Let's start this out right with a Lindsey Stirling video. This video was made for the YouTube Music Awards where Lindsey was among the top winners of the year.
Next we have a Piano Guys video, in a video that is one of my favorite things they've ever done.
Carly Rae Jepsen recently released a new single, and the video made headlines everywhere because of who she got to star in it. This song and the video, are two of my favorite things this year. :p
Alaa Wardi just covered a song that I had never heard of, (which is not surprising, given the country of origin) but now love.
The Gregory Brothers, famous for "Song-ify-ing" the news, recently songified an argument about Batman, between the Vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green, and it is just about the catchiest thing ever. I bought it immediately, and it's been on repeat on my iPod ever since.
Mike Tompkins recently covered one of my new favorite recent songs, and he did an amazing job. As he always does.
Last, but not least, I will leave you with Player Piano's version of Bohemian Rhapsody. I LOVE when music of one genre is completely transformed into something totally new. They did an amazing job with this one.
P.S. As great as that was, it can never compare to the greatest version of Bohemian Rhapsody of all time, the version by the Muppets.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Back At It + New Camera
Well, I'm done with school, back home, and ready to get back to blogging. I have a lot of posts I need to catch up on, hopefully I will get to them all within the next month or two. I still have all my pictures from last summer to go through, including my pictures from the Lindsey Stirling concert I attended, and my cousins' and my trip to Colorado.
Some news, after filming the videos that I eventually turned into class, I decided that I needed a new camera that could get some shots my big bulky DSLR couldn't get. I like my big camera, but even though it has a video feature, you can't do very much with it aside from straightforward filming. You can't zoom, or even move the camera without it going out of focus, and it is pretty heavy, as I found out, trying to do an overhead shot by hold it it stretched out over someone for 4 minutes. I want to make a lot of videos this summer, just to practice, so I really needed something more. I had heard and seen great things about a tiny camera called a GoPro, so I decided to get one. I sold my old computer and used the money to buy this little beauty.
It is a great little camera. Extremely portable, and you can move it anywhere, and it's always in focus. You can even use it to get still shots, making it perfect for taking pictures in public without drawing a lot of attention to yourself. The only downside is that it only takes things using a super-wide fish-eye lens, but that is easily corrected in Photoshop, should you so choose. I actually like the effect for certain things, so I usually leave it.
One of the cool things about the GoPro, is that they make a ton of accessories for it. I've gotten a whole bunch of things for various uses. I have two housings for the camera, one of them waterproof, as well as a dash cam mount, letting you film yourself while driving, or get footage of the road.
For walking footage, I have a backpack clip, for more covert filming, and a head-mount, for a first person perspective.
So, with the new camera, I filmed the last video for my class, and after school, am continuing to film videos. I have lots of ideas, and will keep busy all summer. In the next few weeks I will start uploading my videos to YouTube, and I will blog them as they go up. In the meantime, pictures and more are coming! Stay tuned!
Some news, after filming the videos that I eventually turned into class, I decided that I needed a new camera that could get some shots my big bulky DSLR couldn't get. I like my big camera, but even though it has a video feature, you can't do very much with it aside from straightforward filming. You can't zoom, or even move the camera without it going out of focus, and it is pretty heavy, as I found out, trying to do an overhead shot by hold it it stretched out over someone for 4 minutes. I want to make a lot of videos this summer, just to practice, so I really needed something more. I had heard and seen great things about a tiny camera called a GoPro, so I decided to get one. I sold my old computer and used the money to buy this little beauty.
It is a great little camera. Extremely portable, and you can move it anywhere, and it's always in focus. You can even use it to get still shots, making it perfect for taking pictures in public without drawing a lot of attention to yourself. The only downside is that it only takes things using a super-wide fish-eye lens, but that is easily corrected in Photoshop, should you so choose. I actually like the effect for certain things, so I usually leave it.
One of the cool things about the GoPro, is that they make a ton of accessories for it. I've gotten a whole bunch of things for various uses. I have two housings for the camera, one of them waterproof, as well as a dash cam mount, letting you film yourself while driving, or get footage of the road.
