Something That Happened.

This morning's voice post about my anxiety over being late was countered by what turned out to be a fine another fine day.

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My favorite live webcaster Chris Pirillo informs us that "Microsoft podcasts". Not to deceive too much, this simply demonstrates that Microsoft isn't afraid to use the term podcasts. Meanwhile, Microsoft's own Major Nelson is still blogcasting...

After such a good week, I begin the next by nearly fucking it all up...(Listen to the audio post that should be after this)

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wankr is gonna be awesome!

Some years ago, I was waiting in line with friends to purchase Cure concert tickets at the Virgin Megastore in West Hollywood. We were in line with hundreds of other Cureheads for hours, and we became friendly with a few like-minded souls. One petite young lady -- let's call her Foggy -- was a cute, spunky, and dim little goth a couple of us became somewhat smitten with. One of my buddies -- we'll call him Ricardo -- was more smitten than the other, however, and did his best to charm the girl in the most disgusting manner -- at his friend's expense. (It's all "water under the bridge" now, but it certainly wasn't one of Ricardo's prettier moments.)



The next day, and for several months afterward, Ricardo attempted to pursue a relationship with this girl, Foggy. At first, the girl seemed to respond to Ricardo's advances; she accepted his invitations to go on movie and dinner excursions, and they had a makeout session or two. Ricardo, who wasn't the luckiest fellow with women, seemed to be finding romance with this girl, and we were all rooting for him. Though the girl seemed a bit aloof -- at least, in the details Ricardo was giving us about their relationship -- it seemed that Ricardo had found a friendship that could, just possibly, turn into a love affair.



Then, Foggy took Ricardo to her church.



I lost the will to finish this (truthful) story

Labels: real life, something that happened, stories, true stories

Here I am at work, and 10 feet away from where I sit, The Wood Brothers are jammin' in our studio. If you love music, how much better can it get than this -- good, bluesy live music while you're troubleshootin' your laptop?

According to Wikipedia, the H in the oft-repeated phrase Jesus H. Christ may stand for Harold...I knew there was something special about me!

Okay, I'm not God. I know that much. Wouldn't want to fill those shoes anyway; I can barely muster the courage to rise out of bed every day, much less rise from a grave after three days.

I suddenly feel worried. Am I being blasphemous? I'm not even particularly spiritual -- not in the Christian sense -- so I guess I can't be labelled blasphemous. But still: I've had a really good week, miraculously landing a job out of nowhere. Not even particularly looking (though I've needed an income for some time now). Yet there I am, heading off to the office every day, making money.

So if there is a God, I don't want to fuck it up by calling him names, or making fun of Him/Her/It/Whatnot. I want this Lucky or Blessed From Above or The Force Is With Me streak to continue...

It's my second day of work, and I'm posting this from my seat in The John. So far, so good. (The job.)

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So here's that video I mentioned earlier today. It's not a work of art or anything -- it's just me talking to you. Again.

In case you're interested in these details, the video was shot early in the morning. I was lying on my stomache in front of a Ralph's supermarket.

(Click the image or this link to view/download the video.)

I begin a contract job today, working for a digital music service. Wish me luck! I recorded a video which'll be here later.

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Pixar and Disney,
sitting in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

First came love,
and then came marriage...

Terry Bradshaw hosted a great post-NFC Championship Awards Ceremony, joshing Seattle Seahawks owner (and co-founder of Microsoft) Paul Allen about fixing his email problems and making Quarterbeck Matt Hasselbeck take off his baseball cap so the two QBs could compare their glistening bald heads. Terry is truly a champ; you gotta love him.

Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks, who took 30 years to make it to their first Super Bowl, and to the Pittsburgh Steelers (Bradshaw's former team), who will be making their -- what, fifth or six or something? -- appearance. I'll probably let you know who I'll be rooting for later. I'm just glad Denver didn't get there.

Next year: Go Bolts!

I'm not certain I should remember posting this commentary and most of the ensuing comments...

