Monday, June 30, 2008

Vlog: Vimeo Meetup 2008

Vimeo is the best video sharing site online, full of original videos from the most amateur of us to the most amazing professionals, and all of it is set in a context of maturity and support, as opposed to the frenetic teen-minded-haters of YouTube. I love YouTube for a lot of things, but nothing beats Vimeo for its inspiration and sense of community. Not everyone is trying to be all fancy with their videos, but it's clear that most are putting some amount of effort into the creativity, message, and experience of the video, so that even the simplest of the videos is easily appreciated.

So the Vimeo Peeps got together and set up a Vimeo Meetup for all of us local to NYC (though many came from far far away to be there), and we danced our boo-tays off. We had such a nice time.

I didn't know what to expect from the night, so for a long time we stood around, waiting, listening to the music, and enjoying the social atmosphere... but eventually it became clear that this was just... a party! I was expecting some presentation or something, but it was just to socialize and have fun. I met some really sweet, kind people who have some really amazing things on Vimeo. I'll add a few samples below my vlog!



VLOG: Vimeo Meetup 2008 from CocteauBoy on Vimeo.


OTHER VEEPS:


Zupa HD HDR Time-Lapse from tino stanicic on Vimeo.


These are not mis-sized below. Your mouse should be able to find the PLAY button, and then remove your mouse from the image to see the gorgeous work done here, or just follow the links below each vimeo to see them in their full HD glory at the original site.


Regarding the Nature of Luminance in Ubiquitous Darkness from Karen Abad loves Dinosaurs. on Vimeo.



Memory Bank 120389a from Karen Abad loves Dinosaurs. on Vimeo.



Leading from Christopher Galasso on Vimeo.



Bunny Rescue Mission from Loonachic on Vimeo.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

DREAM: Dead Rodents

I had a very strange dream last night (as if my dreams aren't always strange).

DREAM

I dreamt I was at Cyprus's parents house, even though the house was not recognized and is not the same as her parents' house in waking life, and we were sitting around, watching TV. Her parents weren't her parents in waking life, either. In my dream, they were our friends, Sandy and Larry.

For some reason I decided to go get a blanket from the closet. There was a thin, white blanket, kind of like a jersey sheet, lying on the floor of the closet. I reached for it and it moved. My hand cringed back to me and I looked closer at the blanket. Part of it was disappearing into a space that was between the floor and the wall. I grabbed the blanket and pulled at it. It pulled back! It was like fishing, with a fish tugging at the end of the line. I pulled harder and sure enough, pulled through the crack came a tiny, little mouse. I was surprised by the strength it had. I tugged at the blanket until the mouse let go and then it scurried back into the wall.

I didn't want to make a big deal of this, but I wanted to tell Cyprus that there was a mouse in the house. I carried the blanket with me to the doorway of the living room and waved discreetly to her to come into the other room with me. She did.

In hushed tones, I started to tell her about the mouse. She shifted her weight as she listened intently to me and put one foot on a beanbag chair that was in this sitting room. Suddenly a horrifying odor wafted up toward us and it was the smell of a dead rodent (if anyone has ever smelled this, it is one of the most upsetting smells on the planet). I looked down at her foot on the beanbag and I saw that she had placed her foot on a large, dead, bloated rat! Her foot had squished into the rotting softness and caused the release of those horrible smells!



She freaked out and pulled her foot back, shivering and looking completely disoriented and I just stood there, wide-eyed. There was no hiding our conversation from her parents, so a lot commotion ensued as we dealt with the reality of my finding a mouse and now this dead rat.

I don't remember much of what happened next, but the final thing I remember is eating Twizzlers (strawberry licorice sticks) from a bag on the counter in the kitchen. I leaned against the counter and chewed one up, then reached for another, pulling it from the sticky inside of the bag... I ate it, too. I think Cyprus and her parents were, at this point, dealing more directly with the rodent issue and I was just wandering around, finding these delicious Twizzlers.

I reached for another in the bag and that's when I saw through the clear part of the bag, almost obscured by the lettering and logo, a dead mouse stuck to one side of the inside of the bag!

I started retching...

I woke up.

END DREAM

WAKING LIFE ANALYSIS:

Clearly this was a strange processing of my day, yesterday, because I spent a great deal of it "mouse-proofing" my apartment. I have now seen a mouse in my apartment on several occasions, but very few and far between. I never have a mouse or bug problem, so I don't usually get too concerned about it. I attributed my sightings to the fact that some construction and renovation have been going on in my building that the little mice were just passing through. But I don't want to be a passageway for rodents, so rather than setting traps and killing them (I refuse to do so), I would rather just take preventative measures. I have tried to find every possible point of entry and fill it with steel wool and that expanding foam stuff you can buy from the hardware store. So that's what I did, yesterday.

I think it must have carried over into my dreams.

Now, why they were dead and rotting and playing tug-o-war with a blanket... I don't know!

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Vlog: 2 Videos

Just a couple of videos from recent vlogging...


The update for Cyprus's Boob. A "spiculated density" was found several months ago... this video is another of her on-going followups.

FIRST TRIP (part one)
http://vimeo.com/349632
FIRST TRIP (part two)
http://vimeo.com/349641

SECOND TRIP:
http://vimeo.com/407576


A quick apartment update and some thoughts on CHANGE

OTHER APARTMENT UPDATES:
http://www.vimeo.com/388969
http://www.vimeo.com/599557