The Blog of Derek Kovacevic

I’m a big fan of comedy, and one of my favourite TV shows is Flight of the Conchords (FOTC for short). Last night, I got to see them live in Detroit at the beautiful Fox Theatre.

But before they came on, we were treated to some stand-up by opening act Eugene Mirman. Mirman has a recurring role on FOTC as the landlord, but it’s a small role with short lines, so you never get to know him all that well. This was his chance to really showcase his material, and, I have to say, I thought he was great. His jokes sometimes got a little weird and out there, but he always seemed to bring it home or get you with his next bit. The most memorable bit was probably his Delta Airlines incident. He had been on a Delta flight and they lost his luggage. So he made 1000 postcards with hand-drawn images of a person and a plane and the words “I hate you” written on them on one side, and a long nasty letter to Delta on the other side. He actually handed these out to audience members and encouraged us to use them. He said he’ll stop using them if he can have controlling stock in the airline or $10,000, whichever is greater.

And then, out came Jemaine and Brett to a roaring Detroit welcome. This was actually their second show that night, an 11PM start time. I wasn’t sure if it would just be the two of them or if any of the other characters from the show would be part of the show. Basically, it is just the two of them, although, for some of the material, they are backed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, which is comprised of one man, Nigel, on cello. Nigel wears what appears to be a 1970’s prom outfit, complete with a blue ruffled shirt. Jemaine says this is the compulsory uniform for the symphony, and also that there used to be three members in the symphony which had to share the single uniform.

Their music on its own is pretty funny, but if you’ve watched the TV show repeatedly or have their albums, you kind of go to the show hoping they do more than just play their songs. Luckily, they do.

Their was plenty of banter between most of their songs. While much of it is probably loosely scripted, you can tell that they do improvise a lot. Sometimes with each other, sometimes with the audience, and sometimes even in the middle of a song. A couple times, Brett forgot the words and Jemaine would call him on it and then they’d just come up with material.

Because of all the banter, and the need to play some of their new songs, some of their classic hit songs had to be cut from the show. The first one that comes to mind is “Business Time.” This is arguably their most popular song, their “Hotel California” or “Stairway to Heaven.” That surprised me. Maybe they played it for the first audience, or maybe they’re just tired of it. Either way, I forgive them.

If you get a chance to see these guys live, I highly recommend that you do. Because of their improvisation, every show is different, so you can go home knowing that you saw something unique, and you can’t say that about every act you see.

Part of what makes Twitter fun and interesting is seeing who chooses to “follow” you. I know I check my account every day to see who has decided to follow me (admit it, so do you). Sometimes, I decide to follow them too, sometimes I don’t. It just depends on the person. But there is a debate about proper netiquette (internet etiquette) to follow when someone decides to follow you, and that is what I’d like to discuss in this post.

Some Twitter users, including Guy Kawasaki, believe that if someone chooses to follow you, you should automatically follow them, no matter who they are. I love Guy, but I have to disagree.

There are some AMAZING people on Twitter who post many interesting and entertaining tweets. Those are people I want to follow.

But I have run across my fair share of spammers who just keep posting the same lame hard sell tweets over and over. Either that, or they just post it once or twice and never contribute anything else. They generally have some generic palm tree picture or no picture at all, just a default Twitter image. Not only do I not follow these people, I often block them. We can all do without these leeches.

Another group I am not fond of, and their numbers seem to be growing, are the online multi-level marketing “gurus.” Almost every one of their web sites is the same. It’s just a lead generation page promising you all the secrets of marketing if you just enter you e-mail address. Of course, you won’t actually receive any really valuable information, just more details about how to buy their product or service. You will of course be put on a mailing list to receive their newsletter. I generally don’t follow these people either, but there is an exception. If they have another web site or blog that I find worthwhile, in my mind, they’ve saved themselves and will earn my following. Otherwise, I’m not interested.

Then there are simply those who I don’t seem to share any interests with. Some 47-year old mother of three tweeting about her cats or knitting just doesn’t appeal to me. ‘Nuff said.

And perhaps the biggest reason I don’t auto-follow is because I do my best to read every tweet from everyone I follow. If I’m gone for the day, I need to hit the “more” button numerous times to catch up on all I’ve missed. This is enough work with the 52 people I’m currently following. I know this number could easily double over the next few months. All the more reason to be selective about who I follow.

There are definitely some people that I follow who have yet to follow me. It might sometimes be a little frustrating, but only a little, and it depends on the person. No matter what, I really don’t take it personally. I don’t think they’re snobby or rude. They just may not be interested in what I have to say. Which is fine. Or maybe they just haven’t got around to checking out my profile. Either way, I say you should only follow someone if you intend to read all their tweets.

You wouldn’t go out with every man or woman who asked you out, would you? If you’re not interested in them, what’s the point? It’s okay to be selective.

Now log on to Twitter and follow me…or don’t.

I recently did a wedding show in Leamington. As brides walked by, I asked them if they had their videographer booked already. Some did, and some didn’t, as one would expect, but I was quite taken aback by the number of brides who said they were not getting a video.

There must be a reason why brides, in this area anyway, are still hesitant to book a videographer. I’m willing to bet many of them simply do not have the right information to help them make an educated decision.

It’s understandable.

We’ve all been taking pictures since we were young, we all understand photography, but not everyone has had experience with a video camera and performing the editing afterwards. There exists a fear of the unknown. How is a person supposed to know what to look for?

Well now, I may have the answer.

I did a search on Google today for “why wedding video?” and I found this article. It is, without a doubt, the best piece of literature I’ve read thus far on the importance of a wedding videographer and how to choose one. I encourage you to read it and pass it on. Fellow videographers, you should also pass it on. Be sure to click “continue reading” so you may read the whole article.