An Awareness Test Video

Here is a quick video to test your Awareness in life. Enjoy!!!

Relationship advice from Madea

Chi sent me this through Facebook. Makes me evaluate who the roots are among my friends. I know who they are and so do they. Here is hoping you have many roots yourself.

Rotterdam Event writeup

Last Month I did some moderation for an event at the International Rotterdam Film Festival here in Holland. There is a write-up in independent magazine about it. Have a look!

Blogging Rotterdam, Part Five: Understanding Europe’s Zeal for Media Literacy The Independent’s Randi Cecchine, a filmmaker and educator from New York City, is impressed to learn that governments in Europe are eager to come up with policies to promote media literacy among their citizens, particularly young people. But as a European friend suggests, the role of the government in establishing guidelines concerning media literacy and education can be complicated—especially if media makers are cut out of the policy-making loop.

Via: Randi Cecchine on www.independent-magazine.org

Here is my quoted excerpt (for family to be proud) the rest you should really read if you are interested in this stuff.

Gabriel McIntyre (I’ll call him Gabemac) was the charming conference moderator. I found it interesting that they chose an American to lead the discussion. Gabriel is originally from Atlanta, but has lived in the Netherlands for many years, working as an educator and with emerging technology and advertising.

He helped me understand the European media literacy context a little more clearly, reminding me that most media is funded by the government, and that historically media has often been used for propaganda for pretty bad purposes. The notion is that if the government has such a large role in creating the media, it also has a responsibility to enhance the cultural undersanding of media.

I ask Gabe what he thinks comes out of events like this.

“Policymakers make policy. It’s up to artists to take the policy and make it right. That’s always how it is, in any democratic society. And if they didn’t make right policies, the artists wouldn’t take it up. Or they would say, you screwed up there—this is better.

This is Performance Art

Teaching Design for Virtual Theater and Games I often find myself explaining to people what that actually means. I tend to use examples of what it is rather than the philosophy (which is a real long keynote if you ever have the time). However this video really reminds me of the kinds of stuff that my students would do. Have a look and enjoy how much fun it is to give people the feeling they are in a twilight zone for just a little while.

Getting Married!!!

I just heard that my good friend Steve (who has been there for me through a lot of shit) has popped the question and is getting married! He is in Australia at the moment and decided to ask Ghislaine there. I have to admit I was rather surprised becuase I never thought Steve would want to get married, but I guess when the right woman comes around, you just go in full throttle sometimes as a romantic. I wish the both of them lots of happiness and now I get to save for a possible trip to Australia for the wedding! SWEEEET!!!

Appreciate what you have

This is a great video to remind ourselves of what we have and to focus on the wealth and privileges we have. If you are able to see this you have an internet connection and a computer and are very privileged. Remember that. First step to change is awareness.

liftyourmobile

Laurent from Lift posted this video he made of me at the DLD this week.

DLDconference

We are in Munich this week for the DLD 08 conference making films. This is the first one to get things kicked off. A really great conference with lots of amazing people. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some good interviews up on Watchme from it. Here is the first film.

Link: sevenload.com

Me and Uncle Jack

Me and Uncle Jack

It’s good to be back and see everyone. This is me and my uncle Jack. We used to go climbing together when I was a kid. We don’t do that nowadays. Maybe someday soon though.

Coming Home

Watch the video

I haven't been home in a while. Things have gotten pretty crazy with private life and with XOLO. I needed to get away and get back to who I am. The best feeling in the world when you feel betrayed is to come home and feel the love. And with my family, EVERYONE shows up, aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends all come together, eat, drink and give me love and support. There is no greater gift in the world than that. I am the luckiest man!

Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

The XOLO Tag cloud

GabeB and Rudy made this awesome Tag Cloud animation for XOLO.

Create Your BiZ, CRBZ.TV is launched

I’m so happy to announce I have just launched a new show from XOLO.TV called CRBZ.TV. Create YouR BiZ.TV. Basically we go around filming all new web startups, but we go to the homes of those who founded it. It’s gonna be very cool and I’m really excited. RSS feeds to subscribe will be coming after episode 2. Fo now, just goto CRBZ.TV and check it out. The first episode is with Felix Paterson of Plazes. Upcoming episode is with SellaBand.

Highschool comes back to haunt me on Facebook!!!

I just got tagged on Facebook with this picture. It’s an old picture from Highschool and Chi Byers tagged it for me. Man that reeled me back a few years. I’m not sure what that spot is on my face. I think it’s on the picture when it was scanned. Man I loved those shoes.

Great ECO saving billboard idea

South Africa’s state owned electricity provider Eskom leads by example in this cool advertising campaign.

Birthday for Mac the XOLO alpha will launch!

It’s My Birthday!!! YEAH!!!

It’s that time of year to play this awesome song from my firend Steve! Furthermore for my Birthday WE ARE LAUNCHING THE XOLO ALPHA!!! How cool is that. So here’s the deal. Today we will be sending out the first 10 invites, checking the system and then follow with some more invites. It may take a week to get through our list, but we are starting. What a great birthday present that is. If you haven’t sigend up to be a tester you can still do that at www.xolo.tv still, but you have to be fast.

For those who are wondering what I’m doing for my birthday, I will be at the Holland New festival every evening from now until friday. Friday there is a cool party, so come by and have a drink with me.

It’s a great day so far!!!!

HOLLANDSE NIEUWE

Watch the video

Van donderdag 25 t/m zaterdag 27 oktober presenteren Cosmic theater en Made in da Shade het tienjarige jubileum van het Hollandse Nieuwe festival. Dit festival vindt plaats op 10 verschillende locaties op het terrein van de Westergasfabriek. Alle activiteiten in het festival worden speciaal samengesteld rond een jaarlijks wisselend thema. Het thema van 2007 is: familie.

