Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth was pretty scary in parts, but I guess that's what can be expected from fascism. The frightening captain who was the stepfather from hell to Ofelia, the child protagonist, was more than I could bear in parts. This is a fairy tale in the tradition of the Grimm Brothers. It takes you on a dark journey, which at times I doubted could end well.

There is a great selection of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

It has a haunting soundtrack. It was beautiful in many parts though, the fantasy and natural world contained magic and spirit. This Mexican film is one of my favourites of this year. I will watch it again.

Factory Girl

Factory Girl was a sad tale, yet I enjoyed it. I have read some critiques on Rotten Tomatoes and agree with some of the complaints of the movies, yet not all. Sure there were gaps and questions but sometimes I think telling life stories, particularly recent life stories, needs to be like that.

If you have any interest in Andy Warhol, or the musician (he who doesn't want to be named), or Edie Sedgewick, it would be interesting to watch.

Once (2006)

Tonight I went to see Once. I loved it. I hadn't read anything about it cause I was in a rush before I went to the Cinema and I couldn't find a lot of info.
It was a treasure, described as a modern day musical, the music was breathtaking and fused with the story. It was a simple, yet very touching story.
It is an Irish film and has a realistic and unpolished feel about it. The lack of glamour gave the story intimacy to me. It was about broken hearted people joining to make their dreams come alive. It was uplifting.
The music was amazing. I intend to get the soundtrack as it moved me to tears in places. Glen Hansard, the main actor is also the musician on the soundtrack. He has an awesome voice.

Death Proof

I loved Death Proof. I love the characterisations and the stylised violence of this film, although parts I had to turn away from, I'm really quite chicken to the core when it comes to violence.

I am possibly too simplistic in my movie watching stance but I love the way, when I watch a Tarantino film, I know not to expect anything, yet find myself from habit having those expectations, I knew not to have splintered. I like his treatment of women. I wouldn't go so far as to say that is accurate, but it is fun to watch. I liked the references to previous films as discussed in the review below.

My favourite review: Film Intuition

Revver has Revamped

Revver has become Revver 2.0. The landing page has changed. They have brought back categories, which pleases me, because I liked having an easier way to find things of interest. There is the capacity to provide video responses, which will be interesting to watch.
The stats pages have changed a little.
It seems quicker loading to me and a lot more interesting. I like it.

You Tube Copyright Developments

In the news today is YouTube unveils copyright protection tools (The Age). I immediately wondered who would continue to go there if they couldn't find mainstream media. It would give video sites like Revver and Blip a real chance to compete.
However, YouTube has a number of record labels and other legitimate ways to include sought after video for the public. It will be interesting to see. I wonder if they will be as tight as Revver. I once submitted a holiday video to Revver that was rejected because a song was playing on the radio, that I thought was irrecognisable, and I didn't have the rights to it. I wasn't cranky about that though, if anything it just demonstrated a high level of integrity to me that I like.

Kate Bush's label, EMI UK, is publishing on You Tube so thanks to that here's a treat:

I love the latest "Arial" album and this is the single from it. Enjoy!

Tropfest Tuesday - Bad Yoghurt

"Bad Yoghurt" directed by Shaun Beagley is an experience. It's a 13+ experience by the way.



This is stylized yuck in my opinion, yet some of my students highly rate it. It's kind of shocking in a funny, revolting way. You have been warned. What do you think of it?

Tropfest Tuesday - An Imaginary Friend

The winner of the 2007 Tropfest, An Imaginary Friend by Steve Barker.




PS: Sorry about last week. School holiday funk happening.

Tropfest Tuesday - The Von

'The Von', directed by John Maverty.
This is one the kids appreciated. Not for the weak stomached though! A playground story about a boy who imagines himself a superhero, with disastrous consequences for a kid. This short stars Jacob Bicknell was the '2007 Young Talent of the Year'. 'The Von' is from the 2007 Tropfest

Tropfest Tuesday - Road Rage

'Road Rage' directed by Mark Bellamy


This film is surprising and touching, yet also humourous. It was one of the finalists for 2007 Tropfest. Road rage doesn't have to end up as we expect!

Pangea Day Needs Your Videos

An amazing new project brought to life at TED Conference, Pangea Day. Watch this trailor, it's inspiring.

Revver Pays out $1 Million on Anniversary of Launch

What If...

Tropfest Tuesday - Between the Flags

'Between the Flags' directed by Jayce White



I love this Tropfest 2007 clip. It is ironic and refers to the riots that occurred in Sydney,in a gentle and humourous way.

Next Internet Millionaire Stats and latest episodes

Episode 2

Episode 3



Stats from tubemogul

If you missed it: Episode 1. If you want to learn more about the whole deal check out

The Next Internet Millionaire

Tropfest Tuesday - Australian Summer

"Australian Summer" Rated PG 13+ (language I think)



This 'Tropfest' short film from the 2005 Tropfest Finalists is a poignant and touching clip. Directed by Luke Eve. The actors are amazing and it is great entertainment. It reminds me of the power of imagination. Bruce Spence is featured in this clip.

The Next Internet Millionare

The Next Internet Millionaire series on Revver is quite popular right now. In the style of reality TV shows (my least favourite genre I might add), 12 individuals compete for an online opportunity. There are a series of tasks they complete as individuals and teams. There are some interesting individuals. This first episode goes for an hour. The man behind Simpleology, Mark Joyner, participates in this first episode.

Tropfest for Kids

If you're under 15 and aspire to be a short film maker, what are you waiting for? Quickly go to TropJr, read all the details and get started. Go on, move it, why are you still reading this?

What is Jeff Skoll up to?

Participant Productions

Making Films to Make Change: Jeff Skoll on TED.com

Magnify Summer Updates in Winter

Know your Viewers better with Ease
It's still winter in Australia, yet the Summer updates from Magnify.net are certainly warming. The ability to email members for channel administrators as well as receive email notifications when comments are made will certainly improve the channel owners ability to market their site to their audience and build relationships.
Ads & so forth
The advertising control is working great as previously discussed here. You can select remember me to save logging in each visit. The trash option is more functional.
Creativity
New widgets and colour scheme's are available to tailor your channel more to your preferred style and taste.

Magnify certainly listens to feedback and is constantly improving the ease and control over your video stock. I love it.

Senses of Cinema

Senses of Cinema is a rich and vast Australian online journal. It has to be seen to be believed. If you are serious about learning about the Australian cinematic experience from a range of approaches, you can't go past it. The articles are lengthy and researched and I am so delighted I have found it. The links are extensive. It is the find of the year for me. I can't believe it's taken me so long to find it! I can see literally hours of pleasurable reading and learning from this discovery. So I thought I would share it with you.

Tubemogul - Revver stats

If you make videos and want to track their performance, you want to try tubemogul. This is a chart of my videos performance on Revver for a couple of weeks. If you want to keep this updated there is an option to do that. You can get all kinds of charts. These charts can be embedded such as the example above I like it!

Thank You for Smoking

Watched 'Thank You for Smoking' last night in my friend's home cinema. It was a lovely experience. The home theatre idea is just decadent and lovely enough to totally appeal to me. It's lucky I don't have one because I may never attend work!
Thank You for Smoking was a hoot. It was very funny in a shocking kind of way. It was both light-hearted, yet a little thought-provoking. I enjoyed it. The MOD squad (short for merchants of death) particularly tickled me.

Magnify - Now you can choose your advertisers!

This morning I put some of my latest clips onto my Falling Brick Magnify.net site and noticed that Magnify have a new tab for channel administrators - Ads. You can now select from many of the Ad networks available to monetise your site. This is expanded choice from the past where you could only participate with Adsense and Revver.

There was mention of this on the blog late last month: Should we open Adnet?. Yet I had heard nothing more of this until discovering it today. This is great news to me. I don't have an Adsense account.

If you haven't looked at Magnify, I recommend it. There are so many great videos online now. It's a great place to create and share your collections or your own videos.

Stardust

Amnesty on Switch

Switch TV sent me an email today about this award winning Amnesty International ad. It is certainly powerful so make sure you watch and better still, make sure you sign.

Signature - Amnesty International

Port Welshpool

Click to Play

A fishing village in South Gippsland in Victoria, Australia. It's a windy day.  

Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: wind, sea, fishing-village, port-welshpool, australia, victoria

Clubland

I saw Australian film, Clubland this week. I laughed, cried, cringed and was enraged during the course of it. There were moments when I just wanted to leave the theatre. I'm glad I stayed for the cheery ending though. It was released in America under the title "Introducing the Dwights".

There was a lot of relationship drama and discovery packed into this film. All varieties of relationships and the range of behaviours and emotions.

Here's a link to an interview with the director Cherie Nowlan. I appreciate the job she did.

Testing TubeMogul

Today I am trying out TubeMogul. I read about it on the Revver Blog a week or so ago. It is a new service that allows you to upload your video and have it put on 6 sites (Revver, YouTube, Google, Yahoo, Metacafe, MySpace) all at once. Then it will track the statistics from those sites and you can look at graphs and get analytics from your video.

I have uploaded a video and although I generally only put my videos on Revver, I have accounts with all 6 places, for viewing purposes mainly. I have uploaded to all 6 for the purposes of checking out how this works.

The latest TubeMogul blog post:Universal Upload Creates Measurable Lift in Viewership shows a report on how a video maker has seen an increase in views using this service.

At this point I can say it is easy to use and get started. I haven't been doing much video lately. I could see this would be a great quicker and easier way to get distribution. I'll keep you updated as to how I find this service.

The Transformers

This week I went to see 'The Transformers'. It was highly recommended by my secondary school students as a must see! It was action packed and adventurous. It was long, however due to the non stop action and amusement, I didn't feel the time so to speak. There was nothing deep or meaningful here, it was a pure escapist time to be had.

Stranger Than Fiction

Emma Thompson is magic in Stranger Than Fiction, as an author struggling with the right ending for her character. This task becomes seriously challenging when the "character" arrives in person, having heard the author narrating his story in his head, to save himself. This is a must see film complete with succulent characters and pretty scenes. I loved it.

Revver Launches Preroll

Revver announced yesterday, it would be launching a new advertising option. Preroll and postroll advertising will be available to advertisers and content owners. Content owners have been asking for this for a while and as has been the case, Revver has listened and responded.
I have had an account with Revver for over 12 months now and have over 400 clips uploaded. I can't speak highly enough of the integrity of Revver and have found them to give great service and be honest and constructive in resolving difficulties and sharing information. They have constantly upgraded and improved their services in the time I have been with Revver. If you have video and are looking for a way to distribute it, I couldn't recommend Revver highly enough to you.