I also have two poles for different kinds of overhead shots, or just to give you something to hold onto, to stretch the camera into places you can't reach.
For walking footage, I have a backpack clip, for more covert filming, and a head-mount, for a first person perspective.
So, with the new camera, I filmed the last video for my class, and after school, am continuing to film videos. I have lots of ideas, and will keep busy all summer. In the next few weeks I will start uploading my videos to YouTube, and I will blog them as they go up. In the meantime, pictures and more are coming! Stay tuned!
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Vagabond Color War Photos
As promised in the previous post, here are my pictures from the Vagabond's color war.
I did not come away unscathed, as this picture from Alex proves.
These are not all my pictures, I am actually doing a post on my photo blog! The first in over a year! You can check that out HERE!
Joel in all his battle stained glory.
Selfie! Or something like that. :p
Joel ended up with an awesome hairstyle. Too bad he didn't keep it. It could have been all the rage!
By the time we were done I looked like a glitter hobbit!
James became accidental abstract art. As did everyone.
I did not come away unscathed, as this picture from Alex proves.
I gave a few lucky people a hand-print to remember me by. :)
These are not all my pictures, I am actually doing a post on my photo blog! The first in over a year! You can check that out HERE!
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Vagabond Color War!
As I said in the last post, the Vagabonds got together over spring break. What I didn't mention, was the reason for the get together. A color war! I took a video of the whole thing. Well, most of it. the camera cut out right before the glitter, but I got most of it!
As a side note, I just started a YouTube channel! More videos to come this summer!
After we were done Rachel got some great shots of the carnage.
I'll have more of my own pictures in tomorrow's post.
As a side note, I just started a YouTube channel! More videos to come this summer!
After we were done Rachel got some great shots of the carnage.
I'll have more of my own pictures in tomorrow's post.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Life Update Again
I know I just posted one of these a couple months ago. You wouldn't think that things would change enough that I'd feel the need to do one of these again so soon. But they have. I'm changing majors again. I'm going into advertising.
I have actually been thinking about this for a long time. When I first switched over to journalism, I was under the impression that advertising was something you went into with an art degree. I had no idea that journalism was part of the same school as advertising and PR. It wasn't until I'd gotten into the first journalism classes that it was clear that advertising was an option. But I stuck it out because I had just switched, I didn't want to do it again a few weeks later. Plus photojournalism was an option and I really did want to get into that.
Well, it's now been year and a half since I switched the first time. I have had time to discover everything that is involved with journalism, and I have discovered that it isn't for me. I like being creative, and there isn't much there for that. I kind of figured that out in the first semester, but I stuck it out, hoping to get into photojournalism. Photojournalism is a little better, it is more fun, but there's still not much room for creativity. I was still pressing forward though. I was still working toward that goal until this semester.
This semester I took a video class. It covered both filming and editing. At first I was slightly overwhelmed. I didn't know what I was doing, and I didn't know what to film. I did like the editing though. For that class we have to have 14 minutes of content filmed and edited by the end of the semester. I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. I put that out of my mind for the time being, and thought about the editing.
I decided that if I was going to get into journalism, I wanted to be in television news. I wanted to film and edit news packages. If I worked at a station I wouldn't have to fret over what to film, they'd just tell me. I thought this was a great idea until we had a guest speaker who showed us a reel of footage of himself and his fellow camera-persons being attacked, and people trying to smash their equipment. Even though that's not exactly the norm for them, I didn't want any of that. After that, in our next class, the teacher started talking about ad agencies hiring their own video editors instead of outsourcing. He said it was a quickly growing field. The seed was planted, and I started seriously thinking about changing, but this was right at spring break, so I decided to mull it over for a week.
Over spring break, my friends, we call ourselves the Vagabonds, got together, as we usually do when I come home. For the past few years, almost every time we get together, we've had a lip sync video contest. It stopped being an actual contest a long time ago, but we still do the videos every time just to entertain each other. I had never done a video before, I know, I'm terrible. This time, I was learning Adobe Premiere Pro, and I decided I could use the practice editing, so I got together with my cousin Shaina, and we decided to do two videos. We planned out the songs we were going to do and the clothes we were going to wear. I ordered an article of clothing for one of the videos, but it did not arrive on time, so we just did the one.
