Shutter Speed (Life in the Media)

Have you ever had these thoughts in your head ” I just want to be noticed” , “why do I never get a pat on the back, ” I am just as good if not better” ,  ” I hate this place my first chance I am OUT, NO ONE VALUES ME”…or my personal favorite every time I do good work none seems to care but whenever the smallest thing happens I get called in to the supervisor.

 The truth  is you are correct in thinking all of those things and most of them may just be true. In fact just look on google and you will find a plethorah of website with information on how TO GET NOTICED AT WORK, here are just a few examples I found on what to do according to Google.

1. Increase your visibility.  Make a concerted effort to visit others in your office.  Use the first coffee in the morning productively and take it on a tour of the office everyday.  By doing this you can see what others are working on, see where you can offer help and just simply have a chat about stuff.  It doesn’t have to be the first coffee and you don’t need an excuse to walk around.
2. Dress the part.   Getting noticed can be as simple as adjusting the way we dress.  This can have both a negative impact and a positive one.  Think for a minute about your office.  Who is the scruffiest?  Who is the smartest?  Does it have an impact on their role and how it is perceived?  Do you go to the scruffy person for creativity and the sharp one for marketing?  More on this here.
3. Give your reputation a kick.  Your name needs to be seen and heard.  Try to start putting your name to more stuff.  Does your company have a blog or a forum?  If so start posting regularly.  If your company is large enough to have an internal publication start offering stories for it.  Get in touch with marketing and offer some hot stories for external press releases.
4. Step up to the plate.  If an opportunity is offered and you have the ability to get the job done then raise your hand high.

Basically these things work to an extent, unfortunately  very temporal.

Why we feel this way 

Where does this all come from? The simple answer is self worth, these two little words become the driving force behind the worlds economy. Why do we buy the things we buy, why do we try to look a certain way, live in certain places, etc? All of these things have to do with providing a sense of self worth, as project by yourself which is really projected by society. 

Here is something to consider, everything (well for the most part) stems from the human need to be significant. 

 I had the opportunity to do some work in the entertainment mecca…(music begins to play ) oh yes Hollywood. 

Probably the firs thing you think about besides the sign is the famous or maybe infamous Walk of fame. 

(me working with Ryanjohnsonfilms) here is the link to the story if you are interested 

Incase you do not know this is what it is. (wikipedia)

HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME History 

The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in theentertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others. 

According to a 2003 report by the market research firm NPO Plog Research, the Walk attracts about 10 million visitors annually—more than Sunset Strip, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Queen Mary, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art—and has played an important role in making tourism the largest industry in Los Angeles County.^[1] 

END OF HISTORY, LET US CONTINUE

They key phrase “permanent public monument of achievement”, to be honest I use to want a star…someone actually had one made for my birthday (it was actually a cake).  As I walked along the path reading the names of these celebrities ( oh yea did I mention at the time I was working at Turner Broadcasting at the time so I spent a lot of time on the Warner Bros lot watching the productions so I felt like I was deep in it) my desire to last forever grew even stronger. I mean why are we(you) given all of these gifting if they aren’t to be immortalized for the rest of the world to see? 

THE TRUTH HURTS

Recently while working on another production someone told me a very harsh reality (for the life of me I can not remember who it was) it went a little something like this,

Do you realize that all of your accomplishments are really worth nothing? You have to be ok with the fact there will be a time when no one will even remember your name, even if you were to get a “golden star” dogs will urinate on it, birds will defecate on it, kids will spill their icecream on it and never look down”. There will be a generation that has no real recollection of the work you have done, nor will they even care…just ask your nephews and nieces who Michael Jackson was.  By the way MJ has sold the most album in the history of music 50 million copies of thriller and most young people think that Chris Brown and Justin Bieber are the coolest ever…see what I mean.

Let me tell you story

Recently another multimedia friend of mine gave me a great book(and the cake years ago) that had this story in it by Charles Swindoll

Everything he worked for meant nothing after he died

What is the point?

You are destined to be over looked by someone, that is the first thing you must realized. The second is we must find out worth not simply in being admonished by other people. 

What about this idea… through love serve one another in honor(Galatians 5:13)

Be real do not look for the praise of other people. Even if you are recieving praise, regardless of your elevated position or long long long list of honors degrees (and yes youtube clips or Google search results) just stay humble (like Jenny from the Block…that was a JLO song reference from early 2000)

We must work hard to counteract the celebrity syndrome of feeling like you really are the hottess thing smoking.

Charles Swindoll ask the question in regards to rewards, Who did you do it for anyway? If you did it for God then he has an infinite number of unseen ways to reward you.

