Dancing About Architecture

Ratified Winner

Riayn — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:12:17 +0000

I was checking my incoming links this morning and there was one from http://australia.ratified.org/rati/winners so I decided to see what it was all about.

According to Ratified, I am today’s winner for the biggest jump in the Ratified ratings moving up 51 places from 136 to 85. I am not entirely sure what this means, if anything, but still it was nice to see my blog at number one for something. It has given my Monday morning a nice happy glow.

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Have nuns taken up the blogging habit?

Riayn — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:27:02 +0000

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I am being stalked by nuns. It is Catholic World Youth Day in Sydney next week and the Pope will be coming to town, thus Sydney is starting to fill up with Catholic pilgrims from around the world including lots of nuns. In a city where it is rare to see a nun to now seeing them everywhere is very strange. It feels like I have stepped into a parallel Catholic world. But there is one group of nuns who I swear are stalking me. They are a group of young nuns from Tennessee who got on my bus the other morning to travel into the City. We said hello and chatted briefly about Catholic World Youth Day. Now, I keep seeing them everywhere - in a city full of nuns. It is starting to freak me out and I think I am being to develop a touch of cloisterphobia.

Seeing all these young nuns around town got me wondering about whether these nuns are blogging about their lives and in particular if we have any blogger nuns attending World Youth Day.

A quick search has revealed the blog and twitter of Sister Julie who writes A Nun’s Life where she talks about what it is like to be a nun and runs a forum for those interested in taking up the vocation. It is an absolutely fascinating read. Did you know that there is a difference between a nun and a sister?

A young Aussie nun Sister Sarah blogs over at The Nun Thing where she has a fantastic post entitled Sometimes it is embarassing to be Catholic where she, like the rest of the citizens of Sydney, questions the logic of the annoyance law in place for WYD. I am glad to see Catholics feel the same way that the rest of do about this idiotic law.

This is what I love about blogging, the fact that so many people from so many walks of life take part in it. A simple Google search can uncover blogs that let you see the world from someone else’s point of view and in doing so can change the way you view others.

Creating Fiction on Twitter

Riayn — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:18:34 +0000

Twitter is becoming well-known for being the place online where news about major events are broken. Andrew Sayer has taken this fact to a new level and has done an amazing mock up of what his Twitter timeline would look like if there was a global Zombie attack. It is absolutely fantastic and even this small snipet creates a wonderful sense of suspense and you are left wanting to know what happens next.

This got me thinking, is anyone out there using Twitter either directly or in a pictorial form like Andrew’s mock up to tell a story? So I started investigation and I found Twitter Fiction, who writes a stories, or as she terms it, microfictions in 140 characters. Meanwhile over at MInific, they are collaborating 130 character stories and reposting them through a single Twitter feed.

I am sure there are many more people out there using Twitter to write fiction, so if you know of any please let us know.

Want to interview an Australian musician?

Riayn — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:00:42 +0000

Well, here is your chance. The gorgeous Jess McAvoy who wrote yesterday’s fantastic guest post is going to take some time out of her busy pre-launch schedule to answer your questions.

Want to know how she got started in the music industry, what it is like being an independent artist, how she uses social media to promote her albums or what she thinks of Australian Idol, then ask away!

Simply put your question in the comments section and I will collate them all together and send them to Jess this weekend (13th July).

Whilst you are thinking of your questions, here is one of Jess’ music videos Easy from her last album Into The Dark to inspire you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfUarySYTWU

My take on indie art and the spreading of it via the web

My take on indie art and the spreading of it via the web

Riayn — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:00:30 +0000

This post is written by the extremely talented Australian singer/songwriter, Jess McAvoy.

What a funny world we live in these days. As I get older and still have full memory of a time where there was no such thing as mobile phones or internet, it’s interesting to watch how everyone adjusts to these new methods of spreading music and art. There are varying opinions on what’s good and or bad about the way the music industry in particular is being impacted by digital media

I have heard many different sides. While I must admit it feels wrong to bear witness to people dumping entire libraries of songs onto their friend’s hard drives, I know for a fact that music is a more widely discussed topic than it has ever been. It seems that because people can find myspace pages, send songs to one another that they have just discovered, and most importantly have access to every type of music in the world at the touch of a button, we are no longer being told what to like.
On a whole, while the model of “Music industry” splutters and trips over itself to be refurbished, we as artists have more power over our art than ever before. This can only be a good thing.

