10.30.2007

Connection Vertigo

Vertigo!

Having a blog has offered my friends and family the best opportunity to keep up with what I've been up to. Although, I realize that there's not much in my updating, plus most of the stuff I write and post about are not in the "hey, this is what I've been up to lately" sort of vein. There are some interesting anecdotes to be found here and there, but not enough for a regular reader to expect on a continuing basis. Posting about my life here seems sort of odd to me, even though, yes, this is a blog and blogs are supposed to be repositories for intriguing and interesting life stories. Or are they? Blogs are what you make them and here, well, anything goes.

Obviously, there are other options to stay connected with loved ones. It's practically a sin NOT have a myspace account, right? Well, I never wanted one. An ugly, UGLY website that means practically nothing to me. (Look, I'm not even going to link it. Take that, myspace!) Ugly in the sense of visuals, audio and navigation. I know that having a myspace page has become the hottest thing to do this day and age -- it's great for musicians to connect with their fanbase (even that's been tainted by some groups hiring an internet lackey to hook up programs that automatically "friend" people out there -- a Web 2.0 loophole, I guess) -- but the site is glaringly cumbersome and fraught with spam comments, ads and irritating fake accounts from "girls" who "saw my icon and thought I was cute but can't seem to figure this all out, can you help me?" Yeah, right. I'm not stupid, people. I have a myspace page up, but don't bother friending me. I probably won't update it because, really, what am I going to do with it? I only started it up so I could grab the "Wardomatic" name and cybersquat until I find it necessary not to do so.

Recently, two of my friends (real friends, not myspace friends) sent me invites to start up a Facebook account. Skeptical at first, I'm still trying to figure out if it's a worthy application. I can see why it's so big with students and campuses -- started up by college students, there's some sort of lackadaisical collegiate "what's up? what's goin' on?" attitude I get from the site's interface. It's a good way (and at times fun) to see what your pals are doing, but really, in the long run...is it worth it? Well, Facebook has its share of pros and cons -- 100x aesthetically better than myspace, if you ask me, with its clean design and structure. I like that. All the crazy applications gets incredibly annoying, however. Why would I want to "share a virtual beer" with anyone in cyberspace? It's one step away from Second Life, if you ask me. And I'm not down with that. I do have to say that Facebook has enabled me to find classmates I've lost track of through the years. I'm more than likely to check up on my buddies through this site than on any other community-based site, to be quite honest.

As mentioned earlier, I signed up on Channel Frederator RAW, the "social networking community for Channel Frederator." I'm enjoying the simple layout of the site, with the occasional updates from other members. I like that you can delete these updates in your profile if they're irritating you. Even though I probably won't update my profile and engage in too many conversations on the forums here, I think RAW has proven to be another successful diversion from my already-busy day. Bonus: finding fellow Portlanders that I was not aware of before joining. Another bonus: my fellow co-hort in LAIKA crime, Eric Weise is up in it, too. That makes two thirds of LAIKA/house's 2D directors trolling around here.

Truth be told, the best way to get in contact with me is to email me from my profile page, or send a message through my Flickr. I'm addicted to Flickr, in case you haven't noticed. Contact me, tell me what you think of my blog, my art, my graffiti, my pics, anything. It might be a while before I respond, but I'll do my best. And please, by all means, don't take it personally if I don't get back to you right away. Being a director for a top animation production company requires a lot of my time. That, and having two kids will pretty much tap me of any free time during the day. (I sleep at night, in case you're wondering.)

UPDATE: I knew I forgot a few sites. LinkedIn is another one of those "connection" sites where I'm having a hard time trying to figure out if it's worth being a part of or not. The only thing that LinkedIn seems to be good for is accumulating "links" or people that you're connected with through businesses and former colleagues. Supposedly this is worth something in the workplace world out there, but has anyone gotten a job because of their LinkedIn account? If so, I'd like to hear about it.

Of course, how could I forget YouTube? If you're down with low-fi video quality, then this is the place for you. Even with the crappy quality, Andrea and I never get tired of watching Jim Gaffigan clips. It's like we're watching our own network, which is exactly what the people at YouTube want. Don't expect me to find the time to actually favorite clips. There are a few that I've favorited, but that's about it. Don't have enough time to search videos all day.

15 comments:

  1. Hey "Mr. Director" :> I know what you mean about Facebook. Is it worth it? I got sucked into the chaotic myspace typhoon when it started, and now I'm teetering on the edge of the Facebook whirlpool, unsure of whether or not I should jump in. Your visual assessment will be considered...maybe I'll go check it out. Thanks.

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  2. I don't believe the sleeping part.

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  3. My favorite networking site is actually YouTube, because it forces you to actually do something in order to have a presence. I don't need to know when people are shopping, watching a movie, or in the shower, but if they've taken the time to put together a short film, then it's worth my while.

