So in the past long months I’ve finished school, traveled Europe and studied over there. I haven’t posted anything here in a long while and that’s due a whole lot of things. But I’m looking at the site here (bot hacked twice while over in Sweden…) and thinking that the front page needs to be a little more visually appealing while the rest of the site remains the same as a more in-depth look. I want the landing page to pose as a summary, almost like a resume really. Then have the secondary pages to be like complementary things.
Favorite photo while I was over there? Too many to count, but here’s a great one I really liked of the Eiffel tower in Paris.
For my New Media Visualization class, our final project was to demonstrate what we learned in the course through video. I produced two pieces for the class, both loosely connected. I spent a couple days shooting and editing these pieces, although I will admit I procrastinated quite a bit.
Unlike my work at University Web Communications, I was able to use copyright music. I probably used this assignment more to use certain music than anything; I think I want to direct a music video in the future (like Evan did).
Special thanks go to Alexa and Lyndsay for helping me out on this; they were too kind in helping me with this project.
Some neat facts:
I recorded the unzipping sound of my pants separately by standing in front of the microphone at crotch level; you can hear it in the first video in the bathroom shot.
Cooking the egg was incredibly cheesy, but I think me leaning forwards in the second video takes the cheese cake for sure.
If you look at my butt in the second video while I climb up the train, you can see that I am wearing monkey pajama pants under my jeans. So basically I’m acting like a monkey, while wearing monkey pajamas.
A while back near the end of September 2010, I had the opportunity to work up in Portland to cover OSU’s Rally in the Square downtown in Pioneer Square. Only recently was I able to use the footage for something tangible, but I am very happy with the result.
For my work with OSU Web Communications, I was asked to produce a short 30 second clip summarizing the event in spirit and in premise. This was to be used for the University’s Portland Business Roundtable address in Portland that happened on January 19th, 2011. To get an idea of the type of event this was, this was where many stakeholders of the university and Portland business leaders were in attendance. I was thrilled to be able to present a piece of my work to this group.
A couple of neat facts about the video:
All of the audio was recorded on a small but extremely capable audio recorder known as the Zoom H1
There is nothing like seeing so many people come together for an event like this, there was so much orange!
The band is not the Oregon State marching band, rather they are a group of OSU alumni that used to be part of the band
This is the video in all it’s glory, I hope you do enjoy!
I don’t think I could go a day without a song stuck in my head or without listening to my favorite artists. I think that it’s important to say this because music plays a large role in how stories are told and is a wonderful way to have fun playing and listening. I’m not here to discuss the merits of music, but rather discuss the relevance of how social media is changing how we listen and choose to listen to music.
I was watching an Eric Clapton video on YouTube for his song, “Change the World,” today and what an absolutely amazing and talented man that is.
Before we move on, please watch the video all the way through. And if you’re like me, watch all the variations and live versions of the same song. Seriously, just watch it:
What I think draws me to how amazing this song can be summed up by this comment by jettyoeill on YouTube who says:
“13 years ago I was dating my husband, he in Canada, me in L.A., I sent him this version of this song. It said it all,it still moves me! We just celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. The inside of my husband’s wedding band reads, “We changed the world”. Thank you Babyface and Eric Clapton.”
These stories are what make social media beautiful. The sharing, the stories, the amount of heart that is out there is staggering. I feel so happy reading comments like it. What I feel so happy about is that people are sharing these stories that are so unique. Whenever I listen to it, I smile part due to the lyrics but also in part to all the people that have had positive memories like jeyyoeill has had with this song.
I smile because they’re so genuine, and if we learn anything from social media it’s that being genuine is the key to a successful social media strategy.
At the end of the term or semester, college students have one thing to worry about: Finals. It’s a daunting thing to summarize the previous months into one test or paper. Almost epic.
It’s been two weeks since the end of finals at school, one week remains. The second I got done with my final test, I felt a huge relief and for some odd reason, creative juices started to flow. I walked up the stairs from the classroom I was in and came up with an allegory of sorts…
Ever wonder how in video games the protagonist is always victorious through the trials and tribulations and how that relates to our journey in our education, career and dreams? Maybe I play too much video games…
The battle was over. And as he threw his arms to his side, he rose from the ground and lay down his weapons. He exhaled a sigh of relief and with it the stresses of the tests he felled. As our hero ascended from the steps of the final dungeon, he knew he had completed yet another 10 weeks in hell. The battle was over.
There was music and there was wine. He bathed in his freedom because he knew that in three weeks time, the tests he overcome would take a new form; uglier and tougher than ever before. And so the hero spends this time in bliss, counting down the days until his return to the battlefield.
The battle was over, but the war will never be won. This, the hero knew.
