I remember back in late June of 2007 I got an idea to look into professional blogging.  I missed my writing days for magazines back in the mid-1990s.  By July 3rd I had my first job, but it was a horrible experience, and it only lasted a couple weeks as the bosses there were just horrible.  I continued hunting and landed a job with some tech blog named Mashable, and my first article went up there on July 19,2007.

That job lasted until April 1, 2009, and in the meantime I had gone exclusive with them, leaving behind the fine folks at BLORGE.com.  When I left Mashable, I went back to BLORGE, and also joined up with SitePoint.com.  I was with SitePoint for a few months, but it wasn’t a perfect fit because I didn’t have quite enough of a technical background to keep up with them.  I spent more time teaching myself about the subjects than actually doing work.  I made a very amicable departure from their site, but was again looking for some more work to fill out my schedule.

It was then I came across a fairly new site called TechnoBuffalo.com that had spun out of its owner’s incredibly successful YouTube channel.  I started there in Dec. 2009, and immediately loved it because they had me doing actual writing as opposed to doing the mind-numbing lists I had been doing at Mashable and SitePoint.

Than May of this year came along and I was promoted to Managing Editor at BLORGE, and I thought, “Hey, I’m finally getting somewhere with this whole blogging thing!”  Work was continuing at TechnoBuffalo, and it seemed I was settling into a groove.

Well, the groove has gotten … groovier?  Three years and one day since I got serious about professional blogging, I have stepped into the role of Editor-in-Chief of TechnoBuffalo.  I will also be continuing my Managing Editor duties at BLORGE, so, basically I am trying to be in charge of all tech blogging in the world …

For those of you unfamiliar with these terms, there is a distinct difference.  A Managing Editor is someone like the vice principal of a school.  He makes sure everyone is where they are supposed to be, no one is slacking and so on so that the principal (Editor-in-Chief) can concentrate on the bigger picture.  So, it’s sort of like I’m the vice principal of one school, and the principal of another.

TechnoBuffalo is still less than a year old, but growing rapidly, and I am thrilled to be given this challenge.  I have a ton of ideas for the site, and I will be actively involved in several upcoming projects the owner, Jon Rettinger, has in mind.  A lot of it deals with the business side of the site, and would bore you horribly, but I’m excited, thrilled and honored to be a part of it.

I hope all of you will stop by the site today as well over the next few months to see what we’re doing and up to.  It’s a great site already, and I only hope to make it even better.

And, hey, what better way to celebrate my turning 39-years-old today than by taking on more work?

Apparently the goal of this episode was for me to kill myself before we called it a night …

We still discussed some moronic stories.

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

• Toilet go-kart flushes as you drive, seats two – DVICE
• Plans for Phil Lord & Chris Miller’s Big Lego Movie Uncovered – FirstShowing.net
• Burger King gets high tech with odd ‘musical showers’ – DVICE
• The Kickbee tweets when your unborn baby kicks – gizmag
• Bench Retracts Spikes When You Pay – Neatorama
• FarmVille gets its first branded produce – The Inquisitr
• Portable watermelon cooler – CrunchGear
• Wheel Umbrella - My Modern Metropolis
• GE iPhone app lets you set the mood in your room with light – SlipperyBrick
• Odeon: 50% Of Box Office 3D Within 3 Years – Dateline London

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The Thor movie currently being wrapped up for release next summer from Marvel Entertainment is going to be one weird movie.

While a few pictures have come out here or there, the one below of the holy city of Asgard where the Norse gods live is really showing how odd this movie will look.  (click image for a larger view)

The picture does answer one important question … down in the left corner … It’s Loki, and he DOES have the horned helmet.  Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Check it out.

Yes, I had to blow up the film version, but you get the point.  I really wasn’t sure if we would see it as it looks insanely silly on the printed page or in the film, but there it is.

Of all the movies Marvel has worked on, Thor is going to be the oddest hands down.  It’s not that it’s a bad story, it’s just … weird.  It is all about Norse mythology and the drama of all those inter-related god relationships.

But, hey, if the movie gets you down, now you can just star at Loki’s horns.

I see tons of publicity photos for movies, most of them are very ho-hum, and others get you talking like the one for Green Lantern the other day.  One thing publicity photos shouldn’t ever do is make you break out laughing at the horribleness of it … and one I saw today made me do just that.

Jason Momoa, formerly of Stargate Atlantis, is starring in a new film adaptation of Conan the Barbarian.  Not a big deal, it isn’t exactly heavy lifting when it comes to acting … grunt, look menacing, swing a sword, etc.  I enjoyed the 1982 version with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it sure wasn’t high art. The new film looks like a sword & sorcery film, and we’ll see how it plays with today’s audiences, but there has already been one fatal mistake made.

Okay, image number one, not bad, not much going on, but he looks menacing, so, good call.

Picture number two … the sword looks a little cheap, but you try riding a horse with a 20 lbs sword being carried in your outstretched arm.  It might get cleaned up in post production anyway, so not a deal breaker.

Picture number three … I … wait, what?

This made me instantly think of all those 1980′s heavy metal album covers like those from the band Manowar.

Or perhaps it should be painted on the side of a 1970′s van.

The lesson here folks, if your publicity photo looks anything like the last two examples I gave … don’t release it.

Back to the 50′s this week with 51 posts.