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  4. Yeah, I forgot to mention YouTube and LinkedIn. I'm on those two sites as well. (Should I update my illo?)

    Justin -- I really dig Facebook. Like I mentioned, it's kinda fun to check out what your friends are doing.

    Chris -- ha! Yeah, maybe I was stretching the truth a bit there.

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  5. I think blogs are a kind of performance art. Though I do get a little sleepy, and put things up I maybe should think through a little better.

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  6. Though the add-on applications can become tedious, I like Facebook for the ability just to touch base with people. I've made contact with people from my old schools, people I haven't seen since the early 90s. We probably don't have that much in common any more, but were we to meet in the street, we'd stop and catch up ... and Facebook gives you the opportunity to do just that. And then I can give someone an octopus ;-)

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  7. Hmmmm...Well, what about carrier pigeon?

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  8. Sure, you could "update your illo", but more importantly, I'd like to know what your nicknames are on YouTube and RAW, because I would like to subscribe to you on the former and friend you on the latter. :)

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  9. I'm with Robert Pope. There's nothing like the human-to-fowl contact of folding your message and banding it to their precious little legs. You just can't get that "new pigeon smell" through the internet.

    I'm feeling a little pooped (no pun intended) on the whole online connection thing myself. I'm starting to enjoy CF Raw, but I'm too busy to really get into it too deeply.

    I've been getting Facebook text messages lately and I never even created an account there. I'm not sure how that works, but it creeped me out some.

    It's hard not to get sucked in and start relying on that instant gratification of internet communication. Sometimes I have to force myself to stop, take a few deep breaths and think about actually picking up a phone or meeting someone (gasp!) in person. Seems more...real.

    But then, I play with birds.

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  10. I haven't gotten any jobs as of yet from LinkedIn, but it is a good place
    for job hunting.

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  11. acousvnt -- when in doubt, "Wardomatic" is your best bet in trying to find me. In fact, that's my username for both sites.

    Sparky -- careful of the bird flu.

    gemini -- are there forums to search for jobs on that site? I've never really gone that far to know enough about LinkedIn.

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  12. Right on Ward. Couldn't agree more with all that. I think people jump on these things just cuz it's the thing to do. Some of these new web technologies are fantastic like blogging for one, Drawn! is crack to me (among others). Best thing since sliced bread. Maybe I'm an old man before my time but I don't get the MySpace, SL & IM crap kids are into these days. Right on with Gaffigan, didn't think to see if he was on YouTube. I love when he goes off on Hot Pockets. I'll have to see if Demetri Martin is up there too.

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  13. Phew, glad I'm not the only one who feels this way! When I read about CFRaw there was a surge of excitement, then a few hours of hesitation asking if another social-networking site is needed ...

    LinkedIn has some potential, plus after Siggraph it was a great way to keep in touch with the other volunteers, recruiters and professionals. I'm hoping after college the Livejournal, Facebook and Myspace pages can be left to sit for awhile.

    I guess as the sites come out making a profile is a way to stick your head in the door, wave and say "Hey! I'm here!" to whoever is congregating there before walking out for a few months to do fun things.

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  14. I hooked up with a previous work colleague on LinkedIn which, consequently, landed me in the job I have now. So, yeah, LinkedIn is good for me.

    I have a MySpace profile that I never look at, Facebook I check daily (the local indie cinema just gave me free tickets to see the Darjeeling Express because I'm in their "group" -- so that's pretty cool) and Flickr I'm addicted to.

    Oh, and don't get me started on Twitter. The biggest time-sap of them all, I think!

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  15. Hokay, my(late) two cents:
    Myspace: Agreed, that place is a zoo. I have two accounts there (one my own, one for my Tokyopop character (ooh, meta!), but I'm probably going to close mine. Hasn't done a thing.

    Facebook: Not too bad at all. The apps ARE annoying, but you can ignore them when people send you stuff. It's how I keep in touch with all my ex-Disney buddies.

    Flickr: JUST getting into this now - seems MUCH more of a stable interface for artistic people to share work than Myspace. I'll get the hang of it eventually.

    Frederator: Not too bad, the layout is a LITTLE chaotic - I still can't figure out how to disable the activity - I honestly don't care who messaged whom and would be happy with just Who New has Joined.

    Blogger: Makes up most of my RSS feeds. It's cool.

    LinkedIn: Have been on it for a while, again to find Disney people, but rarely use it since everyone moved over to Facebook ;)

    Deviantart: Great for sharing fanart, because fanart lures potential fans like flies on meat. I get the majority of my commission work from dA readers.
    A majority of the readers are sugar-addled teens, but they're easy to ignore. ;)

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