YouTube link added 02.09.09
 
12:23 AM, Wednesday, January 14th, 2004:
 
2,721 files. Over 1,000 actual pages, and 3 weeks straight, spent re-doing the site. The majority of which most likely will never be seen. So why on earth would would I do this?
 
It's step one for the promotional re-vamp of Adam & The Trinitrons. I didn't intend to do this first by any means. The new script was actually the first priority, but one morning on a day off I got an idea for the new "Adam Kontras.com" picture and that hooked me. And truly, it had been 3 years since I touched the site. Granted, I keep up with "The Journey", fill in a few show links, but the rest has gone untouched because it's just so friggin' massive, and I was unsure of who the site should be geared towards.
 
As well when I first started the site, I was clueless. It was still a relatively new thing to have a website in early 1999. So everything was just one big ass folder. In 2000, I fixed that up a bit, but then started all new bad habits that I didn't realize until late 2001. Just a mess, that the longer I avoided, the worse it got. No more.
 
The main reason though is what I want complete strangers to see when they go to my site...
 
 
This, although pretty, is completely unfocused. If you don't know of me, or what the hell 4tvs is - this isn't any help. You have to search to find the info you need, and will most likely come upon The Journey - which is just completely overwhelming. Let's say you're a columnist at a community newspaper around here and you hit the site to get some background on the show and me? Exactly.
 
It's understandable however, because the site grew out of a newsletter, and all recipients of that newsletter were either fans of The Late Show or 4tvs. What I realized is, for those people, "The Journey" is their site. That's for the people that are interested in the ever-evolving story. For the rest of the world, I have to make it a helluva lot simpler.
 
The first big difference, and one that kinda makes me sad, is that 4tvs.com is no longer 4tvs.com. It's just a backdoor to get to Adam Kontras.com. That sucks. I mean it doesn't really, it's the way it should be, but I have a soft spot for seeing 4tvs in the spotlight. In my mind, it makes 4tvs just another link in the Adam Kontras chain, which I know - it is…but for some reason it just kinda makes me sad. It has been 4tvs! 4tvs! 4tvs! for 5 years now, and it feels like something is changing. Now the idea of not doing 4tvs isn't so drastic anymore. Of course that isn't the case, and it is the absolute forefront, but now my ugly mug is first, 4tvs 2nd. C'est La Vie. I'm just glad I can look at this unbiasedly and do what needs to be done. Bottom line, when people go to 4tvs.com it should most definitely swing to this:
 
bio
4tvs
radio
the journey
music
shows
SOON!
about adam
career that is
career that was
live journal
dv therapy
live performances
coming soon
 
This does several things. First and foremost it shows who I am when I'm not growing my hair out for a role, and the 4 other characters. So that one picture can always be changed to define who I am and what I'm currently pushing. It's focused. And the following 7 links tell the viewer exactly what they can get in each section. They don't have to hit a button that says "Movie Minded" and find that it's an offshoot of 4tvs. They can actually go to the 4tvs section, and then see the 4 facets/shows related to the concept. That makes sense.
 
This bio page was one of the hardest pages I've ever written. So much to say, and so little to say all at once. This "could" be the only thing anyone ever hits on the site so you want to intice them...but I haven't really done anything. So it's pretty easy to sound completely full of it. I think I did alright, but I have a feeling it's a page I'll rewrite constantly. Hell if I'm lucky, I'll need to.

 

 

 
 
Amazingly, this picture saved me tons of work. This picture, along with the links on the picture, explain almost without a doubt - what 4tvs is. I don't have to write some long-winded diatribe saying it's a show…that I'm onstage with 4tvs - yadda yadda. People get it. There was no way to know this before, unless you searched through The Journey, and even then - the entries are written as if you've been following for 4 years. Heh. So good luck to the stranger. Now you see it right off the bat, and when you hit the first link, you get a quick overview of how it all came together. If you choose to, you can go deeper (slight facelift to the sets section) but you get all you need very quickly. This layout also allowed for easily found links to newspaper articles such as of the Lantern story on 4tvs back in 1999.
 
Most importantly it shows past, present and future completely laid out. Love that. It's nothing followers of The Journey didn't already know, but now you see instantly as a stranger. Completely necessary. There will be slight changes in this section over time, but for the most part, it does its job.
 
The radio section of the old site had been woefully put together with just pages upon pages of links to random things. I mean you could literally go 5 to 6 levels deep. Completely unfocused 'cause I didn't know what the hell I was doing. With the new site I simply had to ask myself what part it played in what I was doing now? Obviously it's no longer a part of my life, but what was accomplished plays a huge role in who I am and what I bring to the table. It shows that I've been successful before, been absurdly productive before (7 CDs and 5 Cassettes worth) - and it's just too impressive to ignore. This section now shows that, and it shows it very simply and gives you the information you need right off the bat, but allows you to go deeper if you so wish. As well it gave me the opportunity to finally upload these two Other Paper articles about the show. Check 'em out, they're awesome.
 
