Morning all!

Just a quick note this morning to let you know that I'll be attending the What Is Film? Conference today in downtown Portland, so I might be a little hard to reach... Keep an eye on the "What's Harold Saying on Twitter" box to the right (or, if already follow me on Twitter, just watch my "feed"). I'll be tweeting throughout the day from the conference with observations.

Unfortunately, this is the only day that I can attend the conference (I'm shooting a sponsorship "pitch piece" tomorrow for Dex Dixon), so I'll miss tomorrow's sessions on Film Distribution, new influences in teaching, and Film Production Technology. Hopefully someone else out there will keep us all informed on how those presentations go.

Enjoy the day - I'll try and share when I can!

-Harold

New Animus Cross Teaser For Series II

Hey everyone!

Sorry to be a little behind in the blogging department these days... it's been a pretty busy week! In fact, I'm running between appointments at the moment... but I've to an hour, so I figured I'd pause at the Southeast Grind (one of my "satellite offices" around the Portland metro area - the coffee's good and so's the free wifi) to update you on some Animus Cross news.

If you subscribe to the Official Animus Cross Blog, follow series creator A.L. Steen on Twitter, or you've been following ME on Twitter or Facebook, then you probably already heard about this, but a new "teaser" for Animus Cross Series II has been released on the internet... you can see it at http://www.animuscross.com/. Amanda's working on getting the teaser up on YouTube and Vimeo - I'll be sure to embed it here on the blog when that happens.

Amanda's also managed to (finally) get the series listed on IMDB - though it's a little light on info just at the moment. We'll be working on supplimenting the listing over the coming weeks.

It's an exciting time around the Animus Cross camp fire... Mark your calendars! April 2010 is going to be a heck of a month!

A New Experiment...

... or, "Hey Ya Bastard, What's With The Ads? (Part 2)"

So, if you came by earlier today (or yesterday, or last week, or whenever...) to take a look at my new "Support Your Local Filmmaker" post, you probably noticed that I've been messing around with the site lay-out a bit this morning.

As you probably know, I'm a big fan of a few online comic strips, such as Something*Positive and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal... over the years, as I've visited those sites and laughed at their twisted humor, I've also been impressed by the ads on them... they're contextual. They don't stand out as being inconsistent with the interests of the audience that visits the site. In fact, I found myself clicking on the banners more often than not.

When I clicked the "Your Ad Could be Here" link below these ads, I started to understand why. The company that provides these sites' ads, Project Wonderful, has a completely different model than Google's Adsense program... rather than reading keywords on a page and automatically displaying ads from Google's "pool" of advertisers (have you noticed how many "cruise ads" have popped up since I added those slide shows from Trish and my Alaska cruise?), Project Wonderful matches advertisers with "publishers" through an "auction" system - the process isn't automated, but personal.

There's a lot to like about Project Wonderful's system - I really like the human element; advertisers have to take a look at my site, understand the content of my posts, and decide if you - my readers - would respond to whatever it is they're pitching. I also like the auction-style pricing structure; the advertisers bid against each other for the top position on my site. They get to determine what the top-spot on my blog is worth (though I can set a minimum bid price to start them off).

Perhaps the best part of this system is the level of control it gives me as the "publisher -" I don't have much control at all with Google's Adsense program; I can block ads from particular advertisers, or from up to five advertising sectors... but that's it. Those cruise ads I mentioned earlier? I know most of you don't care to find out how inexpensive a cruise to Italy is... you might want to see the photos from Trish and my cruise, but that's it.

With Project Wonderful, I approve each and every ad that gets displayed on the site. If someone wants to advertise something I don't think you care about, I don't approve it - it's that easy. More to the point, I get to approve ads for things I care about - and I think you should know about. So, if a local theatre company or film company wants to advertise on the blog - I'm approving that straight-away. An editor who wants to advertise his services for reel-making? It's up there. "Male enhancement" and "search engine optimization?" No way. I've got the control.

