I have absolutely no interest in getting one, which is weird because I love gadgets. I understand they're kind of convenient because you don't have to go to a bookstore to get a new book but, meh. Call me Amish but I don't want to have to worry about charging my "books" or syncing it to my computer. I would miss the smell of the page, dog earring a passage I like, and going to the bookstore/library. How will I ever live out my strange fantasy of living in the world of Fahrenheit 451 if we switch to a world of easily delete able books. Also, what will I put on my book shelves to show people I'm not a complete idiot?
In other news "Hey you kids, GET OFF MY LAWN!"
Jeez, I sound old.
(Do you like that picture? I made it in ms paint! Pretty spiffy huh? I'm overly proud of myself because I did it on my shitty work computer)
Does is ever feel like there are just to many damn social networks? At some point it feels like social networking is more like real work. I have accounts with at least 10 that I can think of right now. So when a big company like Apple release a new social network like Ping, it makes me reevaluate which I actually use and want to keep.
With that in mind Ping actually sounds like a good idea, you're able to more easily share the music you like and see what other people are listening to. But there are already service that do pretty similar things like Pandora, Last.fm and Blip.fm. Ping clearly has an advantage over those in that many people already have iTunes, so getting them to sign up is really easy.
At any rate it'll be interesting to see who's still standing in 5 years.
So I've been terrible at blogging lately, but here goes. On Saturday I intended to go to the Seattle YouTube gathering but I couldn't because I ended up working as a PA on a movie being shot in here. It was a lot of fun espcially since it's been a while since I've been on a proper film set. I'll be doing that for the next month or so every Saturday and it makes me wish I didn't have a job so I could do it everyday they're shooting. It's reinvigarated me to work on my scripts and focus on making videos myself.
The movie is called Judas Kiss and has some good actors in it, including some from the SyFy show Caprica which is pretty cool. I've only done it one day so far but everybody on set was really nice.
Summer quarter is rolling along smoothly and I only took one class, but it has been an awesome one. I'm taking a black and white photography class and it's really interesting. I'm not sure when the last time I've taken actual film photos is but it must be about 6-7 years. It really takes a whole approach to photography I've forgotten about, getting it right the first time. Now I normally like to take my time on my digital camera, but I'm putting way more thought in to these especially since the camera is on full manual mode.
The other really fun part is developing and processing the film. It's really cool to really be in control of the entire process from beginning to end. I love dropping the paper in the developing fluid and watching the picture materialize. It's really cool and if you get a chance to take a photography class definitely go for, it's a lot of fun. I'll post some of my shots when I get a chance to scan them.
So Saturday was an awesome and busy day for me. I got a bunch errands taken care of and then went to the CD release show/ party for my friends 20 Riverside new first album "Good Medicine." I've know these guy for years and they make some great music and put on a killer show. We met back in the high school band and it's great to see them releasing such high quality music.
Their hometown shows are always a a bit crazy, and have kind of a high school reunion vibe about them but without the pretension. They played from 9 o'clock until 1 o'clock and had everybody dancing the whole time. It was great to catch up with a bunch of people I haven't seen for a few years and just have a really good time. The coolest thing of the night though would have to be seeing my name in the thank you section on the CD case, it was pretty amazing.
If you want to check them out you can visit their reverbnation page and preview their whole album, and I believe it'll be available on itunes very soon. Or check out this video I took of them a few months ago.
I'm really terrible at playing the "game" or whatever people are calling dating these days. Things like the "three day rule," kind of confuse me. How does it create any suspense if we both know I'll call in three days, or as my roommate tells me "go for four days now, it keeps them on their toes." Call me old fashioned but I'd rather be straightforward then play games to get a woman interested. I'm not talking about flirting and courtship, just the modern banal constructs we've forced on to them that makes it utterly predictable.
Any way, It's Friday night so I'm going to go out and enjoy it.
I am really great at procrastinating. It's a terrible habit, and it is also a really hard one to break. Whether it's hitting the snooze alarm repeatedly in the morning, or putting off projects, or even eating, I can always find a way to put something off, it's like I'm perpetually stuck in the planning stage. I don't want to be that guy, the guy whose "casually late" for his life. So, I've decided to change.
