We're HERE! WRP Multimedia

'Ey up, we're here! 

Eleven luggage bagts, seven adults, four kids, three cars and a dog! The journey took a mere two hours, through the rain, but that's what camping's all about. The main aim of the blog this week is to give you a few highlights and ideas of what to avoid when taking budget holidays in the UK. 

I say camping, but I mean caravaning, there's probably a severe distinction between the two and I don't want to insult a windbreaker full of people. The main similarity to me seems to be the fact both groups drive hours away from their warm and secure homes to battle with not much between them and the elements. Bracing! I love that word, it conjures up images of war time hero's, cold winds and some courageous pursuit of some description. 

Anywho, moving on, the weather is actually quite beautiful for the time of year and I'd like to say a quick thanks to India for sending us some of their summer. We're actually staying at Twichen holiday camp in Woolacombe, North Devon. My first tip would be - don't tell them you have a dog. We've booked two caravans and at the last minute half of us got moved to the other end of the campsite in the 'BUDGET' caravans. Not good. Rust, dust and the smell of damp dog welcomed us, right after the grumpy Receptionist Lynne did not. 

After a cold night - no radiators in the BUDGET caravans - a glorious 5;30am morning had me up showered and read for action. 

Half of us, the younger have gone to the beach, the other half have gone shopping, and one of us has found a wifi site two miles away and is blogging - guess who got the best deal, lol :D 

The papers are full of photos of fields full of snow last year and the russet reds and golden oranges of the leaves this year, the views here are no different and it is stunning. So, grumpy receptionists aside the place is a haven for mending the soul, as far as caravaning can. 

Got to make this a short blog as I've had to pay a pound to use the internet for an hour, the Waves Studio is filling up with kids who want to paint pottery - the other usage for the cafe - and I've got to walk the dog. Lovely. 

How NOT to: :D

I noticed an advert asking for 'Witty Writers' to send a pitch to obtain 'top notch' professional freelance work. Feeling in a particularly cheeky mood I emailed this: 

Well, what DOES one put in pitch? It could be likened to an ad in the personals, but I hear now it's all in the translation. Initially I thought I would put: 'Beautiful, voluptuous, free spirited woman, approaching her 40s', but according to the unofficial 'Dictionary for Decoding Women's Personal Ad's*' this would be read as: A 49 year old pathological liar who is very fat and possibly a junkie. Not nice, not accurate. So, I reconsidered .. keep it simple: 'Adventurous, open minded professional'. I popped through the internet looking glass to translate, 'Desperate, bitch who has slept with everyone'! 'Survey says 'Uh OH'. This just isn't working, so I've decided to go for honesty: 'Busty brunette writer, GSOH, NFOFD'. :D I hope that helps..! JULIA

* Link: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/lvg/440674102.html

mag production social media feature

Check this out, intro to social media conference. lol. :D 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKCdexz5RQ8

NEWS: Alike Minds Conference 16/10/09

SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE ‘HITS’ EXETER

A coffee in Starbucks, Exeter last August sparked two friends to hold the first social media conference in the South West.  The conference was advertised using social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and email only. The cost of the advertising and marketing was nil and attracted 180 delegates from all over the UK, with a ticket price of between £5 and £35 each.

The main theme was based on the ability to make an investment into social media and gain a return. Local businesses and charities sent representatives. Public relations officer, Sarah Parkhouse from the Red Cross said, “We are using twitter already to communicate between offices, but I’m hoping to pick up tips to utilise it further”.  

The event, streamed live around the world via Ustream.com, also allowed delegates from the internet community to participate and started with a controversial video from Scott Gould, who introduced himself as ‘nobody’. He prepared participants for some straight talking from speakers and panellists who included a local solicitor James Barisic and Carl Haggerty from Devon County Council.

Trey Pennington, author and Social Media Manager for the Jones Group, informed everyone, hits on social media sites have taken over the number of visits to pornographic sites. James Barisic, from Every’s Solicitors in Exeter spoke candidly about his experiences as co-founder of their PhotoLegal podcast. 

