Author Archive

In 1985 when the original “We are the World” was first released, my friends, co-workers, and I were big fans of the song. It ended up being a huge hit.

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Earlier this year, when Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones decided to do a 25th anniversary remake of “We are the World”, I was curious as to who would be singing in the updated version. There were many artists that participated I was quite happy with. They included Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Celine Dion, and Fergie to name a few. However, I will say that I did NOT care for the rap and hip-hop singers toward the end of the song. I also thought Jamie Foxx did a terrible job on the introduction. For an actor, he could have delivered the scripted lines much better. Nevertheless, I did buy a copy of the song from iTunes.

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Since then, there have been a number of impressive “We are the World” remakes by “amateurs”. The first one I saw out of the gates is the version by Tyler Ward and his group. Tyler’s version has a very nice look and even has a humorous bit at the end.  The audio quality for this YouTube video is quite good albeit a shortened version of the original’s 7-minute song.

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The next “We are the World” remake that I learned about was the version by Lisa Lavie and her group that CNN reported on. This one tries very hard to give everyone a bit of spotlight time and goes the full 7 minutes unlike Tyler Ward’s shortened version.

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As you can tell, I am a fan of this song and the creativity it has inspired on YouTube. If I find some really great remake versions of “We are the World”, I will add them to this post.

It has been no secret that I have had to downsize and make drastic changes to my business since late last year. The credit crunch has certainly taken its toll on me. As we are now well into 2010, I am happy to report that the big changes I made have made a difference.  I am far from making a complete turnaround or comeback but I am happy to say I have a better sense of direction going forward.

One of the big changes is deciding to expand my property management business back to Orlando, FL and to seek out some consulting opportunities. I have also tweaked my business relationships and associations.  Part of my setback was in associating with people who drank the same kool-aid which blinded me to things we should have foreseen.

The people I want to know about my business largely know.  And the people who don’t know, well, it wasn’t a priority for me to let them know.  There is an inner circle and there is everyone else.

I am looking forward to seeing how 2010 turns out.  One thing is for sure, it won’t be boring!

Normally, I watch Larry King Live on my TIVO.  But because I am in Portland working with a business friend and associate, I was forced to see Larry King Live on YouTube. I saw the interview of Carrie Prejean by Larry King and was stunned that she actually made herself look more of an idiot than she already had shown.

That interview was an embarrassment on so many levels. She had this annoying habit of clicking her fingernails on the interview desk during the beginning of the interview. She had no ability to make the distinction or counter Larry’s question as to her motive to dropping the lawsuit.

If she wanted to walk off the set, she should have left. Everyone would have been better off for it. Larry King is traditionally very polite and flattering to his guests.  If she can’t handle being interviewed with Larry, she can’t do it anywhere.

She is an idiot for not knowing why people continue to attack her.  It is because she continues to be a lightning rod and dredging the same crap up.  Even her so-called book seems to continue this.  The news had been calm for a few weeks until she decided to enflame the situation by filing a lawsuit against the pageant officials.

Fortunately, more hypocrisy was found of a secret solo-performance tape that shut her down.  Her lack of accountability is stunning. Her ability to distort the facts is stunning.  The fact that she claims she represents conservative women is embarrassing.  I know a lot of conservative women and none would ever behave like she does.

And I about laughed out loud when I her say about how much she accomplished in her 22-years.  Like what?  Parading around showing her body? Being unaccountable for anything bad that happened?  For being an intellectual midget? For continually seeking media attention, then complaining about it?

It is pretty rare for me to write a post of this kind about anyone but I had to vent somewhere.  Carrie Prejean is an idiot. She brought all this on herself and she deserves what she gets.  She needs to grow up. She is fooling very few people with her words.  They ring very hollow.

This was first posted on The TurnKey Publisher’s Blog.

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The idea of incorporating video with the book and ebook is a good one.  The idea of tying in Social Media into books is also a good one.

However, from what I have seen from the Simon & Schuster “sample” vook, it is offensive to my sensibilities because, once again, New York publishers are trying to take a proprietary approach to something I believe is relatively simple to implement but trying to lock out other parties.

I am a proponent for the the independent author and publisher who wants to reputably take their work directly to the open market. To date, I have mostly seen “cheese” because people make very little effort to respect some publishing conventions.

