Ryan Pratt: The Multitasking Millennial™

My top 100 favorite films

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 17:18:00 +0000

Top 100 Favorite Films

What makes a movie worthy of a spot on your top ten list?

If you've read my top 100 best movies list you know my definition of "best" differs from "favorite". But how do you define "favorite"?

I am sure your list is different than mine, and my list is different than his, and his list is different from hers. The fact of the matter is...

No one agrees on the best movies of all time. No one's favorite movies are the same. No one's genre preferences are the same. And no one's favorite actors are the same. So no one's list is the same.

"List-worthy" films are combination of best-films and favorite-films specific to each person, personality and personal experiences. The best movies of all time are difficult to separate from your favorite movies of all time. You favorite movies are the ones you can't turn the channel from when you catch it halfway through on TBS. While your best movies list is simply compiled of the most critically acclaimed films you've actually seen.

But honestly, most people don't agree with critics. Most people haven't even seen this year's Academy Award nominees. Most people just go see what their cineholic friend suggested, or what their co-workers were talking about around the water cooler. Most people fall for the hype. But often times, box office numbers even lie.

A movie isn't "list-worthy" just because there's a trailer on TV every hour, it's starring 5 Oscar winners, plus Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, itís directed by Martin Scorsese and was produced by Steven Spielberg. And just because a critic gives it "two thumbs up" and calls it "the best movie this decade" doesn't guarantee it a spot on your list either.

"List-worthy" movies are a mix of everything. You can't make your own list without including opinions and rebuttals to someone else's list. I don't know if you consider me a legit critic, but Richard Roeper is, and I'm sure your list is different than his, his list is different from hers, and her list is different from mine:

Star Wars: Episode V - Empire Strikes Back
Inception
The Godfather
Fight Club
The Dark Knight
Dumb and Dumber
Pulp Fiction
South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
Braveheart
Silence of the Lambs
The Notebook
The Incredibles
Great Expectations
Saving Private Ryan
Last of the Mohicans
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
A Quiet Place
Arrival
The Wolf of Wall Street
Finding Nemo
Fool's Gold
Inglorious Basterds
Shawshank Redemption
Heat
The Social Network
The Lego Movie
Usual Suspects
Gladiator
Predator
Garden State
Pacific Rim
Toy Story 3
Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade
Memento
Interstellar
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Avengers
Shrek
Goodfellas
Apocalypse Now Redux
Se7en
Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
The Ring
Good Will Hunting
Serendipity
Lord of the Rings 3 - The Return of the King
The Matrix
Drive
Schindler's List
The Beach
American History X
The Bourne Ultimatum
Watchmen
Monsters Inc.
A Perfect Getaway
Batman Begins
Pretty Woman
Forrest Gump
Paranormal Activity
Back to the Future 1
The Exorcist
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Black Swan
Into the Blue
Groundhog Day
Get Out
Creed
Snatch
Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Big Lebowski
Scarface
The Sixth Sense
Big Fish
Reservoir Dogs
Mothman Prophecies
Pirates of the Caribbean 1: The Curse of the Black Pearl
300
X-Men: First Class
Rocky
Avatar
Die Hard
American Beauty
Star Trek (2009)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Aliens
Lord of the Rings 1 - The Fellowship of the Ring
Jaws
Up
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Troy
The Hangover
Stand By Me
Titanic
The Departed
Bourne Identity
I Am Legend
Back to the Future 2
Requiem for a Dream

Honorable mentions:

The Cabin in the Woods
Full Metal Jacket
L.A. Confidential
Sin City
Slumdog Millionaire
Amadeus
Donnie Darko
Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers
Into the Wild
Ratatouille
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Wall-E
The Lion King
Fargo
Wizard of Oz
Casino
Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom
Twelve Monkeys
The Shining
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Mystic River
E.T.
Toy Story
There Will Be Blood
Bladerunner
V for Vendetta

Last updated: 2/24/2019

Top 100 best films according to a movie-watching millennial

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 14:24:00 +0000

Top 100 Best Movies

If you've read my top 100 favorite movies list you know my definition of a favorite, or "list-worthy" film. The best films are different.

The best films, according to me, a movie-watching millennial, are those films post-1980 that a person born post 1975 could remember seeing in theaters. And they're not only the films they "could" remember (studies say humans remember major events around age 5), they are the films they "do" remember.

These are the films that left a lasting memory on me -- this is my cinefile of the best films of my time:

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Schindler's List (1993)
Inception (2010)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Star Wars: Episode V - Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)
Fight Club (1999)
The Incredibles (2004)
Snatch (2000)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Gravity (2013)
The Matrix (1999)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Se7en (1995)
The Social Network (2010)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Braveheart (1995)
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (2002)
Memento (2000)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Back to the Future (1985)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Arrival (2016)
Dunkirk (2017)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
American History X (1998)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
American Beauty (1999)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Gladiator (2000)
WALL-E (2008)
The Shining (1980)
Avatar (2009)
Up (2009)
A Star is Born (2018)
The Pianist (2002)
The Departed (2006)
Aliens (1986)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Argo (2012)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
The Prestige (2006)
The Green Mile (1999)
Pacific Rim (2013)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Amadeus (1984)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
A Quiet Place (2018)
Black Swan (2010)
Iron Man (2008)
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Icarus (2017)
Die Hard (1988)
Sin City (2005)
Batman Begins (2005)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Heat (1995)
Blade Runner (1982)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Free Solo (2018)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Lion King (1994)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Toy Story (1995)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Platoon (1986)
Into the Wild (2007)
Black Panther (2018)
Rain Man (1988)
X-Men: First Class (2011)
Scarface (1983)
Trainspotting (1996)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Finding Nemo (2003)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
The Terminator (1984)
Casino (1995)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Get Out (2017)
Stand by Me (1986)
V for Vendetta (2006)
Ratatouille (2007)
Prisoners (2013)
Star Trek (2009)
Mystic River (2003)
Inside Out (2015)
Big Fish (2003)
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
The Cove (2009)

Honorable Mentions:

Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Shutter Island (2010)
Fargo (1996)
The Truman Show (1998)
The Wrestler (2008)
12 Monkeys (1995)
Wonder Woman (2017)
RBG (2018)
Let the Right One In (2008)
Gran Torino (2008)
Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri (2017)

Last updated: 2/24/2018

Top 10 Movies of 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 20:59:00 +0000

It's been five years since I‘ve been able to sit down and write my quick spoiler-free reviews. But with my pregnant wife at home on bedrest waiting for our second son’s arrival, and our Netflix and Hulu binge-lists shortening rapidly, we’ve had some time to catch up on movies we missed in theaters. As per usual, it’s tough for me to compare the best, cinematic “see-it” masterpieces to my favorite, rewatchable, “buy-it” Blu-rays and digital downloads... but here’s my take on the top films of the year:

