TO FACEBOOK OR NOT TO FACEBOOK ... THAT IS THE QUESTION

Funny, there are social misfits throughout history. Those today are defined by militantly not using Facebook. You're missing out folks.

This Associated Press article from today profiles some of those anti-Facebook holdouts. :

http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-grows-millions-no-thanks-073535378--finance.html

You don't have to reveal anything except your name to Facebook if you don't want to, nor do you have to accept friend requests or private messages.

Heck, even my 85 year-old Father uses Facebook and loves it's able to connect him to news organizations, magazines, special interest groups, new ideas, institutions and hobbyists around the world. Just like I do.

That's why I like Facebook. It's another great library to use, IF you use it to it's fullest. I also get professional work through my Facebook connections and have met people all over the world that I never would have met or befriended.

The ability to more easily stay in touch with family and friends - even long-lost friends and acquaintances - using photographs, videos and text, are another superb strength of Facebook I believe. Those people who don't like Facebook just don't like people or socializing. I think that is at the core of their Facebook phobia.

Like anything, Facebook can be abused and can monopolize your time if you let it. Don't. It's a wonderful resource for our modern age.

I have a few Facebook pages; Personal as well as professional. Please check them out. I'm friendly and won't bite. :)

Visit our new web video production and SEO subsidiary Bizzy Tube:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bizzy-Tube-Viral-Videos-TV-For-The-Web/309264322421299

I would like to invite you to join my Atlanta Video & Film Production Professionals page here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlanta-Video-Film-Production-Professionals/126713170694533

Or my Southern Video & Film Production Professionals page, which is aimed at TV, video and movie production folks outside of Georgia throughout the southern USA, or those interested in production work in this part of the USA.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Southern-Video-Film-Production-Professionals/119598211452314

If you have an interest in filmmaking and television production in North Carolina, please join NORTH CAROLINA FILMMAKERS.

Porter Versfelt III / Versfelt Communications Group Atlanta - Administrator

http://www.facebook.com/groups/42948068170/

Or "like" VCGTV's company Facebook page here to keep up with what Versfelt Communications Group is doing and interesting commentary and news articles about using video for PR, marketing, advertising, etc.:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Versfelt-Communications-Group/129162750441165?ref=mf

Oh, and I "tweet" as well about the TV and movie industries - creative, production, technical, financial and distribution - web video production, advertising, marketing, journalism and developments with the general media today. 

See my Twitter page at: http://twitter.com/#!/vcgtv

Attention To Detail

Attention to detail.

You learned it in school.

Your grandfather taught you about attention to detail in his workshop.

You learned about it the hard way when your college professor gave your A+ term paper a "D" because of its many typos.

Attention To Detail is a core belief and central part of our culture here at Versfelt Communications Group.

At other television public relations agencies ... not so much.

Google Chrome is a big deal. It certainly was for Google, but its ad agency didn't pay full attention to detail in this 2011 full-page print ad for Google Chrome in the New York Times.

Look at how Chrome is spelled where the ad states "Download Google Chome" ... what ? !

The agency misspelled it's client's name!

We see this happening more often today than in decades past. But not in our shop. Not on our watch.

At Versfelt Communications Group, we pay attention to detail.

http://www.businessinsider.com/huge-typo-in-googles-campaign-for-the-chrome-browser-2012-4?nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Advertising+Select&utm_campaign=Advertising+Select+Mondays+2012-04-16

Did you know John Schneider starred in the recently released movie OCTOBER BABY?

Good for John, and standing up for being Christian. That's tough to do in Hollywood.

Great interview with The Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-schneider-christian-films-pro-life-dukes-hazzard-306023

The anti-Christian viewpoint in Hollywood is endemic and the worst kind of blacklist. I know, I work there and have seen and experienced this often. It's tough to be conservative as well.

On a lighter note, Schneider said about the DUKES OF HAZARD movie:

"The only thing they got right was the color of the car".

Please Support Political Cartooning

I have enjoyed the political cartoons from the very talented A.F. Branco over the last year or so. I believe that, no matter what your political leanings or beliefs are, it is healthy for Americans to laugh at ourselves, and perhaps think a little more deeply about important national issues. This is why political cartoons are so valuable to the public discussion.

If you can help spread the word about his work, advertise on his web site or encourage your local newspaper to publish his cartoons that would be wonderful, thank you.

Porter Versfelt III




This message is from A.F. Branco:

"Dear Friends

First of all thank you for sharing my Political cartoons and your thoughts. It has been an honor to serve with you as a fellow patriot.

For approximately 2 years I've devoted my self passionately (Full Time) to getting the conservative message out through my cartoon art work for little to no income at all. Although I originally didn't do this for the money or to retire wealthy to an island somewhere in the Bahamas, I had hoped at some point I could turn this into enough financially that it would allow me to continue my passion into the future, but hard times have hit us all.

