Sh*t Southern People Say

Posted by Neal Campbell on Jan 30, 2012 in Comedy, Funny, Neal.TV, People, tech culture, YouTube | 2 comments

One of the things I’ve been working on is figuring out new ways to show some of my talents. I feel like I’m going to have to work on someone else’s dream before I can get the kind of funding I need to really commit to any of the things I want to create.

A few weeks ago Kyle Humphrey & Graydon Sheppard released a video called Shit Girls Say. It became a meme that resulted in parodies with just about every type of person making fun of things their group says. The meme may be on it’s last legs, but I decided I’d throw one in the mix using some of my favorite southern expressions.

If you’ve heard me speak, I don’t have much of a southern accent, but I did up until college. I pull this accent out of storage whenever I have to take my car in for service and talk to a mechanic.

This was fun to produce, if there are southern expressions you use or remember that I left out, I’d love to hear them and use them in a second Shit Southern People Say video.

A Temporary Thing

Posted by Neal Campbell on Dec 31, 2011 in beliefs, Business, Cali/Luria, change, Divorce, encouragement, GBTV, GOD, love, motivation, musings, Neal.TV, Over-Share, People, podcasting, PodShow, Productivity, tech culture, us | 0 comments

Being married to Luria was all I ever wanted in life. It was the thing I prayed for in bed when I was nine-years-old. I wanted to be married to a beautiful, smart, sweet girl. I’m not sure what I believe about God anymore, but Luria turned out to be an answered prayer. I loved her, love her and will always love her.

I worked on things to fit what she said where her dreams. Modeling didn’t work because that business is just weird. She groked it and that business doesn’t like girl who grok it. We then started writing a book. Harry Potter was taking off and we started writing a book set in New Orleans with a flood threat that skidded to a halt with Katrina. My next thing was podcasting inspired by Dawn and Drew. The Crappy Christian Show quickly evolved from Luria and me getting drunk and talking into a mic into a ministry type thing to share the idea that God may love gay people just as they are, without any expectation they change. I didn’t want to be in ministry and Luria certainly didn’t.

Steve Jobs announced the first iPod that played video and I worked to make that iPod play GeekBrief.TV. That worked well. We started making money. Mevio was a great partner. Luria wanted more, and people in her life convinced her she was the character I wrote every day. Her belief that she was Cali Lewis grew into an argument that led her to leave our marriage.

I still want to be writing tech news as Cali Lewis and producing GeekBrief.TV. I don’t get that as an option, and I’ve come close to launching alternative visions. I almost released a gadget show yesterday.

Here’s the deal though … I don’t want to work on a next thing that is anything but temporary. My heart can’t currently believe in long term. I want to work, but I’m not ready to say, “This is the thing that replaces Cali Lewis and GeekBrief.TV for me.” Even my dreams for Bacon.TV in partnership with Wright Brand Bacon isn’t that powerful!

The Mayans predicted the world ends at the end of 2012. Obviously, that’s silly just like when that preacher dude did it twice in 2011. But you know what? So what! What will happen if I live this year like it’s not only my last year, but yours? That’s what I’m going to do.

Tomorrow I launch a temporary thing I can believe in and I think it will inspire you to do something better than you planned to do in 2012. It isn’t serious because I’m not ready to be serious. It’s just about fun.

I’ve lost my life goal of being married to a beautiful, smart, and kind girl. I’m not making that kind of goal again. To make it through. I want to live as though it’s not only my last year but yours too.

Bon Jovi … He’s Alive!

Posted by Neal Campbell on Dec 19, 2011 in Funny, People, twitter | 0 comments

There was a Twitter generated rumor that Jon Bon Jovi died. He had a laugh about it and posted this photo proving the rumor that Bon Jovi is dead is not true! I know girls who say it also proves he’s still wanted dead or alive.

Evernote Apps to Help Remember People (Evernote Hello) and Meals (Evernote Food)

Posted by Neal Campbell on Dec 7, 2011 in creativity, design, food, iPhone, People, Productivity | 1 comment

I tell myself I’m disorganized because I’m creative and I’m male. Maybe my right-braininess is to blame or maybe it’s something else. I try all kinds of productivity Apps to organize my life and my stuff, but every App I try seems to be designed by left-brained list makers. I would love to partner with a developer to create an organization App designed for creatives, but that’s really not the point of this piece. Just putting that out there!