Het festival presenteert vijftien nieuwe eenakters van toneelschrijvers en theatermakers. De nieuwe, ongespeelde theaterteksten worden gepresenteerd als geënsceneerde readings, door gerenommeerde acteurs, regisseurs, vormgevers èn door nieuw talent.

www.hollandsenieuwe.nl

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: arts, amsterdam, dutch, theater, plays, festival, music, fun, talent, culture, crossborder, dance, create, drama, talent, award, cosmic, shade

Go Big Or Go Home

Watch the video

GO BIG OR GO HOME, landelijke tournee van do 11 okt
07 t/m di 18 mrt 08 (première do 25 okt, Amsterdam,
Theater Frascati)
Een grensverleggende ontmoeting met de Amsterdamse
straat, Amerikaanse en Zuid Afrikaanse invloeden, break
dance uit IJsselstein, moderne dans met een Boliviaanse
touch, krachtige Afrikaanse dans, Spaanse en Braziliaanse
ritmes die met hip hop kruisen.

GO BIG OR GO HOME is the new production from the Amsterdam Dance Group "Don't Hit Mama". Crossing borders dance with street, american and south african influences. Modern dance with Bolivian touch, African dance, Spannish and Brazilian rythms with hip hop mixes. National tour in Holland is from thurs. 11 october '07 until 18 march '07 (Premiere is 25, october 2007 in Amsterdam Theater Frascati)

WWW.DONTHITMAMA.NL

Music by The Brew

Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: hiphop, dance, amsterdam, donthitmama, theater, theatre, african, spanish, brazilian, music

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too.

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too.
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh, and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Thanks In-ah!

Poker night @ GabeB’s

Poker night @ GabeB’s

Last Friday we played some Poker at GabeB’s. Mindcaster, bicycleMark and Richard Bluestein showed up as well. Richard grabbed the tape recorder and just put it on the table to a show. You can hear it here. I won a whole 10 euro that night! YEAH!!! It was actually just great to see Richard and the Mark(c)s all together.

DLD Book

L1134213-2.jpg

I made the DLD book this year. How cool is that! Thanks to Guido for making this picture.

Open Id converstaion @ Picnic 2007

Watch the video

This video is a panel discussing OPEN ID and it’s uses with the heads of Twitter, jaiku, People Aggregator, Skipper, Hyves.nl, LinkedIn, XING and more. Very long, but very informative.

Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Tags: jaiku, twitter, openid, marccanter, picnic07, hyves, linkedin, sxipper, xing, web2.0, conference, amsterdam, picnic

Arielle at Cambridge in Midsummer Night’s Dream

For Mom and Dad. I finally digitized and uploaded this film for you. For the rest of you this is a video of my sister Arielle performing in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” while she was at a summer college in Cambridge this past year. It was great to be able to see her. If you are wondering which one she is, she plays Oberon. If you still don’t know who that is, she is the one with the long red hair. So now Mom and Dad you can finally watch this! Please note, if you want to watch it in Fullscreen mode, click here.

Click To Play

Guido van Nispen and the iTouch

Yesterday at Picnic Guido was showing me his new iTouch. That’s basically a touch screen iPod for those taht don’t know. And of course he had XOLO.TV on it. Very funny and very cool.

Picnic 2007 Badges

This year at picnic they have some really fun ideas with the confrence badges. On the badge you see photos of other attendees that match your own profile. They also place all the tags you have on your profile on your badge as well. How funny was it when I saw Jens’s badge from BMW and on his badge he had Gabe B.’s photo of people he needs to meet. (picture below). Just now Bruno Giussani walked up to Mindcaster and asked how his Wifi was working. I pointed out to Mindcaster that Bruno was one of the people on his badge. Hilarious. It’s a small world conference.

Picnic 07 in Amsterdam

For those who are interested, I will be speaking on the panel “Transforming Media” being hosted by Divx at the Picnic Festival in Amsterdam. The panel is in the Engine room on Wed. 26 and is from 10:00 to 13:00. If you are there, give me a shout out!

Furthermore there are lots of interesting things to be seen at picnic, for free. If you have the time next week, check out the program. The conference track is 900+ euro (I know it’s pricey) but you don’t need that for all events.

Fish Dinner anyone?

GabeB doesn’t like to eat fish. But I’m sure that this fish placed on his plate would FREAK him out. I know it would freak ME out! It’s the BlobFish!!!!!
Enjoy your meal.

GabeB and Mindcaster Paris

MINDCASTER :: A ROOM WITH A VIEW: Huit Heures A Paris

Mindcaster posted a great video of a trip he and GabeB took to Paris last week to talk to Damien and TV Loonland about publishing their content.

Lowlands 2007

A video compilation of my experince at the Music Festival Lowlands 2007. It was a great festival again this year. Thanks to Wiendelt, Hugo, Hans, Patricia, Peter-bas, Marieke, Walter, Stephan and of course Tamara!!!!

Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Tags: music, musicvideo, lowlands, gabemac, tamleroy, holand, festival, party

Xoloitzcuintle baby

Who could not find this type of dog adorable? (Unless your name is Tamara).

Design for Virtual Theater and Games Diplomas

1st years

Thursday was one of those great evenings. For those that don’t know I teach at the College of Arts of Utrecht. I teach at the Design for Virtual Theater and Games faculty. Last Thursday we gave out graduation diplomas.

This year we gave out the most 1st year diplomas that we can remember. We’re not getting easier in giving them out, it just shows that the curriculum after so many years is really starting to work. If it was crap work, we wouldn’t pass them. But it’s not. The level is getting higher every year and the students are following with the expectations.

It gives you a special feeling to see so many students standing in the line. But then it gets even better. We give out the graduation diplomas. This is always a very proud moment for myself. Up until a few years ago I only taught 1st and second year students at the HKU. Now I am a mentor for 4th year students. Seeing THEM receive diplomas is the best feeling you can get. The other night I was watching a boxing coach saying how he was more nervous seeing his pupils go into the ring than when he was boxing for his country in the Olympics. There is a lot of truth to that. Let me tell you why I am so proud about them.

