Neil Strauss Talks About Mastering the Game of Storytelling

"In his Rise to the Top interview with David Garland, Strauss shares some of the tactics he's used to develop such interesting stories. Although most inbound marketers will never find themselves in a position to interview such notorious celebrities, many of his strategies can be applied to everyday content creation."

Points discussed in the interview include:

Be patient.
Choose your medium wisely.
Tackle difficult topics.
Listen.

Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/14914/Neil-Strauss-Talks-About-Ma...

Andrea Phillips Poised on the Border for a Canadian Invasion! - Deus Ex Machinatio

I am taking over Canada, you guys. Which is to say, my latest round of press and speaking engagements have a distinctly Canadian flavor to them. Mmm, maplicious.

  • I'm starting my invasion by air -- that is, I'm going to be on the CBC Radio show Spark this weekend, in the final episode of their series on Marshal McLuhan. The show will air on Canadian public radio at 1:05pm on May 29. But if you can't wait that long... the podcast is up already.
  • Then, to expand on my infiltration of Canada, I'm going to be in Toronto! I've been invited to speak about transmedia ethics at the FITC Storytelling X.1 conference on June 20. If you're there, please do introduce yourself to me. I'd love to meet you!
  • The talented and charming J.C. Hutchins asked me to come onto his Ultracreatives podcast not so long ago, and I neglected to post about it. It was fun chatting with him, and if you have a listen, I hope you like it, too. He is not Canadian, but he's nice enough you could be forgiven for thinking that he was.
  • And last on the calendar but certainly not least, I will definitely be speaking at ARGfest this year, in Bloomington, Indiana. But to tie into the theme, I'll be there mainly because I simply can't say no to organizer Jonathan Waite, who is, as you may already have guessed... totally Canadian.

And that's a wrap for today. Let's hear it for Canada!

Secret G8 memo reveals outbreak of internet harmony | From FT Tech Hub | FTtechhub - Industry analysis – FT.com

A private memo from within the G8 meeting on Thursday between internet chiefs and world leaders indicates strong levels of support from Barack Obama, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy and co for the principles of internet freedom put forward by Facebook, Google and their peers.

The confidential document, seen by the FT, supports the internet’s role in furthering the distribution of knowledge and free speech, broadly accepting a light-touch, internationally harmonised approach to regulation.

This private view from inside the Deauville meeting – billed as a potential clash between internet entrepreneurship and a French president hell-bent on taming the web – suggests a much more friendly and positive exchange.

The leaked document sets out around a dozen of the G8 leaders’ responses to the presentation by Eric Schmidt of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Yuri Milner of DST Global, as well as France Telecom’s Stephane Richard, Rakuten’s Hiroshi Mikitani and Publicis Groupe’s Maurice Levy.

The very first item holds up the internet as a vehicle for the positive forces in society that helped bring about the end of the cold war. Although the web can scarcely have played much role of a in the fall of the Berlin wall, it’s an eye-catching comparison that puts the internet on an even bigger pedestal than the latest Arab spring may indicate.

Other items include advocating the faster deployment of fibre-optic broadband, greater cooperation on cyber security and “open data” principles for governments. Everyone in the room opposed internet censorship in any form, and said every nation has a role to play in keeping the web “open”.

There was even acknowledgement of the need to update some aspects of copyright – albeit more along the lines of the UK’s Hargreaves Review proposals to allow things like format-shifting, rather than the radical overhaul advocated by Lawrence Lessig and John Perry Barlow at the e-G8 Forum in Paris earlier this week.

On the crucial issue of privacy, the G8 leaders seem to have heeded Mr Zuckerberg’s plea not to conflate greater protection of personal information with a broad-brush regulation of social networks and other web services.

The very fact that a passage confirming the G8 leaders’ commitment to a “strong and flourishing internet” has been included in the public declaration is a great endorsement of the technology industry’s “essential” role in today’s society.

Both David Cameron and Barack Obama have made much of their internet-friendly approach to government. (Indeed, some have criticised Mr Cameron for being too close to Google.) And political smiles behind closed doors don’t always result in public action.