Babel

Babel tells a tale of connectedness between the characters who are mostly unaware of one another and spread across the globe. It highlights how different realities even the closest such as the parents and their children can be. It was an interesting film and I would recommend it.

The Queen

Stephen Frears has made some great films, yet I think 'The Queen' has to be his best. I totally enjoyed it. Great scenery and interesting perspective on historical phenomena most are familiar with.

Helen Mirren portrayed the Queen in an award-winning performance. The film was much better than I expected and I'm glad I watched it.

A Brief History of You Tube

Informative, Inspiring, brief........



I discovered this clip thanks to'How to Live Online'.

Tropfest and AFI news

I got an update today from Tropfest news. An Imaginary Life, the winner of 2007 Tropfest has been nominated for the AFI Best Short Animation Award. The AFI website has more details about the awards.

Entries for next years Tropfest close 10 January 2008, so less than 6 months to go if you intend to enter.

Do Something Real

The Age: Rich Pickings spreads the news of this great YouTube clip that highlights the divide in the world between the haves and the have nots.

Casanova

Director Driven Choice
'From the director of Chocolat' That line,splashed across the top of the DVD, drew my attention to this one. I had overlooked it quite a few times. I loved Chocolat. It was an amazing and beautiful story and the film managed to do it justice.
Romantics Delight
Casanova contained similar delicious moments. The legendary Casanova and the alluring Francesca have their moment of truth and intimacy in a hot air balloon, floating through a sky littered with fireworks over the city of Venice. Romance on a stick.
Action and Adventure
The film contains battles of wit and muscle as well as wild chases and escapades. I laughed and clapped with glee.
Heath Ledger
This is the second Heath Ledger film I've watched this month. Heath has effectively become both Ned Kelly (2003) and Casanova for me. Such diversity, such a delight!

Digital storytelling - File conversion link

Converting your Quicktime to Media Player:File conversion link

It's Time for a New Bottom Line

Ned Kelly (2003)

Ned Kelly has been the subject of quite a few films in Australia's history and The Age:Kelly Gang Rides into History tells about the worlds first feature film "The Story of the Kelly Gang" and its inclusion as a United Nations heritage register. I had a 'Ned Kelly' excursion with my English and Humanities year 9 classes this year.

Today by coincidence we watched the latest film Ned Kelly (2003)based on the book by Robert Drewe 'Our Sunshine' in the humanities class. It is a heroic legend and the film is quite well made. The students commented on the darkness of the film and we discussed the parts that we felt were not accurately based on historical sources. For those interested this site The Iron Outlaw, contains a wealth of information. There are 11 Kelly based films listed on this site with details about the films on most of them.

Mel Gibson's Apocalypto

ApocalyptoWhat a haunting film! The scenery was spectacular.I wouldn't say I enjoyed it. I was facinated by it. I can't enjoy watching so much hardship and cruelty. The tribe, as they were in the beginning seemed like a wonderful community and I was thinking how amazing it would be to live like that in the beginning. Stories by the fire with your family, living, working and sharing everything. It all changed pretty quickly though. It gives an insight into what the Mayan world could have been like.

$1000 on Revver

Before Revver switched to the new channel, last year some time, I had earnt around 100 odd dollars. Then they reset the earnings to date. I think it was about June last year, but I could be wrong. Anyway, since that reset, I have just today made $1000. I am happy with that. I haven't added a clip for ages. I have some ideas I am working on, but they will take some time. I haven't been taking a lot of video lately. I'm not sure why.

Robin Good seeks Grassroots TV Reporters

Robin Good's blog is an absolute favourite for me. His latest article: Live Online Television: New Emerging Formats - Robin Good TV Calls For Grassroots News Reporters offers an opportunity for those who would like to be a part of something new and worthwhile. The article says he is looking for reporters in Australia, as well as other places. Read it all if you are interested. It would be such an exciting opportunity.

On Location In Gippsland

Well, my secret has been discovered. Film Gippsland, launched this week, with pictures in the local papers of Sigrid Thornton and other locals launching Film Gippsland, to showcase the awesome locations available in Gippsland Victoria.
Much of my collection of 450 odd clips on Revver have been taken in Gippsland. You can check them out here: Revver Film Gippsland Victoria

Happy Feet etc

Does this film remind anyone of Moulin Rouge musically? Perhaps it is Nicole Kidman's voice?

I know, it's an old film and an animation and I haven't quite been able to watch it all yet. I have watched most of it twice now though so that counts it as done for me. I like that it highlights Antarctica's fragile nature.

I haven't watched a great movie for ages.

I think since it's the pretend Queens birthday today, I will get 'The Queen' out from the video shop, unless the hoardes have had the same lame thought as me, and watch it.

Magnify - Stats are Back

Well Magnify have returned the stats. In the recent Magnify.net Blog post: New Features: New Toys, the improvements are listed. I missed the stats so I am pleased about those. I don't have an adsense account so those advertising option improvements mean nothing to me, however I am sure many will find these improvements to be great.

yourCut - Coming Soon for Aussies

Revver and Ninemsn will launch on June 11 the first Australian video sharing online service that pays creators: yourCut. You can go and check it out now before everyone else gets wind of it.

