DrupalCampLA – September 13th and 14th, 2008

DrupalCampLA is all about Drupal, a high-end yet free content management system for building amazing, interactive and community driven web sites. If you need to branch out beyond the typical web site fare, Drupal could be for you.

Furthermore, the Drupal users of LA are a great group of people, freely sharing their expertise and showing of some amazing sites.

Best of all, its all FREE!!! (Except for parking, or better still, Metro Day Pass – $5)

One part of a successful New Media strategy is a strong online web presence. Drupal can go a long way towards making that possible.


From the DrupalCampLA web site…

Who is this event for?

Everyone interested in Drupal. Beginners, Designers, Developers, Community Leaders, Artists, Bands & Musicians, Non-technical People, Technical People, PHP Developers, MySQL & PostgreSQL Developers, CSS & Web Standards folk, User Experience Architects/Designers, CTOs, CEOs, Start-ups, IT & IS teams, Photographers, Videographers, Bloggers, Podcasters, DJ’s, Entertainment Agencies, Marketing Firms, Learning and Education Centers, Students, Teachers, Principles, Managers, Project Managers, Development Managers, C#/.Net people, Ruby people, Java people, Python people (no, really), JavaScript & jQuery junkies, Ajax ninjas, Digital Samurai, Models, Open-Source lovers, CMS anyone, Apache heads, LAMP stackers, and of course – Drupal fans!!!

How much does it cost?

The event is free (no ticket charge). We’re ironing out details so don’t get mad if you have to pay for parking each day as this is a really dope event, and everyone agrees it staying free is insane on our part, but we (and our sponsors) are awesome like that.

More info and registration at drupalcampla.com

What’s a podcast?

A recent Twitter message from my fellow Friends in Tech member, Kreg Steppe

steppek Just got a call from a Radio Area Survey. When asked I told them I listened to podcasts not radio…they asked what a Podcast is. FAIL.

Doesn’t surprise me in the least. Unfortunately, they will learn all too soon.

New Media Tech: MXL Mic Mate

Just came across the MXL Mic Mate when it was mentioned in a Seesmic video tonight. It converts any standard microphone using an MXL connector into a USB mic that can be plugged directly into your laptop.

This can be very useful if you often record remotely as it removes the need for a mixing board and other extra items in your audio bag.


Geek Mic Talk

WGA Member? Here’s a New Media Workshop for You!

“BREAKING IN AGAIN”

Empowering Writers In the Age of New Media

September 9th WGA Workshop

Sometimes ‘Breaking and Entering’ is not a felony! There’s a whole new world out there.

The changes and upheaval taking place in the entertainment industry are seismic – all due to technological changes over the past twenty years and gaining pace rapidly.

The longevity of a career consists of consistently ‘breaking in again’.

To stay in the game writers must adapt to the changing phases.

“Come up with a project the industry wants and they don’t care what you look like or how old you are!”

This seminar and workshop is designed to help you to use the technology to gain more exposure and ‘do it yourself’, to encourage writers to become more proactive and entrepreneurial, embracing the new technologies rather than fearing them.

In addition to introducing writers to the demands of the new media versus traditional, it will introduce writers to the new and user-friendly tools at their disposal and how best to use them to enhance their projects. A good career is a long career. And you can start addressing that no matter how old you are.

The first in a possible series of workshops.

BREAKING IN AGAIN – P.R. BIOS

DOUGLAS E. WELCH’s premier podcast, Career Opportunities, is nearing its 5th fifth year of weekly production. He is a pioneer Podcaster and computer consultant. Douglas consults on a variety of technology subjects in the Los Angeles area, teaches Podcasting and New Media for Writers at UCLA Extension, and was on the staff of the 2006 Stephens College Summer Film Workshop in Columbia, Missouri, teaching new filmmakers how to promote and distribute their work using new media.

ROSANNE WELCH is a television writer/producer with credits including FOX’s popular “Beverly Hills 90210” and CBS’s Emmy winning “Picket Fences” and a five year stint as a writer/producer on CBS’s top rated “Touched by an Angel”. In 1998 she researched, wrote and co-produced a two-part special documentary for ABC NEWS/Nightline “Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963”. She is also the author of two books (“Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids” from Seal Press, 2004 and “The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space” from ABC-CLIO, 1998). Before that Welch was a high school English teacher and freelance writer with editorials for the Los Angeles Times and The Cleveland Plain Dealer and she was one of the founding columnists for The Microsoft Network’s online literary magazine, Matter.

