Vlogging

The newest craze on the internet is vlogging, making a video log instead of a printed log, which sounds like a really cool idea. I got introduced to this both through Steve, and also through Rob, who has been doing vlogging since before there was such a term. I was intrigued, of course, and had to try this new medium, so I set up my own site on Ourmedia, where I've posted a few movies, mostly of the dogs. (The latest one is the funniest--also my first attempt at editing and adding a soundtrack).

Our Media is the next "in" web site that people appear to be flocking to and so I've spent some time checking out the movies that have been posted. With few exceptions (I live for the exceptions), they are all pretty boring. Perhaps funny to a selected age range/audience, but in the random hits that I made today, I didn't find one that was as interesting as the kinds of things that Steve is doing, with his plot-based movies, humor, etc.

Also, most of the members seem to be about 12 (well, at least compared to me!) The frustrating thing about being 62 is that I still have a hunger to do all this fun new stuff, but I have fewer and fewer peers. I set up an OurMedia group for "Saucy Senior Citizens," hoping to find someone other than Steve and myself, who have lived at least 50 years.

A good example of the frustration is having an e-mail exchange with a guy who signed my journal guestbook saying he'd found me looking for his wife's old high school. Turns out his wife graduated the year before I did and I vaguely remember her. But he says, "She browses well, but resists the email tool." In this day and age it's odd to think of anybody who doesn't do e-mail, but there are those who do not, especially in my age group.

So I'm left with posting my own boring entries and learning little bits and pieces as I go along (hey--today I learned how to trim a clip, how to edit a clip, and how to add a soundtrack, which I think is pretty good!) I'm hoping that as the art of vlogging grows, there will soon be more films of things other than someone saying "so tell me what you're doing now?" or sitting there saying "ummm" a lot (that's the kind of movie I'd probably make if I tried doing a personal video log), or doing silly things that are interesting only to a select few.

(I will admit that the vlog about an ultrasound to detect the sex of a baby was pretty cool, tho).

It is a medium work in progress, but I have to admit that I still enjoy the ability to read a well-written paragraph than seeing the person talking about the same thing. At least at the moment, at least after being able to put face to words. (Sometimes I think the vision we have in our minds is better...we are all pretty much nerds and most of us LOOK like nerds--so do we really want to broadcast that to the universe?)