The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz

Alrighty so I saw this play and I have to blog about it. It was pretty good as far as plays go. There was a lot of sex in it so that was some what interesting but weird because well ya know. So over all I would say this play was ok in terms of story line. I hate reviewing plays I really do. I think (other than high school plays) I've only seen three maybe. I'm not one for the theatre. Oh well. But while I was watching the play my car was towed. So I feel that even if I was to review it I would give it a slightly lower review than I would given the fact that it's now tied in with the negative memory of me having to pay Dr. Hook $145 (of which I do not have). Thanks Visa!

All in.

So I came across this new Adidas campaign. It's just a simple tag line "all in". They created a video ad that people can share over Facebook and Twitter. I tweeted the video and it came up like this:

(Third line down)

If you can't see it don't worry - it says "I just went all in. Heart over head. Inclusion over ego. United by passion, we go all in." then gives the link to the website to watch the video. 


I really like the optional message Adidas gives. It gives me as a consumer the choice as to whether or not I want to support the Adidas promotional message (which I do). 


I think this campaign has a lot of potential I just think they might have done a little bit more with it. The video is so good I expected maybe a contest through Facebook or Twitter. Something this video would be leading up to or teasing. I think this is a good way for Adidas to make a come back. Nike has been so progressive over the last little while and Adidas has a chance to reach a new market and become more innovative with their branding. Not to mention the heavy endorsing not only by athletes but famous musicians (a la Katy Perry) help strengthen the brand support. But also I appreciate that all the people featured come from different genres of sport and music. Very cool.


Good start Adidas. Keep it up. I'm all in. 

Even Skater BOIS get all Interactive.

Hello Dear Friends,

Most of you know I cannot skateboard, sigh. I can longboard, I can wakeboard and I can snowboard, but when it comes to skateboarding I look longingly at my deck because in my heart I know I still cannot even ollie. But I found something in common with professional skateboarders, we both enjoy finding new ways to get in contact with the world moo hahaha. BEHOLD:

TEXT YOSELF 

This one clip from TEXT YOSELF BEEFO YO WRECK YOSELF one of the many different interactive videos they run once a week. In this clip people text the Berrics and request the different skaters there to do the tricks, almost like a radio show. So people all around the world have a chance to interact with the Berrics. This is huge because now people can not only watch the videos but also interact with them taking the infamous skateboarding video and taking it to a whole new level.


They also feature different continuous videos like First Try Fridays where a pro skateboarder has to land a trick on the first try. There is a slew of constant videos so that followers are always fed with a variety. Berrics takes the classic skateboard video mashes it with a blog and makes it into an incredible website like no other. BOOM Berrics. 

Queen of Shoes

So last week I fell in love with this song I found on my iPod. You know you put it on shuffle and just get what you get right?



I was like "OMG yo this video is sick" three amazing artists from (sort of) different genres collaborating making awesome tunes .... and they're all in converse shoes ... hmmm. Well I did a little reading further down and saw this New Promotion for CONVERSE FREE, LEGAL PROMOTIONAL DOWNLOAD LINK www.converse.com  Say wha!!! Promotional video for Converse? Hold on. Now smart move Converse I love this song and I love these artists and I didn't even know I was watching a Converse video. I blogged about Dev and her Booty Bounce Hellz Bellz thing going on but Converse apparently has been doing this since 2009. This blows my mind how ahead of "the game" these companies are. When I like a song I go to YouTube (because that's where I always go) and check it out. Now subtly companies are promoting their products and endorsing these music videos. I LOVE THIS! smart move. Why? Because it's not a commercial. I love the subtleties companies are doing to break the the clutter people see on a daily basis. If you can involve your product with some form of entertainment without me noticing well good on ya. You deserve my approval (cause you know it's worth so much).

Now, I was doing some snooping around the Vans Girls blog and look what I found...

Click Here

Santigold has now partnered with Vans shoes. This girl loves shoes. I really hope she does another video where she promotes her new show, cause I can't get enough of artist endorsed by sweet shoes. Just as long as companies like Ducks Unlimited don't collaborate with Metallica, although seeing some duck thrash would be pretty sweet. 

My Beautiful Magazine

Hello Beautiful internet people.


Most people have seen my magazine, but if you live under a rock or I just haven't gotten around to attacking you about how good it is here is magazine in all its glory:

BIRD

So this is what I looked like while I was working on my magazine

 

 But now it's done and it looks beautiful. And I want you to let me know what you think.

Should I keep it going over the summer? Would you guys read it?

