Archive for September, 2011
Mashup Your Videos And Make a Riot
While mashups of videos on Youtube are more entertainment than education, there is a mashup code provided through Scott “Spot” Draves by Alexander Chen and Josh Goldberg that has caught my attention. Why not make your videos an evolving creation — and thus an educating one — by adding your video code to Video Riot’s code? The result: music and movement highlighted in new ways.
Here’s how it works. You need:
1. A Youtube video, such as:
Maru the Cat:
2. The Video Riot code:
http://sp0t.org/videoriot/?pause=false&animate=false&invert=false&lumakey=0.25&luma_bw=true&brightness=1&contrast=1.15
&saturation=1&scale=1.195042321644498&stepDown=1&jumpyBar=false&source=http%3A//www.youtube.com/
watch%3Fv%3DJaiyznGQ&colorize=false&palette=http%3A//sp0t.org/videoriot/Morris_Louis_Where.jpg&
start_time=6&
Remove the part you see in bold type.
3. Copy the last part of the Youtube video code, highlighted for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPzNl6NKAG0
4. Replace #3 where the bold type in #2 was.
5. Copy the entire new link, which should now look like this:
http://sp0t.org/videoriot/?pause=false&animate=false&invert=false&lumakey=0.25&luma_bw=true&brightness=1&contrast=
1.15&saturation=1&scale=1.195042321644498&stepDown=1&jumpyBar=false&source=http%3A//
www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DhPzNl6NKAG0&colorize=false&palette=http%3A//sp0t.org/videoriot/
Morris_Louis_Where.jpg&start_time=6&
6. Copy the link and paste it into your browser (Chrome, Firefox, and Safari work).
[Thanks to ML for copying pasting an example so I could make this clearer to readers how to make your own mashups. You always manage to make things clear and easy to understand]
Is that too clumsy for you? From Scott Draves (via email), you can use the website itself (Video Riot) to do the same thing:
The video mashup will show up on the Video Riot website. After viewing, click on the “share your creation link”, or copy paste the code to a link shortener like bit.ly or goo.gl, and send to friends, share on your Social Media platforms. I noticed how the feedback on the moving parts creates a definable contrast against its context, highlighting movement against an unmoving backdrop. While you get the nice psychedelic colors on the moving object, you can see more clearly spatial representation. I find that very exciting for looking at the structure of a dance choreography rather than just the technique. How about analyzing a band playing together as they make small movements, like people in an active conversation.
Thanks to ML for copying pasting an example so I could make this clearer to readers how to make your own mashups. You always manage to make things clear and easy to understand.
Rent Or Buy Art For Home And Office
The other day, some of us at the Old Rainier Brewery were talking about art in our homes. We have double tall ceilings and wall space that lets us show a little more creativity (or in my case, minimalism) than your traditional apartment space. I’ve always had a hankering to have rotating art in my place, but unless you’re a museum or a corporation, that isn’t financially feasible… until now. Here’s how you can rent or buy art for your home or office. It’s like Netflix for art!
First, watch this video on how you can get a high-quality print of artwork to your home or office with TurningArt.com:
Depending on how large of a print you wish to work with, you choose a pricing plan ($10/mo. for a 16 x 20 inch, or $30/mo. for 24 x 30 inch). They send you a frame with a removable back panel. After you browse their catalog of prints and place your selections in queue, you’ll be sent art to rotate in your home or office. Hate a piece? No worries, because you’ll be getting a new piece. You just place the previous art back in a mailer you are sent with address done for you on a sticker, and put the new piece on the frame. Love a piece? You’ll have options to purchase an original print. Seems pretty simple.
The only negative review I saw out there was to tell you to read the fine print. For example, if you damage the artwork, you’ll have to pay $75. [Umm, I don't understand that, since prints in stores without a frame cost around $15-$20, tops]. Also you should realize that any print of artwork for TurningArt.com is meant to fit in the frame size you selected; that means, a 16×20 frame can hold art prints that are much smaller. Therefore, the frame might be better placed on a smaller wall in an office than on a large wall as a stand alone in your living room. On the plus side, each dollar you spend earns you an ArtCredit, which you can apply towards the purchase of an original print. You can also purchase gift subscriptions for your friends. [I dunno, but that seems like a fun artsy gift if you gave a three-month subscription to a friend]. The website should probably do a better job at make it easier for clients to cancel a subscription or restart a subscription (i.e. putting a subscription on hold if you own or rent more than one place].
Since I haven’t tried this for myself [yet!], I can’t speak to whether the prints are truly “high quality prints”, or whether they look that beautiful when prints of a different size are made into smaller prints than their original conception. You can check out TurningArt’s “Browse Art” page, and flip through the kinds of artists they have curated so far.
Because of its affordability, TurningArt.com can expose you to new art and artists, and eventually put that art in your home or place of work for you to enjoy. While I’m fortunate enough to have people bring in their art several times a year for me to enjoy, I think this is a great idea that can continue to grow so that more people can afford art.
What do you think? Is this another wave of the future? If art can be rented like Netflix DVD’s and streaming, what other ideas can you think of to get art into your home or office?
iKlip Mini Review
IK Multimedia has done it again! For those of you with an iPod Touch or iPhone4, DJ’ing and creating music just got a little easier by way of a handy gadget. The iKlip Mini microphone stand adaptor holds your device securely while a large screw adjusts to the diameter of any microphone stand, pole, or tripod with the diameter of 11- 20 millimeters. It has an additional piece which holds an iRig adaptor, so if you use software apps like Amplitube, the adaptor conveniently holds the iRig in place.
Of course, there are more uses than just music creation and entertainment. Check out my video review of the iKlip Mini on my Youtube channel, Yourlilchinagirl:
The iKlip Mini is made of hard, durable plastic. The spring loaded portion that holds your device is very secure (even more so than the standard “claw” tripods I’ve reviewed in the past), because there is no way I’d put my iPhone4 at risk out of its case if I thought for a second it wouldn’t hold. Over curbs, railroad tracks, potholes, and driveways, it held tight! Impressive, eh?
Of course, this is just one more great product from IKMultimedia that I’m adding to my collection to help me create music and provide entertainment. The even better news: IKMultimedia has agreed to ship me a few extra items from their family of products to give away during the Old Rainier Brewery Artwalk. If you make a donation to Give Meshelly A Hand (my personal fundraiser for Meshelly George, who is a candidate for a hand transplant from the Mayo Clinic) sometime during the evening of October 15, your name will be entered in a drawing to win one of these items from IKMultimedia.
While you might balk at a price point of $39.99, remember that this gadget is sturdy. It attaches the way a bike lamp does: with a large and durable screw. Frankly, I haven’t seen anything as good as this, and if it can handle your device on the road, it certainly can handle it on the stage. For those of you who will be purchasing an iPhone5 next month: I haven’t heard word about the new iPhone5′s design specs to know if it will fit as snugly in the iKlip Mini, so I’ll give you an update when it comes out. As long as the depth of the iPhone5 does not exceed the iPhone4, and as long as the curved design does not defy the iKlip Mini’s fit, you’re looking at a well-designed gadget that’s going to get a lot of use!
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