Frank Ramblings

I’ve always been fascinated by photography. When I was younger, my dad would show me the photos he took when he traveled across Europe as a bachelor. I always admired his natural talent for framing and capturing the best shots. Growing up, I always respected good photography and tried to emulate it, albeit without much success. I always owned some kind of camera and would go through phases when all I wanted to do was take pictures. In the last few years, as digital photography has really come into its own, I’ve gotten to know some pretty amazing photographers, both professional and amateur. And now that everyone carries a camera in the form of a cell phone, we’re all photographers. But is this democratization of the artform necessarily a good thing?

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A little over a week ago, I was checking Twitter on my commute home from work when I noticed several people using the hashtag #BWENY. Further investigation revealed that this was the official hashtag of the BlogWorld & New Media Expo in New York City. I knew that the conference was coming up soon, so this made sense. I joined the conversation and began tweeting away with other bloggers and social media enthusiasts who were talking about BlogWorld. I had read that they would be giving away free passes to the conference, but I didn’t think much of it. Imagine my surprise when I saw a tweet announcing that I had won a pass! I was shocked, but excited. Wednesday rolled around and I found myself walking the Exhibitor Floor at the Jacob Javits Center with my co-worker Cara. I spoke to people from dozens of companies providing fantastic services to bloggers, brands, and agencies. I was already familiar with some, like Groupon, Posterous, and WordPress, but I also learned about some really promising new companies. Some were better than others, but I plan on trying them all out. Have a look and tell me which ones you like best!

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Life has been busier than ever, but somehow I’ve managed to emerge from my cave and do a bit of guest blogging this week. I had forgotten just how much I love it and it was a refreshing change of pace from my recent activities.

First, I wrote up a piece for the Likeable Media blog. My post is a guide to avoiding annoying trends and events in your social media stream without having to give up your addiction all together. It was first inspired by my annoyance with Super Bowl tweets, but it really applies to any event that you don’t want to have polluting your timeline. Please do me a huge favor and hit the “Tweet” button when you read it!

Next, I wrote a post for my good friends at GeeksOfDoom.com. Yesterday was the 47th anniversary of The Beatles’ arrival in the US, so I contributed a piece that put into perspective the impact that their arrival had on music and on history in general. It’s just a brief look into my feelings on the subject, but it’s something I feel really passionate about, and I’m proud of how it turned out.

I’m going to try to use this unexpected burst of self-expression and turn it into something productive. I really miss blogging, but I’m so busy doing things these days, I rarely have the time to sit down and make a verbal record of them. Still, I really love the rewarding nature of blogging, and I miss writing for fun. I’m not going to be that guy who apologizes for not updating his blog often enough, promises to blog every day, and then disappears for another six months, but I am going to at least try and make a habit of  keeping this site at least somewhat up to date. I’ve felt uninspired for several months, but lately, some ideas have been brewing, and I’d love a chance to put them into words and get them out there. So here’s to blogging!

I say it to myself all the time. Each time, I know that the more I say it, the deeper I dig myself. And yet I keep going. I’m just not busy enough, apparently. Well, in the last couple of months I’ve been saying, “Sure, I can do that,” a lot more than ever before. As busy as that makes me, I’ve found that I actually enjoy diving head-first into a project and just giving it everything I’ve got. My most recent projects are two new podcasts. I know. Shocking.

Since December, I’ve been working with some friends on starting a network of audio dramas based on our favorite comic books. We call ourselves Thought Bubble Audio. Our debut project is a Superman/Batman tale based on the origins of Supergirl as told by Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner. It’s an awesome story and adapting it for audio has been a challenging but incredibly fun process. I’ve been blogging about it on our site, tracking our progress, and it continues to blow my mind that we’re actually doing something. Pre-production is just about wrapped up now and we’re beginning the daunting process of actually recording and producing what we hope will be an exciting and fun show. Check out the site and follow us on Twitter for updates and news about when we’ll be ready for release!

Another project I’ve been working on for the last several weeks is something I’ve been thinking about for quite some time: a tech podcast. My good friend Justin Vactor of the Geekland, Entertainment Overload, and Gotham Central podcasts joined forces with me to create Tech Ramblings: a show where we talk tech with our own fun spin. Justin and I have known each other for over a year now, and I’ve always considered him a very knowledgeable and capable podcaster. He produces very high quality shows, and it’s been a pleasure to work with him. We just have a great time talking 3 tech news issues each week, often giving our own opinions on what’s going on. It’s a rapid-fire snapshot of what’s going on in the tech industry from week to week. I look forward to recording with Justin every week and I hope you’ll look forward to hearing what we have to say!

On top of these new shows, I’m actually working on developing as many as 3 more, if everything works out. If everything comes together to make these shows happen, I’ll be podcasting with some very cool friends who I’ve been looking forward to working with for a while now. Things are about to get crazy over here and I’m dying to get into it all. I’ll be trying out some new things I’ve never done before. Sure, my life as a student, intern, and employee already keep me busy, but these projects make it all seem worth it. They keep me sane and give me something to look forward to. So here’s to more podcasting!

In Life After the 30-Second Spot, author Joseph Jaffe states clearly and repeatedly that the 30-second television ad is a dying element of years gone by. He seeks to offer methods that businesses can use to invigorate their brand names by using new media alternatives to traditional advertising. Jaffe lists 10 Tenets for Marketing to a New Consumer and he offers 10 approaches that he says are changing the face of advertising and marketing. His overall premise is that the 30-second TV spot is dead, and that advertisers need to face reality and make effective use of new media alternatives if they are to succeed in the high-tech future that is already beginning to assert itself. He makes some valid points, as well as a few that have already been disproven in the short time since the book was written. Nevertheless, his ideas are thought provoking and I found myself agreeing with much of what he had to say.

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