As a writer-producer MARC SCOTT ZICREE has hundreds of hours of network TV to his name, including STAR TREK – TNG, DEEP SPACE NINE (“Far Beyond the Stars”), BABYLON 5, SLIDERS, FRIDAY THE 13TH – THE SERIES, FOREVER KNIGHT and even SMURFS. He has had bestsellers in fiction and non-fiction, notably the MAGIC TIME trilogy of novels and his classic TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION (recently named by the NEW YORK TIMES one ten science fiction books “for the ages”). He has just completed co-writing, directing and executive producing STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES “WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME,” starring George Takei, which won the TV Guide Award and has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula.

KEN LAZEBNIK — A veteran playwright-tv and screenwriter, Ken LaZebnik’s most recent screenplay is for the Lionsgate film “Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage.” It stars Peter O’Toole and Marcia Gay Harden and will open across America in November, 2009. Together with Garrison Keillor, LaZebnik co-wrote director Robert Altman’s last film: “A Prairie Home Companion” and has a long history of writing for “Prairie Home Companion”. And has several films in the pipeline. His other screenplays include “Hot Air,” which he wrote with Norman Steinberg for Michael Keaton and MGM. His plays have been produced in New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Los Angeles was the site of the premiere of his comedy “Sink Eating,” which opened at the Matrix Theater. His most recent play, “Vestibular Sense,” premiered in Minneapolis in 2007, and was honored with an award from the American Theater Critic’s Association at the Humana Festival in Louisville. For television, he has written on series as varied as “Touched By An Angel,” “Providence” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.” Crossing genres he wrote three PBS specials for their series “In Concert at the White House”. In addition, he founded the literary baseball magazine The Elysian Fields Quarterly, now over twenty years in publication. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Kate Fuglei, and their two sons.

MARY FEUER is Consulting Producer on the TV series “Dante’s Cove,” which has been described as “Dark Shadows” meets “Queer As Folk” meets “Lost,” if you can imagine that. Her pilot, “God and Mann,” is in development with producer Michael Rosenberg (“The Riches”) at Blueprint Entertainment, and her original web series, “With the Angels,” premieres in August on www.Strike.TV. Mary’s other work on the web includes about 60 episodes as Head Writer/Supervising Producer of the seminal series “Lonelygirl15.” She was also Story Editor for “Buried Alive,” a series on Sony’s FEARnet.com. Mary’s short story “House on Fire” beat out over 19,000 entries to win the Grand Prize in the 2006 Writer’s Digest Competition, and another story, “Valentine’s Day at the Psych Hospital,” will be published in an anthology from St. Martin’

BILL TAUB – veteran television writer-producer with over 25 years experience and hundreds of episodic credits. Has broken in again several times. And has just finished his first web series. “Psycho Babble”, which will have its first exclusive showing on STRIKE TV. And is developing several projects through the LAUGH FACTORY. He also teaches an online course at UCLA Extension Writers Program: “Writing A Spec Pilot”. And is also a member of the WGA Education Committee.

Recording podcasts with Evo Terra

I had a great time at Gangplank and Dan Shaurette caught this photo of us at “work”.

Voice Registry Podcast-Tracy Pattin Talks To Warner Bros. Sound Supervisor Michael Lawshe & New Media Expert Doug Welch

Michael Lawshe pictureInternet radio play, “Prelude To A Revolution” about the American Revolution and the lead up to the signing of The Declaration of Independence was created, written and produced by Keri Dearborn, Michael Lawshe, Rosanne Welch and Doug Welch. Warner Brothers Sound Supervisor, Michael Lawshe and New Media expert Doug Welch talk about their internet radio projects and the impact of New Media and Voice Over.

[audio:http://www.productionbank.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/michael-lawshe_doug-welsh-podcast.mp3]

Listen to this interview

Tech: Vimeo uploads now supported by TubeMogul

As I was “launching” a new video using the TubeMogul service today, I noticed that Vimeo was now one of the available services that TubeMogul can access. It is always great to see more services on TubeMogul as it helps me, and all of you, distribute your work to more sites, with less work.

I also noticed the AOL Video uploads now appear to be working. In the past, these uploads would fail every time I tried. More good news.


