Sh*t Southern People Say
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.
Read MoreTech vs. Entertainment
I’ve been sick and mostly in bed for the last three days. Through the sweat and fever I watched as the tech community joined together to let congress know elected representatives don’t understand the tech they are attempting to regulate. It made me proud to be a little part of this disparate group of people who come together when our ones and zeros are threatened. The Internet is speech and it is press. This certainly won’t be the only time the tech community will have to join to defend freedom against power established in an analog economy, but I hope we won’t go through too many of these battles.
I trust technology more than I could ever trust religion, government, and because I have a bit of Aspergers, I trust technology more than I trust in personal relationships. The constant purpose of technology is to work to improve life and solve problems. After technology, the thing I love is show business. I cherish the idea of people working to entertain.
In the last 100 years, we’ve seen technology transform transportation and manufacturing. In the last 60 years, technology created new forms of entertainment. Big, strong companies with expensive equipment and distribution systems worked to build bridges between content creators and content consumers. In the last 20 years, technology has begun to disintermediate the big, powerful systems of content distribution that produced physical products like books, records, cassettes, CDs, video tapes, DVDs and films. Change is hard and the established power of the entertainment industry wants to protect territory that no longer exists. Entertainment executives are like kings in a castle building motes to protect rejected authority.
It’s hard to let go of systems that worked well and made money. Trust me! I know how hard that is! Ultimately businesses created to produce, sell and distribute analog media products will have invent new business models or go out of business. So far the entertainment industry has been willing to spend massive amounts of money to try to stop technology. With PIPA and SOPA, they got close.
The entertainment business is holding on too tight and focused too much on the good ‘ol days. The sooner they embrace and work with the evolution of technology and the inevitability of change the sooner they’ll enjoy opportunity provided by innovation. Tech doesn’t want to compete with entertainment. Tech wants to invent new possibilities. The dispute over SOPA and PIPA shows tech culture has matured enough to have political muscle, but tech culture doesn’t want to have to deal with that nonsense. It’s an inefficient distraction from the work that matters.
Technology will ultimately win because technology constantly evolves to break through barriers and limitations. The culture that creates tech routes around anything or anyone who says no, don’t, stop, or can’t. Resistance is futile.
Read MoreClassic Apple iPhone 4 Case
I pray to sweet baby Jesus by way of Saint Steve Jobs that this concept for an iPhone 4 case gets made! I’ve never wanted a case for iPhone 4 because I regard the 4 and the 4S as the most prefect piece of industrial design humanity has enjoyed so far.
But THIS! This idea from a design firm called Les Forges MDK is the only external case for the iPhone 4 or 4S that can be justified.
The Tweet Choir @ Microsoft’s 2012 Press Conference
Tonight I was listening to MacBreak Weekly and they were talking about Microsoft’s use of a gospel choir to sing tweets during the Microsoft keynote. I love me some gospel music and the idea of words about tech set to the sound that floats my boat got me googling.
Here it is …
Read MoreWhat is the Difference Between a Geek and an Nerd?
I agree with some of this. The part I disagree with most is the movie differences. I’d put smarter movies on the Geek list … I think. Maybe not since I didn’t exactly put smart movies on this list. What do you think? Are you a nerd or a geek or a normal?
From: MastersInIt.org
Bring the Energy to Web Video
When someone asks for tips about hosting a good Web show, I tell them to bring more vocal energy than feels natural. Aim for Disney Channel energy and you might get close to the level of energy that works.
The old idea that the camera adds 10 pounds doesn’t apply to HD, but the camera sure seems to subtract energy. Of course it depends on the type of show you’re trying to do. One of my favorite Web TV shows is Kevin Rose’s Foundation. It’s very laid back and it works extremely well. It isn’t created to appeal to a Youtube audience, although that’s a great place to watch it.
If you’re just getting started, Youtubers are an important target market and people who do well bring a nuclear level of energy to their work. I’m just getting started in front of the camera and I don’t want to induce coma.
Yesterday, I shot a show and then promptly deleted it. Even though I thought I was bringing the energy. I wasn’t. Karina Stenquist is one of my favorite presenters (and one of my favorite sources for information about the Occupy movement). She told me to, “Drink 8 cups of coffee and pretend that everyone who will watch you is slightly deaf and will have to rely on your intonation to figure out what you’re saying.”
A great example of someone bringing the energy and doing well on YouTube right now is meekakitty. I’m not going to bring THIS much energy, but I’m shooting again to land somewhere between meekakitty energy and a tranquilizer.
Read More
