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today marks a milestone in let-off studios history: the release of our first-ever collaborative video game.

 pigeon power was advertised quite some time ago as a 2010 release, but only now has it been completed (that is, it’s months overdue). to make a long story short, our editor celebrates his birthday during february, and he wanted to celebrate by creating a video game project with contributions from all of his party guests.  people arrived with their potluck dishes and spent time making audio recordings, colouring pictures, and drawing original artwork.

the rest of that weekend and the following week, steve (our editor) cobbled together all the materials and sound effects, and came up with the bare bones to a video game.  although his goal was to finish the game by the end of the month, other projects and obligations had the upper hand, and pigeon power was set off to the side…but not any more!

the initial release of pigeon power is now ready for the public.  here’s a description:

join esther the pigeon on a journey of self-discovery and self-improvement, and adventure!  Esther goes where no pigeon has gone before in an effort to fulfill her destiny!

you can download pigeon power here. the game is designed to be played on windows machines, but will work on mac and *nix machines using a windows emulator.

below are some screen shots from the game.  features include:

• completely hand-drawn, scanned artwork.
• entirely original sound effects and background music.
• five levels of platform action and adventure.
• features “real life” baltimore locations.
• a light-hearted storyline and narration keeps players oriented on the next objective.
• suitable for all ages!

Tags: baltimore, free stuff, game-making, illustrations, personal // Add Comment »

a better ending to inception:

cobb was actually living in his own dream world, and all those with whom he interacted were ‘projections’ from his own subconscious; his wife repeatedly attempted to rescue him from his delusional existence by invading his dreams and doing things that would hopefully shake him out of his magic reality (like killing the young business executive in the winter fortress, for example). meanwhile, the subconscious projection of his wife continues to delude him even further, making him continue to think that he was responsible for her death. in reality, she is still alive and he’s the one still asleep. he eventually wakes up, his wife standing over him, realizing that as much as he had attempted to analyze dream-state behaviour, he was still wrong.

the film was a disappointment. i thought–half-way through–that i had predicted the ending, but when the movie ended i realized that a better ending was possible. for some reason, i became incredibly irritated by that fact, perhaps because it was so over-hyped to me. i’m three for three in terms of seeing awful big-budget films this year. i think i’m done for the next six months, at least; friends, please don’t bother me about them until january.

and now, a transcript of recent text messages between a friend of mine and me, regarding my recent viewing of inception.

///

me: i figured you would be one of my only friends who [would be impressed that i] came up with a better ending for -inception-. film was bad, ending was utter poop.

friend: aaaah interesting. haven’t seen it yet but a lot of folks i know were wild about it. you are right that i can do better than poop.

me: i recommend you skip it. a ball-less turd of a film.

friend: i didn’t realize turds had balls in the first place! i learn so much from our friendship.

me: well, only in a world where turds have balls could a rube like me fashion a better ending to any film, hollywood blockbuster or otherwise.

friend: well then i guess turds everywhere swing their balls with abandon.

me: you know this, [friend]. try not to dwell on it, though. think happy thoughts, and hold not hollywood to any scrutiny whatsoever.

friend: i tend not to and will try not to think of ball swinging turds.

me: aha! you found a way to beat the movies!!! ps: i apologize for being on such a tear about this.

friend: haha no worries, you are always welcome to free associate.

Tags: personal, writing // 2 Comments »

help spread the word about this incredible rock n’ smut experience all across the world:

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from the editor.

one of my four goals for 2010 is to pay off $8,000 of my school loan (about half of my remaining total).  this hasn’t been working.  i need to re-examine what’s been going on and come up with an alternative solution.

the state of things.  i set out initially to pay $750 per month against my school loan, delivering payments via credit card to the loan company.  last month’s payment was a paltry $350, and this month’s payment totalled $450.  what the hell happened?

essentially, there were numerous expenses i’d not factored into my initial budget.  these include:

• emergency repairs (looks like my car’s electrical system is on the blink…if it cares to blink at all)
• car insurance (currently over $900 per year, which isn’t much but the quarterly payments are significant enough)
• travel (yeah, i do want to take vacations and breaks…this costs money)
• other 2010 goals (these cost money too)

i have dipped into my savings account (via my automatic overdraft protection) a couple times since april: basically once every month i’m paying out of my savings account, even if it’s something less than $50.  though it’s not much, i feel it’s a horrible habit to begin, and definitely not a sustainable behaviour in any case.

how do i solve this?  i see several options.

