The View So Far: “The Purge” Season 1 & “Get Shorty” Season 2

Tags

Get Shorty, The Purge

Having spent a lot of time on the couch these past few weeks, let me talk about two shows that interest me…

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“WHY?!” – 03 CAPTAIN KYLE WILLIAMSON

Tags

Captain Kyle, Cosplay, SCI FI SA..., WHY?!

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-7mqra-98c923

Captain Kyle can be spotted at conventions all over the east coast as one of many characters, including “Q” from Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Governor from The Walking Dead, and others. But there’s more to this cosplayer and actor than his fashion sense.  Jay talks to the performer, author, and host of Fandom Spotlite, about growing up in a time before being a geek was cool, the joys and challenges of performing and providing information to fandom. 

“WHY?!” is produced by Holden Smith and Jay Smith with music by Kevin MacLeod.  The show is sponsored by ARCHIVOS: Your Stories, Illuminated.

Captain Kyle and others will be appearing at Sci-Fi Saturday in Harrisburg PA, September 22, 2018 at 2nd & Charles, Harrisburg Mall.

“WHY?!” – 02 – Dave Robison

Tags

adventure, Dave Robison, drama, WHY?!, writing

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-f9bfa-98c31b

In this episode of “WHY?!” Jay talks with podcaster, author, and child of The Muses, Dave Robison.  They talk about keeping motivated, finding the joy in the work that comes with creation, the long game of building a career, and the importance of the solitary artist to indulge in collaboration to experience the world from different perspectives.

Also, we introduce PROJECT: ARCHIVOS, a contest to create a unique story based on elements by our guests.

“WHY?!” is produced by Holden Smith and Jay Smith.  Music by Kevin MacLeod.  The program is sponsored by ARCHIVOS: Your stories, illuminated.  www.archivos.digital

“WHY?!” – An Introduction with Jay Smith

Tags

WHY?!

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-2gqpp-981eed

This episode introduces the series. *WARNING LANGUAGE*

Creating the series, Jay Smith attempts to explain how his life intersects some interesting and successful people.  He explains his situation using a metaphor that, while apt, is not appropriate for younger listeners.  So, like, don’t play this on the car radio with the kids on route to extra-currics.  And not with your pastor.  Or people who hate the word F*ck.

And, for the record, “F*ck” is a metaphor for “candy”.

And “candy” is a metaphor” for “caring about things”.

“WHY?!” – An Introduction with Jay Smith

Tags

WHY?!

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-2gqpp-981eed

This episode introduces the series. Jay Smith explains why he needs to keep refilling his Box of Fucks and how it is important to keep giving them when the time and energy required to do so doesn’t support the desire.   We embark on a journey to recapture fucks to give by listening to artists, writers, and other creatives.  But here is Jay’s preamble and explanation.

“WHY?!” – The Pilot – USS SUSQUEHANNOCK

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-4vew2-980e36

Jay talks with members of the USS Susquehannock, a Star Trek fan group and charitable organization in Central Pennsylvania.  They are planning a free and family friendly “Scifi Saturday” event at 2nd and Charles at the Harrisburg Mall. 

Our guests talk about the event, their mission as a member of Starfleet, and fandom in general.  I enjoyed talking with them.

What is ‘WHY?!’? Where and When Can I Listen? How is This Possible?!

Tags

Archivos

I’m betting that there are entire tens of you out there wondering why I haven’t been regular in my Buck Rogers updates.  To that small band of beautiful weirdos, I offer my sincere apologies.   I’ve committed to a project that took priority.

Several weeks ago, I met with the good people behind SCI FI SATURDAY, a Harrisburg-based pop culture event hosted by the local 2nd & Charles at the Harrisburg Mall on Saturday, September 22nd, 2018.  This is a fun, free event open to all audiences set in a huge store packed with books, comics, vinyl, toys, collectibles, and other cool stuff.  There will be guests there like bestselling author Greg Cox, Internet’s own Captain Kyle, and others.  I will be there as will my lovely wife, Dame Dahlia.

