Archive for the ‘Living and Life’ Category

QR Codes: How Can It Affect Your Business?

Posted: October 7, 2012 in Living and Life
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Just warning you now, if you scan this, it’ll send you to the Wikipedia homepage.

 

As you all know, I’ve decided to go into self-publishing. And one of the hard facts of self-publishing is, you have to do most–if not all–of your own advertising. So I’ve been thinking a lot about how best to go about advertising Reborn City once it comes out, putting ideas on my checklist for the self-publishing process under “Advertising.” One idea for getting the word out was to put an ad in Entertainment Weekly or People Magazine, because they have ads for that sort of stuff in the back of the magazine, among the reviews for the latest movies, TV shows, music, and books.

I was reading my Entertainment Weekly yesterday when I saw one of those ads, and near the bottom of the ad, there was a large QR Code box that had a caption underneath: “Scan to read an excerpt.” My first thought was, I should do that. My second thought was, Wait, I don’t even know what these things are called! What should I do? Luckily I was able to find out they’re called QR codes (I usually just call them the scan-crossword-puzzle-with-a-smarphone-thing, and only in my head), but they got me thinking.

First off, how does one go about getting a QR code? Is there a company that specializes in making them? Or can you just go to a government agency and obtain one through them? Or how about just asking your programming-savvy next door neighbor to design one for you?

Secondly, how many people actually scan those things, and how often do they scan them? My phone isn’t a smartphone, so I don’t do any scanning. I also have no idea on the statistics, but I have to assume that at least a good amount of people will scan a QR Code with their phone if they see one on an advertisement that catches their eye. But even if they scan a code, will they end up buying the product? How many do?

I’ve aready done a little research on this, but I haven’t found much to answer my questions. So I’d like to ask you, fellow bloggers and faithful readers. Do you scan QR codes? Do you actually use them if you self-publish? How often do you scan QR Codes, and when you do scan them, how often do you end up buying the advertised products? Let me know, please.

Ohio State’s Homecoming Weekend 2012

Posted: October 6, 2012 in Living and Life, Uncategorized
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It’s Homecoming! O-H!

Last night started OSU’s homecoming weekend, which is always a blast on our campus. There’s a huge parade that goes right by my dorm, and I had one of the best spots along the parade route. Why was it one of the best spots? Simple; not only did I see our university’s president, Dr. E. Gordon Gee, up close when he passed by in a shiny red Corvette, I got to shake his hand when I called out to him and he noticed me! Me! Out of all the cheering people, he noticed me and shook my hand! I did wash my hand later, but I was pretty reluctant.

This was my second time meeting and getting to talk with President Gee, the first time happening last year when he visited my dorm during an event (photo to the right). And speaking of events at my dorm, the Illibuck trophy, a turtle-shaped trophy that is brought out during Ohio State-Illinois games and is held by whoever won the previous year’s game (pictured below), made a guest appearance at my dorm during an event involving quesadillas and a Mario Kart tournament.

The Illibuck trophy may not seem like much to those who aren’t crazy fans of Ohio State, but to major fans who know what it is, it’s a big deal.

I got to take a photo with the Illibuck, and let me tell you, it’s pretty cool. That’s a piece of Ohio State football memorabilia and it’s right in my hands. I really enjoyed seeing it and holding it in my hands (once again, see below).

Me with the Illibuck, with the past 5 OSU-Illinois games and the scores on it’s back. Don’t I look happy?

Right now I’m watching the homecoming game, after which I’ll tune in to Saturday Night Live. During commercial breaks I’ll work on the final edits of Reborn City. In the meantime, before I do any more work on RC, I’d like to congratulate my relatives in Michigan on their football team getting a victory over a Purdue. Although I like Purdue slightly better than I like Michigan, I admit your victory was pretty impressive, with a difference of 27 points.

All for now. Bye.

The Inspiring Blog Award

Posted: October 3, 2012 in Living and Life
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You know, I never put much stock into blog awards, but a really good friend of mine on the blogosphere nominated me for an award, so I’ll do the same shtick and nominate a few others. But before I do, did someone else nominate me for an award a while back? I remember being nominated, but I didn’t do anything about it. Oh well, I’ll have to check it out later.