1. extend the goal into 2011. this will delay the goal about 6 months.  by default this is do-able.
2. re-assess the goal to be $6,000 instead of $8,000 by year’s end. again, this is an approachable goal, and it would be done soon enough anyway.
3. pay off whatever i’m short the $8,000 at the end of they year with my savings account. this is also doable, but i feel it’s undesirable (too close to “admitting failure” than i prefer).  in all honesty, i see myself doing this anyway.
4. improve my income stream in some way. this is possible, but at the present time it doesn’t seem a very realistic possibility.  one of my other goals for this year is to publish a board game of my own, and i will be acquiring a construction certification in late july as a possibility for side jobs.  but there are a number of other commitments i would have to sacrifice in order to make a side job viable, and the board game has no financial guarantee.  i am not ready for this step just yet, i reckon.
5. stay on a $750 payment schedule, but pay these every 1.5 months. so i would keep the $750 payment structure, just not on the same timetable.  although it satisfies one of the criteria, putting a wrinkle into my solid monthly payment schedule doesn’t seem like a good idea.  furthermore, it doesn’t help me meet the goal any quicker.

out of all the options i’ve listed above, a combination of the first two seems the friendliest option.  however, as i mentioned above, i’m more concerned about accomplishing the goal i’ve set.  i think my course of action will be to pay what i can per month (which seems to be about $450 per month at the moment) and then make up the difference at the end of the year with payments from my savings account.  although this takes away some of my financial cushion, it’s likely to afford me greater peace of mind than stretching the goal out along a lengthier time table.

this is, of course, dependent on whether or not i still have savings left; unforseen emergencies may come up that cause some additional dwindling of my savings.  that’s not worth even speculating at this point.  my “plan b” (which combines options 1 and 2 above) can compensate for a significant loss of savings assets, so i’ll defer to that if necessary.

as this is a personal goal, and no one else really has any stake in it, i’m merely thinking out loud with this.  but i had made a promise to myself to do it in 2010, and i want to find a way to achieve that goal.  i’m not too pleased about this at the moment, to be honest, but i have a feeling i will be much more satisfied once i can finally write off that debt.

Tags: economy, personal, writing // Add Comment »

here’s the plan for bike odyssey 2010.  for those readers who are unaware (but might still give a damn), bike odyssey started back in 2007, and finally came to fruition for the first time in 2008.  because i enjoyed the experience so thoroughly, i decided to reinstate the tradition–but this time bring a partner along.  surprisingly enough, three people have agreed to join me this year, and we’ve been biking together in the past couple months in an effort to train up for the main event.  as of this writing, it happens in four days (!).

so what is it, exactly?
bike odyssey 2010 is a bicycle trip from baltimore, md, usa, to ocean city, md, usa.  the entire trip is approximately 170 to 175 miles (eh, what’s a few more miles, anyway?).  the route ambles northward along a major u.s. roadway; once we’ve skirted around the north end of the chesapeake bay (helped by a pickup truck–for less than a mile–to cross the susquehannah river, because bicycles are not allowed on the bridge), we’ll be easing our way south towards the eastern shore.  eventually, we stop at a relative’s beach house and stay there for a couple days.  we’ll have family and friends meet us in ocean city later in the week, and they’ll drive us home after a few days of rest and relaxation.

the trip takes about 2.5 days, riding steady for 6 hours or so each day.  we’re staying in hotels during the evenings of the two days on the road.

what’s the big deal about all this, anyway?
at first glance, there’s nothing remarkable about the trip, other than the fact that it’s being done.  not everyone considers riding 170 miles over three days very enjoyable.  but i do, and the guys biking with me do, too.

