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Throttled to death.
I’ve been thinking a lot about cutting the cable with Time Warner Cable. I started thinking about it after I read this Wired article last fall, but never actually thought I’d do it until I signed up for Netflix streaming and XBox announced Live TV at E3 this year.
Now with recent rumors about Apple trying to kill the cable industry using Apple TV and iCloud, we’re getting closer and closer to the death of cable TV. But reading Robert Scoble‘s Google+ post about Apple TV the other day forced me to think of a huge potential problem; internet access.
Although we pay for Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner Turbo, the fastest internet access possible with the service provider, every single time I stream something – whether I’m watching Netflix, talking to my parents on Skype, or appearing as a guest on TWiT – TWC never fails to cut off my internet forcing me to reboot my modem and wifi over and over again. This is called throttling, and it’s driving me f*cking crazy.
As more and more people dump cable for internet streamed television, we’re going to have to address this problem in a big way. Currently I’m looking for alternatives to TWC in my area, preferably a service provider that doesn’t need to string a line through my apartment building to get me internet service. I’m looking for the future… there must be someone out there who’s providing throttle-free wireless internet service at ludicrous speed! If not, they’d better start doing it soon… otherwise we’ll all have to file a class action suit against service provider TWC and their lack of, y’know, providing service.
Writing for Comics
I’m not a comic writer, but I might be someday. Recently I’ve been bookmarking sites and tutorials to learn script formatting for the medium, and I’ve noticed quite a few of my writer friends who are interested in branching out to comics, but are used to writing for TV and film. If you share this interest and want to learn more about writing for comics, here are the links I’ve been sharing amongst friends*:
- Book: Writers on Comics Scriptwriting, Vol. 1
- Blog post: How Do You Write A Comic Script?
- Example scripts: The Comic Book Script Archive
I also find Greg Rucka‘s latest webcomic Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether interesting and worth checking out. Beneath each new post, Rucka publishes the original script and provides a wonderful look behind the scenes at the process that goes into producing the comic.
If you have other resources or feedback that will help other aspiring comic writers, please share them in the comments below!
*Update: Some awesome people have tipped me on a couple of other helpful resources for learning how to format comic scripts – Final Draft template for comics (thanks Jason Bergman!), and Dark Horse’s script format guidelines (thanks Chris A. Bolton!).
Unintentional Tech-Hipster… :/
Every once in a while I post a photo of myself taken in the mirror using my iPhone… and every time I do it, someone new comments on one of two things:
- “Holy sh!t you got engaged?!” (No… the photo was obviously taken in a mirror, look again.)
- “Holy sh!t you’re still using a first-gen iPhone?!!!” (Yes… yes, I am.)
2007 was a big year for me; I got a first-generation iPhone (EDGE), a first-generation Apple TV, and an XBox 360 Pro. It felt like I was finally living in the future (minus the flying cars, of course).
The day I got my iPhone EDGE I knew I would never need another phone ever again… unless it broke. For years I stuck by my iPhone EDGE while the world around me upgraded three times, and on that third time Apple ceased to update my software. I was devastated because my phone still worked perfectly, but since Apple refused to update first-gen iPhones to the 4.0 software I suddenly lost the ability to use many apps and purchase new ones. At this point in time, I mostly just use Mail, Twitter, and Words With Friends (all of which are a bit wonky since I’m still using 3.0 software). Last year I considered upgrading to an iPhone 4, but decided to wait out of spite for Apple… but this year, as my software gets slower and slower, after dropping my iPhone on the ground (causing a leak that affects my screen), and after hearing rumors that the iPhone 5 will have kick ass photo capabilities, I’m first in line for it’s release.
As for my Apple TV, it’s mostly fazed out at this point. I rarely need to buy or rent shows on iTunes since I now have Netflix on my XBox 360. In fact, I’m so excited for Live TV to come to XBox so I can cancel my cable. I just hope my 4-year old XBox 360 lasts that long… especially since the new XBox is not expected until 2014.
*Sigh*
Oh well… hopefully I’ll be less of a tech-hipster by the time autumn rolls around. Hopefully.