Look, like I said in my earlier post about adding advertising to the blog, I have no illusions that I'm going to get rich off of these little ads... I'm throwing them up there for a little supplemental income, and to test various advertising models for Animus Cross and Dex Dixon. If project wonderful lets me get a few pennies AND give people I want to support a platform to advertise their goods and services... well, I call that a win-win.

And hey, like the box says, your ad could be at the top of my blog, for just a few cents a day. I get to say yay or nay (and if you're a reader, I'll probably say "yay.") Want to play around with it? Visit Project Wonderful and see how easy it is to set up an ad; then, click the "Your Ad Could Be Here" link at the top of the page and bid on an ad spot. It's cheap, and if I can drive more clicks over to your web site... well, I'm happy to do it.

Support Your Local Filmmaker (Part 2): In The Theater!

Hey there folks

You might remember an earlier post in which I urged you to visit Amazon.com to pre-order Portland-area filmmaker Todd Freeman's film Pray For Hell. I won't go into all the benefits of supporting your local filmmaker again... click the link above if you want read through my usual long-winded diatribe.

I did want to let you know, however, that there's an opportunity to "try before you buy" coming up here in Portland. In advance of the November 10th DVD release of Pray For Hell, Todd's a series of showings at the Clinton Street Theater - the film runs from tonight (November 1st) through Thursday (November 5th).

Now, I'm not in this film. I do know many of the people involved, though... and I'm really excited to get the chance to see it on the big screen tonight. I'll be attending the 7PM showing - hopefully Todd and his brother Jason will be there so I can lift a glass to their success.

If you get the chance over the next few days, try and make it by the Clinton Street to see the show... and if you can't make it down, do consider ordering the film from Amazon, adding it to your Netflix Cue, or picking the DVD up at Target or WalMart after the 10th...

Maybe I'll see you tonight...

-Harold

Giggity Giggity Giggity - Gonna Be A Busy November! (Amended)

*Note: Another amendment... I had bad information about Trish's staged reading of Courtship on Monday, November 9. She's not reading the stage directions - she's playing the part of the aunt, Sarah. Sorry about that...

*Original Post:
Hey everybody... as the title suggests, Trish and I have quite a busy November ahead of us. Let me give you a quick run-down of what's ahead for us in the coming month (at this point... our schedules are ALWAYS subject to change :) ) :

>> On Tuesday, November 3rd the Portland Civic Theater Guild is presenting a staged reading of The Cemetery Club that Trish directed. Trish will be there to read stage directions and generally make sure things go according to plan... the reading takes place at 10:30 AM at The Old Church, located at 1422 SW 11th Avenue in Portland (click here for a map)... take an early lunch and come see the show!

>> On Friday November 6 and Saturday November 7th I'll be attending the What Is Film Conference I talked about in an earlier post... at least, that's the plan at this point. If another gig comes up, I may have to miss the conference - but I really hope that I can make it. Some very interesting informaton that impacts the Oregon film scene is going to be presented - if I can make it, I plan on live-tweeting from the conference. If you're a Twitter user, be sure you follow my twitter feed... and if you're not, no big deal - just follow my tweets in the white box to the right of this page.

>> Monday November 9 will see Trish in another staged reading - this time it's Courtship at Profile Theater here in Portland. She'll be reading the stage directions for this play, part of Foote's 9-play cycle "The Orphan's Home."

>> Some time that same week, I'll be shooting a scene for the Zombie-apocolypse-based web series The Last Stand - my character hasn't been seen in the series thus far (Episode 1 is online at http://thelaststandonline.com/ - take a look!), but he's a very important part of the puzzle. I'll update you with more information on this as the episode gets closer to release.

>> That same week, I'm slated to shoot a scene in Justin Koleszar's new film (currently untitled). I just play a small part in the overall story but I'm really excited to work with Justin, whose film Now Would Be A Good Time, screened at Sundance last year. I was really impressed with Justin's vision when I met with him at the audition - I think I'm going to be very happy to part of his new film.

But wait - there's more!

>> Later in the month Trish and I are both slated to shoot episodes of Todd Robinson and Craig Johnson's new internet venture, Pilot: The Series. When the series is released, you'll see both of us in familiar roles... with a bit of a twist! I can't really say too much more about it at this point, but prepare to laugh (especially if you're a fan of The Outbreak, Animus Cross, and Lady Wasteland)!

(Say, speaking of Animus Cross... did you see this new post on the Official Animus Cross blog? Looks like we'll have a teaser out on the internet by Halloween!)

>> Trish and I will also be working with Shilpa Sunthankar later this month on her new short film In The Company of Thieves. We were lucky enough to work with Shilpa on her noted short film Biography of an American Hostess a few years back, and we're delighted to work with her again! The film is a tale of crime, revenge, and the devil... great material - and knowing Shilpa's directing style, I'm sure this film is going to be a festival favorite!

>> Finally, before the end of the month some time I'll be shooting a scene in Erick Mertz's new short film First Day In The City - produced by my good friend Stewart Boyles. I've worked with Stewart several times in the past, and I collaborated with Erick on a film called The Collector which he's still developing. It'll be great to work with both these guys on this very intimate, personal short.

So... that's what's ahead for Trish and I in the coming month... along with active pre-production on Steve Coker's new web series The Episodic Adventures of Dex Dixon: Paranormal Dick, Thanksgiving, and whatever else we can find to fill our time (doesn't really seem to be a problem, does it?) So, if we don't pick up the phone when you call or respond to an email quickly... you may have an idea why :)

Hope you're all doing well, and that you have a happy and safe Halloween tomorrow!

-Harold

The New Communicators (Amended)

Note: I'm a bad bad web monkey... I completely forgot to mention in the post below that this event is organized and led by Portland's own Abundant Artist Cory Huff - mea culpa! If you're an artist and you're not following Cory on Twitter, you're really missing out!

Original Post:

I'm honored to be part of "Art is War: Reinventing the Art Sales System with New Media," a panel discussion tomorrow night from 7 - 9 PM at the Art Institute Portland (1122 N.W. Davis Street • Portland, OR 97209-2911, Portland, Oregon - Click here for a map).

The discussion is part of the New Communicators Conference, an innovative decentralized conference aiming to "share experiences and inspire discussion about how we communicate with others using both online and offline media."

In a nutshell, the conference is about understanding the massive shift in communications we find ourselves in the midst of right now... more and more avenues for communicating with friends, family, business associates, and customers are popping up each day. Ten years ago, "social networking" meant going to parties and get-togethers and interacting in person with people... then came email lists, which were followed by blogs... and then, suddenly (over the course of about three years), we had MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and any number of new "social networking" applications that could be accessed from home or office.

Now, we could argue 'til the cows come home about the pro's and con's of this shift (Pro: easier to stay in touch with friends and family, broadening connections around the world... Con: Wall*E. 'Nuff said there). One thing that can be agreed on though, is that the potential for businesses to reach new customers through social networking is enormous.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: "there's no business like show business, but show business is like any other business." As actors, we have to market ourselves to our customers (the audience) and our business partners (the other actors we want to work with and the producers who hire us). These social media outlets give us a valuable, inexpensive way to do just that - market our services and increase our audience-base. Sadly, many actors don't utilize the internet to market themselves effectively. There are a lot of reasons; they may be intimidated or overwhelmed by the breadth of social media channels, they may be undereducated about what's available, they may be worried about how much time is spent... whatever the reason, this event is a good introduction for actors and visual artists to utilizing the internet to effectively sell themselves and their work.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow night... this promises to be an inspiring and energizing evening!

See you then...

-Harold

A BIG Update At Haroldphillips.net (Including A Store!)

