tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45999138294701141362024-03-14T16:03:59.924+00:00Version-101videoart film multimedia editing photography design scripts lifeBen Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-55402557689848445542013-05-31T11:04:00.001+01:002013-06-02T20:28:08.429+01:00The Medium is the message<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I came across a
new social media web site that smelt of smug. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's stuffed full
of confident 30-somethings wanting to share confident prescriptions about life,
about tech, about consumer activism, about neat ideas and neater, confident,
meaningful, artistically shaped lives. It concentrates on the word, and
puts words on the page beautifully (much nicer than blogger.com, hmm). It's a space to share and be seen and be
part of something new. It's quietly getting rave reviews, getting known. What?
You hadn't heard of <a href="https://medium.com/">Medium</a>? Really? Where have you been?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZRxzpC_taUz25Gj22ME45IwYNc8lDyX_z4SLoSKQXR0w_PnlE4N3BnRy7_Ifp-PaFw5QTopS4uKfkXrkMpbExbsFIEgJeS-F5J8d_I_iTC4IWKfwUAW7bxAd9pJpfKtd8Aq8x0No_pUv/s1600/medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="35" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZRxzpC_taUz25Gj22ME45IwYNc8lDyX_z4SLoSKQXR0w_PnlE4N3BnRy7_Ifp-PaFw5QTopS4uKfkXrkMpbExbsFIEgJeS-F5J8d_I_iTC4IWKfwUAW7bxAd9pJpfKtd8Aq8x0No_pUv/s400/medium2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like 2 minute
man. He has something to say. And he's damn proud of it. Summary: a neat trick
to overcome procrastination, the start of everything takes less than two
minutes, so, er, just DO IT! He riffs with this idea like he'd never
experienced a true fear of failing, true crippling indecision, true lack of
self worth. Go 2 minute man! (Medium doesn't have a search facility that I can
find, so can't link back to it. Go Medium!)</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like, what did
<a href="http://fuckyeahdavidkarp.tumblr.com/">David Karp</a> (Tumblr founder) mean by '<a href="https://medium.com/ladybits-on-medium/d41546137466">Fuck, yeah, Tumblr</a>' when he sold it and
pocketed 250 million? Quite why that's categorised under 'lady bits', Medium, I have no idea. Oh, the writer was female. Right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And back to the
point, <a href="https://medium.com/a-programmers-tale/f7b8c66109ea">how has Facebook failed</a>, and what might <a href="https://medium.com/editors-picks/8157c364d26a">the next Facebook</a> look like? (But why add a photo of Balkan refugees to the former? Bit sick that, really.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And with <a href="https://medium.com/">Medium</a>,
<a href="https://join.app.net/">App.Net</a>, <a href="https://svbtle.com/">Svbtle</a> and others, there seems to be a wee bit of a trend developing
here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Apparently there's
this problem with Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr and
#everyothersocialmediasite apparently: the shittiness
of user-generated content. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And these are attempts by 'alpha geeks' to create new social media sites that address that problem.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/2340815191/ymhhwwf5cm4lmlku7wn0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/2340815191/ymhhwwf5cm4lmlku7wn0.jpeg" width="132" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And, yes,
user-generated content can be fifty shades of shite involving random pictures
of kittens mixed in with selfies and food-shots, anodyne 'life
advice', meaningful quotes repackaged by one graphic designer, badly
targeted spam, well-targeted spam, my-kids-are-cute streams, here's what I did
now and now and now and isn't my life interesting, isn't it? please notice me,
and, and ... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mixed in is the
good stuff - early warning of anything happening anywhere, good things to read,
watch, listen to, eat, politics to die for, fashion to live for, the latest
sensation in town, the best place to eat, that great concert, that TED talk,
that... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And what about
real news from real life friends of real significance? A long-term friend's
deeply brave slow-motion fight against terminal cancer; someone else's
persecution by a neo-Nazi group; another's burgeoning directing career;
another's random business move from video into pizza; news of friends and
colleagues after the latest terrorist attack in Kabul (where I'm based) and news
of a dear friend's 13 week-old pregnancy, just to mention a few that
spring to mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/16100000/Cute-Kitten-kittens-16122951-1280-800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/16100000/Cute-Kitten-kittens-16122951-1280-800.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In an article on
the smug site called ' "</span><a href="https://medium.com/editors-picks/466efe642c13" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">User generated" is a poor substitute for "Reader submitted</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">" ' - a distinction that
would be mystifying, my guess, to anyone under thirty, <a href="https://twitter.com/CSHildenbrandt">Caleb Hildenbrandt</a> lists the down side of the Twitter stream then
comments, "What makes twitter different is that this content is no
longer mediated; it no longer passes through the filter of selective
publishing, but is passed straight from producer to peer-producer, unedited and
uncut. The same thing goes for “inspirational” image macros on tumblr or
chain-letter statuses on facebook, or google’s auto-complete suggestions for
popular queries; the consumers of platitudes are indistinguishable from the
creators."</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<a href="http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/files/2012/02/APTOPIX_AFGHANISTAN_17535213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/files/2012/02/APTOPIX_AFGHANISTAN_17535213.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leaving aside the
lack of proper-name capitals, what this misses is the simple truth that anyone
can mediate and sort that stream for themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How about simply managing that
stream a little more effectively? I need to focus on Afghanistan (for work and
safety reasons) so use <a href="http://slices.me/">Slices for Twitter</a> to create a list of people I
regularly follow who have something to say about the situation here. If there's
been a bomb in Kabul (where I'm based) as simple #Kabul search gives me an invaluable running commentary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7N3xipxb0XOttM5lLKqOrHZTZ-wh4HKDCVIDMQohwo_2NG97_9-03NDi9pfLjsfDV1D5Y_z0gbj88vR42jPSquTLH3efbzGeplKdj02AbQuhUWzHA5VaJClJteVpspoKSyiteUJ6rBMR1/s1600/kabul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7N3xipxb0XOttM5lLKqOrHZTZ-wh4HKDCVIDMQohwo_2NG97_9-03NDi9pfLjsfDV1D5Y_z0gbj88vR42jPSquTLH3efbzGeplKdj02AbQuhUWzHA5VaJClJteVpspoKSyiteUJ6rBMR1/s320/kabul.jpg" width="172" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The same article
has a sub-heading : </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why public opinion is
boring. </i></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok, so now we get
to it. The problem is not with the stream in itself, it's the people, the
horrible unwashed multitude that intellectuals, the middle class and snobs
everywhere have always had a problem with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Middle class life
is about sifting, elevating, making more clean, being different, more
interesting. Encoded into the middle class outlook has always been a dislike of
popular culture. In the UK television is often considered vulgar, lower class
by a certain segment of the uber middle class. Not even particular programmes
or types of programmes, but television itself. Yep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/3ZAyYBDUNug?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, Medium. What
are you about? Helpfully <a href="https://medium.com/@ev">Ev Williams</a> explains in a '<a href="https://medium.com/about/9e53ca408c48">welcome to Medium</a>' note.
