Blankbaby

Deleting yourself is not an option

The Daily Scott: now a part of Blankbaby

Awhile ago I had the bright idea of posting a picture of myself everyday, and The Daily Scott was created. Sadly, it wasn't so daily but I think the idea is still sound. I announced that the Daily Scott was moving over here and now it is complete. The dailyscott category now contains all the posts (and comments) from the old Daily Scott as well as the new additions. It makes much more sense for it to be here, I think.

Anywho, why not highlight some of my favorite Daily Scotts? I knew, dear reader, that you would be excited by that! Let's get started:

• I'm pretty (This picture was taken by my boss's boss. True story)
• AHHHHHHHH! (Product gone wrong)
• Neckerchiefs are in, I hear. (It is a good look, right?)
• John Goodman anyone? (It really is uncanny)
• Pondering Socks (Yes, I own lots of socks, and yes that is my desk at work)
• I'm handsome! (As a counterpoint to the pretty one)

Update: Bah! It looks like something went a little screwy with the importing. I'll fix it at some point tomorrow, but until then just imagine what I look like.

Fork You: Brine! Fire! Turkey!

Another Fork You is available for your viewing pleasure. The good folk at Orion were kind enough to send us one of their cookers and produced the best damn turkey I have every had. Seriously, if you have an outdoor space you need one of these cookers.

This episode is the first in a 3 part series about Thanksgiving, so stay tuned for the second installment on Tuesday.

Blogging Heroes: there must have been some kind of mixup

Anyone who has known me for any length of time can tell you I'm crazy about blogging. I've been blogging for a little over 7 years now, and I am sure that 7 years from now I'll still be blogging (and I bet I'll still be doing it right here at Blankbaby).

A few months ago I got an email from Michael A. Banks. He was doing a book about blogging, and he wanted to talk to me (thanks to my TUAW blogging duties). Never the one to turn down talking about two of my favorite subjects (myself and blogging) I gave Michael my details. He called me one Sunday afternoon, as I recall, and we spoke about blogging for awhile. I also took the chance to ask him about writing for 'Old Media,' i.e. in print. He gave me some things to think about, and I hoped I had given him something with which he could include in his book.

His book is called Blogging Heroes, and I am one of 30 interviews with the 'World's Top Bloggers' that make up the book (my interview is chapter 19) along side such bloggers as Steve Garfield, Robert Scoble, Gina Trapani, and Steve Rubel (to name only a few). If you want to read my interview Wiley said I could post it on my blog, so here is the PDF. I don't really say anything that should come as a shock to anyone. I only have two rules that are keys to success in blogging (or in anything, really):

• Never say/write anything that you are uncomfortable standing behind.
• Write about whatever you are passionate about, and success will follow.

Nothing earth-shattering there, but I said it with my rapier like wit. Plus, I'm a blogging hero so that means I am better than you are (but you knew that already).

New Fork You, and announcing In the Kitchen with Slashfood

I've been a busy, cranky man of late. I've been staying up way past my bedtime for the last few days cranking out video podcast after video podcast.

Last week we posted not one new episode of Fork You, but two (meatloaf, and the one that proves I have better taste than Marisa). Today comes two more new episodes of foodie goodness, but only one of them is a Fork You.

First, the Fork You crew paid a visit to The Spring Gardens a few months back, and we have finally had time in our production schedule to get the episode up. This one really showcases our great new camera. Doesn't that footage just make you long for a garden of your own? Thanks to Stephan for taking time out of his schedule to talk to us:

The other video Marisa and I posted today was over at Slashfood, Weblogs' food blog. Some of you might know that I'm the head honcho over at TUAW, a Weblogs Inc blog that covers all things Apple, and Marisa is a Slashfoodie. It would seem that Brad Hill, the big Man at WIN (that's what the cool kids call Weblogs, Inc) had caught wind of Fork You (mostly from my Tweeting I would imagine) and he liked what he saw. Thus began a very long discussion about Marisa and I making Fork You for Slashfood with a couple of key differences:

• It wouldn't be called Fork You


• We would get paid for it (instead of it costing us money

We were hesitant for a few reasons, but it mostly boiled down to the fact that we like having complete creative control over Fork You. We can say or do whatever the hell we want, and we don't have to ask anyone (as long as we both agree, that is). Brad suggested we do 2 episodes of Slashfood in the Kitchen (that's the name of the podcast) and we figured what the heck. And so I give you the first episode of Slashfood in the Kitchen:

At the moment it is only available via AOL's video sharing site, Uncut. I hope to get the QuickTime file up soon so that it will be an actual podcast.

Oh, and the picture up above has nothing to do with either of these episodes, but I think it is a good picture of me.

Two Fork Yous in one week

I haven't been blogging here on Blankbaby much in the last few weeks for a few reasons:

• Leopard, Apple's next flavor of OS X, is coming out soon and I'm blogging like a mad man over at TUAW (if you want to just read my posts, you can by subscribing to this feed).
• Fork You continues to be a fun, and rewarding, way for me to spend lots and lots of time!

