Monday, May 14, 2007

Issue 417 - Is This British Woman A Result Of U.S. Dominance?

Hi,

I hope everything is ok where you are.

I went to see a football game yeserday.
In the stadium about 20 minutes away from me, the England Women were playing.
It was fascinating, and I could see a lot of parallels between the state of women's football in this country, and the state of curling here too.
The English beat Northern Ireland 4-0 in front of just under 4,000 fans.
Not bad attendance that.

Plenty of food for newsletter material there, and I will undoubtedly come back to the fact that a lot of our players still have other jobs to hold down!
Today though I want to tie in the game yesterday with an article I wrote recently, so here it is...

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Is This British Woman The Result Of U.S. Dominance?
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The British woman? Jacqui Oatley.
The sport? Football.
The date? April 21st 2007.

The main highlights show for the British national game of football had a first in its' 43 year history in April 2007 - the first commentary by a woman.

The decision was criticised in many quarters, but not from me, I think she did a good job.
Like most new male commentators, she worked her way up the ranks after studying journalism, and she also has experience of playing the game, being a keen player until she dislocated a kneecap and ruptured tendons.

That's the focus of this article, the fact that she played football.
Womens' football in this country was always viewed as a novelty, in fact it was banned on our grounds until only a few years ago.

To be honest, it's still treated here as 'the girls having a go', although that is very slowly changing.

This has been driven by the US, where the womens' game has been popular for a long time at school level, with the senior national team achieving World Cup success.

The market in the US for the mens' game has been famously resistant for the last 30 years at least, and I'm convinced it was the growth of the womens' game that prompted the growth in that market of the mens' game.

Football is the biggest growing game in the US at junior level, and the money men have not been slow to recognise the potential when all those players grow up!

Several of the top teams in England have been bought out by US interests, most noticeably Manchester United.
Both of the teams in Jacqui Oatley's first game fielded US players.

Good luck to her, I say.
The decision to use a female commentator for our flagship football programme is long overdue, and I suspect it was helped by the growing popularity of the game with women here.

She also got there, by hard work, passion and determination.
Was she ultimately helped by the money driving the sport in the US and the womens' game there?
Possibly, but she's also there on skill at what she does.

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There you go.

I've also been playing around with youtube videos for the first time.
You don't have to be super polished to post videos, here's a test version of mine, which you can see was knocked up in my kitchen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J06jZG_JWvA

Right, that's it for this week, are you using youtube for free traffic?

'Til next time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you know anyone else who you think would enjoy the
Great Gordino Newsletter, please pass it on to them!

Transform Your Life in 21Days!
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com

How to generate no cost ongoing targeted traffic:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/traffic

How to make money from movies:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/movies

Grab my free 8 Step Goal Achievement Plan by sending a blank
email to:
mailto:transform@getresponse.com

Monday, May 07, 2007

Issue 416 - Frankly My Dear I Don't Give...Hey, Can You Smell Burning?

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Hi,

I hope Monday finds you well as we crack into May.

I'm not going to write about sport today.
I want to, today here in the UK sees the FA Womens' Cup Final, and the finish of one of the longest individual World Championships in sport.
I'm restraining myself, although I can tell you I will be using both of those events with my Make Money From Sport technique! (how's that for a not-so-subtle hint!)
http://www.gordonbryan.com/sport

Ok, today I'll go for another subject I enjoy, and also use to profit from online, the movies.

It's an article I wrote about goal achievement, so here it is...

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Frankly My Dear I Don't Give....Hey, Can You Smell Burning?
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It's a well known Hollywood story - that the unknown Vivien Leigh just marched up to the producer of Gone With The Wind with a raging fire in the background, and announced that she would be playing the part of Scarlett O'Hara.

So, is it true?

Er, well sort of.

On the night of Dec 10th 1938, shooting was taking place of the burning of Atlanta scene.
Incidentally the raging fire in the background of the scene is the actual burning of the arch from the original King Kong movie.

So, the producer was there, David O. Selznick, who after a massive national publicity rich search to find someone to play Scarlett O'Hara in the film, still hadn't cast the role.

Vivien Leigh didn't exactly just march up unannounced - she was there accompanied by her agent, who happened to be Selznick's brother.
Myron Selznick also happened to be the agent of Leigh's fling and future husband, a certain Laurence Olivier!

David Selznick knew who she was, but it was indeed apparently on seeing her in the flesh that he was swayed.
Maybe it was the red glow of fire all around, but apparently she did a little audition that night, test shots were taken swiftly following, and within a month, Vivien Leigh had signed the dotted line and the deal was done.

It was a controversial choice - it had been widely assumed that the role would be given to a woman from the South, considering that's the whole axis of the story, and at the very least an American actress!

Can you imagine the hoo-ha when it was given to this British upstart!

Actually it might have been a smart move, because a famous American actress might have taken attention away from the actual story.

It can't be said that Leigh did a bad job, she did win the Oscar for best actress for the role after all!

Vivien Leigh only made less than 20 films in her career, and along with her Oscar for 'A Streetcar Named Desire' it is her performance as Scarlett that immortalised her.

Goal achievement wise it's a great story.
Let's face it, to succeed in acting is one of the hardest things to do, and she certainly caused a stir after that firey night in December '38.

Was she lucky?
I guess you could say that, but had she created her luck?
Yes.

She didn't get to have Selznick's brother as an agent by accident, that didn't happen with her sitting at home wishing.

She took action, she pursued her goals.

Of course so did all the other women who wanted the role, not least the thousands of Southern Belles that auditioned.

Taking action doesn't always guarantee results, but not taking action *will* guarantee failure!

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Ok, that's it for this week - I've said it before, and I'll say it again, with good reason as it's a vital ingredient of goal achievement - are you ideas and plans backed up with action?

'Til next time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you know anyone else who you think would enjoy the Great Gordino Newsletter, please pass it on to them!

Transform Your Life in 21Days!
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com

How to generate no cost ongoing targeted traffic:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/traffic

How to make money from movies:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/movies

Grab my free 8 Step Goal Achievement Plan by sending a blank email to:
mailto:transform@getresponse.com