additionally, this year i wanted to make the trip worthwhile to more than just us riders.  i took on a fund-raising benefit for a local baltimore homeless shelter.  my goal for this effort is to eventually raise $1000 to benefit the shelter and its residents.  prospects are good; at the initial fundraising benefit we raised just over $300, and later donations (as part of a “pledge-per-mile” program i developed) have just about doubled that number.  although i’m doubtful the full $1000 will be raised, there’s no reason to not keep trying.  plus, there’s still time, so more funds may come through somehow.  we’ll see.  but regardless, the shelter staff are appreciative of the funds and other resources we’ve collected for the shelter so far,  and every little bit helps.

why a bicycle?  why this?
way back in maybe 2004 or 2005, i made a vow to purchase a bicycle once local gasoline prices went up to $2.50 per gallon.  essentially, i wanted to save money; maybe i wanted to be a little healthier, too.  so when the fateful day came to pass (it was inevitable, naturally), i went to a department store and bought my first bicycle i’d ridden since college for about $99.  i was able to make short trips around town to visit friends, do errands, and take leisurely trips out and about in my spare time.

as time went on, my finances waxed and waned due to a period of “career transition.”  i was shifting from a semi-corporate job into the non-profit sector, and i was continually looking for ways to reduce expenses.  riding a bicycle became less and less a leisure activity, and more a viable mode of transportation.  at the age of 30, my last car finally died, and i ended up being car-less for a few months for the first time since i was 19 years old.  around that time–the hot summer of 2007–i suddenly hatched the plan to ride my bicycle to ocean city.  i have a relative who owns a summer house over there, and i have a open invite to stay when i please.  i hatched a plan to make my way there in august of that year.  i asked friends and family to help me out financially–i had just finished up a year-long americorps term, and funds were drastically limited.  i was also still out of work at the time, so i spent my days riding my bicycle, volunteering around town at various projects, and eating ramen noodles or peanut butter on toast.

as the date for the trip drew near, i suddenly had to change plans.  one of the bands i’m in was invited to travel across the country and participate in a televised audition for a spin-off of the american idol television show.  the bike trip was put on hold.  i eventually was hired by a non-profit organization (with whom i’m still employed now) and began to personally, emotionally, and financially regroup.  the trip with the band was a blast, of course, and was a superb uplifting experience for me in a number of ways.

before i knew it, early 2008 had come along.  the idea of the bike trip had never left the back-side of my mind, however, and i became more obsessed with the notion of achieving that personal goal.  i would bike to the day job any day that it wasn’t raining or snowing, and that the temperature was over 35 degrees fahrenheit.  i would take solo trips out to shopping malls a dozen miles away, eat a snack, and bike back home.  i would bicycle 20-mile round trips to pick up groceries.

eventually memorial day weekend 2008 arrived, and i left for ocean city.   two and a half days later, i was looking a the atlantic ocean.

it’s not easy for me to articulate the sense of accomplishment i had felt, perhaps because it had resonated with me personally at such a profound level.  the past year and a half or so had been a very trying time for me in terms of my personal life, and although the original trip had been delayed, eventually achieving it seemed not so much completing a task, but more like opening a door to many more possibilities and opportunities.  since that time, i’ve felt less inhibited by personal boundaries, anxieties, and social mores.  i feel less angry and frustrated.  i realize that careful, thought-full planning can eventually bring positive, long-lasting results.  i had felt i finally achieved one of my personal goals, after having endured close to two years of meeting resistance.

so i wanted to do it again.  at the beginning of 2010, i established four annual goals for myself. another bike odyssey is one of them.  so i’m doing it again, but this time it’s “bigger and better” than its precursor.  that’s the part of accomplishing goals that seems the most attractive to me: once one major success comes along, you’re encouraged not just to repeat it, but to take more risks, to “turn it up a notch,” and to expand your boundaries even further.

this is the main reason i wanted partners this time around.  i will never forget how intense the achievement was for me.  if i can encourage someone else to answer that call, and to meet that challenge, then i’ve done a profoundly rewarding service for someone else.  it’s doubtful that a single bicycle trip will always blast someone’s perceptions wide open–as it did for me–but at the very least it can open their experience to more opportunities.

i’m totally excited for you! how can i support bike odyssey 2010?
hell, i’m glad you asked!  you can download the “pledge per mile” form, and then e-mail me to arrange a pickup.  we’re accepting pledges until midnight, june 13th, 2010.

thanks for reading.

