Magic's Keys to Business Success: Hard Work, Smart Decisions

The much-anticipated March 26 visit to South Carolina State University by Hall of Fame hoopster, post-NBA business tycoon Earvin "Magic" Johnson was all anyone in Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center could want.

Johnson, founder and CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises, was engaging, anecdotal, humorous at times, and full of important advice for success in the business world and life in general. 

Magic Johnson kept in casual walking in the aisles of SMH

"I grew up poor but my dreams were never poor," was just one of dozens of inspirational remarks from Johnson before a large crowd of SCSU students, staff, faculty and other friends of the school. 

Johnson told of his early post-basketball business successes with movie theaters and Starbucks shops in urban areas. 

In these clips, Johnson talked about how basketball prepared him for his business career and how he remains careful, frugal even, with his money. Johnson said he has only two cars. Why? Because he says he is careful with his wealth and because he only needs two cars. 

SCSU's School of Business arranged Johnson's visit as part of its 43rd Annual Business Week. 

Cookbook Author Holly Herrick to Visit SCSU April 9

Public Invited to Book Signing From 11-Noon
Charleston-based cookbook author, food blogger and writer Holly Herrick will speak to South Carolina State University students on Thursday, April 9. She will also have a book signing that is open to the campus and Orangeburg-area community.

Herrick has written seven books, most recently "The French Cook- Soups and Stews" published by Gibbs Smith in September 2014. This is the third entry in her French cook series, which also includes "Cream Puffs and Eclairs" and "Sauces." She has also authored "Food Lovers' Charleston and Savannah- The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings," "Tart Love- Sassy, Savory, and Sweet," "Southern Farmers Market Cookbook," and "The Charleston Chef's Table: Extraordinary Recipes from the Heart of the Old South."

On April 9, Herrick will speak to Patrick Harwood's digital media class about her savvy use of social media to inform and market. Then she will be interviewed in the communications program's television studio by students in his TV production course.

In between those two classes, Herrick will be available to sign and sell copies of her cookbooks from 11 a.m.-noon in the television studio located on the second floor of the former Crawford Hall Engineering Building on Gaillard Street across from a Bank of America ATM machine.

Author Holly Herrick 

 "As a child, I loved cooking from our garden with my Nanna, but decided I wanted to be a journalist 'when I grew up,'" Herrick writes on her website, hollyherrick.com.

She graduated cum laude in journalism at Boston College, then in subsequent years "with good fortune and a dash of tempered bravery" moved to Paris to study cuisine and pastry at the prestigious culinary school Le Cordon Bleu. 

After graduating with Le Grande Diplome, "life and subsequent travels" took Herrick to many places: New York, Chicago, rural France and Jackson Hole, Wyo.

In 2000, she moved to Charleston where she wrote food, restaurant and travel reviews for The Post and Courier. Since then she's written for many regional and national publications including Southern Living and Food and Wine, winning writing awards along the way.

She published her first book, "The Charleston Chef's Table" in 2010.

Her visit to South Carolina State University is sponsored by the Communications Program, which is part of the Department of English and Modern Languages.

For more information, contact Patrick Harwood at 803.536. 8839 or pharwood@scsu.edu.

Cover of Holly Herrick's latest cookbook

Released by Gibbs Smith publishing on Sept. 1, 2014, Herrick's seventh book is "The French Cook- Soups and Stew."

In it, the lover of France and French cooking "jumps into bowl after bowl of glorious French soups with inspired abandon and a generous dose of classical technique."

Additional information about her S.C. State visit can be found on Herrick's website.

The Many Faces of Legend James Brown on Display at SCSU's Stanback Museum

I really enjoy taking my classes to the I.P. Stanback Museum for its amazing James Brown exhibit. The legendary singer and performer known by several nicknames- "The Godfather of Soul," "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," "Soul Brother Number One" and "Mr. Dynamite," among others- passed in 2006 (on Christmas Day) at age 73.

But his legacy and influence live on in colorful, tangible forms- his costumes, shoes, furniture, and vast hair product- in this well-designed and organized display at the museum. The exhibit is officially titled, "The Influence of James Brown: His Imprint on Music, Dance, Style and Politics."

South Carolina State University is one of a few institutions to be selected by the legal system, amid contentious Brown estate battles that have waged for year, as depositories of his belongings. The Stanback Museum staff has done an outstanding job of representing the legendary artist's many faces, dimensions and influences (Michael Jackson, Usher, Prince and Mick Jagger each call Brown an important influence in their own styles and artistry).

Michael Cassidy (pictured right), the museum's installation manager, gave us an insightful tour. He and fellow guide Davion Petty share with visitors many stories for Brown's storied career, which was recently featured in the 2014 film, "Get On Up" starring South Carolina native Chadwick Boseman as "Mr. Dynamite" himself.

The Stanback Museum's Facebook site includes an interesting link to a Huffington Post article titled "5 Ways James Brown Made An Impact on American Culture."

The piece describes Brown's lasting influence in this areas: social activism, politics, music, education and style.

The museum's Michael Cassidy attempted to sum up the exhibit's tribute to James Brown in Vine's very limited six second forum:

A quote on the wall caught my eye as nicely articulating Brown's legendary fashion sense and style. It's from singer, producer, rapper and DJ Mayer Hawthorne: "James Brown's the perfect example of flashy but classy. Classy does not have to mean boring. His gear was flamboyant but without being so over the top."

Catch it while you can! South Carolina State's James Brown exhibit continues until August. Call the I.P. Stanback Museum for hours and tour information at 803.536.7000 or 1.800.260.5956.

Finally, while I'm no experiment the hundreds of songs James Brown wrote and recorded during his long, distinguished career. The exhibit here on campus has inspired me to listen to him more. I have a James Brown Pandora station, for example. My favorite song of his is clearly this one: "Cold Sweat." Check out him performing this classic from 1967! 

It's All About The...Lighting!

In my television production class we have been studying the importance of lighting. As an experiment we went into our TV studio and the students and I took pictures of each other with different lighting arrangements. Here are some of the results:

Cailyn Barnes is shown with lighting just from the studio's ceiling lights. None of the powerful and subtle TV studio lights are turned on in this shot.

Cailyn is lovely (as always!) but if this was for a real television interview or program, the lighting on her needs to be much better.

Some main studio TV lights have been turned on now. The lighting on Jessica Edwards is noticeably better than Cailyn's. But it's almost too harsh. The main or key light is too much directly in her face.

This is an example of flat lighting, which our textbook says produces "uninteresting pictures with little depth and modeling."

So we need to make some adjustments to achieve a nicer, more flattering lighting combination.

This is much better with a three point lighting arrangement. We've adjusted the key light so it's more at an angle to her face. A fill light, with a less bright, softer exposure, is to her right and high, so the right side of her face is lit. And another subtle light was placed behind her to her left. This backlight shines on her hair and helps give her a nice glow.

Jessica seems happier too about this lighting set up!

Another example of effective three point lighting is this image of Franklin Haigler.

You can see how the fill light to Franklin's right illuminates the right side of his face.

The backlight behind him on his left side gives Franklin an interesting glow around his head.

Looking pretty GQ FH!

I like this YouTube video on three point lighting.

What's the Word? Topic: MEAC Men's Basketball Tournament

In speaking about the fun social media application Vine in class yesterday, I demonstrated how quick and easy it is to post a six second video. My Electronic Media Production II class includes several students involved in the recent Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men's basketball tournament in Norfolk, Va.

The South Carolina State University Bulldogs won one game in the tourney before falling in the next round. Player Patrick Kirksey and cheerleaders Destinee Chambliss and Kendra Piglar gave quick responses to the question about the best thing about the tournament in Norfolk.

S.C. State finished the season with an overall record of 11-22, 7-9 in MEAC play.
Steps to post Vine videos on Blogger: (insert URL in HTML setting)

In Blogger when you are in the New Post part, write a few or more lines to set up your Vine video. When you are ready to put in the embed URL (go to your Vine video and click on the three dots--... but vertical--next to the video which will show you ways to share the video. Click on embed and copy the URL that comes up.)

When you are posting in Blogger, the blank page has the words "Compose" and "HTML" at the top left of the screen. Normally it is is Compose. But to embed your Vine video, at the point in your post where you want us to see the video, switch from Compose to HTML. In HTML you'll see all the code. Paste in the embed URL. Then go back to Compose. Your video will now be seen!

Blog List- Advanced Television Production Spring 2015

Marquis Barley                  Bulldog Blog                                  scbulldog.blogspot.com

Cailyn Barnes                     Skool Daze                                   barnescailyn.blogspot.com

Daniel Bradley                   dbradinfo                                       dbradinfo.blogspot.com

Destinee Chambliss           Your Favorite                                 yourfavoritexoxo.blogspot.com

Jessica Edwards               Bellissima Thoughts                        jkeyshia.blogspot.com

Franklin Haigler               The Haigler Herald                          franklinhaigler.blogspot.com

Perrion Manns                  PBody’s Blogs                              pbodysblogs.blogspot.com

Jerel Palmer                      BulldogBlog                                  scsubulldogblog.blogspot.com