This has been bouncing around the Internet for a while but it's worthy for my first Friday Fun Video. You see a penguin pursued by several Orcas but it ends happily for the penguin.
I posted the extended version because the Orcas are awesome to see.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
James Patrick Kelly on Podcasting
Over on the Podiobooker blog there is a post about Asimov’s on podcasting fiction with links to columns written by James Patrick Kelly in Asamov's Science Fiction. Kelly's new article follows on one he wrote three years ago.
Here's what Podiobooker says about the new article:
Lafferty, Hutchens, and Morris have all podcasted stories that I enjoyed tremendously. They are also among the authors who are exploring a new model for marketing their work by building a large fan base.
These are excellent articles and I highly recommended them.
While you are at Podiobooker you should check out what they have available for download. Podiobooker is a wonderful source for podcast fiction. The aforementioned Lafferty, Hutchins and Morris all have works there and they have given me much listening pleasure.
Here's what Podiobooker says about the new article:
This time around, he’s including conversations with Mur Lafferty, J.C. Hutchins and Tee Morris. This article not only covers the evolution of the podcast novel format, but also delves into the role that social media plays to the author taking this non-conventional route.
Lafferty, Hutchens, and Morris have all podcasted stories that I enjoyed tremendously. They are also among the authors who are exploring a new model for marketing their work by building a large fan base.
These are excellent articles and I highly recommended them.
While you are at Podiobooker you should check out what they have available for download. Podiobooker is a wonderful source for podcast fiction. The aforementioned Lafferty, Hutchins and Morris all have works there and they have given me much listening pleasure.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Monty Python gets a YouTube channel
We saw Spamalot last weekend - grand fun if you are a Python fan and enjoy live theatre. One of the actors described himself as raising champion Norwegian Blue Parrots. Imagine how thrilled I was to learn that the Pythons have started a YouTube channel.
Here is how they describe it:
Here is how they describe it:
For 3 years you YouTubers have been ripping us off, taking tens of thousands of our videos and putting them on YouTube. Now the tables are turned. It's time for us to take matters into our own hands.
We know who you are, we know where you live and we could come after you in ways too horrible to tell. But being the extraordinarily nice chaps we are, we've figured a better way to get our own back: We've launched our own Monty Python channel on YouTube.
No more of those crap quality videos you've been posting. We're giving you the real thing - HQ videos delivered straight from our vault.
What's more, we're taking our most viewed clips and uploading brand new HQ versions. And what's even more, we're letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there!
But we want something in return.
None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Corduroy Mansions, Alexander McCall Smith
This is old news but Alexander McCall Smith, famous for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, has a serial novel named Corduroy Mansions running at Telegraph.co.uk. The serial novel has a long history with Charles Dickens being one of the most famous practitioners.
A new episode will be posted each week day for 20 weeks. With 48 episodes currently available, it is nearly half done.
Smith is writing it as he goes along and encourages readers to make comments, ask questions, and make suggestions about the characters and plot.
The story itself is fun but I'm posting about it here because of the way it is being promoted and tools used to engage readers and give them opportunity to play a part in the project. This blog focuses on audio and video and both are pulled into the mix.
The Corduroy Mansions page at Telegraph.co.uk is nicely put together. You can experience the story in two formats. You can read it and you can subscribe to the podcast narrated by Andrew Sachs (Manuel in Fawlty Towers).
Additionally, there are profiles of the characters and comments, questions, and suggestions from readers as well as a link to the Corduroy Mansions Facebook page. And, if you are feeling creative, you can enter a contest to write a novel in twenty weeks yourself and win a lunch with the author.
Smith talks about Corduroy Mansions in this YouTube video
Well done, Mr. Smith!
A new episode will be posted each week day for 20 weeks. With 48 episodes currently available, it is nearly half done.
Smith is writing it as he goes along and encourages readers to make comments, ask questions, and make suggestions about the characters and plot.
The story itself is fun but I'm posting about it here because of the way it is being promoted and tools used to engage readers and give them opportunity to play a part in the project. This blog focuses on audio and video and both are pulled into the mix.
The Corduroy Mansions page at Telegraph.co.uk is nicely put together. You can experience the story in two formats. You can read it and you can subscribe to the podcast narrated by Andrew Sachs (Manuel in Fawlty Towers).
Additionally, there are profiles of the characters and comments, questions, and suggestions from readers as well as a link to the Corduroy Mansions Facebook page. And, if you are feeling creative, you can enter a contest to write a novel in twenty weeks yourself and win a lunch with the author.
Smith talks about Corduroy Mansions in this YouTube video
Well done, Mr. Smith!
Lost in Light, Part II
UPDATED: Added new link to movies of a safari in Northern Rhodesia and a trip to Luanda, Angola. Jump to the bottom if interested.
