A timeless bedtime/bathtime scene.
This was actually preceded by another scene in which she was crying uncontrollably, and I tried singing Baa Baa Black Sheep, Row Row Row Your Boat, Five Little Ducks and Horsey Horsey to calm her down, to no avail. Then I had a moment of divine inspiration and started singing something which made her instantly flop in my lap, head back, still and calm… the Main Theme from Star Wars. Anybody looking through the window at us would’ve been forgiven for thinking that I was singing Ave Maria.
Not that she’s seen Star Wars. The only time she’s heard any of the music was in Car Going Fast film. Which was a bit of a favourite last week. So me singing the theme reminded her (a totally different part of the theme, though, so she’s pretty smart to pick it up). Next thing I knew, she was sitting on the loo demanding Car Going Fast. Watch on Loo, Daddy.
What am I doing to my family?
(other than turning them into light entertainment for you?)
See comments "Lullaby 2.0"I don’t know how you all do it.
So many of you taking part in NaVloPoMo have been writing comments on my videos every day, so I know you’re watching – AND you’re making incredible films. Which is what it should be all about, I feel – I don’t want to just be making films here, I want to be watching and talking, responding and collaborating. But I haven’t been able to find the time to do that for days. So I’ve tried to steal a couple of hours this evening to watch videos.
I watched 5-10 films while the dinner was in the oven between 8 and 9. Then I watched a few more while Kate ordered our shopping online between 10 and 11.30.
And I still hadn’t made a film myself. In fact, I was so busy watching that I’d totally forgotten that I was even supposed to make one myself. Until 11.33pm. So this is the only option left to me! Really fulfilling what I said at the beginning of NaVloPoMo about just posting ANYTHING. You can’t even *see* this, the low light filming on my phone is so bad.
Anyway, the point is that I’m humbled by the talent and passion and generosity everybody’s showing by both creating and watching other people. And a bit frustrated at why I can’t get my shit together to do it better myself.
At some point, I want to try to share links to some of the videos I’ve watched. But there are dozens being posted for NaVloPoMo each day, and I’m days and days behind.
Now I’m really finally off to my bed on the floor. Kate and I usually hang out quite a lot in the evenings, so it felt a bit weird watching separate things in separate rooms. I wish I could both watch and hang with her. Perhaps I’m going to have to set up an Apple TV in our living room and drag her even further into our hell.
Alternative video files:
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I handed the camera to Kate today. We were in Burnham Beeches, just outside London (map/satphoto). The colours are incredible this year. Another thing I’ll miss in evergreen Vancouver Island.
I was trying to persuade her to sing her song The Falling of the Leaves (a Yeats poem she set to music – you can hear it on her Myspace page) so that I could use it as a soundtrack for the other moments I shot all around the woods. But this is better.
I think I’m going to give her the camera more often.
Alternative file types:
Quicktime / Flash (click to play if player above doesn’t work)
NB – THIS HAS NO SOUND
—–
I said it before, I’ll say it again. I hate technology. I’m thinking of going Amish.
I’ve tried to upload this twice yesterday/today.
I’ve been away from the internet this weekend. Shocking, but true. Just testing out the Amish thing.
Anyway, here it is. I shot it in Canada in August, in the woods along Long Beach on Vancouver Island (map/satphoto). I usually shoot a lot of still photos on holiday. This time, I shot a lot of moving snapshots, only one or two of which I’ve published so far. Basically, I just experimented with keeping the camera still and shooting a movie instead of a still. Slightly different compositions from what I’d choose for photos, but you see what I mean. I was frequently surprised by what would unfold within the frame in the minute or so I kept the camera running – plus you get the extra dimensions of moving light, and sound (though not here). Futuristic holiday snaps.
This isn’t a Lumiere, strictly speaking, because it’s not under 60 seconds long, but I’ve muted it anyway because (in this case) I wanted to leave space for you to imagine the sound of a forest on the edge of the Pacific, and to imagine what’s being said and thought.
You can re-read Alice’s encounter with a mushroom here:
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Damn! I posted this on Friday night from my phone, but it never arrived. Technology. I hate it.
This is just a couple of dark, barely audible drunken moments from a dinner called N0shit organised by Phil Campbell in Burton-on-Trent for a few UK social media guys – including Nik Butler (Loudmouthman.com); Christian Paine (Documentally.com; OurManInside.com); Jason Jarrett (ABuddhistPodcast.com) and Craig Marston (craigmarstonphotography.com)
Top. Men.
My N93 is terrible in low light – I have to start using another camera at night, like the Ixus I used in San Francisco – and again this is something that I probably wouldn’t publish if it weren’t for NaVloPoMo, I’d just share my clips among those attending. But here it is, including Phil’s explaining to me why I’m disorganised after that video last week. Also, this is the only time you will ever see evidence of me on the dancefloor. I think I had had a moderate amount wine at that point.
Thanks, chaps, it was fun.
See comments "After the wine"This is one of the things I’m going to miss most about England when I go to Canada.
I shot this on Monday in Devon, on the way back from Kate’s dad’s cottage to the station in the nearest town. 20 minutes of death star taxi adrenaline. I was wondering what I should do with it until I saw Gogen’s NaVloPoMo Day 7 video of his drive back home through his town at night, set to music. Then I realised I’d secretly known all along what to do with it. NaVloPoMo is full of people responding to and being inspired by other people’s videos. Organic video conversations. I love it.
And I love how – when cutting quickly to music – you can find and take advantage of chance interactions between image and soundtrack.
It feels good to finally add the score for real, since when I’m actually driving at high speed along single lane country roads, this is *always* what I’m singing to myself in my head. And if I’m driving and there’s nobody else in the car, maybe perhaps sometimes I might even possibly have been known to sing it out loud. Maybe even quite loud. Especially the bit that kicks in after he turns off the tracking computer. It’s like being 11 again!
Alternative video formats:
Quicktime / Flash (click if above video doesn’t play)
–update–
Hi to everybody who’s stumbled here from Blip or Mefeedia homepages (or wherever) wanting to know about NaVloPoMo.
NaVloPoMo is (Inter)National Videoblog Posting Month – a lot of video bloggers and artists making and posting films every day in November.
The site is at http://nablopomo.ning.com/group/videobloggers – you can see people’s films there, and also find a list of their blog URLS and feeds.
Twittervlog.tv is my video blog, which I shoot, cut and post, all with my Nokia N93 cellphone.
—
This is a rather fast but long and probably quite inarticulate reply to an email I got from Josh Cohen at Tilzy.tv asking about NaVloPoMo. I just riffed on his questions. They’re quite good questions for getting you thinking about NaVloPoMo. If you want to answer any of the questions yourself, or if I’ve missed something, or you’ve just got something else to say about NaVloPoMo and about personal videoblogging, reply in the comments or (even better) in a video.
– How’d you come up with the idea? And how’d you initially share it with the community? Did it take long to catch on?
– About how many vlogs would you say there are involved? (I think there’s a list on the Ning site, but was wondering if that was extensive)
– Why do you participate? What type of people should participate? Is it for anyone?
– What’s the best part about it?
– How do your videos for NaVloPoMo differ than your regular fare?
Yesterday, I asked everybody to show their desks & workspaces, in response to Cheryl asking to see everyone’s Junk Drawers. And I promised to show mine today. So here it is.
Two years ago, a friend gave me David Allen‘s famous Getting Things Done. It changed my life.
PS
Dear Clients,
This is a work of fiction.