This is exciting for Australian video sharers as well as viewers. I have looked around the site and it is using Revver to serve the ads and possibly for most of its usability. I have used Revver for over a year and have made over a thousand US dollars from my video's online. Revver are great to work with, they are fair and constantly improving.

From the FAQ of yourCut:

What is your mission:

"yourCut supports independent media artists. We believe that a free and open, democratised media environment is good for everyone. Our goal is to empower video makers and sharers to do what they do best."

Empower they will.

TV Series DVDs

Ok so I'm a bit slow. I don't watch TV very much. My kids have been purchasing TV series on DVD. They have quite a variety of TV series box sets. They bought us Battlestar Gallactica for Christmas and I got a taste of watching it in my own time, without ads and as much as I wanted. It was good.
For Mother's Day, I was given Season 1 of The Gilmour Girls and I am hooked. I had to rush out and buy the next two seasons on special. It's too convenient and indulgent.
It's winter here on Friday!

Video Site Updates

Blip TV has rolled out some new functions and if you are interested the blog post: Release Notes for Geeks should be right up your alley.

Magnify stats that I raved about a little while back are down. This has been the case for a while so I hope it restores itself soon.

Revver is quietly moving along for me. I am enjoying the new stats and my 415 clips are getting a little traffic.

I was surprised to read The Next Net: Top Video Sites during the week that Metacafe came in at 7. I am not a convert at all to Metacafe. Revver doesn't even get a mention. Ah well, I know nothing.

More Shins

Here are the rest of The Shins videos on Revver:

So Says I - The Shins
Another classic sounding track. Great animation.


Pink Bullets - The Shins

Love the origami cows in this one!



Saint Simon - The Shins

Wikipedia - The Shins can tell you all the little interesting details about this band.

Enjoy!

Amazing Movie Countdown 100

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers,
Unbelievable

New Slang

Here is the clip for that great classic sounding song. It has been used in a number of TV shows and a well known company commercial as well as in "Garden State".

YouTube Founders Still At Work

In The Age:Empowering People One YouTube Clip at a Time, founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley discuss their current projects at YouTube.

It seems life hasn't changed a lot, although they are obviously wealthier:

"They both received Google stock now worth more than $US325 million, but their lifestyles haven't changed that much so far, they said.

"Hopefully, we come across as accessible and humble," Chen said. "I try to spend as much time with the same friends and people that were around before the whole user phenomenon started. I do pay for more dinners now than I did.""

The article states that YouTube is seeking to clean up their current stock by getting rid of the clutter and copyright infringing material. They don't intend to compete with some of the slicker new sites coming online and realise people want to watch themselves. They recognise that YouTube has empowered the individual to have an audience and they intend to continue to support that.

Revver Improvements

Revver has recently made improvements to their site. I have to say they really work at improving their service constantly. I like the new statistics. A Little Housekeeping outlines all the changes.
The main improvements are introduction of a service for the hearing impaired with a closed-captioning service. This is great. The statistics are now presented more meaningfully allowing easier manipulation. This can give you specific feedback and will make it less hit and miss.
They have put the number of views back so you can easily see how popular a video has been at a glance. There are a number of other improvements that you can check out if you read the article.
Makes life interesting.

The Shins on Revver

The Past and Pending - The Shins


The great film "The Garden State" featured the Shins song 'New Slang' and from the first time I heard it, I loved it. The Shins are great and I love this clip. The countryside is the type I see freedom in.

Recent Aussie Film Blog Finds

I found an interesting blog today: Australian Film. I really liked the article on film posters and also the link to the fishy story about 'Jindabyne'. I can't work out the dates though. The blogs' date is 15 Dec 2006, but the link to the article is yesterday's date. The 'Jindabyne' is a disturbing fish story on Red Orbit looks like it is filed in the Science tab of the website. It's clearly a well written movie review on the film Jindabyne. Good information, yet a confusing blog.

An interesting blog about film making Aussie Film makers (in development) has some interesting articles, but unfortunately I couldn't find a feed button to keep up to date with it. I will check back perhaps (if I remember).

I found the LAMP site (Laboratory for Advanced Media Production) bulging with media information and articles that could possibly keep me busy for another week. So if I don't post for a while, you'll know where I am. I don't think you can go past it.

Tuesday At the Museum

Click to Play

The Melbourne Museum on a Tuesday morning in May

Formats available: Microsoft Video (.avi)

Tags: melbourne, museum, australia

You Tube to Pay Top Producers

Steve Bryant gives Three reasons YouTube's pay scheme will change the media marketplace on his Reel Pop blog. I agree. In general the population wants gatekeepers and score keeping. If there is no competition, no height to reach, the brightest and the best won't stretch. This may legitimize online video.

I imagine it will have an effect on Revver also. In NewTeeVee: YouTube Starts Paying Star Users.

"YouTube is the latest video site to start sharing revenue with its users; Revver and Metacafe are two companies that jump-started the share-the-green movement. ..............And creators such as Lonelygirl15 and Ask a Ninja actively promote their Revver uploads as opposed to their YouTube ones because Revver viewings earn them money."

Will these creators abandon Revver? Will more producers line up to submit better quality work, now that it has become rewarding? Will online video remain independent or will it become commercialised? It all remains to be seen.

U2 Remix

HelloHello - U2.com versus EclecticMethod.Net
U2 asked Eclectic Method to remix Vertigo
Good music remixed.

