STBD at Halloween Vlogfest

Zadi, Alex, Steve, Chris and David. Sign of a geek party: 2 visibile drinks vs. 3 visibile electronic devices...

Whew. It's been a busy few days, and I just now have a chance to post this before it's old news, BUT...

I was at the Halloween Vlogfest in Los Angeles this past weekend, courtesy of Chris Brogan and Jeff Pulver at Network2. The event was part web video schmoozefest, part Amanda Congdon welcome party as her cross-country trek in Amanda Across America comes to a close, and entirely a Halloween party.



Jim Kirks, Chris Brogan and Justin Kownacki should all drink less.
Or more. Probably more.

Steve and Zadi from Jet Set Show were the organizers, and the Yahoo campus were the hosts. Among the cool people I met were Dan McVicar (The McVlog), Alex Albrecht from Diggnation, Kent Nichols from Ask a Ninja, Hayden Black from Goodnight, Burbank and Jim Kirks from The Clip Show, as well as Steve and Zadi. There were also a number of behind-the-scenes folks from Yahoo, TV Guide, Veoh and more, as well as aspiring web video creators like Robin Alper, whose concept for acertain kind of health-based podcast sounds like a winner.

This is also the kind of party where you can walk into the men's room, see a guy dressed exactly like the Batman Beyond character -- complete with wrist lasers -- and ask yourself, "Am I seeing this because it's Halloween or because it's LA?"



Not my ride.

Afterwards, I joined Chris Brogan, David Kowarsky (Focus), Jim Kirks and Felicia Williams (The Daily Reel) for late night drinks in Beverly Hills and a "quick" bite at Swingers. I also learned that LA does in fact get cold at night, and that is no time to be standing outside a diner for 45 minutes in just a t-shirt (and pants, which should go without saying... though this is LA...). I was far from the person suffering most, though; nearly every female in the county was wearing next to nothing, and all of them were popsicles outside Swingers.

In all, a more relaxing weekend than I'd planned, which was a pleasant surprise. I have a feeling the LA thing could grow on me -- especially as temperature in Pittsburgh continue to drop.

In the meantime, onward to PodCamp Pittsburgh!

STBD Halloween Special (Part 1 of 2)

Click to Play

Caroline mistakenly believed her Halloween party was a costumed event. That's fine, because half the guests mistakenly believe they're still alive. (8:00)

Music by The Nite Lights and Discuss Discuss

Filmed on location at ThinkTank and 517521

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Help STBD Help You!

Much like '90s supergroup TLC, we here at STBD ain't too proud to beg. That, coupled with the suggestions of several longtime STBD fans, has led us to finally take your advice: we're accepting donations!

Watch the show? Like the show? Help us keep making the show!

Your generous donations will help us cover the cost of equipment and upgrades (read: DV tapes and webhosting fees), transportation (read: gas), food for the cast (read: Eat 'n Park diner food at 11 PM after a 7-hour shoot) and operations (read: keeping creator Justin Kownacki from having to pick up a side job as a ditchdigger).

And let's not recall the part where TLC filed for bankruptcy in the early 2000s... Or the time Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes burned down Atlanta Falcon Andre Rison's house... We're above that.

STBD Season 4: Episode 8 "Contemplation"

Dierdre and her new coworker, Brent, wonder where Tim could possibly be. Plus, Chloe meets a tall, dark stranger... or not. (7:45)

The powers-that-be at Blogger aren't recognizing our feed from Blip at the moment, but clicking the picture above will take you to the episode just the same. We keep it together like that. Seriously.)

Justin Kownacki Interviewed on Focus

STBD creatorJustin Kownacki stopped by the Network2 offices in New York this past week and chatted with Focus's David Kowarsky. The resulting interview is included in Friday's edition of Focus. (Justin's hair will be interviewed separately in a later segment.)