A Star is Born: This musical tear-jerker also features the year’s top performances by Bradley Cooper as a drunken-rockstar-turned-romantic and Lady Gaga’s strong-yet-down-to-earth-(at least compared to the typical Gaga)-waitress turned viral sensation. Hands down the “best” film of the year no matter if you’re a renowned film critic, MoviePass-holding cinephile, or once-a-year renter.
A Quiet Place: Shh... I've got a secret to tell you. It's not only the best horror movie of the year but also worthy of a spot in my top 20 “favorite” films of all-time! John Krasinski and Emily Blunt’s real-life love pours over into this terrifying fictional world where you can’t make a noise, or else....
Free Solo: Watching professional rock climber Alex Honnold attempt the first free solo (aka rope-less) climb of the infamous 3,200ft vertical wall nicknamed El Cap at Yosemite National Park was the most intense film let alone documentary I’ve seen since “The Act of Killing.”
Black Panther: Don’t get me wrong, Black Panther was a great, important, fun film — probably the best Marvel movie since the original Iron Man — and it may actually win the Oscar for Best Picture thanks to the Academy Awards' preferential voting system... but, it wasn’t the best picture of the year.
Widows: Despite the powerhouse cast and 91% reviews on RottenTomatoes, this cops-and-robbers movie failed to steal the hearts of America or make bank at the box office. But only marketing can be to blame because everything about this twisty film was shocking and amazing.
Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse: A surprising unformulaic entry into the Marvel universe and hands-down the best animated movie of the year worthy of one of the ten possible Oscar nominations for Best Picture.
Bohemian Rhapsody: If you weren’t a huge Queen fan already you will be after falling in love with Rami Malek’s performance (in every sense of the word) as Freddie Mercury. I’m not sure if lip-syncing or actually singing makes him a better “actor” but either way this film rocks.
Searching: One of the most unique suspense films you’ll ever see. Follow a desperate father (an atypically dramatic role played by John Cho) through the lens of a webcam and Skype-like screenshares as he searches online for his 16-year-old daughter.
First Man: Like Titanic, it doesn’t matter if you think you know how the Neil Armstrong moon-landing ends because you haven’t seen the drama played out by the six-time Academy Award®-winning LaLaLand duo of director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling.
Creed 2: Even you’ve never seen Creed 1 (which you should) or any of the Rocky films (which you should, especially the first three), you won’t be able to throw in your towel of tears during the final round of the riveting fight between the sons of Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago.

There were A LOT of great films this year. It was hard to leave the wonderful documentary “RBG” about notorious U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of my top ten. And the same goes for Green Book’s powerful story inspired by the unique real-life 1960’s friendship between a world-class African-American pianist and his Italian-American driver. But the line has to be drawn somewhere. Here are the honorable mentions to round out my top 25 movies of the year:
RBG
Green Book
Molly’s Game
Chappaquidick
Mission Impossible: Fallout
Avengers: Infinity War
Halloween
Incredibles 2
Bumblebee
Roma
Hereditary
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Leave No Trace
The Favourite
Roma

Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments:

Get Started with Social Selling

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 20:55:00 +0000

Social Selling

What's the one number you need to know about social media and social networking? 25.

25% of time spent on the internet today is spent on social media.

Nearly 25% of Americans use social networking sites several times per day.

And more than 25% of the people in the world have a social media account. THE WORLD.

So why aren't you trying to use social media to generate leads and nurture prospects? Because, obviously, you should be. Businesses everywhere, from small firms to multinational corporations are using social media for marketing, advertising and brand awareness. But some salespeople have been slow to adopt for direct sales purposes. Understandably, it can be a bit overwhelming. Especially for someone unfamiliar with social media. But it's really just another way to communicate -- just like email (and the telephone before that). So here are some tips to help you get started with social selling:

Get Started with Social Selling by:

Create (and use) professional social media profiles on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Optimize social media profiles.
Seek referrals on LinkedIn by giving recommendations & endorsing others.
Follow at least 100 new people (20x per day) on Twitter including:

Industry Thought Leaders
Prospects
Customers
Sales Gurus

Set up Google Alerts for competitors/prospects/customers/industry terms.
Post at least 3x per week about:

Industry News
Prospects/Customers
Competitors
Thought Leaders
Photos when Travelling
Sales Best Practices
Personal Interests (20% of time is okay)

Join industry-specific groups on LinkedIn.
Add LinkedIn connector to Outlook on laptop.
Download LinkedIn Connected app for mobile phone.
Connect Salesforce account to Twitter.
Subscribe to industry and thought leadership blogs.
Subscribe to LinkedIn Sales Navigator (optional).
Blog (optional).

New Business Sales Daily Social Selling Routine Checklist:

Open LinkedIn and Twitter in browser tab (don’t close – just like email).
Find content to share.
Share general content on social networks.
Share specific content with prospects & customers on Twitter & LinkedIn (just like you would via email).
Look at who liked, retweeted, favorited or commented on your posts on LinkedIn & Twitter.
Review LinkedIn alerts.
Check on who’s viewed your LinkedIn profile.
Send personalized connection request to any prospects who looked at your LinkedIn profile.
Send personalized connection requests to any prospects you emailed thru Outlook yesterday.
Send personalized connection requests to people who engaged with your LinkedIn posts.
Follow people who engaged with your tweets.
Follow people who followed you on Twitter.
Respond to messages (just like you would email).

Top Prospect Weekly Social Selling Routine Checklist:

Open LinkedIn and Twitter in browser tab (don’t close – just like email).
Find content specifically for/about top prospects.
Share content specifically with top prospect (via email and social media).
Like and Retweet posts from top prospects.

Social Retention/Growth Weekly Routine Checklist:

Open LinkedIn and Twitter in browser tab (don’t close – just like email).
Find content specifically for/about current customers.
Share content specifically with current customers (via email and social media).
Like and Retweet posts from current customers.

Have other tips for salespeople looking to use social media to start selling? Leave them in the comments below:

Top 10 Best Things About iOS 9

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 18:48:00 +0000

Back on June 8th, Apple announced its latest and greatest mobile operating system at its annual WWDC event then released the beta version to developers. And now, anyone can "try it out" with the recent release of their public beta program. But to be honest, if you already have iOS 8.4 and the new Apple Music app, you have the most exciting new feature launching this year. Siri 2.0 is still not up to par with Google Now. And there's no major design overhaul like iOS 7. So unless one of these ten things excite you, you might as well just wait. However, it's much less buggy than past versions of iOS betas -- so there is that.

Here are the ten (not so-exciting yet) best things about iOS 9:

Navigation Suggestions: iOS 9's Maps app has built-in navigation suggestions to let you know about a better/faster way to get to your destination.
New Universal Search Results: The new universal search in iOS 9 has many more suggestions to help you find what you're looking for -- including websites, Wikipedia entries, movie showtimes, reminders, notes, documents, music, videos and more!
More Organized Photo Album: Updates to the Photos app in iOS 9 include new albums for all of your selfies and screenshots (just like for panoramas and videos last year).
New Multitasking Features: iOS 9 boasts lots of cool new multitasking features (especially on the new iPads i.e. picture-in-picture videos) but the iPhone also gets a cool new design (see below) and a nice new "Back to..." feature in the top left of every app when you jump from one app to another -- making it stupid simple to get back to what you were doing after you answer a text or look at a Facebook notification.
Lowercase Keyboard: This is one of those "no-dugh" features you won't believe took this long to come to fruition. Now, when typing on the keyboard in iOS 9 you'll whether that highlighted shift key arrow-up button means you're currently in ALL CAPS mode or lowercase mode because the letters on the keyboard will either be in ALL CAPS or lowercase.
News App: The new News app in iOS 9 still needs some work (by far the most buggy new feature in this release) but once it is complete it should put LinkedIn's Pulse app and other RSS feed reader apps out of business.
Passbook renamed Wallet: I always hated the name of the Passbook app -- so a rename alone is worth noting -- but the new app also has some new features including the ability to scan in your loyalty rewards program cards (i.e. Dick's Scorecard, Target Cartwheel, AMC Stubs, Giant Eagle Advantage, etc.)
Notes App: The new Notes app has tons of handy new ways to quickly jot down notes including an easy checklist creator and the ability to sketch things with your finger.
Settings Search: I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain to someone how to find something in settings i.e. Go to Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage > iCloud > Manage Storage. Now you can just search for it!
Low Power Mode: And lastly, the new "Low Power Mode" in iOS 9 gives the ability to squeeze every last bit of power left in your battery in those desperate situations.

Did I forget something in iOS 9 that you think is really cool? Add it in the comments below:

Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Apple Watch Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 19:14:00 +0000

The Apple Watch

Now that I've had my Apple Watch for a few weeks, I've finally got it tweaked and adjusted just right so that I truly can "live a better day." But it definitely takes some work.

