Archive for April, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, my banner of Sorgatron Media ventured into it’s first foray in representing at a Comic Con.  We partnered with our fellow creative mind, Mulango of Mangtoons, and Dan of Comic Book Pitt with a plan.  We decided to take a shot at the cheaper Artist Alley table for some visibility for our shows like Wrestling Mayhem Show, AwesomeCast, and Dan’s show as well as for Mulango’s comic strips, Carbon Copy Squared and Buy Shack.

We wanted the presence, and we wanted content.  Dan and I received press passes and planned to cover the show in a joint efforts of our two web sites.  I needed a comic book expert to host, and he could use some video skills in the fold.  We managed to score fourteen interviews with all sorts of comic book artists and writers over the weekend (which may mean about 15 videos contributed to both our sites).  Dan was amazing in organizing the meet ups and knowing when to bother them and not to.  He was also very good on his feet, as you can see in our launch video for the series, when the power goes out two ours from the end of day three, he turns it into an observation about paper comics vs digital.  Amazing.

Courtesy Dan Greenwald

Is This a Flea Market? That’s the sort of feeling I get from something like the Steel City Con in the past when I’ve attended, and I got a little bit of it here.  Early Friday morning I walked the floor to get a look at what’s out there for our shoots later, and was fearful to get close to some booths.  I step up to just take a peak at something that catches my eye to be bombarded by the sales and deals of the weekend in a desperate plea.  We talked on AwesomeCast 47 about this at more length.  It was a big turn off, and you probably didn’t get the business you seek.  Especially since I had a press pass and mentioned I’m just scouting right now.

Interactivity.  Much like when you’re doing any other marketing, you need a call to action.  Since we were not going to sell anything, and, in fact, be giving away business cards, stickers, raffle prizes, and scores of prints of comic strips, we had a little more than displays and prices of some, yet less since we didn’t have the greatest in large art displays..  Mulango realed people in with some signs for his new buysHACK comic, including “Best Buy Sucks!” “Do you still shop at Radio Shack” “Tell me your story” to go along with his user generated idea for the comic.  I, on the other hand, knew a giant banner that said “wrestling” on it would get another sort of subset of con visitors, and both sets intermingled.  We already have ideas to make our presence even bigger because…

Size matters. Looking at the included picture, it should be revealed that we sort of started taking over our open neighboring tables that weren’t sold off.  We needed more room (and ended up getting it, by luck) But this isn’t the way to do it.  Granted, we had some sweet placement in the back of the event near Bob Hall and the kid from The Walking Dead, so our oversized banners, signs, and video playback had a lot of chance to get noticed.  For the next venture, we have plans to go bigger and better.

Actually, sir, I'm a member if The Press...

It’s a tight and awesome community…but not… Filming the interviews over the weekend, I had a first hand look at the true nature of the show, and the artists that are the true lifeblood.  What they see in the con, why they’ve come for 5, 10, 15 years…and why maybe it’s not so great anymore.  The comic book world is certainly in some form of transition with the move to digital for some, and greater accessibility for artists to reach out to fans and get noticed.  No longstanding community is going to be perfect, and without anyone talking up the glory days, but I’m glad to be a small part of this one from an “outsider’s” (not a comic creator.  Heck, not being much of a drawer).

What’s next? This was the trial run for us to test things, see if this was a good angle for getting the word out there for our respective projects to get readers, viewers, listeners, and build a community into something really cool.  We have a few select cons on the posible list, but are almost certain we will be returning in a hear to Pittsburgh’s.

Oh, and editing all of those great interviews!  Check our initial Wrap up video here!

From: April 14, 2011
To: April 14, 1997
By way of Gmail to MailCity bypass (bottled technology, William!)

Hey me! How’s it going? Don’t answer that. And don’t give me credit for that inventive title. Someone else wrote it.

Anyways, I thought about everything going on, and all of the cool toys we’ve been playing with. And by toys, I mean what we’re using to get some honest to goodness work and play down, equally.

