Another change is the semi-retirement of RfL Indie Music Blast. I know, the show has been in semi-retirement for a while now. This is just the official acknowledgement. The indie music scene has slipped as a passion of mine. This lead to the shows not being as fun to produce. Audio is not dead here, it is just changing.

I will be adding a show to our productions to take the place of the Indie Music Blast. This show will focus a bit on music, but not breaking new artists. I will post soon about all the reasons I have shifted on this point, but for now let me just say the new show will be more focused on RfL, current events, and a couple of great songs thrown into the mix. Look for this next year. No name as of yet.

As for animation. With my boxing, I just don’t have the time. I will again, just not now. This is why i am shifting to Manga. We have stories, and this is a way to get them out. A bonus is that when we do get back to animation, the comics will act as a script and story board all in one, thus making the animating easier and quicker.

We will be focusing on three titles. One is RfL Adventures. This will be the further stories of Eban and SJ. We will work a few of the Animated Adventure stories in while pushing the storyline in new directions. This will be fun and a bit adult in nature.

The second title is to be determined and will be for the youngsters. Thank my new godchildren for this. I want to put something out that is for them, and all other young folk out there. This is directed straight at the kids.

The third title is the Purity Coalition. This is a story I have been working on for a while and is pretty big in reach. This is an epic tale of a future/past gone wrong. I will be testing my abilities with this but I do think it will be a good read. If we don’t take big chances, we do not get big rewards, right?

To put a visual to this change, here is an early take on Eban and SJ’s new appearance. This is not the completed look, but you can see the direction. They are going Steampunk/Sci-fy. i hope you like it.

Keep looking here for more news on the future projects at RfL.

Cheers!

That is the two options that you will now have at airports that have the new, high radiation, full body scanners.

Violated for purchasing a means of transportation. When did flying go form a consumer service to a guilty until proven innocent experiment in giving up your personal rights?

Here is what was said by one extremely smart official.

David Castelveter of the Air Transport Association said the industry is concerned about the privacy of its passengers, but safety takes priority.

“[The] decisions are made by the TSA. We simply comply with their recommendations and mandates,” he told WND. “They have established these new security measures.”

That sounds a lot like, “We were just following orders.” Guess how many historical atrocities have been committed with those words.

Check out the site “We Won’t Fly” t0 see and participate in a backlash against these silly encroachments in our freedoms.  Also check out Nudeoscope.com for more information.

It is time to take a stand. things are out of control at our airports. The funny thing is, this really does not make a big difference in our security. It is window dressing that will have you or your family violated for the hell of it.

Seriously bad.

 

**Edit** A more complete list of websites and resources can be found at World Net Daily. Check it out. Also there, you can read about some of the situations folks have already gone through, including getting handcuffed for questioning the procedures.

At one time, it was alright, encouraged even, to become an expert at one thing. To focus on something and strive to be the best at it. This was what employers were looking for. Employers also paid well for that expertise.

These days, however, it seems that employers all want the, “Jack of all Trades/Master of Everything,” and they want that employee at a bargain price. Unfortunately, that mythical employee does not really exist. The more an employee spreads out across disciplines the bigger the chance he will master none.

In my field for instance, when looking at the employment ads, it seems the person writing the spot looked up every keyword available and then lists it as a qualification. It is not uncommon to see ads that want a web designer with top notch coding skills that also will act as a front and back end developer plus be an SEO expert on top of his graphic design and marketing background, and pull a whole project together for $19,000 to $24,000 a year in compensation. It is almost laughable.

Another ad I seem to come across is the company or individual that wants an update to their current site which they created back in 1999 using a web based wysiwyg. They want the latest garish flash flourishes, coding skills, database management, and so on, all for about $50. Why should that seem so far fetched? They created the site originally, you are just updating their hard work.

Even better is the ad that designates a prospective employee needs to be able to write code without using design programs, then lists expert Dreamweaver experience as a prerequisite. They don’t even get the disconnect in their own copy.

All that aside, I have come across the king of all employment ads today on Craigslist. This one takes the grand step that leaves all others in the dust. Here is a line from the ad.

“Ideal candidate will have SEO and pharmaceutical/Biotech experience.”

