I'm from Casto-Zeriliia. I don't know if that's how you spell it but that's probably not the most important thing. I've never met another Zerillian. It's probably because there aren't that many of us here. I thougtht I'd just put a little note about it in my blog here to see if anyone else knew what I was talking about and was struglling with it? I'm fine and may be able to help.

This past weekend I went to a seminar taught by Mark Northam entitled 'Breaking into the Film & TV Music Business'. It was put on by the Film Music Institute. It was a pretty good course and I learned a lot. I had read Donald S Passman book called 'All you need to know about the music business'. There not equivalent or anything but they do kinda have the same point. The point is to be educated about how the music industry works and know what you're getting into. Mark's course was good because it dealt specifically with composers for film and TV. There were plenty of songwriters there and production companies, etc and he did a good job of covering the differences between songwriting and how it works and composing and how it worked. They're not totally different but it was good to know the difference. We did a bunch of good stuff. Here's what the course blurb said about itself:

This high-impact course focuses on specific methods and techniques songwriters and composers can use to immediately get work in the film and television music business, including where to find jobs, how to approach filmmakers, deal points on film and television projects, contracts and licenses, how to maximize your royalty income, and how to build your business in the industry.

Whether you're at the beginning of your career or are looking to move to the next level of the business, this course will give you practical, usable techniques that you can use immediately to build your career in the film and television music business.

That pretty much sums it up. I liked Mark. I know some people might not enjoy him but I like people who aren't afraid to say what they mean. Directly and to the point is one thing more people need. Why skirt around the issue because you're worried about hurting someone's feelings or something like that? It never helps communication and just leaves everyone feeling bitter in the end. If I can get a guy to tell me about the music business who knows what it's about...great!

In short: good guy, good course, good information....go to it!

I was a distributor for Xango for a little while. I did it because I really liked the product and believed in it. My body enjoyed it and it helped me feel better. I wasn't sure exactly how that worked but I guess I didn't care. I signed up because I wanted to take it regularly and when you're a distributor you get auto-shipments, which is nice. Once after drinking some I felt a little sick. I don't know what it was from? Could be something I ate beforehand? Something didn't mix right? Who knows? Anyway, I stopped drinking it stayed enrolled in the program. You see, it comes with a website and some money making opportunities that I wanted to stay a part of. However, I still get the auto-shipments. I'm not drinking them so they kept piling up. I wanted to get into some sort of situation where I could send traffic and be an affiliate of Xango without having to take the auto-shipments but they don't offer anything like that. It's seems kinda silly to me that a company on the web doesn't have an affiliate program but what do I know? I could send them traffic, take a cut, and we're both happy.  Win-Win. No such thing with Xango. Not at this point at least. Maybe they'll change? Time will tell. Anyway, I finally had to quit with them. I joined another company that has a Mangosteen product but doesn't make me take auto-shipments. I still believe in the product. You can buy the product here. I made a little site that has articles about Mangosteen - The Xanthone Fruit. It's called The Mangosteen Directory and has articles about what it is and what it does. You can buy some there or click ads to find out more. The stuff is pretty good for you and could stand a little press.

This is my first entry. Don't quite know what to write but just happy to be here and entering into the domain of social computing. Up until now I've pretty much been a computer user who just uses it to get things done. I wasn't on to socialize. This is my first foray into that realm. We'll see what happens.