Evernote almost works for me. Out of every tool I’ve tried, I like Evernote best, and I LOVE that they’re tackling new Apps that improve life. Today there are two new Apps I’m looking forward to trying, Hello and Food.

Hello tackles the problem some of us have with remembering names when we meet people at events. I’ve used an App where I’ve explained that I’m bad with names and asked if I could take a photo. That process seemed a little awkward to me. Hello handles it in a way that makes it kind of cool. Hand your phone to the person you meet, they hold the phone up to their face and the App automatically takes four photos that string together to create a mini animation of the person’s face.

Here’s a video so you can see for yourself…

Hello is free in the App Store. I had to search for Evernote Hello to find it. After testing the App, the feature I wanted to see most was the light face animation. I went back and read the Evernote blog post about Hello again, and it looks like that’s a feature coming soon?

Then there’s Evernote Food, an App designed to help us remember as much about a meal as we want to capture. You can capture photos of food, drinks, dining companions and recipes. Give the meal a title and it’s there for you to remember anytime you want to look reminisce.

Here’s how Food works …

During the years I produced GeekBrief.TV, I had a lot of great meals with interesting people. It would be so cool to have them captured like this. I’m looking forward to capturing even more awesome breakfasts, lunches and dinners with this App in the future!

Ministry or Media

Posted by Neal Campbell on Nov 15, 2010 in beliefs, GOD, love, People | 0 comments

When I was twelve, I built a replica of the Jim and Tammy PTL set out of lego. I sponge painted the walls of the outdoor patio area to look like stone. I made cameras. There was actual lighting. I even made dresses for Tammy Faye and the PTL singers. I LOVED Jim and Tammy. I’m pretty sure I always will, even as Jim wants to sell me some Glenn Beck supplies. Tammy may have worn some heavy makeup, but she wasn’t fake. She loved people just like they are and Jim and Tammy ended every show saying, “God loves you. He really, really does.”

Before we started GeekBrief.TV, Luria and I did an audio show called The Crappy Christian Show. It was intended to be silly and funny and we were trying to be like Dawn and Drew. The show had an underlying message, though, that kept cutting through the silliness. We said, “If good Christians hate gay people, we must be crappy Christians.” We really believed a Crappy Christian is the best kind you can be. When we started that show, our goal was to be like Dawn and Drew and to quit our day jobs to podcast full time. The Crappy Christian Show quickly transitioned into something deeper that looked a whole lot more like ministry than show business. We had about 3000 downloads per episode and 80% of the audience was made up of gay Christians. I wasn’t ready to be in any kind of ministry, but I had a heart for the gay community that I didn’t understand. I believed back then, and believe it even more strongly now that God loves GLBT people just as they are and doesn’t expect them to change.

Over the last five years I’ve had conversations with hundreds of gay men and women. Their stories are all so similar. So many of them grew up in church loving God and feeling a same-sex attraction. They begged God to change them, to take it away. It scared them. They didn’t want to be different. They didn’t want to be gay. No matter how much they begged. No matter how much they pleaded. No matter how much they quoted scripture, went to counseling and got prayed over, God didn’t change them. So many of them were kicked out of churches and told to return only if they repented. Some of them felt rejected by God, but so many of them still felt God’s love and acceptance in spite of what they were getting from people who say they loved God fulltime. When these men and women got to be around 40-years-old (some sooner), they started to be really okay with the fact that God doesn’t seem to have any interest in turning them straight.

One of my biggest struggles over the past few months has been over the same thing I struggled with when we were doing The Crappy Christian Show. I don’t think the church has done a good job loving people just as they are. We’ve been so worried about hating the “sin” that we claim to love while holding our noses. If the love is genuine, it certainly isn’t being perceived by GLBT folks who long for God’s presence. I could be completely wrong about what I believe, but I sincerely believe we need to only love people and let God deal with whatever He chooses to deal with. I’ve had chains of sin and bondage just fall off this year. I didn’t struggle. I didn’t fight to be free. I just focused on what is true and pure and holy and God did the work. I don’t believe that God wants to turn gay people straight, but if He does, He can’t do it when we are pushing people away.

