Posted on 28 August 2009 by Tim
For some reason PodPress didn’t want to play the first of three parts of my podcast interview with Yaro Starak, author of Entrepreneurs-Journey.com. Yaro discusses how he has made money online for over 10 years. He now blogs full-time.
So, what I’ve decided to do is put it into a video/slideshow format so the entire interview is in one piece.
TalkwithTim.com Interview with Yaro Starak from Tim Moon on Vimeo.
Posted on 25 August 2009 by Tim
Welcome to my interview with Yaro Starak! I hope you enjoy the conversation. If you want to, you can download all three parts and add them to your mp3 player.
If PodPress is not working please visit this page to view the entire interview. Thanks!
Yaro Starak is an entrepreneur from Brisbane, Australia. Yaro is best known for his blog Entrepreneurs-Journey.com but he also runs Blog Mastermind, Membership Site Mastermind and Become A Blogger (with Gideon Shalwick).
He teaches people how to successfully run and make money with blogs – with affiliate sales, product creation and membership sites. Yaro interviews a lot of successful bloggers and students from his training programs which is a great way to pick up awesome tips. Some of my favorite podcasts include Jeremy Schoemaker from Shoemoney.com and Robb Sutton from RobbSutton.com and MtbTrailReview.com.
I will type up a transcript of the interview and post it up later this week.
Posted on 22 August 2009 by Tim
I love my HP laptop. It’s quiet, performs great and the specs have satisfied me since 2007 when I bought it. However, Thursday night, shortly after interviewing the blog mastermind – Yaro Starak, my laptop took a deep breath and died. Did it die because it was overwhelmed by the awesomness of interviewing Yaro? Hard to say.
But, I won’t place the blame on him. Yaro’s a cool guy. I’m very grateful for his time and the fact that he even responded to my email! Lucky for me, I had saved the audio file to my external hard drive before the last hurrah.
I don’t know what exactly happened to my laptop.
In any case, I am now at the mercy of the Geek Squad, the orange and black computer repairmen (and women) who occupy a little section of my local Best Buy. Will the money I shelled out for a 3-year extended warranty pay off? Or will they come up short?
I’ll be sure to provide updates as the process carries on and review everything once I have my HP laptop back on my desk. I was quoted 14-21 days but the guy that helped me said their normal turn-around is about 10 days. Here’s hoping! Until then…my computer access is relatively limited.
Image by kmevans.
Posted on 18 August 2009 by Tim
The other day I was thinking about doing a bunch of music reviews while I was knockin’ out some tweets (on Twitter). Then, BLAM! Mash the two…tweet ready album reviews in 140 characters or less. Is it possible? Lets find out.
7 Albums in 140 Characters or Less:
Download Free: RhymeTorrents.org
Media: Ultraklystron on GeekDad/Wired.com
Review (110 characters):
Cliche Remix LP Top nerd artist retools old hits. Awesome party/gaming/dance music. Free to DL but worth cash.
Download @ Amazon: A Good Day
Media: Album Review on Blogcritics.
Review (105 characters):
Priscilla Ahn delivers pure vocals & skilled guitar that will connect with many listeners. A joy to hear.
Download @ Amazon: The Ecstatic
Media: Consequence of Sound gives 4.5 Stars to Mos Def
Review (122 characters):
Ecstatic by Mos Def is lyrical and real like you’d expect. Quiet Dog & The Embassy among the star tracks. Espanol? Got it.
Download @ Amazon: Eye Legacy [Explicit]
Media: The Lemur Blog on Eye Legacy
Review (101 characters):
Eye Legacy by Left Eye leaves me asking why? Exploitation? Few decent tracks, nothing groundbreaking.
Download @ Amazon: The Redemption
Media: Salon.com Review
Review ( characters):
Brooke is hot but lacks unique presence in music. Typical sound, potential remains hidden. Delve deeper, girl.
Download @ Amazon: The Bachelor
Media: Paste Magazine
Review (114 characters):
Patrick Wolf is not my style. The Bachelor is an odd pile of songs with no clear theme. Original but questionable.
Download @ Amazon: Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King
Media: PBPulse on Dave Matthews Band
Review (123 characters):
Dave Matthews Band delivers great material yet again. Shake Me Like a Monkey & Why I Am are faves. Live sound, lots of fun.
If you enjoyed this (or hated it) let me know in the comments below.
