Scott David Brown's Blog

Thoughts about my podcast still linger in my brain as I conveniently ignore it while working on new content for my streaming channel on https://www.twitch.tv/sdbmania. Apparently my laziness has promted me to forget about it. Though to be fair, the idea is still incomplete. Do I want to act like a TV host all by myself? Where is my Andy Richter?

So for now, we will have to settle for something else until I figure out how I want to do the podcast. Enter SDBmania News! For a while now I have used !news to let viewers know what’s going on with my channel. That’s great, but what about people who don’t like to read? Then I thought about my YouTube channel. I don’t use it nearly enough and since I can’t post Twitch videos on my blog, making YouTube videos to highlight new stuff about my Twitch channel made a lot of sense. And thus, my news program was born!

SDBmania News is a short video about the latest developments on my Twitch channel. It will also contain important information, like mikefiftymillion’s gofundme page. I will try to add a new video every week, so you can watch me talk about myself for several minutes. Yikes! I’m also going to try an make an effort to work on my blog a bit more. Maybe post some game reviews and talk about issues related to Twitch. Anyway, hope you like the first installment of SDBmania News!!! OMG!!!

If you are a regular visitor of my website, you may know that I don’t write a lot of blog posts. That’s because I forget or I don’t have anything to say. I spend a lot of my time, in fact most of it, on Twitch. So, I don’t do much with my website. That is why I have decided to retire the writing portion of this blog. I guess it’s not really going to be a blog anymore.

Instead, I will be using this site to showcase my new weekly podcast. That’s right! I’m planning to do a podcast that is an extension to the SDBmania Channel on Twitch. I’m planning on a weekly podcast, with my girlfriend as a co-host. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun! I know this change might be sudden, but I just feel like I’m done with writing. I spent a lot of time on it, but I think its time to move on to something new and I feel like my Twitch channel is growing nicely.

It’s the end of an era in a lot of ways, but with time things change. I could of course still write a blog post here or there, but for now it’s going to be just SDBmania Channel stuff. I do appreciate everyone who visited and I hope you will continue to come here for the podcast.

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I’ve been a lot of things, writer, video store rental guy, and musician, and others. One thing I have never been is a wrestler. Surprise! I am now! I helped Mike Fifty Million design the character, but most of the work was his, and now I am The Maniac!

Since the creation of The Maniac, Mike started requesting we do interview and I try to find time for them. You can catch the latest interview here: The Maniac. By the way, The Maniac is on the right. KCW is a custom team of wrestlers in the WWE arena. Mike creates most of these characters off people he knows on Twitch.tv. Hence why he created one of me!

It was a lot of fun to voice the character of The Manaic, and I hope you enjoy the interviews as much as I have! It’s funny since I’m not into sports, but I do enjoy watching The Maniac fight. Also the matches don’t tend to be too long, so they are easy to watch. Guys please check out Mikes YouTube Channel for his KCW matches and stay tuned for more from The Maniac!

Hey guys, remember when you couldn’t talk to girls? I’ve been reminded recently about an old issue I had when I was much younger. “HOW DO YOU TALK TO GIRLS!!?!?!?!?!?!?” I kinda smile when I think about it. I’m by no means a Casanova or anything, but it seems silly now to worry about how to talk to women. It’s definitely an immature place to be, though it’s understandable and by no means a bad thing. It just means you have room to grow. If by chance you are unsure of how to talk to women, the secret is you have to talk to them. About anything really.

Maybe this is a game changer for you, but women are people. Simple, but a lot of guys like to put women on a pedestal. We like to think of them as perfect, better than us. Talking to women can make us really nervous! And don’t get me started on dating. And I say “we” because while I’m certainly confident in social situations for the most part, I still get nervous sometimes.

The idolization of women is in stark contradiction to the powerfully negative aspect of masculine culture which values men over women, but is still harmful. It can make it difficult for some men to interact with women. This is because we see women as better than us, as superior. It may seem flattering to women, but for men it can be crippling.

Let me explain why. For starters, guys who like girls can feel unworthy, or a lack of confidence. Feelings of inferiority for either sex makes it difficult to interact with the opposite sex (or in some cases same-sex). Feelings of inferiority can lead to anxieties while feeling superior can lead to entitlement.

Instead, of idolizing men or women, remember that we are all flawed and imperfect individuals. It’s okay to be imperfect and the more you see the other person as normal, the easier it will be to talk to them. Another thing that helps me is to downplay saying stupid things. I used to worry a lot about what I said to women. I still try to watch myself, but if I say something stupid or weird or whatever, it’s not the end of the world. Once you get to know a person, you should feel comfortable to say whatever you want really.

