The Adventures of LitBoy: Bill Brent's Blog

Quick Clutter-Clearing Tip

One way to cut down on clutter is to deal with old media before it becomes obsolete. Photos and slides are an excellent example of stuff we hold onto because it is often difficult to get started with the project of dealing with it.

Here is an example of a slide scanning service that promises to make short work of your images before they deteriorate. According to the Slide Scanning Pros home page, you only pay for the service after you view your images. Since they specialize in scanning and correcting 35mm color slides, it appears to be a safe bet and a good deal.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2009.07.16, 7:55 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is the brainchild of writer Bill Brent. If you enjoy this blog, please consider a donation in support of my work. You can send money via PayPal to info [AT] litboy [DOT] com, or better still, use Revolution Money Exchange. Unlike PayPal, RME pays me 100% of your donation. It's quick and easy!


Here's the button for that:

TypePad to the rescue

One must dare to show what he wants. You have to go and ask for things rather than wait for them to happen.
   --Madonna

So, I asked for what I wanted, and thanks to an understanding staffer at TypePad, this blog will continue, since I was able to negotiate a discount I can live with.

Which leads me to the question: Okay, now what? We've done Hawaiian pictures on this blog. We've done funny links to YouTube and other such places. Lots of inspirational stuff too.

The funny thing is, much of my life is in flux right now, and I can't even talk about it here, cuz some parts of my life don't belong on this blog. I am definitely becoming more private as I move through life. I guess that living on an island in the middle of the Pacific can do that to someone.

However, I started a Facebook account recently, which strikes me as odd, since Facebook affords no privacy (and I hardly need the distraction). Furthermore, since we are all linked within seven degrees of separation, then in theory, everyone on Facebook will eventually come up for friend status. Which leads me to wonder: Why can't I just friend everyone in the Facebook universe, all at once? It would save so much time.

Oh, I guess it's like a big Easter egg hunt, then. It would be no fun if you left all the eggs out in plain view.

Anyway. Mostly I just wanted to respond to the queries I've gotten about this blog. I'll post something more bloggy when I'm feeling more bloggy.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2009.05.10, 10:15 p.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is the brainchild of writer Bill Brent. If you enjoy this blog, please consider a donation in support of my work. You can either (1) send money via PayPal to info [!at] litboy [!dot] com, or better still, (2) use Revolution Money Exchange. Unlike PayPal, RME pays 100% of your donation. It's quick and easy!


Here's the button for that:

RIDE THE HAWAIIAN RAINBOW

Aloha, y'all. I just wanted to let you know about this lovely Internet station that plays a lot of what I call "smooth" Hawaiian music during the daytime hours here in Hawaii. (Most likely, that would mean afternoons and early evenings in the Continental USA.)

So what is it about HawaiianRainbow.com that rocks my world? Think tasty, 1940s-style instrumental combos, doing Hawaiian rather than jazz or pop in the classic sense of pop music (Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, etc.) Does that make sense? All done with Hawaiian instruments, but in that small-orchestral style of elegant, complex chording, precisely harmonized vocals, all with a healthy seasoning of chromaticism. (My inner music geek is showing, heh ... my inner chef, too.)

Anyway, I was introduced recently to this station by a kind soul who has granted me a window seat overlooking some elegant bits of Hawaiian culture. So to him, I say "mahalo nui" (thank you much) and dedicate this post.

HAWAIIAN RAINBOW also plays more traditional Hawaiian music, in what I would call a folk or indigenous style. I've heard that sound on the station late in the evening, which would be early morning for most of you in the Continental USA.

Enjoy, and if y'all have any comments or feedback to share, perhaps your own music stations and particular shows online that YOU enjoy, then shout it out by clicking on "POST A COMMENT" below, and share the joy.

Note: My photo here is from the series I took at the April 11 ho'ike (in essence, a show or exhibition) from the 44th annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, April 8 to April 14, 2007. This is an image of 'auana, as performed by the Japanese ensemble, Halau O Mehanaokala. 'Auana is a modern, song-accompanied hula, so I thought it was a good visual fit for the smooth, elegant music at Hawaiian Rainbow.

(By the way, I have many more lovely pictures here for you to enjoy — to see them all, just click the "hula" category tab in the sidebar to the left.)

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2008.08.17, 9:30 a.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a culture-oriented site, focusing mainly on literary art and current events. If you enjoy this blog, and you wish to support its continued existence, please email a reply to this post. Indicate your desired contribution amount. The moderator will then reply with an invoice you can use to contribute via PayPal. Your name and contribution amount are confidential and NOT posted to the blog. Your three-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

20.00 / $200.00 (10.0%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars and the annual goal of $200. Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually LitBoy posts your contribution on the very next blog post.

Unless otherwise indicated, all original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

It's a Processed World

This is an EXCELLENT SYNOPSIS of the ongoing workplace-war that is destroying American society from the inside out by denuding labor of any real meaning or purpose.

I have been following workplace trends (oh, the de-humanity) since the early 1980s, when Processed World came onto the scene.  (Here's the history on PW.)

Again, the essay at Powell's Books website ("They're Micromanaging Your Every Move," a review by Simon Head) is well worth the read. The hens have come home to roost, and they're hawkish.

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In other news, I've made a bit of progress on my right-brain novel, after completing the first draft, which my writing coach is reviewing currently. Mostly I've been filling in a few gaps that will have to be remedied anyhow. Better sooner than later, I figure. (So I'm resetting the word count goal to the original 50,000 words, since that is probably where it will end up after all.)  Here's the word count:

48,944 / 50,000 (97.9%)

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2007.09.13, 10:25 a.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

53.06 / $199.90 (26.5%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

Flashback Classics with DJ Dr. Johnny P. LoveTrain

My online friend Dr. Johnny P. LoveTrain is coming back on the air tomorrow at Internet radio station WBUL, and Tampa station 1620 AM, and I want to offer some support.

Johnny keeps asking me to write something about him and his show. Sometimes it has kind of annoyed me, but sometimes you gotta be a bit annoying to get what you want. If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that need for PERSISTENCE in order to get on in this world. So that's the theme for the LitBoy blog this week: PERSISTENCE.
   
Johnny hosts a weekly Internet radio show devoted to pop music from the 1960s through the early 1990s – what most people commonly think of nowadays as the "classic" era of pop / rock music. His favorite year in pop music is 1978, and his tastes run more toward the softer side of rock, and early "dance music" (a/k/a disco): on a typical Johnny show, you are more likely to hear America, Andy Gibb, Olivia Newton-John, and the Carpenters than Hendrix and his harder-edged descendants, although sometimes you'll get an Aerosmith feature anyhow.

That's one thing I like about his show; it is just off-center enough to keep things surprising. So Johnny's program usually makes good background music while I'm working at my computer. Johnny doesn't like any music created past 1992. We have that in common, Johnny and I – although I try to keep an open mind regarding anything new, a lot of it just doesn't move me.

Johnny has a distinctive voice that is pleasing to the ear. He is sincere. He is emotional. He cares about making a good show, and he loves to hear from his listeners. He will dedicate a song for you if you request it at FBComments@wabcmail.com at least a few hours in advance of his broadcast. Everyone who requests or lets him know they are listening will receive an "on-air shout-out." (He always sends me an "Aloha" since I'm on the Big Island.)

Johnny's show isn't perfect. Sometimes he messes up his cues, and sometimes he over-explains things. Occasionally he goes into Bible-thumping mode, which really turns me off, and that's when I turn him off. He is working on his style, though, and I think he is getting better. He broadcasts from the University of South Florida at Tampa, so it's a college radio show. Johnny wants to work for a professional radio station someday, and I hope he makes it.

In any case, Johnny has personality. He is not trying to be anyone but himself. Sometimes he seems like a bit of an underdog, but I've been one myself at times, and so I rather like underdogs. It's always more fun when they come through, isn't it? So I would rather listen to Johnny and his songs than to some DJ who is slick or edgy or annoying or just plain bland.

You can find Dr. Johnny P. LoveTrain's MySpace page HERE.

And his show is RIGHT HERE. Check my Google Calendar by scrolling down the left sidebar to find out when his next show is on the air. Right now FLASHBACK CLASSICS is on every Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern time, or from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Hawaii.

[UPDATE, 1 Sept. 2007: FLASHBACK CLASSICS returns on Wednesdays from 9 p.m. to midnight Eastern time (that's 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Hawaiian time) starting this Wednesday, September 5. He now has a blog at: BLOGSPOT.

Image of DJ Johnny P. LoveTrain by Kayleigh in the UK — go ahead and click, it's a lovely page! Right now it features a lovely ballad when it launches.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2007.09.01, 11:15 a.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $199 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

40 / 199 (20.2%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution within 24 hours.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.