When I saw this picture in the front section of the Post, I thought it was from a Science Fiction movie. It reminded me of the movie Brazil. It is a Volkswagon storage tower in Wolfsburg, Germany. What a fantastic design, not to mention the photographic perspective. Who knew something like this existed? I love learning about something new when I do these postings.
Here’s Rental Car by Beck as a preview to Kick Start your weekend posts on Friday.
How do you celebrate your 21 year old returning home for a few days for spring break? Well after going out to dinner at The Tasting Room, our neighborhood favorite, Piers, Peter and I (all adults) enjoyed the Disney animated movie, Up by Pixar. We loved it. You’re never too old to watch a movie like this. It was funny, with clever wit, had an interesting story line with a masterful unspoken time line in the beginning and the animation is phenomenal. “Even better than a non animated movie,” Piers noted, probably because we were watching it in HD, which I have to say, makes all the difference. (These stills are screen captures so do not reflect the definition.)
I’ve been fascinated with Pixar since they came on the scene. I haven’t seen all their movies but Toy Story was fabulous — so clever in dialogue and animated artwork.
Here’s a great link to learn about Pixar’s creative process. It’s amazing to me that each film takes about 4 - 6 years, way more time than a traditional, non-animated movie. So, in someways, although animation gets the kiddie quotient, it should get the respect it deserves — at least the adults in my household appreciate this film format. Here are previous posts on animation.
Note: At the time of writing this post, little was I aware that Up was up (no pun intended) for an Academy Award for Best Animated feature, and was the favorite to win, as well as being nominated for Best Picture — first time for an animated film to be in this category.
Since, we’re back on the Oscar’s, I just happened to find this link on last year’s nominees’ creative process in their roles for Best Male Actor 2008. I always find this type of information insightful.
A really cool music video to impress you with the song and the film making, Her Morning Elegance, by Oren Lavie. I was so astonished with the number of frames it must have taken to make this movie. Great way to Kick Start the Weekend. Be sure to check out the clever website through the picture link. This song was nominated for a 2010 Grammy in the Best Short Film category. Interesting too that there is a gallery associated with this video.
Seeing this mention of a documentary about “A Man Named Pearl” about Pearl Fryar, a self-taught topiary artist, and a modern-day Edward Scissorhands, got me thinking of the wonderful and magical visits my family and I took to several topiary gardens. Watching the trailer is inspirational, particularly the philosophy of the film, regarding overcoming obstacles. It’s now on my short lists of films to see.
The most recent topiary gardens that we visited was Green Animals Topiary Gardens in Portsmouth Rhode Island, my husband’s home state. We wanted to check out our sons’ sister school, Portsmouth Abbey right down the road, at the time when they were attending St. Anselm’s Abbey School.
Side note: here’s an illustration I did as a gift and thanks to the school before our sons graduated and left St. Anselm’s, a school we still strongly support.
This is the oldest topiary garden in the United States and has somewhat of a cottage style feel in comparison to Ladew Gardens, the other topiary gardens that we last visited in 1994. I think we need to go back. Here are some pictures we took — before the digital age, so I had to search and scan.
The boys, now men in my life:
I love this last picture of my now 17 year old son, Jackson. What a cutie, boy I miss those days….
There is a lot of humor and each garden radiating off the middle fountain/ field has a theme - well worth visiting again and not too far from us, just outside Baltimore, MD.
With the Academy Awards quickly coming up this Sunday, I thought it timely to post this link to Kathryn Bigelow’s creative process. I think she should get Best Director award. The Hurt Locker was wonderfully directed but a disturbing film that explores the persona and emotional toll of a wartime bomb diffuser, staring Jeremy Renner, who’s performance is excellent. We’ve liked his previous acting in 28 Weeks Later and other movies. However, I don’t think this is the best movie. Peter and I are partial to District 9 because it was so unexpected — an odd mix of a documentary format and parody to change your sympathies by the end of the film. It flips itself on its head. Even its website is unusually clever. Avatar is innovative for the technology but has little substance, in my opinion. Finally, I’ve always liked Maggie Gyllenhaal as an actress and person. Although I haven’t seen her performance that earned the Best Actress nomination in Crazy Heart yet, I really enjoyed her acting in Secretary, an offbeat, subversively sexy, yet overlooked film, in that it was shocking for its time. And, the soundtrack is great.
