Podcasting

This "activity" seemed less useful to me than many others on Web 2.0. Not because I dislike podcasting, but the activity itself didn't involve much of anything. Thankfully, I've already downloaded and listened to quite a few podcasts in the past - otherwise I probably still wouldn't really know what was going on with them.

While none of the library-related podcasts really caught my attention, I do think that 'casts are very useful and entertaining. For myself, I regularly listen to "The Signal" - a Firefly podcast - and two 'casts related to Dragon*Con. The first is just for fun, but the other two have also provided me with valuable information about going to such a large convention and how to make the most of my trip. While I enjoy a well put together website, there are many things that come across much better when listened to than when read. Music for instance, as well as interviews. Often, when reading an interview, the person loses much of their vivacity and uniqueness that are easily apparent in an audio or video podcast.

A New Place for Filk

Now this is cool. I love to listen to music, but my genre (filk) isn't exactly anything I'll likely be hearing on the radio anytime soon. I pretty much just have to go to conventions and stock up in the dealers' room - buying cds I've never heard, but have faith they'll be good. I'm often quite satisfied, but there have been times I regretted my purchases. Here, though, are places where I can listen - for free - to stuff before I buy. And they even have more than a few filk artists.

So far, Last.fm is my favorite music site. I like how intuitive it is with tags and tabs dividing up all sorts of juicy information. Not only music, I also found videos of one of my favorite performers (Heather Alexander) and links to many other filkers. Even ones I've never heard of!

Excuse me while I grin in geeker joy. I can't wait to explore this site further.

As far as connecting this with libraries, I know I love to listen to music while I read and it would be cool to have suggested songs to go with certain books - like making our own soundtracks. For instance instead of a page about a performer, you could have one for a book or character and list songs different people connect to it.

Docs: not just from Microsoft anymore

I gotta admit it: This is kinda cool.

Now I feel like I have a new toy - though I'm not sure what to do with it.

As a writer and someone who deals with multiple drafts of the same document, I admit it would be nice to have a central location that would store drafts without me having to wonder which version I'm looking at. What I'm less sure of, however, is if I like the idea of my "stuff" being somewhere in the ether instead of the relative safety of my own harddrive.

I also don't currently have anyone I want to collaborate with - but my lack of any kind of social life is not the issue here. In theory, google docs would definately make collaborations easier. As the 100+ back emails in each of my multiple accounts will tell you: I easily get bogged down in piles of emails bearing attachments and quickly lose count of what I've read, what I want to do with it, and finding the energy to care. I may have to spend some more time playing..er..learning about google docs.

Spiffy

TV Reviews

Guess all that book learning was good for something after all.

Aside from discovering the erudite nature of this journal, I also opted to play around a bit. After a few rounds of 'wordshoot' I managed to get myself on the high score list. Granted, it was for the "easy" level, but hey, a high score is a high score darn it. That's a game I might be returning to - likely when I should be doing something productive. Yahoo Answers was also an interesting venture as I found questions on just about any topic I could conceive of - including more than a few that I could answer with some level of confidence. Much fun, indeed.