Right out of the box, the Apple Watch is actually kind of annoying. Well, maybe not right out of the box, because just like every other Apple product unboxing, it feels like Christmas morning and love at first sight. The packaging is just as thoughtful as the product design. And the setup process is actually very cool. But once you put the watch you'll be immediately bombarded by buzzes and dings. So here is my advice to improve your new Apple Watch experience once it's on your wrist:

Silent Mode: First thing you'll probably want to do is turn on "Silent Mode" under the new Apple Watch app on your iPhone > Sound & Haptics.
VIP Mailbox: If you haven't already done this on your iPhone you can thank me later, but it's even more important once you own an Apple Watch. Go into your iPhone Mail > Mailboxes > and click the small "i" next to VIP. Then simply "Add VIP" contacts to your list. Then setup special "VIP Alerts" under Settings > Notifications > Mail > VIP so that you only receive banner notifications for VIP contacts. Once this is done on your phone you won't get an annoying pop-up every time you get new junk mail. Then under your Apple Watch settings > Mail you just need to make sure you've selected "Mirror My iPhone" (which is the default setting).
App Layout: Next, you probably need to delete apps. First, go back into your Apple Watch app on your iPhone and go to General > App Install > and turn off automatic app install. Now go back and delete apps you don't need on your wrist from the bottom of the main menu of your Apple Watch > My Watch app on your iPhone. Then finally go back to "App Layout" from the main menu of your Apple Watch app on your iPhone and rearrange the apps in some logical groupings. Hint: The clock app is always in the middle. So arrange the most important apps in a honeycomb around that clock app and work your way out.
Customized Watch Faces: Now that you're not overwhelmed by beeping, buzzing apps take a moment to customize your Apple Watch face so that it displays useful information for you at a glance. I actually setup 3 separate faces with different "complications" based on the type of day I have ahead of me. For a busy day at the office, I typically use the large complication box to display my next meeting. For weekends at home, working on the house, and morning exercises I switch my Apple Watch face to one of the modular designs and include complications with all the workout and exercise data. And then for weekend getaways or relaxing afternoons I utilize the weather, sunset, and sunrise complications.
Glances: Now that you have an Apple Watch face with all the most pertinent info appearing on wrist raise, next you'll want to create & customize your "glances." Glances are what Apple calls the new "pages" of info that appear when you swipe up on your Apple Watch face. You can add, delete and rearrange your glances on your iPhone Apple Watch App. My advice here is to only include the next most important info in glances. First, delete apps that you don't need on your wrist. Then include the most important info in Apple Watch face complications. And then see what else you really want to be able to access quickly and add it to your list of glances.
Friends: Again, if you haven't setup your "Favorites" on your iPhone, you can thank me later. Favorites appear on the far left tab when you open up your phone app on your iPhone. They also now appear on the top of the iPhone when you enter "multitasking mode." Now, with your Apple Watch, your "best friends" or favorites appear when you click the big home button on the side of your watch (not to be confused with the digital crown).
Fitness: Before you go for a run, bike road, or even want to track your daily activity, be sure you open your "Activity" app and enter your height & weight info. Fitness tracking and fitness motivation are actually the most useful features of your Apple Watch (especially if you've never worn a Nike Fuelband or FitBit in the past).
Music: The next thing you'll want to do is choose a playlist to sync to your iPhone so that you can go for a run or mow the lawn without your iPhone in your pocket. To do this, simply go into your Apple Watch app on your iPhone > Music > and select a "Synced Playlist." Hint: When you're ready to listen to music straight from your Apple Watch to bluetooth headphones, you'll need to force touch the screen within the music app to select which source to play music to.
Apple Pay: One of the really "neat" features of your Apple Watch is being able to pay for something without taking your wallet or even your iPhone out of your pocket. But first you have to setup a credit/debit card within the Apple Pay settings on your Apple Watch app.
New Apps: Lastly, there are a few apps you probably hadn't downloaded on your iPhone that you will definitely want on your new Apple Watch. Here are some suggestions for really cool apps to show off the "cool factor" of your new gadget to friends and family:

Dark Sky: Will notify you if it is about to rain.
Pacemaker: Creates a music mix for you.
Power: Shows you how much battery life you have left on your iPhone.
Trivia Crack: Play trivia on your wrist against friends.
Four Letters: A fun word game designed specifically for the Apple Watch.
Yahoo Weather: A beautiful weather app for your wrist.
Cruncher: Turn your brand new Apple Watch into an 1980s Timex calculator watch.
Chipotle: It has a burrito button. 'nuf said.

Got other Apple Watch tips & tricks I forgot? Add them in the comments below:

Top 10 SEO tips for 1st-page Google search results

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 31 May 2015 16:41:00 +0000

Technically SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is about improving your website's page ranking in search engine results across all search engines, including Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Ask, DuckDuckGo, Dogpile, etc. But when it comes down to it, SEO is really about increasing the overall traffic to your website via Google organic search (as opposed to paid search, SEM, or Search Engine Marketing).

Google truly is really the only search engine that matters -- with about 66% of the search traffic in the U.S. and roughly 90% of the share everywhere else in the world. And while the #1 listing in Google search results gets 33% of all organic search traffic, being on the first page is most important, as 92% of all traffic comes from those first 10 results. But even when you're on that first page, you need to stand out.

Here are ten tips to help you get on the first page of organic Google search results and then get clicked:

Vanity URLs are key to SEO. Be sure the URL of your website is either the name of your company or, if you're lucky enough to own these URLs, the name of your product/content i.e. ESPN would probably love to own the URL sports.com or Netflix own the URL movies.com. Today these are brand names that are likely "Googled" more often than their product/content terms themselves. But when they were up-and-coming companies, this would have dramatically improved SEO.
Meta Tags are the keywords in the header code of your website used by search engines to categorize your website and determine relevance to organic searches. Today, Meta tags or keywords aren't nearly as important as they were in 2008, or even 2012, in fact Google and Bing don't even look at them anymore, but other search engines still do, so don't listen to those anti-meta-tag soap boxers and completely ignore them. You should still use them! Your Meta tags should be very specific to what your website is about -- don't be too general. For example, use terms like "used golf clubs, preowned golf clubs, cheap golf gear" versus "golf, clubs, used." But do some research using websites like Google Trends, http://www.keywordspy.com/ or http://www.wordtracker.com/ to find the most popular search queries related to your content.
Meta Titles are the words that appear as links in search engine results. These words also appear in the top of your browser or in the browser tab when you are on that page, and is the default text that appears when you bookmark a webpage. Meta titles should be no longer than 50 characters in length to be sure the entire title can be read in Google search results. If you go any longer than that, I'd only suggest it being the name of your company/website at the end of your Meta title. Write Meta titles for humans but keep robots in mind -- meaning, write Meta titles that are one readable thought that can be easily understood by a person, but use as many keywords as you can without keyword stuffing.
Meta Descriptions are the 160 character descriptions of each page of your website that appear in search engine results. Many website creation tools and content management systems let you write Meta descriptions that are longer than 160 characters, but don't bother. Search engines will only display the first 160 characters. Use a tool like http://www.lettercount.com/ to be sure you're under that limit. Technically, Meta descriptions don't help your page rankings in search engines, but it will definitely affect your click-through rate on search results pages. Your Meta description should get straight to the point. Be direct. And be concise.
Page Content is actually THE MOST IMPORTANT factor when it comes to SEO. Make sure the copy on your website is loaded with as many keywords and top searched terms as possible without looking spammy. Remember, someone has to be able to read it and make sense of it. And definitely don't try and trick Google by putting a bunch of text in white font on a white background in the footer of your website. Larry Page and Sergey Brin didn't become the 5th richest people in the world by being idiots.
Alt Tags are the invisible image descriptions hidden in the HTML that describe what your image, photo, icon, or picture is about. Use alt tags to not only describe the image, but also describe the other content on the page. But keep it short! And definitely don't keyword stuff! Search engine robots are intelligent enough now to know if you're trying to game the system and it will actually negatively affect your SEO. Did you know? Alt tags are read aloud to blind people who visit your website in accessibility modes.
Inbound Links are the #1 factor when Google is determining your Page Rank. They are extremely important, but hard to come by. Inbound Links are links from somewhere else on the internet that direct traffic to your website. Inbound Links are different from Reciprocal Links where a website links to you but you link back their website as well -- which is why Inbound Links are hard to come by. The best way to get inbound links to your website is through content marketing. Create interesting content that's relative to your target audience and your target audience will start linking to you. Similarly...
Outbound Links are important to SEO as well. I know it seems weird, but pointing your traffic to other resources that are similar to yours will create trust with your audience, improve Google related:searches, and increase Google Page Rank. But don't use links farms! And don't overdue it! Internal linking to other pages within your own website (i.e. Wikipedia) is always better than driving traffic to external websites.
Social Media, particularly Google+'s social search of Search Plus Your World (SPYW), is extremely important when it comes to SEO. Today, the first page of organic search is often filled with links from people in your Google+ Circles, followed by a Facebook page, Twitter profile, and other social media links -- sometimes even before a website's homepage appears! Make sure you have a Google+ page, Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn page, and YouTube account...
Videos are almost 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of Google search results than regular web pages. Create a video -- even if it's just a 30-second selfie of you talking to the camera -- and upload it directly to YouTube (owned by Google). You'll almost instantly see your video views increase right along with your webpage traffic.