Rene

First there is Rene. Rene’s mind runs at 200 mph. Incredible ideas and his mouth moves just as fast. Sometimes it’s hard for me to keep up with him and his thoughts. He really improved this last year and shined. Even though he is not very technical, he made an incredible installation. Imagine walking into a room and you see a video wall. As you walk closer to the wall, you start to see your silhouette. However, you don’t see yourself in your silhouette, but someone else in another location somewhere else in the world. If you get to close to see the person, the connection is broken forever and you see someone else at another location. It was really cool to try and hold onto this moment with some other person in some other location across the world. For that brief moment you saw someone else in your body, and they saw you in theirs somewhere. Now to me that is digital Art at it’s best.

Fabian

Then there is Fabian. Fabian and I both had losses in our family around the same time. However Fabian’s losses and troubles with family members were more than I had. It was a really rough time for him, however he finished the group project he was doing with flying colors, and then he took time to take off a while from his study to help out his family. Then to see him come back, and create a project wherein, for the first time I have ever seen, is able to create a tension through pre-recorded and live footage combined with an actor on the stage, and his choice of sound scape and music to enhance the tension, WOW. All I can say is that he will become the David Lynch of theater. Extremely cool.

Claudia

Then there is Claudia. Claudia does not say much at all. She is one of those students you are always scared of as a teacher. Sitting in the class not saying much, but you know that they ARE working their butts off. In a group project you can rarely tell what they do, but you know if they were not there, no one would be performing. So the quiet Claudia decided to take a very personal subject, adoption, and create a theatrical piece around it, all on her own. Not only did she write the script, film interviews, edit footage, produce a play, ok she didn’t act herself, but did practically everything herself, was eventually her downfall. The first round she didn’t pass with her piece. But that didn’t stop her. She went back to the drawing board, and over the summer came back with a great piece. In somewhere in the last year she has started to find her voice. A voice that I hope to hear and see a lot more of in the future. Espically with how she works with another student Pim. The relationship Pim and Claudia reminds me a lot of Gabe B and myself.

wesley

Then there is Wesley. Wesley was always difficult to track down as a teacher, as in he was always off doing his own thing. However Wesley has developed his own genre of Art. Messages in food. I’m not talking about Chinese fortune cookies here. No, no, no. Wesley has made a couple of projects. One with chocolate and bon bons the other with hamburgers. Both projects have a installation where a couple sit in front of. They are handed a mic, and speak in a message. Depending on the waves in the voice various blow torches, spices, creams etc. activate to produce a unique taste to the chocolates or burgers, that is unique to the message being said. I have a video which I will post at a later date about how this works. But it is wonderful to see this installation come to life in front of you, and then give that food product to a loved one with the message.It REALLY works awesome. Keep an eye on Wesley, as I believe his installations will me making the festival scene.

So that is some of the work being done with my students. Later I’ll start talking about the projects that are going on this year and a look at some past works.

Top Rated All Time on VEOH

I saw this today. Apparently Gabe & Gabe’s world videos are number 3 on Veoh’s Top rated Series of all time at the moment! Very COOL!!! I have no idea how that happened.

Theater Festival Amsterdam

This is a short video of an acrobatics act that wrapped up the Theater Festival in Amsterdam. over 30 theaters were participating. There were more plays than you can throw a stick at. It’s at the scale of the Edinburgh’s festival, but that’s where the organizers are headed. Amazing that they got no funding from I Amsterdam. This is the kind of festival that needs more attention from the city and from sponsers. For more information check the TF1 website.

Create moving notes and hotlinks in video easy!!!

Asterix

I came across this really cool app for making notes in videos. You can make a new note, much like one does on flickr on any video you can find on Youtube and other such sites. (At the moment it’s mainly youtube). The cool thing is the note allows you to add a description, url link, and tags. The REALLY cool thing about this technology is that not only does it sense automatically when the shot edit happens, but it also AUTO-TRACKS the subject matter to a very high degree. This means your note follows the video. Oh yes, and you can have more than one note running in the same screen at once.

I grabbed a film we did of Luc Besson at the DLD conference in Germany last year and noted some of the people in the crowd. Have a watch, try it yourself. I really like this technology and app. I expect these guys are gonna go far……

Temporary service message

We changed servers so I had to change some stuff around. This should be updated soon. Man I hate this technical stuff.

Thai Cops have it real rough!

Apparently Thailand has a new punishment for Bad Cops. Ohh the horror! All cops who are caught littering, being late, parking illegally, taking bribes, etc. are foorced to where Hello Kitty armbands. The cuteness factor is so demaeining that the Police Corps think it will work.

Just think if they did this in New York. I see it now. “New York Cop kills 2 homosexuals and is forced to where a spongebob hat for 2 months.”

For the whole story read here.

OMG! All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash!!!

Now this is an Ugly dog

Our Mascot on XOLO is a rather ugly breed. But I think it is such an awesome looking dog. But this dog takes the cake. How could you not fall in love with a dog that looks like this.







ABC News: Bow Wow! N.J. Dog Named World’s Ugliest

The Chinese Crested dog “Elwood” appears at the 2007 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest Friday, June 22, 2007, in Petaluma, Calif. Elwood, who weighs in at just 6 lbs and was rescued as the result of a New Jersey SPCA investigation, has won the title of World’s ugliest dog of 2007. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Elwood, a 2-year-old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix, was crowned the world’s ugliest dog Friday, a distinction that delighted the New Jersey mutt’s owners.

Elwood, dark colored and hairless save for a mohawk-like puff of white fur on his head is often referred to as “Yoda,” or “ET,” for his resemblance to those famous science fiction characters.



“I think he’s the cutest thing that ever lived,” said Elwood’s owner, Karen Quigley, a resident of Sewell, New Jersey.

14062007154

What is it about reality shows?