I'm fairly certain I've seen this dude before, Paul Colligan. Perhaps it was at the Portable Media Expo, back in November. In any case, he claims "podcasting is his passion -- and it pays his bills". (Wouldn't that be nice? I wouldn't mind having a technology that writes checks and licks stamps for me, too...)

Anyway, he says he's working on a video podcast now, though he's being a bit mysterious about its nature...

I really need to begin using my iCal calendar; I always seem to miss my favorite tech radio program, The Chris Pirillo Show, which streams live on the 'net every Thursday at 6pm Pacific (GMT-08:00). I keep remembering as I'm falling asleep late Thursday night, or early Friday morning -- both times of which are, of course, too late for the live webcast. (Chris and his producer/best friend Jake Ludington record the show and offer it as a podcast, but it's not as fun IMO to listen to as the live program.)

I remembered tonight, however, and managed not to miss too much of the show. In fact, I even called in! (View the show notes wiki to find out what we talked about.) By calling in, I was also entered into a giveaway for a fabulous prize, such as a PSP, an XBox 360, or some other neat gizmo, since everyone who participates in the show (by calling in) qualifies for a prize. Now you understand why you should be listening to Chris' show? Cool prizes and you learn alot about tech (while having fun in the IRC chatroom)-- what more could you want?

ID voyagerradio signs in to his IM client and finds, as usual, he has no friends. What's it take to find a chat partner?

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I'm feeling really, really, really good today -- which is rare for me. "Elated," I told my psychiatrist. In fact, I'm feeling so good, I'm ready for a drink. (It's in my nature, the ability to self-destruct. I'll do what I can, however, to refrain. I'll eat some cheese bread instead, and see what personal media I can find online; perhaps I'll find out if Russell Beattie is serious about mobile television being real...)

An Irishman, now American, posts audio recordings of his life at http://brencast.blogspot.com. Listen to his audio to hear if you can sense his accent slip through his now-American accent, then make sure to email him or comment on his blog to let him know it's about time to post some more audio (since it's been since Christmas already, dude)!

Reason prevailed yesterday: No new components were purchased & I seem to have fixed the old Mac. Vlogging'll have to wait.

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Electronics ad in hand, I'm on a personal media mission: a new processor & RAM to better handle editing. Rent will wait...

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I've heard alot of blonde jokes, but this one is an entirely new one...

Yesterday I lamented the closure of my local record stores, and further research reveals that the damage is more widespread than I'd realized. Today I found out that Aron's Records in Hollywood, an independent record store that had been around for 40 years, just closed a couple of months ago. It appears that Tom Simpson is correct about this being the start of a trend; even though close to 1,000 indie stores have closed in the past three years, it looks the wrecking ball is really swingin' now.

After more than 30 years, Rhino Records in Westwood closes its store - mere weeks after Penny Lane does the same. Does anyone hear hoofsteps -- the sound of Four Horsemen, perhaps?

Though I love being able to download music using services like the new Virgin Digital or eMusic, I still like being able to -- once in awhile -- actually walk into a record store and browse the aisles. Call me Old-Fashioned, or what you will...

Los Angeles CityBeat features an article about a generation of personal nonfiction writers, including bloggers. Google it.

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From JD Lasica's Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation: Here's a fascinating story of a man who acts as a double-agent of sorts, participating in the underground file-sharing "scene" while reporting its trends and activities back to a major media company. Perhaps equally -- or even more -- fascinating is the transcript of a discussion which took place between Mr. Lasica and the head of six major movie (illegal) release groups.

Quick! If you have any interest in Macworld 2006, head over to this URL:

http://www.macrumorslive.com/web/

Tags: macworld, apple, mac, steve jobs, keynote

Been reading, drinking too much coffee, exercising a (tiny) bit and researching/bidding on analog camcorders I can't afford, so I haven't produced much -- certainly not anything that's ready to be presented here. I did capture some video I'll be editing and posting to the Podcaster Herald sooner or later. My friend John Holowach, however, has been producing; he has a new music release available, Shape of Impact. Download it for free via the 'net Archive. More info. about John is also available at Narphonax.com.

