Thursday, May 31, 2012

Backup Career #2, Or Attempts at Podcasting

Hi there, friends. Happy June! Last week, my friend Cailey and I had an idea to start a podcast. We went home, recorded an episode on my computer (hence the quality), did some editing, and then could not for the life of us figure out how to submit it to iTunes as a podcast, so I'm posting it here. If you like it, please feel free to tell your friends. Maybe it'll take off. Or maybe it's just the idle ranting of two megalomaniacs who love to hear themselves talk. Either way, for your listening pleasure, I now present the first episode of "Backup Career #2."

Twenty-somethings Cailey and Kimber have yet to decide on long-term careers and, as humanities majors, have few marketable skills. Therefore, each episode they will choose and discuss the relative merits of a “backup career” in the hopes of discovering a plausible fall-back. This week, they take a look at "Barista."

Friday, May 18, 2012

Back to Work

Hello dear readers. I'm sorry for the recent lapse in posting. I have effectively been on vacation for the past month, but now it's time to get back to work, and by that I mean, get back to procrastinating by writing blog posts.

I have a 15,000-word dissertation due in about three months, so expect many a post between now and then. To kick off my return, I would like to link you to something I think you should know about.

If you've never heard of Ze Frank, he is many things, but I will use the title Wikipedia assigns him, which is "American online performance artist." He is all about using the internet to bring communities together through projects and songs and thoughtful meditations. I'm not really explaining him very well, but what you really need to know is that he's inspirational and funny and sometimes, very strange. But in a good way.

From March 2006 to March 2007, he had a daily web program called the show, of which several of my friends were huge fans. He ended the show after that year, but now he is doing a new show, aptly titled a show, and I think it's great. Each episode of both the show and a show is short (between 3 and 5 minutes) and very fast-paced. Here is the first episode of a show. It is "an invocation for beginning," which is great if you've ever had trouble getting started with something.



If you're not used to Ze Frank's style, he may take some getting used to, but I love him and his internet projects. He also has a website called Star.Me, where members respond to daily missions and then give each other stars for a job well done. Again, it encourages creativity and community interaction.

Finally, here is a video of Ze talking at the TED conference. He explains what it is he does a lot better than I can by giving examples of some of the interactive projects he has encouraged people to get involved with. It's pretty neat. Enjoy!