Bradtastic Thoughts of Change

Things are happening, gotta make some changes. Yesterday, Six Apart and peeps announced the end of Pownce, set to close-up completely on December 15. Their press-release offers one year of free TypePad for all “Pro” Pownce users (I don’t know any), but that’s a solid. Six Apart also asks that the Pownce community moves to Vox to “continue the spirit of Pownce,” whatever that means.

Upcoming changes: I’m going to find a Pownce replacement… I’m not sure what or where, however. I’m most-likely going to change this WordPress style, or use this opportunity to change a lot more than just the Pownce. Heck, I feel like it’s time to make radical changes to Bradtastic and the semi-innovative offshoots that I’ve created over the past few years.

I own some fancy domain names and have had ambitions to create side-projects… a combination of stylized design and illustration, mixed with storytelling, current events, perhaps even a little bit of politics. The goal? To get more people, more young, inspired and passionate people, to care about what’s happening with the world and civilization itself.

There’s something wrong with athletes and Paris Hilton getting more news-coverage than the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our troops get shot at with assault rifles, people don’t seem to care… an NFL RB shoots himself in the thigh with an illegal concealed weapon and it’s breaking news. (It’s pretty funny, but not “important.”)

 

Change is being planned right now. Ready or not, it doesn’t change a thing on my end.

Bradtastic Approved

I’m soon adding a new page to bradtastic.com called “Bradtastic Approved” to explain the significance of me liking something.

Most recently, I’ve had fun playing Epic Games’ Gears of War 2, watching FOX’s Fringe and Netflix. (Click here to join me at Netflix!)

I joined Netflix because of the “new XBOX LIVE Experience,” a UI-upgrade for the 360. Aside from adding little “Wii-like” avatars and a new marketplace interface, is the integration of Netflix “WI,” or “watch instantly.”

Personally, I love “watch instantly.” There’s thousands of movies, stuff I’d seen years ago, pre-DVD releases, and some newer “blockbusters” and major releases. My favorite selections have been the documentaries and History Channel/TV offerings… and I’ve finally seen Helvetica.

Not all of Netflix’s “WI” movies are available on the 360, but with a simple Silverlight download, movies can be streamed to any PC. It’s impressive… and is making me rethink my obsession with iTunes video downloads.

I don’t blog casually enough… often enough. My Bradtastic.com posts are carefully-crafted and as poignant as possible, and it’s become reasonably-difficult for me to feel okay about posting “any ol’ crap” there—aka random events from my daily life. The blog is mostly philosophical thought-pieces… and far away from the topics relationships and social dynamics.

I’m going to figure out how to change this.

There’s some new cool stuff at Bradtastic Tumblr, too… including links to clothing/apparel and lifehack/GTD utilities.