The Moth and the Reluctant Introvert
July 29th, 2008I look up to see a giant moth fluttering around the ceiling of my bedroom. My lazy instinct is to save us both some trouble by giving it a high five. But then… I would have to clean the wall (it was really big). Plus, I love Nature. Does paying rent and wearing clothes give me the right to end Mothra’s life?
It took less than a minute to catch him in a tupperware and release him outside. I won’t lie. It was a thrill to throw him up in the air and know that he wouldn’t fall back. Life preserved.
I’ve been living in Montreal for 3 years now. I speak a little more French than the average Anglo-Ontarian - but I can’t claim I move to Montreal and found the language transition without anxiety. My partner is perfectly bilingual, and most of her social community is French.
In French group social activities, I often clam up. I’m an enthusiastic listener, (and I understand most of whats going on). But I’m not nearly as sharp witted as (I’d like to think) I am in English. I’ve noticed lately that many of our friends must think I’m a much shyer, quieter person than I really am. The longer this goes on, I feel as though it is affecting me - sinking in and making me introverted.
If conversation ever comes around to Queen’s Players or Touring Players, people seem shocked to imagine me in that domain. It scares me a little to think that I’ve grown away from this outgoing and spontaneous character.
That realization has propelled me. First, I work harder to communicate my ideas by pushing through the language barrier. Second, I try to stay more relaxed. There is so much to communicate without words. If I can stay relaxed and friendly, social encounters are never as scary as I imagine they could be.
(Nemesis be mine imagination.)
I had hoped this would tie back to the moth somehow.
Relax.
Be gentle and patient.
Impact positively those around you.
High fives are for tamborines and dudes, not tiny fragile creatures.
Posted in Metaphor | Comments (2)
Protecting Creator’s Rights
July 26th, 2008My film of the week is Good Copy Bad Copy, a documentary about sampling in music and legal notions of intellectual property. If you are a musician or a lover of new music, this is a must watch.
I’ll be honest, it was my 3rd time watching the movie before I caught the irony of this statement by Dan Glickman, the chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (at about 13 minutes).
“In the U.S. Constitution there’s only one substantive area of law included and that was protecting creator’s rights. The founding fathers said that would be determinative of how successful a country you have.”
Of course he means protecting “copyright holders’ rights”. But take a spin on the exact words, and they could be used to defend artists who use sampling. Surely, Girl Talk is creating something new in his music.
Girl Talk drives home the point (at 54 mins):
You hear songs on the radio with riffs that sound just like Black Sabbath, more so than me cutting up Bachman-Turner Overdrive will sound like Bachman-Turner Overdrive. I can manipulate these sources more than people ripping off chord progressions. It’s just different musical tools.
Owning an idea. That’s a sloppery slip™.
Posted in Music | Comments (1)
Raptive Media and Trauma-Kit
June 8th, 2008Hello! I’ve taken a bit of a break from blogging while I finish work on my upcoming theatre production: Trauma-Kit.
Trauma-Kit is featured in the 2008 Montreal Fringe Festival (which starts in a week!).
If you are in the Montreal area, and you like a little bit of adventurous spectacle, I invite you to come check out the show. For more information, visit Raptive Media.
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What happens to your Facebook when you die?
April 16th, 2008With the growth of online social media platforms, have you considered what happens to your online identities when you die?
It has been nearly a year since E.B. died. She was struck in a tragic car accident while abroad in England. We met at university in Kingston, Ontario, and worked together with Queen’s Players. She was a bright light who lived life to its fullest.
When she died, her sister signed in to her Facebook page to post the news on her wall. Her sister explained what had happened and linked to information about the funeral. Within hours, word spread across E.B.’s network of friends.
It had been 2 years since I graduated and moved to Montreal, so there was some distance between this community of friends from my past. The increasing speed of communication via the Internet has become something of a cliché. But in this instance, I witnessed how Facebook played such an active role as a structure for rapid communication.
A year later, E.B.’s page still exists, and it has become a kind of memorial. Her wall is a place where people come and leave her messages. There are over 200 messages since the accident. It is very touching to read and share. Her Facebook wall has become something of a sacred space.
I find the Facebook wall to be something of a voyeuristic experience. In this case, there may be comfort found by sharing the grieving with others in her community of friends.