Making that video was so much fun. I really wanted to do another one, but our original idea was out until my item arrived. We were going to the zoo a couple days later, so we started brainstorming ideas for filming there, when Sasha had the brilliant idea of doing Katy Perry's Roar. We were going to the jungle, it was perfect. We shot there for two to three hours, going all over the jungle, getting all sorts of interesting shots, it was a blast. And the editing was really fun too, it was harder as you couldn't hear anything through the deafening jungle noises, but still fun.
I was going to be content with just the two videos, but two days before our Vagabond event, I hit upon the brilliant idea of filming the song Radioactive, over at the "Haunted" house across the road from home. It is a very run down property, and with the world just emerging from winter, the landscape looked very bleak. It was perfect for that apocalyptic song. Shaina was not around yet, so Jacob helped me film. We shot one long take before Shaina got there, and when she did, I had another great idea. I asked Jacob if he could be a dead body, and he happily agreed. It was awesome. Shaina was a bit weirded out by it, and did not like our suggestion that she play a body as well, but she was ok with filming it. The footage from that night turned out great, except the camera died before we had enough. We'd have to do a second shoot the next day.
The next day at work Sasha came through my line, and we were talking about the video. I jokingly asked her if she wanted to be another dead body, and she agreed immediately. No hesitation. I was thrilled. That night we all met over at the haunted house for another round of filming. Sasha was an excellent body. She kicked off one shoe for extra authenticity. It was amazing. As the sun was disappearing over the horizon we shot one last take, and, well, I won't tell you what happened with the last take, I do plan on getting these videos up on YouTube sometime, and you can see for yourselves what happened.
The videos all turned out really great for my first try. I had never done one before, so everyone was excited that I had even finished one. Then they were even more surprised that I'd done two. They were absolutely shocked to find out I'd done three! I was so happy with how the videos had turned out, and so happy with the response to them, that I realized I wanted this to continue. I started thinking about the class I was taking, and was convinced by my friends that I should submit the lip sync videos as part of my 14 minutes. The teacher had said no music videos, but he'd said that to avoid getting slideshows and rave footage. My work was so much more detailed than that, I decided it was worth a shot to ask. The worst he could say was no. But he didn't. He accepted all 12 minutes of video. I was ecstatic. I have almost nothing left to do for that class.
So, I said all that to bring it all back to creativity. I loved making those videos. I had more fun with those than I've had in a long time, and I want to keep doing it. Switching to advertising will let me flex my creative muscles, and get me a lot more experience with film and editing. Eventually I'd love to make commercials, and maybe do short films on the side. If advertising is half as much fun as making videos, I know I'm going to love it.
For those of you wondering, no, this won't mean extra time in school. I'm still on track for a fall 2016 graduation. I'm at the point in the classes where everything starts to branch out. Journalism, advertising, and PR, have, up until this point, all been using the same base classes. This semester was the first semester where things started really branching apart. I am dropping one class, but the rest of it is all very useful to me as an advertising student.
I have a lot of plans to continue working on videos in my spare time this summer, and not just lip sync videos, so stay tuned! I hope to get back into blogging more than just once a month!
I have actually been thinking about this for a long time. When I first switched over to journalism, I was under the impression that advertising was something you went into with an art degree. I had no idea that journalism was part of the same school as advertising and PR. It wasn't until I'd gotten into the first journalism classes that it was clear that advertising was an option. But I stuck it out because I had just switched, I didn't want to do it again a few weeks later. Plus photojournalism was an option and I really did want to get into that.
Well, it's now been year and a half since I switched the first time. I have had time to discover everything that is involved with journalism, and I have discovered that it isn't for me. I like being creative, and there isn't much there for that. I kind of figured that out in the first semester, but I stuck it out, hoping to get into photojournalism. Photojournalism is a little better, it is more fun, but there's still not much room for creativity. I was still pressing forward though. I was still working toward that goal until this semester.
