Category Archives: Random Stuff

Creating A Collectible

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So, I sell DVDs on Amazon after I watch them (unless I think I’m going to want to watch them again, but even then sometimes I sell them anyway since I’m paying for Netflix every month). I got Agent 5: A Night in the Last Life Of for Christmas (I think because it was recommended on Netflix and then taken off).

After watching it, I put it up on Amazon. It took a while but if finally sold. Why is this important? Well, it’s not so much important as interesting, because the buyer just happened to have the same name as the director. And lives in LA (where all movies are made). So, the conclusion I draw is that the buyer and the director are one and the same.

Then, the question becomes, why? Did The Director not keep a copy of the movie for himself? (Perhaps not a final release version?) This seems highly unlikely, though not impossible. Perhaps he wanted to buy a copy for a friend and decided that it was somehow better to buy a used copy than whatever he would have to pay to have a new one put into circulation. Or, my most unlikely but favorite theory, Mr. Desotell is trying to turn his work into a collectible item by buying up all the copies in existence and destroying them. He is driving up the value of his work by increasing it’s rarity. Perhaps Matthew Desotell has a Google Alert set up with his name or that of his film in it and will be informed of this post and leave his comments. Or if his plot is as devious as I imagine, then he will not.

In Which I Am Humbled

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According to the first 500 words of the Valkyrie Project…

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Having only read The Da Vinci Code, all I can say is: ouch. I certainly wouldn’t mind selling millions of copies of my books, but I’ve seen other authors names on those IWL badges and I’d much rather be like any of those.

Another 700 works from later in the Valkyrie Project bring me to the same result. I guess I shall have to resort to some sort of gimmickery now to get people to read my work. Oh well. I suppose it’s better than if I’d turned out to write like Stephanie Meyer.

Celebrate Independence

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Today, take a moment to celebrate the independence and freedom that makes the United States of America so unique and powerful: Buy a book or music that was published or distributed through a huge company. Or even just buy some beer or wine to bring to a barbecue that was made locally and distributed not because it’s from a huge company that packs supermarket shelves, but because people have discovered it and like it. Help others to discover these hidden gems and help America remain independent and free.

Procrastinate Productively

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[This post is 916 words - about 4 minutes for an average reader]

Writers are well known for their procrastination. Many call it “block”, and while the traditional definition is probably accurate in some cases, I’d venture it’s usually just that there’s other stuff to do.

It’s taken me a while, and a few readings of Getting Things Done, to get my life’s priorities sorted. But now that I have, I feel I can give a good definition/explanation of Productive Procrastination. It’s simple, really, but it does take some time and self-awareness.

Productive Procrastination is when you put off doing a task by doing another productive task. See, like I said, easy enough. There are 2 keys to being able to pull it off though, which are harder than just coming up with and understanding the definition.
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Tara Reid in Playboy? Really?

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I was doing a search for magazine covers for another blog post when this turned up in the results:

Trust me, I was not looking for anything even remotely related to Tara Reid. And the only reason Playboy was related was because it’s a magazine.

Nevertheless, I was shocked and appalled. (And threw up in my mouth) (Just a little)

This is 2010, people! Does anyone really want to see what Tara Reid naked in 2010 looks like? I mean, how much is Playboy going to spend on airbrushing just to make her look presentable?

Oh, and in case you were wondering, this is just a really abstract post about the decline of magazine publishing industry. Think about it.

The Evolution of Romance

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or: What Will/Has Become of The Mixtape in The Digital Age?

I’m working on a playlist for NYE. I also just recently watched Season 1 of (the excellent) How I Met Your Mother, in which (not ironically at all) Barney brings his “Get Psyched Mix” along for the NYE ride. His mix is on a CD. That was 2005.

While I firmly believe that giving someone a Mix CD was never even in the realm of romantic… what are the choices these days?

“Guys, I’m going to make her a mix SD card?”

I suppose if you wanted to make a “Mix iPod Shuffle”, that might say something since the cheapest Shuffle you can get is $59. Spending that kind of cash on a girl or guy when you’re in high school or college (or just out of college) means there’s some seriousity involved.

Now, sure, there is some coolness involved in this product (which, okay, might actually work):

I like that you can hand write the track list on there and make notes and put smiley faces, stars, and hearts in the margins. Still…

So much of the romance left when the mix went from tape to CD. Any chump can bring up iTunes, pick 14 songs, and click Burn. But do people even use CDs any more even to transfer music to someone else?

Back in the analog age, when you made a 90-minute mixtape, it actually took 90 minutes (at least) cause you had to dub each song over to the new tape. There was an obvious investment of time in the end product that was created.

Muxtape had it going until the Crushing Boot of Legal smashed them like infant flower. At least there you had to upload all the songs you wanted, so it took a little bit of time and patience.

My favorite site, Lala, lets you embed playlists on a website, but that requires that you have a website, or else you basically have to send it as a Facebook message. Of course, youngsters these days might think that getting a playlist sent in a Facebook message is the height of romance. I mean, there’s some that think that sending nude cameraphone pictures is a good way to seduce someone, right?