Category: Uncategorized

illumination

So. I just “tweeted” for the first time. It’s okay, you can put away the champagne.

I’ve been wondering lately, how the hell did I get so behind on this technology stuff? I’ve never been on the bleeding edge of anything, but I’ve almost always at least been on the knife. Now I feel like I’m on the spoon that’s eating the ice cream for dessert. But here’s the thing:

I’ve *never* been up on the pop-culture stuff. And blogs and Twitter and a gazillion other things that the rest of the world has already adopted have become pop-culture. Tweeting doesn’t make you a dork, it makes you a social networker. And I guess I’m jumping on the social networking bandwagon.

In other news, thanks to Twitter, I learned that Google’s moving Gmail and most (all?) of the Google Apps suite out of Beta. I just need to add here that Gmail launched on April 1, 2004 as an invitation-only service, and I received my invite on April 22, 2004, when they were still going on eBay for $100+ (no, I didn’t pay for mine, it came directly from Google). I really was on top of the technology stuff, once upon a time.

And once upon *this* time, well, I realized today that having set up Twitter to update my Facebook status and having at least figured out what I’ll need to do to get my Twitter feed displayed on this blog, there were no more technological barriers to my tweeting. Instead, I had only to overcome my self-consciousness about how narcissistic I’d have to be to spam all you lovely readers with updates on my mundane life. But now I can check that box off! And if I ever actually tweet again, you all can be just as voyeuristic as you please.

Welcome. Come on in….
http://twitter.com/sunsetchaser

HMAC

So I finally made it to the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center for the first time last night. I thought I was hopelessly late to the party, and that either it had caught on by now, or that it would be a total dud and I’d end the evening elsewhere. I was wrong.

Right now HMAC is really just the Stage on Herr, an “intimate venue”. I think “intimate” is relative to the HMAC spaces that haven’t opened yet, as Stage on Herr is far, far larger than most other city venues. And it’s stunningly beautiful, with warehouse-high ceilings, art everywhere, a long granite bar, and spaces both for sitting and for milling around. If it were part of a movie set — or was set in another city — it would have been filled with beautiful intellectuals talking, drinking, perusing, and just generally, you know, being superior.

In Harrisburg, not so much. The atmosphere was low key — a plus in my mind — and though people came and went, the crowd never exceeded a couple dozen people or so. This made it intimate in that it was easy to have a conversation without shouting, and there were no worries about losing a spot at the bar, but…the space really needed a bigger crowd. That said, the crowd that was there was a pretty eclectic crew, and looked to me like it represented a greater level of diversity — not just ethnic/racial diversity — than I usually encounter in the ‘burg. Or the region.

So why so few people? I suppose one of the pros and cons of out-of-town developers is that they don’t bring an existing audience to their venue. I think this is one reason for the apparent diversity of the crowd — no one was there because it was where all their friends were headed — but also, of course, a weakness. After all, no one was there because it was where all their friends were headed. Also, the initial project announcements were met with such skepticism, and it’s taken so long since the first rumblings for even this small part of the building to open, that I had trouble believing it would ever be a place worth visiting. Like, it would be amateurish or cobbled together as if the developers got overwhelmed halfway through and threw the doors open before it was ready in a desperate attempt to recoup some of the many many dollars they’ve poured into it. But no — it’s sleek and spacious and gorgeous, and well worth visiting.

But. Beautiful as the building is, the operation could use some work. Last night was First Friday, and HMAC advertised live music. There was no live music, at least not during the time I was there (10pm ’til close). That turned out to be okay, as I was glad to be able to hear, but I’d be pretty pissed if I’d been there for the music. In addition, looks like they’ve been creating Facebook events out the wazoo — they have stuff going on nearly every day — but it doesn’t look like they’re actually inviting anyone to those events. So unless you’re a fan and you happen to see the event on your news feed when it’s first created, you might never hear about it.

So, HMAC, email your fans! Invite people to your events! But then make sure to actually put on the events you’ve invited them to….

And those of you who get those invites, go check it out.

biden’s not so bad

From the woman who gave fish bicycles, to any remaining Hillary supporters considering voting for McCain:

To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, ‘Somebody stole my shoes, so I’ll amputate my legs.'”

(Gloria Steinem, that is, in the LA Times.)

Anyway, in other I’m-totally-behind-the-news news, apparently “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino blogged the DNC convention for Entertainment Weekly. Most of it’s more thoughtful than this, but here’s a clip that literally brought me to tears:

The names “Obama” and “Biden” form an almost perfect anagram of Osama bin Laden. Simple solution: Obama should change his name to Smith or Williams. He’s always going on and on about changing things, so this should be no problem.