People are always amazed at how much these reality shows and contests are so popular. It’s not crazy. What we are seeing is true drama, that is not being acted. I don’t care how good an actor you are, there is nothing like seeing real emotion, real drama or experiencing those fleeting moments that reality shows provide. As an example look at this clip to see this dorky mobile phone salesman bring tears (real emotion) to the crowd in this song contest.

Pirates of the Caribbean Japanese style

This should really bring a smile to your face. Johnny Depp gets all the fun.

Returning Home

Neville Hobson gave me a ride back from the conference in belgium. We had a great talk on the way back about geek stuff but life as well. It’s good to hear that his new company is working out well 4 him. We both feel it is an exciting time to be alive.

European communication award

At the first eu communication award party. Something new. I think i’d rather be at the vloggies for true communication awards. Shouldn’t jay dedman or peter van dijk get this award? No. Too bad. And The winner is mr. Gaya? The heads of UEFA. Football rules europe.

European Communication Summit

I have just arrived at the european communications summit in Brusseles. Lots of interesting people here, but i’m the only one without a suit. We’ll see how it goes. Now we are listening to how the web 2.0 is changing publishing.

Apple adds Youtube on Apple TV

I didn’t see this one coming. Apparently apple has added support for Youtube videos on apple TV. which says to me technically they’ve just allowed for Flash video on Apple tv. Which says further to me that adding Metacafe or Veoh films is only a hack away. could this mean that Flash video is going to take over as the dominant file system for video podcasting rather than Mpeg-4? I wonder.

Apple ads YouTube support for Apple TV

Joox.net

Here is another great site for viewing all kinds of movies, shows etc. It seems to all be published using DIVX and Stage6.com. The name of the site is Joox.net. Could it be a rip from the name Joost? What is interesting about this site is that people are allowed to upload and add links themselves.This way I guess they don’t have to worry about multiple log-ins. That’s one smart way. That is until the Hollywood companies start placing bad copies of the films on first, with drop-outs, bad sync sound, no ending etc. Or thy could just add annoying 30 second ads every 5 min. and place them on these sites. Luckily the boys and girls in Hollywood fight with lawyers rather than brains, so you should be able to enjoy this site for a while.



P.S. The site owners are trying to keep the porn off with difficulty.

Talking with Eboman at Picnic 07

L1133732.jpg

Eboman is a really interesting digital performance artist/dj/vj in the Netherlands.

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers

This is one of the coolest movie Mash-ups I’ve seen in a long time. Try and count how many movies you’ve seen from this clip, and let me know.

Technorati search just launched!

Just got a twitter from David Sifry (CEO Technorati) that he just launched a really sweeeeeet simple search site for technorati. Have a look at it. It is simple, has RSS feeds of the search, different settings, and is just plain sweet and simple.

Technorati Search

go bike yourself!

go bike yourself!

iFranz just posted this cool picture of these new saddle bags for his bike he had made. I’m so jealous!!!

Tam bar mask

Tamara found way to make masks from beer coasters

Complete list of video sharing sites.

I’ve put together a pretty comprehensive list of video sharing sites for all of you to go and spread your videos on virally. A warning though is that most of there are just a simple youtube ripoff, with simple flash streaming, but a few have some really nice features on them. Some of my favorites are veoh, blip.tv, google video, twango vpod and dailymotion. If I’ve missed any (which I’m sure I have) please post them in the comments, and also let me know which are your favorite and why. Thanks and Have FUN!

iFilm
YouTube
MetaCafe
Blip.tv
Twango
Veoh
Buzznet
MySpace
Google Video
JumpCut
Uncutvideo AOL
Blinkx
Bolt
Break.com
Breaktaker
Brightcove
CarSpace
Clevver
ClipFish
Coull TV
Current TV
Dalealplay
Dave.tv
eSnips
Eyespot
TV.com
uGoto
Viddler
VideoJug
Videolog.tv
VideoSift
VideoVat
Vidiac
Phanfare
Canopy Channel
123 Video
One World TV
Gamevideos
Vpod.tv
Yahoo Video
vSocial
OurMedia
EyeSpot
Revver
Vimeo
Grouper
Videoegg
Cruxy.com
Pickle
Filecabi.net
Flukiest
flicklife.com
Flurl
Gkko
Glumbert
GoFish
Guba
Imeem
Kewego
Lulu TV
ManiaTV
MedicineFilms
MeraVideo
vidiLife
Vidivodo
ViralVideo
vMix
Vodpod
YouAreTV
Yourdailymedia
YourOpenMedia
Zabim
Zango
Zannel
Pyro.tv
Prettysleek
Dailymotion
CastPost
ClipShack
Zippyvideos
motionbox
Flixn
LiveVideo
sharewire.net
sevenload
Stage6
MotionTV
Nelsok
OnfuegO
Openvlog
Panjea
Photobucket
Pooxi
Porkolt
PureVideo
SelfcastTV
Sharkle
SmartVideoChannel
Spymac
Stickam
Streetfire
StupidVideos
Sumo.tv
SupportTube
Thatvideosite
AddictingClips
AtomFilms
Broadbandsports
Putfile
VideoCodeZone
PIXPO
Flixya
4shared.com
Motiono.com

Open Source Cinema is here!

Okay. I know that Gabe B’s biggest dream is to have his film play in movie theaters and big screens all over the world. Me, I wanted to be playing on all the small screens like on iPod’s all over the world. It’s something we’ve teased each other about over the last 10 years of working with each other. (Yes, 10 years. You heard me right!) But now I’ve found a way to make his dream come true now that mine has come true.

In step BRAVE NEW THEATERS.COM

By signing up, people can buy a DVD or arrange for some download of our films and host screenings wherever they can. Everything from office parties, college get togethers to Art House cinemas can then play it.

YES!!!! Bauer. It’s time to release “Losing Face”!!!!

Blognomics 2007

Today I’m speaking at Blognomics 2007. It’s setup by my good friend Guido van Nispen to bring attention to the economics of blogging in Holland and the possibilities there of. Great stuff! I’m really happy to be a part of it this year.