Anyway, I have to write 7 things most people don’t know about me before I nominate anyone, kind of the rules of the award. Okay, here I go:

1. I’ve used firearms before. Although I’m very much into sensible gun control, I’ve used both military grade rifles and simple handguns before. The first one was while in Israel, when I took part in a 4 1/2 day training simulation in the Israeli army, which culminated in us going to a firing range to shoot some weapons into targets (best part of the whole experience, I tell you!). The second time was at OSU’s pistol club, where for $10 you could purchase about fifty rounds and shoot holes into little paper targets. It was exciting and I enjoyed it, but I was very afraid of what my dad would say, even though I did it mostly for researching what using a gun was actually like. I didn’t tell him for nearly a year!

2. I once made some friends think our hotel room was haunted. One time I was rooming with some friends at a hotel, and I was the only one in our room one evening. I also had the only key to the room and I was about to take a shower, so I decided to leave the door open a crack for them. Just as I’m about to get into the bathroom, I hear my friends outside say, “Why’s our door open?” Me being me, an evil idea popped into my head and I hid behind the door, slowly opened it, and then slammed it shut.  My friends ran screaming, “Ghost!” This still ranks among my top 5 pranks I’ve successfully pulled.

3. I got a special mention at my graduation. My graduation had less than 20 people. That meant that not only did everyone give a speech that afternoon, we also had our own little blurbs that we wrote ourselves in the graduation playbill/pamphlet thing. On mine, two of the things I wrote were, “Known to always have a comment” and “In his past life was either Ludwig van Beethoven or some powerful demonic entity (probably the latter).”

I can’t remember the name of our guest speaker, but she was a state representative and she came up after all our speeches were done. She starts talking, saying that she’ll only be a few minutes. Then she turns around to face us graduates on the stage and says, “And Rami, no comments!” After the laughs die down, I say, “They always ruin my fun.”

Later she mentioned the diversity of the class, saying, “We have a hockey player, the reincarnation of Ludwig van Beethoven…” It was another highlight to an already awesome day.

4. I’ve worn nail polish before. And every time, it’s been freaking hilarious! For the record though, I’ve only done it twice.

5. I do a great Michael Jackson impersonation. Ah, I miss that man; he went before his time, like too many stars these days. Anyway, I can moon-walk, dance, sing, and talk just like the King of Pop himself. I even went as MJ for Purim, which is the Jewish version of Halloween. I was so convincing I won my high school’s costume competition.

6. I’m distantly related to Natalie Portman. But only through marriage, by which I mean my dad’s wife’s distant cousins are the ones who are actually related to her. But it’s still a relation, right?

7. My sweet tooth is my weakness. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to stop myself from eating sweets! It’s a big problem, and I work hard so I don’t gain weight from all the sugary stuff. It’s easier in the winter though, because I’m not consuming so much ice cream and I’m working out more. I wonder why that is?

Alright, time for the nominees. If you wish to check out their blogs, it’s at the end of their nomination. Each nominee is a writer in their own right who has inspired me to some degree or another and whom I’ve had long conversations with before via comments. Congratulations:

Jason Alan: A poet and writer living in France, Jason always has some poetry or a funny little short short to share. An outspoken critic of those who use religion as an excuse for bigotry and ignorance, and a whistleblower on those who use their money and status to manipulate the people, Jason always has something to say to those who feel like commenting on his blog, be it to tell him how great he is or to tell him that he’s going to hell for being an atheist/socialist/whatever-ist. http://jasonalanwriter.wordpress.com/

Pat Bertram: A novelist from out West, Pat has years of experience in writing and in life, and she always has thoughts to share on either. She’s been Freshly Pressed three times, and she is a woman to be admired. Pat, thanks for all our conversations. I hope we have more in the blog posts to come. http://ptbertram.wordpress.com/

Cristian Mihai: A novelist from Romania, Cristian is an inspiration to me. He’s self-published several times before, and has written several books already. He is always willing to share his thoughts on writing, and to give you tips if you should so need them. Good luck to you in the future Cristian. http://cristianmihai.net/

All for now. Congratulations to the nominees, and I hope we can blog together for several years to come.

The Biggest News I’ve Ever Written About On This Blog

Posted: September 30, 2012 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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The Jewish New Year recently came to pass. And with new years in any culture, we wish to make changes for the coming year so that hopefully, this year will be a good one. Well, I’ve decided to make a change.

As you well know, I’ve been trying the traditional publishing route for some time now (write and publish a bunch of short stories; write a novel; get an agent who can refer you to the best publishers; company publishes your novel). This process has been the norm for several years, but it does have its flaws: for instance, the big publishing companies are ruled by the need to make money, so they only publish work that they feel could be profitable, which can lead to numerous rejections for authors whose work doesn’t meet one criteria or another. Not only that, but the companies themselves have a lot of control over the author’s work, having the author edit it fifty different ways so that it can be more commercial or more profitable or whatever. All so that the author can reach the highest number of people possible.

