The Madlab Post Turns 5: Out with the Old and In with the New! #AmWriting #Blogoversary #Blogathon #NaBloPoMo

Do you know what today is? It’s the 5th year Anniversary of this blog, The Madlab Post.

It feels like I started blogging a long time ago but five years isn’t really a long time. It is in filmmaking years, in my opinion but not in blogging years. The Internet isn’t even that old. In honor of The Madlab Post’s 5th year anniversary, here is a list of five of popular posts on this blog and another list of five plans and goals that I will set out to implement from this day forward. Also, enjoy a tune from Tony Toni Tone to end the day on a smooth note as we start a 7-day celebration filled with plans, parties and pretty pictures.

Popular Posts by The Madlab Post
Based on traffic, comments or a combination of the two.

1. Custom Movie Themed Cake Designs to Love - According to my blog statistics, this is one of the most visited posts of all time.

2. Successfully Cinematic and the Bigger Picture - My interpretation of the topic of “success” in Week 2 of the Group Blogging Experience placed this post in the top three posts that received the most comments from readers, excluding my own response comments.

3. 5 Ways Bootleg DVDs Make You Poor - While being among the top five to ten most visited posts on this blog ever, it is also among the posts that have received the most comments. It appears, everyone has their two-cents regarding bootlegs and movie piracy. Unfortunately, those two-cents seem to usually weigh in favor of the criminals, stealing, illegal downloads, etc.

4. My Blogging from A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post - At a whopping 27 comments which include some of my own, this leads the pack of posts with the highest amount of reader responses.

5. I Am a Sex Addict - Getting Dirty with Caveh Zahedi - Not only is this post one of several that has received the most visits within the last five years, it also has one of the longest comments ever received on a post on this blog.

Current and Future Plans

1. A Blog Renovation - This has already begun, starting with the new blog header that I requested readers to vote on or leave feedback on. The renovation will continue over the course of the next six months to include a new design, layout, home and branding.

2. TV Show Component - I’ve had a local, independently produced television program in development and then in the works for about 3 years now and it’s about time to get this thing rolling. The first few episodes are likely to air before late fall, depending on how my fundraising efforts turn out. Since it is local, only residents in the northern part of the east coast will be able to view it on television but each episode will also be available online on the station’s website and on my YouTube channel, which I plan to update as well because it’s been neglected for too long.

3. Blog Supporters Fundraiser - A simple dollar fundraiser is set to be conducted locally between this month and next month to raise funds for the blog renovation, TV show and local events that I would like to host for movie fanatics in town. Any remaining funds will be allocated toward two short film projects that I want to complete before year’s end as well as production funds for the feature film that I’ve postponed, yet again, until next year. I plan on partnering with a few local eateries to get the fundraiser rolling or at the very least, introduce the blog to more local readers.

4. Prizes, Interviews and Multimedia - Contests and sweepstakes on this blog will be increased to build momentum for new readers and veteran readers while I also conduct more interviews with fellow filmmakers and figures of interest in other fields such as publishing, music and law. I would also like for multimedia elements to play a role in some of the future posts on this blog such as videos, photos or photo journals and audio podcasts.

5. Helping Charities - After learning about Leonardo DiCaprio’s work with the World Wildlife Fund on a campaign to save tigers, I will use this blog to support more of the charitable contributions and activism interests of male celebrities chosen as King Dong on this blog.

What was your favorite post from this blog so far?

Do you agree or disagree with the current and future plans for this blog?

How should anniversaries for The Madlab Post be celebrated in the future?

and now, our feature presentation......

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Photo Updates for VISIONFEST 11 and New Madlab Post Header Unveiled #NaBloPoMo

It was a long time coming but I finally got around to adding photos to the VISIONFEST 11 film festival post from earlier this month. If you are reading this and have not read the post or were waiting for the photos, you are welcome to go and read the post (or read it again), check out the photos and leave a comment or two. Also, here is a new blog header for The Madlab Post that a graphic designer made for me that I've had sitting around for a few weeks. What do you think?

Current Madlab Post Blog Header:

New Madlab Post Blog Header:

Your feedback is welcome on these blog headers. I think that it is time to make some upgrades to the Madlab Post blog and the blog header is among these upgrades. So......

Should I keep the current one, use the new one or get an entirely different one designed so you all can choose from two different options for a new header?

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How I Lost a Movie and Found a Talent Agreement #GBE2

Last month, I visited a retail space that is often used for pop-up stores and events. I had plans to setup a screening for one of my short films. After discussing how it would fit within the local community with the owner and analyzing all of the variables necessary to pull off a screening and lecture or Q&A type of event, I realized that more planning time than I allocated would be necessary to get it up and running, so I put it on hold and then tried to setup a smaller scale screening event at a different venue to coincide with my completion of the WordCount Blogathon.

I had a flyer designed and tickets almost ready to go. The only thing left to do was promote this screening/party heavily and test the equipment to make sure that the main event would run smoothly, which required me playing my movie at the venue of choice in advance. A few days before it was scheduled to take place, I realized that I lost my own movie.....well, the DVD copy of it. The venue I wanted to use is not equipped to screen films or videos in multiple formats and DVD is the main option. I looked around my apartment for this movie and could only find it on tape. In all of this time, I came across DVDs featuring other people’s films and DVDs of mine, except for the one that I needed.

So, I had to cancel that event and am currently trying to plan another screening. This time, however, I am going to have to get a DVD made specifically for this screening. I contacted one of the production companies that I work with, for help on creating a new DVD. Not only did the producer agree to make the DVD, but he also found the DVD copy of the movie that I was looking for and with it....directed my attention to a small stack of documents that include talent agreements and some other contracts that I didn’t even know I had know idea where they were.

Not only do I need to be more organized but I also need to separate all of the current projects that I’m working on from the previous projects that I did and both of these groups also need to be separated from the work of other filmmakers that I have watched and accumulated over the years.

Man, I wish I could have (read: afford) a personal assistant to keep track of all of my crap.....you know, like what Jennifer Hudson’s Louise character did for Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie character in “Sex and the City: The Movie”!

The lesson here is “Organization” and while that was not exactly part of my 2011 New Year’s Resolution (“productivity” was and is my main focus), I’ll need to add it in somewhere and get productive at becoming more organized!

Stay tuned for a must-read post on writing and documentaries, to be posted tomorrow!

Also, it's not too late to vote for a June King Dong. Will it be Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Reich (still working on verifying him) or somebody else? YOU make the call!

This post is part of my participation in the Group Blogging Experience (GBE 2) and was written for this week’s “Lost and Found” topic.

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