(originally published 1/25/08)

There is a sewing-related video at the end of this post... it will all connect... you'll see.

Last night, my husband came home from work early and I left the house. By myself. Dressed like a grownup. (Well, my version, anyway - I had a bright tuquoisey-purpley thing happening) It was glorious. Went to a business networking event. I love going to these things, because the topics are often of great interest to me, I meet interesting people, and get to talk "shop" with people who speak my language. The event was a lot of fun.

The topic of the panel discussion was the current state of the music and movie industries, and what sort of challenges they are facing, and will face in this new digital age. Of particular interest, was how they expect the video game "Guitar Hero" to really affect boys' interest in pursuing music and forming garage bands over the next five years. Hey, and did you know that the lightening fast speed of the internet can now get the word out that something is great or horrible in a way that significantly impacts box-office receipts within days? In music and movies, you really have to be clever to make money from a poor product nowadays, and that is a good thing. "Cloverfield" was the example of the terrible movie everyone will stay away from. Personally, I have heard nothing but how horrible that movie is, since the day it opened. "Juno" is enjoying the opposite effect right now. I'd love to see that... that is, if I can actually leave the house again so soon...

And, on a depressing note, I learned that in the movie and music industries, pure talent really doesn't mean much in financial terms these days... very skillful marketing efforts plus talent bring the success (at least in monetary terms and name recognition), not just the quality of the work. It wasn't always that way. As one of the panelists said "Show me the platinum artist who came outta YouTube without a big marketing behind them..." Someone offered an example. He replied "3 million dollars in marketing. Try again." That's kinda sad, isn't it?

I met one of the original organizers of the Woodstock festival (yeah, the big one), a comedy club owner, a children's' clothing designer, an intellectual property attorney... and more...

But the absolute best part of last night, was that it reassured me that I can still hold quality conversations with adults, that I'm not "out of the loop" when it comes to current trends and ideas, and that I have valid points to make, of interest to people who are actually intelligent businesspeople. They made referenced to books I've read, names I know, places I know about, even if I haven't been... Whew! Felt good.

So, when it was over, I was in Manhattan. Alone. And I took some video to show you that the hoppin' nightlife I imagine I'm missing, didn't seem to be happening last night. Walked past where they are setting up the tents for fashion week, but it made for very boring video, so I didn't include it here.

So, as with anything great...music, movies, clothing... you can come up with any idea, using any pattern or method, but to make it a quality item, you need to know how to navigate the rules for that particular pursuit. You won't get there without some amount of study, so here's some more help.

And I was more than happy to come back home to our warm apartment, and resume my cozy life.

See the video here.