If we are all honest and maybe this is just cathartic for me, it is so easy to feel we deserve something. When the truth is we really don’t deserve anything at all…

I heard this story of a man who was so naturally humble and thought of others it really made me think. The man was the headmaster of an English school, who once prepared to go one stage and heard the applause of the audience. In characteristic manner the man stepped back to the the OTHER man behind him go on stage. He genuinely assumed the praise for another person.

Wait, but I earned that applause

I know I know, this is in no way saying trying to take away the “props” for a job well done or even giving other person glory for YOUR work. 

The big issue I am trying to get at is humilty. The answer lies not in trying to appear worthless , the answer is to be sensative to the achievements , skills, and contributions of others. Find a different source for your steam, find something else that you work for, NEVER EVER EVER Work for the praise of man. 

It will fail you every time. As a performer I must admit it can be a struggle at times and although I wrote this article, I am in no way saying I have arrived. This is simply a reminder for all those people that have ever felt unappreciated, who needed some encouragement.

I work at the (*&^&(*&^)^&)^(*&^$&$^$# DMV!!!

I was having a horrible day and to make matter worse I had to visit our good friends at the DMV. I had just finish working on a very cool project, that was given a lot of praise but I did not get any recognition.  I decided that day I would not work for the applause of people or even confirmation from them. While in DMV I ran in to a female employee (lets just call her April)  While I was getting my picture taken she began to spill details of never being appreciated or ever thought about and she had been working since DMV opened that morning. As I listened I began to hear a lot of the same words most people, myself included have said about job, services, acts , etc over the years. I started to say yea I feel you , but something stopped me . This still small voice stopped me and reminded me  to be an encouragement speak life, they say the power of life and death is in the tongue.  I listened to her for a little while and then I just began to encourage her (although I was upset at my own recent project) I encouraged her in spite of  MY OWN SITUATION.  Her eyes lit up, she began to smile I finished my paper work and told April to have a great day. When I got in my car to drive away something told me to be a blessing and serve her. Well… I listened I reached in my wallet and I just so happened to have a couple gift cards given to me from some other productions. I sat in the car and wrote 3 little notes folded them around the card and as subtly as I could be (without looking like I was trying to blow up the DMV) gave April the card and moved quickly out of the doors.

 WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT IS NOT ABOUT ME?

Well.. the truth is it is, it is about  HOW YOU chose to act in the midst of a situation. No one is making me work for their approval, I know it may feel like it but in actuality you are in control of your emotions. My grandfather use to say ” people are sovereign mortals” , you have the ability to rule yourself. 

Take every thought captive, looks outside of your boss and personal feelings

 SERVE OTHERS IN LOVE. real authentic love in humility.

It may be uncomfortable at first but I promise it will pay off in the end.

Something happened to me this morning….I woke up to a plethora of technology around 5:30am. You are probably thinking “well yea don’t we all”, emails, phones, text, ipods, ipads, computers are all part of everyday life they make things easier or “rather convenient”.  Have you ever noticed how much technology consumes our lives, so much that it could be killing us?  

WHOAAA, HOLD ON BEFORE YOU TRY TO TAKE MY STASH !!! 

Don’t get me wrong I love technology as much as the next guy, it is just something clicked in my head this morning. Literally, the first thing I did was turned off my itunes alarm and checked my smart phone where I noticed Facebook updates  and Twitter follower request and convos, because all of my updates are on my phone naturally I checked my 5 emails accounts , of course there were things I needed to see on a bigger screen, so I log in online, which lead me to opening a new window to this website I love  . I Got ready to go to work and while driving I plugged in my Ipod to get me through the traffic, eventually I made it to my office where I turned on the TV , reopened that same laptop(from earlier), turned on my desktop computer screens did some  REAL WORK and here we are now writing. All of these action had become so normal: routines that I had not thought about…sort of like breathing. here is the pic

ONE EXPERIMENT  WITH THAT BLUE AND WHITE PILL

Here was the challenge given to 200 University of Maryland students from a variety of majors: Abstain from social media for 24 hours.

That meant no iPhone or text messaging. No laptops or netbooks. No Gchatting or Twittering. No e-mail and absolutely no Facebook. Ah, a return to simplicity.

Here are a few responses from the experiment …..

“In withdrawal. Frantically craving. Very anxious. Extremely antsy. Miserable. Jittery. Crazy.”

“Going without media meant, in their world, going without their friends and family,” Moeller said.

One student wrote that texting and instant messaging friends gives a feeling of comfort: “When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life. Although I go to a school with thousands of students, the fact that I was not able to communicate with anyone via technology was almost unbearable.”

“I clearly am addicted and the dependency is sickening,” one student said. Another student had to fight the urge to check e-mail: “I noticed physically, that I began to fidget, as if I was addicted to my iPod and other media devices, and maybe I am.”

