Friends

When at talk is given at a conference, there are ways to tell if it was a good talk. Do people get up and leave, or do they stick around? Do they pay attention, or are they texting and playing warcraft? Are they looking at you are at their watches?

They key factor me is the end of the talk. Do they ask a lot of good questions? These should be questions that ask for more details, bring up insights about your talk, and seek you out afterwards to discuss it more.

In the middle of my talk, I stumbled. I look out into the crowd (a rather big crowd - the conference is going quite well) and thought, "Oh my god, what the heck am I doing? This isn't making any sense, I'm jumping all around, and this talk is crashing and burning." I think I paused for a few seconds, as if I was naked in front of all of those people.

There was nothing to do but continued. I went back to the talk, followed the outline, and focused on the points I wanted to cover. The show must go on.

Apparently, they liked my talk. A lot. Around ten hands shot up a the end (the most throughout that entire day was three or four). The questions were on topic. Many people come up afterwards, giving me their cards, and had more questions. One person gave me some advice that actually has me rethinking the use one of my favorite terms in my research.

Afterwards I asked some people I respect what they thought of my talk, and they told me why they liked it. Not just the relevant tech areas that I covered. One of the reasons what that I was very clear about the end to end system, what we had done and what we were still working on. Another was that I stressed getting a working system out there and then doing incremental improvements. But what struck them was how excited and animated I was about the topic, and how relaxed I delivered the talk even while being high energy.

I guess falling back on my improvisation training is a good default.

I watched the debate at the Cosmos Club tonight. It was odd because:
1) I had to wear a suit in order to watch in the public area.
2) I was literally the youngest person there.
3) I've never watched a debate with a group of people before.

Most of the people leaned Democrat, but there were enough Republicans to get applause from both sides. The republicans were far more vocal. It disturbed me when they would say, quite loudly, that Obama would take away their freedom. "He is against vouchers because he is against freedom."

I don't get that connection, just as I don't get how being pro choice is against freedom too, but there you had it.

McCain's line "I am not president Bush. If you want to run against President Bush, you should have done that four years ago." was excellent for him. Of course, if he stopped acting like President Bush...

I thought McCain was very strong in the first third, but Obama just came across better, and answered the questions better, in the other 2/3rds. The whole attack in the middle (Ayers, etc.) was just awkward and sad.

My biggest disappointment had to do with the discussion of schools. Whenever Obama talked about spending money, McCain would call him on it. At one point McCain was questioning why we should be spending more money on schools, and why that is Obama's answer to everything.

I would have given a lot to have seen Obama get upset, slap his hand on the table, raise his voice, and say, "Because our children are worth it, John!"

After being buried in this trilogy for about three weeks, I finished the third book, "Tintentod," (Inkdeath) today. It was time. I still look forward to pleasure reading for downtime after work and SDSU, but I don't need to be that buried in a book or book series. Especially when it's a book series about getting (literally) sucked into the world of a book you are reading!

Also, I know it's a children's book series, but [spoiler alert] did all the bad guys really have to be vanquished and all the good guys really have to live happily ever after? With the help of a deus ex machina, yet? [/spoiler alert]

Notes:
Lots of butter in the fried rice
Improvisors are always on
Ginger is delicious
I'm starting artist way soon

The Artist Business Models series is based on a paper written by Reesa Brown and Kit O’Connell, with assistance from Steven Brust, Ken Brown, Deborah Ibarra, and many others. At the close of the series, the entire business model paper will be posted to Continuous Labs. The business model paper and blog posts are released under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 3.0 license.

21st Century Artistic Business Models, or What’s In It For Me?

by Reesa Brown and Kit O’Connell

with Ken Brown, Steven Brust, and Deborah Ibarra

When exploring the ideas of 21st century storytelling, one of the most frequent questions asked is “where is the money?” Many writers, visual artists, performance artists, game designers, and other creative people are dissatisfied with the traditional publishing and money-making models currently ruling the market. Indeed, as we integrate more art with the tools and technology of the 21st century, the traditional models become less and less viable as long-term profitable ventures. When we began to research this topic, we found that even industry professionals are no more sure of how to adapt our current models to the changing times than the amateurs are. Such a transitional time is ripe for innovation, exploration, and vibrant new ideas for anyone willing to rise to the challenge and do the work.

