Something Cool

Is it me or does the world seem to be spinning faster? I find my self casually hiring a Visual Effects TD in Rome like he was my next door neighbor (More on that later). I can be sitting around one minute... and shooting some misc event that becomes part of an effects shot for TV the next. You start your day with an agenda which quickly collapses into a frantic eavesdropping/scavenger hunt on Twitter to understand what new cool shoot or project someone else is doing from their desktop computer at home. Information and especially , collaboration, is getting to be a very fluid exercise- A death trap for for someone who may or may not have Adult ADD and a compulsion to create something cool.
Something Cool? What is that? I think what I mean is something to watch that is very short in length, available to anyone, VERY compelling, and sparks further collaboration. And guess what? Something cool is being created every day. Accidents and morbid, anonymous curiosities found on the _____tubes' of the world these are NOT. There are at least 57 VERY creative people turning nothing into something nearly every day and posting it on the web for tens of thousands to admire.
Being creative and productive are not epiphanies. But as technology quietly doubled over a few times in the last 3 years or so, and the world's economy sunk into the shadows, I believe we started to become more connected. In the creative world, we share more similarities than differences, and everyone seemed to be in the same boat... waiting to see what would happen next. Billionaires can talk candidly with a teenager about a common interest in cameras. The little guy has been empowered by people that have been there and done that and who now want them to try and do the same. Software tools have grown up and been beta tested by millions. If you need to ask someone a question, only now does it feel incredibly easy to ask - and there are many qualified people available to answer.
In my morning online stumblings (now a ritual), I came across some cool samples of visual effects work, just the sort of effects work we needed to be handled at the time. We knew that all that was needed was a fast internet connection and a workstation, the location of the individual doing the work did not matter whatsoever. It was only a few weeks later that I realized how cool it was to hire someone I never met (and yet to even speak to) half way around the world. You see, I Google Earthed his house.... and walked down his street (photobubble Streetview) while IM'ing him. I looked thru the window of a cafe across the street from his house, asked him if the pastries were good there. He said, " Oh yes! They are good... you should visit sometime?" I said "I am".
That's cool.