That's right, for some reason Marisa and I decided that October and November would be Forkful months! A new episode of Fork You every week, and so far we've delivered. In fact, this week we posted two episodes:

The Meatloaf episode (QuickTime version):

The Super Taster Test episode (QuickTime version):

I've also agrede to do another video project (that pays some dough), so that's taking some of my time. It is like I have 3 jobs now (though I am pretty happy about all of them):

• My fulltime job (which is including more and more Mac stuff and blogging, so that's cool)
• My Blogging
• My podcasting

It is a wonder I have time for reading, eating, and going to the gym! Oh, and I am working on launching another blog shortly because I still have an hour of unstructured time every other Thursday.

How have you been, dear Blankbaby readers?

10 Zen Monkeys asks Is The Net Good For Writers?

Is The Net Good For Writers? is a pretty dumb question, if you ask me.

The question is built upon the thought that since online publishing has made it easy for anyone to get their writing out there it must be bad for people who consider themselves 'writers.' Just because it is easy to get your writing online doesn't make the act of writing any easier, trust me I should know. It seems that every reader of TUAW thinks that blogging is super easy ('That Scott McNulty does it, so how hard can it be?'). Judging from the 500 or so applications I have read from people wanting to blog for TUAW (that's roughly 1500 sample posts) I can tell you that most people can't write worth a damn. Most of the applications are well meaning, but horribly written and if you take that and a nickel you won't be able to buy a pitcher of warm spit (though why you would want a pitcher of warm spit is a matter best left between you and your clergyman).

Do I consider myself a good writer? No, but I do consider myself a good reader, and as such I can tell you when writing is good and when it isn't. The Net has simply made it easier for talented people to find their audience (but it still ain't easy, buster!).

Yes, I have an iPhone

Thanks to the powers that be I have an iPhone (so I can test it with our systems at work, of course). The evidence of my iPhone happiness can be seen in the increase of random pictures posted here. I realize that not everyone wants to see every frickin' picture I take with my iPhone (though the camera in the iPhone puts the one in the Q to shame), so I have decided to post most of my iPhone pictures to Flickr. You can find them here, if you're interested.

Worry not, though, I'll still be posting the best to Blankbaby (and Thad Being a Jackass will look better than ever!).

Where will you be on September 1st?

September 1st, 2007 is shaping up to be quite a day. Colin, of Viddlerfame, asked Marisa and myself, of Fork You fame, if we would be up for doing some contest judging for Viddler. Since we are like BFF's with Viddler (like, totally) we said sure! Soon we learned that the man, the myth, the guy who is shorter than I thought he was: Gary Vaynerchuck of Wine Library TV would be judging with use. He's been on TV, and profiled in lots of magazines (even John Gruber watches Wine Library TV, something tells me Grubs doesn't watch Fork You), so we were pretty excited.

We then found out that not only would we be judging the MealToday Contest (best video wins an iPhone or a camera) but we would be doing it live at Indy Hall's grand opening on September 1st. If you aren't familiar with Indy Hall it is Philly's hot new coworking space and it is super cool (or so I have heard, I haven't actually had a chance to check it out myself, but watch Alex's tour).

I know what you're thinking, "How can I get in on all this fun?!" Head on over to Upcoming.org and RSVP (by the way, Upcoming.org sent me a tshirt many moons ago. When I got it, it didn't fit because it was a XXL and I was a XXXL kind guy. I now wear that shirt to the gym... yeah, I'm all kinds of awesome).

One final note, Colin asked Marisa and I if we would be up to filming some video for a promo for the event. Being the media whores that we are, we said sure! After the Philly Blogger meetup we set the camera up, sat on the stoop outside my building, and did whatever it is we do. Above you'll see the 1:40 minute highlight reel that I put together for Colin. Originally it was just meant for Colin's eye, but it would seem I can't hide anything from Alex and before I knew it the video was on Twitter. Luckily Marisa was OK with it, and so it is available for everyone to watch! We did many variations of this same promo over 30 minutes with no prep, because that's the kind of podcasters we are. It has been viewed 1113 times at the time of this writing. What is wrong with people?

Anyway, hope to see you on September 1st!

8 Random Things about me

The latest meme is making the rounds on the Internet and I haven't been tagged once, or twice, but thrice! By the laws governing silly blog memes, I must participate now, and so here we go:

Rules:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their eight things and include these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and that they should read your blog.

1. I don't wear a watch, and I haven't for 3 years.
2. People say I'm funny, but deep down I don't think I am.
3. I am a little neurotic about being on time. I hate being late, and would much rather be an hour early (I am usually way, way too early for flights).
4. If I need to think of a celebrity's name on the spur of the moment invariably the first one that pops to mind is 'Mary Tyler Moore.' Strange but true.
5. I'm shy. Some might not believe that, but I am very shy by nature. I have gotten more outgoing as I have aged, but I'm still just a shy dude.
6. I have always thought that I will die alone, just like Capt. Kirk (look! I can be depressing and geeky all at once!)
7. I am starting to enjoy going to the gym (but don't tell anyone because that would ruin my whole,'I hate the gym' routine).
8. I overthink everything: relationships, future plans, people's offhand remarks. You name it, I overthink it.

So there you have it! Now I need to pass this on to 8 (!) more people:

• Owen


• Kurt


• Tony


• Dave


• Bre


• Jacqui


• Dave


• Joe