OK, it's time to chill out a bit after my last post.
Here's a beautiful song and video from composer/producer/chill-out artist Reuben Halsey and musician/author Miranda Dickinson, otherwise known as Wurdsmyth of Mywriterscircle.com. It's called The Meaning of Life...
As ever, if you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to see the video.
In her recent blog post Miranda says that the song is being released at www.indiestore.com on 1st December 2008, just in time for Christmas!
To recap briefly, Pseudotube offers the chance to run a video-based website - such as my own Funny Animal Videos site - with no programming required. These sites can then generate income from a range of sources, including Google AdSense.
You can join Pseudotube at various levels, from free up to Enterprise level, which costs $499 a year. With a free account, you get 50% of all the advertising income generated by your site, rising to 100% at Enterprise level.
Anyway, I thought you might be interested to know that it is now even easier to start a free Pseudotube site. Previously you had to buy a suitable domain name and arrange for the nameservers to be pointed at Pseudotube. With the new arrangement this is no longer required - you get a subdomain of the main Pseudotube site with a URL of your choice such as www.yoursitename.pseudotube.com.
This means you can literally have a free site up and running in five minutes. All you have to do then is drive some traffic to it. As a matter of interest, the site achieving the highest number of visits on the Pseudotube network right now is a free one. My own site, I'm pleased to say, has just crept in to the top ten.
I have updated my Pseudotube Squidoo Lens to reflect the latest changes, so do check it out if you would like more info. As a result of feedback received I've also enlarged the screengrab image on the Lens, and added some sample videos from my own Pseudotube site at the bottom.
Good luck if you decide to pursue this opportunity. But even if you don't, if you have a website or blog, bear in mind that you can arrange a free, automatic link swap with all or any of the sites in the Pseudotube network. Again, please see my Pseudotube Lens for more info about this.
In these uncertain economic times we all need a few extra strings to our bow. And recently I added another to mine by partnering with Pseudotube.
Pseudotube offers anyone the chance to set up their own free or low-cost video-based website, with no technical skills required.
Why would you want to do this? Well, in case you hadn't noticed, video is huge on the net right now. Sites such as YouTube get millions of hits every day. People are looking for an alternative to the dull, repetitive pap that passes for entertainment on mainstream TV. Online video sites give them something fresh and different.
Pseudotube gives anyone the chance to set up their own video site in the niche of their choice, and get a share of this online action. No technical skills are required - all the behind the-scenes programming has been done for you. Essentially, all you have to do is choose videos for your site from YouTube and other video-sharing sites, and promote your site to get visitors. You can then profit in various ways, e.g. with Google AdSense and affiliate ads for relevant products from ClickBank.
Anyway, if you're at all interested in learning more, I've set up a new Squidoo lens where I've tried to explain how Pseudotube works as clearly as possible. Just click on this link to find out more.
Even if you aren't interested in setting up your own Pseudotube site, however, it's still worth visiting my lens if you have a blog or website. The reason is that you can set up a free link exchange between your own site/s and one or all of the video sites in the growing Pseudotube network. Again, my Squidoo lens explains how to do this. Although it's straightforward once you understand what's required, in my view the instructions aren't as clear as they ought to be, so I've tried to explain them a bit better in my lens.
If nothing else, though, do check out my own Pseudotube website at www.cute-animal-videos.com! As you'll see, I picked a topic I thought would have world-wide appeal :)
I did think of setting up a site about writing, but I wasn't sure if video was the ideal medium for this. So, if you want to set up your own writing-related Pseudotube website, the field is currently wide open for you!
P.S. If you do decide to set up a Pseudotube site, drop me a line via my homepage and I'll send you a few hints and tips from my own experience.
A few weeks ago in this post I talked about the 50th birthday party of my old friend, the poet and performer Simon Pitt.
