Diary of a Web 2.0 Dream

I've done this before and not followed up, but here's to not being lame about the future implications of awesome work....

I've a plan to resurrect the fatdog website. First step in that plan is to get rid of the fatdog website. Heh. Second step is to reintroduce that site as the official "thosekids.org." When I first purchased the domain name in 2001 it was to be a location for all sorts of web projects and productions (hence the sometimes bantered moniker 'thosekids productions'). That's fallen-through a bit (or so I realize over five years later) and I'm rethinking the way to approach that goal. fatdog in its hey-day was an excellent site that a trusted and excitable throng of repeat visitors frequented. The site had nearly 30 contributors and 50 additional frequent readers at its peak. That was about three-to-four years ago.

So now there's the Web 2.0 movement: a swing to produce websites where content is generated by, described by, and marketed by the very people that read it. You can see this on sites like flickr and digg and del.icio.us and YouTube and and and and... The root of this is in a feature you might be familiar with called 'tagging.' Users assign words -- adjectives, nouns, verbs, anything -- to content that describes it. Tag a picture of a dildo things like 'dildo,' 'sextoy,' 'dirty,' and 'dick' and you're on the right track.

The problem has been rethinking a site that has its roots very much set in the old web -- the web where some people contribute and most people just read and maybe there's a discussion board, but that's it. The site has a few different sections that different material goes in and there's probably tabs on the top to navigate between sections and huzzah! you have a website.

How do you successfully take a bucket of content entrenched in that old manner of thinking and make it effectively new, flashy, and different for today?

I'm approaching it by slashing out the sections of the website, adding a lot of new avenues for creativity and yes -- all of those fancy Web 2.0 things people love these days like tagging. You should be able to have discussion about everything on the page, the navigation will be content-centric, not type-of-content-centric... meaning you'll be able to read an article about 'politics' and you'll find related materail about 'politics.' If you think a story you're reading should be categorized a 'horror,' but the author forgot to make that connection, you'll be able to list it as such -- so everyone can find it. It will make reading more fun, it will make searching more intuitive. And if you're one of the writers on the site, you'll be able to contribute anything your heart desires: reviews, photographs, stories, poems, songs, rants, raves, links, something we haven't seen before.

That's the plan at least. And I'm actually about 1/3 of the way there. The image's a look at the new site in an early phase (before the right-side navigation was pulled out and replaced with tag lists and interaction). Maybe I'll get it done by the goal of "sometime this November."

Maybe.

I Love John Cusack, too

should get this book:

It appears that countless women born between the years of 1965 and 1978 are in love with John Cusack. I cannot fathom how he isn't the number-one box-office star in America, because every straight girl I know would sell her soul to share a milkshake with that motherfucker. For upwardly mobile women in their twenties and thirties, John Cusack is neo-Elvis. But here's what none of these upwardly mobile women seem to realize: They don't love John Cusack. They love Lloyd Dobler. When they see Mr. Cusack, they are still seeing the optimistic, charmingly loquacious teenager he played in *Say Anything*, a movie that came out more than a decade ago.

-- "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto" by Chuck Klosterman

best of cl

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/aus/192659778.html

More on the Phillies

This from ESPN.com:

The Pirates assured themselves of a 14th consecutive non-winning season with a 13-1 loss to the Astros -- their 81st loss. With one more loss, they will be two losing seasons away from tying the Phillies' major-league record of 16 in a row from 1933-48.

All I can say is GO PIRATES! GO! Keep up the good work! Let's make it 17!

Proud of the Fightin's

I am a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies. A proud fan, at that. Like many other Philadelphia sports fanatics, I tend to sometimes wear the "no titles since 1983" as a badge of honor or a way to denounce other cities' fans as "nothing compared to us." It just comes with the territory. When there's no real winnings over a 23-year-long stretch for an entire city, you'll do anything in your power to turn that negative into a positive.

So I'm proud. I'm proud the Phils are within 2½ games of the wild-card and have won the majority of their recent games. But today I'm proud of the Phillies for another reason, too: they don't take shit from pushy religious organizations. The Agape Press, which denotes itself as a provider of "reliable news from a Christian source," has published the article Phillies Blasted for Promoting Homosexuality, Barring Biblical Views From Ballpark.

In the story, author Jim Brown goes on to describe the protests of the Christian ministry organization Repent America. You see, the organization is angry the Phillies hold an annual event known as Gay Community Night, which invites members and allies of the LGBTQ community in and around Philadelphia to come out, bond together, and enjoy a night of baseball. This article goes on to argue that by holding this event and not allowing members of Repent America to attend waving banners reading contempt of the "gay lifestyle," Constitutional rights are being violated.

Fuck off, Repent America. Go spread the more hateful elements of your religious tenants elsewhere. Let people have 1 out of 365 days a year free from your scowling view.

Read more about this marginalizing, manipulative crap at http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/8/232006b.asp.

Snakes on a Plane

I haven't seen it, yet, as I had other plans for this weekend, but there's this from an online review to get me excited:

"If you are like me, and I would assume you are since you are reading my review, and are looking for a solid hour and a half of ass-kickery, then congratulations. You just hit the jackpot with Snakes on a Plane."

Sounds awesome.

Oh Nice

It's gorgeous outside, apparently. It is forecast to be "Sunshine and delightful." How nice that I am at a desk that receives a minimum of natural light. Ho-hum.

What's an iPod Good For?

My iPod's battery is pretty much dead. Over two and a half years I used it very frequently and the battery -- which was never that good to begin with -- has been reduced to lasting about thirty to forty minutes since the beginning of this year. Sucks, I know. The past semester it'd get me to class, then die on the way back.

So naturally, since it needs to be plugged in or in the car charger to work for any decent length of time, I haven't been listening very very frequently for about six months. I brought it to work today and began with my "Top 25 Most Played" playlist, which automatically updates itself to include the twenty-five songs that I've played the highest number of times on the iPod...

What's on there you ask? Good question.

• lots of Bloc Party (allright, makes sense)
• Missy Elliot (I loved "Lose Control" about this time last year and when I was moving into my apartment and such, so makes sense)
• gorillaz (That bass line! Come on!)
• more Bloc Party (sure)
• The Bravery (the only song I have by them is "Honest Mistake" - and it's not even the video with the domino rally)
• Kelly Clarkson (I still contend that her backing band rocks)
• Depeche Mode (when Kasey and I were going to cover "Enjoy the Silence," I listened to that song over and over and over and over again)
• Weezer (predictable... but only one song... the antique y100 Sonic Session of "Say it Ain't So" is that it!?)

So there you have it. I swear I listen to much more and much different stuff than that... just I suppose not six months ago....