Tags: bike odyssey, personal, writing // Add Comment »

the following is editor’s self-assessment of the bike odyssey benefit 2010.  maintained here for posterity, indeed.

///

Well, the Bike Odyssey Benefit show is finally over. I want to review this process to see what went well, and what needs work. Debriefing and evaluation is all part of the learning process that will make future events more manageable and successful. I will refer to this list when any future projects or efforts come to pass.

 

IN A NUTSHELL: I can throw a good party, but I’ll be damned if I can make it affordable. I have yet to succeed financially in any major fund-raising effort I start; this was no exception. At least the food and bands were excellent.

 

VENUE: The natural choice was [the community center]. I volunteer there several times a month; the space is definitely large enough to accommodate the guests; the shelter is on the property. I’ve a good working relationship with the regular organizers, and developing the proposal and guiding it through acceptance was a breeze. In being a steward for the space, I have keys and open access to all needed rooms in the building.

 

RAFFLE: I sent out 70 or so requests for raffle donations; I ended up having 6 raffle items. The good news is that I definitely had enough prizes relative to the attendance for the event. However, the prizes lacked the diversity I wanted (two of the six were from bowling alleys), and I wanted more of a response over all. I’m not going to blame this lack of effectiveness on the sorry state of the economy; I can’t really address that on my own. But I realize I hadn’t followed best practices in doing this. Some suggestions to improve the response rate on this front include:

• more response time. Sending out the letters earlier will give recipients more time to mull it over. I actually had a recipient who wanted to donate, but they had received the letter late and ended up not bringing me the donation in time. I think this abbreviated response window was a major factor, and it’s definitely within my realm of control. Give recipients a month, at least. I feel I personally slacked on this, because it’s unfamiliar territory for me; that’s reason enough to spend extra attention on it in the future.
• approach people in person to solicit donations. I am personally not comfortable with this method, but I have been told it’s a dramatic improvement over simply sending out letters. To make this successful, I will have to recruit someone else (or several someone elses) to do it for me. I do not like being a commission-driven salesperson.
• emphasize businesses I know and appreciate already. The flip side of disliking sales tactics is that I tend to be very loyal and steadfast in my own sense of “brand loyalty.” I have local businesses I always support, whom I visit frequently, places with servers I always tip well in particular restaurants, etc. In essence, I may be able to “trick” myself into soliciting these businesses face-to-face in an effort to acquire donations in the space of normal conversation.

One ticket was included with admission; additional tickets could be purchased for $2 each, or 3 for $5. This seemed appropriate.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: This was great and bad simultaneously. I had three acts lined up for the evening, which was plenty. Then another act called on the organizers of [the community center] and asked if they could jump in on a bill for a locally-driven show. They’d been wanting to play there for a while, and they are an interesting band in a similar vein to the other acts I’d booked, so I figured we could fit them in without a problem.

Unfortunately, it made the other acts much too pressed for time. The event ran over time as well, which for various reasons is a major no-no at that space. The extra band sounded fantastic, and they turned out to be a bunch of really cool guys and superb musicians…Logistically it was a bad move.

How to solve this? There are a couple ways to approach it.

• Hardline the band lineup. Say no to last-minute requests after planning is complete.
• Have additional people in a tech role to assist bands and facilitate change-over so that time is maximized.
• Start the event earlier. It would be easy to have an event like this in the same space, but on a weekend instead. That would result in an earlier start time, and more flex time for performers.

