CyberMinions.net

Finally got around to making our record label icon...

The kids and I had fun doing this for the Ambassadors of Chaos brand. This is our official trademark. The wee people love Photoshop so we plan to spend the weekend building the Ambassadors of Chaos music website. Our mugs and tee shirts are in progress. We are also doing a new video for RainCamp that is turning out to be mad fun to create.

It will be a very creative weekend for the wee people. The shorties love arts and crafts and digital art gives them instant gratification. Time to get back to our bagels (LOL). The wee people have to go to school soon and I have to hit the studio. ;-)

P.S. Our Ambassadors of Chaos Facebook page. :-)

Life With Wee People: Kids Are Funny...

I am chilling on the futon with the iPod Nano listening to my developing tracks, trying to paint with sound, when Noah casually comes along with his SpongeBob disk. "It's Noah's turn," he quietly announces, then promptly kicks me and my Nano to the curb. I watch as he promptly closes iTunes, Sony Vegas, Sony Acid and Photoshop only to remove my ear buds FROM MY EARS and set up the Xenyx 502 5-input/2 bus mixer to enjoy a preamp version of SpongeBob.

Hmm...

I'm thinking, "Holy cow - the kid got the input-output sequence to the UCA200U-control right... How cool is that? Very..."

Then I'm thinking, "Oh crap... I can't blog or Netflix..." Bummer (LOL).

Two hours later, I get back on-line to write this post and Stephen comes over and says "Pupu juju nunu people? Hexflix?"

I start laughing because no matter how many times I say "Tak" to my four year old he still refers to the show as the pupu juju nunu people. Sometimes N and F equals H to him. Hexflix is Netflix. Hosted Hakes is Frosted Flakes. Horida house is Florida house... Little dude is in speach therapy so I have to really listen carefully when he speaks. It was the guy-pie-smile and twinkling chocolate eyes that did me in. I sigh... I wait... The kid doesn't move...

He stands there staring at me simply waiting for an answer. Hmm...

Me: "You want Netflix?"

Step: "Yes, Mama."

Then he showed me his dimples again.

Of course this means I am now logging off to watch cartoons. If I am really lucky (a) they wont fight over which ones and (b) they wont make me play Netflix through my Roland speaker. That puppy has mad wattage (LOL). I keep a set of Behringer headphones plugged into it just in case they do turn it on. Stephen has yet to meet  a button he didn't like to push. :-)

Kids are funny... give them a little studio time and everything suddenly becomes a wee people production. Who needs a pro amplifier for cartoons? Seriously... Oh... wait... it appears that we do (LOL). ;-)

Got RainCamp?

The cool thing about having a virtual family is when we find reasons to come together for a visit. RainCamp is going to be mad fun in Boston. I flipped out about missing DC. When you have wee people some things just can't be helped (LOL).

The only way you are going to find out if the Life With Wee People crew are going to be there is if you go to RainCamp yourself. Am I a tease? Um... er...yeah (LOL).

BTW, here's Jeka's b-day song I was chatting about yesterday. Told you I'd find an excuse to use it.

Got RainCamp? No? Hmm... Go get some... Seriously... It will blow your real estate mind. ;-)

Jazz with Jessica

Jessica R Klein is mad cool so for her birthday the shorties and I created a jazz single just for her.

Being a good sport (and very gracious) Jeka let me upload it and her lovely face to my distributor and 180 countries (LOL). Should be out on iTunes next week. May be on Internet radio tomorrow if Noah will lay down and go to sleep. Shorty wont stop "helping" me. So far, I've been disconnected five times (LOL).

I may have to find something interesting to create in YouTube so you guys can hear it around midnight. It has lyrics but I swapped the vocals out for sax, trumpets and trombones. Gotta get to SC so Alicia can sing on a remastered cut. Then again, I may just shred that idea and arrange some new music...

Creating music relaxes me and keeps my ADD busy... It also keeps the wee people VERY busy (LOL). They like editing me and Stephen is always asking for the ear-buds. We spend a lot of time on park benches bobbing our heads while sharing the ipod Nano. Today's recording adventure includes such notable highlights like (a) Stephen cranking the volume up so high on the mixer that my speakers popped, (b) I forgot to turn off my cell phones and one rang in the middle of recording vocals (which was not good because the ruined track turned out to be the best track) and (c) me deciding after 97 takes that this really needed to be an instrumental until Alicia gets her hands on it (LMAO). ;-)

Lazy or naughty? Hmm... You can decide after you hear it (LOL). Stephen started dancing so when my minion producer refuses to return the earphones technically my studio work is done and he has earned his M&Ms for the evening. BTW, my boys absolutely adore her and so do I. :-)

Jess, may God bless you and yours and may your B-day be full of joy.