We are also, every day gaining a stronger global community when it comes to just about everything, and in my experience of the music industry being family, it can only serve to bring people closer together, and to unite them in common goals.

It does become frustrating that most people don’t consider how much time, effort and money go into creating an album. I know that I am not the only melbourne artist who has worked in other jobs for years, only to spend most of our income on making an album, pressing copies, and buying posters, ads and merchandise to promote the release. In an ideal world, we will become much more concious consumers, and realise that we all have a part of spreading good news. Where we all do such things as tell everyone we know about music that we have found, as word of mouth really is the independent artist’s strongest tool.

And as long as more people keep going to live shows, keep buying merchandise and keep purchasing the physical record of the artists that they really love, we will continue to survive.

So while it is a very scary time for some people involved with the music industry ( no one likes not knowing what happens next, do they…), my faith in people and in what music does to people tells me that this really is the beginning of something wonderful.

I’m very interested to see what happens with the next bunch of songs that I put around the place. And while I sit and wait for my record to be pressed, I spend most of my time on this internet thing doing all of my work from a chair, where I sometimes trip over music I have never heard before.

Funny funny thing.

Jess’ new album “As The Sun Falls” is being released nationally and via iTunes on 2nd August. Jess can be found online at her website and on MySpace.

Joss Whedon’s New Master Plan

Riayn — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:44:24 +0000

Did you love the musical episode of Buffy? Do you love comic book heroes and supervillians? Do you love everything that Joss Whedon has ever done? (or is that just me?) If so, you are going to love the new webseries “Dr Horrible’s Sing A Long Blog“.

Staring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day, this all-singing, all-dancing musical spectacular is the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to. During the Writer’s Strike, sick of sitting around doing nothing and obviously bored by daytime TV, Joss Whedon called in quite a few favours and got working on this musical mini-series. Whilst it was not completed before the strike ended, Joss didn’t just shelve the idea, he actually made Fox give him time off from working on his latest project, “The Dollhouse” so he could film it. The fact that they gave him the go ahead really proves how much clout Joss has in the industry and rightly so. I have always stated that Joss Whedon is the god of TV writing.

According to Matt Roush from the Roush Dispatch, who has been lucky enough to see all three parts, Joss Whedon does not disappoint. Matt describes it as “the funniest, freshest TV special of the summer, which happens to be available only on your computer starting in mid-July.”

To get you even more excited about it (if that is actually possible), here is the trailer:

Teaser from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is screening in three parts;

Part One goes live on 15th July

Part Two goes live on 17th July

Part Three goes live on 19th July

All three parts will stay online until 20th July after which point it will be downloadable as one 45 minute episode for subscription fee, most probably via iTunes. There is also a DVD in the works that will contains a musical commentary. Wheedon describes it as “commentary with an exclamation point’! A musical commentary that is a completely original musical, that is all commentary songs, and we’re writing that now.”

Also, not content with just producing a webseries, Whedon has tapped into the social networking world and given Dr Horrible its own Twitter account, Facebook and My Space pages and You Tube account. Plus there is now a Captain Hammer comic. Now that is what I call harnessing the power of social networking to market your product.

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Identi.ca: Will it kill Twitter?

Riayn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:11:47 +0000

Identi.ca , which launched on 2nd July, is the new kid on the microblogging block. Unlike Twitter, Plurk, Pownce, Jaiku etc, Identi.ca is a built using free software which means legally, you can go and take their code and run it on your own site which opens this service up to endless possibilities.

To differentiate itself from the numerous microblogging services already out there Identi.ca has announced some exciting features. Those features are; cross-posting to Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, etc as well as having Twitter, Pownce etc messages appear on Identi.ca, Facebook integration, ability to upload images and videos and maps. Unfortunately, none of these features are live yet, but the site does promise that they are coming “soon”.

At the moment, Identi.ca is like a poor man’s Twitter, except unlike Twitter, it hasn’t fall over…. yet. The user base is very small and you can not yet search to see if your friends are already there. But if you hang out on the public timeline long enough, you will see everyone who uses the service anyway. Another annoying missing feature is the ability to delete your posts or “dents” as they are called. That means if you post something in error, it stays there for all eternity.

I guess I am being a little harsh on a service that is barely 24 hours old as Identi.ca does seem to have a lot of potential. However, it remains to be seen if Identi.ca can live up to the expectation of being a Twitter killer. If they are able to keep their system operational as their user base grows and implement all the promised features, they have a real shoot at superseding Twitter as the King of Microblogging Tools.

Have you given Identi.ca a try? What are your thoughts about it?

I can be found on Identi.ca at http://identi.ca/riayn/

I am currently testing out Posterous, a tool which allows you to post text, images and audio online via email, so stay tuned for my review on it.

Desperately Seeking A Name

Riayn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:03:38 +0000

I have received an amazing amount of positive feedback about my thoughts of creating a blogging network for women. I am amazed that so many of you think that this is a fantastic idea. I initially want to begin this network as an email group to foster discussion about what you want to see in a blogging network, what features would be most useful to you and the best method of delivering it. I have found with forums and blogs that people forget to check them or feel a little intimidated to comment. However, with email it is in your face (well your inbox) and it is very easy to hit reply and type a response.

The main hurdle to getting all this up and running is coming up with a name for this new network. I want the network to be Australian based but open to everyone who wishes to join. Therefore, I thought of The International Women’s Bloggers’ Network, but that sounds really convoluted and clunky. Then I thought about cutting that down to just The Network, but that sounds like a secret underground Government organisation. Then I thought of a parody of the name of the TV show, Women’s Murder Club and having Women’s Blogger Club. However, none of these names are popping out at me and saying this is the perfect name!

Therefore, I am opening it up to you. What should this brand new group be called?

Edit: A friend of mine suggested Ning.com as a way to run the group. What are people’s thoughts on Ning? Is it a good way to go or are their limitations to it?

Overdosing on chocolate

Riayn — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:19:31 +0000

I was so focused on getting my thoughts about creating a female blogger network down, that I completely forgot to talk about the Sydney Women’s Bloggers’ meetup and share some link love with those that attended. I blame the massive amount of sugar I ingested.

There were five of us in attendance; Leigh from All for Women and Crazy Meezer, Christie from Fig & Cherry, Veronica from Kissing Fingertips and Fern from Not Nigella and Nappy Addicts. We meet up at Max Brennar’s in Parramatta where all they serve is chocolate - lots and lots of chocolate. We all had a hot chocolate and I indulged in a dark orange hot chocolate which was simply divine. Then I made a fatal error and also got a chocolate souffle (pictured above, taken on my inadequate mobile phone camera). It had dark, milk and white molten chocolate in the middle of it and sent my blood sugar levels off the chart.

Besides the amazingly sugar ladden food, we talk about blogging, photographing food (thanks for the tips Christie) and the insane crazy people that seem to populate forums.

We have already planned the next meetup which will a high tea so that we can pretend that we are refined women. If you are interested in attending, let me know.

Creating a network for female bloggers

Riayn — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:45:47 +0000

I have just returned home from a meetup of female bloggers in Sydney. It was a group of just five of us, but the passion these women displayed not only for their chosen niche but bloggering as a whole was incredible. This got me thinking, which is probably a dangerous thing to do when on a massive sugar high from devouring way too much chocolate. I have seen places for female bloggers before but they are just either on a blog or a forum or an email group and they never seem to move much out of that sphere. Would a network that encompassed all of these things plus social networking actually work? I think it would be great to get together a group of women who can not only discuss blogging but work together to promote each other’s blogs through tools like StumbleUpon as well and perhaps use Twitter or Plurk to network as well.

Initially I thought of just restricting it to Australian female bloggers as down here we tend to miss out on other American centric women blogging networks. Then again, I hate so much missing out on really cool stuff that I would hate to do it to others.

So, what do you all think? Would something like that work? Or would it be really cool for a month or so and then die out because nobody can be bothered to participate?

This idea is really in an embryonic stage so all suggestions, criticisms and ideas are more than welcome.

Dancing About Architecture

Ratified Winner

Random Posts

Have nuns taken up the blogging habit?

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Creating Fiction on Twitter

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Want to interview an Australian musician?

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My take on indie art and the spreading of it via the web

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Joss Whedon’s New Master Plan

Random Posts

Identi.ca: Will it kill Twitter?

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Desperately Seeking A Name

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Overdosing on chocolate

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Creating a network for female bloggers

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