In Lost in Light, Part I, I described how I found new life for my family's home movies and dipped my toe in the Creative Commons waters. I wrote how I found the the Lost in Light project and how they transferred my family's 8mm movies to DVD. The project team only asked that the submitter give a description of what is on the film and agree to share through a Creative Commons license and on the Internet Archives. I want to make the films useful so I have spent considerable time going through them and describing the scenes.
At the bottom of the post are links to the movies currently available on the Internet.
Right now I would like to discuss how I am approaching this project and the resources I use to describe the contents of the home movies. The movie that I use for this example is not yet on the Internet.
This sort of analysis is a good demonstration of the power of the Internet. Consider that I am working with 50+ year old films and trying identify locations, events, and people. I spent many hours on just the first 18 minutes of one DVD. I also gained a much greater appreciation of the photo analysis work done by intelligence agencies. I don't see how the sort of work I'm doing could be accomplished without the Internet.
Web resources I used
In addition to the web resources, I have my father's flight records so I know where the plane was and when.
Here is an example of how I used some of the resources I described above. There is a segment of film where the aircraft is flying above a city and passing over what appears to be a park of some sort and a large geometric feature covering a lot of ground that I couldn't immediately figure out. Following this segment, the scene shifted to the ground in Madrid, Spain. I used Google web search to look for parks in Madrid and was pretty sure I had found the Estanque del Retiro (an artificial boating lake) in the Parque del Retiro but all the views were ground level. I assumed that the scenes from the air were taken when the plane was on approach to the airport so I went to WikiMedia and searched Madrid Spain. The Parque del Retiro is close to the center of town and, as I zoomed in, there it was. I had the DVD in the player and WikiMedia on the laptop and I was able to trace the flight path as they flew over the park. Obviously geographic features changed but many of the buildings had the same shape and it wasn't difficult to orient. Assuming that the aircraft wasn't going to make any sudden turns, I advanced the DVD and WikiMedia and quickly found the second feature which is the largest cemetery in Europe, Cementerio de la Almudena. Here are comparison shots from the DVD and WikiMapia
Cementerio de la Almudena from DVD
Cementerio de la Almudena from Wikimapia
Estanque del Retiro from DVD
Estanque del Retiro from Wikimapia
Available Movies
With Descriptions
Cape Town Vacation, 1954
Luanda, Angola 1955
Fishing on the Zambezi
Hunting safari in Northern Rhodesia
Leaving South Africa
African Dance
Boy Scouts - not in Africa
Without Descriptions at this Time
Hunting Safari in Rhodesia - warning some scenes might offend
Trip to Angola
I'm dusting off this project and plan to process more of the movies and upload some to the Internet Archives. If you do a search on Internet Archives for lostinlight in the motion pictures category you will see all these movies with comments from viewers.
In Lost in Light, Part I, I described how I found new life for my family's home movies and dipped my toe in the Creative Commons waters. I wrote how I found the the Lost in Light project and how they transferred my family's 8mm movies to DVD. The project team only asked that the submitter give a description of what is on the film and agree to share through a Creative Commons license and on the Internet Archives. I want to make the films useful so I have spent considerable time going through them and describing the scenes.
At the bottom of the post are links to the movies currently available on the Internet.
Right now I would like to discuss how I am approaching this project and the resources I use to describe the contents of the home movies. The movie that I use for this example is not yet on the Internet.
This sort of analysis is a good demonstration of the power of the Internet. Consider that I am working with 50+ year old films and trying identify locations, events, and people. I spent many hours on just the first 18 minutes of one DVD. I also gained a much greater appreciation of the photo analysis work done by intelligence agencies. I don't see how the sort of work I'm doing could be accomplished without the Internet.
Web resources I used
- Google Web Search. Doing a web search generally leads me first to Wikipedia but I also locate other sites; most of which are travel related.
- Wikipedia. A lot of the film is from Africa and many of the place names have changed. Wikipedia has been a great source for cross referencing old to new place names.
- Google Image Search. This has been really helpful when I am trying to nail a specific location. It is also helping me develop skill in analyzing images. The scene in a photograph and the same scene in the film are more often than not seen from a different orientation, angle, and perspective. It is challenging to find out a common element. What I find on the Internet is considerably more recent than the movies and imagination is needed to compensate for the changes in building, vegetation, etc.
- WikiMapia. I may use Google Earth later. Wikimapia didn't require installing anything on the computer. My father shot some of the film from an aircraft and I've had a difficult time locating aerial shots on the Internet. One recent segment I worked with was taken from the air, over a city, in what looked like an approach to an airport. There were two features that stand out and I wanted to know what they are. More about this below.
- YouTube. I haven't actually used this resource yet but plan to. I am also thinking of posting some film segments on YouTube to see if anyone can assist with identification.