But, self-publishing is on the rise, and people who have been reading Rami Ungar the Writer for some time are probably aware that I’ve been toying with the idea of self-publishing. Self-publishing allows an author to have more control over his or her work, recieve more profits from sales, and not be obligated by big corporate contracts. The pitfalls include that most self-publishers don’t make a lot of money off of self-publishing, and when they do it’s usually because a traditional publisher has made some sort of deal for their novel (this is what happened with Fifty Shades of Grey). Self-published authors also have to do most of their own advertising, and with the power of the Internet, anyone can upload anything, even if the work looks like a kindergartener wrote it.

But still, self-publishing is becoming more and more popular with every single day among writers, and now it’s got a new adherent. That’s right: I, Rami Ungar, have decided to self-publish, and since one of my classes has given me more confidence with computers, I’ll be doing it without the help of a service, instead compiling the whole thing myself and putting out my work as e-books (at least until I have the money and knowledge to do my own paperback).

My first self-published work will be my science fiction novel Reborn City, which I hope to have out next year at some point. I plan to take one more look at it for editing purposes, have someone else look at it afterwards (probably someone really into science fiction) and then, based on that person’s suggestions, edit again. After that I’ll set up my own independent press, one that’ll be dedicated to horror, thriller, science fiction, and fantasy, and which will allow me to have the most control over my work. It’ll be like how Akon has his own label, Kon Live and Konvict Muzik, but uses big labels like Universal to distribute his work (in my case, the Universal will be Amazon and B&N and Smashwords and such). I won’t say what I’ll name my press, but I do have a name for it, which I’ll reveal to you after I get the necessary legal paperwork out of the way to set it up. That, and a website and possibly a Facebook profile (yes, I’m considering using Facebook to get my work out there, please don’t make a big deal out of it).

I will then get a cover made for Reborn City, format the whole darn thing for an e-book, get RC copyrighted (and ISBN-ed; I’m not sure if one of those are necessary exactly but it’d be good to check), and on a release date that I will choose once I’ve formatted RC into an e-book, I will let the whole world read my work for a mere $2.99 per download.

I hope all of you will show me your support in this endeavor, and possibly consider reading RC when it comes out and letting your friends know about it. If you have any tips on how to do all this, please let me know, as your feedback is always helpful to me.

I’ll let you know when my new press is up-and-running, and when Reborn City will be released. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’re as excited as I am!

Why I Write Horror: My Childhood Trauma

Posted: September 27, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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A kid surrounded by strange monsters; I wonder what he’s going to do when he grows up? Probably write fantasy.

I think most horror writers, mystery writers, or thriller writers have something in their childhood that send them into the worlds of darkness and fear. Something in our young lives causes us to gravitate towards murder and psychopaths and demons and very graphic sex scenes (yes, I said that). Some of us have more trouble than others remembering and figuring out what childhood traumas we have, if any.

For a while, I thought I didn’t have a childhood trauma, that I just naturally liked murder and monsters. Of course, that says some scary stuff about yours truly, so what do I do? I try to rack my memory for something in my childhood that might’ve made me like hell and high water.

This evening, it finally came to me. Toledo Ohio, my old hometown, where I lived until I was nine, but when it happened I couldn’t have been more than seven, most likely five or six. My parents were both rabbis at the same synagogue, so I had free range pretty much  over the whole building. And behind the bimah, which is the raised area in the back of the sanctuary in a synagogue, was a small little passageway that opened up on either side of the bimah. The passageway led to where the boiler/furnace/whatever were hidden, and I thought I’d go exploring.

I went into the sanctuary, where two men on the synagogue staff were collecting prayer books from the seats. I didn’t really notice them–they were staff, I was a privileged rabbi’s kid, you get the idea–but they noticed me. And they decided to play a prank on me.

I walked into the passage, and I heard the humming of machines keeping the synagogue at the right chapter. I stand there listening for a second when the two staff members show up on either side of me, with freaky smiles on their faces. The taller (and I think older) says to me, “You hear that sound?” Me, being a little kid and freaked as hell by their smiles, nod in the affirmative. The other one says to me, “That’s the sound of death.” After he says that, the sound of the machines humming seem to change and to become the sounds of buzzsaws cutting things in two, at least to my little ears.