This is what I look like now:

Wake Up Winnipeg - Getting stoked on the new cable park

This spring Winnipeg will become a lot more adventurous thanks to developer Jason Rohs and his wife Michelle. Adrenaline Adventures, a wakeboard cable park, is set to open and be ready for business on June 1, 2011. 

“I’m a proud Winnipegger who was sick and tired of people crapping on our city,” said Rohs. “We just needed something new and exciting. This is on the cutting edge in Europe,” explained Rohs on his decision to build the cable park. 

A wakeboard cable park pulls a wakeboarder around using a pulley system and cables powered by a motor instead of a boat. “If you’re 16 years old you don’t have to worry about borrowing your dad’s $60,000 boat down the river and hitting a tree stump,” said Rohs.

The $5 million dollar park is located on the west Perimeter between Wilkes Avenue and Roblin Boulevard in the Rural Municipality of Headingley. 

The digging of two lakes is underway. One lake will be a three acre training lake for beginners to learn how to wakeboard and get used to the cable system. The second lake will be much larger, 10 acres, for more advanced riders. 

The cable system works by various towers stationed around the lake with cables running in a counter clockwise motion with ski ropes attached to these cables. The park will feature six different jumps and boxes that were designed especially for the lakes.

“I want people coming from around the world. I want this to be the best facility in the world, that is my goal,” said Rohs, “The WWA [World Wakeboarding Association] is pretty stoked. I just signed a contract with them for the Monster Energy Triple Crown this summer. And also it will be one of the lakes for the World Series of Wakeboarding on the same weekend.” 

“Nothing is standing in my way right now except weather,” said Rohs who flew the entire cable system to Winnipeg from Germany. Rohs isn’t worried about how well the park will do, because not only is his park for wakeboarders, but there will a beach, a waterpark, campground, beach volleyball, and a 55 foot rope climbing course, not to mention the park has a snow tubing hill that was already open for business this past winter. 

“We have such a diversified project, there are so many different moving parts,” said Rohs who said he wanted the park to appeal to a wide range of Winnipeggers, “We’ve had such an overwhelming response already.”

“I’ve never wakeboarded in my life,” laughed Rohs, “But who knows maybe I’ll like it.”

How to heal a broken heart

Just kidding. I have no idea at this point. I think I might follow up with this as a continual blog post, and try to make some webisodes, or if I feel like exposing myself to the internet.

But for now I found this little tid-bit from a tweet and I'm latching on to it.

 http://bit.ly/fHpLSa

It's from Hearty Magazine and it helps me dream that in 10 years I can have a really awesome job. I could flip through all the job titles and imagine how cool their lives must be. One can only hope hey? Anyways, I'm off to distracting myself from my heart by going into dream land.

WTF is Groupon?

Well dear friends I find myself signed up for yet another coupon-type-thing, but this time it's different.



Don't tempt me Groupon. I actually will use my carrier pigeons.


So now that I kind of have an idea of what Groupon is thanks to this very helpful YouTube video (see I told you I learn EVERYTHING from YouTube videos), I can now decide whether or not it's useless or not.

Is Groupon just another lame attempt to get me to buy things? Of course it is. But is it really worth it or should I just go back to my regular Show and Save booklet? I mean a bought that darn thing and only used about 5 of the coupons. Coupons sit in my wallet for literally years and I refuse to throw them out "just in case I need them."

So what makes Groupon different from my tattered coupons. I mean they're both supporting local businesses, but coupons are FREE!

But maybe Groupon is onto something. I mean, if I choose to buy into it then surely I'll use it unlike the Daly Burger coupon a acquired six months ago (the dancing hot dog guy enticed me more than the coupon did). But really the proof is right in front of me, I signed up for Groupon a month and a half ago and I have yet to buy into one. The only deal that enticed me was the American Apparel deal and that was long over by the time I started getting their deal emails. Now it's like "Spend $20 for U Putz mini golf and you get a $30 dollar value!!!" um no thanks. Not that I have anything against mini golf, but I think that when it comes down to my mini golf playing time I'll just pay full price.

Meow.

Crime for all Seasons

So as I was skimming through my favourite website (no, no not Wikipedia, but YouTube). I came across Dev's "Booty Bounce". Now, you must be thinking to yourself  "My Amie have you ever lowered your music standards." and yes you are right. Butt, I mean but, there is a tiny nugget of greatness in this video.

What's going on in my head as I watch the video - "I love Dev's style. I wish I could wear what she's wearing. Wait a second this entire video is about her clothing. Hmm this would be an awesome way to advertise for a clothing company. OH my god I'm genius this is such a good idea. I'm going to be rich!"