Leo Loves Pittsburgh

Just in time for PodCamp Pittsburgh: STBD's own Leo Straub provides a brief travel guide to the Steel City. (2:00)

New and Improving

Because we love you--the loyal viewers--so much, we are in the process of creating more opportunities to hear your opinions, include your comments, and make your visits to STBD more rewarding. Does this mean we're hiring strippers to come to your birthday party?

Possibly.

But before we do that, we're looking for your thoughts on organizing the site and the feedback process. What would make you feel more involved? How can we shape our site to serve, exhilarate, and astound you? What keeps you coming back--or drives you far, far away?

While we're at it: Are there any storylines you would like to see? Characters you miss? Characters you would like to see more (or, god forbid, less) of? Do you have a location you would like us to film in? Are you a band who would like to appear on the show?

Leave your ideas here, or email feedback@somethingtobedesired.com

In the meantime, we've done some work on our photo galleries and added some desktops and AIM icons to the downloads section. Enjoy!

PodCamp Pittsburgh: Donations Welcome!

PodCamp Pittsburgh is now open for donations! The event is free to attend, but if you'd like to lend a hand, we're happy to have it!

Your donations will be used to cover the costs of: food and drink, equipment and location rental, transportation fees, promotions and operations costs. They also cut down on the number of sponsors we need to involve, which means the event remains more open and less cluttered. Plus, donations are made via PayPal's secure connection, so there's no need to worry!

See you November 11-12!

MacVoices Interview

STBD creator Justin Kownacki was intervied by MacVoices' Chuck Joiner last week for a podcast that's now available at the MacVoices site -- it's brief but informative. Check it out!

News and Schmooze: Recent Round-Up

STBD has been in the news a bit recently, and we thought you'd like to know. So we're telling you.

* STBD creator Justin Kownacki was quoted in Sunday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about YouTube.

* Kownacki was also interviewed by indie film fan Trashmeister Mike.

* And Kownacki and the three remaining original STBD cast members -- Will Guffey (Leo), Lacey Fleming (Dierdre) and Ann Turiano (Caroline) -- spent a hilarious hour on KDKA with Carol Lee Espy on Saturday night. (If that show is made available as a podcast, we'll update you here!)

STBD Season Four: Episode 7 "Gyration"

Click to Play

Caroline and Lloyd visit a nightclub... "for business reasons"... (9:45)

Filmed at Perqe

Caroline and Lloyd's wardrobe provided by Torque Denim

Music by ZOX and Bohemian Bottom Orchestra

PodCamp Pittsburgh Has a Home!

PodCamp Pittsburgh is officially a go -- in conjunction with Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Three Rivers Film Festival! Rich Engel and Joe Morrison at PF were instrumental in helping PodCamp Pittsburgh find a home, and we're ecstatic about working with them to help bring the new media conversation to the 'burgh!

PodCamp Pittsburgh will take place Nov 11-12 at Pittsburgh Filmmakers in the Oakland borough of Pittsburgh. (There will also be a Friday night meet-n-greet to kickoff the festivities, but we're still working on those details.)

For more information, and to register for PodCamp Pittsburgh (which is FREE TO ATTEND), please visit the official PodCamp Pittsburgh site.

"What Do You Want?" Weekends #1 Santorum PSA

Here at STBD, we film a LOT of stuff that never sees the light of day. Thus, we're proud (?) to announce the launch of What Do You Want Weekends.

This is the place for everything else that doesn't have a place of its own. This content will be unpredictable, uncensored and undoubtedly NOT powered by Blip (lest advertisers come to our house with pitchforks).

But it will be pretty funny. Usually. Unless we suck.

And even then it'll still be kind of funny.

This week:


We kick off with a fair and balanced look at the Pennsylvania senate race between Bob Casey and Rick Santorum. (NOT workplace safe. Doubly so if you're in a red state.)

STBD Auditions Are On!

Want to join the cast of STBD? Think you've got what it takes? Now's your chance!

