Category: Aspiration

Society by Joe WilcoxFeb 14, 20157:01 am

Comic-Con Heroes: The Writer

Among the 12 profiles that are the core of my book Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth, the one that follows offers the most interesting content for science fiction fans. The convention isn’t just about superheroes. Sci-fi is part of the core culture dating back to the very start during the 1970s, and it’s even stronger in the 2010s. Because what was niche more than 40 years ago is mainstream, and more, today.

This profile also introduces some valuable historical insight—if 10 years can be considered old, and measured by Internet time it most certainly is. Fans’response to a new sci-fi television show, and their torrenting it, kicked the pebbles eventually unleashing an avalanche of legitimately-available streamed TV programming. So-called video pirates of 2005 are indirectly responsible for there being Hulu, Netflix streaming, and Google’s purchase of newbie service YouTube.

Society by Joe WilcoxFeb 7, 20151:26 pm

Comic-Con Heroes: The Nerd Culturist

Comic-Con’s contractual commitment to San Diego expires in 2016, and the event already entertains offers to move to another city. While conducting interviews during SDDC 2013 for Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth, I asked numerous attendees about relocation. Among them: Tauri Miller, whose profile appears in the ebook.

For whatever it’s worth, I favor keeping the Con in San Diego. While the convention center limits the number of participants to about 130,000 over four days, the city already is a tourist destination with all the right amenities, which include hotels and the Gaslamp Quarter. Getting in out and around (including the airport) is much easier than Los Angeles, by contrast.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 4, 20157:23 am

Flickr a Day 35: ‘So Much for the Smile’

Oh happy day. Today’s selection is courtesy of search “smile”. Shumona Sharna snapped the photo on March 20, 2010—and it’s popular, with more than 13,000 views. She explains about the context: “Two boys were actually […]

Living by Joe WilcoxJan 31, 20153:58 pm

Comic-Con Heroes: The Academic

My fourth installment of excerpts from ebook Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth takes an interesting directional shift. So far we’ve met The Dark Knight, Medieval fighter, and twin-brother toy collectors. Would you believe there are people who study toys as a profession? Read on to see.

To recap: I attended San Diego Comic-Con 2013 with intention of profiling one-dozen among the 130,000 attendees. As SDCC 2015 approaches, I am posting 13 installments, after which the book will release into the public domain, on July 8, 2015, when my current commitment for Amazon KDP Select ends.

Aspiration by Joe WilcoxJan 24, 201510:30 am

Comic-Con Heroes: The Collectors

Two weeks ago, I started serializing my ebook Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth. Welcome to the third of 13 installments before the book releases into the public domain, on July 8, 2015, after my current commitment for Amazon KDP Select ends. In the first segment we met The Dark Knight, and in the second a Medieval, Scandinavian fighter.

The third profile gets more to the core Con—not people who attend to dress up and be someone else for a day or few—but those who are there to collect. Comic book and toy collecting are undercurrents that keep the event vital. Hollywood productions may get more media attention, and for sure lots of people line up for television show and movie star-studded panels. But the show’s lifeforce are the artists, their fans, and people who look for rare comics or limited-edition items.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 23, 20157:34 am

Flickr a Day 23: ‘What I Wish For’

Searching Flickr for “what” churns up more shots of people’s bags, and what’s inside them, than you can imagine. It’s my strangest pic-peek voyeur experience yet. The look-see also reveals today’s selection—one of 11 related images spotted among the backpacks, messenger bags, and purses—chosen for what’s behind: The story and the photographer’s impressive portfolio.

Jorge Quinteros comes from Jamaica, Queens, New York, but lives in Brooklyn, where he shoots some of the best street photography portraits I have seen on Flickr. Today’s chosen pic isn’t representative of his style, which captures character in vivid photographs. Many street shooters are discreet. The self-titled “What I Wish For” series is what happens when a creative mind gets up close to his subjects,, engages them, rather than captures images from a distance.

Aspiration by Joe WilcoxJan 17, 20159:54 am

Comic-Con Heroes: The Fighter

One week ago, I started serializing my ebook, Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth, which will go into the public domain ~~after the last segment posts~~ on July 8, 2015, after my current commitment for Amazon KDP Select ends. The first installment featured Ken Camarillo, as The Dark Knight. There is no shortage of people like Ken who dress up as someone else during the Con.