Medium, is "designed for little stories that make your day better and
manifestos that change the world." Cutsy and earth-shattering all in
the same sentence, right? Kittens and death? Seems inclusive and useful? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But wait, what's
this? "Creation is only available in Chrome, Firefox and Safari."
Really? Hmm. Let's look at <a href="http://gs.statcounter.com/">browser stats</a>. Ok, so I use Chrome myself, as
it seems does a good proportion of the planet (when did that happen?) but Internet Explorer,
good ole IE is running a good second, and used to be the first as recently as
May 2012. But then IE is for those who don't know better, right? The unwashed
multitude? And Medium is only aimed at the smug, techie netizen who wouldn't
dream of steam-driven IE. And why would you want to aim at a browser that nets an 8% user base? Oh, yes, that would be the smug Mac
fanbois. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://libcom.org/files/images/library/white%20privilege%20card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="http://libcom.org/files/images/library/white%20privilege%20card.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not the only
one who questions the basis of these new uber-social sites, as </span><a href="http://dashes.com/anil/about.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anil Dash</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'s title
alone should make his perspective clear, "</span><a href="https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/65fb61abc815" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You Can’t Start the Revolution from the Country Club</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">". He hits several nails on the head far better than
I could. "In today’s world, where the social web is mainstream, innovating
on the core values of tools and technology while ignoring the value of
inclusiveness is tantamount to building a gated community. Even with the promise
that the less privileged might get a chance to show up later, you’re making a
fundamentally unfair system." It's published on
Medium as well as on </span><a href="http://dashes.com/anil/2012/08/you-cant-start-the-revolution-from-the-country-club.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">his own blog</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, but, because he has access to this
privileged audience, he picks up others who don't. He wonders if they "mark the beginning
of “white flight” from Twitter and Facebook, ... not being on
Facebook has become the new, cool status marker (esp for affluent white
tech people)." (or rather he quotes Whitney Erin Boesel as saying
that in “</span><a href="http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/08/09/race-class-app-net-the-beginning-of-white-flight-from-facebook-twitter/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Race, Class, App.net: The Beginning of ‘White Flight’ from Facebook& Twitter</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ev in his welcome continues, "It’s used by everyone from
professional journalists to amateur cooks. It’s simple, beautiful,
collaborative, and it helps you find the right audience for whatever you have
to say." </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Except, here's
the thing. It's not. It's currently in beta, and there's a whole process about
"</span><a href="https://medium.com/about/5ab1de76e764" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">how to post</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">" which involves, wait for it, being INVITED to post.
Jeez. I felt like I was in the 20th century right there for a moment. No. Wait.
Not a joke. They mean it. And, ok, that's fine for an openly curated offering, like an online magazine or something, but, just to remind you, we're talking alternative social media here. </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.sonrisecup.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Morrisons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.sonrisecup.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Morrisons.jpg" width="189" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Create a
note here saying what you’d like to write about and a link to something you’ve
written on the web. No guarantees, but we’ll check it out (limited time
offer)."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, well,
shamefacedly I'd have to admit, er, this is it. This is my attempt to get them
to think I'm a writer with something to say who is worth inviting to
post. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<a href="http://blog.sarcasmsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Groucho-Marx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://blog.sarcasmsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Groucho-Marx.jpg" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's the thing
about smug and exclusion. It makes you want to join. And the site looks pretty.
Ok, except that their logo looks like Morrisons, which as supermarkets go
is really not all that exclusive and hip and happening, but, you know,
whateverz. They don't want me to be part of their club, and any club that
doesn't want me has got to be good. Right Groucho?</span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
</div>
</div>
Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-31413504605483392182012-12-29T19:17:00.001+00:002012-12-30T13:11:03.789+00:00Six friends 'liked' the Rolling Stones?!I noticed that six friends had 'liked' The Rolling Stones! Time for some defriending on Facebook I (sort of) joked as an update. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://assets.gmgradio.com/photo/gallery/2009/06/bu5tdyxnmk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://assets.gmgradio.com/photo/gallery/2009/06/bu5tdyxnmk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
One of those 'likes' came from a twenty-two year old fer Christ's sake! She can't ever have known anything but the current embarrassing granddads.<br />
<br />
Why do you dislike the Stones? she asked. Is the hatred that profound?<br />
<br />
Well, actually in a weird way, I discovered when I thought about it, it actually is. My answer was pretty lame, and fails to explore the surprising depths of my disdain.<br />
<br />
So how to explain a dislike for this mediocre pub rock band, when I thought I was merrily indifferent to them. I should have hidden behind a lame, each to their own.<br />
<br />
What do Moby and the Stones have in common? I asked back.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/7/2009/07/moby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/7/2009/07/moby.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Knocking other people's genius and passing it off as your own is absolutely different, imho, to developing on from some creative spark and according the original some respect, development and creativity.<br />
<br />
Bad haircuts, she quipped. So I took the rant for a walk.<br />
<br />
They were always a shit band, Jagger a vain, talentless tosser, and then they carry on churning out the same empty shit for how many decades? Cock-rock at its worst. I could go on. Compare them to contemporaries like Hendrix or the Beatles or Bowie or The Kinks or even The Doors, who all tried to develop or push the boundaries in some way. Or, if you want rock, try the Stooges or Led Zeplin or The Who. It doesn't help that back in the day Stones' fans were always morons, only one step ahead of Status Quo.<br />
<br />
Which also doesn't capture it. I feel I've failed in my anti-Stones duty. Perhaps someone else can explain? Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-9113388799306717232012-12-29T11:00:00.000+00:002013-06-02T20:30:20.746+01:00I write like<br />
Apparently, wait for it...<br />
<br />
<!-- Begin I Write Like Badge --><br />
<div style="background: #F7F7F7; border: 2px solid #ddd; color: #555555; font: 20px/1.2 Arial,sans-serif; overflow: auto; padding: 5px; width: 380px;">
<img src="http://s.iwl.me/w.png" style="float: right;" width="120" /><br />
<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; padding: 20px; text-shadow: #fff 0 1px;">
I write like<br />
