To Tweet, Or Not to Tweet...

Image via Wikipedia

That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune... Oh, wait. Shakespeare said it differently. The result, however, is the same. After going through some outrageous ups and incredible downs this, my first full year of tweeting, I've accomplished some of what I call The Experiment.

I may have posted something similar elsewhere, however, on this the last day of the year 2009, on what many to believe to be the last day of the decade, I figured, why not write something. So, here it is. It might even make sense to those that read it. Or even to those that don't. (Pause for effect.)

Moving on, what will I do in the year to come? I don't know. This has been working moderately well. Write about what I want to write about, which in turn increases my typing speed, if nothing else, although, I have a smattering of followers that may or may not be paying attention, simply because sometimes, the cost it too high.

So, I'm thinking at this point you're saying to yourself, "Self, he's really thinking?" to which I reply, that's for you to decide. Does any of this make sense? If so, you know where the donate button is. If not, there's places to click to actually buy things you might need, as my birthday is coming up shortly. The tenth day of Christmas if you're counting. Or the eleventh if you count differently.

Blogger doesn't give a word count. And Twitter may have destroyed my writing ability. Limiting yourself to 140 characters at a time doesn't seem fair, sometimes. It seems like an arbitrary number, which I've stated in the past. Every once in awhile, I get the feeling that I'm writing the same article over and over, and if I get this feeling, others might too.

I realize now that I don't have a coherent ending to this non story, therefore, I'll leave you with a thought, or three, if you, my three readers have gotten this far....

1. You can't win.
2. You can't break even.
3. And what's worse, you can't even get out of the game.

Depressing. That's right, life's a game. Play the game.

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

It Seems Like...

I'm behind on this whole Twitter List thing. For those of you just tuning in, I was without a computer for two whole months, until someone from church stepped forward and allowed me to borrow theirs. During the downtime, Twitter came up with Lists.

As such, I'm not quite clear how they work, and although I appear on 42 lists as of this writing, I'm not sure whether or not this is a good thing. Also not sure if I should be creating lists of my followers, either, unless this has some value to them, beyond the whole, "Look at me I'm on a list!!!" factor.

So, maybe someone can explain it to me. Or give me a link to follow that explains them. And whether or not any of this has to do with anything real.

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Morning Window Frost (B&W)

Morning Window Frost (B&W)
Originally uploaded by stevegarfield

PULL BACK TO REVEAL:

Two couples, both early 20's, panicked. They breath heavily, and visibly, as the room grows colder. The cute blond screams.

ASHLEY
What are we gonna do!?!?

Thanks for the inspiration, @stevegarfield. Apparently, Blogger doesn't like the spaces that I put in to format this mini screenplay properly. I'd be willing to place a small wager that there's someone out there that's already figured out what I'm thinking. Now, I just have to find them, before I start coding on my own.

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

It's not yet 72 and sunny in Redondo Beach, but you should probably retweet anyway....

It's, The Law!!!

What law would that be, you ask? There's the law of gravity, which for all practical purposes is a constant. And the only constant is, change. Fascinating. Already off topic.

Or, am I?

Today's discussion goes to, The Law of Unintended Consequences, or, as I've defined it quite possibly here and elsewhere, The Law!!! For the three of you that read my every word, you already know about this, however, for the rest of you that may or may not be here for the first time, it states that no matter what you do, or plan for, something will happen either directly or indirectly as a result that you couldn't possibly have foreseen.

Or to put simply, when given a choice, no matter which one you make, you're screwed. Or scrod, using the future pluperfect tense. And yes, I've used that line before. Why? Because it's a good one. Or, because I can. Your choice. There may be a third one that I haven't thought of....

Moving on, today's rant is simply to let you know that I know that you know. What do we know? Well, ultimately, nobody knows anything, and I've talked about that elsewhere as well. Random ranting is very freeing, especially since it's quite possible that no one will read this, and if they do, they might not get this far....

Which means I'm typing to myself. Which gets lonely.

To continue, having defined The Law!!! we can now discuss it, and its myriad forms both on and offline. Or, both online and off. If I had an editor, you wouldn't see one of those sentences. It's the whole left brain, right brain thing. You can look that up, however, as I'm left handed, I'm the only one in my right mind.

Have I made my word count yet? How many words in the typical blog entry anyway? Once read a blog entry that stated it had too many words to be a blog entry, but by that time, I had lost count. Twitter, as we all know and love, is actually a micro blog, simply because you only get 140 characters, not words. As the average word has five characters, well, you can do the math, as it's to early to figure out that's 28 words.... Alternatively, I just found out that the theoretical maximum of a blog is 40,000 characters, or 8,000 words, using the above math. Probably not there yet....

