After the wine

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

This is Red Five; I’m going in!

Click To Play

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)

See comments

Open reply to Josh Cohen of Tilzy.tv

Click To 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?

See comments

My Office – the art of Getting Things Done

Click To Play

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.

See comments

Late night desk envy and Video Ideas For NaVloPoMo

Click To Play

Two things:

Lauren’s “Video ideas for NaVloPoMo” is a great idea in itself.

You can see Valdez‘s attic here. You have been warned. I am not responsible for any night terrors or low self-esteem.

For contrast, see David Howell’s attic, posted on Day 1 of NaVloPoMo. But although that’s comforting in its chaos, it’s disturbing for entirely different reasons.

More! More workspaces! Feed me!

See comments

Lumiere: Deliverance

Click To Play

(Lumiere films have no sound, are 60 seconds or less, have a fixed camera position – see http://videoblogging.info/lumiere for more information)

This was shot and cut on my Nokia N93 phone. Not bad, for a phone.

I hate London.
Iàöâm in Devon, staying at my father-in-lawàöâs house on the River Dart.
This is a Lumiere that I shot when I was out in a boat with him earlier this evening. This is him, rowing. I’d love to share with you the sound of the oar, the boat and the water, but you’ll have to imagine it. Apart from anything else, what he was saying is unbroadcastable.

Earlier in the day, we went to Dartmouth on the ferry. I shot 120 clips, and cut them together as a little moving slideshow. But then I forgot my own rules, and cut them in Final Cut Pro instead of something quick & easy like my phone or Quicktime. It didn’t improve the quality of the finished product at all, I don’t think – and I forgot to compress it before I went out for a drunken dinner. So now here I am at 11.45, with the video still stuck compressing and my Day 3 deadline unachievable.

So it’s lucky I shot this Lumiere. In some ways, I prefer it to the video I was going to post.

I’ll post the Dartmouth trip video as soon as it’s done – which will be after midnight – and so maybe I’ll even end up posting 2 videos tomorrow. Or maybe not. There’s no need to show off, is there?

As I finish writing this, it’s 23:58 and the video is just about to finish uploading at Blip. Jesus. 23:59. Copied and pasted. Here we go.

See comments

NaVloPoMo – The Dirty Truth…?

Click to Play

Maybe. But I think that for me, NaVloPoMo is not just about making, it’s about watching and talking. 41 participants x 30 days = 1230 films. So the marital bed might be a little colder than usual this month…

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)

See comments

At my signal, unleash hell

Click To Play

“Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you are already DEAD!
Brothers, what we do in life… ECHOES IN ETERNITY!”

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” – Orson Scott Card

“To be a writer is to sit down at one’s desk in the chill portion of every day, and to write; not waiting for the little jet of the blue flame of genius to start from the breastbone – just plain going at it, in pain and delight. To be a writer is to throw away a great deal, not to be satisfied, to type again, and then again, and once more, and over and over…” John Hersey

“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.” Jane Yolen

Join us – posting every day if you can – at http://nablopomo.ning.com/group/videobloggers

See comments

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: