Okay. I’m convinced that John …
Okay. I’m convinced that John McCain sucks.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Last weekend, my cousin showed me the first act of Dr. Horrible, and I didn’t get watch the other two until tonight.
Guess what…they are all incredible.
Created by Joss Wheden (Buffy, Firefly/Serenity) and starring Neal Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillian, and Felicia Day, this is a made-for-web mini-series (each act is only 15 or so minutes) that combines the wonder of vlogging, and the underused villain perspective, with the wonderful world of musicals. The production is unbelievably tight with great performances and remarkably good music (from Joss’ composer brother Jed) and a superbly condensed story-arc.
As of this week, it is no longer available to watch for free on Hulu, but the torrent crowd won’t have a problem finding it, and the people who want to support innovative low-budget productions like this should just shell out the $3.99 to have it right in their iTunes software program.
Wordpress releases iPhone app!
And it works!
I’m No Pro
I’ve begun to upload some of my amateur travel photography to flickr, beginning with my most recent trip. A 4-week journey through some of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
Since I haven’t paid for the “pro” classification on the site, I’m limited to 100mb/mo., but that should be useful in both limiting me to posting only the most interesting shots, and for giving me the time to go through all the gigs of past photos I’ve got laying around. I’m also taking the time to geo-tag them, not just because it’s cool to be able to see where it was taken on a map, but also because it allows others to find the spot and get a different perspective on it. To access this, just follow the picture to the Flickr.com site, where you can hit “map” or you can check out this link to view all the posted pics by map.
This entire series was shot with my aging “advance compact” Fuji Finepix S7000. Not a very good camera by today’s standards but until I can justify a D-SLR purchase, it gets the job done.
Hopefully I can get some meaningful feedback and at the same time share some of my experiences and perspectives from my travels abroad.
LET’S GET IT STARTED
Went a long time without posting. I don’t want that to happen in the future.
Cause:
Not being able to find time, access or inspiration to post (mostly due to being away from computers and having vodka spilled into my Macbook keyboard)
Solution:
If not tomorrow, then next week.
Expect Twittering, Geotagged iP pictures, and a more constant stream of new and improved content.
A Place of 10 Cane Rum
Just got back from a benefit for the Kageno Organization, a non-profit working to improve the lives of the poorest people in Kenya, and is now working in Rwanda as well. The state of some of these communities is just staggering, as the short video below details.
Not that anyone who would visit my site would necessarily be in the position to make a donation, but even if they can’t, the website and videos are still worth checking out (and are made by people in my creative community).
I met many of the people most deeply involved in their projects, and found them to be inspirational, not just in their optimism and dedication, but also their abilities to feel real human connection with those who can be just too easy to ignore.
“…we basically had the whole country.”
Gotta love the nonchalance of this article describing no-bid contracts from Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP coming into Iraq.
It reminded a TED talk posted not too long ago.
A quick word about TED. The Technology/Entertainment/Design conference takes place every year in California. But that name doesn’t quite do it justice. As far as I can tell, it has become a forum for the smart, the ambitious, the talented, and the philanthropic, to share their ideas with like-minded (or un-like-minded) peers. I was introduced to these earlier in the year, and have become addicted. This is exactly what our world need right now. For the people who know their areas of inquiry best (nerds) to reach out and share their knowledge with the world. Hopefully, this helps them find validation, support, funding, and maybe most importantly, an understanding of how it’s all connected.
Here is a list of their impressive past speakers
Here is their RSS Feed for new videos
and the YouTube page for the TED talks Director
but best of all, if you have an iPod/iPhone that is capable of playing video, you can use their VIDEO PODCAST for an easy dose of intelligence.
This is not one of the most entertaining TED talks, but you’ll see the connection to the article pretty early on, and hopefully these “Ideas Worth Spreading” will do just that.
HOW TO PRONOUNCE KOSCIUSZKO
We had some people over last night, and in indicating the nearby Kosciuszko Bridge (which I was pronouncing “kos-kee-oos-koh”), we decided to actually do the research to find out how it’s pronounced:
“Although many broadcast announcers pronounce the name of the bridge as “kahs-kee-OOSH-koh”, the actual Polish pronunciation approximates “kohsh-CHOOSH-koh” [Wikipedia, obvi]
From another source, (that was referring to its namesake, “Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish volunteer who was a General in the American Revolutionary War.”) we found this to be “koshy-chyoosh-koh.”