What a brilliant moment it was when Anni Friesinger-Postuma, of Germany, crossed the finish line by “swim sliding” on her belly during the Olympic Womens’ Team Speed Skating event. Peter just happened to turn on the TV right before it happened and we were just shaking our heads in disbelief; however, once we saw it again and realized she had won, for it doesn’t matter how you get across the finish line, we were happy that she won and laughed until we cried. What an historic moment for her that will go down in history as one of those “my most embarrassing moments.” You just have to watch the video; it’s a first. There’s an art to finishing.
I’m going to miss the Winter Olympics. It was a blow out year for the Team USA with an incredible amount of gold medal winnings, but despite this, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching almost every moment that I could.
Not to end on a sad note, but I just learned this news about the passing of Robert McCall, the famous “space” artist, who’s phenomenal work, The Space Mural - A Cosmic View, graces the large six-story wall in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. He was 90 years old and lived to achieve high artistic accomplishments during career as an artist. I was fascinated to learn all that he had don.
I had written an earlier post on Alan Bean, the Moon Artist, who actually was an astronaut turned artist and has amazing artistic talent; however, it is also McCall’s work that I’ve had high regard for whenever I see it at the Air in Space Museum. It’s truly remarkable to see in person. Coincidentally, the way a quote by him ends in this obituary is similar wording I used to end my other post for Slipcovers for Your Walls today….”The future is bright,” indeed. Interesting too how the bomb squad uniform from the Hurt Locker above resembles an astronaut.
Since I did my incredibly long post on the basic how to’s of Internet Networking and how Social Media can benefit your business, I’ll just do add a transitional link to another interesting article. This one discusses: the computer age technology (”Big Design”); how, “the digital revolution has expanded the universe of design;” and art vs. design in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Businesswoman. Fitting since my business group is all women.
Also, since I’m working overtime this week on a backlog of commissions due to the snow lag, here’s another link to a very interesting blog/ book by James Gurney, the author of Dinotopia, regarding Imaginative Realism and How to Paint What Doesn’t Exist. This describes his creative process. I just added his very informative blog Gurney Journey, btw to my Blogroll. I’m very inspired by his work because I am as I call it a “visual artist” — I draw what I see. I use photo references all the time. Trust me, you do not want me as your Pictionary partner.
Giving the imaginary and monsters some credibility, how could I not post this? Now, I’m going to be looking over my shoulder when I ride the Metro.
A little appropriate music to Kick-Start your Weekend:
Social Media is related to art for me because it is how I discover new avenues in which to write about things in my blogs, meet others and in doing so, help promote my business.
I hosted the EWES (Enterprising Women Entrepreneurs) — my business group last week. It had been rescheduled due to the snow. The fact that we had a large group despite the inconvenient travel means (the snow pile up is still limiting parking on my street) is a testament to how traditional networking is important and maybe folks were just going stir crazy being housebound. I didn’t fully count but there was a large group (for my house) of talented ladies in attendance, including Mary Douglas Drysdale and Jennifer Sergent (DC by Design), both of whom had not been to my home before so I was trying to be more tidy than usual.
After the introductions, where there was a lot of valuable feedback for what everyone was doing, there was limited time for me to give my talk on Internet Networking: Social Media and How it Can Help Your Business. Fortunately, I had notes and here they are summarized. Hopefully they will be a useful foundation to follow + in posting them here, this article also helps to link all of these avenues together. Making the connection is important. I will continue to update as we add more links.