Of course, nobody said there'd be any math, or, did they? It's everywhere, you just don't realize it. The aforementioned gravitational constant is actually expressed in terms of velocity. Without getting into a discussion of physics that I may or may not understand according to my college professors, at least, according to the grades I got, the reason gravity works is that your body is accelerating toward the center of the Earth at an equal rate of speed that the earth is pushing you away from the center of itself.

Very dry and boring, but as I said earlier, the only constant, is change, simply because at higher altitudes, the gravitational constant alters slightly, as you're further away from the center of the earth. A way to discover this is to weigh yourself at different altitudes on the same day. I'll leave that demonstration up to you.

Having discovered that the only constant is change, we need to embrace it, and not fear it. So, if you know what it is, you're all set.

However, if you've gotten this far, you've hopefully come to the same conclusion that I have: You can't know what it is.

Why?

It's, The Law!!!

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

I'm One Full Technology Behind

1. Now, this is the story of how I came to be in the industry, and when I say the industry, I'm of course referring to, the business. Which in this case is film. Sentence, or fragment? I'll let the grammar wienies decide, while I move on.

Having successfully buried the lead, here's the thing: Just as I'm about to get to the point where I have a movie that's about to be financed, they changed the game on me. Who are they, you ask? Or, maybe you didn't. I don't really know, ultimately. The 'they' in this case, are them. Who are not us.

According to Guy Kawasaki, I need a list in my blog post for him to read it, so, here it is:

1. Disney
2. Paramount
3. MGM
4. Sony
5. Warner Brothers
6. Universal
7. Twentieth Century Fox

These are the major movie studios, in no particular order of preference or market share. In case anyone was wondering where my loyalties lie. Or lay. They also have the capability of opening a movie on any particular weekend in a significant portion of the currently available 40,000 movies screens available domestically.

At least, that's the way it used to be, until I read this article, summarized thusly; They wish to be able to stream their movie directly to your desktop, phone, wireless device, whatever you mostly use to communicate online.

OK, that article is mostly about one guy stepping down at Disney, however, the new guy states the above, and there's more.... We already have YouTube, right? Read the other day that the average online video is less than ten minutes. I think that's because for the most part, you can't upload a longer video to the aforementioned site, unless you're famous. And as I've stated both here and elsewhere, not too many people know that I'm famous.

Millions of people have YouTube accounts, only about a fraction of those have a large enough following to the point where they get mentioned on G4TV on more than an occasional basis, and that's not to mention other sites like Funny Or Die, or Vimeo for that matter. And The Law!!! being what it is, most aren't site loyal, and post their vids anywhere they can. Which means simply, any selected video you view may be available whole or in part, on another channel or website.

I see a day where we'll have this giant pipe coming into our house, and the big screen, just like in Back to the Future II, wherein people won't be entertained unless they have multiple movies, TV shows (if they still exist), videos etc. all running at the same time.

I'm thinking by then, I'll have at least two or three produced feature films, at which point you may stream them to your desktop big screen viewing device while you're actually paying attention to iJustine getting no Statusfaction.

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Oh, please, retweet.

Santa Ana Station

Santa Ana Station
Originally uploaded by LA Wad

I just really liked this photo, and I may even use it as my new desktop background this week.... Let me know what you think.

Lock Me In My Room Tonight...

Moon Goddess by thoughts of Ni
Originally uploaded by Bingeye

How many times have you seen a full moon, and remembered this line from well, really any Wolfman movie? I was again reminded of it when I found this photo. I heard the line for the first time when I saw Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, as a child, with some other buddies on a team sleepover event....

As you know, the word lunatic comes from the Latin luna, or moon.

I'm playing poker tonight at a charity event. It's my understanding that we'll have a full moon this evening. Wish me good variance....

I truly don't know what any of this means, although, when one attempts to look for connections, they'll usually find them.

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Please, Retweet.

Words Mean Things

Image via CrunchBase

Different words mean different things. Taken out of context, and misunderstood, they can mean something else. I write these in an effort to explain a recent situation that occurred between me and someone else on Twitter, who shall remain nameless, simply because I don't want to have to issue another faux apology.

Most of you reading this know that I hold in contempt those that would call themselves social media experts, or gurus, or 'scientists', however, this specific person did not know that, and when his name came up in a conversation I was having with someone else, he chose to get involved, because he took offense. This was not my intention. It was simply me reiterating what I believe to be true.

Others may find his advice helpful, and on occasion, so have I, however, for the most part, I've rejected it, simply because he doesn't know why I tweet. Do you? You may make a guess, there's a blog entry out there entitled “The seven types of tweeters” or whatever the latest nomenclature is, and I'm sure most of the “social media experts” have written one of there own. In the case of the alleged one I just referred to, I'm #8. Put simply, no one really knows why I'm using Twitter, and sometimes, I don't even know myself.

