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April 29, 2005
Come learn to videoblog for free, but read this first.
So I posted to few email lists I belong to that anyone was welcome to come to a free videoblog workshop on I'm helping teach this coming Sunday, May 1. This one guy emails me back suspiciously wanting to know our credentials.
So I emailed him back; OK we've got Michael Verdi, respected video educator, and creator of freevlog which has become the blueprint of countless vlogs. We've got Ryanne Hodson, former editor for Zoom, who just put together a vlog screening at Anthology Film Archives and produces a very popular videoblog. Then we've got Jay Dedman, education coordinator for what has to be one of the biggest community television operations on earth. He is one of the creators of ANT vlog subscription software, which he recently presented at the 2005 TED conference. And then there is little ol' me, Jonny Goldstein.
So basically, I told the guy, we are up to the task. In fact if someone had $50,000 to find the best videoblogging teachers in the world, I don't think they'd come up with a better crew. Then he emails me that he has no laptop, but can he do the workshop anyway? Hahahahaha! Hilarious this guy.
OK, so I was being a little obnoxious, but I have never felt like I have taught something with a better qualified group of people. The analogy would be like taking golf lessons from Tiger Woods. But how was this guy supposed to know this? So I guess his question was fair enough.
Anyway, if you have a video camera, have a laptop that can connect to the internet via wifi, and can get video off that camera and into your laptop, you too can learn how to make your own free videoblog this Sunday, May 1 from 1-3PM at Flux Factory in Long Island City, Queens. Directions here. We would love to have you.
Posted by Jonny at 02:20 AM | Comments (1)
April 28, 2005
Freelance Blues, Episode 7: The Oldest Lie
Watch video. Length 1 minute 8 seconds. Size: 1.7 megs. Format: Quicktime.
What is the oldest lie? Watch this week's episode to find out.
Posted by Jonny at 09:53 AM | Comments (3)
Wow
I was inspired by the work of the various videobloggers I saw tonight at Anthology film archives. Our work looked great on the big screen. Seeing the works all together like this, with an audience mostly composed of videobloggers, helped me understand what we are doing. We are communicating with each other. We are sharing. We are building a community of people who communicate with video, a community that connects over borders, ages, color, and gender. Out of this come real face to face connections, real understanding. That is powerful. I am grateful to be part of this. This group is not a perfect cross section of society. It's composed of people with access to broadband, computers, and cameras. It skews white, male, and well educated. But I feel like it is an open group, composed of people who mean well, want to communicate, and want to listen. How many groups do you know of that are like that?
An exciting development: The guy who runs the NewFilm series at Anthology Film Archives is interested in us doing a weekly program of videoblog material at the Archives starting in the fall. Yeah!
We had a smallish crowd, but I think if this event was weekly and we promoted it a little, it could grow into something pretty cool, as well as creating face to face interactions between videobloggers, which I think is so helpful for building culture.
After the show, we had a drink at Remote where we were joined by Yury Gitman the teacher, dreamer, and artist. Always fun to see Yury.
Thanks to Ryanne Hodson for putting the videos together and grouping them thematically, thanks to Jay Dedman for helping to hook the event up, and thanks to the Archives for having us. Looks like we'll be back.
Posted by Jonny at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2005
Shiny Fun Events
Some fun events this week.
1. A couple of my videoblog snippets shown at the Anthology Film Archives this week as part of the New Filmakers series, featuring one of my Freelance Blues episodes, in which I take to the web to collect money from a deadbeat client. They'll be showing selected bits from various other videobloggers as well. The venue is at 2nd Ave and 2nd Street in Manhattan. The event is from 6-8PM and costs a slender $5. This is a great way to check out some of the exciting work being created in the vlogosphere, as well as meet some vlogging luminaries. Vlogging is fun and easy. If you want to dip your toe in the vlogging waters, this is a good introduction.
Be there or be bare.
2. Thursday night I will be rocking with my good friends The Creamsicles as they spread their sweet delicious rock and roll love at Don Hill's. I'm not gonna be performing at this one, so this is a great one to come to if you actually want to chat with me, not just worship me from afar. Don Hill's is at 511 Greenwich St. (at Spring St). The boys go on at 10:00PM. The $8 cover gets you in for the Creamsicles and the infamous Don Hill's 80's dance party after. Rock and rooooollllllllllll.
Posted by Jonny at 03:28 PM | Comments (1)
April 22, 2005
mmm....vlog pie
Watch video. Length 1 minute 10 seconds. Size: 1.5 megs. Format: Quicktime. Videography: Ryanne Hodson.
Nothing punctuates a rant better than a good pie in the face, as Dmitri demonstrated by thrusting a creamy vat in my direction as we concluded our symposium on the future of photo and videoblogging.
Posted by Jonny at 09:08 PM | Comments (5)
April 21, 2005
Freelance Blues, Episode 6
Watch video. Length 1 minute 33 seconds. Size: 2.2 megs. Format: Quicktime.
When you freelance the work you do for the client is only half the work. The other half is getting paid. Surmounting this challenge requires focus, determination, and perhaps most important, positive visualization.
Posted by Jonny at 09:14 AM | Comments (1)
April 19, 2005
The Dog Days of April
A few fun Jonny events this week.
1) 10:30 Tonight, Tuesday, at the Village Lantern 167 Bleecker between Thomspson and Sullivan, I will cohost the weekly comedy extravaganza "The Erzsi and Jonny Show." Don't worry, Erzsi keeps me on a short leash. All this for the price of one little drink.
2) 2PM tomorrow, April 20, at the Chelsea Art Museum, I will be part of a team leading an educational symposium on the future of photo and video blogs. The museum is located at W. 22nd Street and the West Side Highway. Take the A or C train to 23d street and walk over. The cost: a mere 15 bucks which gives you admission to the museum which is chock full of crazy interactive art, plus any other symposia that day, of which there are several.
3) April 23, 10PM I will be performing at the Green Goddess Mud Ball, a fundraiser for Kleiwerks, an international grassroots natural building organization that works with local communities to share the art of earthen building. Through Kleiwerks people learn to build their own homes and community centers with affordable, indigenous and recyclable materials - mother nature's own - earth!
Where: 315 Berry Street between South 3rd and South 4th in Williamsburg, Brooklyn $10.00 donation at the door. Larger donations are appreciated if you are able.
Lots of pleasurable entertainment Burlesque by Darlinda Just Darlinda, Contortion by Emily Brodski, Songs and Projections by Missy Galore, Video Projections by VJ Miixxy, a Tesla Coil Demonstration by Gecko, Live Music by The Leader & Jeff Lewis, Drinks by The House of St. Eve, and herbal potable potions by Natas and quite a bit more.
OK, that's it for now. Catch you all later.
Posted by Jonny at 06:30 PM | Comments (1)
April 18, 2005
In All Things, Moderation
This was taken by just before I participated in an educational symposium about wearable computing and embedded technologies at the Chelsea Art Museum in NYC. I was delighted to moderate the affair which included Meghan Trainor, Michal Bril, and Sonali Sridhar.
Posted by Jonny at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
Jonny Goldstein on NPR
A letter of mine about vlogging was featured on this week's "On The Media." Download MP3 here (25 seconds of audio). On The Media is one of my favorite NPR shows. The hosts are both inquisitive and funny as they probe the always entertaining soap opera of the changing media landscape. My letter was in response to Bob Garfield's piece last week about The Chaos Scenario (54 minutes long, the "Chaos" segment starts at 37 minutes into the piece), his vision of a media reality in which "The old advertising model collapses before the brave new world is fully prepared..."
Posted by Jonny at 09:51 AM | Comments (3)
April 14, 2005
Jonny Invades Artland
It's official, the art world has given up it's valiant resistance.
This month the art gate keepers will let me breach their crocodile
infested moat. I will speak at the Chelsea Art Museum this month as
part of the Interactive Media Culture Expo. This event will have all
kinds of interesting panels and exhibits.
Details of my appearances below. General info about the IMC
Expo here.
1) April 15, Friday (tomorrow), 3PM-4PM Educational
Symposium:Wearable Computing and Embedded Technologies with Michal Bril, Sonali Sridhar, & Meghan Trainor and myself. in addition to moderating the panel, I will present the world premiere of a video created by Jeff Galusha, Jamie Allen, Tom Ainsley (and probably a bunch other people. Let me know if I didn't hook you up with the vast slabs of credit which you so richly deserve) which documents my performance in the PowerSuit, a set of electronics embedded coveralls with which I spoke to my future self in front of a live audience at Loews Theater in May of 2004.
2) April 20, Wednesday, 2PM-3PM Educational Symposium: Future Trends
in Photo Blogs & Video Blogs with Jonny Goldstein, Dimitri Negroponte,
& Shawn Van Every. This should be a blast. I will be talking about
videoblogging in general, and specifically how I am using my videoblog
to collect money from a deadbeat client.
It costs $15 to get in and that covers all the symposia that day as
well as the various nifty exhibits.
Directions:
Take C or E train to W. 23 St., walk west to CAM, or take any
north/south local train including C, E, 1, 9, F, V, N, R, W or 6 to
the W. 23 St. stop, and take the M23 bus west to 11th Ave., walk one
block south to W. 22 St. Also, the M11 bus stops on 10th Ave. at W.
21st Street.
Posted by Jonny at 12:32 PM | Comments (4)
Freelance Blues, Episode 5
Watch video. Length 1 minute 23 seconds. Size: 2 megs. Format: Quicktime.
This week's Torah portion shows Jonny's next adventure on his way to the Freelance Holy Land, a land of milk and honey, where none are bilked for money.
Posted by Jonny at 08:16 AM | Comments (7)
April 11, 2005
Freelance Blues, Episode 4
Watch video. Length 1 minute 14 seconds. Size: 1.7 megs. Format: Quicktime.
In this Episode, Jonny shares his Freelance Blues with an appreciative audience at the Village Lantern at "The Erzsi and Jonny Show."
Posted by Jonny at 09:36 AM | Comments (1)
gum as you are
Watch video. Length 49 seconds Size: 0.7 megs. Format: Quicktime.
Jonny explains why people who move to New York City are like pieces of gum.
Posted by Jonny at 09:09 AM | Comments (2)
April 09, 2005
Flow
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines flow, more or less, as what we experience when we are engaged in a task that is within our capabilities, but which stretches us just a little bit. It's the kind of experience I have when I'm skiing down a slope that is just a little bit difficult, but not so hard that I get frustrated. When you are in the flow state, you are lost in a kind of timeless feeling, totally engaged in your activity.
Lately I have been experiencing flow with:
1. video editing
2. flip book making
3. arranging my tonail clippings into mosaics
4. letting loogies drool out of my mouth and sucking them back into my mouth before gravity
snaps them loose to splatter on the ground.
5. training roaches to protect my aparment from rats
What activities give you a flow experience?
Posted by Jonny at 03:09 PM | Comments (1)
Da Spacemakerz
ITP Master's Candidate, Teresa Almeida, fits me for a prototype of the line of inflatable clothing she is developing. The idea is that if someone pushes up too close to you can, at the touch of a button, inflate your clothes to repell them from your personal space. Brian Maniere shot some priceless footage of us in the subway putting our prototypes to work to repell the riffraff.
Posted by Jonny at 12:14 AM | Comments (1)
April 07, 2005
Learn to Make Your Own Free Videoblog
Watch this (slightly out of synch) video. Length 3 minutes 41 seconds Size: 3.7 megs. Format: Quicktime.
You could learn to videoblog all on your own, but sometimes it's more fun to learn stuff with other people. If you live in the NYC area, come join in on a free videoblogging workshop taught by Jay Dedman and a bunch of other experienced videobloggers, including yours truly. By the end of this workshop you will be flaunting your very own FREE videoblog. Here's the details:
Where: Fluxfactory artist collective. in Queens, New York City. Directions here.
When: This is a two part workshop. The first part is Saturday April 17, 1-3PM. The second part is Saturday, May 1, 1-3PM.
What you need: Bring some kind of camera that can shoot video. It can be a cheap digital still camera that can also shoot video. In fact, this kind of camera is often easiest. Bring whatever cable you need to get video off the camera into your laptop. Bring a laptop that is able to wirelessly connect to the internet. You will need to have some sort of digital video editing program on it, like i-Movie or Quicktime Pro. Bring yourself. Bring a friend!
Seeya there! If you have any questions feel free to email me.
Posted by Jonny at 02:41 AM | Comments (2)
April 05, 2005
Taping Tonight
Some folks with TV connections are going to tape the Erzsi and Jonny show tonight! We have a very strong lineup including ,as seen on" Good Morning America," Jessica Delfino, the painfully funny Rob Shapiro, and, as seen on NBC's "Last Comic Standing," Vidur Kapur. Come on down and join in the lung prolapsingly funny action!
When: Tuesday, April 5, 10:30 to 12:30 PM.
Where: The Village Lantern, 167 Blecker, between Thompson and Sullivan, Basement Theater.
Cost: One drink. And that drink can be a cheap soda if you're on a budget or recovering from alcoholism.
Swing on by if you're in the neigborhood!
Posted by Jonny at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2005
John Paul 2 in New Guinea
The Pope in Papua New Guinea, 1984.
