Make Your Own Video

There seems to be a small “meme” of popcorn videos going around. First there was this one from “roadbikegel”, then Ian Mills tried once and again.

I regularly cook popcorn for my kids, and have never seen the point of buying “microwave” popcorn - it always seems to come out with half the kernels burnt. And those big bags of pre-popped corn you can buy just taste stale and horrible. A half kilo of corn kernels will last for months, and can be bought from many supermarkets and “weigh and serve” places.

So here’s the way I cook popcorn:

1. start with a “non stick” (teflon coated) pan if you can. It’s just much simpler.
2. add a dribble of oil and water. The oll is to carry the heat to the popcorn; the water is to hold the oil at 100C while the rest of the pan comes up to temperature. Without the water it’s much easier to burn the corn.
3. sprinkle an even layer or kernels across the bottom of the pan. Don’t let them get more than one kernel deep.
4. turn on a hot ring, and keep an eye (and ear) on it. The whole process only takes a few minutes.
5. when the popping begins to stop, turn off the heat, shake the pan to allow any remaining unpopped kernels to drop to the bottom of the pan and pop.
6. serve quickly. If you see any burnt ones, remove them.

We prefer to eat our corn as it comes, but some people seem to like sugar, salt, cinnamon, or whatever.

(WMV 2:01 5MB)

I’m sure that once I have attended the coming Vlog Europe! meetup and conference my opinions and understanding will be very different from my current state of knowing very little. So I thought I’d have a stab at recording my thoughts before the event. Maybe I’ll record them after, too.

(WMV 4:02 10.7MB)

Here’s another “vlogwalk”. This time at real-time speed. Unfortunately, I can’t get Google maps to do this journey right at all, but the streets I describe can be seen here.

For this one I used the same small flash camera as for the last one, but this time it was in disguise It also both functions and looks like an MP3 player, so I plugged in some headphones and carried it like an iPod as I walked along. Nobody seemed at all concerned.

I started by crossing the small green area just in front of Suffolk College (incindentally, the same area where they cooked the worlds largest curry). I then walked out along the college access road. The building to the right contains some county council offices. All these college and council buildings are scheduled for redevelopment in the next two or three years.

I then walked across (and a little along) Grimwade Street before turning into Rope Walk. The building on the far corner of this junction is the Ipswich Registry Office where civil weddings take place, and also where I went to register the birth of both my daughters. If you hear me snort part way along this street, it’s because a colleague passing in the opposite direction said “hello” and broke my concentration on trying to keep the camera steady.

At the end of Rope Walk, I just caught a break in the traffic and crossed over Bond Street into Eagle Street. Although there are a few shops in Eagle Street (including Ipswich’s premier comic and game store and a great charity bookshop) most people don’t consider it to be really “in” the town centre. That starts at the junction of Orwell Place and Upper Orwell Street, where I stop this portion of the vlogwalk.

I hope you enjoy my little journey.

(WMV 3:18 8.4MB)

I wanted to show a bit more about my life so, as a kind of experiment, I recorded a typical morning’s walk from home to Suffolk College where I teach most days. The journey takes 12-15 minutes to walk, which I felt was a bit long for a videoblog, so I have speeded it up four times. I don’t know if this will be much use, thought I’d really appreciate any comments on how effective (or not) this is.

I’d also like to know if it makes any one feel seasick

A rought attempt at a map of the journey can be found on google maps. I can’t seem to make it start and stop at quite the right places, though.

(WMV 3:13 8.2MB)

This is the final part of my five part series about the aspects of videoblogging that I value. If this is the first one you have seen, you might be better off starting with the first one in the series.

(WMV 3:05 7.8MB)

This is the fourth part of my five part series about the aspects of videoblogging that I value. If this is the first one you have seen, you might be better off starting with the first one in the series.

(WMV 3:18 8.3MB)

This is the third part of my five part series about the aspects of videoblogging that I value. If this is the first one you have seen, you might be better off starting with the first one in the series.

(WMV 2:01 5MB)

This is the second part of my five part series about the aspects of videoblogging that I value. If this is the first one you have seen, you might be better off starting with the first one in the series.

(WMV 2:15 5.6MB)

I’ve seen several attempts to somehow define what “videoblogging” is. Indeed, I’ve even had a go myself.

Recently it has occurred to me that there will likely never be a definition that satisfies enough people to be considered the definition. So I’ve tried a different approach - an inclusive rather than exclusive one.

Instead of attempting to constrain or limit what videoblogging must be for everyone, I have just tried to clarify some of the things about videoblogging that are important to me. Along the way, I add some observations and comments about areas I feel the videoblogging community might be wise to address, but essentially, this is just a way for me to explain my personal view and values.

I have chosen five topics, and over the next few days I plan post a videoblog about each one.

I’d love to hear which aspects others value, perhaps by comments here, or (even better) as video posts on other weblogs.

Take a look, and see what you think.

(WMV 2:29 6.2MB)