Simon threw a great party for friends and family in a Birmingham pub. And as part of this he organised a night of cabaret-style entertainment, headlined by himself and guitarist Tony Wille, in their long-standing partnership Redman Greenman.
I was there with my video camera and recorded the whole of Simon and Tony's set. It's taken me a while (I'm new to this video lark), but I finally got the footage I shot uploaded to YouTube. So here - as promised back in January - is a taste of the entertainment we enjoyed that night. This is Redman Greenman's opening number. I thought it was a good one to post for an audience of writers, as it's called Cliches...
If you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to watch the video.
Sorry the video is a bit dark, by the way. The pub was chock-a-block with guitars, amplifiers and who knows what, but nobody thought to bring any extra lighting...
Also, in case you're wondering, I couldn't just post the whole set on YouTube, as it was half an hour long, and the maximum duration for a YouTube video is 10 minutes. So I ended up chopping the set into eight short videos, one for each of the numbers Simon and Tony performed. If you'd like to see them all, I've created a special Redman Greenman page on my website and put them there.
And finally, just in case you're interested in booking Redman Greenman or want to offer them a multi-million dollar recording contract, you can contact them via the web page of Tony Wille (Redman). Or, of course, I'll be more than happy to pass any messages on.
At the end of March, Jayne and I enjoyed a short break in Guernsey. I thought perhaps you might like to hear a little bit about it, and see some of the photos I took.
For those who don't know, Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands, a small group of islands between Britain and France. Guernsey (like the other Channel Islands) is a British Crown dependency, though it's not part of the United Kingdom. Guernsey is the second largest Channel Island after Jersey, which we visited a couple of years ago (see this post).
We stayed at a hotel called the Bon Port, which is in the parish of St Martins, in the south-east of the island. Being so early in the season, it was very quiet. Indeed, on our first night we were the only guests in the hotel! It was a good break, though, and great to be out and about breathing the sea air rather than sitting in front of my computer as usual.
Although the weather could fairly be described as mixed (at one point we were caught in a hailstorm!), we didn't let it stop us seeing what the island had to offer. We had a day in St Peterport, the capital, where we spent some time exploring the historic Castle Cornet and its museums.
On another day, when the weather was bad, we took the rep's advice and hopped on a number 7 bus, which took us all around the island for just 60p (about $1). This was a great way of seeing the whole of the island's coastline. It illustrates how small Guernsey is that, even with regular stops and starts, the entire circuit took little over an hour.
Photos, then. Here's a picture of the two of us enjoying breakfast at the hotel. Note the freesias, for which Guernsey is famous.
Here's one of several tableaux in the museum at Castle Cornet, showing how the castle barracks might have looked in the 18th century (I think). And yes, we did ask if it was OK to take photos!
This is a tea-room which we discovered while walking along the cliff path from the hotel. Those mugs of hot chocolate were very welcome!
You can see more of the photos I took in Guernsey on my Picasa album page.
Finally, here's a video clip of the view from the balcony of our hotel room. It's not the most exciting video you'll ever see, and the quality isn't great, but it may give you some idea why we thought it was well worth paying the extra for a sea view!
If you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to watch the video.
Incidentally, if anyone else is thinking of visiting Guernsey, I do recommend the Bon Port. Not only does it have a great location with spectacular views, the food is also first rate. It is a little bit remote, however, so if you're not keen on walking I'd recommend hiring a car, or else booking somewhere a little closer to the main bus routes!
I'm off-topic today, but I just wanted to mention a really good night out Jayne and I enjoyed last week.
We went to see a group called Off The Wall, a tribute band for the rock group Pink Floyd. I've been a life-long Floyd fan but never seen them live, and now the members are all over 60 and seldom play together any more, I doubt if I ever will. So seeing Off The Wall at the Garrick Theatre in Lichfield (my nearest town) seemed the next best thing.
Anyway, Off The Wall easily surpassed my expectations. They started on the dot at 7.30 and finished at half past ten. In between was a magical three hours.