In addition to the web resources, I have my father's flight records so I know where the plane was and when.
Here is an example of how I used some of the resources I described above. There is a segment of film where the aircraft is flying above a city and passing over what appears to be a park of some sort and a large geometric feature covering a lot of ground that I couldn't immediately figure out. Following this segment, the scene shifted to the ground in Madrid, Spain. I used Google web search to look for parks in Madrid and was pretty sure I had found the Estanque del Retiro (an artificial boating lake) in the Parque del Retiro but all the views were ground level. I assumed that the scenes from the air were taken when the plane was on approach to the airport so I went to WikiMedia and searched Madrid Spain. The Parque del Retiro is close to the center of town and, as I zoomed in, there it was. I had the DVD in the player and WikiMedia on the laptop and I was able to trace the flight path as they flew over the park. Obviously geographic features changed but many of the buildings had the same shape and it wasn't difficult to orient. Assuming that the aircraft wasn't going to make any sudden turns, I advanced the DVD and WikiMedia and quickly found the second feature which is the largest cemetery in Europe, Cementerio de la Almudena. Here are comparison shots from the DVD and WikiMapia
Cementerio de la Almudena from DVD
Cementerio de la Almudena from Wikimapia
Estanque del Retiro from DVD
Estanque del Retiro from Wikimapia
Available Movies
With Descriptions
Cape Town Vacation, 1954
Luanda, Angola 1955
Fishing on the Zambezi
Hunting safari in Northern Rhodesia
Leaving South Africa
African Dance
Boy Scouts - not in Africa
Without Descriptions at this Time
Hunting Safari in Rhodesia - warning some scenes might offend
Trip to Angola
I'm dusting off this project and plan to process more of the movies and upload some to the Internet Archives. If you do a search on Internet Archives for lostinlight in the motion pictures category you will see all these movies with comments from viewers.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Lost in Light, Part I
I am re-purposing some posts I wrote in 2007 for an in-house blog.
The Lost in Light project has ended. Jennifer Proctor and Aaron Valdez deserve much congratulations and appreciation for their work preserving small format, amateur, film. Their web site remains available as an archive.
I was visiting my parents in Florida over Christmas break in 2007 and helped my mother clean out a closet of photographs, slides, and 8mm movies. The 8mm movies posed an interesting challenge. The oldest were made between 1952 and 1956 when we lived in Pretoria, South Africa when my father was a crewman on the American Embassy's C-47. I was wondering what to do with the 8mm movies when our Media Center director mentioned Lost in Light as a possible solution. I looked them up and found an interesting project that satisfied my needs on several levels. First of all, here is what they said about Lost in Light:
Alas, the opportunity for free video transfers is gone but their web site gives links to companies that provide that service.
Note the bit where all they asked was permission to post the transfers on the Lost in Light site and on Internet Archives with some level of Creative Commons license. These are the CC licenses if you are interested. I sent Aaron and Jennifer an inquiry email and when they indicated interest, I boxed up the movies and sent them off.
You might be thinking, You mean anyone can see these movies and film makers could use segments in their own works? Why would you want that? I had three reasons. First, I would get a DVD of these movies, most of which hadn't been seen for 50 or so years. Ok, the world might get to see me and my brother as goofy kids. So what? I was pretty sure there were none of me running around naked or eating boogers. Second, it is a kind of immortality, something my father did will live on. Third, I work in education and believe in the Creative commons license. I hope that the videos will help a young film maker. I've been really impressed with what I've seen done by students at The College of William and Mary since our Media Center has been in operation and I think that a project like Lost in Light and a willingness to share using the Creative Commons licenses are important for the creative process.
In Lost in Light, Part II I will write about the movies I contributed to the project, provide links to the ones selected by Aaron and Jennifer to appear on the web site, and describe how I researched the contents of the movies.
The Lost in Light project has ended. Jennifer Proctor and Aaron Valdez deserve much congratulations and appreciation for their work preserving small format, amateur, film. Their web site remains available as an archive.
I was visiting my parents in Florida over Christmas break in 2007 and helped my mother clean out a closet of photographs, slides, and 8mm movies. The 8mm movies posed an interesting challenge. The oldest were made between 1952 and 1956 when we lived in Pretoria, South Africa when my father was a crewman on the American Embassy's C-47. I was wondering what to do with the 8mm movies when our Media Center director mentioned Lost in Light as a possible solution. I looked them up and found an interesting project that satisfied my needs on several levels. First of all, here is what they said about Lost in Light:
This is a project about the 8mm film format. But 8mm is dead, you say? On the contrary! Not only is the format alive with innovation by filmmakers around the world, but hours and hours of Super 8 and regular 8mm film exist in attics and basements the world over—as home movies, educational films, works of art—that is slowly fading from the historical record.