Here is my short, screencast demo of TubeMogul

New Media Interchange Meeting: Franklin Canyon – July 27

Sunday, July 27, 2008
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

RSVP via Upcoming.org

Franklin Canyon Park
2600 Franklin Canyon Drive
Beverly Hills, California 90210

Category: Social
Website: http://newmediainterchange.com

Join us for a picnic day in the park to have some fun and talk New Media and Traditional Media. Bring your family, your chairs, your food and great conversation. Some picnic tables may be available. We’ll be gathering on the lawn at the ranch house, at the south end of the canyon. See http://www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=14 for information and directions.

(Thanks to Jason Casper (http://jasoncosper.com/) for the great idea to have a meeting outside, during the beautiful summer months)

The focus of New Media Interchange is to bring together New Media Tech folks like Flash animators, podcasters, videobloggers,etc together with creatives like writers, actors and directors so that we can share information on producing New Media.


Also, coming soon to Arizona!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

RSVP via Upcoming.org

Ravenheart Coffee
1370 West Highway 89A
Sedona, Arizona 86336
Category: Social
Website: http://newmediainterchange.com

New Media Interchange was recently founded in Los Angeles to bring traditional media and new media creatives together. You can find out more by visiting the web site at http://newmediainterchange.com or email douglas@welchwrite.com.

I (Douglas Welch) am the founder of New Media Interchange and will be visiting Sedona and Phoenix from August 1-9. From previous visits to Sedona, I know there are many creative people there and many of you would like to know more about new media (YouTube, Podcasting, Streaming video, web sites and more).

Join me for this informal meetup to talk everything new media!

Additionally, all you Twitter (http://twitter.com) users out there. This is a great opportunity to hold a Tweetup in Sedona. If you are a Twitter user, come and meet other “Tweets” face to face. My Twitter ID is dewelch. Follow me for updates on this Tweetup.

Podcasting in Plain English from CommonCraft.com

I had forgotten how good this video was, but I watched it again in preparation for linking to it from our Podcasting and New Media for Writers course at UCLA Extension. It gives a great introduction to podcasting — what it is and what it does for you. Check it out and start listening and watching podcasts today!

Tech: Audacity, LAME and MP3s

Originally written for New Media Interchange

Audacity Audio EditorFor those new to podcasting and new media, I often recommend the free audio recording and editing program, Audacity. This open source program offers you all the basic functions you need to get started.

One quirk of open source programs, though, is that you sometimes have to download additional software to enable some functions. This is the case when using Audacity to output MP3 files. In order to do that, you need to download and install the LAME MP3 encoder. One of the first question I often have to answer is how to do just that.

Luckily, the Audacity web pages have a quick guide that shows you exactly what you need to do. Appropriately enough, you can find this information at How do I download and install the LAME MP3 encoder?

Any further questions? Add them as comments using the link below and we will answer them here.

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devLearn 2008 1-day Podcasting Workshop


Douglas Welch Head Shot
Originally uploaded by dewelch

I needed a newer, hi-res head shot for the promotional materials for devLearn 2008, where I will be giving an all-day podcasting workshop and a conference session in November.

As is often said of me, I clean up well, don’t I? (BIG SMILE)

Here is the info on the 1-day workshop…

Audio and e-Learning: How to Turn Sound Files into Training Podcasts

Tuesday November 11, 2008 08:30 AM

Doug Welch, The WelchWrite Company, Inc.

As e-Learning professionals, you create content everyday. Much of that content is lost when you fail to capture it, or when you fail to edit and distribute it to your audience. Audio is already a big part of your e-Learning, but you could be using it for so much more. Learn new ways to capture audio content, and how to distribute it via internal and external systems and services like blogs, RSS (Real Simple Syndication), and Podcasting.

In this workshop you will be immersed in sound, and learn how new audio technologies can be used to enhance your learning solutions. You will learn how to capture, edit, and distribute sound files, as well as learn which tools are best for you. You will be learning about Podcasting from an industry veteran who specializes in new media production. If you already know the learning theories related to audio in your e-Learning courses, then this workshop will get you to the next level, and help make your corporate learning Podcast dreams a reality.

In this session, you will learn:

* How to capture good audio, and what tools you can use
* How to edit audio to produce a complete, professional sounding, show
* How to use a blog and RSS to distribute your work
* How to share your work with the world using the iTunes Podcast directory (and other products) can share your work with the world

Audience: Intermediate Designers, Developers, Project managers, and Managers who have Only basic computer knowledge is required. Additional experience with audio production is helpful, but not required.

