmoozing and learning at the AudioBook Publishers Association Conference in NYC. And she’s about to start another book…all in addition to the commercials and other corporate narration work she does.
Hopefully she’ll also make it to FaffCon 5! It was great to see her again!
You know you’ve got a true voice-over friend when he’ll drive two hours to come have dinner with you.
Voice talent and video producer extraordinaire Todd Ellis did that this evening in St. Louis and we had an awesome time as it had been about three years since we last visited. He took me over to Pat’s Bar and Grill in the Irish part of town (because I speak the language) and just laughed the whole night.
We must have been a fun pair because the waitress said we were her best and funniest table.
Thanks Todd!
