WHAT TIME IS IT?...Coverage of Glenn on BreeFM

Glenn, live on BreeFM @11pm EST, Wednesday.

Can you suggest what OpAphid did first in terms of the evolution of the genre? If so, send your suggestion to Glenn ([email protected]) or leave it in a comment below.

This article was written live during the show. As such it may contain significant factual errors. Over time it is hoped that these will be corrected. Please remember that the recap of what was said on GlennFM may not fully capture the mood or context of how things were said.

Glenn commented on the use of PST vs PDT.

Some news soon?......perhaps before the next radio show.

When Glenn started to work on OpAphid as a PM he was behind the scenes. With Lonelygirl15 he was not under a non disclosure agreement but of course he did not want to spoil the story so he stayed behind the scenes. However he enjoys being open with what is going on when he can.

When Glenn is working on the "production cycle" he does not get to focus on anything else. There is simply no time to make other things happen on the business end. Since Glenn has not made any money thus far it almost a good coincidence that he now has time to look into opportunities. He would have loved to have been able to do this last fall. He loves shooting and editing the videos; he even loves doing the ARG elements but the business component is also vital.

Taking the interactivity Glenn has done with OpAphid and then developing the interactive component of Lonelygirl15 into a series, Glenn feels that he was able to interact with the audience better than had been done before. However, he was not able to take Lonelygirl15 to the next level where the interactivity was dynamic. By the time Glenn had started to work on Lonelygirl15 he had already done six dead drops with OpAphid so that concept was already highly developed. Today Lonelygirl15 does not seem to be aiming to be as interactive as it was when Glenn was with the show.

To do an ARG really well do it on the right level you really need to have a budget. Glenn feels RedEarth88 has the basic constructs which would support interactivity. This type of interactivity lends itself towards monetization through the interactive approach that Glenn has helped pioneer.

Last spring summer this type of thing would have been ahead of its time. It is now a great time to create a series that is also an experience. Many of the commercial projects we see today are not impressive. Glenn has not seen the types of things done by himself with OpAphid or Jeromy with Maddison Atkins done by anyone else. Both had a heavy interactive structure that has a lot of potential in today environment. It might not be 100 percent there yet but it is heading in that direction.

Glenn appreciates the patience everyone has had regarding the flow of RedEarth88 videos. The break has helped Glenn get out of the cycle that really never lets up. The time put in now could have a much greater long term benefit.

Glenn then did a spoof about "multi level marketing". Everyone remember "GRIT"?..... the door to door greeting cards.

LG15/OpAphid Trivia
When Glenn was first collaborating with LG15 as a "cross over" he had an idea to take the concept to a new level.

Glenn first wrote OpAphid where it was about a secretive religious society in the direction of say Scientology or the Mormon Church. Glenn was pushing for it to be like the religion in his script.

As an ARG idea to explore the religious side of it, what if it was like a cult (secret society) . What if it was like a cult but the way they recruited people was through multi-level marketing (pyramid scheme). It would be like an in game Red Army. As you learned about the story you would have to bring in other people on a social level (oog you would be bringing them into the game). You would get people involved as a "social media". Like something you might see spread on MySpace. It would be multilevel marketing meets social media. Something would be amiss and there would be a story. For example a cult could be behind it. This is a solid idea for an ARG that does not even need a video component.

Glenn gave "props" to CIW for being the first but said it was much less interactive than OpAphid. OpAphid was dynamic and it "scaled". CIW only interacted with a few people . With OpAphid two dozen people got to do the phone interaction. OpAphid was dynamic and you do not normally see that. If you plan it out it could be fantastic. Do not do it as you go.

Sofia's Diary is "Clarissa Explains It All" as a video diary. If people want to vote on things they will watch American Idol. Lets face it, she was going to the party! In Lonelygirl15 there was an interactive attempt via the Goodgollyitsholly thing with Jonas. She was chosen because she liked Jonas. Was there an alternative sequence shot? Do the math and draw your own conclusion. Voting is not interactive.