Initial Steps to Internet Social Networking & Web Presence for Business:
• Think every bit of printed marketing material can go digital– Static (becomes) => Dynamic
• Actual physical presence through networking events => Social Online Media
It’s all about sharing, discovery, learning from others –>exposure
1) Business card=> website & pic wk portfolio, customer reviews > direct contact
2) Meet & Greet & Cocktail parties => Facebook Fan Page
3) Resume => Linkedin (professional Facebook)
4) Twitter for business (see below) — like blogging on speed
5) YouTube — way to be personal & instruct. demos — post your work in action
Within each of these TOP 5 online social media outlets, are tips for better social interaction, exposure, and larger marketing pools than just present physical networking provides.
––Using my website, blog, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. as an example for all these points below—-
1) Website (www.casartcoverings.com) + (www.ashley-spencer.com)
• Google Services: Profile*, Local, Merchant Center, AdWords, AdSense, Alerts
• Google Analytics — tracking and monitoring and SEO (search engine optimization => getting known on the Internet and getting first search ranking)
Slipcovers for Your Walls Blog (casartcoverings.com/casartblog)
• Blog — makes your rather static website even more dynamic with a minimum of 3 posts or more a week to substantially drive and increase traffic to your site. This takes time and commitment, so don’t jump in unless you’re willing to do the research & commit.
* Brand yourself with a favicon that shows up in the browser url icon (ours is a our blue butterfly)
• Tracking Plugins: Sitemeter, Alexa, Technorati, Blog Catalog (Blog Rankings), BlogTopSites — further track and help you monitor dynamic blog and increase SEO and help you get found through internal searches.
• RSS feed so people can subscribe and also email subscription box
• Links to other blogs (Blogroll) + within posts thru text and pictures
• Use Trackbacks w/in each post to let others know you’ve linked them
• Comment on other blogs (using your blog url and website email)
• Link Within installs software to link each posts to visuals of other posts
• Sociable = icons or widget/ buttons that folks can click on to tag/post to be recognized on other Social Networking Sites (too many to list: StumbleUpon, Delicious, Kaboodle, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Digg, Reddit, Sphinn, Newsvine, Mixx, YahooBuzz, …..over 95+
• Google Friend Connect — *uses a gravatar (avatar icon) to visibly follow blogs, get noticed, see who others are following, follow them; they will follow you
• eBlogger account + others to show your gravatar (visual) when commenting
Being in the Interior Design Market we’ve also joined /added these Social Networking sites:
• Houzz — Flicker for Interior Design Fanatics
• Curbly — DIY
• Yelp — kinda like Angie’s List for nationwide businesses
• Sample Board Online and Kaboodle — both allow interactive style boards and product tagging
• Kudzu — like an Angies’s list for the home merchant market
• ApartmentTherapy.com — Interior Design Commentary covering 6 markets:
• Decorati — for Interior Designer match ups
• Design Bump — bookmarking site for design
• HomePros — yelp + decorati
• Stylehive — Connecting Stylish people with Home & Fashion
Note: through my ArtIsEverywhere blog for www.ashley-spencer.com/ArtIsEverywhere/:
• a marketing co. in Chicago wants to hire me as their art agent for series of upcoming events for their hip client. Who knew they’ve been reading my posts?
• A lifestyle writer has contacted me to be a part of her book on murals.
2) Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/casartcoverings)
Our Group Page, on the other hand is fine but is outdated because we were primarily using our (FB) Fan Page for recent news: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57790034921&ref=ts
• Need to have an account and personal and/ or business Page in order to administrate site. My sister, Casart coverings partner and Marketing Coordinator, set this up through her account and business page. I do not manage this, as I do not have a Facebook account. (There is just so much one person can do.)
• Where most folks will find you beyond Internet searches & Google
• Doing this allows anyone to become your “fan” and follow your posts
• The more fans the more popular and more people want to fan you
• Typically this is reciprocal — scratching each other’s backs
• Post photos and blog mentions + Twitter automatically — in one click–>Facebook
• When you fan other entities — all shelter magazines, you’ll hear news here 1st
• Way to get their updates and yours to them, as Facebook updates regularly
How to do it:
-Develop a FB Page NOT a Group. You want Fans not Members.