Lockie Leonard TV Series - Coming Soon

I was delighted to read the following article about Tim Winton's Lockie Leonard. IF: Tim Winton's Lockie Leonard winning hearts around the world . Winton's Lockie character is sure to be lovable to teens in Australia. We read this text last year in class. As someone who grew up in the 80s I appreciated much that the students didn't get.

New Stats for Magnify.net Creators

Magnify.net channel creators have new and improved user statistics to check out for their sites. I am really impressed with how constantly Magnify brings improvements to this site.

Although I don't participate on YouTube (other than as a viewer) and don't have Google Adsense, if you do, there is a lot for you at magnify. You can monetize your YouTube videos by creating a magnify channel and use your Adsense account to collect from the advertising.

There are so many potential uses for Magnify if you want to participate in online video.
There are

Hot Fuzz

Finally managed to watch 'Hot Fuzz'. I loved 'Shawn of the Dead', but if I am honest about it, it was probably because I was almost forced to watch it and thought it was going to be a horror movie(can't stomach the horror genre)and was relieved, cause I wasn't horrified. I laughed a bit during both movies. They were quite clever and amusing.
I am not really a fan of spoofs either, yet these were tolerable.

Magnify News

Magnify has brought yet more improvements to channel creators this week. Read all about it here.

As promised here are some channels that seem promising:

Climate Change: I like the way they have created areas on their channel for the different types of videos.

NLP : Neuro Linguistic Programming. This channel is full of all kinds of information about NLP. I watched this one with great interest: Quit Smoking. I have made a time with the school counsellor to get hypnotised. I am like this guy on this clip, people have bought me cigarettes to stop me from being cranky. I am not sure if they are all ads. There are some really long videos of seminars, so you could get all the info you want I imagine.

And
Watch and Learn

Make Internet TV

A new site Make Internet TV looks like an awesome new resource for creators. It has the potential to become an absolute guide, with opportunities for learning, sharing and promoting in this field. Put together by The Participatory Culture Foundation it is a wiki that aims to support your participation.

I first read about this on the Revver Blog, encouraging revver users to get involved.

I like the layout and the clear step by step instructions it gives on the processes involved with making and distributing videos. It has clear explanations of important things like Creative Commons. If there is something you could add there is opportunity to make suggestions. This is where it has the further potential to become a great resource.

I like it.

Magnify.net Adds More Features

Today I finally had the chance to check out some of the changes I have been hearing about on Magnify.net. These changes were announced about 12 days ago, and are discussed on the Magnify Blog post. The blog says it better than I could and goes into detail about the range of features.

I had a play with the Falling Brick Channel today.
I attempted to create a feed from this blog to the channel, yet didn't manage to do it successfully. I will have another play with it tomorrow. I would also like to check out the chat feature on another channel I have created.
I added a Paypal donate button. I wonder if anyone does ever donate? It will be interesting to see. I am getting steady traffic on this channel, far better than this blog. I donate so perhaps it will return to me. I enjoy donating. It makes me feel happy to give someone who doesn't know me, yet has freely entertained or informed me, a financial blessing.
I love Magnify.net. It is such fun to play around with. So many cool features, yet not too many choices, so at to make it difficult. I suggest you check it out. If you're not interested in creating, you're bound to find a channel to entertain or inform you. I will check out some new channels, there has been such a huge growth in the number of channels since I began Falling Brick, and put some up this weekend.

300

I went to see 300 last week. It was based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller about an ancient battle. It was fantastic. In the beginning I found it difficult to determine if it were a cartoon or had actors. It was a gripping and heroic film. I totally enjoyed it. I love David Wenham. He's a great Aussie actor.

Children of Men

Children of Men is set in England in a not so distant future and was a gripping political thriller. It held my attention from start to finish. A world where there are no births makes for miserable and hopeless lives. It was a highly acclaimed film and most reviews I have read were positive. It frightens me because many aspects of the future painted seem all too possible and seeing it there in front of me is too much to bear. I would highly recommend this film and it is one I will be watching twice.

"The future's a thing of the past"

The Prestige

I have been longing to see The Prestige for a number of reasons including David Bowie and Hugh Jackman. I am a longtime fan of Bowie. I like watching him act as well as his musical creations. I have been fascinated in Tesla for a long time also and although I know this film is not factual, I enjoy any reference to him and his work.
The movie was not as easy as I was expecting it to be, it was enjoyable. I wasn't able to watch it all in one sitting and when I started watching it the second time, I rewatched some parts, which led to a greater enjoyment and appreciation of the film. I nearly didn't watch the end, but I am so glad I did, because I really enjoyed the second viewing.

Subscribing to Revver Videos and Feeds

Revver have included a new feature in their latest rollout, which is the ability to subscribe to a feed. If you wanted to be regularly updated on my most popular videos on Revver for example, you would just need to click on the feed button which is a little orange button with white dot and two white waves emitting from it. In the widget above my header is the symbol. It only works for me in my Internet Explorer feedreader. To learn more about feeds go to this post.

I have several feedreaders and it has revolutionised my Internet experience allowing me to keep up to date with all the blogs and videomakers I am interested in. I regularly update them and unsubscribe from blogs that I have lost interest in and found new ones etc. It doesn't take to long to scan a feed to see if there's something of interest to you.

