If Twitter Were High School

Twitter is probably one of the least understood of the social media communities, though it's actually quite powerful for reaching a lot of people in a variety of ways. It's also a fascinating tool for people watching, and for those looking for cheap entertainment, Twitter offers up plenty of that.

One way is by digging into the Trending Topics. Trending Topics was an algorithm created by Twitter designed to identify hot topics of the moment. To the right of your Twitter-feed you will find what's hot, what people are talking about. A lot of times the trends are driven by celebrity culture. For example, today Tom Brady is a trending topic in the Minneapolis area. Other times big news stories will dictate a lot of the buzz, such as the incident in Oslo or the fighting in Gaza.

More often than not there are simply a lot of fun comments being passed along the Twittersphere by people who enjoy interacting with others and expressing themselves. A few of those today include Vampires vs Zombies, #FastFoodAddiction, #UKnowUHungryWhen and #kindofabigdeal.

For the fun of it I will share a few of the excerpts from trending topics called #AnnoyingThingsPeopleSay and #IfTwitterWereHighSchool.

Annoying Things People Say

~ "There are no stupid questions." Oh yes there are!

~ *crying* "Hey are you ok?" "Yeah dude im fine, im just watering
come here i have to tell you something.............. ahh nevermind.

~ " i misss you. " and do absolutely nothing to try to see you or talk to you. uhh , NO. you clearly don't.

~ "ur so small, do you eat?" .. "no im alive from just breathin air -__-."

~ "I have to tell you something" ..."ok tell me"... "I'll tell you later"

~ "whoa you're short." thanks! i never knew!

Then we have the comments on the another of today's trending topics... which reveal a little about Twitter as a community. And it would make great fodder for Mad magazine material. Or writers for Leno, Letterman and the like.

If Twitter Were High School

~ trending topics would be the school gossip.

~ my attendance would be 100%

~ it would be kinda awkward with everyone following each other :/

~ one person would do the homework and everyone else would just Retweet it.

~ there would be sooooo many people in Remedial English class.

~ then Facebook would be Middle School & Myspace would be for the elementary school

~ essays would only be 140 characters long

~ the most popular lastname wouldn't be "Smith"... it would be "Bieber"

~ Beliebers would be like the group of girlies that follows Justin, the captain of the football team, around LOL

~ I'd get sent to the office on the daily for talking to much -.-

~ I'd actually have friends.

~ Beliebers would rule the school ;)

~ I would have perfect attendance.

~ trending topics would be the school gossip

~ everyone would still be followers

Well... you get the picture. It's time for me to post this and get on over to the Middle school.

Miscellaneous Thoughts on the Morning of Our Book Launch

It's officially here. Today's the day of our book launch party. As is customary, I woke early again to scribble a few more notes to myself. "Don't forget Kindle. Bring more folding chairs. Extension cord. Bag of ice."

A friend called last night to say he couldn't find much information about my book on this blog and I realized that in my effort to not devote all my blog space to promoting my book launch I have been underplaying it. Forgive me if you haven't heard. Facebook "friends" are aware. A link to our Facebook page is at the end of this column.

For what it's worth, if you're just finding out about it the launch party tonight is from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at Goin' Postal, on the 800 block of Tower Avenue in Superior, WI. I chose the venue because of an art connection with owner/photographer Andrew Perfetti who has graciously allowed my paintings to be displayed in his space the past ten months. For one night only every painting and drawing will be available at negotiated prices in an effort to raise funds for further promotion of The Red Scorpion.

I've been reading that it is important to tell people you are having food so that more will come. So, there will be pizza from Thirsty Pagan. We're cutting it into half in squares so that everyone can have more than one piece.

My partner in this venture is TJ Lind, a high school student from Proctor with whom I have formed a publishing company called N&L Publishing. When we first laid out our plans two months ago we'd decided to go strictly with ePublishing on Nook and Kindle. We planned at the time to give a dollar bill to everyone who had downloaded a copy of the book and came to the party. Well, that plan has changed because for some crazy reason we decided to print a small quantity of non-virtual books, old-fashioned as that sounds. We're still sticking to our original plan, however, and will be giving away dollar bills to everyone who buys a book tonight. Something to remember us by.

