Well, apparently, Bushco, Inc. have plans other than peace, and getting along, and whatnot. I sure wish they'd all change their minds about that and try a more positive approach to solving the conflicts. Speaking of which, check out my rushed, last-minute entry at huffpo:
What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love, And Understanding?
It still needs lots of work, but I need some sleep.
And being as I'm won't be submitting the animation project until the March contest begins -- I've put that aside for a couple days -- in favor of this new one. It's a bit jittery at this juncture, and some of the graphics are super low quality, but overall I'm pleased with the concept.
Please do send along any suggestions as to how to make this thinger flow better/look better. I'd appreciate the feedback. I'm using XP's window Movie maker (my Dazzle program would be better) so right now I'm a bit limited with how easily I can tweak the durattions on the individual pictures.
NOTE: I used the whole song (under Fair Use: non-commercial social commentary), so it's a whopping 4 MB .wmv file -- which might take a minute or two to load into your wmv player. I tried compressing it but the sound was real crappy.
Anyway, I'm too tired to tweak it right now. Tonight. After a good nap.
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I sure wish they'd all change their minds about that and try a more positive approach to solving the conflicts.
They're not in the business of solving conflicts, they're in the business of pushing their "American" agenda across the world willy nilly.
I watched your project. I have suggestions/comments.
They're not in the business of solving conflicts, they're in the business of pushing their "American" agenda across the world willy nilly.
They're still human beings. They have the capacity to change for the better. They have the capacity to figure out how to be pro-American in a good way rather than a stupid destructive way.
I watched your project. I have suggestions/comments.
Such as?
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They have the capacity to figure out how to be pro-American in a good way
Yes. But will they?
Such as?
Not in Zen's forum. Let me know if I can email you. I tried over a week ago regarding the domain business, but received no reply. No sense talking to thin air, is there?
Crap. I didn't close the tags right.
You're welcome to make any comments here. Someone else is paying for the webspace.
Thanks, Zen.
Blurbee-my feedback, such as it is:
1) I like the overall concept of your project, but it's too long. Would you be willing to edit the song? I know that would be challenging because the song's perfect the way it is, but 4MB is quite large and the pics don't hold the attention for the whole 3 and then some minutes. Some of the repeating images are unnecessary to the video as a whole. It feels like the repetitions are being used as filler rather than contributing to the message. I just looked at the lyrics and listened to it again while reading them. The only thing I can think of is to take out the first Cause each time I feel it slippin’ away and the second So where are the strong.
2) Where the greatest commandment pic disintegrates, did you mean for it to reappear slightly disintegrated? It looks like a mistake rather than a purposeful effect.
3) The lawn chair? The advertisement mid-way through? That takes away from the whole in my opinion, and it adds to the file size. The opening and closing credits should be enough.
4) I didn't understand why you included:
the logos for aol, hbo, etc. (corporate America hand in glove with this administration?)
matrix cast
the cereals
the paperclip
but that could just be my usual "I don't get it" problem. I didn't know who some of the people were, either, the ones who looked like musicians or actors, but that didn't take away from the video.
I wonder how many will understand dare to be penniless and climb to the branch that breaks?
Would you be willing to edit the song?
I'd rather not. It's such a great song.
the pics don't hold the attention for the whole 3 and then some minutes.
I agree, but I'm gonna add more, replace a lot of the dupes. I just did the thing on a whim last night when I accidently came across the built-in Windows Movie-making program.
But worse than that, for me (repetition doesn't bother me that much unless it's poorly done - which this is in places), is that so many of the images are slightly out of synch. Off rhythm. Very annoying because it drifts. Makes it kinda hard to watch. And they're too choppy too. Too quick. Unfortunatey, the program I'm using doesn't offer any good way to fix any of that. It would take forever, I'm guessing. You can't, as far as I can tell, type in the duration values indiviidually -- you have to drag them with the mouse and hoe for the best -- let alone selecting a group of them and tweaking a single property all at once.
Some of the repeating images are unnecessary to the video as a whole.
Yeah. I just dumped my image directory into the video track and then duplicated it when I saw that it didn't cover the whole song length. Did that just as a starting point. Then I went and re-arranged them to make more sense. But I haven't finished with that yet. I have a few ideas for more pics that I want to use which I don't have yet.