Obviously there isn't just some switch you can flip and not be a procrastinator (which kinda sucks,) so I've been looking up different strategies and different approaches and from what I can tell they all amount to the same self-explanatory thing, "just do it". Easier said then done right? So now is the time for action if I'm going to change my habits and stick with it. To help me along I've started adding all my stuff to iCal on my computer with reminder alarms to help keep the stuff in my mind and keep me motivated. I think a trackable system where I can check tasks off as I do them will be really helpful. I was never one for day planners, but I need to be.
You better start calling me Nike, because I'll "just do it!"
So this evening I had the pleasure to see and meet the author Gary Shtenyngart. He was giving a reading from is latest book Super Sad True Love Story. The book is hard to classify, it's kind of an Orwellian romantic comedy. While it is a good book, what I actually want to talk about is something else entirely.
When Shtenyngart, a self-confessed iPhone addict, was asked about his gadget he mentioned something I hadn't really considered in a long time. He said it wouldn't be a problem much longer because he was planning on moving to upstate New York, where he won't have good cell phone coverage and he would be able to reconnect to his "analog self." It was that phrase, "analog self" that got me thinking. It's so easy for us to get caught up in our online/techie stuff that we can ignore our analog selves.
As a child of the late 80's, I've been using computer my whole life. I still remember vividly the first computer game I ever played (The Manhole) on our Macintosh SE, so the idea of an analog self is a bit foreign to me. So much of who I am is rooted in digital. My Job, 8 hours a day, is entirely computer based, combined with the time spent at home I'm probably using computers/ my iPhone 10-12 hours a day. Now don't get me wrong I can unplug from technology. I do read actual paper books regularly, I go camping for the weekend, but I'm genuinely not sure sure how I would spend my days if I had to unplug permanently.
It's an interesting thought that I can't seem to shake or answer, "Who am I as an analog person?"
That's right, all this month I'll be blogging. I'm a day late in starting this little experiment, so I'll be doing a double blog post some time during the month.
I figured this would be a good way to get my writing on to a more consistent schedule, and hopefully improve it too. So stay tuned for a month filled with blogs from this guy.
Looks like Merton is back. Installment 3 of Chat Roulette Funny Piano Improv was posted today. I don't know why I love the concept of this so much still, but I do. Enjoy.
So Joe Penna (aka MysteryGuitarMan or MGM) is a very, very popular YouTuber and if you haven't seen some of his videos you should. They are very creative both musically and visually. But that's not exactly what I want to talk about today. So on June 22, MGM posted a new video using the music of Vassy with permission directly from Vassy (she's a Australian born R & B singer.)
The situation in itself is not unusual, performers often give YouTubers permission to use their songs in videos. But what happened was unusual and disapointing for MGM. Joe stated that he received a copy right infringement notification directly from the record label (Ultra Records) asking him to remove the video, which he did. I understand that once an artist signs a record contract they technically no longer control the rights to their music, but this seems a bit silly to me. I'm not saying it was his best video ever, but it was good and it was promoting one of their artists with clear links to find out more about her.
Call me old fashioned but there's a phrase that goes "all press is good press." So when a talented well known artist puts together a well thought out and well executed video FOR FREE, why would you want to put the kibosh on that? It will promote your artist, resulting in better awareness/popularity and more importantly SALES (aka money to keep your company running.)
I think what the record label is really pushing is that you have to go to their page to discover their artist, which doesn't work. For better or worse, the idea that as a label you can completely control the discovery of your content is not a reality any longer. While it might be ideal as a company for customers to come to your record label's YouTube page to find out about new artists, that's really not how it works anymore. As humans we make many of our decisions by recommendation or word of mouth. So if someone with a large audience is willing to promote your artist why not let them?
As Her record label if Vassy were to go on SNL and sing her songs you would be ok with that? You'd probably even let her go on a lesser known show to promote her music. So when a guy who consistently gets over a million views on his videos and has over 82 million total video views you'd be crazy not to roll with it, right?
Just check out these analytics on her video for an acoustic version of her song "history" after Joe took the video down and simply linked to it in a video on his SECOND channel, which has much fewer subscribers. You might see a recent spike.
The original video in question (I did not repost it, just found it):
Check out this video I made for my friends 20 Riverside. Their music is awesome and very worth checking out. They've got a funky vibe, sweet horns and great lyricists.
So sunday I ran in the LIVESTRONG Challenge Seattle 5K, and it was a blast! Completing a 5K may seem difficult, but you dont have to run and it's great to get active. If you have a LIVESTRONG event near you I'd definitely encourage you to take part. It helps a great cause and is a lot fun.
