Earlier today I listened to Tim Ferriss’ conversation with Arthur Brooks. (Listen to it here) Much of the conversation was about happiness. Brooks is a professor at Harvard focused on the science of happiness. Happiness eludes me but I find pleasure enough to distract me. So I took notes. The two explored many insights into…
Category: Blog
Let the Ghosts Lull You to Sleep: Finding Calm in Old Movies
Do you ever have trouble falling asleep because your mind is racing or you feel too wired from the day? Some nights when sleep evades me, I’ve found comfort and calm in an unusual source – leaving an old movie playing softly in the background. It started with 39 Steps, an old Hitchcock movie. There’s…
Buying a Wedding Venue with No Money Down: Is it Possible?
I recently finished editing highlights for a beautiful wedding held at Crofter’s Green, a charming Vermont venue nestled amongst rolling green hills. As I was working on these wedding videos, it got me thinking about the process of having a wedding venue. Videography is fun and rewarding but not a goal. So, with limited funds…
From Wedding Staple to Luxury: How Videography Budgets Reflect the Economy
I post things that are on my mind and sometimes it’s more niche than others. After 15 years as a wedding videographer, I’ve noticed some interesting shifts in couples’ budgets and priorities when it comes to hiring a videographer. When I first started out in late 2006, the majority of my clients were children of…
Should You Self-Publish Your Book? My Journey to Making a Decision
Deciding how to publish my book has been one of the biggest decisions I’ve faced as an author. I wrote a compilation of short stories set in Kansas, which can be a harder sell than other genres or settings. After researching my options, I realized self-publishing made the most sense for my book. As a…
Comparing three AI Models
I had a bloated wedding videography page on my ForeverLuckyFilms.com website. Way too long. No one, especially Gen Z kids would read it, and they’re my target market at this point. So as an experiment, I copied and pasted the text into ChatGpt, Claude-2, and Bard with an identical prompt. I’m going for brief and…
Grigori Rasputin’s secret life as a music fanatic. LOL
He was a controversial figure in Czarist Russia, but few know of Grigori Rasputin’s secret life as a music fanatic. Rasputin wasn’t just whispering into the ears of royalty – he was rocking out with the common folk! Recently unearthed photos reveal Rasputin getting down with the crowd at 1950’s Bandstand. Witnesses claim to have…
The Rise and Fall of Atlantic City’s Casinos
I used to work as the Marketing Manager for the Sands Casino in Atlantic City. At the time, Atlantic City was booming,the Las Vegas of the East Coast, with flashy new casinos popping up . The Sands was one of the early big players, attracting huge crowds eager to try their luck at the slot…
Emotional Directorial Debuts from Female Filmmakers’ Personal Stories
I recently watched two poignant films that pulled me into their intimate worlds and left me emotionally drained (in a good way) – Past Lives and Aftersun. Both movies derive from the personal histories of their talented first-time female directors, Celine Song and Charlotte Wells respectively. It’s remarkable, arguably the best movies of the last…
How to Use AI to Pinpoint the Optimal Location for Your New Business
Last week I shared images from a wedding I went to on the campus of a defunct college. The old college and all its buildings will be converted into all sorts of things from hotels to distilleries and schools. Directly across the street is the small town of Poultney Vermont. It got me thinking if…