The Disposable Film Festival 2012 hits NXNE
Disposable Film Festival 2012 Official Trailer – Make Some Magic from Disposable Film Festival on Vimeo.
Likely one of the best things I discovered at NXNE last year was the Disposable Film Festival. This is happening again this year. Come, you’ll love it!
Tuesday, June 12th, 8PM
National Film Board
150 John Street, Toronto
Focusing on a new Career and Ford Canada.
When I started blogging 12 years ago, I couldn’t have imagined how many doors it would open. I never would have guessed it would lead me to creating a network of not simply readers, but an ever growing circle of friends and loved ones. I couldn’t fathom that it would take me on the road to becoming a freelance photographer, where I could grow and share my creative talents. Most of all, I never would have believed this journey would finally land me a career where I would be doing social media for a living; blogging, tweeting and sharing. But here I am, typing on a Macbook Pro in the trenches of agency life doing something as simple as writing a blog post.
It was almost three months ago when I got the call that changed everything. It was a call from Mark McKay asking if I was open to working full time. I had hinted to Mark last summer that a career change was on my mind, but what kind of job that would be was still unclear for me. The only thing I did know was that I needed a change in my life, more stability. What the offer ended up becoming was a full time position working for Sonic Boom, in social media with their client, Ford Canada. I was floored by the offer and totally up for the challenge. I felt truly blessed that Mark and the Sonic Boom team had put their faith in me and my abilities, especially without any agency experience. I quickly learned.
The last couple of months have been a frenzy of work, settling into a 9 to 5, rattling my head around twitter, facebook and a whole slew of other social platforms, not for myself, but for a huge automotive brand. It has been a lot of extra hours. It’s been a trip to Ottawa for the Ottawa-Gatineau International Auto Show. It’s been a lot of training on various third party apps that do a variety of things, from publishing, analytics and monitoring. Most of all it’s been a ton of fun and highly educational. The best part of course is the fact that things are finally taking shape in a way where others can see them. For me, that means taking an active role in the successful launch of the Ford Blog, Ford Canada on Facebook, and Further Proof campaign. Yeah, saying we have been busy is a bit of a understatement, but it’s been a satisfying experience all-around.
The crazy thing is that this is merely the beginning. I’m stoked.
PHJOSHUA ON SPORTS – COLBY RASMUS, QUIET SUPERSTAR IN THE MAKING
“I just see the ball and run and try to catch it. I’ve been running and catching baseballs since I could walk…”
That’s what Toronto Blue Jay, Colby Rasmus told the Toronto Star and I know exactly what he means. I started playing when I was a little boy and loved the game right away.
“The more I think about it, the more it messes me up.”
That is how he finished the thought… and I know exactly what he means by that as well. I think we all do. Whether you are or were an athlete at any point in your life or not you have no doubt been in situations where the things that are supposed to be easy for you become terribly difficult.
Maybe it’s writer’s block or parallel parking or pouring the perfect beer, it doesn’t matter. Once you get all up in your own head, you’re screwed.
It can be hard to step back and realistically evaluate the expectations of professional athletes sometimes. To take a second and recognize that there is a lot of pressure that comes with doing your job in front of tens of thousands of people every night and hundreds of thousands or more on TV at the same time. And yes, pro athletes like Colby Rasmus make a lot of money to deal with that pressure and perform. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
If it was easy I would be doing it. [Read more...]
PHJOSHUA ON SPORTS – I DON’T CARE WHO YOU ARE, YOU CAN PLAY!
This has been a hard post to write. Hell, it’s been a hard post to think about writing. And it’s because I’m scared. Scared that I’m not going to get it right or capture my thoughts with the right words or really convey what I’m thinking or how I’m feeling.
Usually when I’m writing here it’s not that hard. But, this time is different.
It goes like this, I’m a straight dude that played a lot of sports when I was younger. I loved it and wouldn’t trade away those memories or experiences for anything in the world. In all of my experiences though one thing that I never went through was a teammate coming out.
Now that I’m a little bit older and I’m reading stories about young men who say that the hardest part about coming out was telling their teammates I start wondering what it would have been like to experience. I know that in the mid to late 90’s when I was most involved in team sports it was not a locker room environment that looked super enlightened. We were dumb teenage boys and nobody really worried about telling us to be any different. We made fun of each other. We encouraged toughness and manliness and discouraged and made fun of any signs of weakness, failure and anything that wasn’t macho and Alpha.
I would like to think that as a group we would have been welcoming and supporting and inviting to a teammate if they had come out and told us that they were gay. But I don’t know how it would have gone down.
Soccer player David Testo waited years to come out. And while I feel lucky to have spoken with him and written about it earlier this year, I wish I would have asked him about the environment when he was a kid. Did he ever think about coming out when he was younger? Was it kids like me that made him hold off? He told us that he believes we won’t see more athletes coming out until we see a more accepting society.
I would like to believe that the time is coming. That our youth are much more accepting and educated and ready to show the world that being a gay athlete is okay. Just like being a gay accountant or actor or waitress or CEO is okay.
It’s not right that it falls on our young people to lead us… but I think that’s how it is going to be.
I can only hope that stories being shared by young athletes like Scott Heggart will show us that things can change. And that campaigns like You Can Play (spearheaded by the Burke family) will show the mainstream that the time has come for everyone to feel invited and included.
I’m still scared that I haven’t said what I wanted to say. Or that my message isn’t clear.
When I was 15 I’m not sure I would have been strong enough to stand up for a gay teammate. And because of that I’m not sure it’s fair for me to ask every 15 year old out there to be strong and supportive and welcoming… but that’s what I’m doing. It’s what I’m asking of everyone, of every age.
If your goalie or second baseman or left D or point guard or quarterback is gay it doesn’t matter. They are still part of your team. We are all taught that your team is your family. And we all need to support our families.
Whether you are gay, straight, bi, unsure, or not ready to decide: If you can play, you can play.
