Rick Rolled

It's known by now that I work ahead. I just saw a YouTube video of Rick Astley in the Macy's TDay Parade. Did you know that he actually DID Rick Roll everyone? I was joking in my post "Rick Astley Parade." But, he really sang it!!! You see some puppet singing the theme to "The Courtship or Eddie's Father" and then the needle of the record is ripped off the vinyl and "Never Gonna Give You Up" starts playing! Hysterical.

Update coming on YouTube. Stand By!

Two Quick Posts

I'm a slow learner. Today I posted the Rick Astley Parade vlog and immediately followed it with Christmas Boom Box. Since one is a regular commentary and the boom box entry is a radio story, I knocked the first vlog out of the subscribers box only an hour after it posted. Not very smart.

Simply put, there are always things to vlog about. But from here on I'll pace myself between entries in days and not hours. Lucky for you, the Video Bar has them both right now.

Distracting Bill

Three months ago a friend suggested that I post old clips from Bill Tv on YouTube. They had lost some VHS tapes and wanted to see a feature that they remembered. Distracting Bill was originally part of the old Bill Tv and was from a tape in 1994. That's how I looked 15 years ago. It was done as a space filler between features on the tape.

On September 22, I posted my first new entry after another friend asked if there would ever be any new Bill Tv material. What they really wanted to know was if I would ever do any more song parodies. I'd like to but don't have the time right now.

Turkey Viagra

My good friend Sebastian was asking this morning (I truly mean morning...about 3:00 AM my time) how long it took to make a Bill Tv Vlog? The answer is an hour and a half to two hours. I record entries and they come to me and when I reach three I start editing. The last part takes the longest time.

Yes, that was Nathan covering his ears in this vlog, too. I grew up watching Elvis movies. When I was about 10 years old the fun thing to do on a Saturday was to go downtown and catch a movie. There was usually a Three Stooges, Disney or Elvis movie playing in one of the three movie houses. That's an Elvis impersonatoe in the Viagra commercial. That, or Elvis is still alive like we all thought. The Turkey part is obvious at this thanksgiving holiday.

A vlogger named Nacgonegal was kind enough to give me a shoutout. He said that if I was a 'hot piece of ass' I'd probably have a million subscribers. LOL!!! In life's physical attributes I didn't fare very well. But, I more than make up for it with body odor.

Happy Thanksgiving. I'm grateful to all who view.

Close Shave

Several folks have commented on Nathan's performance on Close Shave. I have to agree it was spot on. He sat in on the editing and made some great suggestions. It was his idea to have the dialog with myself continue as I walk to the door and when he's running away from the house. Needless to say, without Nate, I would have been a guy in my house with a face full of shaving foam.

A viewer was asking if I was leaving the "three topics" format. Not at all. I just thought that 'Close Shave' was just right to stand on it's own. I feel it would have gotten lost if mixed with other segments. You'll be happy to know that the next installment, "Turkey Viagra," is ready to be posted in a couple of days.

Three Topics

The latest vlog is named Three Topics. Comments either positive or negative are great because they tell you what people understand and want. Some have stated that my vlogs are very random. I'm sorry but that's my life. There is a lot going on and none of it ever fits in the same category. I even tried editing topic by topic and it wasn't very good.

Soon there will be one vlog that I think everyone will like. It's just one story and it really demands the entire blog for itself. It also happens to have two great ingredients. It's true and funny.

Storm Warning

I neglected to point out how the storm warning ended. It was a strong band of heavy rain which never developed into a tornado. That's why the sirens were activated. My town is still recovering from the Mothers Day tornado that did millions of dollars of damage here. I can't blame them for warning early just in case.

Oh, and to answer another question. I do work ahead. Already in the "can" (so to speak) is something called "Unfinished Business" and a "Magician" joke.

I've been posting in very rapid order of late. I'm going to slow down a bit and try to have a reasonable amount of days between posts. It's just that sometimes current things need to be posted right then. And, the holiday are here!

Kid With A Credit Card

In "Vlog Dollar Store Phobia" I had a clip of my old radio show at the end where I asked a kid to give his Master Card number and expiration date on the air to win an Arby's sandwich.

The answer is, no. He never gave out the number. The comedy was in his asking for the card from his parents.

