the weblog of David A. Price

Okay, maybe not completely.  But now, as I get ready for bed, I’m pretty much where I was at the start of the day, as far as this site is concerned.

For some reason (I’m sure there’s a logical one, but I’m too tired to explore it) over the past couple days, I’ll notice my blog will be a blank page, save for a 500 Internal Server Error.  Yet, I could access the backend.  But anything on the front page, or any page, was a no go.  So I upgraded to WordPress 2.6.1.  I’m glad I didn’t think that would eliminate the message because it didn’t.  But I did deactivate some plugins and that worked.  Or the 500 Internal Server Error gave up on me and let me access my site again at that very moment when I refreshed the page.  Oh, and I modified the site for PHP5.  Maybe that fixed it.  I’ll know soon enough.

Then, I downloaded and installed WicketPixie, a WordPress theme designed by Chris Pirillo of Lockergnome, an e-newsletter writer and blogger that I’ve been following for about ten years now, more or less.  And I really like it.  And I would be using it right this minute, but the menu bar at the top was slightly off and I could not get the sources page to load.  I’m not giving up on it, but I want to fool around with it before I go live.

It never fails.  When I do not have the time to devote to something, that’s when I spend a ton of time doing just that.

In any case, I’m going to bed.  Maybe I’ll do some reading.  While work is kicking my butt and eating up any free time I may have during the day, I can at least record some thoughts in the car for Marvel Noise.  Episode 45 was released last week.

Download here

And I can be found on 11 O’Clock Comics with Vince, Chris, and Jason.  Episode 17 seems to be well received.

Download here

Okay, we’re up and running with Firefox 3 on both machines (MacBook at home, PC at work) and the default ’steel’ look isn’t hard on the eyes, but it reminds me of Safari.  Looks better than it does on Windows, that’s for sure.  Things seem to be quicker and overall I’m diggin’ it. Hopefully, Morning Coffee will be compatible soon.  In the meantime I can create a folder and open those bookmarks in tabs.

Recommended.

I…  I just want to download it.  Why won’t you let me?

I’ve been having a blast with Twitter. Really, I have. It can be challenging throwing out little nuggets of info updating my friends in 140 character chunks. When it’s working. I suppose that’s because it’s growing, more people are finding it useful, and I’m happy for Twitter, but something’s been bugging me for awhile.

I really want a place where I can get a lot of info, stay up to date with people, regardless of where they have a web presence. Twitter’s great if that’s the only place people post. But if a blog is involved (and a third-party application isn’t available) or Flickr or NetFlix or YouTube or Amazon… well, then I’m only getting a small glimpse, not the big picture, and can be missing some other useful items. Without sounding like I’m a stalker or being too nosy, that is.

So with that, I’ve started to get a little more funky with FriendFeed. It’s pretty much a catchall, a place where I can get a whole lotta info from friends and press a button and have other social networks up-to-date in one fell swoop. There’s a little bit of some getting used to, but I’m having fun. One can get lost in comments or going through links left by friends of friends, but it’s a good kind of lost.

Earlier, Dave Slusher of Evil Genius Chronicles posted There Must Be 50 Ways To Leave Your Twitter which is a pretty helpful how-to if you’re very heavy into Twitter and want to make the transition to FriendFeed. There were a couple items I found very useful and for that I say thanks, Dave.

I haven’t left Twitter completely, but my posts and replies are written in FriendFeed and show up in Twitter based on TwitterFeed’s settings. I’ve even made some ‘imaginary friends’ based on their Twitter handles so that their Tweets would show up in my FriendFeed. Should be interesting to see if they ‘become real’ if they sign up with the same username.

Give it a shot. The fact that it’s more robust is a turn on for me. Doesn’t cost anything to try it, I figure.

Now this is a laugh I can use…

Christ, I can’t catch a break today. Or maybe it started Sunday night. Which makes sense since last week was the most fun I’ve had in awhile.

Sunday night, all set to record Marvel Tales, but agita starts kicking my ass. Okay, no problem. I’ll record Monday morning. I’d rather have the house to myself. Along with Nanuuq, of course. But no! I end up oversleeping and congested, unable to breathe out of one nostril. Joy. Okay. I can still go for broke Monday night, right? Nope. Because I didn’t finish my notes for the week’s new releases. All right. I’ll finish writing them up and record that Tuesday morning. Which means Marvel Tales will probably not be part of Marvel Noise 33. But I have to get something out there because there’s audio that’s been sent in.