But I'm not going to let that stop me.

Please, Retweet.

Fiber in your diet...

View Larger Map

What, not that kind of fiber? Then what are you talking about? Oh, wait.

I live in Redondo Beach, a suburb of Los Angeles, so, you'd think that I'd have access to all the latest and greatest technology almost immediately as it becomes available. I thought so too, when I heard Verizon FiOS was available in my area, I went to my local Verizon kiosk in the mall, and signed up right away.

This was in January of '08.

I still don't have it.

Why, you ask? Or, maybe you didn't, I don't know.

What I do know is this: I live in a 24 unit apartment, and Verizon is my phone company. I'm currently a Time Warner Cable subscriber, but not by choice, as when I signed up for cable, I was dealing with a company that no longer exists. Maybe you've heard of Adelphia, but that's not really the point. When TWC took over, the service went significantly downward, to almost unacceptable levels, and the price went up. So when the opportunity to combine all three services, phone, internet, and cable TV into one, with a significant monetary savings as well came up, I jumped at the chance.

I filled out all the forms, and notified the on sight manager of my desire to bring FiOS to the building, in an effort to bring it into the 21st Century. Then I waited. Patiently at first, until such time as I was informed that they couldn't do the install, as it wasn't available in my area. This did not sit well with me, as part of the initial order process conducted a search, and showed that there was a customer 3 buildings away with the service.

About a month later, a saleswoman came to the door of the apartment manager, and didn't take up too much of his time, and offered to install and upgrade the wiring to the building, at a significant expense to the company, for free. Yes, you read that right. Free. At no cost. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Here I am at the beginning of September, almost 2 years later at this point, without FiOS. I can only speculate why the owner of the building doesn't want it here, maybe he's getting kickbacks from TWC, I don't know. What I can tell you is this: I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Please Retweet.

Oh, almost forgot.... This is for the Fiber for All contest that ends this evening.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled internet.

If you listen closely you hear....nothing..

If you listen closely you hear....nothing..
Originally uploaded by soleá

Something about this photo reflects how I feel. I can't explain that, it's just that this pic inspired me to write. Why, you ask? I don't know, my answer.

Have several things going on all at once, and a need to be everywhere at the same time. Ever get that way? Oh, today is day ten on the set of the movie I'm not in, I was reminded of this when the AD mistakenly sent me a call sheet.

What this tells you is, I'm still amped about this situation, however, out of respect to the person that got me the part, I've promised to keep quiet until principle photography wraps.

Stay tuned.

#BlogPostFriday

Image by Roby&C. "Back" via Flickr

Just as I was going to boycott #FF, Dave Winer comes up with a great idea....

Now, I realize I could fill here, but my point is made....

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Adjust Your Expectations Accordingly....

I'm Outraged!!!

Image via CrunchBase

Just about the time I was going to transmogrify from Twitter to FriendFeed, stuff like this happens. For those that haven't clicked the link, or came back after you did, here's the thing: This is so terribly a bad idea, and here's why....

It should've happened the other way around.

Read that again, I'll wait.

Now I'm pretty sure that Friendfeed wouldn't have been able to make this purchase anytime soon, however, according to the article linked above:

All of Mountain View-based FriendFeed's 12 employees will join Facebook; FriendFeed's four founders will hold senior roles on Facebook's engineering and product teams, the company said.

That's right, the people that have created the superior technology, now work for the company they were attempting to wipe off the map.

Adjust your expectations accordingly....

But not before you realize this comes on the heels of the news that tr.im has shutdown. I'd call coincidence, but it's more likely a psychic phenomenon, as well as today's new definition of irony....

#NoTwitterThursday

Image by luc legay via Flickr

Yeah, it's a hashtag. Call out the hashtag mafia. Wait, they don't exist :) Ok, here's the deal:

By now I'm sure most of you if not all of you have heard of the DOS attack on Twitter, and other social networks. Apparently, Russia launched the attack, to silence one guy. Impressive, that one country would enlist all its resources to silence one guy, but that's not what this is about. The two hours plus that Twitter was down, was coincidentally, the two hours that I was planning to tweet. Hence, the aforementioned hashtag.

But that's not what this is about either.

No, I'm here to talk about the fact that the supposed fix that the fine folks at Twitter came up with, is to reset our passwords. Ok, that's fine, but as a result of that, combined possibly with the fact that I take my Twitter email through the 3rd party app/site topify.com, I don't get my password reset, as it doesn't recognize that I've performed the necessary steps. So, thinking quickly, I attempt to reset my password manually, however, Twitter has ground to a slow crawl, as a result of the previously mentioned DOS attack.

I love irony, because it's so ironic. And it looks like I can still tweet, just not from the site itself, or MashDeck, as it doesn't recognize my password. Apparently, any app I authorized with oAuth works fine. So, I'm going to be tweeting less for a few days until this situation clears up, from other sites. Because you should receive this in your public timeline. I'm going to use my free time, to reflect on several things....

Haven't Done This Here In Awhile...

Image via Wikipedia

I'll admit, I've been playing poker lately to almost the exclusion of all else. My blogs have suffered as a result. Haven't really felt the need to write, actually. Someone once said, I think it was Sir William of Goldman, that you should write something so that there'll be something to change....

Let me assure you, I won't be doing any of that. I feel my strengths lie in writing something the first time, and if I didn't get it right, clearly, I won't do any better with a rewrite. Mickey Spillane felt the same way. I guess that's part of what being an IDEA MASTER™ is all about. So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, these words as I write them are wholly owned by me, and are appearing courtesy of whatever form they take, the first time, and are unedited and for the most part, unexpurgated.

Having used several two dollar words up to this point, I shall continue. Now, I could've posted this on my poker blog, but this isn't really about that. And lest you think this to be a post about Mickey Spillane because of the chosen photo, it's not really about him, either. Just his philosophy.

Once read somewhere that a blog entry should only contain 250 words or less. To this I say, “Bunk!!” or, another word to that effect. Who decided on this arbitrary limit? There's another site that says web articles should contain 400-800 words. I didn't get this memo either. Therefore, it follows that I should use enough words to get the point across, and decry any artificial word count deemed necessary by those that it would seem have simply pulled a number out of the air, as well as a rabbit out of the hat.

What does this mean to you, one of my three readers? Probably that I'll be writing a lot more, both here and elsewhere. It may even be about poker. Used that last of my bankroll to enter a tournament yesterday, and as I've been card dead for about two weeks now, I didn't do too well. Some would say, “That's Poker!” and maybe I would too, although, I might use Porky Pig's inflection when I did so....

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

National Velvet: The Review!!!!

Cover of National Velvet (Book and Charm)

An ambitious version of National Velvet is currently playing at The Hollywood Improv Lab Theater, conveniently located adjacent to the world famous Improv, on Melrose Blvd. I say ambitious, because the smallish nature of the stage almost got too crowded, as the nine player cast barely fit when they were all in the scene. However, judicious use of the entire auditorium, per Dagwood's direction, allowed for the cast to fully shine.

For the two or three of you that haven't seen the original movie with Elizabeth Taylor, or read the book the movie is based on by Enid Bagnold, National Velvet is the story of a young orphan named Velvet, adopted by the Browns. In turn, she adopts a wild horse nicknamed, 'Pie.' Pie shows such promise, that Velvet wishes to enter the horse in the Grand National in England, and ride her herself.

This version is based more on the book than the movie, and this stage adaptation moves the story into the future, complete with flying cars!!! The year is 2060, and the Browns live in Americus, Georgia. Miss Ada is now the Brown's flying car, as opposed to the donkey of the original version. From the website:

“The story is set in a future where modern marvels, imagination and growing up all join together to form a festive, and sometimes somber look at life's challenges in making big dreams come true!”

A few technical snafus did not mar otherwise fine performances by the entire cast. Athena Velasco as Velvet has the unenviable task of carrying the play, which she pulls off with nary a hitch. Mi is portrayed by Darren Numer, who as the ranch hand of the Browns, and Velvet's unlikely friend and mentor, carries the role with a good English accent, which serves him well in one scene where he narrates Velvet working the horse around the ranch, to the point where I thought he was watching an actual horse in full gallop. Ron Karl, a veteran of stage and screen, plays Mr. Brown, and delivers his performance with that precision. Alexandra Smothers plays his wife, Mrs. Brown, with a Southern accent that constantly reminded me where the play was set, despite my need for them to do a straight adaptation. Wayne Baldwin as Mr. Cellini didn't get enough time on stage for my money, due to the demands of the part he portrayed. I wanted to see more from him. He does play a judge at the end of the play, as most of the rest of the cast doubles up in this capacity. Again, the stage is almost too small. Mary Huse, Natalie Piechowski, and Anthony Chavez don't get enough time on stage as the rest of the adopted Brown children, either. Sydney Hines sings a resounding version of Amazing Grace when the time comes. If you haven't already, I'm sure you'll see more of them on TV and in the movies in the future.

