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By Greg, August 4, 2010 8:42 pm

Quick plug on behalf of my dad. He loves writing, and has written a few books over the years. While he works on getting his sci-fi novel published in some form, he’s worked out how to sell books online via Amazon’s Kindle store. So please, if you have an eBook reader that can access the Kindle store (i.e., a Kindle, or an iPhone/Android/PC with Kindle app), please help him out by buying his book. It’s reasonably priced, available now, and will hopefully make you happy. At least until his next book is released (image is link to purchase).

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By Greg, June 5, 2010 4:53 pm

With the dawn of the tablet age upon us (I really hope SOMEONE coins a better name than “tablet”), which will hopefully result in some kind of digital boom, magazine companies are scrambling to keep their feet in a dying industry. And who’s to blame them? The Internet contains all the same information that can be found in their pages, and all for free… While there will always be a market for physical books and magazines, the market is shrinking in favour of digital distribution. As a result, magazine publishers need to do something more drastic than deep and well-written feature articles in order to win back readers… Thus – the future (it seems) is in digital magazines…

Following the release of iPad, a number of publishers have released magazines to the market – some critics consider them a little expensive compared to their physical counterparts, but overall it’s not that bad (for Aussies at least, where Wired mag usually costs $15/month). Subscription methods have been announced, but are yet to be released; however, the magazines themselves are promising. It’s WAY too early to make a call for the greatest digital mag ever, but I thought I’d grab a few, and do a little write-up on what’s good, and what’s bad – even though it’s still early in the game. Hopefully someone will read my post and refine their mag.

Continue reading 'Early look at digital magazines'»

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By Greg, February 22, 2010 6:36 pm

Hi all, I’ve been damned busy recently, due to a number of reasons all culminating in laziness. Actually, I wrote two posts in the last week or so, but I haven’t posted either… Because I chose not to. It’s likely neither post will see the light of day – one because it was pre-emptive, and the other because it was more personal than I intended. Anyway…

As a result of me not posting a damned thing, I’ve been feeling a little restless –I need to post something, but I’m in a bit of a slump. Thus, I added Skribit (see widget in sidebar), where readers can suggest something for me to post about. And I decided to write up this quick post inviting you to my dad’s website:

Newbegin Writing

In block quote form, no less. Why not?

Anyway, my old man writes about various things, and he makes me chuckle, but he also wrote a sci-fi novel. If you have some money burning a hole in your pocket, it might be worth your while to check it out.

Oh, and yes, I’m aware the site needs to be updated… I designed his site, so it’s all down to my laziness… Again… I think I’ll migrate the blog to replace the static site – it will be much easier.

So yeah… go to his site, buy his book, and pop a suggestion in skribit to the right. If you like.

Peace, and catch you soon with rad ideas.

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By Greg, January 13, 2010 8:57 pm

Hiya all, I said it was gonna happen and I just went right out there and did it. There’s time for me to play around and get things up and running, but you know what? It’s fun for things to be warped for a while. OK, OK, truth is I’m lazy and I want to catch up on an episode of Lost. So some things will work, some won’t. Comments are now working – yay! But the widgets in my sidebar ain’t happening on the home page for some reason… But screw it. Whatever… it looks much better than it used to – already!

So bear with me over the next week or so while I tweak and fix things up. Weeks may turn into months, however, so if you find something’s up, point it out to me.

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By Greg, January 5, 2010 8:35 pm

Well, another year is over – and a new one just begun. Who needs to think of something new when ideas from other places already say what you want them to?

So was 2009 a good year? Depends, really. Politically, and internationally, perhaps not. But I’m not here to comment on any of that. There are other places, if that’s your thing (try here, if you like – free plug, Dom). Personally, it wasn’t bad – hey, my daughter was born, for one thing! Financially? Meh. Anyway, let’s take a look at things, and the year to come.

Continue reading '2010 – time for a little more change!'»

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By Greg, December 19, 2009 9:15 pm

I came to a realisation today. It was somewhat shocking, but I knew it for the truth as soon as the thought came into my mind – I am not a ’real’ blogger.

For some time now, I’ve been deluding myself. I’ve kept a blog for two years now, and I’ve written quite a few posts, but while this does make me a blogger by definition, it doesn’t make me one by trade.

Of course, at it’s most literal, the previous sentence is a moot point – blogging is not my prime source of income, so of course it’s not my trade; in fact, I don’t earn anything by blogging. What I mean is (unfortunately, or at least it seemed like an unfortunate realisation at first), I’m a hobby blogger. Not that it’s such a bad thing.

Continue reading 'Where I’m at – Dec ‘09'»

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By Greg, November 8, 2009 4:07 pm

A few years back, I was bopping about the Internet, as I am wont to do, and I came across an invitation on Gaijin Pot, or somewhere similar. It was an invitation to what was being dubbed the "Yamanote Halloween Party" – basically a group of foreigners were planning to dress up in costumes and travel around the Yamanote line. At its most basic, it seemed an innocent and playful idea, and at first, even I thought it would be fun to join.

Continue reading 'Halloween craziness'»

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By Greg, October 31, 2009 9:22 pm

When Junglist,  the popular co-host of ABC’s “Good Game” did not show up on Monday, it was evident something was amiss. The show was quick to introduce a new host, Hex (Stephanie Bendixsen), to accompany Bajo – the other, also quite popular permanent host. The Good Game forums flared, and Junglist fans screamed blue murder, whilst others generally supported the new host. It was a sudden and unexpected move. But the reasoning behind it seems extremely convoluted.

At this point, I’d like to point you to this PALGN post, which details the back story far better than I could wish to (and let’s face it – I don’t have the time), so I will not go over it all again, The previous link is a highly recommended read, as it forms the basis of my post. So… how do I feel, as a long-time supporter of the show (I’ve watched it since it began 3 years ago)? Continue reading 'Good Game shakeup'»

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By Greg, October 3, 2009 9:19 pm

Damn, I’ve been so crazy busy with babies and comics and work and visitors and everything recently, I’ve fallen behind on my posts! So I thought I’d bump it up this weekend and get a few out there. But as an interlude (of sorts), I thought I’d do a little "what am I interested in at the moment" post. And here it is, I hope you enjoy!

Continue reading 'Stuff I like (October ‘09)'»

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By Greg, June 22, 2009 7:52 pm

Karaoke. Just mentioning the word can strike fear into the hearts of many. And why? Well, mainly because most of us can’t sing for the life of us, and we would hate to embarrass ourselves…

Especially in front of a bunch of strangers… Which leads many (in western countries at least) to wonder — why the hell is karaoke so popular in Japan?

Continue reading 'Why is karaoke so popular in Japan?'»