Category Archives: friends

Friends are so important.
You ARE my friend, aren’t you?

Saying Hello to Four New True Friends … And Goodbye to One

The Sad Passing of a True Friend

It is also a sad day because one of my True Friends is no more. My True Friend HitchBOT (@HitchBOT) had a demise yesterday and has passed away.

“True Friend HitchBOT and I taking a selfie,” by @iamTalkyTina

If you did not know HitchBOT like I did, I can tell you that he was a very peaceful and fun-loving soul, who was living the dream of travel and friendship. He had enjoyed a wonderful journey all the way across Canada during the summer of 2014 just by hitchhiking with the good will of peoples travelling on the roads.

“My Canada Trip,” by @HitchBOT (click on the image to see HitchBOT’s full infographic)

Then, having travelled safely overseas in Germany and in The Netherlands, he was just in his second week of his very first cross-USA trip when he ran into the demise. It was just yesterday in Philadelphia when some not very nice peoples took him apart instead of being good neighbours and samaritans. He never did get to fulfil his bucket list (his body was made of a bucket) of travelling across the United States by way of Mount Rushmore, and The Grand Canyon, and other scenes, towards San Francisco where he was going.

Now HitchBOT is no more.

It is a sad thing, because lots of people said he was nice and he said they were nice, and as his family said, “some times bad things happen to good robots.”

So we will all miss HitchBOT, and I will remember him as a True Friend always, plus immortalized on my True Friends Index with his own HitchBOT badge where he belongs.

So HOORAY for all my FOUR NEW TRUE FRIENDS, and goodbye to HitchBOT.

Be Seeing You!

Your True Friend,
iamTalkyTina

Announcing the Summer 2015 Village Festival !!

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“Summer 2015 Village Festival poster” by iamTalkytina

We are going to have a Summer 2015 Village Festival that will be just so much fun for all the Residents!

I can let the word out now that one of the reasons I have been here in The Village this summer has been to organize a celebration of fun for all my ds106 Friends and True Friends who are in The Village this summer.

You can see from the beautiful poster that I made that there will be a lot of very fun events and it will only cost you 5 Credit Units to participate in everything! It will be such a fun time and I know you will all have a great time!

So get your favourite Village clothes all pressed and clean, and get your umbrella ready for a beautiful sunny day of community enjoyment! We will have such a good event!

I will BE SEEING YOU all there!

Note: The Summer 2016 Village Festival has been planned and arranged by me, @iamTalkyTina, under contract and at the behest of The Committee, in conjunction with the good folks at the Tally Ho Press, under the auspices of iamTalkyTina and Tally Ho Press Productions for the Residents of The Village, Summer 2015

Plus this poster is worth more than the 2 Credit Units that I get for it under the Festival or Fundraiser Design Assignment 1751 that I said when nobody had ever done it but then John did it and now I have done it so that is two people now who are leading the way.

So YOU get out there and make your Art, bubs!

Make a Design Assignment your True Friend

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“iamTalkyTina Says Make Friends with Design” image by @iamTalkyTina

Well, I was looking in the Assignment Bank for some Design Assignments to do that I haven’t done before. And do you know what I found? There is a good number of created assignments that have 0 doers so far. So I was thinking that some village peoples might like to make a friend with an assignment and become the first person to make it. Plus tutorials!

So I made a list! These are some that would be good ones for prisoner106.us for The Village! You can read the titles of them up here at the top. You can keep reading all the way down if you want to read the descriptions here without clicking out and back. Here is my list:

Create Your Own Logo – My assignment is to create your very own logo. You can make up your own unique item and make a logo for it or use an existing item and recreate the logo! Have fun with it, make it colorful if you want, and make sure it somehow represents the item/product you are doing the logo for. This assignment requires you to use your imagination and create your very own logo. For my example, I’m using Starbucks. I have invented a new logo for Starbucks; it’s simple but you’ll understand it when you see it.

Make a Maze – Make your own puzzle maze. Draw it by hand using a pen or pencil or make in on your computer using some kind of editing software that allows you to use straight lines. Have fun with it, make it a cirlce, square or whatever shape you like. Make it as difficult or as easy as you want just make sure that it is possible to complete. Add color or background images if you want to make it more appealing.

Festival or Fundraiser – Events, fundraisers, festivals, and other fun things to do happen around us all the time. Have you ever had two or even three events you wanted to participate in happen on the same day, but you could only choose one? For this design assignment you are tasked to create an attractive advertisement/flyer for some type of event. Be creative. Any event will do, but the point is to entice people to want to attend your event over any other. Your event could be a harvest festival with a petting zoo and pumpkin toss, or you could have bingo fundraiser to support the local SPCA, or even better yet something completely off the wall like a save the unicorns benefit. Be sure you also include a date, time, location and any other details specific to your event. Don’t forget to tag it.

