JOURNAL: February 11th, 2024

Journal

Yes, I know, it’s been a minute. Several. Welcome to the world of object permanence, where I forget it exists if it’s not right in front of my face. That said, let’s fill you in on where things are.

Over the past little while, I seem to have made a breakthrough when it comes to my life since 2020. Aside from the fact that 4 years is long enough to be anything, much less sad, I lit upon what I think is an inconvenient truth I had to face: There was a point where the writing was on the wall that I was going to be let go from my job, COVID or no COVID. There were yearly layoffs back then, and I had dodged two rounds. My job had been relegated to rewriting and voicing English versions of Japanese scripts with little to no variation between printer models. I was editing already-produced videos of illustrations with little to no variation either. I wasn’t creating anything new, I was reheating the leftovers. In a sense, I was set up to fail. Once I got to that realization, I realized that it didn’t give much of a base to qualify for a job in the field beyond that. So, if I wanted to do something creative with video, it’s up to me to do that on my own. TikTok is nice and all, and it’s quick and dirty, but I think I need to do something a little more substantial. Now, I’m no Casey Neistat. I’m just some guy with a camera that thought he was a multimedia guy until he realized he wasn’t. So maybe I should do something about that.

In other news, some progress updates:

The new Pungoverse season seems to be going a bit better, I’ve written two episodes so far. The premise is very simple. WYRD 101 has lost its broadcasting license due to a huge mistake. If you’ve been a fan of WYRD 101 over the years then this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Roley’s talent agent takes on the whole crew and suggests a pivot to all podcasting. This sets up a little bit of a satire of the current state of podcasting, and what I see as the homogenization of the industry. I also hope to revisit some long lost citizens of Pungo that I haven’t used in a long, long time.

The other project I’ve been working on is Tsunami. I’ve finished one chapter, and halfway through a second one. Tsunami is my attempt at a cyberpunk story, and I hope I can do the genre a little bit of justice since I’ve been a fan of it for so long. The main character is a Tracker of sorts, and falls into a little bit of a mystery involving augmented humans. It’s in the first person, and the main character is in the vein of the sarcastic type of detective I grew up being fascinated by, from Richard Diamond Private Detective, to Thomas Magnum.

Podcasting? Well, that’s what these two things are for. It’s possible I’ll serve something up soon, though I am not going to head back to the same old current events pod. It’s boring, and I really don’t want to think about the timeline we’re living in right now, or I’ll get nothing done.

I have two other ideas in the bucket at the moment, but they’re not fully formed thoughts yet. In other words, just like any other random thought in my head at any given moment. Update next time on that, hopefully.

See ya next time.

LINK: The Final Days of Coyote vs. ACME →

Blog

In a truly inglorious end, a source close to the movie doesn’t believe Warner Bros. would even announce that they hadn’t found a home for the movie. They would unceremoniously delete it. Never to be seen again.

I can almost guarantee that there’s at least one generation of folks who would have loved to see this as a payoff for watching Wile E. Coyote plaster himself all over the desert floor over and over for years. I certainly would.

I hope someone reconsiders this someday.

Cleaning the Social Media Gutter

Blog

I’m noticing that quite a few people that view my stories on Instagram are people that I don’t know, and want nothing to do with. I started to go through my list of followers, and I quickly realized that leaving my account inactive for a long period of time might have been a mistake. A quick note about weeding the garden: Instagram doesn’t really make it easy, especially on the desktop version. It’s just a small scroll box in the center of the page. I really would like a way to bulk remove/block people. That should be a no-brainer.

Yes, I realize there are 3rd party solutions that may allow you to do this, the point is that IG should allow you to do this. I’m going to look for those solutions so that I don’t have to waste more time in the weeds than necessary.

ARTICLE: More Unsolicited Olympic Opinions

Articles

With the possible exception of the Salt Lake City Olympics, most Games lose money. Most cities that agree to host the Games lose money. After the Olympics leave a city, in some cases those venues fall into disrepair (See: Rio). Finally, depending on the location or other circumstances, some countries boycott the Games like Moscow 1980 and LA 1984. I’ve always felt there’s a viable solution to this, and for that we look to a little cartoon from 1980.

Animalympics was an absolute sendup of the Olympics, voiced in part by Harry Shearer, Billy Crystal, and Gilda Radner. That alone should get you to watch this movie. Back in the day, you could count on HBO or Cinemax to have it in rotation during the Games. I’m not sure if it enjoys the same attention today, but that’s beside the point. The point is that all the games took place on Animalympic Island. One location made for the Games. Now, it’s not realistic for anyone other than Dubai to whip up an island out of thin air, but that’s not where you’d want to have Summer Games in any event. What would be more realistic would be for the IOC to pick one place where the Summer Games have been played, and one place where the Winter Games have been played. Bonus points if one location could do both, and the event venues are still in good condition or could be repaired for a reasonable amount. It’s got to cost less money than selecting a new place that’s never had the Games before, and possibly even less than a place like LA, who has hosted the Games twice before and about to have it a third time.

It’s time to give some consideration to making a permanent venue for the Olympic Games, so that we can remove the politics, territorial disputes, and the river of red ink that has followed it for decades.

LINK: Paris Olympic Medals Come With A Prize Inside →

Blog

I *love* the Summer Olympics. I’m a freak of nature that watches as much of them as I can. That said, here’s an uncomfortable truth about medals: some of them have been downright ugly. These are not.

The center of these medals are pieces of iron recovered from the Eiffel Tower during a past renovation, and the medals themselves look almost designed to catch sunlight. Might be hell for cameras, but they’re just beautiful.

LA 2028 should be paying attention. I will be, hopefully from the stands.

LINK: Marty Krofft Dies at 86 →

Journal

If you’re my age, this man and his brother Sid were responsible for a lot of your Saturday Mornings.

I always found these live-action shorts more entertaining than the cartoons. Probably because my earliest memories involve the Banana Splits and shorts like Danger Island. Filmation had really great stuff as well, like Shazam and Isis, but Sid and Marty were the Kings.

Thanks, Marty.

MarkWayne Mullin Is Not A Serious Person →

Blog

That’s the act of an overgrown man-child with no self-control. It should be automatically disqualifying; no person who acts that way has any business in that job.

It won’t be, of course. He caters to a crowd, a constituency that most likely approves of his behavior.

LINK: First-Gen Social Media Users Have Nowhere to Go →

Blog

Ever since the popular platforms got basically weaponized, it’s been a little more like which one is the leper with the most fingers left. I’ve found myself on Threads, which is Zuckerberg. At least he’s not an insane fascist as far as we know. I hardly ever post on Facebook anymore, and I’m warming back up to Instagram since they appear to be appealing to photography again.

That said, I’m not going to worry too much about it. I have this place, and anything I have to say I can post here.

JOURNAL: Tuesday, November 7th, 2023

Journal

I’m sure you know the old cliché, “The dog that caught the car.” If not, it’s when a person attains an ambitious goal and has no idea what to do next. Watching the election results this evening, I thought Dobbs was just one example of the car: the recent Speaker’s election and the preceding three weeks with a stalled House being another. An argument could be made that the response to COVID-19 is another car, and you might make the argument that it’s not a bunch of cars, rather everything since January 2017 is one large bus.

You would think that after years in the minority, and in the case of Dobbs, 50 years of planning for the day Roe would be overturned, there would have been a plan. Not so much, which leads us to a hard truth: Today’s Republican Party has no interest in plans, policy, or even the bare minimum of governing. This new group is only there for the clicks.

After years of getting my hopes up at other companies, I stopped worrying about merit increases a long time ago. If the company chose to give me anything for my work, I considered it gravy. I’ve been a salaried employee for a little less than ten years between two places, and the increases are usually better than anything I ever received as an hourly employee. It’s those 25 cent raises that beat the hope out of me, so I don’t worry about it. So it was nice to have received a note from on high telling me that I received something more appropriate for my work over the year. I still come from the school of not disclosing what I make to anyone, other than to say that I now make more than I’ve made anywhere else. As long as the bills are paid and I can still buy eggs, I’m solid.

