Interview 10.1: Sebastian Prooth, Blogger, Podcaster, Film-maker

Seb Talks about What He’s Been Doing

When Seb Prooth of Seb’s Random Thoughts and I first met, we had a comment conversation about a piece he wrote called, Blogger or Writer? Or Both? I enjoyed that chance to get to know a then new SOB in his “natural habitat.”

It’s been fun for this interview to check back with Seb to see how he’s been spending his time. The article that we discussed was posted last May 9th. It sure seems he’s done a lot since then.

Hi Seb! Tell everyone a bit about the guy called Sebastian.

Well that’s a complicated question! I was just talking about this very subject the other day when I was asked what I do, and I had to give a list of Ã¢â¬Åoccupations.Ã¢â¬Â What do I do? Well I am a blogger, obviously. I’m also a writer, technology enthusiast and until recently a podcaster.

For my Ã¢â¬ÅrealÃ¢â¬Â work I am a student of media, and consider myself a film-maker. I am in pre-production on my first short film with real actors. You can see some of my current work on YouTube at www.youtube.com/meltingclock.

Other than what I do, I can say that I am an American residing in the UK. The reason for that is complicated. I am an old 20 next month . . . read into that what you will! There is a full bio of me on my website at www.sebrt.com/about.

My interests include all those things I do plus a crazy list of other things. I have this strange penchant for interviewing people on my blog. That started back on my first podcast Ã¢â¬ÅFrom the DirectorÃ¢â¬â¢s Chair.Ã¢â¬Â

A little about my podcasting Ã¢â¬Åcareer.Ã¢â¬Â
I started podcasting back in December 2005 — I know thatÃ¢â¬â¢s ancient history on the Internet — To make a long story short, my first podcast ran for 17 episodes, and I interviewed some of the movers and shakers in podcasting. In May I merged that podcast with another podcast I was creating with my friend Dave Gray.

Together Dave and I created and hosted what became the weekly Ã¢â¬ÅGlobal Geek PodcastÃ¢â¬Â on which the co-hosts report tech news, web 2.0 happenings and rumblings in the podosphere. The show is light hearted and always includes a wacky news segment. Global Geek Podcast was nominated number 2 podcast to have on your iPod by .Net Magazine in their October 2006 issue.

I left Global Geek Podcast mid September to pursue other projects, however the show is still going strong with a new co-host. I hope that it will continue to grow and gain popularity as long as the hosts are hosting it! You can reach the Global Geek Podcast at www.globalgeekpodcast.com.

What was the path that brought you to blogging? How long have you been blogging? How has your blogging changed since the day that you started?

I originally became interested in blogging through an audio-book. Not kidding. I was listening to Wil Wheaton talk (read) about his early blogging days in his wonderful book, that remains one of my favourites, Ã¢â¬ÅJust a Geek.Ã¢â¬Â I decided to jump on the bandwagon of blogging in early December 2005. I opened up a Blogger.com blog and started talking about anything and everything. It was fun and I soon had readers.

My blogging has changed a great deal since when I began. I have [hopefully] become a better writer. I am more relaxed about writing well, if that is possible. What I mean is I seem to write better with less effort than I used to. As my blog has gained readers and some popularity I have been blessed with comments on my writing style most of which are positive.

The picked up the technical aspects of blogging such as trackbacks, hyperlinks, and Ã¢â¬Åblog lingoÃ¢â¬Â required. If I had not learned these early, I would most likely have found it more difficult to get the cross promotion and attention that I have. Back in April of this year, I moved my blog to WordPress. I am much happier with my blog at WordPress and have masked the URL from the long form username.wordpress.com to www.sebrt.com.

A little about my interviews.
I would say that the interviews I have conducted on my blog with Dennis Madalone famous online for his patriotic ballad America, We Stand as One and offline as the Stunt-Coordinator on Star Trek, and another interview with Dan Curry, a Hollywood Visual Effects Guru, (VisFX Producer on Star Trek for 18 years) have given my blog a new angle, with further reach into the readers interest. Multiple mentions on Wikipedia with links to these interviews seem to attract a lot of attention. Readers can look forward to hearing from some more familiar and in some cases, celebrities on SebRT in the near future.

In Part 2, Seb talks about how blogging fits into his life and what advice he’d offer new bloggers.

–ME “Liz” Strauss