When you see a picture of of someone wielding a stone axe and wearing leaves, body paint, and pig tusks, it's probably a photo of someone in Papua New Guinea, wearing their Sunday finest. To get a fix on Papua New Guinea geographically, picture if mountainous Switzerland was an Island, five times as big, and covered in tropical rainforest. Then plop it down just north of Australia and there it is. My Dad had a job there for a year, so there I went, spending my sophomore year of High School in the capital. Most of Papua New Guinea did not open up to the outside world until the 1930's or later, so it was one of the last reservoirs of potential Christian converts for the various European powers that colonized it. The Catholic Church did well there, converting around a quarter of the populace.
So when the Pope decided to visit in 1984, the locals were very excited.
They called him the Papa. "Papa bilong yumi kam!" That means, "Our father is coming," in New Guinea Pidgin. I went down to the biggest rugby stadium in town to see the big event. I was psyched. The Pope has an excellent hype machine working for him. Everywhere I was reading articles about how kind he was, about how he was such a great linguist he going to address us all in New Guinea Pidgin (which I had picked up somewhat by this time), about how charismatic he was. Hey, I'm Jewish, but I'll take my heroes where I can find them, and I was ready for this guy to be a hero.
The rugby stadium's seats were packed with spectators. The rugby field below overflowed with dancers, probably a thousand of them, decked out in body paint, bird of paradise feathers, bones thrust through piercings. The women dancers, as is customary, were topless. The air pulsed with the booming of hundreds of hourglass shaped kundu drums. Baroom! Baroom! Baroom! I had seen the Who and the Clash at the (now imploded) Seattle Kingdome a couple of years before, and the frenzy here was way more intense. I mean this was the Pope, right here in this out of the way outpost.
Then the little man came out on stage. The cheering, drumming, and stomping rose to a frenzied crescendo until it was broken by the Pope's amplified voice. The crowd quieted to hear the holy man. What had he come to say to us?
He did indeed speak in New Guinea Pidgin, but clearly this was no miracle. It was so robotic. Clearly, he was reading phonetically from some text, not understanding the details of the words. He had none of the inflection of someone who connects meaning to the specific words he spoke.
OK, fair enough, I thought. It's a bit much to actually expect the guy to have a mastery over this obscure, albeit English based, language. So I tried to focus on what he was saying, not how he said it. Here is my recollection: "If you have multiple wives you will go to hell. And if you worship other gods, you will go to hell. And if you use birth control, you will go to hell." And if you do this you will go to hell. And if you do that you will go to hell. I could practically feel the excitement leaving the crowd as he droned on. This is the kindly, brilliant pope that I had read about? I mean, I understand that what he was saying was in line with the teachings of Catholicism, but how about a little appreciation for the dancers, how about a little warmth to match this tropical day? It might be my imagination, but I felt the multitude deflate as he intoned his list of things that would cause us to go to hell if we did not toe the line.
I wonder if, where I looked out and saw a bunch of beautiful, proud, culturally rich people arrayed on the field, he saw a group of savages, at risk of sinning their way into an eternity of damnation? I may be overly romanticizing the New Guineans, but I still think the Pope really missed the boat with his delivery. This guy was not acting like a kindly but firm leader--He was acting like a scold with poor manners.
This was my first exposure to the power of public relations. If I had not actually gotten to see John Paul II in this context, I would have bought the hype. I would probably be sad right now, even with my disagreement with him on many issues, at the news of his death. Don't get me wrong; I'm not happy he died. I realize he did a lot of good things, I realize he meant a lot to a lot of people, but I have a visceral distaste for the man after I saw him in action, berating the people who had come with so much excitement and hope to be blessed.
Posted by Jonny at 11:59 AM | Comments (1)
Flickr is Sputtering
I use Flickr, a really cool online photo management service, for some of my photos on my blog. Unfortunately, flickr grinds to a halt periodically as they deal with technical problems. This is one of those downtimes, so a few of my images may not show up until they fix their current implosion. Sorry about that.
Posted by Jonny at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)
Called on the Carpet
Erzi and I laugh in your general direction. Come check out our rockalicious comedy show every Tuesday night from 10:30-12:30 PM at the Village Lantern! Where the comedy superstars of tomorrow send out plumes of hot gaseous hilarity today.
Posted by Jonny at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2005
Mmmm....succulent
Soup dumplings with my pal Lia at some random Chinese place on 24th and 9th Ave. These were mmm so suckable.
Posted by Jonny at 12:26 AM | Comments (0)