That's why Piperlime fascinates me so. They have an assortment of vintage and unique boots that I'm going to have to buy!
The women's shoes section, by all accounts is amazing, especially the boots.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
"OMG Shoes!"
I've never been much of a shoe owner. I usually have a beat up pair of black walking shoes that I can wear with just about anything and that's it.
That's why Piperlime fascinates me so. They have an assortment of vintage and unique boots that I'm going to have to buy!
The women's shoes section, by all accounts is amazing, especially the boots.
That's why Piperlime fascinates me so. They have an assortment of vintage and unique boots that I'm going to have to buy!
The women's shoes section, by all accounts is amazing, especially the boots.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Trouble Shooters Podcast Coming Soon!
At ELearning, we are frantically working on a short tech help podcast called The Trouble Shooters! We are going to answer questions from the ETSU student body about everything from campus OIT issues to ipods.
If you have a tech question of any kind, leave it here as a comment or contact us! We are fuelled on questions, so fill the tank!
If you have a tech question of any kind, leave it here as a comment or contact us! We are fuelled on questions, so fill the tank!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Crack Problem
I broke 2 fingers last weekend.
I've gotten my work under control finally.
Now I really want to write, but it is frustrating to do it with this stupid hand cast/splint!
I'm doing most of it long-hand.
I've gotten my work under control finally.
Now I really want to write, but it is frustrating to do it with this stupid hand cast/splint!
I'm doing most of it long-hand.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Workin' for the Future
This week has been gruelling. I've not taken time to update my online sites because I've just been too run down from the long hours.
Monday and Tuesday we set up and did a live video conference for the Presidential Debate. We connected universities across Tennessee to allow students to voice their thoughts on the debate. This represented 3 weeks of R & D, building a remote unit that can patch into existing multimedia room equipment. It also saw our new deluxe light kit used on the same day it was unboxed! Fortunately, it went off without any problems at all! I got home after midnight Tuesday, physically and mentally exhausted.
Early the next morning I was back at work. I had to drive to Knoxville to fix a bad camera in our Division Street room. Fortunately, my buddy Xyon42 went with me on some City business. We didn't get back until 6pm, then some friends dropped by to watch some TV.
Thursday, we did a shoot at the Culp Center. Students participating in the Job Fair could come to us to leave a "Virtual Annual" video message. 10am - 5pm I interviewed students. We ended up with just about 3 hours of footage. The new light kit is awesome! It was nice to properly light a project! This was a big deal because it's the first scheduled video shoot on a weekday. We're now a production house!
Meanwhile, in normal work, I am flooded with emails from Kingsport. Lots of unrelated stuff. The guys do what they can, but I need to give it some personal attention. Unfortunately, I have no control over the network, where 90% of the problems live. I'm stretched pretty thin right now.
All this has left little time for my personal projects (or life.) I've twittered a little, but that's it. Now that my main computer is working again, I can get back into my proper routine.
Here's an update on the projects I'm working on:
Trouble Shooters Podcast...I passionately want to do this tech podcast, but it's too late in the semester to really do it justice. I need to get ONE out as a preview for spring and encourage students to send questions.
Audio Dramas: I hate that I've had to back-burner this one. When I started on it, I was under the impression that I would have MORE free time once school began, but I now seem to have LESS free time. I need to find a co-producer for this one. Someone who can do the heavy lifting so I'm free to finesse it.
Roller Girl Doc-Series - I'm considering doing a weekly documentary on the Little City Rollergirls. It's not only good for them, I think it's interesting and kooky enough to be irresistible to the college crowd. I'll have an inside view anyhow since I'm announcing for them.
MORE STUFF - Some major work developments are going to open up the world of production to us! I've just got to learn to manage my time so I can have time to work on them!
Finally, we're heading to the Unknown Hinson show tonight at the Hideaway! If you see me, give a shout!
Monday and Tuesday we set up and did a live video conference for the Presidential Debate. We connected universities across Tennessee to allow students to voice their thoughts on the debate. This represented 3 weeks of R & D, building a remote unit that can patch into existing multimedia room equipment. It also saw our new deluxe light kit used on the same day it was unboxed! Fortunately, it went off without any problems at all! I got home after midnight Tuesday, physically and mentally exhausted.
Early the next morning I was back at work. I had to drive to Knoxville to fix a bad camera in our Division Street room. Fortunately, my buddy Xyon42 went with me on some City business. We didn't get back until 6pm, then some friends dropped by to watch some TV.
Thursday, we did a shoot at the Culp Center. Students participating in the Job Fair could come to us to leave a "Virtual Annual" video message. 10am - 5pm I interviewed students. We ended up with just about 3 hours of footage. The new light kit is awesome! It was nice to properly light a project! This was a big deal because it's the first scheduled video shoot on a weekday. We're now a production house!
Meanwhile, in normal work, I am flooded with emails from Kingsport. Lots of unrelated stuff. The guys do what they can, but I need to give it some personal attention. Unfortunately, I have no control over the network, where 90% of the problems live. I'm stretched pretty thin right now.
All this has left little time for my personal projects (or life.) I've twittered a little, but that's it. Now that my main computer is working again, I can get back into my proper routine.
Here's an update on the projects I'm working on:
Trouble Shooters Podcast...I passionately want to do this tech podcast, but it's too late in the semester to really do it justice. I need to get ONE out as a preview for spring and encourage students to send questions.
Audio Dramas: I hate that I've had to back-burner this one. When I started on it, I was under the impression that I would have MORE free time once school began, but I now seem to have LESS free time. I need to find a co-producer for this one. Someone who can do the heavy lifting so I'm free to finesse it.
Roller Girl Doc-Series - I'm considering doing a weekly documentary on the Little City Rollergirls. It's not only good for them, I think it's interesting and kooky enough to be irresistible to the college crowd. I'll have an inside view anyhow since I'm announcing for them.
MORE STUFF - Some major work developments are going to open up the world of production to us! I've just got to learn to manage my time so I can have time to work on them!
Finally, we're heading to the Unknown Hinson show tonight at the Hideaway! If you see me, give a shout!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
SNL Digital Short - People Getting Punched Just Before Eating
The Digital Shorts are the best part of SNL!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Qik Streaming from Asheville Tonight!
I'll be playing with Qik on my iPhone while at the Blue Ridge Roller Girls bout in Asheville tonight!
Feel free to chat away!
Feel free to chat away!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Blue Ridge Roller Girls vs Big River Roller Girls - Asheville, Saturday Sept 27 6pm
I'm a supporter of Johnson City's Little City Roller Girls!
Why, you ask?
Because I'm a fan of violent, hot chicks on wheels!
This weekend I'm heading to Asheville to catch a bout between Asheville's Blue Ridge Roller Girls and Richmond, VA's Big River Roller Girls! I'm doing a bit of research for my job announcing the Little City Roller's first official game November 9th! I want to see how over the top their announcer goes and try to go further.
Exciting!
Match time is 6pm!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Did an ETSU Student Make This?
Did an ETSU Student Make This?
Originally uploaded by Shannon, The Ringmaster
I hope so, it's really nice! (It also blocks the dogpath that students have made across the lawn.)
If ETSU bought this, I'm going to be irritated.
UPDATE!
This is a piece by ETSU's Guest Artist. Err...I don't know his name yet, but I intend to find out!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Working on It
Well, I had intended to get the first Snapper video up over the weekend, but I have hit a serious snag. I had to reinstall windows recently and erased my only copy of Photoshop! I have the disks at work, but I'm off today.
Snapper will arrive on the front page as soon as I can get the graphics made.
Sorry for the delay.
For those new to TechBo, Snapper is a short film about a redneck and a bloodthirsty giant snapping turtle. It was created by Southernecrology a while back and has a cult following among the TechBo crowd. It's not to be missed!
Coming Soon!
Snapper will arrive on the front page as soon as I can get the graphics made.
Sorry for the delay.
For those new to TechBo, Snapper is a short film about a redneck and a bloodthirsty giant snapping turtle. It was created by Southernecrology a while back and has a cult following among the TechBo crowd. It's not to be missed!
Coming Soon!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Bruce Sterling - The User's Guide to Steampunk
Cut and pasted from GOGBOT 2008:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Sterling" bruceXXX@XX.com
To: "PLANETART" planetart@planet.nl
Bruce SterlingSent: Friday, July 11, 2008 6:18 PM
Subject: Re: steampunk at GOGBOT!
*Okay, here is a little essay for you.
bruces
The User's Guide to Steampunk
People like steampunk for two good reasons. First, it’s a great opportunity to dress up in a cool, weird way that baffles the straights. Second, steampunk set design looks great.The Industrial Revolution has grown old. So machines that Romantics considered satanic now look romantic.
If you like to play dress-up, good for you. You're probably young, and, being young, you have some identity issues. So while pretending to be a fireman, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or whatever your parents want you to be, you should be sure to try on a few identities that are totally impossible.Steampunk will help you, because you cannot, ever, be an authentic denizen of the 19th century. You will meet interesting people your own age who share your vague discontent with today's status quo. Clutch them to your velvet-frilled bosom, because you will learn more from them than you ever will from your teachers.
Stretching your self-definition will help you when, in later life, you are forced to become something your parents could not even imagine. This is a likely fate for you.Your parents were born in the 20th century. Soon their 20th century world will seem even deader, weirder and more remote than the 19th. The 19th-century world was crude, limited and clanky, but the 20th-century world is calamitously unsustainable. I would advise you to get used to thinking of all your tools, toys and possessions as weird oddities destined for the recycle bin. Imagine starting all over with radically different material surroundings. Get used to that idea.
If you are European, you may further realize that you are surrounded by an ever-growing European "museum economy" that sells your heritage as a "heritage industry." Familiarity with steampunk will certainly help you here. The heritage industry does not sell heritage, because heritage is inherently unsellable. Instead, it sells the tourist-friendly, simplified, Photoshopped, price-tagged, Disneyized version of heritage. Steampunk is great at mocking and parodizing this activity. That's what makes steampunk a thoroughly contemporary act.
This dress-up costume play and these subcultural frolics will amuse and content 90 percent of the people involved in steampunk.
However, you may possibly be one of those troublesome 10 percent guys, not just in the scene but creating a scene. Frankly, the heaviest guys in the steampunk scene are not really all that into "steam." Instead, they are into punk. Specifically, punk's do-it-yourself aspects and its determination to take the means of production away from big, mind-deadening companies who want to package and sell shrink-wrapped cultural product.
Steampunks are modern crafts people who are very into spreading the means and methods of working in archaic technologies. If you meet a steampunk craftsman and he or she doesn't want to tell you how he or she creates her stuff, that's a poseur who should be avoided. Find the creative ones who want to help you, and who don't leave you feeling hollow, drained and betrayed. They exist. You might be one.
Steampunk began as a literary movement -- for some reason no one understands, it started with young Californian fantasists writing about Victorian Great Britain, specifically James P. Blaylock, Tim Powers and K. W. Jeter. This guy Jeter made up the term "steampunk." He made no money doing that, and you've likely never heard of him before now. I doubt this much bothers Jeter. Jeter was a major disciple of Philip K. Dick, so he always understood the inherent limits of bourgeois mundane reality.