Got questions? Or other tips? Add them in the comments below:

2015's Super Bowl XLIX in UltraHD 4K?

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 22:29:00 +0000

Does anyone know if the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX will be broadcast in UltraHD 4K? Interestingly enough, I posed a similar question 3 years ago on whether the 2012's Super Bowl XLVI would be on TV in 3-D. And today, I'm in the same boat.

I recently purchased the Sony XBR65X850B 65" LED 2160p Smart 3D 4K Ultra HD TV. And though there isn't a ton of content out there (beyond Breaking Bad, House of Cards, and some Flowers and Forests on Netflix or a few free UHD movies on Amazon Instant Video), it's still an unbelievably good upscaled picture for standard 1080p cable television and Blu-ray discs.

I was hoping this year's Super Bowl XLIX would be broadcast in 4K (since it appears the 2014 Super Bowl on FOX was in Ultra HD) but everything I can find says otherwise:

Anyone have any better news for me?

Ten tips for better LinkedIn profile headlines

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 21:45:00 +0000

Image Source: Studenthacks.org

Please don't be the guy (or girl) with the generic auto "Title at Company Name" profile headline on LinkedIn. Even if you're not a marketer, but especially if you aren't currently employed, you need to use this valuable space to tell people exactly what it is that you do. It's not only important so that you show up in search results, but it will also make people click on your profile when there's a long list of people similar to you.

It only takes a minute, so please just go update it today and follow these ten tips:

Establish yourself as an expert in something
Explain why someone should connect with you
Use stats & numbers if possible
Utilize as many industry buzzwords as possible
Start with a short question
Use examples of proven results
Differentiate yourself from everyone else in your function/industry
Use V-bars (|) to separate sections
If you're C-level say so
If you're a jobseeker say so

Got any other tips? Or examples of some good headlines? Share them in the comments below:

Ryan's New Home with Ryan Homes: A Visual Timeline of the 200-Day New Build Process

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 19:28:00 +0000

Hi, my name is Ryan Pratt. I am multitasking millennial who typically blogs about digital marketing, social media, technology and movies. But I've been too busy over the past 6 months to do much writing. On top of getting married to the love of my life in May of 2014, we also officially started the new home building process with Ryan Homes on April 3rd (Day 1):

Since that day, I've come to realize that blogging about your new build process with Ryan Homes is "a thing that people do." There are actually a lot of great blogs out there:

Just Google "Ryan Homes blog" and you'll find a bunch more -- including at least one for every style of home in every state that they build.

Unfortunately, with so much "stuff" going on at once, I don't have time to create an entire blog dedicated to the process like the those mentioned above, but I did want to create at least one blog post that I'd update occasionally with new photos from our Venice style home. This is that post:

On April 8th, we picked out our carpet, tile, wood floors, countertops and cabinets (Day 6):

By June 28th, they broke ground and started digging our hole (Day 87):

On July 3rd they poured our basement (Day 92):

By August 2nd framing had begun in the basement (Day 122):

And then on August 9th it was starting to look like an actual house (Day 129):

A week later, on August 17th, it had a roof and windows (Day 137):

The garage floor was poured by August 24th the following week (Day 144):

By September 5th the plumber, HVAC, electrician and Guardian Home Technologies had finished their installations. We had our first official walkthrough and pre-drywall meeting inside the home later that week (Day 156):

The garage door and trim was installed and painted by September 10th (Day 161):

And they officially started hanging drywall on September 14th (Day 165):

They started on the external siding on September 19th (Day 170):

And by September 27th the drywall was painted and tile in the bathrooms and laundry room was installed (Day 178):

On October 1st they finished the stone exterior (Day 182):

And by October 4th they had started the kitchen and bathroom cabinetry (Day 185):

On October 6th the lights were installed (Day 187):

And on October 7th they laid the hardwood floors (Day 188):

On October 9th they laid the carpet (Day 190):

On October 16th the granite countertops and appliances were installed (Day 197):

We had our final walkthrough on October 17th (Day 198) and got our keys on October 20th (Day 201)!

Stay tuned for more exterior photos once the sod & landscaping are complete.

If you've found other great blogs about Ryan Homes or just have a question or comment, please feel free to share below:

Top 10 movies of 2014 (so far)

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 14:39:00 +0000

Top 10 films of the year (so far)

Well Fall is officially here and the Summer blockbuster films have raked in millions at the box office. Now it's time for the Oscar-nomination hopefuls to hit theaters (i.e. Gone Girl, Fury, Interstellar, and Unbroken) followed by the Holiday blockbuster lineup (i.e. Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1, Big Hero 6, and Nightcrawler) but the first three quarters of the year didn't disappoint. And though the small-budget film market was lacking, the most-anticipated indie movie of the year -- actually the most anticipated indie movie of the last dozen years -- did not disappoint.

The movies on this list are a mix of the best and my favorite films of the year. These are the top ten films from the first nine months of 2014:

Lego Movie
Boyhood
Guardians of the Galaxy
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Captain America: Winter Soldier
22 Jump Street
Edge of Tomorrow
Grand Budapest Hotel
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Bears

What haven't I seen that should be on the list? Is something on the list that shouldn't be? Leave your thoughts in the comments below:

Top 66 scariest movies ever

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 13:45:00 +0000

A "scary movie" is a film that gives you goosebumps. It not only has you sitting on the edge of your seat, but jumping out of it. A "scary movie" makes you spill your popcorn. It makes you scream.

"Scary movies" affect you even after you leave the theater. It has you turning off the lights, running up the stairs, and leaping into your bed at night. It leaves you laying there, unable to sleep, trying everything to forget. A "scary movie" gives you nightmares.

But "Scary" isn't a genre. "Horror," "Suspense" and "Thriller" are. These sixty-six "scary movies" encompass all three of those genres -- and then some. These are the scariest movies of all time:

The Exorcist
Silence of the Lambs
Paranormal Activity
House of 1000 Corpses
Friday the 13th (1980)
The Shining
The Ring
Mothman Prophecies
Saw
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
The Descent
Scream
The Conjuring
The Hitcher
Halloween (1978)
Se7en
28 Days Later
Jaws
The Nightmare on Elm Street
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Final Destination
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Sixth Sense
The Others
Oculus
Friday the 13th: Part III
Prisoners
The Hills Have Eyes
Strangers
The Haunting
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Hostel
The Grudge
Jeepers Creepers
The Crazies
Blair Witch Project
The Last House on the Left
The Skeleton Key
Disturbia
VHS
Audition
Poltergeist
Night of the Living Dead
Blackout
Mama
The Orphanage
The Cabin in the Woods
Scream 2
Rosemary's Baby
What Lies Beaneath
The Last Exorcism
Halloween (2007)
The Devil's Rejects
Friday the 13th (2009)
The Haunting of Molly Hartley
Identity
The Bay
Pyscho
World War Z
Friday the 13th: Part II
Audition
Shutter Island
The Omen
The Purge
Birds
High Tension

Last updated: October 2014

Ten keys to a perfect blog post

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 21:24:00 +0000

Blogging seems easy. Especially to those of us who do it often. Just write what's on your mind -- even if it's just stream of consciousness. You don't have to follow any AP or MLA Style Guidelines. There are no rules. No regulations. It's basically just a public diary of your opinions and expertise. But to a beginner, it can be an overwhelming challenge -- particularly when you're just getting started. There are so many things to consider: what do I write about; what should I title it; which blogging platform should I use; which image should I choose; etc. etc.

