ABC Malaysia, viral video: John Gomez.

Yesterday, I shot a "viral video" for ABC Malaysia, the publication circulation assessor. It was a very enjoyable experience. I played the ghost of a publisher, John Gomez. The production house, Reservoir Productions, commissioned a beautiful suit for me, for the shoot. It was just the right touch for the character.

It was a green screen shoot. This means that there was a green backdrop behind me, onto which will be inserted images, in post production, to place my performance in a context. I am very curious as to what the Director Ismail Jamaluddin will put there. It is going to be an interesting surprise!

For me, the most rewarding part of the shoot, apart from the chance to work with the character, until the performance was just what Ismail wanted, was the Director's response to my work. For the second time in a week, a Director has been extremely positive about my work and has spoken of working with me again in future. I am heartened by this. It allows me to understand that I am right to devote the time and energy to acting that I have, in my life, for it very much seems, now, that I have a promising future in this arena. All I have to do, at this time, is keep on working and experimenting. The path ahead looks to be an enjoyable one.

Thank you to Casting Director Richard Goh for putting my name forward for this role. Thanks also to advertising agency Creative Juice, for approving of Ismail Jamaluddin's choice of me for the role.

The ABC Malaysia viral video is expected to be released in August this year. My performance, as John Gomez, should be visible on the ABC Malaysia website. I will let you know when it is out and shall link to it, if I can.

Posted by Valentine Cawley


(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

U Mobile TV commercial Malaysia.

Fintan, my eight year old son, is presently in a TV commercial for U Mobile, the telecommunications provider, in Malaysia.

Fintan had a great time on the TV shoot particularly because the requirements of the shoot, were physical challenges, and he likes those. As you can see, from the film linked here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umby_auvzns

Fintan had to dive bomb into a swimming pool and swim underwater. This, of course, required many takes to get it “just right” from the Director’s point of view. It was interesting to note Fintan’s unflagging enthusiasm, as he did take after take; underwater swim, after underwater swim. It seems to me, that he would be up for any physical challenge, on film, given a chance – he just enjoyed it so much.

If you observe carefully, you can see Tiarnan, five, in the shot, as well – though he is seen only fleetingly. There was much more footage than they eventually used. Indeed, there was enough footage of the boys at play in and around the pool, for the ad to be about them, alone.

This is Fintan’s first TV commercial, though he has been on film, before, in documentaries. I did not know, until I saw him at work, how much or whether he would enjoy it – but it was clear that he did. Thanks to Reservoir Productions for giving Fintan the chance to have a good day putting together a commercial.

Apparently, the commercial is running on all channels in Malaysia. Our contract stipulates a two year period, in which the U mobile commercial may run – so it might be around for some time to come.

Well done Fintan.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.htmland here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Fast food and young children

Do all children instinctively love fast food? Is the marketing to young children universally successful?

You would think so, superficially. Fast food restaurants choose bright, garish colours that seem to appeal to children. The adverts are often fun and fast paced, for limited attention spans. The food is sugary, fatty and laced with flavour enhancers (I once read that a particular fast food from a Big Name fast food restaurant had 22 flavour enhancers of various kinds in it. Ouch.) The food is, in short, designed to be as addictive as possible.

Yesterday, Tiarnan, 22 months, was watching TV. A Big Name fast food chain advertisement came on - promoting the usual range of palatable, but unhealthy foods.

Our toddler son waited until the ad was over then said: "Urgh!", stuck his tongue out, and said, "Not nice!".

Well, it is back to the marketing department with that one, I think. There is one toddler in the world, at least, who is unconvinced by the attempts to entice him to eat junk.

I wonder how many other toddlers out there react similarly?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and five months, and Tiarnan, twenty-two months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Tale of a Zebra Print

A month ago, Tiarnan, then nineteen months, was looking through some pictures of zoo animals. Tiarnan is rather fond of animals and nature, in general, and has been able to name zoo animals since quite young - though he had not gone to a zoo, until recently.

He got to one animal: a picture of a zebra and held it up suddenly, saying: "Zebra...Bagus!". Now, "bagus" is Malay for good, but it is also something else. It is a cultural reference. You see there is a series of tv advertisements, concerning milk, which features black and white dairy cows. At the end of each ad there is heard the cry of "Bagus!" - so as to say how good the milk is. They are quite funny advertisements and make for good tv for children.

What struck me, however, was how the language and references of a tv advertisement, had crept into the speech of Tiarnan, at such a young age. Clearly, he had linked the cows and the zebra, owing to their similar colouration - even though he knows that they are separate animals, and through this association, he had decided to use the language of the tv advertisement, too. This is proof that he remembers the context of the word he was using: he recalls where he heard it used and in what way it was used. Thus, his knowledge is not stored without reference to its surroundings - but embedded in the context in which he learnt it. This shows that his memory is rich. It should be noted that he would have known the word, "bagus" already, from general usage and observation - but here he had deliberately chosen to make a cultural reference, when referring to the zebra in the same context as the black and white dairy cow, from the tv advertisement.

This, of course, points to another issue. Young children can and do absorb the contents of TV shows and advertisements - so it is ever wise to monitor what they see. If my nineteen month old child can make cultural references after watching tv advertisements, so could others. Those little eyes see all, those little ears hear all - and those little minds remember it, too!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)