The music section was hard to pin down. At first I worked on a "history" much like the radio section. One that has a beginning, middle and end. However, although I'm not actively trying to record and produce new album projects, the singer/songwriter in me hasn't stopped. Barely even paused. Seemed incorrect to paint it as a "past" part of my life. It's now simply hidden within "The Journey", buyt has produced some really great moments. Instead of highlighting the past, I really thought I should make this section what "DV Therapy" was on the old site: An easily accessible page to all the songs within The Journey. It's actually my personal favorite page of the site to click around.

The shows section got a massive facelift. It's now actually viewable. Previously all the shows were in huge boxes, in a strange font and no one in their right mind would click on em. Now I've given them each one line, and as well changed every friggin' link. (sigh). For some inane reason I decided to chronicle the shows section, and the journey section separately in 2000. I would make a seperate "show" entry, and then usually say the same shit in the journey section. Absolute pain in the ass. And by 2001, I simply linked all the shows right to the entry from the journal, 'cause why separate em? Well to make it uniform I had to go back over every show, and link them to the journey entry that corresponded, and in many cases work the show entries INTO the journal. Whew. I believe just that page took 12 hours. Now of course, it's accessible to those who want it, and will be a great way to show upcoming shows when I start to book them again.

 
Then of course there's "The Journey" itself. By far the most work of any part of the site. Funny considering it's the only thing I've kept updated in the past couple of years. The reason is the hell that is my obsessive nature. As I mentioned before, I was pretty clueless when I first started the site, so things were a bit messy. As well, I spotlighted a lot of things within the journey, that I later erased from the site - leaving all sorts of dead links, dead pictures…very unprofessional. Raise your hand if you remember mpgnapster.com? OK, now Jess put your hand down. Heh. No matter how trivial now, it was a part of The Journey so I want it there for those who wish to go through it. Unfortunately, that shit went away YEARS ago. Hell all the sites, starwarsblew.com, nbafantasy.net, letterstolennon.com, j-dog.net - I got rid of all the domain names. Only Palaur has stayed and only because Dirk Thompson of CD101 fame wrote me a nice email saying it was too good to let go. So there's all these broken links. So I went back, fixed all of them, recreated the files of the logos and whatnot, re-uploaded the sites to the web, and made sure all the links were to that section, and not the http:// address. On the anal side of things there were spacing issues on every single entry in 2000. Heh. So I made everything look right, and added links in every entry back to the month - and even more links back to the journey within every month.
 
Then the biggie: every fuggin' movie. Dear LORD the movies. Back in the day I had a "4tvs Theater". I embedded all my movies onto the page, and I linked everything to that page. In 2002 however I decided to just link right to the movie. I realized that most browser's were now upgraded enough to know what to do with the movie, and mac users were knowledgeable enough to figure it out when their browser wouldn't play it. But guess what that leaves? Over 200 of those theater pages and not only a link from the entry, but a link from the month page. (sigh). This was the shit I hated. It took me 3 straight days, 12-14 hours a day to fix all those. All the while, making sure all the titles of each page were correct (about 50% were wrong) and of course, adding Adam Kontras.com to the beginning of every title within the journey, and the rest of the site. Oh and don't forget making sure to erase the old pages evenly between my harddrive and the server. AHHHHHHHHHHH.
 
But the good news is, it's done. Unfortunately the only people who will appreciate it are those who stumble upon the journey, and decide to start from the very beginning. That's probably 3 people in the next ten years, but that's quintessential Adam Kontras. Tons of work that no one will see. Heh - brilliant.
 
The bottom line with all of this, is I want zero holes in the armor. Not one broken link, not one poorly designed page, not one missing picture, not one "under construction", not one reason for confusion, nothing. I want people to click on the site and go "HOLY SHIT. This dude is serious." When the media hits the page to write a few words on the show, or on me - I want their every question answered. If I do go on tour, and start to amass hits from those shows, again - I want everything incredibly clear, and I want zero mistakes. It probably took over 150 hours, but I have a clear head - and a killer site.
 
Now, the final section is not only the cherry on top, it's the icing and part of the cake too. It is the section that sets my site above any other personal site I've ever seen. No one has ever done it, nor do I believe anyone would ever even try. It's the best web-work I've ever done, and if I play my cards right, could be the piece of publicity that finally gets 4tvs recognized on a national level. But even without all that, it's still the shit. It launches on the 21st...
 
...which means I only have 6 friggin' days to finish it. SO SICK OF WEB WORK.
 
Adam
 
PS - Not a word about this entry's video only being the site itself. You're just gonna sit there and take it, and leisurely peruse the site for a few moments because Adam deserves that 90 seconds of your day after sitting on his ass for nearly a month killing himself to get this done. No, no - you want a video? You want a freakin' video!?!? FINE. There There's your goddamn video.