So what did I do? I ran! I ran past the shorter one, out the passageway, and did not stop till I was halfway between the sanctuary and my dad’s office, which to a six-year-old is quite the distance. I didn’t tell my parents. I bottled it up and got on with the day.

A few weeks later, I went into the sanctuary again, this time when those two staff members weren’t around. But it didn’t occur to me that they might not be in that part of the synagogue today or even in the building; to me they were in the passageway, waiting to kill me. Or at least, I thought they might be. I wanted to go in there, to show I wasn’t going to die and that I wasn’t scared.

I went in. Nobody else was there. I left, alive and healthy and full of hyperactive pep. I’d conquered my fear, proven that I was stronger than my fears. Later I forgot the incident, but I remembered I’d conquered my fear, that I’d been stronger than it, that I had ruled over it.

From that time onwards, I slowly but surely became entranced with the macabre and freaky, the stuff that fills nightmares, even when I felt scared by it too. Why? Because I felt that even if something scared me, I could control that scary thing, just like I had conquered and controlled my fears in the passageway. I started really getting into writing, and then after a while, I started really getting into writing scary stories, as well as reading them. Recently I’ve had some luck with publishing them.

And tonight I remembered what scared me back then. I called my dad to see if he remembered the staff members in question. He said that judging by their descriptions, they were most likely two men by the names of Bill and George, though he finds it hard to believe they’d pull on a prank like that on a kid, let alone the rabbi’s son. That, and he likes to joke I was dropped on my head as a child, and that’s why I’m so strange.

So now I remember my traumatic episode that propelled me towards controlling the things that scare others. It’s all because of two men with really sick senses of humor. But I’m not resentful; in fact, I’d like to thank Misters Bill and George, wherever you are today. Did you know that I’d become a writer of scary stories? Probably not, but I hope you eel sorry for what you did. If you don’t, it’s going to be really hard for you to accept that you’ve been outed on the Internet (my little revenge).

Well, now that that’s out of the way, I’ve got classes tomorrow, so it’s time for bed. Good night, and if I can’t write a post tomorrow, have a nice weekend.

I Lost A Follower Today

Posted: September 27, 2012 in Living and Life
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Someone stopped following my blog. I’m not sure who, all I know is that I had 82 followers through WordPress one day and today it’s 81. I don’t know if perhaps they got rid of their blog and decided it wasn’t necessary anymore, or if, God forbid, they died and left instructions to disable their account after their death. I think the most likely scenario is that I wrote one article they liked, but after that article they didn’t see enough of that article afterwards, and they decided it wasn’t worth the four or five posts I write each week to continue reading Rami Ungar the Writer.

So how does that make me feel? A little saddened; I feel a boost of confidence every time I get a new follower, but losing one just makes me feel like I wasn’t able to give the follower everything they were looking for. I guess what I’m feeling is sort of like a mini-beak up; it’s tough, and it’s preying on me every time I visit my Stats page, but I’ll learn to move on and hope new followers will come and find my blog and think it’s damn interesting, and that those who already follow me will continue to follow me as I try to achieve my dreams of becoming a professional novelist with plenty of readers out there.

That’s the hope, anyway.

Have you ever lost a follower? How did you deal with it?

Making An E-Book Doesn’t Sound So Hard Now

Posted: September 19, 2012 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Writing
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I’ve always considered myself someone who’s not very good with computers beyond the Internet, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and the basic Excel spreadsheet. However, today in class, I realized that might not really be the case:

In my documentary class, we’re making documentaries in various forms on the Macs in our classroom. What are those documentaries about, you might be asking yourself? Well, they’re about us, each and every one of us in the class, and how we go about creating various works of literary greatness. I’ve already completed one project, using GarageBand to make an audio essay, and got an A on that. The project we’re working on now is a short video that we will create using Zoom cameras and iMovie, and to prepare we’re learning all the ins and outs of iMovie by creating short practice videos.

Now, normally I’m a little leery about using new programs and I usually need someone to hold my hand throughout most of the learning process. However today I was able to create a short, two-minute video commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Occupy protests with an old film clip of 1950s fashionable wear, several pictures of the Occupy protests, and a song by Bing Cosby. It wasn’t half-bad, and I was able to use a few special effects we hadn’t covered yet in class because I had the gall to check out the homework for today before class. Let me tell you, the sense of pride I felt by the end of the class was immense, and I could not wait to make the short film about my writing process (expect it to have a certain factor of creepy).

