Pallas the Librarian interviews Arianne Hunter about her career path as a scientist. Pallas and Arianne also make fluffy foam slime and discuss the books that inspired Arianne, “Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style” by Randy Olson and “Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes.
Experience the captivating world of science with Pallas the Librarian in Yes! Science! As Pallas proves science has no boundaries, she interviews a diverse array of individuals thriving in STEM-related careers, unveiling the incredible stories behind their work. From groundbreaking researchers to ingenious engineers, each episode delves into their fascinating journeys and the invaluable contributions they make to society. Through captivating interviews, mesmerizing experiments, and enlightening literary explorations, Yes! Science! is a gateway to the limitless possibilities of STEM, inviting everyone to embrace the wonder of scientific inquiry.
I filmed the first season of Yes! Science! with Pallas in 2019. Last year, I re-edited the show to add graphics, better pacing, segment breaks, and new science facts. This was released exclusively on The Show Starts Now streaming library, and now I’m bringing them to Spielventure. I’ll be releasing more of the revised episodes throughout the summer, so stay tuned!
I am thrilled to finally launch The Show Starts Now! Dive headfirst into a world of curated experiences designed to shatter your humdrum routine with The Show Starts Now. The unique, Oklahoma-based streaming service is more than just entertainment—it’s a passport to electrifying adventures. We celebrate the extraordinary in the everyday, bringing you closer to inspiring individuals, captivating locales, mesmerizing skills, and unforgettable journeys.
Today’s official launch is a far cry from the beta preview I shared back in October. For the first time, this feels complete, like I’m proud to share what I’ve made. I closed the beta access a few months after being released because the platform wasn’t getting any traction, only having one subscriber. A few months ago, I met with a brand consultant, Jenn Easley-Maynord of Artio Services, who gave me some much-needed insight and direction. One was a slight name, dropping “Studio.” I was advised that the word could be confusing with people thinking I’m a studio facility, like Parire Surf Studios. I went with the .tv domain to help with branding, too. The price was lowered from $7.99 to $5.99, matching other indie OTTs like Dropout.tv and Rooster Teeth.
Another central pivot from the beta version, I kept the location focus broad, and now I’ve leaned into the Oklahoma focus. This includes adding Uncovering Oklahoma, which was not my original plan. I dug through my archives, re-editing all of my old stories back from 2017, improving the image and sound quality, changing some music with better tracks, updating graphics, and other adjustments. Not everything was uploaded to The Show Starts Now, as I didn’t bother with closed businesses, episodes that got shuttered to another series, or places I have on my shortlist to revisit for an updated story. On a related note, the complete Tales Unveiled podcast series was added to the service with audio improvements as my skills have grown.
While older Uncovering Oklahoma episodes were improved, they were not as dramatic as the first season of Yes! Science! Initially released in 2019, Pallas the Librarian interviewed people in various STEM-related careers about their work, performed fun science experiments, and discussed books that have inspired our guests. The enhanced season includes some newly filmed Science Fact segments with Exhale and The Museum of Osteology. Pallas and I plan to work on season two, with our first episode being filmed in partnership with Sooner Con!
Also first released in 2019 was Art & Victory. This was a monthly panel discussion series for creative entrepreneurs. Again, the pandemic stopped me from continuing the series. For The Show Starts Now, I took the brand and spun the concept into three series: Discussions, Lessons, and Sessions. Discussions feature live audience panel chats, while sessions are one-off artistic creation videos, and lessons are multi-part guides. The Arts Council of Oklahoma City and I worked together to create the initial Lessons and Sessions on the service, which in trade, they also get a copy branded for their platform.
Take A Bite with Phi and Visiting Haunts are brand new series I created exclusively for The Show Starts Now. The entire first season of Take A Bite with Phi is available, while Jeff and I plan to film the reason for Visiting Haunts this summer. I’m just hoping to get subscribers so we can afford to travel, as we would love to feature out-of-state places like Eureka Springs. I also want to go to Texas for Creative Burgers.