It feels like the repetitions are being used as filler rather than contributing to the message.
Yep!
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...and the second So where are the strong.
I hope that isn't the one where that energetic singer/dancer woman is gleefully jumping in the air. I _love_ that one. But it may be a bit off, synchwise. It used to be right on, on one of my earlier versions. But a tweak here, and a tweak there, upstream, and... things get messed up. I really shouldn't have published it at all yet, but you can only enter one project a month, so I opted for imperfection (with time and ability to tweak) before February runs out of days. I don't expect to win, I just like the positive feel to it all, and wanted to share it.
...slightly disintegrated?
It was working fine in some of the earlier versions, but I think when I shortened the overall duration of the dissolve (I originally had the two commandment pics at double or triple the length of all the other pics) it got screwed up somehow. I probably just have to reapply the effect from scratch.
The lawn chair?
Yeah, that's a whole other project in the making. LawnChairSolutions.com (which is on the main huffpo gonzoboy launch page in the copyright section -- and on the Purebullshit.com Product Line page). It's a product sketch to be developed when I find the time to explain it.
As it is now, I like how it just sits there. It's funny.
Plus, I like the possible Cindy Sheehan association.
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3) The advertisement mid-way through?
Well, they're not really "advertisements", although, they certainly work that way as well.
That takes away from the whole in my opinion, and it adds to the file size. The opening and closing credits should be enough.
They just need to be incorporated better. There may be a couple I could dump. Some of them are part of the message, but poorly placed at this point. Mostly filler pending more context.
logos for aol, hbo, etc. (corporate America hand in glove with this administration?)
I guess. I have no idea. They were in my image folder when I dumped a bunch of jpegs into the video track to experiment with. Mostly I guess I left them because I was thinking how much a part of our modern life those companies have become. Plus, the Free Speech/Privacy/Constititution thinger is related.
matrix cast
Love those movies. Plus I thought it would appeal to the younger crowd. Not everyone knows Neil and David Byrne, etc.. And they provide interesting symbolism, too, about rejecting all the brainwashes that all of the Bushco kool-aid drinkers have so much trouble resisting. Not to mention how understatedly cool and sexy they are. Well, except for that Smith-dude -- he's just annoying.
the cereals
They're colorful and playful (for moi, an interesting peaceful contrast to Bushco) and they were in my images folder . I came across them in wiki one day while looking for the face behind Fred Flintstone (Alan Reed). When we were kids, my sister was a big Quisp fan -- I liked Quake -- he was some big strong miner dude or something wearing a hard-hat/flashlight thiner. We bothed liked Captain Crunch (they were probably all identical cereal). Then I thought of the loose metaphor of Bush being a hapless captain crunching our liberties and whatnot. Not to mention the ironic "Quaker" Oats peace-thinger connection. American pop art.
the paperclip
Some blog I came across. Nice picture. Simplicity. Peace. Filler until something better comes a long.
but that could just be my usual "I don't get it" problem.
It's kinda like the Simpson's (or Shakespeare) only more me-centered, I guess. A found-objects kinda thinger. Contrast. Imagery. Emotion.
I didn't know who some of the people were, either, the ones who looked like musicians or actors, but that didn't take away from the video.
I don't know most of them either. Just interesting images I've collected along the way.
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I wonder how many will understand dare to be penniless
How many independent-minded entrepreneurs/artists/inventors/musicians are there per thousand workers?
Fred Flintstone was always trying some business or another. Dancing lessons, etc. And Ralph C/Kramdon, but those were the old days, I guess, huh?
and climb to the branch that breaks?
Tree climbers. Anyone who tries their best. Those who aim high. Yearners. What's all that add up to? About 1%?
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Yeah, that's a whole other project in the making. LawnChairSolutions.com...
Yeah, I realized that. I've been curious since you first mentioned it years ago.
Plus, I like the possible Cindy Sheehan association.
LOL!
I hope that isn't the one where that energetic singer/dancer woman is gleefully jumping in the air. I _love_ that one.
No. It's later.
