WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: It doesn’t matter if or how – just go do it. If you have that creative urge within you but you don’t know how to get started – just. go. create. Watch Mr. Rodriguez explain how to be a filmmaker. Don’t want to be one – you already are one. Brilliant. (Film is a little grainy but you’ll get the point).
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE: The medium that has an average viewing age of 51 just might not die after all due to merging online media culture with the TV viewing experience. Adapting new models in order to survive. Media evolution. Have to love it. Enjoy the read.
Maybe Television isn’t dead.
There are so many examples reflecting how these two mediums are converging and quite frankly – I LOVE IT!!!
There’s MTV’s first ever TJ – Twitter Jockey which was a show on MTV were @gabifresh won the new job and $100,000.00 salary. $100,000 to Tweet? Anyways.
Then there’s Comedy Central’s success of Tosh 2.0 where comedian Daniel Tosh stands in front of a green screen and deconstructs the latest nuttiness videos on the Internet. This is a hit for Comedy Central because it’s uber cheap to shoot (I mean – uber cheap) and is perfectly suited for the male 18-34 demo. The show is most watched program on Wednesday nights within that age group. Success!
The online media-tv hybrid model has been such a success for Comedy Central that they are going to take a crack at it with Dwyanebook – a show that is entirely about social media and adopts the same programming model as Tosh 2.0.
What I find the most fascinating is how computer usage goes up during certain TV programs – especially major hit shows and tentpole specials such as the Super Bowl and Academy Awards. Data shows people are going on to their computers to chat and engage with other content while watching these programs. There was an increase in computer usage from 2009 in 2010 during both the Super Bowl and Academy Awards. Thus, this is creating a different type of water cooler effect – one that doesn’t have to wait until the next day at the office but happens live – on the moment – as the program is happening.
This presents such an interesting opportunity for marketers. As this 360i blog posting mentioned:
This means marketers can reach consumers through two separate media simultaneously, creating a richer and deeper single brand experience. Brands like MTV, Bravo and MLB are leading the way in this new era of television – and you can be sure others will soon follow suit should the opportunities be right for their programming.
Interesting times indeed. Endless opportunities to change the TV format model and make the television experience that much more engaging, creative and quite frankly – new.
I originally started out the Pay Homage series to pay dedication to fallen creative warriors such as the recent posting paying respects to Dennis Hopper. Then the series morphed into a feature that can also honor the greats that are living among us.
The amazing creative warriors we honor today are The Roots! Questlove, Black Thought, Kamal Gray and fam – they bring the heat!
Some fast facts:
CLICK ON ALBUM COVER FOR AMAZON
Recently the Roots dropped their 11th album, How I Got Over. I can’t lie – some of their recent albums have disappointed. This album just made up for all those disappointments. This is a hip-hop album that is unlike any you will hear today. Some already are saying and I must agree How I Got Over will go down as the album of the year.
On How I Got Over the Roots does so many things right. The beats are modern yet a little old school at the same time – jazzy hip-hop. They don’t explicitly tell a story but indirectly through the beats, track selection and message within their lyrics a story is being told and if you listen you might think about life in a different way. The album is filled with a lot of honest commentary about being someone in these times and about hip-hop. It’s not on the surface but if you give yourself a little time, pay a little attention and play the album from start to finish you might see what I am talking about.
Thank you Questlove, Black Thought and the rest of the Roots crew. You guys are amazing and I sincerely appreciate your work. Keep making real music and keep showing us how it’s done the right way.
And readers – if you do not know who the Roots crew – even if you are not a hip-hop fan – go out and buy this album. It will help you see something new.
If you want to give the album a peep – click here to give a listen on MKaps Playground.
Some fam have been asking me what’s been going down in NYC lately. It’s been a minute since I put up a photo update – so here it goes. Enjoy!
“All the essentials of humanities artistic treasures can be found in New York” – Claude Levi Strauss
She won me over.
Rolled out with my LA transplant homies – Kelle Kellz and Slammin’ Sammie on an amazing Saturday.
Inspired by Picasso. Portrait of an old man.
Inspired by her beauty.
Met the hysterical Kelly Samardak (she took photo) and brilliant Kyle Studstill at Digital Dumbo. I was in heaven. These people are MY people.
Saw Die Antwoord. If you don’t know then click here and enjoy.
Met the lovely Courtney B. Myers at the Catchafire event. Also met the Catchafire team (LOVE THEM) and I’m now helping Cool Culture with their social media strategy. Stay tuned – more to come on this front! (By the way, if you can’t tell – we were dying from heat exhaustion in there but made it.)
And just remember – L O V E is all around. More adventures to come.