Facing, Chirping, Hawking my Wares
by rsbakker
Definition of the Day – Philosophy: 1) A form of ethereal waste known to clog the head. See, Pornography, Conceptual Forms of.
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I actually have several announcements to make, but first I would like to thank Benjamin for a discussion every bit as cool and incisive as his post. By all means continue: the comments never close ’round these parts.
Otherwise, I want to officially announce that I’m now officially official. To whit:
The Official Website: The changes are in. Thanks one and all for your feedback. If all goes well, these very words should be glowing there at this very moment now.
The Official Facebook Page: Apparently, this is something that has to be done. Apparently, ‘word o’ mouth’ ain’t enough anymore, it’s gotta be word o’ face. Apparently, your attitudes regarding Facebook ‘say alot’ about your attitudes to the human race as a whole. But I can’t help it. I can’t help looking at Facebook in neuroprosthetic terms, like an informatic tapeworm exploiting a variety of subpersonal systems, not the least of which the occipital and fusiform face areas. If anything proves that I would be a wild-eyed hermit dressed in putrifying goatskins in any age other than this one, my totally irrational antipathy to Facebook has to be it. The World loves it – so of course it has to be poison! And then there’s the Book of Revelation. Maybe the number that had Jack of Patmos twisting in his goatskins was a Hamming number, the ugliest number of all.
The Devil’s Chirp: Okay, so the ‘Devil’s Tweet’ was already taken, but I’m actually glad in retrospect. Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary is one of my favourite books, the near pitch-perfect combination of sarcasm and wisdom. My hope is to turn the Devil’s Chirp into a worthy homage to his assay into Satanic redefinition of the hypocritical human soul, but I’ll settle for a cheap knock-off. Now I just gotta figure out how it works. I have a hard time restricting myself to 140 characters in my novels, for Chrissakes. At the very least it’s proof I’ve sold my soul to the lowest bidder.
CBC Ideas: I’m due at the studio this morning.
And I felt wired already…
Three Pound Brain 
You should also do one of those youtube videos where you read from your book with a vibrator up your ass.
Obviously you’re forgetting what happened last time!
I notice people are “liking” and “following” you already, myself included. So you should at least not view this as a total waste! Or does that make it worse?
And while I like “e-karma” on your website for the donation button better, I am kind of bummed you switched your photo.
It’s probably a bit less scarfy a photo and the scarfier version probably isn’t needed to ensure sales. A smile is still good, don’t need the german tank commander pose… 🙂
Haha, yeah you’re probably right.
Naw, it just clutters things, both practically and motivationally. It’s hard enough not feeling like a sham as it is, let alone going balls to the wall playing the very game you go balls to the wall taking the piss outta all the time. All the pictures bum me out, but my wife insisted she had no married the missing member of the Helix.
Yeah, I feel where you’re coming from. Despite my encouragement, my personal opinion is that keeping up with social network “responsibilities” and affecting an airy smile all the time starts to feel like more of a burden than anything. So much for trying to be positive! 😛 Maybe you could change your twitter handle to Blind Brain Tweeter.
It’s nice to see my reading and listening habits converging. CBC Ideas is one of my favourites.
It’s a thrill for me. Not quite on my bucket list, but pretty close.
In case you haven’t already noticed, the post on the official website seems to be broken (at least for me):
http://www.rscottbakker.com/website-post-141212/
Oh, and the link in “The Devil’s Chirp” just forwards to
I just linked there because I thought that was where people need to go to sign up and follow. Is that not the case?
I was just irritated as I expected it to direct to your twitter-account, but nevermind. The name is surely catchy enough.
twitter.com/twitter is actually just the official news feed of Twitter, the company. If you want to give people a signup link, just direct them to twitter.com.
I actually think it makes a lot more sense to link them directly to your Twitter feed, though: https://twitter.com/TheDevilsChirp
Since you don’t need to be a Twitter user to read someone’s public feed, there’s no need to direct them to Twitter’s own stream or the Twitter home page. Anyone who clicks the link to TheDevilsChirp will see your tweets, and Twitter users who do so will be able to follow you with one click.
