Stern Rake Studio Website

Well, I finally launched an actual Stern Rake Studio website yesterday. 

I've been tinkering with it for over a year now. I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but I'm not sure what else to do with it. 

So instead of letting it continue to lay dormant, I thought I'd launch it. 

I'll continue to work on it when I figure out how to improve it.

In the meantime, I hope you like it:

SternRakeStudio.com 

New Logo for Stern Rake Studio

(The image I settled on--for now)

I have two announcements.

First, I purchased a couple of domain names, "Stern Rake Studio dot Com" and "Stern Rake Studio dot Net" through 1 & 1.  It will be a while for the Stern Rake Studio website to be up & running.  I'll have to construct it, or more than likely, have someone help me build it.

While I'm happy with my purchase, I'll probably end up contacting 1 & 1's customer service.  In my zeal to obtain the domain name, I didn't proofread my purchase as thoroughly as I should have.  The "dot com" domain will be listed as "stern-rake-studio,"  while the "dot net" domain will be "sternrakestudio."

I'd like the dot com to be all one word, like the dot net one is.  I decided to purchase the dot net in addition to the dot com, to thwart anyone else from using the Stern Rake Studio name and possibly confusing any viewers.

Of course, 1 & 1, along with every other domain company attempts to get customers to monopolize every possible permutation of their chosen domain name as possible.  I figured grabbing the dot net name would be enough.  I don't feel the need to corner the Stern Rake Studio market.

At least not yet.

The second announcement is that I've changed the logo to Stern Rake Studio.

Since I'll have a bona fide website (eventually), I thought I should have my own logo instead of hijacking one off the internet, even if the image is public domain.

I staged a hypothetical fight between HMS Orpheus and the Carmagnole, from my Sails of Glory collection, and took over 185 pictures using my old Panasonic Lumix and my new Nikon CoolPix cameras.  The reason I snapped so many pictures is because it was a partly cloudy day and I made several setting changes on my camera, along with turning interior lights on and off.

After deleting all the blurry images, I played around with the color and lighting on each photo using the Windows Paint program and Paint.Net.  Then I used Paint.Net's ink sketch program to make it look like I drew the images.

I wanted to use this image...

...of HMS Orpheus conducting a stern rake maneuver against Carmagnole with "guns blasing," thanks to the Windows Paint program.  Unfortunately, when I uploaded this on to Blogger, the only image I got was of Carmagnole's bowsprit and foremast.

Here's another image I would have liked to use:

I even took "reverse image" photos, but none of them came out as well as I wanted.  The Carmagnole's hull was too dark in all of them, which made it hard to spot the ship's gun ports.

I also took pictures using a grey cotton ball to represent Orpheus' cannon belching smoke.  I would have used the Windows Paint program to make the image more "realistic," but I didn't like the way the cotton ball obscured the details of HMS Orpheus.

For now, I've settled on the current header picture for this blog.  I plan on coming up with a better image--hopefully sooner, rather than later.

In the meantime, among the various photos I do like, I made images with "Stern Rake Studio" imprinted on them using various fonts.  These will be used as logos for future webcomics and YouTube videos.

I'm sure I'll be making more improvements in the future.

Of Spammers and Derelict Sites

(Image by Seraphmx)

 Last week I discovered the Reading List on my blog's administration page was overrun by Indonesian gambling sites. 

In response, I changed my password and filed a complaint with Google, who owns and runs Blogger.

The gambling spam was still in my Reading List the following day, so I fired-off another complaint to Google.

On the morning of the third day, the spam was gone, so I thought my problems were over.

But then a couple days later, I discovered two spam posts from the same Indonesian gambling sites.

This time I Googled "Spam found on Blogger Reading List."  Fortunately, I found a woman who had the same problem two years ago.

The first person to respond told her that the problem wasn't her blog, but one or more of the blogs she had on her reading list.  Spammers hijacked one of the blogs she was following and was using to spam other blogs.

It was like facehuggers infesting a derelict spaceship.

(Image:  The derelict ship in "Alien," found on Electric Shadow)

The recommended solution was to find the infected blog and delete it from her Reading List. 

I was following over 100 blogs.

Was I reading them every day?

No, of course not, but they were blogs I was interested in and would check out some of them when the mood struck me.

So I scrolled through my list.

I found five that were infected.  

However, I didn't just delete the five infected ones--I deleted over 40.  Some of them were from close friends and family.

These blog owners hadn't posted in anywhere from 1-5 years.  I figured sooner or later, these "cyber derelicts" would be too inviting for facehugger/spammers.

There were some I hated deleting, but I didn't want to run the risk of being spammed, or worse, passing along viruses.

(This Halloween-appropriate image found on The Richest: The 10 Most Dangerous Computer Viruses Ever)

Now I scroll down my Reading List every day I log on and scan for facehugger/spammers.

Possible Blogger Account Hack

I think my Blogger account has been hacked.

On my Blogger homepage there's usually a Reading List displaying the latest posts from the blogs I follow.

