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Artemis Sere’s Weekly Thirteen (Week15, 2013)

1. Admittedly, on a bit of a gaming kick again, Xbox360. Finished “Batman: Arkham City” in a couple of weeks in March. Started playing “Bioshock Infinite” recently, mostly because I fell in love with this song:

If you haven’t heard “Beast” by Nico Vega yet, you gotta spin this. I can’t seem to stop.
2. Focused on an artistic project entitled “Jesse” for the band Microwaved right now. More to come in the near future.
3. If anyone seriously believes the predictions of Puxtatawney Phil from this season forth, I will seriously question their sanity. I hope that’s the last we see of Winter for a while.
4. I suppose I’ve been living in an Entertainment cave for a while. I had no idea that fellow Canucks Chad Kroeger (lead singer of the feces machine Nickelback) and Avril Lavigne (teen-angst, one-hit wonder queen) were dating. Evidentially, they’re now engaged to be married. Once, I was a fan of both Nickelback and Avril Lavigne; now, I just hope they don’t breed.
5. Blog readership numbers have dropped to abysmal. I suppose that’s what I get for taking some time off from blogging to focus on creative projects in other media. Concerned about the regression of audience, though. Perhaps this is the ebb-and-flow of trying to stabilize and grow a personal brand all alone. Perhaps my content and creative outlet isn’t near as interesting as I believe it to be. My “Behelders Project” post received 10 views and zero responses; those kind of engagement numbers lead me to ponder how much I should be connecting with an external audience, or if I should spend less time marketing and more time creating. It would be disappointing to have to give up on the external push of the Artemis Sere brand altogether, but perhaps I need to “recess” a bit–become less out-front with what I am trying to accomplish, and let production speak for itself. It’s obvious that I can’t pay to grow my engagement to comfortable levels with the style and content of art that I produce. I honestly don’t want to spend time blogging about social media or marketing, and would rather curate that content. Perhaps I’m just not good enough as artist to command a following. Common theme of this life. For a completely free offering, I expected a baseline level of response, but silence is altogether troubling.
6. Klout recently incorporated Instagram into their social scoring algorithm. I hope to write a blog in the near future about the power of social diversification. My Instagram audience now rivals both my Twitter and Facebook followers (almost combined), and increases regularly. It accounts for almost 50% of my Klout score as well. The power of pictures is almost immeasurable. Since starting on Instagram a little over a year ago, I have expanded my portfolio to 2,000 images with over 1,700 followers of my work. It seems to be the only growth area of social media for me, perhaps a reflection of where I tend to focus my creative.
7. Hit a renewed vein with my “Fetch” concept lately. I’ve reworked the concept many times over the last six years, but I feel like I am a lot closer to a direction I’m happy with, and one that is genuinely unique. Closer to the story that I’m excited to tell, and one that will scare the shit out of people. It will make people think, if I’m able to finish it in this lifetime. 
8. I was featured in a full-page ad in ISHN magazine for a line of 3M(TM) Earmuffs recently. Comically, my forearm tattoos were digitally removed. While they were appropriate for the edgy eyewear marketing that I was featured in, not so for the mass-market safety Earmuff crowd.
9.  Dropped my phone in water last week and needed to have it replaced. Got a new one via phone insurance a couple of days ago, and feel like I’m back on track again. I so love new tech and the ability to store our lives “in the Clouds”, download what we’ve lost at the touch of a button. Someday, that will be the common way of this creature.
10. I don’t think I’ll ever be alright with the Middle Eastern female fashion trend of using the headdress as a cell phone holder, snugly slid tightly to her cheek as she chirps away. I imagine instances of cheek cancer will rise in a certain ethnicity.
11.Turns out that I had to pay my Duty to Drive with care ticket, regardless of my plea to a Ramsey County Hearing Officer about my accident. Instead of being supportive of my minimization of loss of life and property, the State and People continue to draw blood.
12. “Let’s hope your mind can take it all…”  Modestep at First Ave on 4/3 was divine. Can’t wait to see them again. Hopefully, I’ll get to catch them at another show this summer.
13. Army of me marches on–with fewer feathers, pounds and cares. 
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Artemis Sere’s Weekly Thirteen (Week14, 2013)

1. “I wish them all the luck that accompanies such malevolence.” (Carrey)

2. Did a Facebook promotion for my Art of Artemis Sere Facebook page over March 2013. Netted around 60,000 impressions and 30 new page Likes for the effort. Since the Campaign has closed, I’ve lost 70% of the Like count gained, almost nullifying the effort. As an active Secular Humanist, I suppose I sometimes have challenging content. But the net value is disappointing as I’m also trying to promote a global artistic brand. The tough part of social media for an artist is sowing the planted seeds, maintaining the myriads of personalities and presences across the digiscape while also spending as much available time as possible on production. The greats spent little time on self promotion, the majority of their time on their craft, which ultimately drew the attention of fans of their work. Given the slate of projects I have, my judgment is canvas and pixel, regardless of how much I’d love to be social, grow a circle, find a steady love, relax.
The Artemis Contact currently won’t allow thus.

