So even though I’m unemployed and living off savings, I’m going to make sure to give at least a little something to the people’s whose work I enjoy.

Jonathan Coulton

Jonathan Coulton, who made headlines this year with his interview on NPR, has just released a new album — perfectly timed to coincide with my Labor Day purchase!  I just picked up the $10 digital download version of Artifical Heart, but I’ve yet to listen to it (I’ll wait until I have the time to give the first listen my full attention.)  JoCo’s put a lot of his music out there already, but this album is different.  It’s his first studio-produced outing and also his first major album with a theme.  I also see he’s got Suzanne Vega on there!  I’m looking forward to this.

But I’ll confess one thing.  I haven’t played Portal 2 yet, so I removed one song from my playlist until I first listen to it at the end of the game.  Spoilers!

Roam The Planet

If you’ve been following along on our travel site, Postcard Valet, you’ve probably heard me mention a couple new friends.  We met Wendy and Dusty in Ecuador, hooked up with them again in Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, and even lived in the same building for a time in Buenos Aires.  We expect to see them again in Thailand in a couple months, too.

When our website got hacked through a WordPress Wootheme exploit a couple weeks ago, Dusty helped me out in a big way.  In a couple hours, he did what would have taken me days to figure out: Quashed the bugs, identified the attack’s entry point, and sealed the hole.  I’ve promised him a large beer tab in Thailand for his help.

It would be easy enough to just send you to their webpage and call it good, but my intention with the “True Fan Boost” is to remind you (as well as myself) to reward your favorite artists with money for their hard work – ideally throughout the entire year, but at the very least on Labor Day.  Otherwise this whole exercise is nothing more than Twitter’s mostly-ineffective  Follow Friday hashtag (#ff).

Now, like us, Wendy and Dusty have a travel blog, Roamthepla.net, but their goal isn’t to make money off the site.  Rather, they write entries and upload photos to journal their experiences on the road and share them with anyone else that may be interested.

But I noticed that they recently switched their photo hosting to Smugmug and I just went through and purchased a 4”x6” print of every photo I could find with either me or Oksana in it.  I don’t need them.  In fact, they’ll be mailed back to Alaska and we probably won’t even get to see them for a year or two (but they’ll be fun to flip through when we finally get home!)

Should be a surprise for Wendy and Dusty.  It’ll be interesting to see how they first discover our purchase: Through this blog entry or the Smugmug receipt.  :)

Wil Wheaton

I used to read Wil Wheaton’s website all the time, but for the last few years, his RSS feed has been neglected.  I still follow him on Twitter, however, and noticed when he released a new short story under a pay-what-you-want model.  From his website:

Hunter is a short Sci-Fi story set in a dark and desperate world.  [It’s] just about 2,500 words. I figure that’s about the length of a story you’d read in a magazine.

Now you know as much about it as I do.  I just picked up the PDF version of Hunter and dropped it on my iPhone.  I’ve got a long train ride coming up (the Trans-Siberian railroad!) and it never hurts to have some extra reading material.

John August

Even while traveling, John August’s screenwriting blog remains in my “must read” RSS folder.  It’s hard to say why – I don’t aspire to be a screenwriter.  I do appreciate the craft of writing, however, and I want to read his opinions on the importance of story, how to create compelling characters, keep the plot moving, etc.

A couple years ago, I picked up his short story, The Variant.  I enjoyed it, so I’m wondering now why I haven’t yet picked up his second story, The Snake People.  Time to remedy that error.

Stripped

If you have any interest in webcomics at all, you’ve probably heard of Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub, Dave Kellett, and/or Brad Guigar.  They each have long-running online comic strips, wrote a book together called How to Make Webcomics, and contribute to Webcomics.com.  I’ve met Scott and Kris through mutual friends in Seattle, but I knew them first through their Webcomics Weekly podcast (iTunes subscription link.)

I’m not even interested in creating a webcomic, so why would I listen to this podcast?  Because these four guys make their living selling their creative works on the web.  They’re often talking about the real-world business decisions they have to make on a daily basis.  They hash out important issues like copyright protection, scarcity in an everything-for-free world, online advertising, and the evolution from brick-and-mortar stores to digital eBooks.  That and they’re insanely entertaining.

Do yourself a favor and listen to the first 10 minutes of this episode.  Stick it out.  It’s worth it.

Webcomics Weekly #76: Laugh Track

Oh my god, the first time I heard that… I was on a bus in Bolivia, 2am, driving down a deserted mountain road.  Everyone on the bus, including Oksana beside me, was fast asleep.  I almost choked to death trying to keep the laughter inside!

Anyway.  Stripped.

Stripped: The Comics Documentary is a film that Dave Kellet and Fred Schroeder are in the process of putting together.   They’re using Kickerstarter to help fund the project and with 17 days to go, they’ve already far surpassed their goal of raising $58,000.  So why support them?  Well, two reasons:  1) Pledging money to their campaign can still net some cool rewards, and 2) I’m considering a Kickstarter campaign of my own next year and it’s past time I see how it works from the contributor’s side of things.

Child’s Play

Back in 2003, the guys behind Penny Arcade became frustrated with mainstream media’s portrayal of videogame players as anti-social and prone to violence.  They decided to fight back by creating Child’s Play, a charity that now provides games to over 70 children’s hospitals worldwide.  To date, “anti-social and violent gamers” have donated just over $9,000,000 to the cause.