I watched it again. I'm kinda getting addicted to the stupid thing. It inspires me. I LOVE that song. Anyway, I guess I know most of the people referenced in it, except for a few of the women -- most of whom I copied from ads on AOL, I think. There's only three or four musicians, I think: Neil Young, Bob Dylan, David Byrne, and that joyful latino jumping woman.
There's a couple pics of Dr. Hunter Thompson, as a tribute. Then there's the obligatory scoundrel politicians. Groucho Marx (and Bros.) A couple three pics of me. The Simpsons, The Flintstones (including Gazoo and Dino). Captain Crunch, Quisp. Kermit the Frog. The Minister of Silly Walks (and the rest of the Monty Python crew).
The Penguin (from Batman). Alito and his wife. The inaugaral "oath" crowd. Montgomery Burns (Mr.), A few handmade signs from the freeway blogger. The HHGTTG cover. The Matrix bunch. That chinese dude who stood in front of the tanks. Lady Liberty. Mark Twain. MC, Visa, Amex, Discover. Hollywood hills. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the Tazmanian devil. Captain Kirk. Some dude paddling in a small boat.
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George Washington and the Constitution (potentially cool band name). Albert Einstein and the milky way or some such. Some super sexy Asian babe. That Adam/God painting. Is it Di Vinci or Michaelangelo? The latter, right? It's on a ceiling somewhere, IINM. And a bunch of $Zeroisms, my fave.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback. Any suggestions for images you'd think would enhance it?
I probably should put the song lyrics and attribrutions (or a link to same) plus a list of other credits somewhere. Eventually, I'll put this thing on my Blurbees blog. Unless it stays in last place for the next week. Course, with your feedback, I could make it more universally appreciatable -- but I don't want to go too far in that direction -- it would lose its individuality.
And thanks to Zen for offering up his comment thinger for my own personal critique indulgence.
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I'm kinda getting addicted to the stupid thing.
That's how I feel about the videos we made at work. I enjoy watching them. Even the errors have become classic. We joke about having a tutor cult following.
Any suggestions for images you'd think would enhance it?
Not at the moment. If I come across any I'll post 'em in MW.
I just added this blog comment window to the huffpo contest gonzoboy page as a disscussion/commenting thinger. Any objections, let me know and I'll remove it.
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Buncha random images, from Neil Young to Kermit the Frog. Saying what? I got about 50 seconds in and decided, there's no point to this. Typical woolly ideas from Peter, I'm afraid. A thousand vague impressions and absolutely no focus.
And the cutting from one picture to another doesn't even match the music. The song has a quite pronounced rhythm, which is just ignored.
So I ask again, why bother?
Saying what?
Saying: What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love, and Understanding?
I got about 50 seconds in and decided, there's no point to this.
I'd certainly expect such absolute cluelessness from someone spending most of their days drinking the Kool-aid in the break rooms over at Bushco Incorporated regarding the benefits of taking Peace, Love, and Understanding seriously, but you're not one of them, are you?
A thousand vague impressions and absolutely no focus.
Gawd.
Not much of an appreciator of visual musical imagery, huh?
Too complex for you? You didn't sense the overall theme?
And the cutting from one picture to another doesn't even match the music.
Much of it does, the rest is software/time limitations.
So I ask again, why bother?
YipeeeEEEEEEEE YAHoooOOOeee!
A thoroughly negative review from yet another overly-cynical critic.
I've arrived!
(A critic goofing around in blogs, no less -- for NO PAY!).
Whoa.
I'd better start working on my Best Director's Academy Award speech.
Um, I'd like to thank the endless parade of cynical detractors for, um, well, for being, er, um, for being cynical, I guess. Thanks, fellas.
"THAT... was Mozart...
that vulgar little child I saw
crawling all over _the floor_."
-- Antonio Salieri
[actor: F. Murray Abraham; from
the movie: "Amadeus" (1984)]
But seriously, thanks. Read my own review in the above comments to see how useful yours was.
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moi: Plus, I like the possible Cindy Sheehan association.
Lily: LOL!
Yep.
Anywaysers, it's 1:00 AM EST on 2/23/2006
The video is up to 61 forwards so far. Still almost in last place.
I've only sent it to two people so far. One never got the email, the other said he couldn't load it on his apple computer.
