Writer, Lovable Geek

Forgot to mention this a few days ago, but episode 018 of the Magic of Eyri Podcast is now online.

Listen-o-Tron! :: Downloaderize!

Tags: download, magic of eyri, mp3, podcast episodes

I sitting around Friday night, trying to learning Bowie’s Moonage Daydream on guitar (or something at least resembling it), when I had an idea:  what would happen if I ran my Nintendo DSi through a couple guitar effect pedals and then into my portable Marshall amp?

I had the portable amp out because I plan on dressing up as a Spider from Mars for an “intergalactic” birthday party (which is why I was learning Moonage Daydream).

This idea came to me when I was curious if I could run my iPod Shuffle or DSi through the amp in case I didn’t want to try and play the song.

I decided against the Shuffle quickly because it has “issues.” It is doing this thing where one of the sound channels keeps cutting in and out and it is very sensitive to any cord movement–it pauses right away if the sound cord giggles too much.

So I went with the DSi.

I ran it through my distortion pedal and then my chorus pedal and messed with the tone and distortion on the amp itself.  It made for an interesting sound.

You can tweak the pitch and speed of the songs via the DSi, which I of course did. Listening to Rush’s Working Man sped up, distorted and in a chorus was  something out of this world.

I liked being able to tweak the output of the song live via the pedals and the DSi interface.

Does this have any sort of practical application? I doubt it, but it was fun.

The little Marshall, with its built in belt clip, makes for a great portable speaker if I need sound for a costume however.

I am going to have the guitar and amp with me for my costume and I am toying with attaching one of the pedals (maybe the distortion) somewhere on my costume, as the OD (overdrive) on the little amp leaves a lot to be desired.

Tags: david bowie, dsi, glam, guitar, heavy metal, music, nintendo, rush, sound, ziggy stardust

Back on January 20th (was it that long ago? Wow) I had a feature article run over at Lansing Capital Gains about being single in Lansing (Single in the City).

The funny thing here is that when I turned the story in, perhaps early Fall, I was single–but, by the time it ran, I had a new girlfriend. I kind of had a gut feeling that would happen, which was why I agreed to write the story (and make fun of myself quite a bit).

I enjoyed writing this story a lot because I was allowed to go first person and showcase some of my humor a bit more–although my editor did cut my favorite joke, which was about me wearing my Chewie Is My Co-Pilot t-shirt while trying to pick up geeky girls.

Or something.

The shirt was designed by R Stevens, creator of one of my favorite webcomics, Diesel Sweeties.

I did manage to wear my Threadless, A Simple Plan shirt for the photo shoot however.

I kind of regret not wearing my Chewie shirt, but since the photos were being taken at Pinball Pete’s Arcade in East Lansing, the Space Invader referencing shirt won out (another option I considered was my Yooper Steez shirt, designed by all-around-awesome Lansing dude, Justin “Bugsy” Sailor).

I caught some (friendly) flack from those who knew I had a new girlfriend, yet was writing about being single.  The girlfriend in question was fine with it, as I told her about the story way before it ran.

But the story isn’t so much about my being single, but more how I went about meeting people, expanding my circle of friends and places to go on dates around Lansing.

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Speaking of Lansing Capital Gains, I was brought on to be a weekly contributor recently.  Starting on February 17th, I’ll be writing four development stories a week.  These are very, very short–only 200 words at the most–so it equals out to less than a feature article (1,000 words) a week.

There will be a bit of a learning curve for me, as I have to find leads and such, but I’m getting a lot of help from my editor and fellow contributors.

I consider myself the furthest thing from a journalist, but I am very happy to have this opportunity to see if I can handle the rigors of a regular writing gig. So far, so good.

And if you live in Lansing and have any leads for me, drop me a line.

Tags: Blog, captial gains, freelance writing, funny, geeky, lansing, michigan

Yes indeed, episode o17 of the free Magic of Eyri Podcast is now online.

Listenotron! ::  Downloaderize!