WTF? Geekspeak help!!!!

After reading the comment from Tamara on my last blog post, and the fact that many people look over my sholder and ask me how I do THAT (whether that is some cool new web 2.0 app or revving up my laptops fans, I decided to start a separate blog with a bunch of Non-geek tips and tricks for my digital lifestyle. This blog is for those like Evert, and my brother and Sister who are getting new macs and want to geek it out, or for those who just want to really be on the edge without bleeding like Kelvin and Tamara.

And the GabeMac digital lifestyle blog is born! Enjoy!! And ask me questions in the comments there about what you would like answered. So go over and Check it OUT!
-Gmac

The Picture is of Evert showing his new Mac Laptop. I never thought I’d see the day!

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

What is that number? The key to unlock DRM on the new Blue Ray HDVDs. It’s been around for a while, since feb., and has been slowly creeping around the net in forums and such. It didn’t go big news until it got involved with a cover-up conspiracy on Digg however. Some lawyer thought it would be better to remove the post from this popular community news site, and all hell broke loose! So what’s so great about this code? I think it’s the base of the encryption that they use in the DRM butyou have to be a real GEEK to know how to use it, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until someone fits it into a keychain remote to kill the DRM in this new Technology. When will the Big Guys get it? DRM is gonna kill them. It’s pointless, useless and just causes a pain for people who actually pay for the content rather than those who are pirating it.

with thousands of Internet users now impudently breaking the law, Mr. Sprigman said that the entertainment and technology industries would have no realistic way to pursue a legal remedy. “It’s a gigantic can of worms they’ve opened, and now it will be awfully hard to do anything with lawsuits,” he said.

Example for you to think about. I don’t watch many of the shows on TV, as it’s on TV and I never have the time to watch them. But every now and then, I’ve got to keep up with what my students are talking about, so I have to watch a Heroes, or Lost or something. Where do I goto watch this? Sure you can Bittorrent this stuff all day (or weeks) waiting for episodes to download, but I’m impatient. I just got to one of these to sites for my movies and Tv shows if I don’t already have them on my Mail Rental DVD list.

Tvlinks
VideoHybrid

On a final thought, if Big Media wants us to pay money for content, I have a real simple solution for them. MAKE BETTER CONTENT!!!!! How many Summer Blockbuster line-ups this year are gonna be remakes or sequels? Something like 80%. Get creative guys!
Enjoy!

Mash-ups from friends

It’s always nice to see when good friends make a mash-up of the past years, and you see all these special moments that you were with them, or special moments of other friends. Even more so all the amazing things that you shared together or virtually. I think the sharing of virtual moments that really happen, and then recorded and vlogged is really special. It’s as if you are always with the ones you cherish, and the circle comes back inside by seeing other friends, girlfriends, loved ones having those special moments even without you there, but you still share the moments through this new medium. Okay, it’s early and I’ve just had my coffee, so maybe I should just say it was cool to open up netvibes this morning, and browse through my xolo tagged videos and see this mash-up again from Marc. Have alook and maybe you will understand. If not? Never mind. You will someday.

Collateral Damage – video powered by Metacafe

BLOF and van Velsen on XOLO CAS TV

Look at how cool this is. We decided to do a test case with our XOLO video up loader for the new Concert at Sea coming in Holland this summer. What is really cool though is that we are also doing the behind the scenes of the concert and Paskal from BLOF and the #1 artist at the moment van Velsen are doing an interview together. But Check out what is on the microphone!!! COOOOOOL!!!!! Big Thanks to the guys at BLOF!

Gmail and FON problems

It appears that FON and Gmail are not working well together at my plaze. For some reason both Tam and I are not able to get our Gmail via Pop or IMAP servers. I can only suspect it’s the Fonera router as direct connection works, other POPs work and the problem is happening on ALL our GMAIL account on both our machines. And there is not much on the internet about this problem yet. Well, I sent an e-mail to FON tech support to see what they could come up with. I just hope it gets solved soon for Tamara’s sake.

Powered by ScribeFire.

UPDATE
I figured out that the problem was with the FON and the DNS settings. Apparently what you have to do to solve this problem is change your DNS settings in your network settings on your computer. Seeing as how UPC has no real info on the DNS settings I found that openDNS works really well. Just goto openDNS and follow the instructions and it should work fine. Tam is happy that it’s working again and so am I.

Obama 1984

Presedential Candidate Barak Obama made a very cool viral film against Hilary Clinton.
Even though I like both Hilary and Barak, I still don’t feel the american majority will vote for a first female or first black male president. I still think Al Gore should run again. However, this is a very good piece of viral campaign film that I enjoy becuase it shows me that some candidates are REALLY using the interenet and the culture in thier campaign. Have a look. Plus I’m a mac geek.

European Cable Conference in Amsterdam

Gabe, Wiendelt, Ron, and Anina and I were invited to walk around the European Cable Conference in Amsterdam last month and do some filming. It wasn’t as cool as the DLD conference was. A LOT OF SUITS. But we made a few films, so it wasn’t a total waste. The intro video is below. More videos can be found here.

Music Light table from Spain

Spain really is a cool place to study. HAve a look at this awesome interface done my students at the Music Technology Group at the University Pompeu Fabra

Meetup in Montreal

I’m going to Montreal this week together with Tamara, and Martin Lessard has been kind enough to arrange a blogger meet-up there. I’m really stoked. Here is the link to his post with the details and the post below. I can’t wait!!!!

Gabe MacIntyre, AKA Bad Mother Vlogger, XOLO.TV Vlogger will be in Montreal. (French version)

To welcome him, I planned a gathering for all active/non-active/wannabe/curious blogger/vlogger/web2.0 trend setter of Montreal and vincinity,

Come on in for a drink: March 8th, 2007, from 5 pm à 7 pm at the Méliès. (Quite central, isn’t!)