So this past weekend I attended the Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show at the Seattle Center and relived spending the afternoon at the local bowling alley arcade as a kid. It's an awesome convention that is exactly what it sounds like, a celebration of arcade games. Basically with the price of admission ($10.00) you get unlimited play all day on both the pinball machines and the arcade video games. They have 250+ pinball and arcade games, so there are plenty of games from the 50's and 60's up to modern machines to test your metal. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.
Also if you need repair parts for your machine, you're in luck! There's several vendors selling the internal components, as well as complete machines.
Tearing a phone book in half may seem like a herculean act but I can assure you it is far from that. A while back I was surfing around YouTube and came across a video purporting to teach how to rip a phone book in half, and it looked surprisingly easy. Now being the twenty first century guy I am, I don't have a phone book, so I couldn't take advantage of my new found knowledge.
Until the other day that was. I was hanging out a my friend Kevin's house before heading off to a Sounders game and I noticed he had about five or six old phone books on his fridge. Excited I took one out to his living room and asked if I could rip it in half. He looked at me like I was crazy and said there was no way I could do it but would like to see me try. While I was eager to show off, I hadn't seen the video for a little while but I still remembered the main parts. After messing around with the book for a minute or two I succeeded in tearing it apart and looking like a bad ass.
I showed Him how to do it and we spent the next hour taking turns tearing the rest of the phone books in half and feeling like he-men. We even grabbed the video camera and filmed one, check it out. I'll also post the video tutorial I learned from. And remember it's all about getting that crease right.
While I don't enjoy going on chatroulette, I find it infinitely fascinating, especially when someone finds such a creative way to use it. So when I first heard about Merton (known as pianochatimprov on YouTube) I was very impressed. He has a great way of entertaining people and making funny songs in the process. He set up his piano and a camera, hopped on chatroulette and had some fun. And fortunately for us recorded it. I doubt he really expected the viral nature of what he was posting (his video is currently around 4.5 million views.)
That's where popular singer songwriter Ben Folds comes into the mix. He apparently saw the video and quite like the idea. So at a concert of 2,000 people in Charlotte NC he did the same. Set up with a jumbo video screen and a laptop, Folds improvised songs for each new chatter that popped up in the style of Merton.
Some are speculating that Merton is Ben Folds, but Merton asserts he is not Folds. Blogger Bex Schwartz messaged Merton, and he denied the connection. You can see that exchange here. I also grabbed this picture from Merton's page where he denies it again. Either way, it's a cool way to use chatroulette, and quite funny.
So I visited the Tennessee Aquarium over winter break and I really like the jellyfish exhibit, definitely worth checking out if you find yourself in Chattanooga. There's just something about jellyfish that is kind of mesmerizing to me, I really dig them. Any way enjoy the video.
Also if you like the song, please check out the band. They're called 20 Riverside, they make great music and they just recorded their first studio album which will coming out soon. For More info on 20 Riverside check out their Myspace or Reverbnation
So the way we view the Internet currently works ok, but if you're looking for information you can really only view one page at a time, but what if there was a way that you could look more broadly at a topic or set of data, as well as narrow parameters? Cue Microsoft; it recently unveiled a application called Pivot, and it allows you to see the "web" as well as it's tendrils. For instance, if you were to take a look at a specific piece of information (say President Obama) and then pull back and look more broadly (like all U.S. presidents) and then sort by a different parameters (like by religious views.)
I may not have a complete understanding of it, but it looks fantastic. I saw this program first on a TED talk, and I really got me excited. It looks like it'll make research, and studying data much easier and even provide surprising insights you might not have found otherwise. With computing power reaching a peak, what's really going to change is the way we interact with computers and data. Keeping that in mind I'm quite impressed with Pivot.
You can try Pivot for free (PC ONLY) at GetPivot.com Check out the videos below for a better explanation.
I have to connection with Microsoft, I just liked this.
So I shot this a while back with my buddy Chas for a class, and the topic was to show how to make something with out words. Basically an exersise in non-verbal story telling. We picked making a cappuccino (one of my favorite drinks.) We shot this at the Fremont Caffe Ladro in Seattle. I really like how it turned out, so I hope you like it. Special thanks to Caffe Ladro, the barista and the expert coffee drinker (Chas roberts.)