Music Bear Image by Shankar, Shiv.
Posted on 17 August 2009 by Tim
Would you give up a $50,000 a year job with a Fortune 100 company to launch your own business? Most people probably wouldn’t. But that’s exactly what Celestine Chua, author of CelestineChua.com, did and she’s loving it!
Celestine is a life coach who works 1-on-1 to help others strive for personal excellence and achieve their goals and dreams. Celes explains it on her site like this:
If you find yourself stuck in some area, life coaching will help you to get unstuck and make progress. If you want to get more results out of a certain area of your life, be it career, health, relationships, finance, etc, life coaching will help you to attain your desired results.
When you visit her site, you’re going to find a lot of great information you can put to use immediately to improve your life.
I first heard about Celestine from a guest post she did on Darren Rowse’s site ProBlogger.net. I was impressed, not only with her personal story, but also with the awesome tips she was giving on how to earn press coverage. Lucky for us, she agreed to an interview!
First, I’d like to congratulate you on pursuing your ideal career! Was there a specific moment or event that motivated you to make such a drastic change?
Hi Tim, thanks a lot! I would say there were numerous trigger points which culminated to my decision, just like how many different things in our life add up to lead to where we are. I’ll share my two biggest triggers.
The first point came when I was still in university. I was in business school and a year away from graduation. My grades were among the top percentile (I was on the dean’s list); I had already secured a placement with my dream employer and it was as if I had my life set before me. Having achieved what many would see as the ultimate objective of education (to secure a good job), my last year of university became a year of deep introspection and search for myself. I started looking ahead in my life – what I saw for myself in 5 years, 10 years, 20, 30, 50, my death bed, and even beyond death. What I found, to my horror, was that all the things I had been pursuing were just empty goals. Money, recognition, success (for the sake of success) were just empty, impermanent goals which crumbled away after death. When I realized that, I started looking deep within me on what exactly was the meaning of my life and human life. I went on a deep introspective journey, and to cut the long story short, I eventually realized that the highest meaning I could embark on in my life is to achieve my highest level of consciousness and help others do the same too. From that point on, I adopted that as my life’s meaning and started aligning everything toward that.
As I looked onward, I realized working for my employer wasn’t something which would let me fully realize my purpose, but I went ahead anyway because I figured the experience from working in one of the top corporations in the world would greatly aid me in my long-term plans. I joined the company with the intent to learn as much as I could. After about 2 years, the second trigger point came – I felt I had learned a great deal, and felt I was ready to start off and fully embrace my purpose. Everything worked out great eventually – it’s been almost a year since I’d left and my personal development business has made great headway in the 6 months it has been up. I can’t wait to see what’s up next.
How did your family respond to the news?
My parents were shocked definitely, because up till that point, I had never really shared about the higher vision I had for my life. While they had their misgivings and stigmas (for example, self employment is regarded as risky and unstable especially in Singapore where I’m from), they understood my life was mine to lead and the ultimate decision was mine to make. Their understanding is something which I’m grateful for.
For first-time visitors, what 3-5 articles would you recommend they read to understand you and your message?
The first one will be Are You Sleepwalking Your Life Away? There are so many people in our society today just living life for the sake of living and not really experiencing life the way it is meant to be. I refer to these people as the “sleepwalkers”. In this article, I urge the reader to wake up from this state and start taking the step to live the life of his/her dreams. Posted in 3rd week since the blog launched , it has quickly become a site classic and has spurred many to start taking action on their lives.
The second one is Discover Your Real Purpose series. It’s a very detailed, comprehensive 7-part series I wrote on life purpose, including how to tell if you are living your purpose now, the difference between false and real purposes and an exercise on how to discover your real purpose. The exercise I shared is the same exercise I used to discover my purpose. Many of my readers have also found their purpose from the exercise as well. The purpose is the starting point of living a conscious life, so I highly recommend everyone who hasn’t found their purpose yet or isn’t sure if they know their purpose to check it out.
The third is Passion or Money? It addresses a popular conundrum many in our society face regarding whether to pursue passion or money, and is something I had to address when I was planning how to best pursue my passion. I eventually came up with a best fit solution which addressed everything I wanted. Check out the article for the full answer.
I heard you are working on a book. What can we expect to see when that comes out?
