That’s me!

At least, that’s how I felt when I got to go on a helicopter ride for the first time in my life.  That’s a pretty fun and big fat checkmark that goes beside an item on my big lifetime must-do list.

Check it out, me and my friend Chelsea going up into the sky:

photo thanks to Richard from shot7.com

Next: Hang gliding? Hot air balloon?

At the end of the video, you will hear us talk about how this was an event put on by Microsoft for their #InTheCloud campaign. We discuss how well we think Microsoft is situated in taking on various web services that are already kind of established.

I collect photos of interesting views of the CN Tower. I had to act fast to switch my camera from video mode to photo mode and get a few snaps from the helicopter. It’s not every day that you get the chance to snap a picture of the CN Tower from above!

You’ll notice that the latter portion of the video is an interview with Mike Smith. This is extremely rare, as the performers only ever do interviews in-character. Entertainment Tonight can’t even get this kind of coverage!

Here’s the story: Thanks to a mutual friend between myself and Mike Smith (Bubbles), I got invited to go down to Buffalo to catch the Trailer Park Boys’ performance at Buffalo State College on the Drunk, High, and Unemployed Tour.  It was Lauren O’Nizzle‘s birthday weekend and since she is a big fan of the Boys and she’s one of my best friends & favorite Internet people, I hooked up tickets and backstage passes for her and her fella and it was on like Donkey Kong.

During the show they asked for volunteers from the audience who could sing, and both Lauren and I were up on stage before other people even had a chance to raise their hand.

During Intermission, I interviewed a real live American to find out what she thinks she has learned about Canadian culture from watching Trailer Park Boys:

And after the show, the backstage antics were the Lulz as we got to play an original Trailer Park Boys guitar that had just been autographed by Bubbles….

…and then we went around the way to a little bar called Cole’s where Lauren charmed the hell out of the Boys (which is the kind of thing Lauren is good at)

Good Night, Buffalo!!!

And Happy Birthday to Lauren O’Nizzle!  (Click for her blog post of the event)

The cool kids at Teletoon had another premiere party, inviting a handful of bloggers to their HQ screening room for a sneak peek at the new season of Batman: The Brave and The Bold.

Check out my video of the event right here:

For those who don’t know, Batman: The Brave and The Bold is based on an old comic book series where each issue, Batman would team up with a lesser known character from the DC Comics roster.  On this new TV series, it’s the same thing – Batman teams up in each episode with a character who might not be popular enough to warrant his own show but who the fans would enjoy seeing animated.

This show is the bomb, I don’t mind telling you.  It’s obviously for kids, but it’s catchy and irresistable.  I have wondered for years why so many superhero cartoons are ugly, and why they don’t use the thick-line cartoony style of Powerpuff Girls or Spongebob Squarepants.  This show has finally taken that up.  I love the character design on this show.

One of the things I hate about superhero comics, and why no one gives a shit about them (generally speaking) is because they take themselves too seriously, and maintain a slavish devotion to ‘continuity’.  This show demonstrates how it should be done: there’s tons of little gags and gems for the comic book nerds who know the history, but they don’t care about reinventing the rules to suit the ridiculous story they’re trying to tell.  In one episode alone, we watched Batman fly a rocket ship into space, fly it to another planet in another galaxy in a matter of a few minutes, and then fight a race of aliens with an Iron Man-style robot suit that he changes into with the push of a button.

When they’re trying to be serious and Batman is hanging out on the Moon with Superman and the JLA, I hate it and I’m not interested.  When we’re not supposed to care about it the next time, it’s all in good fun.

I had a contest here on the blog to take a reader with me to Teletoon, and the winner would also get a Batman prize pack courtesy of The Silver Snail (follow them on Twitter! @SilverSnailTO)

What up to all my blogging, Twitter, and Internet brethren who were there: Michael Nus, 40deuce, Alice Quinn, Escape From RL, Sidewalk Hustle, Mental Kavity – drop me a line if I didn’t catch you in this list!!