Selling a book on Amazon.com is interesting because they are constantly displaying your rank in terms of sales. This would be discouraging if they only showed the overall rank versus all other books, which they do show. (eg. The Red Scorpion is at this moment #37,906 in the Kindle Store.) But they also give you an additional rank that seems more encouraging, based on your market niche. Currently I am #1 in this niche:
Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > World Literature > Mythology > Children's Books > Other > Books By You

A special feature of tonight's book launch will be the market research we're conducting. We have two versions of the book cover and have not yet settled the matter as regards which to go with if we print more books. The version we're currently leaning toward does not translate well into black and white, which is the only way to view it on a Kindle. The color Nook looks sharp, for sure, but how many people do you know right now with a color Nook.

As for the book itself, my target was to write a book that would be a fun read for teenage boys. I asked myself what kind of book would I like to read and I did my best to write that book. I personally like a story that moves you along. I like clearly defined characters. I dislike tedium, which is often what I find in 1,000 page volumes in which the author tells you the history of wood in order to set up the kind of door that was built to conceal the secret in this closet. Michener began his book Hawaii with thirty pages describing waves. That may be for you but not for me. At least, not until I find myself abandoned on an island somewhere and that's the only book that washed ashore with me.

So, if you can make it, we'll see you tonight. We only printed a limited run for this occasion, but it seems like we may have to get into more serious discussions about a second batch. I'll keep you posted.

The best way to stay in the loop is to follow us on Facebook. Click "Like" and you're in the game. See you tonight.

Wordless Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Throwback Thursday: Dylan Returns to the Big Apple... as a Painter

Originally published September 13, 2011
As anyone who knows the story knows even half-well knows, a very young Minnesotan, the former Robert Zimmerman, followed his dream and arrived on the doorstep of the the Big City at the dawn of the 60's. Performing in places like the Cavern and other Greenwich Village hotspots, he blew his lungs out on a harmonica -- a dollar a day's worth -- and sang folk songs steeped in tradition. Striving at first to emulate his hero Woody Guthrie, he sounded far more mature than his years. As Frank Sinatra once sang about this experience, "If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere... New York, New York."

Well, the newswires have been lit up by another side of Bob Dylan which is emerging here in New York once again. That is Bob Dylan the artist, as in painting.

Dylan is not new to the visual arts, though it is only in recent years that I believe he's been showing his work in more serious venues (besides an album cover or two.) His Drawn Blank Series exhibited in Germany in 2007, and last winter his paintings of scenes in Brazil were displayed in Copenhagen. The new show here in New York features paintings depicting scenes and people drawn from his recent tour of Japan, China, Korea and Viet Nam. (One benefit of being a globe-trotting performer has to be this amazing access to such a wide range of settings, scenes, imagery, people, places.)

The works will be on display at the Gagosian Gallery on the Upper East Side from September 20 to October 22.

How to read Kindle books on various devices.

We're live. The Red Scorpion is now available on Amazon.com. Here's the page where you can find it.

It's currently only an eBook, which many people believe means it can only be read on a Kindle or Nook. But the truth is, eBooks can be enjoyed on a wide range of platforms and devices these days, many of which are now being used by tens of millions of people daily. Here are some instructions for people interested in reading eBooks on their iPads, Androids

iOS (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad)
To download the Kindle application on iOS, simply navigate to the app store and search for “Kindle.” The first result will be “Kindle” by “AMZN Mobile LLC.” Follow the on-screen instructions to download the app and off you go! When you run the app for the first time it will prompt you to enter your Amazon account information. If you haven’t yet set up an account, it can be easily created on Amazon.com. From the home page on any web-browser click sign in, then “create account.”

Tada! You are set to start reading ebooks on your iOS device! Due to Apple regulations, you cannot buy eBooks from within the Kindle app. You need to go to www.amazon.com/kindle to purchase books.

Android OS
The process of downloading the Kindle application on Android mobile phones and tablets is virtually the same as for iOS. Open the Android Market and search for Kindle by “AMZN Mobile LLC” and follow the instructions to download the application. When you open the app the same will happen as with the iOS version.