The entire first season of Archiving Contemporary Art is available, with the first season consisting of stories from Uncovering Oklahoma. The series gets inside the minds of artists and art collectives about their creative works. Episodes from season two will be released soon, which are brand new. I have several episodes worth of content that needs to be edited, but my goal was to get the first season complete for the streaming service.
I have first to thank my wonderful wife, Leslie, who none of this wouldn’t be possible without her support. Seriously, I wouldn’t be able to take on as many creative projects without here because, let’s be honest, none of these shows are paying the bills. I do hope that changes soon with the launch of The Show Starts Now and that I’ll be able to pay other people’s bills. Continuing the special thanks to Jeff Provine, Lessa Keller-Kenton, Pallas, Phi Nguyen, Sherl Martin, Vicki Langford, Christian Pearson, Kristy Boone, Apollo Woods, Justin Coleman, and Undrell Maholmes for working with me to create many of these videos. Thanks to everyone I ever interviewed for all of my shows. Thanks to everyone who supported or still supports me on Patreon. Thanks to everyone who shared one of my works. Honestly, thank you, everyone!
I hope you take a moment to subscribe, watch a few videos, and enjoy The Show Starts Now. I’m open to feedback and suggestions for what you want to see in the future. If you can’t subscribe now, follow The Show Starts Now on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
Showing that science is for everyone, Pallas the Librarian interviews people in various STEM-related careers about their work, performs fun science experiments, and discusses books that have inspired our guests. The entire first season of Yes! Science! has been enhanced and is now available to stream on The Show Starts Now Studios.
Originally filmed as a live-studio audience show in 2019, the enhanced season includes improved 4k picture and audio, a new Science Facts segment, pacing editing, and new graphical elements to tell guests’ stories better. Thank you to SKELETONS: Museum of Osteology and Exhale for working with me on the new Science Facts.
I have some exciting partnerships lined up, and Pallas and I are planning to make a second season this summer. However, I’m working on acquiring funding to pay everyone, build a set for the show, have funds for a marketing budget, and all of the other fun stuff that goes into producing a bigger, better show. Subscribe to The Show Starts Now Studios to watch the newly enhanced season and help support our next season! There is also Yes! Science! merchandise available, too!
Hello, Adventurers! Typically, I write my end of the year reflection on New Year’s Eve, but I was working with the Oklahoma City Arts Council on a big live-streaming Opening Night event. This reflection is going to be a little different, but last year was a different kind of year.
This is the part where I share numbers on how much I created, but the statistic that matters the most, I’m reminding myself, is that I made it through the year. Also, I made more videos for other people than myself. I’ve been able to help many organizations connect with their audiences through video content and live-streaming shows. I’m proud of that fact.
In the summer, I live-streamed a concert every week for the Arts Council OKC and then again in the fall, but every other week. For Oklahoma Contemporary, I made them about two videos a month. I helped take a live play Namron Players Theatre had planned and turned it into a movie for them. I worked with Therapy in Motion and the Norman YMCA to do a Healthy Living Series. I got to do a big New Year’s Eve show, which was a goal I noted in my previous reflection. Plus, I helped other businesses with some internal videos too.
To thank my clients for this year, I worked with Design Pickle and they made me this thank you card that I sent (and still sending out) to all of my major clients for the year.
Overall, I am grateful and proud of what I did create in the year, regardless of who it was for.
Uncovering Oklahoma in 2020
At the beginning of 2020, I raised the bar by producing videos in 4K HDR and closed captions on every episode. Pre-pandemic, I started strong with stories in Tulsa and Guthrie. I released 27 weekly episodes along with three art and event pieces.
With my growing library of content, videos I made in previous years picked up in popularity. Even though I didn’t make many new videos, the watch time in hours for the YouTube channel was 2,542.3, which was about what I got in 2019. Subscribers grew by 365, putting me over 1,000! According to my YouTube channel, these were the Top 5 watched videos in 2020.
The title for the most-watched 2020 story goes to The Study in Oklahoma City, which was the second episode I did when the lockdowns lifted. The first story I eased myself back into filming was on the Winchester Drive-In Theatre in Oklahoma City, which was my second most popular 2020 video and most-watched via Facebook. Sergio’s Italian Bistro, Pink Elephant Coffee, Re: Earth, and The Study were the most-viewed via Facebook.