<a href="http://iwl.me/w/d7939cdb" style="color: #698b22; font-size: 30px; text-decoration: none;">David Foster Wallace</a></div>
<div style="color: #888888; font-size: 11px; text-align: center;">
<em>I Write Like</em> by Mémoires, <a href="http://www.codingrobots.com/memoires/" style="color: #888888;">journal software</a>. <a href="http://iwl.me/" style="background: #FFFFE0; color: #333333;"><b>Analyze your writing!</b></a></div>
</div>
<br />
<!-- End I Write Like Badge --><br />
<br />
So now you and I know. Is that a good thing? I suspect it's because the text I used (the only thing I had to had) is the draft of a non-fiction blog post I have just about finished.<br />
<br />
In contrast, I had a quick trawl for something else and found a poem I wrote ages ago. Here's the poem so that you can decide for yourself:<br />
<br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.405902364756912" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<h3 dir="ltr">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.405902364756912" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Funeral Fire</span></b></h3>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.405902364756912" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember black flowers, a low</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">slung coffin</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and priestly incantations. I stared at my boots</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as they buried their girl, killed in a car crash.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sent by school, I stood awkwardly</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">between the Head and the driver -</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">neither family, nor converts – three aliens.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I watched the fisted handfuls of dirt and gravel</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thud on wood, and could imagine a thin wail rising,</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a soul smoke, curling into these believers’ ears,</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">welcome in their mind’s heaven. Perhaps just</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a place for people they can’t yet leave</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to the long, the nothing, the end.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My spirited gran’s funeral day was godless -</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the small cask slid back, curtains closed</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on her leaving, engulfed by a secular fire.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I admired their strength. Even in this last ritual</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they chose unbelieving, uncomforted pain - </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">there were no half truths, no small lies, no rot.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His daughters then watched granddad choke</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gut</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">deep sobs, and, soon, too soon, saw cancer</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">yellow his sharp mind, sapping his quiet force.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His same ritual reduced us, silenced us.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Becoming adults, we children wait</span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.405902364756912" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to bury parents, but don’t know how.</span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.405902364756912" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<h3 dir="ltr">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.405902364756912" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ben Bruges</span></b></h3>
<div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.405902364756912" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.405902364756912" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<br />
<br />
(Sorry, not the most cheerful of poems, just what I had to hand.)<br />
<br />
And this time? What does this automated web-based bot think? <roll drums="drums" of="of"></roll><br />
<br />
<br />
<!-- Begin I Write Like Badge --><br />
<div style="background: #F7F7F7; border: 2px solid #ddd; color: #555555; font: 20px/1.2 Arial,sans-serif; overflow: auto; padding: 5px; width: 380px;">
<img src="http://s.iwl.me/w.png" style="float: right;" width="120" /><br />
<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; padding: 20px; text-shadow: #fff 0 1px;">
I write like<br />
<a href="http://iwl.me/w/2b568272" style="color: #698b22; font-size: 30px; text-decoration: none;">Chuck Palahniuk</a></div>
<div style="color: #888888; font-size: 11px; text-align: center;">
<em>I Write Like</em> by Mémoires, <a href="http://www.codingrobots.com/memoires/" style="color: #888888;">journal software</a>. <a href="http://iwl.me/" style="background: #FFFFE0; color: #333333;"><b>Analyze your writing!</b></a></div>
</div>
<br />
<!-- End I Write Like Badge --><br />
<br />
Hmm. Well I've heard of him, but never read anything. Maybe I should check him out. And maybe you want to explore your reading style for yourself:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://iwl.me/">I Write Like... </a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comKabul, Afghanistan34.528455 69.17170290000001434.319128 68.848979400000019 34.737782 69.494426400000009tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-86455191991794233122010-11-10T12:21:00.006+00:002010-11-10T12:47:36.168+00:00Hidden Short StoriesShort stories seems to have become newly fashionable. Long a staple of starting-out writers and the American creative writing scene, they are becoming so in vogue that established novelists are re-learning how to write the form. <div><br /></div><div>And it is very different from the novel, which is as little appreciated as how different a short film is to a feature. You could start with Checkov, Chinua Achebe, Tolstoy, Kipling, Guy de Maupassant, Dahl.... or my dear friend Victoria Taylor Robert's <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hidden-Stories-Victoria-Taylor-Roberts/dp/075521238X/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_i">Hidden & Other Stories</a>.</div><div><br /></div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsccRoZlaPO7je-NwCAMVMS7V6zSs2lj1VyBqtGOi7DwtwqJFJ4a0SgcNcQlQ80srAMvTG_3mkUQdU0saEE3dfK_mkiVRlX6rcONjFBzv0hzisaRw1FlBIRszysVbKDrX0af9M3D9rhkpH/s320/51JlyQNEUVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 194px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537900928936163666" /><div>It's an awkward and difficult form, and Vicky is completely in control of the effects it can achieve - the time spent in the company of very different, often very difficult characters - their situations, their outlook, their place in life, but especially their view out and towards the 'life' that's generally swirling around them in careless and damagingly carefree ways. In her hands, the story tends to creep up on you, you are in a mind, and as the gloom slowly dissipates, you perceive clearly a life, a person you thought could never imagine being, but now are fully imagined within, the contours, shapes and feeling of that life clear, in sparse, carefully controlled detail.</div><div><br /></div><div>And the endings? Vicky controls her endings with clarity and economy - never the cheap, over-obvious reversal, but a sly dig, a ping back into the story that led up to it, a re-shaping or re-casting of the story in a subtly different light, giving a resonance beyond the end, causing the life to reverberate just a bit further and longer than you expected. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course there are some stories I didn't take to, some that left me cold, but more that left me slightly shaken, slightly disturbed from the main flow of 'life' as most of us live it. And that's where her characters come from - the edges, the margins, the lost and forgotten, and are the more powerful for that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Highly recommended. </div>Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-89698118148812437642010-06-09T11:52:00.007+01:002010-06-09T12:01:55.409+01:00Motion text design I wish I had designed #99<object width="850" height="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vp1gUgO4DaU&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&hd=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vp1gUgO4DaU&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><div><br /></div><div>... and it doesn't hurt to have the voice of the great Mr Stephen Fry narrating it. It almost makes me wish I had a good start up idea. That's not going to happen any time soon, but in the meantime, I'm looking forward to the commission that enables me complete design work like this. </div>Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-49059760985803451822010-05-12T13:44:00.004+01:002010-05-12T13:57:06.205+01:00A couple of useful camera sites...Just to share - excellent Sony EX1 set of tips from Sony <a href="http://www.sony.ca/xdcamex/tips.htm">here</a><div><br /></div><div>... and very useful <a href="http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/">forum</a> for the XDCAM series.</div><div><br />and here's a <a href="http://www.sony.ca/xdcamex/rot_xdcam_ex/index.html">3d view</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-91217735909641298262010-02-27T22:27:00.007+00:002010-03-01T14:45:50.145+00:00What the F**K is Issuu?I feel obliged to try this out, now that I've accidentally sent an invitation to everybody I know, everybody I've ever been spammed by, and everybody I don't know, plus a few random services thrown in for good measure. <div><br />I can only say SORRY SORRY SORRY. </div><div><br /></div><div>If it makes you feel better, I invited myself at least three different ways and posted an automatic facebook status update. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, ahem, Issuu. It makes stuff like this possible:<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><embed src="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" menu="false" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" flashvars="mode=embed&viewMode=presentation&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=000000&showFlipBtn=true&documentId=090807113935-293c7f7d44b1442cbb8020c995de9aa5&docName=wtfissocialmedia&username=gnova&loadingInfoText=What%20the%20F**k%20is%20social%20media&et=1267309632433&er=18" style="width:420px;height:315px" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed></div><div><br /></div><div>... and it might be a possible tool for sharing documents. So far the content on it is pretty pants. But then you can embed your own stuff, they share their API so if it takes off people will build interesting applications on the top of it (is the theory). You could use it for a private archive of important documents, you can use it to design your own documents (so far untested by yours truly). So - maybe some good points. </div><div><br /></div><div>Or alternatively, it's just a home for sad people to self-publish to themselves and their mums. </div><div><br /></div><div>One person has already put up their whole archive of punk / post-hardcore fanzines. Great effort. And how many subscribers have they got so far? None. Bless.</div><div><br /></div><div>I can't find anything useful to read on it (though would be very happy to be proved wrong), but I can see great potential in it. </div><div><br /></div><div>So - either curse me for the spam email, or, remember it was me, when it really takes off and helps you share documents in a stylish and effective way. Here's hoping it's the later. </div></div>Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-74726846115619062802010-01-24T23:57:00.000+00:002010-01-12T12:58:35.703+00:00In praise of Karen"In praise of Karen" OR "How do I keep all this stuff safe?"<br /><br />Karen is female. Apparently.<br /><br />Ok - not the most earth shattering statement on the face of it. But at the deepest recesses of my geeky side, there's something delightfully, elegantly well designed, useful and thought-through about <a href="http://www.karenware.com/">Karen's Power Tools</a> and I was curious about the name.<br /><br />If you don't know them you are missing something highly useful to you, and that's any 'you' who uses a computer. This isn't specific to video.<br /><br />Her tools do seriously useful stuff under the bonnet of a computer in an elegant, safe, clear and easy to use way. They are for anyone who's ever wanted a computer to just work, dammit. Or who wants and easy way to copy and archive stuff. or move large amounts of data around. or - why can't I just have a list of those files to print out? Is that website working (yours or any other)?<br /><br />Ok - so we're talking hard-core teckie stuff? So is that unusual coming from a woman? Is that what's surprising about Karen being, er, Karen?<br /><br />It's not that unusual to have female about in nerdy land. not these days, so that's not my first reaction.<br /><br />It was more like you can see that where Karen is coming from feels like a female point of view. Maybe I'm imagining something here. But can there be something specifically 'female' about a bunch of computer tools?<br /><br />It feels like she's looked at her <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/WINDOWS/">Windows</a> computer and wondered why it doesn't just do stuff that are blindingly obviously stupidly necessary.<br /><br />So you want me to keep backups - why doesn't it come with a good utility to do just that?<br /><br />So, she seems to be saying - I could do that - make some utility that will do that solidly and well. And, hey - I've got a good idea - why not throw in a way to keep a check on two different changing sources and work out what needs to be copied between them to keep both up to date, without wiping anything useful? Neat.<br /><br />Want to keep track of stuff? Why can't Windows just print out a list with all the files on the computer, or on a particular area or folder of the computer? Hey, why not be able to customise that list?<br /><br />Ok, ok, I'll quit with the list before your eyes glaze over. Those are my two favourites. Net monitor is pretty useful. There's other stuff. Snooper is classic Mom keeps an eye on the kids stuff. On the other hand, I have no idea what Hasher does. Have a look for those and <a href="http://www.karenware.com/">more</a>.<br /><br />So is there something clear, practical and female about that? Do Gates et al need to get a bit more in touch with their feminine side?<br /><br />There's inconclusive research to explore about gender and styles of learning, preferences for right and left hemispheres and modes of perception, language or communication strategies, multi-tasking, subject area preferences, 3d perception and manipulation. All that kind of stuff. Perhaps at most it adds up to a random pattern of tendencies that just about remain just about discernibly constant between cultures and through history?<br /><br />If there's anything in those kind of differences, I don't know. I'm reluctant to stray into essentialist explanations, as I think you can tell. ;-) They probably have a quality that's also shared by a lot of men.<br /><br />Whatever - it's a useful suite. And free. Which is good. And here's the lady in question. All hail Karen. Praise Karen.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.karenware.com/images/kenworthy98.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 92px; height: 122px;" src="http://www.karenware.com/images/kenworthy98.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Which reminds me.<br /><br />I'll have to sing the praises of the delightfully named <a href="http://www.ccleaner.com/">CCleaner</a> at some point in the future. Yes that's "Crap Cleaner", and no, it's not one of Karen's tools. I can't see her choosing that name, somehow.<br /><br />Dreamed up by one of the lads, then. ;-)<br /><br />And sure enough - it does what it says on the tin, without fuss, in a straightforward way. Just like a man. Also free. Also highly recommended. And this one does it's share of the housework. In fact, that's exactly the point of it. How's that for surprising?Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-19509234145779108542009-06-16T10:17:00.004+01:002009-06-22T14:20:19.991+01:00Audioboo... and what is an audioboo, I hear you ask? <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); white-space: pre;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11;" ></span><div><br /></div><div>Jeremy of Wicked Days posted this minutes before birth of his (ahem) fourth. Busy man. ;-)<br /><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); white-space: pre;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11;" ><object data="http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="129"><param name="movie" value="http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf"><param name="scale" value="noscale"><param name="salign" value="lt"><param name="bgColor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="wmode" value="window"><param name="FlashVars" value="mp3Title=Babyheartbeatboo&mp3Time=09.57am+16+Jun+2009&mp3LinkURL=http%3A%2F%2Faudioboo.fm%2Fboos%2F30788-babyheartbeatboo&mp3Author=Wicked&size=full&mp3=http%3A%2F%2Faudioboo.fm%2Fboos%2F30788-babyheartbeatboo.mp3&playerWidth=400"><a href="http://audioboo.fm/boos/30788-babyheartbeatboo.mp3">Listen!</a></object></span><div><br /></div><div>Kinda worrying for the teenager to come in 16 or so years - not just embarrassing baby pics, but sharing your pre-birth heartbeats with random contacts across the interweb... </div><div><br /></div><div>And auidoboo - it's some kind of iPhone thingy. Record, hit button, uploads to Twitter. Now, I wonder if anyone wants to hear my kitten snore? </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-38313684309245871302009-06-16T10:01:00.005+01:002009-06-16T10:13:00.842+01:00Lee Camp's moments of clarity<div>Lee Camp's moments of clarity is one of those reasons I'm glad YouTube exists - not for cute kittens and that ever-so-funny moment when your mate happy-slapped some tramp - but a cheap, quick, witty, snappy and above all fast response to things going on. Why aren't there more? </div><div><br /></div><div>(perhaps there are - links welcome)</div><div><br /></div><div>For example, his latest response to GOP's response to funding healthcare</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre; "><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8ki2BquJfaQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8ki2BquJfaQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Or taking the longer view:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre; "><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Fn4ML3CWFhE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Fn4ML3CWFhE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div><div>... AND you get bluegrass - what more can you want?</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; white-space: normal; ">THIS is what video blogging should be - quick fun, informative and cheerful. Go Lee! </span><br /></span></div>Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-14927395227225785962009-04-30T19:24:00.004+01:002009-04-30T19:59:54.977+01:00Class one in any Film 101 course usually involves some kind of 'edit in camera' task. Like - forget loads of takes shot out of sequence, let's decide what we're gonna film, then film it in order, one take straight into the camera, take the film out, hit play: there's your film.<br /><br />So what's the equivalent for class one on the Music Video 101 course?<br /><br />If you were good. Like very good. It might end up like Nyle captured by Last Pictures. Filmed in one take, with the audio captured at the same time. The film is superb, Nyle's performance is superb, the singing and playing is superb... shame the song is a bit lame. But whatever - ENJOY:<br /><br /><br /><object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4189528&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4189528&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/4189528">Nyle "Let The Beat Build"</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1060118">Nyle</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br />(Thanks to <a href="http://www.myspace.com/lexitricity">Alexandra Lexitricity</a> for the recommend)Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-55362968192121407282009-02-17T22:29:00.004+00:002009-03-07T21:06:53.437+00:00Spoiler alertIf you have a Scientologist friend. Now is the time for that friend to watch this video. You'll curse yourself if you don't show it to them before your friendship should end.<br /><br />Missed opportunities and all that. ;-)<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JCbKv9yiLiQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JCbKv9yiLiQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Of course, once they watch it the friendship will certainly end! ;-)<br /><br />It's posted on the youtube channel called 'church of scientology'. I'm guessing that's not the official site.Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-42967961997331106922009-02-12T16:19:00.004+00:002009-02-12T16:22:39.774+00:00Who's flashy?Looking through web-examples for inspiration, I came across this. I both like it and don't like it. I don't know whether I'd use a similar approach, but it might be good for photogrpahers?<br /><br /><a href="http://imflashy.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://imflashy.com/files/jpgs/1227506389_highfashion2.gif" border="0" /><br />ImFlashy.com</a><br /><br />What do you think?<br /><br />Maybe you prefer shoes? ;-)<br /><br /><a href="http://imflashy.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://imflashy.com/files/jpgs/1215613931_jordn.gif" border="0" /><br />ImFlashy.com</a>Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-86079850484424934092008-09-23T21:01:00.002+01:002008-09-23T21:08:00.324+01:00Whatever happened to ShootingPeople? This question was sparked off by <a href="http://scriptmonster.wordpress.com">Scriptmonster</a>'s latest blog. <br /><br />A simple email digest, that then grew and grew, it used to be required reading. I used it to develop services, learn, network, crew shoots... But somehow it fell behind the curve. <br /><br />I realised how clunky it was once I came across forums. As soon as you get used to things like - hey, people replying in near-real time - threads of conversations (not strained day-late replies), chat, private messaging... the whole deal, suddenly a daily email digest seems like a system designed in the age of steam. And they're still at it. <br /><br />Back in the day there was a debate about setting up a forum. The owners / moderators refused. Real filmmakers are too busy to waste time on fora, or some such argument. One brave soul set up a forum with nil support, and without being allowed to post about it. It failed (as far as a I know - I can't even remember the name of it now). <br /><br />I put a post on there about a year ago - I needed an 'attractive woman' to play the part of someone getting married. That was considered offensive and I wasn't allowed to post 'attractive' (I kid you not). <br /><br />Without the 'attractive' the post went ahead and I got millions of replies. Including one from an Italian male, who couldn't speak English and who wasn't based in the UK. This was for a one-day shoot. I was curious, so I asked him (via Babelfish) why the hell he thought it was a good idea to waste my time - oh, I'm thinking of moving to london in a few years and thought I should build up some contacts....<br /><br />We also got some good replies - but the sheer effort of wading through them, including about half that were wildly inappropriate, plus more that came three days late (those who don't pay for the service), plus more from agencies who then spam you for ever more... <br /><br />That's why I don't use or read Shooting People any more. About time to cancel my subscription, methinks. It's a shame - I have a real affection for a service that was a strong part of my development in video. But it just didn't keep up.Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-60932894734622500162008-09-21T10:12:00.002+01:002008-09-21T10:16:40.562+01:00meanwhile, the latest on the Mac Vvs PC wars...<object width="425" height="344">I said I'd blog on switching to a Mac. But meantime here's a little something from sound engineer Mike Peter Reed. Sums it up really.