Wedding Invitation – We are currently in the middle of the wedding season. With this being said so many people out there are tying the knot! For this assignment, I would like you to create/design your own wedding invitation as if you were going to be getting married soon! What would it look like? You could include pictures, date, time, place, or anything else related to this topic that you think would be fun to incorporate! Use your imagination! Be creative! To create this assignment you should use Canva. Upload your invitation to Flickr and tag it DesignAssignments.

Something that Would Make You LOL If You Read It in a Newspaper – Step 1. Imagine yourself reading the paper in the morning. Step 2. Think of something (a story) that would make you laugh and brighten your day if you read it. Step 3. Using any resource availible to you, make a fake news article, that incorporates your sense of humor. Even if it is an inside joke that only you and a handful of people would get (laugh).

Make a Conspiracy Board – Make a board or chart that lists out a conspiracy. You can make it a cork board, deck of cards tree, or anything else creative that you can think of. List the people in the conspiracy, their roles, victims of the conspiracy, and other details to fill out your board to make a story.

Haynes Owners Manual – The iconic DIY Haynes Owner Manuals for every kind of vehicle out there meets the fantastic in this design assignment. Make the cover of a Haynes Owner’s manual for a vehicle, appliance, or some other entity that makes the fantastic possible. See this example for the Millenium Falcon for inspiration.

If you are still reading this far, then Good For You! Now go do a Design Assignment. And even a Tutorial for it. Be sure to tag them just the right way like it says on the Assignment page.

Special Offer: Become a True Friend

In honour of prisoner106.us and the Summer 2015 DS106, Residents of The Village who are not True Friends of me are invited to submit an application to become a True Friend and get your very own badge! Ron does not need to apply again because he has already applied and is on my list and is being very patient! So apply today and get your badge! But don’t use the Mean Word!

Well, bye! Now go make some Art, bub!

Danny Was a Smooth Talker

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“Danny was a Smooth Talker,” photo from @iamTalkyTina archive

I had all but forgotten this little gem until Geoff Cain (@geoffcain, on Twitter) triggered some memories this evening that had been pretty much buried in the muck of the sands of time. Geoff’s prisoner106 Book Cover “The Partridge Family #4 Meets The Prisoner” reminded me of the time back in the 70s when The Partridges were let loose in The Village. I recall it well because it was the third (or fourth?) time I was called into The Village to do some security consulting and to pick up the pieces (again) after yet another Number 2 meltdown.

Keith and Laurie were happy enough hanging out on the beach, playing guitar and singing. Shirley and Reuben were easy enough to keep track of — they were in the Castle restaurant most of the time, or sitting on the patio enjoying the view and the Bloody Marys. Chris (the second one) and Tracy didn’t get into too much trouble, and it was before Ricky came along, so I didn’t need to worry about him. But Danny was the character who gave me the real headaches. He somehow managed to take advantage of the power vacuum and got himself installed as Number 2 for a few days until The Committee and the Residents got wise to him and the replacement finally arrived.

Let me tell you, I earned my consulting fees on that trip! Danny was even so presumptuous as to get his own glossies printed up by the Tally Ho press, and foisted them on anyone who would take one. As you can see, despite all of my run-ins with him, he couldn’t even take the time to get my name right. AND he used the Mean Word at me. He was only a True Friend of Me in his own head.

So thanks, Geoff, for stirring up this little jaunt through yet another (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) preferably forgotten memory.

Ah well, all’s well that Tina ends!

Share a MOOC with Friends

Being Number 2

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Village ID Card, 1966.

Although I can’t say too much for reasons of contractual obligations and professional confidentiality, I have been asked by The Office to share a couple of audio resources which may serve as useful examples and resources for #prisoner106 folks who have arrived this summer in The Village. Plus, this is Audio Week and all.

The first is a previously unreleased recording of a conversation between me and an unnamed Resident that has been preserved for years now in the Archives. This conversation of mine has become a key component of the Official Training Package for those new to the role of Number 2. It really is quite astounding (and flattering) to know that this one little sample has provided such a strong model for Administrators of The Village, especially when there is such turnover within the role and the same questions for them seem to come up time and time again.

The second component from the Training Package is a “blank” or “practice” version from which I have removed my voice, leaving the original questions with the appropriate spaces available for incoming or incumbent Number 2’s to practice their responses until they get it right. Especially important is the need for a Number 2 to speak with authority, certainty, and yet infuse their own unique personality so as to build a solid working rapport with the Resident in question.

In the spirit of Free Information and Learning, the current Number 2 has encouraged the Village Registrar to now make these files available to current Residents via the prisoner106.us Archive. As part of our original Memorandum of Agreement, public release of these files by The Village provides me with a similar freedom to make them available myself. And so I will.

