Thoughts while on pseudo-vacation

I’m taking some vacation this week…but only so I can do a decent job on my final term projects at school. Back in September, I had a hunch I’d need this time, and I was right. Or maybe it’s just Parkinson’s Law at work.

Aside from schoolwork, a few things percolating recently:

• Mesh conference. This is “Canada’s Web Conference” and it’s happening April 7&8 at the Mars Center in Toronto. Judging from the previous years, it’s been a great event. I was pleasantly surprised to recognize more than a few of the panelist and speaker names from the Canadian web community, some of whom I’ve met recently! Tickets go on sale tomorrow.
• Mashups. I’ll be focusing on mashup ecosystems for my masters thesis. It’s early days, but I’ve been stumbling around the web discovering more and more progress and innovation in this space. Especially for enterprise mashup platforms, such as IBM’s Mashup Center (here as well). I also had no idea there was so much great content on Youtube - interviews, fantastic videos such as this one and the like.
• Motrin showdown on Twitter. Motrin posted a new ad on their site and a number of mothers (#motrinmoms) took offense to it. Twitter exploded with backlash and a “what’s the big deal” counter-backlash. Motrin responded, apologized and pulled the video. Personally I didn’t find the ad offensive, but it was another interesting case in point of the viral power of social media avenues.
• Passchendaele. I saw this film (love story and tribute to Canada’s role in WWI) with a friend last night, and it was amazing. Paul Gross produced, directed and played the main role, based on his grandfather. It took them four months to re-create the battlefield, which was pure mud, pouring rain and dead trees, somewhere in Alberta. It is the most expensive Canadian film ever made. Interestingly, Paul had to raise a lot of the funding from private investors, and the government chipped in as well. It is not easy to make a big movie in Canada. In any case, highly recommended.