But as I labored through this some what repetitive (yet catchy song) I made it to the end. And of course it said wardrobe By Hellz.



So I guess I'm not the genius who thought of it after all but it's still awesome in my opinion. This video has so much going for them a) they're able to advertise their company through a recognizable source b) they're sneaking their brand in without shoving it in people's faces c) they're using a medium that is accessible to a large demographic.

So clothing companies take note. Find an up-and-coming quasi famous singer or artist with rad style and make a sorta video with them wearing your clothes. Genius.

Check out Hellz  Here

Magazine Madness

So as I stumble aimlessly through my Twitter life I have come across some pretty rad magazines. One of which is basically a rendition of the topic I'm using to make a magazine. Only this one is real.

It's an all girl's action sport magazine. I like it so far I just wish they would update their website and facebook page a little more. 

So winter it's skiing and snowboarding. Summer it's basically everything else. So it's universal they have a health, beauty and travel section.

The second magazine is called Foam.

This is the california-y type mag that still has an alternative vibe. They still feature the same kinds of sports as Cooler but have a stronger music and culture thing going for them. I'm going back to Cali Cali.

So both equally cool just kinda expensive. Thus bringing me to the issue of is online better than print. Well.... I think both are good. Why? Because on these darn websites I want to read more and watch something. They never give you all that you want, they want to make you purchase a subscription, which is smart. There is some stuff I can't get off the website that I can get in a magazine ... but.... What I think is a genius idea is to have a subscription online where people can read digitally. And they can also have a feature to watch different clips combining both read and watch. Blamo. Make a nice ebook version online with some sweet ass links and there you have it (clearly I'm not an IT person, these things should just magically happen). 

What goes up must come down: 2011 winter x games

So I wasn't able to catch the X Games this year, which breaks my heart a little. But I've sorted through some highlights for your viewing pleasure. Sorry they'll be a little bit biased cause I wanna see what the ladies are up to....



I do enjoy how they call a section of the slopestyle park the "financial district", cause that's where you'll make your money on the run.


A clean 1080 from Kelly Clark

Energy DRANK: behind the brand

So I've noticed this correlation with energy drinks and extreme sports..... Now lets boil it down. Who is the primary participants of action sports: young boys (14 to 25) and what would they be most likely to drink (other than beer?) Hmm it's not water that's for sure.

These drinks are primary sponsors of competitions, movies, athletes and more. Why? It isn't like their products are directly related with it. For example they aren't a clothing line that centers their focus around making clothing for these sports. Anyone can drink energy drinks. In fact I would argue it would be busy adult age business people addicted to caffeine in order to work their 12 hour days that would need energy drinks. Or students locked up in dorm rooms hammering away at their computers like wolverines til 4 in the morning.

So is it that energy drinks just want to look tough? Using names like "Monster" "Rock Star" and now "Burn" certainly show that they're trying to market to a younger audience branding it so that it's bad ass to drink an energy drink. I don't drink energy drinks myself they make my heart race and I'm fearful I'll go into cardiac arrest, but I would work for these companies. Why? Because they are fun! They are branding themselves by getting "involved" with their target market.

Which brings me back full circle, why is their target market young males? Because I think that it's easy to brand it that way. If you make it look tough and make that connection through involvement in that target market's life (skateboarding, motocross etc.) they will pick up that energy drink and drink.

It's definitely not random that they targeted that market. There was a hole before energy drinks came a long. What would young guys drink everyday? Soft drinks. Soft drinks are now becoming unhealthy, so what can replace it and be look 100% more cooler to drink, make me bounce off the walls and help make the coolest videos ever? Energy drinks.



This amazing short video is sponsored by Coca-cola's Burn energy drink


I've watched this entire movie. Sponsored by Monster Energy drink.

Now check out their websites:
Burn Energy Drink 

Monster Energy Drink

Rock Star Energy Drink

The Battle of Los Angeles

I'm very, very excited about this new movies. The special effects look fantastic and the plot looks interesting. At first I thought it was like a different rendition of War of the Worlds, but I think it might be more than just that.

I looked a little deeper into it (and when I say "deeper" I mean I searched in on Wikipedia) and I found out that it's loosely based on an old potential UFO sighting in 1942.

So as the story goes, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor during the second world war there was an attack scare over Los Angeles one night. Sirens went off and people were told to power down their homes. It was later reported from the Navy in 1983 that it was just "war nerves" and it was just a weather balloon. But, UFOlogists (yes apparently there is such a thing) suggest otherwise. Bum ba baaaa! And there you have the premise to a new blockbuster movie. It really was aliens over Los Angeles and they were just waiting for the perfect time to attack! And that my friends is the Battle of Los Angeles:

Vans Girls Blog

Since no one reads my blog I decided I would blog about successful awesome blogs that I follow

Like this one:

Click Here Vans Girls

This blog is fantastic and a great way to promote their brand. They have free giveaways (and yes even I in Canada won one).