They usually start their fund drives a little closer to Christmas, but you can always drop them a few bucks via the PayPal link on their front page.  Like I’m going to do right now.

Need more convincing?  Check out the PATV episodes on Child’s Play:

Season 1
Child’s Play, part 1 (Season 1)
Child’s Play, part 2 (Season 1)
Season 2
Child’s Play Charity Dinner Auction (Season 2)
Child’s Play Hire, part 1
Child’s Play Hire, part 2

And heck, if you don’t want to pony up your own cash for Child’s Play, you can at least give them a dollar by “liking” the Onlive fan page on Facebook before midnight tonight (5 Sept 2011!)  It can’t be any easier than that, folks.

In conclusion…

So, that’s my list for this year.  Some new, some repeats, but I think all of them are worth checking out.

I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting things.  If you’re reading this, chances are we share some interests and I’d love to find out what you think is worth my time and money.

I encourage you to take this holiday, a notoriously slow news day on the web, to use whatever forum you have to share your favorite independent artists with your own audience.  Maybe buy something from them if you haven’t already this year.

It’s Labor Day. Reward someone for their hard work!

See also
Labor Day – 2011 – Women in Comics
A Labor of Love 

No related posts.

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments |

Back when I was a starving college student, I thought nothing of pirating the occasional song, but over the last few years, I’ve watched the business model for digital content change.  You can get anything for free now… if you’re willing to set your morals aside.  Music, books, movies, TV shows, comics, software… the list goes on and on.  Content creators coming onto the scene today recognize this reality and build their business models around free content.

For example:

Jonathan Coulton lets you listen to all his music for free.
Penny Arcade and PVP Online post their web comics online for free.
Lee Goldberg is converting his out-of-print books to Kindle versions.
And many, many programmers are offering free versions of their software online.

In each of these cases, the creators have alternative revenue sources.  Coulton sells merchandise at his concerts as well as full albums on iTunes; PA and PVP sell posters and T-shirts online; Goldberg receives royalties direct from Amazon for his eBook sales; and programmers often sell more capable versions of their software or have PayPal “donate” buttons on their web pages.

Here’s the thing:  Their content is free for the taking. We can enjoy their work without paying a cent.  But if that’s the way we want go about it (and we can — unlike out-and-out piracy, there’s no moral obligation to buy anything when artists give it away for free!), without any financial support, our favorite artists will eventually stop making things for us.

If I can help keep them going by spending some money and creating some links, I’m happy to do it. If you’ve been enjoying someone’s “free” content, even if it’s just a blog, Youtube series, or some small piece of shareware, I hope you’ll consider doing the same.

This year, as I embark on a year-long backpacking trip, I won’t have any extra room for material possessions.  Most of the support you see below will necessarily be for digital items.

After the jump, the artists and creators I’m supporting in 2010…

Instapaper

I first learned of Instapaper from a new blog I’m following called Long Form.  Because the articles they post there are, well, long, they put in a little “Read Later” button next to them.  To use this button, you need to create a free Instapaper account.  Here’s the cool part:  Once you create an account, anything you mark to read later will show up on your Instapaper iPhone or iPad app.  The best part is, you can do the same thing with any web page by simply dragging their “Read Later” button to your browser’s bookmark bar!

The free version of the Instapaper iPhone app works just fine, but it has some limitations.  I’m happy to support the author today by purchasing the full version.

Flash Video Player
I’ve been using Joshua Eldridge’s Flash Video Player plug-in for WordPress ever since I converted my videos to H.264.  It makes the process of wrapping up my video files with a poster frame and embedding everything in a customizable video player super simple.  A single line of pseudo code is all it takes.

I have no complaints, except that it doesn’t work at all on Apple products (only because Apple doesn’t support Flash players.)  It’s time to click the donate button.

JW Player
Actually, I do have one complaint with the Flash Video Player plug-in above!  A couple versions ago, a JWPLAYER watermark appeared in the bottom corner of all my videos.  I doubt it bothers anyone but me, but I think it’s time to purchase the full version of Long Tail Video’s JW Player.  Besides making the watermark my own, €59 will give me the option of annoy all my viewers with advertisements, too!  (I doubt I’ll ever use ads – I’d rather make money in a way that doesn’t bother me when I encounter them on other sites!)

Lawrence Watt-Evans
I’ve supported Watt-Evans in the past on Labor Day, and this is almost the exact same thing.  He’s working outside the normal publishing schema by getting his “advance” direct from his readers.  Here’s how he explains it:

1. I post a chapter.
2. If readers like it, they send me money.
3. If I receive enough money, I post the next chapter.
4. Repeat until the novel is finished.

Chapters are running $250 and he’s writing two books right now: Realms of Light and The Final Calling.  I put up some money last year for Realms of Light. This time, I’m going to drop $25 (which should net me a signed print edition when it comes out!) on The Final Calling.

Alex King
Alex King writes more than a few of the WordPress plug-ins I’ve been using for years.  If you’re reading this entry on a mobile device, his WordPress Mobile Edition plug-in is displaying it for you.  If you decide to Share This post with one of the Facebook, Twitter, or StumbleUpon buttons at the bottom of this post, he made that, too.  If you came to this blog from over on my Twitter account, his Twitter Tools plug-in auto-posted that for me.  Donate button, here I come.