So, I know you have been looking forward to technology and the internet at this point, watching those old CNet shows on Sunday morning and can’t wait to get to your 33.6 modem to get those “Daily Downloads”, but man are you going to be surprised.

I know you’ve only had the time wasting glory of satellite television for maybe a year at this point after all those years of barely three channels. You will soon find that maybe it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be, though. When you get to the big ol’ 2011, many of the people you will know, despite not being poor, won’t be bothering with it. We’ll be getting our television over the internet. And not on those postage stamp videos you’re excited to queue up 30 seconds of after a fifteen minute wait. Catalogues of movies for a flat rate, automatic boxes at the grocery store. It’s crazy. You’re going to be amazed that the old Video Shelf has survived this long. It’s one of the few video stores that has.

Have you started downloading music yet? Feel a little dirty? It’s not going to be much better. Heck, it’s actually going to fade a little bit. But only because you can click a button and buy a track for a buck. Dangerously easy, actually.

And I know you’re real big on tinkering with your computer and upgrading it. It’s a thrill! It’s knowledge that’s going to help you, but don’t be surprised when that fades as you turn to the dark side to become a “Machead”. Believe me, you’ll be better for it.

Has Bill Gates been talking about tablets yet? If not, he will be soon. I’m pretty sure you’ll ignore him, but you might be typing a blog post to yourself in 14 years on something that sounds as crazy as he sounds with a fruit emblazoned on his back. A friend may even be looking to convert wholly away from laptops and desktops as you know it for a month as a test. It’s that close. You’ll find yourself playing games on that thing (and a phone. We didn’t believe it until we saw it either) than my Xbox. What’s that? Well, Microsoft got something right. Mostly.

Well, it was good to check in with you again, old pen pal. I know you’re in the process of a desperate move for your future. Don’t worry, that new school will launch you into plenty of new opportunities. Even that Media class you’re sure won’t bear any fruit other than an easy A is going to be more applicable than you think. Remember when you looked at movies and wrestling and thought they were just so far out of your reach? Start trying to shake that doubt now. Trust me.

Till next time!
30 Year Old You

Oh, Music Funtime Show.  How I dig thee.  It’s one of those shows that’s been more of a labor of love than anything.  I started the social thing on the vehicle of music fandom, did some rapping, put out an album, and continued to do shows and interviews around it, but alas, you have to go away.  But maybe for just a little bit.

I’ve always envisioned the Sorgatron Media as a place for some variety of shows to flourish, starting with shows based on my own interests in technology (AwesomeCast), professional wrestling (Wrestling Mayhem Show), and of course, music.  The show started as a spin off from a failed music show I had with a host that didn’t work out almost a year ago, dropping us down to the basics to keep the ball rolling.  I managed to get a few interviews from friends and contacts, including Madhatter of Scrub Club, Basick Sickness, MC Frontalot, and Kottonmouth Kings, all were great.  Weeks I couldn’t manage a new interview, I recycled some of my old interviews from my first music site.  All sprinkled with free and podsafe tracks collected in a small package.

Eventually, the need for video with some of these interviews seemed imminent.  My old friend Dr. Espling had his Kingdom Extreme Magazine started contributing to the show a segment to try to create some synergy between our independent “brands”.  This led the the thought to split the audio and video into two shows since videos of songs were not always available.  And who wants to stare at logos for that period?

But I received a sign on the eve of that launch of the video version that seemed like maybe we should hold off.  I pushed on the music only show, and it felt rushed sometimes.  It was time to let the project sleep for a bit.

What this does is clear some of that energy and focus that I need for some of the endeavors on the horizon right now.

I’m not going to sleep on the music front entirely.  I will still do my best to pass over any interesting underground music tidbits to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Especially what I find here in the Pittsburgh area.  And if some event or opportunity should arise, I should still be posting them in the Sorgatron Media Specials feed, or maybe bring back the show title for special occasions.

