The Making of "EVO - Is Extra Virgin Olive Oil Good for Your Skin?"

Yesterday while I was at an open house I finally had a few minutes to make a quick video I'd promised a friend on 3rd Street Plaza, our local Wilmington area social media site. Watch the 3 minute video first and then I'll tell you the story about it.


Find more videos like this on 3rd Street Plaza

If you can't see the video above, click on this link.

So here's the story. I've been experimenting with using short video clips on my blogs for listings, to say hello to folks, to impart messages that (at the time at least) I think are important, and sometimes just for fun. I'm also anticipating some questions of why I'd bother to make a video in the first place and in the second place one about skin care. Hang in with me and I'll attempt to make all clear.

I'm an active supporter and member of 3rd Street Plaza because I believe it's a good idea to have local sites as well as participate on national/international sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so forth. Another benefit of local sites is you can actually meet the people behind the pictures and avatars either informally on the street or in coffee shops or even more formally at organized events such as the highly successful Wilmington Twestival event 3rd Street Plaza's founder, Ty Downing put together in just 11 days!

One way I contribute to 3rd Street Plaza is post videos. Here's one I made for charity: water, which as the reason Twestival was organized in the first place (the charity, NOT my video).


Find more videos like this on 3rd Street Plaza

If you can't see the video above, click on this link.

And here's another I posted recently when I was inspired to say something about what I believe to be the absolute necessity of businesses using social media in 2009:


Find more videos like this on 3rd Street Plaza

If you can't see the video (which means you don't have the right kind of FlashPlayer support on your computer), click on this link.

You might notice my videos are changing. I've started using title and credit slides, and background music. Next step for me is to improve the first slide, which right now is an un-enticing blue background with white letters. And yes, I know the EVO video audio is echo-y, I made it in an empty house - likely won't do that again. Comments and suggestions gladly welcomed and much appreciated, btw, just click on the word comment at the bottom of this post and have at it.

So that's the background to why I made the short video "EVO - Is Extra Virgin Olive Oil Good for Your Skin?" Now here's how it came about.

One of the founding members of 3rd Street Plaza is Sandy Guerriere (pronounced "Gar-e-air"). Sandy is a professional makeup artist, an environmentalist, an active blogger, and she also happens to be Ty Downing's Mom. Sandy put up a blog post about the benefits of olive oil for skin care . Here's Sandy's official release photo (used with permission):

I'm a big fan of olive oil, to say the least, so I read it and thought it was pretty neat. I forget the actual sequence of events, but I either commented on Sandy's blog post or Tweeted her on Twitter (www.twitter.com/sandyguerriere) and said that I liked the post but had never heard of using olive oil that way but might try it. She had noticed my videos on 3rd Street Plaza and asked if I'd make a short video about my experience after a week or so. I agreed and that was that.

Now, I also have a brother-in-law who's a great guy, a minister in a small church in Connecticut, AND concocts for family and friends a wicked awesome hot pepper-infused olive oil. His name is Karl Duetzmann and I'm not giving out his contact info because he didn't say I could (I'm sure you could find him in 2 minutes or less if your Internet stalking skills are even slightly refined), but anyway Karl mixes and blends Pastor Karl's Fit to be Thai'd Hot Pepper Oil in the basement of their home. This is not a big production deal, just for family and friends and he gives the prized bottles or bagged mix as Christmas presents. He doesn't make it every year, which isn't even necessary because the cool thing is that as you use up the oil you can just refill the bottle with good quality EVO and the Thai chili peppers and whatever else he puts in there will go to work on the new oil. But every couple of years we look forward to another bottle of Pastor Karl's oil.

Here's what a the bottle looks like (photo used with permission):

So I embarked on the olive oil on the skin experiment. I figured that since I like hot pepper and especially Pastor Karl's hot oil why not combine the two, that is, use Karl's oil on my skin after shaving, etc., instead of regular oil. Well, as I mention in the video, that wasn't a great idea. No harm done, but it wasn't comfortable.

In the end, I do think EVO was good for my skin and no one seemed to notice or make comments so I don't think there was a noticeable odor - for either the plain or hot pepper infused types.

Now about the "why" I'd make this video in the first place. Social media is and can be many things. One of the best "things" it can be is an opportunity to promote and support family and friends. It doesn't have to be with full-out commercials or testimonials or stuff like that. Sometimes you can just tell a story, or make a video, or congratulate someone or tell them you appreciate them. As Marge says, quoting Kody Bateman, the founder of SendOutCards, "Appreciation beats self-promotion every time."

Here's Marge's photo (photo used with permission):

So that's the story of The Making of "EVO - Is Extra Virgin Olive Oil Good for Your Skin." I made it in support of some folks, because I'm trying to learn by doing about using video with social media, and because it was fun,

Disclaimer: I'm not selling Pastor Karl's Fit to be Thai'd Hot Pepper Oil. Nor is Karl, though he mentioned something like if he were it would have to be for $100 a bottle plus shipping or $25 for the pepper and spice "kit". But he's not selling it anyway. He is a real good guy and available for weddings and such when he can get away. He's a full-on music nut, focusing I think on Southern rock right now. If you'd like to get in touch with him, let me know.