Just finished reading Dan Gillmor's book We the Media, which I read carefully from cover to cover. (I generally read books carefully from cover to cover; lately, however, I've been dropping out of some books before completion. Perhaps I've finally accepted that all books are not created equal.) Though I generally knew what to expect from this book -- and perhaps because of that -- I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading We the Media. I believe this is the first time I've read Gillmor; I've been aware of the journalist for some time, but I haven't read his San Jose Mercury News column (not that I'm aware of, anyway) nor followed his blog. After reading his book, however, I'll be subscribed to at least one of his feeds from now on.

I'm not much of a reviewer, so I'll keep it brief: With We the Media, Dan Gillmor has written an important book about the current and emerging state of grassroots journalism -- a book I hope many, many people read, before it's too late. What I mean is, times are a-changin', and We the People have an opportunity -- due to the Internet and its technologies -- to challenge Big Media's monopolistic practices. I know that sounds vague, but Dan's written the book, not me. Read the book and you will know. It's one of those books that you may wish -- ten years from now -- that you had read today, while grassroots media still has the opportunity to thrive.

I read the hardcover version of the book, but the work is licensed under a Creative Commons license and is supposed to be available as a free download. I wasn't able to find the free download myself (though, admittedly, I didn't look very hard), but perhaps you can find it on the book's companion site, wethemedia.oreilly.com. It's worth buying, however, and sharing with a friend after you've been infused with the tome's knowledge.

Often these days, I can be reached via IM; my ID is voyagerradio on Yahoo!Messenger & AIM/iChat, haroldjohnson on Skype.

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I'm still guest editing Ourmedia.org's front page, but don't blame me for that Ralph Buckley video you're seeing displayed as one of my selections. JD Lasica chose that one. I approved it, however, so it still counts as one of my selections. (I guess. I thought my prior selection was much more interesting, the "Head Goal Trip" video by Colombian artist Felipe Cardona.) I've noticed Ralph Buckley elsewhere, today, though, so keep an eye out for him.

Speaking of JD, he's got this real neat new project called Real People Network. It's his official entry into the vlogosphere (though JD's been making videos for quite some time). Check it out! Hopefully, the Podcaster Herald will make an appearance somewhere on the site, once he's more prolific in this area.

These are my friends, Cyrus and Sheila. I've known them for twenty years or so. I guess they've eaten too much and haven't gotten enough exercise, but I've never been certain that's the main reason they got so heavy. I mean, okay, yes, that's why they got obese -- but I always thought there was another, and perhaps more significant, driving factor. You know, that led to the eating. Perhaps genetics, or depression. Perhaps it was due to some other suffering -- being Persian (or half-Persian) American in Southern California or something. You know -- perhaps they saw themselves as "outsiders" or something. Which seems ridiculous to consider, really, since Cy and She have never been any different from any of us. They've always been simply, well, Cyrus and Sheila: Cy with the crazy and infectious laugh (and the High Times magazine, way back in high school), and sweet Sheila with that special blend of good humor and concern (and later, a nervous little dog that liked to bite everyone). Of course, there's much, much more to them, but this is just a highly-generalized description I've come up with in order to keep this commentary short. What I'd really like for you to do is read about my friends, as they were written about in today's Los Angeles Times. I'm glad they're finally taking care of themselves, and I hope they know that I love them.

If you'd like to help them pay their medical bills, contact me and I'll make sure to put you in touch with them. (More ways of contacting me are listed at the bottom of this article.)

I'm posting this from a shiny new computer at a shiny new library, the Santa Monica Public Library. Now how many times can you use the terms shiny and new when referring to a library? Not often, some would say. I can easily use the terms in this case, however, for the City of Santa Monica's new library is gorgeous and clean and thoughtfully constructed -- and affords some wonderful views. I'm not kidding; I'm currently typing this while sitting in a second-story computer lab equipped with about 50 new Gateway PCs -- headphones included -- swivelling a comfortable (and clean, not smelling like butt yet) chair around to face a wide-window view of a clear (for Los Angeles) blue sky specked with clouds.