One may ask, why is there still a Grand National Event in England, when flying cars are the norm, and this small oversight wasn't addressed, however, I willingly suspended my disbelieve, and enjoyed the performance, which is excellent entertainment for the whole family. National Velvet, This Time She Flies! Plays this weekend @ 2 and 8 pm both days, with a possible extended run through June. Price, Free!!! You can't pass this up. The Improv Comedy Lab is located at 8162 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA.

Twitter Blog: Whoa, Feedback!

Twitter Blog: Whoa, Feedback!
For those of you that missed this.... Apparently, they need to re-engineer this function, so it works with the increased load. At least, that's how I read it....

Stay tuned....

#TwitterBlackout

Now, maybe it's because I don't have enough followers, or at least, those that care that Twitter will be down @ 2p PDT today, because, I couldn't get the above mentioned hashtag to trend. And in about 3 hours, it will be too late. Does everyone know that Twitter is going down for maintenance, or just me? I know the Twitter guys know. They're the ones that announced it. Of course, on my Twitter home page, which I rarely if ever visit because I use TweetDeck, it states that Twitter is going down tomorrow @ 2p. But if you click the link for status, you're directed to the Twitter blog that says, it's going down today. @ 2p. PDT. So, maybe I'm ahead of the curve, or I've missed the panic entirely. Maybe I need to contact the #hashtagmafia for help, I don't know.

What I do know, and as we have discussed previously, is that it's big.

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Why I wish to #SaveChuck

Image via Wikipedia

Well, I already mentioned why in my last post, so, you can simply scroll down, however, it bears repeating. Or, maybe it bares repeating, who knows? Ok, I know I've done that joke in other places, therefore, here's what you need to know, that may or may not be new.

I'm going to boycott NBC if they choose not to pickup Chuck. I'm sure there's another network out there that would love to broadcast a show with this loyal fan support. I've already said everything else that I need to say already, so, no need to repeat.

But NBC to you, you have been warned.

#SaveChuck, or Save Chuck, for the Twitter Deprived

Image by Cara_VSAngel via Flickr

I won't ask again. At least, politely. For those of you that don't know, or maybe haven't heard, which is almost all of you judging from the ratings, Chuck has yet to be renewed by NBC. Why is this a painfully obvious mistake? Well, if you're not a TV watcher, then you can stop reading here, and get back to whatever social media platform you read this from, while I continue.

Ok, now that they've gone away, I can really get into the meat of the rant. Not to be confused with, the chicken breast sandwich I ate during the season finale, but I digress. Chuck is truly one of the few shows on TV right now that is truly family entertainment. It's one of my kids' favorite shows. For those that don't know, I have a son 12, and a daughter 14. Their names are not important at this point, and they may have appeared elsewhere.

What is important, and what NBC seems to have overlooked, is that of all their programming this season, we as a family weren't really watching much beyond Chuck, and Heroes. And with their dubious decision to play Jay Leno every night @ 10pm in the fall, we'll be watching them even less. I heard at one point that NBC is/was in 4th place, and as far as I know, they may still be there. Canceling this show, may result in them staying there awhile longer. NBC has alternatives when it comes to this show, and they don't have to leave it in its currently daunting time slot when they bring it back next season.

Alternatively, NBC Universal, which owns the USA Network, and the SciFi Channel as well, has other places they can show a 3rd season of Chuck. I'd prefer it stay on NBC, however, these would be acceptable alternatives to outright cancellation.

Now, for the mercenary portion of this post. While not the main reason I'm doing this, there is a contest going on, and this is hopefully two of my five entries, if I use the above banner. I don't expect to win the contest, it's simply given me the opportunity to talk about one of the last few things on TV that is truly a joy to watch. Appointment TV is the current term, I believe. I'd hate to have to cancel my appointment.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 'Save Chuck' latest in efforts to rescue shows (cnn.com)

Mega Red Packet - The Real Deal Or Just Plain Hype?

I've just signed up for the Video Lounge access at Mega Red Packet and before I forget, I am writing in to tell you this.

Vince Tan, Edmund Loh and Stephen Luc are teaming up to release the Mega Red Packet on 4th May 2009. In case you've not heard of these dynamic trio here's a quick background on them...

Vince Tan is a World Internet Summit speaker and the same man who pulled off the Biggest Firesale event in Year 2008 which broke the 6 figure record in just 3 days and then brought in $170,000 in only 10 days.

If you use Private Label Rights products often for your Internet Business then I suppose Edmund Loh doesn't need an introduction; he's the person behind more than 260 Private Label Rights titles under the PLRGold brand. Just late last year, he teamed up with expert video maker Stephen Luc to pull off a product launch called PLRGold: Videos and raked in $100,000 in 10 days too. Collectively, the dynamic trio has made more than a million dollars in sales.