Woke up today, feeling better, and all set to go after my shower and breakfast. But why can’t I connect to the Internet? And what’s up with the phone? Wonderful. Time to troubleshoot the modem and router. While I’m doing that my neighbor comes over to fix our gate (the wood sticks and is a bitch to open and close). So I run the power cord through the window while he’s working on that. He finishes and I go outside to thank him. He lost a drill bit, so I help him look for it. After a few minutes searching I find it and clean up the wood shavings. Connectivity is back and all is well in the world. But now I have to clean up, get my dinner together, and get ready to head out. Meaning there was no recording.

The drive in was uneventful, but once I got to work, why it’s more fun! Profile issues prevent me from logging in. Actually, I can log in, but things are screwy thanks to software I’m testing. So I spend time tweaking my profile, locally and on the network. Of course, bringing down a new profile means everything has to be reconfigured. I’m finally working everything’s running smooth and Outlook decides to crash. Which means I have to close all of my other programs and windows because Outlook is the first application I open. I just can’t have the database or ConsoleOne or Explorer be the first item on the taskbar.

So now everything is okay. Dinner went off without a hitch until my yogurt squirted me while I was opening it. If I wasn’t so tired, I’d probably laugh.

I have no idea if I’ll be recording anything tonight. We’ll see how I feel.

And it’s only Tuesday?!?!?

It’s no secret that I love comic books. I think the blog header is evidence of that. For almost a year I’ve been listening to podcasts related to comics (books, strips, cartoons, toys, etc.) so that I can add to my enjoyment of this hobby. There are quite a few I like (as you’ll see), but there are a lot more than what’s on this list.

Quite by accident, I’ve been on five podcasts in the past few weeks. Well, not really by ‘accident’, as I knew I was recording, but ‘accident’ in the sense that the shows came out almost one after another. It felt like those that know me were inundated with appearances by me on the shows they listen to. And to be fair, two of those appearances had me as a guest, two were audio comments I submitted to the respective shows, and one was… well… a sound bite basically

The one I’ve been listening to the longest is Comic Geek Speak. Anywhere from two to six guys - longtime friends - sittin’ around talking comics. Bryan, Peter, Jamie, Kevin, Shane, and Matt are very intelligent, witty, and all-around great guys. And I’m not saying that because I ‘just’ listen to them. I had the pleasure of meeting them back in January when they recorded the 100th episode. A great end to that day was when the CGS crew and a bunch of listeners went out to dinner and I’m sitting across from Kevin and Matt and next to Bryan.

Also on that day I met Sean Whelan (who sat on Bryan’s left at that dinner), host of Raging Bullets: A DC Comics Fan Podcast. Sean knows a ton about DC Comics and he is joined by his friend Jim, who has admittedly been out of the loop when it comes to this four-color medium for awhile. The two of them bring unique perspectives to the table and with Jim you get a point-of-view from someone that doesn’t live and breathe this stuff. And Sean’s voice was made for podcasting.

Speaking of voices for podcasting, Rick Gordon recently started his own called The Pop Cult Online. The man was born to podcast. The show is designed to look back on the days from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Or as Rick puts it: ‘It’s for the ten-year old in all of us’. I was on the inaugural episode and I think Rick asked me one question, next thing I knew and hour went by. Looking forward to more.

CGS also brings people together it seems. A few months back there were some guys in the Chicago area that would get together and talk comics and the like. Chris Neseman and Brian Salazar put out a podcast called Around Comics. A weekly roundtable discussing any number of topics such as death in comics, marketing, online vs. brick-n-mortar shops, how the Internet has changed comics, adult themes, and conventions. Episode 12 was my second ‘official’ audio appearance on a podcast. It can be found here.

A few others that I make sure I listen to: I Read Comics with Lene Taylor. It’s comic talk with a real live girl. Lene is joy to listen to and while not everything she likes may be to your tastes, you’re going to be entertained. The Collected Comics Library is a podcast focusing on collected works such as trades and graphic novels, Marvel Masterworks, and DC Archives. Chris does a wonderful job not only with the show, but with the CCL blog that will keep you up-to-date on collected editions. Derek Coward is the creator of Comic Book Noise. CBN is a nice mellow (due to Derek’s softspoken-ness) show, never really too long, and always enjoyable (especially his ‘Top 5…’ and ‘Random Comic’ segments). And yes, I have been heard on this show. Geek 4×4 with JM Campbell and Earth-2.net hosted by Michael and Jenny are often in my playlist. JM takes the time to look at comics with a slant on the independent side. Mike and Jenny are great hosts with that talk about comics, anime, movies, and games and get some assistance by their listeners. Recently, I started listening to The Legacy Age with Jackson Murdock. “Where yesterday meets today”. This show is fun with a capital F. And May is Marvelman/Miracleman Month! I cannot wait to get the lowdown on this story. David Arroyo and Charlie Mangual bring you a podcast about self-publishing by self-publishers on the road to breaking into the field of comics in Comic Makers. Neil Gorman puts out Comicology, and some of his tastes mirror mine. There have also been what he calls ‘Info Bombs”, which focus on a specific character. Recently Martian Manhunter was put under the microscope over three episodes. Crankcast with Crank and Mike is a hoot. Crank is an A/V and multimedia guru and works for Devil’s Due Publishing. Mike Norton is a professional comic book artist and has done work for Marvel, DC, Devil’s Due, Image, Oni and more.

