Hey 3.5 Readers. You Tubers are like self-publishers for video production, right?
Once in awhile I’ll talk about my favorite YouTubers.
First up, Comic Book Girl 19. She’s a nerd. She’s hilarious. Swears constantly. Has sidekicks like Robot (usually broken due to a bad wire or something) and Space Brain (floating brain.)
Reviews nerdy movies, comic books, TV shows. Did a series of videos explaining the back story of Game of Thrones. Helped me understand some of the stuff going on, who is related to who and so on.
Comic Book Girl 19 – Youtube – Why Did I Go See Gods of Egypt
By the way, I agree with her about Gods of Egypt. That movie sucked so bad that I didn’t even bother to review it.
So much CGI but so little substance. Had a few good moments. But mostly sucked.
Writing How the West Was Zombed has made me realize I don’t know a lot about guns, be they from the past or the present. Kind of difficult as I’m not really a gun person. I’m clumsy and accident prone, thus fairly certain I’d shoot myself if I ever had one.
It dawned on me it might be worth a trip to a gun range for an afternoon some day if I’m going to persist in my attempts to become a novelist, seeing as how characters often end up shooting guns no matter what time period the novel is set in.
But I’m certain I would shoot myself in the foot so studying the subject from afar will have to do.
But I’ve seen something in many cowboy movies that I’d like to incorporate into the novel but I don’t understand it.
Below is a video of the infamous “Shootout at the OK Corral” scene from Tombstone starring Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday and Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp.
Tombstone – 1993 – Posted by Thell Reed, Gunman on Youtube
See around 1:40 where Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday slaps the back of his gun a bunch of times real fast? Clint Eastwood did that in his movies too.
Why did they slap the back of their guns so fast? I assume it was some kind of a trick to make the gun shoot faster. If you’re a gun person, please explain it to me.
I’ve searched the Interwebs and alas, there’s not much info about old West shooting.
Part of me wonders how much I need to learn, another part wonders if the reader cares to know much more than a zombie was shot.
By the way, this movie is badass. Can’t believe it is so old now I remember watching it when it came out like it was yesterday. This was probably one of Val’s best performances.
Rewatching it this year made me realize I needed to keep pressing on with writing Zombed. Westerns seemed like they were going out of style even in the 1990’s though movies like this one still managed to keep people interested.
So here’s the setup. Seth Rogen and James Franco (the comedy duo behind Pineapple Express and also that movie that almost led to a war with North Korea) have made a cartoon.
For the first thirty seconds of the trailer, you almost think it is another Pixar style cartoon. What’s every Pixar movie about? Talking toys. Talking cars. Talking bugs. Talking planes. Talking fish. Always about something that doesn’t talk only now it is talking.
This one is about food. Yes. All this time you never knew that food products can talk. They sit on the store shelves, waiting for you to pick them up with the hope that you’re going to do something great with them and….
…yup…the food products engage in all kinds of obscenity once they learn what people actually do with food.
Here’s the Sony Red Band Trailer. If you don’t want to be offended you probably shouldn’t watch:
I’ve been hearing these guys talk about this project on different talk shows for awhile now.
It sounds like a funny concept to me but I’m a male with a warped sense of humor so I’m basically their target demographic.
I give them credit for actually getting the studio to put up the money needed for Pixar quality rendering…or for getting a studio for doing something completely outside of the box for that matter.
PREDICTIONS:
People will be divided on whether it is hysterical or garbage. There will be very little in between.
There will be adults who would have thought it was funny but won’t go because they’ll think it is a kids’ movie based on a quick look at the poster.
Also based only on a quick look at the poster, there will be many clueless parents who will be like, “Hey this looks like a good movie to take the kids to!” only to be horrified.
Anyway, I will have to check this out and write a review for my 3.5 readers when it comes out.
BQB here. Just wishing Johnny, Sean and Dave of the Self-Publishing Podcast a Happy 200th Episode.
I discovered these dudes around Christmastime 2014 and have listened to their show every week ever since.
The best description I can give is it is like having three very funny self-publishing professors teaching you a weekly lesson.
I knew very little about self-publishing before I began listening to them. I’ve yet to start my own self-publishing business but I don’t think I would have ever had an inkling about how or where to begin without these three.
They’ve inspired a lot of people and I think if there is ever a “How Did Self Publishing Become So Popular?” documentary, there will have to be at least an hour on this trio.