Mac or PC
Open your web browser and navigate to www.kindle.com. Scroll down a bit until the heading “Buy once read everywhere.” From here click on either Mac or PC to get to the download page. Follow the onscreen instructions and you are ready to go.

Amazon also offers a cloud reader where you can read books within your web browser. When at The Red Scorpion page, or any Kindle page, look for the small text Cloud Reader in the white Kindle Store menu bar at the top of the page. It's right next to Buy A Kindle. Currently, the app is designed for the Chrome and Safari browsers.

Currently the book is listed at #18,374 among Amazon Kindle bestsellers, so we have a little climbing to do to reach the top of the charts.

In the meantime, have a great week, starting today. And if you're in the neighborhood stop in at our launch party, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Thursday September 15 at Goin' Postal in Superior.

When I Woke Up This Morning...

When able, I like to orchestrate my Saturday evenings around a few programs on the local public radio station KUMD. Highway 61 Revisited is John Bushey's weekly Dylan-fest of rare cuts from concerts or themed interweavings of Dylan songs and covers of Dylan's work by other artists. Whenever possible I like to be painting in my studio during this program.

After the Dylan hour is a four hour stretch called Folk Migrations which is simply a gift. There is so much great music out there and you just don't hear it on the mainstream stations which dish up a lot of the same tripe year in and year out.

Last night on Folk Migrations I heard a wonderful version of You Were On My Mind by the original artists Ian and Sylvia. The strum of the acoustic guitar on this original version of the song is really dynamic and pulled me in. The guitar/autoharp interplay is especially rich. And it quickly sent me to my office so I could find it and listen once again on YouTube.

The lyrics were a little different from the version popularized by the group We Five, which I also loved way back when. Ian and Sylvia's version expresses pain, talks about going to the corner and getting drunk and sick to deal with the pain and finally decides in the end that it's time to move on.

The We Five version is a cheerful, energizing folk/rock anthem with a wholly other sound. Even though they sing of troubles and wounds to bind, you get a completely different feeling. It reminds me of what Cirkle did to Paul Simon's Red Rubber Ball, another song about pain and loss that is transformed into an upbeat hippie-era la-dee-da pop chart success.

It was fun watching Beverly Blivens in her white mid-calf boots, dancing and singing and getting into it. The We Five harmonies are wonderful and the recording they made was tight, nicely assembled, building to a proper crescendo of energy and then pulling back for that soft landing. Really special.

Truthfully, I love both versions of the song. If you go to YouTube you can read all kinds of debates about why this version or that is better. Well, each has a place and it was fun last night escaping for a short space of time into some of the good music of the Sixties.

And when I woke up this morning, some of that good music was still on my mind. Thank you, Ian & Sylvia, We Five and all the other musicians who contributed to the Sixties experience.

Have a wonderful day... Let music carry you through.

Last Night at the Ochre Ghost

While getting a hair cut yesterday I was leafing through a Duluth-Superior Magazine that caught my eye. A feature story was the ranking of the best eating places, the best atmosphere, best breakfast, best brunch, best appetizers, best dinner, best steak, best dessert... you get the idea. But the mag didn't stop with eating places. There things like the best scenic view, best scenic drive, and one was the best art gallery.

The article listed not only the best but also the second place as well. No doubt this would help defray any hard feelings from advertisers who were pretty good but not best. Interestingly enough, the best gallerier -- first and runner-up -- were Ochre Ghost, where I had had my Dylan pieces displayed during Dylan Days, and Lizzard's where I have three pieces and was heading to later that day to pick up "Man Wearing A Red Smirk" for the Red Interactive show coming soon to Phantom Galleries Superior.

Jessica L has done a fabulous job of putting Ochre Ghost on the map with original works by risk-taking artists. Last night I attended the opening of Risk of Dying is Greater in the Northland: new work by Avery Cassar plus the CD Release of Danecdote's new album: Mise en Place. The small space at 22 Second Avenue East was fairly alive with energy from the music and the enthusiasm of the artist.


The photos on this page are from last night.