 

DRINKS: we acquired a temp liquor license for the event, which was helpful. I received no alcohol donations, so I had to purchase the alcohol myself; there’s still some leftover, and I ended up not including the drink take in with the rest of the funds for the shelter, and so I’ve paid myself back for it. But the arrangement worked well. I actually copied it from a previous event: Attendees receive a “drink ticket” as part of admission, and drop off the drink tickets at the bar to have a beer or wine. If they want another drink, they simply purchase another drink ticket (from a nearby table) and drop it off at the bar. This keeps the bartender from having to worry about making change, and lets them focus on slinging the drinks.

I used little plastic cowboys and indians as drink tickets too, which seemed to go over well. Drink tickets cost $2 each; this worked out well, as there was wine (red or white) and beer (Natty Boh). There are two and a half bottles of wine and maybe a 12-pack of Boh leftover (out of eight bottles and six 12-packs). This is a fair overhead, especially considering I have a lot of drinking friends and I’ve made my money back.

 

ADMISSIONS: I set admissions as a sliding scale ranging from $6 to $10. This seemed appropriate for the event. I included entertainment, complimentary food, one drink, and one raffle ticket with admission. There was a special discount rate of $5 for those who brought in a donation of towels, bed linens, or underwear for the shelter.

Although the financial take wasn’t impressive, I can’t complain. It’s in line with estimated attendance, when factoring in the donations received as part of it. I may consider revising this price plan in the future, but at this point it seems about right. I doubt admission price was a discouraging factor for those who didn’t come.

 

FOOD: I think this went over great. I wanted to keep things simple, as I’d received only one food donation (bread from a local bakery). I think I had just woken up from a night’s sleep—or maybe it was just as I had settled down for the night—when I decided to go with “bicycling food” as the offerings.

By “bicycling food,” I mean food that would be eaten by cyclists while on a long bike trip. I had a “PB&J sandwich station” where people could make their own sandwiches. There was also fresh fruit—apples, oranges, and bananas—and an assortment of granola bars. I incorporated the bread donation into the bread used for the sandwiches, so it’s not gone to waste. There was complimentary water and pink lemonade (brewed on-site in a large decorative decanter).

We had plates and spreading knives from the shelter kitchen, so there was no excess waste of paper plates and plastic flatware. Serving platters were also supplied from the kitchen stores. We did spend time washing up at the end of the night, but I think that was a better alternative to producing excess trash.

I succeeded in providing relatively healthy food choices, and I heard no complaints. I’m very happy with the food situation. The key to its success is that while it fit with the theme, it was still very simple and low-maintenance. People dug into it, and it was all delicious nutritious food. I didn’t want to resort to “pretzels and chips,” so I’m very happy with all of it. Best of all, I’ll have no problem eating the leftovers.

 

ATTENDANCE: This was unsatisfactory. Estimated attendance was around 50 people, which includes about a dozen performers. Frankly, I wanted to see more. However, this highlights another of my weaknesses: promotion.

I don’t have a natural talent for promotions, and I’ve yet to develop the skills in place of that. I’ve a tendency to drag my feet in terms of effective solicitation techniques; this is something that needs to be eliminated if I’m to succeed in these kinds of events in the future.

There was only one other major music event that would have drawn from the same audience pool; they’re a national touring act based here in Baltimore, so that may have been significant. But again, I can’t lean on that too much; it’s out of my control, and meanwhile I readily admit that I have shortcomings in this area.

 

PROMOTION: This is probably the only good thing that has come out of Facebook: promoting events to your friends and acquaintances online, for free. I invited over 200 people to this event myself, and more were added to the invite list by other attendees. As a result, I think over 500 people knew about this event happening last night.

A good friend of mine also composed a truly beautiful poster design, and I was sure to move that around as soon as it was done. I edited the original in Photoshop to add in times, admission, and other necessary info, and then made about 100 copies.

The bookstore/cafe that partners with the venue has a “dedicated flier person,” who has taken it upon themselves to distribute fliers for upcoming events related to the bookstore/cafe and [the community center]. I don’t really go out much (or if I do, it’s to a handful of out-of-the-way places, and in any case not clubs or other places the posters would be distributed), so I have no idea where they all went. Again, I personally avoid this kind of action anyway, so anything that someone else has done would be better than I would do myself.

