Archive for July, 2008


seeking other means of video storage

7/1/2008

Recently I’ve considered closing my 2 YouTube channels permanently and moving my video elsewhere. There are plenty to choose from.

My reason for wanting to switch is for two 2 reasons:

  1. YouTube has been a paid-only club for some time now.
  2. The YouTube community is, without a shadow of a doubt, the absolute worst internet community that exists.

The paid-only club

Every YouTuber’s dream is to become a “partner”, i.e. to get paid by YouTube (Google). The problem with that is that you’re not a videomaker anymore; you’re an actor.

Let me clue you in on what happened to more than a few of these “actors”.

Hollywood fast realized that YouTube is in essence nothing more than a public access channel on steroids. Same crapola, much larger scale. As the old saying goes, you can’t polish a turd - it’s still shit.

When Hollywood put a few of these YouTube celebs on the small screen, no one bought it. Absolutely none of the internet fame translated to a wide broadcast audience the way people thought it would. Every single attempt to make it work crashed and burned. You can’t sell “internet cute” on television. It just doesn’t work, period.

As a result, there are more than a few YouTube celebs that moved to California who have come to the realization that going there was a huge mistake. Some still have a few bucks in their pocket but are losing money. Others are close to being penniless.

Mentally speaking, a few of these celebs are completely off their rocker at this point. They figured “Hey, I’m famous on the internet. I can do anything I want.” No, you can’t. Did you not remember that the line between the internet and real world is very, very thick? Guess not. When you have early-20s kid + internet fame, that kid thinks he or she rules the world. Nope. That’s not the way it works.

If any one of you YouTube celebs reads this (and it’s the internet so hey, it could happen), here’s my suggestion to you if you moved to California and have found it’s not a bowl of cherries there: Pack up now and leave. L.A. is a tough town that chews people up and spits them out for breakfast. Go home, rest, live normally to the best of your ability and try again in a few years if you feel like it. It is not an admission of defeat, it’s being realistic.

The worst community on the internet

Everyone hates the YouTube community, myself included. In fact it’s a stretch to even call it a community. A more accurate description would be “a bunch of fuckwits that just figured out how to use MySpace yesterday”. Give me a break.

Wherever I decide to place my videos in the future is going to be somewhere that’s reliable that has little or no commentary allowed at all. Possibly Internet Archive. That site has no “cool factor” to it whatsoever AND THAT’S FINE BY ME. Old school is good school as far as I’m concerned.

So whenever I get to it I’ll get to it. Yeah, sounds vague, but whatever. Not a pressing matter at this point. YouTube has run its course for me. Time to put my time and effort into something better.

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wild child

7/2/2008

I got a blast from the past which to date is the oldest contact yet: An e-mail from an ex-girlfriend I last knew almost 14 years ago. Yes this a girl I used to know before my 20s and has now found me at 33.

We traded a few e-mails, then traded phone numbers, then spoke yesterday on the phone. Very cool. She remembered quite a bit about me. During the conversation I remembered things about her too. It was interesting, it was ultra-nostalgic and it was surreal to speak with someone that I last knew when I was a teen (and so was she).

She also holds the distinction of being a girl I met online - but not via internet. Via BBS. Talk about old-school. “Wild Child” was her handle.

Something she said to me really hit a chord. She asked if I got married and all that. I said that I didn’t but I still look pretty decent. She said yeah, that’s why I still look decent and guys who don’t settle down don’t get fat.

That made me think for a moment. I guess I really haven’t ever settled down. And when will I? I have no idea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The best part about chatting with her is that she was really nice to me and I really needed that right now. I’ve been in the dumps concerning dating recently and my opinion of women soured. But then I get a call, I am told things in kind and yeah, it put a smile on my face combined with a lot of warm feelings.

Her words said to me “Rich, all girls are not bad.” This is true. She’s not bad at all. Never was.

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keeping the digitech

7/2/2008

I mentioned this in a live broadcast I recently did, but yeah I’m keeping the Digitech GSP1101. I had debated returning the thing but after messing around with it I finally got it to sound the way I like.

Here’s a vid I made a few days ago just messing around with it. There’s electronic buzzing because I had the output set incorrect (since fixed). I’ll do up another GSP1101 vid eventually. :-)

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positional vertigo

7/4/2008

Last nite something happened that scared the hell out of me. I laid down on my back as I normally do when I go to bed and got a mild bout of vertigo. It only lasted a few seconds but it really threw me. I immediately turned over and it went away.