-A Page will allow fans a Group will not
-Suggest your Page to ALL of your friends
-Ask them to do the same with their friends
-Post as many pics as possible — visuals draw & keep interest.
-Fan other pages through your Page and they might reciprocate
-Respond to all comments left on your page => fans like this interaction
-Link your FB account to your Twitter account.
-Anything you post on FB gets tweeted => and saves time (Applications>Pages)
-Place an Ad on FB
-If possible use the gravatar/ icons for each social network. These visuals stand out + brand.
3) Linkedin
http://www.linkedin.com/companies/casart-coverings-llc
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyspencer
• Professional version of Facebook
• Create Individual and a Company profile
• Post job experience on personal page, make public (excludes contacts)
• Area to post what you’re working on + Facebook, Blog + Twitter posts
• Updates get sent to all contacts weekly
• Connect with others you know, get introduced to their contacts
• Search for others in your field
• Search and learn about companies
• Search and post jobs
• Join groups through other contacts’ info and searches and comment in & follow forum discussions — this has been the most beneficial resource. Through it, and requests to link, I’ve been connected to a wallpaper rep and distributor.
• We had a surge in our website traffic recently due to 2 discussions, one on Architects & Interior Designers asking, “What part of the Design Industry are you in?” This thread was started in 2008 and has over 350 responses, all responses that I can search for marketing and since I posted, they now know about us. 2nd discussion on Interior Design asked if anyone was using Twitter to post their links so we could all follow one another, which we are doing 77 comments in 2 months and still going strong. I get notices when anyone posts something new. I send these to my sister who follows them on Twitter and Facebook and is able to review their contacts through these vehicles.
4) Twitter (http://twitter.com/casartcoverings)
• Allows you to “tweet” short phrases & links to bring attention to your business
• You can “follow” numerous others and they can follow you — bringing popularity and curiosity and exposure to your business.
• You can tweet others, even those you may not know by commenting on their posts. This is a less formal way to get introduced, directly.
• You get up-to-the-minute mentions of others are doing — important for us learning about what is going on with magazines and designers. It’s the “inside scoop” to what may have been otherwise a private email or phone conversation between parties “in the know.”
• These tweets can be set up automatically so they are 16 character teasers to your blog, which then gets folks to your website.
How to do it:
-Sign up for an account
-Tweet at least every other day
-Post urls (website addresses: http://….)
-Follow many and they might reciprocate
-Don’t tweet meaningless things - followers will drop you
-Try and use your actual brand name in your tweets
-Retweet something that you like.
-This tweets another tweet that your followers would like to see.
-Accept ALL followers except those that are clearly not in your industry or are in the Porn industry.
-Some follow just for numbers so be wary
5) YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/CasartCoverings)
• Even bigger now that Google took it over
• Where folks go to learn and or be entertained
• Film and post demonstrations, interviews, humor — things to help explain and personalize your business.
• Folks will see in a search + put link on website
• Folks can comment on what they see and rate your videos if you choose
– option to review before these are posted
• Tracking to see how many folks watch, their dynamic (by what the watch) & from what location they watch your video — all helps with marketing
A few other social networking sites to mention/ how they work:
Good overview explanation video: http://socialcreeper.com/
1) Wikipedia & WikiAnswers — we answer questions and this gives our url link exposure
2) Issuu — interactive catalog viewing of files. We have used on our Press page where folks can comment/rate and bookmark for others to see.
