May 9, 2012

Once upon a time, you had to not only have a good idea, but you had to pitch your idea to a major label whether you were tying to get a book, game, CD, movie etc published, and leave your fate in their hands. If you’ve been keeping an eye on crowd fund operations like Kickstarter.com, then you no undoubtedly see the inevitable happening as well. More and more programmers, songwriters, authors and developers are taking their talent, and ideas directly to the market. Their hard work, talent and vision are appreciated by like minded individuals, that find then fund projects that are of interest to them. It’s a sink or swim scenario, in which when the public sees your project and likes it, you are almost guaranteed funding (granted you aren’t asking for the moon to begin with). If they don’t like it, you can keep trying, maybe work on your pitch and polish things up a bit. The comment section will usually provide you with the info needed to steer you in the right direction on the next-go-round.

The beauty of this means of funding is that the money comes directly from people that would buy your product. If you are an avid gamer, and love games featuring space shooters, you may stumble across a project like that of the one man team Joseph Perry’s RUBICON featuring an enhanced Asteroids style game, or you may even come across something like the VIM Cheat Sheet designed by Max Cantor. Although these aren’t necessarily mega million dollar projects (although some have reached that level), they serve a purpose, meet a need, AND have a ready made user-base that would not only appreciate the item/service, but would also purchase it. These are projects that large studios and shops can’t be bothered to even look at, because they won’t generate enough $$$’s to pad the bottom line. So along come Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler who decided to build a website to provide anyone with a vision, and some talent to follow their dreams.

Crowd funding might actually have a bright future, and the only one that should be worried is the middle man. Yeah I’m talking to you Generic Record Label and Production Studio. With the move to digital media and content delivery, and ever increasing storage capacity and file transfer rates, it’s only a matter of time before artists can create and deliver their goods directly to the consumer. (We wont even get into the possibilities that these 3D printers will offer very soon!!!) Marketing and promotion are virtually viral when it comes to crowd funding, eliminating a huge wedge of the “expenses pie-chart”. Having a funded project also means that a strong interest exists for the product, and if that weren’t enough, the products are essentially pre-sold eliminating a good chunk of the start-up costs as well.

The most important factor IMO is that the vision is seen through from start to finish by the artist. Nothing is changed to meet market demands based on popularity or trending, because what this market demands, is in essence the artists vision. Chapters won’t be changed beyond recognition, and music CD’s wont have the obligatory filler junk songs. We already see the strain on newspaper companies, and them desparately clining to the last few scraps of life. Combine that with the recent overtaking of digital books sales surpassing physical sales, the success of the iTunes and Amazon App stores selling millions of Apps, and services like Spotify and Audiogalaxy streaming music. I would like to cite Netflix Movie Streaming, but they need much improvement after having lost the Starz deal. Hulu and Amazon Video are pretty good examples. Cable TV, you’re up next, we will probably see IPTV served a’ la mode, but not through the cable companies – we might just see a kickstarter project addressing that need.

Overall, this is a win-win-lose situation that the artist/developer and consumer both will be happy about, the middleman less so. The tides are turning, and I like where things appear to be heading, but things can still go wrong. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the large corporations managed to get legislation to pass making it illegal for individuals to crowd fund projects, possibly citing some perverted tax law, or some copyright/patent violation. But that’s what crowd backed lobbyist group DemandProgress is for

Jan 4, 2012

It’s been a very long time since I posted about starting the raw green juice deal, so here’s a recap:

My wife and I bought a nice Breville juicer after watching ‘Fat, Sick, and Almost Dead’, and started the raw green juice thing at the beginning of August. I managed to drop an amazing 28 pounds in just over 3 weeks of trying in a half-assed manner.

I had my suspicions about the green juice and raw foods diet, but they are now all gone. Reflecting back on those few weeks, the first few days were horrible; me craving bread and sugary foods ‘n all. After about 3 or 4 days, I felt great. I had energy, I was sleeping better than ever. I had no allergy symptoms at all. I felt healthy, and by the end of it I didn’t even have a desire to eat meat… ME of all people!

End of August and into September I went on vacation (Ocean City MD) with the family, and resumed the ‘eating-like-a-pig’ lifestyle. It was hard at first, eating greasy foods was the worst. I almost threw up after eating a bit of Garden Fresh Papa Johns Pizza which is my favorite. It took me a few days of really trying to put down a philly cheese steak. I managed.

Thanksgiving came and went, as did Christmas and finally New Years. I am now at 300 pounds, 10 pounds shy of my starting point. I was amazed that it took this long to put the bulk of the weight back on. The whole while, my body craved the nutrients that I have been depriving myself of. I would make a juice at least 4 or 5 times a week.