Everyone are invited, join the club! (and 7pm isn’t really a formal limit)

So far here’s the one who confirmed their presence : Philippe Martin (from YulBuzz), Michel Leblanc, Éric Baillargeon, Sébastien Provencher, Marie-Chantale Turgeon, Christian Car (from Meïdia), Catalina Briceno.

If you’re interested, please leave me a comment to confirm that you’ll be joining us (just to make sure I make enough reservation in the lounge area).

Dolphin Masacre in Japan

This video is not for the faint hearted. If you love dolphins like I do, it will be difficult to watch. But what can we do?

If you goto this website you can at least sign a petition to get the Japanese government to change thier actions.

Vote to make me Vlog-a-licios

Hey everyone! Could you all do me a big favor frineds, colleagues, family and surfers by? Could you go over to the Valleywag and vote for me in that latest Vlog Hot contest? I’ve only got 6 votes! NO! It can’t be! Please help me keep my dignity! I really appreciate it!

Go Vlog Yourself on National TV

Go Vlog Yourself on National TV

How cool is this! This week on National TV in Holland the top band BLOF played a set. The guitarist was wearing a XOLO.TV shirt! A salute to all the vloggers! Oh yeah baby!!!! The guys from BLOF are so cool for doing that. Plus is great that I like their music as well. Always helps eh .

Which Superhero are you? Results

Apparently I am IRON MAN!!!! Cool. Iron Man rocks, although I think I would prefer to be the Silver Surfer and jet out of here sometimes. But then I’d miss Tamara too much, so she’d have to surf with me. But Iron MAn is pretty cool as well.

Your results:
You are Iron Man

Iron Man 80% Spider-Man 75% Hulk 70% Superman 65% Green Lantern 65% The Flash 60% Catwoman 60% Robin 50% Supergirl 50% Batman 45% Wonder Woman 40%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the “Which Superhero are you?” quiz…

A World Dance

There is a reason this video has been viewed 4.4 million times
by John in DC – 1/21/2007 01:32:00 PM

Matt is a 30 year old guy from Connecticut who traveled around the world and decided to film himself dancing, badly, on camera (using his simple little Canon digital camera, same one I’ve got). Then he got home, and edited the video by himself. That’s it. Watch it. You’ll be a better person for it. (And turn up your speakers.)

Read more about Matt here.

Science is so much fun

There are few teachers in my life that I’ve had that inspred me. Of course there was my Art teacher that got me into photography, my Geography teacher got me into nature, and for a few weeks there was Mr. Good, a substitute Physics teacher. And he was really the best science teacher I ever had. If I had him for more than a month maybe I would have ogne further in science to do fun stuff like this:

I’m feeling full. Too much chili.

Route 66 – From Thailand to Virtual friends

Route 66
Originally uploaded by aaleksander.

Most of the time you hear about people meeting eachother from other countries online first, then travelling great distances to meet ypo in real life. Well this is story is the exact opposite. While Tamara and I were travelling in thailand we met Alex from Poland. You know how backpackers meet-up. It was a day I’ll never forget becuase that day I heard I got my first seeding money for XOLO, and the day before Tamara and I swam with Dolphins. But I digress. We met up with Alex in a club on this island in Thailand, and he told about travelling around wanting to do photography professionally. He had more or less just started. I told him all about blogging, flickr, podcasting, vlogging etc. and he was really interested. Now a few months later I get a message from him that he has some of his travel photos online, and I REALLY like them. He’s thinking about doing some travel vlogs, and I wish him all the best with it. What I’m trying to say here is it’s nice to goto another country, meet someone from yet another country and then virtually travel with them after we have physically departed from one another. You never know who the highway or virtual highway has instore for your life.

I was right!!! The iPhone is out by Apple

I said it on XOLO.TV just a couple of weeks ago, and people didn’t notice. Well it is out! The Apple iPhone is here. Not a a complete iPod of 60 GB, but it just about is. For those who just got a N93 (like me) damn! Oh well. Something to get to test asap!!!

Here’s a link to the site.

Cheers!!!

P.S. I wonder if it has a vibrate function. Okay no jokes about the ibrator now!

ABM AMRO in Second Life

I opened up my online bank to transfer over rent and so forth and I see a new message that ABN AMRO has opened an office in second life. Oh man there goes the nieghborhood. So let me think what you could do? Store your Linden? Or how about transfer Linden to Euros, Dollars, Yen and back? I think it’s mainly a show at the moment. That they just thought, “We have to be in Second Life becuase everyone else is.” But in my opinion Second life really blows with all these companies coming in and “re-doing” real life in second life. Make something new, different like the ABM loan sharks club or something. Second life is supposed to be an imaginative exploration. Not a copy of real life. In any case, here is what the mail read:

Geachte relatie,
ABN AMRO opent, als eerste bank in Europa, de deuren van een virtuele vestiging in Second Life. Hiermee zetten we een eerste stap in de richting van de volgende generatie internet. Het doel is om de nieuwe toepassingen van deze omgeving te onderzoeken en te ontdekken. Ook voor u als ondernemer, biedt het wellicht nieuwe mogelijkheden.
Wilt u meer weten over Second Life en onze vestiging aldaar? Lees er hier meer over.
Met vriendelijke groet,
Drs. J. de Ruiter, Directeur MKB
Drs. F.H.D. Josephus Jitta, Directeur Directe Kanalen en Innovatie

Translation: ABN AMRO wants to help you as a company in second life. — Right.

Brazillians hate youtube

Youtube may see the Brazillians in court becuase of a little scandal with one of thier beloved football stars ex-wives.
Brazilian court orders YouTube shutdown | The Register : “A Brazilian court has ordered the closure of YouTube following the site’s failure to completely remove a video showing Ronaldo’s ex-missus and her new boyf indulging in a bit a of beach rumpy-pumpy, Reuters reports.

Model Daniela Cicarelli sued YouTube after the offending film proved a smash hit among Brazilian YouTubers. She and squeeze Tato Malzoni last year ‘filed to force YouTube to take the video down and demanded $116,000 in damages for each day the video remains up’. Although YouTube did indeed remove some copies, other users reposted it and the whole sorry exposure dragged on for months.”