Now in the Petaluma drop with OpAphid Glenn had to do the character interactions and improvise on the spot. It actually affected the story dynamically because it affected where Brother was in the Universe at that time. Brother was supposed to have disappeared for the time being and Glenn has to rewrite the story. People who played OpAphid did not just get a shout out. OpAphid really hated some of you and really liked some of you. The people who played OpAphid became part of the story and Glenn thinks that at least in part he succeeded in that. With CIW it could have been anyone who showed up. You can only really do it if you have the writer involved in the process or it can veer off. This is why most PMs do in character interaction. Glenn would have some bullet points but he might go off in a totally different direction and he has the authority to do that.

It was not even fully there with OpAphid but it went further in the right directions than anything else Glenn had seen online that tried to integrate a story line.

In The Art of the Heist people showed up but they would be helped along. It was not even done in a terribly dynamic way.

The story needs to be able to change and things need to be able to be affected. OpAphid did things in a way that involved a lot of people and integrated an ARG with a narrative story.

Glenn considered releasing a news release for "RedEarth69' as an April fools joke. He was going to announce that he was in talks to bring an interested Tracy Lords back to the biz to play Tachyon. He was supposed to be doing this in conjunction with Vivid Interactive complete with some hilarious quotes from the participants. There are actual news stories about the adult industry that have their own style. For example see: "Adult Video News" (over 18 only). It talks about the business aspects of the industry.

Glenn wrote about video games for 16 years of his life and by year 3, he never wanted to play a video game again. You can really burn out on something as a journalist. If he could have made video games perhaps it would have been more engaging. Imagine being a professional ice cream taster. Imagine how bored you would become.

Glenn always has good ideas for April fools, but he never gets it done in time. This year he came closer than he ever has before.

Think about the 80s metal bands. They are playing 200 people clubs today. The softer alternative rock bands from the 90s are probably doing much better. They can do the "corporate gigs". Glenn saw Kenny Loggins play at a Nintendo party. When Sony came on the scene they had some big bands eg Everclear and Outcast. Nintendo had Smashmouth. Activision had Poe because she was in one game.

Having written raps songs Glenn says that you begin to appreciate the wit in song lyrics.

Tech Stuff
Glenn has four invites left to Aviary which has a photoshop like online photo editor. It is all in browser. If you have a need to try out an image editor and you want to check out in in browser image editor send Glenn an e-mail ([email protected] / subject: photoshop)

Digg was launched for less than $1000 by using open source software and UGC. Someone with a solid idea can really use the internet to make a difference. The LAMP (linux/apache, mysql, php) open source platform might not be the best but it is pretty solid. Back in the early days if we were talking about doing a web site like LG15 Today you would be talking about coding in html etc etc etc.... and you would be talking a tech investment of $50,000. Dynamic content management had a high fixed startup cost. Why Digg.com is the poster child is that it reached the critical mass but it was started with very few resources. The site still works basically the same way as it did when it started. We are not talking about an enterprise level company. Digg would have taken 6 months to a year and hundreds of thousands of dollars if it had been develop by a major enterprise.

When you look back over milestones Glenn would put Digg on the list. Its defining moment was that it demonstrated how using the LAMP architecture could drive a UGC site and it shook up the internet.

Glenn still has a big tech project for someone interested in being a "php ninja" so if you are interested let him know. Also if you know search engine optimization (SEO) let Glenn know.

Here is the archive of of stories from LG15 TODAY concerning Glenn's radio show on BreeFM.

Send questions to [email protected]

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Played @ Song Title
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01:27:03 Adam Carolla - Discusses Coward of the County
01:22:45 Neil Diamond - America
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00:46:01 Semisonic - Closing Time
00:42:55 Elvis Costello - Veronica
00:39:26 Destiny's Child - Bootylicious
00:36:31 Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Under Your Spell
00:33:07 Blind Melon - Three is a Magic Number
00:31:06 Bring It On - Opening Cheer
00:28:56 Lindsey Buckingham - Holiday Road
00:26:04 Grease 2 - Score Tonight
00:20:44 Technotronic - Move This
00:15:56 The Lost Boys - Cry Little Sister (Theme from the Lost Boys)
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23:10:15 Beastie Boys v Debbie Gibson - Shake Your Love-Rump (Glenn Rubenstein Train Wreck)
23:06:22 Huey Lewis & The News - The Power Of Love
23:02:21 The Pink Spiders - Little Razor Blade

anonymous said...
I think Glenn is drinking a bit too much of his own juice. The ARG community is full of examples of true chaotic fiction interaction. The latest example would be Eldritch Errors.

http://www.eldritcherrors.com/