Archive for the ‘Web Stuff’ Category

Morning all.  Today we’ve got a bit of exciting news and I’m also looking for your thoughts.  First of all my friend Justine Curgenven; filmmaker, adventurer and occasional country chef has just released the preview of her latest DVD called, This  Is Canoeing!  (10,000 canoeists stand up and shout, “IT’S ABOUT FRIGGIN’ TIME!) What’s more, we’ve also.. (I can say “we” for this part…) updated her website at www.CackleTV.com..  Ok, now for the discussion bit…

I expect Justine’s new DVD to sell like mad.  She’s an amazing filmmaker of course, but what really shines through is her personality which simply soaks through every frame.  Personally, I believe she could make a documentary on lake sludge and I’m sure it would still exude excitement and fun.  It’s just what happens when she gets into something and that’s why I’ve been totally in her court for more years than I care to count now.

Now here’s the discussion bit.. How are we all doing with multi-media these days?  Are we video’d out and so far buried in the Youtube glut that we no longer value professional work?  Are we less apt to pay for something we perceive we can get for free elsewhere? Maybe it’s oppositely true that we’re more apt to buy something because all the free junk makes us well aware of the good stuff? Maybe there is still so few of us who live online, that we won’t effect the outcome either way..  What are your thoughts on the state of media today?

Oh, and by the way.. you can pre-order Justine’s new DVD right here on her brand new website… Did I mention that?

*Please listen to the doors for 24.3 seconds before watching this video or reading this post.. You pick the tune.

Now I absolutely refuse to comment on this image or the guy in the red shirt.  It’s more than my life is worth!.. What I can say is that anyone involved in the outdoor recreation industry or for that matter any businesses interested in how to make social media work for them, should know these folks.  You can start by watching the  “Boots on the Ground” is the first of a series of “unofficial” social media panel discussion here.  Besides if you watch it, you won’t have to listen to me tell you the same stuff. As they say it’s easier to to bring the mountain to… or climb to.. or those who buy Mohammad a beer will certainly… Anyway, I forgot.  But the point of this blog was that I’m deleting my KayakQuixotica Twitter account in favor of my Skillet Creek Twitter account.. It’s just that well.. you know.. It may be a bit too hyper-local for some.. but even most of my outdoor life is well, hyper local…

* Yes, I did steal this screen shot from the video and may burn in hell for an indefinite period of time.  If however if you are the owner of this video and you’d like to save my soul or have me remove this image, please speak now.

He’s using code that only you and I know.
This is no trick of his.
This is your magic.
– k. bush.

I’m finally making my photography available for purchase.  It certainly took me long enough!

The camera is like an uneven path in a Japanese garden. It forces you to slow down and pay attention to the world around you.  Photography is a gift you give yourself.  You need not sell or even display your work to benefit.  Most of the pictures I take ultimately are deleted or thrown away and still I have pleasant memories of those moments, even when nothing caught in the camera turned out.  Still, if you click the shutter enough you are bound to have a few successes. Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t possibly add to this….

The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold….
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sunburned hands, I used to hold
– jacques prévert

Sorry for disappearing.  Well, I’ve not actually disappeared, in fact I was probably walking along the shores of this lost little lake.  Maybe I was taking pictures of a caged lion or hiking through the dark woods of my local park under the glow of a harvest moon.  Maybe I was nursing what seems to be a little stress fracture on my foot , while watching the local team get taken to school.  Maybe I was working on a website.  My work list recently has been growing exponentially. Maybe I was sitting right here being amazed by how well my move from Windows XP to Windows 7 actually was going. The techies will appreciate that most all of my shareware, emulators, and other old or odd software worked.  Quickbooks 2000 didn’t… But whatever I’ve been doing, I’ve not been kayaking recently.  That will change of course.  In life we wear many costumes.  The difference between love & obsession is in the pauses we take.  For the moment I’ve simply paused to watch the earth slide into the oncoming deep freeze from the vantage point of dry shoes.

As the people here grow colder / I turn to my computer / And spend my evenings with it / Like a friend.
I was loading a new programme / I had ordered from a magazine: / Are you lonely, are you lost? / This voice console is a must.
I press Execute.
– kate bush

I keep saying I’m going to get this review done, but then I find myself getting dragged away to do something else. That happens sometimes. It’s life. Sometimes I find myself simply thinking about so many other things that it’s hard to focus on the stuff I should be thinking about. That’s life too. In that regard I don’t think I’ve changed since elementary school. It seems my attention is often captured by something going on outside the window… Wait.. Did I use the word “I” again? It must be another case of rampant narcissism.. That’s life too as it happens.

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Baraboo Interactive Services is now Skillet Creek Media.

When I started my business in 1996 I really had no idea what I was doing.  I was just asked to build websites for a couple folks who heard I knew how.   Well, sort of.  I mean I bought a cheap Packard Bell computer at Wal-Mart because even though we were very poor then, I didn’t want my kids to fall behind the future that I thought was coming.  Of course what I ended up using that first computer for was drawing pictures, editing photographs and generally learning to make things.  Along the way, I learned HTML, later Flash, and so on…  Over a dozen years later I’m still just doing whatever I do.  Only now am I really starting to see a theme.  At 44 it’s about time, eh!?

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