Change -> Angry

Parts of my digital neighborhood are being bulldozed to make room for informational highway bypasses lately. Google Reader has, once again, found a litany of things that weren't broken to fix.  The last time the site was redesigned, I was unhappy, and the while the visual changes seem unnecessary and unhelpful so far, I can cope with those.  The serious issue is that in a move to try to cheer up the unloved-feeling Google+, sharing features have been removed.  Anecdotally, the sharing features seem to be the most popular and useful portion of the service for most or all of the users that I know.

Now, I had been hoping that there'd be a way to pipe my Reader shared items into G+.  I like sharing things in Reader and I'd like to be able to let more people see them, for one.  For another, directing services into other sites gives me some kind of existence in that world where there might otherwise be none, like when I can route tweets into facebook posts.  I'm glad that seemingly simple and basic functionality between Google services has been added.

As detailed elsewhere, the only plausible reason for stripping features out of Reader is to drive users into spending more time clicking things in G+.  But I think the practical result is going to be that either a) I'll discover a new service that will finally take over as my RSS reader of choice, or b) I'll simply stop reading shared items from other people.

I don't think I'll be doing a lot of extra browsing in G+ because the reason I use an RSS (or really, web) aggregator is so that I don't need to keep 200 bookmarks sorted into sites that I visit daily, weekly, and monthly.  I visit one site.  It's my lens to the internet.  I use it so that I don't have to visit a million websites to find something to look at.

(Even if I DID want to go to G+ just to see what's going on, it mysteriously lists my own posts first all the time anyway)

Plex updated this week.  I wish they'd added a random play option for television, but at least they didn't remove the features that make it more interesting and useful than VLC.

(edit: I notice that this means my 'Reader Shares' sidebar on the blog is now broken.  So that will be going away soon.)

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I don't know if this is the same thing, but it's been kind of interesting to watch Apple apparently moving away from some of the creative professional market that's been a mainstay of their business for so long.

I've wanted to like and use Final Cut X, and while some of the new features are nice, it's not convenient or powerful enough to replace the editing tools I already use.  Today it's rumored that it may be curtains for the Mac Pro.  Neither one of these is kicking creative folks out of the mac world, but I bet it does make things a little less welcoming.

On the hardware side, less so.  Today, if I were to rent out a machine for an editing job, it would undoubtedly be the Mac Pro, an 8-core model which has served me well and paid for itself, but the main reason it would be the machine rented is because it's the fanciest-looking box.  The modern laptops (and, I'd assume, iMacs) can give it a pretty good run for its money in a lot of areas.  It still wins out in having the most expandable storage and PCI slot upgrades, but Thunderbolt is going to be able to mitigate one or both of those very soon. And really, I've cut entire feature-length projects on macs less capable than the current Macbook Air, so it's not so much a question of whatever they release next being able to handle the work.

Losing FCP (because again, the developer has decided to kill features that previously made it an attractive option) is the more upsetting turn of events.  I'm a big proponent of continuing to use FCP7, which is just about as fully functional and useful as it ever was, for as long as I can, but the fact is that it's no longer being developed and will be unable to keep up one day.  Will FCPX be featureful enough to take over by then?  Avid already is (more or less). Maybe editing will take me full circle back to cutting in Premiere on a Windows machine, where I was 10 years ago.

At the time, the notion of editing on my own computer, in my room, was phenomenal.  No more tape to tape or Draco Casablancas, just get to work.  Whether or not the firewire cards would be able to interface correctly and it would be possible to export the finished video was another matter, but still.

Today, I expect to be able to slice up a project at a whim, anywhere I go.  I can, and have, finished and returned assignments emailed to me before getting out of bed in the morning.

It feels like tools are being taken away, and not in the service of the users.  So of course everyone's mad.

Upcoming Performances: October 2011

Some places you can see me sometime soon, mostly doing standup: -Matt Mira's Day Off: Open mic at Meltdown Comics most Sunday nights, but I'm guaranteed to be on and bringing democracy to the people, 5:30pm, 10/9

-Pigs' Meat:  A Science-Fiction Tragicomedy for the Swinish Multitude: A play by Lewis Sequeira (there's time travel in it). Dangerfield's II, 9pm, 10/10

-FLOODLAMP 8: Havana Nights. Outdoor open mic comedy performed with megaphones, hosting, 3201 Verdugo Ave in Burbank, 7pm, 10/14

-Dangerfield's II, Showcasing, I'll be opening boxes. 6pm, 10/15

-Pizza Day 3, Lamppost Pizza in Simi Valley.  I'll be opening boxes again. 7pm, 10/21

-Dangerfield's II Open Mic, hosting, 6pm 10/22

-Better Radio LIVE!  The first ever live production of my podcast Better Radio, an almost entirely scripted sketch comedy show, featuring favorite transmissions from our previous episodes and all new material.  Starring G. Maximilian Zarou, Diana Wright, Asterios Kokkinos, and TIM GREER, along with Russell August Anderson on the wall of sound. Dangerfield's II, 9pm, 10/24

-Better Radio presents: Friends of Better Radio! - Our October 24th show has been postponed until November.  Many of the very same performers will be putting on a different show instead.  Still at Dangerfield's II, still at 9pm, still on 10/24.

