Wither Wasting Precious Time?
I just added two new picture sets at Wasting Precious Time. You may have noticed that I got so caught up in preparing for Turkey Week, that this is the first WPT update in over three weeks. I say “may have” because nobody commented on the absence to me, which reinforces my opinion that there’s not a lof of enthusiasm for this site. That’s not to say that just because you didn’t comment means you don’t care, but it’s just not a good sign. I’ll admit that my own neglect and the quality of the grabs has helped drain whatever interest there was. However it happened, it’s reached a point where it seems however much effort I put in, the best outcome is going to be maybe 3 stories written for the average set (that’s including the Round Robins run by UnReality, and UpSky2 before him). That’s not very good incentive for me to go back to serious work on the site.
I’m not going to shut it down all together. I am seriously considering cutting back to just one or two of the so-called ‘random’ picture sets gathered out of the Inventing Situations stock each week. Those are relatively easy for me to do. If anybody out there has some ideas on the future of WPT, let me hear them. Maybe somebody out there has a camera and can start staging photo dramas for us? Perhaps somebody can do a better job of culling images from old movies? Are there previously silent people who want ‘non-random’ sets badly enough to pay for them (thereby revitalizing my enthusiasm)? Maybe there’s some cartoonists out there who could contribute? Maybe you think it’s run its course? Anybody? Bueller?
November 27th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
I love WPT for the collaborative Round Robins and would hate to see that disappear altogether. (In fact, I was planning on starting another maybe this week.) But I’ve never been completely satisfied with my own solo “stories,” which have often felt like capping in a vacuum to me and difficult to piece together. I do think it’s a great idea, and some cappers have put it to terrific use, but I can understand why you might be hesitant to invest the time and effort into it.
I wish I had solutions to offer.
November 28th, 2006 at 12:58 am
Round Robins should be able to survive. I’ll probably continue posting at least one random set each week. Except for the times like the last few weeks when I don’t.
November 28th, 2006 at 9:56 am
I really like the idea of WPT and enjoy writing stories for it, but for me it’s something that needs a fair amount of uninterrupted time to do it justice. Unfortunately I haven’t had that kind of time available for a while. (That’s also why I haven’t participated in the Round Robins - I don’t want my lack of attention to interfere with others’ enjoyment.)
November 29th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
I added another story (for the first time since June.)
If I did it, you can do it too.
- What are we tryin for hyere, the Poo Litzer Pryze!?? If yuh got a story whut moreyuh need?
November 30th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
I like WPT, but I rarely get the chance to go there anymore. How’s the book coming?
November 30th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
The books’ been put on the back burner for the immediate future.
December 1st, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Addendum to my vote about Mini-Turkey Marathon:
Make it April for two reasons: 1. it’s sooner that way than May or June; 2. You could name it Turkey-Egg Week !
December 15th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Depends. Does it absolutely have to be public domain pictures, or will people come barking down your snorkel if you use stuff from Trek, Lost in Space, or any other good hunks of cheese? There are still caption tribute sites out there with pix of such shows from Caption This, and they manage to exist.
Why don’t you put out a Wish List? The best public domain movies known to be on DVD, and ask for volunteers to send in pix? It’s not that hard to do. I’ve made entire screengrab storyboards for full length caption narratives I’ve written. It’s not that hard to do. Just watch a show and hit the screengrab button every 10 seconds or so.
December 15th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
In fact, there are those four Three Stooges shorts in the public domain. Have you got pix from those? I’ve got them on DVD, and could probably put together photo sets pretty easily, to start the ball rolling.
December 15th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Graeme - I probably could show copyrighted material without getting caught. I’ll own up that staying in the public domain (or what I reasonably think to be the public domain) is largely for my own paranoid peace of mind.
My problems in creating picture sets aren’t so much a lack of source material, it’s more to do with my editorial skill in picking a series of images that people can work with, so please try your hand with the Stooges stuff - mail me via this page to find out where to send em, etc. etc and hopefully they’ll generate more stories than my sets.
(P.S. At the very least, I’ll continue to add two ‘random’ sets to WPT each week.)