What to say? What to say?

[XPress]

To be honest I don't have much to say right now, and I was always brought up on the principal that if you have nothing worth saying, you should say nothing, but on the other hand it's also quite rude to walk into someones home, and sort of linger in the background, with no introduction, so here I am, with my brief introduction.

The reason I have so little to say is because I'm currently in the process of building my own website, which keeps me more than occupied, and away from such wholesome activities as enjoying myself, but hopefully, as my site grows, and nears completion, I will find more time to engage here, and socialize more.

I am tempted, at this point, to throw up a link to my site, because whilst under construction, it is open to new sign ups, but in a first post that feels a little to much like spam, and would be a little to disrespecting of my hosts here, so I will refrain, for now.

That's about it now, I think...

Oh, and I'm a guy, some people seem to find that sort of information important, so I'll throw it out there, and anything else, just feel free to ask, and I will answer (unless it's something ultra-personal, in which case I'll probably just blush a lot, and pretend I didn't hear you).

Danny_X

[Doreen Peri]

Welcome Xpress!

Hope you enjoy the site!

Looking forward to reading your posts.

[XPress]

Thank you for the welcome, Doreen, I've just sent you a PM re: my site, and other matters.

[stilltrucking]

Howdy Xpress,
Welcome aboard

Just curious about your avatar, how did you make the nice big avatar. I wish I could figure out how to make mine larger

[XPress]

I just checked the forum limit, and then shrunk and cut the picture to exactly that size.

I like to use every pixel.

I'm sure that probably says something about me, I'm sure Freud could interpret it to tell you something about my character, or my being, but I'm not that concerned, I'm just a visual guy, who doesn't like to much white space lol

[stilltrucking]

Yes I have heard of Freud,

Freud's first law of opposition

"If you push anything hard enough it will fall over"

I have spent much time in the underbelly of the beast

I am much interested in what you have to say about it.

How did you discover studio eight? Just curious.

[Lightning Rod]

indeed, this says much about your character

Danny, I thought you were a porn bot. I mean, it was a natural assumption, you had X in your screen name and posted an avatar which might have been lifted from a boy porn site. So my first response was to try to determine if you were a person or a bot. When I realized that you were a real person I apologized to you. Unfortunately my apology was deleted.

btw, love your six pack
the only six pack I've seen in years
has had aluminum cans around it....haha

this was my deleted apology to you:

I apologize X

(PT Barnum said, "If you want to get an audience, start a fight." When the circus came to a new town, he would hire guys to go out and start fights. When the crowd gathered, they would pass out flyers for the greatest show on earth.)

Welcome to studio eight, Danny. I'm just the bulldog at the door.

[stilltrucking]

EDITED unhelpful comment deleted here



This is my favorite avatar of Clays

Thought you might like to see it.




or maybe this one





This is my most favorite avatar of Doreen





Still curious how you found the site Xpress

[XPress]

Still curious how you found the site Xpress

I'm currently in the middle of building/coding, my own community, and I was talking to a few friends, and they suggested that I venture to a few other cyber hang outs, and touch bases with the people there.

I was given a few places to try, like Litkicks, and Studio8.

This was my second port of call, my first was to Litkicks, but I found it's more a blog, than a community, and I have a bit of an aversion to blogs (I apologize in advance to all bloggers here) as I to often find them sterile, and sanatized.

The internet brought people together, it created the cyber community, a place to collaborate, and hang out, and then the bloggers came, and they tore down the community, and instead said "Hey, look at me, ain't I pretty, ain't I special, ain't I important?", and most of the time they weren't.

If I wanted to be lectured at, I'd go to a university, or at least to someone with a knowledge, or a skill, or a calling, not to a blogger (I so suspect I'm setting myself up for a flame here lol).

Anyway, second on my list was Studio8, and here I am, and now I have to go to the store!

[stilltrucking]

Thanks for the info

sincerely

[Lightning Rod]

this is exactly how I feel about the term 'blogger' and the concept of blogs

I also prefer a community. I'm totally with you on this X.

I don't like being called a blogger. I'm a columnist. (yeah, and a communist too)

you are right, litkicks was once a community and now it's a blog

the essence of the internet is community interaction. Sometimes this process is not pretty. Some want everything to be pretty and nice and to be in control. Thus, litkicks is now a blog and not a community.

I, for one have tried to avoid that here.

I'll be interested to see how your community site develops


(damn, truck, I was waiting until Easter to re-reveal that picture....haha)

[XPress]

My biggest hate, in the blogging world, is the "moderated comment" or "how to kill any form of creative spark and interaction".

Sure, when I hit on bloggers, I do see a value in a discussion leader, and a blogger, or a columist can be that, someone who throws the ball out there, to get people thinking, but once the ball is in play you have to expect other people to play with it too.

If you write a colum, or a blog, I'm sure you welcome a comment in return, and then you might reply to that comment, ro some other person might, and then I might reply to that, and so a conversation is born, a discussion is had, and a spark of creativity can occur, as we bounce off each others ideas, until the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.

When someone kills the community, and moderates the comments, only allowing through what they agree with, then you end up with something sterile, and often purile, that fits into a tiny little tagged and bagged box, devoid of all creativity, and interest, and then the whole is devalued.

Sometimes that freedom, and creativity comes at a price, the male ego is delicate, and easily bruised, and so sparks can often fly, and sometimes that can be a bad thing, it often is, but it's a smaller price to pay than the death of creativity.

I tend to see these little aberrations as the human form of rutting.

For those that don't know, as the warming suns of late summer beat down upon the highlands of Scotland, and the hillside is awash with the colors of the heathers, it's not uncommon to hear the deep booming sound of a stag "bugling".

For most of the year, deer are gregarious, forming loose herds of females, calves and young males. Older males commonly travel alone or in small bachelor groups. In the early spring the bulls' antlers drop off. As the antlers regenerate, bulls become more aggressive toward each other. This aggressive behavior marks the beginning of the rutting.

Most rutting contests involve two male stags, who ram into each other at high speed, locking horns, and battering the heck out of each other.

Often this is to impress a female, but sometimes it is merely an act of aggression, to show off ones masculine prowess.

Of course, as humans, we tend not to have such thick skulls and other natural adaptations, such as horns, and therefore do not generally rut.

However that does not mean we don't lock horns in other ways.

I don't mind a little bit of human rutting, after all a man should be a man, and as long as it doesn't adversly effect the community, scare people off, or make the lives of others unbearable, it's probably quite healthy.

[Lightning Rod]

good thinking
and an excellent analogy

[Lightning Rod]

ok, now you're crackin me up
I was already in love with your abs
now I'm crazy for your sense of humor

love the avatar

[izeveryboyin]

Welcome to the Studio Danny! Always good to have a new mind to pick and fill. I'm Kayla, sometimes affectionately known as Izzy here in the studio, and I have been here pretty much since it's inception. It's funny you should mention your aversion to the blog/anti-community that litkicks has become. It used to be a thriving hub of some of the most talented artists and writers I have ever cyber-met. Once the discussion boards met their demise, so too did the dynamic of the site. However, from it, I have gained a great relationship with a group of people I hope to know forever... most of whom are here in the studio, seeking refuge from what Litkicks has become. I consider them to be very close to me so treat them well, or risk the fury of my wrath. LOL. Otherwise, have fun, post much! Happy to have a new face, and welcome again!!!

--k