Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Buy ANCESTOR April 1!


FULL DISCLOSURE: THIS POST IS ACTUALLY A SHAMELESS PLUG FOR SCOTT SIGLER'S ANCESTOR... AVAILABLE IN PRINT APRIL 1 ON AMAZON.COM...

As an early adopter (not to be confused with a "frequent" adopter like Angelina Jolie) I jumped on the Podcasting bandwagon headfirst in early 2005... as a listener. I started with Adam Curry's Daily Source Code, and before long I had added Coverville, The Dawn and Drew Show and The Rock And Roll Geek Show to my listening list... Then I read an article about a guy who was going to release the first "Podcast Only" novel... A novel idea at best! That guy was Scott Sigler and that novel was EARTHCORE. I subscribed to the show's feed the very first day the first episode was released. WOW! Scott's story and storytelling was first class, and the intimacy of podcasting, combined with the weekly serialization, made EARTHCORE more exciting and more compelling than any "audiobook" I had listened to before. I was sucked in by the Silverbugs... the Rocktopi Rocked... and in my book (and his) Sigler ruled! I thought DAMN this guy is talented, and DAMN this book would make a good movie... So I emailed Scott, and got an email back, which led to phone calls, more emails, more phone calls and today I consider Scott a great friend. Since then I have worked with Scott to help pitch EARTHCORE and ANCESTOR to various entertainment contacts from my illustrious past, and we have shared many creative ideas (earning me the proud status of a "MASTAPIMP" -- and if you are a Sigler fan, you know what that means!). It has been a highlight of my podcast "listener" career to get to know Scott and watch his talent (and audience) grow like mindless blood-sucking maggots on an oozing, puss-filled gaping, gouged out bite of human (or sub-human) flesh...

So, if you are among the uninitiated, what are you waiting for??? Listen to Scott's prolific output of premium podcast fiction: EARTHCORE, ANCESTOR, INFECTION and THE ROOKIE. And if the printed page is your thing, get your hands on a copy of EARTHCORE, and on APRIL 1, 2007, help Scott make indy publishing history by driving ANCESTOR to the top of the AMAZON.COM charts. Did I say BUY ANCESTOR APRIL 1?

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Fat Blogging vs. PHAT Blogging

So, I am a podcasting addict... I listen to and/or watch more than 60 podcasts on a regular basis... (more on that soon in a separate post...). I have been listening to and watching Jason Calacanis' podcast and I thought I would "weigh in" on the recent attention he has drawn to "fat blogging" or publicly posting one's personal trials and tribulations with the passing or piling on of pounds (a.k.a. DIETING!). As far as I can tell, fat folks have been bloating their blogs with exercise exposition for ages, but somehow, in Jason's inimitable way, he has drawn some attention to the concept and has successfully "branded" the idea (even placing the trademark moniker, "TM" next to the FatBlogging name... as Jason is the consummate entrepreneur, I suspect that in this case the "TM" may stand for "To Monetize!")

In any event, here is my personal take on the crusade against calories. As someone who's childhood was spent shopping for pants in the "HUSKY" section of the store, I have always been an enlisted soldier in the "Battle of the Bulge." For the past 16 years I have been a Vegetarian (strict, but not Vegan -- I do have some dairy, mostly in the form of cheese). Despite my healthy eating habits, I remained the antithesis of the classic skinny Vegetarian stereotype. As the self-imposed "World's Chubbiest Vegetarian" I proudly told people (when they stared at my belly in horror upon learning that
I was a veggie), "hey, there's no meat or fish in cookies and ice cream!!!"

That said, I am currently on a "GETTING SHIT DONE" roll, and in that spirit, I have lost 16 pounds so far this year, and am within reach of hitting a 15 year low weight! How? EXERCISE, EATING WELL, and MANAGING MY METABOLISM. In the spirit of FatBlogging, I will write a separate post dealing with my specific thoughts on the process (at least the process that seems to be working for me... )

Meanwhile, what about PHAT BLOGGING! (or, PhatBlogging
TM). Forget weight loss, let's blog about getting PHAT!
  • Write about how you saved up for your custom gold GRILLS and post pictures of your shiny smile!
  • Write about how you took out a second mortgage to pay for the RIMS on your ESCALADE!
  • Shoelaces? We don't need no stinkin' shoelaces!
Forget about losing weight... get PHAT!

Now that's PHATBLOGGING!!!

Friday, March 23, 2007

I'm Baaaackkk!

Well, I have never really been gone... but I have been delinquent in my duties of blessing this blog with a parade of posts... It's not that I haven't been thinking about it... I have! But, alas, thinking and DOING are two different things... That said, lately I have been on a doing kick... GETTING SHIT DONE, as they say... So, while I am at it, I may as well get this shit done too and start making a concerted effort to build this blog into a regular repository for my random (and not so random) thoughts, opinions, writings, bits of creative bursts... in other words, a bunch of SASSHOLES!