THE ADVERTISER interviews this Blogger on "delay in the broadband tender"

THE ADVERTISER - (SA Business Journal section)
VALERINA CHANGARATHIL
August 25, 2008 11:30pm

THE transition from dial-up to broadband has helped Robe-based stand-up comic, actor and artist Geoff Dening, 45, triple his income and work over three years.

An AdelaideNow reader, Dening has told The Advertiser his story after reading about the delay in the broadband tender process of the Federal Government.

"The internet is not a tool for political profit,'' Dening says in a comment posted on the website.

He sells his CDs, auditions for acting jobs, creates works in progress and uses the internet as a research tool to perceive audience reactions to his work with his Optus broadband connection.

"I am happy with the speed I currently have, but the more I get, the better it is,'' he says.

Using sites such as MySpace, Facebook, ReverbNation and Star Now, he has access to a global audience, and receives royalties from an American company for people to listen to recordings online.

The internet has opened up more avenues for the regional South Australian, now developing an online radio station and producing an online film using YouTube.

However, the lack of advanced internet capabilities has hampered him.

"My progress has been a lot slower than is possible,'' he says.

"For example, I could be selling digital downloads right now using ReverbNation as the storage and provider.''
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Having done this interview a couple of weeks ago I did not know it was published until an email arrived yesterday afternoon from the Area Representative - Limestone Coast Telstra Country Wide. Who contacted me to explain that the infrastructure that OPTUS used for my connection was actually established by Telstra. To be honest I do not care about whose it is. My use of the internet is for work mostly and I pay for the service, all I want is good service and access to the tools that are effective in making my work better. REVERBnation contacted me after reading the article on my site in the Media section with the following Thank you Geoff. That was really kind of you and we really do appreciate it. We are getting much closer to the releasing digital distribution and it is looking amazing.

That is what my need from the company/businesses I deal with for the internet requires. Communication and current services/applications that benefit nothing else.
My YOUTUBE channel does exactly that and the INSIGHT function in particular has been very helpful in gaining me another entertainment opportunity with the ability to show the demographics and locations of my veiwers and subscribers. anyone who thinks that success from using the Internet is just a matter of sitting down and having people flock to their sites will join the list of people dismayed that failure has happened to them. The internet is just like any other work medium you have to put in the effort to make it succeed.

Currently I have my short Documentary Film from the footage taken at the 2008 FRINGE in Adelaide submitted in the ABC2 'Fanging It' Phase 2 all you have to do is;
Be a creative Australian (18 or over) with original ideas and a strong sense of fun... (If you think your clip is interesting, we’re prepared to check it out!)
Make a short (two to two-and-a-half-minute), entertaining, factual video - which doesn’t feature you - about a real-life Australian adventure, person, place or travel encounter (this time you’re strictly behind the camera).
Clips can be about:
FACES, PLACES AND THINGS
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
TALL TALES AND TRUE
BED BUGS AND BURNT TOAST


Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Carlton beat Brisbane Rd 21

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Kangaroos thrash Carlton

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

"Footyhead" speaks as Carlton pulverise Port Rd 19 2008

One of mypeers who I have worked with for several years has many talents. An accomplished artist with his own Gallery, his other passion is singing and songwriting. This year he recorded a song and it was enthusiastically received by many icons of Aussie rules as the most inspiring footy song they had heard. For the past month negotiations with a major music label have been under way and eveything has been positive. I am very pragmatic about 'art' this is from lessons learnt over the past twenty years. Just because something is good and people like it and it has public support does not mean it will be taken on board by larger commercial operations (hahah I have been watching too much Yes Minister and picked up speaking with out committing this week).

Simply being good and popular is not going to have action taken straight away, as my mate has found out the plans for music releases by the other party have been set up a year in advance as frustrating as this is for him that is reality of business.

For me sport is a topic that for many years I have used as a basis for my creative work. This year I dusted off "Footyhead" who was never a part of my 'work' when it came to footy, This character was actually a fun thing I did to get away from the serious side of the work. With a little surprise though, after getting involved with having some fun with 'Footyhead' on YouTube the responce encouraged me to look at him in a different light. I thoroughly enjoy the reaction to his ranting on video anything is better than being ignored and so with that effort of 2008 season nearly done next year the character will for the first time become a real performing character.

Footy is fun and I love playing with the culture around it as a clown.


Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Footyhead continues in 2009

Six months has flown by in the new life of "Footyhead". Given that the character had not been out and about since 2002 his reanimation online at Youtube has been successful and great fun to do. Even though the 2008 AFL season has not finished yet there had to be a decision made on "Footyheads" future. Producing topical characters is in fact serious work. As it was in 2008 I was doing "Footyhead mostly for fun and as an online outlet to do some performing away from my other shows and work. As the season progressed the adlib and spontaneous nature of doing weekly YouTube clips was lessened and planning went into what was going to be done each week.

Fortunately it still remained a minimal amount of creative work to produce the clips. Behind the scenes and away from the camera though, as the comments and subscriber interaction grew "Footyhead" was growing on paper towards the future. As performing is what my career is the fun and the 'work' to make the fun worthwhile for me to keep doing something is not a chore. Nothing much will change for the rest of 2008 with the character there are no expectations to have much more from it for now. 2009 though will see fuller figure on the small screen at Youtube and greater value for viewers.

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff