An experiment in videoblogging

[sqbr]

My muse has been making vague rumblings about the possibilities of video-blogging (or something, my muse is pretty vague when she's working on a new idea), but part of me didn't want to think about it in case it all turned out to be Too Hard.

So I had a brief play around with the software to see what it was like. Not too hard, actually, and the file is pretty small. Thus: A brief and rather pointless video-blog entry (link to file, right-click save-as etc)

No cats were permanently harmed in the making of this video :)

Let me know if you have trouble downloading/watching etc.
(I was reminded to do this after mothwentbad expressed curiosity as to what my accent sounds like. So now you know)

Given how impossible I am to understand at the best of times, even without bad audio, a transcript (minus "um"s):
Hi, I wanted to try out this videoblogging thing, but I had no idea what to say, so I thought I'd just pick up the cat, and say "Hi I'm Sophie, this is Kira", say hello Kira, (Kira does not say hello) thus proving myself to be a complete cat lady. And that's all I have to say.

I'm sure any hearing impaired people reading this are SO glad not to have missed out on that scintillating dialogue :D

Comments

[mothwentbad.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, it doesn't even sound like an accent to me, relative to what I'm used to hearing. And I'm very disappointed that you don't drop the H in "how". Do you think that you could start?

[alias_sqbr]

Heh. No, sorry :)

[greteldragon.livejournal.com]

Your cat is rather cute. But so is mine, so that's okay.

[alias_sqbr]

I take it that if my cat was cuter you'd have to never speak to me again or something? :)

[greteldragon.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Though at least at the moment I can probably win the 'my cat is more stoned then yours'* competition.


* This is not necessarily a good thing, nor was her stoniness anything due to me.

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah, I'm not sure that's a competition that can go anywhere good :)

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

Kira seemed Deeply Unimpressed.

You sound higher pitched than I recall, but that might have been either nervousness or audio compression. And your accent seems much less pronounced too. Less push on the R. Impressive upward inflection at the end :-)

All in all, a successful test.

EDIT: for typo

[alias_sqbr]

Kira always seems deeply unimpressed, it's her default state. But yes, the squirming etc was a definite sign of genuine annoyance, I let her go as soon as I was finished !

How I speak changes a lot on context, I think. Hard for me to judge since I'm usually too busy speaking to notice :)

[kadeton.livejournal.com]

Now you just need to work on getting the video embedded in your blog post. :)

[alias_sqbr]

One step at a time!

Actually that didn't occur to me. Hmm. Will have to investigate.

[flyingblogspot.livejournal.com]

OMGKITTAY :D

I've always looked wistfully at videoblogging and wanted to be the awesome sort of person who would do videoblogging, but am too shy. I salute you!

[alias_sqbr]

I like your icon :D

Yeah, I wasn't sure I'd have the self confidence for it either, that was part of the test. Though doing silly shows for children for a year seems to have burned out a lot of my residual stage fright :)

[sonictail.livejournal.com]

Ok, Looks good :) However you really need to go for embeds. Let me know if you would like some help with self hosting for that. I've learnt a fair few of the tricks.

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm. I shall ponder and investigate, and possible come running to you for advice later :)

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

my accent sounds like.

You have an accent?

?.?

Given how impossible I am to understand at the best of times,

Stuff and nonsense, I say! *harrumphs!*

[alias_sqbr]

You have an accent?

To non-Australians, sometimes :)

Because I speak very quickly and mumble a bit, people do often have trouble understanding me, especially if they speak english as a second language/with a different accent or have hearing problems (nico_wolfwood's dad finds me nigh incomprehensible). It was number one on the list of complaints when I did a lecturing gig. I got a lot better after working at Scitech for so long, though.

[mothwentbad.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, it doesn't even sound like an accent to me, relative to what I'm used to hearing. And I'm very disappointed that you don't drop the H in "how". Do you think that you could start?

[alias_sqbr]

Heh. No, sorry :)

[greteldragon.livejournal.com]

Your cat is rather cute. But so is mine, so that's okay.

[alias_sqbr]

I take it that if my cat was cuter you'd have to never speak to me again or something? :)

[greteldragon.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Though at least at the moment I can probably win the 'my cat is more stoned then yours'* competition.


* This is not necessarily a good thing, nor was her stoniness anything due to me.

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah, I'm not sure that's a competition that can go anywhere good :)

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

Kira seemed Deeply Unimpressed.

You sound higher pitched than I recall, but that might have been either nervousness or audio compression. And your accent seems much less pronounced too. Less push on the R. Impressive upward inflection at the end :-)

All in all, a successful test.

EDIT: for typo

[alias_sqbr]

Kira always seems deeply unimpressed, it's her default state. But yes, the squirming etc was a definite sign of genuine annoyance, I let her go as soon as I was finished !

How I speak changes a lot on context, I think. Hard for me to judge since I'm usually too busy speaking to notice :)

[kadeton.livejournal.com]

Now you just need to work on getting the video embedded in your blog post. :)

[alias_sqbr]

One step at a time!

Actually that didn't occur to me. Hmm. Will have to investigate.

[flyingblogspot.livejournal.com]

OMGKITTAY :D

I've always looked wistfully at videoblogging and wanted to be the awesome sort of person who would do videoblogging, but am too shy. I salute you!

[alias_sqbr]

I like your icon :D

Yeah, I wasn't sure I'd have the self confidence for it either, that was part of the test. Though doing silly shows for children for a year seems to have burned out a lot of my residual stage fright :)

[sonictail.livejournal.com]

Ok, Looks good :) However you really need to go for embeds. Let me know if you would like some help with self hosting for that. I've learnt a fair few of the tricks.

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm. I shall ponder and investigate, and possible come running to you for advice later :)

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

my accent sounds like.

You have an accent?

?.?

Given how impossible I am to understand at the best of times,

Stuff and nonsense, I say! *harrumphs!*

[alias_sqbr]

You have an accent?

To non-Australians, sometimes :)

Because I speak very quickly and mumble a bit, people do often have trouble understanding me, especially if they speak english as a second language/with a different accent or have hearing problems (nico_wolfwood's dad finds me nigh incomprehensible). It was number one on the list of complaints when I did a lecturing gig. I got a lot better after working at Scitech for so long, though.