This month I’ve been mostly working on the sky-pirates thing, albeit it at a leisurely pace. I’ve had some really good ideas for other projects including the fantasy series though so a lot of the time I’ve been making improvements to story lines not yet seen by you guys.
You may have noticed that I’ve made a few changes to the blog itself. I’ve added a ‘follow by email’ option because I’m not sure how many people bother using RSS feeds like I do. I’ve also removed the ads because there really was no point in putting them there in the first place. The most interesting addition to the blog though is the introduction of the new tipping system.
I was shown a thing called 'Tip The Web' and instantly approved of the idea. It’s a quick click donation system that encourages readers to tip based on the quality of the content you’re reading / viewing / listening to. It’s totally optional and is a way to show support, and in any case it’s not really about the amount tipped but demonstrating that the content was worthy of any kind of tip in the first place. The article I read stressed this and mentioned the fact that you can gain so much from the internet for free with so little effort and that finding the equivalent abundances of information used to be time consuming and expensive. It’s a great tool for the lesser known creative people of the web and a possible hint at how things could be done in the future.
I’ve included the tipping option at the end of pieces of creative writing and also on the sidebar but I can’t stress enough that it’s optional, and just an alternative way of expressing support. If you leave a tip you aren’t even committed to paying it if you have a change of heart because it sits in a list of unpaid tips that you can review before making payment. What’s more there is no middle man taking any cuts of your tips because the organisation is funded entirely by the tipping system itself. If you know anybody else who produces creative content it’d be great to tell them about it because it’s the kind of thing that needs popularity to get it get started, so thanks in advance if you decide to help spread the word. Please check out the website for more information. –
www.tiptheweb.org
This month saw the conclusion of the US Open and I’m happy that Novak Djokovic was able to keep up his amazing run, and also happy that Sam Stosur beat Serena Williams to take her first Slam. If you saw the women’s final you’ll know about Serena’s behaviour and at the time I was shocked and lost a lot of respect for her. The issue was she screamed a ‘Come On!’ before the point had finished which could have distracted Stosur, even if it didn’t look like she’d have got the ball back. The umpire then awarded the point to Stosur but it became an even bigger issue due to the unfortunate time of the match and ended up being the point that secured Stosur another break. Serena lashed out at the umpire and said some pretty pathetic things at the change of ends. But, then there’s the complication when you look back and find out that the same umpire was involved with Serena when the exact same situation happened, but crucially in that game the umpire decided to replay the point. So you can see why Serena felt hard done by, but the point is she shouldn’t have called out in the first place and there’s no excuse for some of the things she said.
Also this month my mate invited me to go see Avril Lavigne perform at the Hammersmith Apollo. I had a much better time than I had anticipated and despite being told I was his last choice, I’ll thank him anyways… He recorded the whole concert and you can find it on his Youtube channel here –
http://www.youtube.com/user/QueegSV
Until next month, ta-rah!