Nowadays steampunk is not about historical pastiche with a sci-fi twist, because, although that's interesting, there's not a whole lot of room for literary maneuver there. Steampunk has become popular now because it is no longer just fiction. It is an international design and technology effort. Steampunk a counterculture arts and crafts movement in a 21st century guise.
If this idea makes your heart beat faster, I can save you a lot of trouble by recommending one brief essay called "On the Nature of the Gothic" by John Ruskin, the greatest design critic of the original steam era. Go read it. Read this manifesto with great care because it was the seed of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Jugendstil, Art Nouveau, William Morris wallpaper, Aubrey Beardsley Yellow Book decadence, romantic-nationalist architecture and about a thousand other things most steampunks would consider very cool.
Ruskin wrote an extremely influential and important essay which changed the world. Everything Ruskin says in that essay is wrong. The ideas in there don't work, have never worked and are never going to work. If you try to do the things Ruskin described in the spirit that Ruskin suggested, you are doomed.
However. If you try to do those things in a steampunk spirit, you might get somewhere useful. Steampunks are equipped with a number of creative tools and approaches that John Ruskin never imagined, such as design software, fabricators, Instructables videos, websites, wikis, cellphones, search engines and etsy.com. Successful steampunks are not anti-industrial as Ruskin was. They are digital natives and therefore post-industrial. This means that they can make their own, brand-new, fresh mistakes -- if they understand the old mistakes well enough not to repeat them.
Steampunk's key lessons are not about the past. They are about the instability and obsolescence of our own times. A host of objects and services that we see each day all around us are not sustainable. They will surely vanish, just as "Gone With the Wind" like Scarlett O'Hara's evil slave-based economy. Once they're gone, they'll seem every bit as weird and archaic as top hats, crinolines, magic lanterns, clockwork automatons, absinthe, walking-sticks and paper-scrolled player pianos.
We are a technological society. When we trifle, in our sly, Gothic, grave-robbing fashion, with archaic and eclipsed technologies, we are secretly preparing ourselves for the death of our own tech. Steampunk is popular now because people are unconsciously realizing that the way that we live has already died. We are sleepwalking. We are ruled by rapacious, dogmatic, heavily-armed fossil-moguls who rob us and force us to live like corpses. Steampunk is a pretty way of coping with this truth.
The hero of the funeral is already dead. He has no idea what is happening. A funeral is theater for the living.
Steampunk is funereal theater. It's a pageant. A pageant selectively pumps some life into the parts of the past that can excite us, such as the dandified gear of aristocrats, peculiar brass gadgets, rather stilted personal relationships and elaborate and slightly kinky underwear. Pageants repress the aspects of the past that are dark, gloomy, ugly, foul, shameful and catastrophic.But when you raise the dead, they bring their baggage.
There's not a lot we can do about the past; but we should never despair of it, because, as Czeslaw Milosz wisely said, the past takes its meaning from whatever we do right now. The past has a way of sticking to us, of sticking around, of just plain sticking.Even if we wrap the past around us like a snow-globe, so as to obscure our many discontents with our dangerous present, that willful act will change our future.Because that's already been tried. It was tried repeatedly. Look deep enough, try not to flinch, and it's all in the record. So: never mock those who went before you unless you have the courage to confront your own illusions.
The past is a kind of future that has already happened.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Sterling" bruceXXX@XX.com
To: "PLANETART" planetart@planet.nl
Bruce SterlingSent: Friday, July 11, 2008 6:18 PM
Subject: Re: steampunk at GOGBOT!
*Okay, here is a little essay for you.
bruces
The User's Guide to Steampunk
People like steampunk for two good reasons. First, it’s a great opportunity to dress up in a cool, weird way that baffles the straights. Second, steampunk set design looks great.The Industrial Revolution has grown old. So machines that Romantics considered satanic now look romantic.
If you like to play dress-up, good for you. You're probably young, and, being young, you have some identity issues. So while pretending to be a fireman, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or whatever your parents want you to be, you should be sure to try on a few identities that are totally impossible.Steampunk will help you, because you cannot, ever, be an authentic denizen of the 19th century. You will meet interesting people your own age who share your vague discontent with today's status quo. Clutch them to your velvet-frilled bosom, because you will learn more from them than you ever will from your teachers.
Stretching your self-definition will help you when, in later life, you are forced to become something your parents could not even imagine. This is a likely fate for you.Your parents were born in the 20th century. Soon their 20th century world will seem even deader, weirder and more remote than the 19th. The 19th-century world was crude, limited and clanky, but the 20th-century world is calamitously unsustainable. I would advise you to get used to thinking of all your tools, toys and possessions as weird oddities destined for the recycle bin. Imagine starting all over with radically different material surroundings. Get used to that idea.
If you are European, you may further realize that you are surrounded by an ever-growing European "museum economy" that sells your heritage as a "heritage industry." Familiarity with steampunk will certainly help you here. The heritage industry does not sell heritage, because heritage is inherently unsellable. Instead, it sells the tourist-friendly, simplified, Photoshopped, price-tagged, Disneyized version of heritage. Steampunk is great at mocking and parodizing this activity. That's what makes steampunk a thoroughly contemporary act.
This dress-up costume play and these subcultural frolics will amuse and content 90 percent of the people involved in steampunk.
However, you may possibly be one of those troublesome 10 percent guys, not just in the scene but creating a scene. Frankly, the heaviest guys in the steampunk scene are not really all that into "steam." Instead, they are into punk. Specifically, punk's do-it-yourself aspects and its determination to take the means of production away from big, mind-deadening companies who want to package and sell shrink-wrapped cultural product.
Steampunks are modern crafts people who are very into spreading the means and methods of working in archaic technologies. If you meet a steampunk craftsman and he or she doesn't want to tell you how he or she creates her stuff, that's a poseur who should be avoided. Find the creative ones who want to help you, and who don't leave you feeling hollow, drained and betrayed. They exist. You might be one.