E.B. popped back into my life recently with the implementation of Facebook’s “People You May Know” function. Facebook scans your network of mutual friends to suggest people who you may want to add as a friend. My girlfriend went to the same university and actually took classes with her. The Facebook algorithm suggested she might like to add E.B. as a friend. Eerie.
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Have you thought about what will happen to your virtual estates? Do your loved ones have access to your logins and passwords? I experienced first hand the power of social networks to bring together a community dealing with grief. And I am fascinated by how it can continue. I’ve decided to keep E.B. anonymous. I don’t know if Facebook would object to her profile remaining active. And just in case, I don’t want to be responsible for shattering this beautiful place.
If you have a lot of online connections, I can’t help but think it valuable to instruct a family member how to find the keys to your blogs and social networks.
What are your thoughts?
Posted in Identity | Comments (1)
Missed Opportunity as a Trigger
March 19th, 2008As I was sitting in my pyjamas, checking the morning news feeds, I heard the rumble of the Recycling truck driving past. Ordinarily, it passes late afternoon - early evening. It’s not even 10am. I have an overflowing box of recyclage, and I’ve missed the truck.
I check the window. The truck has collected from our side of the street, but left the other side for another pass. Wildly, I throw on a jacket, tuque and boots and haul our box out to the other side of the street.
I missed an opportunity. But that missed chance was a trigger to act fast and be prepared to catch the next opportunity.
Do not become discouraged. Opportunities are infinite. Stay alert, and be ready for the next one coming.
Posted in Metaphor | Comments (1)
Bird Underground
March 18th, 2008Have you ever encountered a bird on a subway platform? It is pure tragedy.
She is trapped. Health and strength will not be enough to escape.
Freedom and daylight are hidden way, round curved passages. Either end of the platform ends in a black hole. To fly into the darkness is to risk a collision with one of the metal snakes. And the darkness does not lead to daylight, it leads to another platform.
Who would devise such a terrible trap? It is a nightmare for any bird. But the subways weren’t designed with this intention. They are a human tool of transportation, oblivious to the fate of birds. There is no ill will between the engineers and the birds.
It is a matter of misfortune for this creature of the sky to find herself underground. Is she to blame? Is it a sign of weakness or stupidity? A subway is simply the wrong place for the bird to be.
-=-
What do you do when you find yourself struggling with a hopeless situation? Do you blame yourself? Do you recognize when you are in the wrong place? That is not failure.
-=-
If I could speak to you, little bird. Stay calm. Do not go into the darkness. Follow the walls to find an exit. Get out and be grateful. Do not come back underground. Enjoy the sky. If the engineer could fly, he would.
Posted in Metaphor | Comments (0)
Reflection through Metaphor
March 18th, 2008Let’s speak in metaphor.
I propose that the Universe follows a set of rules.
Observe these rules at play in your environment. Abstract evidence of a Universal pattern. Compare with an external situation. There will be similarities and differences, but through the comparison you may discover a new perspective.
Warning: Rules may change without notice.
Posted in Meta | Comments (0)
Free as in Mutually Advantageous
March 4th, 2008As previously mentioned, I’m currently sporting someone else’s WordPress theme. If you check the footer closely, you’ll see a link to “Dubai Apartments.” When I first found that in the code, I shuddered and ripped it out; mistaking it for some kind of scheme.
Here comes the Tangent Train: A while back I was doing some research on the implementation of Google Adsense into WordPress. I found a website offering “free” themes that come with Adsense already installed. All you have to do is upload and implement the theme. What could be easier? The funny part is that no where in the theme options is the ability to enter YOUR OWN Google Adsense account number. The author of the theme coded their own account number in. It makes me laugh to think of how much money this person is making from this scheme. How long would a person use it before realizing that their account hadn’t been associated with the website?
I suppose it’s a “long tail” scheme. But I wonder how successful it would actually be. Does the target dupe demographic really have the kind of click-through-rate to make this kind of scam profitable? We won’t know until one of you tries and leaves a message in the comments.
Back to my current theme. After a long day of thinking, I’ve decided to put the link back in. What do I care if I give a little love to Farrukh Riaz, the registrant of that domain name. [I just had a thought: this site is pretty new, so I don't have much to lose or gain yet. Is there any reason Google would punish me for this? I remember there was a big scam when the Goog cracked down on paid links. This isn't a paid link. Do I need to put a "no follow" to the Googlebot? Kind of defeats the point of leaving it in... Makes me laugh all the same. Anyone know?]
