The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    The Daily Buzz (An Experiment in Multimedia)

    By Deadman on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 4:58pm | Politics, Sports, Arts & Entertainment, Humor & Satire

    Ok, so I am totally going to risk extreme personal embarrassment by doing this, but I decided to experiment with a little video rundown of some of the day's top stories as indicated by Yahoo Buzz!, which is a Digg-like service at http://buzz.yahoo.com. I basically put on my Unabomber/Deadman outfit, recap the top articles that interested me, and throw in a little commentary for good measure.

    As you will quickly see, it is totally off-the-cuff with no script so frankly, it's not that professional (Alas, I do have another job that pays the bills so I have to throw it up there, warts and all). But I have to admit, it was fun to do so if people like watching it, I may keep doing it. Be happy to take any of your suggestions for improvement (I know the glare of the sunglasses is distracting, but I'm not yet ready to totally drop my anonymity yet).

    Here are the stories I run down: (The video is underneath)

    Obama calls stimulus bill delay 'inexcusable' (AP)

    Simpson Gets Into Bizarre Crying Fit At Concert

    Image: Christian Bale Apologizes for F-Word Filled Tirade

    Christian Bale Apologizes for F-Word Filled Tirade

    Image: USA Swimming Suspends Phelps for Three Months

    USA Swimming Suspends Phelps for Three Months

     

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Sports
    Arts & Entertainment
    Humor & Satire

    Comments

    I love it. Funny, impassioned, articulate. You're the man...I mean the deadman. Keep doin' it.

    Constructive criticism: 1. The glasses are blinding. Maybe use a mask? 2. I know that you don't get a teleprompter, but there was a little too much looking down, particularly at the beginning before you got warmed up. It's probably important to come on strong at the start. 3. Can you increase the frame rate? The slow-mo head movement is disconcerting.

    PS I like the dagblog plug at the end. Can you stick a link in there?


    by Michael Wolraich on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 7:20pm

    thanks g. don't think i'll be doing this everyday as even with very little preparation, it will probably take at least a half-hour to do, but it was fun. so ill try to make it quasi-regular. if people like it, maybe we can create some kind of schedule where each do this a couple times a week or something like that.

    i think I may have figured out a way to get around the glare of the sunglasses, at least to that degree. i think a mask would cause sound issues. The slow motion i think is a result of the webcam quality, the poor lighting (which i was doing to try and minimize glare), and the youtube processing. I can work on the poor lighting but for now the other reasons i think are what they are. frankly, i shouldnt be moving around that much anyway, but i'm not sure how much success ill have working on that either. i dont see a way with the webcam to increase the frame rate.

    youtube only allows you to link your annotations to urls within youtube. it's very annoying, but i guess they're trying to keep people on the site or differentiate annotations from ads.


    by Deadman on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 1:16pm

    I was thinking about a Zorro or Robin or Phantom of the Opera mask that wouldn't cover your mouth. It might also add an air of seductive mystery.

    If your vlog gets a big following, maybe we can consider a dagblog investment in a better webcam.


    by Michael Wolraich on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 1:58pm

    Good audio, good commentary.  I like it.  Could it maybe be a little shorter?  The reflecting glasses are a distraction as is the slow motion.  But hey, you did it - and kudoos to you for that. Why didn't Mr. G do this first?  I'm waiting for the next one, thanks.


    by Bluesplashy on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 10:17am

    thanks blue. i will try to shorten it (to be honest, i did have a couple of run-thrus that came it at 8-minutes plus, so i cut out a couple of stories.) i will probably try to shoot for something like 5 stories, one minute each, but I can't be held to that!

    i for sure won't be able to do this every day, so maybe Mr. G and I will alternate days (I know part of the problem will be he spends his entire day working in a loud cafe, hardly conducive to multimedia).


    by Deadman on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 1:21pm

    Camera shy. But I may yet do it.


    by Michael Wolraich on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 1:59pm