Steampunk began as a literary movement -- for some reason no one understands, it started with young Californian fantasists writing about Victorian Great Britain, specifically James P. Blaylock, Tim Powers and K. W. Jeter. This guy Jeter made up the term "steampunk." He made no money doing that, and you've likely never heard of him before now. I doubt this much bothers Jeter. Jeter was a major disciple of Philip K. Dick, so he always understood the inherent limits of bourgeois mundane reality.
Nowadays steampunk is not about historical pastiche with a sci-fi twist, because, although that's interesting, there's not a whole lot of room for literary maneuver there. Steampunk has become popular now because it is no longer just fiction. It is an international design and technology effort. Steampunk a counterculture arts and crafts movement in a 21st century guise.
If this idea makes your heart beat faster, I can save you a lot of trouble by recommending one brief essay called "On the Nature of the Gothic" by John Ruskin, the greatest design critic of the original steam era. Go read it. Read this manifesto with great care because it was the seed of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Jugendstil, Art Nouveau, William Morris wallpaper, Aubrey Beardsley Yellow Book decadence, romantic-nationalist architecture and about a thousand other things most steampunks would consider very cool.
Ruskin wrote an extremely influential and important essay which changed the world. Everything Ruskin says in that essay is wrong. The ideas in there don't work, have never worked and are never going to work. If you try to do the things Ruskin described in the spirit that Ruskin suggested, you are doomed.
However. If you try to do those things in a steampunk spirit, you might get somewhere useful. Steampunks are equipped with a number of creative tools and approaches that John Ruskin never imagined, such as design software, fabricators, Instructables videos, websites, wikis, cellphones, search engines and etsy.com. Successful steampunks are not anti-industrial as Ruskin was. They are digital natives and therefore post-industrial. This means that they can make their own, brand-new, fresh mistakes -- if they understand the old mistakes well enough not to repeat them.
Steampunk's key lessons are not about the past. They are about the instability and obsolescence of our own times. A host of objects and services that we see each day all around us are not sustainable. They will surely vanish, just as "Gone With the Wind" like Scarlett O'Hara's evil slave-based economy. Once they're gone, they'll seem every bit as weird and archaic as top hats, crinolines, magic lanterns, clockwork automatons, absinthe, walking-sticks and paper-scrolled player pianos.
We are a technological society. When we trifle, in our sly, Gothic, grave-robbing fashion, with archaic and eclipsed technologies, we are secretly preparing ourselves for the death of our own tech. Steampunk is popular now because people are unconsciously realizing that the way that we live has already died. We are sleepwalking. We are ruled by rapacious, dogmatic, heavily-armed fossil-moguls who rob us and force us to live like corpses. Steampunk is a pretty way of coping with this truth.
The hero of the funeral is already dead. He has no idea what is happening. A funeral is theater for the living.
Steampunk is funereal theater. It's a pageant. A pageant selectively pumps some life into the parts of the past that can excite us, such as the dandified gear of aristocrats, peculiar brass gadgets, rather stilted personal relationships and elaborate and slightly kinky underwear. Pageants repress the aspects of the past that are dark, gloomy, ugly, foul, shameful and catastrophic.But when you raise the dead, they bring their baggage.
There's not a lot we can do about the past; but we should never despair of it, because, as Czeslaw Milosz wisely said, the past takes its meaning from whatever we do right now. The past has a way of sticking to us, of sticking around, of just plain sticking.Even if we wrap the past around us like a snow-globe, so as to obscure our many discontents with our dangerous present, that willful act will change our future.Because that's already been tried. It was tried repeatedly. Look deep enough, try not to flinch, and it's all in the record. So: never mock those who went before you unless you have the courage to confront your own illusions.
The past is a kind of future that has already happened.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Good Times AND Gettin' Paid
I love being busy with personal projects. Lately, I have been extra lucky in that my personal projects are becoming work projects! I would love to focus on producing web content for the university full time instead of doing system maintenance. Once the new engineer is hired, I may get my wish.
I met with Herb Parker, the director of ETSU Theatre's Hamlet on Monday. We discussed our vision for the show and I explained that I only needed two things from him. He was very gracious and accommodating, so I think that we are going to work very well together. I want this to be a DVD that they can be proud of. In fact, when I say "they," I mean the student-actors as well. I'm hoping to have them over for a party the first weekend in October to discuss their thoughts on having cameras stuffed in their faces for a few months.
My podcasts are frustrating me. I have two fairly straightforward shows planned, but I am having trouble getting either prepped to shoot! My schedule has lightened some, but I think I'm going to have to start working on them after hours if I want to get them done.
One is the audio podcast that I've been planning since early summer. This is a big production and each episode is going to take a couple weeks to produce properly. It's a major time sink, so it keeps getting bumped for more immediate plans.
The one I am pushing hard to get started on is a tech help and "life hacking" show called "Trouble Shooters." It relies on student questions to provide content, but I have yet to tap into a social space that reaches a major population of the ETSU student body to drum up questions! If you have any ideas, PLEASE let me know. Soon, I am going to see if I can get a news article on the ETSU website. Everything is in place except for the beginning content. I know we could make up questions, but that is betraying trust a little, to me. I'd rather gather some genuine, interesting questions about campus life and technology for the first ep.
The last video project is one that I've wanted to do since a luncheon last year where we set the direction for the podcasting production area. I want to find some improvisational comedians/actors for a bare-stage weekly improv show. Several months worth could be shot at a time and distributed throughout the year. CJ has been trying to motivate the campus Patchwork Players or the Improv Group in the Theater Department, but, so far, interest from performers seems to be lukewarm. If I get time near the end of the semester, I will hold auditions and make my own improv group that I KNOW will have the chops to do a good show.