So this got me thinking. When I do consider going the self-publishing route (something I consider a lot, especially after I hear back from an agent or publisher saying they’re not interested in my work), I usually think the best way to get started would be by creating an e-book. And when I think of that, I usually consider using a service to create the e-book, because I’m not exactly a Bill Gates or Steve Jobs when it comes to technology.

But today I was able to use iMovie, and before that GarageBand, something that before the start of the semester I thought impossible for me. If I can learn to use those programs, then what’s to stop me from making the e-book myself on my laptop or on a school Mac and then upload it onto Amazon for a cheap $2.99 download price tag? Not only would it probably be cheaper and give me more control over my work, but it would show how serious I am about being a writer, that I would learn to use scary programs and ask for help with them just to get my work out there.

So if I do go the self-publishing route with my novels, you can expect that I’l try to do all the work myself in making the e-book (a regular book is a whole other story though, and much more expensive, so let me think on it before I come to any conclusions or decisions). And if you have any tips, let me know. I’d love your advice and help.

“The Innocence of Muslims” Makes Me Sick

Posted: September 13, 2012 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership
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Everyone who reads my blog knows I believe that Muslims and the terrorists who claim to be Muslims are two totally separate things, that you can’t be a Muslim or a believer in Allah and kill for the sake of Allah. Which is why I was sickened when a man named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula (or Sam Becile; this guy’s got so many identities it’s hard to keep up) made a movie called “The Innocence of Muslims”, which portrays Mohammed as nutcase from illegitimate parentage who created a cult that likes to kill people, especially Christians, and dehumanize women. and then released a 14-minute trailer on YouTube! I watched five minutes of that video, and I felt nauseated.

The video has caused a wide reaction, the east of which has been rioting up and down the Middle East, where portrayal of Muhammed (not to mention portrayal of Muhammed in such a gross fashion) is generally considered an insult. People at American embassies have died because the riots have gotten out of hand, and some have made use of the video to try and make political gains in elections.

What do I think? I think the man who made this movie and reportedly decieved the actors into thinking they were making an entirely different movie, is a monster. He’s abused free speech, caused a huge amount of anguish and rage, and God bless the lawyer who can find a way to get this man in prison for what he’s done. This isn’t art or free expression he’s made; it’s just hate-speech, similar to the movie Der Juden as made by the Nazis.

Now, I know I don’t usually take such upfront, angry stances on issues; I try to couch my messages in terms that won’t be considered incendiary. But this time, I take exception. Whoever made this film, whoever you really are, I hope they can find a way to put you in jail for what you’ve caused. It’s senseless, gruesome, and it’s totally inaccurate.

And to all Muslims out there, I hope you don’t let this blatant insult to your religion bother you. This one man, a man who stomps on America’s values and acts decidely un-American, is a monster, and he will answer for what he’s done, either in the courts or by some Divine Intervention. When that happens, I hope we can all move on.

Share your thoughts with me on this. I’m curious to know if you feel how I feel.

“Aasif” In My Class?

Posted: September 11, 2012 in Living and Life, short story
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Today in my history class we had a guest speaker, whose focus was African history, particularly in her native country of Liberia. While discussing the civil war in Liberia, she also broached the topic of child soldiers and Kony 2012 and how they related to her research. After class, I went up to her and told her that I’d recently published a short story titled Aasif (here’s the link for those new followers who haven’t read it yet: http://mobiusmagazine.com/) and that I thought it was interesting that she’d mentioned child soldiers and Kony 2012, which were the inspirations for Aasif. Not only did our guest speaker ask for the web address, she also gave it to my teacher, who also happens to be her advisor in the graduate school.

As we were all leaving the classroom, both my teacher and the guest speaker said they’d take a look at it…and possibly discuss it in class. Discuss my short story in class? Now that’s some exposure! And in history class too! What’s next?

Has anything like this ever happened to you?

The Results of My Shameless Plugging

Posted: September 10, 2012 in Living and Life
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Okay, remember how yesterday I got to plug my work, including this blog and my short story Aasif, thanks to being picked to participate in a skit by my school’s improv group? The plugging payed off; my stats counter registered a huge rise in visits to my blog, ending up at 113 visits by midnight. In addition, most of these visits were to the home page, and some of the search terms used to find my blog included “rami ungar” and “rami ungar soldier”, the latter most revealing as Aasif is about a child soldier. Doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to guess what happened, right?

So thanks to all those who visited my blog because of the 8th Floor Improv show. I had no idea that you would all actually come, and guessed that only perhaps a dozen of the 150-person audience would actually log on. Boy, was my guess off. So please enjoy the blog, and come back again if you like what you read. Have a nice day.

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