Gosh, the plans for the book have changed quite a bit! My intended topic for the book is on passion – specifically, how to discover and pursue it. I figured it was the best topic I could write about since I have personally experienced the journey and overcame various obstacles to finally live in resonance with my passion.
I initially intended for it to be a free ebook to be released this year. However, after some thought, I decided to release it as a published book instead. Given the long lead times of the publishing world (a year), the book probably isn’t going to be out anytime soon. In addition, I’m committed to producing the best possible content for this book, so I’m taking good time to write it. There are going to be people who will look toward it for answers to their questions – questions they’ve had for a long time, and I want to be sure the content is as holistic as possible.
At the present moment, my immediate project is getting my school up and running. It’s going to be called The School of Personal Excellence and will be up sometime this year. I’m extremely blessed to have the support of a few generous and highly committed partners for this. There are lots of things to plan out – school vision, goals, marketing activities, program curriculum, logistics, etc, but I’m really having fun doing all of it. Can’t wait to see how everything turn out eventually!
If I wanted to start creating my best life, what three things would you recommend I do today?
This is a great start for anyone interested in getting the most out of life. Celes, thank you for joining me today to talk about your work!
Posted on 14 August 2009 by Tim
Ever since I heard about District 9, from a preview during another film, I have been very excited to see it. I thought it looked great and the concept (and location) was unique. After I launched Talk with Tim in July, I got to thinking…I should talk to someone about the film. Luckily, I received a response! As some of you may have seen, I interviewed Nathalie Boltt about her role in District 9. She plays a sociologist named Sarah Livingstone and you’ll see her quite a bit in the film. Read my interview with Nathalie for more.
Anyway, I made it a point to make it to the opening of the film – 12:01 AM at Regal Cascade 16 in Vancouver, WA. I arrived early to the theater, bought my ticket, munched on some free popcorn and kicked back in the nearly sold-out audience to enjoy the show.
The film starts out documentary style, introducing the main character Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) who comes off as a dipstick. Although you kind of like him ’cause he says some funny stuff, he treats the alien race – dubbed prawns – like crap, so you don’t like him too much.
The story is moving along nicely at this point but after Wikus accidentally sprays himself with an unknown alien substance. That’s when it gets crazy and the action picks up big time!
There are a couple scenes where I squirmed a bit (and I wasn’t alone) seeing and imagining the position Wikus is in. Seriously, doctors and scientists are creepy. If watching stuff blow up is your thing, there’s plenty of that in District 9! The action sequences are gnarly.
A couple of the prawns play a big role in the film and I ended up liking them quite a bit. The father-son dynamic was unique and made the alien “Christopher” seem more likable. Most of the prawns are portrayed as kind of dumb and aggressive. But still, I felt a bit sorry for them. Like the feeling you get when you leave the humane society…all those sad, lonely animals acting crazy because they’re caged up even though deep down you know that, under different circumstances, most of them are nice.
Not surprisingly, I quickly came to despise MNU, or Multi-National United, the for-profit outfit in charge of this cluster. Like all corporations, MNU is simply motivated by the money regardless of the moral or ethical cost. The segregation of the alien race is meant to evoke parallels to apartheid but it also reminded me of our horrible treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
District 9 is a visual treat built on a strong story with deep roots. I like that it’s set in a new location. It’s not the typical New York City flick where the Statue of Liberty gets destroyed or San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge collapsing.
So far this year, this is the best movie I’ve seen in the theater. The special effects were excellent, I didn’t notice any parts where I thought, “Oh, that’s clearly CGI.” Everything looked believable. All the actors did a great job, especially Sharlto who really sold me on his character’s struggle. Neill Blomkamp’s film is way ahead of Harry Potter, Ice Age and even The International, which was surprisingly good. Other movies may have been hyped way more (think G.I. Joe), but none have delivered like District 9.
What did you think of the film? Tell me in the comments below.
Posted on 14 August 2009 by Tim
There are quite a few movies coming up in the near future that look good to me. Legion looks promising as long as it doesn’t get corny. Paul Bettany is a great actor and Dennis Quaid should do better here than in G.I. Joe.
The premise of the film is that God has lost his faith in humanity and has sent his legion of angels to eradicate us. Simple enough. But of course, there’s a baby involved. This seems to be pretty standard for movies related to God or the fight between good and evil in a religious sense. Either some lady is pregnant or will soon birth some extremely important kid…why is this always the case? I don’t know. Lack of birth control maybe? (The Pope renewed the ban on birth control in 1968.)
