WEBSITE
I am annoyed by the limited WordPress/PHP-based site themes available for my site. Probably makes sense considering I am using free ones. Anyone out there design quality themes?

NEW YORK CITY
Heading into New York City on Tuesday, February 16 for my feature at the Bowery Poetry Club. Not sure how long I’m hanging out, but if you wanna make some hang, holler at a nerd.

NEW ALBUM
In my time off from the road, I intend to record an audio version of my book In Search of Midnight. Curious: Should I make it a read-along with page-turning chimes and silliness, or separate tracks, poem-for-poem recording? Both?

AWESOMENESS BEGINS BELOW

———
Word to the nerd.
Bunny up.

WEBSITE
I am annoyed by the limited WordPress/PHP-based site themes available for my site. Probably makes sense considering I am using free ones. Anyone out there design quality themes?

NEW YORK CITY
Heading into New York City on Tuesday, February 16 for my feature at the Bowery Poetry Club. Not sure how long I’m hanging out, but if you wanna make some hang, holler at a nerd.

NEW ALBUM
In my time off from the road, I intend to record an audio version of my book In Search of Midnight. Curious: Should I make it a read-along with page-turning chimes and silliness, or separate tracks, poem-for-poem recording? Both?

AWESOMENESS BEGINS BELOW

———
Word to the nerd.
Bunny up.

Originally published at Mike McGee Town. You can comment here or there.

Couldn’t sleep. Now I am tired, but I feel like I should just plow through the day. Reading manuscripts for Write Bloody takes the wind out of you. Some damn good writers out there.

CLEANING UP MY INTERNET FOOTPRINT
I’ve been thinking a lot about how completely reliant I am of the internet these days. Not that I haven’t been pretty reliant over the past 11 years, it just seems that with so many social networks out there and so many apps available to stay tuned, turned-on, and tempted, I am using the web more throughout my day. Especially now that I use my BlackBerry for so many daily (every)things, I seem to easily forget that it’s all web all the time.

What I use most for networking:
    •    Gmail/G-apps
    •    Facebook
    •    Twitter*
    •    LiveJournal
    •    WordPress for my website
These are all also accessible from my BlackBerry thanks to apps. This makes things very, very easy, but not uncluttered and litter free…

To me, there is way too much “web-litter.“ Web-litter (litternet?) is electronic ephemera that exists because it is too easy to create, and does nothing to move your intended web experience along, becoming what I would also call a “yellol light“ (get it? yel-lol) well before a necessary red light stop point. Web-litter is NEVER quality information. If it has an intellectual value, then it cannot be rubbish. Trivial information is fine, as long as it is still info. Web-litter is useless.

I don’t know why I wish the web weren’t so cluttered, but to be honest, what killed Myspace for me were those UGLY "glittery" images of "Happy Valentine’s Day!" with a teddy bear holding a heart, or a 4-leaf clover and a leprechaun wishing me a "Happy St. Patty’s Day!" Fuck Valentine’s Day. Fuck St. Patty’s Day. Do some research. They’re both wack and offensive. I despised seeing new digi-glittering jpegs as comments on my page. They look horrendous and it made me de-friend people because that’s all they ever did. They never actually sent me a message or left text comments. What’s the point in staying?

Imagine the web represented by people and places you know. Someone you trust and rely on very much is your email account. Maybe your journal is your greatest living confidant, and Facebook is a café someone told you everyone you know goes to, and so you either live there or avoid it like plague. (Now that I think about it, it’s more like a strange voyeur café where we can come and watch people without them knowing… Creepy.)

Web-litter would be the most annoying people ever. Ever. Constantly bombarding us with shit, lol-crap and terds. I have created my share of web-litter, but I want to stop.

MY EXAMPLE PLAY

WEB-LITTER HUMAN EQUIVALENT: Hey, McGee! Look at this picture of this cat! I added this misspelled caption to it to make it cute!

ME: Get the fuck away from me. You just ruined my stride. My mom says we can’t play anymore.

FIN

I bring all this up because I know so many lazy people out there who aren’t doing shit aside from creating and trading this shit. Don’t support it, especially when you have other shit to do!