If you want more ,read it here from the washington post 

Really guys come on “physically fidgeting”, what are you(we) drugs addicts. Is it really that serious, could going without such a media blitz be so unbearable that one would begin to lose control? 

I was reminded of  a particular movie about a couple drug addicts, Requiem for a Dream .

AHHHH THE JOYS OF GETTING HIGH…follow me pleeeease  I will do anything !!!!

You Will not understand this next reference unless you watched the trailer(posted in the previous paragraph)

Now that you have watched the above link, you understand the reference to the joy, the need, the hit of your first Tweet, FB, or whatever your media drug of choice is. 

According to ANOTHER study by the University of Harisburg that created a similar experiment…

“The majority ofstudentsbehaved much like smokers who sneak cigarettes after class,” explained Eric Darr, provost of the college, in a recentFox Newsarticle. “They would sneak off to check things on their smart phones.”

Some students are so addicted to social networking sites like Facebook that they spend upwards of 21 hours a day connected to the site in some way, whether through their computers or through their mobile phones, leaving only a couple hours for uninterruptedsleep. Many have no time whatsoever for quality, face-to-face interaction with their friends and family members as a result. read more 

There is soooooo much research to support this fact, many of it varies depending on what the experiment was.  I found one video out of the bahhhzilllion on Youtube that was interesting. 

Incase you do not want to watch it, I will just explain the info that really stuck out to me.    Once you get in an addictive pattern, it(social media) can tend to distract you from doing WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING.  The things that you use to enjoy do not become as interesting or we become distracted by a Digital World. STOP!!!!!! 

This is where I really begin to evaluate, incase you did not know (mostly because you do not care(which is ok) or you may not have seen my twitter, fb,  or search query (yes, shameless plug lets be friends on Twitter I am in to good convo and media) anyway where was I….oh yes  I remember,  I work in professional media so I spend a lot of time in front of a computer.

Today at lunch, while my producer was away  I decided to take a little stroll across the street to 7Eleven.  The weather was beautiful, I had seemed to forget what it was like to enjoy the simple blessings in life.  I looked at the clouds, saw birds flying around, listened to the rhythm of the traffic. There was something magical about that sound, something so raw and organic that a live feed, friend update, text, or even a 1920x1080 image could not provide…it was life at its finest. 

Soon after my 15-30 minute break was over( I had a deadline, working on 9 stories at one time adobe premiere and final cut pro) I went back to my office and one question came to mind, 

how much time do you spend in front of a comp or using digital media? So much that simply walking for a longer distance than it takes to get in my car would spark such a thought.

WHAT IS YOUR POINT, I CAN QUIT WHEN I WANT!

Only this, sometimes we need a detox…

 

The average U.S. Internet user spends more time on Facebook than on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon combined.

Think about that for a moment.

New numbers released by Nielsen today confirm what we’ve known for a while: Facebook is the web’s number-one time sink. What’s more interesting, though, is just how much more time we spend on the world’s largest social network today than we did six months ago.

Back in June 2009, Nielsen estimated that the average U.S. user spent four hours and 39 minutes on Facebook per month. That’s about 9.3 minutes per day in a 30-day month. In August, that numberrose to five hours and 46 minutes, or 11.5 minutes per day. Read more from my favorite media drug site 

If that doesn’t at least make you think, I really do not know what will.

HAVING  A HARD TIME GETTING THAT BIRD OFF MY BACK(that was a drug reference to getting the monkey off your back..just incase you didn’t know)

I am even feeling convicted as Im writing this blog, I feel the urge to check my text, I want to …NO  I NEED TO CHECK FACEBOOK.  Technology is not bad at all it is neutral,  however at the same time we HAVE TO find a way to unplug. Ask yourself this question do I really need to be using social media right now, do I remember how to hold an intelligent conversation, how many times do I check my device a day/minute/second, am I so plugged in that I have neglected real relationships and traded them for FB pokes and wall post?

BUT ….I NEED MY DRUGS uhhh I mean media  FOR WORK.

SEE how long you can last, I know we use this stuff for work but this is an alternative.

• Only use FB for work related things(that is if you work in SEO or Brand management) Which means don’t go snooping around on non worked related pages.
• The same goes for Twitter (really how many of you use it for work anyway?)
• Check your email but only open the ones from “important ” people, that is to say the email from people that you HAVE TO get back to right away.
• When you are with friends/on a date/ working do not crack open the phone just because you feel a vibration from a notification
• If you could do it successfully then you have started the healing process.  

I gotta get our of here I need to check my statuss…..uhhh I mean read a book. Seriously though take a week or even a day and detox

FREEDOM!!!!