I know for a fact that most people that call themselves SEO experts all start in the pharmaceutical/Biotech field. Right?

It gets better. The ad says that since they already have a website, the SEO candidate does not necessarily need web design experience. Then under responsibilities and duties it drops these lines.

• Researching and resolving HTML code

• Assisting in layout of web pages when required

Hmmmm.

Then after even more technobabble about responsibilities it drops this one.

• Knowledge and experience with HTML and Excel

This is because we all know just how much writing code and using Excel have in common.

Yes, this is the one job ad to rule them all. Here it is in all of it’s glory.

Hey, employers, if I can impress one thing on you it would be this. There are some overlaps in the web business. You will find designers who can write code. You will have front end developers that can design. You will even find front end developers that can work as full on server side, all programming languages code monkeys. SEO experts? Who knows? But the main truth is that each of these things is a separate discipline. A professional discipline at that. So stop trying to fit all of these job descriptions into a one size fits all job and then attempt to pay peanuts on top of it all.

But hey, this is the world we live in now. Still, I would not look to the web design or SEO biz for someone with mad experience in the Biotech field, Seriously.

Photo by kalavinka

I love Google Chrome. Since the roll out of extensions, I have used it almost exclusively as my main browser.

Before Chrome, my choice was Firefox. I still really like the Mozilla browser, I just find Chrome geared more to the way I use a browser.

Still, I can’t quit Firefox. This devotion is not by choice, but necessity. My main tower seems to hate Chrome. It hates it with an unbridled passion.

I have five active computers that I use personally. My old Toshiba lappy that I use to test sites in IE6, My old Dell tower that is now my garage computer, my once trusty HP lappy that is now our entertainment PC for streaming to our bedroom TV, my new trusty HP lappy that is full of awesomeness, and my main e-machine tower. We also have Effie’s main Dell system and her crappy Gateway laptop for a total of seven. All of these computers, with the exception of my E-machine tower, run Chrome just fine. It is because of the tower that I can’t completely break ties with Firefox.

The tower runs the same system as four of our other computers. Same operating system, the works. Most have the same software installed and I have the same options on all as well.

This quirk does not bother me enough to really explore the situation. It definitely does not bother me enough to pay someone else to look into it. It bothers me just enough, with full understanding that I make my living using computers, to say that sometimes I freakin hate computers and all the techno voodoo that comes with them.

That is all.

Cheers,
Eban

 

Technorati Tags: Google, Chrome, Mozilla, Firefox, Browser.HP, Laptops, Towers, Dell, Gateway, toshiba, IE 6

 

Fun stuff.

Getting tired though. Need to hit the sack as I am back up at 5:30 in the morning.

Cheers.

Don’t have much more to add today. This project is being created using Celtx along with Celtx Studios.

This is going to be fun!

Cheers,

Eban

Isn’t she the cutest pirate ever? Hell yeah!

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Posted via email from Ebancrawford’s Fluff Stuff in a Stream

Just saying.

Google, play nice with Google.

Oh yeah, and thanks for the extensions function! I have now left Mozilla behind for everything but the Web Developer Toolbar, which I don’t use that much these days anyway.

Now, the next week, things are one hundred percent different.

My Godchild Mariella Lee Matthews was born on Thursday. On that same day, I got  a new job. One week unemployed in this current job climate is not bad at all.

Then, when Efie and I were out having a nice celebration day for the good shift of events, I found the desk I have been wanting for quite a while. Not by name, but a desk designed with all the features I have been wanting, but have been unable to find. Hell, it was on sale as well!

We have moved my previous command center desk into the bedroom and it is Effie’s new vanity. The desk is an antique leathertop that we bought in England. The desk was too small for what I needed, and with all the equipment on it, the beauty of the leathertop was hidden. Now it is being  put to better use.

Now, my RfL Command Center is living up to the title more thatn ever. Here it is.

And a Closer view of the work area.

I am in geek heaven.

Now, the new desk in no way is on the same level as Marialla’s birth or my getting back to the land of the employed so fast, but finding something you have been looking for as long as I had been looking, then getting a great deal on it is still pretty cool.

Cheers everyone!