It’s incentive for me to get off my ass and build my own template. You may notice the page title. It was an accident that made me laugh. True laughter is a valuable commodity, so I left it.
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Oh yeah! I was also going to mention Chris Anderson’s cover-story in Wired: “Free.” Anderson wrote the book “The Long Tail” (which, ironically, I mentioned earlier in the post). I really enjoyed reading “The Long Tail”, and found it empowering for up-and-coming artists and content providers. I’ll do a thorough reflection on the book sometime in the future.
“Free” first came to my attention in that Wired was offering a promotion of a free copy of the magazine sent by mail to the first 10 000 responders. Curious, I clicked through. I selected “Canada” from the drop down menu. I couldn’t enter my province… and then notice the fine print: “U.S. residents only.”
I had been psyched to read the article. I genuinely enjoy Anderson’s ideas. I even went to a news stand and picked up the magazine. I leafed through it, checked the price, counted the number of pages devoted to the article I wanted to read. (That took a bit of work, these things are packed with glossy, sexy advertisements). Finally, I put it back and decided to save my eight dollars.
And so, I haven’t read the article yet, maybe I shouldn’t unload all of my ideas on “free.” In brief, I think free is sugar for the impulsive. Push and pull are the same thing from two different vantages.
Allow me to give you the opportunity to make me a profit, free of charge, naturally.
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Update: Thanks gaw. Apparently the article is freely available online. Cheers.
Update: I’ve been schooled on the matter by Matthew Mullenweg, that sponsored themes are not such a good idea. I would really love to make my own theme…. And in the meantime, I’ll switch it as often as I please. Currently, we’re rocking the Silver Light theme by Blog Oh Blog.
How on earth, Google would notice the difference or care between linking to a theme’s author and linking to Dubai Apartments, I have no idea.
Tags: Selling
Posted in Meta | Comments (1)
How Much Should a CD Cost?
March 3rd, 2008How much are you willing to pay for a music CD? Is that number different for your favorite artists? For me, there is a point where I won’t pay - no matter how much I favor the artist. And I realize that that price point is lower than it used to be.
I love music. I enjoy buying music and supporting the people responsible. My appetite for new music is greater than my financial situation can handle. I have cut my college habits of downloadery and found solace through podcasting. I can subscribe to an endless amount of free programming and engage in all kinds of new music and conversation. I acquire less albums than I used to, and when I do buy a new album I make it count.
If possible, I try to buy albums directly from the band at a concert. You might not be aware, but artists make considerably more profit from sales at concert. The record label relationship is a rat-hole I’ll save for another day. Let’s just say the band might earn $1/unit sold at HMV, compared to 100% (minus manufacturing) from sales at a show. Bands survive from merchandise profits.
Recently I saw Hawksley Workman in concert. I would consider myself an enthusiast fan. I own several albums. I know the lyrics, and wouldn’t miss an opportunity to catch his show. I brought extra cash planning to buy at least one album. He has a new album Between the Beautiful, and several rare EP’s that I would love to hear. Red light: cringingly, CD’s are $20 each.
When I was in highschool, I worked at a record shop. I can remember new releases ranged between $14.99 and $19.99. An older album could cost upwards of $27.99. This was long before the prevalence of iTunes and Amazon. Nowadays, HMV has plenty of selection around $12. As previously stated, I’d rather buy direct from the artist when possible. I have to put my foot down on the $20 album.
I’m no economist, but there must be a sweetspot pricepoint. Above which will discourage purchasing. Below will encourage impulse purchasing in volume. I was sad to leave the show without a tangible token from the show. Had they been $15, I would have bought two. But at $20 I didn’t buy any.
What is your pricepoint? Do you even buy music anymore?
Tags: Music, Selling
Posted in Selling | Comments (3)
And… “Go!”
March 2nd, 2008I’ve rebooted the website. Please be patient as I get things up and running. I’m really excited for everything planned (and unplanned).
I’ve got my work cut out for me as I teach myself how to build a theme. The current theme is Bluesky, and it will be a temporary starting point. I’ll be making changes as we go along.
Posted in Meta | Comments (0)