A year with Revver

Today when I logged in to check my stats on Revver, I was delighted to find the new accounting stats are working well. I can clearly see now, which of my videos are being watched and how many clicks they are receiving. I haven't been uploading many clips on Revver for a while. I have been busy elsewhere in my life. My results have reflected this lack of activity. I have uploaded a few in the past few days to get to a rounded off number of 410. I think I may delete 10 at some stage later.

I uploaded my first Revver video on 31/3/06. A year ago tomorrow. There have been a lot of changes since that time. I have $894.80 total earnings to date, yet I think I earnt a hundred or so before the site changed and the stats were restarted. I am delighted with this result. My clips are not very popular and they haven't been edited, as I have said before. I began as an experiment to familiarise myself with the technology. The ease with which the results came in the beginning has stunted my growth. I haven't continued to do what I intended in the beginning, which was to create short edited clips to share places and stories with the world.

The Revver staff have been helpful and have made so many improvements to the site that I couldn't begin to mention them all. There have been times when things have changed more than I wanted them to, yet in reflecting on the year that's been, the majority of changes have been improvements. I really like Revver and those involved with it. I appreciate the helpfulness of the staff and their patience with complaints and requests. I appreciate that they have allowed people from all over the world to participate, even though it means extra paperwork for them.

I intend this next year to go back to my original goal. It will mean that I don't upload as many clips. I have uploaded 410 clips this first year. I don't expect there will be anywhere near as many in the next year, but who knows.

Free Hugs

Today I have read about the disgraceful threats made to Kathy Sierra: Creating Passionate Users, who is one of my favourite bloggers. I am not linking to the post because I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It is quite horrible and saddening. It would be great if by bringing this to light, as Kathy has done, that we can somehow change the way people behave, or take more responsibility about what we tolerate. I guess I see bullying every day in the school yard, but adults are extreme and horrific in comparison.

I hope that I see more inspiration, hope and joy online rather than the shadowy dark side of human nature. It worries me because I guess up to this point I have been thinking that on the Internet, you can hit delete, or close a window if you come across you don't tolerate.

I want to see more of this Free Hugs Wins Youtube Award: The Age

Emu Crossing

Click to Play

In a creek bed a few kms out of Broken Hill, these two emu's crossed the road. They make a distinctive noise.

Formats available: Microsoft Video (.avi), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: emu, broken hill, australia, animals

The Gift of Nothing

A much under-rated and utilised gift. I have been sharing this gift with you for the last few days.

Weekend Viewing

I watched 'The Jacket'today. Adrien Brody is lovely. It was tense in the beginning, but got lovelier.
On Friday night I watched 'A Good Woman' and found it delightful. Oscar Wilde is a great writer.
I haven't watched many films lately or have began watching only to be dissappointed.

Echidna

Click to Play

    This prickly little echidna shuffled past.

Formats available: Microsoft Video (.avi)

Tags: echidna, australia, animal

Tropfest Deadline Day

This little clip is about the deadline for Tropfest. It's on Revver.

Nadia Tass News

One of my favourite filmmakers Nadia Tass is mentioned in IF News today as being chosen for Aurora. I'm pleased. I love many of her films, especially Amy, Malcolm and Rikki and Pete. Love them!

"Nadia Tass, who has made many iconic Australian films including Amy, Malcolm, Mr Reliable and The Big Steal as well as several US productions including Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story, is to direct Six Weeks of Heaven. Writer is Chris Philips and Producer is Dennis Kiely. The film tells of a nine year old girl who seeks to fulfil the dying wish of her brother for one last summer holiday."

Something to look forward to.

Blog Hunt

Blogs I am adding to my feed to watch for a month or so are:

Media Researcher
I like the way he lists his blogroll as influencers. He doesn't post very frequently though, so I may lose interest, we'll see!

Melbourne Film Blog
Melbourne Photo Blog
Love the photos of Melbourne, reviews of films are interesting.

Random Brainwave
Not sure really other than its kind of raw and interesting.

Cape Conran 2005

Click to Play

Formats available: Microsoft Video (.avi)

Tags: cape-conran, beach, national parks, australia

Mashable : Poll

Mashable have an interesting post on which sites pay the best. I have to say that from trying Metacafe, Revver and Blip TV, Revver has paid me over $800US. My clips aren't popular. I haven't received a cent from Metacafe and have only earnt .90c from Blip TV and obviously haven't received that.
In fairness to the above sites, I have only uploaded 5 videos to Metacafe and currently have only 3 on the site that are crawling along. I doubt that I will make it to their minimum views though, so am not bothering with it. I have 13 clips on Blip and haven't really put much time into it. I am intending to though, so I guess it will be fairer to assess Blip, when or if I put more effort into it.
I have put over 400 clips on Revver but very few of them have received more than 100 views. I have also been using Revver since March last year, but only tried Metacafe and Blip later in the year.
What the poll says about it being difficult to assess apples for apples as we used to say about quotes for curtains, is true. I guess it depends very much on individual needs. Their assessment is possibly only useful for a clip that is likely to get 10 000 views. Oh I wish!

Teenagers on Film

Watching "Little Miss Sunshine" tonight, the teenage son enters, Andy says "Why are there no pleasant teenagers in films?"

Fair comment. They are not represented well in the media. Teenagers that is. It is not accurate. Teenagers are great and I am obviously not one of them when I say that. Why is this? The stereotype of teenagers is not fair.