About an hour ago, instead of seeing other bloggers' activities, I now have a list of Indonesian gambling sites.

I filed a complaint to Google, which runs Blogger, along with initiating a password change.

I'm not tech savvy enough to determine whether reading any of my blogs will cause any virus or malware to be transferred, but I thought I'd transmit this warning.

I hope to get this resolved soon.

Please accept my apologies.

One Minute of Shameless Self-Promotion

 

 

 Okay, it's more like one-minute and seven seconds, according to YouTube.  I finally finished making my YouTube Channel all snazzy--or at least as snazzy as I can get it.

The biggest problem I had was how to get a picture to fit into the Channel Art frame.  That's the long banner-like image you'll find along the top of various personal channels.  Every picture I have was too small in its original format to fit into the banner, which has a pixel dimension of 2120 x 1190. 

There are on-line instructions on how to resize images, but they're written for people using Photoshop, which I don't have.

But I do have Paint.net, often referred to as a "poor man's Photoshop."

One day I was playing around with the program and--behold! 

I stumbled across the Resize function, under the Image Tab of the toolbar.  I took the Raking Fire image I've been using as a logo, made some adjustments on the wording and installed it as Stern Rake Studio's Channel Art. 

It's not exactly how I how I envisioned it would look like, but it will certainly do for now.  At least it's better than the default black & gray cube art.

With the Channel Art in place, I then turned to making my Channel Trailer. 

Basically, this is a one-minute and seven second advertisement for Stern Rake Studio.  So along with a sampling of movies that are currently "on the air," there's a call for viewers to subscribe.

I also hope my current fans enjoy it.

The channel trailer is labelled as a first edition, because I intend to update it as I make more movies and hopefully get better at what I'm doing.

The Redshift Chronicles Spin-Off

(Image from:  Next Movie)

After much careful thought, I decided to create a "spin-off" from this blog.  I've been running a Star Wars role-playing game for about a year now.  That is, as much as my work schedule will permit me to do so.  While I'm an omnivorous player, I intend to focus my game mastering energies on my Star Wars Legacy Era campaign. 

I copied and pasted all the "SW Redshift Campaign" material over to it's new home, The Redshift Chronicles. The current Redshift material will remain here, for historical and continuity purposes, but future posts will be uploaded on to the new blog.  Updates can be found on the Studio Spin Offs Tab, on the right and near the top.

I don't think I'll be spreading myself thin, because this is material I've been writing and posting about anyway.  I'm just creating a unique space for this game's story arc on the internet, in order to make it more accessible to readers and fans. 

For those of you who've been following the misadventures of the Redshift Players, thank you for your support and encouragement.  I hope you enjoy the new site.

For anyone new to Stern Rake Studio and are curious about one man's version Star Wars gaming, albiet however warped and twisted it might be from George Lucas's vision, come on over to The Redshift.

Adding Graphic Novel Pages

I finally figured out the Pages Gadget here on Blogspot.  Utilizing this function will make my blog look more like a website without having to jump ship and build another site from from the keel up.  The only glitch in this renovation is that, due to the studio's color scheme, I can't post the page links in the traditional spot.  That is, across the screen, nor do I care for the other templates Blogspot has to offer.  As a result of this dilemma, I placed the "Studio Pages" links in the upper right hand corner, underneath the title.

I may have to develop a bona fide website eventually, in order to post additional products and expand my on-line presence. 

For now, however, the additional pages will be used to host my graphic novel-style after action reviews (AARs)/battle reports (batreps).  I already started by reposting The Bushwhackers of Kashyyyk so it will be easier for new readers to find.  Blogspot allows for 10 pages, so when I reach this limit, I'll archive my earlier work.

Until then, I'll be incrementally adding my 50-page, 2nd graphic novel to this site, which is:

Updating and Modifying the Studio

I've spent the past several hours trying to update "The Studio."  What prompted this website renovation was the completion of my graphic novel Conan and the Conquest of Hyboria.  While I'm happy to get one more project under my belt, I've been stymied on how best to post it. 

I've tinkered with Blogspot's new "Pages" gadget, but haven't quite deciphered all the functions yet.  So I'm wondering if I have to launch a website in order to support my upcoming graphic novels.  In the meantime, I've made the following changes to The Studio, that I hope improves both readability and searchability:

1. Added a Google "Search the Studio" gadget.

2. Split up the lengthy "Wargaming Blogs" Section into the following smaller bits--

--Adventure Game Blogs

--Campaign Game Blogs

--Horse & Musket Era Blogs

--Multi-Topic Gaming Blogs

--Inactive Blogs

3. Broke up the long "Wargame Websites" Section into the following sub-sections--

--Wargame Forums

--Wargame Journals

--Wargame Resources

--Wargame Organizations

--Wargame Wikis

--Wargame Magazines

--Wargame Companies and Stores

Finally, I re-arranged some of the side-bar sections and shortened the number of displayed posts.  These are the only improvements I can think of at the moment, while I continue my research into website designs and the Page Gaget.