Since the band just released a new album, don't forget to mosey over to OK Go's website and pick up a copy of the album, which is available for download from their website, Amazon, and iTunes.
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Check out this interesting Op-Ed piece by the band's lead singer, Damian Kulash Jr. about the issues with embedding music videos and how the music companies are stifling the viewing of the band's videos by demanding payment for them.
Special thanks to the ever lovely Felicia Day for tweeting about this!
Well, I feel a bit guilty for letting February blow by without adding so much as a third post. Not that it matters, but seeing Michael Ian Black's exposed belly the entire month couldn't have been much help either.
Explanation?
Comics. Web comics to be precise. Now that it's over I'm hesitant to say whether or not I think it was worth it, but I suppose we'll see as time goes on. You see, I entered a set of four video game related comics I drew up into a contest for the online magazine, The Escapist. Because I found out about the contest late in the month, I pretty much dedicated most of my time last month toward thinking about ideas and then executing them. Unfortunately for my sleep, the "executing" part was jammed into the last week with a full out all-nighter on Saturday. That probably wasn't the best way to do it, especially seeing as I drove for my 10 hour work shift literally three hours after I hit "submit" on the Escapist's website, but I managed to stay awake on the road, and last night's sleep was sweet reward for a very long month.
Now all that remains is finding out if the folks at The Escapist think my comics are worth paying me for or not. Based on my past efforts, I'm not holding my breath, but the act of making comics was so fun that I'm really not bothered by the possibility to be honest. I really do enjoy this stuff, even though I've never been successful at it. To think of the years spent drawing up pages to show at conventions, only to find out I need to work on improving again and again...well, it just goes to show that I'm too stubborn or stupid (or both) to give up.
I was taking a look at my submission, and to be honest I'm not sure about my chances with the contest - but I do know that I can put them up here and be proud enough to show them off to the people who still managed to come back despite seeing Black's midsection all last month. You guys don't need quality, right? No seriously, I'm hoping that when I do post them up you'll all be able to get a laugh out of them. If I can even manage a chuckle, I'll be content. With any luck the creative urge won't go away either, and I can continue to make them a regular part of en•blog. Practice makes perfect after all; and if there ever is another contest I plan on winning.
As soon as I get word about the contest results I'll post the first comic on en•blog. Until then, plan on seeing more content regardless!
I'm almost willing to put up with this just to be published. Ah hell, what am I saying - I'd almost be willing to pay to put up with this just to be published. Maybe I can look forward to that in the future, but until then, enjoy.
I'm very happy to announce that the new painting, which I've decided to title, Abandonment, is up on my portfolio website! The painting is the result of two years of being off and on worked on - unfortunately more "off" than "on". What can I say, I've had other things to do!
But gratifyingly it is done now, and I'm planning on finding a location to display it as soon as next month if possible. Although I'd love to hang it up somewhere right now, the paint is still drying, and probably won't be fully dry for a few months (oil painting is a slow art).
Later this month I'll be trying to draft up a "Behind the Front Lines" post to discuss what went into this painting's preparation and inspiration. A lot of my traditional fine art stuff like this tends to be built pretty heavily on top of structure and meaning, and I hope that anyone really curious about this painting will find the rant interesting.
So, for right now you can view it at my portfolio website. Be sure to let me know what you think!
A very cool idea is running in Beta right now, and it's an idea that will help keep your cell phone minute usage down.
For people like me who only have a cell phone, the necessity of calling customer service lines and being kept on hold is doubly painful for the fact that 1) You're wasting minutes of your life away just listening to hold music and 2) You're wasting valuable minutes doing it.
Of course, the option to call during off peak hours and weekends usually means I'll simply call any time except normal business hours, but sometimes that isn't an option. Now, it doesn't even need to be an option because of LucyPhone.
So check it out - you input the 800 number using LucyPhone's website, then you'll get called by Lucy which runs in the background as you go through the prompts for whatever company you'd usually waste your time with. When you get put on hold, dial "*, *" and then Lucy takes over. You hang up, and Lucy calls you back when they decide to talk to you.