DO YOU HAVE A WEBSITE? ("No, but I have EVERYTHING ELSE.")
I get so frustrated with people, especially other poets, who have a dozen or so different web-networks to be seen, heard and contacted. I am floored that there are any poets who want to make a solid living at touring or get their name and work out there and still do not have their own website. Just do some research –  invest a little cash – and you’ll see that it’s pretty easy to get your own site up and running. WordPress is a great place to start. I host my WordPress site on 1and1.com. I hear GoDaddy.com is very user friendly and inexpensive. I’m sure people can comment with other awesome web hosting services.

EDIT: When I was touring festivals with T.O.F.U., I talked to a lot of producers and record label types. I asked them what they look for in an act aside from skill and stage presence. They said they wanted awesome people who believed in themselves. They paid more attention to acts who knew their own aesthetic and had a solidly designed web presence, and very specifically, their own website. It didn’t matter what it looked like, since any label would revamp it anyway. It was just that they could see that the act was willing to put money where their mouth was and do the work to be taken seriously. According to them, If the only place to listen to your work is on Myspace, and it’s been that way for years, then you probably have a long way to go and don’t actually intend to get there.

*TWITTER
I’ve been using it for a while and all I do is text the same message to Facebook as a status update and to Twitter as a tweet. Is Twitter just a whisper scream into a dark hallway in the hope that someone will respond? I get it and I see that it can be useful, but when I go to read other people’s shit, it’s text-based web-litter. I like the quasi-tangible responses on Facebook and LiveJournal. Maybe I don’t use it enough or maybe I’ve already exhausted all possibilities with Twitter.

How’s Myspace doing? Is it okay? Is it eating right? Do people go to visit?
–––––––––
Word to the nerd.

*Got mugged with Joshua Walters last week on my way to (and a block away from) the Berkeley Poetry Slam. They took my wallet and Joshua’s cash. Joshua and I were and are fine. Be careful, East Bay. No pity please, we’re seriously fine, but people need to know what’s up around that area.

**Updated http://www.mikemcgee.net to be powered by WordPress. I think it’s looking good, but it will change a lot over the next year.

*/**Deleted my Myspace account after threatening to do so for about a year. I’m a douche, but I feel liberated.

*/**Went through such emotional growth with Miss Knowles that, by almost breaking up, we’re stronger than ever. Anyone else go through something like this?

**Anytime I’ve been in San Jose this year I’ve been very diligent in giving away most of my possessions. I’ve yard-sold my shit at Barefoot Coffee Roasters. I’ve donated stuff to thrift stores. This time, I gave Goodwill a shit-ton of my clothes, mostly stuff a size or two too big for me. I hope to keep only my sports collection and the bare minimum of what I need to enjoy my life of stuffs.

*I’ve been eating too many hamburgers. This unusual craving will not die. Denny’s hamburgers no less.

–––––––––

Word to the nerd.

]]> http://www.mikemcgee.net/uncategorized/mikemcgeenet/feed/ 1 http://www.mikemcgee.net/personal-updates/mikemcgee-net-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mikemcgee-net-3 http://www.mikemcgee.net/personal-updates/mikemcgee-net-3/#comments Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:21:00 +0000 Mike McGee http://www.mikemcgee.net/personal-updates/mikemcgee-net-3/ A strange*, productive** December:

*Got mugged with Joshua Walters last week on my way to (and a block away from) the Berkeley Poetry Slam. They took my wallet and Joshua’s cash. Joshua and I were and are fine. Be careful, East Bay. No pity please, we’re seriously fine, but people need to know what’s up around that area.

**Updated http://www.mikemcgee.net to be powered by WordPress. I think it’s looking good, but it will change a lot over the next year.

*/**Deleted my Myspace account after threatening to do so for about a year. I’m a douche, but I feel liberated.

*/**Went through such emotional growth with Miss Knowles that, by almost breaking up, we’re stronger than ever. Anyone else go through something like this?

**Anytime I’ve been in San Jose this year I’ve been very diligent in giving away most of my possessions. I’ve yard-sold my shit at Barefoot Coffee Roasters. I’ve donated stuff to thrift stores. This time, I gave Goodwill a shit-ton of my clothes, mostly stuff a size or two too big for me. I hope to keep only my sports collection and the bare minimum of what I need to enjoy my life of stuffs.

*I’ve been eating too many hamburgers. This unusual craving will not die. Denny’s hamburgers no less.

–––––––––

Word to the nerd.

Originally published at Posted on MikeMcGee.net. You can comment here or there.