So what is Mega Red Packet all about? (since it's 3 months after the Chinese New Year)

When I first visited the Mega Red Packet website, it branded itself as a "Recession Show Stopper". I didn't think much of it initially since a lot of Internet Marketing opportunist won't let go any chance to cash in on the latest trend. But I take back what I said when I saw the Video Lounge area.

Vince, Edmund and Stephen have produced and positioned Mega Red Packet to turn the tide for many people who are not only struggling in their pursuit of building an online business but also people who are affected by the current recession period.

Mega Red Packet is focused on this core of success: product + traffic = residual income. This is the closest definition to push button marketing where all the work has been done for Internet Marketers of all levels - whether you are new or seasoned. The Mega Red Packet team has invested nearly $100,000 and 6 months in conceiving this push button program and infrastructure, which gives the user a variety of products to get reseller and Franchise rights to new, original products and sell.

Mega Red Packet is NOT about potential. It's about empowering the Internet newbie to have his string of proven businesses in the form of Reseller Memberships for you to take full control of, and Franchise rights to proven Internet Businesses so that they can be put into the shoes of these 3 top Internet Marketers. The new Internet Marketer can now leverage off the credibility and proven model that the dynamic trio have discovered over the collective 11 years of marketing experience.

Traffic generation is another topic of great interest to some, and a great struggle to many others. The Mega Red Packet collection solves this more efficient and effectively than anyone, myself included, can ask for.

Vince, Edmund and Stephen are also taking this chance to launch their newest home study course named "Traffic Leopard" - aptly called 'the next generation of traffic building' that features a series of proven tactics to drive in traffic to your website, accompanied by a rich archive of case studies as used and experimented relentlessly by all of the 3 top Internet Marketers.

There's also the Traffic Networks where Vince and Edmund have negiotiated with some of the top traffic building site owners to give generous credits to members of Mega Red Packet.

All in all, there's more goodies in store in Mega Red Packet that I believe every Internet Marketer must look forward to. It's ground breaking and non-conventional, not something you know so well of. Literally, all the work is done and I haven't even talked about the new Private Label Rights products and software they are releasing in the Mega Red Packet event, that lets you do instant One Time Offers, Upsells and even Cross-Sells.

You can take my review with a pinch of salt but I strongly urge you to check out the site now and sign up for the free access to the Video Lounge (worth $297) and get onto their Advanced Notification List. (by the way speaking of that, they are also going to pick randomly 3 different names from the list to give free copies of Mega Red Packet on their launch day - you could be one of them!)

Click on this link and sign up for the Video Lounge and Advanced Notification List access for free now before the big event kick starts on 4th May 2009:

=> http://megaredpacket.com/?aff_id=8904

It's All An Illusion...

Yes, that's right, it's the title of my current Script Frenzy screenplay. I'm exploring the magician as detective genre, with a twist. While waiting for my writing partner to end her turn, I came across this video that explores the main theme of what our hero, Scott Randall, Magician Extraordinaire, has to overcome.... Enjoy, and Comment :)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Script Frenzy 2009 (johnaugust.com)
• Read the Best Movie That You're Never Going to See (cinematical.com)

This has been happening more and more...

Image via CrunchBase

Today's topic is, Twitter!!! Yes, that's right, you knew it was coming, yet another Twitter post. Ok, here's the thing: I have @ last count, almost 1500 followers, and more everyday. This is not to say that I'm a social media expert, because, one of the clues that you're not a social media expert is that you claim to be one. In cases like this, I always goto Sir William of Goldman's Roman Numeral I, which states simply, ”Nobody Knows Anything.“

More on that phenomenon later, quite possibly @ a different site, (How many do I write for? 5?) However, specifically, when it comes to Twitter, I have really just one pet peeve, that is simply this: people that are not following me, tend to Direct Message me.

Now, to me, that implies that you want to take the conversation private. Ok, that's fine, I don't need to broadcast to the world who's flirting with me, or more importantly, who I'm flirting with, however, for the conversation to be truly private, you have to be following me as well, so that I may DM you back.

Two things happen when this is not the case. As I use TweetDeck, I have a really quick way to click to reply back privately, however, I can't do it, because you're not following me. I don't find this out, until after I attempt to DM. I've wasted my time typing a response, and now, I'm less likely to respond to your query, as maybe I don't want to put my response in the public timeline.

Therefore, you've created a situation wherein you won't get a response. Unless I'm kind enough to take the additional time that it requires to change the D to an @. Which is really, not much of the time lately. As I stated, I've got about 1500 followers, which means I'm receiving roughly 20 tweets every 2 minutes. TweetDeck again :) It's more fun, and productive for me, to deal with those, than to deal with you, because you've decided to be well, for lack of a better word, rude.

