Category: General

Photography…

…Videography, photo editing, video editing, graphic design, layout, audio recording, mixing, music production, composition, voice acting, research, data science, editing, writing, social media management, IT… something or other, promotion?

It feels like there is more.

These are all things I’ve started learning, in some way or fashion, in the last few years. (Well, the research, writing, and editing I mostly had down.)

There’s a lot that goes into the production of even a little website and/or blog and/or YouTube channel like this one. And I like it, don’t get me wrong; I’m learning new things daily, and trying on making everything a little bit better than the last time.

Case in point: today’s project was developing a logo for the Appendix W episodes of the Podcast, or for using if we separate that from the main channel.

Not bad, doesn’t use any copyrighted material. Just enough to look like something at a distance, if you see it on the phone.

Now I need to do that for the other episode series, with a reasonably consistent trade dress. I kinda like that purple bar at the top. It matches with the old machine generate swatch I use for the podcast.

Next up is a landing page for the site based on some photographs taken last year.

(Hence the title for this post.)

I’m just barely getting started with digital photography, and editing, and all that goes with it, but I want this page to be more visually appealing. Perhaps something like this to arrive to:

Welcome to the Implausi.blog! Thanks for visiting.

Snow day

In the midst of a bitter cold snap, with temperatures down to -30, dropping below -40 with the wind chill. Limiting travel to only the most essential, and staying warm as much as possible.

Still working on the website behind the scenes, and I’m starting to get the framework together, in addition to the material. Not sure we’ll do a full “launch”, but it’s definitely getting close.

The big sticking point is the artwork; a colleague mentioned a couple examples to mirror off of, so I may see what I can do with my (admittedly limited) image editing skills on Canva. Barring that, I may need to reach out to a professional and see what can be done.

But today was also a day to listen to some music:

This isn’t the most well known single by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, but this is one I grew up with.

Pages, Workflow, and MOC

Created a MOC (Map of Content) page for the various tools that I use for research, data analysis, and content creation.

It’s available here: Workflow MOC, even though it isn’t fully accessible from the menu yet, as right now it is mostly a list.

This will be an evergreen page to help with document the tools I use, any helpful tips, and challenges (and solutions?) that I encounter or discover along the way.

I’ll admit that with some of these tools, I’m still just a beginner, but others I feel more confident with, so hopefully this will grow over time, and perhaps shift too.

A lot of this may simply be a “note to self” so I can track down what steps I’ve taken or used in the past.

The specific tools I use may also end up here, or in a different MOC page, but I’ll see how that goes.

And debating on turning comments back on for these, as feedback is welcome.

Missing audiences; working on words

A couple unrelated observations from the weekend, though perhaps so far apart as is the way of these things:

First: had a good conversation with a colleague from University about the importance of working through words. It’s a language game, and sometimes you need to sit down and do the work and get your reps in, as mentioned a few posts ago. And in works the same in comedy as it does in academia or in writing. This conversation was with respect to the Echanger episode, so… more to come there.

And speaking of comedy, that brings us to point the

Second: that part about honing the jokes through touring was also mentioned by Katt Williams in his interview on Club Shay Shay (at about the 48:30 mark):

and the timing is impeccable. (The above episode came out a day or so before I made the last post. I hadn’t seen it yet, but it aligns perfectly with the Jeselnik comment too.)

Gotta get the reps in.

Which leads us to our third point, about missing audiences.

Because, while I’ve been seeing bits from the interview all over social media (well, YouTube and TikTok), it’s been completely absent from Mastodon and the Fediverse.

It speaks to a massive hole in the Mastodon and the Fediverse more generally.

And the clip’s absence here is very telling.

Now, the most charitable argument one could make – perhaps – is that the Fediverse isn’t obsessed with celebrity culture, and isn’t interested with the beefs that actors and comedians may be having with one another.

Fair.

But we know there is some celebrity and/or Hollywood discussion does exist there, if not a ton.

The audiences that are talking about the clip: Gen Z and Millenials, young people and people of colour, aren’t there having that discussion. They’re in other places.

Why are they staying away from Mastodon?

I’m curious to find out…

Snow day! Let’s make a little music

Temperature dropped and it got snowy out, so rather than risk the roads, I sat down and made a concerted effort to transform a section of the basement into the music area. After a bit of cleaning, and a lot of re-wiring, by 7pm I had most everything reconnected and working together.

The Arturia Keystep Pro is the control centre, with the other gear connected via MIDI, mostly hidden under some jury-rigged risers. It was working weird, until I dropped the chained synth into MIDI Out 2, and sent MIDI Out 1 to just the Drumbrute. Putting all three synths into the mixer allowed them to play nicely together. Drums, base, and keys (another synth is off to the right).

There’s room on the mixer for a mic, if I want to sing, but I’m mostly just excited that I can run everything together.

The only downside is that I’m still short a couple cables, for the guitar, and for doing some more advanced patches too.

Can’t wait to play the guitar along with the backing section here. Loads of fun!

Back to the tunes…