Either way, this is what you see on that bridge when crossing into Brooklyn (our building is off to the right below frame).
“It sounds like someone going to town on an FM radio” - Roommate
It’s not for everyone, but if you are the kind of person who’d be curious to hear what a Jay-Z verse perfectly laid over a Radiohead riff would sound like, or Busta Rhymes over The Police or what “Ms. New Booty” plus “Come on Eileen” equals (or Public Enemy and Heart?) you should probably check out “Feed The Animals.” This is Girl Talk’s 4th LP, and if you aren’t familiar with the others, they pretty much follow the same basic principle: take interesting pop melodies and vocals, both new and forgotten and stir them into a cohesive production. The outcome is indeed manic, and not all of it will gel for you, but it’s worth it for those moments when two or three or four musical elements you never would have connected seem to mesh wonderfully. Best of all, Girl Talk has adopted/improved the recent Radiohead/Nine Inch Nails music distribution system. His whole album is available for download on a “you set the price” basis. $0.00-4.99 gets you 320Kbps MP3’s (with album art), $5 will get you uncompressed FLAC files (play them with VLC) and give $10 and you get the downloads + a disc come November. Great options all around. Download “Feed the Animals” here.
Great Minds
6/19 wasn’t just the launch of MY national campaign…
Lots of guitar pickin’ and lame-looking white people, but the pic @ :30 let’s us know who’s boss.
Update:
I mentioned this specific clip to some friends and it seemed to have resonated with them too, so I’ll share:
Top Ten Reasons for the BoDS Blog
10. Teach others about ME!
Or at least what I want you to think I am like, which is probably just as revealing. The ‘folio part entails having access to all worthwhile projects I’ve been a part of in the past (which will take some time to locate/upload) and a source to check out all the latest efforts, including one or two of the thoughts that go through my head from day to day.
9. Fame and Glory!
The videos may never go viral, and the blog will probably not land me any book deals anytime soon, but hopefully I will be able to provide content that’s worthy of passing on to friends, and make my name/face/ideas public enough that I could get connected to new people and projects that fit my interests and skills.
8. It’s like a TIME MACHINE!
Any good historian will tell you that sometimes the best way to see into the future is to look into the past. Where I’ve been/what I’ve done over the last few years should be revealing of where I want to be heading in the next few.
7. Flyers waste paper!
How else will you know if I, or someone in my creative community will be performing?
Whether it be standup, live skits, TV/Internet appearances, music-making, or throwing a great great rooftop party, BoDS will keep you in the know!
6. Control my brain!
Like a post? Comment on it! Ask for more like it! Don’t like it? Tell me why so next time I will be sure to include/exclude information that would be interesting to you. In this way, I’ll be able to get a better read for my prospective audiences and have a great forum for feedback, and at the same time you now have a place to publicly call me out for being a _____.
5. I need you to be impressed by me!
Please. Please… PLEASE!?!?!
4. I’ll become better at writing!
I am a know a little bit about a lot of things kinda guy. While this is great for convincing people that you’re “well-rounded” the only real tangible skill would be to communicate all those wonderful thoughts to the world. Besides writing, you know what help’s someone become a better writer? Reading! My blog!
3. I’ll become better at thinking!
Being able to communicate thoughts in a simple, cohesive and entertaining [besides this post ,obviously] manner, is one of the most effective way of curbing illogical or unhelpful thought processes. If you don’t believe that you should go see a therapist.
2. Progress!
Everything I write, and everything you read will improve both of us. We’ll all be able to go back and look through all the wonderful lessons we’ve learned together, and make fun of ourselves for being so lame.
1. Save the World!
Duh.
pizza time (ep. 4)
From Ithaca College Televisions Fall ‘03 TV Season of 30 Minutes with Dave Ferguson.
The final episode of PizzaTime chronicles the past and future of PTwDS.