My producer lured me to a charity softball game in which the Hollywood All-Stars played a team of local Phoenix sports celebrities. I was told that Patrick Warburton (Puddy, from Seinfeld) would be there, and I just roar thinking about his face painting and squinting and guarding of Joe Mayo's coffee table. Well, Puddy didn't show up, but a bunch of other celebs and sort-of celebs did.
Some editors notes. Given I don't watch nearly as much TV as I once did, I missed quite a few names of the Hollywood All-Stars. The guy in the ponytail is Jaime Gomez; the woman who I called Jennifer Finnerty is actually Jennifer Finnegan and the dude at the end in the E! Entertainment hat is some guy who goes by the name "Steel Justice." Seriously.
With the first item, Allen and Mike ruminate (aloud) on what Real Networks' freshly minted patent for online streaming video will mean to the nascent online video market.
As for the second item about EMI and Skype? Beats the heck out of us. We're going off of one press release.
It looks like the folks at Youtube are scouring the grounds and attempting to clean up the debris. The smart money says that Youtube is trying to pretty itself up for two reasons: 1) to attract advertisers and 2) make it more appealing to potential big media partners and buyers.
The cleanup includes mostly getting rid of copyrighted content, like clips of "Family Guy." I say, Bravo! I say, however, do it right. My take is they are using some sort of program to eliminate things that “appear” copyrighted, but in some cases, they are casting too wide a net. In my case, Youtube nuked one of my World Baseball Classic videos; in fact, the best one of all—the one showing the final out of the championship game. It had to be a machine review of the clip; no editor could have mistaken it for something like ESPN coverage. If so, either I missed my calling as a professional cameraman (which I didn’t) or a career as a play-by-play announcer. Sure, I did call the infamous MuhlenbergCollege football victory at Dickinson in 1973, but it sure wouldn’t be me in line for Jon Miller’s job. And, by the way, I never received a notice from Youtube about any infraction, offering me the chance to correct its error.
So, Youtube (and all its competitors): I agree you need to clean up your sites. Please, do it right.
I think shortly after Apple iTunes started offering Podcasts from ESPN I begged (maybe a bit strong) for ESPN to add “Pardon the Interruption,” the mano a mano verbal sportsfest between Tony Kornheiser (he of the new MNF broadcast team) and Michael Wilbon (he the ghostwriter for Sir Charles among other notable accomplishments). So, I see PTI is now available as a Podcast from the iTunes home, but it leads me to wonder…”Where’s the video?” Would it kill ESPN to put the moving pictures with the voice? Heck, if you want to drop a commercial in the download, I won’t object—especially if it’s those funny Guinness ads. Brilliant!
While we’re at it, I had to quibble, but I don’t like how Apple iTunes mixes “regular’ Podcasts with video Podcasts in its directory. They are not the same, no matter how you look at it. Video ones, such as the hilarious one with Jack Black from the set of “Nacho Libre,” deserve their own categorization and even own name. My take, at least.
In today's installment, Mike and Allen trade shots over a curious new addition to Yahoo's stable of beta products, Yahoo Answers. What does it mean to extend to the online world the physical world experience of asking a general question to a group of people? We try to provide . . . an answer.
While I am not generally a fan of reality TV, every once in a while a few sneak in that I enjoy--”The Next Food Network Star,” “Top Chef” and even “The Restaurant” (hmm.. A pattern here). I especially loved to see Rocco, that obnoxious NYC celebrity chef, go down in flames when his restaurant tanked on TV.
Anyway, there’s a new show on TLC called “Shalom in the Home” that is buried on Monday nights, but worth catching. Rabbi Shmuley travels the US in his Airstream in search of families in emotional peril. He’s sort of a Kosher Dr. Phil, but far less overbearing with a sweet gentle compassion. The show is totally non sectarian, and in the first two episodes, the rabbi helped non Jewish families with their issues.
To make matters more interesting, Rabbi Shmuley has video Podcasts on the TLC site that allow him to deal with issues that don’t make it on the show or answer viewers’ questions.
I grew up in Pennsylvania when the Blue Laws were enforced. It means almost all businesses were closed on Sundays and we had to go the (New) Jersey to buy anything of any substance. I think the Blue Laws were related to Pennsylvania being on the fringe (or buckle) of the Bible Belt.
Times have changed, and today, the supermarkets are open on Easter Sunday. A short clip honoring those are have to take time away from their families to work on the holiday. The tune, appropriately, is “The Fruit of her Labor” by The Flavor Foundation.
This is the first set of clips shot with my Archos Gmini.I used Eyespot to create the mix.
Yogi says, “When you reach a fork in the road, take it.” I am trying to figure out what that means to my creative life regarding videoblogging.
Through a series of family/personal and health issues, my videoblogging has trailed off somewhat over the past few weeks. I had to return a wonderful JVC Everio loaner and a promised loaner of a high-end camcorder has yet to materialize. My current video tools are my Sanyo first generation hybrid and a slick little camcorder from Archos that also shoots in MPEG-4 but has no zoom or manual controls. So, all at once, I have lost my muse and my better tools of the trade.
I have taken way too many baseball videos. Baseball is on hiatus until the 2006 All Star Game in Pittsburgh. Also, I have shot way too many videos about dogs. I don’t even have a dog, but I find that curious subjects for videos because they have such distinct personalities. Dogs are on hiatus as a subject unless I come across a canine saving someone’s life or doing something truly worth capturing on video.
So that leaves me in search of the perfect camera and better subject matter. It also leaves me in search of better editing skills. I applaud and am humbled by It’s Jerry Time, a video series nominated for an Emmy ® that is shot in video and animated in Adobe After Effects. Wow. I want to be able to (to some minor degree) incorporate some of those magical elements in my video.
Speaking of cameras, I dragged my producer to Frys Electronics and had her look at some of my candidates for my next camera. Of course, there’s the Sanyo HD1 ($800) with external mic jack and 10X optical zoom and a cool Panasonic SDR-S100 ($1,100) that shoots MEPG video in a wonderful form factor, but lacks an external mic jack. I am torn and I am cheap.
So, I am at that fork in the road. I will proceed with videoblogging, but am hoping to do more than dogs and ballgames. Will it be a Brightcove page? Maybe. Will it be something totally off the wall with cool animation? Maybe. I am at a fork in the road--it could lead just about anywhere
Mashups are the craze, so I was excited to see Eyespot emerge. Eyespot allows consumers to use their own clips and music as well as clips and music submitted by others in the community to create their own mashups. Given the right content, time and skill, the results could be quite interesting. (Unlike the one I created below).
My example is not very good, but it shows how simple it is to use. Hopefully, Paul Revere and the Raiders will forgive my use of about 10 seconds of one of their hits, "Kicks."
In addition to having a humongous assortment of free beverages, snacks and munchies, one of the side perks of working at one of the world’s biggest media tech companies is free, on-site haircuts. Check out the mobile haircut wagon.
Thanks to the kind folks at Archos, I now am in possesion of a Gmini 402. The camcorder shoots MPEG-4s, which I like, so I look forward to experimenting with this handly little gadget. Hard to believe Archos can pack 20GB of storage into such a small device.
In today's installment, Allen and Mike discuss the "new" look of online movie services: permanent downloads (for twice the price!) available when movies hit the DVD-release window.
This is a tune-up for a rare "live" (where we're both in the same place) podcast scheduled -- more or less -- for later this week.
