Best of The Geek Whisperer (3 Year Blogiversary)
I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for three years (999 posts)! To celebrate, I skimmed through my archive for the first time in three years, and it brought back a lot of memories.
Join me on a brief and mildly narcissistic trip through some of my favorite blogging memories:
- Arguably my best post, at least from an academic perspective is Wonder Woman: The Super Secret & Kinky Origin of a Feminist Icon. Derived from a portion my undergraduate thesis, this post has been cited in a few academic papers, and according to my web analytics has been frequently referenced on some BDSM discussion boards. I am after-all here to educate and entertain.
- My most popular single day post dates back to April Fool’s Day 2010. I collaborated with a mystery designer to introduce the world to the iProbe; it’s still my favorite post.
- In one of TGW’s stranger episodes, guitar legend Peter Frampton stopped by to comment on a post after I berated him for a very disrespectful performance at The Stone Pony.
- When I first started The Geek Whisperer, I wanted to define the difference between geeks & nerds… But I found the task painfully difficult and subsequently spent two and a half years pondering the question before I wrote Geek vs. Nerd vs. Dork.
- And last but not least, I was (and still am) cited in a Wikipedia article on Firefly/ Serenity; my favorite scifi universe.
Never forget to practice safe computing.
TGW Cited on Wikipedia
I just learned that someone cited me in a Wikipedia entry about Serenity/ Firefly comics. More specifically, my review of the recent graphic novel, Serenity: Shepherd’s Tale.
The passage I’m cited in reads:
Reviews of The Sheperd’s Tale were mixed. Sean Kleefield praised the storytelling, both its content and structuring, but reiterates previous comments that the comics are hard to comprehend without knowing the television series.[27] However, he opines that this may be a calculated decision to target the most likely market for the comic.[27] David Spira of The Geek Whisperer echoed Kleefield’s comments on the story while also praising the book’s artwork, but felt the comic’s release as an expensive hardcover was not justified by the content, and agreed that Book’s tale was “completely meaningless unless you are a Browncoat”.[28] The reviewer for Daemon’s Books found the recurring flashback structure confusing, and complained that the attitude of the Alliance towards Book in the episode “Safe” no longer made sense.[29] The goodtobeageek reviewer, Jessa Phillips, felt that the flashback structure was overused, and agrees with Spira’s comment on the value for money, but highly praises Chris Samnee’s artwork.[30] (Wikipedia)
I have no clue who wrote the entry, but I’m honored to be cited among a number of great reviewers.
This made my day. Hopefully no one edits it out for a while.
Suggestions for Sam Raimi’s New World of Warcraft Flick
Sam Raimi is going to direct a live action World of Warcraft film.
I don’t have a ton of experience with this game (but I do have some) as it was released a couple years after I had stopped living my life around video games. However, I spent some time talking the prospect of this movie over with some coworkers, and here are three suggestions for making a successful WoW movie.
1.
Don’t take it too seriously. Sam Raimi is at his best when he is being pseudo serious (see Evil Dead movies). Bring the funny.
Funny is good. Exhibit A: Boomstick
2.
The movie must have Leeroy Jenkins. If you know who this is, move onto point three.
If you are the only person left on the planet who is unfamiliar with the WoW celebrity, here is a description that I am pulling from Wikipedia… yeah, the player created character has an extensive entry in Wikipeida.
The Internet phenomenon started with the release of a video clip online to the World of Warcraft forums. The video was released by the World of Warcraft Alliance player guild “PALS FOR LIFE” on the Laughing Skull PvP realm. It features a group of players discussing a detailed battle strategy for a group of enemies while one of their members, Leeroy, is away from his computer. Their plan is ruined when Leeroy returns and, ignorant of the strategy, immediately charges headlong into battle shouting his own name as a battle cry. His companions rush to stop him but his subsequent actions ruin the meticulous plan, and the group members are killed. His response to the other players’ reactions, “at least I have chicken”, was also much parodied.
When asked about his actions in the video by National Public Radio, Ben Schultz simply responded: “We were drinking 40s and just yelling at each other.”
And here is the famous video (seriously, you have never seen this???):
3.
If the movie doesn’t star Felicia Day, she should at least have an awesome cameo (I mean really awesome). Felicia Day is the creator and star of the online sitcom, The Guild. It’s show about WoW players, and it’s funny even if you don’t play the game.
She is a legit geek and gamer. Don't be shocked.