Have you ever had the feeling that you've seen movie but you're not sure? Like if it was a dream, or you imagined it up or it was a real you've forgotten. So after having the movie Defending Your Life recommended to me by several people I decided to watch it last night, and it was one of the strangest experiences in movie watching I've ever had. As I was watching this movie I kept having the feeling I'd seen that seen but I couldn't put my finger on it. I know at some point in my childhood I saw this movie, but I only have the most vague memories of this movie. Since it came out in 1991, I would have been around 6 or 8 when I saw it, and it settled deep in my psyche.
Defending Your Life is the story of Daniel Miller (played by Albert Brooks) who dies after crashing his brand new car into a bus. He wakes up in a puragtory-esque place called Judgement City. Here he must defend the actions of his life and show that it was not dominated by fear. Along the way he meets and falls in love with another recently deceased woman Julia (played by Meryl Streep.)
What's strange is that after watching it as a kid, the plot of the movie had stuck with me. I remember growing up with the idea that at some point you'd have to review the events of your life and defend your decisions and not knowing how I got the idea. The bits are super funny, and I laughed a lot. I really liked this movie and would definitely recommend it and to make it more convenient to watch you can stream it right now through Netflix.
Since I'm coming up on my twenty-fifth birthday, I've been thinking about the relative nature of time. Essentially I've been musing on why it seems like time goes faster as you get older. Every year feels like it goes by faster then the previous. I remember when I was a kid summer vacation seemed to last a year and now 3 months passes faster than ever.
I guess it comes down to simple math. When you're 5, a year is 1/5 of your life. So it only make sense that they would seem much longer. But now as I'm turning 25 a year is only 1/25 of my life. I can only imagine the years fly by once you hit 40!
Other factors probably account for this feeling as well. Such as the amount of responsibilities we have. When I was a kid I had pretty much no responsibilities but now I have so much to think about and take care of, I can hardly find time for it all. I would think this would have to account for some of the feeling that time is speeding up. Either that or the millisecond we lost from the Chilean earthquake is hitting me harder than everybody else! :)
That's right folks the first of it's kind YouTube conference is coming upon us quickly on July 9-11. So far most YouTube gatherings are a mish mash of people with no real set direction and are more of a get together than anything with a definable goal and that's where VidCon comes in.
VidCon will be similar to a gathering but with an itinerary. The goal of the conference is to "grow and strengthen our community with more formal programming." It will feature some of the top YouTubers around including John and Hank Green (The Vlogbrother and VidCon founders), Shane Dawson, Ian and Anthony of Smosh, Ray William Johnson Natalie Tran (aka CommunityChannel), Philip Defranco and the list goes on. Also some great YouTube musicians are going to be playing like Julia Nunes. Basically a who's who of the YouTube elite. And to top it off the FRAKING great Ze Frank will be there.
Needless to say but I am excited. There should be some great panel discussion and interesting talks and a fun way to meet the people entertaining us. My friend and I are heading down together and we'll probly take a couple extra days to kick around LA a bit. See some sights and try to catch some stand-up. So if you're going and you see me there say "Hey."
Having an education is imperative in todays society and we all would do better to have educated people around us. Basically it benefits everyone and helps propel our society forward. The internet and the free exchange of information has changed the education game though, basically if you want to learn something the information is just waiting for you to look it up. It raises the question of wether the current educational system is still valid and should it continue through it's current model or does it need to play catch up to stay relevent.
Obviously having an experienced instructor who can guide you through your learning is important but how does copying down facts and figures prepare you for a purposeful life contributing to society? I'm not sure how we'd tackle these issues specifically but we should stop to consider them and get the discussion going. I've been thinking about this for a while and I have some ideas, but this blog was sparked from Dan Browns video which I will link below, you should give it a watch.
So after years of being a lazy fatty I've taken it upon my self to change that as my new years resolution and so far I've really stuck with it. My weight loss to date is 21 pounds and I'm quite proud. Eating right and working out are paying off, I just need to keep it up for the rest off my life. ;)
I hadn't updated for a while so I that's what's been going on with me. I'm also working on a few new videos with my roommate so keep an eye out for those as well.
I have absolutely no interest in getting one, which is weird because I love gadgets. I understand they're kind of convenient because you don't have to go to a bookstore to get a new book but, meh. Call me Amish but I don't want to have to worry about charging my "books" or syncing it to my computer. I would miss the smell of the page, dog earring a passage I like, and going to the bookstore/library. How will I ever live out my strange fantasy of living in the world of Fahrenheit 451 if we switch to a world of easily delete able books. Also, what will I put on my book shelves to show people I'm not a complete idiot?