Unfortunately, I haven't had any spare time to spend upgrading the movie nor the site. Nor forward it to anyboy else. Maybe tomorrow.
I'm shooting for at least 50th place.
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they pass by."
-- Douglas Adams
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Whoa. Up to 83 forwards.
But still ranked only 112 out of 114. :(
Any suggestions?
I even modified the huffpo gonzoboy.cf frontpage a bit:
http://www.gonzoboy.com
Though, granted, it IS a bit distracting with all of that color and imagery.
Needs simplifying. It looks much better in B&W. I might make it all B&W except for the Peace, Love, and Understanding graphic. If only I didn't have to sleep, and eat, and work on my business and all that, then I'd have time to make the actual video clip better.
In any case, I made this: http://www.mindtags.com, to make it easier for people to find all of the entries.
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Well, as of a few minutes ago, this WSF'BPL&U video was reported on the contest monitoring thinger on the front page of the HuffingtonPost.com as being the number one rising project.
It has passed the 100th place marker and is now ranked 99th out of 114 entries, and gaining speed!
I guess I should finally get to editing that peace-loving thinger to make it better, huh?
There's certainly a lot of tweaking room there, that's for sure.
Especially for a tangent-boy tweaker like moi.
Understatement. Whoa.
I think everyone's just relieved to see something a bit more positive for a change. The song IS beautiful, even with all of its sarcastic sighs here and there.
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Yikes. This WSF'BPL&U video has steadily held the number one rising status spot ever since my last comment about it here (above), about six hours ago. It's moved up 26 slots (twice as many as the next best riser) and is now ranked 85th out of 114 entries, and still gaining speed -- while most others remain static.
Do I dare dream of possibly "winning" the contest? That would sure would be nice, AND inspiring (campaigning for sympathy votes) -- though it's quite a stretch to go from a couple hundred visits to half a million in four days -- even though that's exactly what the Cheney Quail Hunting bit did. But that thing was so utterly and brilliantly simple.
This video requires quite a bit more of a viewer investment in the experience -- both in time, resources, and reflection. It's a think piece. A Peace piece.
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Obviously, I need to simplify it. As well as enhance it.
Although, perhaps my not yet being able to find the time to fiddle with it has worked in its favor -- sometimes you can ruin a project by over-tweaking it. But no, that's not true in this case, because there are, at the very least, quite a few very basic things that ought to be done to it which can only improve its readibility and functionality -- thus increasing the enjoyment value and benefits of visiting the site, and improving the likelihood that those visiting and viewing the video will want to recommend it to others.
The Logisitics of Waging Peace, etc.. On a strict deadline, besides -- which is, by far, one of my least favorite of modern inventions.
For instance, I wasted several minutes (an hour?!?) writing this comment -- time that would have been much better applied to fixing the actual project (or sleeping).
I mean, is anyone besides moi even reading these comments anymore?
[imagine a lofty and amusingly self-deprecating comment/punchline about myself here].
Oh, BTW: if there _is_ anyone reading this, you really ought to go check out that Freeway-Blogger dude. His almost daily internet blogs about his freeway blogging are treasures of contemplation and fun. There's a link to his site over on my barely-ever-changed blog: Blurbees.com -- on the right sidebar of the homepage. I'll fetch that link later. I'm dozing off right now.
"Like Humans Do" -- David Byrne
GonzoBoy.com
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GonzoBoy.com is still the top chart climber!
And by a wide margin, besides.
That's two days in a row, now!
Please help PROMOTE Peace, Love, Understanding, Tolerance, Creativity, Freedom, and FAITH -- as opposed to War, Hatred, Intolerance, Problem-Maintenance, Slavery, and FEAR.
Send this link to your friends and family: http://www.GonzoBoy.com!
Thanks.
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Well, I finally made some time to work on the video and I just uploaded an upgraded version of it. I added a couple dozen more images (that's just a fraction of what I'd eventually like to add), and I fixed some of the musical synch issues, but of course, that made other parts of it go all out of whack. The software I'm using really sucks. Besides it being crippled in its actual design and functionality, it freezes up every fricken' five minutes or so and I have to do an "end task" on the sucker and blah blah blah.