AUDITION DATE AND TIME:

Saturday, OCT 21st, 12pm-2pm
Affogato Cafe
613 Lincoln Ave.
Bellevue, PA 15202

(Weekday dates will be added if necessary)

Auditions will last approximately 10 minutes per participant.

Auditions will consist of a brief interview, cold reading and possibly some improvisation.

Something to Be Desired is not currently a for-pay venture. However, perks include exposure on an internationally-viewed web sitcom, occasional free meals, concert and event tickets and other swag, and the cameraderie of a troupe of actors who've already spent WAY too much time together.

To schedule an audition, please e-mail auditions@somethingtobedesired.com -- include your preferred day and time range, headshot and resume (if applicable), and a brief reason why you'd be ideal to join our hallowed cast.

(Then show up and prove it.)

STBD Is on Geek Riot!

STBD webmaster Shawn Smith also runs an audio podcast called Geek Riot, a call-in show powered by TalkShoe. Justin Kownacki from STBD is one of several guests on this past week's Geek Riot show, along with the folks behind videoGrunt and HowToGirl. An interesting cross-section of people, and a very informative show -- listen in!

We Need Zombies!

LEGIONS OF UNDEAD: UNITE!

STBD is filming a Halloween-themed episode on Sunday Oct 15 and Sunday Oct 22nd in Bellevue, PA, and WE NEED ZOMBIES!

Makeup artists will be on-hand to convert the willing into the undead. Volunteer zombies will not be required to attend both shoots, though you're certainly welcome to.

Interested? Here's what you need:

1. Proof of ID (over 18, please).
2. Clothing you don't mind never wearing again (fake blood tends to stain)
3. The willingness to amuse yourself safely between shots
4. Common sense (we'll be filming in a warehouse, so safety is key)
5. Transportation to and from Bellevue.

For more information and directions, please email zombies@somethingtobedesired.com

(This is a first-come, first-zombified notice.)

STBD Season Four: Episode 6 "Recreation"

Click to Play

Caroline visits Lloyd's studio and learns how he works. (Clothing optional.) Plus, women go shopping and men talk comic books. (10:00)

Music by ZOX and Belladonnakillz

Filmed at 517521 and Affogato

STBD Goes Blip

Now that STBD is listed as one of Blip.tv's Top Shows, it made sense for us to convert all of our episodes to suit Blip's embeddable player. This involves uploading our past three seasons' worth of episodes to Blip, where they're converted into Flash files that will play on any webpage (including ours).

Thus, STBD is now powered by Blip.

Mostly.

You never realize how many episodes we've produced until you start uploading them to a new server, one by one... The conversions are going swiftly, though, and we should have all three previous seasons converted by Tuesday of this week.

Thanks again to Mike Hudack and Dina Kaplan at Blip for helping bring us aboard in so painless a manner. It's great to know Blip is behind us as we blaze boldly forward into fame.

Weekend Binge

One new STBD fan, Will, spent the weekend watching our entire series from beginning to now.

All we can say is: Wow. We made it ourselves and we've never done that.

It's flattering to realize some people like what we're doing so much that they'll watch over 6 hours' worth of STBD all at once. So much for the "short attention span" theory that so many people (including us) ascribe to web viewers.

If you build it (and keep improving it), they will come (back).

Network2.tv: The Solution to Anonymity!

Remember my post long ago about the lack of ongoing web series?

Now, Something to Be Desired is proud to be part of the launch of Network2.tv, a web channel dedicated to the best original and ongoing series on the web.

With over 100 shows and counting, Network2.tv is an ever-growing list of programs created specifically for the web. ZeFrank, Rocketboom, Tiki Bar TV, Homestar Runner and French Maid TV are all there, along with dozens of shows you've probably never heard of.

Network2.tv is also the antidote to surfing iTunes in the hopes of telling the video podcasts apart from the audio podcasts. Tired of lip sync videos and pet tricks on YouTube? Looking for the next generation of filmmakers and "tv" shows? Check out Network2.tv!