FunJug.com

• I Kissed a Nerd and I Liked It
• Japanese Commercial For Halls
• Double Rainbow, All The Way
• DOUBLE RAINBOW SONG!!
• Star Wars Subway Car
• If Games Had Super-Easy Mode
• LeBron James’ ‘Decision’ Parody with Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa

Mobile.BLORGE.com

• Top 40 best free iPhone 4 apps

Photo.BLORGE.com

• Praktica introduces 14 Megapixel DCZ 14.1

RememberingChristmas.com

• The First 2010 Hallmark Ornaments Have Arrived

SeanPAune.com

• Transformers 3 Filming In Chicago
• World Cup 2010 Comes To A Close
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 101: Moronic Monday once more in the can
• Aimee L. Sword Pleads Guilty To Incest With Son
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 102: iPhone battery – The COPS edition
• Runaways Slated To Begin Filming In January
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 103: Where no movie analogies where butchered to make the show
• iDuck
• First Image Of Green Lantern
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 104: FrontierVille, ReTweets and mindless social media crap
• Scattercast #104: Protest Everything!
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 105: Techmeme Friday gets run over by bumper cars
• It’s Official, Syfy Doesn’t Even Try Anymore

SpookieBits.com

• Halloween Ornaments At Hallmark

Tech.BLORGE.com

• Google launching App Inventor for Android
• Man raises $2K to launch Android phone into space
• Millions of routers may be at risk for a simple hack
• Sports Illustrated updates iPad issue after publication
• FaceTime said to be coming to iPad and iPod Touch units

TechnoBuffalo.com

• Open Spot: Possibly The Most Useless Mobile App Ever
• Is Apple Feeling A Bit Insecure About The iPad?
• Rumor: Google Teaming Up With Zynga For Social Games
• Android Marketplace Set To Pass 100,000 Apps This Month
• The E-Reader War Round-Up For Early July
• Windows 7 Slates On Track For This Year
• Skype And Fring Engage In A War Of Words
• Your Privacy Is An Illusion In Social Networking Situations
• Ubisoft Totally Doesn’t Get 3D TV
• Apple Has To Step Up In The iPhone 4 Debacle, And Soon
• Old Spice Takes Social Media Marketing To New Heights
• Google Wants To Help Improve Internet Speeds In Your Town
• Sports Illustrated Demonstrates Why Virtual Publishing Is The Future
• Could Blockbuster Be Going Away In 2011?
• The Social Network Gets A Trailer
• An Infographic: Apple’s Solution to iPhone 4 Reception “Problems”
• Apple’s iOS Creeping Back Up In Mobile OS Market Share … Kinda
• Flashback Friday: What A Long Way The iMac Has Come
• How The RIAA Turned $17 Million Into $391,000
• The Apple Campus Having A Verizon Tower Means Nothing
• Game Console Sales Pick Up In June
• In-Flight Wi-Fi Becoming More Common, But Still Expensive

I guess there is something to be said for acknowledging just how bad your movies are, but when you actually aim for schlock, are you even trying any more?

Syfy has the tagline “Imagine Greater”, and if the channel even did so, I might go into shock.  Instead it churns out one horrible film after another.  Apparently the company is ok with this, and has now chosen to embrace it by teaming up with the king of bad movies, Roger Corman, to produce a film called … Sharktopus! Yep … half octopus/half shark.

I’m tempted to say Syfy has “jumped the shark” with this one, but … yeah, it just doesn’t work here.  Watch the trailer and be prepared to cringe repeatedly at just how bad this looks.

When you attempt to do a bad movie, it always comes out just being sad.  The “best” bad movies start out with some heart, but this one … egads, my eyes bled.

Stupid Apple … you almost ruined Techmeme Friday!

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

• Apple to give away free cases to iPhone 4 users – Engadget
• Deeper understanding with Metaweb – The Official Google Blog
• San Mateo D.A. Withdraws Controversial Gizmodo iPhone Warrant – EFF
• Apple’s $100 Million iPhone Test Chamber – Gizmodo
• Introducing The Boxee Box, Bringing Web Video To Your Television – Silicon Valley Insider
• The Pioneer Behind @ComcastCares, Frank Eliason, Resigns – ReadWriteWeb
• U.S. Authorities Shut Down WordPress Host With 73,000 Blogs – TorrentFreak

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It’s episode #104 of Scattercast and ready for protests!

A bit of movie news, some ranting about the Westboro Baptist Church … just kind of a random episode, but a bit of fun.

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subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.

Since no one seems capable of talking about anything other than the iPhone 4 right now, Steven and I are forced to discuss things totally unrelated to it …

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

• FrontierVille Surpasses 20 Million Users - Mashable
• ReTweets as a metric is ridiculous and pointless – The Inquisitr
• Apple to hold iPhone 4 press conference on Friday – AppleInsider

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The first image of Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern has been released and … where do I start with the wrongness?

Okay, I can forgive the organic/alien look.  I’m not in love with it, but, it makes some sense.  The problems come in his hair and the “domino” mask.  That isn’t Hal Jordan, but one of the other human Green Lanterns, Kyle Rayner. Here is the image from Entertainment Weekly, you can click it for a larger view.

(due to image sizes, click “Continue Reading”)

Continue Reading ->

Tomorrow Apple is holding a press conference to discuss the iPhone 4.  Everyone is assuming it will be about the antenna issue, and Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins has an idea what the solution may be …

The iPhone 4 is dominating the news, but Steven and I still have dug up a bunch of different little stories for you … and yet again we address the Old Spice ad campaign because it is simply astounding.

… monocle smile!

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

• Foursquare executives pocket $4.6M for themselves from funding – VentureBeat
• The Rewards of Inflating a Bubble – Valleywag
• How the Old Spice Videos Are Being Made – ReadWriteWeb
• I suddenly have an insatiable thirst for some Perrier water – The Inquisitr
• Best Tampon Commercial Ever – The Inquisitr
• The Closest Thing to a Rebuttal I’m Going to Get from TechCrunch – Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins
• Apple to hold special iPhone 4 press conference on Friday – The Loop

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