However, ask most people involved in creative pursuits about their business model and you will receive an almost panicked response. Most artists seem to avoid or fear acquiring business knowledge, even such information as is directly related to their own work. Some fear that to consider such thoughts will somehow ruin their talent or devalue their work. And yet in recent years even traditional book publishers, for example, are encouraging more participatory advertising from their artists–not just book signings or tours, but internet blogging, tracking online sales, soliciting reviews, podcast interviews and more. Retaining the illusion of an artist creating works in isolation from the rest of the distribution process is a luxury that will be less and less available to most as time progresses.

This series of posts collects in one paper as many different artistic business models which use some aspect of modern technology as we’ve found; there is much information available already from innovative forward-thinking artists that hasn’t previously been collected into a single accessible place. We also provide explanations (usable by artists of all kinds) on how to interpret the collated information and adapt it to individual projects. We hope to make business model concepts less daunting for artists while encouraging them to embrace the idea of earning income by spreading their art to new venues and audiences through new media.

Presuming the words “business model” haven’t already scared off our artistic readers, how do you start approaching this topic? Well, the same technology that provides new means of telling stories and sharing art provides new means of deriving income from the stories. You need a basic understanding of both the trends in modern storytelling, and the acceptance and use of at least some of the many integrations of modern technology with art (see our presentation on 21st century storytelling for more on this).

For the purposes of these posts, we are assuming that you (whether the individual or group “you”) have some sort of artistic endeavor in one or more format media that you are ready (or nearly so) to begin marketing your art to a larger audience. We are also presuming that since “computers are no longer science fiction, but science fact” (quote credit: Marissa Lingen), you have a rudimentary grasp of navigating your personal computer and the internet. Many of the suggestions we give will involve you having at least some sort of presence on the internet; we won’t require anyone to get a degree in web design, but a simple webpage or blog can be put up with no outside help and only minimal looking on the internet. Wordpress is one of many available services for creating blogs. And don’t forget the social networking options such as Livejournal, MySpace, and Facebook. Remember Google Search is your friend! There are simple website creation options as well, but remember that a poorly-constructed or downright ugly website will potentially impede your later growth and success. Quality matters, even–or especially–in the beginning stages. If you find you need some extra help in the basics of internet navigation, there are already many excellent resources out there for you, both online and offline; many cities and universities have places that offer 1-2 day basic classes on many areas of internet communications.

So at this point, you have a really` great idea for an artistic project; you’re willing to use modern tools in the generation, application, and distribution of your project; you’re even willing to develop a business model for your project. But how? Tune in tomorrow and we’ll dive in.</a>

(Originally posted at Words Words Words by reesa. Please leave any comments there.)

Yes, it's true.  Ben and Jerry's is giving away FREE ICE CREAM to voters on November 4th, 2008.

http://www.benjerry.com/features/i_voted/index.cfm?utm_source=chunkMail101408&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=chunkMail101408

You can find a Scoop Shop near you at
http://www.benjerry.com/scoop_shops/

Tragically, there are none in my 50 mile radius (grrrrrr) so I'm passing the info on to all y'all, in hopes that the general karmic balance of the universe will send me an ice cream cone some other way of encouraging widespread participation in the democratic process and an increase in civic pride   ;-)

If you, like me, have switched your morning radio away from NPR simply to avoid morning headlines like “Another catastrophic day on Wall Street, which is proving worse for the Left-Handed and those who have Sex With Cantaloupes …” then you, like me, have also noticed that some of our nouns, verbs and descriptive adjectives are getting a bit shop-worn.

Some, indeed, are already mildly smoking from over-use and should probably have the hose played on them for a bit.

( trouble )

Well, things in the Greenies are a little brighter than they looked last night - though we've still got hurtles.

Last night's meeting was quite good. Well attended, business went by with lots of input and discussion from all. The improv exercises were fun, useful, and well received. One even prompted us for ideas for new plays.