They also have a do it yourself portion which is pretty groovy.

Amie of the North no longer

I have some tragic news. My beloved Eski is dead. Well, not completely but she is pretty destroyed.

Eski and I met in 2006 when I was going through a thrift store phase. I came across her in the coat section. I was skeptical at first but I thought "Hey for $30 I can't go wrong." Everyone loved Eski (well mostly everyone). I didn't care if she looked weird or if people thought I looked weird in her I would just say out loud (not really) "Beauty is function" and keep shuffling along (because that's how I walk when I wear Eski). She had two furry balls and had embroidered images of the Arctic sun on the sleeves and someone killing a baby seal on the back. It is and was the only coat that almost goes down to my ankles (which isn't hard I know but still). She helped me walk to University of Manitoba (half an hour there and half an hour back each day). She was so warm. She had the best pockets, perfect for my iPod, but best of all she had a great hood. Until you wear a coat with real fur trim (PETA don't be angry) you'll never know how warm your face stays. It completely blocks the wind. Even this past week (5 years later) I was thinking "Wow this coat is still amazing. Blocks all the wind and I don't have to wear a hat and get hat hair." -50 weather is no match for Eski.

My good friend Pam rocking Eski out in my grade 12 math class. Look at that great fur. I mean Eski not Pam.

After I had her for two years she was attacked by my boyfriend's cat. She lost one of her furry balls but she took it like a champ. She still looked good and it was a funny story to tell people. You think I would've learnt my lesson but a year later a new puppy was brought into my boyfriend's house and that puppy was/is named Marley (or Moses). She and her puppy ways finally got her hands (I mean paws) on Eski's fine fur and took a big chomp out of the hood. However, after surviving one animal attack Eski stood strong and held it together (literally). Now fast forward a year and this puppy is fat (sorry I'm still mad at her) I mean chubby. I learnt my lesson and made sure that I would a) always hang Eski up when I went over to my bf's place or b) more recently I've just been throwing Eski on the ground in his spare room and closing the door (because I'm lazy). But this time I didn't close the door all the way. On my departure I walked in the spare room and lying in a pile of her own ravaged fur was Eski. I knelt to my knees and grabbed the fur and cried "NOOOOOOOOO" (yes I actually did that).
Now I am unsure if I should wear her still or if Eski's time is up. After 3 animal attacks I'm not sure I can still wear her. What do you think?

I don't know if I can still wear her in public.

Marley looking cute, but don't let her fool you. There is a demon Eski killer inside...

Break the Cycle

I am completely in love with this (relatively) new Kotex ad campaign. That's right I wrote Kotex even though it made me feel horribly uncomfortable, which makes this campaign even better.

and last but not least my favourite



The Kotex break the cycle campaign is genius and I really hope they keep going with this and expand and make it bigger and better. It can be even more famous than the Tampax mother nature campaign. So get on it Kotex and make people more comfortable with ppp...ppe..err  I still can't say it.

BIRDS!

Hello apocalyptic friends,

I looked back to when my last post was and it saddened my heart a little, but I assure you that I was still running into situations where I thought it was the end of the world. And just a little tip it's not the end of the world if you don't stick to your new years resolutions. Speaking of new years I came across this news story while I was on vacation from my duties as blogger.

Check it out.

Some of my friends suggested a few theories. One of which included that it could be because of 2012.... So I knew a little about the idea of how the world might end in two years ... oh crap now one year (sorry), so I did what most intelligent students do and I looked it up on youtube.



If you have time to waste look at this video, I found this first part to what looks like a documentary, which by the way is not edited well at all (thank you Final Cut Pro class),  on how the world will end in December 2012 according to Mayan Civilization. Apparently the poles will shift and everything will be destructed by nature. Now I'd hate for this to be true because a) No John Cusack movie should ever become reality and b) I'll just be finally finished my post secondary education. This depressed me slightly, until I remembered at least I will have the summer free of school and up until Christmas to celebrate my freedom.

So a couple days ago I was crying about birds falling from the sky and how I will never be able to see what my life will be like when I'm done school ( I know I can be dramatic sometimes) but, now I'm thinking you know what even if it is the end of the world it's not really the "end of the world" if you know what I mean. You might not but that's okay I've stopped worrying about the dying birds, at least for now.