New Media Prescription Intro and #001 – Get a blog

Pharmacy Rx symbolImage via Wikipedia

Talking with people about new media in all its forms is always interesting. I see such opportunities in new media and I want everyone to benefit. In my discussions, though, I find it is so easy to overwhelm people with all the possibilities new media can provide. After 10 minutes or so, they glaze over and we find it hard to move onto the next level. There are simply too many options and people start to move into analysis paralysis..unsure what to do first.

After a long talk with a client today, I realized that on of the best ways to approaching this problem is to provide a series of “new media prescriptions” to start them on their way. Taking a lead from David Allen’s Getting Things Done, we need to establish the next, concrete action to take. Over the next several weeks I will be presenting a series of prescriptions to help move people into the new media world, one small step at a time.


New Media Prescription 001 – Get a blog!

One of the first steps anyone needs to take is to create a blog. In order to start moving on any of your new media plans, you ned to place…a home…where you can start to post everything you are creating. In most cases, we all produce content every day, but without a place to share this information, it lanquishes.

So, today, I want you to start a blog. You can use Blogger.com, Typepad.com, Tumblr, My Space, and any number of other free sites. If you have your own web site already, you can start a blog there as well. It matters little where you set up your blog. it is much more important that you set it up somewhere.

Next, if you do have your own web site, find some way to place a link to your blog on the main page of your web site. Get help in doing this, if you need it, but please do it. It will go a long way towards exposing your new blog to the world. It also helps to mail a link for your blog to friends and family. Ask them to share it with thier friends, too.

Finally, start posting content to your blog. What content? Whatever strikes your fancy. If you have attended an event, write up your feelings about it, shoot some video, post some pictures. Blogging and podcasting need not take up extra time in your day. You simply need to capture the content that is part of each day and share it with others. You’ll find that capturing your content will be much easier, since you now have a place to put it. Don’t believe me? Give it a try.

Need help getting your blog started? Ask your questions using the comments link below. You can even leave a video comment, if you like.

Next time: Podcasting, Video and audio without a web site

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Make it very clear that you own your new media project

For all of you current or incipient new media producers, writers, directors, etc out there, let me offer the first rule of new media.

Be very clear from the start that you, and you alone own your project.

I know, it might seem obvious that you own it, but as your project continues there will be those who think, even demand, that they own all or part of it. It is becoming a common occurrence in new media, just as it was in traditional media. Common enough that I was compelled to write this post.

Typically, the scenario plays out like this…

You get a great idea and start to develop a project. As your project starts to gain steam people, both friends and strangers, will start to offer their help. They might offer editing for a video show or “free” studio time for an audio podcast. They might offer to write sketches or bumpers or essays or music.

Soon, your project starts to garner some attention. Perhaps the press does a small story on your show or a traditional media producer comes calling. The is where the troubles begin.

It is very important to remember that success changes everything. Money changes things even more. Once either of these two things start to appear, people will change, too. People who freely offered their time or space will start to feel possessive of the project. They will want a say in any deal-making, try to control the content of the project or even try to do deals of their own without consulting you at all. With enough effort, they could take your project away from you.

Welcome to the world of a successful new media producer.

How do you protect yourself against having to face these ownership issues? Get it all in writing, from the very start. I don’t care if you think you are just doing something for fun. Many fun things quickly turn into a business. Above all, make it very clear that anyone who does work for you, whether writing, acting, editing, is working FOR you. At no time should they assume any percentage participation in the project. Sure, this might be something you negotiate later, but they don’t need to know that. Do yourself a favor and never, ever even mention that they might own part of the show. You want no misunderstandings and now is the time to make that very clear. They are “helping you out”, “working with you”, “working for you”, but they are not co-creators, co-writers, or co-owners.

If they are volunteering their work, be very clear that, while you would love to hire them full time if and when the show starts to make money, there is no guarantee that will ever happen. The fact is, if you sell your show, the company who buys it will have final say over anyone who works in it, not you. So don’t offer anything you can’t assuredly provide.

The trouble is, in new media, just like in traditional media, there are plenty of people willing, nay hoping, to ride your coattails and turn your project into their ticket to success. Certainly everyone you meet will not be thinking this way, but here in Los Angeles, it can be a very common attitude. You only need to read the daily entertainment journals and the tabloids to find evidence of that, witnessed by the current lawsuit against Survivor producer Mark Burnett. By making clear your relationship and their relationship to the show or project, you can quickly short circuit these attempts.

In the end, I would even go so far as putting any understanding in writing and having it signed and notarized. It might seem silly when you are just a couple of buds “putting on a show”, but I can guarantee you that when money enters into the equation, you will be glad you did.