Outside this room is a balcony looking down on a courtyard complete with plants, a pond, and dozens of small outdoor tables and chairs where patrons can commune, eat lunch, and browse the web from their laptops using the library's free Wi-Fi network. That's right, eat lunch -- as there will soon be a cafe opening near the courtyard. Now how many libaries do you know of that include an eating establishment? And here I thought UCLA's libraries were nice...

The library is not officially open until this Saturday, though they've opened the doors for a "soft opening" today. Come over for a visit; here's Saturday's schedule of events for Grand Opening Day.

I am posting this via SMS, to describe the content posted earlier today via phone. Listen to it for why Audioblog.com OWNZ.

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Okay, it's time for my bi-weekly explanation and repurposing of the Something That Happened project. (That's a joke; in fact, I haven't repurposed this project for at least a month!) But first, a video update regarding Mom's headache (which I spoke of a few days ago):

"Hammy for my Mammy" [QuickTime video; click and wait a few seconds, or maybe several, or perhaps minutes or even hours or days]

Now, back to The Explanation. Something That Happened is exactly as described: something that happened. Like natural selection, it is a random event, carelessly and thoughtfully planned. It's foundation was purposeful, and the project is not restricted to any particular form. It is not a blog; it is (currently) composed of journal entries that are posted on a regular basis and generally displayed in reverse chronological order.

I contradict myself often, but only in the name of art. This is perhaps because I am one confused individual -- but I mean no harm.

Honestly (or I should say, more accurately, since I don't even know what I believe anymore), Something That Happened is neither purely a website, nor purely a blog, nor purely a podcast. It is a Becoming. (Whatever that means.) Seriously, though (and I'll really try and be serious for a moment here): It is not simply a linear tale, though in many ways, it is. It contains stories of all kinds: commentary, fiction, nonfiction (Is there such a thing?), true accounts from my personal life, personal journalism; yet it is also one big story itself: the story of me, and you, and my mom, and my dad, and my loved ones, and you, and anyone else who chooses to participate (and thus, enter the narrative).

Yes, it has boundaries: there will probably never be any porn distributed through Something That Happened -- at least, not any that can't be passed off as art (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) -- and you won't ever find any snuff films here -- that is, as long as I don't accidentally electrocute myself or something during a live webcast. You won't find any solicitations here either, except for -- perhaps, one day in the future -- money.

The project began its life -- well, it's difficult to say, really. It seems to have begun its life offline, conceived in the deepest recesses of a mind influenced by the art of Those Who Came Before. Yet one can also argue that it was officially born online, the day Something That Happened made its first appearance as a website. In any case, the project has extended beyond the web, to devices such as the iPod and iRiver, and one day it may even become a book. Your mom may one day even know about the project, when it's a multi-dimensional virtual reality she explores after reading about it in the Times! (That'll be in the distant future, though, so we won't bring that up again for awhile.)

So enjoy Something That Happened, and participate in the project by commenting or emailing or subscribing or telling your friends about the project or by calling my Skype number and leaving a voicemail (ID haroldjohnson; in fact, if you leave me your number, I'll call you back, recording the conversation so that it will be incorporated into this project somehow), or by using one of the contact methods described on VoyagerRadio's Contact page. (VoyagerRadio is another project of mine.) Another way to participate would be through hiring me; I have great difficulty getting myself up to the task of seeking employment, so if you find a job for me it would change my life considerably! (What can I do? Oh, just about anything...and you already know I can write and podcast and stuff!)

Okay, I've explained enough for now. Watch the damn video if you haven't already. I love you. Be my friend.

I opened the Los Angeles Times today and was surprised to find this Calvin & Hobbes cartoon, which was originally printed on New Year's Day, 1995. I remember exactly where I was when I read this particular C & H comic, back then...

Well, as Calvin says, it's a magical world...

Happy New Year to everyone who has Serious Issues!

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