by Mindy Aronoff, Director of Training & Resources
1. Orange is still in.
2. Carol Burnett is from Austin.
3. Teachers, nurses and librarians are called “pink collar workers.”
4. Missy Elliot wouldn’t stop eating the chips in the killer interactive commercial for Doritos that Blacklake Productions made.
5. TMZ.com gets 7 million page views a day and took 11 months to become profitable — Alan Citron, General Manager
6. “You can climb to heaven on the back of your enemy’s corpse”– Lane Becker, Get Satisfaction
7. “Lost is the best thing on television outside the box. The Wire is the best thing on television in the box”– Steven Johnson
8. Buffalo meat “Slim Jims” are considered shwag in Texas.
9. “Fifty-seven per cent of young people make media. That means that 40% of kids are not making media.” [in support of diverse communities] — Henry Jenkins
10. “Twitter has made gossip more efficient. Men use it because it allows them to gossip without looking anyone in the eye.” — Owen Thomas, Valleywag
March 11, 2008
by Alicia Schmidt, Marketing Strategist
Lots of folks told me that they were skipping SXSW this year cause they feared it had grown into a corporate promotional tool that sucks the life out of Austin for two weeks. Truthfully, I can’t speak to that . . . but I did keep it in mind as I flew into Austin on Friday afternoon for the 2008 SXSW festival.
Saturday, I woke up to sunny, 32 degree weather and started my SXSW day with Catching Up With Accessibility, a panel primer for making websites more accessible for folks including: people with disabilities, seniors, people with low literacy, english as a second language users, low-bandwidth users, and infrequent internet users. Of course, the techniques also benefit users on mobile devices (hello, iPhone?) and other non-traditional Internet devices.
Okay, so maybe this isn’t the sexy SXSW story you were hoping I would start with, but the techniques for making websites more accessible are pretty cheap and easy and the presenter kept referring to a nonprofit website as an example of just how inaccessible a website can be (i.e. ironically, nonprofits and other DIY sites are often the worse offenders in terms of accessibility). Anyway, there are some simple techniques that you can implement including using alternative text for images, marking headers, paragraphs and lists, naming links (rather than using the ubiquitous “click here”), not using mouse only commands, etc. The World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) has a special Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) that has been working to develop accepted accessibility standards. View the WAI guidelines here.
BAVC will be relaunching our website later this spring and we have made a commitment to using a web standards approach, including implementing most of the WAI techniques. (more…)
March 9, 2008
by Alicia Schmidt, Marketing Strategist
BAVC is pleased to welcome Naomi Kawamura, our new Associate Director of Next Gen programs. Naomi will be working with the Next Gen Director to set strategic direction and priorities for Next Generation Programs, and manage the implementation of programs and program improvements. Noami has a Masters Degree in Education and nearly ten years of experience working with youth in diverse art and social service organizations. Most recently, Naomi was the Director of School Programs at the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) in Oakland. And prior to that, she served as the Director of Education and Community Programs at the Richmond Art Center. Oh, and she is a sculptor too with an undergrad degree in fine arts. Here comes the newbie hazing . . .
1. The story of your life starts out with which 10 words?
She was on Kawamura time and arrived later than expected.
2. Do you know your astrological sign? What is it?
Yup - I am a Taurus.
3. How do you take your coffee?
With a little bit of cream and a little bit of sugar.
4. Name two things you believe in.
Spirits in nature. My mama.
5. What’s the last song/movie you paid money for?
Bad Plus.
6. Who would play you in the BAVC movie and why?
Bruce Lee. Not a lot of Japanese-American actors out there. Might as well choose him.
7. Most embarrassing job?
House painter.
8. What snacks do you eat at the movies?
Sour Patch Kids.
9. What are you most likely to be doing at 9pm on a Thursday?
Jazz show.
10. What are you looking forward to most in your new job at BAVC?
Bringing my new pet dog to work!
March 5, 2008
By Carol Varney, Director of Development
A few months ago, my friend Matthew asked to see my apartment. No, it wasn’t like that. He was scouting
locations for MILK, a film about the life and death of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn. Unfortunately, my apartment didn’t make the 70’s cut, but it did give me a chance to reconnect with Matthew and ask him a few questions about his current assignment which he gracefully answered in between shoots.
How did you start working as a location scout?
I currently work some as a location scout - and more as a location manager. Location scouting (finding and taking pictures of possible locations in the script) definitely is part of my job, but again, I’ve been managing much more in my career than scouting.
My first big break into the film business was as an assistant to a producer on the Penelope Cruz film “Woman On Top”. A couple years later a Sean Penn film “The Assassination of Richard Nixon” was prepping in the East Bay, and I knew the location manager on that film because she previously worked as the location manager on “Woman On Top.” I was anxious and determined to get continuous work in the industry, and they were looking for assistants in the locations department, and I got the job because she remembered me (and is friends with the producer) from “Woman On Top.” Again, a lot of it is who you know and if you work hard on the job. People remember you.
What are you doing now? How did you end up working on the MILK movie?
I’m currently working as the key assistant location manager on the movie “MILK” - a movie about the life, political ascension, and assassination of the late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. My current manager, Jonathan Shedd, with whom I’ve worked for the past few projects for TV and film, asked me if I wanted to do
it, and I said “hell yeah!”. (more…)
March 3, 2008
1. Orange is still in.