Remember, success and money changes everything. Don’t be fighting a battle over ownership, when you should be enjoying your success.

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Voice Registry Podcast- Tracy Pattin Talks To New Media Expert Doug Welch

This interview was recorded a while ago, but I am so glad it is being released. It sounds good and I get a chance to talk about all things podcasting with host, Tracy Pattin.

Voice Registry Podcast- Tracy Pattin Talks To New Media Expert Doug Welch

Doug Welch picture

Doug Welch has been podcasting since September 24, 2004, making him a veteran in the New Media industry. He is the founder of the New Media Interchange and produce/co-host of Mortgages Made Simple with Rick Gundzik. He also co-teaches with his TV writer wife, Rosanne Welch, at UCLA for Podcast and New Media for Writers, a 10-week course educating writers and others how podcasting, YouTube, Facebook and others can be used to further work and career.

[audio:http://www.productionbank.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/doug-welch-vr-podcast.mp3]

right + click here to download podcast (9.8 MB)

(Via Voicebank.net’s VoiceRegistry Blog.)

Real World Example: What Would Lloyd Say?

Recently I had the (on-going) opportunity to work with Lloyd Garver. Lloyd has been writing for decades for traditional media shows like Home Improvement and has also been writing a column for the CBSNews.com web site. Lloyd had been recording audio versions of his columns and placing them on his web site, but after talking with a mutual friend, he wanted to step up to full podcasting of his pieces.

Listen: What Would Lloyd Say?: Don’t Read This While You Drive

Each time I start a project like this, I am reminded of everything I had to learn over the course of my own podcasting career. In Lloyd’s case, he was already about 90% of the way towards podcasting. He had a web site, a blog and audio content already in the blog. Our focus was on setting up RSS feeds, registering the show in iTunes and statistics.

First, I turned to my old favorite, Feedburner, to set up his podcast-ready feed. I started using Feedburner the minute it was announced as previously I was handwriting my RSS feed each time I released a show. Feedburner allows you to easily add all the specific tags for iTunes as well as tweak your feed and provide additional features.

Once the feed was set up, we registered his show with the iTunes Podcast Directory. This should be the first stop in your podcast marketing, too. iTunes makes it easy to find and subscribe to podcasts, so this is always my first recommendation to anyone who wants to listen to podcasts or produce them. What Would Lloyd Say? was available in the iTunes Podcast Directory in about 48 hours. I find this fairly typical, although some people still report long lag times or never getting their show listed. Typically, this has to do with some issue in their RSS feed or the graphic used for the show artwork. Apple seems to want a 300x300x72dpi image for the artwork and tends to hiccup if it doesn’t meet those dimensions.

Once a podcast is running, of course, you want to get some statistics to see how many listeners you have. Feedburner provides a “subscribers” number each day and a combination of Google Analytics and web hosting company stats give us page views, but getting a simple count of the number of downloads can be tricky.

The only true way to know how many downloads you have is to use the raw log files from your web hosting company or stats provided from a podcasting service like Libsyn.com. In many cases these days though, raw log files are either not available or costs extra each month. Hosting with GoDaddy.com as I am, Lloyd had to subscribe to the extra TrafficFacts service in order to get his raw log files. I am not happy about this, but it is one of the limitations of GoDaddy.com hosting.

Once TrafficFacts was enabled, we were able to download the daily log files. Of course, you still need to process those logs in some way to pull out and count the MP3 downloads. On my Mac, I have a small shell script which does this for me, but Lloyd is using Windows. As he is new to this type of reporting, I fell back on a command-line based tool called podstats. This program was created by Kevin Devin, the founder of Friends in Tech of which I am a member. At the time, we needed a robust tool to report our downloads so that we could participate in a podcast advertising network.

Unfortunately, the command line nature of the tool is not really the drag-and-drop simplicity we expect from Windows or Mac. That said, I was able to create a small batch file that allows Lloyd to drop a log file onto the program and get a nicely formatted report. This information can then be entered into an Excel spreadsheet to tracking, manipulation (averages, max, min, etc) and charting.

So, that is my “real world example” of setting up a podcast. If you have questions about podcasting, whether recording, web sites, blogs or RSS feeds, leave a comment below and I will answer all I can.