Subscribe 2
Subscribe 2 is another WordPress plug-in, by Matthew Robinson, that sends out a mass-email whenever I post a new entry.  Now, I don’t have a ton of subscribers, but that’s hardly Matthew’s fault!  His plug-in simplified my life, it does something I couldn’t have done myself, and he gave it to me for free.  I can give him money for that.

Filezilla
Filezilla may not be the best FTP program out there, but for so many reasons, I’ll never use a different one.  It’s got everything you’d expect from a good cross-platform FTP client (a site manager, drag-and-drop file transfers, resume-after-disconnects, etc.) and one thing that simply puts it over the top: The absolute easiest automatic download-and-update software patches you’ll find in a freeware package (at least on the Windows side.)  Seriously, it’s a crime that all our software updates aren’t handled like Filezilla’s.

And in the spirit of true freeware, there is no “professional” version you can unlock after parting with some cash.  Nope, you get it all for free and the only way to give them some money is with their Donate button.

This American Life
Okay, so This American Life isn’t exactly an “independent” podcast, but then again, it is public radio. And public radio sort of spearheaded the whole “donate to keep us going” idea before the internet was even around.  I hate pledge drives – nothing gets me to turn off the radio faster – but for some reason I don’t find the 60-second openers on This American Life all that offensive.

I’ve been a subscriber to the podcast for a few years now.  I have no problems finally helping them cover bandwidth costs.

If you have iTunes installed, do yourself a favor.  Open it up, Click on Advanced, then Subscribe to Podcast, and then copy/paste the following link:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=201671138

Voilà! You’re subscribed!

Radiolab
And then there’s RadioLab.  RadioLab is a lot like This American Life in that it’s a radio show that focuses on Story, with a capital S.  But whereas This American Life can be about almost anything, RadioLab always has a strong science focus.  Plus one is from NPR, the other PRI.  Whatever that means.

Anyway, the first time I listened to RaidoLab, I wasn’t sure I liked it.  They heavily edit their shows, which gives them a distinctly non-radio feel.  Listen to a couple before you decide.  You may end up like me, happy to pay for more.

If you have iTunes, you can subscribe for free just by clicking the following link:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wnycs-radiolab/id152249110

Lee Goldberg
Oh, I almost forgot Lee Goldberg!  He’s a writer, probably best known now for his Monk TV show novelizations.  I was attracted to his blog, A Writer’s Life, a few years back when I followed a link to one of his many entries of him verbally eviscerating some idiotic wannabe/fan/writer who asks him to write their books.  Very entertaining.

Recently, Goldberg has been experimenting with publishing his back-catalog on the Amazon Kindle.  He’s shared his successes (and failures) on the blog, illustrated with monthly earning statements.  It’s very informative for anyone thinking about going the all-digital publishing route.  Be careful, though.  He’s still a strong advocate (and make a convincing argument for) the traditional publishing route.

I think I’ll pick up one of his Kindle books, probably The Walk, and read it on my iPhone’s Kindle App.

That’s my list this year.  Where’s yours?

Related posts:

1. True Fan Boost 2011

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment |

After the jump, in no particular order, are the artists I’m going to shell out some bucks for right now:

Alex King
I don’t know much about Alex King.  He’s apparently a web developer out of Denver.  I know of him only because he writes and continually improves many of the WordPress plugins that I find absolutely essential to the management of my blog(s).

If you run WordPress, you owe it to yourself to check out his plugin page.

I, personally, use the WordPress Mobile Edition, Share This, and Twitter Tools and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them all.

I’m going to throw him a $20 PayPal donation right now.

Lawrence Watt-Evans

I’ve been a big fan of LWE’s writing for almost as long as I’ve been reading.  I must have picked up my first LWE book when I was in 7^th or 8^th grade and I’ve read almost everything he’s published since then.  Recently he’s been doing some online experiments in donation-sponsored writing.  It’s worked for a couple Ethshar books, but his current project, Realms of Light, is a sequel to a sci-fi novel published decades ago: Nightside City.  I think I’m going to kick a few dollars over to speed up the posting of the next chapter.

Penny Arcade
Of course, after a weekend at the Penny Arcade Expo, how could I not support Penny Arcade?  I made sure to buy last year’s PAX DVD while at the show.  Good thing; it doesn’t appear to be in their online store just yet.  I never get to see all the panels and events because I’m usually hard at work on the Omegathon, so I’m excited to sit down and watch it.

I also slipped Wil Wheaton $20 at the show, with Labor Day in mind.

Jonathan Coulton
JoCo headlined a hugely successful Saturday concert at PAX this year.  He’s gotten so popular among the nerds that the line to his booth was forever too long for me to stand behind.  I really wanted to pick up a copy of his Best Concert Ever DVD – guess I’ll just have to order that puppy online!

Lonely Island
The Lonely Island group is a little bit of an internet success story – it might be stretching it to call them independent artists now that they’re working on Saturday Night Live.  I don’t care, I just want to buy their new CD, Incredibad, with “I’m on a Boat” and “Saxman.”

Matt Harding
You’ve probably seen Matt’s YouTube video; you and 23,436,678 other people.  He’s the guy that traveled all over the world, dancing a silly little dance in a crazy number of exotic locales.  I found him to be inspirational long before Oksana and I decided to take our own trip.

He has a book out called “Where the Hell is Matt? Dancing Badly Around the World.”  I’m going to buy myself a copy and see if we get any new ideas about world travel.

Man, I’d love to buy that guy lunch, pick his brain.  Too bad I missed him while he was in Juneau!