Looking forward to hearing what you cook up in Garage Band, girlfriend. ;-D

Update: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv7-5el9raM

The Follow-Up to Evaluating A Start-up...

On June 24th I mentioned my gal pals and I were evaluating start-ups. Zazzle.com is the first one I am going to chat about because it's fun, easy and free to get started. We are still building our site over there to make an official spot for licensed merchandise from the Club Chaos wee people eye candy crew (LOL):

http://zazzle.com/CTannStarr*

Noah and I have lots of images to consider licensing and they have a sliding royalty fee that you get to select instead of someone dictating your cut to you. I put the wee people in charge of selecting the images to make into hats and tee shirts and a host of other products since our latest two singles went live worldwide. When fans e-mail requesting swag items you need to have some useful stuff to give away (or point them in the direction to buy it on an as needed basis).

Passive royalty income is a beautiful thing. My Autistic/PDD-NOS kids are learning how to become passive income capitalists (LOL). I'm thinking I have to plant the trade-school/college bug now. They need a school fund. This is the beginning of them getting paid more than M&Ms,hugs and kisses from Mama (LOL).

If you have kids this is a very cool project to put them in charge of. It is your account but you can give your little artists their own store category for their creative designs and photographs. Got a great sunset shot during vacation? Think your dog is mushy and cute? Got great food porn? Interesting yard flowers? Your designs can be placed on a host of really neat items.

Go poke around over there and see what other people are doing with their crayons and photographs. Bookmark us to see how crazy we plan on getting (LOL).

If you are looking for a neat spot to do some branding you may find Zazzle.com surprisingly useful because if you only want one tee shirt they will make that one tee shirt for you. I have some fantastic shots of swanky NYC real estate I'd love to turn into a clothes line (Manhattan skyline anyone?). I also have over 500 shots of the Brooklyn  Bridge.

Think I wont wear the Brooklyn Bridge? Duh? I'm from Brooklyn (LOL). Seriously... Besides, my children are looking forward to wearing Noah's NYC street light. If you do deside to build a passive income site you may want to only put stuff in there you'd want yourself. I bet my real estate tee shirts will make you drool. I am sooooo doing a county tour of homes series (LOL).

Will tell you about the next start-up on our list later. I have a quirky store to build with the wee people and music to promote.

Did I mention they do the majority of the work for you? You only have to upload your images and check off what to manufacture to get started. You buy nothing to do this. The site is free unless you are ordering merchandise for yourself. Go shine at that next family reunion with your kids/pets on your chest. The Life With Wee People collection is going to be a visual goof and spoof (LOL).

Don't be shy... My 8 year old can do this... Go pick your fave images that you created and own the copyrights to and promote yourself. Noah is starting with a NYC street light. I'm using my latest iTunes album covers. Surely you can find something to take a picture of if you don't draw.

BTW, your store doesn't have to be public. It can be private...just for you and your family/friends.

Very cool. :-)

Check out the YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ZazzleTV

Life With Wee People: C Pulse

Taking the emotional pulse of a learning disabled child can be tricky, especially if you have two of them. Mr Autism, Noah, the Net Geek is a tough act to follow and Mr. PDD-NOS, Stephen, the Minion Blur is a book unto himself. They both like music. They both like electronics. When Stephen is not engaged in their ritualistic sacrifice sometimes he manipulates them quite well.

I promised them they could edit a song and drag and drop the video images into the time-line. They had fun mutilating this one and picking out lots of pictures. Nine horn and guitar tracks bit the dust. So did the vocals. I would have been happy with a few more deletes and additions regarding an improvement to their version of grove and quantize but a promise is a promise. After all, music is math and they have to learn how everything works, especially since they refuse to let me work alone (LOL).

Regarding the critical loss of important tracks: How much math can you expect from an opinionated four year old? The Little Minions didn't do half bad considering what was left. Can't wait to see what they do to the next single. Yeah... I gave them two to play with (one for each kid).

Will she really release them in iTunes?

Um...er... yeah... I am a proud, quirky Mommy. The shorties come first. They can each help produce a single if they want to. Besides, this was mad fun. We've been laughing over their edits for two days now.

Is Stephen the youngest PDD-NOS music producer in NY? Hmm... (LOL).

. .

Life With Wee People: Minion Landscaping 101

I was tweeting with my gal pal Chris Elizabeth Griffith ( http://lifeinbonitasprings.com )and spoofing with my kids during a recording session when I promised her that I'd post pics of the shorties landscaping contribution to our yard. They are very helpful little buggers. You can get a lot out of them for some M&Ms. Even more out of me for the right pint of Hagen Daz (LOL).  