Sweet.
One of the cool things I like on their site is that they've followed any Twitter post that says the words, "On Hold With" to show how many people are always on hold. With any luck, that'll never be you or me!
The site is currently in invite-only Beta, which means you sign up your name and then an email invite will hopefully find it's way to your in box. I received mine the next day, but no guarantees on how popular this may get - my advice is sign up for your invite now.
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I just emailed LucyPhone about the security of things like Pin numbers and Account Numbers that are dialed in when using LucyPhone - I'll update the post with their answer!
Update 1/31/2010 Here's the transcript from my quick question to LucyPhone:
Q - I'm curious about the security of user information while being patched through by LucyPhone; is there anything that may make my dialed in Pin numbers or Account ID's less secure by using LucyPhone for things like banks?
A - That's a perfectly reasonable question. We take your privacy very seriously. The call audio is transmitted over ip (VOIP) just like VOIP phone services like Vonage. It passes through our secured data centers located in the US and Canada where we patch the calls, but we do not intercept any call information.
So there you go. VOIP has security vulnerabilities and there is a possibility that your information can be intercepted by a skilled hacker trying to get it. Making calls to banks and other financial services you use could be a bit more riskier, as are any calls were you use your Social Security Number's last four digits as identification.
The likelihood of it happening? Probably slim, but still the possibility exists, so keep it in mind! Overall I like the idea of LucyPhone, and with the service just in Beta there's a good chance the security measures will be increased if the service is popular enough.
"Artists Wanted is a collaborative project between several New York City artists and creative organizations working to build new lasting opportunities for emerging talent. We have experienced first hand the difficulties in breaking into the professional art world and it is our mission to make this process more welcoming, dynamic and open-ended."
This year Artist Wanted is looking for self portraiture, and the grand prize is international exposure, a feature in 3rd Ward Magazine, and your choice of $7007 or six months free rent in New York City. The cost for submitting entries is $10 an image, which isn't too much.
My entry is a handful of images I've created over the past few years, including this Twins! photo I hashed together for a fake MySpace profile a long time ago (long story). I didn't really think of it as self portraiture until I decided to enter the contest and was looking for something to submit, but looking at it I figured it was novel enough to garnish some attention.
If you would be so kind as to rate my portfolio, and tell anyone you know who's interested to rate it as well, I may be able to win the People's Choice Award and a cool $1000 for your trouble (assuming you rate it high of course - but don't let that stop you from looking at it!).
And by all means submit to the contest too! For $10 and a chance to show off your artwork to the big wig judges you can't go wrong. The contest closes January 21st.
Should I win I promise to think about you all as I blow the seven grand on my student loans and a new art scanner.
Let it be said that around the country, nay, the world, cries of challenge are rising up to defend and take sides with the zaniest and quite frankly most hilarious entertainer we have the honor of watching.
I'm sure I'm not alone when I say it was BS to have Leno come on before the Tonight Show any way - the drop in ratings prove it. But to assume that the prime time slot was only the reason Leno's show was tanking, and as the lead in, taking the Tonight Show down with it, is preposterous. More importantly, NBC needed to respect the legacy of the Tonight Show and it really needed to throw some respect Conan's way.
But now...NBC wants to move the Tonight Show back to 1230? They really need to pull their heads out of Leno's chin. The time shift stinks. Conan knows it, and he's doing the right thing.
Take a good look at your ratings NOW NBC - because those numbers aren't going up when you say goodbye to Conan. It doesn't matter what you put in his place, because Conan O'Brien's fans are going to have no hesitation telling you,
"I'M WITH COCO."
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Thanks to Mike Mitchell for allowing blogs and fan sites to use the "I'm With COCO" painting! We need shirts Mike!
Well, I feel a bit guilty for letting February blow by without adding so much as a third post. Not that it matters, but seeing Michael Ian Black's exposed belly the entire month couldn't have been much help either.
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