Holy Crap. Will you 3.5 readers drop what you’re doing and look at this little jerk?
This rat has got to be the last true believer of the American Dream, let me tell you.
Look at him!
Other rats see a slice of pizza. Maybe they’ll take a bite. Maybe they’ll push it a little, get tired, and scurry away.
But here this little schmuck is, carrying this piece of pizza (WHICH IS BIGGER THAN HE IS) down a flight of stairs, one step at a time, presumably in an attempt to cart it off to his rat lair to feed his rat wife and rat children.
God bless you, Pizza Rat. You’ve made me believe again. Shit, let’s elect this rat president.
What can writers learn from Pizza Rat?
Writing is hard work. It’s one thing to think about doing it, but only determination and sheer will gets it done.
When others shrug their shoulders and give up, you get in there and get that pizza! Other people give up on writing all the time. By keeping at it, you’re doing better than all the other writers, just like this rat did better than all the other rats. You see any other rats out there becoming a viral video star? I think not.
Success comes one step at a time. Get the pizza slice down one step. Then another step. Then another one. Don’t skip steps. This furry little contagion infested dynamo look at the stairs and cry, “Oh my God! Too many steps! I give up!” No, damn it, he took his slice down one step at a time. Unfortunately, the video cut short and it does appear like he abandoned his slice at one point, but I like to think that he got nervous around the humans and went back for his dinner once the coast was clear.
The same thing goes for your writing. You start your blog. You think, “Oh my God! That other blog has thousands of readers! I only have 3.5! SO WHAT? You get in there and you entertain the ever loving shit out of your adoring 3.5 readers, just as I do every day. I’ve dragged my pizza/blog down the 3.5 readers step. One day I’ll drag it down the 100 readers step. Then the 200 readers step. Before you know it I’ll be back at my rat lair, chomping on my pizza, or rather, enjoying an audience of a thousand readers.
Apply the Pizza Rat model to your daily word count. Don’t be like one of those lazy ass rats who looks at a pizza, shouts, “Too big! No thanks!” and scurry off with an empty belly. Don’t look at your computer screen and go, “A hundred thousand words! I’ll never type that much! I’ll just give up on my dream!” No. Be like Pizza Rat. Type a few words today. A few more tomorrow. After awhile, you’ll have one delicious novel.
Patience. Determination. Guts. Glory. Be strong enough to do the work others are too weak to even try.
God damn it, Pizza Rat, if I were a hot she-rat I’d be so turned on I’d have a million of your pizza rat babies and send them out to spread the plague all over the five boroughs.
So remember, 3.5 readers/aspiring writers, today, your writing career might make you feel like a tiny rat and success will appear as far away as the bottom of a long ass stairwell. But go slow, take it one step at a time, and before you know it, you’ll be feasting on cheesy, gooey success.
If you’re a nerd (and chances are if you’re here then you are) then you’ll totally enjoy ComicBookGirl19’s youtube channel.
She’s funny, she’s witty, her videos are well produced. For Game of Thrones fans she has a bunch of videos where she gives you the scoop on the historical background of the various houses. I know I felt a little lost watching the show until I found her videos and was able to learn the who’s who and what’s what of Westeros.
She also has fun characters that appear on her show like “Robot” and “Space Brain.” I dunno. Seems a little nerdy to me. Dudes who claim to know aliens and yetis would be into that sort of thing I suppose.
Anyway, we’re all “indies” in one way or another just trying to get a foothold in this big wide world of Internet commentary, but I’d argue her videos provide a good standard for e-nerds to aspire to.
Here’s her movie review of Avengers: Age of Ultron
I love the youtube show – “Key of Awesome.” If you haven’t seen it yet, you should check it out.
As my 3.5 regular readers know, I’ve been complaining about Fifty Shades of Gray, arguing that its success exposes societal hypocrisy in that if Christian Grey were ugly and poor, it would be a horror film released on Halloween. But, since he’s rich and handsome, it’s classified as a Valentine’s Day Romance.
Great minds think alike apparently. Here’s Key of Awesome’s “Fifty Shades of Broke.” The premise? Grey loses all of his money in a pawnsi scheme and suddenly all of his “extracurricular activities” lose their appeal for the mousey interviewer.
“I liked it better when you took me to Paris after you whipped me!”
Bookshelf Battle 