Don't Celebrate On Subscriber Numbers

My most recent vlog made comment in the text that it was a celebration of forty subscribers to my YouTube account. Four hours later I was back down to 39. LOL!!!!

I have to say that I love this. Life is filled with irony and YouTube as a great place to display it. My newest obsession is proving to have some very fun twists and turns.

YouTube Video Replies

If you've seen my latest reply to Crabstickz Vlog on "Some like it Vlogged" you may be asking yourself, "Why would this old man do this?" I couldn't agree more. (And I wonder why I only have 39 subscribers.) It's an old joke. So, since I'm sort of an old joke myself, why not! Plus, I'm a big fan of Chris, AKA Crabstyckz. So I hope you can find it in my heart to forgive me.

The End Credit

I took the drop logo from the end credit and now use it on my Vlogs. It's really a tribute to the original Bill Tv done in the 90's. There's even a Production Elements Playlist dedicated to these features. You'll notice the drop down logo at the beginning. That's done with an old Videonics MX1 video mixer that I still have. (I wonder if it even works anymore? Hmmmm!?!)

The song credit rightly belongs to Stewart Rodgers, aka Stewze, for allowing me to use part of a song he wrote, sang and produced for the opening of Bill Tv. He is certainly a generous and gifted talent.

Any other credits are put at the top for tha episode. It's the YouTube way!

More Graphics

I'm going to start using more graphics on Bill Tv. I guess you can consider this a warning? This upcoming vlog they will add to the explanation of the latest toy inducted into the hall of fame. I use an old version of Photo Impact which has been bought by another company now. I use it for my web graphics and anything else that requires a visual aid. I don't know whether to use an old one that was original to Bill Tv or create something new. I guess we'll both find out in a couple of days.

How It's Made

I've had a couple of messages asking how I put these together. You can see details of equipment and software I use in an earlier post. It's very old. Because of the quirky software I have to load the clips and intro and outro all at once. If I don't the files corrupt. I have no idea why.

When I get an idea for a subject I usually tape it right away. So, the vlog is made all during the week. I've learned that four topics is enough to follow for a two or three minutes. I wish I could say I put lots of planning into what topic will go where in the edit. Somehow it all comes together. I did try one vlog where I just sat and talked. A friend told me to go back to the original way. lol

What's The Deal With Subscriptions?

I've had some generous posts asking why I don't have any more subscribers than I do? I didn't think I deserved any. (see previous post) So, I guess my answer is that I don't go actively seeking them and am truly surprised when I get a new one. So, THANK YOU those that have already.

My way of creating these things is the same way I did my radio show. I hope that if I like it, then others will also. I have to say that I've been influenced by so many youtubers who are very creative and do fantastic work. They make it look effortless.

So, you won't see me begging anyone to subscribe, friend, rate or post about my efforts. That way, I know that if you do, you'll really mean it.

Sawing My Leg

I recently noticed that my posting of an old Bill Tv segment, "Sawing My Leg" has had almost 1,000 views. Whaaaat? Here are two comments.

"that was the most pitiful video I've ever and i mean ever have seen"

and

"... this isn't even worth speaking of."

I agree! Although it seems ironic that the one who said it wasn't worth speaking of decided to post anyway. Maybe, perhaps, hoping that I would never post again? Oh, that you should be that lucky.

The first thing that struck me is that both posters had no original videos on their accounts at all. The second thought is that "Sawing My Leg" is old Bill Tv content and only intended for a private select video audience.

What you need to know is that this is all about fun. I don't take any of this seriously. If you're expecting to see quality postings you may be very disappointed.

What Do You Use To Edit?

I am often asked what I used to edit the Vlogs on YouTube. The computer is a Pentium III 800 using a Canopus DV Raptor editing card. The software is Adobe Premiere 5.1. The software on this machine has lots of quirks. Plus, it's no longer supported because Canopus sold out to Grass Valley.

Plus, you wouldn't believe what I have to do to get the video onto YouTube. Here are the steps.

1. Load footage from camcorder.
2. Edit footage. (Because of one of the quirks, I have to delete and download every clip in one step for a vlog or it corrupts other clips. This includes the opening which has to be re-loaded every time.
3. Playback finished vlog and record it on a rewritable +DVD
4. Take DVD and encode it with DVD Fab using the iPod setting.
5. Upload to YouTube.