Bell n the Hood or Bell runs social media like Phishing scam

Bell Fibe service is the "Compton" of internet sevice.**
Sometimes I feel like Trey Styles (hopefull) but most of the time I feel like Doughboy (trapped) on the porch on the day after.

I don't have cable, I haven't had cable for over 6 years. After Rogers, tried to gouge me with their "HD" packages. I thought I would re-invest my 150$ a month into net services and free off air antenna technology. So, I  bought an antenna that coupled with premium internet, I believed I had solved my entertainment problems.

I have always paid for the most premium internet available. When high speed internet came out in the early 2000. I can still remember my B1 number from back then b1tcfx10, that not my present number, I had a brief time with other providers eventually coming back to Bell. Their competition was either a piggy back on their system or relitivaly not so good at providing fast internet. I usually have the premium service and presently I got Fibe with an unlimited data plan.Our data consomption as a family is quite high, close to 1TB a month (YouTube,Facebook and Netflix). The only entertainment gap from disconnecting was not getting live sports, which the 2 sports that I care about offer streaming version NFL Gamepass and MLBTV.

Like the daytime in BBQ scene in Boys N the Hood all was good for with my internet service for the first 3 sports seasons. The whole familly enjoyed all my legally purchased streaming media and I loved the PVR like features and exclusive media that the paid sports services delivered. MLB.TV is really the gold standard of streaming sports. All was great, until the beginning of this Baseball season. I am guess Bell in this scenario would be the Bad Black cop or the Gangbangers that shoot Doughboys brother because my connection was became inconsistent. Meaning, at times it is beautiful crisp and other occassions it is like looking at a Real Player feed. 

I did spend a night debating with a Bell off shore support "tech". You know the guy that is obviously reading off a computer screen the step by step troubleshooting instuctions and can't keep up with you because your know all the steps in running a speed test. After basically rebooting and/or restarting all your devices and ran a few speed tests. Yes pointless since I do this before calling for the support. The conversation with this "genius" ended with him telling me that "all seems fine from Bell's end of things". I eplained to him that the point of support is that "all should fine on my end of the connection" *gasp*

I BELIEVE THAT BELL IS THRODDLING MY CONNECTION BECAUSE OF THE LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA THAT MY HOUSEHOLD DOWNLOADS.This is just my feeling because I am sure from their side it must look that I am running a Pirate Bay, a Morpheus and a Napster server. And nothing has changed on my side of the internet connection and the service has suddenly become inconsistent.

As the problem persisted for a few months, I decided to rant one day on Twitter, since that is what one does when you can't see the faces of the players on the screen. 

I was not suprised that @bell_support responded via twitter. I was sorta of hoping that I could get some real service from the "service" provider. It did start off promising

I did what they asked... But then they kept on asking for more of my account info...? (wait a minute it sounded so easy from their first tweet)

My internet security radar went off. Anybody can set up a Twitter account, right?!... I am not giving them even more of my info until they prove that they are who they say they are. 

So, I thought I'll gave them partial info, enough to prove that it is me (partial address. date of birth type of stuff) and asked them to contact me to confirm my identiy, since they surely have my contact number and I could verbaly complete the authentication. 

...the communication ended like I just uncovered a Nigerian prettending to be layer for a dead royal.

So, I though to myself. Maybe, just maybe this is how Bell operates their social media tech support. It would be ridiculous to approach someone like your going to help then be this annoying/roadblocky when time comes to help.

It doesn't make sense that they nneed that info to start to trouble shoot a problem with their servies.

It doesn't make sense that they can't call to verbally authenticate my identity? It is bell, originally a telephone company.

It just didn't make sense to me.

Are they so out of touch with social media that they don't understand that putting that many roadblocks to helping a customer is wacky. Do they not care about the quality of their service and/or solving a customers problem.

Then it hit me. It's Bell Canada. The same people that laughed at me when I disconnected my homephone for only my cellphone service and the "support" person said "see you in six month" (haven't owned a phone in over almost a decade). Yup, they are going to go the way of dotto like Taxi cabs vs UBER. They have lost the focus of their business. They are an internet SERVICE provider and they will probably end up like the home phone, CD and 8track. 
 
But allas, I have to wait, sit on the curb like doughboy from Boys N the Hood in amasment at the lack of care in their internet hood. When the next alternative to Bell comes around I will be moving out of the Bell Hood.

** By Compton I mean the Compton portrayed in the movie Boys in the Hood. I have never been to Compton, I am sure it's lovely. 

Why Awards matter or The Oscars more WWF than Super Bowl

The award season is nearing its end and it's finally here, the Oscars. And every year, I film geek it out with friends, family and peers explaining my same argument: the Oscars are not about giving the award for the Best film, Best Director or Best Producer and I would put the acting categories in the same lot. It is a more Politics than merit, it's more a spectacle than a competition.

This year is more controversial because of the diversity controversy that Jada Pinkett Smith started when she pointed out the lack of "range" of cultural backgrounds in the acting categories. I agree with her (sorta) but it's not just about race or ethnicity. I would push it further than that racially charged argument. 

In recent years they have overhauled their voting system and they are taking steps to fix the diversity problem but before you argue that I am wrong about the Oscars not being a a good judge of the best look at their history. 

When the system of voting was more of an "old boys club" who got a fair share of bad "Best" insert category calls. My favourite example is that the Academy didn't give Al Pacino an Oscar for The Godfathers, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico but his Oscar is for Scent of a Woman. They missed his brilliant performance over the years. Here are some of the more egregious misses 

A few years back I worked on a series that won a boatload of awards including an Emmy. I was glad for the project when it won all these awards but when it won the CCE award for editing, I was the most proud because the people who gave me the award were my peers. 

So, I believe you really have to look at who is giving you the award. After all these missed calls, I have to disregard the Oscars as group that give out awards that mark great work. I think the Golden Globes, ASC and other groups where peers are judging peers have more value than this "crowd" called the academy. 

TGIM: Thank God It's Monday!

Thank God its Monday! Yeah, I enjoy Mondays. Actually I enjoy, Monday to Friday, the weekend too. I also don't understand "hump day" aka Wednesday. And Finally, I don't really acknowledge those weird statutory holidays that periodically come up. Basically, a day in the the week is a day in the week, when it comes to my job. Let me back up a bit here, 3 days to be more specific. 

On a Friday, years ago I was dropping off my son to day care and on the elevator ride down after the kid drop off, another parent looked at me, breaking the uncomfortable silence of the ride by gasping "Thank God It's Friday". I soon realize that doesn't go through my head when I go to work. I am lucky that I like my job and don't work towards the weekend. I might not like the subject matter or certain tasks associated with my job but I love Editing. Making and creating a story with images and sound give me a satisfaction and joy that I can't really describe.

Most of my career has been as a freelancer and because of that I schedule the lines have gotten blurred on the work day. At the beginning of my post career, I would work all crazy hours, since I was a night person. Then I got into a routine and slowly realize, when I was building a family that I needed to structure the time more, basically into the 5 day work week. But even when I did that I never dreaded going to work. I found myself working towards getting back into my home office or edit suite to get back at it. I do love what I do even if I had to modify it to fit a more standard lifestyle. 

Even now that I have a stable gig that has me working a 5 day work week, in a more and I never have that feeling. I have been lucky enough to get jobs where I am self managing and that I am trusted to do the task at my own pace with the minimal supervision. Editing requires a certain level of self motivation or you will be gasping every hour on the hour, counting the minutes til the 5pm "school bell" and at that point your just a machine operator. Don't get me wrong, I do dislike parts of my job, sorting and organizing footage, debating with less than savvy producers, dealing with confusing feedback notes... I could go on but really the pros outweight the cons. 

So Thank God It's Monday!

New Years Resolution, Whatever...Thrive to be a Lazy Editor

In the past 2 years, I have realize that I am a lazy editor and I am not alone. Everybody is a lazy I have realized. Notice that your kid's teacher is lazy, your co-worker is lazy, even the garbage person is lazy. I see it on a daily basis at work, people striving to not do something. They actually put a lot of effort, ironically, in trying not to do something. I realized that I am even lazy when it come to doing something I love to do, editing. 

