Another reason I haven’t been posting is that I have been doing research and rough drafts for a number of different projects. The first is an article for the website about where and how we got The Holy Bible and how accurate or inaccurate it may or may not be. I don’t even have a working title yet. Darren and I have been collaborating on this article so I can’t take all the credit. Basically, he’s writing about certain aspects of it that he is most familiar with and I am doing the same. When we both get done we will combine them, trim the fat, and add the appropriate segues and pictures and then post the article.
Another project I have been working on is trying to get the site set up to do RSS and syndication feeds. I am hoping that this will promote the site better and alleviate some extra work for me. Right now when an update is made I have to email those subscribers that have placed themselves on the list. With RSS and syndication all people have to do is click on the link and they will be notified automatically when new content is added! The other aspect of using this is to have new content daily. I’m trying to isolate certain websites that have articles and content that we like and are similar and add a section to our site that has RSS feeds syndication, so I can automatically post that article from their site to our site. It will add more content, more traffic and raise us in the search engine listings, etc. etc. Unfortunately, all of this takes time. Which right now is a precious commodity.
Also, this year was Darren’s second year being involved the Hunting Haunted Hotel (Bart is redoing the website and all promotional art work so this stuff is old and gonna go!). He and Bart (his brother-in-law who’s also and artist) did the makeup on the characters for the haunt. It’s the only haunt in Northern Indiana that uses florescent make-up/paint and black lights to achieve a 3D type effect. It is very cutting edge in that way. They did very well, in fact, after the haunting season was over they were in a meeting with the people in charge and Bart and Darren were made the creative heads for the haunt for the 2007 season. They have already started planning next year’s additions and improvements. One of the improvements will be a video project that I will be working on. It’s the video backs-story for the haunt called Chronicles of the Strange. Darren has the initial draft written and we are in the process of story boarding and the regular pre-production issues. If you are interested in being involved in the project either behind the scenes or as a character in the project please let me or Darren know and we will get back with you ASAP. The whole video will be about 10-12 minutes long and will be looped for continuous play at the haunt with the audio being ‘piped’ outside for people to hear as they wait in line. Often the wait is approx. 45 minutes long, so they should get a good chance to hear the whole thing while waiting and hopefully help set the mood for the haunt and also explain why some of the things in the haunt are there. For example, why do they have scary clowns in the haunt? Stuff like that. Anyway, that’s one project.
Here's and example of some of Bart's existing scary artwork.
It's called "The Author of Deception"
Another project I am working on is also a video project. This one is going to be a bit longer and a different format. I am making an instructional video on fire building with Dad. He will be the main (almost only) character in the video. Originally, we wanted to have all the shooting done before the end of the year. But it doesn’t look like that will happen right now. At the least we are hoping that we can have a product ready to market by late spring of 2007. There’s a lot involved in doing something like this and we are only partially ready.
Yet another video project that I am working on is something for Mom and not a retail venture, but something for her genealogy stuff. She wants me to do interviews with people (one’s were related to) about their family growing up with anecdotes and then compile them onto a DVD. There’s a lot involved in doing something like this but in the end it will be really nice to have. I don’t know how many of you have Grandparents that have passed away, but this is sort of how I look at it. My grandparents had some great stories and they were great interesting people. I think it would have been awesome if my kids and grandkids could have heard those same stories from them directly, and in the process my kids would have gotten to know my grandparents a little better. I think it is a great way to pass on family history and a sense of realism and importance to the next generations. It’s sort of a legacy thing, if you know what I mean.
I do have other projects in the oven as well, but either I can’t talk about them or I’m just too lazy to put them down here. Amongst which I have to work, do things with my family, do MMA class every other Tuesday, get ready for the holidays, maintain a website and forum, get ready for my niece’s (on Lisa’s side) wedding at the end of December (which I am also going to video for her as a present—which she doesn’t know yet---Megan if you’re reading this, try to act surprised when you get it!), and clear at the bottom of my list is this blog. So now maybe you will understand why I don’t update this thing very often. Hey! At least when I do it’s not just a couple of sentences! It a couple of pages in Word!
Well, I have to get ready to go to work pretty soon….AHHHHH…I haven’t even eaten dinner yet! Something else to add to my list of ‘to do’……….
Bye for now everyone.
God’s blessings on you and yours!
