It's my 10 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳
Monterey Bay Aquarium
we're not kids anymore.
Show & Tell
i don't do bad sauce passes

#extradirty

祝日 / Permanent Vacation
ojovivo
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Claire Keane
Game of Thrones Daily

Origami Around
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me

ellievsbear
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Mike Driver
hello vonnie
AnasAbdin
Xuebing Du

Kaledo Art
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her

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@teleremix
It's my 10 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳
File this under “unexpectedly interesting”! David Murray, better known as the “8 Bit Guy” has a channel on YouTube where he reviews and talks about keyboards from the 1980s. Like many geeks I have a bit of a soft spot for retro computing, and maybe this show naturally leads on from that interest. One important different remains, many of these old instruments are still usable today and some even sound quite good. Every episode features a demonstration of the device’s capabilities so you can decide for yourself.
In this episode the infamous Casio VL-Tone is reviewed. First released in 1980 this iconic keyboard has featured in many pop tracks; one of my favourites being Wolf BBQ by Gockabelle. Enjoy!
Linnea Olsson is a Swedish musician whose work is described as “fantasy cello pop”. In this thirty minute film she teams up with French film maker Valerie Tourmayan to perform her music in places around her home town of Halmstad that inspired her. The result is a gorgeous half hour video that will take you on a musical journey through beautiful scenery. A serene experience.
Malinda Kathleen Reese takes the lyrics from popular songs and musical numbers, puts them into Google Translate, translates them back and forth a few times and then performs the results! She is a very talented singer and takes performing the songs very seriously leading to some amazingly funny videos. Bohemian Rhapsody is a particular favourite, but if you get change you should check out the rest of her channel, especially Wrecking Ball/Ball In The Sink (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS-Gi5Z5zik).
Are you watching Winterthorne yet? If not you need to be! This new webseries tells the story of rise Miranda Winterthorn to be the matriarch of a powerful confectionery producing family. The series is possibly what you would get if you crossed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Dallas! It is one of the most original productions I have seen in a while.
Made by the producers of DeVanity, the series takes everything they have learnt about making web series and then shifts it up a gear. The look of the series is unique and the story instantly compelling. Many of the roles are played by familiar faces from US soap operas. The story features many string leading female characters too, something of a rarity on television.
It looks like there will be only four parts, with new episodes released on Fridays. Head over to http://www.winterthorne.com to catch up on previous installments!
True fame is found on YouTube!
Fascinating interview with the team behind Whatever, Linda". It covers subjects such as what lead to this being a web series not a play, the inspiration for the show and how you get an authentic 1970s look.
Winterthorne: From the makers of DeVanity comes this new series following a powerful family behind a sweets empire. The series starts on August 27th and this trailer has just been published. It looks fantastic already and anybody familiar with Michael Caruso’s work will know that they are in for epic drama, wild plot twists and cliffhangers. Looking forward to it!
Fascinating article on how some YouTubers are empowering teenage girls and challenging television stereotypes. (Via Boing Boing)
I’m normalizing TV. I am making TV look like the world looks. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people equal WAY more than 50% of the population. Which means it ain’t out of the ordinary. I am making the world of television look NORMAL. I am NORMALIZING television. You should get to turn on the TV and see your tribe. And your tribe can be any kind of person, any one you identify with, anyone who feels like you, who feels like home, who feels like truth. You should get to turn on the TV and see your tribe, see your people, someone like you out there, existing. So that you know on your darkest day that when you run (metaphorically or physically RUN), there is somewhere, someone, to run TO. Your tribe is waiting for you. You are not alone.
Shonda Rhimes at the humanrightscampaign Gala in Los Angeles. You can read her entire speech on “normalizing TV” here. (via weneeddiversebooks)
God Particles: This series of short films is set against the background of fears that the Large Hadron Collider will destroy the Earth. Four characters with intertwined lives confront their lives in various ways to show their true colours. Awkwardness, funny moments, surprising interconnections and a very high production quality make this a wonderful mini series to watch.
The first of the four parts is my favourite. It presents the story of an HR worker who escapes her daily life by daydreaming about being in glamorous old movies. Her story builds up to a very funny ending when she ends up in a very awkward situation with her horrible boss at a baby shower!
