A New Writing Exercise, Animation, Trigger Warnings, and a Video

I posted a new writing exercise this week. I took a deeper look at Unreal Engine. I got into a discussion of trigger warnings. I procrastinated about a video I did.

"Time Enough for the Anxious Social Media Manager"

At our writer’s group we did a writing exercise based on this title. I recorded it a couple days later and then posted it on-line.

Albert meets with his social media manager. Derek is anxious about the new campaign.

·         https://soundcloud.com/dynamiclethargy/time-enough-for-the-anxious-social-media-manager

I've been posting my recordings to Soundcloud, but there is a limit to how much I can upload. So, I did some experimentation to see if I can post them on my website instead. It worked, but I don't think there is a high priority to start doing that.

NAWMAL, Blender and Unreal Engine

My plan was to stick to NAWMAL and Blender for my animations, but I saw a video about Unreal Engine that suggested that it was much easier to learn than Blender. I know how to do some things in Blender, but I find it hard to learn how to do the more sophisticated animation I want to do. So, I installed Unreal Engine on my computer. I had a quick look at it but didn’t try to do anything with it yet. I did download some of the free assets that they provide.

Trigger Warnings

At our script group meeting this week we talked a bit about trigger warnings. Apparently, the idea is controversial, since some writers feel that a warning can undercut the effect of their story. I felt that you need to be aware of your audience and avoid anything that would cause someone to 'drop out' of the story. I've dropped things from my films because of that, even though I felt they would have added to the story.

"The Desperation of the Wretched Senator"

I haven't done anything more with the video I did. Next week, for absolutely sure, definitively, I will get it polished off and posted.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

A Modest Proposal for a Different Kind of Social Media

I had an idea about a new approach to social media that addresses concerns about privacy issues. This is off-topic for this blog, but then it is my blog and I can change the rules if I want to.

Dissatisfaction

Many people are dissatisfied with Face Book and other social media sites because of privacy concerns. However, since these sites allow them to connect with friends and family, they are reluctant to abandon it.

That reminded me of when people first began to use e-mail back in the 90s. At first, most did so within a network, like AOL or GEnie. This limited communication to others on the network, so eventually people shifted to e-mail clients like Outlook, Eudora and Thunderbird. Something similar could happen with social media.

A Way to Gain Control

The way for people to maintain control of their own data is have it reside on their own computer, tablet, or cell phone. A system would be needed that would allow people to share this information with friends and contacts. I think this would be some kind of peer to peer network.

I suspect that it would have to be developed as an open source project. Possibly it would only be necessary to develop a protocol for social media data transfer. That would allow multiple developers to create social media client systems just as e-mail clients are today.

Transition

I think it would be difficult for a system like this to become popular unless it is easy to transition to. A social media client could be developed that would connect to other people through Face Book or other provider. The information would reside on the individual's computer and only links to the information would be loaded onto Face Book.

I'm not really on top of the technology, so maybe there is already something like this available. The closest thing I know of is Hoot Suite. If you know of something, I would like to hear about it.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog