Author Archives: Seth Werkheiser

:: Set Normalcy on Fire

Did you hear that the band Here We Go Magic picked up a hitch hiking John Waters?

Well, I came across this link today, from a new interview that popped up with the band. This quote slays me (thanks, Matt for linking this):

Yes, yes, yes. A million times, yes:

“I have a lot of control in my life and I just wanted to let go of the reins a little bit, have an adventure.”

At the DMV today I didn’t have control, the person behind the counter did, but I smiled, said sir, and had a plesant time. Over the past year and 10 months I’ve had little control of my sleeping arrangements, dinner selection, and travel times, but when I just “let go of the reins a little bit,” oh boy, does life get interesting then!

You don’t have to be a acclaimed film maker to do this. If you want to hitch hike, go do it, even if just for the day.
Cancel your cable bill and use the money you’d save and spend it on gas or bus tickets to far away cities.

Someday you’ll die, and so will everyone around you. That’s a certainty.

The only reason this story of “woah! John Waters was hitchhiking!” thing is “buzzing” around the internet is because it’s so different. It’s just not normal. Famous people don’t hitchhike! Poor people hitchhike, right?

Stop reading this blog post, set normalcy on fire, then come back and write about it. Go do your own “John Waters hitch hiking” thing.





:: Get Your Bike from NYC to PA and Go Mountain Biking

Since traveling by bike and bus over the past year and 10 months, I’ve learned a bit about the logisitcs of such travel. As I’ve returned to my hometown recently, I’ve been able to spend some time in Glen Park, which features a ton of great biking trails.

I’ve put my two areas of expertise together, and wrote ‘Take a Bus from NYC to Mountain Bike in PA.’

Learn how to transport your bike, via bus, from New York City to Pennsylvania, and then, right near the bus station, start mountain biking. No transportation to the trail head, no meeting up with anybody — just go ride. Then when you’re done, ride back down from the trails, buy a bus ticket, and be back in New York City in two hours.

I was able to write this because I know those trails pretty well, having ridden them since 1993 or so. My bus travel experience over the past year and 10 months also helped.

Today I wrote a blog post which may lead to someone embarking on an adventure with a bike and love of muddy trails. That makes me smile.





:: Robot Signage is Better Signage

Why settle for boring signage when you can have robot signage? People love robots! Even cats! It’s a proven fact* that robots increase sales 500%, and independent studies have show hand-drawn robots and cute signage will make your customers nine hundred thousand times more likely to buy something. NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND MILLION TIMES. [SEE DISCLAIMER BELOW] MORE →





:: Building a One Page Landing Site in a Few Hours

1. Buy a domain name
2. Set up a Tumblr account
3. Upload a photo, some copy, maybe a Google Map

Now you have a website for less than $20. No monthly charge. No commitment.

No, it won’t magically bring you 1000′s of visitors. But if you’re a small business in a town of thousands, hey, it can’t hurt.

I did this for Stroudsburg Guitar, for my dad who gives lessons in Stroudsburg, PA and it’s working great.





:: Let Off the Gas Pedal

This piece, written by Josh Fruhlinger, times one thousand-

I was feeling worn out by the constant need to keep up with the news, to react to it, to write the thing or convince someone else to write the thing and then promote the thing and then hopefully see the thing go viral or at least get picked up by a site that would drive us some traffic.

This written by Josh Fruhlinger who has written for a handful of media outlets that I don’t need to name because this is not some SEO-driven, corporate branded, page-view lusting blog. I get to say, “he writes stuff,” and hopefully you take 2.1 seconds to click a link to educate yourself about him. Just like I did.

On the web we’re lazy. Too lazy to click links to do our own research. Too lazy to FWD something to a friend. Too lazy to Tweet something if it doesn’t have a #FDFDFD colored TWEET THIS button surrounded by a clown eating a pie.

I almost got lazy and just Twooted a link to this story on Twitter, but I figured I know how to put a few words together, let me chime in here:

Earlier this year I wrote about “sustainable blogging.” Click the link. Read it.

Back? Cool.

It’s been over a year since I left AOL Music, and I’m just now starting to feel guilt-free when someone asks me, “have you heard the new album from [whoever]?” Before I was paid to say, “yes,” with a stoked look on my face. “I’ve been listening to that album for a month because I’m a music blogging insider and have hook ups!”

And now? Dammit, I’m just fine with not having to keep up. I go back and listen to seven year old Converge albums while drawing robots, doing some web-nerd client work, and riding my bike again.

I endured the 24/7 news cycle for 10 years with Buzzgrinder and Noisecreep, and leaving that world was the best thing I’ve ever done.