So you wanna meet me IRL…
The internet is my favorite place in the whole world. It’s a comfortable place where I can interact with really cool people who share my passion for video games, sci-fi, cats, rainbows, etc. But while I communicate a lot of my sentiments publicly online, my personal life is rather private. So when it comes to meeting people I’ve interacted with online, it can be a very strange and uncomfortable experience.
“Don’t be a dick!” -Wil Wheaton
When it comes to responding to people, I always try my best to follow Wheaton’s Law (above). I love that people appreciate my work, so it’s always nice to hear from fans, but recently I’ve been getting quite a few emails/messages/tweets from people who are visiting my city and want to meet up for coffee or dinner. That is where I have to draw the line.
If we’ve never met and you want to meet me, please watch for convention announcements and go meet me there! If there’s a big convention in your city and you want me to come, let me know! You‘re the reason I go to conventions… “It’s all for you, Damien!” ;)
If you’re wondering where all this is coming from, I have a lot of interesting stories from over the years… people showing up at locations uninvited to see me, men I’ve never met who just walk up and hug me, dudes sending me photos of lingerie I’d “look good in”, requests for photos of my feet, and much more. As funny as these stories seem, they all have one thing in common; they go too far. That kind of behavior won’t make anyone memorable in a good way.
If you want to be remembered, here’s the best thing you can do: be a gentleman. Hope to meet you soon :)
More Klout, Less Significance
Earlier this year I was really interested in Klout, a site that measures your online influence by connecting with your social networks. Initially the site worked only with Twitter, but in early March Klout started connecting their profiles with Facebook as well. After liking how Klout measured Twitter influence, I gave their Facebook interface a try. Sadly, once I allowed the Klout app on Facebook, it turned out that they only measured influence on my personal profile (a place I don’t strive to be influential at all) and didn’t give me any choice to connect my Facebook Like page. Upon learning this I tweeted to them unsuccessfully and later sent them an email to ask when they would start measuring influence on Like pages. Their response:
Thanks for your feedback. Connecting Facebook Pages is something we’re already looking in to, but there is no definite timeline for that yet. However, I agree with you that Page integration is the next logical step especially when you think of it from a branding perspective!
This satisfied me for about a minute.
Now, almost five months later, they still haven’t managed to integrate Facebook Like pages and we’re seeing the site integrate more social networks like LinkedIn and FourSquare. [Facepalm] Really?! Hasn’t LinkedIn become spammy enough…? And FourSquare? What kind of clout does one get from posting their location?
“…it’s what you do that defines you.” – Batman Begins
Klout went from claiming to be the authority on online influence, to making their site into more of a social game about increasing your score. While self-acclaimed “social media gurus” work to increase their scores, there is no reason why actual celebrities would connect their personal Facebook profiles and FourSquare accounts… do you think they want the Paparazzi knowing where they are and what they’re doing at all times? Why, then, would they be active on FourSquare at all! Instead of increasing their online influence, adding these types of social networks to the site would only increase their creepy stalkers.
If I worked at Klout, I would be working on integrating Facebook Like pages, and Google+ profiles. If you’re listening, Klout employees, take note… and get to work.
The Haunted Broadsword returns to NSFW!
In case you missed it, I was on this week’s episode of NSFW on TWiT, where I represented the tiny percentage of ladies on Google+ (not to be confused with the percentage of tiny ladies on Google+ to which I am also a representative).
Check it out and spread the word… Fridays are now for inviting ladies to Google+! It shall be known as “Fem Friday” and we shall end the sausage fest! So say we all!!!
Come meet me at Comic-Con!
Good news, kids! It’s official… my ElfQuest: A Fan Imagining co-stars and I will be on a panel at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con. Be sure to add us to your Friday schedule and come say hi!