Who knows what the future will hold?

I seriously think that my ventures into the online world of watching television are affecting my wife.

We have not had a DVR in our house since about this time in 2009.  We lived on that thing.  Time shifting all of our favorite programming to our hearts content.  I remember managing most of what I watched with that thing, or watching Deadwood over the on demand service.  Either way, we plowed through television we wanted when we wanted to.

Then I cut the cord and introduced her to Hulu.

Time shifting has become the norm for most these days.  I’m sure there are plenty that still do, but more of the world is not making appointment television anymore.  Not for The Office.  Not for How I Met Your Mother.  I drop in to watch WWE RAW only.

I remember growing up with my three choices of channels, and just accepting what was on.  Whether it was being stuck with Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight or Designing Women, of all things.  This is why I still have an unhealthy fondness of Candice Bergen.

It’s sort of funny when you watch ads on the stations anymore.  USA or TNT are prime examples.  You see a marathon advertisement, or an ad for Pirates of the Caribean (pick one) being played several times all weekend.  Often billed as “several chances to watch”.  Several opportunities to watch a two and a half hour movie over three and a half hours with commercials.  Thanks pal.  Oh, and don’t forget about things flying across my screen advertising some other marathon, original series premiere, or WWE monday night.  (wait a sec…)  I pay for this?  The amount of movies I can watch on my 9.99 Netflix plan, whether DVD or streaming, pales the offerings on my “200″ television stations.  What the hell am I paying for again?  Is it just because I’m conditioned to pay to have the same choices everyone else does?

I guess what I’m looking at is a liberation.  Most of us love our TVs.  And unhealthily so.  But that chance to continue to be mobile, enjoy that content that inspires us, and not have to worry about keeping that night off (except for Mondays, wrestling fans!).

I’m always brainstorming some little weird things I could do with the internet.  Last week’s Project Sit on the Floor should be proof of that.

This one tracks back to two Saturdays ago as I sat there at the dining room table with Missy and Veronica chilling out after a night out for my birthday.  My mother had given me a tremendous gift with a Jumbo Smurfs coloring book and crayons as something of a gag gift since I sort of marked out at the upcoming Smurfs movie.  (odd New York City placement is forgiven for Neil Patrick Harris placement.)  I was coloring the pages, and using my handy Instagram app to post some pics.  Then the idea for a Smurf Art website came to mind as a bit of refrigerator and magnet posting of my “art”.

Thanks to AJ around this week’s AwesomeCast recording, Tumblr was brought up!  I remember such great sites as Justin Kownacki’s Tony Danza Space Pretzel or Where’s Randy Savage, which I became aware of thanks to some Mayhem Show fans.  This was a way better idea than buying a .com and installing yet another wordpress on my site that can fall by the wayside technically!  I’d been made aware of it more and more (yes, I’ve come across it before, but some real look at it) thanks to talking with Mulango on his comic strips that he started on the service as an original home.

So I signed up while rendering this week’s Mayhem Show and AwesomeCast, uploaded my couple of instagrams, and a site was born!  Along with that, I also signed up from another inspiration from the night.

Enter: Cue Cat

Chachi helped us further a rathole on Radio Shack by bringing up our days going around for the free bar code scanner, the Cue Cat, way back when we were in high school.  Thanks to my own pack ratism, I pulled it right off of a shelf in the studio area and everyone geeked.  A picture of AJ with said doodad, and another Tumblr we go!

I’m trying to figure where to go with either site, if they’re a passing interest, or something that could grow.  Maybe a Project Sit on the Floor Tumblog?  It’s quick, easy, and I can manage new pics on the fly from an iPhone app.

For now, please feel free to visit either crazy experiment at SmurfArt.tumblr.com and CueCat.tumblr.com.

Stop what you’re doing. Sit on the floor. Take a picture of the view. Tweet it.