3) Delicious — interactive bookmarking site:
4) Stumble Upon — works the same way but for any media and a great way to “stumble upon” new discoveries based on what you find and like in your tagged items and subjects of interest. Can connect with others this way as well
5) email circulation and eNewsletters can be shared. Use your website+ as your signature
7) Google Buzz w/gmail = their version of Facebook. Like twitter w/followers
8. Surveys can be posted and encourage participation (survey monkey)
9) Digg — social bookmarking site
For my art business, I use:
1) ArtSpace through FauxForum = Like MySpace for artists
2) Photobucket = Sharing photo site and way to post these on ArtSpace
3) Slide.com = Videos from photos and to post on Artspace and share
Photos:
1) Picasa (Google based)
2) Flickr
Music:
1) MyFlashFetish — to search and add songs and share with others if you wish
2) SingingFish — same as above, another search vehicle and can post on ArtSpace
3) Fileden — has free storage for these MP3’s and feeds into ArtSpace
4) LastFM — great way to locate new music based on what others are finding
5) Pandora — another social media site for music lovers
Literary:
1) LibraryThing.com — way to save and share books
2) Amazon.com — writing reviews gains you exposure
3) Google Reader
Other Resources:
1)Social Media Tools 101: http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/socialmediabeginnersguide/social-media-tools-101/
2) About.com (blogging section)
3) ProBlogger.net
4) Consider using Social Creeper — catch all for social media management.
© C. Ashley Spencer
Check results by googling Casart, Casart Coverings ArtIsEverywhere, Ashley Spencer (not the porn star or actress) :-0 !
Feedback is welcome. Have a blog?, please comment.
Note: With all these measures, our website traffic has increased over 75%. Hey, we’re patting ourselves on the back because we did all this without a marketing company. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but you can do it too. It makes marketing fun and a way to meet new people and learn new things. Discovery happens daily.
I wish I was a food writer so I could describe the most incredibly delectable meal my husband and I experienced at CityZen at the Mandarin Hotel. It was pure food-as-art perfection, even with the sea urchin, which I can happily say I’ve braved that but won’t be having again. What Chef Eric Ziebold did with it was extraordinary, serving it with a garlic flavored flan that was divine, but even though it looked cooked, the texture was so slimy that I thought I had eaten something on the Survivor challenge and passed. When discussing this with our waitress, it was confirmed that we should have chopped it up and mixed it in with the flan. Well, now I know but no next time. Despite this, the entire dining experience was exceptional from ambiance, to delicious food and wine pairings, to outstanding wait staff and service to even the music. I couldn’t believe they were playing Raidohead, a band Peter and I find so personal we just looked at each other and toasted. Someone in the kitchen really knows their food and music and had a great iPod playlist for us all to enjoy.
We had taken our son, Piers, to Sou’Wester, Ziebold’s other restaurant to celebrate his 21st birthday. It was kind of surreal that he could order a cocktail with us. The food was good there too but being from New Orleans, I’m a pretty big critic regarding “Southern” food and it didn’t quite past muster with me. Granted they were only a week old at the time and Ziebold’s Midwestern roots may have explained a lot. We could see CityZen through the glass doorway, since the two restaurants shared the same restroom facilities. We had been longing to go there for a while.
We finally dined there this past Friday. When we arrived a signed birthday card from the chef and all the staff was waiting for me at the table, which happened to be the best seat in the house — around the corner from the main dining room, in the wine alcove. There were only a few other parties so it was pretty private. The birthday card was a nice touch because it wasn’t over the top or embarrassing. We had a choice of the Tasting Menu or the A la Carte Dinner Menu. It was a hard choice and honestly that sea urchin for the first course almost made me choose the other side, but I’m so glad we went with the Tasting Menu and the Wine Pairing — a pretty penny — almost as much as Citronelle where we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary and we figured we were spending about $100 an hour! Ouch, but both of these are so worth it. If you have an opportunity to celebrate a special occasion, please consider CityZen, for it will be one of those meals you will always remember. No wonder, CityZen never fails to have the highest rating on the annual restaurant guide and is considered one of the best dining experiences in the entire DC area. I wholeheartedly agree.
When we left, they had the Tasting Menu and Wine Pairing lists packaged for me in an envelope so I can always remember. They must have known I treasure these things for the memories they bring.