8:00-9:00 ElfQuest: A Fan Imagining from the Woods to the Web— Go behind the scenes with the cast and crew of ElfQuest: A Fan Imagining as they examine the changing landscape of fan fiction, social media, and the web. Moderator and cast member Taryn Southern (Battle: Los Angeles) chats with creators Paula Rhodes (A Good Knight’s Quest) and Stephanie Thorpe (Gold: Night of the Zombie King) about their initial Twitter inspiration, their crowdsourcing campaign, and the overwhelming fan response. Wendy and Richard Pini (ElfQuest creators) will be sharing exclusive, never-before-seen ElfQuest art and news from the eagerly anticipated Final Quest. Meet cast members Cathy Baron (In Time), Jamie Blair (What’s Trending), Traycee King (He’s Just Not That Into You), Casey McKinnon (A Comicbook Orange), Shannon Nelson (Drop Dead Gorgeous), Taryn O’Neill (Compulsions), Jessica Rose (Lonelygirl15), and Shanrah Wakefield (Oz Girl). One lucky audience member will win a pair of Pini-autographed elf ears from the production! Room 4
Hope to see you! Let me know in the comments if you can make it. :)
Dear n00bs,
I used to be like you once; curious of all the great video games out there, yet scared of the multitude of buttons on modern controllers. But I have a secret for you: modern video games are designed to teach you those buttons throughout the game.
When I was a kid I played a lot of Atari 2600, Nintendo NES and Game Boy. When paying Atari, I had my right hand on the joystick and my left thumb on the orange button. When playing Nintendo, I had my left thumb controlling the d-pad and used my right index and middle fingers to control the A and B buttons. But when video game consoles introduced controllers with 4 buttons, I lost my way and failed to adapt.
Now XBox 360 and PS3 controllers have SO MANY buttons! And, while I’m telling my friends about all the awesome video games I’ve been playing this year (mainly Portal 2 and L.A. Noire), I’ve come across so many people who are afraid of those buttons. The thing I’ve realized, though, is that those games are all designed to teach n00bs like you!
Let’s take the first Portal for example. From the very beginning, the disembodied robotic voice of GLaDOS instructs you. You start working out puzzles in test chambers under her instruction and in every level you learn a new trick. Once the game finally gets complicated, you’ve learned all the rules and have the tools necessary to figure out the rest of the puzzles. Portal 2 is similar… the beginning teaches you basic movement, then basic controls and skills.
In Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire the early stages of the game are spent also teaching you basic skills. In Red Dead Redemption, Bonnie MacFarlane teaches you tricks like using a lasso – which you can later use on criminals for bigger bounties – while the sheriff of Armadillo takes you on raiding missions that give you access to better guns than your shitty default Cattleman Revolver. At the beginning of the game you are SUPPOSED to suck. The further you get in the game, the better it gets; your guns, your aim, everything improves. L.A. Noire is also very similar… while there are 5 desks in the game, the first desk is there to teach you the ropes.
So time to stop worrying and go pick up that shiny new console you’ve been wanting. I personally think that some of the stories I’ve seen in video games over the past year are more riveting than those I’ve been watching on TV and in theaters. I highly suggest picking up Portal 2, which will have you tumbling down the most awesome rabbit hole you’ve never seen.
With all that said, there are always exceptions. If you’re more interested in playing fighting games, you’re going to have to either learn some serious combos or click every button as fast as you can. Ahh… the more things change, the more they stay the same. ;)
This Week in the History of Web Video: Vloggercon 2006
Five years ago I was making a triweekly web series (known at the time as a video podcast or video blog) called Galacticast. Though I had made a web series prior to it called Kitkast, I hadn’t been as involved in the web video community. Once Rudy and I launched Galacticast, we started to share a lot of our experience with the community, especially helping people with encoding issues and visual effects. Still, most of that was done through the burgeoning Yahoo Videoblogging Group, and we still hadn’t met any of our peers face-to-face.
That changed dramatically in June 2006 when I flew to San Francisco (from my hometown of Montreal) to attend Vloggercon. I was so unbelievably excited… a feeling I rarely get anymore with all the networking events I’ve been to.