Olivier Alain Blanchard, manager of thebrandbuilder.com, gave a demonstration regarding ‘Social Media: Return on Investment’ and was met with mixed reactions. Some felt the social media concept was not a new idea and others spoke out to say they did not feel they, “Had learnt anything new’, but only one person has requested a refund. These questions pre-empted outrage from the internet community following the conference and comments such as, “Without social media you people wouldn’t even be there!” and “How do you think this conference was organised?” were two comments projected regularly onto the large screen behind the panellists.

Most delegates showed more enthusiasm in almost revolutionary tone, one predicting, “National newspapers will disintegrate and we are not going to be led by the nose, by the media anymore”.

Rich Waghorn, creator of twitter-based ‘OutWithABang’, was asked whether he felt social media was partially responsible for the deterioration of the print industry. He replied, “Businesses wishing to thrive in the future can not stop this phenomenon”, then reiterated a recent comment by The Guardian’s Emily Bell, “We are entering the age of participation and journalists must engage”.

Apart from the controversial questions all seemed glued to their seats until realising the Guildhall car park shut at 6pm. The conference finished at 6:30pm, but through the power of new media all were able to recap the nuggets from Sky’s, Maz Nadjm’s final spot on Ustream.com.

LINKS:

http://alikeminds.org/

http://www.exeterconferencecentre.co.uk/

PHOTO'S TO FOLLOW FACEBOOK IS BUSY CENSORING ME AT THE MOMENT. THEY SIGN THE OPEN INTERNET POLICY, YET FREEZE MY ACCOUNT FOR THREE DAYS FOR NOTHING. GRRR

Random Poetry for the Magazine 15/10/09

Do you feel sad? 

Look through MY eyes. 

Through MY eyes the world is beautiful and every day there is something new. 

Everyday there is a miracle. 

Come skip and play. 

Come to the field today. 

I ... am never far away. 

I am the child. 

The child within YOU. 

Look through MY eyes.... 

Mag Production/Independent Study 14/10/09

Mag Production 

Today we worked on our magazines 

Independent Study

Having spoke to my Tutor Russ and realised that the project making a DVD might not take off in the way I was hoping it to, and this year I don't want to leave anything to risk. I needed to rethink what I would do for my independent study. Although there are many things I would love to do in a journalism career I have to be realistic about my own situation. I'm a loan parent who has CFS and the reason I started this course initially was to be able to work freelance writing for various magazines/papers on a flexible part-time basis. The other people on the course have all been in very different situations, mostly being younger and at the start of their careers, being able to put energy, freedom and youth behind their ambitions. I'm starting a new career at a time in my life where my mind isn't as viperesque as it once might have been. Basically, I'm not there anymore and have many restrictions on my time. 

So, to cut a long story short, it's time to revise my expectations and go back to what I started with, working/writing freelance, part-time and flexible. In order to do so, I have to return to the areas I know best. 1)new age information 2)being an independent self-sufficient woman. 

By going back to these basics I can tackle two parts of the course at once. I can use these industries to form my magazine from. I've already looked through a few women's magazines such as Marie Claire, Glamour, Cosmo, Psychologies, and new age magazines such as Re-connect, Kindred Spirit, Spirit & Destiny, Pentacle, Psychic News, Prediction, (all the p's lol) The Source, but also through various magazine sites on the web, Dennis Publishing,IPC Publishing. The site www.issuu.com is great, lots of ideas and has helped me to think about making my magazine pages look like posters with some text opposed to standard magazine lay outs. It's also helped me to think of a design theme - I call it 'pastal retro' lol. Pastel colours, but the images are quite 70's, with lots of flower symbols. 

I set up a poll and have been asking people to vote on various names for the magazine, 'power of she', 'shhh', Chic Geek, Beg Me. I've also thought of Ohana which means family in Hiawian. Other ideas people have put forward are 'penny', 'independence', 'goddess', 'independent goddess'. I've offered a free reading for the winner. 

Had to have a little laugh and try the virtual makeover on the Marie Claire site.  http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/beauty/virtualmakeover.html

I looked terrible lol. 

Managed to put a mock up page together in Magazine Production today and that was a useful start to both magazine production and the independent study. 