Seeing if it would happen again under the same circumstances, I sat up, lied down on my back again and it returned. I turned over again, it went away.

Then I laid down on my back slowly and it didn’t happen.

Weird? Oh yes.

I have what appears to be an extremely mild case of positional vertigo. I have never had it before and from what I read this is something that will filter itself out of my system in a few weeks. Medication basically does nothing for it in mild cases.

When sitting I’m fine. When driving I’m fine. It’s only when I specifically lie down on my back fast that my head spins. And I feel somewhat “heavy” in the head when when I walk. It’s nothing major but it’s still very, very frightening.

I was going to drive to Pop’s tonight for the 4th but I’m going to pass on that. If I feel better tomorrow I’ll take the trip. Other than they heavy-headed feeling I’m okay otherwise.

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vertigo update

7/5/2008

A small while ago I just drove back from Pop’s. The trip was uneventful which was good. I feel much better today than I did yesterday (mostly due to the fact I’m not freaking out now). What I’m doing now is lying down slowly and everything is a-okay when I do that, so hopefully things will continue on that track. The heavy-headed feeling is mostly gone and that’s a huge relief.

I have a strong feeling that the reason my vertigo happened in the first place was because I drank a massive amount of energy drinks. My favorite was Monster Lo-Carb. I drank at least a can of that a day, sometimes three. And as I recently found out there is a warning printed on every can of that stuff. Look for it, it’s there. It says to drink more than a certain amount per day and I’m very sure I was going over that amount.

Why didn’t I notice the warning before? Well, who looks for a warning on a can of soda (seriously)? Guess I have to start reading labels more.

Anyway, I’m done with that stuff. No more energy drinks for me.

And by the way, I have discovered what has to be the worst soda of all time. Mountain Dew “Revolution”. I figured I’d try a bottle of it. It was good. Then I read the label. 76 FUCKING GRAMS OF SUGAR. That is INSANE. Now I don’t think it’s good.

And Diet Mountain Dew? That tastes good too. But oh, the aspartame… ugh.. guess that’s out too.

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test post with google video

7/6/2008

Well, after looking around for an alternative place to host my videos, the tried-and-true Google Video appears to be a likely candidate.

I uploaded an old video I did in ‘06 and will attempt to embed it in this post. Hope it works. :-)

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d-burg stuff, youtube stuff

7/7/2008

A mystery solved: I found out thru chatting with a friend on the phone that Killingly Cinemas 3 a.k.a. what was formerly known as “Hoyt’s Cinemas” shut down. Then reopened. Then shut down again. Then reopened again. That place changes ownership more than I change my frickin’ socks.

The sad part is that KC3 is the only place local to there for movies. Otherwise you’d have to travel at least a good 15 to 20 minutes to find another theater.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve checked out some other video services besides YouTube but there lies one huge problem - I have to re-upload all my videos again. And I don’t want to do that because it wastes massive amounts of time.

But I also don’t want to deal with the YouTube community bullshit either.

Solution: Turn off all e-mail notifications.

I will still be posting vids to YouTube whenever the mood strikes me. However I have purposely turned off any type of event notification the site would send me. If someone comments on a vid of mine, I’ll never see it. If someone subscribes to my channel, I’ll never see it. If I get sent a private message, I’ll never see it blah blah you get the idea.

YouTube is one of those things where if you use it solely for posting videos and participate in none of community crapola, it’s not a bad place. If someone wants to write some “hater” commentary, let ‘em.

As widespread as the YouTube site is, the truth of the matter is that if someone “goes after you” in the form of a comment, video response or whatever - no one cares. It doesn’t what anyone says in your direction as long as it doesn’t bother you. And yes, I was guilty of letting it bother me.

Turning off event notifications is the easiest way to avoid all that 100%. Now I don’t worry about it.

And I also don’t have to re-upload my videos either. :-)

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Star Trek: The Experience lost footage

7/8/2008

Wil Wheaton said that Star Trek: The Experience is closing September 1 2008. I never got to go to it. In fact, I’ve never been to Las Vegas. I should go one of these days.