In my very unscientific observations, I have broken it down to 2 very broad versions of lazy. The unproductive version which is the more popular version of the word. The version that one would associate with Homer Simpson. We are all very familiar with that type.

However, the other version of lazy is productive lazy, which is often misinterpreted. I like to think that I am the productive lazy person when it comes to editing. People might confuse the notion of lazy with lack of work ethic but this type of lazy is all about work efficiency. If your this brand of lazy, people might give you compliments like "your pretty quick" at sometimes when they look at the way you working a keyboard. Or maybe these phrases come up frequently "your done?!", "That was fast". At other times they might comment "wow that guy has a lot of downtime" when they walk by your suite or they have that perplexed look of "He never looks busy". Well that is the result of the productive lazy.

I use to be one of those people that thought the hours logged on project directly correlates with the quality of the work. "Sweat equity" is common knowledge concept and I realize that it's wrong, dead wrong as a concept.

When I use to work on film, set you would see this all the time. The young folks would scramble around fast and furious; the older people wouldn't even break a sweat. The young can outrun the old but like a fairy tale the older hare usually gets there more efficiently and often quicker. In my younger days, I would alway wonder how the old guy got it done faster than me. I slowly notice why they didn't have to race around. Productive use of their energy. 

So back to my laziness, the efficient kind. In editing you should strive to be this type of lazy. What it entails is that you need to make everything as simple as possible and this does involve elbow grease but you reap what you sow. 
It does require you to master some tech/software skills to create workflows that make things the fewest click process. Organizing your media to retrieve a clip easily when you have an idea about a cut sequence. You want to strive to be a Lebowski lazy Urban achiever.

If your Lebowski lazy, you have time to make a white Russian, you have time to meditate about your bowling round and you have time to meticulously shop for cream because you did all the heavy lifting, your set up is built to go fast, you know your software and hardware inside out (e.i.  Keyboard shortcuts link to old post) Your basically have time to lean back relaxe and pounder your cuts, your back isn't against the wall because of the way you work (it might be because of all the other moving parts of film but its not your doing, that's the point. 

It is the beginning of the year and a time to make resolutions. I don't really believe in making 2 week promisses to myself that I am bound to break because they aren't habit forming (back to work podcast) But I will make a realistic goal that is easy to improve on because it will help me be more lazy. Tweak my workflow even more, so I can reach my true inner Leboski.
 

No Spoilers Episode 6 : Christmas Vacation or Passion of The Griswold

Well every year I try to recommend a movie for the Holidays that's an out of the box movie that should be seen by all and enjoyed during this season. My previous post have focused on the action genre and those lesser appreciated and often neglected classics. Die Hard, Enemy of the State, Lethal Weapon.

This year, I was looking to do the same. I looked at Gremlins, but honestly this film was better in my mind of Christmas past. It was dated and the acting was so poor by the humans, I thought, this can't be my blog gift to all. So, I thought let's fall back on a classic; National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. I am sure some of the older generation remember this but I realized by working with a lot of folks in their 20's and 30's, they just haven't experienced this slapstick comedy by the comic genius Chevy Chase. I can hear them now, "the guy in "Community?""

As I watched it more attentively this year, I laughed at all the same old gags that still work because they are at the lowest level of comedy or I should say broadest, which is hard to do. I realized on this viewing, why this movie works and you just don't think Griswold is a manic. It is something that is often neglected in stories, emotional attachment . Notice as you watch the first act (aka 20 mins) of the movie, the scenes are about our hero, Clark Griswold, and how passionate he is about the Christmas season, his family and providing for his familly long lasting holidays memories, if they like it or not! 

Their is some language but nothing that your kids won't hear from a drunken Uncle with too much spiked egg nog. Also, the movie starts off with a great animated sequences with a great 80's style Christmas song.

So enough, no spoilers. I won't get too nitty gritty about breaking down the events of the movie but stick this one on your screening list before Christmas before its too late to enjoy this comedy in context...

Have a Happy Passionate Griswold Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New year.