Nonetheless, the meeting must have given the internet delegation further confidence that it was worth making the short-notice trip to France. Perhaps we can expect to see an e-G8 every year.

Sooooo Cool! Film Makers Turn to iPad for Interactive Storytelling - Gigaom.com

Excerpt from original post:

By Janko Roettgers May. 26, 2011, 3:32pm PT

"What would our world look like if books could fly? That’s a question that’s at the center of the a new iPad app called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore that was added to the iTunes app store on Thursday.

The app is based on the animated short film of the same title, in which a book lover finds himself catapulted into a world where books are alive, capable of flying, dancing and playing piano. It’s an interesting metaphor, especially during times where some people bemoan the supposed death of the traditional paper book in light of the growing importance of tablets and e-readers.

“An iPad app book is sort of like a book that flies,” said Moonbot Studios co-founder Brandon Oldenburg when I talked to him and two of his colleagues on the phone today. However, Moonbot didn’t mean to provide cultural commentary with its app; instead, the company just tried to explore new avenues of interactive storytelling. Check out a trailer for the app...."

read the full post:

http://gigaom.com/video/ipad-interactive-storytelling/

Nice Post from Gunther Sonnenfeld on The Business of Brand Storymaking | on Sparksheet

Excerpt:

2011/05/26 | By Gunther Sonnenfeld |

In his latest column on “The Business of Storytelling,” corporate technologist Gunther Sonnenfeld explains how brands like Audi, Kraft and Red Bull are using stories to curate meaningful experiences for people.

Storymaking is a word I’ve made up to describe the discipline of good curation. Brands and marketers have become curators of stories, most often so that they can provide people – their customers – with relevant content, or empower them to curate content and connect to other like-minded people.

If communities are connected through content, then they are also encouraged to build upon those conversations by sharing stories of their own.

Good storymaking consists of four core tenets – the “4 Es”:

Entertainment – how does the story make you feel about yourself, your culture or your environment?

Engagement – how does the story foster participation with itself and with other people?

Enlightenment – what do participants learn (and perhaps teach others) in the process?

Experience – how do participatory moments or events culminate in stories that live alongside or beyond the media channels they are delivered in?..."

read the full post

http://sparksheet.com/the-business-of-brand-storymaking/

La La La LOVE! The First Location-Aware Album: The National Mall by BLUEBRAIN. The Album as App. How Cool is That.

'The National Mall' is the first ever location-aware album, created by music duo BLUEBRAIN. Available as an app for the iPhone, the music changes and evolves based on the listeners chosen path within the National Mall park in Washington DC. It is the first in a series of site specific compositions the duo plans to release. For more information, visit bluebra.in **Android and iPad versions coming soon**

Bluebrain is Hays Holladay and Ryan Holladay
Follow on Twitter: @BluebrainMusic

Brandon Bloch - Director and Editor - brandonbloch.com
Fernando Ortega - Director of Photography - vgfilms.com
Featuring - Victoria Milko
Production Assistance - Chris Winter

Why I Love the 80s: Blank City Doc on NY's Experimental Film, Music & Art Scenes

From the site:

Blank City
Documentary - 94min
directed by Celine Danhier

BLANK CITY tells the long-overdue tale of a disparate crew of renegade filmmakers who emerged from an economically bankrupt and dangerous moment in New York history. In the late 1970's and mid 80's, when the city was still a wasteland of cheap rent and cheap drugs, these directors crafted daring works that would go on to profoundly influence the development of independent film as we know it today.

Directed by French newcomer Céline Danhier, BLANK CITY weaves together an oral history of the “No Wave Cinema” and “Cinema of Transgression” movements through compelling interviews with the luminaries who began it all. Featured players include acclaimed directors Jim Jarmusch and John Waters, actor-writer-director Steve Buscemi, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Hip Hop legend Fab 5 Freddy, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, photographer Richard Kern as well as Amos Poe, James Nares, Eric Mitchell, Susan Seidelman, Beth B, Scott B, Charlie Ahearn and Nick Zedd. Fittingly, the soundtrack includes: Patti Smith, Television, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Contortions, The Bush Tetras, Sonic Youth and many more.

GET THE LATEST INFO HERE: blankcityfilm.com