Then once you actually get started, how do you finally get people to read it? Outside of pricey and/or guerrilla marketing techniques, the easiest way to ensure the maximum number of eyeballs view your post is to write something worth reading. Now, not only does this mean that your public diary of opinions and expertise must be interesting and informative, but it also means you have to keep going. You have to keep writing and keep posting. And you have to do it consistently. You need a plan. You need a formula. And, fortunately, I've calculated it for you...

Here are the ten keys to the perfect blog post that will ensure your blog posts get read, get shared, and then get read again:

Platform: Each blogging platform has its pros and cons. Tumblr is good for shorter blogs, especially those that are mostly images or animated GIFs. WordPress is good if you're trying to build more than just a blog, and want an entire website. Same goes for the blogs integrated into website building tools like Weebly or Wix. But if you're trying to drive the maximum amount of traffic to your website, then Google's Blogger (or Blogspot) is your best choice. Though they don't admit it, Google's organic search results most definitely favor their own blogging platform over its competitors when all other SEO factors are similar.
Title: Blog titles can be as tough company names, but the secret is to choose a name that tells its readers what to expect from your content. Blog post titles are even trickier. Though you definitely need to choose a title that gives the reader an idea of what to expect in the post, it's also important to make it mysterious enough that they don't get all the information they need in the title alone. Have you ever read a headline on Twitter or in the news that told you everything you needed to know (i.e. "Lebron James agrees to new deal to return to Cleveland Cavaliers" or "Star Wars Episode VII sets new box office record with $500 billion weekend")? It's a great summary, but the reader doesn't even need to leave their Twitter or Facebook feed to visit your blog. Instead, use questions (i.e. "How many records will Star Wars Ep. 7 break?") or at least less descriptive titles (i.e. "Lebron James decides to leave Miami"). And the easiest trick is to just create a list or countdown. Humans appear to be hardwired to tune into lists, according to econsultancy.com.
Image: Every blog post should include an image. It's not only important to break up the page visually, but also for social media and RSS feeds. Almost every social media platform and RSS reader today includes images, and most of them automatically pull images from your post. Why? Because a picture is worth a thousand words -- and sometimes, an image is even worth a thousand retweets.
Length: The ideal length a blog post is a highly-debated topic. And though there is no limit (i.e. the 140-character limit on Twitter) there is a general consensus that shorter is better. Human attention spans are getting shorter every year, so in order to not overwhelm the reader, keep their attention, and ensure they get to the end where your call-to-action should exist -- keep it to 2,000 words or less. Then be consistent. If you post 500 words once per month on average -- continue to post 500 words once per month. Write. Rinse. Repeat.
Call-to-Action (CTA): Every blog post needs a call-to-action. Even if you're just writing a personal blog with no advertisements and nothing to sell, each and every blog post should end with a conclusive CTA where you ask the reader to do something, whether it be to leave comments or share it on social media. It's the easiest way to increase engagement with your readers.
Social Media Share Buttons: If you want your blog post to be read by people outside of your inner circle of friends and family, you need it to go viral. Not necessarily viral like "Charlie Bit Me" or the "Social Media Explained Donut Edition" -- but at least viral beyond your own personal network. In order for it to go viral, you need to make it as easy as possible for people to share your blog posts to all their favorite social networks. While most platforms include built-in social share widgets today, you can always utilize embeddable HTML modules like ShareThis.
Section Headers: Because of the diminishing human attention span, you need to make your blog posts as skimmable as humanly possible. Utilize headers, chapters, section titles, and/or bold statements -- literally, make the most important statements bold -- to highlight the key points of your blog post. This is another reason why top 10 lists work so well. People don't have time to read every word, and if it at first glance they can't find something interesting or if they feel overwhelmed by the length of your post -- they'll bounce immediately.
Tags / Keywords: In today's always-connected and intertwined world wide web of keywords, it is imperative that you utilize tags and keywords to link your blog post to other similar blog posts (both that you wrote and those that exist outside of your own blog). It's also why you should always "tag hash" -- and even consider utilizing hashtags in your blog post titles so that every time your post is shared on Twitter or Facebook it's automatically connected to the every other blog post with that hashtag.
Links: SEO is key to driving traffic to any website, webpage or blog post on the internet. And two major ways to improve SEO today are by utilizing both inbound and outbound links wherever possible. With blog posts, it's key to not only link to other related articles and blogs, but to also utilize reciprocal links to connect readers to other blog posts you have written, i.e. Top 10 SEO tips for 1st page Google search results.
RSS: Lastly, and probably rightly so, are RSS feeds and "Subscribe" buttons. You need to give your readers a way to subscribe to your blog and get notified when new posts are written. But with the inevitable death of RSS feeds, the most future-forward plan to allow people to subscribe to your blog is by adding Twitter "Follow" buttons, Google+ "Circle Me" buttons, and Facebook "Like" buttons to your blog.

Did you find this blog post about blog posts helpful or interesting? Then follow me on Twitter, circle me on Google+, and like me on Facebook.

My 8 favorite features in iOS 8

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 19:15:00 +0000

iOS 8 for iPhone & iPad

Well I've had iOS 8 BETA installed for almost two weeks now, and though it is still a bit buggy and lacking some of the new integrations that will make this next software update really exciting once it's released to the general public this Fall (i.e. Health, Homekit, Family Sharing, iCould Drive, etc.), there are still some pretty cool new features you can take advantage of right now if you have a $99/year Apple iOS Dev Center account.

There is a laundry list of significant upgrades you can read about on Apple.com, but these are my top 8 favorite new features in iOS 8:

Group Messaging Details: My absolute favorite feature in iOS 8 is the beefed up group message "Details" tab in the top right of every iMessage, which includes: naming your conversations; reviewing all of the photos/videos inline; sharing your location with everyone in the group; and the all-new"Do Not Disturb" and "Leave Conversation" features.
Battery Usage: Extend the life of each iPhone and iPad charge by seeing which apps are the biggest drain on your battery under your General Settings menu.
Voice iMessages: When you can't look at your phone (i.e. while driving), Siri can't translate your mumbling voice to text, or you just want a faster way to respond to someone it's now easier than ever to quickly record your voice and send it as an audio file via iMessage with a single click-and-swipe.
Photography: The Camera and Photos apps have some great new features as well, including: smart composition tools, smart adjustments, new filters, camera timer, separate exposure & focus selections when taking photos, and time-lapse videos.
Hands-Free Siri: Get Siri's attention without pressing the "Home" button by simply saying "Hey Siri" when your iPhone is docked at home or charging in the car.
Swipe Notifications: The notifications system in iOS 7 was a drastic improvement over iOS 6 but nowhere near perfect. With iOS 8 Apple has made a few more tweaks that really improve notifications, including a single Notification Center and inline swipe-to-respond and swipe-to-dismiss controls.
Keyboards: The keyboard in iOS 8 now not only allows third-party developers to create completely new keyboards (i.e. Swype) to be used as default, universal keyboards -- but the all-new QuickType feature is a surprisingly smart new tool that predicts the next word you are going to type and gives you three options to choose from at the top of every iOS 8 keyboard.
Weather: Apple has finally ditched Yahoo! as the default data provider in it's integrated Weather app and added more details thanks to its new partnership with The Weather Channel.