One of the things to come out of that meeting with the event’s sponsors was the idea of promoting the show with a podcast. Happy to help, I agreed to talk to some of the guests in advance, not just about the event, but about their connections to pop culture, their art, and their work.

While planning this, I realized something very important:  I have so many friends who are FAR more interesting and accomplished than I.  LOTS.  And I have always wanted to sit down with them to just talk about things, how they decided to become an artist or why they went down their particular path in this life.  They have the kind of stories that aspiring artists need to hear because they have dealt with the things we struggle with daily when balancing “real life” with our dreams of creating good art.

So I put together a list.   I stopped at 157 names. 

“WHY?” is a conversation based on the question “Why the hell do we do what we do?  Are we insane?  Are we stupid?  Are we the chosen few?”

Okay, that was more than a question. 

I hold a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing.  I also hold a fat promissory note to the US Department of the Treasury as a result.  “WHY?!”

See the theme there?

“WHY?!” will be a series of conversations with writers, artists, designers, filmmakers, producers, craftspeople, photographers, and other people at different stages of a career with different perspectives.  It will be a diverse group representing different races, faiths, generations, heights, politics, experience, ice cream preference, and favorite shade of sunset. We are all united by the struggle that we face making good art.

“WHY?!” will be a conversation, modeled on the Con Suites and Green Rooms or various conventions, where people just relax, let down their guards and talk honestly about their craft and their lives.  It won’t be about gossip and won’t promise a 12-step plan for your success.  It’s just talk between people who happen to be on a very long, lonely mission toward something in life.

I am PROUD to say that our conversations will be sponsored by ARCHIVOS, the online story development and presentation tool that allows you to document and explore your story worlds.  If you’re a storyteller and have a complex fantasy world, or you’ve got a number of different stories and characters to keep track of, ARCHIVOS helps you index, connect, and explore all your story elements.

I have a subscription and there is no way I could keep track of everything in The Winston Casey Chronicles without it.   It is a fantastic visual interface that allows you to keep track of your own work, but also collaborate with others on stories, role-playing adventures, and more.

ARCHIVOS is helping us out this first season by supporting our “‘Why?’ Storytelling Confab” event where every guest of the show will introduce a new story element to the board.  At the end of the series, we’ll invite listeners to pitch a story based on all the elements we’ve collected.  A prize of some kind will be offered to the winner.

We’re still working that out.

“WHY?!” will be available to download and stream for free from our host at Podbean as well as through iTunes, Spotify, and other fine podcatching services.  Our guest list and schedule will be posted soon.

 

Summer Vacation.

“Behold the field in which my Fucks once grew,
I have not one that I can give to you.
I may grow more here in a month or two,
And then, I’ll give you all a fond Fuck You.”

 

“I’m The [Internal] Customer, and The [Internal] Customer…”

…needs to chill the hell out.

I want to talk a bit about something that’s been on my mind a while. It’s off base, so pass on through until you see something about me stepping on a rake or some other self-deprecating post.

Let’s talk about the corporate-born concept of “internal” and “external” customers. It’s an idea that suggests that we are customers of one another in business. I need great service from you and I expect great service in return. When it is lacking, we work together to find a solution. We have external customers and the great service typically moves in the opposite direction of the money.  In other words, if you run the register, your “external customer” gets to have its ass kissed.  Them’s the rules and most of us know it.

“Internal customer” means everyone you work with – and its well-intended concept removes that cash register concept and suggests that we are all service oriented and deserving of respect, professionalism, and especially our best efforts. In retail, we have our suppliers, the truckers, our help desks, people who we begin to demean and disrespect when our personal expectations are not met.  Yeah, expressing frustration and dissatisfaction is just being human, but it cannot become the role you play in business.

That’s just being a dick.

How I Spent My #Second Civil War

#It begins…