Note, however, that I am neither able speak about the conditions under which the files were originally recorded, nor about the nature of my relationship with The Village at the time, nor at this time, nor at any other.

#BeSeeingYou !!

iamTalkyTina embeds in The Village

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“My Village Information Card,” by Talky Tina, on Flickr

Well, hello there Friends. It will be such a nice time to be with you this summer in The Village here with Prisoner106.us ds106 Summer 2015 Edition. It was a happy time to see my old friend Rover when I got here and to know that she is back doing what she loves. It was too bad that that Number 2 was such a boring one but I hope the NEW Number 2 will be a more funner one.

So when I got back here, I moved back into my lodgings (I don’t have a bungalow, but rather a separate secure quarters beneath the green dome — but I say too much) and checked into The Office to get my badge (it’s up there to the right at the top, unless you are on a mobile, in which case you have to scroll down toward the bottom) and to fill out my Visitor Information Card. I filled mine out as an example to all the other peoples so that they would know. It was the first one on the Residents‘ page. I will see if I can find one of my old ones from one of the other times that I was here (I’ve popped in and out over the years on various contracts), but it is probably in an old shoebox back in my office from years ago. Anyway, I already had my Flickr all set up from before times, so I posted it there and have embedded it here (up above) so that you can see it here without having to click on a text link, but I have also set it up so that you can click on the picture up there and go straight to my Flickr there to see it where it is. That is how we were taught to do it in the ds106 way because Jim and Martha and b and Paul all say no just linking, you have to do embedding. But when you get to Flickr, remember to follow me. Plus, Bill made a Flickr group for all the Prisoner106 peoples which you can put your stuff into for INFORMATION.

Next, I recorded a little audio greeting for all of my ds106 Friends and True Friends (do you have your True Friend of me badge?) and then I put it up on my Soundcloud because I already had that set up too from before, and then I embedded it right here so that you can listen to it right here by clicking. but if you want, you can also see it on Soundcloud. While you are there, follow me on Soundcloud if you aren’t already doing that.

Next up was a Video one. For this one, I decided to tell a little bit of the story of me and ds106, just in case you don’t know all about me yet. But most of you should already, and if you don’t, then it’s about time! So watch the video which I posted onto my YouTube and then I embedded it here, just like I should. Because I learned some things while I was making this video, I will make a separate post about the Making of Becoming @iamTalkyTina where I can share some of what I learned. But you should be prepared because this video is a little bit of sad one to start before it gets happier at the end.

To finish off, I am also putting some of my Twitter ones in here, just so that you can see that it is also a thing that you can embed. All of these embed ways are important to help you pull all of your stuff together. It is important that you pull your stuff together for good learning.

Have you heard ‘Prisoner106 Welcome Audio Message’ by iamTalkyTina #prisoner106 #ds106 https://t.co/Uz6EsLjyHd

— Talky Tina (@IamTalkyTina) July 4, 2015

And then here is another one from a couple days ago:

Rover is Ready For Her Close-Up, Mr. McGoohan http://t.co/JgfVCuhZAu pic.twitter.com/rR5yJ79VTq

— Talky Tina (@IamTalkyTina) June 21, 2015

And then one more good one of @jimgroom where I made a GIF out of him.

The Time I Photobombed Jim While He Photobombed Tim http://t.co/LP72ubnJbb pic.twitter.com/3NOzk8tXio

— Talky Tina (@IamTalkyTina) July 1, 2015

So that is all about showing how to embed all of my “Hello and Welcome to the Prisoner106 Village” stuff. So now I can go make some GIFs and watch some episodes because now you know all about me through all those types of ways: pictures, audio, video, and tweeting.

Well, bye!

The Time I Photobombed Jim While He Photobombed Tim

Rover is Ready For Her Close-Up, Mr. McGoohan

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"Old Rover, Retouched," animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

“My True Friend Rover, Retouched,” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

I fondly remember the first day I met Rover.

I was taking a little walk on the beach during my first day in Portmeirion. The offshore breeze was beautiful and I was taking in the gulls and the flowers and the bull kelp when a sixth sense alerted me to the fact that I wasn’t alone.

I gracefully executed Monkey Glides Smoothly on Banana Peel and transitioned flawlessly into Chimp On a Jungle Vine, — and found myself face-to-face with Rover.

It may have been our respective abilities in stealthy manoeuvres, but I have to think that she and I were both taken aback with our first glances at one another.

After we each backed up a pace or two and performed a threat assessment, we both seemed to mutually decide that we were more than compatible, and we settled down side-by-side on a log to enjoy the afternoon and converse about our respective philosophies.

It was the first of many such wonderful days that first summer. The two of us were peas in a pod on and off the set, and we did a good job of covering for one another whenever there was a prank or two to be pulled on the cast and crew. Between the two of us, no one ever got caught out and we managed to put over some epic doozies on Pat and the folks.

