Saalon, a friend named Nick, and I have been working on a fun little project for the past month or so. It takes some time to get three people together on a regular schedule. Now that the schedule’s stabilized, I’m now announcing our new podcast.

We’re doing a podcast called Otaku, No Video, a series of hour-long conversations about the anime industry and specific anime series. We discuss trends in the industry, what we see as problems, potential solutions, and our thoughts on various anime.

Amazingly, I’m even happier with it than I anticipated. I enjoy re-listening to our talks. We have useful, interesting things to say, and the conversation bounces from topic to topic. We keep the conversation from getting too geeky, as well; pretty much anyone should be able to understand it.

So, please check it out and let me know what you think (especially now that comments work here). I’d love to hear your feedback on what we doesn’t work, and what does.

(In case you’re wondering about the name, it’s a reference to a classic anime parody named Otaku no Video, or The Anime Fan’s Video, which told the story of anime fans in Japan in the 80′s. Quite funny, and an insightful look into what anime fandom was like back then.)

The huge internet storage site Akamai recently released their first “state of the internet” report, where they detail internet traffic patterns. There are some very interesting trends.

For example, while the three countries with the most internet traffic were China, the U.S., and Taiwan (no surprise), the next three were Venzuela, Argentina, and Brazil. Turkey’s also in the top 10. What’s going on in South America?

Web site hacks continued, and the scale just astounds me. One attack in January 2008 infected up to 70,000 different websites. Two months later, over 10,000 web pages were infected by hackers trying to steal online game passwords.

How many unique internet IP addresses are used in each country? The U.S. has the most, followed by China and Japan…then Germany.

So, there are lots of smaller countries out there doing a lot of internet work. More so than I would have expected. I wonder what that will mean for the future? How well do you know German?

I heard Leo Laporte talk about Ning the other day on TWiT Live, so I decided to check it out.

Ning’s an online community builder. Think of it as a toolbox with templates for online groups, complete with forums, space for photos and videos, and all that. So, if you want to talk with a group of like-minded people, you either find a Ning “social network,” or start your own. And it’s all free.

Problem is, I haven’t found a single active Ning social network that interests me. There are certainly active groups out there, but in the topics that interest me, all the social networks are either empty or way too specific (“This is the online space for Mr. Lennie Irvin’s Summer 2008 English 0301 class.”).

This may partly be a failure in their search algorithm. When I search for “writing,” I get every writing group, in no apparent order. It should probably sort by popularity, and there’s no way to filter results by language (I’m just not going to join any of the many Spanish networks).

That said, if you want to start an online social network, Ning seems to have great tools to support it. The technology’s there, and it’s easy to start using it.

Just finished—literally, just—a career management book called The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need. It’s pretty short, it’s got good advice, and it’s got great art. It needs to be : it’s a manga.

This sort of thing is commonplace in Japan, where you’ll find how-to manga on just about any topic, from medical advice to sex. So it’s neat to see one on this side of the Pacific, written by a well-respected career guide (he also wrote Free Agent Nation and A Whole New Mind) and drawn by a top-notch American manga artist.

The advice is, as usual, simple but true. With career advice, it’s all about the presentation. We all know the importance of much of this, but we need to be struck by it afresh. Which he does.

For what it’s worth, the book offers this advice:

1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

I argue that “talent” probably doesn’t exist, but the point remains. Again, this is all sensible stuff, but it’s how it’s presented that really makes it work.

The story follows Johnny Bunko, a recent college grad struggling to figure out why he’s not satisfied at work. He breaks open a pair of chopsticks, to be visited by a spirit who gives him career advice. Sure, it’s corny—and it’s played that way—but it works.

Strongly recommended; I’m thinking of giving copies to everyone I know who’s nearing college graduation.

There’s also a great little animation at the Amazon.com site.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately. About a great many things.

I’m tremendously fortunate in being able to pursue a freelance career. While I don’t have a lot of cash to throw at this venture, I’ll be fine for at least a few more months. Far more than most can manage.

But I haven’t been nearly as productive as I feel I should be. “Should” is always a loaded word, but in this case I think it’s apt: I haven’t worked for more than three hours on money-making work in any given day.

Granted, I spent the first two months or so in “detox,” as I call it, relaxing after many years of work. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything besides read, cook, play around on the computer, and putter around the house. I enjoyed my freedom the same way a tired executive enjoys a vacation: flat on his or her back on the beach.

This isn’t that. This is having the mental space and flexibility, and the time, and sitting down to work, and finding yourself refreshing FriendFeed. Why do I do this?

I even wrote a long, plaintive email to Hugh Macleod, asking him how he orients himself to get his work done.

I think this phenomenon is important, and worth examining. People say they don’t pursue their dreams because they don’t have the time, but time’s not the limit. Neither is relaxation.

Focus appears to be the limit. How can I increase focus?

One solution I’m trying now is to rewrite how I see work. I’ve always enjoyed writing (as far as writing can be enjoyed; I can be frustrated by it, too), but when I imagine writing as a job, it seems dreary. Partly because I see work as dreary, or at least something that one must put up with. So, when I prepare to write (or whatever), I imagine myself having fun at it. Which I usually do. But I need to remind myself that it will be.

It’s working so far, though I’m only a day into it. But how strange our minds are. We think they’re logical and sensible, and then we scream at the sight of a bug.

