Author Archives: Kier

About Kier

I've been on the web since about 1994. I have a background in a lot of things, including a five year stint as a journalist and over a decade of helping people get their message out to the world. I write on a number of subjects--everything from relationships to personal development to politics and every day life. I hope you get something worthwhile out of it.

On Being Thankful

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Figured I should do something vaguely related to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Of course, I’m keeping to this daily schedule by the skin of my teeth and I have a busy weekend coming up. Meaning, this is one of two videos I cranked out tonight.

It’s been a busy week–websites conspiring against me at the day job, other things going on after work a few times this week, and whole lot of TV to catch up on–so I’m not at all ahead of the game here. Running on less sleep than usual, too, just trying to get more stuff done.

But! I’m sticking with this production schedule and realized about halfway through shooting this one that I can pretty easily spin it out into a second video, too. (Not that I shot that one tonight… saving it for next Thursday and I need something for tomorrow.)

So, today I ramble on about the differences between being content, being happy, and being thankful. They’re a lot different than most people seem to think.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

[jbutton size=”xxlarge” color=”green” link=”http://durosia.com/vlog-questions” newpage=”yes”]Come Ask a Question Here[/jbutton]

Gen X: The Media Generation

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Ever since I discovered it was “a thing” I’ve been kind of happy to be a member of Generation X.

I relate to “our” movies and music pretty well, even if my life doesn’t quite epitomize the Gen X dream. (But, really, who’s does? And what is that dream, anyway?)

Once dismissed as “slackers” I think we’ve pretty much proven that, if nothing else, we’re survivors. That’s due in no small part to having so many promises to us broken and so many pie-in-the-sky dreams come crashing down.

One of the big things, of course, is the ongoing disillusionment of the American Dream we were raised on.

That steady diet of “You can do anything!” and “Endless opportunity” was fed to us by our parents (who, at least most of the time, truly believed it–those Baby Boomers were doing very well back in the day, so it seemed sensible) and the media we were soaking in.

Good old Gordon Gecko and his “Greed is Good!” mentality, echoing what we could see on the news nightly. Michael J. Fox showing us The Secret of My Success as he worked his way up from the mail room to a corner office right quick. Even the creeping directionlessness in Reality Bites and the teenage angst turned aggressive nihilism of Heathers had hints of hope and a brighter future if we’d just apply ourselves.

All of that was part of the media culture that targeted us and what helped make us what we are, for better or worse.

I have a feeling you should consider today’s vlog the first part of a series of musings on this. (Though I’m not going to explicitly schedule that out…)

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

[jbutton size=”xxlarge” color=”green” link=”http://durosia.com/vlog-questions” newpage=”yes”]Come Ask a Question Here[/jbutton]

Half Way There!

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Yeah, now all of you who grew up in the 80s have a Bon Jovi song stuck in your head. And I’m not at all sorry about that.

If you’re reading this, then we’ve both made it to the 50th installment of this vlog thing that I’ve been doing since September. While it may not make a difference if I make it or not, I have so far… so that reason to celebrate at least a little bit, right?

This daily schedule is still a total bear. If I didn’t lose an hour or so a day to commuting (and those other 8 or so hours to sitting in someone else’s office) this would be a lot easier to pull off. As it is, all it takes is trying to keep up with other things I like (such as my TV shows and YouTube videos and reading) to keep this skating on the razor’s edge of missing a day.

I obviously consume too much to create like this on a daily basis.

I’m still fighting the regular urge to re-shoot, re-edit, and generally tweak things to make them perfect. It’s utterly frustrating, but I’m still winning that fight.

There are still a number of topics I’m shying away from. Ones that I tell stories about in person but just can’t get the flow right when I’m not getting direct feedback. It really makes me realize how much I get from an actual audience… imagining one just doesn’t cut it. (And your post publishing likes and comments, while awesome, certainly don’t help me during production.)

So, 50 down and 50 to go. That’ll bring us straight to the end of the year.

I’m still not sure what else I’ll be doing to close out the year but I do want to know what you have planned.

How are you going to make the last 50 days of your year totally awesome? Let me know in comments somewhere.

But first, watch me flail about a little in today’s vlog.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

[jbutton size=”xxlarge” color=”green” link=”http://durosia.com/vlog-questions” newpage=”yes”]Come Ask a Question Here[/jbutton]

I’m Bad at Vacations

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Seriously. I am bad at vacations.

Mostly because I haven’t had a whole lot of experience. Not for lack of trying, mind you, but circumstances and (bad) habits have more often than not conspired against them actually happening.

Sure, I’ve had a few over the years–a couple of quirky spring break trips in college, one almost cross-country drive was interrupted by a lot of work, Dragon*Con a handful of times–but so few real actual vacations like other people go on.

Watching that Vacation movie over the weekend got me thinking about vacations (and how I’m not really good at them). With the winter holiday season coming up, I’m also reminded that the only trips I do are to visit family (which really doesn’t count as vacation in my book).

So, today in the vlog, I muse a little about vacations and such.

And I want to know about your favorite vacations so far and the dream vacations you really want to do.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

[jbutton size=”xxlarge” color=”green” link=”http://durosia.com/vlog-questions” newpage=”yes”]Come Ask a Question Here[/jbutton]

Continuing After a Vacation

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There are a lot of reboots going on in Hollywood these days.

Dipping into old properties is nothing new–just look at how many versions of Dracula and Frankenstein and Hamlet there are–but it would seem like we’re currently in an upswing. A lot of them aren’t that great, just lame grabs at former glory and attempts to capitalize on nostalgia.

That’s not to say that they aren’t successful… they’re just not all that good often.

So it was no real surprise when it was announced there’d be a new film in the National Lampoon’s Vacation series.

This one’s not a reboot, though. It’s a straight up continuation, picking up a few decades after the last film with Rusty Griswold now the patriarch of his own family. This is the story of his family’s vacation, one that switches up their normal holiday for an attempt to recapture some fun and excitement.

What they get, of course, is a bunch of utter ridiculousness. Like father, like son.

The bulk of what I have to say about the movie itself is in the vlog, check that out.

It’s nice to see a revival of a franchise that doesn’t try to start from scratch. Even better to see one that knows how ridiculous of a thing it’s attempting and addresses it directly. Lots of little homages to the old film, lots of new stuff, too, to keep things fresh.

Of course, a half-naked Chris Hemsworth with a comically large *ahem* “hammer” certainly doesn’t hurt, either.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

[jbutton size=”xxlarge” color=”green” link=”http://durosia.com/vlog-questions” newpage=”yes”]Come Ask a Question Here[/jbutton]