]]> http://www.seanward.net/3860-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-season-2-preview/feed/ 0 http://www.seanward.net/3471-talkin-social-media-blues/ http://www.seanward.net/3471-talkin-social-media-blues/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:35:27 +0000 Sean http://www.seanward.net/?p=3471

LYRICS:
There’s a brand new thing, it’s shiny and true
It’s Social Media and that’s what’s new
(Talk to everyone around the world
And hope to hell someone’s listening)

Now I got friends and I got kin
But here I was by myself again
I thought I was alone, but then I found
This thing called Social Media going down
(Never be lonesome again
There’s always a few million people to talk to)

If you get enough people to follow you back
There’s fame & riches at the end of the track
So you follow me and I’ll follow you
And maybe we’ll get on TV a time or two!
(You get a million followers, you can pretty much write your own ticket after that
But you don’t get it if you care how many followers you’ve got)

I don’t know but I once thunk
There’s nothing in the world like more free junk
Might have to get a job to pay for a new spot
To put all the awesome free swag I got
(The free drinks are nice
They don’t take up any room in my suitcase!)

I don’t know but I’ve been told
The girls want a purse made out of gold
You get enough from a PR company for free
You’ll be like them folks on MTV!
(Internetting is like meditating
It’s more important than ever to be careful what you wish for)

Ev’ryone I meet’s got a brand new car
But I’m walkin’. Guess I ain’t goin’ too far!
People flyin’ here & there for free
While I’m gettin’ around by TTC
(I swear in my tweets. I dont’ represent anyone’s brand well
And now I’ve gotta pay for my flight like everyone else)

We talk ev’ry day but I don’t see you much
At least we’ve got the means to be in touch
My followers are up and my Klout score’s high
I wonder how many it takes to get by…
(I don’t do it for the money
But it’s hard not to think about the money when you’ve got five dollars in your pocket and you’re deciding between eating or riding the subway

* * *

The Making of
Talkin’ Social Media Blues

The first time anyone saw TALKIN’ SOCIAL MEDIA BLUES was when I screened it for a small group of Twitter peeps as an impromptu party to celebrate my 100th day in a row of Daily V-Loggin’:

But an bringing an idea like this from inception to materialization is no party. I got the idea for the song, wrote it straight away, and recorded it the next morning. Here is the Daily Video Blog entry from when I was working on the beat in which I explain how I came up with the idea:

Two days later, I shared footage of the recording of the song as well as brought you with me for the car ride the very first time anyone heard the song:

I got into some deep thinking about consumer culture the day that I went to make the signs for this video:

I shot the video on my own in an afternoon in five locations around town that I had scoped out. I was very clear with myself that I was trying to do something reminiscent of DONT LOOK BACK…

And then the day that I was editing the video, I got really heavy about being an artist:

This video was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. If you are a Social Media enthusiast, I hope you think it’s funny.

Subscribe to my Youtube channels – seanward for my Daily V-Loggin’, and TheSeanWardShow for my comedy videos

I was at the Dollar Store and checking my tweets on my phone, and I started seeing stuff in the store that reminded me of the people who were sending me @-replies.
You should definitely follow these people on Twitter!

★
@jongauthier
@40deuce
@unbrelievable
@kericdn
@alisaan
@bigthinkerjon
@clickflickca
@crystalgibson
@photojunkie
@molsontonia
@carlyannedotcom
@jenniferherd
@sadiemae23
@madalinezanni
@nicoleirene
@mscurrybomb
@jamesmbishop
★

Follow me on Twitter!
@seanward

★

Subscribe to my Youtube channel!

http://youtube.com/seanward

Free Comic Book Day was May 1 at comic book stores around the world.  I was invited to be a guest artist at the Silver Snail in Toronto!

☆

Click here to see the rest of my drawings from Free Comic Book Day!

☆

This is an e-mail I got over the weekend, seeking advice.  I asked Steve, the writer, if I could respond in a blog post since his question is of a kind that I get asked much more than any other:

Hey Sean, I need some words of wisdom from you on how I can get my own art career going and on track. I am working in an office right now – Fraud detection analyst for a Mastercard issuing bank.

In short, I have lost my sense of humor, and each day seems to lack a sense of purpose.

I have been watching as you’ve grown and progressed, and realized that we both have the same 24 hours in a day to work with.

I need some words of wisdom from you in this regard. I used to have a wicked sense of humour. I want it back.  I want to reclaim it.

-Steve

Hi Steve!