This semester I took a video class. It covered both filming and editing. At first I was slightly overwhelmed. I didn't know what I was doing, and I didn't know what to film. I did like the editing though. For that class we have to have 14 minutes of content filmed and edited by the end of the semester. I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. I put that out of my mind for the time being, and thought about the editing.
I decided that if I was going to get into journalism, I wanted to be in television news. I wanted to film and edit news packages. If I worked at a station I wouldn't have to fret over what to film, they'd just tell me. I thought this was a great idea until we had a guest speaker who showed us a reel of footage of himself and his fellow camera-persons being attacked, and people trying to smash their equipment. Even though that's not exactly the norm for them, I didn't want any of that. After that, in our next class, the teacher started talking about ad agencies hiring their own video editors instead of outsourcing. He said it was a quickly growing field. The seed was planted, and I started seriously thinking about changing, but this was right at spring break, so I decided to mull it over for a week.
Over spring break, my friends, we call ourselves the Vagabonds, got together, as we usually do when I come home. For the past few years, almost every time we get together, we've had a lip sync video contest. It stopped being an actual contest a long time ago, but we still do the videos every time just to entertain each other. I had never done a video before, I know, I'm terrible. This time, I was learning Adobe Premiere Pro, and I decided I could use the practice editing, so I got together with my cousin Shaina, and we decided to do two videos. We planned out the songs we were going to do and the clothes we were going to wear. I ordered an article of clothing for one of the videos, but it did not arrive on time, so we just did the one.
Making that video was so much fun. I really wanted to do another one, but our original idea was out until my item arrived. We were going to the zoo a couple days later, so we started brainstorming ideas for filming there, when Sasha had the brilliant idea of doing Katy Perry's Roar. We were going to the jungle, it was perfect. We shot there for two to three hours, going all over the jungle, getting all sorts of interesting shots, it was a blast. And the editing was really fun too, it was harder as you couldn't hear anything through the deafening jungle noises, but still fun.
I was going to be content with just the two videos, but two days before our Vagabond event, I hit upon the brilliant idea of filming the song Radioactive, over at the "Haunted" house across the road from home. It is a very run down property, and with the world just emerging from winter, the landscape looked very bleak. It was perfect for that apocalyptic song. Shaina was not around yet, so Jacob helped me film. We shot one long take before Shaina got there, and when she did, I had another great idea. I asked Jacob if he could be a dead body, and he happily agreed. It was awesome. Shaina was a bit weirded out by it, and did not like our suggestion that she play a body as well, but she was ok with filming it. The footage from that night turned out great, except the camera died before we had enough. We'd have to do a second shoot the next day.
The next day at work Sasha came through my line, and we were talking about the video. I jokingly asked her if she wanted to be another dead body, and she agreed immediately. No hesitation. I was thrilled. That night we all met over at the haunted house for another round of filming. Sasha was an excellent body. She kicked off one shoe for extra authenticity. It was amazing. As the sun was disappearing over the horizon we shot one last take, and, well, I won't tell you what happened with the last take, I do plan on getting these videos up on YouTube sometime, and you can see for yourselves what happened.
The videos all turned out really great for my first try. I had never done one before, so everyone was excited that I had even finished one. Then they were even more surprised that I'd done two. They were absolutely shocked to find out I'd done three! I was so happy with how the videos had turned out, and so happy with the response to them, that I realized I wanted this to continue. I started thinking about the class I was taking, and was convinced by my friends that I should submit the lip sync videos as part of my 14 minutes. The teacher had said no music videos, but he'd said that to avoid getting slideshows and rave footage. My work was so much more detailed than that, I decided it was worth a shot to ask. The worst he could say was no. But he didn't. He accepted all 12 minutes of video. I was ecstatic. I have almost nothing left to do for that class.
