This is absurdly hard to write.
In short, I have the nagging suspicion that I'm doing myself a disservice by not maintaining this blog. It hasn't been my main focus for a couple of years (as the distinct lack of posting shows) But the fact that I've had more success with it than I would have dreamed possible makes me think I'm in danger of throwing away something valuable. My motivation to even do something as simple as post my videos here has been very low and every time I make a start at re-vivifying this blog I lose steam and give up.
I've considered starting from scratch with Tumblr but what would be the point of that? While Tumblr is the trendy thing now, it's nothing more than a delivery method. There's very little that Tumblr can do that I can't do here on this blog (correct me if I'm wrong - I really don't get Tumblr).
I post a lot of content to Twitter (and Facebook to a lesser extent) so maybe I should start by posting that same content here. I guess one of the things that holds me back is fear of not having the time to dedicate to a proper blog post. I could obviously post rapid fire Tumblr-style brain farts and pictures (and I may well end up doing that) but I've always put quite a bit of effort into blog posts and I can't shake the feeling that I'd be somehow failing if I didn't spend the time I thought was required on a good blog post. Obviously there's nothing stopping me from doing both - short and possibly multitudinous posts with the occasional longer more thought out offering.
Most of my focus for the last five years has been on YouTube and with this blog, I think I'm in danger of falling into the trap I often warn people against on YouTube. Obsessing for too long on *what* you should do tends to stop you from doing anything. Spending too much time worrying whether or not what you're planning is good enough becomes the excuse for doing nothing. Perfect becomes the enemy of good.
Besides, as I've written here before, I thoroughly believe writing is a craft that you improve the more you practice it. Someone who writes regularly is far more likely to end up a good writer than someone who is holding off producing anything unless it's their magnum opus.
More than once I've considered going back to my original theme - Angry 365 Day a Year. My original challenge was to write *something* - at least one post - every day for a year. I surprised myself by actually accomplishing this. And in so many ways (not least, more widespread internet connectivity) it's easier to do now than ever. So maybe I will choose an arbitrary date and see if I can do it again. Make at least one post every day. Not necessarily angry but something to keep the blog turning over.
But while I'm on the topic, my original shtick was that I would be angry to a scale that perhaps wasn't appropriate to the subject at hand. You know, the little things that piss us all off from time to time. Really cut loose with some outrage over something that arguably isn't very important. Because sometime the big things are more depressing than anything else. So a little cathartic anger can be the release that stops you being crushed by the worry over big things.
In that vein, I want to rant about Tumblr. Not the content on the various Tumblogs - that is what it is. Everything across the spectrum from the truly pointless and rubbishy through to the truly sublime. No, I have a problem with the name "Tumblr".
Where the fuck is the "e" Tumblr? Back when Flickr first became popular it spawned a whole slew of truly pointless websites that used the same spelling affectation. As if the sum total of their thinking was "Hey, look, our website is spelled like Flickr so we must be as cool as them!" Shut the fuck up! You fucking idiots.
One of the things I really liked about Twitter when it started was that they DIDN'T do that. I may have even done a little happy dance over the fact they included the "e". Or not. Don't judge me. Now that Tumblr has become so popular this stupid crap is probably going to happen again. Hell, it's probably already happening, I don't pay as much attention to tech start-ups as I used to. So we'll get to have the dot-com bubble (and bust) all over again. Hoo-fucking-ray.
Thanks Tumblr. No really, thanks. Fucking morons.
It's TFU Friday and this week I'm talking about Rick Santorum, stinky cat poo and horrible bugs. Those are different stories, by the way, it isn't all about Santorum. Honest.
Links for more info:
I'm usually up late and so I see a lot of infomercials. It bugs me how often they are blatantly lying and apparently it bugged a New York judge as well who found it "highly implausible" 11 panelists would "stick their noses in jars of excrement and report 44 independent times that they smelled nothing unpleasant."
And the world is full of people who want to tell you how fucked up Rick Santorum is.
If you really want to know more about that horrible Satan Bug, what's wrong with you? But there's info here
And I'll round off with my friend AIDzee off his head on drugs:
I don't know what 2012 will bring but it certainly started on a high note for me. On New Year's Eve I met my long-time literary hero Neil Gaiman and his lovely wife Amanda Palmer. The tickets weren't cheap but they were certainly worth it. I think I can still hear myself from 15 years ago screaming with excitement as the echoes of this event reach me.
I hope I didn't make a mess of my Sandman comics.
I usually don't make a big thing of New Year's Eve, it's too much of an arbitrary thing for me. But it was a little different this year when my all time literary hero, Neil Gaiman decided to host a New Year's Eve party here in Melbourne with his lovely wife Amanda Palmer and a host of other performers.
The theme of the night was Trash Masquerade and there were lots of impressive costumes. Among the entertainers were the following pair:
The awful events recently in Norway have united all decent people in their support of the Norwegian people. Sadly, not all people are decent.