But the pop-culture event, and others like it, come around just once a year. Some people wear costumes, and assume other personas considerably more often—and that is the case with today’s Comic-Con Hero. She and her wonderful cohorts reach back into the past, recreating in modern times flavors of an era few people remember but should.

Living by Joe WilcoxJan 10, 201510:48 am

Comic-Con Heroes: The Dark Knight

For San Diego Comic-Con 2015, I am required to reverify my press status—the second time since starting to attend as news media in 2009. I submitted the required documents and story links in early December 2014 and now anxiously await my SDCC fate. If denied, I will unlikely attend this year’s Con, having missed other opportunities to register. If that happens, the world won’t end. Life will go forward. But my birthday, which occurs during the July 9-12 dates, will be somewhat sorrowful this year.

I love Comic-Con for what it represents: Storytelling and attendees being or associating with the people they wish they could be. I laid out my thoughts on the latter concept in July 2010 post “The Roles We Play“, which I adapted as the introduction to my 2013 event project: Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth. I had much hope for the ebook, when published about 18 months ago. But sales were never good—and as distance grows greater from the events told, time diminishes the content’s value.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 8, 20157:08 am

Flickr a Day 8: Abandoned

Ontario, Canada-based Freaktography describes himself as a “self-taught photographer” whose current passion is “urban exploring”, which includes places abandoned—and it’s searching for the word on Flickr that reveals this photo among others.

I confess to being totally captivated by abandoned buildings, exploring them, and wondering what secrets they might reveal about the people who lived or worked within. Mr. Freaktography captures some amazing abandoned places, including an asylum, church (on an Indian reservation), and power plant.

According to the EXIF data, he shot this photo on March 12, 2014, using a Nikon D3200. Vitals: f/4, ISO 100, 1/3 sec, 18mm. Image is by no means Freaktography’s best work, but the story behind it is amazing, as he explains in “Abandoned House of Treasures“.

Aspiration by Joe WilcoxJan 1, 201512:50 pm

What 2014 Life-Changing Tech Means to 2015

Three weeks ago, at BetaNews, I asked “What tech changed your life in 2014?” Readers answered there and on Google+. As the new year starts, I wonder what will make all our lives better. Apple Watch? I doubt it. Shake me awake from the nightmare if the wearable isn’t the most successful flop of 2015. Windows 10? Skipping nine is a good sign, but is giving users more of what they don’t want to let go life changing? Eh, no.

At the precipice of looking ahead, this is a last look behind. Once Consumer Electronics Show leaks and early announcements rush the InterWebs, all eyes will turn forward—blind to what many people have, focusing on what they want instead. That’s because “aspiration” is the defining word of the technology era, and the promise if you buy newfangled This or That your life will be better for it. Sometimes the promise is true, but too often not, which is why I asked the important question three weeks ago.

Photo by Joe WilcoxDec 31, 201412:12 am

‘Mine’ Flickr Voyeur

For the last post, I searched Flickr for “mine”, hoping to uncover an appropriate Creative Commons-licensed pic. Instead, I fell into a voyeur spell. This gallery is a sampling of the fantastic photos, many of […]

Aspiration by Joe WilcoxDec 2, 20149:43 am

Now This is Different

Last night, I moved this site from hosted WordPress (at Media Temple) to WordPress.com. This is the first post at the new locale, which is both strange and familiar. I considered one of two Cyber Monday deals: From MT, moving my two sites from the service’s standard Grid Server to three-blog hosted WordPress—half off for $145/year and substantial savings over my existing setup. WordPress.com offered free, one-year themes package with $99 Premium upgrade, which I would have paid for regardless.

Tipping the decision: Difficulty migrating within Media Temple versus promised ease exporting/importing to WordPress.com; the value of the premium themes, which I will play around with; two-factor authentication; and potentially-improved community connections, among other considerations. I presume there will be some SEO hit, which matters little to me, as readers rather than pageviews are the objective. I don’t use many plugins, and so their limited-availabilty also isn’t a concern. I would want more control over URLs, perhaps, and that’s something sacrificed.