theOtaku: A+. Lots of new stuff in the pipeline including an ambitious relaunch with an amazing design. Everything also is running smoothly at present.
Artpreneurship: B+. All the pieces are lining up for a late April launch.
Art Of Otaku: D-. Major delay. This has hit me harder than AnimeFF did. I've lost a fortune on it so far, including on lost Art Of Otaku: The Book revenue. It'll take a lot to sort out the mess...I might have to scrap all the code and start from scratch. It'll take a while. . . Comments (8) |
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Monday, March 26, 2007
This song is stuck in my head. The dancing girl is also consistent with my "character" on theOtaku :-). Check out the music video!
It's still in alpha, but consider it a gift to the news team (and news readers). Comments (12) |
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Saturday, March 24, 2007
There's a word in Japanese called "Kaizen." It basically means ongoing, everyday improvement. The idea is if you improve a little every day, you can make big strides over a longer period of time.
When you communicate with other people, there are three things at work:
(1) What you say
(2) Your body language
(3) Your vocal patterns
All three things are really easy to improve dramatically, if you invest some time every day in them. Here's my strategy:
(1) I read interesting books every day and make a note of interesting things I've read in them. I also am on the look out for interesting stories to tell.
(2) I've been working on my posture. I've always had TERRIBLE posture, but it's improving rapidly. In addition to observing others, I video taped myself again and again trying different things to see what worked best. Here are some things I've learned:
a. Chin position: Never look down! Keep your head static (not fidgeting) and always look forward.
b. Chest position: By default your shoulders fall in front of your chest and your back sticks out. You want to push your chest forward, creating a small curve in your back and always stand/walk like that. This takes a little while to get used to. I also feel more confident when I walk this way.
c. Fidgeting: When you speak, don't move too much. Keep your head static, your legs straight, and don't fidget. You seem more in control.
d. Sitting: Lean back in your chair and keep your chin straight. Leaning forward makes you seem needy, I've seen.
(3) Vocal Patterns: I bought this CD course called "The Sound Of Your Voice" - it's been very interesting. I think everyone should learn how to improve their voice, make it stronger, more varied/interesting, etc. There are simple exercises you can do to accomplish this.
Much of life is in communicating with others and all that communication relates to those three bullet points above. No matter how good you are in them, remember kaizen and practice to improve them each every day. Comments (10) |
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Friday, March 23, 2007
While Massin is working on Guru, I broke out my latent programming skills and have begun working on a new feature related to our news coverage.
It's a pretty obvious and much-needed feature. Anyone want to guess what? Comments (11) |
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Mascot
I'm pleased to announce that the character Snow Fox created for our theOtaku t-shirt (and the one I use on my business card) will become, in time, our official mascot.
He's confident, forward looking, attractive to girls, cool to guys, and has spiky hair. If you forgot what he looks like, the link is here Comments (12) |
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Monday, March 19, 2007
I bought Tales of Symphonia and Fire Emblem for GameCube today. Both were very cheap ($20 each) and, combined with Zelda Wii, I probably have over 100 hours of gaming backlog now.
Does anyone know the music on this trailer for Final Fantasy XIII? I really like it and want the mp3.
Here's a run down of current projects and thoughts:
(1) TheOtaku: Massin and I have been working on reviving Guru - a serious task. Sarah's return to news has meant more frequent posts to the main page, which rocks.
James is also baking some things in the background related to TheOtaku.
(2) Art Of Otaku: I'm really annoyed about this project and made some bad decisions early on that are going to result in more delays. 'Nuff said.
(3) Artpreneurship: This is the business 101 book I wrote for artists (but strong enough for non-artists). Gail's talented husband, John, is working on illustrating it. I have a pretty wild idea for how to sell the book.
Fan Manga Idea
I need a small team to create a fan manga adaptation of the events of AnimeFF. 15 pages seems like a good number to capture everything. I'd have to oversee things to ensure accuracy.
Part of this is for fun and part of it is to immortalize the event and thank the contributers again for their help. I think it's a great story too that should be brought to life, anime style.
Who are your favorite fan manga artists on theOtaku? Who is interested? Comments (8) |
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