Friday off for the holiday, and we’re thinking about heading west to the Blue Ridge to see if we can squeeze the last bit of fall color out of the trees. Last year we went to High Bridge State Park, and in a strange twist, I had no trouble with the heights but Kim had terrible vertigo. Additionally, we had a storm come through that week, and it wiped out most of the leafs on the way through. Not a total bust, but close. Hoping for some better luck this year. Trust I’ll put some photos up here if we get lucky.

LINK: James Corden Inks New Podcast for SiriusXM

Blog

I’m reminded of the revival of the British comedy show Spitting Image (see: Genesis’ Land of Confusion video) where any time I’ve seen Corden’s puppet on the show, it is usually shot in the head. The British knew all along.

Friends don’t let friends Corden.

JOURNAL: November 6th, 2023

Journal

A little housekeeping, even if you see it right up front. I’ve changed the theme of this site to something more manageable. The momentary downside is that it’s gray, and adding in some additional CSS code doesn’t quite cover it, so I’ll work on that. I like my blue and white jam. I was using a WP theme that I had to shoehorn it into doing what I wanted it to do. This one just does it by default. Roley happy now. Almost.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but when you slap a sociopath on the wrist for his bullshit, it’s not a disincentive. In fact, they’ll think they got away with it. They’ll hit you with more bullshit, and it will get worse. Stop coddling the sociopath.

I wrote a video script today. it’s very short, but it works and that’s all I need it to do. Stay tuned.

There’s a definite upside and downside to working with a cat in your lap. Both happen to be that you have a cat in your lap.

LINK: Trump Testily Testifies (CNN)

Blog

I believe Trump is almost daring this judge to throw him in jail because he believes the persecution card is worth it.

I wonder if a better idea would be continue to fine him heavily, demand the money in a timely manner, and figure out a way to give every fine he pays to places like Planned Parenthood, Everytown for Gun Safety, Immigrant Advocates Network, and so on.

That probably can’t happen, but it damn well should.

BOOK: Romney – A Reckoning

Blog

A very compelling book. Yes, there’s a lot of tea to be spilled here, but the big revelation—at least for me—is that Mitt Romney is a decent human being who has an amazing sense of humor about himself. Possibly wishing for a time when there was less chaos than today, but I wonder about what a Romney Presidency would look like.

We need less of what passes for a Republican today and more Mitt Romneys. Even if I thought they were wrong at governing, at least they could govern.

Read the book. You might surprise yourself.

APPEARANCE: Deprogrammed–The Tragically Hip

Blog

Recently, I was honored to take part in a podcast with Justin and my friends at the Legion of Stupid, where we talked about a great Canadian band that should have made it in America: The Tragically Hip.

For the perceptive, LoS are the same folks that do the Belle and Dubs podcast that I’ve appeared on a few times. Great folks, and I’ll pretty much stand on my head if they ask. Give them a listen.

The Legion of Stupid

Friday, October 13th, 2023

Blog

I’ve often said that just don’t think my life is that damn interesting. That was no more apparent to me when I tried to make a daily vlog, and realized that I do pretty much the same thing every day. That doesn’t really lend itself to compelling video.

However, the reason for starting to do some kind of weekly vlog isn’t for the content, it’s really for the chops. If I start making some sort of weekly diary, it’s for keeping in practice with videography and editing. Not that I think I’ll ever get another job doing it ever again, but it’s for my satisfaction that I can do it. I don’t expect that to make sense to anyone, but for me it’s very much a matter of pride at this point.

Thursday, October 12th, 2023

Blog

The last few weeks of the Podcast have been less than ten minutes long, because they’re TikTok friendly. Would you believe that the podcast gets more views and engagement on TikTok than anywhere else?

I said that I would do that as long as I had nothing else to do, but I’m feeling the urge to do more as we continue to move on. I realize that it doesn’t have to be a format, although my brain wants to continue to format it a certain way. If I take my own advice and make it a living diary that I invite you all to read, then that’s how we proceed.