I know that I’ve so frequently gotten God wrong and not shown His amazing love and grace. My heart’s cry is for me to never let my stuff interrupt God’s grace and love. That isn’t the righteousness of God. That’s self-righteousness and I want every bit of that out of my life. Jesus said we have to die to ourselves. I embrace that with everything in me and with every step, the amazing grace of God overwhelms my mind, will and emotions and fills my spirit with love that can’t be defeated.

I want to continue to make a difference in what new media is and is supposed to be, but a lot of days that hardly matters to me. If you want to see me filled with passion, talk to be about Jesus loving gay people. Every time I hear about another gay kid killing himself, I know deep down my life is meant to be about not letting that happen anymore. My friends tell me there is a balance between the two. Maybe so, but it’s been the thing I’ve struggled with for five years and I haven’t stopped yet! I believe in a God who loves us with extravagant grace, and I think He wants His people to always love, no matter how hard it is. I have huge new media dreams, but I also know I have a huge calling to challenge the church on the gay issue. I just can’t help doing it no matter how freaking hard I try!

I really believe that’s a big part of why I’m divorced. Jesus condemned divorce. He never condemned gay people. The church has massive grace for divorced people. It’s time that the church starts to have massive grace for GLBT people too.

At my church we sing a song called God Be Praised (I don’t think my church would support my postion on gay rights, but I love the people there just as they are, even if they aren’t ready to be as accepting as I am). The words bring me to tears every time we sing it:

You saved my life from death
When I was all defeated
You spoke Your promises
And brought life to my weakness
Came as a conquering King
And You warred for my freedom
My soul can’t help but sing
Hallelujah

You opened up my eyes
For the first time I saw You
Your love commanding life
And deserving devotion
You told me who I am
Now in faith I believe it
My soul can’t help but sing
Hallelujah

You’ve made a place for me
Silenced all my accusers
Leading me forth with peace
Filled with joy I will follow
Your cross demands my life
Now Your grace is my anthem
My soul can’t help but sing
Hallelujah

Hallelujah, we’re redeemed and made free
By the blood of the Lamb We have won
Hallelujah, we will sing victory
Jesus conquered the grave
God be praised

I’m very glad God hasn’t required me to be a good Christian. He seems to like using me as a crappy one!

Twitter TV: How I’d Make a TV Show Based on Twitter

Posted by Neal Campbell on May 13, 2010 in open source, People, Social Media, tech culture, TV, twitter | 1 comment

Last year, Variety reported that Twitter signed a deal with Reveille productions and Brillstein Entertainment to develop an unscripted TV series. Later Twitter’s Biz Stone said it wouldn’t be an official Twitter show. Twitter is allowing production companies to work on TV projects based on Twitter without endorsing one over another.

I have two ideas for turning what happens on Twitter into compelling TV. I shared one of the ideas on Twitter this morning:

I got two types of responses. Social media folks understood why it could be a good show because they see examples of peoples lives being positively changed or at least inspired every day. Other folks weren’t certain anyone could squeeze more than a single episode out of the idea.

Last year Amanda Rose organized an event called Twestival to raise money to provide clean and safe drinking water to over 17,000 people in developing countries. The event raised over $250,000. Since then Twestival has raised nearly half a million dollars. An episode about Amanda Rose and Twestival would start with a tweet and end with people filling bottles with clean water in a village somewhere.

May 20, 2009 Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Drew has a sense of humor about the cancer and started blaming everything from losing his keys to Twitter being slow on his cancer. He asked other people to blame things on his cancer too using the hashtag #blamedrewscancer. Drew’s goal is to raise $1 for every tweet blaming something on his cancer. Another episode would tell Drew’s story.

When Nashville flooded a couple of weeks ago, Pete Wilson tweeted a request for volunteers, hammers, trash bags and brooms to help with cleanup. Hundreds of people showed up to help. There are stories to be told about that.

Those are three examples that made the news. Other amazing stories of people connecting and helping each other in very special ways happen every day on Twitter. To me nothing is more interesting that hearing people’s stories about going through pain and coming out the other side stronger and with more depth.

I’m throwing my pitch out to everyone because I don’t mind if someone other than me makes it happen. I’d love to work on a project like this, but I’d also like it if someone else wants to make it happen.

The quick pitch is Extreme Makeover Home Edition meets Twitter meets On the Road with Charles Kuralt.

Do you have an amazing Twitter story to share? Leave a comment!