Two podcasts that often touch on comics, but focus elsewhere most times are SciFiDig and Geekspeak. On the former Aaron Macom discusses things related to, umm… sci-fi and Ian Levenstein is a student at Brooklyn college who spends time on the mic talking about technology, games and gaming, sports, and comics. As for the show that used me as a sound bite, Drew M.’s podcast, Weekly Specials focuses on stuff that’s coming out. I was given the honor of closing out the episode for 4.11.06.

Finally, there’s KomicsKast. Bruce Rosenberger loves comics. Be it strips, books, cartoons, it doesn’t matter. He delivers a great show and I always end up learning something (unlike other shows where I may dispute a point or already know what’s being discussed). Recently, Bruce asked me if I’d be interested in recording something for his show. I said yes and with the purchase of that headset mic, a monster was created. My appearances on the shows mentioned above is proof of that. So, ‘Have A Sec’?’ will be my few minutes on KomicsKast. Hope you’ll give it a shot. If not for me, at least listen to what Bruce has to say.

[Update - 6.07.06: There will be a page devoted to comic-related podcasts soon]

To accommodate Xdawg, here is a list of PocketPC links:

For now I have Windows Mobile site, Handango and PocketGear (online stores), PocketPC Magazine, Brighthand and the forums.  Feel free to add any sites you frequent.

To make life easier for the few people that are interested, I’m posting my most frequently used PSP links:

PSP (Sony’s official site), PSP Connect (brought to you by Sony), PSPWorld and PSP 411 (reviews and info on games, accessories, some news bites, and forums), GameSpot (reviews, cheats, walkthroughs, etc), IGN (ditto), Engadget’s review of the PSP, PSP Video 9 (awesome program that converts DVD video to a PSP-friendly .mp4 format) and a step-by-step guide to get you started, MobileDeviant (online PSP community), Lik Sang (online retailer, sells imports) and an article on hot Japanese titles.

I was asked at work “when I was a child, what did I want to be when I grew up?”…  And I wasn’t sure what the answer was.  I can honestly say I doubt it was ever computer-related.  I kinda lucked out having a career in the IT industry, and it’s been a pretty cool adventure.  The more I think about it, it was probably fate that led me to being a salesman at various retailers (working with different vendors), that in turn led me to be a contractor for Fujitsu PC (while working for said (vendors), that in turn returned me to retail (being a vendor gave me a ‘leg up’ and I was thrust into a management postiion), that in turn brought a friend into the store of the last retailer I worked for.  Which brings me to my current ‘9-5 (okay, 1-9) office job’.

But getting back to the question I was asked: it really is hard for me to answer.  Maybe because I moved around a lot, I was able to meet different adults with different jobs, thereby making each ‘this is what I want to do’ different than the last.  Hell, my dad’s been a teacher, a car salesman, an appliance salesman, a coach, an umpire, a referee, a bartender, that each brought with them a slew of options…  But, I guess as I got older, I wanted a career in comic books.  It’s the first career I remember trying out for.  After a feeble attempt at trying to be a penciller, I focused on inking.  I felt that I was better suited to give depth to a pencilled page.  Nevermind the fact that I didn’t think my layouts were strong enough.  I made a few submission packets and heard back from just about everyone.  Of course 99% of the rejections were form letters, but one publisher actually critiqued my work and offered suggestions.

Due to my finances (or lack of them), pursuing this wasn’t feasible for the long term.  So I put the rapidographs down and left it to the pros.  And this is probably a good thing, because I’ve found that I really enjoy writing.  And I can get my ideas down a lot faster than I could sketch a page.  Not that I’ve made any submissions, but it’s an idea…

Maybe I’ll ramble on about how comic books have been a big part of my life, why I still read them, and what’s changed about them.  Including my tastes in titles and creators.

Thanks Lucy, and I hope this answers your question in some form or another.