<br /><br /><br /><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bm7JH1FT_yM&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bm7JH1FT_yM&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />They are both good and bad for different things. Both have their frustrations and their joys, and we couldn't live without them. Doesn't mean that the PC "let's cobble it together from a bunch of junk" and the Mac "let's get smug" approaches don't grate...Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-91125136793111357422008-09-10T21:07:00.022+01:002008-09-15T21:46:39.826+01:00Hello to a new camera - Sony EX1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.thetechnofile.com/uploaded-images/sony_ex1.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.thetechnofile.com/uploaded-images/sony_ex1.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>Exciting times in planet video. New editing system. New camera. New clients.<br /><br />But let's start with new camera.<br /><br />I have used the Sony EX1 camera three times in anger now, and I have only had it four days, so it's been a bit of a rush getting up to speed enough with it to feel secure enough to use it for serious jobs. That they were event filming jobs, adds to the pressure... as we all know - there is no second take. *<br /><br />There is a huge buzz about the camera, and has been for a while since it came out. It uses Sony's SxS cards, there's no tape, and it leaps a couple of format levels from standard definition video - not just HDV but a higher type of High Definition called XDCAM.<br /><br />There were three major issues (and this isn't going to be a 'review' as such - just my first impressions)<br /><br />- getting to know the camera well enough (which would be the same for any new camera)<br />- getting to grips with a tapeless workflow<br />- switching from PC to Mac<br /><br />The first is not as huge as it might seem, given that my previous main camera was also a Sony and this one is set up within the same paradigm, with a set of modifications that are interesting and useful, rather than irritating. Most of the keys you want are outside rather than buried in a menu. Not a standard layout (that would be asking too much of Sony), but one that is learnable perfectly easily.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.pdngearguide.com/gearguide/photos/stylus/18665.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.pdngearguide.com/gearguide/photos/stylus/18665.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>If I didn't think I'd be comfortable with it, I wouldn't have used the camera - event stuff is way too demanding for that.<br /><br />Knowing that there simply are not any tapes, never were any tapes, never will be... "Er, so what about my fail-safe archive?" is the first question that will occur to any camera operator, editor or producer (or, all three if you're like me). It's a breathless moment for anyone involved in video. It's a jump that happened has simultaneously (just about) with consumers and with professionals, and it's a huge liberation as well as a huge worry.<br /><br />I'm fine with setting up a good data back up system, and am paranoid enough to know that only two external and one internal copy of the data is enough. However, a new format means new applications, making sure they work, that the workflow is clear and foolproof...<br /><br />Actually the stakes are no higher than they were with tape, but they do feel dramatically more scary.<br /><br />It doesn't help to think it through logically. After all, if a tape failed that's all the footage lost. If a unique copy of the data fails, that's all the footage lost. The only safe way to archive tape is to copy to tape or capture to data. The only way to safely archive data is to copy. Plus ca change. But still that cliff-edge feeling is there.<br /><br />And what about that strange third reason - surely that has nothing to do with the camera, you might have thought. Well, there were a number of (obvious) reasons for the (partial) switch to Mac, but the clincher was the EX1, which I know might seem bizarre. Basically Final Cut Pro handles XDCAM well, and Premiere (my PC application) doesn't is the short story.<br /><br />I ought to blog about Mac some time. Basically, even as a Mac user myself, I hate the whole "it just works" Mac thing. No it doesn't - no computer does. Sure it falls over less often, but it does still fall over. I'm going to be using PC and Mac aproximately 50/50, and not with the usual office / video split - but using both for both. Which is not my choice necessarily or a good thing necessarily - but it works for me.<br /><br />The death of tape will, inevitably, be happening to everybody in video. It's already perfectly acceptable in many walks of technological existence, so in some respects video might seem a bit behind. But the sheer size of video data, and the need for a continual, frame-by-frame, verified, safe, secure flow of the stuff, has meant that computers have had to develop a lot to get us there.<br /><br />So - I'll put this up, but will be adding my thoughts about the design of the camera, the price, the controls, the format, the workflow and geeky stuff like that in due cour<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/public/product_images/altimage/08%2009%2020071189242307sony_pmw-ex1_thumbs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/public/product_images/altimage/08%2009%2020071189242307sony_pmw-ex1_thumbs.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>se.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">* One event combined Rory Stewart, Orl</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ando Bloom, Pippa Small and my mate Kate, but that's another story. </span>Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-74338852110372360492008-08-07T18:34:00.002+01:002008-08-08T16:02:50.655+01:00We say hello...The current Meconopsis Films showreel via Vimeo (see below for the YouTube version), with some of the stuff we do. <br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1485812&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /> <embed src="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1485812&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/1485812?pg=embed&sec=1485812">Meconopsis Films' showreel</a> from <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/meconopsisfilms?pg=embed&sec=1485812">Ben Bruges</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com?pg=embed&sec=1485812">Vimeo</a>.Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-5598546406784577782008-08-05T16:45:00.006+01:002008-08-07T17:49:25.168+01:00"I suffer from English teeth..."So starts the video on the front page of <a href="http://www.dentaprime.co.uk/">Dentaprime.</a><br /><br />Getting a commission to interview people about their dental experiences might not sound that exciting - but it was a real pleasure to meet the four people featured in the video. They had diverse experiences and reasons for traveling all the way to Bulgaria to have serious amounts of dental work completed but one theme ran through all the interviews - the truly appalling and expensive experiences they had at the hands of dentists in the UK.<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1485385&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /> <embed src="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1485385&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/1485385?pg=embed&sec=1485385">Dentaprime</a> from <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/meconopsisfilms?pg=embed&sec=1485385">Ben Bruges</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com?pg=embed&sec=1485385">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br />Terri Colley was left with a phobia of dentists. She was lectured about the state of her teeth every time she visited - far from the sympathetic service you might expect. Her visits became fewer and fewer until she needed serious treatment.<br /><br />It made for good testimonials, as all of them were genuine people who wouldn't have given a testimonial if they hadn't believed in it. And that meant that they gave good interviews - you can't fake sincerity (albeit a lot of people try).