Jesse says...

It’s like His Ubiquitous One just came down and touched me on my ethernet cable… I’m that happy…

Leaving college was sad for me. I didn’t really get to know the people I was going to school with until my senior year. Just as I had found these amazing friends, the year was over and I was out in the real world. Thankfully I’ve managed to stay in touch with many of them, and they’ve become even better friends.

Today was the last shoot for Chasing Windmills. For me anyways, and I’m sure for most of the other cast members. It was a fun event, as I finally met many of the people I’ve been watching nearly every day. And yet, I couldn’t help but think how sad it was that this was the first time that the bulk of us were all in the same room together, and very nearly the last, as our cast party — the big final event — is next Thursday. The Chasing Windmills experience has been so rewarding: I’ve been working with brilliant people, creating something that will live on the internet forever, and doing it all simply for the passion of making. I’ll miss these folks, and I’ll miss having never had the opportunity to really get to know most of them, as they are certainly an amazing group of talented people. It feels like the last day of school all over again, but instead of a year with them I only got an afternoon. Still, Thursday holds a lot of promise, and I look forward to seeing the wonderful Chasing Windmills cast soon.

We have a lot of it right now…

On Tuesday I got an invite from MPR‘s show In The Loop to attend their latest recording. The recording was tonight, and was about The Digital Divide, and so, naturally, I had to attend.

From the site:

From cell phones to instant messages to Google to podcasting, the ways we consume information are evolving rapidly.

Where has technology brought us together in new ways, or strengthened our relationships with each other? Alternately, when have our new forms of media and communication isolated you or someone you know, or caused human relationships to suffer?

We’re looking for personal stories and examples on both sides of the coin – from the family level to the global level, and anything in between.

The recording was amazing… great interviews, fun music, comedy, poignancy, and even a mock sponsor. This was my first experience with the show (other than the few episodes I downloaded and listened to yesterday), and I am mighty impressed. It’s already been added to my podcast playlist and I hope I get the opportunity to attend again!

Check ‘em out!

Anyone even remotely connected to Flash and the Twin Cities will probably already know about this, but what the hell:

MN.swf is a:

Minneapolis-based group dedicated to the professional development and collaboration of advanced Flash/Flex programmers.

Looks to be a good time. I’d go, but I have both class and Ali-duty that night, so I’m gonna be a no-show. If you are one of the rare souls that reads my blog, and you go, tell me how it is… maybe I’ll make it in 2007.

From Ben Krull at Space 150:

Hey, thought you and the people that think you’re del.icio.us might be interested to see a site from your alma mater, CVA. It is called “How is this art?” and has funny videos of “up and coming” artists Paul Billows, Mosaic Mary, and The Clay Elk.

Check it out at http://www.howisthisart.com/

Enjoy!

Thanks, Ben!

Today was the 2006 MIMA Summit. MIMA (for those too lazy to follow the link) is the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, and I was there because I was invited to represent my school, CVA, as part of a panel on the role of education in interactive marketing. The panel itself went really well, but I have to say that the rest of the event was even better. I saw so many great presentations it’s almost obscene. From Elisa Camahort I learned how to be a more effective blogger (note to self: attract a female demographic…). From Andrew Eklund I had it confirmed that Second Life really is the way of the future… oh, and that it’s okay to start off a presentation by saying ‘penis’. From Matt Thompson I learned that I should probably utilize the resources of my fabulous Twin Cities and maybe get out to a show or two.

Oh, and most importantly about MIMA, I learned that I am in love with Michelle Collins. Madly in love. I don’t care that she’s taller than me… or taller than a tree… she’s funny as hell. Damn.

And, to top off the night, with non-MIMA-related news… I learned that not only am I the Prophet of Google (yes… this is mine… I’m working on it…), but I am also the Prophet of Teleportation! I’VE BEEN SCREAMING THIS FOR YEARS, PEOPLE!

Just remember… the Future is NOW!

I have to agree with Garrick. Damn straight, indeed.

Well, here I am at Flashbelt 2006 in Minneapolis. It’s a very groovy conference focusing on Flash (and, increasingly this year, Flex). The event is three days long, and today started out with a keynote by Adobe employee David Mendels. He gave a bunch of details about the direction Flash is going, including a really cool project codenamed Apollo, which is a way of creating standalone, cross-platform desktop applications that are based on Flash (but can also display HTML and PDF content).

After the keynote, the first presentation I saw was about Flex 2 by Mark Anders. Most of it was stuff I already knew, but it was good to see how they’re integrating with Eclipse for Flex Builder. It’s gonna be Windows-only at launch, which really blows, but the SDK is already available, and that is cross-platform. I may need to check that out in the near future.

I’m currently sitting in a presentation by two individuals from Athletics. The presentation is called The Flash Divide, and it’s supposed to be about how to bridge the gap between developers and designers, but right now they’re just presenting their work. More to come…

I know I have international readership, but I’m sure I’ve dragged a few of you locals into the mix as well. This one is for you…

San Francisco. Chicago. New York. London. Toronto. And now, with all due respect to those who’ve gone before, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul! The details for Pillow Fight Club MSP (that’s our airport code, yo) are being revealed very soon (you should get on our email list). In the meantime, you better mark off your calendar for the 20th of May 2006!

Spread the word with links and flyers!

Spread the word indeed.