We also went through Richard and David's rewrites of each other's articles. They were both brilliant and are very talented. I know I could never write in their witty and individual style. The standard of their work is very high and at the moment I'm feeling very down about my own abilities. Not because theirs are brilliant, it's nice to hear their take on the same work. I just feel quite lost in general with the course, mainly because of what happened last year. My confidence in my ability to write/put together articles is VERY low and probably lower than when I started the course. I feel like my abilities have gone severely backwards. Having confidence in yourself is important as sometimes it is the glue between a lack of ability and with hard work producing something spectacular. 

At the moment I'm a fraud, I'm winging it and not very successfully. 

Mag Production 07/10/09

Design Thoughts

I've been looking through the internet for some ideas for my magazine. This year I would like to do something that is within a mainstream industry. The two areas which are obvious are women's magazines and parenting being as I'm female and a Mum :D 

I've never been keen on parenting magazines they're all a bit 'toddler group' for me, some of them seem like they seem to be as if they're written for their five year old rather than the parents. Massively colourful, cluttered and crammed full of information and adverts for summer camps and childminders. Exceptionally useful, please don't get me wrong, but I don't buy them or even look at them as the whole look of it puts me off.  Also, sometimes the parenting mags I've seen seem to have an underlying message - 'Be a Hockey Mom'. This catchphrase was used continually to describe Sarah Palin during the US elections. What I mean when I say this is some Mother's seem driven to be like PR agents for their kids. They (and the kids) are dressed in the best clothes, full face of make-up no matter what time of day it is, great bodies, great nails, great teeth, the kids go to Ballet, Football, Piano Lessons, Scouts. They have a full-time job, their houses are immaculate and in the latest house magazine fashion, they drive 4x4's, they throw parties for their husbands boss and clients, they holiday in Mexico and have the best ever grandparents lol. They are phenomenal women, but I don't feel they're a good role models for the modern day woman. If they are truly happy on the inside - fantastic, I'm not judging - I wish I had that kind of energy, but not that kind of life. To me it's almost a modern day version of the 50's housewife. 

Looking at what type of magazine I would like to do I can feel an idea forming in my head. It's something combining, women, parenting, power, self-esteem, reality, beautiful design (if I can lol). Looking through some of the magazines on www.issuu.com (what a fab website) I want something simple, clean colours, either b/w and yellow highlights or pastels with an organic feel to it (not greens and browns) but hand sketches, lines and doodles through it. 

I've started to learn photoshop, as I want to create my pages in indesign, but I want the double spreads to look almost like posters, complete pictures in their own right. I'm torn between striking and smooth, or pastel and calming. 

Nothing Moves People like People Moving Together

At the moment I feel a bit lost with the course. Like I'm going through the motions, but I can't find my heart in it. The last two years I was motivated, but this year I feel like I'm dragging my feet a bit. Once bitten twice shy kind of thing, but I have to get past it and find my motivation again else there is just no point. 

The group project, Multi-Media, got me down last year and it's doing the same this year. I feel we've wasted two weeks of our ten weeks already. I still haven't got any real way of communicating with the group apart from Rich. Jaime's influence to stop people working with me seems to still be around the others. Tomorrow I am going to be more insistent that we agree roles or at least tasks to get on with. I'm hoping the poster has been done to advertise for people to contribute to the site. If not I'll do it myself. I'd really like to get involved with co-ordinating 'consumer content' - content sent in from site users. 

I am going to try and talk to Jaime tomorrow, nothing heavy just try to get some communication going between us. If she wants to be involved with this group project I am going to make it loud and clear that this year she isn't getting rid of me. 

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

by Marianne Williamsonfrom A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles

Mag Production Pastiche 05/10/09

Evaluation for Pastiche: 

The idea of this piece of work is to hype up our own style. I picked this article because I actually liked the style, it wasn’t as dry as the usual articles in the Economist, plus I am intrigued by Obama and haven’t quite made my mind up about him yet. Politics is one of my weak areas, mainly as I believe that fundamentally they’re all the same and therefore have to make an effort to be interested. There’s another one of my sweeping, inaccurate, offending statements!