Overheard Conversation at School

Teacher: I saw this great poetry reading on Youtube last night and wish I could show you but Youtube is banned.
Student: Why don't you download it?
Teacher: You can't download from Youtube.
Student: Yes, you can, I'll show you.
Students walks over to teachers laptop, types in Keepvid then types in a file conversion site to convert from flv to playable files.
Teacher: Wow!
Student: So tomorrow you can show us the poem.
Teacher: Is it hard to come to school, drag yourself away from the Internet, when you are possibly learning less here.
Many Students Loudly: YES!

Clever

Imagine a world where healthy food was marketed as agressively as sugary and fattening rubbish food.
Imagine if creators could come from anywhere and be anyone and were invited directly to create and were selected by popularity on merit.
Imagine that!


The National Sunflower Association, and when I say National, I think it's American National we're talking about, is having a competition for video makers. The prize is $10 000 for the winning video.

More details at the website: Grab Em By The Sack

Tropfest - My Favourites

My favourite Tropfest film was "Between the Flags". I loved the humour of it and the underlying messages. It embraced Australian culture in good ways. The other film that made an impression was "Road Rage". It was too sad and then too funny. The one that haunted me was "Bad Yoghurt". It was gross, but the image remains.
Tropfest was good this year, even though I only saw it on a TV screen. "An Imaginary Life" was ok, but I wouldn't have given it the winner.

Best Part

I confess, I don't watch awards. I imagine this was the best part for anyone else who is like me. I am confident others will correct me if I am wrong.
It's like sport, I want to play it or leave it. I don't really want to watch, unless someone I dearly love is playing.
I'm not really interested in what other people award or think is great. I want to watch things for myself. I do seriously like this though.

"Precious Images by Chuck Workman. Oscar Winning Short. This is the greatest short film of all time. 7 minutes long - it's a movie montage of the greatest movies by Chuck Workman. It features 500 movie clips. At one point, it was the most seen short film in history (more)"

Digital Ethnography - Is .......

Wow!Rethink indeed.....

Comment Moderation

Comments are welcome on this blog. Unpaid advertising is not. I seem to have been getting a few comments lately that are so obviously link bait that even I, with my very unsavvy skills can recognise them. Such as the first comment on my previous post. Until this point, I haven't ever rejected a comment. From here on, I will be. I didn't even read that comment and I wish I had, because I would have deleted it too.

So cheapskate advertisers of things that serve no real purpose - Don't come here and comment, cause you'll be rejected.

Warning enough?

Good Magazine 2

This latest clip from Good Magazine is well put together. I really like the soundtrack also. It offers only information, no solutions.


What would you do about it indeed?

Good Magazine is a great source for news stories that are positive and uplifting usually. This one doesn't fall into that category, yet I imagine has a pure purpose and motivation.

Revver and Magnify Article - A must read

The Revver blog today has this article : Access the Frozen Knowledge of Video
posted by Micki, that refers to Magnify's Steve Rosenbaum's recent writing. I love it because I feel that Revver and Magnify are indeed doing that. I love Rosenbaum's phrase 'video is simply frozen knowledge'. It captures what it means to me.
I uploaded my 400th video on Revver tonight. My earnings have slowed right down. I began to wonder last week, why I still bothered with it. I guess it is about the freezing of my knowledge and what I see in the world. I like that I can write a blog and take a video and put it online. I like that I can refer others if they are interested to have a look. I do it for me and I know that many others are doing for themselves and it will create a mass of information that could be useful.
When I read this article it felt truthful.

The Road Less Travelled

Click to Play

This road is between Omeo and the Snowy River Road in Victoria. It was a beautiful part of the world

Formats available: Microsoft Video (.avi)

Tags: omeo, road, dusty, dry, dirt

How 'Australia's Got Talent' treats Jack Dan

Jack Dan Blake was no doubt pleased when he got to be on new TV show 'Australia's Got Talent'. He was featured in the promotions for the up and coming show as seen on this YouTube clip.

In front of a live studio audience his performance seemed to go well. This is a clip of how it seemed that night.

This is what was shown on TV on Sunday night. Editing changes everything. So what do you think of that?

Jaman - Future for Indie Films?

Jaman is according to its site

"Jaman is a new online community for people that enjoy world
cinema. For filmmakers, jaman is a global and secure way of distributing
cinematic quality films and documentaries over the Internet. "

There are some good offerings on the site. Different countries have licencing restrictions and there are free downloads and rentals as well as fees associated with some of these services. It is in beta. There are currently 2 Australian films, Siam Sunset and 15 Amore. I have seen Siam Sunset and enjoyed it. It is a black comedy with fantasy and escapism. Some great scenery. I loved what it said about colour.

I have yet to see 15 Amore, but can't access it via this site. It looks great. There is a preview that can be viewed.

There are forums and groups where users can discuss the films they view. I think this is an amazing resource for film lovers. I live in regional Australia and it is very rare for independant film to make it's way to our local cinema. The video stores don't always stock them either. Websites like this will allow all to enjoy the choice.

Tropfest Finalists Screenings

The Tropfest finalist short films will be shown around the country tomorrow night. Tropfest is the worlds largest short film festival. The signature item for this year is the sneeze. In Melbourne the event will stage at the Myer Music Bowl. In Gippsland it can be seen at the Yarram Theatre. All other states and regional information is available on the Tropfest website.

To watch previous films go to the following link: Tropfest finalist films, or order copies here.