Off The Wall are a very talented group of musicians - as you have to be if you're going to do justice to Pink Floyd's music - and the numbers they played went through pretty much the whole of Floyd's career, from early hits like Arnold Layne through to selected tracks from their last studio album, The Division Bell.
Cameras weren't allowed in the theatre, but on YouTube I found this video - posted by the band themselves - which shows them playing Time and a reprise of Breathe (from the classic Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon). Obviously the video wasn't shot in Lichfield, but they did perform this number at the concert we went to, so it was great to see it again here. Make sure you turn the volume on your computer up loud ;-)
If you are receiving this blog by email, you will need to visit my blog to see the video.
As you may notice, although Off The Wall are described as a tribute act, they don't dress up as or pretend to be members of Pink Floyd (that would be difficult, anyway, as one of Off The Wall's lead guitarists is Stella Fairhead, and the actual Pink Floyd don't have any female members!). Off The Wall simply perform the music of Pink Floyd extremely well, generally staying close to the originals, though occasionally adding their own individual slant. Hence, I assume, the subtitle on their website, 'The Spirit of Pink Floyd'.
As well as the music, the audience was treated to a suitably psychedelic light show and projections, the latter including some of the Gerald Scarfe cartoons used in the movie and video of The Wall. Overall, it was a polished and complete performance, including a note-perfect rendition of The Great Gig in the Sky (which all Pink Floyd fans will know is a very difficult number for anyone to sing live) performed by the multi-talented Stella, which left many in the audience - including me - open-mouthed.
Finally, it was great to see that the Garrick Theatre was a full house (even if this did mean long queues for the bar and toilets at the interval!). Off The Wall are touring Britain and Europe for much of this year, so if they come anywhere near you - and you enjoy intelligent, melodic rock music - I highly recommend going to see them!
In my blog last year I mentioned a contest held by thriller writer Dean Koontz to promote his new book The Good Guy. Contestants had to write and produce a 30-second video trailer for the book. All entries appeared on the video-sharing site YouTube, and as far as I know the winning entry was broadcast on US TV.
Well, UK publishers Little, Brown have decided to use a similar method to promote the new crime novel by the American author Patricia Cornwell, Book of the Dead. They are running a competition for people to create a 20-second TV ad for this book. Entrants have to shoot their own 20-second video, and/or submit a script and/or a storyboard for an ad (so you can still enter even if you don't own a video camera). The contest is only open to people in the UK and Eire, unfortunately, and you must be over 18.
Submissions must include a product shot (included in the competition kit) for a minimum of 5 seconds, so you really only have to come up with a 15-second advertisement. There is a top prize of 2500 UK pounds for the winning entry, which will be chosen by Patricia Cornwell herself from a shortlist of six.
For more details, and to download a competition kit, visit www.bookofthedead.hyptv.com. The closing date is Friday 29 February.
OK, so it's Monday...the holiday period is over...the decorations are down...you're back at work...and (in the northern hemisphere anyway) we still have the worst few months of the winter to look forward to...
Never mind! Here's a YouTube video featuring another beautiful track by my favourite band of the moment (well, one of them), Conjure One, the electronic music project headed by Rhys Fulber.
The track is called Sleep, and it's sung by a guest artist, Marie-Claire D'Ubaldo. The track can be heard on Conjure One's debut CD, also called Conjure One.
As ever, if you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to watch the video.
As with Conjure One's Endless Dream, which I featured in this post last year, I like the lyrics of this number as well (any song that includes the line 'kindred spirit of candlelight' is OK by me!). The video is nicely done too, though I did find one or two of the anime-style images unintentionally scary!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video, and that perhaps it may give you a bit of a lift on a cold, grey Monday.
Here's another of my occasional musical discoveries. I first heard Endless Dream on my favourite Internet music station, Radio Paradise. It's by Conjure One, an electronic music project headed by the Canadian musician Rhys Fulber.