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In podcast news, I was looking over the download stats yesterday and I saw that so far this month, the first episode of the podcast (A Shameless Summer) already has over 150 downloads.

That’s over 150 people starting my podcast. Over 150 new listeners. Man, that is great.  Will all of them stick around after that first episode? I dunno, but at least they gave me a chance. That reminds me, I need to start advertising online again and soon.

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Speaking of promotion, I decided that I will be going to Penguion 2010 in April.  I contacted them yesterday and hopefully I’ll be on panels like I have been for the past two years. I had a blast last year, as I always do, and I certainly know more about podcasting this time around than last year (I think I had maybe three episodes or so up at that point).

Tags: con, Convention, downloads, episodes, panels, penguicon, promotion

By the Glory of Google, I found audio of me talking about copyrights and self/Internet/guerrilla marketing at last year’s Penguicon.  These were recorded by, and feature, Rick “The Time Traveler” Jackson, who is also president of the Science Fiction Oral History Association.  The audio is hosted on Rick’s website, Brain Plucker.

Copywhat? Copyrights! Open Source Licensing in Literature – we chat about copyright issues, especially when it comes to Internet.

Show notes and Listen :: Download

Selling Your Soul – Marketing Your Work on a Limited Budget – we chat about marketing your own stuff while trying not to break the bank (features Jim C. Hines and David Crampton)

Show notes and Listen :: Download

Guerrilla Marketing — The Art of Self-Promotion – along the same lines of the panel above, but touches on other marketing ideas (features Michael “FREON” Andaluz).  I found this one via some sort of MP3 grabber site (and was alerted by Google), so I have the audio hosted on my site, as I can’t find an entry for it on any of Rick’s websites.

 

 Guerilla Marketing - the Art of Self-Promotion [46:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Download

(all audio recordings are © 2009 Rick Jackson)

Give these a listen and enjoy!  I love being on panels and talking about these subjects.  I’ve certainly learned plenty about promotion over the past few years.

Tags: audio, copyrights, david crampton, freon, jim c. hines, marketing, panel, penguicon, Podcast, rick jackson, time traveler

Yes indeed, I had a new freelance story run on the ol’ Capital Gains website last Wednesday — Game On, Grow On.

This piece is about using video games as educational tools and (hopefully) leading to job creation and talent retention around Lansing.

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In other news, I rode a horse last Monday.

This was my first time riding a horse that wasn’t attached to a rope on a pole and walked in a circle (best guess, that happened when I was under the age of ten).

A friend rides weekly (but not weakly…Ugh.  Sorry) at C.H.U.M. (Children and Horses United in Movement) Therapy near Lansing (not to be confused with C.H.U.D.).

My friend (nor I) does not ride for therapy reasons, she just attends weekly riding lessons.  She asked if I wished to attend, and always looking for real-life experiences to enrich my writing and self, I said yes.

It was quite the experience.

I certainly used a few muscles I never knew I had (which I was told is part of the idea behind riding as physical therapy).  The next couple days after I rode had me hurtin’, but I enjoyed myself.

I gotta say–horses are BIG up close.  Being on top of my mount, Gunny, was equally thrilling and terrifying (at first).

He was standing still when I took this, relax.

But, Gunny was a friendly horse — and he certainly liked it when I fed him a few carrots after he was done carting my bony butt around for a couple hours.

What did I take away from this experience? Aside from realizing how big these animals are (’specially when you are only average height like me), I was glad to experience what it is like to ride something that is very much alive and has a personality of its own.  If Gunny wanted to slow down–he slowed down.  If he wanted to ignore my “go faster” commands, he did.  That’s a world of difference from a bike or a car.

Learning how to steer was a good education too–not that I plan on writing volumes of fantasy involving tribes of horse riding people any time soon, but it was a nice addition to the ol’ writing tool box.

Would I go riding again? Certainly.  They run a tight ship over at C.H.U.M., and while I was nervous at first, I felt very safe and eventually learned to just enjoy the ride.

Tags: capital gains, horse, impression 5, lansing, lansing capital gains, photo, techsmith, video games, year in pictures