God Particles has been nominated for two IAWTV awards. One for best micro-budget series and the other for Best Female Performance in Comedy for Zoe Chao, who plays Rue.
Whatever, Linda: Don’t write in red pen! Details like this matter in 1978, the year Linda Thoroughbread finds herself broke, divorced and nearing the dreaded 30. She lands a job in a company on Wall Street and thanks to the backward social attitudes of the time is destined to be a “pen pusher in a skirt”. However, she thinks laterally and sets up a ponzi scheme that will make her millions.
Inspired by the Bernie Madoff scandal this drama will take you out of your living room and right into the seventies. The attention devoted to the scenery, costumes and attitudes of the characters portray a convincing representation of that decade. The plot contains twists and turns that will keep you hooked.
Made in Canada by Hannah Cheesman and her team, Whatever, Linda has been nominated for an IAWTV Award for Best Dramatic Series.
You can find all ten episodes over on their website: http://www.whateverlinda.com/
MRUniversity, the Hollywood Toolkit and an IAWTV Award nomination: Universities have been making educational resources available online for free for sometime now with many of these resources are videos. I think it would be fair to say that the quality of these videos can vary quite considerably, so it was really interesting to see Marginal Revolution University, better known as MRUniversity enter Everyday Economics to an awards ceremony for web series.
The IAWTV Awards can be tough with entants competing against shows that feature very high production standards. MRUniversity have passed the first hurdle and have got a nomination for Best Documentary or Educational Series. In April they will find out if they have won. Roman Hardgrave, the Chief Product Officer of MRUniversity was kind enough to talk to me about how high quality media fits into their mission and what an IAWTV Award would mean to them.
Can you explain briefly what MRUniversity is all about?
We are passionate about teaching economics. We believe that economics can help you understand the world around you and, in turn, can help you make better decisions in your daily life. On MRUniversity’s homepage, you can find a library of more than 800 videos divided into 12 courses, and they’re completely free to use (we’re a non-profit funded by donations). There’s something for everyone — from the first-time economics student to more advanced learners. You can watch videos on supply and demand, the leading thinkers in development economics, causes of the Eurozone crisis, Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, and everything in between.
MRU's materials are popular with professors and students as a teaching/learning supplement to use in classes. With our Everyday Economics series, we’ve also seen interest beyond the classroom from lifelong learners who are generally intellectually curious. Our founders, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok of George Mason University, have been using the lens of economics to explore the world with their popular blog and our namesake, MarginalRevolution.com, for over a decade.
How does video fit in to your mission?
Video is a core part of our product and our primary teaching device. In the past year we have transitioned to applying the "Hollywood toolkit" to our videos, combining great teachers with top creative talent, with the goal of making learning both entertaining and engaging. We believe there are many untapped way to provide a better online learning experience - we are excited to continue to push the envelope.
How do you use social media to increase awareness of your site and its educational content?
We use social media primarily in three ways: to build a community of econ-loving friends and followers who can interact with others like them; to provide support and related resources to the students and professors who use our content; and to gain real-time feedback on our product so that we can make continuous improvements with each new release. We’ve found Twitter to be particularly effective at reaching new audiences and opinion leaders in the world of economics. YouTube and Google search marketing is effective at reaching students and professors who are looking for teaching supplements.
Do you feel that high production values are important in your videos?
We try to think first about what the viewer needs to learn the content. Many economic concepts are complex - visuals can help make these concepts more intuitive. So for those videos, the "Hollywood toolkit" is crucial. I don't think we could have achieved nearly what we did on "The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity" or "Comparative Advantage and the Tragedy of Tasmania" without going high production.
However, some content doesn't benefit as much from the "Hollywood toolkit," so we pick and choose where to spend our limited resources. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we are able to steadily improve our video library and add more high production content.
Do you feel the audience expects or does not expect them?
