Menu Updates; Life Updates

If you look up at the top menu, after the FtB stuff, you’ll find some handy links to help you find things you might be interested in.  Ever wanted to see a list of my speaking engagements, television and film edits, or publications?  You’re in luck.  Ever wanted to watch all my ukulele videos or see if you missed any? BAM done.  Wanted to easily navigate to my favorite posts? It’s up there.  Wondered about my résumé? Well there you go.

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Speaking & Publishing

Ukulele Videos

Best of Posts

Resume

I’m at the SSA Board Meeting, virtually, so that’s also going on.  Also… I got engaged.  Below I am proposed to on my birthday just before midnight; I propose on his birthday, just after midnight; our engagement rings.

I am proposed to just before midnight, 5/23
 
Ashley proposing
 
Rings

I also just moved into my first house I’ve ever owned — where the engagement pictures were taken — and my best friend in the world who I haven’t seen in 2 years visited me and was there too.  And that whole narcolepsy yes no maybe thing going on. All the things!

Menu Updates; Life Updates
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Musical Monday: Cyndi Lauper Ukulele

My present to myself for getting a new job and passing my comprehensive exams was this shiny new acoustic/electric Les Paul ukulele.  I am working on learning some songs that sound good and crunchy with electric effects, but I think that means learning ukulele power chords, which I don’t really understand just yet.  It involves skipping strings, which I find weirdly difficult.

In the meantime, “Time after Time.”

Musical Monday: Cyndi Lauper Ukulele

FtBCon – Ashley’s schedule

Life is always easier when you’ve got a schedule to follow.  So here’s mine for the weekend.  I am in on 5 sessions, talking about a variety of subjects from YA lit to video games, but all to do with media and culture.  Which is good because I have a degree that makes people think I’m qualified in that.

TImes here are in EST, but if you go to the site they’ll be in CST.

FtBConscience

As of right now this is a solo talk, but I have feelers out for anyone who might want to join.  If you’re an expert on YA lit, let me know.

Although much of the bestselling YA literature in the last few years has featured female main characters, ofttimes the portrayal of these characters is problematic in terms of gender stereotypes and lack of minority characters. This is a discussion of the ways YA literature succeeds and fails and why it needs to change.

I feel like so underqualified to be on this panel.  I play ukulele cover songs on YouTube and love to sing karaoke.  And I’m on a panel with an actual musician with records and such.  Yep.  Imposter syndrome big time.

Join us to hear a few songs and have a casual chat with ukulelist and FtB blogger Ashley Miller, and Australian singer-songwriter Shelley Segal. In 2011 Shelley published An Atheist Album, and she has played at the Reason Rally, the American Atheist Convention, Women In Secularism and other events. Panel facilitated by Brianne Bilyeu

Jason Thibeault, Russell Glasser, Brianne Bilyeu, Ashley F. Miller, Avicenna, Tauriq Moosa.  Religion and morality systems in video games are often grossly oversimplified, to the point where choices are entirely binary and you’re often forced, as a gamer, to do things that you might otherwise find appalling, like working in service of a god or gods. How are these heady topics handled in the slowly-maturing video game industry? Who’s already doing this stuff right? How can these topics’ treatment be improved?

Jason Thibeault, Avicenna, Brianne Bilyeu, Ashley F. Miller, Rebecca Watson, Lynnea Glasser. Women make up 45% of the gamer population, a number that’s constantly climbing. And yet, female protagonists in games are few and far between — and when games are exclusively fronted by female characters, they get far less marketing budget than their equivalent male-led titles. Why?

JT Eberhard, Rebecca Watson, Heina Dadabhoy, Ashley F. Miller, Hemant Mehta, Xavier Trapp.  TV, Movies, Comic books… our popular culture is soaked in depictions of religious people, but what about atheists? How are atheists portrayed in the public sphere? How can we do better? A panel of atheists gets at the real issues.

 

 

FtBCon – Ashley’s schedule

Weird Moments in Is This Even My Life: Rockapella

I recorded “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” on the ukulele about this time last year and somehow it’s gotten a bunch of comments that I was never alerted to.  I am really bad at following my YouTube in the first place, but I’m pretty sure that I would have noticed this alert.

Well!  The gentleman who co-wrote the song and was a member of Rockapella and went on to have a solo career, Mr. Sean Altman, friggin commented on my stupid ukulele video!

His comment is as follows:

It gives me great pleasure to be your first comment-er. Great job on my song. I’ve never heard it on uke, and it just goes to show that a catchy song translates to many styles. Let’s hope that J-Lo comes asking for permission to use it in her forthcoming Carmen flick. Yours, Sean Altman (ex-Rockapella)

7-year-old me is so stoked right now.  And since I’m pretty much still fundamentally 7, I am also so stoked right now.  WHAT IS MY LIFE

Weird Moments in Is This Even My Life: Rockapella

Musical Wednesdays: The Universe, Monty Python, and hate mail

As you may or may not be aware, I have been getting loads of hate mail/comments wishing me harm because I am in a relationship some people on the internet don’t approve of. So, whenever life gets me down, usually in the form of lowlife, scum-of-the-earth comments from racist, misogynist assholes, I sing myself this song and it generally makes me feel better.  Hurray astrophysics!

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown
And things seem sad or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious, or daft
And you feel that you’ve had quite enough…

Happy Wednesday.

Musical Wednesdays: The Universe, Monty Python, and hate mail

Musical Wednesdays: A comment and ukulele song for Pope Ratzinger

It’s been a very long time since I’ve allowed myself to do video commentary on YouTube.  I once had a vlog and it was so thoroughly abused by assholes that I took it down.  But, I am short of time lately and it’s less difficult to just sit and talk than to carefully construct an article that I found the video to be the better format for my anger at Child Abuse Supporter Joseph Ratzinger.  Here’s a comment and song just for him:

FULL OF BAD WORDS

Musical Wednesdays: A comment and ukulele song for Pope Ratzinger

Musical Wednesdays: To the Moon and Back on Ukulele

Did you know that the band Savage Garden named itself after a line in an Anne Rice vampire book?  True story.  Did you know that Anne Rice once exchanged e-mails with me?  ALSO A TRUE STORY.

As Wednesday is the traditional day of the Karaoke, I celebrate with a musical selection just for you.

Musical Wednesdays: To the Moon and Back on Ukulele