Through consensus we agreed we should teach and demonstrate Japanese kyōgen at the Anime Society's Marathon on Saturday, November 15, as kyōgen is very similar to commedia and some of us have studied and done it before. The president of AnSoc is enthusiastic about this idea.

We also discussed trying a new format for next semester. Focus less on big, large cast (as in 5 to 10) shows and more on multiple short, small cast shows. Both the Greenies and i Verdi Confusi were thinking of similar approaches, at least for scene work demonstration. But this would be more actual plays. 5 to 10 minute long plays with under five actors (and could be as few as one or two depending upon the plot) and actors adopting different parts and possibly different Masks in each new short play. Other ideas were suggested of creating a performance where each of the short plays tells the same story in a different way or have short plays happening concurrently or otherwise strongly related (maybe one consistent character) to the other plays to make a longer story arch out of the short.

We also want to go ahead with proposing a play with the Juggling Club and perhaps some others. But we will wait until Spring to do them. There's debate of wether we should do The Rocky Horror Commedia Show near the end of the semester (as our last blow-out) or do it sometime next semester when "people may feel a need for a Rocky fix again" [paraphrased]. If we do it this semester, there was suggestion of asking IMPROVment if we could go on before their big End-of-Semester show the last weekend before finals.

However, we still have some severe problems of membership shortage and officer shortage. These problems need to be resolved in the coming weeks but we don't have a strong idea how. We need to contact other groups and possibly the theatre department in general but...

Meme
Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
--
"Finally, central cities tend to be the locus of most monuments and districts of artistic and historic significance; because of this, they are also the center of tourism."

I volunteered to be the next baronial Exchequer starting the changeover of the year. I suppose I should get off my duff and figure out the whole thing, eh? I wonder if the email groups are worth it for this. Advice appreciated if you've held the office. I'm planning on helping with the Domesday this winter too.

This is appalling. Blog entry by Andrew Sullivan about an awful abuse of a government website.

Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

"Substantially as follows or substantially the same as, when used in the prescription and introductory text of a provision or clause, means that authorization is granted to prepare and utilize a variation of that provision or clause to accomodate requirements that are peculiar to an individual acquisition; provided that the variation includes the salient features of the FAR provision or clause, and is not inconsistent with the intent, principle, and substance of the FAR provision or clause or related coverage of the subject matter."

(Federal Acquisition Regulation, CCH Incorporated publication)

Edit: This basically says that if a clause starts with the words "substantially as follows" or "substantially the same as," then the Contracting Officer may, at his or her discretion, tailor the language to better suit the individual contract, so long as the gist remains the same.

No time to blog... too much juggling... but must make time for a laugh! A co-worker sent this to me, and I have my own testimony to add at the end!

Think before you speak...
Here are six reasons why you should think before you speak -

the last one is great!
Have you ever spoken and wished that you could
immediately take the words back...
or that you could crawl into a hole?
Here are the Testimonials of a few people who did....

FIRST TESTIMONY:
I walked into a hair salon with my husband and three kids in tow
and asked loudly,
"How much do you charge for a shampoo and a blow job?"
I turned around and walked back out and never went back
My husband didn't say a word...
he knew better.

SECOND TESTIMONY:
I was at the golf store comparing different kinds of golf balls.
I was unhappy with the women's type I had been using.
After browsing for several minutes,
I was approached by one of the good-looking gentlemen who works at the store.
He asked if he could help me.
Without thinking, I looked at him and said, "I think I like playing with men's balls."

THIRD TESTIMONY:
My sister and I were at the mall and
passed by a store that sold a
variety of candy and nuts.
As we were looking at the display case,
the boy behind the counter asked if we needed any help.
I replied, "No, I'm just looking at your nuts."
My sister started to laugh hysterically.
The boy grinned, and I turned beet-red and walked away.
To this day,
my sister has never let me forget.

