I received this quite some time ago and held onto it as I was unsure where I would be able to use it... I knew it had potential... but just didnt know what to make of it. Today I stumbled upon it and decided that you too needed to be graced by the brilliance of this chart. So without further adeau ...
I dont care who you are... that's clever.
Mobile SMS Business Cards?
So today I am sitting at the Leadership Music Digital Summit networking with a few new media/developer dudes and upon our obligatory card exchange was taken quite aback. As I asked the gentleman for his card he simply replied "text my name to 50500 and you will have my info." To me, this sounded like "these aren't the droids you're looking for." What Jedi mind trick had I just stumbled upon...? contxts.com
This fantastic service actually allows you to create your own "business card" that can be texted to contacts via SMS. I went on immediately and created my own. In case you were wondering... text "randallfoster" to 50500.
All in all, I must say the site was quite easy to use. I am a fan of web simplicity and this is definitely a simple interface. It appears that there is more development to come that will help you keep the contacts you have collected and I look forward to seeing those changes. For now though, the site is FREE, simple and it works well. Plus, you'll never have to worry about leaving your cards at home again.
Check out this review on Mashable... or if you are a tweeter, you can follow them at http://twitter.com/contxts
Microsoft is musically Inept
I really hate Microsoft.
Just when I was beginning to embrace my PC, they go and screw everything up by trying to get into the music game. They are making their fore' into the music "production" arena with "Microsoft Songsmith" . This flaming piece of crap actually writes your backup music for you after hearing the melody sung through a microphone. Consider it a "Speak & Spell" for music. What's worse, the musical accompaniment is terrible…just terrible ( It almost reminds me of the crappy old Casio demo song Wesley Willis used to back up all of his music) .
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I am really glad Bill Gates is doing what he can to de-evolve our musical enlightenment. When will they learn? Windows Media Player, the Zune and now this… I really wish they would have stopped at Excel and Microsoft Word.
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Nashville Film Festival... a review
Now that I am on the broadcast kick, I am looking at all sorts of venues to expound upon the virtues of Classical music in film (specifically my classical music). In this process, I sponsored and attended the Nashville Film Festival, a local festival that has been given quite a bit of noteriety on the national scene. My experiences and comments are as follows: * This is a great festival! The showings are organized and with only one venue, the schedule easy to plan around. I have learned tons about the indy film world in only a short week.
* Opening night featuring William H Macy! need I say more? Bill was in attendance to preview his great indy film, "The Deal". This may have been an indy produced film, but nothing about it seemed independent. There was a stellar cast of characters including Meg Ryan, Elliot Gould and LL Cool J along with Mr. Macy. The plotline was fantastic and I laughed so hard my gut hurt. There was a meet and greet opening party at BMI afterwards where we all rubbed elbows, waxed poetic on the state of the film industry and vied to meet Mr. Macy. I succeeded!
* The panels were provocative, yet predictable. The Music Supervisors panel (of prime interest to me) featured a handful of heavy hitters from Hollywood. While most of what the talked about was interesting, it was not the first time I had heard it. It seems that there is still a real issue with filmmakers' willingness to pay for quality music for their projects. It seems that unless you have a hit song, you are a bit dead in the water... this is disheartening. Other panels I attended included a panel on film financing and another about the process of taking an independent film into distribution. Not really compelling for a music guy, but interesting nonetheless.
* The closing party and film featured the Wrecking Crew, the background band famous for many of the fantastic recordings of the 60's and 70's and who were notoriously Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound." Elbow rubbing and hububbing aside, the evening was a nice closure for the event. Many new friends had a chance to convene and reflect on the past eight days' events. The Cannery Ballroom was hopping and there were good times had by all.