So, I said all that to bring it all back to creativity. I loved making those videos. I had more fun with those than I've had in a long time, and I want to keep doing it. Switching to advertising will let me flex my creative muscles, and get me a lot more experience with film and editing. Eventually I'd love to make commercials, and maybe do short films on the side. If advertising is half as much fun as making videos, I know I'm going to love it.
For those of you wondering, no, this won't mean extra time in school. I'm still on track for a fall 2016 graduation. I'm at the point in the classes where everything starts to branch out. Journalism, advertising, and PR, have, up until this point, all been using the same base classes. This semester was the first semester where things started really branching apart. I am dropping one class, but the rest of it is all very useful to me as an advertising student.
I have a lot of plans to continue working on videos in my spare time this summer, and not just lip sync videos, so stay tuned! I hope to get back into blogging more than just once a month!
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Update From the Bunker
Just a quick update, I'm 15 stories beneath Kansas, and Father Lawrence said that The Cleansing of Ka'ag'Ra'an has already begun in the world above, so the few and the faithful have begun a prayer vigil for the multitude of unbelievers who have undoubtedly been boiled in the cleansing waves of the Sainted Cetacean. I pray for a merciful end for my friends and family who chose the path of unbelief. May it be swift and painless and may the Wondrous Whales of the Oceans Beyond have mercy upon their everlasting souls.
I also pray for swift judgment upon mine enemies. May the fiery waters boil them alive, and may the Dark Lordes of the Waters Deep torment them for eternities to come.
APRIL FOOL!
So, as I really, REALLY hope you would have figured out on your own, I am not going to live in an underground bunker in Kansas awaiting the return of The Great Sky Whale, Ka'ag'Ra'an the Vyle, to bathe the world with His fiery blowhole for 300 years. I also do not wish everlasting torment upon my enemies, not that I have any. But if I did, I'd rather they see the error of their ways than be boiled alive by a celestial whale and tormented for eternity by unknown entities in a watery afterlife. Or do I...? Mwa ha ha ha ha!!!! >:D
Just kidding... :p
Yesterday was the first of April, April Fools Day, which, thanks to the advancement of the internet, has become one of my favorite holidays. As I do every year, I celebrate by making up an outrageous story about myself. It's the most fun on the internet all year. :p
If you are unfamiliar with my April Fools jokes, or would just like a refresher, here is a list of all my past stories.
Becoming a homeless street mime: Click HERE.
Becoming an interpretative dancer: Click HERE.
Auditioning for Dancing With the Stars: Click HERE.
And if you want to reread yesterdays, Click HERE.
I also pray for swift judgment upon mine enemies. May the fiery waters boil them alive, and may the Dark Lordes of the Waters Deep torment them for eternities to come.
APRIL FOOL!
So, as I really, REALLY hope you would have figured out on your own, I am not going to live in an underground bunker in Kansas awaiting the return of The Great Sky Whale, Ka'ag'Ra'an the Vyle, to bathe the world with His fiery blowhole for 300 years. I also do not wish everlasting torment upon my enemies, not that I have any. But if I did, I'd rather they see the error of their ways than be boiled alive by a celestial whale and tormented for eternity by unknown entities in a watery afterlife. Or do I...? Mwa ha ha ha ha!!!! >:D
Just kidding... :p
Yesterday was the first of April, April Fools Day, which, thanks to the advancement of the internet, has become one of my favorite holidays. As I do every year, I celebrate by making up an outrageous story about myself. It's the most fun on the internet all year. :p
If you are unfamiliar with my April Fools jokes, or would just like a refresher, here is a list of all my past stories.
Becoming a homeless street mime: Click HERE.
Becoming an interpretative dancer: Click HERE.
Auditioning for Dancing With the Stars: Click HERE.
And if you want to reread yesterdays, Click HERE.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
I'm Not Joining a Cult
When I tell you where I am, I know what you're going to say.
It all started last month at school, when Father Laurence was preaching in the Free-Speech zone outside the library one Tuesday. Normally I don't pay those people any mind, They're always screaming about your sins, and how you need to repent or you're going to burn in a well or something. I don't know.