So the podcast—as ever—will change, because I change.

When? I don’t know that quite yet. We’ll see.

Wednesday, October 11th, 2023

Blog

Here’s a fun fact for you: There have been approximately 1.1 million deaths from COVID.

The fact that we seem to have completely forgotten that horror is something I have trouble reconciling.

One of these days when the history of this chapter of Stupid People Doing Stupid Things is written, I hope we address this in some way.

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

Blog

Follow up from yesterday: The main problem I was having trying to fix that YT broken link is that it assumed that any YT link was for a video, and tried to treat it like an embed. I initially tried to fix it by trying another theme that was *close* to the same thing as this one, but the sidebar was fugly, and not customizable, not even through tweaking the CSS for some reason. Additionally, this theme tried to add a 2nd sidebar menu, and would not let me get rid of the one that you see. So, there was no way to have that YouTube link in the menu and have it act differently.

Then, I got a rare good night’s sleep and came up with a different idea. What if I create a new page for all the social links, and have all the links open to a new tab. That should work, right? So I created the Social Page you see in the sidebar and put all the places you can connect with me there.

It was then I found out that the problem wasn’t just in the sidebar, it’s any YouTube link placed anywhere.

Sometimes I swear these things are too smart for their own good.

Monday, October 9th, 2023

Blog

Here’s a reminder that functional doesn’t necessarily mean correct. I had a link in the sidebar for YouTube that you’ll notice is no longer there. Turns out that when you click the link, it treats it as if it is a video, and tries to bring up that video in a lightbox. When you create a sidebar menu from WordPress Pages, it’s doing what it’s supposed to. Hat tip to the guy who told me the link was broken.

To fix this, I need to get more under the hood than I have in years. You may remember that this used to be a Squarespace site. If I can keep this exact look, it might be again. WordPress themes are so damn clunky sometimes. I tell you, there’s more on the backend of this theme than I think is necessary for how minimal I want it to look.

Time to make it correct.

When I-95 Isn’t a Route, It’s Content

Articles

I swear, there are some days when I happen upon something so weird out here on Beyonce’s Internet that it beggars belief, but then I have to remember that it is the Internet we’re talking about.

On my bucket list are items like driving to Key West, Route 66, and the Pacific Coast Highway. On a lark, I decided to see if anyone on YouTube had ever recorded it, and not only had they but there’s a whole genre on YouTube of POV driving. To my amazement, this stuff gets massive subscribers and views. After thinking about it, I suppose it might be a kind of white noise or something someone puts on while doing something else. I find it fascinating, so I decided to make a few videos and see how they performed on my channel. To my surprise, they are the most popular videos I’ve made.

I’m not sure if I should be grateful for the new subscribers and likes, or bitter that my podcast performs so poorly by comparison.

Of course, I plan to continue making my podcast. However, this driving content works for me on a few levels. First, it’s bringing people to my YouTube channel. Secondly, I am one of those freaks who likes driving long distances for the view and the quiet so I get some therapy out of it. But most importantly it’s a kind of content I’ve found that I love and that I can do. I can start here in my hometown and grow outward to a regional thing. I’ve already made videos of driving the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Ocean Highway in Ocean City MD, driving to Williamsburg, Shore Drive, and Atlantic Avenue here in Virginia Beach. Shortly, I plan to drive from Nags Head to Hatteras and make the circle from Virginia Beach to Elizabeth City, taking the Currituck Ferry. At some point, I wish to take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and drive to Atlantic City.

I’ve also decided that some longer journeys will require train or plane journeys and a rental car back, like trips to DC and Maine. These are in the more distant future because that will require a budget. It was suggested that I push the Patreon for stuff like this, but I don’t know if I want to do that. Right now, this is just for fun.

I’d like to increase my subscribers and views on the YouTube channel to join the Partner Program, that much is certain. That takes 500 subscribers and 3000 watch hours in the last 12 months. I’m a long way off, but it’s not a sprint. Even if I don’t make it work in the next year, I’m happy for whatever I get.