I used to say, think of an attractive woman as being like one of your guy friends. Don’t see her as someone “unobtainable,” just treat her like you would with one of your good friends. Respect and a little confidence goes a long way.

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If you haven’t checked me out on Twitch at: https://www.twitch.tv/sdbmania, now’s the time! I’m always trying to add new things to make my channel even better. The latest was my Elgato HD60 S external video capture card. Probably the most expensive item I’ve bought so far for the stream, well worth it. The next large purchase I am planning is the Elgato Green Screen, though I’m going to wait a while to buy it. Other possible upgrades for the distant future are: a new webcam, a stream deck, and possibly a second PC so I can use one computer for streaming and one for PC games.

For now, I’m making little additions to the stream, like new bot commands and extensions. I also recently added new images for my panels, just to make things look a little classy. And since Twitch has become so important in my life, this website is going to be focused on my Twitch channel. Most of my posts now will be related to Twitch or video games, mostly. I’m not likely to post about politics, religion, and other sensitive topics that I have talked about in the past (though that doesn’t mean I won’t). I’m really working to try to build my viewer base as much as I can, that should be my focus. That being said, I will still write posts about my personal life and what I’m feeling. That’s because I still want to let people know who SDB is!

I plan to write a post every week at least with news about my Twitch channel. All depends on what new stuff I have to report. For today, the newest development is my integration with my blog and my Twitch channel. There’s a new command, !web, that will display the web address of this site. Also I’ve included more of my social media accounts on my website! If you watch my channel regularly, you can find additional social media accounts to follow if you wish. As always, follow me on twitter for current news about my Twitch Channel.

Also, don’t forget to mark you calendar!! September 17th and 18 is the big Happy Belated-Birthday SDBmania Twitch Channel event. I’ll be playing some fun games, probably Friday the 13th The Game and possibly others. You’re gonna want to tune in, cuz I will be doing some giveaways each night! While I’m doing these events in September, technically it was a year in August that I came back to Twitch, oops!

Alright, guess that’s all there is to report for today. I hope you all are having a wonderful day, and don’t forget to check me out on Twitch y’all!!

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Holy heck!? I haven’t written a new post in like a year! And I’m playing for this site!! Okay, well let’s kick it in gear and at least try to make some use out of this website. Hopefully this time I won’t take such a long break. People might actually want to read what I have to say! Or not. At any rate, here’s my “I’m back again and this time will try to write more” post. Why haven’t I been writing lately? Because, I’ve been putting a lot of time into my Twitch Channel: SDBmania. That’s what. In fact, my little channel is growing at a nice pace. Sadly, that’s the only thing I have been doing with my life, for the most part.

Why have I been spending so much time on Twitch? Cuz I need to build my audience! It takes a lot of effort for a guy like me to grow my channel. I worked hard for around 6 months to get affiliated with Twitch. Now I’m starting to earn a little money, but more importantly, meeting some cool people. So, yeah, I spent a lot of time streaming and will continue to do so.

However, now that I feel things are going better, I want to spend a little time getting back into writing. I haven’t worked on my fiction for like ever. I don’t feel motivated to do it, but maybe if I start working on my blog again I might get inspired. So far, nope. But hey, I can at least give my blog the attention it deserves! Or at least a little bit.

I’m starting off with a short post saying I’m back, hopefully for good this time, and I’ll be working on another post talking about what I want to do with my twitch channel going forward. So sit back and read to your hearts content! Also, hope that I don’t get too lazy and give up on wordpress again.

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Here’s one more quick holiday post. Just an excuse to post some more pictures. Two photos aren’t extensive, but it’s better than those light projectors shining little lights on their houses!

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You may or may not know this, but I was not always a fan of science fiction. When I was a kid, most of the genre seemed like crap, with a few exceptions. One exception was The Twilight Zone. I hope to finish watching the whole series eventually, though one season isn’t available on Amazon Prime.

When I discovered The X-Files (It’s coming back in January!!!!) things changed. It’s what I write the most these days. What I love about science fiction is how much power you have. You can basically make up anything you want, provided it sounds logical. Though, the best Sci-Fi has some basis in fact, I believe.