3. “To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.” (Ebert)  Rest in peace, Roger Ebert. You and Siskel informed much of my film passion when I was younger. Immortality comes from being remembered, and your influence on the Entertainment industry will not be soon forgotten.

4. Seeing both Aziz Ansari and Modestep this week. Bought tickets for Limp Bizkit and DJ Shadow. Missing Exodus and Anthrax tonight, though it’s been a long time since I was an Exodus fan, and lately I’ve realized that I am more of a John-Bush-era Anthrax fan, than I am Joey Belladonna (who I grew up with as the lead singer for Anthrax). Evidence that my musical tastes have changed, I migrate toward the grittier, edgier vocals, as opposed to the high-soaring pitches of the 80s big-hair greats. It seems like my personal tastes continue to evolve, but regardless of the changes, the edge is still prominent. 8)

5. Could really use a vacation. Last year, I made it a personal goal to have a “Getaway Vacation” (ie. romantic) with someone special. It’s April, and I don’t see that happening in the near future. I suspect it’s a goal that I’m gonna have to move to 2014. I just can’t seem to get that part of my life on track, no matter how hard I try. But I’m not going to wallow in the disappointment of relationship failures. I spent too many years on that kind of frustration, and I’ve wasted far too much time. I hark back to the wisdom of “It’ll happen when the time is right”.

6. Accidentally dropped my Samsung Galaxy S2 in the toilet this morning while I was getting ready for work. Lesson learned: Don’t try to perform tasks that require cat-like dexterity within minutes of waking up. It was a regrettable accident that probably cost me $500.

7. Learned last week that I’m getting sued by the person whose car I collided with in February. Her account of the accident is strangely off, stating that there was a cop car parked behind her vehicle. I’m not sure how I could’ve hit the back of this person’s car if there was a cop car parked behind it. Further, as I have insurance, I’m a bit confused why I’m being sued for an accident. All around, a strange scenario.

8. Black Coffee Commitment, as well as other focused health initiatives, including getting myself back to the gym on a regular basis, have helped me lose 10 lbs since January. By staying hungry, instead of living full, I am back on track to feeling better. I still have a long way to go. Now that the weather is turning back to awesome, I hope to start running on a regular basis, and will focus more time on closing the gap of another 10 lbs.

9. Painted 10 pictures this week, with skill that looks to be evolving. Really impressed myself with my abstract creations in my last session. Channeling visual chaos has been exciting, and I look forward to Lake Art this Spring and Summer.

10. Kicking off a human subject photography project this week called “The Behelders”. Over the next 6 months, I will engage in a creative photo shoot with 40 individuals of various ages, ethnicities and genders. The objectives are to expand my own human subject photography experience, offer friends and family professional shots for their own use, and to influence my “Beheld by Hell” project, possibly find the model that I would like to use/hire for the central character of Persephone.  If you’re in the Twin Cities area, and are interested in being a participant in the Project, contact me over Facebook (Artemis Sere).

11.  Klout Score: 66. Instagram finally integrated as part of the Klout Score, even though my Instagram channel dominates the Artemis Sere search in Google. I received an 8-point bump from the Instagram social signals, and Instagram is fast becoming my most influential network. I have more friends and followers on Instagram than I do on either Facebook or Twitter.

12. Finished my first blog on the S.E.R.E. acronym, “Sentient“. Still have “Evident”, “Resident” and “Evolutionist” left to do. Someday soon.

13. RIP Genelle Bentley, mother of my friend and creative partner, Terry Bentley.

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Artemis Sere’s “Weekly Thirteen”

I had really great intentions when I created my “Creative Objectives for 2013“. Indeed, I seem to be achieving them with the pace and dedication that I intended when I first wrote it. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to corral enough time each day to post a blog with my 13 reflections for the day. Thus, I am changing my “Daily Thirteen” to a “Weekly Thirteen”.  I will post my first “Weekly Thirteen” this weekend.

The positive news is that I am very busy with various artistic projects, and my objectives for 2013 are progressing well. Thanks for your patience, and for your continued interest in my work.