George's New You Tube Passion

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

George's New You Tube Passion

George is taking to video mashups like a fish to water. He has a real flair for it.

Here is his YouTube account: smikro1

Below are his first two mashups. Very, very cute.

Michael

Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone

[Roger Bissell]

Knowing the fertile mind and vast listening library of George Smith, I will not be surprised by ~anything~ that he posts on You Tube. He is an agent provocateur of the first order.

reb

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Roger,

Considering that there are no image rights for political figures and George seems to have the public domain music stuff down, I expect to see a long and fertile career out of him as a mashup artist.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here is George's latest. If he becomes really prolific, I might not post all of his videos here (let him do his own work!), but for the time being, this is fun.

He dedicated this video to the memory of Vince Miller.

Michael

[Chris Grieb]

Vince Miller would have loved this tribute to him.

Thanks to George Smith, John Philip Sousa and Guy Van Duser.

[Brant Gaede]

Vince Miller would have loved this tribute to him.

Thanks to George Smith, John Philip Sousa and Guy Van Duser.

reprise

[BaalChatzaf]

Here is George's latest. If he becomes really prolific, I might not post all of his videos here (let him do his own work!), but for the time being, this is fun.

He dedicated this video to the memory of Vince Miller.

Michael

After all these years, Jefferson's words still pierce to the heart. It is the closest thing that Americans have to a religion. The music was very stirring too.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Rich Engle]

I wonder if I should turn him on to all the big boy video tools. . .

George+You Tube=Big Fun!!

No wonder he's been somewhat quiet lately. Up to hijinks and shenannigans(sp?).

Edited January 11, 2011 by Rich Engle

[Philip Coates]

> If he becomes really prolific, I might not post all of his videos here (let him do his own work!), but for the time being, this is fun.

Michael, one way something good becomes viral is for other websites to promote it as well. And it provides value to the place that promotes as well. So I hope you'll continue to post a regular selection for both those reasons.

I've butted heads and had bitter exchanges with George, but he is quite brilliant at this - and deserves to have the widest possible audience.

Among the many, many good things:

--He will appeal to the 'masses' or many who have no patience for a philosophy lecture but like to be entertained in a light way. And with no footnotes.

--He has a great sense of humor and uses light satire (in a way that doesn't go to acerbic putdowns or attacks on opponents).

--He uses music that is fresh, lively, fun, attractive, little known. He has the music synchronized with the words and/or pictures.

--He has a good selection of photos and verbal 'pale blue screen' stuff. I was particularly impressed with how he broke down the very long 18th century style sentences in the Declaration into graspable bits and timed them out. And how he used pacing of a bigger font from time to time. And how the music fit the phrasing.

(As a minor point, Vince Miller was one of my very favorite people. I was honored to get to know him in our many encounters during my years in 'Frisco. His kindness, good humor, patience, gentleness as a leader are just the way people in such positions should be.)

Edited January 11, 2011 by Philip Coates

[George H. Smith]

I wonder if I should turn him on to all the big boy video tools. . .

I've considered getting more sophisticated software, but unless I can figure out a way to make some money from this sort of thing, there isn't much incentive.

The Declaration of Independence video was my first effort, so I kept it simple. This later video on the Bill of Rights is a little more sophisticated and, I think, better overall.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTIKkTs5xFI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTIKkTs5xFI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTIKkTs5xFI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

By far my most successful video is the second part of "Stories of Jazz." This now has over 10,000 hits and continues to climb at a regular pace. The number of views is quite good for a jazz piece, and I'm convinced that the text has a lot to do with it. I've learned that it is used by a number of music teachers on the high school level. This was a bitch to put together and took a long time.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vnrNWyvI-U?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vnrNWyvI-U?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vnrNWyvI-U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Btw, I have long been considering doing a documentary-style video project, one that would be relatively easy and cheap to produce. The working title is "Seriously Suicidal."

For this I would need to partner with someone who has production know-how in this genre. If anyone is interested, please write to me at smikro@comcast.net, and I will explain the details.

Ghs