I love me some internet.

In fact, I love it so much that you’ll rarely find me away from my laptop. During American Idol and The Voice season I can be found in front of the television but that’s about it.

Smart man – and futurist – Gerd Leonhard just announced that he’s introducing media-free days: one day a week without internet, TV or any other form of online connection.

Yes, I know this concept isn’t new. Plenty of folks have been unplugging and taking a break from the interwebs. But not me. Until now.

Why Gerd’s post resonated with me, I’ve no idea.

A nice man from UPS arrived at my office this morning with two books I ordered from Amazon. So it looks like I have all the motivation I need to unplug one day a week starting … this Sunday?

Of course, I’m going to have to tell you how it goes.

On May 7 I’ll be in Toronto moderating a panel on how to create, fund and distribute a web series.

Through the National Screen Institute, my colleagues and I have been working with Bite TV to plan this event which takes place at Second City.

The web series panelists include Marcia Martin senior vice president, original content at Blue Ant; Jonas Diamond, executive producer of Smiley Guy Studios and CEO at iThentic; Andra Sheffer, executive director of the Independent Production Fund; and Nathalie Clermont, director of program management for the Canada Media Fund.

After the panel discussion, three finalists from the Bite TV Web Series Competition will pitch their web series ideas. The winner gets a $10,000 development deal.

Pass on the invitation (above) to anyone you think would appreciate this afternoon event. Clicking the image will open a new email message allowing you to RSVP directly to Blue Ant.

In the meantime, if you’re serious about making a web series, check out one of the best free resources I’ve ever seen on building an audience for your web series. The guide was written for the Independent Production Fund by the super-talented Julie Giles of GreenHAT Digital.

Don’t ask what on earth inspired me to do this but here it is.

Me aged 11 and me today.

Last Sunday local photographer Ian McCausland came to NSI’s office (my workplace) to take photos of our current students. Staff were offered the chance to update their mugshot and since mine was three years old I figured I’d better get a new one.

Ian always does a fab job so I’m pretty pleased with the photos.

In a moment of madness I dug through old snaps last night to unearth a school pic from 1985.

I’m sure I’ll regret having done this but for now you get to laugh at the 11 year old me.

First off, I never thought I’d see the word ‘distinction’ anywhere in a sentence with my name. Those of you who know me well know that I have a potty mouth and like to speak my mind.

Nonetheless I received the wonderful news that I’m officially nominated for these awards which recognise women who have enriched the community and inspired people through their creativity, leadership, compassion and dedication.

I’ve been nominated in the public awareness and communications category for my work at the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) where I manage their website and other online spaces and program their online short film festival, and also for the social media marketing stuff I do.

I put off writing this post because it all seems incredibly surreal. But I do recognise its importance. I think there’s a tendency for women to question their skills and abilities sometimes where we should really be celebrating them.

So this post is one step towards saying ‘Yey me!’

Three of my beautiful colleagues are also nominated: Melissa Kajpust, Ursula Lawson and Lisa Meeches (pictured below) are nominated in the circle of inspiration category for their incredible work with and commitment to our NSI New Voices course and students which introduces Aboriginal folks to careers in film and television.

We’re all very flattered to have been nominated.

I’d like to say a very big thank you to my colleague Chris Vajcner for being the driving force behind all this. It’s a wonderful feeling to have someone believe in you so much.

The award’s gala takes place on May 1 where I get to put on a posh frock and feel all special.

So, naturally, I obsess about different musicians. Last time it was Ellie Goulding. This time – belatedly – it’s X Factor UK winner James Arthur.

Here’s the video/performance that made me fall in love with him. I’ve probably watched this 50 times.

Ignore the nonsense you read about in the UK tabloids. At the heart of it, James is a wonderful artist.

And here he is before he was famous. I know it looks like it won’t be any good but I promise you it is.

If you’re reading this via email you’ll need to watch these delicious videos on my blog.

I watched a video yesterday of fellow Canadian blogger Elan Morgan (above) giving a presention at TEDx Regina back in May 2012.

I had tears in my eyes during some parts of Elan’s presentation on self-doubt and the power of personal narrative. Clearly I was moved. Not only by what she had to say but also how she said it: sometimes tearing up herself on stage.

So I did what any self-respecting blogger does: I fired off an email to Elan to tell her how brilliant she is.

I’ve known Elan – who uses the moniker Schmutzie – for a few years. I first became aware of her because she runs the wonderful Canadian Weblog Awards. For the past two years I’ve been part of the CWA jury so we’ve done our fair share of emailing back and forth.

I finally got to meet Elan late last year when she came to Winnipeg for MBlog 2012 – the first blogging conference run by New Media Manitoba at which I was moderating two panels. Elan was on one of the panels and also giving her own presentation.

Sometimes I come across as this chatty, confident person and I (appeared to be) in fine form the night before the conference at a networking event. But truth be told I hung out for most of the evening with friend and blogger Erica Glasier. I don’t totally dig the networking thing. So even though Elan was there I didn’t talk to her a whole lot.

The same can be said of the next day when the conference took place. It takes all my energy and more to present or moderate a panel so I didn’t do much ‘networking’ with the other folks at the conference. Again, Elan was there but we didn’t talk much.

Fast forward a couple of months and I decided to spend some time reading through Elan’s blog.

Elan is a writer, designer and speaker who runs the Schmutzie.com group of blogs (the weblog, Phoneography, Schmoetry and Five Star Friday), her work life at Ninjamatics, the Canadian Weblog Awards and the Grace in Small Things social network.

Elan has been able to do something magical with her writing by taking significant and traumatic life events and blogging about them in a way that is inspirational and wise.

Of course, she doesn’t just blog about that stuff. She writes about trillions of different things including design and photography.

To get a taste of how amazing Elan is, please watch this video below of her TEDx Regina presentation. Maybe grab a tissue too.

Elan will be giving the closing keynote at BlogWest next week where I know she’ll be brilliant.

The Art of Immersion is a book about how the internet is changing storytelling.

It’s written by Frank Rose, digital anthropologist and Wired contributing editor.

I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve had the book for ages but never even opened it. That may have had something to do with the swirly cover which does my head in every time I look at it!

Frank Rose started reporting on the tech world in the eighties after getting his start covering the punk scene at CBGB for The Village Voice, chronicling the emergence of Patti Smith, the Ramones and Talking Heads. So he’s a pretty cool dude.

He does something quite clever in The Art of Immersion: he makes the uninteresting interesting. Specifically, he writes about gaming which is usually a topic that bores me to tears.

Frank has managed to use a little of the same magic – albeit in a totally different way – as the filmmakers behind Indie Game: The Movie. He’s made it interesting and understandable for people who aren’t gamers.

More than that, though, The Art of Immersion looks at our participatory culture, changes in Hollywood and how we got here. He writes about the evolution of the hyperlink and how printing and television changed everything way back when.

He writes about Charles Dickens and the ways Dickens responded to his audience and made changes to his stories according to feedback from his readers.

Which is precisely what’s happening in (some parts of) the world of storytelling and the interwebs today.

As far as videos go I think this one is terrible but try to focus on the music if you can :)

Ellie is a British artist who I only heard about after Fifth Harmony performed this song on X Factor in 2012.

Ellie’s 2012 album Halcyon is brilliant.

This is one super cool Brit chick.

Scroll down for the interview that made me fall in love with her.

And if you’re reading this by email you’ll need to watch the videos on my blog.

I squealed with laughter when I saw Kitten Covers had done a version of Madonna’s first album cover (albeit over a year ago).

It’s my favourite Madonna album cover.

You can buy her stuff too.