I managed  to dig up some unused footage that was never used at the attraction. Check it out.

And did you know there was also going to be a similar attraction using the original series? I found lost footage of that too.

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Discover has shady marketing tactics

7/10/2008

Oh do I have a good tale to tell about this.

I started getting calls from the number 866-831-4847, labeled on the CallerID as “800 service”. The first few times I answered and got nothing but dead air. I figured it must be a fluke and didn’t pay it any mind.

Over the course of the next few days that I get calls from that number twice a day. Then 3 times a day. Then FIVE times a day.

Now I’m pissed off. So I do a lil’ internet research and find out Discover owns this number and it’s a marketing bullshit thing, however it’s noted all you have to do is call and the calls will stop.

“Okay, no big deal” I say to myself. I call Discover and ask they remove me from all their promotions and offers. Rep says it won’t be a problem.

A few days later: I start getting blasted with calls from this number again.

I call Discover again, verified my info (as is the usual case), gave them the number and asked if they own it. The rep said “Hold on, I’ll go check”. About 5 minutes later the rep comes back and says she can’t find that number anywhere in their database. I know this is outright bullshit because many others have reported that yes, this is a Discover marketing number. I asked her if it was on record that I called to request that the promotional offer calls STOP. She said yes, I made that request and it was on file. I told her to note on my account that I called again and to stop giving me promotional offers completely.

This is where it gets interesting.

The rep got notably nervous at this point. I was calm, cool and not angry. Why the rep was nervous I had no idea. Then she said “Well it takes 2 to 4 days.. er.. I mean 2 to 4 weeks for this to happen.” Right there I knew she truly didn’t know the answer of when the promotional b.s. would actually stop.

Keeping my cool I said “Okay, I just want it to be on record that I called and complained about it” and left it at that.

The next day: I start getting calls again.

I answered this time. Loudly.

Me: WHO THE FUCK IS THIS?!

Discover: Hello, Sir! This is Discover with a fabulous offer [blah blah blah] –

Me: I CALLED DISCOVER AND TOLD THEM TO STOP FUCKING CALLING ME WITH PROMOTIONAL OFFERS. I AM NOT INTERESTED IN BUYING YOUR SHIT AND DON’T EVER FUCKING CALL ME AGAIN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Discover (very nervous at this point): Uh.. okay sir.. have a nice day..

[click]

My phone hasn’t rang with that number since. Very sad I had to lose my temper just to get those assholes to stop calling me.

Needless to say my phone didn’t ring with that stupid number at all after I spelled it out to them DON’T CALL ME.

We’ll see what happens now. But I hope every single person in that fucking call center knows who I am now and understands that if they don’t want an earful of anger from yours truly, don’t fucking call me when I tell you not to.

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sugary goodness

7/10/2008

I have decided to eliminate all energy drinks and sugar substitutes from my diet after my recent vertigo spell (which is just about gone by the way). This means no more Nutrasweet (aspartame) or Splenda (sucralose).

The entire reason why I switched to sugar substitutes in the first place was to lose weight, but I’m totally willing to put some extra time on the treadmill to combat the fatty nature of more sugar intake.

And as far as the energy drinks were concerned, I just liked the taste of it.

Here’s what I’ve noticed so far about using cane sugar:

No aftertaste

It was different drinking a cup of coffee and not tasting the sucralose aftertaste. Instead it was just sweet like I remember it from years ago.

It was weird buying sugar again

I don’t remember the last time I bought sugar, but I do know it was several years ago. Today I bought some sugar cubes.

My body likes sugar

The lack of true sugar in my system left me a bit sluggish and lightheaded at times. But since putting it back into my system my body seems to like it quite a bit. I definitely feel more alert (as in the normal way and not the bouncing-off-the-wall way).

Here’s what I’ve noticed about not drinking energy drinks anymore:

Cash

All energy drinks are ridiculously expensive, including the Monster Lo-Carb that I drank. The cheapest can in a 16-oz. that costs almost 3 bucks.

Now I’m drinking just regular stuff (regular sodas, orange juice, etc.) and none of it is over 2 bucks. In fact some of it is under 1 buck.

I feel a lot better and I’m saving cash, so life is good.

Oh, and another note on cash. Regular sugar is way cheaper than sugar substitutes. By a huge, huge margin.

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