This has been a three day unexpected blitz of a birthday. My drinking buddy girlfriends took me out Thursday at Cheestique. A fun neighborhood place we like, with it’s hip bar area in the back, beyond the deli style cheese case and the gourmet shop in front. Luckily, my friend Patsie got confused and thought my birthday was on the 18th (hey, this happens when you get older, we just toasted to it), and Peter and I went out Friday with good friends before having a fabulous meal, and then out again for lower-key, comfort food with more friends on Saturday. I view these get-togethers as bountiful presents, enhancing my extended celebration. Honestly, if I didn’t have such great friends and a loving husband and family, I probably would have forgotten my birthday but I guess it’s worth celebrating the big ones every five years.
Coincidentally, as I was going through mounds of papers to throw away, before my business group descended upon my house last Thursday, I came across this beautiful painted cake by Kendall. I looked at the name again, and realized I had been saving this clipping for over a year and Kendall is my good friend, Liza’s cousin. I’ll have to try one of her cakes, although this one looks too good to eat, like ruining a Chagall masterpiece.
I should mention a bit of icing that topped off my birthday. Since I’m going backwards in my description, the day started with a blog posting by Jennifer Sergent in DC by Design about my business group meeting and Casart coverings. Many thanks, Jennifer, that was a great post! I’ll be writing about this on Wednesday.
I was so excited to see this photo below in Traditional Home’s March issue. I had written about David Trubridge’s Geometric Spheres before and I was happy to see them being used as lighting fixtures in Barry Dixon’s latest Greenspace, interior design project. It was a design show house that took place in McLean, VA that I didn’t get a chance to see, so I’m really glad to read about it here. I’m always struck by ways art can combine with design, for I think the two are integrable. This is a good example. Look how David Trubridge’s light fixture stands out in Dixon’s décor as a central, almost sculptural art piece.
I’ve written about Barry Dixon’s designs before and on Slipcovers for Your Walls, as he’s been one of my favorite interior designers, along with a few others that I follow.
Since today is my birthday, I thought I’d post one more nice looking art and design example that we might see everyday but overlook in magazine ads. This is one nice shirt! 
I’m going to eat my birthday cake with a Spoon (by Cibo Matto) to Kick-Start your weekend.
This snowman that my husband built, maybe the last of the season, looks like she’s dancing!
Alright Mardi Gras is over :( However, I’m having two different King Cakes that were delivered, yes, in the blizzard (kudos to Fedex and UPS, not the regular mail) on this Thursday that I rescheduled to host my entrepreneurial group. I just have to linger with one more Mardi Gras thing. I would be remiss if I did not mention Muses — the Krewe (organized group of masked revelers in New Orleans speak) that does a great spoof on current events, politics and politicians as well as their native city. If you click their link it will take you to all of their float designs that were in this year’s parade. The theme was Muses Night Fever. Here’s a little sneak peak below, but you’ll recognize these classic favorites like: “Take a Chance on Me,” “Upside Down,” “Fema,” That’s the Way I Like it,” and ” Leak Out”– just to name a few….Wait a minute, I’m starting to sound like Ryan and Colin of “Who’s Line is it Anyway’s Greatest Hits.” (that show was a blast)…Back to Muses, I think they are a riot and have very clever, poetic and sometimes hard hitting and even vulgar lyrics that seem appropriate. They bring a sense of humor to even the most unlaughable situations — that seems to be the New Orleans’ way and culture:
They even have one called, “Skunky Town,” for Sydney Del Torres, New Orleans’ famous Trashman. BTW, I grinned and beared the opening show on TLC. Sad to say, I don’t think it is gonna last long.
Linking back to last Wednesday’s post on the Super Bowl Ad, which is what I used to watch the Super Bowl for — up until the Saints; there was a special on CBS on Sunday on the best Super Bowl ads of the last 10 years. Here’s the review: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6205091n&tag=api. Some are funny, but I remember funnier ones than these. Do you?