Has this been a good year for you? A bad year? I bet if you look back, the blessings outweigh the challenges. So with that, let me say ‘HAPPY THANKSGIVING’ to all the Lucidites out there.

Now get wasted on Turkey, Football, and any other great things to enjoy today!

(just if you were wondering why I have a pic of a squirrel instead of a turkey, it is because nobody expects a pic of a squirrel. Simple, eh?)

So what is this about getting some mojo back. Hell, I have tons of mojo, but pieces of it occasionally fall by the wayside. One of those Pieces was my urge to create art. At one time I was considered a pretty good artist following in the fauvist and colorist vein. I was mainly inspired by Mattisse and Gaugin and to a lesser degree, Van Gogh. But something happened in late 2003 that stopped my art. Effie almost died.

That was a bad evening. Effie had serious abdominal pains. By morning things had become worse. We rushed her to the hospital in Worthing which is right on the English Channel. It turns out she had a huge ovarian cyst that was toxic and had twisted. It was leaking toxins into her body.

Effie had emergency surgery and a lengthy recovery. Of course you know it all turned out well, but it was horrifying at the time. After the ordeal, I no longer had the urge to paint. That lead to my podcasting and web media adventures, but the art mojo was gone.

Well, it is back, big time. It is different though. Where before everything was color and bold, now I am more into illustration. Almost crumb-like. My first piece is an abstract experiment, and not too good, but it is leading to a new direction. I am going to be starting to illustrate books for Wee baby Mariella. Effie is onboard to help out as well. The first book I am doing is an abstract alphabet book. After that I am going to start creating modern and sci-fi renditions of popular public domain children’s stories. I may even get SJ in on this and produce some animations or audio to accompany.

This is not a way to make money, just a way to make memories, which is more important. The art mojo is back, and when that happens, there is no saying no to the mojo, so creating we go! I will be creating a site for the new stuff soon. I have not been excited about a new project in some time, so this is cool!

Plus, there may be at least one more actual painting in me. I mean, there has to be a piece to accompany ‘After a Hard Day At Play,’ which is of my niece Riplee.

Cheers!
Eban

I love magazines. I love the look and the feel. I know that in most cases I can find the same information online, but the experience is not the same.

With that said, let me also say that I stopped reading magazines for a while. The price kept getting higher for less and less information. Instead of more content the ads were taking over.

This is a result of a cycle. Less people read the mags and revenue falls–so the mags increase the advertising which brings in less revenue from individual ads as the readership lowers–so the magazine sells more ads with less content until the end finally comes and the magazine goes under. How is that for a run-on sentence?

At times, especially now with the economy so uncertain, it seems like this is an unbreakable cycle. Blogs and news sites run stories about the troubles of the print media. People like Rupert Murdoch talk about the shift and suggest charging for online content that was once free. It is the start of a whole new cycle.

Well, I have an idea, and it involves everyone’s favorite price point, free. I put forth that the new paradigm of print is free. For free, people will accept more ads and less content. For free, more people will subscribe to magazines previously abandoned. More eyeballs means that the mags can charge a higher premium for the advertising content. A whole new cycle breaks the old.

Now, before you bolt from this blog calling me an idiot, let me give you some background on how I came up with this idea. It comes from the most frugal person I know, my better half, Effie.

Effie is the type of shopper that spends hours each week searching out deals, coupons, and offers. She sets out strategies, which she calls scenarios, and then hits the stores. It is not uncommon for her to come back from CVS pharmacy with up to $50 worth of stuff paying between pocket change to a couple of dollars out of pocket. She can hit the grocery stores and come home with $100 worth of stuff for around $25. She regularly makes Target and Wal Mart her bitch.

She does great in store, that is for sure, but on top of that, she has learned to find deals online as well. She is always getting free stuff in the mail, everything from free samples to actual product to–get ready for it, magazine subscriptions.

We get Forbes, Muscle and Fitness, O, Rachel Ray, Town and Country, Sports Illustrated, Good housekeeping, and more, all free. What I have noticed is that I don’t mind reading these mags, higher ads and lower content, when I don’t pay for them.

Now, sometimes these subscriptions are just introductory and a short run, sometimes it is a full year, but it is nice reading mags again.