People were telling me about the dangers of only eating fruits and vegetables, lack of protein and what not. Deciding to take a more scientific approach this net go around,  I downloaded a free App called MyFitnessPal which allows me to enter my ingredients (has a barcode scanner) and track my caloric intake, exercise (not there yet) and tracks my weight. The cool thing is that it will break down the nutritional contents of the foods you eat. In addition to the vitamins and minerals that I am taking in, I am also getting enough proteins and fats on a daily basis. If needed, I add a teaspoon of olive oil. In my opinion it’s better to supplement a healthy diet than a poor one.

The juice that is now my favorite (and the only one I really make for myself anymore) consists of the following:

• 2 Collard Green leaves – or – 2 Kale leaves – or a tight handful of Spinach (depends on the sale)
• 2 Carrots
• 2 Stalks of Celery
• 1 Cucumber
• 1 Green Bell Pepper
• 2 Apples (for flavor)
• 1/2 cup of Cranberries (or Pomegranate)

If I use Collard greens and drink this juice 3 times a day, I am getting roughly 1500 calories and 34 grams of protein. If I want to increase that to 60, all i have to do is add a cucumber and another green leaf. I was suprised to find that they contained so much protein.

Going into the new year I am back on the raw juice. As an added benefit, I usually pick up all of the ingredients on a bi-weekly basis, but spend an average of $45 dollars a week saving me a shit load of money to boot! Eating out for lunch alone was costing me $50 a week.

I will most likely strictly consume juice for the next 2 weeks, then drop to breakfast and lunch juice with a regular dinner. Wish me luck, or rather discipline.

Sometimes I wonder how the hell it took me so long to connect these two dots.

Since I made the “discovery” I have been virtually allergy symptom free (I can still feel a faint tingling on days where the pollen count is really high). From late April / early May through June (and again in the Fall), I would suffer along with the rest of you. Sneezing, itchy eyes, coughing, runny nose … you get the picture.

Last spring, I noticed that shortly after eating a bowl of cereal, the on switch for my allergies got flipped, and a light went off, along with a really bad allergic episode. I started my not-so-clinical-trial with me as the guinea pig. NO MORE CEREAL.

That lasted a day, but luckily I logged the foods that I ate for breakfast the next day. On my list that morning was a blueberry yoghurt. Now I had dairy in my sights.

The following day, I left out all dairy, and that is way harder than it sounds. Apparently dairy is in everything. Donuts, some types of canned tuna fish, and even some types of chewing gum – I’m dead serious.

After consulting professor Google, I found a good list of foods that people who are allergic to milk have to avoid. Note: I do not have a milk allergy, and am not lactose intolerance.

Apparently, the protein responsible for my condition is caesin. It is most commonly used as sodium caseinate, and wreaks havoc with my immune system (during allergy season only though).

Once I adhered to a strict diet eliminating these products, my allergies went away completely … overnight!

Some things I wonder about now:

• Is this a recent problem due to GM animals and foods?

• Why did my doctor  never even mention this as a possibility after all these years?

• Is there really a "food conspiracy" in this country?

Now that the spring allergy season is over, I resumed my normal diet with no adverse effects, well, none other than the standard ‘this-processed-food-will-kill-ya’ foods.

That being said, I watched ‘Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead’ with my wife the other night, and will give the raw green juice deal a try for a few days. If anything, it falls in line with my non allergy aggravating foods. I can’t promise regular updates though

Apr 1, 2011

Out of all the lame excuses I have ever heard, this one takes the cake. Is Bob Parsons really trying to spin his hunting of elephants into a humanitarian effort?

Soooo in order to stop the elephants from trampling the farmers crops, you have to come in and shoot them? And you have to do it grinning like an idiot while wearing your GoDaddy hats?

“When you see me smiling in that picture, I’m smiling because I’m relieved no one was hurt, that the crop was saved, and that these people were going to be fed — the type of smile when you get a good report card or achieve a goal.” Bob Parsons

I’m calling BS on this one. Bob Parsons is someone with resources available to take care of the problem using other methods… that is to say, if he really cared about the problem to begin with. This here is just an excuse to hunt and kill an elephant. I wouldn’t have a problem with that, but just grow a pair and say so.

This is not a list of good books that were turned into movies and shows that sucked because they were so much different form the book. Sometimes the screenplay is written in such a way that the only thing that is the same is the basic general concept and the name  think ‘I Am Legend’.
I am talking about good (or decent) books that have been turned into Movies or TV shows that just absolutely SUCK. Sometimes you get lucky, and the show is sooooo far gone that it actually becomes comical.
There are some titles that I will not include here. Think 1984. The movie was low budget, but it still managed to convey the overall bleakness of he world. It wasn’t nearly as moving as the book, but it can still hold it’s own.

On to the list:
5. Jumper (Movie)

• I fully understand that this movie is catering to the teen audience – mainly the female teen audience – but that is no excuse to degrade the book in such a horrid way. Don’t get me wrong, the movie wasn’t horrible (IMO nothing with Samuel L. Jackson can be too horrible), but I included it here because it needed to be said. Both Jumper and Reflex by Steven Gould were interesting good reads, and had so much potential to become a great movie. FAIL!

4. The Sword of Truth Series A.K.A. Legend of the Seeker(TV)

• I don’t even like thinking about this show. Granted there were hot chicks in leather outfits. The guy in me really wants to like it, but the reader in me can’t deal with the poor acting. I enjoyed the book . . . to a point (once each books started getting repetitive, I kinda dropped stopped reading them around book 9 or 10) This show reminds me more of a soap opera than anything. Plus it got everything wrong Richard, Mistress Denna, Zed, Darken all SUCK! Who put this thing together anyway? I just have one request, please do not involve yourself in the following projects: ‘Enders Game’, ‘The Hunger Games’, or ‘Old Man’s War’ k thx.

3. Night Watch / Day Watch (Movie)

• I do not understand why this movie sucked. I really don’t. Directing? Effects? This book was good, and the movie should have been an easy blockbuster. I want to like this movie. Too bad, someone else came up with a similar story, and will most likely do it right. Keep an eye out for Monster Hunter international. SAD!

2. The Dresden Files (TV)

• I haven’t actually read the Dresden books, but they are on my list. I have it on multiple sources of good authority, that this was an excellent book series and should be included on my list. That being said, I have seen the show. Even without having read the books, I was disappointed in the show. Some shows adjust after the pilot and the first few episodes, fire and hire a few writers and capture the magic. This show didn’t do that though. As a TV show, this series was garbage. SORRY!

1. Flash Forward (TV)

• This one pissed me off on a whole ‘nother level. Flash Forward is actually one of my favorite books. Robert Sawyer is also, a really good writer. His stories are fun to read and generally well above par. This monstrosity of a TV show however, strung me along week after week. It was not the kind of stringing along that was good either, like Heroes (before the writing strike!) and LOST. It was the kind of stringing along in which I waited for the show to become interesting. I really wanted this show to work. But it didn’t. Maybe the fact that I like the book so much kept me coming back for more abuse, maybe it was the fact that there wasn’t much on TV at that time. Either way, in My opinion, this was one of the worst renditions of Book to Show gone bad, and I’m glad it got canceled. DIE!

I have some advice for you, and no it’s not “don’t watch these shows and movies”. Watch the shows and movies before you read the book. You will do yourself a HUGE favor by doing so.

The IRS issued a document showing some common frivolous legal arguments made by people who don’t want to pay their taxes.

They effectively beat down every argument made against paying taxes ranging from “Wages, tips, and other compensation are not income” to “The Internal Revenue Service is not an agency of the United States”.

People get very creative, but the end result is the same. Uncle Sam is getting paid, and those fighting get jailed or fined … just ask Wesley Snipes.

My advice: Pay your taxes. Uncle Sam said he wants all his money! Not some, not half, but all his damn cash.

No one likes the IRS, if anything they are tolerated by some. I think I can safely say that everyone is rooting for anyone who can find and exploit a loophole in the tax code, with the exception of big corporations. In face, 2 of every 3 corporations in the US did not pay any federal taxes in the US from 1998 to 2005 (NY Times), and giants like GE, EXXON and Bank of America didn’t pay a dime in 2009.

I guess times are rough for everyone huh? I’d say so, but those same companies also posted record profits that year. Don’t take my word for it though, see the Forbes write-up from last week (First week of April 2011)

If that makes you mad, write your congressman, move to a different country, vote for Ron Paul. But you probably wont. If you decide stay, be prepared to pay your taxes. Keep in mind that as the economy stays tight, the government will take extraordinary measures to collect their money. That means that you can expect a higher audit rate, as well as a more aggressive collection campaign.

I love Stumbleupon.com – it brings me so many sites that I would normally never come across. If I’m sitting there with too much work to do, and can’t focus, I always have my Stumble button right there. Maybe not the best of ideas, but hey, every man’s gotta have his vice(s).

Anyway, I came across this video that was so very well put together, and had to post it here. It talks about the importance of talking to your children about issues while they are young. Is it ever to early really? Some would say no, some yes, others need to qualify their statements. Watch the video, and make the decision yourself.

You’re watching Talking to Your Kids About Star Wars. See the Web’s top videos on AOL Video

“The time spent debugging is inversely proportional to the
complexity of the solution.” – Algai ‘D’ Aman