That’s my absolute layman’s take on the movie.
Geek Aspects of Economic Failure & Recovery
With all of the media hype surrounding the Jon Stewart/ Jim Cramer death match, I finally caved and watched an episode of the Daily Show for the first time since the night before election day. I had to see what was causing the brouhaha.
Jon did a pretty good job of reminding us that the public beating never goes out of style. To Jim’s credit, he took it like a champ and handled himself well. You can check out the episode on Hulu (Hulu doesn’t like to embed on this blog. If anyone has any suggestions for getting it to embed, I welcome the assistance).
You might also want to check out the Jim Cramer interview that Jon pulls clips from. Cramer says some insanely damning things in it:
*As you may notice, the original video was killed. Try this one instead.
An important lesson for business here is the cost of silence. Allowing rumors to flow freely without a prompt and clear comment doesn’t just damage the companies reputation, it actually can become a means for market manipulation. Apple’s reputation for remaining silence in the face of everything made it an easy target. Transparency helps everyone.
I also want to share this October 1, 2008 post from The Register: Emails show journalist rigged Wikipedia’s naked shorts
It is the story of Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne’s attempt to bring the dangers of naked shorting to public light in the Wall Street Journal, only to be censored and labeled a fringe loony. It is also a story about the manipulation of the Wikipedia entry on”naked shorting.” It is a bizarre tale that never should have happened in the first place. If you want to understand at least some of the major failings of our economy it is a good start (and it isn’t written in econo-babble). I read it for the first time five months ago and rereading it still makes my blood boil.
Finally, I will point you in the direction of an article from this past month’s Wired Magazine: Road Map for Financial Recovery: Radical Transparency Now
They did a good of summing up their own article:
Set the data free!
Without delving too much into my political ideology, I think radical transparency is the best way to regulate. It allows companies to do business without a jumble of federal regulations which almost always have negative unintended consequences, while also shining a big spotlight on businesses and their financial activities.
Yeah, I smell a pork product of some type…
I know I haven’t written in a while, and I’m mostly a little bit sorry about it. To make amends, I give you bacon. Bacon on your Facebook. Bacon on your blog. Bacon on TheGeekWhisperer.
Use this site to put this tasty morsel all over the interweb: http://bacolicio.us/. It wont disappoint.
This is the example they used on their site:
http://bacolicio.us/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism
I don’t know about you, but I’m already having fun!
It’s what the kids are doing.
What is the difference between social web, web 2.0, and social media?
Nothing, they are all synonyms for the same concept.
Social media (the term that I prefer) is centered on the ideas of community and user-created content.
The most common examples of social media sites are
Social networks (Facebook and MySpace): Sites where users can create a profile and post on other’s profiles. They can create and become part of a larger community.
Wikis (Wikipedia) – Communal collections of information and knowledge. The idea behind wikis is that they are the creation of the collective wisdom of the masses. The group is smarter than the individual. Any user can add to and amend a wiki. Sometimes this system falls apart, but that is a discussion for another day.
Blogs (what you are reading now) – An online diary, log, or personal publishing site. The topic of discussion is up the creator, but any user should be able to comment on the site’s content.
Sharing sites (Flickr, Google Docs) – Sites that allow users to generate all of the content by posting their own material for public or private viewing.
Here is the confusing part. Not all blogs, wikis, and social networks are social media.
For instance, if I were to create a blog and block all or most users from commenting on the content, it is not social web. It is just a normal old-fashioned web site because the communication and interaction only flow in one direction.
Sender –> Receiver
Writer –> Reader
This essentially no different from a newspaper or TV broadcast in that the user has no ability to interact with the content.
The same can be said for Facebook groups that only allow certain special members to post comments on the boards.
The word “social” in social media is literal. If a site does not foster, or at the very least, allow for the creation of a community, then it cannot be social.
Why is this distinction necessary?
Corporations and government are becoming active in social media. However, there is always the urge to control the message by business and government. Control of the message provides protection and power to the creator.
Social media is not about control. It is about transparency and honesty. When people try to hide the truth on the Internet, the truth has a tendency to break free. When the truth breaks free of a cover-up, the fallout is usually worse than it would have been if the party at fault had been upfront in the first place.
Just because social media is new, and “hip” doesn’t mean it is ripe for exploitation. If an organization wants to have a successful foray into social media, it has to play by the rules.
Be honest, be transparent, and a social media site can be a real boon.