That being said, I would prefer having a person dedicated specifically to the event, savvy enough to visit the various establishments in town, creatively soliciting some flier space in these worthwhile places.

 

PLEDGE PER MILE PROGRAM: I developed the PPM program in an effort to further link the bike ride itself to the shelter benefit. The main idea behind it is that people will pledge to donate money as long as we finish the ride to the shore. In return for donating to the shelter, donors will receive a thank-you gift. There are different gifts based on the amount donated to the shelter. For example, a donation of $5 earns the donor an Ocean City shot glass; $25 earns them a pound of fudge or salt water taffy; the biggest gift (me having my photo taken at one of those old-timey photo places, while dressed as a can-can girl) is set at $100. This level has already been claimed…I reckon I need to follow through with it now!

One thing I need to make clear about this for myself is that I must pay myself back from the donation funds for any thank-you gifts I purchase. This is regardless of the amount of donations I receive. I know I’ll be tempted to say “Ah, what the hell,” and simply give all the money to the shelter, particularly if the amount of donations is less than I want. I literally cannot afford to do that; it will be very expensive, and it’s basically like me giving more of my own money to the shelter instead of other people. I’ve personally spent somewhere close to $300 on this event, and I’ll have spent plenty more by the time the bike trip is finished. Someone else can foot that bill.

There’s a lot of potential in this program, and judging on how short I am of my $1000 goal I will need to test that potential. Steady marketing and promotion is what will make it work; I’ll need to step up my game in these areas to ensure success.

 

NEXT STEPS: In Summary: Press the Pledge-Per-Mile Program heavily until we leave for the bike trip. Train on my bicycle with the rest of the team. Eat well, stay healthy, and reduce stress.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE: I have a goal of $1000 in combined cash and supplies donations. I’m almost at the halfway point. The “Pledge-Per-Mile” program might push us over the top, but that remains to be seen. Final numbers will be tallied about a month and a half from now, once the bike trip itself is complete.

 

UPDATE: After speaking with one of the chief organizers of [the community center], I feel somewhat better about the lack of response and generated funds. I’ve been told that as far as shelter fundraisers go, I had done relatively well. There had been several fundraisers in the past, I’d been told, with absolutely dismal turnouts and negligible amounts of funds raised. So I don’t feel it was a waste of time, actually, when seen strictly from a monetary point of view. In any case, I’ll pass my final judgment when all pledges have been collected and the final cash value of the fundraising effort has been tallied.

Tags: baltimore, bike odyssey, cycling // Add Comment »

shout-out to arthur silber.  i just rediscovered this guy.

it’s not the sex.  it’s never the sex.

it’s not the drugs.  it’s never the drugs.

it’s not the terrorists.  it’s never the terrorists.

…but where can we go?  when will it be a place where it really is the sex?  where it really is the drugs?  where it really is all about the terrorists?!?!

i don’t think that place exists. so where do we go?

Tags: cops, day job, drugs, economy, international, privacy, rights, terrorism // Add Comment »

BIKE ODYSSEY BENEFIT 2010
Celebrate countryside bicycling, a local shelter, and live music all at once!  The Bike Odyssey Benefit 2010 is a unique resource-raising event for Heart’s Place Shelter, the only Baltimore shelter that houses men, women, and children in an effort to keep homeless families united.  Support the work of this great shelter at 2640 on Friday, May 14th, by coming to the BOB…Live music and entertainment from local Baltimore performers (gypsy-folk-rock gods Good Guise, boot-stompin’ geetar-pickers Bobby E. Lee & The Sympathizers , and old-timey cover barons Wild Bonerz!), food and drink, raffles, and more!

Doors open at 8pm, and admission is a sliding scale of $6 to $10.  Special discounted price of $5 for those who bring in donations of underwear, bed linens, and towels for use at the shelter and by their guests. [Read more →]

Tags: baltimore, bike odyssey, cycling, food, music // Add Comment »