FOURTH TESTIMONY:
While in line at the bank one afternoon,
my toddler decided to release
some pent-up energy and ran amok.
I was finally able to grab hold of
her after receiving looks of disgust
and annoyance from other patrons.
I told her that if she did not start behaving
"right now" she would be punished.
To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening,
"If you don't let me go right now,
I will tell Grandma that I saw you
kissing Daddy's pee-pee last night!"
The silence was deafening after this enlightening exchange.
Even the tellers stopped what they were doing.
I mustered up the last of my dignity and
walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow.
The last thing I heard when the door closed behind me, were screams of laughter.

FIFTH TESTIMONY:
Have you ever asked your child a question too many times?
My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training and I was on him constantly.
One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch, in between errands
It was very busy, with a full dining room.
While enjoying my taco,
I smelled something funny,
so of course I checked
my seven-month-old daughter, she was clean.
Then realized that Danny
had not asked to go potty in a while.
I asked him if he needed to go,
and he said "No" .
I kept thinking
"Oh Lord, that child has had an accident, and I don't have any clothes with me."
Then I said,
"Danny, are you SURE you didn't have an accident?"
"No," he replied.
I just KNEW that he must have had an accident, because the smell was getting worse.
Soooooo, I asked one more time, "Danny did you have an accident ? This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants,
bent over, spread his cheeks
and yelled
"SEE MOM, IT'S JUST FARTS!!"
While 30 people nearly choked to death on their tacos laughing,
he calmly pulled up his pants and sat down.
An old couple made me feel better,
thanking me for the best laugh they'd ever had!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST TESTIMONY:
This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days
and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will,
in the future, likely think before she speaks.
What happens when you predict snow but don't get any!
We had a female news anchor that,
the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't,
turned to the weatherman and asked:
"So Bob, where's that 8 inches you promised me last night?"
Not only did HE have to leave the set,
but half the crew did too they were laughing so hard!


Now, didn't that feel good?
Pass it on to someone you know who needs a laugh
and remember
we all say things we don't really mean,
so think before you speak!!!!!

*************************

Ok, so here's my testimony:
Long ago in a state far far away, I was a young teenager (tween?) in a car with some members of my family I think including my mom, sister, aunt, and possibly some cousins. It was one of these family weekend gatherings we used to have with the Cincinnatti and Indianapolis branches of the Coutinho family. I think we were going out shopping or to a movie or something.

Now, I've always liked a good joke and making people laugh, even as a kid. At the time, I was daily enjoying this morning radio show with two guys who really should be rated PG-13 at best for their potty humor and adult oriented comedy. I didn't know they were really a more adult oriented morning show, and my folks didn't really either. At least until this weekend...

No shit... there I was... telling this funny joke I heard on the radio to a car of family members on a relaxing little jaunt on the weekend...
Me: "Hey guys! I have a joke! What's six inches long and girls love to blow?"
Dead silence...
Me: "A Dollar Bill! Haha!"
More dead silence.
I look out the window in my blissful ignorance wondering why no one got the joke.

Later on, my dad (likely having drawn the short straw) came to my room and walked through the process with me and let me come to the realization in relative privacy and safety. As my little brain nurons finally connected around the implications in that joke involving male genetalia and grown up humor, my world came crashing down around my ears. My dad had the decency to laugh and say it was no big deal as long as I understood what had happened and knew to be more careful next time.

I swear I'll make time to post a real life update yet this week...

Hooray fruit! This week's shipment from Maple Creek includes pears and apples, a welcome treat at the end of the season. I don't think we're going to get as many apples as we did last year but that was a special case of serendipity.

munenori saw the acorn squash and immediately requested squash for his lunches for a few days. So lovely to be able to accommodate those kinds of requests. We cooked the mustard greens almost immediately. They were very sharp but surprisingly tasty, and I finished their cooking off with a little dab of butter to silken them up. The lettuce for salads this week, obviously, but what to do with the mixed hot peppers? Probably the freezer and since we've been eating out of it almost exclusively this past week, there's a little room freed up. The bell peppers weren't so numerous that we couldn't use them in stir fries for dinner or some such but I may see if I can make it to the market and grab some organic beef for a quick batch of stuffed peppers to freeze for dinners later in the year.

