Sooo Typical

Sachi came into the room where I draw and saw this piece of paper and nearly died from laughter.  It's true - I'm sorry to say, I had a problem coloring a checkered flag.  Such things are all too common in my world.

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Meatwad and Wikia Search: Separated at Birth?

Is it me, or does the new Wikia Search logo look a lot like Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force?  

  

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On The Set: Wetpaint's Parody Commercials

Kevin Flaherty, the guy who runs marketing at the wiki company Wetpaint (and does killer zombie voices) invited me to the filming of Wetpaint's latest experiment: parody commercials.

I had no idea what to expect, but it was awesome.  It was the first time I'd been on a real set during filming. It was just like our studio at home, except this set had giant lights, real actors, a director, lots of expensive production gear and fewer whiteboards and markers. Just like it, I swear!

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Video: Zombies in Plain English

Zombies in Plain English

Give it a Name (Friday Fun)

When asked what sort of videos we make it's a bit hard to explain in normal terms.  They're not really instructional or how-to, they have elements of marketing and promotion and some say they are entertaining.  Here's a few options - maybe you have more?

Infodocutainmercials?

Explanatainment?

Docuinfotainment?

Explanapromomercials? 

Explanadocuinfotainmercials?

or maybe just...

explainment?

By the way, don't expect to see any of this on the Common Craft business cards - just for fun. 

Any suggestions? 

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Did You Miss Common Craft Week?

I'm not sure you realized, but it was Common Craft week last week. I know, it snuck up on you again. Me too!

Really though, we were surpised and honored to see that the folks at New Media in the Land of Manana decided that such a week existed last week. Well, it started in Tuesday, but we'll call it even.

Tuesday: The Common Craft
Common Craft Wednesday: What is a Wiki?

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Oh, THAT Kind of Video

The other day I was getting a haircut. Making small talk (it was a $15 haircut) she asks...

Barber: So are you going back to work after this?

Me: Sort of. I work from home.

Barber: Oh, that's cool. What do you do?

Me: Me and my wife make videos, in our basement. Well, I should say that we get paid to make videos.

Barber: <interested look>

Me: We have a little studio at home and we make short videos for businesses.

Barber: Oh, THAT kind of videos. I hear ya.<knowing nod of subversive respect>

Me: No, no, no. Not THAT kind I swear. Our videos are instructional.

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A Strange Conversation with LimeLight Networks

If nothing else, our videos have increased the number of phone conversations we have with seemingly random people. We recently had a rather bizarre conversation with Limelight Networks that still makes me chuckle.

First, a bit about Limelight. They own a network that enables them to handle/distribute huge amounts of information on the Internet - videos, audio, rich media, etc. They provide a backbone for delivering media on the Web.

They contacted us because we're making videos. Our rep "Carl" was friendly and well-spoken, but didn't seem to realize our position, or the position of thousands of publishers like us.

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Gaming American Idol: Sanjaya

Ratings, reputation, recommendations, etc. all have problems when it comes to trying to discover the most accurate/helpful/interesting/compelling content. One of the biggest problems is "gaming" which means working to produce results that diverge from the results the system was designed to produce.

Well, it appears that some are on a mission to game American Idol and actually try to enable one of the lesser-talented performers to, as the BBC reports win the whole thing. Enter: Sunjaya.

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