Have you installed iOS 8 yet? What's your favorite feature? Or what you looking forward to most? Leave your thoughts in the comments below:

Top 100 favorite TV shows of all-time

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 14:35:00 +0000

Ryan Pratt's Top 100 Favorite TV Series Ever

Well, I finally did it. After list after list of top movies, I finally completed my much-requested and highly-debated list of top TV shows. And although I was a national movie critic in a prior life, I do not consider myself a professional TV snob by any means, so I'll spare you my list of "Top 100 Best TV Series Ever" and jump right into favorites. But keep in mind, I'm a millennial, so don't expect too many Dick Van Dyke or Lucille Ball appearances in this list. These are shows from the 80s through the 2010s. Some were binged on Netflix and Hulu, while others were from the pre-DVR-sit-on-the-couch-at-8pm-era. It's a list full of groundbreaking dramas that shocked, hilarious sitcoms that had me ROTLF, guilty-pleasures like reality MTV, and the cartoons I grew up on. It not only includes shows I watched from season premier to season finale, and episodes I've seen a dozen times, but also a show that got cancelled after just 22 episodes.

These are my top 100 favorite TV shows of all-time:

Lost
Seinfeld
House
How I Met Your Mother
Family Guy
Home Improvement
Walking Dead
Friends
Survivor
Game of Thrones
Mad Men
Grey's Anatomy
Friday Night Lights
Breaking Bad
Saved by the Bell
The OC
Homeland
Entourage
Fresh Prince of Bel-air
Big Brother
South Park
Fringe
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey
Dragon Ball Z
Law & Order: SVU
The West Wing
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Rob & Big
King of Queens
Around the Horn
Deadwood
Family Feud
The Unit
Jackass
The Bachelor
The Challenge
TRL
Everybody Loves Raymond
The Following
Shark Tank
Talespin
SportsCenter
NCIS
Planet Earth
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
X-Files
Ghost Adventures
Two and a Half Men
Bones
Newsroom
Full House
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
The Office
Scandal
The Price is Right
Double Dare
Gossip Girl
Jeopardy
Are You Afraid of the Dark
True Detective
Big Bang Theory
Vampire Diaries
True Blood
Man vs Food
House Hunters
24
American Horror Story
Step-by-Step
So You Think You Can Dance
Wipeout
Heroes
X-Men
American Dad
Boy Meets World
Spartacus
That 70's Show
Family Matters
The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon
Power Rangers
Live! with Regis & Kelly
Laguna Beach
Fear Factor
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Wheel of Fortune
Animaniacs
The Cosby Show
Baywatch
30 Rock
Nip/Tuck
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Batman: The Animated Series
Jack Hanna's Wild Countdown
Seaquest DSV
Looney Tunes
PTI
Revenge
King of the Nerds
Gargoyles
Inside the Actor's Studio

What did I miss? Add your suggestions and knee-jerk reactions in the comments below:

Columbus Zoo Bucket List

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Fri, 23 May 2014 21:02:00 +0000

Originally posted August 28, 2012. Updated May 23, 2014.

Whether you're making your first trip to the world's #1 zoo, or a season pass member like me, here are twenty-six things you must see on your next visit:

Heart of Africa: The newest attraction at the Columbus Zoo opens today and promises to be a major draw for years to come. The Heart of Africa offers visitors a unique look at 165 exotic animals that include lions, wildebeests and gazelles as well as hands-on features like camel rides and a giraffe-feeding tree-house station.
Polar Bears: Located in the back of the North America Region. Watch the polar bears dive for fish and play with floating water toys from above or below water via the underwater viewing area located under their icy pool.
Gibbons Monkeys: Located in the Australia Region. These monkeys have a huge outdoor exhibit with an island tree-house surrounded by a river. If you're lucky you'll even get to hear the gibbons "song".
Western Lowland Gorilla: Located in the African Forest Region. The gorillas can be seen in their expansive outdoor exhibit during good weather, generally late spring through fall. The outdoor area features multiple levels in a round structure featuring ropes, earthen mounds and other fixtures on which to climb, swing, and rest. Indoors, the gorillas have access to a 360 degree exhibit which "encloses" the visitors in the inside! Large artificial trees and climbing structures offer many horizontal and vertical challenges for the gorillas.
Baby Bonobos Monkey: Located in the African Forest Region. The bonobos are always extremely active, swinging and playing in their jungle-gym-like habitat. They even know how to turn on the water spicket and get a drink by themselves! And if you're lucky you'll get to the relationship between a mother and its baby.
Stingray Bay: Located in between the Zoo and Zoombezi Bay. This new "petting zoo" is a real treat for children. And even pretty cool for adults. Stand around the huge pool and touch the stingrays as they pass by.
Polar Grille. Located in the back of the North America Region near the polar bear habitat. This is hands down the best "shack" for food in the zoo. Try the chili cheese fries, amazing!
"Hank" the Elephant: Located in the Pachyderm building near the Asia Quest Region. This exhibit provides one of the largest indoor spaces for elephants and rhinos at any zoo. The size and configuration of the outdoor yards makes it possible for elephants to spend the night outdoors. And if you get a chance to see "Hank" (the biggest of the elephants) play in the pool of water out back you're in for a real treat!
Humboldt Penguins: Located in the Shores Region, the naturalistic Humboldt penguin exhibit allows guests to see the penguins swimming underwater in their semi-circular 9,000-gallon pool or burrowing holes for nesting in the artificial rock.
West Indian Manatees: Located in the Shores Region, in the Manatee Coast building. Manatee Coast is an immersion exhibit modeled after the 10,000 Islands region of Florida. Visitors walk down the pathway, along the acrylic tank which holds 190,000 gallons of water. From the side, visitors can observe the manatees swimming.
Australian Boat Ride: Located in the Voyage to Australia and the Islands. Take a "boat" ride on a lazy river that runs around the Gibbons monkey island and throughout Australia. It's the best way to see the monkeys and some of the other Australian exhibits.
Tiger Cubs: Currently located near the entrance. The adults are located in the Asia Quest Region. The tiger's exhibit features a large pool with a heated and air conditioned area adjacent. This makes a comfortable place for the tigers to spend some time and also be close for visitors to see. They also have a large heated/air conditioned cave which is a favorite hang out spot! The covered viewing area offers information about tiger populations in the wild, both past and present. A conservation coin wall is nearby and rewards donors with special tiger sounds when they contribute. One hundred percent of the proceeds from this coin drop go to support conservation of animals in mainland Asia. But the cubs are the real attraction right now.
Brown/Grizzly Bears: Located in the forest section of the Zoo's North America Region, each animal has its own exhibit space with natural surroundings composed of rocks, logs to climb in and over and pools for the bears.
Red Kangaroos: Located in the Voyage to Australia and the Islands Region, Australia side. The red kangaroos can be found spring through fall in a walk through yard. Visitors must stay on the path but kangaroos can hop anywhere they please!
Bald Eagles: Located in the North America Region. This region depicts North American habitats of grasslands, forests and prairies. The bald eagle exhibit is found between the forest and wetland sections and has a large aviary with tree limbs placed strategically to assist the rehabilitated eagles in climbing to the upper levels of the space.
Giant Fruit Bats: Located inside the Asia Quest Region. These giant bats hang upside down from the caging above most of the day. I can only imagine what this cage is like at night. Either way, you won't believe the size of these creepy creatures.
Carousel: Located just beyond the Shores Region. This old-fashioned carousel will cost you a little extra money to ride but its well worth it for the pictures you'll get of your kids.
Frozen Bananas: Also located in the back of the North America Region near the Polar Grille. This is hands down the best dessert/snack the zoo offers and incredibly perfect for a long hot summer day at the zoo.
Train Ride: Located in the middle of the North America Region. Pay a few extra dollars to take your kids on the train tour around "North America" and see some things you can't see on foot!
Bonnethead Shark: Located in the Shores Region, in Discovery Reef. Discovery Reef is a 110,000 gallon salt water tank depicting a coral atoll. 1,200 pieces of man-made coral and special wave-producing equipment combine for a beautiful and always captivating experience.
Pose with Statues: There are a handful of animal statues located around the zoo (polar bears, shark, elephant, and more) that are a perfect place for a family photo or new profile pic.
Yell in the Tunnel: Located in between the front half and back half of the zoo. This tunnel under the highway echoes loudly making it nearly impossible to not yell a quick yodel-ay-eee-oooo!
Leopard: Located in the African Forest Region. The African Forest Region immerses guests in the culture and environment of an African rainforest. Field journal entries from wildlife researchers also guide you along the journey. The leopards enjoy an outdoor exhibit with a large fallen tree, their favorite spot to stretch out and sleep! When you visit our leopards, see if you can spot the artificial duiker in the tree. This is an example of how leopards protect their food from other predators.
Burmese Python: Located in the Shores Region, in the Reptile Building, one of the oldest buildings at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. This building was opened in 1968 and renovated to be more interactive in 1998. Home of the Reptile Keeper Lab where you can learn about reptiles in an up-close encounter. Check for scheduled times on the zoo map when you arrive.
Wildlights aka Zoo Lights: If it wasn't for most of the animals being inside for the winter, this would be in the top 10 for sure. Staring in mid-November the entire zoo is decorated for the holidays. Don't miss one of the most amazing Christmas light exhibits you'll ever see!
Zoombezi Bay: And 6 months later make sure you check out the new waterpark!