Finally, I received an impassioned plea to put Southernecrology's giant turtles vs rednecks classic SNAPPER back online. I've got to admit, I have missed it to. ("OW! I hit my nuts on a rock!") I am trying to find time to get it posted with the original artwork intact, so it may be Sunday, Sept. 21 before it returns to the front page!
Thanks for sticking around! As always, keep in touch, contact us or use the forum.
I met with Herb Parker, the director of ETSU Theatre's Hamlet on Monday. We discussed our vision for the show and I explained that I only needed two things from him. He was very gracious and accommodating, so I think that we are going to work very well together. I want this to be a DVD that they can be proud of. In fact, when I say "they," I mean the student-actors as well. I'm hoping to have them over for a party the first weekend in October to discuss their thoughts on having cameras stuffed in their faces for a few months.
My podcasts are frustrating me. I have two fairly straightforward shows planned, but I am having trouble getting either prepped to shoot! My schedule has lightened some, but I think I'm going to have to start working on them after hours if I want to get them done.
One is the audio podcast that I've been planning since early summer. This is a big production and each episode is going to take a couple weeks to produce properly. It's a major time sink, so it keeps getting bumped for more immediate plans.
The one I am pushing hard to get started on is a tech help and "life hacking" show called "Trouble Shooters." It relies on student questions to provide content, but I have yet to tap into a social space that reaches a major population of the ETSU student body to drum up questions! If you have any ideas, PLEASE let me know. Soon, I am going to see if I can get a news article on the ETSU website. Everything is in place except for the beginning content. I know we could make up questions, but that is betraying trust a little, to me. I'd rather gather some genuine, interesting questions about campus life and technology for the first ep.
The last video project is one that I've wanted to do since a luncheon last year where we set the direction for the podcasting production area. I want to find some improvisational comedians/actors for a bare-stage weekly improv show. Several months worth could be shot at a time and distributed throughout the year. CJ has been trying to motivate the campus Patchwork Players or the Improv Group in the Theater Department, but, so far, interest from performers seems to be lukewarm. If I get time near the end of the semester, I will hold auditions and make my own improv group that I KNOW will have the chops to do a good show.
Finally, I received an impassioned plea to put Southernecrology's giant turtles vs rednecks classic SNAPPER back online. I've got to admit, I have missed it to. ("OW! I hit my nuts on a rock!") I am trying to find time to get it posted with the original artwork intact, so it may be Sunday, Sept. 21 before it returns to the front page!
Thanks for sticking around! As always, keep in touch, contact us or use the forum.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I Will NOT Post a Cute Cat Video On This Site!
The Title of this blog was a lie. I'm sorry, that was "Ninja Cat Comes Closer Without Moving" that I found on Laughing Squid.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
"Talk Derby to Me"
I am proud to say that Johnson City, TN's own Little City Roller Girls have asked me to announce their bouts live!
The Techno Bohemian crew have been supporting the Girls since they first began to resurrect Roller Derby in the area. If you haven't ever seen a flat track roller derby match, you're in for a treat!
Fast paced! Hot chicks! Unnecessary violence!
What's not to love?
Thanks to Stacie, Erin, and the ladies for giving me a chance to share the fun! In fact, they gave me a great compliment: "We thought you could sell the hell outta some spankin's!" They work hard to keep the bills paid and the girls in equipment, so please, if you can afford it, give to the Roller Girls. It won't solve any social problems, but you'll bring much happiness to the community!
I just hope they set up the spankin' booth at the match!
We're looking for a co-host! If you think you have what it takes to call a bought and keep up with the Ringmaster, drop me some feedback!
Roll on!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Gergeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A Remark on Denmark
I'm perilously close to burning out at work again. I have been furiously dealing with constant technical issues for weeks now with little down time. However, there is one thing that will keep me going until next summer!
I have been asked to produce the DVD/Online release of the Theater Department's production of Hamlet this coming spring! Best of all, I am going to do my darndest to get the Techno Bohemia Productions imprint on the final package!
I should be meeting with the Director of Photography from the Theater Department later this week to hash out the details of the production! David seems to be a good guy who really knows video production, I am excited to work with him and all of the Theater Department. (I am a lucky guy, I've known many of the theater instructors for years and have been wanting to collaborate with them for some time! Now, all at once, here it is!)
This is not going to be some half assed student production. I want it to be slick and pro. That's why I'm calling in the A-Team for this one. Part of the instructions I received on the project was to pull in as many University resources as possible and I intend to do just that!
I'll drop more names of folks involved and more detail as work progresses. Watch this space because I'm going to be keeping a production journal!
I have been waiting to get paid for a project like this for a long time! I intend to make it something really special so I can do more!
I have been asked to produce the DVD/Online release of the Theater Department's production of Hamlet this coming spring! Best of all, I am going to do my darndest to get the Techno Bohemia Productions imprint on the final package!
I should be meeting with the Director of Photography from the Theater Department later this week to hash out the details of the production! David seems to be a good guy who really knows video production, I am excited to work with him and all of the Theater Department. (I am a lucky guy, I've known many of the theater instructors for years and have been wanting to collaborate with them for some time! Now, all at once, here it is!)
This is not going to be some half assed student production. I want it to be slick and pro. That's why I'm calling in the A-Team for this one. Part of the instructions I received on the project was to pull in as many University resources as possible and I intend to do just that!
I'll drop more names of folks involved and more detail as work progresses. Watch this space because I'm going to be keeping a production journal!
I have been waiting to get paid for a project like this for a long time! I intend to make it something really special so I can do more!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Techno Bohemia is...
Down again.