It's predictable but sickening that so many people use this tragedy to further their own agenda. Glenn Beck calls the shooting victims "Hitler Youth" and Bill O'Reilly is delusional about Christianity. Why do the American right in particular find it so hard to concede a point or admit fault? A competitor in the TFU response stakes was ex-Smiths frontman Morrisey who said the killings were "nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried shit every day".
But the winner of worst response for my money, was an ally of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who actually supported the murderer's manifesto.
On a lighter but still fucked up note, there were the usual animal attacks in Australia and a real tragedy for the nerds of Comic Con.
There is a lot of argument over whether calling someone a retard is a good idea or bad idea.
Is choosing not to use "retard" as an insult political correctness or simply being nice? While doing some research for this video, I found this site that details how the word idiot, imbecile and moron once all had medical definitions linked to degrees of mental retardation. Maybe the insult retard/retarded is destined to go the same way as these words and pass into common usage, losing its link to medical definitions of intellectual disability.
But isn't it fun knowing "idiot" is the worst insult of all?
I had some sad news recently with the passing of my friend Kipp Williamson. I first met Kipp when we held our first big gathering in November 2007. We stayed in contact since then and Kipp has been in a lot of my videos with his music being in many more.
This is my farewell to Kipp and includes the last video I shot with him (but not the last time we were together. Rest in Peace mate, we'll miss you.
And here's a video we shot quite a while ago. I uploaded an edited version of this at the time but now seems like a good time to share the full video.
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Seriously, send your payment to
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And we'll send you either the Box of Wonder or The Book of Truth. You know, if you're very easily fooled. Or want a weird souvenir.
And here's some behind the scenes footage (including me smashing the shit out of a tripod) courtesy of our collaborator, Damie
I believe that Melbourne cemented its place as the YouTube capital of Australia this weekend. Popular American YouTuber Davedays is visiting Australia and did a public meet and greet of fans along with some popular local YouTubers. How popular is he? Over 1.3 million subscribers, #12 most subscribed of all time and currently #1 musician worldwide on YouTube and his videos have been viewed over 245 million times in total. THAT popular.
The get together was organised by Daves friend Kimmi who didn't think it would be such a big deal. They organised a similar event in Los Angeles and about 50 people came along. See for yourself what a big deal Melbourne made of the event:
Old Spice meme is Old. We have Young Spice. Allow me to explain.
I do a lot of my video development with my friend Adrian Calear who is very well know in Melbourne comedy circles as both a performer and director. Adrian and I recently met Michael (the young man in the video below) at a mini-gathering in Melbourne. He was here getting some treatment to make sure his body doesn't reject a bone marrow transplant which was itself treatment for a second round of blood cancer. Which is clearly shit-heaps fun.
And yes, I said second round of blood cancer. Michael has previously been treated successfully for leukaemia. So we figured he should have some fun while he's here. We worked on a few ideas and techniques then shot this video. I think he's done a damn fine job for his first time on camera.
After we watched the video, we realised the fact we had used a blue sheet as the backdrop meant we could have some fun with chroma-keying (AKA BlueScreening) and so started messing around. Then we remembered we had a friend who has quite a good studio set up with a green screen so we've come up with a collaboration project that we'll be unveiling soon.
In the meantime, this video is a teaser:
There are some very good singers at work here but we may still have a little work to do. And in response to some recurring comments on YouTube, I feel compelled to point out that there was no alcohol or drug consumption involved in the making of this video.
Not that I have anything against that sort of consumption, it's more a case of being surprised that there is a subset of people who seem unable to understand that creativity, fun and/or any behaviour slightly left of centre does not necessarily involve imbibing substances.
And if you liked that video, here is the whole improvisation session, unedited:
Flooding in Queensland has caused a disaster areas more than twice the size of Texas and it's getting worse. You can help by clicking here to donate to the official relief fund.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt7-SaiMMH8]
I'll be donating the money I earn from the YouTube partner program for the next week so share this video around and you'll also be helping! The more people who know about this, the more we can help.
And regarding the Melbourne YouTube gathering, here is the video from Kimmi:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrZekTJurXk]
In short,
When: Saturday, January 22nd 2011
Where: Federation Square meet in front of the Giant Screen/Stage.
Time: 12pm - 3pm (hopefully it's not too hot!!)
I know this was a little late but I didn't get this on video in time to make it a Christmas video.
Just before Christmas, we adopted a new kitten from the Lort Smith Animal Hospital in Melbourne. Shadow has well and truly made herself at home in our house and it turns out she really likes Christmas trees. As in, really likes to destroy them. Oh well, it was time to take it down anyway.
I don't do new year's resolutions - never have. This is a resolution for other people. I'm allowed to do that - declare resolutions that other people need to follow. It's one of my official powers.
This is a video for sharing with those in need - namely if there's someone you think is being a dick, send them this and they might mend their ways. We can always hope.
The music at the start and end of this video are two different pieces of theme music created for me by YouTubers. That's right, I need more than one theme tune. Deal with it.
The hip hop theme at the start was done by NSG
The heavy metal theme at the end was done by Shaun/Blordough