This has been a public service announcement.

Please Retweet.

I wonder if she knows....

Originally uploaded by overannalyze1

Just how sexy she is....

Authority

What is it? Who has it? Who wants it? Why? Where are they? I'm here today to tell you, I don't know. However, there are others out there that would have you think, say, act, or do differently. Because they have it.

And by it, I mean something that The Law!!! doesn't recognize....

Why, you ask? Or, maybe you didn't. Again, I don't know.

Previously, I've discussed how truly nobody knows anything. Now that you have this information, what should you do with it? Well, I choose to claim authority in all things having to do with nothing, or in this case, a mathematical calculation of a philosophical concept.

To wit: As opposed, to twit: If I have 35K+ followers on Twitter, while at the same time, following roughly the same amount, how do I get any work done? Or, the actual question I started to ask, do I have the authority to make grandiose pronouncements? How do I effectively use my theoretical one million plus Myspace friends to my advantage?

Let's find out together, shall we? We don't have to mind you, as you can get off this ride at any time. As opposed to anytime. In any case, I can't, as I haven't made my word count yet. Confused? Good! Then you're starting to understand.

Any mathematical formula that you come up with will fall woefully short. Simply because, you can't have authority in everything. Why are 35K plus people listening to me? Well, go ask them. Maybe I know something they don't, in which case, my information has value. To them.

Otherwise, if they already know what I know, what I say or do or even think, isn't as valuable. Think of it: Information I have, may have different value to others. Am I an authority to those that already know what I know? Well, maybe I am.

I may be able to disseminate the information differently than they. There 'they' are again. The theoretical 'they' of whom we know little if anything about. What if I don't care what 'they' have to say? In this case, 'they' have no authority, and none should be given to them. I have an extremely diverse background, and yet, I'm sure there are others out there that I can learn from in my various fields of endeavor.

I will give them authority, when requested. Not before. Until such time as I need their expertise, their information, or even data, may not be useful. N.B. There is a difference between data and information. Information is how you disseminate the data. Or, mine it. But as always, that's another post for another blog that I don't necessarily write for.

Did you know that grammatically, it's now ok to end a sentence in a preposition? I just found this out recently, from a grammarian, that I gave authority to. As opposed to which I gave authority. It's interesting, and even fascinating to note at this point that the root word of authority is, you guess it, author.

Who created the information in the first place? They should probably be the ultimate authority over it. We may interpret it differently, at which point, The Law!!! comes into play. Scary, isn't it?
Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. The doom and gloom you hear preached on almost a daily basis by the media elite is at best, an illusion. Ultimately, the media should be reporting the facts, and not interpreting them, to their own ends.

Those that would claim authority over their various niches, should indeed realize that they may not be the authority they think they are. There 'they' are again. 'They' seem to be everwhere. Who are 'they?' 'They' are not us, as we are not one of 'them.'

I'm sure this will all make sense one day, to someone that reads it this far. As for me, I choose to end here. For now. Tune in next week when the random ramblings of this Idea Master go off on yet another tangent.

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Adjust your expectations accordingly.

This was originally written for Idea Masters™, however, has yet to be published there.

The Suck Scale

At one time or another, you have probably uttered a variation of the phrase, “That sucks!” And like I have, you've finally come to the conclusion that everything sucks, to some degree. For this, The Suck Scale is born. It goes from 1 to 100, and as you can't have more than 100% of anything, will never go any higher. Of course, you can peg the meter.

Or, to put it simply, something that sucks massively rates a 100, while the least amount of suck rates a 1. However, and I find this quite unlikely, something may indeed, not suck, as in, “That doesn't even rate a 1 on the suck scale!”

The Suck Scale is purely subjective, and is of course subject to interpretation by those viewing whatever it is that sucks. You may think that Obama getting elected rates a 100, others may find it to be a 1, while most of us fall somewhere in between, unless of course, for you it doesn't suck, in which case another scale is needed, as we have previously defined it, everything sucks to some degree, and therefore, deserves a rating of some amount of suck.

You may not realize that something in your life sucks, in which case, someone needs to inform you that it does. Someone could walk up to you on the street and say, “That rates a 73,” and you wouldn't know what that means. A search on the term 73 wouldn't come up with anything, once you arrived home, and you'd be forever in the dark. Therefore, awareness of The Suck Scale is key.