Click here to download a map of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

And if I missed any of your favorites, feel free to add them in the comments below:

Ten ideas for a destination wedding in Aruba

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 04 May 2014 18:39:00 +0000

Our #prattwedding in Aruba is almost here! After a 22-month engagement we can't believe how quickly it came! It's seems like it was just yesterday Ally came home to Ryan and this.

Now with only 11 days until the ceremony and 6 days until many of us arrive on the island, we finally have all of our plans finalized and we're truly ready to leave. There was a lot of preperation and planning -- though admittedly easier than a local wedding -- but it's definitely necessary to make sure everyone is on the same page before they leave the country.

Besides the obvious things -- like flights, accommodations, luggage, and passports -- here are ten things we sent to all of our guests as reminders 1 week prior to our destination wedding on the beaches of Aruba:

Great overview article worth taking 5-mins to read: Aruba Travel Guide
iOS and Android app to download to text for free while traveling abroad: WhatsApp Messenger
A hashtag to use when we you or your guests tweet or post pictures on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, etc: i.e. #prattwedding
Tentative agenda of ideas of fun things to do for the week in Aruba i.e.: WeddingWire.com/PrattWedding Agenda
Contact list of people coming to Aruba and where they're staying on the island and sitting at the reception.
Google Map of hotels, beach houses, etc. i.e.: Map of the Pratt Wedding in Aruba
Printable map of island and attractions: I Heart Aruba Map
Address and times of ceremony & reception: i.e. 5:45pm on Vela Beach at Aruba Marriott & Stellaris Casino @ L.G. Smith Blvd 101, Aruba
Address of the Bride & Groom: i.e. TheArubaHouse.com @ L.G. Smith Blvd 470, Aruba
Info about the rehearsal dinner or scheduled parties and excursions: i.e. Jolly Pirates Sunset Cruise

If you're planning a destination wedding in Aruba and have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them in the comments below:

Facebook, Twitter and Google+ cover photo sizes

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 21:17:00 +0000

You may have noticed my new cover photo (see above).

Well Twitter just announced its new profile page redesign, including a new "Cover Photo" feature that's their attempt to catch up with what their two main competitors -- Facebook and Google+ -- have already done.

Originally posted on September 18, 2012. Updated on April 25, 2014: Twitter redesigned their profiles again with new, larger cover photo images = 1,500 pixels by 500 pixels.

It's a way for people to express themselves beyond their profile picture and bio. But its also one of my favorite new universal features amongst social networks. Why? Because it allows users to upload a profile picture of just their face (which, by definition, is what a profile picture should be) and now use the cover photo for pictures of their dog, baby, significant other, favorite athlete, actor, team, etc.

But unfortunately, it's not that simple. While most profile pictures today are a standard square:

Facebook: 128px by 128px
Twitter: 400px by 400px
Google+: 252px by 252px

...each of these social networks have different size constraints for their cover photos:

Facebook: 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall (or 3404px by 1260px)
Twitter: 1,500 pixels wide by 500 pixels tall (or 3756px by 1878px)
Google+: 480 pixels wide by 270 pixels tall (or 3840px by 2160px)

So please, change your profile picture to an image of yourself, by yourself, and then take advantage of this new social network feature. But if you want to create a cover photo that meets each site's recommendations, you'll have to have 3 different images or at least 3 different crops of your image for each.

An image is worth 1000 retweets

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 23:44:00 +0000

An image is worth a thousand retweets.

The old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" was long attributed to Confucius as a Chinese proverb, but the expression was actually first used in a 1911 newspaper article discussing journalism and publicity.

The exact phrase first appears in an 1918 newspaper advertisement for the San Antonio Light which says:

One of the Nation's Greatest Editors Says:
One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
The San Antonio Light's Pictorial Magazine of the War
Exemplifies the truth of the above statement—judging from the warm
reception it has received at the hands of the Sunday Light readers

Today, the phrase is a full blown cliche, forbad by journalists and newspapers around the world. But with the popularity of social media and its ever-growing reach, the context of the phrase now takes new meaning.

Today, with the constant stream of posts, blogs, and tweets, it can be difficult to differentiate and emerge from the masses. But one simple way to draw the eye to your posts, and to your account, is with images.

If the objective of every social media account is to gain followers, and the intention of every post is to promote engagement, then the best (and easiest) way to attain your goals is by adding a photo, picture, or image to everything you do. But don't just add a profile picture and cover photo (which you should definitely be doing), you should also add an image to every tweet, every blog post, and every Facebook update. You'll see your likes, favorites and retweets increase almost immediately. And before you know it, every image will be worth a thousand retweets.

Top 10 movies of 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 00:09:00 +0000

Top 10 movies of 2013

Every other month in 2013, I found myself walking out of a movie theater saying, "best film of the year... hands down!" First it was Warm Bodies in February. Then Before Midnight in May. Then Pacific Rim in July and Prisoners in September. Then it was Gravity and Captain Philips in October. And finally, Wolf of Wall Street in December.

It was a record-breaking year at the box office, but also a fantastic year of award-worthy filmmaking (two scales that rarely correlate). There were brilliant screenplays, moving stories, and outstanding individual performances. In my opinion, Tom Hanks deserves an Oscar just for the final ten minutes of Captain Phillips and the rest of the major acting awards should go to the cast of American Hustle.

But there's more to a "best picture" list than a handful of Oscar-worthy performances, and now that I've had some time to reflect, I think I've finally finalized my lists. Here are my...

... top 10 best films of 2013:

Gravity
Captain Phillips
Wolf of Wall Street
Pacific Rim
Lone Survivor
Blackfish
American Hustle
Her
Frozen
Chasing Ice

...and top 10 favorite movies of 2013:

Pacific Rim
Wolf of Wall Street
Lone Survivor
Blackfish
Prisoners
Gravity
This is the End
Man of Steel
Warm Bodies
Croods

Disagree? I'm sure you do. Let me have it in the comments:

25 holi-days of better Christmas movies

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 15:37:00 +0000

Sick of the movies that ABC Family shows every year during its "25 Days of Christmas" holiday special? There are literally dozens of ways to watch movies these days, change the channel, visit your local Redbox, fire up Netflix, check the discount DVD bin, or search on-demand, and go watch these films instead!

