The Deutsche Bank Creative Award is launching the Public Choice Award…..so step it up and vote for one of the five finalists: BrandMee…Draw Me A Song…Karen & Josette…Out Loud…Sukoun!

Let me Say, there are some interesting entries…Here’s a glimpse of my 3 favorites!

Draw Me A Song:

Out Loud:

Karen & Josette:

I got the idea of my film from this…!! Love the ancient” Romeo and Juliet” approach!

Its concept is very similar to that of Foursquare, where you can check into places based on your location. You can also add friends, comment on their whereabouts, and add your own pictures! That is where Gowalla steps ahead of Foursquare in this never-ending social media competition! Gowalla is more fun to use, with all its colors and cartoonish-kind appearance. You even get a gift the first time you check-in a place (i got a pennant!). However, some people don’t get anything, and that is where the competition begins: they would check-in more until they actually get something! (very smart thinking, Gowalla people!)

However, given the simplicity of Foursquare, it allows it to be faster and more practical. Gowalla can sometimes be too slow for such an application, and it would take me ages to check-in somewhere, and even more to post a photo or comment.

My Gowalla profile and check-ins!

I like both applications! What I can’t find in Foursquare, I find in Gowalla and vice versa! Now I really have to forget the privacy issue and tell potential stalkers: Welcome!

NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION….IM ASKING FOR YOUR HELP:

MY GRADUATION PROJECT IS UP: MY FILM!
TITLE: SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!
ONE-LINE PITCH: IT’S A MODERN FAIRYTALE WITH A WIERD TWIST!

HOWEVER, I NEED MY “PRINCE CHARMING”, WHO SEEMS TO BE A LITTLE HARD TO CATCH! WHOEVER IS INTERESTED IN ACTING AND WOULD LIKE TO BE A PART OF THIS…DO SPEAK UP AND LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST!

HE HAS TO BE A MALE, OFCOURSE! HE SHOULD BE BETWEEN 20 AND 28, FLUENT IN ENGLISH, AND A TEAM PLAYER!

The story is the same as the classic one: Rapunzel is the only child of the queen and king, who got kidnapped as an infant by the Dame Gothel, a wicked old woman who is obsessed with herself and beauty. Dame Gothel then raises Rapunzel as her own child, and locks her in a tower that no one can reach.
The only reason she had to kidnap Rapunzel was the fact that her long  hair has healing powers, and  is the only thing that could restore her “lost youth”. As usual, Rapunzel’s hair seems to be the subject of the film: Dame Gothel uses it to climb the tower, and alot of fun scenes revolve around Rapunzel doing things with her hair, like climbing walls and jumping around!

Rapunzel bungee jumping with her hair!

However, this time, instead of a prince as” prince charming”, he is in the form of a run-away felon, who accidentally finds and climbs Rapunzel’s tower because he wanted to hide from two other thieves who wanted the crown of the lost princess (Rapunzel). After their cute encounter, Rapunzel offerrs him a deal: he would take her to see the lanterns and she would return the stolen crown that she hid from him to blackmail him with! He agrees so as to get back the crown he had stolen!
Their journey continues, and as usual, there comes a time in a fairytale where you have to scream “and they lived happily ever after”!!

It’s a very fun and entertaining movie, designed to make you laugh. There are no subtle messages, no clever clues. So if you’re having a stressful day, or simply bored and want to have fun, go ahead and watch it!!

 We watched The Social Network….Now it was time to meet “The Mark Zuckerberg”!!

In our LAU Social class, we watched on Wednesday December 8, a couple of videos about Zuckerberg. One of them was an interview with 60 minutes, where he was talking about his reaction to the movie “The Social Network”. Another was an interview he was featured on in “Oprah”, and we also saw a couple of videos for him a while ago, when Facebook was still a brand-new creation! There was a very obvious change!!

In his previous interviews, Mark looked nervous. It was obvious he didn’t see expect that Facebook was going to be a hit, and it kind of struck to me that his communication skills needed a lot of work. At times he would look at the reporter, as if he didn’t know what to answer, and would say the famous sentence that was included in the movie: “Was that a question?”

However, in his latest interviews, his communication skills totally improved! It was obvious that he was more used to interviews now, and he seemed at ease in front of the camera. He would laugh from time to time, and his voice and tone were conversational rather than informative.

All the time that I was watching the interviews, I kept on relating Mark to the way he was portrayed in the movie, and found out a couple of similarities. It is obvious that he is a “computer guy”! After all that was his major and passion! Also, all the money he got from Facebook didn’t seem to affect him that much: in one of the interviews he was wearing ordinary jeans and sweatshirt and sandals, the same style that he was portrayed in in the movie! I think that he is a down-to-earth guy, very realistic, clever, and obviously very smart.

