Shatner Interprets Palin’s Farewell Speech:

Shatner Interprets Palin’s Tweets:

Before I was laid off, I had purchased a Flip Ultra with the plan of making a “Superhero” series of videos in the style of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog.  My superhero name – Nick The Four-Eyed.  My “costume”? The WiFi shirt from ThinkGeek.  The only thing standing in my way at the moment: scripting.  I don’t like making one-offs, so “Nick The Four-Eyed” is going to be a two-part series, at least.

I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll be singing.  If I do, it’ll probably sound something like William Shatner’s version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (see the YouTube video at the end).

I created a topic for Ignite Fort Collins – and my topic, “Digital Frontiers – Psychotic Resumes and WTF Marketing” was voted on pretty heavily.

It’ll be a great topic if it’s chosen – how to turn yourself into a digital gunslinger and brave the “digital frontier” of social media and the internet.  Sounds like a goofy topic but I hope to make it really funny.  I’d really like to get a millennial presence at the event and anyway, public speaking has always been something I enjoy.

Dan Schawbel also graciously accepted my invitation for an interview for the Psychotic Resumes podcast.  We talked for about 15 minutes on his new book, Me 2.0, what personal branding is, and what graduating college students should focus on.  It ended up being a really good discussion, which I will put together in podcast form and publish for Wednesday.

I had the opportunity to meet with Amanda from DolphinFeet this week.  We had a great time talking about life, jobs, social media and general nerdery.  I’m looking forward to teaming up with her for some branding-based shenanigans!

Last night I went through all two hours of audio auditions for new Star Trek: Dimensions parts.  We’ve selected the players for the new parts and I’m very excited to have *real* voices to complement the ones I had in my head.  At least now the dialog sounds much less creepy. Ha!

Lots of fun projects to work on in my “spare time”… including my Twitter eBook, which I hope to finish by the 20th.

…The Lunatics are in My Head

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.  It only makes sense that we should try to be like the people we like – and it’s fair to suspect that the biggest jerk has some redeeming qualities, too.  Love ‘em or hate ‘em, some people just stick in your brain like a cat to a cat-nip sweater.

Figuring out what you like and dislike about heroes, evil geniuses, and all those cats in your brain can make the difference between success or failure in your personal projects.  Not only do you get to try out a new facet of the human experience, you can also discover a hidden talent you never knew you had!

Here are some of my favorite motivators – with links to their websites. (for your convenience I’ve labeled them as good or evil):

1. Bob Parsons (EVIL GENIUS)
   • Bob Parsons is a 9.9 on the evil Richter.  Anyone who can amass the forces of Danica Patrick and the countless other gorgeous women, somehow trick them all into wearing skimpy clothing, and create ads which are systematically censored from every SuperBowl (while still incurring the full 30-second cost of the ad) and still build a rampantly successful business is a freakin’ evil genius.  If I had half the talent of this guy… well, I wouldn’t be doing this, now would I?  I absolutely love Bob’s 16 rules – and you can even order a poster of them.
2. Leo Laporte (EVIL GENIUS)
   • I’ve followed Leo Laporte from his early days on ZDTV and TechTV… and now he’s freaking everywhere.  He’s the VD of podcasting that you’re strangely proud to catch.  I really don’t understand how he makes a living, but he’s somehow got me planning to sponsor his shows at $5 a month.  Does it matter that his shows are ridiculously entertaining?  Does it matter that I can’t stop listening to them or rocking like some crazy crack addict waiting for a fix every time he releases a new show?  Nah. The guy has it down to a science and has a lot of good things to say.
3. William Shatner (EVIL GENIUS)
   • Ok, so… maybe all the people on my list are evil geniuses.  But can you honestly think of anyone who has gone away, come back, gone away, come back, and then sold you airline tickets more in the last 30 years?  How about the last 50?  He was the freakin captain of the Starship Enterprise, for god’s sake.  The man is a legend – he created one of the most immutable figures to enter the collective consciousness of society.  And I’m not even talking about Denny Crane! Seriously, William Shatner is a great place to look for inspiration of all kinds – and if you don’t feel inspired yet, you should go pick up one of his albums.  Then you’ll know what inspiration really is.

So why did I pick these three?  I don’t know.  For some reason, they’re the three that have stuck out in my head as people who actually are in business and “doing good”, even if they are evil geniuses.  And they’re even helping people while they’re at it.  List out a few of your own hero/evil genius types – see who you come up with.  Share ‘em here if you feel so compelled!

Er…uhm, and just for your… viewing “pleasure”, here’s William Shatner’s rendition of Rocket Man.