Now what will ever stop them from re-posting and re-posting and re-posting. I mean honestly. It’s a never ending cycle. Is this just meantt to be doomed? Funny how you never hear about revver, blip or metacafe being sued.

Smoking a joint on a segway is illegal in Holand

Well, the joint isn’t but the segway is apparently. As of New Year’s the dutch Royal traffic agency has banned this awesome mode of transport becuuase:
‘It doesn’t have a brake, you brake by leaning back, and that’s clearly not permissible.’

Oh man. This is such a funny country. More can be read here.
Dutch clamps down on Segways | The Register

2007 starts tomorrow

That’s right. It may be January 1st, but I never really count this date as it’s a non-day when done correctly. You are usually so blown away from New Year’s Eve and all the stores are closed, everyone is hung over and tired. Just don’t count it. Last night was great. We first had Patricia, GabeB, In-Ah, iFranz and Renate over for dinner. Then we went over to Wiendelt’s for the 12:00 drink. After that we headed off through a firework gauntlet of amsterdam to get to the Doffer where Hans, Nieltje, Corrine and Marc met up with us. I’d like to write more, but I’m to tired and I can’t remember much anyways. I know I owe Hans a few films or something, and I remember now why I don’t drink champagne. It gives the worse hang-overs. Uhhhh.

Here are some pics of our breakfast together this evening. We didn’t get out of bed and eat until 5:00 p.m. and the moon was already out. Man. See what I mean by a non-day? And just so Tam doesn’t get to mad at me for posting this pic of her in the “morning”, even though I think she is beautiful, here is a link to some more pics of the evening.

Practical Joke in Amsterdam

Practical Joke in Amsterdam
Originally uploaded by gabemac.

Every now and again someone puts soap in a fountain here in amsterdam. This happend last week at the American hotel. All of leidseplein was covered in little bits of bubbles that looked like snow. Even mindcaster said, “damn it’s snowing’.

New Years In Amsterdam 2005

Watch the video

Watch Wiendelt from atwienies.nl get down at the doffer. Our local pub where we celebrate New Year’s. See you in 2007!!!

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

New Years In Amsterdam 2005 Fireworks

Watch the video

New Year’s in Amsterdam is an experience few forget. Imagine 40 million euros worth of fireworks going off all at once. It’s quite intense. But very fun.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)

New Year’s 2005

New Year’s 2005
Originally uploaded by gabemac.

Last New Years was a blast. This year looks like it will be as well. We’re all getting together for drinks, food, fun, music, dance and of course fireworks. Look at this pic from last year. Apparently Tamara looks like she is really appreciating my sexy moves for our new year’s kiss. What a woman.

Happy Holidays from Gabe and Tamara

Happy Holidays from Thailand from Gabe and Tamara. Just so you know. We are not in Thailand NOW. We pre recorded this in the summer. Although it’s not a bad idea.

Marc and Wiendelt at Picnic 2006

DSC01324
Originally uploaded by hebig.

Great pic of Marc and Wiendelt @ Picnic 2006.

Bright Lights, Big Cities

It’s been so hectic the last 2 weeks. I haven’t blogged much, because so much has happened. Just before I went for a trip to New York, my best friend Pavle’s father passed away. Tamara talked about it on her blog a bit. It was really devastating for him. That was a lot to deal with, and too much to give it justice in the few sentences that I have your attention. The only thing I can say is that his father was a REAL tough guy. He had cancer of the lower intestine for months, and the pain must have been unbearable. But his family didn’t know, and all he was using was aspirin for the pain. I’m not sure if he didn’t want to worry his family, or he just didn’t want to admit it himself, but he refused any treatments to prolong his life for another half year or so. It seems I’ve always got someone i know dying of cancer around this time. Last year it was my Grandmother. I’d like that to stop please.

On to more pleasant things, I went to New York for a conference. GEMS or (Global Entertainment and Media Summit). Not much of a summit. I think there were maybe 50 people there? But I did meet with a couple of interesting people that I hope we will be doing some great “Green” projects with. New York was in full Christmas swing. EVERYONE was out on the streets shopping. MAn what a lot of people. I hope to have some videos up soon of that. I was a bit worried of Bed Bugs as that’s what everyone said be careful of. I really searched my hotel room for any signs, but found none, so I think I’m safe. I can’t really say too many exciting things as I was only there for 2 nights before I left for Paris and Le Web 3.

It was larger than last year, and it was really freaky being there. Le Web was the first REAL conference that I spoke at about videoblogging. It was wild to go back there after one year, and to know SO many people in the web 2.0 biz. It gave me a realization of how far I’ve come in such a short time. And made me wonder where I and XOLO.TV will be in another year from now. The conference was hijacked by French politics which I’m sure you can read all about that scandal all over the place. For me it was great to meet up with old friends, and new. A real treat was meeting Luca. The crazy Italian blogger who is a big fan of XOLO. I guess in the end this whole web thing has added a new dimension to meeting people. The only thing is, I have to read about the lives of som many friends now, it’s almost hard to keep up.

But it is nice to be back home again. I was soooo tired that I couldn’t do anything at all for a couple of days. I was seeing double even after my second cup of coffee. Time to wind down and enjoy the holidays my body was telling me. So that’s what I’ll have to do. In any case, I’m hoping for a version of XOLO that I can really let loose on before Christmas, that would be a great present. But an even better one will be no laptop, lots of wine, food and friends in the end. So to all the virtual friends out there. Be Merry!!!!

Have a Nice Holiday

Watch the video

Have a nice Holiday from Tamara, Gabe Steve and Ghislaine.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)

Yes we like to Fry in the south

You’ve heard it before. We love to fry things in the south. Fried chicken, fried snickers bars, fried shrimp (thanks bubba) and for thanks giving Fried Turkey. You may wonder how that works?