I'm a better artist than I am a Businessman. but for the next few days I'm going to try to sell myself a little better so that I can stay in the game. The next few weeks will decide my political cartoon fate.

(THIS IS WHERE I COULD USE YOUR HELP) I'm going to start selling add space at the bottom of each cartoon, and increase local and national news paper subscribers. (Subscribers will not have the add on their cartoon).

If you like the cartoons please contact your local NEWS PAPER and ask that they subscribe to A.F.Branco's cartoons at

If you know someone who would like to run an ad at the bottom of my cartoon viewed by thousand daily, please have them contact me at

Your participation will be very appreciated and may determine if I can continue in the future

Thank you.

A.F.Branco"

Spike Lee Is A Vindictive Moron - There, I said It

Spike Lee should be prosecuted for making this poor couple's life miserable and full of fear because of his tweet.

Spike, there ARE consequences for mindless, vindictive and moronic acts such as yours.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/spike-lee-zimmerman-tweet-567891

UPDATE:

As of Thursday, 29 March 2012, Spike Lee has made an undisclosed financial settlement with Elaine McClain and her husband David.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/spike-lee-settles-twitter-mcclain-address-trayvon-martin-george-zimmerman-306315

Finally, Spike Lee did the RIGHT thing.

CBS News:

The Blaze: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/spike-lee-reaches-settlement-with-elderly-couple-after-retweeting-wrong-address/

Washington Post:

Associated Press (AP):

MAD MEN - A Show About "Nothing"?

I have finished watching the season opener for MAD MEN on my DVR and I give it a solid three thumbs up. :)

A friend posted on Facebook tonight that the show "is about nothing and nothing ever happens". Really? Have we been watching the same TV series for all of these years?

Gosh, MAD MEN is a social commentary on an era gone by, a time when Madison Avenue created things that didn't exist, a time contrasting so much from today when anything goes, there are few social or cultural standards and people once dressed up just to leave the house.

It's about people and their foibles and watching this we know we haven't changed much in 50 years.

The show is about secrets and betrayal and love and lust and all of those things that have made good drama since "cave men" told stories around a camp fire and made hand puppet shadows on a cave rock wall.

MAN MEN is brilliantly written, directed and full of nuance. SEINFELD is a show "about nothing". ;)

http://www.amctv.com/shows/mad-men

Living The Data Intense Life, Or Hardly Living?

It is Saturday night and my wife and I are babysitting two of our grandchildren, so I don't have time to write a full and well-reasoned blog post. That is why I give you this link to an excellent essay on modern-day data distraction, with more personal commentary to come later.

http://blog.commonflame.org/battling-distraction/


We all are increasingly accosted by data and information via smart phones, TV, Internet web site advertising, blogs, news stories, radio, movies, tweets, text messages, IM's, etc. I am a huge consumer of information and love the Internet for that purpose. I am very guilty of consuming information most of the time. I did the same before the Internet as an avid (and continue to be ) book and magazine reader. But we can go too far in our consumption and I am learning that my life and work are much more creative, productive and less stressful by controlling that data stream into my brain better.

This is why so many Americans have sleeping problems and frequent headaches. We are always (or nearly so) consuming data during a typical day, even on weekends.

I urge you to take stock of your life and think about what you value most. I vote for God, family and friends in that order. News and information have their places, but in smaller, better-organized and scheduled chunks than we have now.

I don't stand around with my face glued to a smart phone when idle in public - say, in a grocery store checkout line or waiting between meetings - or when visiting family. I know so many people who do this. I find it rude, and sad. I think about what those folks are missing.

I talk to people, have conversations, watch the birds and the clouds, laugh at children playing and learning. The world God gave us is the most entertaining and informative data there is. I have found enjoying that first, and taking in electronic-distributed information in smaller, controlled doses, is the best pathway to a longer, less-stressed and happier life, both professional and personal.

This has been on my mind this afternoon and evening as I have played with toddlers and dogs outdoors in the beautiful Spring weather. Feeling the breeze on my skin, laughing at childhood discovery, having a conversation with my three year old granddaughter sitting on my lap. This is what life is all about. There is plenty of time to pack our brains with even more data. Times and experiences like these come first.

Links to writing about data overload and distraction as cited in the Common Flame blog:

Sharon Begley writing for Newsweek ... http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/02/27/i-can-t-think.html

Jimi Jones on productivity and setting deadlines in order to relieve stress: http://jimijones.com/productivity/productivity-the-importance-of-setting-deadlines/

Finally, this Bible passage which is among my favourite guides for living life. In essence, there is a right time for doing everything in our lives, just not all at once. :)

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

1 There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

2 -8 A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.