I created a 30 second version of this in August as a promo for a music festival I was videoblogging here in Cumberland. I put music over it and speeded it up to 8000x its original speed. But although the festival videos were well watched, this fell under the radar and few people saw it. And I think it lost some of its power being so compressed. So I’ve slowed it down a little – now you can see the outrageous colours and changes more clearly.

It’s shot from the balcony outside our bedroom. Amy gets up early, so I got to see a lot of spectacular dawns like this, this summer.

As the sky brightens, in the distance you can see the Coast Range mountains of mainland British Columbia and a small strip of the sea separating the island from the mainland. It’s a bit freaky, because Cumberland is quite a few miles from the coast, but our house is at the top of he biggest hill in town. On clear days, you can look out of our bedroom and see cruise ships on their way to Alaska.

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Podcast file (iPod/iPhone compatible)

Found in the vaults. From May 16, 2008, 2 weeks after we arrived in Canada.
Worth remembering this week, as the winter sets in. Started to get my first proper pangs of homesickness this weekend. Which may be partly why I’ve fallen a bit behind in posting.

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Podcast file (iPod / iPhone Compatible)

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(yes, my side of the screen is supposed to be silent)

this one has a bit of a story behind it.

5 years ago, we came out here to the Comox Valley for six months so I could finish writing a novel that i’d already been working on for a year.

it was about a young wannabe director who goes to America, visits movie locations and starts to lose the line between fantasy and reality. it was pretty funny – and I had a great agent – and everybody thought it was going to be a massive hit – and i fucking BLEW IT

i came back from Canada with the book unfinished and started working for my dad’s aluminium company. i blamed this on a car accident, which i said had stopped me writing. really though… (i’ve never admitted this before) i could’ve finished it if I’d just fucking knuckled down and applied myself. but there you go. 18 months and multiple thousand quid down the bog. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

then we had Amy, three years passed. the aluminium company went bust, and i went freelance (same thing, more or less).

but before i got properly lost in freelance hell, i gave the book one last shot. i flew out to San Francisco by myself in november 2006 to revisit the movie locations i’d been writing about. the idea was that i’d write and videoblog while i was there – the sights and sounds would fuel a reimagining of the story – and i’d return with a vision of how to tie together all my unfinished fragments.

instead i just lost the line between fantasy and reality.

so these clips have been sitting unwatched and unedited on my hard drive – a bit too guilt-inducing to open – until now. life is a bit more back on track, we’re back in canada, i have a good steady job working for someone i like and i’m starting to feel like i can write again… so i reopened the box.

i haven’t looked at them all again yet, but i have clips from movie locations all around the san francisco bay area. if you like this and want more, let me know and i’ll hack some of them together.

i’ve also just installed the AddThis plugin, something i’ve been meaning to do for a while. so if you like a video, you can easily add it to a social bookmarking site like StumbleUpon or Delicious so other people can find it, too.

and the answer is Yes, this really was shot in Room 773 of the Cathedral Hill Hotel (map), formerly the Jack Tar Hotel, spinetinglingly unchanged 32 years later. and if you haven’t seen Coppola’s (and Murch’s) The Conversation, then what are you doing still reading this? you should be on Amazon or Netflix buying or renting it.

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Podcast file (iPod/iPhone compatible)

Podcast file (iPod/iPhone compatible)

***UPDATE***
8 Nov: I’ve cut down my links to make them quicker. Thanks for all the feedback. After several reshoots, I think I’m finding the right style for this, now – like my old FatGirlInOhio videos in 2005.
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I call it a review show – but really it’s just unadulterated praise. A guide to stuff I love. Please add your own more informed and balanced thoughts and recommendations in the comments.

I talk about – and include episodes from:

EPIC FU
http://epicfu.com/
(can’t believe I didn’t mention Steve and Zadi)

BEACHWALKS WITH ROX
http://beachwalks.tv/
(can’t believe I didn’t mention Lexi)

LO-FI SAINT LOUIS
http://lofistl.com/
(can’t believe I didn’t mention the Helium Tapes)

WRECK AND SALVAGE
http://wreckandsalvage.com/
(can’t believe I didn’t mention Quirk and Nelson)

LO-FI SESSIONS
http://lofisessions.com/
(can’t believe I didn’t playlist Sunyatta)

RYAN IS HUNGRY
http://ryanishungry.com/
and my previous RyanIsHungry playlist is here

(damn, remembering everything you’re supposed to mention in 1-2 minutes is hard)

Podcast/Download file link (iPod/iPhone compatible)

A family video. Our generation’s man on the moon moment.

I guess we’re officially west coast hippies now.

Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.mp4)

This is a quick video to show you how to easily watch all the amazing personal videos and video art being made every day for VloMo08 – Videoblogging Month – November 2008

Have I missed anything? Anything I haven’t made clear? Anything you’d add? Tell me in the comments.

Watch it all at:
http://mefeedia.com/channels/vlomo08

And play in Vimeo at:
http://vimeo.com/groups/vlomo

My videoblog:
http://twittervlog.tv

Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)

Is this what Halloween is like everywhere in North America?

Madness.

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Speaking of madness, it’s suddenly Videoblogging Month again. Already? How did that happen?

Last year it was called NaVloPoMo, but it’s (sadly?) just been renamed Videoblogging Month 2008 – VloMo08 for short.

Post one video every day in November. That’s all you have to do…

2007 was the first year, and it turned out to be an incredible collaborative experiment. Exhausting but rewarding. I hope this year is as much fun.

Actually, I think for me it’ll be *more* fun. Last year I just didn’t have time to watch enough. But then, between us all, we made over 1000 videos in 30 days.

You can watch (and JOIN IN) at our new Mefeedia channel:
http://www.mefeedia.com/channels/vlomo08

I can’t wait to see the videos start coming in.

Meanwhile, it’s now 2 a.m. – so you’ll have to excuse me. I have a *lot* of candy to get through before Amy wakes up.

Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)