the blair witch project

about 10-11 years ago, if my memory holds, I sat in a movie theater and was soooo intrigued with the trailer for an upcoming movie, called the Blair Witch Project, that I decided when it finally did come out, I would go opening night. This is an uncommon thing, that I get so into a fictional conveyance that costs 40 dollars to go see, with popcorn, drinks, and an extra ticket for a date or friend. But I waited patiently as the hype grew, and critics were terrified (or so reported) of the film.

Opening night comes around, and I fight the crowds to pay to be frightened. The movie starts, to little big cinema previews, and follows the trend that this is an indie release. The plot builds, and having grown up not so far from that area, I am very attentive to the details of the story, although at that time, some of the sets look conceived. I'm not entirely buying the story, but agree to go on with it as it is scary and entertaining, but it is not till the ending of the movie that I am totally convinced that this is real. Hands down, legit scared. I try to figure out how far it is to get to Burkettsville, MD so I can get some thrill seeking friends to go and get a true life feel for this ourselves. (no takers..) I saw the movie again in the theater, this time during the day, by myself, and remained interested in this for a while.

There were constant reports that the movie was produced for next to nothing, and how it had such a great return on investment through box office sales. This is business- make a product for x, sell it for y with the anticipation that y is more than x. This was even more reason to applaud the efforts of the filmmakers. All is well in the mind of Mike, that these kids, or the survivors, are modern day heroes.

It was a fake. A fraud. A scam. I was duped. So was everyone... it was a great scam. The movie made millions, but the Blair Witch Project was a one hit wonder for the movie world, as no one trusted the efforts of these kids again.

I think there was so much interest because you never really knew what the movie was about. During the trailer, there were only screaming, shaky cameras running through a forest, camping scenes, and a title implying a witch.. but this was enough to draw millions to see this opening weekend. There was a Blair Witch 2, but very very little interest.

Even with the original, there was websites and a a whole culture that supported the film, making it that much more believable.

this was the greatest trick the witch ever pulled, make the world believe it existed.

entrepreneur article

I found the article very interesting, with a marketing background from other institutions. Having never personally planned a marketing stunt in conjunction with my businesses, I am actively batting around ideas of how I may make one a reality.
The Taco Bell stunt was my favorite, particularly because I love April Fool's Day pranks. This one, on a national level was pure genius. I think this worked so well because of the pure outrageous nature of the stunt. People did not know whether to believe the reports or not. This type of press has no downside, as it is harmless and generates substantial interest and discussion. I would venture a guess that on April 01 that year, many more people were talking about Taco Bell than actually visited the restaurant, and with the proof being in the numbers, there was a huge increase in visitors.

Of the stunts that did not work, the life threatening attempt by JMP Creative was the most ill-conceived tactic. For starters, the crew did not apparently have the proper training, and there was no mentioned safe word that would call off the stunt. While the firm, and McCafferty have gained clients and monetarily after the stunt, the risk of human life does not justify the end result.

Fears

Until now, I harbored a slight fear of public speaking. I don't know why exactly I fear my peers, and cannot say that I am fully cured of this, but this weekend was my first karaoke experience. Let me say, I am hooked.
To set the stage, it was happy hour, NYC, and a friend of mine was bartending and the majority of the patrons were her friends. The bar had just opened for the night, and there were only a few other people in the bar, so my inhibitions were already low. My friend, Natalie, made me some concoction, what I would consider a "girly shot" and told me that my song is next. I had no idea what she had picked for me, but did a short introduction to the bar while the into was playing. She informed them that I was visiting from across the Hudson and that I do not "fist pump". I knew the song, Bon Jovi (fitting?) and had no choice but to take the mic and do my best. After the first few lines, I just looked away from the crowd did what I was up there to do, and in three minutes, it was all done. I followed up by singing five more songs that night, while the bar filled up, and people came and went.
I overcame a major fear that night, and if I can sing in front of people, anyone can..

Tweety bird hits a Mack truck

Every product has an inevitable life cycle. Although Twitter may be classified as a service, it cannot escape this process of natural selection. Economists have defined the life cycle to have five stages: development, introduction, growth, mature, and decline. If Twitter is indeed hitting its stride, the future of the site is not as clear cut as is a tangible product.
I am not an expert on technology life cycles (or anything else for that matter), but in my opinion, there is a large demographic that can skew the trends from the inception of Twitter. This demographic is the "early adapters" that are growing up. While my generation, Generation X, has carried this label as well, I feel that an entirely new segment has been created and is on the come-up.
Twitter can capitalize on this younger generation, as the largest current market segment is held by 45-50 year old people (according to comScore). The methods to market to this segment are many, but with the 12-17 year old segment as the largest movie going population, Twitter would be wise to promote in this audience, literally.
I do not feel that Twitter has reached its plateau. I do not have an account, nor my sister or anyone close to me for that matter. I have considered it, but just feel it redundant to Facebook, and do not feel so grandiose that I need ANOTHER outlet for my friends to observe the goings-on in my life. If they want to know whats going on, email, text, BBM, or even god forbid, call and find out. But with 22 million existing subscribers, the possibility is there to create a true LinkdIn approach to businesses, or another spin off of the technology and reputation to carry a message to millions of users at once.

Hello,
My name is Michael Guzzardi. After 10 years away from college, I am thrilled to be back. This time around I am only focused on getting done, as was not the case at my first institutions. Before, I have the goal to learn as much as possible even switching to non-degree status so that I could take 300 and 400 level courses as a freshman. I got what I needed though.

My spring semester looks promising and with construction on a new project getting underway mid-February, I anticipate being very busy in the upcoming months.