You might ask yourself, “Self, why does everything suck?” At which point, you may try to answer the question, or, more likely, figure out how much overall suckage exists. Clearly, most movies suck. Don't take my word for it, stand in the lobby of any major movie theatre after the movie ends, and listen to the comments of most people coming out. I could give examples, but most of them simply boil down to, “That movie sucked!” If you'd like to figure out how much, simply assign a percentage of the overall comments that are similar, and that will be your score. Remember, lower scores are better, and LA Story doesn't even rate a one on the suck scale.

Restaurants, to some degree, will of course also, suck to some degree. Just ask any notable food critic. They can always find something wrong with the soup, or their steak gets undercooked, “I ordered it medium, not medium rare!!!” This fact alone will probably garner you a suck rating at that particular restaurant in the high 60's.

Traffic during rush hour rates a 100, no question. Unless of course you like sitting in your car for hours at a time going nowhere quickly. Frankly, if I'm going to sit in my car for hours, I usually pick a secluded spot, and a beautiful woman to share the time with, which again, doesn't rate anything near The Suck Scale.

You've probably heard the phrase, “Work sucks, but I need the bucks...” uttered at your place of employment, if you haven't seen it on a bumper sticker in the above mentioned rush hour traffic. If you enjoy your work, this probably rates in the low 20's, however, I'm guessing for most, it's in the high 80's. Now, finding a career that gives you fulfillment as well as enjoyment, doesn't touch The Suck Scale at all.

These are just a few examples of things that may suck in your life, for which I have now provided you an appropriate way to measure them. Of course, this is your life, and not mine, as the ability to make a beautiful woman smile via a simple message on the 'net, definitely does not suck....

Sounds Like Something from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...

In my never ending effort to at least blog something everyday, even when I don't have something, I found this:

So when I say I’m seriously impressed with HootSuite (formerly known as Brightkit, which was an awful name) that’s no light recommendation.Steve Woodruff, StickyFigure, Feb 2009

I suggest you click the link, and if you follow me on Twitter, you'll start seeing more of these types of links from me. And, if you're not following me on Twitter, why not?

Twitter Survey That I'm Taking

Image via Wikipedia

I've been spending a lot of time on Twitter lately, to almost the exclusion of all else, as you may or may not know. I have a simple follow algorithm: Be interesting, and I'll follow you, almost anywhere :) Have met several fascinating new people, including @WhenIGroUpCoach. She asked me five questions, to wit:

* Where the heck did Matches Malone come from?

That one's simple. Anyone that has read a Batman comic or three, knows that it's his alter ego when he needs to go undercover, to ferret out some information he couldn't otherwise get as Batman.

* How do you decide which avatars to feature on your Twitter background?

I can't take credit for this one, actually. My original idea was for a background with my top 36 followers, and then each of their top 36. I sent this to @HughBriss who ran with the idea, and came up with something different. I've only made one change on it since. If you look carefully, there's someone on there twice. We could talk about the Shorty Awards, but that might veer off topic.

* What one book has blown your mind, and what about it has stuck with you?

The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller. Batman at age 50. Groundbreaking stuff in 1986. Watchmen came out around the same time, however, Batman's always been the fictional character that anyone could actually be, if they dedicated their life to it. The whole canon is inspiring, actually, but this one stands out.

* If you can be given one superpower, what would it be?

Ok, this goes against everything I just said, however, it would be cool to fly. Wouldn't need a car ever again. Either that, or to actually be psychic, which hasn't been properly represented in any medium, at least, recently.

* What do you have a soft spot for?

If I give you the answer to this one, I'll give away a confidence, which I'm not ready to do. Suffice it to say, interesting and intelligent women :)

Sometimes, I wonder...

Image via CrunchBaseLately, I've been taking a morning walk of approximately 2 miles, everyday. This is a good thing. The thing that's not so good, I'm finding out, is I've been taking pics of where I've been along the way. Ok, not so bad in and of itself, however, I have been uploading them to my new home on Twitter, via a Twitpic.

It occurs to me, that since I've been using my cellphone, and there's an embedded GPS signal thrown into the mix, that a smart person taking the time might be able to figure out where I live. Or worse, I've given my current coordinates to Skynet, and we all know how painful that can be....

Inaugural Fail Whale

Inaugural Fail Whale
Originally uploaded by Steelopus

It would seem that today's Fail Whale will be carried away by the American Bald Eagle. Very appropriate, however, a color scheme change might be in order....

Haven't Done This Here In Awhile...

Image via WikipediaSo, now seems as good a time as any for my personal All I Need To Know, I Learned From Star Trek List:

1. Books are more valuable than the same information stored in computers, as well as the computer itself.

2. There is no such thing as the no win scenario.
Corollary: There are often more than two choices.

3. “You kenna change the laws of physics!!!”

More as I think of them, as I've got other stuff to do.... :)