John August
John August is an A-list Hollywood screenwriter who keeps a blog about screenwriting.  I’ll probably never write a script myself, but I find the processes of writing sort of fascinating.  He does a great job explaining things, even going so far as to create a series of “scriptcasts.”

Earlier this year, John wrote a short story called The Variant.  He released it as an eBook, mostly, I think, as a way to test out the Kindle market.  It’s only 99 cents – not much financial support for an artist that gives me a lot of free content over the course of a year – but I think I might buy it just so I can test out the Kindle app on my new iPhone.

That’s it from me this year.  Which independant artists are you supporting?l

Related posts:

1. True Fan Boost 2011

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |

Kevin thought that I was out of synch with the 1000 True Fans concept by using Labor Day to support any and all artists (i.e., He thought I was encouraging people to go out and buy Aerosmith albums, Stephen King books, or any other products by established artists.) Not true. I want nothing more than to “boost” the sales of independent, internet-based artists with this idea. Aerosmith is out, Jonathan Coulton is in.

Kevin also seems to be focused only on the TRUE true fans – the ones that will drop $100 a year on their favorite artists. What I’m trying to do is mobilize the Lesser Fans (as he calls them), in addition to the True Fans, into an economic force. This may be beyond my means.

I really appreciated the comment left by Patricia on my last entry; she came at the idea from a marketing angle. She’s distilled my whole post down to one sentence:

True Fan Boost: Commemorate Labor Day by actually purchasing the creative work of that wonderful artist you told yourself you’d support “someday.”

If you change “that wonderful artist” to “those wonderful artists,” then that’s what I’m going to do right now:

Penny Arcade
I’m leading off with Penny Arcade because I just spent the whole weekend at PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo. This was my second year, and while I again had plenty of work to do at the Omegathon events, I had more free time this time around. At the 2007 expo, I was so busy I didn’t even get a chance to buy any merchandise from the Penny Arcade booth. This year, I made a point to get back there and pick up a copy of the PAX 2007 DVD (which showed the epic Halo 3 reveal we worked so hard on and even used some of the footage I shot from the audio stage) and a rockin’ Guitar Hero hat.

Felicia Day
Felicia Day is currently aboard a rocket bound for internet stardom. She was at PAX this year, selling copies of her new DVD of The Guild. If she hadn’t decided to man her booth right before the doors opened on Sunday, I wouldn’t have had the time to stand in the long, long lines to her table. With TFB on my mind, I shelled out $20 for a DVD, and chatted with her for a minute or two while she signed it.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Speaking of Felicia Day. Have you seen Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog? It’s what you’d get if a mad-scientist super-villain had a video blog… in a world where people spontaneously broke into song. That is to say, it is the awesome. When it came out in July, it was free to view, but to support the show I bought all three acts on iTunes, anyway. Today I’m going to buy it again, on a different installation of iTunes, because it’s just that good.

Update:  Screw that.  They’ve released the soundtrack!

Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton was also at PAX, but I didn’t get a chance to buy any of the books he had for sale from his signing table. I thought I might have an opportunity to talk to him when he finished his reading in the Serpent Theater – we were scheduled to set up the Omegathon’s Jenga match immediately following – but his enforcer escort descended and ushered him from the room.

At the end of the conference, during the final round of the Omegathon, Wil sits with the Penny Arcade families and other VIPs in a sea of bean bags below the stage. Although I was offered a seat in the same area this year, I opted instead to hang out with my fellow Omegatechs at the other end of the stage. However, after the show, before everyone cleared out of the exhibition hall, I made my way back over. Wil was just leaving the safety of the VIP circle. I stepped in front of him and reached out for a handshake.

“Wil, I was wondering if I could have just a second of your time.”

“Actually, I really need to go to the bathroom, so maybe if you could come back in a few mi…” His eyes slid off mine about half way through the sentence. I didn’t give him a chance to finish.

“That’s cool. Look, I’ve been working the Omegathon all weekend and haven’t had a chance to make it to any of your signings. I just wanted to give you this.” I pushed the twenty dollar bill I’d been palming into his hand.

“Oh. Oh!” He started looking around; I could tell he was trying to figure out a way he could later differentiate me from the sea of enforcer shirts and get me one of his books. “Okay, um, when I get back, I guess I could…”

I cut him off again. “That’s okay, I don’t want anything. I just want to support you and your writing.”

“Thanks. I… wow! Thanks!” I heard him say “wow” one more time as I walked away.

I think I floored him just a little.

PVP Online
Scott Kurtz is the creator of PVP Online, another online web comic. This year, he was also at PAX, and he happened to be sitting in the same VIP area with Wil Wheaton. I made sure to go up to him after the show and thank him for putting his strip into his RSS feed. As a daily visitor to his site, I appreciate that more than a little. As it turned out, later that night, I ended up sitting next to him at dinner and I grilled him on how the decision impacted his sales.

I’ve been meaning to do it for a long time. It’s time to buy a Joss Whedon Is My Master Now T-Shirt.

Jonathan Coulton
It’s amazing how many of the artists I had already decided to support with this True Fan Boost were at PAX. I almost skipped the Joco concert because it was the last set after a very long Friday, but I’m so, so glad I didn’t. Joco is always a great performer, but after the first 3 or 4 songs I was thinking, “Well, this is nice, but it’s sort of just the same set as last year…” And then he busts out the Flickr skit (“Bart the Soundman, everyone!”), Mr. Fancy Pants, and Felicia Day singing Still Alive. Not only am I so, so glad I saw the concert, but I’m also so, so glad I videotaped every second of it. Expect some Youtube videos soon.