These are the 25 best Christmas movies of all-time, in reverse order, saving the very best for Christmas Day:

On December 1st, watch: Rise of the Guardians
2nd: A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
3rd: It's a Wonderful Life
4th: Die Hard
5th: Black Christmas
6th: Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
7th: Four Christmases
8th: A Charlie Brown Christmas
9th: Jingle All the Way
10th: Love Actually
11th: Iron Man 3
12th: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
13th: The Muppet Christmas Carol
14th: Arthur Christmas
15th: Scrooged
16th: Fred Claus
17th: Elf
18th: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Animated)
19th: Home Alone
20th: Die Hard 2
21st: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Live Action)
22nd: The Santa Clause
23rd: The Santa Clause 2
24th: Home Alone 2
25th: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Did I miss any of your favorites? Add them in the comments below:

6 simple tips for social media

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 16:28:00 +0000

At a high level, social media seems very simple. Post this, follow her, retweet that, connect with him. But after you dive in, it can be a struggle to stay afloat. You quickly realize that it can be much more complicated than those simple one-click actions. It doesn't have to be.

Here are six simple tips to help you gain more followers and get more likes:

Adopt early: One of the easiest ways to gain popularity on any social media platform is to be an early adopter. Those who join early not only learn the ropes faster, but can also take advantage of the domino effect of all the other people who join from that day forward. Each person that joins a new network immediately follows every one of their friends who are already on that network. If you're not on that list, they may never look for you again.

Follow friends: You should not only follow all of your friends from day one, but also occasionally check to see if any new friends have joined. Some platforms are great about this (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest), sending you notifications any time your friend from Facebook joins. But others take a little more effort. Check your settings or search tools until you find a "Search My Contacts" button or similar link. Most of your friends will follow back, they likely just didn't realize your account existed.

Follow back: The number one rule you'll hear the most when attending networking seminars, reading social media books, or watching a live webinar about social networks is "Follow Back!" It's something I'm not crazy about (for other reasons), but it truly is the quickest and easiest way to gain the most followers and increase interactions with your posts.

Post once per day: Unless you already have over 2,000 followers, friends, and/or connections I'd advise against posting any more than once per day. Spamming people's timelines and feeds with your opinions and stories is the fastest way to get unfollowed, unfriended, deleted, and blocked. If you have more than one post in mind, save it as draft or schedule it go live the following day.

Update profile: When someone finally does find you on any social network, the first thing they will do is read your profile. Keep it short, simple, and creative. But also make it descriptive. No matter how eccentric you are in real-life, your profile should be direct and to the point.

Add profile picture: I lied, the first thing they will do is look at your profile picture. Many times, they won't even make it to your profile because they didn't even realize it was you. If you want people to follow you, replace that Twitter egg with a headshot. Don't have a professional photo? Fine. Just upload anything for now. You can worry about putting your best face forward later.

I know a lot of my readers are also social media gurus and social networking ninjas, so please feel free to post your other tips in the comments section as well:

Ten reasons to not follow back

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 19:02:00 +0000

Every social media ninja and social networking jedi says the same thing, "Follow Back!" I disagree. Here are ten reasons why:

First, just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean you should. If Johnny jumped... well, you get the point.
Second, it is okay to follow back, just do not do so blindly. Read their profile and last 3 tweets to see if you have anything in common.
Just because someone is following you doesn't mean you have the same interests.
There are people out there who follow-unfollow just to gain followers -- so you could end up following people who actually aren't following you back.
You can't legitimately interact with your audience if your timelines and feeds are flooded with thousands of new posts every minute.
Social network influence algorithms like Klout's take your ratio of follows to followers into account when calculating your score -- having more followers than people you follow will improve your score.
Most social media gurus follow a lot less people than they have followers -- so they're not even following their own advice.
The only way to know if someone is worth following is by seeing the number of followers they have (the most interesting people have the most followers), so if we all followed back how would we know who to follow to begin with?
If everyone everywhere followed everyone back what would be the point? The greatest thing about social media is being able to create niche social networks with those of similar interests.
And lastly, by not following back, you're doing your part to put an end to this endless cycle. We have to start somewhere.

Can you think of any other good reasons not to follow back (I struggled with the last 2 if you couldn't tell)? If so, add them to the comments below:

An argument for generic LinkedIn invites

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 17:19:00 +0000

You've probably seen a blog post, heard a podcast, or attended a webinar that called for an end to generic LinkedIn invitations. Everyone is talking about it. And everyone seems to be in agreement. For example, here are 10 opinions from some industry experts:

But I couldn't disagree more! I am here to argue exactly the opposite:

You don't need to customize your LinkedIn invitations to connect.

You don't customize each phone call greeting do you? No, you simply say "Hello". And when you handwrite a letter you simply start with "Dear". So why do we have to customize our LinkedIn greetings? In an effort to combat the 10 (thousand) posts that are telling you why you should, here are 10 reasons why you shouldn't:

It's easier to send generic invitations! Why are we making technology (that is supposed to make the world simpler and more convenient) more complicated by forcing people to customize each individual LinkedIn invitation?
The people who send these generic invites aren't lazy, they're busy! Time is money, so the fact that you didn't take the time to customize your message likely means you're a busy, successful businessperson who understands this concept, and therefore someone others should want to connect with on LinkedIn.
The LinkedIn mobile app does not allow you to customize your message, so the request likely came from someone innovative and technologically savvy who, again, you should want to connect with on LinkedIn.
The LinkedIn social connector add-on for Outlook also does not allow you to customize invitations, but it is the quickest and most effective way to connect with someone you just exchanged emails with while at the office.
Nobody reads, so until LinkedIn allows you to embed a 30-second elevator pitch video recording in each invitation you might as well not waste the time writing it.
Everyone should accept every LinkedIn invite to connect (you can always block them later), but the whole point of a social network is to connect with people, so why does it matter what their invitation said? The real power is what they bring to your network after you connect. If you accept someone's invitation and they are constantly spamming you, block them (but, unless you're a celebrity, this will rarely happen).
If people don't accept every invite, they can still check out your LinkedIn profile (and Google you) to find out more about you than you could possibly explain in the invitation's 300 character limit.
LinkedIn itself even says the ability to "add a personal note" is OPTIONAL! If it was required it would just be a blank text input box without a generic template.
You don't have to customize your "friendship" requests on Facebook or requests to follow on Twitter and Instagram (the so-called "personal" social networks), so why do you need to personalize your invitations to connect on LinkedIn (the so-called "professional" social network)?
And lastly, again, no one should expect you to customize your LinkedIn invites until everyone starts answering the phone, "Hello this is Ryan an innovative and creative marketer who would like to talk to you on the phone right now and here's why you shouldn't hang up yet..."

Are you on team generic LinkedIn invitations? If so, add your reasons below! Or if not, feel free to tell me why I'm wrong:

Marketing = Creativity + Data

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Pratt) — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 17:12:00 +0000

I've always been creative (every child is). But I've also always loved math (yes, math). In 6th grade I actually tallied up the stat lines for our fantasy basketball league myself, using a newspaper (pre-internet) and a TI-85 calculator (pre-iPhone). Then in college, I even chose my first major based off my creative skills and love for math. But after two years at the Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University, I realized that it was actually too design based and lacking the engineering I had expected. I wanted more math. I wanted more data. That's when I found the perfect career -- Marketing.

Marketing and advertising have always been stereo-typically creative fields (i.e. Mad Men's Creative Director, Don Draper). But today, great marketers are more than just creatives, they're analytical as well. Today, marketers have to thoroughly enjoy digging into the data and tracking KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) on a weekly basis. In order to be a successful marketer in the digital age, you need to track campaign effectiveness from the top of the funnel through the sale.

And now, there's a new marketing buzzword sweeping the nation: Big Data. According to smartdatacollective.com, "big data refers to our ability to collect and analyze the vast amounts of data we are now generating in the world." Now, with big data, marketers can start analyzing and utilizing information earlier in the sales process, before suspects even enter the funnel.

For example, have you read the story about how Target figured out a teen girl was pregnant before her father did? Or how President Obama's 2012 campaign used big data to rally individual voters? Both are examples of how "marketers" analyzed the vast amounts of data available to them to target specific audiences and then persuade them to act in accordance to their organization's goal. And both are examples of how, today, marketing isn't just about being creative. Today:

Marketing = Creativity + Data