<br /><br />An interesting comparison is the <a href="http://www.dentaprime.com/">German version</a> created by a German video producer. (Or click the German flag at the top of the page) It seems Germans have dental work for cosmetic reasons - the type of people and the reasons they gave for having work is completely different. Is that because their national dental service actually works?<br /><br />Anyway - a lovely little job, and we're pleased with the end results. Any comments or feedback welcome, as always.<br /><br />It was an ironic experience for me: I too suffer from 'English teeth'.... maybe I should be saving the pennies for a trip to Bulgaria? I certainly couldn't afford the treatment I need in the UK.Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-53889827287061245872008-06-24T22:55:00.003+01:002008-06-24T22:59:12.416+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/eddie.con.carne/SBIznQQvGBI/AAAAAAAAATo/Ie_cMJwHl_Q/redbull.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/eddie.con.carne/SBIznQQvGBI/AAAAAAAAATo/Ie_cMJwHl_Q/redbull.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Surely no one sane thought this was a good idea. Go on - try clicking it for the full sized disaster, then hit the back button.<br /><br />As <a href="http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/">Photoshop Disaster</a> say, "<a href="http://www.redbullmozifanatikusok.hu/index.php?lang=hu&mode=RbmModSite&page=RbmPgSite&theme=romantic">Red Bull</a> in Hungary makes you wish you had never seen this image. Scrubbing your eyeballs doesn't work, I tried."Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-27204121492747059892008-05-15T21:07:00.001+01:002008-05-15T21:10:13.121+01:00for the hell of it...Some things are made just for the hell of it. So, for the hell of it, I thought I'd share.<br /><br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=820942&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"> <embed src="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=820942&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/820942?pg=embed&sec=820942">The derelict radio station.</a> from <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/user412664?pg=embed&sec=820942">Druskq</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com?pg=embed&sec=820942">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br />If you're interested in 3d creation and motion detection software have a look at the user comments below the vimeo page, and Druskq's comments in response. Interesting stuff.Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-19267893809032446142008-04-12T21:41:00.004+01:002008-04-15T22:23:16.616+01:00Textual events<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2c4pAS1HmO9Ug1vfC-rkaiZWUOzgTCjk6sDTTaX7756UBfLprst4BgOchgdh18IL6WDicDzXCzzNlVPuXTgS5YVTMptVTwWxQw8puoloUuul_RtmThDHHZq1fepkDHQI_ZlnCjqoFhMS1/s1600-h/alexis.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2c4pAS1HmO9Ug1vfC-rkaiZWUOzgTCjk6sDTTaX7756UBfLprst4BgOchgdh18IL6WDicDzXCzzNlVPuXTgS5YVTMptVTwWxQw8puoloUuul_RtmThDHHZq1fepkDHQI_ZlnCjqoFhMS1/s200/alexis.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188749373030136754" border="0" /></a>And now for some BOOKS (remember them?). THREE of them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">One</span>. Or, rather, one hundred and one: "101 Screenwriting Tips". I met Alexis Nikki through an on-line writer's group. We were the only two scriptwriters, and quickly realised that feedback from prose writers was actually not that helpful. They got hung up on commenting on irrelevant things (objecting to the use of the present tense, the lack of description, the apparent lack of internal life of the characters, the lack of their thoughts, the lack of shading on how to deliver dialogue) or suggested adding things like camera movements, character's thoughts or various other no-nos. Nor did they help with aspects that really needed their input. So the two of us ended up playing script ping-pong.<br /><br />Meeting up on London's South Bank would have been great, but she'd brought along some third person, so we couldn't get down to as much of the shop talk, writer's discussion and gossip that we wanted to. And then we lost touch when the writer's group folded. As you do.<br /><br />Now she's surfaced again (to my attention, I'm sure she was around all along) with a new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifetips-Screenwriting-Tips-Alexis-Niki/dp/1602750157">1o1 Screenwriting Tips</a> and screenwriting and film review blog <a href="http://www.thethirddraft.com/news-and-views/2008/4/6/running-in-spirals.html">The Third Draft</a>. She describes her approach thusaway:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RQze91DsL._SL500_AA240_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RQze91DsL._SL500_AA240_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />"The merit of my book comes from the very fact that I'm a relative beginner in the business. I'm the rookie whose struggles are still fresh in her mind and whose enthusiasm remains undimmed. These pages don't contain a complete philosophy or method, but practical tips that you can consume. If you're a beginner, this book provides encouragement, motivation, and a wealth of information. If you're more advanced, you'll discover some new angles amongst the usual advice."<br /><br />Which is refreshingly honest or a great spin, depending on your level of cynicism. It looks interesting and I'm sure I'll return to it to do more of a review. The timing seemed apt - just as I was going to do a screenwriting workshop for my local <a href="http://www.iov.co.uk/">IOV</a> meeting. So I bought it forthwith. (Well, clicked a button, forgot about it, then it arrived weeks too late to be useful. Thanks Amazon.)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKplL-kI8XduraqP7ss98ko9AWlhShJU9nQ41b9QPzSmGZpGpg2tKSRYrdGbQyQxfZjw5zrNeIEIxSPs6tfoyqrZcGSFP0tBr7-2Xkg0A2mJrrnAjBQ0Jw0s5eexqmJuHr7nu222z4Vv62/s1600-h/100_5318.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKplL-kI8XduraqP7ss98ko9AWlhShJU9nQ41b9QPzSmGZpGpg2tKSRYrdGbQyQxfZjw5zrNeIEIxSPs6tfoyqrZcGSFP0tBr7-2Xkg0A2mJrrnAjBQ0Jw0s5eexqmJuHr7nu222z4Vv62/s200/100_5318.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5188474155820776322" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Two</span>. Me mum! My copy of Alison Wilson Smith's book <a href="http://www.merlinunwin.co.uk/bookDetails.asp?bookId=78&categoryId=">Nature's Playthings</a> arrived today and it's fantastic - the company have done a really good job with it! I was 'proud son' material anyway - but here's yet more reason to be so. It's a hard book to define adequately. On the one hand a manual for the games children can play with things they find in nature. It's also a memory of three or four generations of bringing up or being around children. On another level it's an oblique commentary on the 'thing'-obsessed,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.merlinunwin.co.uk/bookCovers/78.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.merlinunwin.co.uk/bookCovers/78.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> sedentary, overly-protected, TV and computer-focussed childhoods we provide our children. I'm not sure the cover conveys all that, but the inside certainly does.<br /><br />I have to declare an interest (apart from the obvious filial one), there's some lovely pictures of my son Tom, and I took a few of the photos in the book, including this portrait of her on her boat on the Cam. Given that I only had a point and shoot camera, I'm quite surprised at how well they have printed. Meanwhile Tom (at four years old) is completely unfazed at his 'Nanny-on-the-boat' writing a book - after all she writes him lovely letters so why not a book? And it's not as if it's the first book his picture has been in - he also appears in Colin Barratt's <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Video-Beginners-Step-Step/dp/1904705472">Digital Video for Beginners</a> with his other nan.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fragile-earth.com/earth/images/james.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.fragile-earth.com/earth/images/james.