I kept an eye out for Señor Coulton all weekend – especially after having the distinct privilege of butchering the expert guitar track (85%) of Skullcrusher Mountain atop Harmonix’s Rock Band 2 stage (Kara Krahulik on vocals, everyone!) – but he was nowhere to be found.

Jonathan Coulton pretty much gives us a direct download link to everything the creative portion of his brain spews out – and for free, no less. I could buy something from his online store, but I’d rather just “give him some candy.” Robot candy – the concert alone was worth that.

John Scalzi
Our PAX connection grows tenuous. Let’s see, Penny Arcade’s Mike Krahulik once created the cover art for one of John’s books. Oh, oh! And John also gifted Wil Wheaton with a horrible (read: wonderful) velvet Wesley painting!

Scalzi is the incredibly prolific blogger of the Whatever. Somehow, he only keeps the blog in his spare time between other writing gigs. I’ve been reading (or at least skimming) his site for about a year now, but I haven’t bought anything with his name on it yet.

While still in Seattle, I made sure to visit a Borders. Now that the three books of Scalzi’s Old Man’s War trilogy (Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Last Colony) are out in paperback, I figured it was time to pick them up. Yes, I realize this sort of falls into the trap Kevin Kelly warned me about – buying from a published author doesn’t exactly fit the True Fan theme. But Scalzi embraces the independent artist model, too, by posting some of his work online for free. I think he deserves some recognition (and whatever the kickback is for 3 mass market paperbacks) for that.

XKCD
XKCD is another web comic that is equally well known for its science-branded humor and its stick-figure drawings. I think I’m going to buy a No Raptors T-shirt.

Mark Aaron James
I can’t remember how I discovered the song Aquaman’s Lament, but I have since listened to it many, many times. Love the take on a secondary superhero’s sex life (though I had to edit the goofy intro out of the mp3 I downloaded.) I listened to a few other songs on Mark Aaron James’ Myspace page – they’re pretty good, too. I’m not so big on CDs anymore; guess I’ll buy his Just a Satellite album off iTunes.

Dan’s Data
I’ve been reading Dan’s Data for a few years now, as well as his How to Spot a Psychopath blog. It’s sort of hard to describe his focus. Batteries; he knows a lot about batteries. And robots. Chemicals and magnets, panorama stitching software, LED flashlights, and the debunking of audiophile scams. I think I found him following a link for the sparkler bomb.  It’s a potpourri of technical information coming from Australia (and boy have I been kicking myself for not trying to meet him when we were passing through Katoomba!)

Dan doesn’t have anything for sale, but he’s pretty good about letting you know when he’ll get a cut from one of his affiliate links. I’m just going to drop $20 on his PayPal donate button.

TikiBar TV
TikiBar is one of the first video podcasts I ever subscribed to. The premise is thin, but the humor is thick. Basically, each episode has the three stars (Johnny Johnny, Dr. Tiki, and Lala) in a paper-thin plot created solely as a vessel to carry a bartender’s recipe to the audience. The fact that the whole crew is drinking while they shoot the video and that often their outtakes are left in place, makes the show laugh-out-loud funny.
If you decide to check out the TikiBar TV podcast, it’s worth pointing out that the first few episodes are pretty painful, but by episode six or so, the crew hits their stride. Stick with it.

I’m going to buy a Lala Pinup Calender. It’s for someone else. Swear.

Pure Pwnage
A little while ago, a couple guys started putting some scripted videos online. The high concept is a documentary about a hardcore video game player who doesn’t fit very well in the real world. The episodes looked to me like a thinly veiled excuses for them to practice using a new camcorder, but soon gained quite the fan following. Now they’re premiering new episodes in movie theaters around Canada and Australia and only then releasing them in a podcast-like, yet strangely not-podcast format.

I really dig how they’re using each episode to better their film work, editing, and storytelling. I love the characters, too, even if I don’t really get the “reality” of the world they’ve created. Like TikiBar TV, try to get through the first few episodes before passing judgment.

I’ve supported them in the past by buying a GTFO T-shirt, but it came in medium and I was never sure if I clicked wrong or if they fulfilled the wrong order. No matter, I’ll get another. (Anyone want a size medium GTFO shirt?)

Lucid Reverie / Alaska Robotics
Okay, so, they used to be a small creative design business called Lucid Reverie, but now they’re a group of artists rebranded as Alaska Robotics. But now I think their internet store is called Lucid Reverie again, so I don’t know. Something’s up.

They’ve got some great stuff. I met these fine folks because they’re the instigators and curators of the Juneau Underground Motion Picture Society. Their videos are always the ones to beat for the coveted Post-Show Audience Chatter Non-Award. If you’re interested in seeing any of their films, you can pick up the first Alaska Robotics DVD. Me? I already got one. I’m in need of a T-Shirt with a squid on it.

And that’s my True Fan Boost for 2008. At the very least, it’s a link farm for people to check out, maybe stumble upon a new artist. If I’m the only one that does a True Fan Boost this year, then maybe we can double the number of TFB posts next year. We’d need only 4 to keep the trend going in 2010. Pretty soon India will be hip-deep in grain.