New Magnify Channels - February 2007

Magnify are exploding with channels now. Each time I check in, there are new ones. Here are new channels worth checking out:

Movies
Public Domain Movies - Only 22 movies today, but potentially an interesting site, particularly for those who like old movies.
Some of them run for over an hour and I haven't watched them right through yet. Interesting concept though.




The TV Trail
Runs with a similar concept but I have a feeling these shows are not public domain. The Simpsons, Six Million Dollar Man and Twilight Zone are some of the shows featured on the home page of the channel.

I notice that many have created channels that so far contain nothing. I guess, Magnify is getting a lot of media right now and people are just staking claims, so to speak, creating their own spaces within this space with hopes for the future.

It is a space to watch.
The falling brick channel received over 500 views today. That's great! There is an interesting clip that was submitted today about the classic Australian delicacy of Tim Tams. Called 'Slam', it is interesting and whilst it runs a little long, is worth a watch.

Coming Soon to Movies: Starter for 10

Starter for 10, which has not yet been released has a sountrack featuring Kate Bush. It was produced by Tom Hanks. It sounds great. Set in England and meant for people who grew up in the 80s. Me!

Good News for Magnify.net

I am pleased to read "Magnify.net raises $1.2 Million". I have found the people at Magnify to be really helpful and I love what they are doing. It is great to be able to create your own channel and they just keep adding features. It is fun to use and the team are supportive and helpful if you have any issues. What more can users ask for?

Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks

My daughter introduced the Dixie Chicks to me. They are great. A good clip too. Enjoy!

Three Dollars

I watched 'Three Dollars' for the second time this week. I love this film. The central character, Eddie, is such a compassionate person and his suffering hurts. I cried during the railway station scene, knowing this is how we behave in public as humans, inhumanely. I love the way Eddie treats others.

Another great Australian film that many have never heard of!

Snowy River Road via Suggan Buggan

Click to Play

Picturesque road to Jindabyne along Snowy River, via Suggan Buggan.        

Formats available: Microsoft Video (.avi)

Tags: road, travel, australia, mountains, view, suggan buggan, snowy river, jindabyne

Aussie Film/Media Blogs to check out

I am always looking for interesting blogs to read about the topics I am interested in so I though others may similarly enjoy a list to check out. I have added these to my feeds and will watch them for a month or so in my to read folder. If they are generally good, I will move them to a more permanent position. Let me know if I am missing anything good.

Graeme Watson
Inside Film
Stale Popcorn
R-Views
What I watched today

That will do for today.

My Favourite Magnify Channels

I have some of my own, but there are some great channels.

Here is a selection from Magnify:

All about Tesla

Amnesty International

world history

Organic gardening

Backpackers Stories

Magnify is really taking off. The number of channels grows daily. There is good traffic on these sites. I am pleased because all my interactions with the Magnify team have been pleasant and I am confident they are going to be a great success.

Revenue Sharing coming soon to YouTube

I have never uploaded a clip to YouTube. I have committed to Revver to house my collections and I am more than happy with this arrangement.
This latest news that I have read on Nalt's blog is interesting though. I wonder how this will change the online video world?
I have used YouTube to find videos to use on my blogs on occasion and imagine this could improve the quality of the video's.
I wonder if they will be able to continue to allow people without the rights to continue that if they are revenue sharing?
In the BBC version of this news:

"The offer applies only to people who own the full copyright of the videos that they are uploading to the YouTube website."

Interesting....

Legacy of Blogging and Online Video

One of the reasons I blog and make my little clips for revver is to keep a journal for my family. I have a great, great grandmother who wrote a couple of small novels and pamphlet’s that are housed in the State Library of Victoria and I loved discovering this. I have diaries that were my grandmothers and I treasure her handwriting and her little observations of life. I hope to have grandchildren and I imagine they could be as interested as I am.
Some of the videos I have made are of places that will change in the future. Climate will change the landscape. Increasing populations will develop places and they won’t be recognisable. It is a historic legacy as well to see little glimpses of places.
I know my clips aren’t highly entertaining right now and it could seem like a waste of time, yet I imagine some of them could have value for others at some time. I video things that take my attention for now and I don’t edit or think too much about them. I expect I will improve over time, I will get better equipment and become better at capturing things. I learn more about the technology and I enjoy learning this.
The learning about the technology and tools of the Internet is another motivating force for me. I find I can’t spend the time to learn something if it has no purpose for me and I read this post from Beet.tv with interest this morning. It is true. All the videos that are being archived on the Internet will make a rich resource for future generations.

The future of Video shops

I guess they are more DVD shops now, but anyway, last night I went to my local video shop to hire some DVD's and it was really challenging to find something I hadn't seen or wanted to watch. I looked around and noticed that the library had shrunk. There was a pile of used DVDs at the front of the shop. It felt like an unannounced closing down sale and I felt pretty sad.
I know this has been predicted and discussed by many and I remember when I was in a shop nearly 20 years ago, saying to my business partner, we have to get out of this shop. Shops are going to be gone. I was way ahead of myself at the time. We sold that business and I was really happy with the profit we made, and to be free of having to go to the shop everyday. However, that aside, the business is still successfully running, exactly where it was when I left it.
I think though that music and video shops might be in trouble though. It certainly looks like it. I guess the only thing keeping them going are all those people who don't really understand or want to know about computers.