We're winding down with the shipments now, heading into the home stretch. I wish it wouldn't end for the year, but produce just doesn't grow with a few feet of snow on top of it. Ah well, something to look forward to in the spring. We've already signed up for the next season. I'll have to think of what to send Farmer Michelle as commentary this year regarding what we liked and what we didn't.

I had another zombie dream last night.

Before I go into details (which I will put behind a cut) I am petrified about zombies. Absolutely ridiculous, I know, but I am. So this dream was horrible. I haven't had a nightmare in ages--this one kept me awake for a while and I kept opening my eyes to check and make sure a zombie hadn't come into the room (yeah, I know I'd hear 'em first but dammit this is my fear so thbbbt).

Go ahead....laugh.

( and then read about the horror!!! )

Spooky!

In other news regarding scary stuff, someone on one of my Obama groups has posted a picture someone made stating flatly that he (Obama) should be lynched--with a picture of a noose and all. Numerous people have asked this person to put the picture behind a cut because it is very disturbing and they aren't. I'm waiting to see if the moderator pulls the post because of it, which is sad because we need to talk about these things.

F. PUBLISHABLE SUMMARY - Economy, Weather, Elections, Now what?!
I want to thank all of the SCA folks who keep finding ways to have fun, stay off Wife-Swap and CNN, spread good wishes, aid their fellows in need, and somehow fill the gas-tank (one credit application at a time) to support neighboring events. We are learning to play the game a bit differently in order to thrive in a changing world. The Known world bade farewell this quarter to some amazing souls, not least of which were Sir Ardral Argo Ver Kaeysc, the first Knight of the Society, and Duke Sir Morguhn Sheridan—who was long a symbol of accomplishment, encouragement, and generosity in Aethelmearc. Take some time to reach out to friends and loved ones, and make sure they know you care.

Post 10 things that are going right in your life right now. I don’t care how small. You’re happy with your cup of coffee. You saw a flock of geese flying over. ANYTHING. Things that make you happy. Things that make you smile.

Note:    Number Ten  (Twangy Country Song about God) showed up first because LJ's default embedding is stoopid and I am untutored.

1)   I just made broccoli soup

2)   Yesterday I saw five of my client's (teenage) kids napping together on a blanket like a kitten amoeba

3)   Sunday morning I went to my first RSOF (Quaker) Meeting -- I think I found a good place for me

4)   People I met at Faeriecon asked to take my (costumed) picture, chatted, networked -- BagLady1 introduced me to two performers from Oregon who invited us to join them for dinner.    People looked at me as if they might like what they see    8)      (the fact that this always surprises me is....my own internal hang-up...)

5)   Mom lent me her car to drive from Delaware to Faeriecon -- transmission and tires work and everything...

6)   Trader Joe's had ground beef for less than three dollars a pound

7)   My client has some extra boxes for packing / moving

8)   My nephew likes to snuggle up next to me     8)

9)   I was in Philly while the Reading Terminal Market was open  ("9 am to 6 pm" -- to my NYC eyes, this looks like massive wasted sales opportunities), and scored chocolate chip cookies with walnuts from  The Famous (??) Fourth Street Cookie Company, my idea of CCC perfection.    Each cookie is big enough to share.    So I did.

10)    Saturday morning I heard the song I embedded above on the radio on my way to Faeriecon.     The words remind me of my Mom and some things she's always said about her faith.    I like the words.

charles_midair is out of town, but this morning, when the rest of us were downstairs, his alarm clock went off, followed by the sound of running water. Yes, I quickly figured out that the water was running because Cassandra had been the last to use the toilet that one has to lift the handle on to prevent just that, and obviously the alarm clock had simply been left on. But still, especially when one was half asleep, the timing of these things was a bit eerie!

Unfortunately, my itchy rash (probably poison ivy based, though how my neck got exposed, I'm not sure) is not phantom-like at all. It's been just over a week since it first appeared, and it does seem to be getting a bit lighter, and I'm not conscious of it every single second of the day, but it's still irritating in every possible way.

Whee!