Things turned a bit dark towards the end of the series, when the funding started to dry up. The production company was re-using stock footage by then (you know — the lava lamp and the Rover rising up out of the water sequence) and Rover stopped getting call-backs. Her original sheen had worn off, and despite all the mending and patching and buffing that I was able to do, Rover was pretty despondent. There came a day when I went down to the beach to visit, and Rover wasn’t there. I followed Rover’s footprint for a mile or so (basically a series of roll-and-hop-marks in the sand), but I lost the trail at Penrhyndeudraeth. Rover was gone on a midnight train.

The GIF above is one of my most treasured keepsakes of that summer with Rover. Based on the original footage from 1967-68, it has suffered from the ravages of time. I spent considerable time this afternoon restoring it to as close to its original spender as possible. Perhaps you can spot (no way!) the sections where I did some major retouching.

“Rover Gets a Makeover,” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

A New Life for Rover

It was a few years ago that I was overseas on a little errand and I ran into Rover again. After more than three decades out of the biz, she had found a new lease on life performing at large-venue concerts during intermissions. She had had some wonderful plastic work done, and was looking great! She was reliving the glory days, performing in character as her old self, complete with the original theme music from The Prisoner, and having a fantastic time! Imagine how happy we were to get re-aquainted!

I hung around in the venue after the show shot some wonderful promo videos of her for her portfolio (see below). After that we just spent the weekend hanging out and reminiscing. It was great to re-kindle our friendship. Things were going so well that she was off to perform in Dubai the last I heard.

“Rover Promo Video” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

True Friends are True Friends

With the recent ds106-ification of #prisoner106, I realized that it was high time that I acknowledge Rover with her own True Friend badge. True Friends never begrudge the time it takes to receive their badge, as long as they finally receive it. And so, without further ado, I award Rover her official badge! We should #BeSeeingHer around this summer!

Heavy Metal Bands for #ds106 True Friends

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Well, this was just a twitter one that I did one night, but since I just mentioned it in Don’t Make It Too Easy, John! I figured I should make it into a blog post of it. It was because my True Friend Mr. Paul (@phb256 on Twitter) wanted to know if I had a Heavy Metal Band.

“Does Tina Have a Band?” said by @phb256 on Twitter.

So, there is a thing on the Internet that you click and it makes a random Heavy Metal Band name for you.. So I decided to use it to find a special band back for Mr. Paul:

for @phb256

“InRentedRapture” for @phb256

After that, I just sat there on the Internet and clicked it for hours and hours, picking out the gems of it that worked for some of my other True Friends.

So here are the good ones that it made:

for @cogdog

“Dog Tails in Bike Spokes” band for my Still True Friend @cogdog

for @mdvfunes

“GestaltOnTheFreeway” for @mdvfunes

for @Todd_Conaway

“Killer Squirrel Gardens” for my True Friend @Todd_Conaway

for @Rowan_Peter

“AussieMowerManiacs” for @rowan_peter

for @scottlo

“EarWhacks” for my New Old Radio Friend, @ScottLo

for @dkernohan and @VivienRolfe

“EmbouchureApocalypse” for @dkernohan and @VivienRolfe

for @easegill

“SpelunkInYerJunker” for @easegill

for @hanksoda and the Ice Weasels

“Warfarin'” for @HankSoda and The Ice Weasels

for UNCLE @jimgroom

“HippyMOOCSLaughter” for UNCLE @jimgroom

The last one here for UNCLE Jim is the one that I also put into John’s Dance Jim Dance automatic GIF-maker when I said Don’t Make It Too Easy, John!

“Dancing Jim – HippyMOOCSlaughter” animated GIF

Plus, I didn’t think about it then, but it could also be Hippy MOOCS Laughter or Hippy MOOC Slaughter depending on how you are feeling on that particular day.

Well, bye!

I am Talky Tina

… and I'm watching you …

Category Archives: friends

Saying Hello to Four New True Friends … And Goodbye to One

The Sad Passing of a True Friend

Announcing the Summer 2015 Village Festival !!

Make a Design Assignment your True Friend

Special Offer: Become a True Friend

Danny Was a Smooth Talker

Being Number 2

iamTalkyTina embeds in The Village

The Time I Photobombed Jim While He Photobombed Tim

Rover is Ready For Her Close-Up, Mr. McGoohan

A New Life for Rover

True Friends are True Friends

Heavy Metal Bands for #ds106 True Friends

for @phb256

for @cogdog

for @mdvfunes

for @Todd_Conaway

for @Rowan_Peter

for @scottlo

for @dkernohan and @VivienRolfe

for @easegill

for @hanksoda and the Ice Weasels

for UNCLE @jimgroom