Well you first put a sloppy paprika sauce on it like my uncle is demonstrating here. Doesn’t that look good?

And then drop it in a big vat of hot fat. YUMMMY!!! While you are waiting you have a few beers, talk to family, catch up etc. It actually cooks the turkey really fast, and yes it is juicy!!!

But of course we have all kinds of great dishes to go along with it. Tamara loved the Squash Caserol. For those not from the South, squash is a yellow vegetable. May favorite is Sweet Potato Suffle’. Of course my Aunt Bonnie did the family’s famous Pound Cake. It puts a pound on you with each bite, but it tastes soooo gooood. Tamara loved that and is begging me to make it.

I guess I’ll have to wait till she gets better. She’s come down with some flu that everyone else has got. In-Ah has it, Jag has it, even Wiendelt was in the office today coughing all over everybody. I really hope I don’t get it. I did make Tamara some of my famous Chicken Soup to get better. In any case

It was great seeing the family again for ThanksGiving. I think it may be a while before I get back to the states though.

Hugs and Kisses to the whole family!!!

Trip to the US to find second round of funding

Watch the video

This is a little tour of one of the offices we went to looking for a second round of investment on XOLO. LOTS of records.

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

Tags: joop, atlanta, gabemac, paul, xolotv

Atlanta Thanks Giving Pre-Post

Today is ThanksGiving here in the states. After coming over to talk to some people about investing in a second round for XOLO.TV I get to spend some time with my family. And I’m really lucky that Tamara got to come along as well. It’s not often that I get over to see my parents, uncles, aunts and cousins for Thanks Giving.

I think the last time I was here for Thanks Giving was at least 6 years ago or so, if not more. I’m really excited to see everyone, and I have all these Christmas gifts already for the Family. Although I haven’t wrapped them yet. Well I couldn’t becuase of the freakn’ security checks that if anything was wrapped, they would be unwrapped, and I’d have to wrap it again. Thus wrapping and travelling is a waste of time.

Well the cars is being loaded up, so I gotta grab the cameras and go have some turkey. YUM!!!!!! Oh and sweet potatoes. Gotta love those!!! A little note for the non-americans, it’s usually turkey for Thanksgiving and Honey Baked Ham for Christmas.

Jam Party 2006 Video

JampartyAdd#4
Uploaded by wiendelt

Wiendelt made a great video of the Jam Party 2006. There are more videos to come, but enjoy this in the meantime.

Jam Party 2006

There was a great vibe going on in the Akhnaton Club in Amsterdam last night. Wiendelt and Esther organized the 3rd Jam Party. It’s when a bunch of friends get together, practice for a month and then perform great jam songs for fun. But don’t think it’s not professional. It’s sounded excellent! Gabe B sang a number of songs, Hugo sang a great rendition of “Saturday Night”, Wiendelt and Esther tore down the house many times and I got to sing a song as well. If you missed it, that’s too bad. It may be a while before another Jam Party is organized seeing as how Esther is about to have a second child. Oh man, when does it end all these kids being born around me? In the mean time, there will be some videos online soon I’m sure, but you can always check the Jam Party Photo pool on Flickr. If you were there and have some great pics, please add them to the pool! The pictures added there were taken by Tamara. They look excellent, but she thinks she still needs a better digital camera. I tend to agree actually. Any advice for what she should get? Let us know. It’s almost Christmas.

To everyone who came to the party and helped organize it, thanks for a wonderful night. Now I need to go take another aspirin for my hangover.

Video053

Monaco media forum

Prince Albert of Monaco talking at the monaco media forum.

Testing Shozu 3.0 with my Nokia N90

More Cross MEdia Week Interviews

Cross Media Week 2006 some more interviews.

QuickTime Version

Picnic Cross Media Week Interviews

More Interviews from the Cross Media week in Amsterdam.

Download QuickTime Movie Here

Halloween Party 2006

Halloween 2006
Originally uploaded by gabemac.

Last night Tamara and I threw a Halloween Party. It was to celebrate MY Birthday, Tam’s birthday and a 3 year Anniversary. Click on the picture to go see some more photos. It was excellent seeing all the costumes that everyone came in. And oh man was there a mess this morning. After 5 hours we’ve finished cleaning and are now reliving the night. Notes for next party:
- 3 bottles of Vodka is not enough
- Need more Cointreau
- No one drinks red Vermouth
- Tamara’s guacamole dip evaporates within seconds

Help Help Blogger is screwed

Is nothing working when posting to blogger? Anyone? still not working!!!

Update:
After getting numerous errors, doing searches on Google, talking in Forums, etc. Blogger is finally posting again to Gabe.NL. HOORAY!!! I’m so happy.

So I had to first turn off comments, rss feeds and archives to get it to work. Then slowly step by step started to add those back. After 1 month it is back and I can start blogging again, and man is there a lot that happened in that time!!!

Picnic 2006 Cross Media Week Interviews 1

Cross Media Week 2006 wast last week here in Amsterdam. I was invited to talk about “Consumer generated media”. And of course I walked around getting some impressions of the event. Have a watch.

QuickTime Version

Flickr can haunt you!!!

working in amsterdam
Originally uploaded by murque.

Tamara was looking theough our Flickr contacts this evening when she saw a picture of my old desk and office. WITH SOME GIRL SLEEPING THERE! I guess that’s not strange as we are no longer there at the offices near the river in Amsterdam, but it came through a photo stream of one of my ex-students / intern / friend (but not in that order). The interent is a small place indeed.

Ragtop Madrid Ride

Watch the video

While I was in Madrid, Eva took me on a ride in her Rag Top through Madrid. COOL!!!

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

Tags: madrid, spain, gabemac, mobuzztv

My sister and Tamara walking the dog

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Walking the dog Moxy at my parent’s house in Atlanta. Man is my sister growing big!

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

Lowlands 2006

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Another video from Lowlands 2006 from my video phone.

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: marieke, lowlands, holland, gabemac, festival, music, peter-bas, tamara