It was a script injection hack this time. I managed to catch the script before it fully executed last night, but it's going to take some time to restore from backups since I have a full work schedule today. Luckily, the server has been set up to compartmentalize these things, so no other hosted sites should be affected by this incident.
TechBo will be back soon.
It was a script injection hack this time. I managed to catch the script before it fully executed last night, but it's going to take some time to restore from backups since I have a full work schedule today. Luckily, the server has been set up to compartmentalize these things, so no other hosted sites should be affected by this incident.
TechBo will be back soon.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Trailer - Tokyo Gore Police
From geek-guru Steve at work, here's the trailer to "Tokyo Gore Police!" Rated R!
I had mentioned to him how much I loved The Machine Girl and her tempura hand scene so he sent me this! This looks even more over the top! What's not to love?
I had mentioned to him how much I loved The Machine Girl and her tempura hand scene so he sent me this! This looks even more over the top! What's not to love?
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Steampunk Dalek
Steampunk Dalek
Originally uploaded by Shannon, The Ringmaster
Amazing!
This is the ultimate realization of my two greatest scifi passions, Steampunk and Doctor Who!
Read the full story (and how it was made out of a shampoo bottle) on Boing Boing!
How Would I Look With Sideburns?
DragonCon this year has reconnected me with one of my favorite forms of speculative fiction. It is one of the Old Ones, one of the foundations of modern science fiction that drew me into my lifelong obsession in the first place!
After nearly a century of slumber, steampunk is maturing! I will never forget being five years old and reading a child's version of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." It was abridged, but the illustrations are probably what captured my imagination and forced me to explore classic literature more. Captain Nemo had a submarine! A fantastic machine that only existed in fiction. Not only was it an astounding work of science, it kept the victorian sensibilities of the time, being largely iron decorated with brass and sumptous wood. It was a palace beneath the sea! A monument to futuristic technology, while at the same time, firmly rooted in that era's current technology, the industrial revolution. Brilliance! In the days before gasoline, nuclear power, or even the battery, our society was fuelled by a more primal technology...steam.
The steam engine, regardless of who gets credit for inventing it, made our current world of technology possible. It gave us the power to automate tasks and increase accuracy and consistency of products. It gave us the means to create the materials that would move us forward past steam to more efficient and powerful fuels.
Steampunk asks the question, what if technology never moved past water power, yet surpassed what we currently know? Robots fuelled by steam and coal, clockwork prosthetics, weapons using crystals and light. In steampunk, we live in the Victorian era, yet we have the steam powered technology of the distant future! Technology that is as artistic as it is futuristic! Copper, brass, wood, natural, mechanical objects that transcend their anachronistic appearance and become nearly magical in their technological magnificence! It's all about human ingenuity and craftsmanship!
An air of civility and manners surround Victorian steampunks! An adventurous lady will carry a pouch and a teacup on her belt, because no one should be without a cup of tea when all is dark. Men in tophats sporting goggles to deal with the winds while navigating their flying contraptions through the sunset clouds!
It has sparked my imagination as long as I can remember, and this year, I find that it has matured and begun to leak into the mainstream! The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, Brisco County, Jr., Captain Nemo, and even Wild Wild West have carried the tradition quietly and with great dignity, but I feel like steampunk is finally coming into its own! When I red William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine in the late 80s, I was astounded that someone had written a book in a genre that I believed was destined to be exclusively on the fringe of fandom, but now, there's hope that it might be stepping into the spotlight after all these years!
Chumley and I have been talking about going all out and designing some beautiful steampunk costumes for next year, and I've never been so excited! (His, of course, is going to be amazing and talked about for years!)
Maybe I should trim my beard into a more victorian look!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Poop.
photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by Shannon, The Ringmaster
For Astrocomical...
It's official.
You have created a MOVEMENT!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
DragonCon! (or How I Forgot My Line!)
photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by Shannon, The Ringmaster
"For every person you see out here, there's one inside!"
- Crispy
Parking FAIL
Parking FAIL
Originally uploaded by Shannon, The Ringmaster
I wonder how many violations that ticket is for!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Bard's Close-Up
It's pretty much a done deal.
I've been asked to Produce the DVD of the Theater Department's spring production of Hamlet. This DVD will be for profit, so the pressure is on. I'm confident that with the right team and good communication, this will be a fun project we will all be proud of! I've started working with the videographer from Theater on the technical requirements. Although it's a challenge, we can solve it using spare parts from the store room and a bunch of creativity.
We will be shooting extensive special features starting next week at the auditions!
This is finally a chance for me to do what I love to do! I would love to hear from anyone who is willing to help us out. Techno Bohemians need not apply since I'm probably going to try to rope you in anyhow!
I've been asked to Produce the DVD of the Theater Department's spring production of Hamlet. This DVD will be for profit, so the pressure is on. I'm confident that with the right team and good communication, this will be a fun project we will all be proud of! I've started working with the videographer from Theater on the technical requirements. Although it's a challenge, we can solve it using spare parts from the store room and a bunch of creativity.
We will be shooting extensive special features starting next week at the auditions!
This is finally a chance for me to do what I love to do! I would love to hear from anyone who is willing to help us out. Techno Bohemians need not apply since I'm probably going to try to rope you in anyhow!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
vs. WordPress
I am trying to decide on which blogging site to use. This was hasily created during website down time on Google's Blogger, but since then, I have created a very nice, easy to use WordPress Blog. Both are functional and easy to use, but I'm liking the look and customization that WordPress brings.
Maybe I need to figure out the exact function of each blog. Maybe I can use both for different purposes.
Any suggestions?
Maybe I need to figure out the exact function of each blog. Maybe I can use both for different purposes.
Any suggestions?
Monday, August 25, 2008
Freedom!!