Otherwise, nice clean site. 🙂
News post is broken for me as well. Using firefox as my browser. And twitter link doesn’t work. The worst thing (or worst thing so far…) is selling your soul…then having to fight to make the damn thing work as well!
News post is working now! Twitter link in this post still doesn’t work. But the link in the top right corner to twitter does work. 🙂
Thanks, NauC. It seems to be working now…
Cool.
I was in London junior for the first time on Tuesday(Dec 11th) and I went to the Black Walnut in the hopes of seeing you hard at work. They said it isn’t your haunt anymore; there are new owners at the café who jacked up the prices or some such. Where do you write now?
In the culvert beneath Oxford and Wonderland… 😉
No, a cool, much roomier and convivial place called Organic Works.
So obviously you are not on tonight’s show. Please let us know when your Ideas interview will air (on twitter or facebook perhaps?).
Yeah I’d be very interested to hear.
Sometime this upcoming march, they said.
Wow, Facebook. You’re a brave man. Someone once told me that if you open a Facebook account, every person you ever knew would contact you within a week. That was enough to make me run screaming from the room.
Apparently, your attitudes regarding Facebook ‘say alot’ about your attitudes to the human race as a whole.
Yes, they’re all out to get me!!! I know it. I know it.
This is why I’ve been careful never to know anyone. My wife just revealed her middle name last week. Now if only I could figure out who that little kid is running around all the time…
FB isn’t as bad as you think it will be. And the publicise tool on here means you never need set virtual foot on the site, if you don’t wish to (apart, of course, from to respond to comments).
I’m sure you’re right. I’m just being silly.
The truth is, multi-tasking damn near debilitates me, and it all seems like clutter. If I was starting on facebook and thinking about starting TPB, I’d probably be bitching just the same.
I was the same about extending myself onto Twitter – had previous FB experience from my personal page. Whereas I’ve found here (WP) quite easy to adjust to using. C – you’re not being silly, just prudent 😉 RSB – good luck with the expanded presence.
What’s your CBC appearance about? I looked at their website last night but there didn’t seem to be any mention of you yet,
It’ll be called ‘The Fool’s Dilemma’ and is slated to be aired this March, or so I’m told.
The website looks great, really professional!
Just a few impressions and suggestions:
1. I know updates were added recently, but the main page still looks static to me. I think a ‘news and updates’ box would actually help on the main page itself rather than the subpages.
2. In the Books subpage, I think it would help to have the books organised by series instead of the chronology of their release, especially for newcomers who would like to know where each book fits in the larger story.
3. Maybe a link could be added from the Fan Resources page to the fan fiction on this blog? Also, is there any plan to link the other short stories and short stories on this blog, from the official website? From what you said earlier (about Light, Time and Gravity), you might not want to do that, but at the moment, all the focus seems to be on PoN/SE…
4. Clicking on the Three Pound Brain link takes you away from the official website to the blog, without any warning. Minor issue, but could be confusing for newcomers. Maybe there could be a subpage on the official website itself, explaining what to expect from Three Pound Brain?
But overall, I think this official website idea is great!
Awesome. Thanks for the crits, Anon. I’ll be sure to raise all of them with my web guy…
chirping and ciphrang look like the same word when you’re skimming quickly.
ciphrang would be a good twitter handle too.
I fear I’ll spoil the twitter idea by asking, but what’s the bear arms tweet about? I’ve mused on the Australian ban on guns (after the port Arthur thing in Tasmania) as skewing political forces (on the other hand I’m not sure if there’s any study on how easily the mentally ill can attain weapons on the black market – pretty much most crims can though). Unless that just seems an odd idea from me, in which case, what did you mean? Heck, even my question is over 140 characters…
Tweets cannot be explained, anymore than jokes or faith…
Hmm. I think I’ll have to tweet that!
No one talks about twite club, eh?
I wish I’d said that first, then I’d be on the good side of the don’thavetoexplain explainer.