Category Archives: Operation Global Media Domination

Just what it sounds like. My quest to conquer the global media and take over the world. Maybe I can get my library fines cancelled…what can I say? It’s a last-ditch effort.

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The Plan: pic seven

Lotus leaves at Sun Yat Sen

Lotus leaves at Sun Yat Sen

Those of you who’ve been following the ol’ icecoaster adventures during my sojourn in Upper Muskox will be familiar with my Plan posts, in which I lay out one productive thing to add to my life over the course of a week (no sense rushing into things impetuously, like moving across the country etc, nossir. Not my style At. All.) and which subsequently goes entirely haywire. And here is another; you must be thrilled!

Back in the day (as we who are old enough to remember those days say) I had a Polariod Joycam, and I loved that mofo like a very bestest imaginary friend. I took it everywhere with me, as it was small, light, and also a mere $20, which reminds me of the Finnish nickname for a cellphone: Yuppie Teddy Bear.

Perfect.

Living Room

Operation Global Media Domination Global HQ

Anyway, the Joycam still exists (can you spot it in this shot of my living room? Probably not, I think it’s on the floor under the four laptop bags) although joycam film has gone to that Great Photobooth in the Sky. Well, not quite: it seems Impossible Is Nothing, or rather Impossible is Possible at the Impossible Project, which makes and sells instant film for existing Polariod cameras, so there is hope for those of us hopelessly addicted to Polariod Dry Transfers and their artsy crafty ilk.

Distractions of Thrift

Distractions of Thrift, a polariod dry transfer by Butter Fry

Such as mine own self.

But where was I? Yes, eulogizing Polariod. It’s what Hipstamatic is a pale, robotic image of. Duty done, moving on.

I have one professional-quality 35 mm SLR (no D!) that I inherited from my mother, and two digital cameras thanks to my friend, photographer and social media maven Cathy Browne, who gives me her castoffs every time she trades up (and long may she so trade!). I’ve been running around for weeks with one or the other in my backpack, and finally decided to get some use out of them, reviving my old Pic a Day practice. I found it refreshed the way I look at the world as I pass through it, as well as provided a reason for me to get out of the damn apartment. Sort of the same effect as when I first began blogging, and I found it forced me out to get material. So you may see a weekly roundup of photos, at least one per day; then again, you may not, particularly if you don’t read this blog every day and if not, what’s your goddam excuse I’d like to know? EH?

In any case, here are some shots from today and last night. I’m too lazy to embed them all individually, so here’s a slideshow via Flickr and Vodpod. Don’t let anyone tell you the Downtown Eastside is a wasteland: this is what it looks like.

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Should I register “rollercoaster” as well?

well what the fuck WAS that?

well what the fuck WAS that?

Ever had one of those days that starts out like that and then goes…well…like this?

That’s right, bitches.

Problems! Solved!

mostly.

Problem 1) Transportation to Vancouver so I can honour my commitments to speak at and participate in Social Media Week and Social Media for Government in Victoria.

Solution 1) Hotel_Goddess, a woman who has never met me, who lives in another city from me, and who doesn’t even know my real name, promptly put her airmiles together and made a reservation for me. Now this is a religion that pays off: I am a convert! From now on, I’ll stop worshipping Cthluhu and start worshipping Hotel_Goddess, because what the hell has worshipping Cthulhu ever got me? I’ve yet to be eaten first or, really, at all recently, but there…I’ve said too much.

Problem 2) Homelessness which I think we can all agree is a helluva problem, particularly with it frosting over every night already (yes, really). Solved in bipartite mode by my friend Nancy until Monday, stowing me away in her mother’s basement (maybe Mom won’t notice? I dunno, she’s pretty sharp!) and by friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-chef-running-a-pullled-pork-truck-in-Osoyoos(and if you see him say hi from me) to whom I was introduced by email and who has a cabin which isn’t currently occupied and whose current house-sitter has other things to keep him busy for the next few weeks and maybe forever. So this cabin needs someone sitting in it, and it might as well be me. So, from Monday I am going to be sitting in a rustic two bedroom cabin/trailer/Rube Goldberg agglomeration with a view, a deck, a wood stove for heat, a gas stove for cooking, a big screen tv, and in a very funky, desirable neighborhood that’s walking distance to downtown. Like, four blocks. If the next couple of weeks work out, I might get to stay there when the owner goes up north to cater at a college, which would mean I pay for utilities and taxes and such, but no rent.

u totes jelly bro

u totes jelly bro

Oh yes, did I mention two bedrooms? One for me and one for Julian, until I coax him into getting over his crippling shyness.

Problem 3) Vancouver rent doubled from $340 to $760 or thereabouts.

Solution 3) Emailed the woman in charge of admin at Kellett and had her fax my ROE to the co-op. Did this before the last post went up, by the way. Doing it afterwards may have been less productive, knowmasayin’? Photographed my last pay stub detailing last day paid and how much I earned in all of August ($288 for the curious) and sent the digital files to the co-op. Was almost punchy enough to hit Flickr Uploader by rote, but managed to stop myself in time. It ain’t art. Then I forwarded to them the receipt from Paypal for my blogging payment for the posts I made in July. $300 US equating, after Paypal fees and the exchange rate, to about $288, sound familiar?

