A Modest Project Proposal

For my final project, I was thinking of doing something with video: perhaps a total rip-off of Ask A Ninja, such as “Ask a Thirties Gangster” or “Ask a Beatnik” or "Zombie Hunter Tales" (I don't know!)— something that could be repeated fairly easily and with a minimal amount of props.

Another option I was thinking about doing was creating a short-form documentary and submitting it to Current TV and see what kind of response I could get. Topics I was thinking about include a highlighting the efforts of an animal rescue group in the North State that my wife volunteers for; or highlighting my old employer’s efforts to stay competitive against a new big box store. (Local Lumberyard vs. Home Depot).

Or another option would be a vlog on how to video blog on the cheap. Segments could be: how to choose equipment; going over the features of some free video editors (Avid FreeDV) and open source editors (VirtualDub, Avidemux, and Cinelerra) and audio for video (Audacity).

Anyway, those are my rough, early phase ideas for the final project.... any thoughts?

Stuff...

You know, I tried really hard to find a vlog that I thought was good enough to share with the class. I mean,I searched and searched and all I found was crap. I think we already covered all the decent ones in class. Everything else was boring, amateurish or took too long to load.

So instead, I thought I'd share a short little video that I enjoy.




I enjoy it not just because it’s got clever lyrics and hilarious illustrations, but also because it pokes fun at our tendency to inflate our heroes. Take a moment and think about all the stories you’ve heard about politicians, sports figures and entertainers… a fair number of them probably aren’t true…


…except the story about Isadora Duncan’s death— that’s true.


"Adieu, mes amis. Je vais à la gloire."
What a way to go...

Digital Soapbox (with pictures!)

I'll be the first to admit that I hate dogs. In fact, I hate them and their furry little asses with the white hot intensity of 1,000 suns. I can say this because I DO own some dogs and they piss me off to no end.

(If you're wondering why I don't get rid of them it's because A) my wife wont allow me, B) I’m a responsible individual and C) my wife wont allow me)

That said, I would like to share a few websites with my faithful readership.

Find the Pit Bull
Understand-A-Bull

It irks the living shit out of me to see otherwise intelligent, thoughtful people swallow fear-mongering tripe about a dog unquestioningly. I swear, some people seem to think of Pit Bulls as the animal equivalent of nitroglycerin—ready to go off at any second.

Come on people! Educate yourselves!

>steps off soapbox<


Oh yeah… here’s some more shots of my f@&!ing dogs:











If anyone bothers to try and find the Pit Bull, please post how many tries it took you to find it... that or submit captions for my f@&!ing dog pictures.

Media Matters

Well… in the interest of community building (whatever that means) I though I’d share some websites that came up during a discussion of Media Ownership in my BECA 390 class. (My apologies if this is old hat for some).

The first comes from the Columbia Journalism Review. It’s a partial list of media companies and their subsidiaries. While we all know Disney owns ABC, did you know that they also own E! and A&E? How about KGO and KSFO? Look around—you might be surprised.

The second site is pretty nifty, even if it might be a bit dated (circa 2004). They Rule is a flash site that illustrates and maps who sits on which corporate board or boards as the case may be. You can also see to which organizations or political parties individual board members make donations.

I think the interesting thing about They Rule is all the information, including donating history, is (apparently) gleaned from public information. It just sort of reminds you how transparent our lives can be in the (duh-duh-Duuh!) Age of Information.

Random Crap

Not one for regurgitating random Internet crap (Intercrap?) I’m sort of surprised that I’m passing this along. I admire the dedication this guy has for seeing this project through. Lord knows I probably wouldn’t make it more than a couple of months.






(Be sure to have your volume up before clicking!)

Now Mit Oscar!

One week in the blogosphere and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.

Having had no real interest in blogs, blogging or bloggers, I was dubious that I would find anything out there to pique my interest. For most part, I was right, though I did find one shining ray of hope.

Billmon's Whiskey Bar is actually interesting, well written and dare I say it: thought provoking.

Why don't 'cha give it a whirl?

I'm sorry that I've not been very active this past week, but things are still pretty crazy, what with the start of the new semester. This week was especially bad as I spent most of my free time polishing the stories I plan to submit to SFSU's own Transfer Magazine. I'll try to be more diligent about future updates...