-FLOODLAMP 9: Another round of open megaphone comedy and frankly, one of the best open shows in town.  Solid performers that stay to watch the show, but not so many you're there all night, which is convenient since the last time we overstayed our welcome the Burbank PD sent a helicopter.  3201 Verdugo Ave in Burbank, hosting, 7pm, 10/28

Coming up in November: Better Radio Live (for real this time), an encore presentation of Pigs' Meat, hopefully some more cool booked shows!

Stand-up: Showcase at Dangerfield's 2 09/17/11

I've been getting up and performing a lot this month.  I think I've had 16 sets in the past 15 days, and I'm just starting to book some longer shows and things that aren't open mics, which feels great. I've been reluctant to post some of the stuff from just a couple weeks ago that would be new to you, because I'm still in the very early levels of the stand-up class* and gaining XP all the time** so that set from a week ago where something went well is already eclipsed by rewrites and better performances.

So even though I would say I've already got half a dozen ways to make this set better, this was a pretty successful show.  Have a look, IF YOU DARE!

*'class' like a D&D*** reference****.  I am not enrolled in a stand-up comedy course.

**In addition to living life by the rules of an adventure game (take everything that's not nailed down, save before trying something dangerous, talk to everyone you meet) I think that RPGs' system of gathering experience is a remarkably good simulation.  Also, I sometimes think of jokes in terms of modifiers and bonuses.  For instance, I successfully pull off a 'closing parentheses' at 8:20, and then fail my roll to do it again at 8:30

***Dungeons & Dragons

****I've never actually played D&D***, I just think it's kind of neat.

Time, Resources, Quality, Management, Attention, Speed, Price, Deadlines: Pick 6

So I listen to Back to Work, I pay attention to things Merlin makes now and again, even when it doesn't feel as though it applies to me or my own work. One item of discussion from an episode that went by months ago that's stuck with me is the general requirements to the success of a project: Resources, Management, and Deadlines.

I think Merlin and Dan were probably talking about guys programming in cubes, but when it comes to producing independent short films for the i-net, I find it's rare to be gifted with all three of those.  We try to make do with two of them, a la Fast, Good, or Cheap.

A video that comes to me on a hard drive, even when it's beautifully shot (or failing that, shot with technical accuracy), that someone wants made as a favor, just wants it done "soon" and never checks in or responds to my attempts to check in with them, is not a video that's getting done.

So without Resources, Management, or Deadline, a potential- well, not client, but potential favor recipient- is left to hope for Fast, Cheap, OR Good.  Just one!  Pretty much any other project is going to get done first, because the message that comes through to me is that if it's not worth the attention of the writer/director/lead actor, I don't know why it's more worthy of my time than any of the dozen other projects I'm casually juggling or tentatively agreeing to work on someday.

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Apparently, every couple years I end up with a video that confounds me to a degree that between the client and I, someone should really be firing someone, but without any resources, management, or deadlines, apparently nobody notices or wants to pass up the sweetheart deal they're getting (or would be, if I could figure out how to finish the thing).

So why or how do I end up with such a project? Well, in the most recent quagmire, I didn't even agree to the work, the files were just delivered one day instead of answers to the preliminary questions I usually ask. This should have been a big red flag; I should have refused delivery. But I'm an optimist! I'll agree to at least discuss a project with almost anybody. This is partially because 1 in 5 projects discussed might actually happen. And I want to make things. I like making them.

At the most extreme example of experimentally saying yes to every project that came my way, I had at one point, in less than a week, agreed to cut an entire feature film for $400, color correct a different feature for $0, co-host a daily podcast about video games, and probably contribute in some way to another short or two.  None of those projects happened, and after agreeing to their terms and in some cases meeting in person I never heard from anyone involved in any of those projects again.  Perhaps now, years later, they'll all come knocking one day and wonder if I'm ready to get to work...

Machine of Death Flashfiction

The lovely people at Machine of Death put out a call a few weeks ago for 55-word Machine of Death-related short stories. I wrote one immediately, and then forgot all about it.  It goes like this:

"We meet again, old friend," announced the Duke, as he stripped off his gloves.

A few minutes later, the slip shot out of the machine.  An aide retrieved it.

"Just like all the others," said the Duke. "Where's the next one?"

The aide scratched off an item on his clipboard and got in the limousine.

I just coincidentally happened to submit it before the deadline, but because I already wrote a blog entry that day, you won't see this for another couple of days, by when it will be TOO LATE to submit your own!

HOWEVER, since MoD was on my mind whilst grocery shopping, this following true tale of terror on the high seas came to mind:

"Since when do you drink your father's Diet Coke?" Brad's mother demanded.

"I don't," said Brad.

"Then why was this can in your trash?" his mother asked.

"He was just upstairs when he threw it away, I guess."

"Don't you lie to me!"

Brad looked at the frame on the wall. OLD AGE. He sighed.

UPDATE:  You can read the MoD staff's favorites on their website.  If you're like me, and bad at reading the initial prompt, you'll notice how they're all to do with existing pop culturey things.  You'll say 'well that's kind of boring.  What gives?'  And finally you'll realize that was the assignment, and feel just slightly sillier about your own non-fanfic flashfic.  But at least you didn't write fanfic.