That's what I get for experimenting with the stupid "comes-with" program.
Anyway, there's quite a bit more work to do on this thing, but the contest ends tomorrow, I think. I guess I'll have to settle for getting to fiftieth place (only a few more ranks to go) as I had originally aimed for. It was looking pretty exciting there for a couple days when the video was THE number one chart climber -- then that Napoleon dude started making some headway, and finally passed me. Of course, the higher you go up the chart, the harder it gets to advance in rank. It's a math thinger.
Anyway, I'm gonna keep working on this video regardless, all day today, posting upgrades here and there. And after tomorrow as well. Maybe Huffpo will have a best-of-the-year run-off. The way they put that contest together was pretty fun.
I've got another entry planned for their March festival. But it's nowhere near as inspirational as this one. So it will probably win.
Anywaysers, even if Huffpo doesn't do a best-of-the-year contest, I'm gonna keep working on this Peace, Love, And Understanding baby -- hosting it over at my Blurbees.com blog.
I've got lots more ideas about how to make it wayyy better. Well, just doing an average job on the silly thing would accomplish THAT, given all the obnoxious glitches and limitations in the program that I used to make it.
It's pretty hard being me. But, it IS a load of laughs, so I can't really complain too much. Well, actually, yes, I _can_ complain a lot about my silly circumstances. And I do.
I've got it down to an art.
I'm a virtual complaint factory.
Like for instance, so far, this Peace, Love, And Understanding site has gotten almost six hundred visits, from six hundred unique vistors, yet there has not been one single comment.
It's totally bizarre.
Especially given the topic matter.
Oh well, just more stuff for me to laugh about.
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your presentation prevokes so many thought prevoking questions such as.........how did you decide on a name like blurbee?......... instead of, for example, minko?
be not troubled if you have been surpassed by napoleon. it's a well known fact that the real "nappy" always surrounded himself with the tallest of soldiers
......and after all, you can never truly lose with such a message...."it's an advertising campaigne for peace! can you understand that!" - J Lennon
how did you decide on a name like blurbee?
I'm a writer/artist/wiseass.. I'm a blurbee.
All us writer/artist/musicians are blurbees.
Well, we all hope so, anyway.
Actually, it's a long story involving several other domains that I reserved for a business plan I hope to develop someday.
I originally reserved the domain Blurbles.com for the project -- due to the fact that blurbs.com was already taken.
Anyway, I have an incredible amount of experience in marketing and promotion, so I went ahead and reserved blurbees.com, and blurbies.com, and a few others, like blurbled.com (for future test marketing purposes -- to see which was more memorable -- and for typo catches).
blurbees.com was cute sounding, but I decided to go with blurbles.com for that project instead -- partly because of the googlish sound to it -- so I decided to use the blurbees domain for a personal ranting blog. That's just how things naturally evolved. I think I first wanted to reserve blurber.com over blurbles, but it was already taken. But now I like blurbles better than blurber because blurber doesn't roll off the tongue nearly as well as blurbles does. Plus, blurbles has more of a brand-sound to it.
That'll be $500 for the marketing semantics lesson.
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A. Franklin, is that you? Whoa.
I was wondering why the name sounded so familiar to me. LOL. How you been, man?
Rich Quick, Heh. Yep. That's A. Franklin, alright.
Did you like the video?
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blurry:Did you like the video?
RQ: there was a video?
yes i liked it. i do agree with the redundancy issues mentioned previously by yourself and other(s). many of the "blurisms" TM were familiar to me as well. probably because the concept is so "potentially" universal (or perhaps i knew you in another life)... it's a noble concept this peace thing. some great people have attempted marketing this one throughout history with tangled results. a shame it never caught on. perhaps it needs a catchier name or stimulating jingle.... or maybe they just simply didn't have enough cash to throw at it? perhaps a little think tank work is in order. yes. lets call it altwar or warlimbo. something that won't scare the mongers away and screw up the mindset of the core demographic. i leave the details to the more than capable hands of you blurrists TM.
Well, it's Feb 28th @ 3:01 PM EST, and the Peace, Love, and Understanding video is ranked #42 right now, with 845 unique visits:
MindTags.com
I aimed for 50th or better, so, it's not too shabby.
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