For a peek behind the scenes at Network2, watch their video blog called Focus over at Blip!

STBD Uses a MAC, After All...

I had the pleasure of meeting with Dave Sevick and his MAC users' group in Cranberry today, several miles north of Pittsburgh. I'd contacted Dave about the upcoming PodCamp Pittsburgh in November and he invited me to discuss the event with his group members, as well as explaining STBD to them.

The audience was great -- mostly folks from 30-60 with lots of (good) questions. When people who don't necessarily realize that web media is out there for the taking get turned on to the concept, it's great to see their reactions. In addition to STBD, I showed them the work of Steve Garfield and Alive in Baghdad, and I could feel the light bulbs turning on when people realized exactly what was possible from the world of user-generated content.

Hopefully Dave and his fellow MAC users make the trip into town for PodCamp in November. In the meantime, I'll be visiting the MAC users' group in Monroeville tomorrow (Thursday) night, hopefully for more of the same positive Q & A.

And to think, I just switched to a MAC full-time this season... I wonder what the PC users' groups are up to...

Side note: Chris Brogan mentioned an acquaintance of his, Jon Sawnson, a pastor who's doing some work for the rebuilding efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Dave Sevick's users' group rebuilt 100 computers to send down to the Katrina site. Perhaps we have some synergy?

Speaking of which... we've been Dugg!

"STBD as it's know to its fans, is an ongoing web-based series, sort of like a TV show that can only be seen on the Internet or on your handy-dandy video iPod. It's part sitcom, part soap opera, occasionally a little raw, frequently hilarious, and completely addictive."

read more | digg story

STBD Goes Pop

There's a great article about Something to Be Desired on the Pop City website this week. Their photographer contacted me on Monday and apologized for the short notice but asked if he could get some photos of us before his deadline... which was the next evening.

Fortunately, we were filming a sequence last night at a nightclub in Bellevue called Perqe, so we invited the photographer down. Ironically, this is the same club we were filming in a month ago when the Trib PM did a story on us.

Evidently, we should schedule more shoots at Perqe.

Special thanks to the Bohemian Bottom Orchestra, who came down to Perqe last night and wowed the cast and extras with a swinging set of live jazz / funk rock. You folks at home can see part of their show on an upcoming episode of STBD.

PodCamp Pittsburgh Logo!

Our good friend Rachel Arnold designed a PodCamp Pittsburgh logo in the spirit of PodCamps past (and future). We dig it. Downtown Pittsburgh has never looked so magical (or trippy, depending on your point of view).

[Truth be told, we were orginally entrtaining the idea of a "bridge" theme since Pittsburgh has more bridges than any other city in the world, but PodCamp West is taking place at the same time in San Francisco and they have that whole Golden Gate Bridge thing in their favor... even though we actually HAVE golden bridges here... Still too confusing...]

STBD Season Four: Episode Five "Misappropriation"

Click to Play

Liz's finely-laid plans go awry, and Caroline and Leo find they have a common enemy. (11:00) Filmed on location at Affogato Cafe Music by ZOX and Discuss Discuss

The Ebb and Tide of Subscribers

Lloyd and Caroline try to make sense of STBD's erratic subscriber base.

We're sure we're not alone in this, but: has anyone else noticed a seemingly arbitrary rise and fall in their daily subscriber numbers? No matter if you're in the dozens, the hundreds, the thousands or beyond, it seems as though there are relatively random spikes and dips in the numbers.

Sure, there's an understandable increase after being linked to by a popular blog or web article, and there's a noticeable drop-off if the feed in question produces no new content within a reasonable amount of time. But there are days we've posted quite a few updates all at once and seen our numbers slip, or gone silent for days and watched them climb.

Is there a reliable metric to explain all of this, or is it to be chalked up to the whims of a zero attention-span audience? And, if that's the case... does the quality or frequency of content matter in the short run?