Tales Unveiled in 2020
Jeff and I got three episodes recorded before the pandemic hit. We picked up recording later in the summer and released a total of 11 episodes for our third season. Our episode on Bartlesville was our most popular. Despite the shorter season, we had quality episodes. Great stories from guests all around!
Quarter Minutes in 2020
We made one episode! Go us!
Yes! Science! and Art & Victory in 2020
Due to the audience nature of these shows, I felt it was best to postpone them until the time was right.
The 16th Phoenix Universe in 2020
What’s this? A new category? One of my personal goals was to release a new short story every week for the year. With the exception of A Killer Among the Spaceship Game Show, which was released in two parts and the first part took two weeks, I kept up with my goal. I wrote 48 short stories!
Still, no new books. They were looking good in the first half of the year, but when client work picked up, writing time got spent on short stories.
According to Spotify, which is how I mostly listen to music, this was my 2020 soundtrack. As always, keep in mind I will often put a song (or playlist) on repeat when writing or for inspiration sessions. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite song?
Plans for 2021
Although it’s a new year and I’m optimistic, but I’m going to be careful with my plans as we’re still dealing with a pandemic.
For Uncovering Oklahoma, with COVID cases rising, I’m playing things safe. It’s annoying when I’m filming a restaurant and someone walks past me to go to the bathroom without a mask. On top of all that, businesses are going out left and right. I’m going to focus on retail businesses and concepts where I can control the environment to be safe. I don’t foresee me making as many episodes as I did in 2019. I hope to get back to doing collaboration episodes soon.
For Tales Unveiled, Jeff and I did leave the show open for more episodes. I would love to travel out of Oklahoma this season or next. We plan to start recording season four in the spring with a fall release. (There’s a Friday the 13th in August.)
For the studio audience shows, I honestly don’t know when I’ll start those up again. I might do them without an audience or I might do something entirely different.
For the 16th Phoenix Universe, instead of a weekly short story, they will be monthly. Writing every week has helped me build my fictional universe. I want to take some time on the stories and maybe release longer stories. I want to build upon other stories I’ve written in 2020 for 2021 and allocate writing time to other works. I plan to revisit all the 2020 stories, send them to an editor, and publish a book collection.
Also during the weekly short story creation, I’ve started two new books. One is based on A Question for the Writers and the other is from Upgrade Cave. I want to finish my other books before I get too involved in those stories.
Now, for new projects! Last year, I did start writing a feature film script although my writing time got spent on short stories. I would like to get that written out at least this year.
One of the first major projects I have in the works for the first half of the year is an interactive branching narrative that takes place in Downtown Norman. More about this later as we’re planning an April or May release.
Finally, I’m researching a project that might be a huge move I’ll make to get closer to the studio goal. Way too early for me to say anything about this publicly yet.
Thank you for following me throughout this year! You can join me on Patreon to help support these projects and get special rewards.
“Yes! Women in Science!” explores the challenges women face in STEM careers and inspires change for better. The award-winning documentary short visits a diverse cast of women and professions about what they love about their job and advice for those pursuing a career in the sciences.
The documentary made its premiere at The WIFI Film Festival on April 11, 2019, where it was Award Nominated for Achievement in Social Progress Through Film. It screened at Twister Alley Film Festival (Award Winner of Best Oklahoma Documentary Short and Award Nominated for Best Director of a Documentary Short), Doc Sunback Film Festival, and the Tri-Cities International Film Festival. With the festival tour over, the documentary was publicly released on YouTube today, April 16, 2020.
The documentary filming process for Yes! Women Science! was a collaborative venture. Filming took place in 2017 and 2018. Guests were given questions in advance, which they were allowed to change, remove, or add to them. Guests also collaborated on filming locations, camera angles, b-roll suggestions, etc. Before the finished video was submitted to festivals, guested got to approve the video and make suggestions, including reshooting their interview.