—-Caleb K

Recently, I visited Regent University in Virginia Beach VA to produce a program on their Fashion Fight Back Fashion show. I walked around with my two host about 4 hours before the big show produced by Regent University international justice mission (http://ijmregent.wordpress.com/) affiliated with the larger IJM.  Typical rehersal, everyone running around setting up lights, interviewing models, looking at all the clothes, but then I ran into a booth called shoerevolt.com the purpose of these new and donated women’s shoes was to help fight sex trafficking(100% of the proceeeds go to that casue). I was sort of intruged but mostly distracted by the bright colors of the shoes, besides sextrafficing is one of those things that never really happens here, I live in the USA.  I thanked her for the interview and headed to other booths, grabbed some catered food and continued with my story it was just about time for the show.I was directed along with my other host to take my seat with the other V.I.P.s I sat in the back with my shrimp still feeling jovial ( I mean sheesh a table full of free food and drinks )  then the show began, very well produced , dancers and then the fashion. All of the clothes were designed by http://elegantees.com with the purpose of being stylish ,functional, modest(made from tshirt material)  and helping stop sextrafficking. 

Here is where it became real…

Behind the models was an image of 15 men standing in front of a child(http://twitpic.com/4g8xqe), the artist iamjamesdavis.com began to explain the vision.(I will post our extended interview soon on my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/magick724 )  The average girl in sex trafficking will be FORCED to service roughly 50 men a day. I just about threw up… well prostitutes perform for about 10-40 men a day ( I met one named Trixie on a shoot I was on for Discovery Channel)  not that I agree with stripping but ..uhh ..umm well these sex slaves are on average 12-17 ( I almost threw up again and my heart broke). 

The last part of the show broke me down…

A PSA  was shown of young kids, talking about how sextrafficing followed by a feature/news story type video about where this is taking place and really what is going on. One of the women who made it out of the trade, beautiful around her late 20’s with eyes that made you stop breathing tells the reporter, I was 13 years old and my first act I forced into sex with 15 men…I still had my school uniform on when it happened. 

I LOVE BEING IN USA! 

The country’s largest sporting event, the game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers will make the Dallas-Fort Worth area a magnet for business of all kinds, including the multimillion- dollar, under-age sex industry, said activists. Authorities are trying to combat the annual spike in trafficking of under-age girls that coincides with the game.

“The Super Bowl is one of the biggest human trafficking events in the United States,” Greg Abbott, the attorney general for Texas, told a recent trafficking prevention meeting. Up to 300,000 girls between 11 and 17 are lured into the US sex industry annually, according to a 2007 report sponsored by the Department of Justice and written by the non-profit group Shared Hope International. Some 90 per cent of runaways and children whose parents force them to leave home fall into the trade and are often beaten, drugged, raped or imprisoned to force compliance. ( read more here) http://www.infowars.com/under-age-sex-trade-booming-at-super-bowl/

caleb-

As you may know(if you follow on twitter calebkinchow), I have been asked to direct a play in Virginia Beach Virginia(june 25, Some were Called and Some Just Came. I am working with a brand new playwright named Joanne Mcpherson, who has written many plays but this will be the first performed at the Chrystler Museum. As with many plays the first few rehearsals can be very difficult, almost to the point of giving up. Today I saw one of the most amazing things happen, we had our first table read from start to finish and it was magical. For the first time the writer lit up because she was able to see a little flesh being put on her baby. For the first time she could hear the comedic timing and drama unfold before her. I literally began to LOl because of the reactions of my cast members, following the story catching the subtlies we had worked so hard to write into the play. THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!

I began to think about the beauty of transformation, how when we least expect it transformation happens. Think about a body builder, they work hard eating the right things, learning technique  until one day before they realize it their body has been transformed. Change is always happens but transformation in rare! To me transformation goes beyond mere  accidental circumstances, it must be a conscious effort to be better.  

After seeing the transformation of the play from words on paper to the shell of a character, I am inspired. The writer and I are scheduled to make a few TV and Radio appearances in the upcoming weeks. I am very excited!!!!! Not for the reason you think,  the excitement is coming because I (we are literally watching art in its purist form). One person with and idea and  gathering other people to express that idea. I am excited because I was there 4 months ago when she was writing the story, I was there when she wanted to give up and I will be there sitting in the back of the house watching as the show unfolds. I will post the interview if the network will allow me, but now she has something exciting to share with the world or at least Virginia right now. 

The point is…

Remember change just happens but transformation must be a conscious effort.

Caleb

I do not think she does and here is why.

I have just posted part 1 one of  my interview with the Duggars on http://twitter.com/calebkinchlow

Michelle and Jim Bob addressed comments like this one and talk about their choice to stop using birth control

If you enjoyed the story “like” it and share with your friends.

thanks everyone

(Source: missybees)

I recently went on a trip to Arakansa to meet(yes you guessed it) the world famous Duggar family. I am back in the studio editing the stories now and the question I have to ask is , what do you think about having 19 children?