This particular track is sung by a guest artist, the American singer-songwriter Poe. As she also apparently wrote the song, I guess she should share the credit with Conjure One at the very least! The track can be heard on Conjure One's CD Extraordinary Ways.
As ever, if you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to watch the video.
The video is one of several on YouTube which combines this track with footage from the video game Kingdom Hearts. I'm not sure how much the video adds to the music really, although it is quite fun seeing how often you can spot the Disney characters such as Donald Duck!
I think Endless Dream is a beautiful song, beautifully sung by Poe. And if you listen carefully to the lyrics, there is quite a clever, original idea behind it as well.
Jayne showed me this video on YouTube the other day. It's called Cat Wake Up Call, and it cracked me up when I saw it. Be sure the sound on your PC is switched on to get the full effect...
If you're getting this blog by email, you may need to visit www.mywritingblog.com to view the video.
And yes, as a cat owner myself, I know exactly where the maker of this little cartoon is coming from!
If you're a budding scriptwriter, here's an opportunity that might interest you.
Where are the Joneses? is made by Baby Cow, the TV and film production company founded by Steve Coogan. It's described as the world's first interactive daily online sitcom.
The show follows the adventures of Dawn Jones (pictured below), a young woman who finds out that her father was a sperm donor. She sets off on a trip around Europe to find her 27 siblings, but what happens in each episode is decided by contributions from the public.
The project uses the latest Wikidot technology, which allows online communities to add, remove and edit content. Suggestions for storylines or complete scripts can be uploaded to the Where are the Joneses? wiki. You can also suggest ideas for new characters, volunteer to appear in an episode yourself, or offer your house as a location. And, of course, you can help to develop ideas submitted by other people. As it says on the Baby Cow website, the possibilities are endless.
The best ideas are turned into scripts by the Baby Cow team and filmed as episodes of the comedy; a new episode appears online every day. Where are the Joneses? stars Emma Fryer and Neil Edmond.
Unfortunately there's no money on offer, but this is a good opportunity to get some scriptwriting credits for your CV/resumee. It's also an interesting chance to work collaboratively on a writing project using cutting-edge methods and technology.
A little while ago in this post I mentioned a contest to promote Dean Koontz's new thriller 'The Good Guy'. Competitors had to write and produce a 30-second video trailer for the book.
The judging has now been completed, so I thought you might like to see the video that won the $5,000 grand prize. It's by Jack Paccione, Jr, and as you'll see it looks highly professional.
If you're reading this post in your email, you will need to visit my blog to see the video.
The second and third prize winners were Pamela Lewis and Sean Malone. You can see their entries on the YouTube site by clicking on their names.
Congratulations to the winners, and commiserations to those who didn't win this time. I hope you have received your 'I Shot the Good Guy' tee-shirts by now!
Here in the English Midlands, it's a damp, grey Monday morning. It may not be damp and grey where you are, but it's still Monday, so I thought you might appreciate a spot of light relief. Here's a video I was sent the other day, therefore. It cracked me up when I first saw it...
If you're getting this blog by email, you may need to visit www.mywritingblog.com to view the video.
Incidentally, I first heard the expression 'herding cats' some years ago when I was doing some work for Wolverhampton University Business School. The job involved adapting business course material for delivery over the Internet. At one point the manager in charge of the project expressed his frustration that he wasn't getting as much co-operation as he might have hoped: "Getting university lecturers to do anything together is like trying to herd cats," he sighed.
As a cat owner myself, I knew immediately what he meant!
. Contestants had to write and produce a 30-second video trailer for the book. All entries appeared on the video-sharing site 
. They are running a competition for people to create a 20-second TV ad for this book. Entrants have to shoot their own 20-second video, and/or submit a script and/or a storyboard for an ad (so you can still enter even if you don't own a video camera). The contest is only open to people in the UK and Eire, unfortunately, and you must be over 18.
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