Anyways, Father Laurence wasn't yelling like the others, he was handing out flyers, and free samples of the kind of food they'll be serving in the bunker. That really hooked me. One was like ice cream, but you didn't have to keep it in the freezer! How genius is that! And this! This is really going to get you! Everything is free! How could you pass that up!
When I showed an interest is the program, Father Laurence took me aside and explained everything to me. The Great Sky Whale, Ka'ag'Ra'an the Vyle, is coming back to earth to bathe the planet with His fiery blowhole. Only the faithful, those who bury themselves in the earth for three hundred years (and donate all their money to the Tithe of The Sky Whale) will be saved.
Now, I know what you're going to say.
Now, I know it's going to be difficult to say goodby, but we really don't have to! Father Laurence is willing to wave the entrance fee for any friends of the faithful, as long as they pay sometime after The Cleansing has begun. I know that will mean emptying bank accounts beforehand, but that will give you a great opportunity to witness of His Greatness to any policeman, or IRS agents who might come investigating.
Remember Ka'ag'Ra'an will arrive next Thursday, so reserve your spot in the bunker today! Wait, Thursday is tomorrow! It may already be too late! I will miss you all! Except for the ones I won't.
I pray that those of you who chose the path of unbelief will be spared with a quick and merciful demise. Unless you were mean to me. Then I pray for the Wrath of The Whale.
May His mighty waters be poured out upon your hateful heads.
I love you all! Kisses!
"Jonathan! You're joining a cult!"No! I'm not joining a cult, I'm just moving to an underground bunker 15 stories below the surface of the earth, in Kansas with other like-minded individuals to wait out the coming apocalypse! Why is it so hard to realize that this isn't a cult!
"Jonathan! Earth will not boil in the fiery waters of purification for the next 300 years!"
"Jonathan! Please come out of that missile silo and take your medicine!"
It all started last month at school, when Father Laurence was preaching in the Free-Speech zone outside the library one Tuesday. Normally I don't pay those people any mind, They're always screaming about your sins, and how you need to repent or you're going to burn in a well or something. I don't know.
Anyways, Father Laurence wasn't yelling like the others, he was handing out flyers, and free samples of the kind of food they'll be serving in the bunker. That really hooked me. One was like ice cream, but you didn't have to keep it in the freezer! How genius is that! And this! This is really going to get you! Everything is free! How could you pass that up!
When I showed an interest is the program, Father Laurence took me aside and explained everything to me. The Great Sky Whale, Ka'ag'Ra'an the Vyle, is coming back to earth to bathe the planet with His fiery blowhole. Only the faithful, those who bury themselves in the earth for three hundred years (and donate all their money to the Tithe of The Sky Whale) will be saved.
Now, I know what you're going to say.
"Jonathan, donating all your money is not free."But it's not about the money. The tithe is just to weed out the unfaithful, those untrue to The Great Whale. After that, for the next three hundred years, you will never have to pay a dime. And it's true, that humans do not, in general, lead lives that exceed even one hundred years, but The Great Whale rewards those that worship His Leathery Beauty with extended lifespans. Father Laurence himself has lived for seven hundred and twelve years, he told me so himself!
"Jonathan, humans do not live for three hundred years."
"Jonathan, seriously, how long has it been since you've taken any of those pills?"
Now, I know it's going to be difficult to say goodby, but we really don't have to! Father Laurence is willing to wave the entrance fee for any friends of the faithful, as long as they pay sometime after The Cleansing has begun. I know that will mean emptying bank accounts beforehand, but that will give you a great opportunity to witness of His Greatness to any policeman, or IRS agents who might come investigating.
Remember Ka'ag'Ra'an will arrive next Thursday, so reserve your spot in the bunker today! Wait, Thursday is tomorrow! It may already be too late! I will miss you all! Except for the ones I won't.
I pray that those of you who chose the path of unbelief will be spared with a quick and merciful demise. Unless you were mean to me. Then I pray for the Wrath of The Whale.
May His mighty waters be poured out upon your hateful heads.
I love you all! Kisses!
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