Co-op re-evaluated my housing charges in record time, thank GOD, and now I have to pay only the $340.

Problem 4) Unemployment=No Money. And no, I’m not eligible for BC welfare or, it seems, welfare up here either. Yay, mobility! Anyhoodle, even when one saves $400 on rent and gets another place for free, one cannot eat air. And one cannot purchase non-air foodstuffs up here for anything like spare change. A week’s groceries from Sunrise Market would cost me $12; the equivalent here (if I could even GET the equivalent here) is more like $45.

Solution 4) A very nice person on Twitter who wishes to remain anonymous because it’s a business account and they don’t want it to seem like they’re looking for publicity ALTHOUGH THEY TOTALLY DESERVE IT FOR THIS AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE sent me $250 via Paypal. This is, as with Hotel_Goddess, someone who’s never met me in person and doesn’t even know my real name. They just like the way I roll, have benefited from social media in the past, and want to pay it forward. And another friend who’s starting her own blog sent me $200 for a blogging lesson, so I can at least pay my Vancouver rent if I put the two of those together. Might even get some gruel!

If I can manage to switch my flight to the 13th instead of the 9th, I might even be able to run a workshop here at the Aurora Conference Centre. I’ve been talking with Chef Pierre and a workshop series is very doable, but I’ve missed the deadline to get an ad in to the paper in time to have a workshop before the 9th, so I have to check out the flight change tomorrow. A full workshop would mean I could pay all my arrears to the co-op and then some, and be sure of having enough money to get back up here and do another workshop. And so on. Gotta get that flight switched (might be another $100 or so) and then pick a date!

Oh, and I’m going to be speaking briefly at the Rotary North meeting this coming Thursday at the Top Knight, so if you want to meet the now-happy wanderer in person, turn up. But don’t get between me and the mic; I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.

Moral of the story: When in trouble, whine. Copiously. On every social media platform available to you.

C'mon, get HAPPY!

C'mon, get HAPPY!

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Operation Global Media Domination: The Google+ Situation

well in fact I AM a big deal on Google+

well in fact I AM a big deal on Google+

You know how we hate to toot our own horn around these parts, but this must be said: apparently I’m kind of a big deal on Google+

which is really rather amusing, considering I’ve been banned twice in two days and am still banned. Nonetheless, here’s what my stats look like today:

ReferrerView

sGoogle168

google.co.uk50

google.ca17

google.com.au8

StumbleUpon8

google.com.br8

gawker.com8

google.ro7

google.nl6

google.no4

Meaning that even though I can’t do my usual self-promotional link-dropping, and all my existing droppings have been mopped up from the Goog, other people are spreading my droppings all over the horizon. It’s kinda like Farmville, only I WIN!

And as to why I’ve been banned twice, that’s easy. I’m raincoaster, right? Over five million blog readers have encountered me as raincoaster, so when I started up in G+ I started as “rain coaster.” Now, I wasn’t stupid; the rules clearly say you MUST identify yourself by your real name, so I opened the account not from raincoaster at gmail dot com but from real.name at gmail dot com, and in the space provided for “other names” I put Real Name. I mean, why would you HAVE that space if you weren’t allowed to have more than one name, right? Or as this very wise person put it:

I actually got clipped by Google a week ago due to using the name CZ Unit. Which was interesting, since they asked me to use the name I am commonly known by.

I had to explain over the course of a week that my friends know me as CZ, family knows me as CZ, people in real life know me as CZ. I even asked my friends “What name pops into your mind when you think about me”? “What name do you call me when you see me across a room”

In both cases (and others) the results were unanimous: CZ. Even the person who turned me in used to call me CZ back in 1987 (yes, I have the NextMail with voice attachment

I had to point them to my LJ (cz-unit), something I have been keeping since 2002. 3,000 posts; probably not a sock puppet.

I had to have my friends send emails of support and they were even having notarized letters signed on my behalf saying that they knew me as CZ and only as CZ.

And I had to scan in a copy of my lunch bag as evidence that yes: My wife even writes “CZ’s Lunch” on my bag. What more positive, tangible ID would one need?

All of this brings up two points: First is who defines a person? Is it your parents? Your Job? The Government? Google? Your friends? You?

Second is just how wise is it to outsource your friend support network? I was on G+ for a week when I got clipped, and I still have my LJ as a backup. How about people who don’t have that? What are they going to do when their network vanishes due to upsetting the provider?

Very interesting stuff. I wrote about it on my LJ, it has been an interesting experience. But it does help me to answer the age old question:

“Who Am I?”

That’s a very, very wise post. My own experience was a little less profound, since I’m used to dealing with this question All the Damn Time.