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Three. </span>My dad! (Yes, this is getting silly.) James Bruges first brought out <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1901970310">The Little Earth Book</a> so the obvious sequel <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Earth-Book-James-Bruges/dp/1901970876/ref=pd_sim_b_img_4">The Big Earth Book</a> is a sumptuous coffee-table update and revision of the little one. A former architect, he's been a green activist for a while now, and both books are highly recommended for direct, positive, big-picture solutions to our current ecological crises. And more power to his elbow: let's hope they make a difference.<br /><br />So, as former writer's group colleague, son and son all I can say is, "BUY! BUY! BUY!"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Dr3FRCdPL._SS500_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Dr3FRCdPL._SS500_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-34011320703186008752008-03-27T19:49:00.001+00:002008-06-24T23:05:42.440+01:00Web videoIt's not really there yet, is it. I'm currently testing the various services to see if I can get something half decent through one of the 'sharing video' services...<br /><br />And so to this one. Frankly, I'm appalled. How can the blue (of the Mec petals at the beginning) change colour? It's a different blue! How can that be an encoding issue? And that's before we get onto the rest of the quality issues. Well, see for yourself:<br /><embed style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-7381157834572888944&hl=en-GB" flashvars=""></embed><br /><br />... and this is following best advice. I encoded to a high bitrate MPEG2, square pixels, Main Concept codec care of Adobe Media Encoder - which looks stunning played directly. Then I uploaded to Google and let them do their worse. Hence the above.<br /><br />I'll do the video-geek thing of putting up a few more tests, to see what you think. Next is Google via MP4, and I'll try latest advice for encoding for YouTube and I also try, yet again, to see if I can get Vimeo to work (reaches for the rolleyes smiley... )<br /><br />This is so far away from being an acceptable consumer experience though....Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-1944492535289728292008-03-20T13:12:00.001+00:002008-06-24T23:05:12.835+01:00Cab Calloway re-mixed by RemyyyI stumbled upon this by accident (via the dad of the band of another track this user re-used... I think). Anyway - a re-mix of an old Cab Calloway number (with a link to the original) that is just somewhat surreal - particularly when it's a near-close lip synch. Just thought I'd share!<br /><br />Just make sure you hang around until the main vocal comes in, it's worth it...<br /><br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=145728&server=www.vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=" height="300" width="400"><param name="quality" value="best"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"> <param name="scale" value="showAll"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=145728&server=www.vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color="></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/145728/l:embed_145728">You don't know me</a> from <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/remyyy/l:embed_145728">Remyyy</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/l:embed_145728">Vimeo</a>.Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-64782474743494385722008-02-26T11:11:00.000+00:002008-04-11T13:45:34.968+01:00How sweet is that?!If you ignored the 'it's just a message and will only irritate' message and actually listened to the 'utter' at the top of the page (and sorry to waste your time with an answer phone greetings message, but I did warn you). But if you have, you'll hear how professional it is.<br /><br />I like it. Even more, I like the fact that it's an introductory present from a couple of voice over artists. In fact, I'd go so far as to say, that it's the nicest business-related present I've yet had. As they said<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Emma’s done a custom phone greeting for you. We’ve attached it as an mp3; hope you can find a use for it. It’s a small bribe to make you feel warm and gooey towards us! (Maybe you never use voiceovers – it’s ok, use the greeting anyway.)</span><p></p>How sweet is that? See <a href="http://www.femalevoice.co.uk/">Emma Thurston's website</a> and <a href="http://www.voiceover-uk.co.uk/">Colin Day's website</a>.<br /><br />At the same time <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpetherick">David Petherick</a> introduced me to <a href="http://www.utterz.com/">utterz.com</a>, hence the new widget on the page. Hence the test. Hence the irritating bit of audio you listened to (don't deny it). Hence this explanation.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.utterz.com/">Utterz</a> seems like an interesting combination of radio, conversation and messaging. You can post a message, pic or video from your mobile phone to use it on their site, or to post out to your own site. It might be something we use with our media simulation work, when we have to feed back from a muddy field in the middle of Wiltshire.... but that's another story.<br /><br />In the meantime, I need to work out the video equivalent of Emma and Colin's present. Is there one? Answers on a postcard. Or via an utter. Or maybe even a video postcard. Now there's a thought...<br /><br />[Stop press: utterz doesn't seem to be working so i've removed it for the minute until I work out what's wrong.]Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4599913829470114136.post-50119990954301226572007-10-17T16:37:00.001+01:002008-02-24T13:47:50.149+00:00Videographer"Videographer" - wots one of them then?<br /><br />I've always had problems with this term. Firstly that it's just plain ugly ugly ugly. It doesn't smell, but it sounds bad. To make it work you have to change the 'o' from 'owe' to, er, however you phonetically spell the short /o/ and then put the stress there, just to emphasise the difficulty. Another is status. It's not 'director', 'producer' or even 'editor' or 'script-writer'.<br /><br />Next it's confusing. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videographer">Wikipedia</a> entry was written by someone who confuses 'Videographer' with 'Cinematographer' or with 'DoP/DP', ie. the one who actually touches the camera and only touches the camera. Wrong.<br /><br />It points to the key aspect of videography - it's misunderstood because people don't know where to place it. It's not part of the film industry (whether Hollywood, left-field, low-budget or whatever) and it's not part of the broadcast industry. And, typically, your videographer is not even part of a team.<br /><br />In terms of sector - the videographer creates and delivers video product direct to the client. That could be community, event, wedding, corporate, in-house, or whatever.<br /><br />In terms of mode of operation, typically the videographer works alone or in a small group, perhaps of cascading freelancers who have a similar 'videography' background. The key difference here is that the videographer deals with the whole process themselves. They are not a small cog in a big system (like with the film world or broadcast) typically they work on the whole process from getting the client in the first place, working out the brief, writing the script (if there is one), organising pre-production, filming (rarely as part of a 'film crew'), editing, working on drafts with clients, then purposing in whatever way is required.<br /><br />When you are dealing with 'the big boys' (yes, usually men) they tend to denigrate this sector - with their 'you don't wanna do it like that' attitudes and more expensive toys. What they miss is the strength and interest of the videography sector. This is not a set of people who are specialist in one tiny aspect of production. This lot do the whole process, and often to a economical budget.<br /><br />There's got to be some status or class in that. Surely. Which would you prefer - control of the whole process, or to be one small part in a juggernaut? I know what I've chosen. I'm even coming to terms with the term... until someone comes along with something better, that is.<br /><br />For more of us, see the <a href="http://www.iov.co.uk/">IOV</a> - there's even a 'find a videographer' function.Ben Brugeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257582855969853462noreply@blogger.com