We plan to go bird and butterfly hunting with our Nikons later today. Will let you know how that turned out during our vacation. ;-)

Life With Wee People: Work Is The New Play... Minion Driving 101

Noah and Stephen Starr go to Papa and Nana's house in SC to visit the Little Minion Fields and learn how to drive a tractor. If you buy your shorties acres they have to learn how to cut the grass. Planting seeds of responsibility can be mad fun if you are very careful... My kids are car crazy so teaching them how to drive in the Little Minion Fields is always a neat treat. Watching my Dad teach them to drive a tractor in his 1.4 acre backyard? Priceless... 

Yeah... I know... this from the chick who was introduced to power tools by her grandad at the tender age of not quite six (LOL). My Mom's father was an awesome master carpenter who instilled in us a healthy respect for "useful equipment." Teaching wee people how to do useful stuff at a young age is a family tradition.

Parenting is a adventure your kids should love... I did a lot of neat stuff before I was ten so I have no intention of being stingy now that I have kids (LOL).

Yeah... it's true. I'm having a second childhood with them. Safety first people. Don't casually try this at home. It's a life lesson not a stunt. You have to know your children and really understand their learning curves to introduce concepts and skill points to them. You also have to know your equipment and plan your fail safe responses. Curious kids who want to try and help should be given the opportunity to learn in a safe environment. It is amazing what they can do if you give them the opportunity, confidence and support to do it. Something as simple as cutting the grass can lead to bigger and better learning experiences... ;-)

Oh my God -- have you ever tried being a social media diva on vacation with no WiFi and Air Card connection? I was foaming at the mouth with some bad hotel/motel lack of digital action when I wasn't drooling in a stupor because I have family members who don't even have dial up.

Is hide-the-modem a new way of getting quality time with a digital junkie? Hmm... Too bad I discovered fun ways of torturing them with all that free vacation time I had on my hands (LMAO).

Stay tuned for the vacation re-cap. Just got back to NY. We did the east coast twice. Had to. I have two minions. One got to play TomTom going down while the other bossed me around on the way back. Gotta go YouTube and Facebook my simm cards. Got tractor driving minions, truck stop munching minions, landscaping minions, beach minions, crazed for whip cream minions, SC / FL house minions...

Lots and lots of I-95 eye candy. First we need Chinese food delivered from our fave Japanese kitchen (LOL).

I love NY. They deliver in my neighborhood late night. I can have Italian at 2AM if I want it. Yeah... I want to not cook after driving 1,157.4 miles twice. Gotta get the shorties in the shower.

We even saw some Rainers along the way. Will blog about that bit of fun as well.:-)

It's good to be home. I missed you guys and have to answer a lot of e-mail. Wont that be fun? May do it in public between spoofing about my digital withdrawal. I like sharing vacation adventures. We stopped at Plum Beach in Brooklyn just before hitting Queens County. Sunset on the water is always a nice moment to share. ;-)

The wee people are learning how to grill and drive tractors. I have really cool film of them hanging with my Dad. He let them cut the grass. That was mad fun. I should FB this (LOL).

Testing out hubby's Windows 7 in the den. I'm thinking I may stick with Vista... Yeah, I'm being a crab about it because it's way too helpful and a wee bit complicated. I never want my passwords remembered and it's very keen on doing so. The tweaking and learning curve isn't too bad but do I really want to learn this? Hmm... Maybe... maybe not (Mikey likes it so it can't be that bad - LMAO).

Recharging the laptop. Will start spoofing with yall sometime after dinner. I am being dragged out of the house because my kids wont stop playing with the golf clubs in the living room. Seems they think it's too hot to play outside and have vacated the yard. So far they have manage to play football, beach ball and golf in the house. Thank goodness I left the tennis rackets behind... Poor Mikey... He worked so hard painting this place. We scratched the wall yesterday. I promised to fix and paint it so I might do a mural while I'm here. Gotta find a SuperTarget. ;-)

Time to go get some eye candy. Will definitely mess with you guys after dinner... Wait until you see where we've been. We've been all over the place.

Oooo a new Google feature. If I hover over a word it gives me suggestions in Spanish and English. I am soooo getting off Mike's computer. Those little paragraphs popping up are very distracting. I keep reading them.

How compulsive is that? Very... (LOL) 

Stay tuned for back to back Life With Wee People. The shorties are the boss of me so we may be late for Summer School by a day or two. They like driving Papa's tractor. They're getting good at cutting the fields. BTW, we finally tore that porch down... ;-)