After reading through this and considering how I tend to work in general I recognised some key points. My work , left unchecked, is often:

v Grammatically incorrect.

v Badly researched. There are few solid statistics although the original article is full of statistics and quotes.

v I often include something of my own experience and use this to back up my point. I know little about the health system in the US or the proposed reforms, but aged 18 I was working in America teaching outdoor pursuits. I broke my toe in what I would like to say was a heroic adventure, but I was only playing volleyball. I was taken to hospital and luckily had health insurance. I wasn’t in very much pain at all, but a black pregnant woman near me was in agony. They were trying to find ‘someone’ to pay for her care as she had no insurance. They treated me first. I left after having X-Ray’s and perfect treatment about two hours later. As I passed through the waiting area I noticed the black woman was still there, still in agony. I don’t even know the whole story, she could have been an addict who regularly came in cold turkey, but I have still used this experience in my article. It is wrong to do so, for several reasons, but mainly personal opinion in an article disrupts the balance of the article and one incident proves little. If the article is not perceived to be balanced then the writers credibility could be doubted and therefore the ‘facts’ not taken as true. 

v Full of strange humour, which is too subtle, and not many people ‘get’. For example I mention the ‘right-wing bangs’, this is to replace ‘right-wing fringe’ in the original article. ‘Bangs’ being a word used for a straight fringe. The article makes no other mention of hair, so it would be difficult to pick up. I sound sarcastic. This will put the reader off, especially if my articles aren’t known for style.

v Has two or more crossed themes, here I’ve crossed references to Jesus Christ with Obama. This is something I love to do, take two different concepts and mix them up and make new metaphors. I could have mixed Obama with references from the movie Grease, but I’ve chosen Jesus to mix with Obama for several reasons.

o   I often offend people with non-pc writing

o   The new messiah is often said to be black. There are also references to the original Jesus being black and not of Jewish origin.

o   Obama came from ‘small’ beginnings, like Jesus. He speaks passionately and is able to motivate and attract huge crowds of people. His story isn’t yet told and I think that he has stirred up such a hornet’s nest within the US and will they ‘kill him if they think he’s lied’. (Jesus Christ Superstar the musical).

o   Gallup and the ‘respected analyst’ are like the Apostles and Gospels of today and it made me smile.  I used the word prophet for Charlie Cook as Obama claims to have lived as a Muslim. So again badly researched references to major religions, neither of which I am involved in or know very much about.

Again this isn’t a good idea if I don’t want to alienate or confuse the reader.

v I often sound ambiguous about what my opinions are. Here I start as if I disapprove of Obama, then appear to defend him half way through. Finally to discard him altogether. In my attempts to be balanced I often swing from one extreme to another rather than walk a middle line throughout the text. 

Ind Study & Work Experience Diary/Tasks 02/10/09

Raf was in London today and Nicki had a lunch meet, so I worked from home today from 10:00am - 2:45pm. I rang Raf and he was with Paul Haplin at Music Sales Ltd. He needed a list of publishers for a new project, so I started researching publishers who have previously published similar projects. I found several sites, but the most helpful was Amazon. I found similar titles and then clicked down to see the similar books, then clicked on each of them to find their publisher. 

There were several repeated regularly, Music Sales, Wise Publications, Schott, AMSCO, Hal Leaonard, Boosey & Hawkes, Mel Bay Publishing, OUP, and Faber to name a few. I text and emailed the list as it I found the details. Raf rang a couple of times, to keep me updated. It's a work in progress. 

Nicki also wants me to work on some photo's in photoshop, so I've bought 'An Idiots Guide to Photoshop' and the magazine 'Photoshop Creative', published by Image Publishing (est. 1983). 