Thanks very much for writing.  I am flattered that you would come to me with a question like this.  I thought all weekend about your question and I thought of a catchy way to explain how to find what you’re looking for.

It’s all about The 3V System: Values, Vision, and Vehicle.

Values

First, you have to know what you stand for. You have to know what’s important to you, who you want to be, what you want for yourself.  Be opinionated, keep high standards, and surround yourself with people who inspire you instead of people stuck in the same rut as everyone else.  You don’t want comfort in forgetting your cares, you want to be uncomfortable enough to take action.

Vision

Your vision is the effect you want to have on the world.  It doesn’t have to be earth-shatteringly huge.  It could be as simple as a word of advice for the people around you.  Care passionately about what’s important to you and you’ll start spotting places where there is a bit of class, taste, or beauty missing that only you can fill in.  That’s what art is for.

Vehicle

Your vehicle is the form in which your vision expresses itself, and the arena in which you explore your values.  You need a vehicle because otherwise the ideas inside you collect dust and eventually disintegrate.  Whatever you feel is the best expression of your talents and your vision whether writing, drawing, speaking, or any other outlet, you need a project to get passionate about.  This will give you something to look forward to while you’re doing the things you’d rather not, and it will provide the means and opportunity to get to know yourself better so that you’re more of the real you in all areas of life.

The hardest part is making the time for your vehicle.  There are a million and one perfectly good excuses for why you have no time for it.  You get home from work, unwind, prepare dinner, check in with the world, relax a little bit, go to the gym if you’re on your fitness game, and next thing you know it’s time for bed again.  That’s the routine.  That’s also how the Universe finds out who is serious and who is just phoning it in.  Most people want everything to be in place, but I’ve always been a big fan of just jumping in and seeing what happens.  Besides, at this stage what have you got to lose except for some of your sleeping hours?

I started seeing the microscopic, incremental day-to-day changes that the workaday world was having on me and that’s why I stopped showing up to work to be an Artist with no plan, no money, and no idea how I was going to pay the rent.  My way is hard and sometimes it’s not very fun, I’m not going to lie.  But for me it’s about what’s going to make for the most interesting story to tell at the end of it all.

I hope his helps.  Keep me updated on how it goes!

-Sean

P.A.M.P.E.R. – People Against the Misuse of Picketing and Excessive Ranting

April 3, Toronto – The Protest Against Protesting.  A crowd of dozens had gathered to voice their concern over peace & quiet.

More news at eleven.

Rockin’ the party, way old school

Here is a story about the time that I learned how the big kids party.

When I first moved downtown, the first place that I stayed was my Auntie’s boyfriend’s room in a house he rented with a bunch of local rock ‘n’ rollers. My Auntie’s boyfriend was never there since he was always at her house, so they figured why not let me use it while I get myself situated in the city.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the roommates in that house were a bunch of the movers and shakers of Toronto’s music scene. One of the dudes living there was Steve Banks who at the time was just a cool guy to me. I wouldn’t find out until way later that he is a legend.

One night there was a band’s CD release party. The next afternoon, everyone was sitting around the kitchen table talking about the night before.

Steve Banks tells the story of the end of the night when he was already more drunk than he wanted to get, but couldn’t stand to see all of the abandoned half-finished beers go to waste. He ended up getting way smashed.

I got thinking about how my parents always told me as a kid that you should never finish a beer that isn’t yours because you don’t know what someone has done to it. I didn’t know what they meant, I just thought that maybe people go around poisoning drinks for fun.

So I say to the group “Aren’t you not supposed to drink other people’s drinks?”, and the whole room burts with cacophonous laughter.

Steve, between chuckles, says “If someone put drugs in it, that’s a bonus!”

It was one of those moments when my whole universe did this huge 180-degree turn on me.

We like any party where there’s complimentary liquor and Twitter peeps (one of the greatest combos known to man – complimentary liquor and Twitter peeps) so I – along with Casie and Carly and Christina- represented at the Notable.TV launch party for Annex Loft Houses in Toronto. Food was provided by The Food Dudes, wine by Yellowtail, and beer by Steam Whistle.

Watch Part One – Click Here!

Follow me on Twitter!! @seanward

Also follow my party posse from this event:

@casiestewart – @kaponetwo – @mscurrybomb
casiestewart.com – kaponetwo.com – currybomb.com