I’m curious how this legion of angels is portrayed. From the preview they look pretty weak, kind of zombie-like. But maybe they’re holding back on the good stuff.
Actually, ya know what Legion reminds me of? A fun little Tales from the Crypt movie called Dark Knight. It’s a similar mix of humor, suspense and horror.
In any case, the preview of Legion looks solid. Check it out…
Legion Features: Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Kevin Durand, Kate Walsh and Tyrese Gibson.
Directed by: Scott Stewart
Legion opens on January 22, 2010.
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Tim
Wow, time really flies! It’s hard to believe that a month has already gone by. I have to give a huge “Thank You” to everyone that visited the site and every person featured on my site! You are all awesome. I’m really excited about the future of Talk with Tim. Just look how far it has come along in only 30 days!
My hope is that you find something interesting or useful and have a good time while you’re here. I’m always open to suggestions or collaborations, so if you want to talk contact me here.
I decided to compile all my posts into one organized list so if you see one you missed, it’s now easy to find. Plus, I figured I’d serve up some data as well. So, down below the posts you’ll find some information about traffic and popular posts.
Music Articles:
Book Articles:
Business & Website Articles:
Traffic Data Since Launching on July 13, 2009:
Google Analytics (July 13 – August 13):
Top 4 Referring Sites:
Top 3 Blog Posts:
Did you enjoy something you read here? Tell me about it in the comments below.
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Tim
District 9 will be released this Friday, August 14th, 2009.
View the official trailer which features Nathalie Boltt at the bottom of this page.
IMDB’s summary says, “An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly find a kindred spirit in a government agent that is exposed to their biotechnology.”
District 9 was written and directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson.
…riding on the thickest buzz this side of “The Swarm.” Happily, it’s one of those rare movies that lives up to the hype. It’s an action film with a brain, a sci-fi thriller with poignancy, a social-political satire packed with pow. [More]
Tell us about your character and her motivation.
Sarah Livingstone is a sociologist commenting on what happened to ‘Wikus’ and the District 9 situation. She tries to be as straight and honest as she can and deliver the facts. From a sociological point of view, this is of course a very unique situation so very interesting to her. But from a personal perspective, her sympathies lie with Wikus and the Aliens. She feels they were wronged and is saddened by it all. She is not intimidated by MNU and has no problem speaking out about their unethical motives and their mistreatment of the aliens or the way they mercilessly used, abused and abandoned Wikus.
What interactions does your character have with Sharlto Copley and Jason Cope’s characters?
Sarah Livingstone will have watched their story via all the news footage and media frenzy surrounding the clash of MNU and the aliens. She is fascinated from a sociological point of view as to what it means for a human to be shunned by its own race – to be on the run from all other humans, forced to find refuge in the last place any human should have to go – District 9. She will have studied and researched their story. When we see her being interviewed in the film, she is giving her professional input on the situation, explaining how this tragic interracial story came about. She has no direct contact with Sharlto or Jason’s characters.
How does working on a sci-fi movie compare to working on films in other genres?
You do your best and try to bring truth to the character you are playing, while helping to realise the director’s vision. It’s the same really. But great to see the end result – being involved in something fun and wonderfully creative – that attracts such a different audience and will potentially have a cult following. 
How was it working with Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson?
I only worked with Neill, who was very clear and direct on what he wanted. He was respectful, professional and friendly. We had a lot in common from growing up in bad old Johannesburg. My first impression was that he is young, which he is! He’s clearly a talented and driven person who’s achieved a lot in a short time and obviously he was in the best hands – Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and a large support of great people with incredible vision. Winning combo!
Read My Review of District 9 Here
What was your favorite part about working on District 9?
The efficiency! I worked for no more than four hours. I went in met Neill, delivered my lines, improvised with him for an hour, shook his hand and went home. And ended up with a ton of screen time. It’s the only movie I’ve worked on where I didn’t wait around for even a minute. Of course my other favourite part is the fact that it’s turned out to be a great success.
Actress Nathalie Boltt is from South Africa which explains why most Americans haven’t heard of her. However, you may recognize her from the sci-fi movie Doomsday. Some of her other work includes Route 30 and The Poseidon Adventure. Visit NathalieBoltt.com for more.
Copyright © Talk with Tim.Original News Theme by 
.
