Daily Adventure #1: Podcasts, KC, Spin Pizza, and Swurl

Sunday, July 20, 2008: I drove from Springfield, Missouri to Kansas City. Even though, it is only a 3 hour drive, I hadn’t made the trip in nearly two years. My sister lives, with her family, on the Kansas side in Olathe. They come to Springfield on a regular basis, so I get to see my nephews often. However, I do enjoy all that Kansas City has to offer. During the drive, I listened to some of my favorite podcasts. I enjoyed the French music podcast,Radio Oh-La-La. In addition, I listened to Alternageek, Grammar Girl, and Net@Night with Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte. I love that I can listen to podcasts while I drive. I learn something new and valuable, and it makes the time fly.

My brother-in-law had already made plans to take the boys camping and dirt biking on Sunday night. That meant my sister and I could have a girls’ night, which is pretty rare for us. We started by having dinner at Spin! Neopolitan Pizza in Overland Park. I loved the openness and the decor.

We started with an appetizer of Rosemary flatbread with white bean hummus. We then moved on to the Melanzane, which was a white pizza with roasted eggplant, caramelized onions, and goat cheese.
The crusts are hand-tossed, and the pizzas are stone-fired. We loved everything about Spin! The food arrived quickly, service was great, and the food was wonderful! I just had to try the gelato. They had several flavors to choose from. I opted for the blueberry butter cookie gelato. It was just the right size and taste to end the perfect meal.

Lastly, I heard about Swurl on one of the podcasts I had listened to earlier in the day. Last night, I decided to check it out and sign up. Swurl is a place that basically pulls all of your different web presences into one place. It pulls from services like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, Picasa, and some many more. Swurl then places your updates from these services into your own little Swurl “page” with your own Swurl URL. The final result is a page that looks kind of like a blog. I think I am going to like Swurl. Here is my Swurl page.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: Could Internet Movies be the Wave of the Future?

Over the last few days, I have heard talk about a new film. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is not your typical big-screen, feature film. Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day, this movie was made strictly for the internet. The movie is presented by Mutant Enemy Productions, and directed by Joss Whedon.

The movie was released in three acts, making it a “serial movie.” I was able to watch all three acts today on the Dr. Horrible website, free of charge. Unfortunately, I learned that they will only be available on their website until midnight, July 20, Eastern time. That means tonight, folks. However, the good news is that they can be purchased and downloaded from itunes after July 20th. They are sold as 3 separate acts for $1.99 each, making them similar to buying individual tv show episodes.

What I loved about Dr. Horrible, is that this movie breaks the traditional super-villain / super-hero mold. Dr. Horrible, as played by Harris, comes across as passionate and sincere, though misguided. On the other hand, the super-hero, Captain Hammer, is portrayed as shallow, insincere, and without a heart. I also enjoyed the cheesiness of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I miss the cheesy super-heroes of the ’70s and ’80s. I grew up on Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl, Christopher Reeve as Superman, The Last American Hero, and the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It seems to me that the superhero movies today are rather dark and gloomy. While not all of them are this way, I just can’t get into the dramatic, dark superhero films. Super-heroes are meant to be fun!

Dr Horrible has proven to be an internet blockbuster. It has quickly become a fast-spreading viral video across the web. I have to wonder it this medium just might be the wave of the future. Let’s face it, ticket prices have risen considerably, as have prices on other items. Ticket sales have gone down, while prices of other necessities, such as food and gas, continue to skyrocket. Though I do not bill myself as an economic analyst, I see this as a sign that ticket sales will continue to go down.

Another factor is the high costs to filmmaker’s themselves. Surely it would cost less to make an internet movie. In addition, the internet and new social media offer the opportunity for viral marketing, much of it free or low-cost.

I am looking forward to see if other internet movies make such a dramatic splash across the world wide web. I am also curious to see just how this could eventually impact the movie industry.

In the meantime, check out Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. You just might be thoroughly entertained!

Visit the Dr. Horrible website.

I am Pop-a-Rock Radio

I decided to try my hand, once again, at operating my own internet radio station. I have had internet stations, hosted through LIVE 365, a couple of different times. While there is a monthly fee, I find that I really enjoy the internet radio world. This little endeavor has afforded me opportunities to discover different music and a variety of artists. The monthly cost covers the royalties that go along with playing music that is not your own. LIVE 365 offers a nice selection of packages for personal broadcasters like myself. They also host professional stations.

I have realized that there is much to learn, both technically and legally speaking. Each station must meet the legal guidelines for their broadcasts. I have also learned about promoting my radio station, selecting music which will appeal to my listeners, and much more. I receive many requests from newer artists who would like airplay on my station. It takes a discerning ear to pick the potential “hits” from the numerous “flops” that can drive listeners away.

Since I am a personal broadcaster with my own station, I also chose to become a VIP listener. This means that I can listen ad-free. Additionally, I am able tune into any LIVE 365 VIP-only station. Another cool feature, is the mobile application. I can listen to any LIVE 365 station in my car by using my cell phone, an unlimited data plan, and a cassette adapter. I also found that I needed not one, but two, additional adapters to connect my cell phone to the cassette adapter. It took a little searching, but I found exactly what I needed. I love being able to listen to internet radio in my car! It is very cool.

Find out more about hosting your own internet radio station by visiting the LIVE 365 website.

Visit the Pop-a-Rock Radio page on LIVE 365

Daily-Adventures.Com: Coming to a PC Near You

I finally broke down and decided to buy a domain name for Daily Adventures in a Semi-Boring Life. I purchased the domain name through my usual godaddy. I really wasn’t expecting the name that I wanted to be readily available. I first tried dailyadventures.com without the hyphen. This domain name was, in fact, available, but at the premium rate of over $1800. I found that price to be just a tad too high for a blogger newbie like myself to dole out. My second try was daily-adventures.com, with the hyphen. As luck would have it, that domain name was available for just under $10 per year. I eagerly snatched it up.

I further decided to secure a web hosting account through godaddy, specifically for Daily Adventures. The hosting account is in the process of being set up by the good folks at godaddy. I am sure I will have much to learn in this process. However, I do believe that there is more that you can do with your WordPress blog if you have your own hosting apart from WordPress.

I am realistic enough to expect many an obstacle to overcome, However, I am also excited and optimistic enough to anticipate that this process will make Daily-Adventures a can’t miss blog. Look for good things to come!

I am Really Digging Digsby

Through one of my Twitter friends, I learned about this neat little application called Digsby. Digsby is basically a one-stop spot to keep track of your IM, email, and social networks. With this cool tool, I can see my Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter friends’ updates and newsfeeds in one quick glance. I can also keep track of which of my IM contacts are online using multiple IM clients. I can keep track of incoming emails from more than one provider. For example, I use Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail. Digsby also offers some widgets that you can embed on your websites and even Myspace and Facebook. One of the widgets I use is the chat widget. I highly recommend Digsby, especially if you are a social butterfly on the net. It is a big time saver and quite a nifty tool.