I had already made plans to make an announcement on a different note but this whole proprietary vook thing has got me bothered.  I launched “The TurnKey Publisher” series as a direct attack and alternative to the traditional publishing model but now comes the vook.

As such, I feel I need to respond rapidly. I don’t have time to write a book on it, so I am simply taking my proof of concept and giving it away.  Essentially, it is my hope to put a damper to any proprietary vook / video books formats.

On December 1, I will be releasing my non-proprietary version of the vook for FREE.  I will also be providing instructions how to do it for FREE.  My Twitter subscribers will be the first to find out about this. With any luck, people who like what they see will spread the word and rally around this open-implementation of vook.

Today, O2 Media President/CEO Gerald Czarnecki emailed me a PDF letter to voice his concerns of allegations and accusations against the company and business he works in.

However, my reporting on O2 Media has been relatively light and mostly indirect. Most of it was actually focused on “Incredible Discoveries”, not O2 Media itself.  What seems to be damaging to O2 Media are the apparent connections to “Incredible Discoveries”, earlier businesses, and companies through related parties that have many complaints and lawsuits.

It would seem they really want my “approval” and yet all I have done is accurately report on information I found, acquired, and corroborated:

• Florida Division of Corporations
• Broward County Clerk of Courts
• CorporationWiki
• Florida Attorney General’s Office
• My phone interviews with various defendants
• Google search engine research
• Numerous email complaints and reports I have received
• Email from O2 Media employee (jhc0615@aol.com)
• Palm Beach Post newspaper story

Getting my “approval” would certainly not change the past or my informational findings. In my open response to Gerald Czarnecki, I recommended he look within his own organization to clear up any unhappiness that is occurring.

Before I even contacted TubeMogul (a video distribution web service), I suspected that I would be in for sticker-shock.  It is always a bad sign when a company offers a free service but then list no prices for the upgraded versions.  It is sort of like buying a car with no sticker price.  It does not give me a good sense of security.  I searched the Internet for the prices but most of the people posted spouted the TubeMogul party line that they have a free version.

However, the free version means very little beyond using it for testing purposes.  Why bother getting invested with a service (no matter what the features are) if they are going to blow the budget?

While 100 video deployments per month sounds impressive, one video to the top 10 video sites will use up 10% of your quota.  And if you happen to screw up along the way, which is entirely likely, that will chisel away at the monthly quota.  Basically, you can expect to distribute around 9 videos per month at best.

To be fair, their sample free service seems to be pretty good.  I was pleased with it.  Otherwise, I would not have even bothered to ask for the price for the upgraded versions.  Also, TubeMogul has the right to focus in on any market that they choose.  Personally, I think they have cut a large slice of potential customers out simply because of the $500 entry barrier.

The will argue the entry barrier is $0 but I didn’t just fall of the turnip truck yesterday.  Yes, you can try it out for free and get some minimal use but the true entry point is $500.  You should keep that in mind.

Personally, I am looking into other options (which there are).  HeySpread.com has a “pay as you use” model which is interesting but that might get tricky depending on how the math works out.  I am not going to even mention the others until I try it myself.

I know a LOT of people who are willing to pay but most are not going to shell out $500/month for this service.  They will brag about the analytics but that is secondary to me to the time savings.

This story was forwarded to me by a friend.  I do not who the original author was. Hence, I cannot take credit for it. However, I thought it was a good story to share to make a point on this political notion of “spreading the wealth” and socialistic policies.

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An economics professor at a local college made the statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

It could not be any simpler than that.

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This is also a great quote:

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for,that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

~~~~ Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931

This is a teaser post. I don’t have much I want to reveal at this time except for a couple of nuggets.

I am working on a project called the CEO Publishing University.  If all goes well, it will launch in Spring 2010.  This is a work-in-progress.  Don’t assume anything you see on the website will be in the final version. Don’t read more into the project until I officially announce.  I am making no promises to anything or anyone until I make it “official”.

Yes, it is very much related and tied to my current published series, “The TurnKey Publisher” Series.

I am very excited about this project and I am currently assembling a team of advisors.

Again, all of this is a tease but it isn’t a joke.