Category Archives: Education

Justice Rocks; Do You?

Posted on by
Justice Rocks

Justice Rocks

The Pivot Legal Society-sponsored Justice Rocks festival is coming up, and they’re looking for volunteers. Hey, there’s swag in it for you, not to mention the chance to schmooze with the impecunious, yet famous, staff of the Pivot Legal Society and the future Mayor of Vancouver, semi-notorious rock god and blogger Dave Eby.

Here’s the call for volunteers in full:

In case you haven’t heard: on August 30, 2008 Pivot is hosting Justice Rocks, a free, all-day music festival in East Van’s Strathcona Park! Justice Rocks aims to bring together all things progressive: social and environmental justice movements, independent music, and, of course, Vancouverites!

There are two important ways you can help make Justice Rocks a huge success: purchase a virtual ticket and/or sign up to volunteer.

Virtual Tickets:

Here is how it works – we have partnered with GiveMeaning to offer virtual tickets to Justice Rocks. Virtual Ticket holders will receive a Justice Rocks t-shirt and a tax-receipt, as well as a special invitation to the Justice Rocks AfterParty – join the band members, volunteers, and organizers for the party that starts after the concert!

We will also be awarding fabulous prizes to the top three people who get their friends to purchase virtual tickets, so get your friends to buy their tickets today!

Volunteers:

We’re looking for site volunteers, organizers, promoters, videographers – you name it – to help with the lead up to the event, the concert, and the after-party.

Aside from connecting with other awesome folks who are also volunteering, and helping to launch the first year of a great event, Justice Rocks volunteers will also receive a free Justice Rocks t-shirt, 2 tickets to the after party, and special identification at the event.

To take part in this fantastic festival of social change fill out this form or visit the Justice Rocks website and let us know how you’d like to help!

If you have any questions about virtual tickets, volunteering or if you’d like more information about the event feel free to email pwrinch AT pivotlegal DOT com for more information.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Peter Wrinch
Pivot Legal Society
604-255-9700
www.justicerocks.org

August Blogging Courses

Posted on by

Blog!

Blogging for Beginners: four hours, start from scratch and learn to post text, video, audio, and images. Basic copyright and blog etiquette, intro to sidebar widgets, categories, custom headers and design, and what on Earth to put IN the blog. Also where to find technical help.
This one is running August 2nd, ie this Saturday, 10-2, $150 pre-registered, and only eight four three spaces left. I’ll be running it again on the 23rd.

To register, please pre-pay via the Paypal button in the top right-hand corner of the blog. Paypal will give you a receipt and I will email you one as well. If you are registering for the August 2nd course, please email bloggingclasses AT gmail DOT com in advance to make sure the class is not sold out.

Pimp My Blog is practical tips and tools for increasing your readership and influence, and applies to any blogging platform (with the exception of Tumblr, which is really only good for talking to the voices inside your head in my opinion). It includes a very basic intro to social media like Facebook and Myspace for promotion. I’ll be teaching this one on Saturday, August 9th. This is a $150 course, also from 10-2. There are only eight places in each session.

Last: Vacation Blogging (I should have done this in June!). Covers what to do with all those photos and all those memories to keep them fresh forever. It’s basically Blogging for Beginners, with added talk about mobile posting and internet cafes and photoblogging issues. FYI it’s also $150, and runs Saturday, August 16th. Six spaces, because this is going to be more personal.

Pimp My Blog: Blog Promotion Class Saturday, May 3

Posted on by

social media

OUR NEXT CLASS RUNS
Saturday, May 3rd

Current course:

Pimp My Blog: Promotion Tips

What: Blog Promotion Tips for Beginners

When: 10:00am-2:00 pm, Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

Where: Tradeworks Training Society, Chinatown

Why: Now that you’ve got a blog, why toil in obscurity? This course will teach you effective blog promotion techniques to reliably increase your readership. Each course is limited to 8 students, and covers blog basics like:

· what a blog can and can’t do for you, famewise, and how to get there
· professional vs personal profiles, privacy and promotion
· community netiquette and joining the blogosphere at large
· what the world wants to hear vs what you have to say

Who: raincoaster media ltd, in partnership with Tradeworks Training Society.

How(much)? $125 tuition prepaid only, or $100 if registered along with any other half-day social media course.

To register: email bloggingclasses at gmail.com and reserve your space via the secure Paypal link at the top right-hand corner of http://raincoaster.com or http://runningthroughrain.wordpress.com .

Reservation guaranteed only upon acceptance of payment.

Upcoming Courses: Corporate Blogging, Blogging for Nonprofit Organizations, Blogging for Entrepreneurs, and Photoblogging (online and in Montreal, courtesy Neath of Walking Turcot Yards). Please email to be put on the notification list for dates.

im in ur blawggin klace teechin sew shall medja

Posted on by

an boi r mai meemz tyerd

YouTube and Vancouver Film School Scholarship Contest

Posted on by

VFS and YouTube have just announced an international scholarship competition that should knock Chris Crocker off the front page and into the obscurity which has hungered for him ever since the Leave Britney Alone fifteen minutes started.

The prize is a full tuition scholarship to internationally-respected Vancouver Film School, the school out of which Kevin Smith dropped to go on to produce the magnum opus, the veritable Big Chill of his generation, Clerks. Like I ever saw that.

I’m old, yo.

Anyhoo. The challenge is to make a compelling YouTube pitch explaining just exactly why you’re the natural choice to win. Anyone with enough self-confidence to go into film should have no problem with this part. The school picks the finalists, and then the viewers on YouTube make the final choice.

Official Rules

Full Press Release (PDF)

A few more details, from the FAQ:

This competition is about making film school accessible to everyone. The YouTube community will award three aspiring artists (that includes directors, animators, actors, sound designers and more) with full-tuition scholarships to the Vancouver Film School program of their choice.

Between March 18th and May 9th, submit a short film, animation or creative pitch addressing the theme “What Matters to You.” You must start your video by identifying the VFS program you wish to attend and you must limit your video to no more than three minutes. On May 20th, we will announce the 10 finalists, selected by Vancouver Film School.

From May 20th to May 27th, the YouTube community will view and vote for their favorite videos.

On May 30th, we will announce the 3 scholarship winners.

What programs are up for scholarship awards?

1. Foundation Visual Art & Design
2. Acting Essentials
3. 3D Animation & Visual Effects
4. Classical Animation
5. Digital Character Animation
6. Houdini™ Certification
7. Acting for Film & Television
8. Digital Design
9. Entertainment Business Management
10. Film Production
11. Game Design
12. Makeup Design for Film & Television
13. Sound Design for Visual Media
14. Writing for Film & Television

Some handy tips:

Be creative. Don’t just tell us what’s important to you – show us. For example, if you’re a director, make a short film or documentary about an issue you care about. If you’re an animator, animate a story about an issue, person, place, etc. that matters to you. If you’re a writer, pitch a fresh screenplay concept about something that matters to you. If you’re a makeup artist, transform a stranger into someone who matters to you. These are just ideas and we know you can do better, but the point is: think creatively!

What gets into the shortlist?

Vancouver Film School will judge submissions based on the following criteria:

a. Creativity and Originality (up to 25 points)
b. Relevance of the video to the particular program of study selected (up to 25 points)
c. Technical Execution: Camera/Sound/Lighting/Editing (up to 25 points)
d. Overall Impression (up to 25 points)

And after that, it’s all up to the community on YouTube, so start sucking up building relationships now!