This is where my thought comes from. My eyes are valuable, not just to me, but to those advertisers. If a mag goes under, so does all of that advertising real estate. I won’t even begin to say that I have the logistics of how this shift can work, but I still think it can be worked out to a winning situation.

The thing is, I don’t think anyone wants to work it out. The people on top of these industries have always looked for the money. The idea of a shift of this magnitude is scary for them. I mean, the subs we get do eventually end and the purchase forms eventually come. But think differently for a minute. How many people like to separate their reading from the internet and the computer screen? How many still prefer a book or magazine to a screen? How many people love FREE?

By offering the subscriptions for free, the sub rate would probably jump by double or triple or more. This is where the ad revenue picks up. No longer do the mags have to look to subscription purchases to make it, those extra eyes are like gold!

Some mags already do this. Most cities have local mags that are totally ad supported. Imagine that on a national scale. There are many more eyeballs on the national scale, every one an advertiser target. Of course, some changes would have to be made to the format and such, and more space would go to the ads. Maybe the mags would have to go bi-monthly, whatever. But still, FREE speaks to people.

Well, that is just my take. It works locally, it works for broadcast TV. The numbers are there for free. The numbers have eyes that can lead to greater advertising revenue. The print media world does not have to go under.

It would be a shift, but some shifts are a good thing. Still, the probability of this shift is unlikely, unfortunately,

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Print Media, Magazines, Subscriptions, new ideas, advertisers, paradigm, change, shift, periodicals, online, media

I have found myself in the same argument over and over again through the years. The argument is that there is no indie movement, or alternative, or anything of the type. The second something becomes a movement, it no longer really exists, at least not as it started. I was reminded of this argument again yesterday when I was followed by two guys that were the white boy hip-hop version of the ‘Night at the Roxbury’ guys. It would have been funny if it was not so sad. They were so indie with their cred………..NOT!

Take hippies for example. They were counterculture, they were broke, they were pretty smelly, but at first they were genuine. Then the marketing guys and retail outlets latched on. If you were buying your bell bottoms at Montgomery Wards or Sears, and ordering your ‘paint your wagon’ patches from magazines, you missed the hippie movement. Sorry to say it, but you did.

Let’s look at the ‘alternative’ music scene. If you were listening to Radio Free Europe in the 80′s, you were part of the ‘college scene’ or alternative scene as it would start to be known. If you liked Husker Du, you may have been alternative. If the Replacements were in your tape deck, you still had cred. If you listened to any of these bands after seeing Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ or were turned on to REM with ‘Losing My Religion’, then no, you were not really part of the scene. Grunge? Give me a break.

I remember having this conversation with my ‘sort of’ niece. I would try to get her to understand that if something was being played on top 40 radio, it was not alternative. She would say it was called alternative. At this point I would try to explain the bastardization of words, but it never got through. This was also the time when wearing those sparkly butterfly tee shirts was so popular and would show off your individuality. Proof of this was that you could buy them anywhere from Macy’s, to Wal Mart, to Hot Topic. And yes, this was another argument I could never win.

The whole myth of indie culture is laughable. I have said it before, the coolest guys I have ever known, real coolness, were the folks that could care less about following trends or fashions. They really did their own thing and to hell with everything else. These were the guys I looked up to. At times I have been able to emulate them, but I am still an bit too much of a trend follower for my taste. I do care a bit too much about appearances and what others think. Just being honest about it.

But one thing I have gotten out of my system is the need to be ‘indie’ in any way. Hell, being indie can just about make you go broke. I mean, it costs a lot today to look ‘so cool that you don’t care.’ Also, the indie scene is so crowded. I mean being an indie individual person type is very popular, with all those individuals wearing the same thing, attending the same functions, talking alike, and basically doing everything else the same as well.

Back in August The Art of Manliness had a great take on why indie is bunk, hell that was the title of the post, Why Being “Indie” is a Bunch of Bunk. Check it out, it is a good read. Probably more coherent than my take.

Now, back to your normal programing.

Cheers,
Eban

I won’t even say ‘enjoy’ this time. Just point and laugh.

Cheers

Crazy 80s workout