Professional Geekery

Are You Responding Or Carrying Out?

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It's hard to get organized.  Trust me, as a busy person I realize this.  Many people end up busy but somehow never getting actually toward their goals.  They KNOW they're active, they can list all the things they've done, but they're not getting anywhere.

(You're probably nodding your head.  I've been here myself.)

I finally came to realize that one of the biggest causes of this is that sometimes we're not following our grand plan (if you don't have a grand plan you have an entirely different problem).  Instead of following that plan we're just responding.

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Go Farther: Procedural Media

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(Last week I suggested spontaneity and surprise were elements that people making media could use to add value and increase interest.  I wanted to explore that more.)

As I've suggested before, spontaneity and unpredictability is an element of a media product (a story, a game, etc.) that can get, maintain, and expand people's interest in the product.  Spontaneity, combined with relatively fast access to the spontaneous content, is a unique way to add value to a media product as its un duplicateable and plays on our love of the unknown and novel.  Getting that spontaneity is thus important – but varies from media to media.

Every kind of media has its different advantages and disadvantages in adding spontaneity to it.  Changing technology has also altered how this can be done, and changing expectations have altered what people expect.  I'm going to take a look at the different kinds of media and how spontaneity can be added to them.

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How Internet Access Changes Failure

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Being a geek, I assume you remember the time you discovered Mystery Science Theater 3000.  If you're one of the poor souls that doesn't know what it is, it's a show where characters mock old movies, and at times obscure movies.  These films get a new lease on life – and the show, in my opinion, increased interest in cheesy old films.

Of course before that there was the Golden Turkey Awards, which awarded various bad films awards for their "achievements."  This book is one I credit with giving Plan 9 From Outer Space more prominence, though it certainly called attention to other films.

Many films in the above media, and in similar media like Late Night Movies and the like, are films that are at best weird, and at most very bad.  Many would be considered outright failures, yet because of their very flaws, they get a kind of new life.

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