The first time I was banned, there was no notification at all, and if someone hadn’t posted the direct link to the appeal process in the help forum, I wouldn’t have been able to ask for my account back. Google deleted that helpful forum post, by the way. Why, if they don’t want to be evil? It asked for links to places I was mentioned as “raincoaster,” and they had to be along the lines of registered accounts at Google-owned sites like YouTube or media mentions, that kinda thing. I gave them this list (stalkers, here’s your dream material!):

http://facebook.com/raincoaster

http://www.linkedin.com/in/raincoaster


https://twitter.com/#!/raincoaster


http://www.flickr.com/people/raincoaster/


http://www.facebook.com/raincoastermedia


http://empireavenue.com/RAINCOASTER


http://www.wordcampvictoria.ca/2010/04/featured-speaker-raincoaster/


http://en.forums.wordpress.com/profile/raincoaster


http://www.peerindex.net/raincoaster


http://ahamedia.ca/category/raincoaster-media/


http://gawker.com/people/raincoaster5/


http://1st.shortyawards.com/category/raincoaster


http://trueslant.com/people/raincoaster/


http://www.ubishops.ca/baudrillardstudies/vol4_3/v4-3-article70-raincoaster.html


http://www.surveymagnet.com/2011/01/lolebrity-interview/


http://celluloidblonde.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/raincoaster-is-a-god/


http://www.mainwriter.com/2010/02/09/questions-over-lunch-with-lorraine-murphy-raincoaster/


http://lanyrd.com/2011/northern-voice/speakers/


http://www.miss604.com/2008/08/vancouver-blogger-profile-lorraine-murphy.html


http://emmerogers.com/tag/raincoaster/


http://carocat.co.uk/2009/08/14/twitlight-who-are-you-raincoaster/

 

Is that enough, Google??? IS IT??? For god’s sake, the LinkedIn and Facebook vanity links are “raincoaster.”

Google emailed me after I filled in the form to tell me that changing my name from “rain coaster” to what I had on my LinkedIn Profile would be acceptable. My LinkedIn profile says “Real (raincoaster) Name,” so that’s what I did (subbing in quotation marks for parenthesis). Last night, they suspended my account AGAIN.

I guess something like 20 links is still not enough?

When are they gonna suspend Xeni Jardin, who also isn’t using her birth name?

And, as women are disproportionate users of pseudonyms (for “what are you wearing, baby” issues), this has become a gender issue. Yeah, I know it’s old skool and boring to call out sexism, but even if that was not the intention, that has been the result.

Don’t be evil. Bitches.

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Operation Global Media Domination: the Craigslist Situation

CthiCthuaCthua

CthiCthuaCthua KNEEL DOWN AND WORSHIP, BITCHES!!

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the person who posted a link to my blog on Craigslist (and probably got the idea from Crasstalk, incidentally) thus resulting in a whole lotta Los Angeleses (Los Angelesians? Los Angelesii?) gaining exposure to raincoasterism, whether or not they’re ready for it.

And we can only pray for their very sanity.

SUPER SUPER CUTE CHIHUAHUA PUPPY FREE TO CHIHUAHUA LOVER (SF VALLEY)

Date: 2011-05-25, 10:46PM PDT
Reply to: MWEYAW@GMAIL.COM [Errors when replying to ads?]

http://raincoaster.com/2008/09/15/why-i-hate-chihuahuas/

I DON’T WHY PEOPLE KEEP BREEDING THIS SUPER BEAUTIFUL CHIHUAHUA DOG.

PEOPLE WANT THIS DOG SO MUCH AND ANIMAL SHELTERS ARE FULL OF THIS BEAUTIFUL CHIHUAHUA.

ALSO, ON CRAIGSLIST, THERE ARE MILLIONS OF CHIHUAHUA ADS BECAUSE PEOPLE WANT THIS DOG SO MUCH.

LMFAO

Whoever it was, I like his/her style.

UPDATE: Some Chihuahua-addled Woody Allen character has flagged the Craigslist post as abuse, and it’s been taken down. As you may be aware, we are ALL ABOUT THE CHIHUAHUA ABUSE around the ol’ raincoaster blog, and we suggest that people who get offended on behalf of fanged, trembly naked mole rat ALIENS that CAN’T even READ, PEOPLE need to eat more roughage.

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Operation Global Media Domination: the intellectual situation

We’ll try not to be smug about this.

Julian Assange Smug Life. I got 99 problems but a snitch ain't one

Julian Assange Smug Life. I got 99 problems but a snitch ain't one

We will fail.

Today we got a link and some actually decent traffic because a post from the ol’ raincoaster blog was excerpted at the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies, bringing to four the number of universities which have used this blog in either their academic publications or their course materials.

This almost makes up for a recent, and high-profile, local blogging conference at whose keynote someone else was publicly thanked, at length, for the job that I did. No, really, that was me. On the other hand, I guess this makes me the Executive Director of W2 by default; I sure hope the salary is good!

But I’m SO over that!

In bonus good news news: our Iron Maiden/Bollywood mashup unicorn chaser is going the teensiest bit viral, and if you’ve clicked Play you know why. And speaking of music, we know the music on our WWII Dogfights in Colour YouTube video is intolerable, but we got paid $95 to put it on and if you want it off, make us a better offer.

We note further that the appalling music hasn’t stopped it from getting over one million hits. Let’s give it a few more, eh?