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Showing posts from November, 2014

Naked Ventriloquism

Naked City was a ground breaking police detective tv series that aired from 1958-63. It was filmed on location on the streets of New York City. I remember watching some of those episodes as a child growing up on the outskirts of the city in Little Neck, Queens. Recently, as I watched some Naked City episodes on DVD, a flood of buried memories burst out of the recesses of my mind. A nostalgia tinged with more than its share of the sadness that is intrinsically part of the bitter-sweetness that is nostalgia. My troubled childhood did have moments of joy, moments of connectedness to my parents and sister amidst the more pervasive feelings of sadness and alienation. Moments of hope. I remember feeling as I watched Naked City as a child that the show presents an experience of life that mirrored my own. Though I didn't have the words to express it then, I would describe it now as a dark, melancholy noir-like world of forlorn people struggling to escape from being trapped. Whether trap

My Fiverr gigs...am I nuts?

As you may know, Fiverr.com is a place where anyone can offer to do (nearly) anything for a fee of five dollars. Each offer is called a "gig". This could potentially be a lucrative endeavor for someone who has a gig to offer that many people want, and that is very quick and easy to fulfill via upload. I searched "ventriloquist" on the site recently and apparently there were only one and a half ventriloquists who were offering gigs. I say "one and a half" because...judging by the gig intro videos that sellers can post...there was one legitimate ventriloquist and one lady who called herself a ventriloquist although she didn't seem to have the slightest ability to do ventriloquism. After sellers on Fiverr have sold a certain number of gigs they are then allowed to offer "extras", which are add-on elements to their gigs for which they can charge added fees. This could potentially turn a Fiverr gig that is not worth doing into one that is much