Archive for June, 2007
Top 10 thing to keep my brain busy this week
Ok Ok! I’ll try not to bang on about it!
This time last year podcasting was all I talked about and that was a good time to be be into it. It’s all different now of course, the industry has changed completely and I for one got a little burnt. Youtube poop, without doubt fills the gap - the personal need to explore possibilities and permutations offered by a niche driven by creativity. This time though I’m both the Gary LeLand and the Rob Walsh figure! Building a site (or - dare I say - a social network) and now moderating a forum is so satisfying as realise now that I had very little interaction with my audience in the podcast days and beyond a bit of troll work on Britcaster, very little understanding of the nature on online communities. The whole thing is satisfying and tremendously good fun.
2. Gradulation
I get the results on Tuesday. My parents arrive on Thursday for the big square hat ceremony on Friday. I’m assured that should I fail to pass my degree (likely) I will be able to claim a refund on the price of coach tickets and cloak hire. I will not be able to claim back the £30000 the Jersey’s education service paid for nor the three years of my life I pissed up the wall but what worries me most is what to put on job application letters. I’m so expecting to be able to say “I’m a recent graduate…” on them that I can’t think of any clever spin on “I’ve been at collage for three years - but I failed”.
It’s funny how in times of enormous stress it’s the most mundane things like that which unsettles one the most.
3. Employment
I’m subscribed to the Gumtree rss feed of ALL jobs available in London. About 100 new adverts appear every couple of hours. I look at them carefully - at the phrases like “Maximise your earnings - Become a Nanny” or “This fantastic opportunity is a non paid position” or even “Must be able to travel to America within the next weeks at your own expense”. All I see is exploitation, naivety, dreams being shat on, soul destroying number crunching, hard selling, uniform wearing, plastic smiling crime and PAIN. (So I watch some youtube poops and life is ok again ;).
4. Rome
Another great distraction of life is of course American TV serials. Somewhere along the line the crown television drama was whipped away from under the noses of the BBC and smuggled over to the US where it was given to a cable company called HBO. Thanks to the joy of bit-torrent I’ve been enjoying the entire first season of Rome which is without doubt the I, Claudius of this decade. Utterly superb - so I’m pretty pissed off that it’s been axed.
5. This blog
Now and then I get little nods and winks from people about this thing. Everyone know that doesn’t serve much real purpose beyond being a place for me to practice writing - which is so important - but it’s the sort of thing that gets mentioned in passing or gets googled by someone. I never really fell in love with blogging or the idea of blogging so it’s just something I do rather than something that Must be done. I just enjoy it because it’s a step up from a notebook; I don’t even worry about doing it properly.
7. Doctor Who
With the finale coming up next Saturday it pretty much now a ‘dead-cert’ that this has been my favourite season to date. Everything i expected David Tennant to be has been delivered, he is as magical to me now, (me being as cynical old hack) as he would have been were I 10 years old. And despite knowing how horrible it must be to work on the series - like most television, and even knowing how it is constructed on the page it still has been - more so this series than ever before something that is for me.
Another joy from demonoid and no I’m not talking about the CGI films. This anime from a few years ago is based on the series of video games of the same name. I don’t watch much anime as I am too lazy to read subtitles but I’ve so enjoyed this little series that whilst I sit here and write this I smile whilst thinking about it. Despite having downloaded the 24 part series in it’s entirety I kind of feel as if I’m watching a daily show which other watch too. Hey, did you see the moogle in last night’s episode? Had they made a ton more it would be great to watch them every day as a 15 minute podcast - I’d even pay for it!
I’m also left wondering why they didn’t make the CGI films more like this.
I’m going to write about this properly later in the week - after I’ve graduated (or not) in order to properly contextualise things but Steve posted the TOA finale this week and it was not only was a historic episode but a really compelling one too. Listening to it made me understand a little better why I liked it - no - why it was so important for me to listen to over the last few years. In a funny way that podcast (rather than it’s author) was more of a friend to me than any of the flesh friends I’ve been at college with. So saying goodbye to it - at this time of my life has the same sadness of saying goodbye to all the suit wearing employees one works with in crappy office job. But that’s not to say I can’t wait to see what kind of media Dupont creates next.
10. Spainful Films
What? I still think about some sad old podcast thing? Well, as it happens yes - but not the podcast thing as such. Let’s not forget that Spainful Films has been going in one form or another since 2002; created when I was unemployed and staving to death in a house in Croydon. The podcast may be over - because lets face facts podcasting is over - but Spainful Films will live on - grow stronger - and take it’s rightful place as the supreme power of the UNIVERSE. Sound familiar?
My Youtube Poops
I’ve just realised, as I post my forth youtube poop, that I haven’t actually posted them here on my blog.
Apart from mentioning them once or twice I’ve pretty much spared you from the crazy world of YTP.
I also wonder if I should be posting some of the best bits form that site here. After all whenever I make a film or do a do any spainful stuff usually post links to it here. I suppose the idea is you’re meant to go over there to look for yourself rather than me telling you where to go.
Here’s an interview with one of the first people to make a youtube poop, it provides a valuable insight for the uninitiated.
http://youtubepoop.com/yaminomalex-interview/
I should also at this point thank Matt from Fabrications’ Podcast for recording the cool voice over. If you’re reading this (unlikely) then let it be know that I’ve not forgot the IOU and will record something for you soon.
Well watch these and see for yourself what I’ve been doing with myslef. (The website what I builded lists almost 1000 of ‘em).
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