(If you’re reading this after September 1st and decide you want to do your own TFB in 2008, don’t let the fact that you missed Labor Day stop you.  Better late than never!)

Related posts:

1. True Fan Boost 2011

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2008. | Permalink | No comment |

I saw a lot of top-down approaches to the idea, where the burden was on the artist to leverage his or her own fans. I got to thinking: What about a bottom-up approach? How can we, the fans, lend a helping hand to the artists whose work we enjoy?

Maybe you’re like me; maybe you’re not a capital-T, capital-F, True Fan of any particular artist, but rather a regular fan of many. Maybe, also like me, you often feel guilty that you’re not supporting these artists as much as you could be. They provide all the stuff we really want for free: the web comics, the mp3s, the podcast videos. We know they’re trying to make ends meet with their T-shirt sales, CDs, and PayPal donation buttons, but we keep telling ourselves, “I really should buy that someday,” without ever spending the 3 minutes necessary to enter our credit card information.

I believe we could harness the power of web 2.0, trust linking, or whatever else you want to call it, to give a big financial boost to our favorite artists. At least one day a year, we set aside the time to make those well-intentioned, but forgotten purchases. I would call it Fan Appreciation Day, but that’s already in use (and has exactly the opposite meaning, at least in the sports world.) Therefore, I propose we call this the True Fan Boost.

Here’s how I envision it:

We designate a day where every fan is encouraged to buy at least one item from an artist (or artists) they appreciate.  Local, indie, or mainstream – doesn’t matter - any artist that’s appreciated. 

Each blogger that participates will write an entry on the designated date with the title “True Fan Boost 2008″ outlining which artists they’ve financially contributed to. Disclosure of dollar amounts is unnecessary, but links to the artists’ sites are encouraged.

The following day, searches for “True Fan Boost 2008″ will yield a wealth of new artists that the fans themselves have designated worthy of our hard-earned money. Trust linking takes over, and hopefully, many new artists will be given wider exposure.

And here’s the best part: Artists whose work we enjoy will hopefully notice a large uptick in sales on or around that date. Ideally it could become something they count on, year after year.

So, the question is… WHEN?

How about Labor Day? Yes, I know that that most people aren’t in front of their computers during work holidays, but that just means we’ll have a greater signal-to-noise ratio. (You need an excuse to flex your blog’s “post on date” muscles, anyway, right?) Furthermore, sales should stand out on a holiday and even the name “Labor Day” sort of fits.

So, what do you say? Think the idea has merit? Will you join me on Monday (or Tuesday, or Friday – the timing isn’t as critical as the payment) in distributing some of our hard earned wealth to people whose work we enjoy?  (Personally, I’m looking forward to dropping a couple hundred dollars on all the DVDs, CDs, T-Shirts, comics, and books I’ve been meaning to buy for months now. It’ll be like Christmas!)

If you’ve got a suggestion for improving the concept, I’d love to hear it. It goes without saying that this won’t be a success for any artist if I’m the only one that commits.  If you’re on board, consider helping spread the word.  Also, if you’re planning to make your own True Fan Boost 2008 blog entry, by all means, use the comments below to link to your blog – I’m happy to find more artists who deserve my money!  In the meantime, I’m going to write up and pre-post my own TFB’08 entry…

Related posts:

1. True Fan Boost 2011

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments |

I used to carry around a Victorinox Swiss Army knife.  The first one I owned was a present for my 16th birthday.  Thinking back, I must have had that red-and-white knife in my pocket most every day for 13 years or so.  I took it to work with me every day and it was an essential tool to take on vacations to foreign countries.  Then, of course, September 11th, 2001.  Being a big fan of traveling without checked luggage, I was forever forced to leave my knife at home.  Sadly, after a month-long vacation at the end of 2001, I got used to an empty pocket.

I still have a Swiss Army penknife on my keychain; however, I only ever seem to use it for cutting through packaging tape.  I miss the utility of a bigger knife, but I’m not sure I’ll ever go back to carrying one.  The spot I reserved for it, my right front pants pocket — keys on the left, wallet back right, loose change goes uncomfortably in the back left, otherwise it scratches up my phone or flies every which direction when I extract my keys — is now occupied by a cell phone.

I’ll wager the biggest hazard to Swiss Army knives and Leathermans (Leathermen?) is the TSA.  We’ve all heard stories of the stressed-out passengers who, after hours spent zigzagging through airport security lines, are forced to give up their expensive Swiss Army Knife, Leatherman, Zippo lighter, or any number of other “terrorist” items like, you know, a bottle of Diet Coke.  Rather than allowing the TSA to auction off our personal items on eBay, there’s got to be a business model here.

Idea:
Set up kiosks in each airport, ideally in close proximity to the TSA screening areas.  When items are inevitably confiscated, passengers would be given the opportunity to trade them in for a ticket.  The ticket will record what item was left behind, and will be redeemable for an equivalent item, at a similar kiosk, in the airport of their destination.

I’m thinking this would work a lot like the DVD rental stores that have been popping up in airports.  Rent a portable DVD player and a couple movies in Sea-Tac, return them to a different store on the way to the baggage claim at LAX.

Unfortunately, there would be no guarantee that the kiosk at your destination would have the same model of pocket knife for exchange.  In that case, the enterprising business could opt to let you select an item of equivalent value, or let you keep your ticket until you return home.  If all the kiosks’ inventory were tracked by computer, it should be easy enough to notify the “home airport” to hang on to the passenger’s original item until their return.  In fact, that could be another whole aspect to the business.  Instead of an exchange (which would only really be advantageous to the passenger that simply must have a pocket knife or lighter while traveling), the kiosk could simply be a storage area for those passengers that forgot to leave behind or check their “dangerous” items.  It could operate like a pawn shop, holding the item for a set amount of time before ultimately gaining the right to sell unclaimed items for a profit.

An idea like this would initially only work in the major airports, but over time, if inventory is collected and redistributed intelligently, I could see it expanding to out-of-the-way places like Juneau International.  Of course, to make it profitable, the business would probably have to charge for the service, but I’d much rather pay a small fee than surrender a 13-year-old birthday present to the TSA simply because I was running late for my flight.

No related posts.

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2007. | Permalink | 4 comments |

Recently I read about some bloggers who had been devastated by the loss of their writings.  It sounds like this wasn’t just a coincidence, but rather a global problem with the service they were using, Blogger.  Doesn’t matter; I run my blog with WordPress.  But it did get me thinking.

Once upon a time, I installed a word count plug-in on my blog.  It’s right up there at the top of this page.  As I write this, the total is up around 168,000 words.  That’s a hell of a lot of information to lose.

Oh, I’ve got backups.  My web host can roll back to a previous image of the server at a moment’s notice.  Plus, WordPress has a MySQL database backup option.  Heck, if worse came to worst, I could go back to the original text documents I used to compose each entry.  Of course, they’re often not the final edits, don’t contain the photos posted along with them, and they’re spread out among four computers and various backup discs…

You know what would be cool?  Getting a copy of my blog printed as a book with one of those online vanity presses.  I’m under no illusions that it would be of interest to anyone but myself, but you have to admit that it’d be a pretty neat-o way to archive all I’ve written.

I’m psyching myself up to tackle this daunting project.  Lulu.com has a very robust offering of printing methods; I’ll probably use them.  And while I’m confident that, in time, I can figure out their processes, I’m not looking forward to formatting 168,000 words and photos to their precise requirements.

Idea:
Someone should create plug-ins for the major blog services (WordPress, Movable Type, Blogger, etc.) that automatically download the entire contents of a blog and saves that information in pre-defined, ready-for-the-press, .pdf templates.  Templates ready-made for specific-size book formats on a site like Lulu.com would be perfect.

Wouldn’t it be cool to order a book version of your blog with just a click or two?

I can’t imagine that this would be a complicated task for the PHP/MySQL intelligentsia.  All the textual information in my blog is contained in a readable database.  Furthermore, all the images I use are also accessible in read-only directories on my website.  Lulu publishes the formatting specs for each of their book types.  Insert tab A into slot B, right?

A cursory search on the internet shows that one company apparently tried this, but they’ve since gone out of business.  There also is a WordPress plug-in out there that does the first step – creates a .pdf out of your blog’s database – but I have to say it looks like it would take more time to puzzle out than it would to just lay the pages out by hand.

Anyway, I think I’m going to go ahead and put the time into figuring out how to use Lulu.com.  If I can stay on task long enough to export my blog to a properly formatted Word document, it looks like a few simple changes in Page Setup could easily let me changed my archived blog from a comic book to a mass market paperback to a hardcover book.

I suspect my eventual product will be better for the attention I give it (I can dig up the original photos, lay out paragraphs and chapters just right, adjust my margins by hand, etc.)  I tell you, though, if I could use a plug-in to quickly and easily rip my blog to a pre-defined template, I’d order up a new volume for my shelf every year. 

No related posts.

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2007. | Permalink | No comment |

How many times have you gone to a movie and had the experience ruined by others?  The ringing cell phones, the obnoxious laughter, the giggling teenagers, and those damn kids with their laser pointers!  My wife and I are not averse to paying $30 for a couple hours entertainment, but that’s only if we’re not seated next to an inconsiderate lout.  Despite the lure of the big screen, it’s easy to understand why people wait for DVD.

The tragedy is that seeing a movie with an audience can be a great experience.  You don’t get moments like these sitting at home on your couch:

1. Throughout the epic car chase in the mediocre Matrix Reloaded, tension in the audience was wound like a spring.  It was released all at once when an onscreen character, echoing our own feelings, thrust his hands in the air and yelled, “Yes! Yes!”
2. In Jacob’s Ladder the audience created a loud shifting sound when a needle was slowly injected into the protagonist’s forehead.  It was the sound of hundreds of people squirming in their seats. 
3. Seeing a fan favorite like Serenity on opening night was even better.  There’s nothing like hearing 300 people gasp at the same time when… well, you know which scene I’m talking about.

People complain about the price of tickets and concessions nowadays, but I’d gladly pay that and more if a theater could guarantee a good, respectful audience.  No cell phones, no talking, no crying infants, no drunks looking for a warm place to sober up.  Give me that, I’ll give you cash.

Idea:
Theater owners should work to form Movie Clubs.  For an annual fee, cinemaphiles would be guaranteed a movie-watching experience shared with others of their kind.

Here’s how it would work.