New Podcast: What Would Lloyd Say? with Lloyd Garver

I recently consulted with Lloyd on moving his print and audio columns into full scale podcasting. He was already about 85% of the way to having a podcast, since he already had a blog and MP3 audio columns on his web site. In one session, we were able to setup his podcast feed, get his artwork applied and registered him in the iTunes Podcast Directory where everyone can find him now. I love helping people get their show out to hundreds, thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people.

Subscribe to What Would Lloyd Say? in iTunes (FREE)

Visit Lloyd’s web site

Here is what Lloyd says about his show…

“‘What Would Lloyd Say?’ is writer/humorist’s Lloyd Garver’s take on all the aspects of life that don’t make sense: popular culture, politics, sports, sex, and why expensive hotels charge for internet connections but cheap ones don’t.”

…and a little bit about Lloyd himself…

I grew up in Chicago, went to college at Berkeley, and got my Masters at Northwestern. Then I followed my dream to become a serious writer by moving to Los Angeles and getting a job writing questions and “ad-lib” jokes for the game show, “Hollywood Squares.” After that, I went on to write and produce many television shows ranging from “Sesame Street” to “The Bob Newhart Show” to “Family Ties” to “Home Improvement” to “Frasier.”
I have been a weekly humor and opinion columnist for about seven years. I have written columns for “The Kansas City Kansan,” “The Denver Post,” “The Santa Monica Daily Press,” “The San Francisco Examiner,” Crawford Texas’ “The Lone Star Iconoclast,” and “The Jewish Journal.” My column has also run on-line on CBSNews.com and “The Huffington Post,” and I wrote a sports column for sportsline.com. An early “My Turn” column for “Newsweek” resulted in my being a guest on “Oprah.” I assume that she will support me if I ever run for President.

My most recent job was doing a video for the internet starring Bob Newhart.

I write on a wide range of topics. I’m always happy to get your opinions, regardless of whether you agree with me. My feeling is that if you aren’t thrilled with a column one week, check out the next week’s. One thing I can guarantee you: I swear that Lloyd Garver has never written a column while on steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. All right, once I took some Human Growth Hormone, but it gave me gas.”

Stop by the web site or iTunes and find out What Would Lloyd Say?

Strike.TV Launches with Teaser Trailer

The Writers Guild caused a lot of folks to investigate this whole “new media” thing and while the strike is over, Strike.TV lives on.

“One of their promises is “to demonstrate that it was possible for Hollywood professionals to coexist and flourish with the studio system that has supported them for so long while bringing their talents to an emerging medium and doing so in a way that helps everyone,” explains their press release. “Strike.TV chose to be on the forefront as the industry goes through the necessary changes that inevitably arise with any new technology. Every industry and economy is impacted by change. And change is sometimes painful or difficult.”

Link: Strike.TV


www.strike.tv Teaser from StrikeTV on Vimeo.

Audio: Prelude to Revolution Part 3 – Happy 4th of July!

A July 4th Gift from WelchWrite.com

“I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore” — John Adams

Prelude to Revolution – May 1775, to July 4th, 1776

A live audio production of Eclipse-1 Media.

“Live your liberty, don’t lose it in a history book.”

Listen: Prelude to Revolution Part 3

[audio:http://eclipse-1.blogspot.com/2008/06/prelude-to-revolution-final-installment.html]

Listen: Prelude to Revolution Parts 1 & 2

View these photos on Flickr.com

Elsewhere Online: Bravery and Wall-e

Seth Godin has it right when he says…

“Marketing isn’t always about pandering to the masses and shooting for the quick payoff. Often, the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing at all”

…in this short blog post on Disney/Pixar’s Wall-e. Pixar certainly provides and example we should all follow, in new media and traditional media.

Read the entire post Bravery and Wall-e

(Via Seth’s Blog.)

News: Joss Whedon’s New Media Musical

I saw this story today in the LA Times. While, again, it is someone who has lots of money to invest, it does show some movement into the new media world by traditional media folks.

Another story on this show — Whedon’s Web Musical Fanboy-tastic!


Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

From The Los Angeles Times…

Joss Whedon’s ‘Dr. Horrible’ trailer hits the net
11:26 AM PT, Jun 25 2008

Below is a short trailer for “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” the much-anticipated three-part musical from “Buffy” creator Joss Whedon.

“Dr. Horrible” stars Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion, and Whedon describes it as follows: “It’s the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.”

The series, comprised of three 10-minute episodes, is poised to premiere on the Internet–most likely next month. Whedon began working on it during the writers strike, and it represents his first major experiment with Web-original programming.