We’re here to preserve that record before these films are lost, and to make those films available for viewing by the public and for use by artists seeking new, compelling footage. Lost in Light is a project devoted to preserving, showcasing, and celebrating films created on the small-gauge 8mm film format.
To that end, we provide free Super 8 and 8mm to video transfers to anyone who asks, in exchange for posting their video to the Lost in Light site and on the Internet Archive with their choice of Creative Commons licenses. In addition, Lost in Light includes articles and features by members of the filmmaking and film preservation communities, video tutorials for making 8mm films, as well as creative work, all with the goal of preserving and championing this important film format.
Alas, the opportunity for free video transfers is gone but their web site gives links to companies that provide that service.
Note the bit where all they asked was permission to post the transfers on the Lost in Light site and on Internet Archives with some level of Creative Commons license. These are the CC licenses if you are interested. I sent Aaron and Jennifer an inquiry email and when they indicated interest, I boxed up the movies and sent them off.
You might be thinking, You mean anyone can see these movies and film makers could use segments in their own works? Why would you want that? I had three reasons. First, I would get a DVD of these movies, most of which hadn't been seen for 50 or so years. Ok, the world might get to see me and my brother as goofy kids. So what? I was pretty sure there were none of me running around naked or eating boogers. Second, it is a kind of immortality, something my father did will live on. Third, I work in education and believe in the Creative commons license. I hope that the videos will help a young film maker. I've been really impressed with what I've seen done by students at The College of William and Mary since our Media Center has been in operation and I think that a project like Lost in Light and a willingness to share using the Creative Commons licenses are important for the creative process.
In Lost in Light, Part II I will write about the movies I contributed to the project, provide links to the ones selected by Aaron and Jennifer to appear on the web site, and describe how I researched the contents of the movies.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
A contrast of views about homosexuality on YouTube
I've been thinking about the Prop. 8 vote in California and the resulting protests. I was browsing around YouTube and I found some interesting videos. These don't have anything to do with prop. 8 as such but are interesting to me because of the open contrast in attitudes.
First we have The Daily Show. Bill O'Reilly was a guest on November 13. Bill and Jon had this exchange. They were discussing if America is truly a center right nation.
Bill: We are center right nation because we respect traditions in America. The traditions are ...
Jon: the tradition in America?
Bill: Yea the traditions of America ...
Jon: The tradition of America is a progression of individual freedoms. You know what the tradition of America would say? Gay marriage is the next step next step.
Stewart went on to say that O'Reilly is misrepresenting traditions. Skip ahead to 7:50 for Stewart's comment.
Stewart made an excellent point and there are a large number of American citizens who agree with him.
Unfortunately, we can look back forty or fifty years and see that for another segment of our population, attitudes about homosexuality haven't progressed much.
These two public service announcements came from the 50's and 60's.
The first is titled Boys Beware and carries the warning "One never knows when the homosexual is about." Sigh. We still see homosexuality and paedophilia treated as the same.
This one Perversions for Profit, was produced by Citizens for Decent Literature, Inc.
and
The narrator, George Putnam, has a solemn and dramatic delivery that is comical today. Widipedia says in the article on Putnam that
First we have The Daily Show. Bill O'Reilly was a guest on November 13. Bill and Jon had this exchange. They were discussing if America is truly a center right nation.
Bill: We are center right nation because we respect traditions in America. The traditions are ...
Jon: the tradition in America?
Bill: Yea the traditions of America ...
Jon: The tradition of America is a progression of individual freedoms. You know what the tradition of America would say? Gay marriage is the next step next step.
Stewart went on to say that O'Reilly is misrepresenting traditions. Skip ahead to 7:50 for Stewart's comment.
Stewart made an excellent point and there are a large number of American citizens who agree with him.
Unfortunately, we can look back forty or fifty years and see that for another segment of our population, attitudes about homosexuality haven't progressed much.
These two public service announcements came from the 50's and 60's.
The first is titled Boys Beware and carries the warning "One never knows when the homosexual is about." Sigh. We still see homosexuality and paedophilia treated as the same.
This one Perversions for Profit, was produced by Citizens for Decent Literature, Inc.
We know that once a person is perverted it is practically impossible for that person to adjust to normal attitudes in regards to sex.
and
Through this material today's youth can be stimulated to sexual activity for which he has no legitimate outlet. He is even enticed to enter the world of homosexuals, lesbians ... and other sex deviants.
The narrator, George Putnam, has a solemn and dramatic delivery that is comical today. Widipedia says in the article on Putnam that
...by the 1980s Putnam had changed his views. He stated on his radio show 'TALKBACK with George Putnam' that he felt gays were born that way, and added many of his friends and coworkers were gay and good people.
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