The heavy work has been done! After pushing our time and talent to the limit this summer, the eLearning crew finished on schedule and the opening day of classes went fairly well! There were some minor issues, but nothing really serious. The new support structure of Metaphore and Astrocomical is working out amazingly well! They really make a great team.
The reason for rejoicing is that after this week I get to settle into an 8 - 4:30 routine for the first time since I went full time! With the lads holding down the fort, I might just get some uninterrupted personal time! Maybe, in time, I'll even be able to live my life in something other than thirty minute chunks due to my own paranoia that a call could come at any time. Having my evenings free will give me time to do one of two things: one) waste my life away playing World of Warcraft or, more difficultly, two) give me an opportunity to commit to some projects! I'm aiming for two, but I must admit, one is always going to be a tempatation.
Look for more info on the web series. I'll hold off for the actual recording and editing to be underway before I announce anything formally, but informally, it's going to be an ensemble cast doing a series of short stories in audio format. THe first one is nearly written and the second is on deck. Number one is a monster in the dark story and number two will be a President Benjamin Harrison-era whodunit mystery set in Jobes' Opera House, Johnson City, TN, the year the Boom City died.
Can you tell that I'm excited about the whodunit? It will be strictly old fashioned, a loving tribute to Ellery Queen, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie movies!
Mixing the old with the ridiculously futuristic, it's just what I love to do!
Shannon,
The Ringmaster
The reason for rejoicing is that after this week I get to settle into an 8 - 4:30 routine for the first time since I went full time! With the lads holding down the fort, I might just get some uninterrupted personal time! Maybe, in time, I'll even be able to live my life in something other than thirty minute chunks due to my own paranoia that a call could come at any time. Having my evenings free will give me time to do one of two things: one) waste my life away playing World of Warcraft or, more difficultly, two) give me an opportunity to commit to some projects! I'm aiming for two, but I must admit, one is always going to be a tempatation.
Look for more info on the web series. I'll hold off for the actual recording and editing to be underway before I announce anything formally, but informally, it's going to be an ensemble cast doing a series of short stories in audio format. THe first one is nearly written and the second is on deck. Number one is a monster in the dark story and number two will be a President Benjamin Harrison-era whodunit mystery set in Jobes' Opera House, Johnson City, TN, the year the Boom City died.
Can you tell that I'm excited about the whodunit? It will be strictly old fashioned, a loving tribute to Ellery Queen, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie movies!
Mixing the old with the ridiculously futuristic, it's just what I love to do!
Shannon,
The Ringmaster
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Back Home
This is my busiest time of the year. July and August are pressure cooker days as we try to get all the technology in 16 rooms across East Tennessee working flawlessly for the next three months.
This summer's project was to build two receive video conferencing rooms at Walters State Community College's Morristown and Seviere County campuses. We had three days to do it, so the last few days were intense. Unfortunately, despite getting our work done, network problems caused us to leave before we tested the Seveire County site. That means I've got to go back in the next day or so. sigh.
This is a nice way to explain why TechBo progress is slow at the moment. I am still basking in the design of the new site, so I don't feel too bad, but I'm really wanting to get the blog posts displaying on the front page. I'll probably have time for that this weekend amidst gaming at a buddy's house and going to a bridal shower (ya, I know, it's weird for me, too.)
I'm finishing up the "Life in Dark Places" script this weekend and, hopefully, starting on the next one, "Jobe's Opera House," which will sport story credits for CJ Ferguson and Chad Fraley. It's an Edwardian murder mystery set in Johnson City, TN circa 1892(and maybe in another dimension!)
This summer's project was to build two receive video conferencing rooms at Walters State Community College's Morristown and Seviere County campuses. We had three days to do it, so the last few days were intense. Unfortunately, despite getting our work done, network problems caused us to leave before we tested the Seveire County site. That means I've got to go back in the next day or so. sigh.
This is a nice way to explain why TechBo progress is slow at the moment. I am still basking in the design of the new site, so I don't feel too bad, but I'm really wanting to get the blog posts displaying on the front page. I'll probably have time for that this weekend amidst gaming at a buddy's house and going to a bridal shower (ya, I know, it's weird for me, too.)
I'm finishing up the "Life in Dark Places" script this weekend and, hopefully, starting on the next one, "Jobe's Opera House," which will sport story credits for CJ Ferguson and Chad Fraley. It's an Edwardian murder mystery set in Johnson City, TN circa 1892(and maybe in another dimension!)
Friday, August 8, 2008
New Site Debuts this weekend!!
I have said repeatedly that I'm not much of a web designer. I can make PHP work, but I don't particularly enjoy designing themes. That's why I gave Rocket Themes fifty bucks last night!
Rocket Themes is a site created by one of the original Joomla theme designers. For a flat rate, you can download unlimited themes, so I consider it an investment.
The moment I visited their site, I fell in love with this month's featured theme. It was exactly what I had visualized for Techno Bohemia! Unfortunately, when I installed it, the tweaking I had done to the CMS had disabled several features and caused a number of formatting errors. That's okay, because Rocket Themes also provides a "Rocket Launcher," a the theme fully integrated in the latest installation of Joomla!
Tonight, I'll wipe the databases, reinstall and rebuild TechBo into a modern media site! Woot!
The best is yet to come!
S.
Rocket Themes is a site created by one of the original Joomla theme designers. For a flat rate, you can download unlimited themes, so I consider it an investment.
The moment I visited their site, I fell in love with this month's featured theme. It was exactly what I had visualized for Techno Bohemia! Unfortunately, when I installed it, the tweaking I had done to the CMS had disabled several features and caused a number of formatting errors. That's okay, because Rocket Themes also provides a "Rocket Launcher," a the theme fully integrated in the latest installation of Joomla!
Tonight, I'll wipe the databases, reinstall and rebuild TechBo into a modern media site! Woot!
The best is yet to come!
S.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
A Sliver of Time
I have been making it a point to work on technobohemia.com today. I need it to be up and stable by the end of August.
I am itching to begin production on some audio dramas, but first I have to write them. Most of the scripts have been done for years, but I can't let them go without a final polish. It seems that every time I get some uninterrupted time to write, the universe sends a distraction in the form of a phone call or a visitor at the door.
Today, I took a calculated risk and worked on the site instead of the scripts. Fortunately, during the time I fought with the site, I was inspired! I knew the effect that I wanted to site to give visitors! People need the Truth, not slick presentation or vacuous templates.
Now, I just need to figure out how to realize it.
I am itching to begin production on some audio dramas, but first I have to write them. Most of the scripts have been done for years, but I can't let them go without a final polish. It seems that every time I get some uninterrupted time to write, the universe sends a distraction in the form of a phone call or a visitor at the door.
Today, I took a calculated risk and worked on the site instead of the scripts. Fortunately, during the time I fought with the site, I was inspired! I knew the effect that I wanted to site to give visitors! People need the Truth, not slick presentation or vacuous templates.
Now, I just need to figure out how to realize it.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Slow Day
The first day of Summer II classes at ETSU means I get a day of down time. Instead of breaking my back remodeling our Greeneville distance ed room, I get to sit in my office and oversee the technical problem resolution. In other words, it's an office day.
With some luck, maybe I can work on the TechBo website template.
Last night, I met with CJ, Ryan, and Fallon at the TechBo Compound about recording TechBo Radio, a radio drama podcast. Whether it's hosted at ETSU or on my own is still up in the air, but I think we are on the same page. We could use a few more people in the talent pool.
I should have the first script written by Friday. It's a superheroish tale about a little non-super private detective named Zipper. He doesn't say much, in fact, after the exposition, he spends most of the story rummaging through his pockets. Chad and I created the story in the early 90s while I was still in college, so I'm excited to finally bring him to life. We should start recording next week.
If you are interested in helping out, we especially need foley artists and more actors. Reply in the comments!
With some luck, maybe I can work on the TechBo website template.
Last night, I met with CJ, Ryan, and Fallon at the TechBo Compound about recording TechBo Radio, a radio drama podcast. Whether it's hosted at ETSU or on my own is still up in the air, but I think we are on the same page. We could use a few more people in the talent pool.
I should have the first script written by Friday. It's a superheroish tale about a little non-super private detective named Zipper. He doesn't say much, in fact, after the exposition, he spends most of the story rummaging through his pockets. Chad and I created the story in the early 90s while I was still in college, so I'm excited to finally bring him to life. We should start recording next week.
If you are interested in helping out, we especially need foley artists and more actors. Reply in the comments!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Techno Bohemia Summary
Previously, on Techno Bohemia...
After years of moderate use, the home page of the Ringmaster's enigmatic production team had finally begun to be updated regularly! That was when the third hacker broke into the site and brought it down.
The only way the web host would agree to unlock the domain was that the Ringmaster delete the entire site and reinstall using more secure software. The site entirely deleted, the domain was unlocked just in time for the Ringmaster's busiest time of the year, summer. Since May, he has been incapable of finding time in his hectic work and personal life to do much more than maintain the site's forums.
Drupal, Gallery, and all the other applications will not be returning with the debut of Techno Bohemia 4.0. The Gallery was responsible for most of the security flaws and Drupal was responsible for the rest. Instead, the new Techno Bohemia will be more of a showcase for our upcoming projects and a more interactive experience. You will be able to link your own Flickr, Picasa, or Photobucket galleries to us as well as your Twitters, blogs, and other "Web 2.0" do-dads. We will bring together people in East Tennessee if it kills us.
Stick around. As always, the best is yet to come!
The Ringmaster.
After years of moderate use, the home page of the Ringmaster's enigmatic production team had finally begun to be updated regularly! That was when the third hacker broke into the site and brought it down.
The only way the web host would agree to unlock the domain was that the Ringmaster delete the entire site and reinstall using more secure software. The site entirely deleted, the domain was unlocked just in time for the Ringmaster's busiest time of the year, summer. Since May, he has been incapable of finding time in his hectic work and personal life to do much more than maintain the site's forums.
Drupal, Gallery, and all the other applications will not be returning with the debut of Techno Bohemia 4.0. The Gallery was responsible for most of the security flaws and Drupal was responsible for the rest. Instead, the new Techno Bohemia will be more of a showcase for our upcoming projects and a more interactive experience. You will be able to link your own Flickr, Picasa, or Photobucket galleries to us as well as your Twitters, blogs, and other "Web 2.0" do-dads. We will bring together people in East Tennessee if it kills us.
Stick around. As always, the best is yet to come!
The Ringmaster.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Where Have We Been
Techno Bohemia is still here, we've just been shut down by our webhost.
It's a long story about a spam incursion and an over-reaction mixed in with a holiday weekend and the Ringmaster having to work lots of overtime.
I am working with the web host to unlock the site. All databases and information are still intact, but we have been shut down and are unable to upload files.
Needless to say, I am looking for a new web host. (Unfortunately, I just paid up with this one until July.)
This is the third time we've lost the site to these bastards in 6 years, it's time to change things.
Stick around.
It's a long story about a spam incursion and an over-reaction mixed in with a holiday weekend and the Ringmaster having to work lots of overtime.
I am working with the web host to unlock the site. All databases and information are still intact, but we have been shut down and are unable to upload files.
Needless to say, I am looking for a new web host. (Unfortunately, I just paid up with this one until July.)
This is the third time we've lost the site to these bastards in 6 years, it's time to change things.
Stick around.
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