Among my friends, I know a few, actually two of them, who actually have the potential of acheiving something, each in their own field. I just hope that they will be able to acheive all their goals, because they do deserve it. I hope that they will be lucky, that they will be smart and clever, in all the decisions they will be making! Mark Zuckerberg is a live example of how someone can do something that would actually make a difference.

The Social Network does not only discuss the story of how Zuckerburg created Facebook, but also other aspects of life, like how friends can backstab you, how friendships can easily be disintegrated, and how money and fame can truly change a person’s perspective. It focuses more on the relationships of the people that created Facebook rather than the creation itself.
As it is known, films, whether they are based on true stories or not, tend to be a little exaggerated. I felt that way in certain parts of the movie, especially how girls are being portrayed. They all seem stupid, shallow, and superficial, and the guys view them as “icons of beauty”, rating them on their university website. In fact that was what inspired Zuckerberg to hack the Harvard website in the first place: to rate girls!! The only girl who seemed to have a little sense throughout the whole movie was his girlfriend, or eventually, his ex-girlfriend. She was a main catalyst in the movie, but I didn’t see her as the reason as to why he created Facebook, as I heard others say.

However, regarding the relationship pool behind the creators of Facebook, I totally agreed with the concept. Exaggerated or not, how some friends can go behind your back and try to replcae you, or how some people can steal someone’s idea and turn it into something better and claim it as their own…that can be totally true! We live in a somehow selfish world, where it is necessary to be greedy at times in order to ensure your own survival, and certain characteristics and values, such as integrity amd loyalty, are somehow forgotten.

 Regarding the style of the movie, I loved the way the narrative unfolded. To compensate for the long duration of the movie, it was edited not chronologically, otherwise we would have been totally bored. I loved how they jumped from one scene to another, from present tense to past tense then to future tense, without warning at most times. I guess that was one reason as to what keeps you alert throughout the movie, otherwise you would lose track of the whole thing!

As the blogging community becomes larger, the best way to react is to spread the word even further, and to wake up those who are still oblivious to this activity!

When I first started my blog, I was posting the links to the articles I was writing on Facebook, and I got alot of comments from my “Facebook” friends! (most of them are uninterested in Twitter and blogging). Most of their comments were “what is that thing”, “why do you write in a blog”, “what do you write”, and last but not least,(and certainly the best comment!), “are u always in the mood to write in your blog!”.
The blogging convention that occurred Friday December 4 in AUB, West Hall, called Blogging Lebanon, answered all these questions, and many more. It took place between 3 P.M till 8 P.M, and included many speakers who were active in social media, giving presentations about how to maintain a blog, the best blogging formats, samples of blogs, and how to benefit from your blog, whether professional or personal.

Before this event, I used to know a couple of the speakers via their blogs and twitter, but it was even more interesting meeting them and putting a face to all the “thoughts” and “tweets”! What was even better was hearing their advice, since they are much more experienced than I am, and they gave me alot of insight on how to fix up my own blog and how to mange my time and update it and so on. Also, it was nice hearing how some of them started their own blogs, which was not that different as how I started! (all of us had to start from somewhere, and most of it was because of curiosity!)

The crowd at blogging lebanon!

As usual, it was an interesting event, where I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it but ended up liking and  it. However, the only annoying thing about it was the fact that it was too long (come on…it was almost more than 5 hours!)

@mich1mich answering a question addressed to her!

We also found out that in the previous LAU Social class, she was the “star student”, because she followed the class regularly and up close, of course with the help of twitter and the students’ blogs and works. Our instructor also confessed that the best student last semester at least skipped the class once. However, @mich1mich did not skip following the class at least once!! Also, she was announced blogger of the week!

We got to find out alot about her, and she began telling us about her journey (specifically on the professional level), and how she got introduced to social media, twitter, and blogging. She also told us the story behind her blog, Mich Cafe: Micheline loves saying hello on twitter, and she also invites people to have a drink of coffee or tea. Therefore, she was encouraged to start up a blog and name it Mich Cafe! (an interesting story).

LAU Social class...busy taking pics of @mich1mich and tweeting!

Her visit was a cheerful and inspiring one, reminding us once again that there is a will and a way if you want something or change. Throughout the conversation, I realized once more how social media can help us, even in the little things that we do daily. It was a little reminder of how I shouldn’t neglect my blog because I’m busy…on the contrary, I should use it in times when I’m especially busy (since I’ll be having more to say!).
It was great having her in class, and we really want to thank her for her time, especially now that she is in Lebanon for her vacation!