Publishers & Addresses

** = A publisher listed on Amazon which publishes Saxophone related products.

Publisher/Publication	Address & Email	Contact No’s
A&C Black Publishers **
Adams Media Corporation **
Backbeat Books **
Beckman Visual Publishing DVDs **
Berklee Press Publications **
Cherry Lane Music Co. US. **
Wise Publications Absolute Beginners Alto Sax **	N/A
Music Sales Ltd **	N/A
Shott Music GmbH&Co KG Weihergarten 5, D55116, Mainz **	info@schott-music.com 48 Great Marlborough St. London, W1F 7BB	Tel:+49 6131 246-0 Fax: +49 6131 246-211 MPA. 02075340700
Stainer & Bell’s	www.stainer.co.uk PO Box 110, Victoria House, 23 Gruneisen Rd, Lon, N3 1DZ post@stainer.co.uk	+44 020 8343 3303 Sales&   Copyright. +44 020 8343 2535 Promotion, library etc.
AMSCO Music Pub.Co	All contact info seems to be protected! Can’t find anywhere
Alfred Publishing (Warner Bro’s Publishing)	www.alfred.com
Boston Music Publisher **
C.L. Barnhouse Company	editorial@barnhouse.com Send cover letter, contacts, music title. Full score file in Finale or Sibelius. A ‘live’ performance in MP3 format pref. 205 Cowan Avenue West PO Box 680, Oskaloosa, Iowa, 52577	(641) 673-8397 questions@barnhouse.com
Carl Fisher Music (Theodore Presser) Dealers:B&H	cf-info@carlfischer.com 65 Bleecker St, NY 100012	Tel: 212-777-0900
David E.Smith Publications	www.despub.com 4826 Shabbona Rd, Deckerville, MI 48427.	PH: 810/376-9055
Dover Publications Inc **
Flame Tree Publishing Co Ltd **
Words & Music **
Hal Leonard Publishing **	7777 West Bluemound Rd, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53213	414 774 3630 Fax: 414 774 3259
Jamey Aebersold Jazz	Assume publish only ‘Jameys’ work. PO Box 1244 New Albanny, IN 47151-1244 USA	Tel: 1-812-945-4281
John Wiley & Sons **
Kjos Music Company	http://www.kjos.com/index.php Neil A Kjos Music Co., Attn: Submissions, PO Box 178270, San Diego, CA92177-8270	Music for schools, Churches and private music studios.
Konemann UK Ltd **
Lorenz Publishing Company	www.lorenz.com 501 East third Street, PO Box 802, Dayton OH 45401-0802	(800) 444-1144 x 1
LTP Publishers Ltd **
Boosey & Hawkes **	Aldwych House, 71-91 Aldwych, Lon, WC2B 4HN OR: 295 Regent St, W1B 2JH. www.boosey/shop.com	020 7054 7200   OR: +44 020 7291 7255
Foils ?
Now Publishers Inc **
Mel Bay Publishing **	salesUK@melbay.com Office 512 Fortis House, 160 London Road, Barking, Essex, IG11 8BB. email@melbay.com Submissions: Attn:William A. Bay No.4 Industrial Drive, Pacific, MO 63069.	UK:020 8124 1222
Music Minus One Accompaniment Music
Prentice Hall & IBD **
Southern Music Company
The FJH Music Company	custserv@fjhmusic.com Westport Business Park, 2525 Davie Rd, Suite 360, Fort Lauderdale, Fl 33317-7424 (Frank J Hackinson) sales@fjhmusic.com	800-262-8744
Sheet Music Publishers
Harmony & Melody Studio
Too Smart Publications
Oxford University Press **	custserv.us@oup.com Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street Oxford, OX2 6DP	(44 1865) 556-767
United Music Publishers	www.umusicpub.com 2440 Speulveda Blvd, Suite 220, Los Angeles, CA 90064	310-235-4700
Universal Music Publishing Group UK	ukpublishing@music.com www.universalmusicpublishing.com 20 Fulham Broadway, Lon, SW6 1AH	020 7835 5200 Fax: 020 8752 2601
Chester Music
Trevor James & Co
Universal Edition
CPP/Belwin	www.alfred.com
Sanctuary Publishing Ltd **
ABRSM Publishing (part of Musicsales group) Examining Board	Musicroom. info@musicroom.com	+44 01284 725725
Camden Music	info@camdenmusic.com 85 Waldegrave Park, Twickenham, TW1 4TJ, UK	UK: 020 8744 9005 Fax: 020 8607 9536
Studio Music London	sales@studio-music.co.uk www.studio-music.co.uk Cadence House, Eaton Green Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 9LD	+44 01582 432139 0800 389 2484
Chappell Music	www.alfred.com
Novello
Scarecrow Press
Summy Birchard Inc **
Faber Music Ltd **
Wadsworth Publishing Co **
Registry Publications Ltd **