The Orville is my new favorite Sci-Fi TV show! It’s sort of like Star Trek, but feels different. Seth McFarlane stars as the Captain of the ship, which the show is named after. I intended to create a OnePass on TiVo, but neglected. Oops! Better late than never.

Anyway, I ended up binge watching The Orville after the first episode and finished episode 11 by about day 3. It didn’t hurt that I was suffering back pain for one of those days. All better now though. The funny thing is that I only ended up recording the season finale. Now I have to wait for season 2, which most likely will be coming in September of 2018. Hopefully it will be a full season with at least 22 episodes.

Why is the show so great? It brings a fresh new take to a classic concept. My first thought when I heard about the show was that it was going to be “Family Guy In Space.” This can’t be further from the truth. While it funny at times, it deals with serious and interesting issues. I wouldn’t call it a comedy per-say (I’m sure some might) but the jokes work.

The show is believable, even with fiction side of things. Now my specialty is psychology, so I can’t tell you how much of the science in the show is based on real concepts, but I am willing to bet that a lot of the concepts used in the show are based on real theories.

It’s really nice that the show is based on our solar system. Earth exists, New York exists, so that really adds to the realism. Season 1 doesn’t spend a lot of time on Earth, which is a good thing, though hopefully season 2 will expand on what Earth is like. I’d also like to learn more about how all the aliens can talk to each other. In one episode its mentioned that the characters have translators, probably some kind of bio-computer implant in their brains.

Seth McFarlane’s sense of humor is in the show, but it’s a bit toned down. It’s playful and adorable, a good fit. The cast is wonderful, they all really have a great chemistry. So far I’ve liked the different alien races. I especially like Alara, she has super strength because on her home planet the levels of gravity is much higher than other planets. She’s young and inexperienced, but smart. I think a lot of people can relate to her. I certainly can since she struggles with her leadership role in the show.

Overall I think The Orville is a fantastic show and I can’t wait for season 2! I may have to wait a while for the next season, but at least there are other shows I can enjoy till then. Oh, and there is a matter of whether or not to update the TiVos to the new OS. Decisions, decisions.

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Once again it’s time for the digital snow to fall all over scottdavidbrown.com! I was so excited for it to start that I have been checking my blog every other day, waiting for it to start. I’m happy to see it was an automated feature, no need to activate it! Nice!  Sadly, my visual theme for the blog wasn’t ideal for the effect, so I made a slight change.

The flow of allegations against men over the last several weeks is a very good thing. More and more women are speaking out about their traumatic and painful experiences involving powerful men, which makes it more difficult for the women to come forward. Many women are afraid to do so, because they fear they wont be believed or they will face retaliation.

My initial reaction to much of the accusations was why didn’t the women come forward at the time? Of course I should know better, but I had forgotten about what power can do. After all, no one wanted to believe that Bill Cosby would be capable of doing the horrible things he has been accused of. Still, after so many women have come forward, it’s hard to think of him as innocent based on a pattern of bad behavior.

Just imagine if you had been victimized by someone important, like your boss at work. He or she has a lot of credibility. That person runs the company or organization, so to accuse them of something means you may have an uphill battle. When it’s a public figure being accused, you have to we willing to be vulnerable in a very public way. Everyone will know what happened to you.

With sexual harassment, you have to add the fact that society tends to blame women for being harassed. “She was asking for it,” people sometimes say. Others even blame her style of dress, “she shouldn’t have been wearing that!” It’s remarkable how these people don’t seem to blame the man who obviously had no self-control or they try to excuse his behavior. Someone on television pointed out, don’t remember who, that we don’t don that for murders. I think it does happen, but usually the public accepts the victims statements when it comes to violent crimes like assault or murder.

Any time I hear comments about blaming women for being victims, it makes me think about my issues with bullying. We sometimes DO blame bully-victims for being bullied. It’s in the spirit of trying to protect them. The logic being that certain styles of dress invite bad behavior. It may be well intended, but it does give cover to men who behave inappropriately. A person shouldn’t have to change the way they are or how they want to express themselves. And besides, men should know better, it’s not that hard fellas.

Is there a way to balance the freedom of expression (looking sexy, for example) with choosing behaviors that keep us safe? Sure, you can look sexy without going too far and in some environments it may not be appropriate to dress sexy. However, when you are off the clock, there is no reason not to dress how you like. Sadly, a woman can dress as conservatively as possible and that won’t stop some men from harassing them. It’s really not about changing how people dress, it’s about changing how we look at sexual harassment.

“Boys will be boys” needs to be deleted from our brains.