The beginning of our weekend started on Friday, June 9th with “Meet the Vloggers” at the Apple Store in San Francisco. I spoke about Galacticast and about just going out and “doing it.” Then, I spent a good hour hugging my way through the crowd… meeting people I looked up to and loved from afar; Amanda Congdon, Steve Garfield, Michael Verdi, Jay Dedman, Ryanne Hodson, Josh Leo, Bekah Havens, and many more. Although I didn’t know him at the time, this was also the first time I (probably) met Vu Bui… I then met his brother Lan Bui and Bonny Pierzina a couple of days later when they interviewed me for Noodlescar.
Vloggercon started on Saturday, June 10th with a bang at the Swedish American Hall with panels held in three rooms. Hundreds of video bloggers came from far and wide across the United States, Canada, and Europe. The event had a live audio stream with live chat, so people all over the world could participate in the conference. A video archive of each panel was posted here afterwards. Technology, eff yeah!
The panels were riveting, especially a panel called Character Building where most of the audience teamed up against (our now beloved) Tim Street who was on the panel talking about his show French Maid TV. The issue at the time was about the sexist nature of the characters, but what we didn’t know was that the panel was a setup… and a good one at that. Ask A Ninja rock star Kent Nichols was also on the panel.
Another important panel at the conference was Net Neutrality… sadly, the battle continues even today.
There was one panel (I can’t remember the name) that showed the most AMAZING video. Big Screen Version by Aaron Valdez – the best video I saw at Vloggercon, and a video that I believe paved the way for modern day musical mashup stars like Auto-Tune the News!
The conference ended on Sunday, June 11th with some much needed vloggeraoke. The highlight of the night had Blip.tv‘s Mike Hudack and Josh Kinsberg singing “New York, New York” (video 1 & 2)! I was really looking forward to singing “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles to represent how video podcasts were taking over the audio podcast world, but unfortunately had to get to bed since I had an early flight back to Montreal the next morning.
The faces in web video have changed considerably over the past five years, but the more things change the more they stay the same.
To today’s web series professionals Vloggercon may have seemed like a small amateur event… but to me it was the most profound web video conference in history. The people at this event were true pioneers; using technology to its’ fullest and working to make original, non-derivative content that caused the world to take notice. We were all punk rock media makers… we were the reason Time named “You” Person of the Year in 2006… and I believe we all still carry that indie DIY spirit with us today.
And now… some old photos from Vloggercon that I love very very much:
I also highly suggest checking out the following videos, that are sure to make you smile: Who is your secret Vlogger Crush? by Geek Entertainment TV (GETV), and; Ukraine Romance Tour with Chris Weagel by Richard Show.
5 Classic Songs to Haunt Sci-Fi Lovers
Last week one of my Twitter followers (@Andreas_Sch) told me that he set Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien” as his alarm clock ringtone. I thought it was brilliant, and it really got me thinking about the relationship of classic music in sci-fi films (it also sent me on an iTunes shopping spree).
As a lover of tragedy, a lot of the songs I thought of were the kind of songs played to conjure up feelings of bittersweet nostalgia; recognizable songs that have a personal meaning to the protagonist or the story. Here is a list of songs I came up with (in no particular order):
- The Very Thought of You by Billie Holiday – This song stabs me in the heart every time I hear it, thanks to Forever Young.
- Non, je ne regrette rien by Édith Piaf – This song, made popular to English speakers by the film Inception, is the kind of song I want to sing at the top of my voice while the universe comes to a fiery end.
- We’ll Meet Again by (Dame) Vera Lynn – The “happy” ending to cult classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Makes me smile and get teary-eyed all at once.
- Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino – This song was featured in one of my favorite time-travel films of all time; Twelve Monkeys. Bruce Willis deserved a fucking Oscar for this scene alone.
- Singin’ in the Rain by Gene Kelly (*ahem* or Malcolm McDowell) – Beautiful brutality from Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece A Clockwork Orange. Truly haunting.
Honorable mentions: Ruby Tuesday in Children of Men (disqualified for being a new version, not Rolling Stones); and We Have All the Time in the World in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (disqualified because it’s not usually recognized as a sci-fi film).
Can you think of more? Looking forward to listening to your haunting suggestions.