• The theater collects dues from all Movie Club members.  I think a guaranteed-good audience would be worth, say, $50/year.  The market may dictate a higher or lower fee.
• Movie Club members are guaranteed a private showing of at least one new movie every week.  Only dues-paying, card-carrying members in good standing would be allowed into these select screenings.
• Which movie get the special treatment each week may be voted upon by the Movie Club’s members.  Say the latest Harry Potter movie opens against The Texas Chainsaw Massacre IX.  The theater establishment doesn’t get to decide what the Movie Club watches – they just decide which screen and at what time.  It is assumed that the Movie Club would likely not get to see popular movies in their opening week, nor any movie on a Friday/Saturday evening.  The Movie Club would only get private screenings during the cinema’s off-peak hours (get used to the Thursday late show!)
• The Movie Club would be self-policing.  Rules would have to be decided upon (no cell phones, no gratuitous chatter after the previews, etc.) and then enforced.  I favor the “two-strikes” formula – you’d be excused for forgetting to turn off your cell phone once, but do it again the next week (or any time throughout the remainder of your annual membership) and your fellow club members will inform the theater management that your privileges have been revoked.  No more Movie Club showings for you!

The benefit to the cinema
Concessions at cinemas are priced so high because it’s the only way the theater can make a profit.  As I understand it, movie studios demand a huge percentage of the box office receipts.  If a local Movie Club can grow to 300 people – about the size of an average cinema screening room – a theater could pull in an extra $15,000 a year in dues (at $50 per person per year.)  All they need to do to rake in that extra cash is to set aside one showing per week… during hours when the theater is close to empty, anyway.  The Movie Clubbers would still be paying the full ticket price, remember; the yearly dues only guarantee them a like-minded audience.

The benefit to the club members
Those of us that value being a part of a respectful audience would reap the rewards of an uninterrupted movie experience.  Furthermore, I suspect sub-groups would spontaneously form within the Movie Club.  There’s nothing like that after-movie, coffee house discussion!

Great, sounds good.  All we need now is a name!  I’d call my club “Moviesluts,” but I recognize that cinemas may opt for a more family-friendly designation.

No related posts.

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2007. | Permalink | No comment |

You know about Web 2.0, right?  Social networking, the semantic web, blah, blah, blah.  Well, I got to thinking about the one aspect of that stuff I actually buy into: Trust linking.

There are a hundreds — maybe even thousands! — of hyperlinks out there on the world wide web.  You can’t check every web site to see if it might contain something that’ll interest you.  Instead, more often than not, you rely on some other method.  Searching for specific information is easy — Google to the rescue — but I’ve noticed that when I’m just surfing, I only really follow links that are either popular (everybody’s linking them) or links presented by people I trust.

If I enjoy a website, I’ll probably bookmark it or, better yet, subscribe to it.  And later, if the owner of that site decides to link to another site, there’s a good chance I’ll follow along.  Why?  Because by bookmarking their site, I’ve decided that their opinion is worth reading.  I trust that the author won’t waste my time.  The content they’re linking to may not even be in one of my areas of interest, but often I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.  It’s the trust that matters.

Web 2.0 sites like Technorati are based on popular linking.  Del.icio.us thrives on trust.

Okay, moving on.  So Entertainment Weekly has a column written by Stephen King.  Recently he used the space to list his favorite books of 2006.  After reading the article, I thought that it might be interesting to purchase those ten books and make a goal to read them all.  I trust Stephen King’s opinion on writing; I’m sure it would be money well spent.

But then I thought of how big a pain in the ass it’d be to track all those books down.  Even with Amazon.com, not worth the effort.  For example, say I wanted to give you a reading list of outstanding science fiction to validate the genre:

Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers, by Larry Niven
Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Legacy of Heorot, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
Contact, by Carl Sagan
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

That’ll do for starters.

Now, you can click on all those links and individually add them to your cart at Amazon.com.  Convenient, but not perfect.

Idea:
Every online store should have an “export shopping cart” button. Before checkout, any customer could export their entire shopping list to a file [or whatever; something stored in the site's database, I would imagine] and be supplied with a reference URL to that file. They can then copy/paste this URL wherever they like (i.e., their blog.) Anyone else clicking on the link will be taken directly to the online store’s site and their own shopping cart will be instantly populated with the same items.

That entire list above could be shortened to something like: Arlo’s Sci-Fi Bookshelf.  Click that hypothetical link and you’d be set to approve the purchase of the entire set one click later.

I did some digging and discovered that Amazon.com actually comes pretty close to this functionality with their Listmania feature.  At the bottom of every Listmania list is an “Add all items to cart” button.  We need something more universal.  Every shopping cart would be exportable with the click of a button.  Every eCommerce site would support the same feature.  And with a URL, anyone could place a shopping list anywhere.  Think of the ways in which this could be useful, based on the trust model I explained above:

• A notable reviewer of stereo equipment puts together the killer home theater system from components sold at J&R Music World.
• The geek that pwned everyone at the last LAN party shows you the breakdown of the custom-built computer he bought from Newegg.
• The DJ with the best mixes hooks you up with the perfect CD collection from Walmart (of all places).
• The weekend mechanic that tricked out his Honda Accord gives you a list of all the parts he ordered from NAPA Auto Parts.
• A popular film critic creates the perfect (comedy, action, drama, animation) DVD movie collection at Best Buy.
• With a little bit of effort, even clothing stores like The Gap could alter sizing information based on a shopper’s profile so that the fashionable could create tailor-made wardrobes for the masses.

Any time two or more items are sold together, an online store could conceivably benefit from an exportable shopping cart.

What do you think?  Could it work?  Should I start the patent application?

P.S.  Those sci-fi books really are great.  Trust me.

No related posts.

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2007. | Permalink | No comment |