For my weekly adventure, I checked Upcoming for a list of events in my area, and noticed a carnival nearby. So I went.

Carnivals are usually much more fun in memory than in present. Carnivals should be fun, exciting, lively, with a hint of danger. You always wonder what the carnies do behind the plywood. What lives do they lead, what secrets will they never tell?

This was a small carnival, and the company’s based in this state. The website promises safety and courtesy, and that’s what you get: about a dozen rides, half a dozen games of chance, and another half-dozen food stands. Nicely spread out, but at mid-afternoon on a hot day, the bright sunlight bleaches away the suspense and hints of danger.

So I had a hot dog, and a huge piece of frozen cheesecake on a stick, dipped in chocolate. The carnies were pleasant enough, if bored, and it was just too small.

Perhaps I should go back at night. Everything changes at night.

Either way, here are a few photos:

UPDATE: I went back the next night, and they closed at dusk. So I only got a few more photos of the rides as night fell. Disappointing, but at least I got a few interesting photos out of it.

One of my favorite webcomics, North World, had a guest strip today by Nick Daniel of 70 Seas, so I decided to check out 70 Seas.

It’s got a unique art style, and I mean well by that. Heads are mostly spheres, colors are bright but clear, everything is hand-drawn (including the lettering), and the artist has a thus-far-flawless sense of panel composition and timing. The art style appears to be a fusion of manga, furry, experimental American comics, and Vinnie Veritas.

Note that there’s some strong language here and there.

Either way, I like the story and the characters, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Seems like every week I stumble on another great service offered by Yahoo!. I’m no fan of its main site, but I love many of its services, including Games, Flickr, and GeoCities.

Here’s one I’ve been using a lot: Upcoming. You enter your zip code, and the site returns a list of events happening near you in the next few days and weeks. This includes book clubs, band performances, DJ appearances, book signings, celebrity appearances, art exhibitions, and pretty much any other public event you can think of. I’m amazed at the exhaustive listings; there are over 100 events per day within driving distance of my house alone.

You can also mark if you’re coming or interested, and see how many others have signed up. Most entries list the exact address of the event, with links to Yahoo! Maps and Google Maps for that address. You can even post any event to your iCal, Outlook, Yahoo!, or Google calendar, directly from the event’s page.

And, if you have a Yahoo! account, you can add your own events to Upcoming, direct people to the site, and track RSVPs online with it.

Overall, it’s a remarkably well-designed site that provides a useful service.

Every time I try to write about Loading Ready Run, I end up with a dry essay. Which is the antithesis of Loading Ready Run.

LRR is an online comedy team. Which immediately conjures up images of college-age guys making cheap videos and desperately trying to be funny; folks who see Saturday Night Live and think, “That’s easy!”

Ironically, LRR’s videos are cheap, but they’re also funny. Some of them are absolutely perfect; I’ve re-watched It’s Very Simple and Halo: The Future of Combat many times and am consistently floored at how well they’re executed.

LRR’s got about a dozen regular cast members, and about that many more occasional contributors. They post a new video every week, almost always a sketch a few minutes long. They have a few themes that they occasionally return to, but those rarely amount to more than three videos.

Then they did something interesting.

After posting videos every week for years, they felt a need to grow. So they created “Commodore Hustle.”

How to describe this? Okay, in creating several hundred short comedy videos, the cast members inevitably made videos in which they played, essentially, themselves. But just as inevitably, they were playing dramatized versions of themselves. Pushed to extremes. In reality, Paul isn’t quite as single-mindedly geeky as the “Paul” you see in videos.

So they decided to create an ongoing video series starring these dramatized versions of themselves. They’re essentially making a movie, in 15-minute segments of inter-related sketches about themselves working on their videos and generally dealing with life.

Which was fine and funny for the first few segments. Some of it’s bizarre, some of it well-written, some relies on editing.

Then around about episode 5, it got really interesting. They developed a villain—who plays his role perfectly—as a frustrated comedy writer who works at a video store and wants to Take Them Down. It’s evolving into a serial, really, something that I look forward to watching more of.

And they keep posting their regular videos every week, too, so they keep fresh with that.

Awesome to see folks build and develop their skills, and grow into creating something remarkable. They’re an inspiration.

(Warning: I haven’t been watching LRR recently, so likely they’ve finished Commodore Hustle or gone in a completely new direction or summat.)

I’m just back from writer’s group, in which I received critiques on a fantasy short story of mine.

Scott, the critiquer, always gives great critiques. Here’s why:

• He’s detailed. As he writes, if anything strikes him as strange, out-of-place, or awkward, he immediately notes it in the margins. This is incredibly valuable, as I try to figure out what a reader understands as he or she reads.
• He doesn’t rant or punish. He describes his reactions and problems, and suggests remedies, in the spirit of improving the story. His entire critique is focused on improving the story and the author.
• He’s unfiltered. While always polite, he writes down every opinion and judgment as he makes them, even if they’re personal or may not apply to every reader. As he says, the author is always free to ignore every critique made, but it’s better to have more suggestions to think about than less.
• He marks everything with an easy-to-read red pen, in print (not cursive).
• He writes overall impressions on the last page, so I can compare his reactions as he read the story to his final impression. This is invaluable.

If you ever have to critique someone else’s writing, please emulate Scott. I look forward to critiques partly because of him.