Hey folks

Just a quick note to let you know I've added a bunch of new content to http://www.haroldphillips.net/ :

>> The Home Page has been updated with all the latest info, of course...

>> My local Home Improvement Show commercial has been posted in the Video section. I also posted a clip (finally) from Crackin' The Code - those of you who haven't seen the movie yet can finally see the much talked about "blow up scene."

>> The Photo Section has new photos in the Production and Behind-The-Scenes areas from Owl and the Pussycat and Series II of Animus Cross

>> And, perhaps the biggest addition to the site is the new Store section. Now, I know what you're thinking - "Oh boy, here he goes 'selling out' again..." This "store" isn't about me making money, though. Sure, I'll admit I get a small referral bonus from a couple of the links on the Store page; the main reason for the Store, though, is to provide a "one-stop-shop" for my various projects.

Several of the films and series I've done over the past couple years sell DVD's and merchandise online. I hear from people all the time, asking how they can find this merchandise - rather than respond each time with a handful of links, I figured it would be easier to put a page on the site that collects those links in one spot.

So, if you've been waiting to see The Bicyclists or Walter Ate A Peanut... or you want an official Animus Cross sweat shirt or Lady Wasteland hat... you just have to visit the Store section on http://www.haroldphillips.net/. It's all right there.

Hope you're all doing well...

-Harold

Those Alaska Slideshows

Hey folks

You might remember that a while back, I took down the links to the photos I'd posted from Trish and my Alaska Cruise, saying that I'd restore them once the photos had been re-arranged.

Well, the best-laid plans and all that... between everything that's been going on and my trying to find some time to spend with my lovely wife, I never quite got 'round to doing that... but Trish and I are sort of taking it easy this weekend, and it felt like a good time to get these shots back out there to you all.

So... click the images below to see slideshows from the cruise... of course, if you want to see ALL the pictures, feel free to visit the full gallery at http://s169.photobucket.com/albums/u229/trishandharold/Alaska%20Cruise%202009/ ; be aware, though, that there are over 250 images in the gallery. You might want to let the slide-shows play and save yourself the carpal-tunnel you'd get by clicking on each image. You can hit the "stop" button in the lower-right-hand corner if you want to pause the slide-show... and if you want a larger view of a photo, just click on it.

I've said this to a lot of people since returning from the cruise... but if you've ever thought of taking a cruise, you really should. Before I left, I was one of those "why would I want to be trapped on a boat for a week?" types of people... this trip really opened my eyes, though. You're not trapped on the boat, for one thing - the ship docks regularly in different ports-of-call so you can get out and see different areas. Also, you're not "trapped on a boat;" you're booked into a five-star-resort (with, I might add, five-star food and entertainment) for a week... it just happens to float.

Seriously... if you've ever thought about it, go. You won't be sorry. The slide shows are below (each has its own individual post)... enjoy the rest of the weekend!

-Harold

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - Departure: View of the Port of Seattle

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- Departure: Views of the Port of Seattle

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - On Board The Norwegian Star

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- On Board The Norwegian Star

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - The View From The Decks

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- The View From The Decks

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - Ports-of-Call: Ketchikan, AK

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- Ports-of-Call: Ketchikan, AK

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - A Humpback Encounter

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- A Humpback Encounter

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - Ports-of-Call: Juneau

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- Ports-of-Call: Juneau

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - Glacier Ice... And Seals!

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- Glacier Ice... And Seals!

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - Ports-of-Call: Skagway, AK

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- Ports-of-Call: Skagway, AK

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - People On Board

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- People On Board

(Sorry, no shots of Julie Goldman, Judy Gold, Caroline Rhea or Cheyenne Jackson... we never managed to get the camera out in time :) ).

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - Ports-of-Call: Prince Rupert, Canada

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- Ports-of-Call: Prince Rupert, Canada

Alaska Cruise Slideshow - A Final Surprise: Orcas!

Click The Image To See The SlideShow- A Final Surprise: Orcas!