Within the sphere of economics videos, we feel that our audience is pleasantly surprised by what we've created. Most teaching videos consist of a taped lecture or basic motion graphics. However, for the broader audience of the "intellectually curious," I think they absolutely expect better videos. They're watching Veritasium, CGP Grey, and fellow IAWTV finalist Tiffany Shlain - they've set the bar pretty high.
How did you get to where you are today when it comes to production values?
We started with basic narrated powerpoints - we were a startup initiative just trying to get off the ground. We felt pretty constrained in that format, so we were thrilled when we gathered the support to invest in improving the quality of our videos. I have a background in both filmmaking and economics, so I was excited to take a swing at some highly produced videos to explain economics.
The Everyday Economics series that is an IAWTV finalist was our first experiment in using high production videos. We are incredibly lucky to have had a great partner, Tilapia Film, to help us produce those videos.
We were pleasantly surprised by the reaction - Vox, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and VentureBeat covered us immediately. A personal thrill for me was when Marc Andreessen tweeted about it. The success of that experiment has led to more investment - we recently released a new Principles of Economics course that features many more high production videos.
If you did win an IAWTV Award, what would it mean to you?
It would be such a thrill. Just browsing through the other finalists in our category I was blown away by the company we are in. An IAWTV award would be a huge validation for our assumption that the line between learning and entertainment is blurring — education can be fun! We want to keep pushing the envelope and an IAWTV award would be an inspirational factor in us continuing to do so.
What advice would you give to other universities producing online video?
It takes time (and money)! The amount of time and attention to detail required to get one of these videos right is often an order of magnitude higher than what people expect. Even the most minute details are discussed and iterated. In the hockey stick video, we went over the sound effects for the part on smallpox over and over again. First it was too light and funny. Then too dark. Finally we realized that what it needed was silence - but that was probably 5 iterations in!
The other difficult thing is effectively combining the teaching of great professors and the creative skills of great producers. Professors are used to lecturing - using motion graphics and sound/music is not part of their thinking. On the other hand, the creative folks don't always get the nuances of the concepts being taught. So if the professor designs the whole video, he will often miss opportunities to utilize all the tools filmmakers have. However, the professors' insight into the material and the nuances of teaching it are crucial.
So the challenge is getting the best out of everyone. We iterated a lot on the process of producing videos and how we communicate between all parties. Getting it right requires a strong team and a great deal of trust.
Do you feel that you could learn from or be influenced by the wider online video production community? If so, what sort of things?
Absolutely! I feel like I know my little corner of the online video world pretty well, but there is a whole other world out there that is foreign to me. I can't wait to go to Vegas and meet and learn from other great producers. I think there is a great deal to learn on how to effectively produce and market content.
You can find MRUniversity's courses online at http://mruniversity.com. I have watched a few videos and learnt quite a lot already! Thanks to Roman Hardgrave for the interview.
Soul Funk Mixtape: This charming short film from the Isle of Man is based on Neil Gaiman's poem The Day the Saucers Came. Two high school students, one a party girl and the other a geeky type run into each other the day after a multi-apocolypse.
Why Diversity Works - a TV/Web Series panel discussion at the Raindance Web Fest 2014: A notable feature of web series and web content is the diversity of the audiences it serves and the backgrounds creators come from. For the web it feels like this comes naturally, but for mainstream media the path to increasing diversity has been a difficult ongoing one, with people from many backgrounds rarely being represented on air.
The panel features Lisa Gifford (creator 3some) and speakers Baby Isako (creator Venus vs Mars), Christin Baker (CEO of Tello Films) and Ted Shiress (creator Cynic). They examine why the web succeeds in this area and some of the reasons why mainstream media finds it more difficult.
Astrid Goldsmith of Mock Duck Studios has spent the last five years creating an animated film in her garage. In this talk from the summer she shares why she prefers film to digital, how she got into animation and how to get your animations distributed. She ends with a great bit of advice: "if you wait around for permission ... you are never going to make anything".
Player Piano - Tetris: One of the catchiest songs ever to feature in a video game is an arrangement of the 19th century Russian folk song Korobeiniki better known in the West as "that song from the GameBoy version of Tetris". To celebrate the 30th anniversary Tetris the song is superbly performed by composer and pianist Sonya Belousova as part of the Player Piano series. Even the piano itself is an amazing cross between a pinball machine and a musical instrument.