[Ron Lindeboom]

The person in question slammed one of the very best trailers in the library, The Legacy, and made some disparaging remarks about it. When a user or two made similar remarks about their trailer, they then took great offense when treated in like fashion. It went downhill from there and we saw it spiraling downward in a storm of insults and slams and so we removed it. Why? Because it is the focus of this site to build a professionals community, and while amateurs are welcome to take part, they are not the focus of this community — we have had this policy for over 14 years now — and when they begin slamming the work of pros and foment the kinds of shooting matches that were going on, we say, “Why bother?” We have never hidden the fact that we can and do remove things, turn accounts off, etc., and state as much in our terms of service.

The contest is legit and the video we removed was very amateurish and was in no way ever going to be even in sight of the contenders. If that offends you, that is your call. We have for going on 15 years now, always removed people that want to take cheap shots at other people.

As I have said many times over the years, we do not build this as an anything-goes type of site. When things fall below our signal standard, we remove it. Always have. It is why the site is so high signal and does not have the obligatory “crap fests” that you find in nearly every other forums site of this type.

We have been doing it this way for well over 14 years now and we do not plan to change any time soon.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Mike Cohen] “I wonder if a tv show about cake decorating would be popular.”

On the Net, all things are possible.

NAB’s new slogan for NAB 2010 is “Broader-casting” and a show on cake decorating would definitely fit that agenda.

In fact, there could be specials like “Decorating Cakes with Those Silvery Shiny Metallic Looking Sugar Balls” or perhaps a season special on “Using Pine Needles to Decorate Your Cake: Festive and Functional to Remove Globs of Cake and Sugar from the Teeth of Guests.”

There is almost no limit to the roads one could travel down on the Cake Decorating Hour.

Mike could invite guest surgeons to dissect some of the truly innovative creations, while Mike captures the whole event on camera.

Tune in next week for the season finale: “Holiday Cakes of Disparate Festivals from Around the World.”

Since it was Mike’s idea, he also serves as Executive Producer.

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

Great article, Dan. Thanks for pointing to it.

It really does show the hypocrisy of humanity, doesn’t it? The longer I live on this globe, the more I scratch my head in befuddlement at the way in which people will bemoan the way that people do one one thing to them, while they do the exact same thing to others.

Ah, humanity…at least it’s consistent — as I always say (looking into the mirror and searching for those consistencies and how they play out here in Paso Robles).

People wanted relativistic ethics and now that they have them, they don’t seem to like them much — especially not the affect that it has had on their neighborhoods and such.

To me, the issue runs deeper than music. (Though hey, I just bought the Beatles Mono Boxed Set, and damn these things sound like they used to sound when I was a kid spending every dime I had to get their latest record.)

I’ll never forget the story a friend of mine told me about when he recorded under the control of the infamous rock and roll impresario, Don Arden, who owed him money. When he went to him and asked for it, he shoved him out of a third floor window and dangled him there, telling him that if he ever asked again, next time he’d let go. He never asked again, but waited years for his contract to expire so he could move to a new band — which he did.

These Canadian record company moguls are slicker and more finessed than Don Arden.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

Yeah, you can post your stuff on YouTube and Vimeo, or you can upload your stuff a LOT bigger here — we offer embed service links also — and when someone searches on you, you will come up in a site full of working pros. Or you can go with the small videos for backyard movie creators.

Here is one of the trailers in our current trailers contest that just started a few days ago. You don’t see reels this size over at Vimeo…

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Mike Cohen] “I have to laugh when to this day I see the magic version of photoshop still being used on tv cop shows. Lie to Me, a decent show, does this all the time. On a recent episode they zoomed in on a glass window and saw the exact facial expression reflected from someone nearby. Amazing. And of course such zooming can only be activated by lots of furious typing, with each keystroke accompanied by a beep.”

I have now upgraded to Photoshop Magic v8.o and I have to say, it is well…magic!

I had to grab an image and blow up a picture of someone that had walked by our office and their thoughts had altered the electro-magnetic spectrum in such a way that their unique “thought print” caused a discernible and reproducible shift that allowed us to capture the image in full 8k high resolution.

Who’d uh thought?

You’ll never see me going back to the Photoshop Mortal, ever again.

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Todd Terry] “Google AdWords?”

In your situation, you could find yourself paying for every use of the word “commercials” if you are not careful.

I know people that use Google AdWords quite successfully, but the more obscure the word, the higher the chance your buy will be effective.

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

Let’s see: you complain about the economy and read whom you profess “really” can help you, and I don’t complain about the economy and benefit from what I learn from the writers I cite. That said, I think I’ll stick to the ones that can REALLY help you get your brain wrapped around the Brave New World.

Not to say that your choices are bad, they aren’t. Just a little bit dated is all. And in today’s world, dated is another way of saying “not currently pertinent” — at least not to mere mortals like us.

Lastly, why over the years do you always try to step on the toes of whatever I say, Christopher? It has been this way for years.

Do you enjoy it?

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Mark Suszko] “More plug-ins are excellent stocking stuffers.”

Hot-swappable hard drives also make fabulous stocking stuffers.

Or for someone with really big feet: full fibre-networked drive arrays come in handy when you are befuddled for last minute gift ideas.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Tim Wilson] “You have to respect a man for throwing a 50-year legacy under the bus, hoping to start steering it in the right direction.”

Yes, it was pretty remarkable to see a man who for the last few decades has been what many would argue as being the most powerful man in the world, come clean about the changing face of capitalism, the whole concept of laissez faire — especially in an age of Sovereign Wealth Funds, etc — and how that the changing marketplace is likely to be one in which today’s “entitlement generation” is likely to not only inherit a debt they’ll never be able to repay — but also do it without the internal will or knowledge of how to compete in today’s world.

Now, was that a run-on sentence, or what? ;o)

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

[Ron Lindeboom]

The other day I was talking to our tech director, Abraham, about the changing marketplace and world economy and I mentioned Alan Greenspan’s book, The Age of Turbulence, to him.

Today, I got a call from Abraham that he had his wife order him a copy because he had watched Meet the Press this weekend and Alan Greenspan was on it. He told me that “…he was clearly head and shoulders above the others that were on the show. He knew what was happening in the world and when he talked, it was clear that he was telling you things that you needed to be aware of if you were serious about your future.”

Smart guy, Abraham. It is one of the reasons we hired him.

In contrast, I wonder why people who are in business and think they are serious about their businesses, will not read Greenspan, Kotler, Friedman, Smick, or any of the other economists/futurists who have insights into the changing marketplace in which we all interact.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi