Homeless World Cup: Calling All Film Makers

I had joined a group on Facebook called "Homeless World Cup". I received a message about HWC looking out for film makers to make a short film on the Homeless World Cup 2009 in Milan. For the benefit of those who are not on Facebook, here is a copy of the shout out to those who are interested in making a short clip for a good cause. This is being done along with Nike. (The announcement is in two languages -- just in case...)

About the Homeless World Cup
"The Homeless World Cup is an annual, international football tournament, uniting national teams of people who are homeless and excluded to represent their country and change their lives for the better. The Homeless World Cup Foundation supports grass roots football projects in over 60 nations working with over 30,000 homeless and excluded people throughout the year.

Over 70 percent of players significantly change their lives by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into homes, training, jobs, repairing relationships, becoming football players and coaches.

The 7th Homeless World Cup in Milan, Italy, September 2009, is sure to be a passionate affair."

The Search for a Film Maker — A Collaboration with Nike
"The Homeless World Cup is very happy to announce a fantastic collaboration with Nike to search for the film maker to create the Milan 2009 Homeless World Cup short film. Maybe you would like to do it, or know someone who would? It would be great if you can spread the word!

Thanks and hope to see you in Milan :-)

Calling All Film Makers

“Spiritus Concordia Victoria.”

Nike and The Homeless World Cup are offering a $50,000 fund to produce a short film (5 minutes, no more than 10 minutes) capturing the Spirit, Unity, Victory of The Milan 2009 Homeless World Cup. This is from 6-13 September 2009 at Arena Civica, Sempione Park, at the heart of one of the most football-crazed cities in the world. The film may be used for broadcast, digital channels and public screenings. Submit your treatment (using the mandatory entry form at www.homelessworldcup.org/milanfilm) to Milanfilm@homelessworldcup.org by midnight GMT, 31 July 2009 for a chance to win the opportunity.

We’re looking for a film that will bring those who don’t know about the Homeless World Cup immediately into the energy, action and force of change. In telling the story of the Homeless World Cup we want you to capture the real issues and real changes in a fun, energetic way. As they step away, people should feel the truth of this quote from a Homeless World Cup player, “We destroyed the stereotype. We were cool.”

Nike and Homeless World Cup will judge the submissions based on creativity, storytelling inventiveness, as well as, practicality, sensitivity and timing. The judges’ decisions shall be final.

Submissions should include outline script, storyboard, music suggestions, requirements for access to Homeless World Cup teams and players, access to the event itself, travel arrangements, timing, examples of previous work and filmmaking team bios. Submissions must include the official entry form, or they will not be considered.

The film and b-roll will remain the property of the filmmakers while Nike and the Homeless World Cup will retain the rights to use the film across all media in perpetuity.

The finished film must be delivered in English 30 days following the Milan 2009 Homeless World Cup Final Championship match.

For the official Entry Form and Rules, Terms and Conditions go to www.homelessworldcup.org/milanfilm

Indicazioni per la partecipazione al concorso

“Spiritus Concordia Victoria.”

Rivolto a tutti I cineamatori. Nike e Homeless World Cup offrono un premio di $50,000 per la produzione di un cortometraggio (5 minuti, non più lungo di 10 minuti) che catturi lo Spirito, l’unità, la Vittoria dell’edizione Milano 2009 Homeless World Cup. Questa edizione si terrà dal 6-13 Settembre 2009 all’Arena Civica, all’interno del parco Sempione, nel cuore di una delle città più famose nel mondo del calcio. Il corto potrà essere utilizzato per essere trasmesso su reti pubbliche o canali digitali. Invia la tua iscrizione e il tuo soggetto (usa il modulo di iscrizione che si trova su www.homelessworldcup.org/milanfilm) a Milanfilm@homelessworldcup.org entro la mezzanotte GMT, del 31 luglio 2009 per avere un’opportunità di vincere il premio.

La Homeless World Cup è un torneo di calcio internazionale di fama mondiale che offre alle persone senza dimora l’opportunità di cambiare vita. I giocatori indossano la divisa della loro nazione, sono fieri di questa opportunità e più del 70% cambiano radicalmente vita uscendo dalla loro dipendenza da droga o alcool, trovando una vera casa, trovando un impiego, concludendo gli studi o diventando allenatori, giocatori di calcio o leader nelle loro comunità o imprenditori sociali. Grazie alla Homeless World Cup sono stati creati dei progetti sociali sportivi in ben più di 70 paesi che operano con più di 100.000 giocatori dalla prima edizione Graz 2003 Homeless World Cup.

Fondata dal famoso imprenditore sociale Mel Young, I suoi partner sostenitori comprendono UEFA, Nike, Vodafone Foundation, Inter FC, FIFA, Eric Cantona come ambasciatore sociale e giocatori internazionali come Didier Drogba, Rio Ferdinand, Marcel Desailly e Emmanuel Petit.

Siamo alla ricerca di un cortometraggio che trasmetta immediatamente ad uno spettatore che non conosce la Homeless World Cup la sua energia e la sua forza di cambiamento. Nel raccontare la storia della Homeless World Cup vogliamo che si catturino i problemi reali e I cambiamenti effettivi in un modo divertente ed energetico. Dopo la visione di questo cortometraggio lo spettatore dovrebbe comprendere appieno la citazione di un giocatore della Homeless World Cup “Abbiamo distrutto lo stereotipo. Siamo stati grandi.”

Nike e Homeless World Cup giudicheranno I soggetti basandosi sulla creatività, inventiva nel raccontare la storia, praticità, sensibilità e tempismo. La decisione dei giudici sarà quella finale.

I partecipanti dovranno inviare il soggetto, la storyboard, suggerimenti musicali, requisiti per la partecipazione alla Homeless World Cup di squadre e giocatori, accesso all’evento stesso, pianificazione di viaggio, tempi, esempi di lavori passati e biografie della squadra produttrice. L’iscrizione dovrà comprendere il modulo ufficiale di partecipazione al concorso, altrimenti non verranno presi in considerazione.

Il corto e il materiale extra rimarranno di proprietà dei produttori mentre Nike e la Homeless World Cup avranno il diritto di utilizzare il corto su tutti i mezzi senza alcun limite.

Il cortometraggio è da consegnare in Inglese 30 giorni dopo la finale del torneo Milano 2009 Homeless World Cup.

Per il modulo ufficiale, il regolamento e le condizioni, andate su www.homelessworldcup.org/milanfilm "

Source: Facebook
Website: http://www.homelessworldcup.org/

Weird Housekeeping Company Names

Offices in corporate parks usually subscribe to housekeeping services. One of them employs an agency called "Chaka Chak." I found this name to be quite amusing and even said so over a chuckle. My colleague came up with an even better "brand" that he had spotted earlier — AssPee Enterprises!
Now why would someone call their company AssPee?

Change a Two Column Blog to Three Column: Dummies Style

I have wanted to change my two column blog to a three column one for a long time now. I had opted for the Rounders 2 column template and very soon realised I was not using 'page real estate' very well. The post column was too narrow for my liking. Long posts tend to make the blog look like an unending strip of toilet paper. There are many free three column templates available but I wanted to try to fiddle with the code and change it to a three column format. After a couple of tries I knew I was not doing something right. The rounded corners in the layout added to my woes because increasing the column width meant changing the URL from where the image of the rounded corners could be loaded. Somehow the workarounds didn't work very well with me either.
I decided to ditch the Rounders template altogether and go for a different three column one. I wasn't able to complete those step-by-step code tweaks that I found on other blogs. Many left comments that the instructions helped them. But I never ended up being one of them.

Change Template, Lose Gadgets
I was about to switch to a new three column template one day when I was warned that all gadgets will be lost with the template change. Woh!! That is something I did not want to happen. My blog is not some Web 2.0 site with any fancy elements but I had put in a lot of time and effort in trying out gadgets, tweaking stuff and had just about got around to adding AdSense banners. So I was not going to lose my gadgets so easily.
Weeks went by and I kept wondering if there was a way to change to a three column layout and keep my gadgets intact.I know there are ways to back up the gadgets from Blogger by looking the particular tag. It's all good. But it was not fool proof for me and searching for the xml tags left me with dry eyes. Plus, some gadgets like Blogger Profile are not backed up. You need to add them once again.

Eureka!
That's when it came to me...I could use my test blog to hold my gadgets! This would mean minimal code-digging. Some might say this method is too cumbersome but it beats deciphering code and looking for XML tags till you start seeing double. The most that you will have to do is copy-paste.

So this is what you can do:

1. Back up your blog.
2. Create a Test Blog (Had created one thanks to Marco's idea, when he started his blog.)
3. Choose a suitable 3 column template. (I loaded many templates on the test page before deciding on the current one.)
4. Replicate the gadgets that I had created in the Live Blog into the Test Blog. How?
   Open each Gadget one at a time...
   If it has code (like ads, visitor map, etc.) - copy, paste the code into the Test Blog gadget. Give it a title, just so you know at a glance, what the gadget is about.
   If it is not code, simply copy the settings into the gadget in the Test Blog. It could be a Link List, Blogger Profile or an AdSense item.
5. Copy-paste the Live Blog title and line.
6. Recheck to confirm you have copied all the gadgets.

Additional Tips:

• Don't forget to copy the blog title and description.
• Copying your 'site counter' code into the Test Blog will cause the count to increase (since your visits to the Test Blog will also be included). Either create a blocking cookie on the site counter's website for the Test Blog or keep the code in Notepad for later. Just keep an empty gadget with a 'Stat Counter' title, so you don't forget to add the code when the three column blog goes live.
• Make sure only you have access to your Test Blog. This can be done from the blog 'Dashboard', under Settings> Permissions.
  
  
  
  
  
• After copying one gadget save the layout and view the blog.
• Use dummy text and post a few entries into the Test Blog. (Use Lorem Ipsum for dummy text.)
• If need be take a screenshot of the Live Blog as reference later on.

Final Migration

1. Download the full Test Blog template from Layout> Edit HTML> Download Full Template.
   
2. In the Live Blog, upload this new template.
3. Confirm the changes. (including the warning about losing your gadgets).
4. View your blog. Now move the gadgets around to fill the additional column.

Issues
I did face two issues after using this method to migrate to a three column template.

1. Code Swap!
   Even after copy-pasting code into the right gadgets, the HTML ended up being swapped around. For example, my Site Stat code was under the Adbrite ad gadget. The Adbrite ad code was in another gadget...and so on. Very weird indeed. I had to use Notepad as a buffer to juggle the code back into the right place. Or I could have just changed the gadget titles! (I just thought of it. Sheesh.)
   
2. Invisible Ad Elements
   Two gadgets that are related to Google Ads have stopped functioning. They do not appear. The footer ad is generated through code that I manually copy-pasted. The second 'island ad' is in the third column, which is a simple AdSense gadget — no code. I have tried troubleshooting in different browsers, gone through the step-by-step guide on the AdSense page, and even mailed AdSense support. Nothing has helped. The fight continues...
   

---

Finally figured out what was happening, while tinkering around the layout settings. The AdSense units were not appearing because AdSense policies restrict you to a total of 3 units per page. I had set ads to appear after every post and there were units on the right plus there was one in the footer. I disabled ads within posts and the missing ad units came back.

Additional Tweaks (with Code)
You must have noticed I have further tweaked this three column blog. These tweaks involved meddling with code — which is why I am not including them here. Will do in another blog where I will give credit to all those bloggers whose valuable tips have helped me out and made understand 'blogger code' better. Some tips worked like a charm while others took more time (like creating a new gadget 'island' element in the layout). These tweaks include,
- Hiding the blog search bar at the top.
- Adding a gadget element under the header (so that I can add another AdSense gadget)
- Adding a gadget element in the right column.

This I will leave for another blog post. For now, I hope this guide is simple enough and works for you. Do leave your suggestions, if you have any...for me as well as for others who visit this page.

Some super blogs that I always refer to:
Peter Chen's Blogger Tips and Tricks
Pocket's Blog Bulk