OHGOD THAT’S RACIST, ROB!

Smart Beat

There are a few people that I idolize in this world. The first is Ben Franklin. I know there are a lot of stories about his mannerisms and how he could be a temperamental, crude intellect at times, but I don’t really care. to me, Franklin will always be a studious old man in a laboratory laying the frame work for a bright, intellectual future. The second is Arthur C. Clarke. His contributions to science fiction are only matched by his contributions to science itself (he conceptualized the Clark Belt, because which you can thank him for your DirectTV bill). The third would be Carl Sagan, the fourth Stephen Hawking, and the fifth (last but not least!) Michio Kaku. Notice how there aren’t any basketball players in there? Well, I got lucky this week, and so did you, because John Boswell at Colorpulse Music took video and audio samples from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series and clips of Stephen Hawking and created probably the most intelligent and upbeat song about us, our planet, and our Universe and set it all to a fantastic, non-techno beat. These would be feats alone, but to top it all off it’s been fantastically auto-tuned such that Sagan really seems to be singing the lyrics to this extremely well-composed aria of intelligent observation of our world. That’s enough babbling. Here’s Glorious Dawn, featuring Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, by John Boswell, of Colorpulse Music.

I’d Buy That for a Dollar!

Since I’ve cut back on the Random Music Monday stuff, I was kind of hoping to find a YouTube Theater Thursday that would actually sort of apply to both. Lucky me, because I found the perfect video for the job. Not only is it a showcase of some of the greatest YouTube videos of all time, but the music was catchy enough that I even bought it on iTunes. And I almost never do that. So here’s Hadouken, showing you the 100 Greatest Hits of YouTube in 4 Minutes (Actually just 3:24!).

It. Is. Alive.

Wow, what a productive Tuesday! So, Random Music Monday’s been dead. Youtube Theater Thursday? Dead. Why? I’ve been busy! And very excitedly so! Today is Week 13, Day 2 of my diet and I have, so far, lost 27 pounds bringing the total to 63. The 63 isn’t really exceptional, but losing almost half of that in the last three months has been a hell of a ride, one that I’m looking forward to repeating again in the future. My YouTube channel is finally updated, so now all I have to do is find some stuff and put together a few things to get the next couple of videos out. My Homeworld 2 Test Video has gotten a lot of views for some reason, which I find pretty funny, because it’s just a test video, and the video for the competition last year is still up. That’s old stuff. Old stuff is bad. So here we go, friends, on a daring adventure into progress.

I’m working on getting back into the rhythm of updating regularly, including YouTube Theater Thursday every week and Random Music Monday biweekly. I’m working on a couple of new projects, including some PSA style documentaries, some regular Vlogging of my life (I’m working on making Black Mesa Cafe wall displays, for anyone interested), and starting to do some simple Let’s Play!’s. For those not in the know, Let’s Play! is a style of video where you play a game so that other people don’t have to, including real-time commentary and usually taking user suggestions. For some games with lots of customization, you can even add the users in by naming units, naming bases, etc. It sorta depends on the game. The first in that series, Let’s Play Jurassic Park (or LPJP) will be finished some time in the near future. I’m trying to edit these videos so that the production quality is really good. I just scratched up a copy of Vegas 7 and I found my old copy of Camtasia, so this is a new project with lots of technical limitations (at least as far as ability and knowledge go) to overcome.

Among other things, for better or for worse, I was featured in the new “Be a Billiken” ad campaign here at SLU/Parks, being interviewed for my work in the Aerospace Engineering department. You can view that at our homepage here. Just hit Play Video after the first little slideshow goes by. I really wish I’d lost more weight before being interviewed, but hey, nothing’s perfect. And before anyone asks, I was interviewed ON St. Patrick’s Day, thus explaining the green hoodie with the black dress shirt and green tie. I wear that green hoodie all the time, so if you see me several times in the same hoodie, just take solace in knowing I do laundry virtually every day. It’s clean in every shot. Give me a freaking break.

So yeah. We (the BMC, that is) are alive. Isn’t that fantastic?!

See you around the ‘verse.

- Agent Nick