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So I have something brewing in the works. It will get its own category soon but for now I am willing to give you four titles.
Crimson Dawn
Crimson Tide
Crimson Reign
Crimson Wake
There’s a fifth but the title is too cliché in my head. More brainstorming in the coming days so be ready!
So today is about relaxing, letting go, enjoying the little moments. Something I have been waiting for all week was released to the public, a cool collection of ambient music that I will probably podcast. You can find out more about it by visiting http://justnotnormal.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/jnn100-various-artists-no-r-mal-ii/
Listening to Fireflight as I recover from pulling an all-nighter with the smash hit The Passage. Expect a blog post with my full review in the coming days. I actually want to get a group of people together to do a round table discussion on Skype, recorded and podcasted of course. Anyone interested? Comment on this blurb.
Nothing like a bit o’ Metallica to get the juices flowin’ and since the coffee is kicking in, people could be in trouble.
It’s still kind of early on this first Sunday in August. I’m energized for the week and eager to take things by storm. One project is somewhat in limbo but I’m okay with that. It should be resolved by the end of the week. A couple job applications are in the works so we will see if they turn up anything up.
Sometimes opportunities fall in your lap. I don’t know if this one will pan out, but it is worth the inquiry.
I really need to revive this blog. Perfect place for random musings throughout the day. Yes, this starts now. EAVB_FYYHDDVCHU
Twitter is a valuable source of information and interaction. And in this world of brevity, there is a new trend that has been flourishing in the past several months.
A “retweet” for those uninitiated is when a person literally quotes someone else’s tweet (or post). Several of Twitter’s most popular people garner attention by simply retweeting what others say or what their sources link to. So in effect, they become popular simply because they repeat the same thing over and over again.
There is a right way and a wrong way in my opinion to retweet, and this goes back to the definition of a retweet itself. If I see someone asking for a retweet to promote a podcast episode, a blog post etc, I write it like this, “RT @whatshisface’this is a retweetable message’.” Notice, I give credit to the person who says the statement and all is well. But more often than not, I see this popping up, “RT @astralaudio: RT @whatshisface ‘This is a tweetable message’.” If this were an everyday scenario, the example would be, “Well I heard from @astralaudio who heard it from @whatshisface.” Our quote has instantly turned into the internet version of gossip.
Personally, when I see a retweet of a retweet of a retweet, it is annoying and reminds me of this video.
If you were to encounter that kind of behavior at your job, with your friends, or at school (for those of you in academia), you would more than likely disassociate yourself from that person. To save yourself from joining the growing number of double, triple, multiple retweeting crowd, please only quote the original source whenever possible. No, you may not be a journalist, but the same ethical consideration should apply.
That is my serving of food for thought. What’s yours?
One of the challenges of running a website is making it visually appealing while also being useful to the visitor so that the visitor becomes more than just a casual onlooker but an active and returning participant. Astral Audio Productions has had a few themes since being launched; however, we would like input of not only those in the podcasting/blogging space but those who frequent our website in deciding how it looks.
Things that must be considered include: Accessibility (The easier to navigate and read, the better off for everyone), atmosphere (my associate producer and I are leaning toward something that has dark undertones with an artistic flare), genre specific (we give you music and audio drama elements of horror/scifi/fantasy so something that would make the old Hot Topic look tame compared to us), professional (while not a business per say, we do want to give off a vibe that denotes our dedication to you the listeners), involvement (make it easier for you to subscribe and spread the word about us since we believe in the “tell ten” philosophy), and if possible, volunteer created if a theme doesn’t currently exist. This last point is because it echos the free-flowing way we have come together; a bunch of audio drama enthusiasts who enjoy to entertain you. As always, such credit to the creator would be provided and given a prominent place on the website to showcase his or her other noted accomplishments in the designing field. I’m sure there is more, and if I forgot anything, my associate producer will mention it in the comments. Don’t hesitate to ask questions and bounce around ideas.
Close to 4:00 AM and I’m still awake. Sleep is finally tempting me with a sweet embrace. My Associate Producer has gone to bed hours ago. I spent time listening to episodes of The Rookie recast, cleaning out folders of little importance in one of my email accounts, and pondering some details of what’s to come. One of these days, I’m going to have to shut myself in from the World Wide Web and simply lay it all out there; every random thread that will need to be woven together .. character, plot, setting, and object included. I think when my AP is here in October (if all goes well), I will get a chance to do that. And get a much wanted . . . needed massage. I’ll post something later today when I’m more awake and after I’ve gotten some sleep. Maybe, just maybe, dreams will be an inspirational source.
Personally, I don’t visit websites any more. Well, not quite true. If something shows up that’s interesting in my feed reader I *might* click through to look at it. There are “places I go” .. like Ning communities (but generally only after an article shows up on my RSS feed) … but “websites” aren’t on that list.
I guess the question is “what’s the purpose” of the site?
My own work goes up on the web and into a wordpress blog. It gives me all the flexibility that I need to tell my audience what I want to share with them, and it requires a minimum of effort for me to maintain. I don’t have any “interactive” pieces beyond the comments, and I don’t have any dancing bunnies or anything like that. It’s a simple site, it has an RSS feed and, for those who do come to visit, content that augments the experience of my books — for example, maps and rosters, diagrams and some images. I added a guest forum last year at the request of my audience, so they could talk together, but I’ve kept all the rest to an absolute minimum.
When I started thinking about what my audience wanted to know it was “when’s the next book coming out?” and “what are you doing now?” I added some extra content — value added material — that didn’t work well in audio form, but I kept the site absolutely clear of anything that did not deal with the core interest of my audience. I don’t want them to be interactive. I don’t care if they never visit me. If they subscribe to my feed, and/or my email list, they’ll get the news that matters to them and I can get out of their way.
Don’t get me wrong. I love it when they care enough to leave me comments, but my website is not a place where I’m selling them anything. Neither literally nor figuratively. It’s a place where they can find out what’s happening with the Golden Age of the Solar Ciipper and the easier it is for them to get that information, the happier I am.
Your mileage and goals may vary and I like your items. Accessibility, ease of use, look and feel — those are all very important to be sure, but most of that doesn’t go into RSS and when I read an article in my aggregator, if the value of the content isn’t there — of if there’s no content feed for me to read — I’m not going to click thru to see whatever your theme may be.
Just my opinion.